Cookie Policy

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This page describes our Cookie Policy. For our Privacy Policy click here

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive (determined by your browser settings). Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

What do we use cookies for?

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. Specifically we use Google Analytics for this purpose. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. At present we do not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org/.

Cookies we store on your device, in more detail

Cookie

Name

Type

Duration

Purpose

tKnowIT site cookie acceptanceecd_opt_inpersistent1 year from the date you accept our cookie policyRecords if you accepted the use of cookies on this website. Removes the banner message.
Google Analytics_utma
_utmb
_utmc
_utmz		persistent
persistent
session
persistent		Click Google Analytics for more detailsThese cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited.

tKnowIT for IT support, services and solutions

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tKnowIT provide IT support, services and systems to businesses, start-ups and home users, large and small, who wish to make the most of their computers and other IT investments.

We offer a range of IT Services and Support including website design and hosting, IT consultancy, computer rollouts and healthchecks, broadband supply and installation, VoIP telephony equipment supply and installation to name a few.

tKnowIT is based in Norton, Malton, North Yorkshire and we can provide onsite business and home support in Norton, Malton and the wider Ryedale area including Pickering, Thorton Dale, Helmsley along with business and home support for the York and Scarborough areas.

tKnowIT offers technical support on a ‘Pay As You Go’ basis, with no binding contracts or fees for support and services you don’t use.

We make sense of your computer problems so you don’t have to

Copyright Notice

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This website and its content is copyright of tKnowIT Limited – © tKnowIT Limited 2003 – 2012. All rights reserved.

Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following:

  • you may print or download to a local hard disk extracts for your personal and non-commercial use only
  • you may copy the content to individual third parties for their personal use, but only if you acknowledge the website as the source of the material

You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system.

Terms & Conditions

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Welcome to our website. If you continue to browse and use this website, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions of use, which together with our privacy policy govern tKnowIT Limited’s relationship with you in relation to this website. If you disagree with any part of these terms and conditions, please do not use our website.

The term ‘tKnowIT Limited’ or ‘us’ or ‘we’ refers to the owner of the website whose registered office is 13 Yorkersgate, MALTON, North Yorkshire, YO17 7AA.  Our company registration number is 04818794 (Registered in England and Wales). The term ‘you’ refers to the user or viewer of our website.

The use of this website is subject to the following terms of use:

  • The content of the pages of this website is for your general information and use only. It is subject to change without notice.
  • This website uses cookies to monitor browsing preferences. If you do allow cookies to be used, the following personal information may be stored by us for use by third parties: Read Privacy Policy Here
  • Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website for any particular purpose. You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law.
  • Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services or information available through this website meet your specific requirements.
  • This website contains material which is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance and graphics. Reproduction is prohibited other than in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions.
  • All trademarks reproduced in this website, which are not the property of, or licensed to the operator, are acknowledged on the website.
  • Unauthorised use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offence.
  • From time to time, this website may also include links to other websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information. They do not signify that we endorse the website(s). We have no responsibility for the content of the linked website(s).
  • Your use of this website and any dispute arising out of such use of the website is subject to the laws of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Website Design Changes

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Welcome to the tKnowIT website.

You have reached this page as the page you are looking for has either moved or no longer exists.

As the search engines may contain old links we have provided this page. At the moment you can search through our current website design for the information you need (this page forms part of the current website design) or you can visit our old website design – and archived design – by clicking this link.

Welcome to the new tKnowIT website

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Welcome to the new website design.

At the moment the content is in the process of transferring from the old design and new sections will also be created.

You can still visit the old design by clicking here

We are calling to tell you that your computer is infected

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Have you had this call?

A growing number of people are receiving calls from companies claiming that they can tell your computer is infected and that, for a fee, they will fix it for you. Sometimes they will claim to be your Internet Provider, Microsoft or BT amongst others and will even give you UK based phone numbers.

I now get one or two calls a week from the public telling me they have had the call and asking ‘Is it true?’

It’s a scam and one of the new ways that people are trying to extort money from you.

They will often try to convince you by asking you to click some options on your machine that will typically display your event logs – which can look like the end of the world is nigh – if you have never seen them before. They will then ask for your credit card details and ask you to visit a website or send you an email with a link in it. Clicking this WILL give them remote access to your machine and likely lead to infections been installed – not removed.

What do they gain from all this? They get £60-£100 from you, access to your machine to attack other machines from, to scan your disk for personal information (identity theft) and, remember, they have your card details so ring the card company ASAP.

What should you do? I recommend you say thank you but you don’t believe them and put the phone down. Then run your own virus scanning software. It is possible that your machine is infected and is reporting back to them using something like the other annoying scam that is ‘Fake AntiVirus’.

If you don’t have any antivirus or you are still not sure then get your machine professionally scanned by a company such as tKnowIT or any of the other local IT companies you already use or can find in The Handy Mag.

Acer Iconia TAB W500 tablet review

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The Iconia Tab W500 is a Microsoft Windows 7 based Tablet from Acer. There are not that many tablets running windows 7 and many reviewers say that windows 7 isn’t designed for, or doesn’t work on, a tablet. I’ve had the Acer W500 for a couple of months now and would have to say I disagree. It’s not perfect but it works and works well.

Acer Iconia W500It is heavier than many of the android based tablets but has a ‘well-built and solid’ feel to it. Unlike many NetBooks it uses an AMD processor rather than the Intel Atom and, when combined with the SSD device and 2GB RAM, provides a decent boot up time. Once running the SSD also means it can be put into sleep mode and resume almost instantly.
It’s ideal for surfing the internet and reading emails and a touch of light ‘office work’.

One of the advantages over Android tablets is that if a program will run on your windows PC or laptop then it is likely to run on the W500. Like other windows 7 devices it is also unlikely to crash – which is something Android users are having to put up with for now.
The down side of a windows device is that you may have to buy programs, such as MS Office, to give you more features and install some form of internet security software. The latter will impact on speed but no doubt when the same products mature for android and apple then they will also ‘become slower and safer’

The 1280×800 screen is bright and clear, the sound is loud and clear for music, skype, etc and the W500 also comes with a full-sized USB port, SD Card slot and HDMI port. Like most tablets it has front and rear facing cameras. There is an optional docking keyboard system but I found the onscreen keyboard reasonably easy to use although it was easier still with an optional stylus/pen.

Running windows makes the device more expensive than an Android device and it’s not quite as slick at starting apps as they are but once started they tend not to crash. It makes the NetBook redundant and runs all my windows programs – new and old – so I can confidently carry it around instead of a more expensive laptop.

Acer also do an Android based system called the Iconia Tab A500, which could be confusing but it resembles other Android based tablets which tend to be slimmer and more lightweight.

For those of you looking for a tablet that has a familiar operating system and will run those windows programs you can’t be without then I’d say it’s worth a look.

Start taking the Tablets

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Tablet computers, like SmartPhones, have been around for years but in both areas they were typically expensive and not simple or intuitive to use. Thanks to Apple we now have the iPhone and iPad which just about anyone can pick up and use within a few minutes.

This has led to a range of products trying to compete in this rapidly expanding market sector.

Apple controls both the hardware and software with their iOS based iPhone and iPad devices. They are easy to use and rarely need to be rebooted. The Apps market for both devices is mature and vast. One of the downsides to an iPad is that it does not support ‘flash’ video or websites. Ok for a phone but not on a device many will be looking to use as their main surfing device.

Acer Iconia W500 TabletMicrosoft Windows Phone 7 (WP7) running on SmartPhones from the likes of Samsung, HTC and LG has also proved to be stable and responsive. The Apps market for the WP7 is growing quickly and based on the same model as the Apple Apps store where programs are typically free or relatively low cost and install quickly. (See my separate review of WP7)
Likewise Windows 7 for PCs, laptops, netbooks and tablets is less prone to crash or freeze, compared with Windows XP or Vista, and is typically much more responsive. The Acer Iconia W500 is a good windows 7 based tablet choice.

HP launched their Windows based Slate, which I am not even sure launched into the UK, before releasing their WebOS based TouchPad and announcing that they were reviewing their position in computer market. So TouchPad users may find their device gets no updates, support or Apps. Many reviewers also suggested it was a bit sluggish.

RIM, who makes the Blackberry range, controls both the hardware & software with their Blackberry phones and PlayBook tablet. The tablet gets mixed reviews, has an Apps store but currently is only available with a 7″ screen.

ASUS TF101 TransformerThe majority of other tablets run Android by Google. As they can’t use Apple iOS and Microsoft license Windows 7 and Phone 7 for a fee then using Android can reduce the overall price of the tablet – as it’s free. Android 3 was designed for tablets whilst previous versions were designed, developed and flourished on smaller screened SmartPhones.
Tablet makers can tweak Android and add their own features and Apps to it. This may help to explain why reviews of Android Tablets suggest that performance and stability can vary from brand to brand when, on paper, the specifications of the hardware are the same. The Apps store for Android is mature thanks to its growth on SmartPhones over the last few years.
My shortlist of Android tablets would be the ASUS TF101 Transformer (optional keyboard/ extended battery), Samsung GalaxyTab (if they get the injunctions lifted) and the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet (with optional digitiser pen)

The Tablet market is likely to expand and evolve. Microsoft Windows 8, due for release in 2012, is heavily influenced by ‘touch’. Some vendors are offering interesting features such as Stylus, fingerprint swipe, keyboard attachments. They are an excellent alternative to a NetBook for web browsing and checking emails but it may be another year or so before we can throw away the laptops and desktop PCs.

Why you need to use different passwords

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Many people use the same password for everything because it’s easier for them to remember.

There are a number of reasons that this is a bad idea.

Say that you use the same password for your personal email account and your computer login at work. You give your colleague your password to access your machine at work for some reason. Someone sees this written down or overhears you say it or you don’t really trust the work colleague (or they simply guess it’s the same as the dogs name). Finding your email address is easy as you’ve probably forwarded them loads of jokes or been copied on someone else’s jokes list. Now, typically an email address and password will let you access a webmail system. This means an unknown number of people could get into your personal email account.

passwordsChances are you use the same email address and password to get into your favourite online eTailers. It doesn’t matter if not, they just click the ‘forgot password’ option and a random new password is sent to your email account – which they have access to. They can then log into your eTailer, order some items but change the shipping address.

While they’re on the eTailer site they can often find out additional information to start the process of cloning your identity for other purposes. Your address, age, marital status, security question, mother’s maiden name, previous order details to get an idea of how much money you spend on certain products. This also means they can tailor an email phishing attack to appear as though it’s from the etailer with an unbelievable special offer which you need to click the link to get. You then give them your credit card details including the 3 digit code. They can now buy a few more things from other sites using all the correct card details and card address.

If you use the same password for your Favourite Social Networking site then they can get in and post a few dodgy links on your page to downloads that will infect your friends machines and for good measure send them a few emails with ‘watch this funny video’ type links – with your endorsement. Next thing is you find all your friends phoning and asking why their machines are now infected with Fake AntiVirus warnings after click your links.

Changed your passwords yet ?