How are you Managing Windows 10 annoying Update intervals?

I've had quite a few clients complain about loss of business (time cost and inconvenience) by Windows 10 doing updates at the worst possible times, that have on some occasions resulted in loss of data for the user. In addition Patch reliability can be dubious. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, it's not recommended for it to be done urgently. However, long term updates are (by and large) a good thing, but should be done in a sensible managed way. We have a solution that makes "managing updates" a lot easier with Windows 10, that gets around these bottlenecks, and is totally effective. Contact us for more 🙂

Considering upgrading an old Windows 7, Windows 8 or 8.1 Computer?

Many people are worried about upgrading old Computers (PCs/Laptops), because they fear they will lose information, or not be able to use their favourite Applications that they've been using for years. 

There are various work arounds to getting old programs to work on Windows 10, so it's often possible to do so, and this can be tested and verified even before you decide to upgrade. 

Tip re: Older Computers:   If you are storing valuable information, such as Photos, old programs you are still using, be careful how you use it: Do not use it for exploring the internet and downloading files you are not familiar with. Keep your Malware and AntiVirus apps up to date, and scan regularly.

 Feel free to contact us on issues relating to your particular concerns re: upgrading any Older Computers you may want to put some new life into. Email: Fin@XLComp.com or text/whatsapp 07456 238702

Why not also read article below re: Upgrading XP Computers, as similar rules apply also when upgrading from Windows 7 (or 8 / 8.1) to Windows 10

Windows XP Computer upgrade options

Many people are worried about upgrading old Office PC's or Laptops or systems running specialist software, such as remote control applications, CNC machine control systems etc., as to what they can do with the end of support for XP updates. Well here are some recommendations:

1. First of all if you have an old system, doing a purpose designed job and it is NOT in any way connected to the internet, you can just leave it alone and it will continue to run fine. The update problem only relates to Computers that are connected to the Internet (even if only on occasions), as these systems are prone to the traditional weakness that XP had inherited in it's day in respect to fending off unwanted threats.

2. OK, So you do connect to the internet on occasions. Then in this case you can upgrade to Windows 7 (or 8.*), and suddenly your fully protected again. What if your apps don't work on the new Operating system?: Well we can get around that too, as we can virtually get ALL apps working on Windows 7+, just contact us and we can do the rest. It is (sometimes "easily") possible to get the new system looking pretty identical to the old one, it's just a matter of configuring it correctly. You might not even have to purchase new equipment, as many older systems can be upgraded to accommodate the new Windows, so costs can be kept to a minimum as required.

3. Your a regular internet user, and you don't have much by way of Custom software etc..  Then it might be simpler to just replace your old XP machine with a new model, but often pays to contact us in this case too, as we can offer free advise on how best to do it, depending on what your circumstances are.  So why not email XL Computers at info@xlcomp.com or phone us on +353 (0)91 770078, and we'll be only too happy to help. Look forward to chatting to you.

Item about "Info-Emails" (originally written: 27th Oct 2002)

Recently I was surprised to find a whole new plethora of useful information on the Internet, from websites I didn't know existed. However there is so much information out there, it's hard to know where to start.

One of our prime goals is to produce Info-Emails (Infomails) to our Subscribers that will help them find information that will be useful to them, or of general interest to them, just as you scan your local newspaper for information of interest only to YOU!.
It is important to note the distinction between these type of email and "Junk" mail, which is nuisance emails that have now become the scourge of the whole email system of transferring information to each other. We are totally opposed to the Junk mail culture that has prevailed recently, and in one of our coming Info-emails we intend to discuss this topic, and to shed some light on the do's and don'ts of setting up barriers to receiving junk mail. This (our inaugural Info-Email) will be dedicated to discussing Virus Protection, and some things we think are important in dealing with viruses.

Before going into this, I felt it important to further discuss the area of Infomails, and how this service came about. Many of our subscribers were having similar problems. e.g. Picking up the Same Viruses, and making the same mistakes in dealing with them, or having problems upgrading their Networks, the list goes on. Hence it seemed a good idea to set up and Info-email service, that will inform our subscribers of issues that may be important to them, and will help them work with the various aspects of information technology, that are complicated enough as it is. For a number of years now, I have been subscribing to various Infomail services,  such as getting a weekly E-zine (that's like an electronic weekly magazine), and every time I get these mails in my inbox, I do be looking forward to reading them. However, I hope that unlike me, you don't let these mails build up in your (say) E-zine folder, and then find you never had time to read them. However, I used to subscribe to a large number of periodical magazines (mainly monthly) such as (in the area of IT) PC World, PC Shopper, ComputerScope, Computer Weekly, Internet Now; And on the business side: The Economist, Management Today; And then of course there are the Daily and Sunday Newspapers, that I used to read religiously, which include, The Times, the Sunday Times, The Telegraph etc..

There used to be some pile of paper in the Bin each week (yuk.. how environmentally unpleasant). However, since moving to E-zines and Info-Emails,  I have found that it is much easier to be focussed on what you want to read, and because of the much lower cost of producing, and distributing them, you are also getting them for free (because of advertising sponsorship) or paying a very small price.

Hence I'm very excited about the concept of Info-Emails, and believe they have a bright future, and not just with this IT based information, the same is true of all other disciplines, and interest groups, so there will be a lot more valuable information on the way, and hopefully we can eliminate the junk.

Sharepoint 2010 Reviewed (9years on)

While installing a network server back in 2003. SBS 2003 at the time was just out, a new product, and it came with Sharepoint 2003, or I somehow ended up loading it as part of some promotion from Microsoft. Anyway, one of the company bosses had read the review on it at the time, and suggested I set it up for users and promote the concept, which I did. I spent weeks with various aspects of it, mainly working on an internal company "intranet" (as they were known at the time). The idea of the intranet site was that the company could share internal information and update it quickly and easily. However, after I'd completed it, it never really took off and lay there quickly becoming dated and something no one accessed any more over a number of months. I've heard many company executives talk about Sharepoint glowingly in the years since, so I decided to do a review of Sharepoint 2010 to see how it had grown/matured, as I wondered if it had suddenly become much more usable.

An overview described Sharepoint 2010 as a Platform of components that include the following areas covered by it:
- Sites
- Communities
- Content
- Search
- Composites
- Insights

I reviewed all of this information again, and of course nowadays there are many web tools that offer secuity for users within their sites to share information in whatever way they choose, and I'm thinking!!!*..   hmmm..   Haven't modern Sharepoint users ever heard of the INTERNET!!  :)



*Sure many of these tools didn't exist in 2003, so to me, Sharepoint made sense at the time..  Can anyone tell me what I'm missing?..

godaddy is currently down

We wish to apologise for our site (http://www.xlcomp.com) going down today at just after 5.30pm. This is because our site is ultimately hosted by godaddy.com, and at this time, http://www.godaddy.com site has gone down world-wide, and will remain down until further notice. Reports from cbsnews report that godaddy was hacked : "Twitter accounts claiming to be associated with the hacking group Anonymous claimed responsibility for the attack". We will post updates re: when normal site activity will resume as soon as we have that information available. In the meantime, we apologize for any inconvenience this outage may (have) caused for any of our valued users and clients. 

The importance of having the right Video driver that matches the Video Card on your PC or laptop

I had a customer call in and report that many of her applications were either not running correctly, were causing hanging, or were simply not running at all, and I know from this lady that she is unlikely to bring in malware (the first possible source of all this trouble), and right enough after checking her system it was clean from any malware..... 

Norton Virus - This is really the first true ANTI - antivirus I've ever come across!

I really think they should change the name of that (not-so) wonderful product owned by Smantec from "Norton Anti-virus" to "Norton Virus". I say this because on numerous occassions I have uploaded updates on PC's and various utilities, and on soooo many occassions a little utility called Norton Anti-virus security (or some such words) has crept in and is offering me free security, but if I want the real-deal I've got to pay them!.. Well if that is not (in essense) a virus, I don't know what is. Cause guess what!.. The first thing I do is remove it, and even then I get quizzed: "Are you absolutely sure you want to remove this wonderful protection system from your computer" (hey, don't quote me on the exact words but the essence of what they do is there!)

Free Software Versus purchased / paid for: Pros and cons?

One thing that has really amazed me in recent years is the blurring of quality between Free software, and those packages you pay for. In this blog, we are going to look at offerings on Office,  Desktop Publishing (DTP), Graphical design, CAD, and any other Genres that you the viewer of this site can suggest!. The idea here is to encourage our viewers to compile a general consensus on whether paid-for software is much better than free software, or in fact if the opposite may be true!. Lets forge ahead and find out!.

Connect from your home PC to your office PC: It's probably easier than you think!

Mary from Galway: I had XL setup a remote computer connection from my work to my home PC, and WOW! (read on!)...............

Essential Data needs to be protected, backed up on a regular basis

Essential Data:     The key is to keep essential data backed up that is regularly used or referenced. Such apps as Accounts, Workshop activity, CRM packages etc, all need regular backup, as if they are being used on a daily basis (or almost)....  

Removable Disk is not formatted, Do you want to format it now? HELP PLEASE!!

In many cases when removable media (e.g. External Hard disks, pen drives, SD cards etc.) get corrupted, they only way they can deal with it the next time they are used is by displaying the following message when they are plugged in:


Removable Disk is not formatted, Do you want to format it now?

XP2600 Personal Computer for Sale

XP2600 Personal Computer for Sale (This PC has just come in, and is running very well -fast):
1Gb ram, 120Gb hard drive, Wireless LAN built in. €120 (make me an offer?).

Computer System information recovery

Recovering the data off of a computer hard disk can be a tricky and complex job, so rather than make any recommendations on how to go about this, we would always advise to seek professional help (such as ourselves) instead of asking your friend (who may know a bit about computers), as the friend might make the problem worse.

Toshiba Laptop DVD+/-RW Drive not reading CD / DVD media

Found that CD lens appeared not to be reading any media, as normal operation appeared to happen whenever a CD or DVD was placed in the drive, yet nothing would appear, but the original DVD icon in Windows. Tried cleaning the lens using the recommended procedures, but to no avail. Replaced drive with similar model and system then appeared to work normally.

Acer Aspire 5520 Screen replacement job

We've replaced a screen on an Acer 5520 (original display badly cracked). Replacement screen was glossy (same as original one), and laptop looked really well with new screen.

Requirement to have a Shared internet Connection between an two buildings that are within close proximity

This Job involved setting up a Wireless Network BRIDGE between the Outhouse network and the Main House.
Setting up a Wireless bridge is the obvious option because of it's comparative simplicity and cost saving (compared with having to run a cable across a path and round a building), and has many other advantages, such as lower maintenance costs, quicker to setup etc.

MAIN PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG: To post Individual Work / Job Logs

We thought we'd add individual jobs to our Blog posts in order to provide useful tips to many who experience similar issues, as well as providing our customers with the opportunity give us some constructive feedback on work completed,  and to help us to continue to set higher standards of service on an ongoing basis.

Current Activity @ XL Computers

This blog has been recently setup on the site to discuss recent issues (and work types) we've met here at XL Computers, and to give you the chance to save time and money by taking advantage of some of the tips contained therein. - Or better still save yourself the headaches of potential disaster by using the services of XL Computers to sort out those issues for you at our usual reasonable pricing. We are also using this blog to assess Customer satisfaction ratings, and to understand how we can improve the services we already offer.

How is IT doing in Ireland at present?

Many of the experts are telling us that the IT Industry in Ireland had a slight downturn, in that the market for IT products and services dropped by about 12% in 2009, but 2010 is showing signs of recovery, and the projected growth by the end of 2010 will be only about -3% which is an improvement on last year. What are your thoughts on this and do you agree with the experts?.