NFG

Hi Steve, Well done & very well deserved I'll raise a glass to your efforts tonight Bon courage N

Hi, Sophos is an excellent product, Ive used extensively but pitched at enterprises for managing hundreds of users, once policies & groups configured it's a breeze & I could remote everything. Sophos support is probably the best. I dont think its aimed at the individual or where there isnt a file server its a bit expensive unless bought in volume, so ESET a better solution here, IMO. Id considered Id droned enough in my post anyway! However, Sophos is free to Mac users & Ive deployed it on dozens of Macs, its very quick at detecting viruses - 100% being from infected USB sticks inserted into PCs whose AV has failed to detect Mac Antivirus | Free Antivirus for Mac Tool Download | Sophos Comodo not used, sorry. N

Hi all, For many years I evaluated & deployed a variety of Internet security products, out of the ones mentioned here: 1. I would avoid Norton or McAfee, neither are up to the job, Norton is problematic and has issues with non detection, I found McAfee slow with poor detection. 2. The best I have used & deployed for clients is probably ESET Security suite with NOD32 Antivirus - NOD32AV can be purchased alone if you just need AV. 3. Avira & Kaspersky have a good reputation but I have not used them 4. Avast is probably the best free AV better detection than AVG, I found ClamWin to be a very good open source free AV. 5. Take care with MS Security essentials, its not highly regarded in the IT world, it is easy to use & does have a small memory footprint. 6. If you bank on-line use QFX Software - Anti-Keylogging Software and More to defeat keyloggers there is a free version, this will not interfere with your AV. 7. No browser is completely secure & no AV will detect everything but security demands a layered approach, I use FireFox for which there are numerous add-ins such as NoScript & https everywhere to make browsing much more secure. Take care & flush your caches on browser close N 5.

Hi Burns fast but spits if not dry enough not our favourite wood but OK if you have a wood burner or Rayburn (or any fire with a door) N

Hi, I used to get this similar nonsense all the time, a client would ask me to produce a web site looking like xyz & refuse to spec, Id do a mock up, they'd OK it then change their minds on something usually awkward. Therefore what Id try & do is get some extra work out of it, perhaps suggest 'If I were you Id leave it until next year, see how they grow & I will do it for £xyz' or similar If you try and make the customer hire you for next year then they wont, it has to be their idea/plan, you just need to put words in their head. If you charge now, what you have to evaluate is will I get future work for generosity against peeving them for their own error. You may also like to explain that the additional time means another job gets delayed or re-scheduled to make them realise your time is not an infinite resource for them to waste. Just my thoughts N

Agreed cheap PRC stuff not worth it - buy cheap, buy twice. OK, I will take a look at them, we live in France - plenty of power but quite rural our supply is underground and more reliable than suspended cables in most villages. I have converted nearly all lights to LEDs & most kit is low power, we also have wood burner for heating, gravity circulation for water heating from the Rayburn as well. The freezer has 50 hrs standby so not essential for continuous but may consider big beastie diesel & change over etc to supply the whole house at later date. I see the Pramac also has a super silent version which looks good - Yanmar engine comme le tracteur. A portable gen set could also provide 230V whilst working in the field etc as well as save our food! TVM N

Hello, no although I did watch some of it but found it somewhat irritating, Im no TV fan anyway . Its part of our 'completely independent' plan, we have a lot of home produce in the freezers & its not only the hassle of replacement - a lot of time goes into production. Even if it got used once in 5 years a generator would be well worth it. Thanks for all replies so far. N

Hello all, We are thinking of getting a generator for emergency use, will need to supply 1 * fridge freezer + 1 * chest freezer, both are A++ rated and use a couple of hundred watts plus lighting etc probably about 1Kw maximum continuous load so looking at rating around 2000 W & over so theres plenty of headroom. Im aware of the starting current requirements of induction motors of approx 8 times run current. We havnt had one yet but power cuts of over 2 days can occur as we are fairly rural . Would prefer to pay bit more for a quality one, ie Honda or SDMO Any suggestions or recommendations? TIA N

Nice one, I once drove 3Km to our local dechetterie (recycling & tip) whilst chatting to the chap who runs it, noticed half a cup of tea on the rear bumper of our Disco, still warm as well! N

Bonsoir, down to about 23 degrees here, shudder! N

Oh & trying to work out what Jon is saying, French seems easy in comparison! Any idea Mr B? N

Hi Am semi retired IT systems analyst & network engineer, We heat our house with wood, currently doing some restoration work but intend to plant some trees for firewood the Autumn as we have an acre and a half of land. Theres a good bunch of people on the forum which is well managed & contains a wealth of information. Post now and again with opinions on IT related stuff & have helped a few people out, also useful to keep up with arb/country events in UK. N

Hi Well done, looks great really like the interior especially the furniture & plank door. As for £9000 a year, thats shocking - you could live reasonably well on that over here if you grew some of your own & lived south of the Loire. Good luck et Bon chance N

Hi, You seem to have a very positive attitude, the RN does provide you with some great skills which may not be recognised by all. Perhaps create an on-line portfolio of jobs/employers you have been associated with, dosnt have to be too sophisticated, a commercial offering such as Facebook would do. Its always going to be a challenge making a career change, Ive done it from Submariner I/C of manoeuvring room on S class, to IT techie. I agree with EL Guy suggestion to keep a war chest of funds as jobs may be scarce at first as for the questions regarding certifications, Im sure some of the pros will pitch in soon. Good luck & best wishes N

Sounds good, we have made sloe gin but not Damson N

Hello, Bonjour, The Aldi gin won a silver medal International Spirits Challenge 2013 only £9.67 as well, cant get it over here yet... N

Hi Good idea if you cant afford a Mac & your PC hardware is OK, for a play with Linux that dosnt require installation, you can download Backtrak & burn a bootable CD (there may be others but backtrak has a lot of tools with it ) Intend to fit SSD to my MBP eventually, Samsung 840 Pro looks a good un. N

Hi Doobin, I have a 2006 Mac Pro, 2 * dual core Xeons, 24Gb ram with WD Velociraptor & 2.0 Gb disk for Time machine, fast graphics card I cant recall, runs Snow Leopard at the mo as Im not going to change OS - whips the ass off most 'modern' PCs. Main use is photography & Office apps iwork etc with some compatibility testing for clients so have lots of test versions of windows on VMWare fusion - when Windows fails you just re-load the VM its up and running in the time it takes to click 'restore VM' & make tea! Can run side by side in different workspace. Still do some Access programming for which I use Win2000. NAS Storage is handled by QNAP 459 Pro runs on Linux with a pair of 2.0Tb WD reds in raid 1. Incidentally, I do prefer to use Thunderbird over the Mac Mail program Ive used Tb for years & its more configurable. Found this article seems a fair comparison as a lot of posters ask about it: 15 reasons Macs are still better than Windows PCs N

G4 eh? thats done some work for you, well done. I recall having a bunch of G4s on the network at a certain Mickey Mouse company I used to work for, initially I thought there were only half a dozen by the almost non existent support calls, turned out there were about 80! mostly 2 processor jobs with maxed out ram. N

You dont have the PITA Microsoft way of doing things, ie: Operating system that behaves more like a two year old child, its in your face constantly. Office: No ribbon menu Endless 'Are you sure' type prompts Speed: generally pedestrian, even on a well spec'd PC Search: finds everything apart from what you want Robustness: just when you really need it to work... in contrast, with my Mac: It works, it dosnt annoy me, lift the lid its awake instant I hardly every re-boot, but its still slick & fast Type anything into spotlight, its got it right away Multitasks all the programs I use with ease & I can run Windows in a Virtual Machine when Im testing for clients If I let the MBP battery run down, it will power up at the very place I was typing Backs up my files to Time Machine wireless & to spare disk on Mac Pro Networking is probably the best Ive ever used Yes, they cost more, but save on less hassle I could go on & on If you get a Mac, just use it how you think a computer should work, as opposed to how MS make you. N

OK, Ill start, It all depends what software you use, for example if you use Word & Excel, there are plenty of non MS alternatives that will run on your Mac. People may say you dont need AV but Sophos is free for Mac users so you may as well install it. Quality wise, they are very good, I have used since 2006, I now find PCs pretty awful to use & clumsy, pity really as MS had it made then blew it. You dont give much information to provide a detailed response but I would try out in Apple store before investing, there are several Mac/PC discussions of you search. N

Hi My analysis is correct, there are iFrame exploits which allow script injections to malware/adult slinging sites. I have contacted the people who run the site & bought this to their attention. Hopefully they will re-script the site soon & fix it N

Hi Yes, its a no brainer: 1. Keep it simple, one page elegantly designed & laid out with relevant facts may do to start with 2. Try and avoid domain names that are a mouthful as no one will remember them 3. Ensure it can be found with the most popular search engines 4. Consider linking to social media (ie Fb) as its very easy to post new content for starters N

Dont worry, Im sure the Middle East peace envoy Blair has it all under control whilst swanning around on a private yacht. Make me smile if it got hit by a stray Exorcet. N

Hello, Bonsoir, I was right! its got redirects to naughty pages! the home page has been compromised so I have sent the site owner a message telling them to secure their iFrame scripts, tut tut! Anyway I have downloaded the text of the notes, converted to PDF on my Mac & scanned with Sophos AV so you can download my new file, which is safe to do so. http://www.ngresources.co.uk/arb_practice_notes.pdf N