Simon'S Pc Services

If you have been reading or seeing information about VPN services online, for example, on various YouTube Channels often advertise various services including the recently hacked NordVPN.
Tom Scott has an excellent video all about VPN services and what they can and can't do for your IT security.
Do watch the whole video and the "advert" at the end sums up the uses for VPN's nicely 😁
... if you have any questions about VPN's or IT security in general you know where to find me!
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When you see stories on any media including TV and especially Facebook or other social media, please do take the time to check those stories.
Not everything you read online is true, accurate or honest! Really this should not be a surprise to anyone.
Clear signs are "Moral Panic" and similar over hyped claims of imminent danger to people or society in general especially children.
... Fake news is basically also known as Propaganda which is a somewhat different but overlapping issue.
Please use reputable subject matter experts as sources for checking facts. Asking your best mate isn't checking facts, unless they are an expert in the topic in question.
One source I use regularly is snopes.com They take the time to see if stories are accurate or distorted and fact check in an independent unbiased way.
Please do take the time to check to see if that latest viral video or social media story claiming doom and gloom is even remotely accurate before spreading it further.
Passing on fake or inaccurate news isn't helping or showing the best of intentions. You are being manipulated for someone else's benefit and are simply spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt.
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We seem to be plagued with hoax recorded telephone calls from various numbers claiming to be from BT and that either your Internet connection has been compromised or that it's about to be disconnected.
These calls are clearly scams and you shouldn't call the number in the message or do anything to interact with these scammers.
If your phone service has the option to block or divert 'scam' calls then that's an option you can try to reduce the number of calls.
... If you are with BT for your telephone calls then you can also report scam calls via:
https://www.bt.com/consumer/edw/scams/
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As this topic was raised with me today, if you find your Laptop, PC or mobile phone suffering from water or other liquid damage (Tea, Coffee, Soft Drinks etc) the do the following immediately!
1. Remove any external power from the device, via the main plug or power switch if necessary;
2, Remove any batteries from the device, if it has removable batteries. Disconnect any removable peripherals such as USB devices and similar at this stage.
... 3. Quickly place the device upside down (for laptops keyboard down) onto a soft absorbent surface (a towel is good) to let the liquid drain from it.
* Under no circumstances attempt to use the device while fluid may still be inside and until it's been properly inspected *
Allow plenty of time for the fluid to drain from the device before you take for inspection.
If it's possible that you may need to claim on your insurance do check with the insurer first as they may have their own process or procedures for dealing with such accidental damage claims and arranging an inspection.
I charge from £20 for an Insurance inspection or inspection repair estimate. The costs of an inspection report can usually be recovered from your insurer as part of any claim you make.
To repeat:
* Under no circumstances attempt to use the device while fluid may still be inside and until it's been properly inspected *
Doing so raises obvious risks of causing more or permanent damage including loss of data which could expensive or uneconomical to repair.
However I am sure you have multiple backups of your documents, pictures, files and other data so we are mostly dealing with the continuing risk of physical damage to the device.
If you continue to use device while fluid is inside then please don't be too surprised if it doesn't work properly afterwards! 🤔
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Fixing a few faulty laptops and servicing them so they can work to their best.
If your PC or Laptop isn't working well or needs a service or upgrades then give me a call 🙂

The Autumn update for Windows 10 (called build 1809) has been released today and will be coming your way soon via Windows Update, in the usual way.
If you experience any issues or problems with this please contact me for help!
The main issues so far are the usual ones for devices with low free storage space in that the update will fail unless you have enough free up space to download and install this update.
... This is especially important on the lower cost devices with limited storage including as laptops with only 32 GBytes of total storage. It's not really enough for many users and they often run into issues with these bi-annual updates.
If you want to get ahead of the update or you experience issues, drop your laptop or desktop PC in for full services and we'll take care of this and all those other issues for you🙂
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