Logo licensed from the Third Age Trust

U3A COSTA DEL SOL - FUENGIROLA

Computer Users Club

We are not able to offer professional advice on problems or to recommend hardware or software but there is a wide range of experience and expertise available on computer problems and techniques, because we've had the same problems.

If you do have any problems with computers come along to Lux Mundi on Tuesday mornings or to the Computer Users Club on Thursday afternoon (fortnightly).

GPS POI (Points of Interest) Files

Some of the locations used by U3A can be loaded to your GPS

The attached files (provided courtesy of Carol Hammond) can be downloaded to a GPS device such as TomTom, Garmin etc

First, you'll need the bmp image to illustrate the location of the POI on your device's map. (Right click and "save as")
(This must have the same name as the POI file but with a different file extension name and is called "U3A_Costa_Del_Sol.bmp", the POI files themselves are called "U3A_Costa_Del_Sol.ov2", "U3A_Costa_Del_Sol.csv" etc).

The POI files are available in the following formats :- (click on the links to download.)

ov2 - Tom Tom©

csv - Garmin©

kml - Google Earth©

Email Hoaxes etc

Before you forward any email warning about viruses or hoaxes you should check the following sites (amongst others)

FraudWatch International

Hoaxbuster

Phishing Scams

Hoax-Slayer

Alternatively, a good starting point is to search the email title on Google

MS Office 2007 File Formats

The new MS Office 2007 pack defaults to formats that cannot be read by earlier versions of MS Office (such as 2003) or software such as OpenOffice. This may be inconvenient (sic).

If you have MS Office 2007 and you're sending documents, spreadsheets etc to other users check that they can read them or select a different output format that is backwardly compatible.

If you have MS Office 2003 you can download a compatibility pack from Microsoft here You should then be able to read the new formats although you may be prompted for a further download when you do so.

If you have OpenOffice then you will not be able to read the new formats until September or October when Version 3.0 is available. You can try this converter but I can't comment on its effectiveness.

Which broadband supplier do you use?

Of the 13 replies, 6 Use Telefonica, 5 use Ya.com, two are on mobiles and use Vodafone and Orange respectively.

Second question was – How Much?

Telefonica comes in at €39.90 plus iva. (Their new offer is different – see below)

Ya.com varies. Some get it a t€19.95 and others at nearly €29 plus iva of course. (Their current offer is different – see below)

Both telefonica and Ya.com include free phone calls. Both of course have to add the line rental of €18 per month.

I am assuming everyone just has the minimum service which seems to be “up to 3 Mbps” (mega bits per second, not mega bytes)

Vodafone mobile via a modem is a package for €49 a month including calls in Spain. The service slows down a bit at peak times. If you want to know more then contact me and I will put you in touch with this user.

Orange package is €6 per month basic and then €2 for each day that a connection to the internet is made. This one will need careful planning as it could easily become a huge bill. Again if you want to know more I will put you in touch.

Third question was – can you get support in English.

Telefonica of course is yes, but the quality of the English is not always good.

Ya.com support was in Spanish but I believe they now have English speaking staff.

Fourthly was the question of any other comments.

It would seem we all have different experiences and it mainly boils down to who you get on the day. On person had big problems with Ya.com and switched to telefonica, another had the opposite.

Summary

Telefonica and Ya.com seem to be the ISP’s of preference. Indeed, they seem to be the most easily accessible and therefore the ones we all use. Those who use Telefonica make the point that the telephone and internet supplier are one and the same and therefore they do not get one blaming the other. Fair point. However, Telefonica charges double what Ya.com charges (unless you are connected to an old exchange when Ya.com then charges €28.82 plus iva).

Today Ya.com is offering 3 Mbps + calls 24/7 for €17.95 plus iva. That has gone down because the original offer was 3 months at half price and then €19.90.

Today Telefonica are offering first 3 months at €9.90 and then €40.90 plus iva

Conclusion

We are not as well served here as we would be in the UK. Even BT is competitive and you only have to watch the adverts on TV to see the various prices. Some providers, when you sign up for 2 years of broadband give you a laptop. The usual monthly cost is around £20.00 a month plus vat plus line costs.

What is being pushed there at the moment is “mobile broadband connection”. Nearly all the big guys are offering it – Virgin, Vodafone, O2, talktalk to name but a few.

One final thing in passing. www.Telefonicainenglish.com offer to do things like provide internet both via broadband and dial up. Be aware that they are a private company and have no connection to or with Telefonica.es.

Information on Recycling - Ecomovil

What can be left at the Ecomovil?

Paints, turps, tyres, batteries (all kinds), oils (cooking or car oils), bulbs (fluorescent, long life, normal), X-rays, medicines, all electronic equipment, computer equipment, telephones, ink cartridges, any kind of kitchen equipment (toasters, kettles, etc), materials (clothes, curtains, etc), CDs, video tapes, etc.

Where can I find an Ecomovil?

FUENGIROLA: the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month from 8:00 to 14:00 hours at the Recinto Ferial (Fair Ground where they hold the Tuesday market)
MIJAS COSTA: 3rd Wednesday of each month in the area where they have the La Cala flea market, from 8:00 to 14:00
MIJAS VILLAGE: 4th Friday of each month from 11:00 to 14:00 in the area where the coaches park by the Town-Hall
BENALMADENA: 2nd, 3rd and 4th Friday of each month from 8:00 to 14:00 (except 4th Friday which is only from 8:00 to 11:00) on the back part of the Colegio La Paloma.

This is the information given to us but like everything else there is a note at the end saying that there may be changes due to holidays and festivities.

Some people have had a problem setting up Outlook Express for non webmail (Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail) accounts. This is the Microsoft link: Setting Up Outlook Express

For Telefonica (Terra ) users the email server is pop3.terra.es, the outgoing server is SMTP and the user name is (in my case) ianphillips.terra.es

Mobile Phone Users Info

BBC News Item on Computer Virus

The U3A Costa del Sol has no control over the content of the web sites referred to below. Use advice given therein at your own risk! Also note that links to commercial sites do not imply endorsement of their products.

Useful Resources

The following are some useful resources provided by the ever resourceful Bryn Jones.

Shields Up Very valuable site for carrying out a simple but extensive assessment of your PC's vulnerability

Numion

Check the speed of your internet conection and compare to the average for Spain

Driver Max Don't lose your drivers if you have a computer crash with this free software package

LEARNING TO USE YOUR COMPUTER

Some useful resources if you are new to computing:

The BBCs Webwise site is an excellent starting point for beginners and is aimed at those with little or no computer expertise find it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/
PC Advisor is a UK magazine full of useful advice, reviews and news. Much of the info is available online free of charge, just register with your email address http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/
Social Sciences pages of Intute are a free online service providing you with access to the very best Web resources for education and research, evaluated and selected by a network of subject specialists. Go to http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/ for a list of subjects.
An American website 'Computers Made Easy - for senior citizens' at http://www.csuchico.edu/~csu/seniors/computing.html provides basic computing and internet help aimed at seniors.
If you are new to email, some handy tips on email etiquette can be found at http://www.iwillfollow.com/email.htm

OF VIRUSES AND HOAXES

It seems that every day another computer virus hits the news. What can you do to prevent one infecting your computer system? You can at least minimise the risk by taking the following steps:

Install reputable anti-virus software (You've done that already, haven't you?)
Keep it up to date. Update at least weekly, more often if you hear that a new virus is doing the rounds.
Be very careful when opening email attachments. Even if the sender of an email is someone you know and trust, don't automatically assume that any attachment in an email bearing their name is safe. Some viruses 'hijack' the sender's name from the address book of an infected machine, so the email may not have come from who you thought it did.

Hoax virus warnings (plus chain-letters and other 'urban myths') waste more space and can cause more trouble than viruses. If you receive an email that tells you that such-and-such a virus is not detected by major anti-virus products, and urges you to pass the information on to everyone in your address book, please check either http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html or http://vmyths.com/ before you take any action. Some of these hoaxes even get the gullible user to delete Windows system files from their computer - see the description of the jdbgmgr.exe virus for an example.

The following web sites have useful information about viruses and hoaxes:

http://www.sarc.com/ - Symantec (Norton) advice centre
http://vmyths.com/ - Learn the truth about virus myths and hoaxes
http://www.virusbtn.com/ - Virus bulletin: independent anti-virus advice - the resources section of this site is particularly useful.
http://www.viruslist.com/eng/index.html - A 'virus encyclopedia' that contains information on a huge number of viruses, plus latest news.
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/tools.list.html - A repository of Symantec virus removal tools you can download to remove specific viruses.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/ is another good resource for both online and offline hoaxes.

MORE ADVANCED TOPICS

If you want to set up a web site advice can be found at http://www.webhostingguide.co.uk/index.php
Afraid of changing email addresses for fear of not receiving messages sent to your old address? A free automatic email forwarding service can be found at http://www.switchemail.com/pages/index.asp
If you are using a broadband connection (ADSL) or are planning to do so in the future, you should be aware of the problems that come with being connected to the Internet for long periods. The advice given at http://www.spywareinfo.com/hijacked.html is worth reading.
Richard Lowe's http://www.internet-tips.net has a host of articles on internet use and web site creation.
If your computer is slower than it used to be, or strange programs keep popping up from nowhere, it could be that a system cleanup is needed, or that additional programs (not necessarily viruses) were loaded and and running without your knowledge. Useful advice can be found at http://www.rickrogers.org/ and http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php - the latter site also contains some useful links. Be very careful when making this kind of change to your system!