Blog | BLS Computer Solutions

Cost of Computing

by David Schneider | Aug 4, 2017 | Costs, Practical Computing, Technology

This post is aimed at giving you some helpful information when buying a new computer. It occurred to me to write about this subject because we have recently had a number of requests for new PCs with the reasons being varied from a new member of staff to a...

So, what is the Internet, how does it work and what’s a router

by David Schneider | Jun 30, 2017 | Practical Computing, Technology

In an episode of one of my favourite TV comedy programmes, The IT Crowd (ironically about the staff in an IT department), a prank was played on the boss who actually wasn't IT literate at all: She was told that the "Internet" was a small black plastic box with a tiny...

Cyber crime hits home

by David Schneider | May 14, 2017 | Security

Cyber crime – computer virus infections created for the specific purpose of extorting money has finally, and unfortunately made front page news – infecting NHS computers and other organisations. I’m not alone in asking the question how did this happen? The simple,...

A simple list of almost everything

by David Schneider | Feb 1, 2017 | Practical Computing

We recently had a customer's PC to look at that wasn't connecting to the Internet. It turned out that it was heavily infected and at several points we considered whether continuing to work on the PC to fix it was going to be cost effective or even possible: maybe a...

Make 2017 the year of the backup

by Billy Crouch | Dec 30, 2016 | Backup, Practical Computing

For a long time I've been happily living in the moment - computer-wise. But recently, a little voice in the back of my minds says "Wouldn't it be terrible if your computer crashed? You'd lose all your work, everything". That reminder to backup my computer is pertinent...

Christmas presents for PCs

by David Schneider | Dec 6, 2016 | IT Support, Windows

With the festive season almost in full swing and Christmas and its holiday to look forward to, what’s the best present you can give your computer this Christmas? Some TLC of course! Spend a little time : Backup your computer files – keep what you have (and love!) Make...

If in doubt, don’t click

by David Schneider | Oct 12, 2016 | Security

On the whole I do enjoy getting emails from customers. The best ones are probably when they buy something from us... but almost as good is when they want confirmation that they've saved themselves time and money. An example of this popped into my inbox a short while...

The pain of passwords present and future

by David Schneider | Jun 30, 2016 | IT Support, Security

With all the other news that has recently grabbed the headlines (UK out of Europe and England knocked out of Europe by Iceland to name but 2), it is easy to miss a number of (other) important news items. Sad to say that the stories I am referring to are not good news...

Your IT – let’s be careful out there

by David Schneider | May 31, 2016 | IT Support, Security

I can't remember the number of times I was told as a child - "be careful crossing the road". I guess it worked or I was fortunate. I think the same concept is probably true about IT security - understand the basics, remind regularly and put into practice what works...

Look at the light show but be careful

by David Schneider | May 6, 2016 | Security, Technology

I wrote back in December about Internet connected devices and wondered what interesting stories may be forthcoming. There's a couple of recent stories that have piqued my interested. The first is about a hotel using android devices to light rooms, and not being very...