The above advise from Optimist sounds good to me. I'll add that the comany I like best for network gear is called www.solwise.co.uk - they'll give you excellent advise and help over the phone, they've been in business for years and their products always seem to work for me.

On Dell - the machines are OK but a non technical lady i know bought a Dell, the internet connection stopped working after a couple of days so she rang their pay help line and hung on, and on - eventually a Dell engineer answered and a day and a half later he still hadn't fixed the 'fault'. She brought it round to my house and I ran a virus checker which cleared the fault, he'd never suggested that! The phone bill for ringing Dell, she later told me, came to 211.00

Thanks Optimist. Just the sort of answer I was hoping for (One that was slightly ahead of my understanding of networks!!).

The ethernet hub is a bit you stick all your cables from the machines into isn't it? And it won't really matter where it is in the building as long as all the cables run to it and it's accessible for maintenance. (I'm thinking of in the office rather than near Reception.
Don't want to spend a fortune. Only machine with wireless at the moment is a brand new Vaio laptop with "g".

We've always used peer to peer as it's one less machine and on the other two sites we're only likely to use two or three machines, very light use as well.

I am aware that Dell put some "unusual" components into their machines so you can't easily add non-Dell bits later.

Thanks for the tip re fans & PSU's. Will get that attended to.

SC

You ar correct, The ethernet hub is a bit you stick all your cables from the machines into .. The best place for this may well be the centre of the building where cable lengths can be minimised. The ADSL unit is best positioned where the BT line comes into the building.

Thanks everyone else as well. Kayak, you must have been to see us. We're also presently upgrading the lighting system as the lamplighter has retired. Seem to be shopping around for something called "bulbs".

Optimist , I am having yet another problem this time with my mail.

Yesterday I tried to attach files to my e-mail to send to SSRT as I was having some difficulties. Their IT specialist Melissa has been trying to help but I am unsure.

I know you are running BT Yahoo that is why I am asking the question. I have a @btinternet.com e-mail address went into the attach and saw

Attachment1 - browse files
attachment2 - browse files
etc

I highlighted the file I wanted expecting it to go into the attachment box but instead up popped a message saying "BTyahoo mail is NOT currently your default mail client"
and underneath a "do you want to change to BTyahoo" with a yes or no button.
So far I have not hit the yes button as I do not know what will happen to my current e-mail address nor where incoming mail will go.
My browser options state my e-mail setting as Use Yahoo Mail.
Does Yahoo mail not support attachments?
What will happen if I change to btyahoo mail?

If you have a moment I would appreciate clarification of what is going on .

Doc

Maddoctor

Although I use a BT email address, I only use it to forward to a normal email account. I don't use BT because they try to impose their way of doing things on everyone, as you seem to be finding out.

If you have tried clicking No and it does not let you send an attachment then you may as well follow their route and hope that it works. If doesn't then you may have to rconfigure manually.

Optimist , your a star for replying so quickly.

Melissa at ssrt is unsure as well and so am I , i hate clicking on buttons not knowing what the result will be.

doc

Maddoctor

I share your concern but you may as well play along with them. It may well work, and if it doesn't, it will be no harder to sort out.

SC, a couple of minor points to add to the above. If you do need to rewire then I would suggest that you use Cat 6 at least, you don't really need it now but its a higher spec cable and will be useful next time you upgrade your network.

Also I would avoid P2P in a business environment. Its harder to control and backup and with the amount of malware around now you need to have as much control as possible. However your main business application is important here, is it multi-user? where does it keep its data? how is the data backed up?

Re wireless make sure you implement as much security as you can.

Try and plan the upgrade for the whole company upfront even if you are not implementing it all at once. Working out what you want to do in advance will be worthwhile.

If your in Kent/Sussex, I could pop in and have a look and give some free advise if you want.

maddoctor, what mail client are you using? Outlook Express? Webmail?

Spaceman, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately I'm in Teesside so the offer is much appreciated but I won't be able to take you up. The application we use is a multiuser but simple one where the program and data are all kept on one machine and terminals can access it. I don't think it would cope with more than a two or three accessing it - however it'll soon be history anyway.

spaceman , I believe its webmail. In internet options OE is grayed out

maddoctor, strange, I dont really have enough info to offer a suggestion. BT/Yahoo should allow you to adda attachements and anyway this sounds like a confiog probem, however I do not use the web interface.

I suggest you setup OE from scratch to handle btyahoo mail. There are config details on the btyahoo web page and there may be other help info there as well.

maddoctor. I use BT/Yahoo. I have had no problems attaching documents, mail etc. All my settings use BT/Yahoo as default.

Have you tried using the Help facilities on BT or Yahoo? They usually guide you through all stages quite well.

spaceman . yes very strange and hoped somebody would shed some light. Reluctant to use OE as never worked properly when i was with wanadoo

I wouldn't touch OE after using Yahoo mail. It's excellent. I particularily like the disposeable email feature and the fact that all my mail is stored off-site.

7th floor , can you shed some light on the attachment problem i outlined above? since you are using yahoo mail

maddoctor: The 'Attach Files' works fine on mine so I can only suggest you click the 'Yes' button to make Yahoo your default. It can always be reversed as Optimist says.

If you're on BTYahoo why wouldn't you want it as your default anyway?

Good luck

7th floor , as i have said before with no IT support within 20 miles i am always reluctant to press anything unless i am sure of the result!

maddoctor: In for a penny ........

Seriously, with the expert guys on this thread (not me I hasten to add) you'd be able get your email defaults back to where you began I would imagine.

Another thought : From the file itself (I use MS Word) have you tried using the 'File' - 'Send To' - 'Mail Recipient (As Attachment)' instead of direct from the email?

" .......reluctant to press anything unless i am sure of the result" Are you a barrister? I thought you was Harold Shipman :-)