I've spent a nice entire Sunday (and day off) removing virus' of the step boys laptop! Being 18 I'm sure I don't need to tell you the type of sites he was viewing to get the virus!
After trying several free anti virus and anti malware programs I was still being presented with the lovely "PC Confidential" virus / scam. The idea is you pay PC Confidential a ransom to get your PC back working, avast was also stating we had a MBR (boot sector) virus which I just couldn't shift.
I conceded defeat after several hours and rang Clive the DCi Net IT guru, I felt a bit bad ringing him on a Sunday , but I think he enjoyed the chat and the challenge of the problem.
In the end we decided to transfer the all important A level files (that hadn't been backed up!) to an SD card and reformat the hard drive.

I'm pleased to say after moving the files to the SD card and spending another few hours reinstalling windows 7 we finally have the PC up and working with the backed up files in place.
I've also now set up Mozy backup on his PC so should this happen again the files are backed up elsewhere.

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I went in to the office today and waiting for me was the Irwin Jack Evo Saw I won a couple of months ago.!!!

It's a fair bit longer than the cheapy tenon saw I use, more like a carpenters saw, so it should do the job. Being lazy and normally use the powered scorpion saw, although I have cut many a floorboard by hand.

The saw does claim's universal and will saw various woods and plastic. I'll be keeping it in the van for when I feel like a carpenter and I'm quite looking forward to trying it out.
Hope I don't remove any fingers...
Like I nearly did today when I slipped with my trusty stanley knife....... OUCH!! Nice inch gash out of my left index finger! Lots of blood, plasters and elecy tape.

This is our "Sparx blog", our staff are free to publish articles and thoughts here. Any opinions or advice contained in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of DCiNet Ltd.

We were installing a shower in Kessingland and had to move a wall unit screwed to the wall above the consumer unit. I was unscrewing the final screw when there was a loud bang, my hand,still holding the drill was blown backwards and the screw flew out of the wall past my right ear. The smell of burning electrics filled the smoky air and a burnt hole was now where the screw had been.

After the shock had subsided we investigated the problem. The screw had been driven right through the socket circuit. The screw head must have been live for years, the person putting the wall unit up obviously unaware!

We did an IR (Insulation Resistance) Test putting 250 volts down the cable to test the insulation, the result 0.14 megohms. The wiring regs state insulation should be a minimum of 1 megohms and the NICEIC state 2 megohms tested at 500 volts. Obviously with such a low reading on 250 volts we didn't bother with the higher voltage test.

We've now got the lovely job of stripping the cable out and replacing.

This is our "Sparx blog", our staff are free to publish articles and thoughts here. Any opinions or advice contained in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of DCiNet Ltd.