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Father Brian
Brentwood, Essex, England
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My experience of PC World has been just as good. I returned a faulty item but didn't have the receipt. I was told I couldn't have a refund as there was no proof of purchase. I replied that with all the information they wanted at the time of sale, they had the proof on file.
Five minutes later, after being accused of being abusive (no, I was assertive but they couldn't tell the difference) a glaring manager deigned to enter my postcode and found - surprise, surprise - the required proof. Refund about £12, loss of customer goodwill - total.
Not so easy PC (World)
Over the weekend, I was helping out a friend with the purchase of a new computer system. We rather fancied the concept of an all-in-one machine and identified an ideal candidate in the HP 520-520-1110ea 23” Touchscreen model which was available from PC-World at a surprising £120 discount on the ...
Is that the new Boeing deep furrow plough?
Limoges Airport—Ryanair Water-Ski team
Following the recent 'aquaplane' incident on Friday March 21st, we have acquired some great photographs which may be reproduced without permission. Fortunately, nobody was hurt when the Ryanair flight from Brussels skidded-off the end of the runway in wet and blustery conditions. NB Click on Thu...
Of course none of the cloud computing hosts would dream of data-mining your private files, would they? Perish the thought!
Your friend's experience with Hotmail (or any other web-based email) is a salutary lesson for anyone thinking of saving money with this route. Not long ago I passed a solicitor's office in Ilford, Essex and noticed it uses a Hotmail address. Makes you go hot and cold at the thought of the implications for client confidentiality.
It's bad enough with data and email but a lot worse with money. PayPal is notorious for freezing accounts and denying users their funds. Again, it's nigh-on impossible to speak with a human being to resolve matters. It's incredible that people trust an outfit that few had heard of 10 years ago and which doesn't hold a UK banking licence.
'Cloud' Cuckoo Land
Of late, it has become increasingly trendy to describe various information processing services as being in 'The Cloud' which is just a fancy new name for the old concept of keeping your essential personal and business data on a computer controlled by somebody else. Indeed, Google have recently l...
I'm not qualified to comment on flying matters (or much else) but I get worried when I hear someone described as "career".
Since the 1960s we've suffered from career politicians - people in it solely for their personal advancement and pecuniary interest, with no experience of real life and never having had a proper job.
My feet are fixed firmly to the ground but I shudder at the thought of being taught to fly by anyone narrowly focussed on their own commercial interests.
Flying should be fun!
How many times have I said to my students the words "flying should be fun"?. Flying is only fun when you are confident in yourself and your ability to fly your aircraft, when you receive your PPL this is the gateway to gaining a lifetime of experience and knowledge.Every time that you fly an...
It's amazing that people who'd never dream of passing on a chain letter will do the same thing on email. Perhaps it's because they don't have to buy stamps and walk to the post-box.
My wife's cousin's wife (work that one out) regularly forwards chain emails drawing attention to all manner of injustices around the world. A year ago many of them concerned Madeleine McCann. Recently some have highlighted (if that were necessary) the disgraceful treatment of Gurkha veterans by Gordon Brown's government.
There's nothing like a missing child or sick animal to tug at the heart-strings. I'm sure she genuinely believes she's assisting the cause but the likely outcome is nothing more than email address list-building.
I added her email address to my Outlook Blocked Senders list but they keep appearing in my Inbox. Have I inadvertently found a program bug? Or is it a Microsoft feature?
Free Lap-Top?—I Don't Think So!!
This morning, I received the following email from one of my contacts: Dear All Ericsson are distributing free laptops for their brand promotion. They are hoping to increase their popularity and sales with this campaign. All you need to do is send an email about this promotion to 8 people and yo...
Well said. Unfortunately I fear things will get worse before they get better, if they ever do. The anti-spam industry seems to be growing by the day.
If the example of the anti-virus industry is anything to go by, things will only get worse. There was a suggestion a few years ago that McAfee, Norton and such actually encouraged virus-writing. If they didn't exist there'd be nothing for those saddos to challenge.
Anti-Spam getting out of hand
Last week, I reported that Hotmail had blocked all email from Plusnet whose servers had apparently been 'blacklisted' for sending out 'spam'. Following representations from Plusnet, this ban was lifted though Plusnet users were left unable to communicate with Hotmail users for something like 48 ...
You are correct - it is an offence to tamper with the Royal Mail, punishable by a period of imprisonment. It would be immensely satisifying to see the CEO responsible for Microsoft's Hotmail operations in a federal penitentiary.
However, companies like Microsoft and eBay are now beyond control and treat the world as their personal fiefdom. They have become judge, jury and executioner. Their influence is now beyond that of mere governments, especially given the low calibre of modern politicians.
Hotmail becomes NOTmail
Yesterday morning, I noticed that emails to Hotmail users were being 'bounced' with the following message: The following message to xxxxxxxx@hotmail.comwas undeliverable. The reason for the problem: 5.1.0 - Unknown address error 550-'SC-004 Mail rejected by Windows Live Hotmail for policy reaso...
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