Computing

Hello, in a wet and windy british summer, spending too much time playing with computers due to the lousy weather. The latest thing is Windows 10. I have installed it as a virtual PC and first impressions, it is better than Windows 8. Sadly Microsoft have not included Media Centre in W10 and do not plan to. This means I will be running W7 for the foreseeable future. In the picture, the main screen is Linux, PCLinuxOS64 to be precise, the laptop on the left is Vista, being restored to factory settings. The laptop behind my left shoulder is a new Windows 8 laptop. Sharp eyed amongst you will spot the Snow Leopard logo on the Mac Book. I had transferred stuff to the Windows 8 laptop and was restoring the Mac Book to factory settings.

Since about 1990 I have provided IT support to friends family and work colleagues and recently have advertised my services to the general public. I also worked for Sitel in Dundee providing technical support for BT business broadband customers. Unfortunately the call centre closed so I went back to driving to earn a living. This has brought me into contact with a wide range of computer configurations. I have almost migrated entirely to Linux for my day to day work. I maintain a working copy of XP for troubleshooting and research. Instead of a television we have a computer, running Windows 7, set up as a media centre. This records any tv we wish to watch, stores our music and photos.

My relationship with computers began when I was an apprentice with British Aerospace, writing programs in machine code.
I then moved on to an Amstrad 512. Whilst at college I mastered Wordperfect on a BBC to produce a CV.
My first PC was an ex radio rentals486 that would not run W98! My next machine was a Compaq Deskpro. This had a F10 partition containing set up details for the machine. I managed to delete this and thereby entered a steep learning curve to get the machine functional again.
Having taught myself the basics of computer maintenance, back-up routines and networking I completed an HNC in computing to obtain a formal qualification in information technology.
I have continued to broaden my knowledge by completing several courses provided by the Open University.

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