John Wragg's Support Blog http://johnsblog.org PC support, Website development and IT Consultancy Mon, 08 Nov 2010 13:40:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Theme Showcase http://johnsblog.org/2010/theme-showcase/ http://johnsblog.org/2010/theme-showcase/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 11:24:18 +0000 Johnwr http://johnsblog.org/?p=294 John Wragg’s tailored themes based on the Atrtisteer theme generator software:

Other generic sample WordPress themes

Blueprint Theme

Preview Theme

Description: A simple WordPress theme based on the Blueprint CSS Framework.

Company Website 001

Preview Theme

Description: Ideal for a company website. Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS.

DeepBlue

Preview Theme

Description: DeepBlue is a free theme by Daily Blog Tips. Tags:blue color, right sidebar, three columns, fixed width

Fixed Blix

Preview Theme

Description: Fixed or fluid width. Language localization support. View the Blix Gallery at the demo site. Read Me. Original theme by Sebastian Schmieg. Adapted by dancer.

Hybrid

Preview Theme

Description: A user-friendly, search-engine optimized theme framework, featuring 18 custom page templates and multiple widget-ready areas, allowing you to create any type of site you want.

JW_johnsblog

Preview Theme

Description: Artisteer-generated theme

JW_movetolive_6

Preview Theme

Description: Artisteer-generated theme

JW_NatureWalks

Preview Theme

Description: Artisteer-generated theme

SF-Blueprint-WP

Preview Theme

Description: A simple WordPress theme based on the Blueprint CSS Framework.

Twenty Eleven

Preview Theme

Description: The 2011 theme for WordPress is sophisticated, lightweight, and adaptable. Make it yours with a custom menu, header image, and background — then go further with available theme options for light or dark color scheme, custom link colors, and three layout choices. Twenty Eleven comes equipped with a Showcase page template that transforms your front page into a showcase to show off your best content, widget support galore (sidebar, three footer areas, and a Showcase page widget area), and a custom “Ephemera” widget to display your Aside, Link, Quote, or Status posts. Included are styles for print and for the admin editor, support for featured images (as custom header images on posts and pages and as large images on featured “sticky” posts), and special styles for six different post formats.

Twenty Ten

Preview Theme

Description: The 2010 theme for WordPress is stylish, customizable, simple, and readable — make it yours with a custom menu, header image, and background. Twenty Ten supports six widgetized areas (two in the sidebar, four in the footer) and featured images (thumbnails for gallery posts and custom header images for posts and pages). It includes stylesheets for print and the admin Visual Editor, special styles for posts in the “Asides” and “Gallery” categories, and has an optional one-column page template that removes the sidebar.

Vigilance

Preview Theme

Description: A lean and clean WordPress theme featuring standards and search friendly code. Theme Options Menu allows for serious customization. Designed and coded by Jestro.

WordPress Classic

Preview Theme

Description: The original WordPress theme that graced versions 1.2.x and prior.

]]> http://johnsblog.org/2010/theme-showcase/feed/ 0 Acer Aspire 3000 laptop http://johnsblog.org/2010/acer-aspire-3000-laptop/ http://johnsblog.org/2010/acer-aspire-3000-laptop/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:56:35 +0000 Johnwr http://johnsblog.org/?p=283 This refurbbished laptop includes:

  • 1.8 Ghz AMD cpu
  • 704 MB RAM
  • 40 GB nominal HDD disk dive
  • 15″ integral screen
  • WiFi Wireless
]]> http://johnsblog.org/2010/acer-aspire-3000-laptop/feed/ 1 DELL Dimension with 19″ TFT http://johnsblog.org/2010/dell-dimension-with-19-tft-display/ http://johnsblog.org/2010/dell-dimension-with-19-tft-display/#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:09:23 +0000 Johnwr http://johnsblog.org/?p=267 This floor standing refurbished PC comprises:

  • DELL Dimension 2300
  • Pentium 4 cpu, 250 GH
  • 1.00 MB RAM
  • 76.6 GB HDD
  • Samsung SyncMaster 191t 19″ TFT external display
  • D-Link wireless

Also available

  • Microsoft Office 2007 (£50 installed)
  • Microsoft wireless mouse and keyboard
  • 5.1 sound card
  • 10/100 Ethernet LAN card

In addition to the Software Installed this PC includes a copy of Microsoft Works.

]]> http://johnsblog.org/2010/dell-dimension-with-19-tft-display/feed/ 1 Laptop Hybrid PC for Sale http://johnsblog.org/2010/laptop-hybrid-pc-for-sale/ http://johnsblog.org/2010/laptop-hybrid-pc-for-sale/#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:59:34 +0000 Johnwr http://johnsblog.org/?p=260 This started life as a DELL Inspiron 6000 laptop, but developed a faulty screen. I was able to remove the screen, and use an external 17″ 1024 x 768 TFT flat screen display. This actually gives better desktop ergonomics than the original laptop.

The hardware specification is:

  • Intel Pentium 1.73 GHz cpu
  • 0.99 GB RAM
  • 34 GB HDD

Microsoft Office 2002 is included in addition to the Software Installed.

]]> http://johnsblog.org/2010/laptop-hybrid-pc-for-sale/feed/ 1 Refurbished PCs – Software Installed http://johnsblog.org/2010/refurbished-pcs-software-included/ http://johnsblog.org/2010/refurbished-pcs-software-included/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:09:48 +0000 Johnwr http://johnsblog.org/?p=255 Latest versions of the following system software are included and installed on all refurbished PCs, unless otherwise stated.

  • Windows XP SP3
  • Firefox web browser
  • ccleaner
  • Tune Up Utilities 2009
  • AVG Free
  • Adobe Acrobat
  • WinZip
  • Adobe Flash Player
  • Windows XP updates
  • K-Lite codec pack
  • Paragon Recovery Free
]]> http://johnsblog.org/2010/refurbished-pcs-software-included/feed/ 0 Used PC Upgrades & Sales http://johnsblog.org/2010/pc-upgrades/ http://johnsblog.org/2010/pc-upgrades/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:54:13 +0000 Johnwr http://johnsblog.org/?p=191 The following upgrade services and sales are offered within travelling distance of Findhorn near Forres, Moray, Scotland:

Upgrade old Windows XP PC or Laptop

New Hard Disc Drive £60
1 GB RAM memory £25

Instal AVG Anti-Virus free software, Acrobat

Update Firefox

 £25
Clean up redundant files, startup files, registry, desktop £25
Total £150

Upgrade Newer XP or Vista to Windows 7

Windows 7 Upgrade Package £70
Installation £30
Sub-total £100

Plus, if required:

  • Application transfer
  • New Hard Disc Drive
  • 1 GB RAM memory

£50

£60

£40

Used PCs and Laptops for Sale

W98 Older XP Newer XP
Bought £50 £100 £150
Refurbished

and Sold

 £150 (Ubuntu) £200 £250

(subject to availability)

]]> http://johnsblog.org/2010/pc-upgrades/feed/ 0 E-commerce http://johnsblog.org/2009/e-commerce/ http://johnsblog.org/2009/e-commerce/#comments Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:50:05 +0000 Johnwr http://johnsblog.org/?p=170 Benefits of E-commerce

Selling your own or somebody else’s products on the web can be a supplementary source of income if your main business is providing a personal service, say as a healer. It can also be a significant source of income itself.

The costs of finding and selling products to new customers can be much reduced, but there are payment transaction costs, IT system and support costs. Please contact us if you would like to discuss an appropriate business model, which should be done before any decisions on a website.

Recommended Solutions and Costs

The following recommendations and indicative costs are based on the analysis and review of E-commerce systems on  John Wragg’s Main Website, which describes the options and potential solutions in more detail.

A few web pages or products

Cost from £200, plus £40 per product, plus hosting and ongoing maintenance £100 pa.

5 – 12 Products

Cost from £500, plus £25 per product, plus hosting and ongoing maintenance £100 pa.

Tens of Products

Website using:

Cost from £750, plus £25 per product, plus hosting and ongoing maintenance £ tba pa.

Hundreds of Products

Cost from £850, plus £25 per product, plus hosting and ongoing maintenance £tba pa.

Please Contact Us to arrange a free initial consultation with no obligation.

]]> http://johnsblog.org/2009/e-commerce/feed/ 0 Article Website Content http://johnsblog.org/2009/article-website-content/ http://johnsblog.org/2009/article-website-content/#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:04:00 +0000 Johnwr http://johnsblog.org/?p=162 Adding one or more articles related to the theme and keywords of a website can add interest for site visitors, build up your reputation and help with the search engines.

There are several possible approaches:

1) Write your own. This is best, and then you can make them available to others for free provided they include a link back to your site.

Article publishing agencies that are reputable and effective (with a Google Page Rank of 5 or 6) include:

2) A variant is to hire a writer on the web to write unique content for you. This can be done from $10 an article and you could then edit the result to suit.

3) Use somebody else’s article, with permission (possibly via one of the above agencies). But you will not get the credit, and Google does not like multiple copies of the same content on different sites. Not recommended.

4) Syndicate content from another site’s RSS feed, as described on my web page at http://www.johnwr.co.uk/htmlsite/consult/rsscontent.php

Hopefully this content feed will be updated regularly by the author, which helps on balance with Google.

It is still duplicate content, but should be OK if it is at the bottom of the page, as in:
http://www.johnwr.co.uk/htmlsite/consult/rsscontent.php#ITtoolbox,

as opposed to

http://www.johnwr.co.uk/htmlsite/consult/johnsblog.php

or a complete imported article such as:
http://www.johnwr.co.uk/htmlsite/marketing/webmktg.htm

For further information pease see my website pages:

Regards

PS
The optimum length of a web page or article is said to be around 450 words, as opposed to this blog which 239 words.

PPS
Any article on yor site should have consistent Meta Tag Title, Description and keywords.

]]> http://johnsblog.org/2009/article-website-content/feed/ 0 Apple Mac Anti-virus http://johnsblog.org/2009/apple-mac-anti-virus/ http://johnsblog.org/2009/apple-mac-anti-virus/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:52:04 +0000 Johnwr http://johnsblog.org/?p=156 What about anti-virus on the Apple Mac? My experience is limited, but Sophos seem to have it covered, though costing several hundred pounds for the business market. But see:

]]> http://johnsblog.org/2009/apple-mac-anti-virus/feed/ 0 Anti-Virus Software http://johnsblog.org/2009/anti-virus-software/ http://johnsblog.org/2009/anti-virus-software/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:15:57 +0000 Johnwr http://johnsblog.org/?p=149 Up to date anti-virus software remains essential, and I am still sticking with and recommending AVG.

[ www.kaspersky.co.uk/ comes out ahead in the reviews, but would you want to hand over control of your PC to a Russian company?]

There have been some installation and upgrade problems with AVG, which has jumped to V9.0. You need to remove all traces of other anti-virus software before installing it. Norton is particularly insidious, and you may need to download the Norton Removal Tool.

If you get an error message “invalid Update Control CTF file” after upgrading or installing AVG see the attached Comment for the fix, or else the AVG Support FAQ.

AVG now offer:

  • V9.0 Anti-Virus Free,
  • Anti-virus (£27.99) and
  • Internet Security (£39.99),

see the AVG Product Ccomparison. It is probably worth paying for the Anti-Rootkit, as part of Anti-Virus. If you get a Rootkit infection can be very serious, and you may not be able to clear it. Although you can try for free:

Regards

PS:

A good security blog, not too technical, and associated weekly email list is available from Sophos at http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/ They have a good reputation but mainly address the business market.

PPS:

Remember that you need one each of:

  • anti-virus,
  • anti-spyware (such as Spybot – search and destroy) and a
  • firewall (which is probably part of your broadband ADSL router).

For further details please see my website Internet Security Page

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