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IT help please! - Jen (6th Oct 2004 - 21:01:12) Hi, You all seem to be a bit IT clever so i could do with some advice please. We are looking to have broadband put in the house and i need some recommendations for good suppliers but first i need to get a decent computer as mine has died a sad and sorry death. I am looking for something very simple that is good enough to cope with broadband, has a CD writer and a flat screen. Any clues as to what sort of price i should be looking to pay for all this and a good place to get it from? I hear Dell are good but after going to their website i am very confused and my small brain is going to go into overdrive! I also did a bad thing in going to PC world in Guildford and have walked away feeling terriable as i was confused by a 15 year old spotty boy.... i hate the thought that he knows more than me!!!! Thanks Jen

Re: IT help please! - Liphook.co.uk Editor (6th Oct 2004 - 21:19:18) Regarding Broadband ADSL - please support our sponsors, who are also our Broadband supplier ... http://www.fast.co.uk. Important things to look out for are having no download limits, no port blocking and telephone support. Worth a look :) Editor

Re: IT help please! - S (7th Oct 2004 - 08:56:53) Difficult to say really as even a poor old PC can be connected to broadband. The speed of the link is the key here not the speed of the machine. PC's are very cheap at the moment but you can pay anything from 400 pound upwards. A decent one probably around a grand. My only real advice would be to try and avoid the big name companies like PC World as their prices are rather over inflated. maybe an idea to try the shop on the Midhurst rd in Liphook and see what they price out at. If you see something your interested in put the spec and price on here and I'm sure there be a few people who will tell you if it's a good deal or not. I build my own so only ever by trade parts, so I don't really look at the prices of fully specced systems.

Re: IT help please! - Alex Cameron (7th Oct 2004 - 11:05:51) Getting broadband can be a daunting experience, and a lot of people just go for what they are most familiar with (e.g. AOL, Wanadoo, Tiscali, Virgin etc.). A good list of suppliers and other resources is http://www.adslguide.org.uk, which will give you plenty of information. Alternatively, check out the broadband channel on Sky or magazines about it to get a feel. Personally i'm with Pipex, but i'd recommend Fast.co.uk as a good and reliable local ISP.. Getting value for money is confusing with all the babble. See if you can get a 1Mbit connection with no download limits. As for a cheap PC, the best way is to build your own really as its all down to what you want to do with it. If that's a mission, i'd suggest eBay, but make sure you only bid on sellers who have more than 100 feedbacks, with 99%+ rating. You could also try Amazon, eBuyer, Scan (in Portsmouth i think?) or Dabs. Brad and Brian from Habit (Midhurst Road) are always helpful too.

Re: IT help please! - Liphook.co.uk Editor (7th Oct 2004 - 11:24:41) As Alex said always avoid a provider that will impose download limits as thats not how Broadband is meant to be! Take a look at http://www.fast.co.uk/home/ for details of Fast.co.uk's Home 1mb product. Might be an idea to give Fast a call to have a chat about what you need, their local number is 01428 727437 - mention you found them on Liphook.co.uk and you should be able to get £20 cash back from your signup fee. Editor.

Re: IT help please! - Jen (7th Oct 2004 - 11:44:04) Thanks for all your help... will start visiting websites! Thanks again Jenny

Re: IT help please! - Alex Cameron (7th Oct 2004 - 11:49:11) Its definitely worth doing your research as the ISP world is so competitive that you're bound to have hundreds of different offers thrown at you. Don't do PC World or Dixons - they may have massive buying power that enables them to reduce prices, but their sales push is for the warranty. In my experience the equipment they sell is shoddy and they trade on the ignorance of those who shop there. Hearing you were preached at by a 15-year old smug spotty geek isn't a surprise at all. You can get a much better deal elsewhere if you take the time to understand what you want to buy. Another alternative option i forgot to mention earlier was Tottenham Court Road - take a stroll down there and get shops competing on each others' prices. There are also small weekend computer fairs/markets that offer small traders a platform to sell very good value computer parts - you can find them on TCR or in Stratford if memory serves me correctly.

Re: IT help please! - Jenny (7th Oct 2004 - 13:04:30) Thanks Alex.. i shall start hunting for bits of computer!

Re: IT help please! - LippyChick (8th Oct 2004 - 08:26:27) Re a Broadband supplier You don't mention whether or not you have children, but if you do then another thing to check out may be the 'net nanny' abilities of your chosen provider. Personally I use AOL and have been very pleased with the parental controls that they have in place to protect kids online. Obviously there is no substitute for watching your children whilst they are online for their own safety, but this is a good back up. Hope that helps :)

Re: IT help please! - Eneida Nelson (8th Oct 2004 - 08:45:29) Why do strange signs like Brackets and colons appear after some people's postings, even the Editors? Not earth shattering I know, I'm just curious?

Re: IT help please! - S (8th Oct 2004 - 09:25:58) The 15 year old kid in PC World was probably Alex. ;-) I like chatting to the salesman in PC World, I actually think of it as a hobby now. I like the way they cringe and go red when you start to question them over things they know nothing about but thought they did. I especially like to make things up and see if they know about it, which they always seem to. How strange. I wonder if that bloke in Guildford has got any flux capacitors for a dolorian processor yet? Then there was the head techie in PC World years ago who told me that there was no such thing as a Token Ring network and I didn't know what the hell I was talking about. I must mean Ethernet as thats the only network there is allegedly. Hmmmm, thats where my hobby began. Nasty IT consultants, aren't we?

Re: IT help please! - Jenny (8th Oct 2004 - 09:41:32) naughty bad IT consultant! Well you can make me feel better if you like.. next time you go and play your 'game' at PC world in Guidlford make sure you speak to a spotty little git named Mike!!! Either that or direct me towards a site full of IT terminology so i can go and confuse him with long words!

Re: IT help please! - S (8th Oct 2004 - 14:38:18) Ok I'll look out for him. Meanwhile here's a nice sight full of IT terminology. WWW.MICROSOFT.COM I helps me when I am bored.

Re: IT help please! - gr (8th Oct 2004 - 17:48:09) Try www.novatech.co.uk based in portsmouth , very helpful pcs for all budgets. You could try Habit solutions down the midhurst road , they have helped me out of a couple tricky probs I have switched to fast.co.uk good service easy change over from freeserve. A reliable service.

Re: IT help please! - lippychick (9th Oct 2004 - 05:45:33) Eneida, Re the spurious brackets and colons.... :) They're called emoticons or smileys, and if you balance your left ear on your shoulder, the colons are eyes and the bracket a smile. There are lots of different sorts... :o) :o( all to indicate whether you are happy, sad, confused..sarcastic. The list is endless Hope that helps Lips ;) (winking)

Re: IT help please! - Eneida Nelson (9th Oct 2004 - 09:22:34) Hi Lips That's actually quite funny...you've cheered me up! Mind you, I'm easy to please. Eneida

Re: IT help please! - Alex Cameron (11th Oct 2004 - 10:47:45) Just make sure you don't use a frownie emoticon without prior permission: http://www.despair.com/frownies.html I'd advise against AOL for the simple reason that their software is extremely aggressive. They are known for literally taking over your PC and causing problems with other 3rd party software, although many people find no problems with it. Another way might be to look for parental control software as its commonly available in loads of different places. Then again, caveat emptor - your kids will almost certainly find a way to hack it. Lol - Steve and his flux capacitors..;) You're right about the PC World idiots, but i'm afraid it permeates the whole industry, not just spotty clerks. There's a hilarious arrogance in IT, where consumers inevitably lose out whochever way they turn. Its also an industry where its in the suppliers interests for their product to fail or become out-dated. How many other industries (other than fashion for instance) are based on failure->upgrade cycles? This might help with learning acronyms and emoticons: http://www.google.com/search?q=emoticons but easy reference, 'LOL' - Laugh(s, ing) out loud, 'LMAO' - Laugh(s, ing) my ass off...

Re: IT help please! - Jenny (11th Oct 2004 - 12:55:53) The IT industry seems to pride itself in secretiveness. I hate nothing more than walking into computer shop and having one of two things happen: 1> The person you speak to sighs heavily and proceeds to speak to you in a slow voice as if explaining to a 3 year old. This makes me so cross as it is just thoroughly patronising behaviour and there is no call for it at all. I may not know the secrets and I may not have any IT qualifications but I am still willing to put money in your pocket so be nice to me! 2> The person you speak to starts to use jargon, abbreviations and initials to tel you your solution. This ends in you leaving the shop more confused than you have ever been before and vowing to go home and start to use pen and paper again. Not all places or people are like this I know… the guys at Habitat were so helpful when I went to go and speak to them and the old computer shop on Weyhill in Haslemere used to be really good as well. But I just wish the industry as a whole was more accessible and more interested in teaching people rather than making them feel small and silly.

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