Cambridge Helpdesk Blog http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:03:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Short URL http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/tech-tips/short-url http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/tech-tips/short-url#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:29:53 +0000 Stuart http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/?p=119 It’s sometimes quite useful to be able to use a short URL, especially for printed publications as well as  for Twitter and emails etc.

For example this page is at http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/tech-tips/create-short-links with a short URL of chd.co/s/5

We use a nifty little tool on our resource site –> CHD.co to create our short links.

Customers are welcome to use our URL shortener for free, just email support@cambridgehelpdesk.com and we’ll provide you with a link that you just place on your browsers toolbar – you then just click it to create a shorter URL. Really, it’s as easy as that !

Alternatively, if you’d like to have your own shortened URL’s let us know and we’ll install the system on your own web server for free (if you’re an exisiting customer).

I hope you found this article useful.

Give us a call if you want to find out more.

Cheers
–Stuart

]]> http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/tech-tips/short-url/feed 0 Dirty mouse breaks computer http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/funny/dirty-mouse-breaks-pc http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/funny/dirty-mouse-breaks-pc#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:16:00 +0000 Stuart http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/?p=101 Today we received a PC in for investigation from a new customer, who we shall call ‘Tom’….

When dropping the machine off we were given the following information:

  • The fan goes round and round but the PC doesn’t run
  • It’s quite old and might not have many bytes
  • Sometimes the mouse makes a strange squeaking noise

When we took the lid off it was quickly apparent what was wrong….

  • The fan was being used as a fun wheel for its resident, who we’ve named ‘Jerry’
  • It had quite a few ‘bytes’ – unfortunately they were in the IDE cables
  • We couldn’t hear the sqeaking noise (as we didnt have the mouse) but we had a good idea what was causing the problem

 

Conclusion:

A mouse had been getting in through the back and had chewed through some of the cables, it had piddled on the DVD drive and left lots of droppings all over the inside of the case.  Our conclusion was that a dirty mouse was to blame for the broken computer.

 

Dirty Mouse

]]> http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/funny/dirty-mouse-breaks-pc/feed 0 Apple.com is down http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/mobile-phones/apple-com-is-down http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/mobile-phones/apple-com-is-down#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:20:27 +0000 Stuart http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/?p=95 The Apple.com website went offline today.

Probably caused as people bombarded the site  as the iPhone 4s was launched today.

Is Apple really overloaded or is it a marketing gimmick to drive up demand…?

Anyway, do they really need to sell any more after Sprint purchased just over 30 million units this week for around $20 million USD….?

 

 

 

]]> http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/mobile-phones/apple-com-is-down/feed 0 CHDCloud is now live http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/chdcloud/chdcloud-is-now-live http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/chdcloud/chdcloud-is-now-live#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:15:52 +0000 Stuart http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/?p=93 We’ve added some new products and popped them alongside our existing range under the new name CHDCloud

You can find out more form the main site, our knowledge base or by giving us a call.

]]> http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/chdcloud/chdcloud-is-now-live/feed 0 CHDCloud http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/chdcloud/chdcloud http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/chdcloud/chdcloud#comments Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:41:08 +0000 stuart http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/?p=89 We’re updating our existing cloud solutions and will have some exiting new products and solutions online shortly.

We already offer some of the best Web hosting, email solutions and VoIP products and we’re adding some more great tools to our range.

We’ll post more here soon.

In the meantime, if you’d like to know more just give us a call.

]]> http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/chdcloud/chdcloud/feed 0 Talking Dog http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/funny/talking-dog http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/funny/talking-dog#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:34:29 +0000 stuart http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/?p=79

]]> http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/funny/talking-dog/feed 0 Mobile Broadband Coverage http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/useful-info/mobile-broadband-coverage http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/useful-info/mobile-broadband-coverage#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:26:58 +0000 stuart http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/?p=74 Check mobile phone and mobile broadband coverage using the links below from the main providers.

Orange
http://search.orange.co.uk/ouk/portal/coveragechecker.html?channel=direct/

Vodafone 
http://www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/price-plans/network-and-coverage/uk-coverage-map/

Three
http://www.three.co.uk/Mobile_Broadband/Coverage_speed

T-Mobile
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/coverage/street-check/

O2

]]> http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/useful-info/mobile-broadband-coverage/feed 0 iPhone 3.0 is here…. http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/exchange/iphone-30-is-here http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/exchange/iphone-30-is-here#comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:19:44 +0000 Stuart http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/?p=64 I’m just downloading iPhone 3.0 @ 18:11

The file was 230MB, the entire upgrade took 21 minutes and required 2 restarts on the iPhone

Here are a couple of useful links ….

How To Use The Best 40 Features of iPhone 3.0

Apple iPhone 3.0

]]> http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/exchange/iphone-30-is-here/feed 0 Say No to 0870 http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/useful-info/say-no-to-0870 http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/useful-info/say-no-to-0870#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 14:53:30 +0000 Stuart http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/?p=54 Did you know that 0870 and 0871 numbers can cost as much as 150% more in addition to the standard call rate to a UK phone number?  All an 0870 or 0871 number does is forward to another number usually an 01 or 02 number.  Companies do this to disguise where they are located and so that they can charge more for incoming calls.   Companies can effectively charge what they like.  Call centres often keep callers on hold because while you’ re on hold YOU are making them more money !!

You may also want to add the ‘SayNoTo0870.com’ website to your favorites. when you come across an o870 or 0871 number you can find out the ‘real’ number and sometimes save yourself a few quid on a single call.

]]> http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/useful-info/say-no-to-0870/feed 0 tinyURL http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/tech-tips/tiny-url http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/tech-tips/tiny-url#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 17:26:48 +0000 Stuart http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/?p=48 If you ever need to cut and paste a URL to send to someone via email and it’s really long, it not only looks naff but sometimes gets chopped in half causing it to fail.  The easy way round this is to use tinyURL, its easy to use and its free

For Example:

Turn this URL: http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=3&campid=5336224516&toolid=10001&customid=tiny-hp&ext=unicycle&satitle=unicycle

into this tinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/unicycles

Useful Tip:

Create a link in your browser.  Then, when you’re on a web page that you want to shorten, just click the button and it’ll create a TinyURL with one click and without even having to cut and paste.

Read more about how to do this here:  http://tinyurl.com/#toolbar

]]> http://www.cambridgehelpdesk.com/blog/tech-tips/tiny-url/feed 0