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Technology isn't just for the young
It’s not long after you retire before you see condescending attitudes toward the elderly. “Ooo, look at that old man, he’s learning to use a computer. Isn’t he clever?” A refrain that is all too common nowadays and one that is encouraged by a government that assumes all older people need to attend, or be dragged along to, basic computer classes.
But millions of Britons from an earlier generation worked for many years with advanced high-tech systems. Men of my age (70) and even older worked in space sciences, atomic power stations, advanced transportation systems and, yes, computer systems. Don’t forget the first programmable computer was built at Bletchley Park in the 1940s (check out the working replica, it’s awesome).
I myself worked in the aircraft and other high-tech industries from the 1960s onward, and can include in my portfolio Concorde and guided missile systems, computer-controlled power generation and so on. Of course, manual workers and women of this past age may have had no opportunity, or even desire, to enter the world of electronics. But quite a lot of us oldies are, surprisingly to youngsters, techno-freaks.
I have built my own new (updated) PCs three times and am now online using Wifi; the only reason I’m not using all of the latest gadgets is a lack of finance. So, all you young-uns, stop being so damned condescending to wrinklies: you never know, you could even learn a few things from us.
Mind you, a virus called the Victor Meldrew Syndrome seems to be attacking my old operating system and causing me to grumble, as you have probably noticed. A stable and secure operating system from Microsoft? I don't believe it!
Brian Slack
Raid isn’t backup
I can understand the frustration expressed by Mr Philips (PCW November 2007, Letters), who found that the warranty on his disk drive was invalidated by the action he took to recover the data lost by the disk failure, and by Richard Jones with the failed Nas device (PCW January 2008, Letters).
Unfortunately, it appears that your readers did not appreciate that simple backup and recovery procedures could have lessened the impact of these failures.
There appears to be a misunderstanding among many PC users that Raid technology removes the need for backup. Raid, however, addresses another aspect of data availability - that of continuity of service. This is done by eliminating one of the single points of failure within the storage system.
There are many other such single points of failure in a computer system, which include the power supply, the Raid controller, the path between the storage device and the computer and even the computer itself.
In a business system these risks will be identified, assessed and safeguards put in place. Underpinning all of these will be an effective backup and recovery system. For the home user it is important to protect that all-important data against loss. The most effective way is by introducing some form of backup procedure.
Way back in the days of small hard drives I would save two copies of each document to separate floppy disks. Today, I synchronise data between partitions on a second disk and regularly copy important files to CD or DVD. Yes, I do have a disaster recovery plan.
Please encourage your readers to think carefully about the technologies they choose to secure their data.
Joe Clifford
Photos from afar
I had a closer look at the Parrot Photo Frame (PCW January 2008, News) and it doesn't quite do what I am after.
I have an elderly mother who cannot operate electronics (including a mobile phone), but I live a long way away (in another country). I would love to be able to set a picture frame in her house, and email or phone through a new picture on a daily basis.
Is there anything around? Or is there anyone who sees this as a gap in the market?
Renate Powell
GPS and the law
Many, many cars travelling around the UK now carry sat navs or GPS systems. In the last 18 months, they have become particularly widespread and common-place.
It doesn’t take a huge leap of the imagination, to guess that some of these cars may have been involved in accidents while the GPS systems were operational.
So I wonder if the police have yet begun to use the very useful and comprehensive data stored within sat navs” to help unravel the events prior to an accident occurring.
Of course this may be good or bad news for the sat nav's owner. But either way, it has to be worthwhile way of getting at the truth?
Ronan O’Neill
The wider view
Andrew Kennard (Letters, PCW December) regrets the fact that most screens are wide, not tall, yet many office workers would probably prefer to work in portrait mode.
One of my clients recently phoned to say that she had touched something on the keyboard and was having to look at everything sideways!
I discovered that this was not a fault but a ‘feature’ of her new Dell PC and that it could either be restored to normal with the supplied software or one could, indeed, turn the screen on its base. And all for under £400 delivered.
Keith Paterson
Norton parental controls
I have just read the review of Norton Internet Security 2008 in the January issue of PCW, in which you state that it does not include parental controls or anti-spam.
I purchased NIS 2008 recently from PC World (on offer at £24.99) and in very small letters on the box there is a link to an add-on pack that can be downloaded free of charge, and this pack contains both of these items - you just need to read everything on the box very carefully.
I cannot understand why these items were not included on the installation CD in the first place.
James Munroe
