That having been said, I do certainly see the need for applications that can provide an element of automated system repair and preventive maintenance and one such application I recently discovered called Advanced WindowsCare fits that bill nicely.

The version of the software that I will be reviewing today is the free personal edition; however there is also a $29.95 professional version. Compatible with Windows 2000, XP and Vista, both versions can be obtained from www.iobit.com, and with the personal edition weighing in at only 6mb it shouldn’t take two minutes to download. Once installed the level of automation is quite scary; simply click the scan button and the application will look inside your computer and will categorise your problems in to the following areas:

Spyware – Provides details of any Spyware or Adware installed on your computer; whilst there are a million and one applications providing this facility, another one certainly won’t hurt.

Security Defence – Identifies areas of your system that can be ‘immunised’ to prevent possible security compromising software from being installed on your machine.

Registry Fix – The Windows registry is a huge file that contains thousands of Windows settings and parameters. This section will highlight any entries that are invalid or incorrect.

System Optimisation – Any areas of your system Operating System identified as being inefficient by the software will be listed in this category.

Startup Manager – I have in the past explained the importance of minimising the amount of unnecessary software which launches on system startup and this application makes removing it extremely simple.

Privacy Sweep – This category will list all activity history and traces on your computer. Removing them will potentially increase your computers security, or avoid potential embarrassment if you’ve been doing something you shouldn’t have been.

Junk Files Clean – Windows stores a surprisingly large amount of rubbish that can quickly and easily identified and removed with no ill effects.

You will be given a chance to review any changes that the application plans to make although doing so would be extremely labour intensive as on my three month old laptop 40,000 issues were raised; the majority of them being 33,000 odd possible system immunisations. Giving WindowsCare the benefit of the doubt I simply clicked on repair and so far I have had no cause for concern however it is worthwhile bearing in mind that the application does allow you to back up your system settings before any changes are made, then restore them if you suffer any problems.

I don’t think there’s really a huge amount left to say about this application. It installed easily, it worked efficiently and it removed countless potential problems from my system in a matter of minutes. I would certainly recommend downloading and installing this fantastic piece of free software – if you are currently having problems with your system it could solve them, and if you’re not then it could prevent them.

Without a doubt, the main obstacle in the way of the majority of older people gaining access to the Internet is a working computer knowledge. Unfortunately getting on to the Internet requires the use of a PC, but in a generation that wasn’t bought up around computers this can pose a problem. Fortunately there are a number of courses designed specifically for this user demographic – these are usually very cheap to attend and the advice is friendly and unintimidating.

Assuming that this one obstacle can be overcome, the primary use of the Internet for most elderly people will almost certainly be communications. I’m not speaking from personal experience but I imagine that it would be very easy for an elderly person to become fairly isolated; I’ve known of people in their seventies, eighties and nineties who don’t see anybody for days, or even weeks, on end.

The Internet allows the elderly to set themselves up with free Skype accounts so that they can hold an audio or video conversation with friends and family who might live a long distance away. In the case of James’ gran, for example, she was able to see and talk to her entire family in Devon from her armchair in Canada completely free of charge and for as long as she liked; before the Internet this simply wouldn’t have been possible. The majority of people who purchase a webcam in our store would be considered elderly and I think it’s fantastic that a £10 piece of technology can make such a difference.

Sites such as Friends Reunited allow the elderly to get back in touch with friends that they may have lost contact with decades ago and provides another line of communication to the wider world. In a recent study 35% of older Net users said that the Internet had provided them with a wider circle of friends after retirement. Of course, e-mail in general is a fantastic communications tool and maintaining contact in this fashion is infinitely quicker and usually easier than writing a letter.

The Internet can also serve to starve off boredom and keep the mind active in the later years of life. Sites such as Wikipedia provide a whole wealth of information that is literally unending; coupled with billions of websites this window to the world is invaluable. A side point to this is that again, in the aforementioned survey 42% of older people said that as a result of the Internet they were more aware and tolerant to the way that the world is changing.

If you suffer from mobility issues then online shopping can relieve the burden of having to go in to town or out to a large supermarket to get the weekly shop. Those that rely on someone getting their shopping for them may also like the independence and freedom to choose exactly what they want and get it delivered the same day.

Computers and the elderly are two words that are not often mentioned in the same sentence however the potential enrichment that the Internet can bring in to the life of an older person is often worth the effort of overcoming the technical challenges.

It’s a relatively long way off yet but I do hope that in retirement I’ll be able to consider myself a ‘silver surfer’.

GIMP is ideal for many home users as it is a small and free application which boasts a large number of features that would probably prove sufficient for who needs something slightly more than Microsoft Paint but less than Photoshop. My only reservation with the application was that the UI (User Interface) was a little bit inconsistent with the overall feel of Windows and as a result it takes a while to get to grips with and often feels alien to the average PC user.

This week I stumbled across another very capable application called Paint.NET which once again is free to download and use. Unfortunately it is not quite as powerful as GIMP but for most users this will be compensated for by the fact the interface will be extremely familiar to the average Windows user, to the point where it is almost intuitive, resulting in a much easier learning curve. The majority of users will find the features of Paint.NET more than enough for day to day photo manipulation however also thrown in to the mix are a number of extremely powerful tools.

First and foremost the application supports layers; unless you’ve ever used layers it’s difficult to explain in words exactly what they are and how they can help you. The simplest analogy would be to think of them as a number of transparency slides, which when all stacked and viewed together form the basis of a whole image. If you change one of the individual slides the overall image will look different, but no changes will be made to the other slides. This means that changes that you make to one layer which are later altered won’t result in a trial of obvious damage to the image caused by previous alterations.

Another nice feature is the way that the application handles multiple images; rather than having a number of windows that can be minimised and reopened as and when necessary, Paint.NET has a clever style of tabbed interface. In order to navigate between open files you simply click a thumbnail of the image from a scrollable selection on the top right hand side of the screen.

Additional features, updates and bug fixes are released on practically a monthly basis and there is an active forum that offers a number of plug-ins, should you require any extra functionality that isn’t provided as standard.

In terms of special effects, the application has a large number built in as standard; ink sketch, oil painting, blurs, distortions, noise control, red eye removal, sharpening, softening and so on. The image can also be manipulated by way of adjustments such as hue, saturation, level, brightness, contrast and sepia controls. The standard drawing and selection tools are provided and of course the intensity, tolerance or size of these tools can all be easily adjusted as necessary.

One selling point of GIMP was that it is cross platform compatible however Paint.NET can only be used in Windows and more specifically in the later versions, either XP or Vista. This is unlikely to be a problem for most my readers so if you found GIMP a little confusing and don’t have the time, patience or money for Photoshop then I would urge you download this tiny 1.6mb application by visiting www.getpaint.net.

Thanks to adverts such as those commissioned several years ago by JR Inkjet (the ones featuring motoring journalist Quentin Wilson), there are a great many people who believe that they are immediately qualified for the task. Whilst refilling is certainly good for both your pocket and the environment, it is also an exact art that when improperly executed can yield terrible results.

Many companies will tell you that all you need is a drill piece, a universal ink and some sticky tape but if you’re looking for a result that’s half decent this is, unfortunately, not entirely accurate. The printer manufacturers spend a great deal of time and money ensuring that inks are specifically formulated for each individual cartridge and that the cartridges they offer are as difficult to refill as possible and as such a good degree of working knowledge is required.

Preparation is as important as the actual refilling itself and whilst not everybody is as thorough as ourselves, we use the following equipment on a daily basis to ensure that we retain the original quality.

- Centrifuge – This literally spins every last drop of ink out of the printer cartridge so that when you refill you don’t have two differing ink types mixing together inside the cartridge.

- Steamer – Removes any blockages that may have formed in the cartridge print head by focusing a concentrated jet of steam towards the bottom of the cartridge.

- Ultrasonic Bath – Breaks down any remaining blockages; these machines incidentally are similar to those used to clean surgical instruments in the healthcare industry.

- Replacement sponges – These are useful as not only to you often get a better quality by using fresh sponges but additionally some cartridges can have their capacity increased by the use of a different sponge.

- Replacement lids – These are put on to cartridges which we are able to remove the tops from; this prevents potentially messy ‘drill and fill’ techniques often employed at home.

Once the cartridge has been prepared it is important that it is refilled using ink that is a very close match to the manufacturers’ original specification rather than simply using a ‘universal’ ink. Ideally the refill should be performed under vacuum conditions so that there is no air present in the cartridge – This results in the ink spreading more evenly throughout the sponge and then making direct contact with the nozzle plate so that the print head immediately starts to rehydrate. By refilling outside of vacuum conditions you risk the possibility of trapped air which can have a serious effect on the print quality.

Alas, even with the correct training and expensive equipment, refilling can be messy; those that visit our store will often find one of us with ink inexplicably plastered across the forehead but this is simply put down to occupational hazard. If you do decide to brave refilling yourself then we do have the kits available, but since we guarantee to be the cheapest in Torbay, the smart advice would be to leave it to the professionals.

Microsoft, however, got complacent and left a massive gap between releasing Internet Explorer 6 in 2001 and Internet Explorer 7 in 2006. This left a void which allowed more advanced and capable browsers to get a foothold in the market, resulting in a second series of browser wars.

Despite Internet Explorer still being an integral part of Windows, products by much smaller companies are currently enjoying a large amount of the market share amongst Internet users. This week we’re going to take a look at some of the alternatives and how they’re facing up to the competition.

Mozilla Firefox

The market share of Firefox has increased steadily since it was first released just over three years ago and it now has an estimated 16% of the browser market. Those who regularly read this column will know that it is presently my browser of choice due to the speed and compact nature of the product coupled with an extensive list of features. Like all good applications it is free of charge so download a copy now at www.firefox.com

Opera

First released publically in 1996, Opera is certainly one of the more established browsers currently participating in the browser wars. Considered to be possibly one of the most pioneering, Opera has had support for technologies such as tabbed browsing and mouse gestures for years. Unfortunately the browser religiously follows web standards and as such many websites simply don’t display as you would expect them to. Rather unfairly this browser currently holds just an estimated 1% of the browser market and more awareness is needed if Opera is going to become a serious contender. Download Opera free of charge by visiting www.opera.com.

Internet Explorer

This is the browser that most users will be familiar with as it is the one built in to the Windows Operating System. Internet Explorer 6 was a dinosaur and was five years old by the time it was replaced in late 2006 by Internet Explorer 7. The latest version has made up for lost time as it now includes standard modern day features such as tabbed browsing and phishing support. The browser is, in my opinion, extremely bloated so if you have a little time on your hands then download the latest version from www.microsoft.com/ie7/ or by performing a Windows update.

Apple Safari

This browser has been running on Mac machines since 2003 and just recently Apple have released a version for Windows. Although Safari does have an overall market share of approximately 5% I’m not sure any of this can realistically be attributed to the new Windows version of the browser. Whilst I welcome Safari in to the fold, the Windows version is in my eyes buggy, doesn’t perform as expected and is unnecessarily large. With such competent alternatives, future versions of Safari will have to be a good deal better in order to gain any chance of gaining market penetration. Download Safari free by heading to www.apple.com/safari/

Netscape Navigator

I appreciate that I have already stated that Netscape were beaten in the first browser war, however the broken company was purchased at the time by AOL who up until now have done relatively little with the technology and every version of Navigator until now has been lacklustre. The latest version doesn’t break any major milestones in browser development, but it is far superior to its predecessor and has the potential to do well.

With just 0.5% of market share Netscape are going to have to do something special to allow Navigator rise from the ashes and become a potential contender, but in this market anything is possible. Download a copy free at http://browser.netscape.com