No TV. This is a business broadband connection, so the modem looks pretty cheap & tacky - but they won't supply me with another one - say there's nothing wrong with the current one even though it's a few years old.

Floss,

If you can assign the iPod a static IP and get it off DHCP, then I would do so. Also, in my earlier post, I should have said get all PCs and laptops onto static IPs, not just the wireless ones.

Thanks Hils. I'll see what I, with my limited skills, can do.

Floss,

I asked my husband about this last night because it's a problem we had some time back and I wasn't 100% sure that what I had said was correct.

To assign a static IP address to each of your machines see here. That link only covers Windows machines - my husband said that he left the iPod Touches, iPhones, Galaxies, etc on DHCP because he couldn't be bothered to go through all that malarky as well. I would have thought that they can be assigned a static IP though because we had the Sky man out to look at our HD box a couple of months back and we got him to assign a static IP for the On Demand gizmo.

The static IP pool that we use on the servers, PCs and laptops is from 192.168.0.50 and upwards.

On the router homepage we then assigned a DHCP pool which was outside the range of anything used by any of the machines using static IPs - namely 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.20. That way the only conflicts that could possibly occur would be between two mobile devices themselves, and my husband figured that, if it happened, it would be far quicker to restart a mobile phone than to reboot a PC.

After doing all that, my husband seems to think that he reset the wireless mode to allow b,g and n devices and they have all been working OK together since. He also thinks that the issue my son has is that he comes back from uni and downloads torrents which flood the router and the firewall then blocks everything for 20 seconds or so, but he can't be fully sure that's what's doing it.

Capisci?

Windows 8 hits 100 million sales, tweaks for mini-tablets in works

SEATTLE | Tue May 7, 2013 5:47am BST
(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp has sold 100 million Windows 8 licenses in the six months since launch, roughly in line with the previous version, but wants to combat sputtering interest in its flagship software with a substantial update to make it easier to use, and compatible with smaller tablets.

Windows 8 is the first Microsoft operating system primarily designed for touch commands, but it has failed to capture consumers' imaginations or make a dent in a tablet market dominated by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.

Thanks so much Hils - that's really helpful.

Does anyone know how to change the Calendar settings in windows 8 - to UK holidays.

Have you subscribed to the UK calendar at Live.com, skinners?

UK calendar

Hils - I've got that far but how do you get rid of the US holidays?

Damn yanks - they have far too many holidays! :o)

Dunno for sure. Can't you just delete it from inside Live???

Not that I can find - in true 'Yank' style, the delete option doesn't appear on their holidays.

Not to worry - bloody annoying though.

Require some help please folks,regarding windows messenger on winxp pro,it seems to be timing out after say 10 minutes,my internet connection is cable so that is ultra reliable and this problem does not happen with any other prog only messenger.Skype,yahoo messenger is fine and dandy but i could

I use to use it a few yaers back and it never failed me but only recently started using it again and cannot find a setting to keep me logged in all the time and run in back ground mode,any suggestions please.

Mega

Girls and Boys,the problem with messenger has been resolved,i was using a old email address that i could not verify as it was so old.Using a current one and bingo it all works exactly as it should do.

I have installed Avast anti-virus on my Android mobile phone and seems to work a treat. One thing it is asking for is access to the root in order to activate the Firewall. My phone isn't rooted and am not keen to do so as I am not that eager to mess around with the phone operating system. Does anyone else run phone anti-virus and specifically a Firewall? I have looked at rooting my phone, but just for a Firewall it seems a lot of potentially hazardous tinkering.

Harry, I run the same Avast a/v, and I'm the same as you - I've not allowed it to root my phone. Not sure whether I'm protected as well as I should be but I'm living with it quite happily. One of the big features that it offers is anti theft protection, but again that requires rooting. I may get round to it some day. Not sure if this will have helped you!

Cheers for that SC. No one seems to worry too much about anti-virus & firewalls for mobile, yet are forking out big bucks for PC & Lap-top. Seeing as we are increasingly using mobile for internet banking, stock trading & other personal stuff via public access Wi-Fi & unsecured internet, maybe it will be more high profile and readily available soon.

I spoke to a friend recently who is a security expert and he told me not to bother with av on android.

Hmmmm........!!!!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/advice/8778926/Is-anti-virus-software-needed-for-my-Android-smart-phone.html

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-2278101/Do-I-need-anti-virus-software-smartphone--especially-bank-apps.html

Sounds about right!

I have a nephew who would like to explore FX trading (something I don't really do).

Can anyone recommend a demo account provider other than CMC or IG?

Davai might be your man on the FX thread to answer that.