This is a little rant I'm afraid. I know it's basically my fault BUT!!!!!

Sometimes when at clients premises, I have to use a series of rescue/installation discs to resolve an issue.

Sometimes, it can take quite a few hours to sort out the multiple problems people allow to accumulate on their computer before seeking professional help. A lot of which is helped along by the 'bar room fixers' who know absolutely sod all in real terms about much at all.

They don't know what the real problem is because they've not seen it and clients rarely know how to describe the problem fully anyway - not that there's anything wrong with that, I don't expect it.

The client then goes and mis-follows the wrong advice they've been given and make an even bigger dogs breakfast of the whole thing and after they've totally screwed their computer, they call me.

Now to the point of my rant.

After I've spent hours sorting out the cock-up, I put my things back in my bag (or so I think) and head off home. Some days, or even weeks, later I open my bag looking for the discs to find that I've accidentally left at my clients.

The annoying thing is the client, who now has a full set of service and recovery discs that I've paid for, and doesn't have a clue in hell how to use them, hasn't had the decency to ring me and let me know I've left them. This has happened every time I've done it.

I now have to go through the time and expense of getting a new set of dics together.

ONE THING YOU GET FROM ME IS HONESTY, IF YOU CAN'T RETURN THE FAVOUR THEN YOU DON'T DESERVE THE SERVICES I OFFER.

​I will work out where I left them and that person will have a heavy bill next time they call me!

It just goes to show, there's a lot of really dishonest immigrants out there.

Hello everybody.

Please be advised that we are starting to get booked up for April, so if you think your PC has a problem, or you're considering taking up one of our other services then please contact us now or we may not be able to get you sorted before we go.

You might even miss out on our FREE telephone install offer available for this month only if you don't get in now! Check our Special Offer page for more details.

Please don't leave it until the last minute and miss out.

Well all you Skype users out there, now you are the new target for the hackers.

Why is it that everything Microsoft lay their hands on becomes a security nightmare in no time at all. Seems that Skype has become very leaky these days. It's a good job they don't make buckets or wellington boots.

More about this, and other Skype fiascos can be read on the Infoworld website here.

Did you know Skype is one of the most blacklisted apps on the market. What does this mean? It's so bad that many school kid hackers can manipulate it to reveal just about anything about you.

It could be argued that Skype has had security issues for years, maybe so but that isn't a good enough reason to accept such sloppiness from a company like Microsoft who are FORCING you to use it in preference of Messenger to the extent of withdrawing Messenger altogether.

Messenger was bad but Skype is a lot worse which begs the question. Whose side are Microsoft on; yours or the hackers?

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Just a quick post to let everyone know we will not be taking calls from 5th May 2013 until 21st May 2013 inclusive as we will be on holiday. We will be open for calls again on the 22nd May.

We are having a well earned break, not having done so for over 2 years. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

We will, of course, still be monitoring our telephone networks and will be in a position to remedy any problems should there be any.

Are our friends at Microsoft trying to alienate everyone? It seems like it sometimes.

Their latest escapade involves pulling support for Asterisk. Never heard of it? Don't worry, you're not on your own.

Asterisk is the platform that the majority of voip servers run on. What does this mean for Skype users?

Well, you will still be able to Skype people, you will still be able to call telephones at over-inflated pay-as-you-go rates (substantially dearer than mine), you will still be able to send instant messages to each other. In fact, most of you will still be able to do all the stuff you've always done with Skye - even though you've never actually needed it because you've always had software on your PC that can do all that anyway. Skype simply jumped the lead by telling lies, by convincing people they were making free telephone calls that weren't actually telephone calls - they never actually used a telephone!. It is simply a messenger program just like Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger (and a multitude of others).

So how does the lack of Asterisk support affect you?

Well, there are many thousands of people out there who have been using VoIP for many years alongside their Skype setup then all of a sudden, Skype is VoIP compatible. Wahayyy, lets run everything through Skype says many of these. Lets keep everything under one umbrella and make things easy. And why not indeed. Making things easy saves money - of course it does.

Wrong! What these people forgot to remember is that we're dealing with Microsoft here. A little history lesson for newcomers to computing. Once upon a time, there was a little person called Xerox. Now Xerox designed an ingenious little gadget that we now call a mouse. Around the same time as Xerox designed this wonderful little gadget, there was another little man we now call Apple that "borrowed" Xeroxs' mouse for their equally ingenious device called a computer that had a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Then there was another little man called Microsoft who saw this GUI and "borrowed" it, called it Windows. He then paid computer manufacturers to put it on their computers. The rest is history.

So back to our little story. The nice man called Mr Microsoft decided, one day, to buy an idea called Skype, probably with the intention of creating something else because he didn't really need Skype. He only bought it because they got the jump on Mr Microsoft making his "wonderful" messenger program next to redundant and that really peed him off.

Mr Microsoft, now having taken away one source of competition, decides to go for the next; VoIP. How better to do this than make his offering compatible, entice all the VoIP/Skype users to buy in to his idea, get them to make all the investment in going Skype, then pull the plug on VoIP. Voila, a whole new captive audience.

I hadn't intended this to be a Microsoft bashing item but try as I might, I find it difficult for it not to be. If we look at the Microsoft track record in their wonderful operating system, we find a string of rubbish. Bring back DOS, nothing fancy, and it works for computers. Come to think of it, so does Unix. Which leads me into Linux (but that's a subject for another article).


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Well, I hear many things but this is taking the mickey a bit.

I was asked if I have voip numbers for the Netherlands, which I do. This person wanted me to give them a number for free 'like skype do' so their friends and family can call them for free because skype don't do Netherlands numbers?!?! She uses skype because they're the cheapest and the quality is better than voip (oh yes?).

What does she think I am - don't answer that!

Oh, she seemed to think that once she has a voip number, it will automatically ring her landline telephone, not quite sure how that works, nor was she but that's what she wanted. She wasn't interested in how it actually works or what's involved but she believes it won't cost her money. Well she's on a quest because she refuses to listen.

Don't get me wrong, it can be done but not without it costing money because without the voip account (which IS free) the call has to be forwarded to a landline/mobile, which is the same thing as making a phone call and phone calls cost money.

Firstly, I'm not a charity and she is not a charity either. If I was supplying numbers for a charity I would be happy to offer a discount but I need to make a profit.
Secondly, she wasn't interested in using my voip service because she has used, and had bad experiences with, the service from the 'free' voip ..... (voipcheap, voipstunt .....) range of companies so she knows all about it - not.
Thirdly, skype do not offer free numbers of any sort.
Fourthly, skype is not the cheapest . My rates are generally cheaper than skype and you don't have to pay a connection fee or add vat either (see below).
Fifthly, I have a customer who constantly looks out for the best/cheapest deal around and he has always been a skype addict for years, until he tried my service - saves him money and is better quality, see testimonials.

So there we have it, Skype is really cheap - Whooooppppssss, no it isn't, is it? Get over it!
Don't be fooled by all the hype or your friends who'll tell you skype's the best thing since sliced bread. It isn't!
Skype is now owned by our friends at Microsoft so that tells you everything.

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