Internet and Advice

One of the most common problems faced is that of Internet connections. Today a customer came in with a new laptop running Vista, but was unable to connect to the internet via his Netgear router suppliedby the Post Office. In fact he was unable to connect with his router, but his laptop was picking up all the other wireless routers in the area! This made it clear that

1. The laptop's wireless system was OK and


2. There was an incompatibility between the computer and the router.

The router was connected to one of the centre's computers by ethernet cable, its IP address found and it was possible to log in and check the security settings. These were changed, and the connection then could be made between the laptop and router. No test, however could be made with the customer's own phone line - this is always the case!

Another quite common query that we have is advice for potential computer customers. It is useful to give them some basic information, such as is found on the Tesco Direct website -

http://direct.tesco.com/buyersguide/computing.aspx

Although many sites offer a "buyer's guide", care is needed even from sites that appear to be absolutely dependable. Oxford University, one would think would have been able to produce a good site for students wishing to buy a computer. This is what I found -

http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/pcbuy/

A medieval site for a medieval University!



At least the second half on Saturday was good

Grav would have been delighted!!