A bit of history on Father’s Day

How to take better portraits

This invention could revolutionise photography and videos

The AMAZING computer that launched with the first manned space flights

Clocks go forward – but why have we been doing this for 100 years?

How the battery was invented thanks to an unfortunate frog

Format External Disk Drives for Windows 10 7 8

How To Format A New Drive For Use With Windows 7, 8 or 10

Formatting a drive for use with Windows 7, 8 & 10 Before you can use a new external drive with Windows 7, 8 or 10 you will need to format it (unless it states it is pre-formatted). There are several options which we will look at to help you choose the correct format for you and show you how to ready the disk for use. Step 1. Right-Click on the Windows icon in the lower left-hand corner and select Disk Management Step…

Protect Your PC, Laptop, Tablet, Mobile from Wannacry Ransomware

How To Protect Yourself From Hackers, Malware, Viruses & Ransomware

How to protect your PC, laptop, tablet or mobile from malicious attack 1. Always Install Security Updates Make sure you are running the latest up-to-date version of your devices software: For all PC’s and laptop’s user running Windows operating systems, you must ensure you are running Windows 7, 8 or 10. Older versions of Microsoft Windows (Vista, XP, ME and earlier) are NO LONGER SUPPORTED and represent a very high risk of infection from hacking (unless running separate Security Software…

How To Encrypt USB Drives and Memory Sticks

How to Encrypt Your USB Memory Stick / Flash Drive (Windows, MacOSX, Linux, FreeBSD, Raspbian, Android & iOS)

Encrypting a Portable USB Drive. Protecting your personal data on USB memory sticks is incredibly important, even if it’s only photo’s or videos! If the USB stick is lost or stolen, the data is protected and cannot be accessed by anyone else.  For more important documents such as office work or sensitive information, encrypting the USB drive, with secure software and a password, is purely common sense. One of the most popular encryption software available is called Veracrypt.  The software…

Understanding Why Your Hard Drive/Flash Storage Shows Less Space Than Advertised.

Why Advertised Storage Does Not Match The Usable Data Capacity The main reason comes down to differences in the way that operating systems, such as Windows display storage devices, and how USB Flash Drive & other storage device manufacturers advertise the storage capacity. Computers are based on binary math, which means storage is counted using base 2, not base 10, which storage is advertised as. So, while we measure a kilobyte as 1,000 bytes, Windows refers to a kilobyte as…

Text of email sent by the Queen in 1976 (Screen grab of Tweet by Twitter/@BritishMonarchy)

The Queen was the first monarch to EMAIL

When the Queen ascended the British throne in 1952, the microchip wasn’t even invented. But that hasn’t stopped her embracing technology, including sending an email way back in 1976! Here’s just 8 of the greatest technological inventions from the past 63 years of her reign – the longest of any British monarch. The Microchip – 1959 We all take it for granted now, but the microchip was not yet invented when Princess Elizabeth became Queen in 1952. It was another 7 years…

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Connected Earth (photo credit: graphicstock.com)

Quite Simply WOW! 1 BILLION people use Facebook on just ONE day

One in 7 of all humans on Earth logged onto Facebook in a single day. It’s been described as an important milestone by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg after being reached on Monday 24 August 2015. In a Facebook post, Mr Zuckerberg said he was proud of the Facebook community for what it had achieved and that it was only the start of connecting the world “I’m so proud of our community for the progress we’ve made. Our community stands for…

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You Might Want To Change Your Phone Lock Screen Pattern…

We’ve heard warnings about passwords like 123456, but people choose similar phone lock screen patterns. Here’s how to improve your security. New research has shown that people gravitate towards simple patterns, which are easy to guess, when it comes to Android smartphone lock screens – which offer an alternative form of security to traditional passwords. Predictable A study of 3,400 user-selected patterns by researcher Marte Løge, a graduate of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, has revealed that 44 percent…

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Crash-proof computers on the way? (photo credit: graphicstock.com)

How To Never Lose Any Work On A Computer EVER Again

Seriously good news! Scientists develop method that could lead to computers guaranteed never to lose your data. Picture the scene, you’ve spent hours working on an important project – and then boom, crash the whole lot’s gone. Well, researchers at the world famous MIT research centre in the US have found a way for this to never happen again. It’s all to do with something called ‘formal verification’. It’s complicated Nickolai Zeldovich, a principal investigator at MIT’s Computer Science and…

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Microsoft Windows 95 – 20 Years Old!

Wow! The popular Windows 95 operating system is a fifth of a century old – having been released on 24 August 1995. A reported $300 million was spent by Microsoft during its advertising campaign to launch the then latest version of its operating system. There was the ad featuring the Rolling Stones’ song Start Me Up – a reference to the start button – and even a 30-minute video with Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry of Friends’ fame, according to Wikipedia. Ah, they…

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A google data centre dalles, oregon, coloured pipes (photo credit: Google)

Inside Google: Photos Of What The Internet Really Looks Like

The web is not wireless but is made up of huge warehouses of servers and data storage capacity. Here’s 10 photos from Google’s data centres. Today, we think of nothing of sending a quick email, searching and browsing the internet, enjoying online shopping, or storing and sharing photos and videos. But a vast physical network of data centres (also known as server farms) – full of servers and storage capacity – around the world is needed to support the explosion in…

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World Photography Day: 8 Inspiring Pictures

To mark World Photography Day, we’ve put together some amazing photos features on the blog from the past 12 months for you to enjoy. They range from the majestic Northern Lights in Iceland to the Red Arrows aerobatic display team to a picture taken with a kite and lots more besides. This photo was taken by John Maher, who was the drummer in legendary band Buzzcocks. You can see more of his stunning photography on the blog, by clicking here.…

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GCSE Results: 7 Funny Exam Answers You HAVE to Read!

To celebrate GCSE results day, we’ve scoured the internet and found some pretty amazing ‘answers’ to questions set in various tests for students. So, if you’ve got your pen and paper ready, let’s begin. Q 1. The first cells were probably…? A. Lonely. Q 2. Tony practices the piano 20 minutes every day. A. Effect: He is a big nerd. Q 3. What did Mahatma Gandhi and Genghis Khan have in common? A. Unusual names. Q 4. Explain why the concentration…

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Amazing Perseid Meteor Shower Photos

Stunning pictures of the annual Perseid meteor shower, which provides an incredible display in the night sky every August. Here’s a selection of your photos (used with kind permission) Perseids Meteor shower at Carew Castle, Wales, UK by @rob_still. You can find more of his photos on his blog ‘stepping off’, Meteor over Oswestry, Shropshire, UK by Richard Ellis (photo credit @richatquinta/Twitter) Perseid capture, Northamptonshire, UK, by James Parker, UK (photo credit: @JP_Astronomy/Twitter) Perseid meteor shower over Winchester by Dr James West…

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Exams paper (photo credit: graphicstock)

Wow! Students ‘To Be Rewarded Up To £17,000’ For A-Level Results

Of course, there are cheaper ways to reward the hard work of students on A-Level results day – here are some options! Incentives offered by parents range from money from £5 up to a staggering £17,000 as well as holidays, cars and laptops, according to a survey commissioned by Leeds Beckett University. On average, the research found that A* to B grades are most likely to be rewarded with £100 per A grade and £50 for each B/C the national…

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