Continue reading »]]> If you’ve been following my tweets lately, you’ll know that I recently moved GEEK! to a brand new VPS server. I did this for many reasons – but primarily because I felt that I was ready to move on from shared hosting and onto something where I’ll learn a little more about how webservers work. GEEK!’s been running well over three years now – and I’ve been through many web hosting providers during that time. I was beginning to get tired of hoping other people on shared servers wouldn’t jeopardize your uptime stats – there always seemed to be some kind of resource hog!

Nonetheless, I went on the hunt for a cheap-ish yet good quality VPS provider (I might have stayed with my old provider HostParcel as, in fairness, they were pretty good – but sadly they don’t offer VPS services) and was pointed to South West Broadband. They seem to be pretty new in VPS services, but I was interested in their good value and seemingly honest services.

So I signed up to their lowest price package to see what was what. For £8 a month, I was given a VPS with 256MB RAM (although I’m told this will soon become 512MB), 10GB storage, 300GB bandwidth and a Linux flavour of my choice (I was recommended to Debian). Pretty neat, I thought – and very good value nonetheless! They also offer a 12 month prepayment discount – giving you 12 months for the price of 10, if you’re happy to commit.

And to be totally honest, so far I’m really impressed. The customer support is superb – better than I’ve ever seen in a hosting provider. You get access to online support via Skype or a ticketing system – as well as an emergency telephone number which isn’t premium rate (this is something I really like to see).

The server they assigned me seems to work very well. You get full SSH access (which you’d expect) and you are allowed access to all the controls and commands that you’ll ever need. Response times from the server are incredible – from my college in Oxford I can get a response from the server just outside London in just 4ms – pretty darn good!

As for value for money – I’ve never seen such value. I’d always considered VPS services very expensive – but £8 a month is hardly expensive for the system you get.

So really I haven’t got many (if any) complaints. For decent value, high performance VPS servers with decent customer support, I couldn’t think of anywhere else to recommend you!

Oh, by the way – SWB aren’t actually offering their VPS packages on their website yet. However, if you contact them via twitter they seem to be happy to sort you out with a package. They also offer a decent range of shared and reseller packages, so if a VPS isn’t your thing, they’re bound to have something that is.

Continue reading »]]> If you’re under the age of 18 and have been wondering why Google+ isn’t available to you – it’s because Google insisted they wanted to implement specific privacy features before it went live to minors.

Now, it’s been done – and anyone 13 years of age or older can open an account. Google say that specific privacy rules will be preset until you’re 18, but at least Google might finally get the audience I feel they should be targeting!

Continue reading »]]> O2′s in the doghouse today after an angry customer pointed out that his phone number was being handed out to the webmaster of every site he visited over a 3G connection. It turns out that if you visited a webpage from a 3G connection on your phone between 10th January and 2pm UK time today, chances are your phone number has been handed out to at least one person.

Obviously, this caused quite a lot of uproar from customers. O2 quickly responded by fixing the issue within a few hours and then posted rather a long Q&A post on their blog detailing what had happened.

It would seem the company also took the oppertunity to remind customers that some “trusted” partners are allowed to get hold of our mobile numbers if they decide it is necessary. They claim that some companies using premium rate services need phone numbers so that any charges can be added to your bill – but many customers are questioning whether O2 are actually being transparent here.

Nonetheless, this is a pretty big blow for O2 and the customer outrage has attracted the attention of the Information Commissioner. O2 also say that they’re in touch with Ofcom to discuss what happened.

Continue reading »]]> As you may have noticed, I’ve recently moved GEEK! to a brand new VPS – which, hopefully, will massively improve the uptime and performance of the site in the long run. It’s a little too early to tell, but now most of the trial bugs are ironed out, improvements should start to be seen soon.

However, by moving my site (and all other sites I run) to a VPS, I have had to make some sacrifices. The key sacrifice on my end has been cPanel – which I’ve used ever since I started working with web servers. I love cPanel – it’s generally very reliable and controls most of the functions I would ever want. But now, as I’m slowly getting more experienced with the way web servers work, I thought it would be a good time to move on to something a little more advanced (and, as a result, cheaper). I was recommended to ISPConfig – a free and open source control panel for web servers running on Linux. And after a slow start, I seem to be getting the hang of it.

The one thing that really did get to me for a while was the poor performance of the spam filter built into ISPConfig. ISPConfig relies on SpamAssassin – which is, when configured correctly, a very powerful spam filter. But for some reason, it just wasn’t working on my installation of ISPConfig. Spam would get through and it can get seriously frustrating!

Thankfully I now have it cracked – and wanted to share the configuration I chose for ISPConfig and SpamAssassin. I think the correct settings vary from person to person – but if you want general spam filtering, this should show you how to get it.

Instructions

First of all, make sure a ‘spamfilter’ policy is active both for the email domain you’re using and for each email mailbox. I chose the Uncensored policy in my case – but different rules apply to each setting. I found Uncensored to be most effective, but simply choosing this won’t make it work properly.

Once you’re happy that it’s supposedly on, you need to modify the rules for the policy you chose. Head to the ‘Email’ tab, and then from the left menu select ‘Policy’ under the ‘Spamfilter’ section (see screenshot that follows).

Select the policy you’re working with by simply clicking on it. Then select the ‘Tag-Level’ tab. This is where you set how sensitive SpamAssassin actually is. I found that the first three settings needed to be set as the following:

SPAM tag level: 3
SPAM tag2 level: 3.4
SPAM kill level: 5

The other settings requiring a number can be left alone. However, to make SPAM easier to separate, I’d suggest you turn on ‘SPAM modifies subject’ and choose a tag you’d like to add to SPAM emails. Here’s what the page might look like when you’re done (see screenshot that follows). 

Hit ‘Save’ and it’s a good’en. If you also want to move SPAM email to a seperate Junk folder, you can do so by going to the ‘Email Mailbox’ page from the left menu, then selecting your email account and clicking the ‘Mail Filter’ tab. Simply tick the ‘Move Spam Emails to Junk directory’ checkbox and dodgy email will be moved.

Hopefully that should get you going and stop infuriating SPAM emails reaching your inbox.

Continue reading »]]> Well, GEEK! is just over three years old now; and during that time I’ve written over 400 posts. So, while I don’t really want to add anything too new to GEEK! while I get my backup system finalised, I thought now would be a good time to run over some of the posts have brought the most traffic to GEEK!.

By far and away, the most popular post on GEEK! is the “Get the old Windows Live Essentials back“. So many of you were fed up with the poor functionality of Essentials 2011 (including me), so I linked you up with a download and instructions to get the old 2009 version back.

Next up, it’s the tool I found that allowed you to find the biggest files on your hard drive. The tiny tool quickly locates the files that are occupying the most space on your drive, allowing you to delete anything you see as unnecessary.

My review of the Samsung N145P netbook brought the next largest amount of attention to GEEK!. A fully comprehensive review that details everything you needed to know.

Not too far behind, my finding of TVCatchup back in mid 2009 provided Freeview TV access over the internet (in the UK). I still use the site regularly when I’m on the go, as it provides live TV without a bombardment of adverts.

Last in the top five, it’s my iPod touch 4G review. Simple and sweet – it explains all the new features that were (and still are) great additions to the iPod range.

And that’s it – a round-up of the top five biggest posts on GEEK!. Normal service on GEEK! will resume soon, but I’m just optimising the backup process on my new VPS!

Continue reading »]]> Right – I literally just upgraded the motherboard on my computer and then reinstalled Windows. Rather stupidly, I didn’t think to check I had all the driver disks for my USB devices – and nonetheless I since haven’t been able to get a driver for my USB TV Tuner.

It’s a PEAK USB Dual Tuner DVB-T, and I had it running perfectly on my original 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium. However, I’ve now moved over to 64-bit Windows – which is great, but I can’t for the life of me find the stupid mini-CD that came with the device to install the driver.

Even more annoyingly – the company’s website (PEAK) is no longer working (www.peakhardware.com), and there aren’t any drivers on any public driver site – so I was absolutely stuck there.

Thankfully, I had a eureka moment and realised that I’d, in the past, also installed the tuner on my netbook. Whilst I couldn’t use the driver on that (because it is 32-bit), I was able to identify the name of the driver used and get a copy online (much more readily available).

Anyway – if you’re having the same problem as me – it uses a driver called the AF9015 BDA Device - and luckily enough, I have a driver for you!

DOWNLOAD NOW (direct from GEEK!) – please read instructions below! (file size: 600KB approx)
Please note: GEEK! accepts NO liability for any damage this driver may do to you or your computer. Every effort is made to make sure the drivers are safe and fully functional – but no guarantees can be made whatsoever. Please use this at your own risk. 

INSTRUCTIONS TO INSTALL:

1. Right, take a good look at the files in the ZIP folder. Fully extract it with whatever program you want to use. Navigate to the relevant folder for your Windows installation (either 32-bit or 64-bit). Don’t try and run the EXE files in either folders. They are included for reference, but probably will not work. This is because the applications won’t be able to detect the device and therefore will fail.
2. Plug in your device. Windows will tell you it’s detected it and try to install it (or prompt you to find the driver if you’re using Windows XP).
3. If you’re using Windows Vista or 7, the device should be identified as “DVB T-2″ or “DVB-T2″ but will not install because Windows won’t be able to find a driver. Cancel any installations dialogs if you’re using Windows XP, and if you’re on Vista/7 ignore any failure messages.
4. Copy the driver folders that you’ve downloaded to a place you’ll find them later – I’d suggest a folder on the root of your hard drive. Name the folder something you’ll remember and dump all the files from the download in it.
5. Now go to Device Manager on your computer. In Vista/7, you’ll find it from Control Panel. In XP, you’ll need to go to System in Control Panel and then click the Hardware tab, followed by Device Manager.
6. The device should be flagged up immediately with a yellow exclamation mark next to it. Double click the listing. Click the Driver tab and click Update Driver…
7. You now need to select the options which indicate manually finding a driver (in Windows Vista/7, click the Browse my computer for driver software button). Select the option to manually locate a driver from a disk (Windows Vista/7 – Let me pick from a list of device drivers), click Have Disk…and browse to the folder you dumped the driver files for your type of operating system. Select the only file that Windows flags up – which should be an INF file. Then select the driver that comes up in the list (AF9015 BDA Device).
8. Windows will warn you that this driver may not be suitable for the device. Ignore this warning, and proceed with installation.
9. Windows will now attempt installation, and it should then successfully install within a couple of minutes. With any luck, that’s it – you can now use the device.

You now need to find a piece of software for watching TV with. If you have Windows Vista Home Premium (or above) or Windows 7 Home Premium (or above), you can simply use Windows Media Center (which I prefer using anyway). You should also be able to use Windows Media Center if you have XP Media Center Edition 2005. Otherwise, you’ll need to find some third party – can’t help there myself, sorry.

Hopefully, that should solve the problem!

Continue reading »]]> You may well have got yourself a brand new phone this Christmas, which is always a nice present now-a-days. I, myself, got a brand new HTC Sensation XE for Christmas (technically it was an early Christmas present – or at least part of it was!) – which I adore.

But it does beg the question, what happens to the old phone? Mine always seem to end up sitting in boxes until they’re no use to anyone at all. This time I thought I’d sent it off to a recycling company. There’s method in the madness – people will pay you to recycle your old phone, but you have to be careful when you do so. So here are some top tips for recycling your old phone:

• Shop around – find the best price. You’d normally see that phrase when buying a gadget, but it does also applying to selling gadgets too. Just because a phone recycling company advertises on TV, doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll give you the best price. In fact, there’s actually quite a lot of mobile phone recycling companies around – so you’re more than likely to find a better price if you do some hunting. Take a look at sellmymobile.com - just type in your make/model and it’ll do the rest for you.
• Check the price you’re getting is consistent. Make sure you read the terms & conditions carefully when you’re selling the phone. Some buyers will only offer you a certain payment within a number of days – after which point they can lower that offer by a substantial amount. Also make sure that you’re not under any contractual obligation – it’s your phone,  you can change your mind if you want.
• Make sure you’ve backed up anything you want to keep… If you want to keep anything (like camera shots, contacts or messages), make sure you’ve got a copy safely stored on your computer or on another phone. Once you’ve sent off your phone, you may not get it back (and if you do, it may well have been flashed to remove all content). Most recent phones include software to back up content on your phone – so make use of it!
• …and deleted anything you don’t want to keep. Make sure to ‘restore factory settings’ on the phone before handing it over. You don’t want any of your personal details (or friends’ personal details) to end up in someone else’s hands. Restoring factory settings will put the phone back to how it was when you first got it, and should delete any content that was once there.
• Remove any accessories that you aren’t required to hand over. As already mentioned, you may not get your phone back – even if you request it. So make sure you remove any accessories you don’t have to hand over (perhaps accessories that you bought yourself) like memory cards, cases and spare batteries. Memory cards may well come in handy on new phones, and if not they’re a handy portable storage medium.

There you have it. Five tips to make the most of phone recycling companies. It’s debatable as to whether you’re better off auctioning your phones on sites like eBay – but if you just can’t be bothered with the hassle, you’re quickest way to get some cash is to hand it over to one of these companies. Just make sure you’re not being ripped off!

Continue reading »]]> Ever since I got my new phone – the HTC Sensation XE (which I love to pieces) – I’ve had the problem of stupidly poor battery life. Apparently this is an age-old Android problem where many smartphones don’t have the battery capacity to provide a decent level of charge.

With me, being a bit of a tech-head, I’ve got to the point where my phone battery will barely get me through the day. That’s because I spend a fair amount of time downloading and using apps, interacting with social networks, and generally browsing the net. Whilst none of these tasks should be particularly demanding, they do have a massive negative impact on the battery.

One way of solving this problem would be to just stop using my phone so regularly. I have done tests and found that if I’m really frugal with my phone – just using it for the odd text and call during the day – I can make the battery last all day long with some power to spare. But I don’t believe that, when I’ve committed to spending over £500 on a phone in 2 years, I should have to be limited as to what functionality I can use on the go.

So, I had to find a way of keeping the battery charged when I’m out and about. There are many ways of doing this:

• Obviously the easiest (and cheapest) solution is to look into little chargers like car chargers – which draw current from the cigarette lighter in your car – to keep the battery going strong. Yes, if you spend hours in the car daily (which many people obviously do) then this is your simple solution – but I personally don’t. Also, bear in mind that most smartphones will simply charge via a USB cable – so if you spend most of your working life in an office, then you should simply be able to plug your device into a port on your computer and charge it.
• You could invest in “green” portable charging solutions – such as solar chargers. Long time readers of GEEK! will know I’ve tested multiple solar chargers in the past – and in many cases they’re absolutely great. However, they do take some time to charge and if you’re not within easy access to sunlight for most of the day, you’re wasting your time.
• Another simple option would just be to buy another battery for your phone. This is a cheap solution and will work effectively. However, the problem with this is that if you can’t get a charging “dock” for your battery, you have to constantly switch batteries in your phone to make sure each one is charged up. This is a hassle!

The usual solutions weren’t going to work for me, so I had a browse on Amazon and came across an ideal solution. It’s called the Yoobao 11200mAh External Battery Pack. It’s available on Amazon for around about £30.

You might have heard of these external battery packs before. They’re quite simple really – they have a moderately powerful battery inside them and simply provide a USB port to charge any USB device you like. However, this one is very different!

For starters, the battery is insanely powerful. The 11200mAh battery is the most powerful portable battery I’ve ever seen. If you bear in mind that my Sensation XE has a battery capacity of 1730mAh – then this means the battery pack should be able to charge my phone at least 5 or 6 times (minus some inefficiencies).

It also is a dual-port USB charger. This means it can charge two devices at the same time. Not only that, but one of the charging ports is a 2 amp charging port – which means the device is quite capable of charging more demanding devices like the iPad 2.

The device also has an emergency LED light onboard – which is powerful enough to provide illumination when most needed – and because the onboard battery is so powerful, the LED can be (theoretically) illuminated for several weeks on a single charge!

There are also 5 LED power indicators which tell you how much charge is remaining in the device.

I’ve owned my device about a week now and have to say it really is a lifesaver when my phone’s battery is running down – for the sake of £30 it really isn’t a huge price to pay. With it being able to charge more than one gadget and also being capable of charging the iPad and other demanding devices – it’s perfect for any power-hungry user.

Continue reading »]]> GEEK! is just about wrapping up for Christmas now, so I thought this would be the best time to wish all GEEK! readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

In the New Year, GEEK! will return to carry on with the best of the tech news, reviews and random discussion! As you may have noticed, GEEK! has recently starting using a brand new theme, which will get some minor tweaks in early January.

In mean time – enjoy the festivities and have a warm, safe and Merry Christmas.

Continue reading »]]> O2 recently announced that Pay Monthly customers will lose their free access to The Cloud wifi services as of February 2012.

If you’re on a data plan with O2, you may be aware that you currently have free access to both BT Openzone and The Cloud as part of your contract. Handy for making sure you’re not using your limited data allowance when you’re in a public place.

Sadly, as of 1st February 2012, O2 customers won’t be able to use The Cloud for free wifi. O2 say all data customers will still have access to BT Openzone and also to their own wifi networks (but O2 wifi networks are free to anyone, anyway).

This probably has something to do with the sale of The Cloud to BSkyB. Bit of a shame really, as there are The Cloud hotspots at my local train station and at various other public places that I use – but no major loss I guess.