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Tip of the Day -

Spam Zapper

What I just can’t understand is who the hell is buying all the Viagra, Rolex watches and Russian brides? I know the theory; if you send out a few gazillion Spam emails you are bound to catch a few mugs, but surely by now just about everyone on the planet knows they’re all scams and not to touch this toxic stuff with a barge-pole? Oh well, I guess we’re all having to pay the price for the few remaining idiots and until the spammers finally shut up shop a spam filter is still needed. Personally I’m happy with good old MailWasher and the features in Windows Mail but this one, called Spamihilator, also does a pretty good job, once it has learnt the difference between genuine messages and the crap. It learns fast, though, thanks to its Bayesian Filter and Word Filter so it’s doing its stuff pretty well from the get-go. It works with most email clients, intercepting the rubbish before it gets anywhere near our inbox and best of all, it won’t cost you a bean!

04/02/10

Do you have a tip or tweak for Windows that you would like to share with other PC users? If so we would really like to see it, jot it down and email it to us at: PCTopTips

News Briefs

News Brief Archives 2006, 2007 2008 2009 2010

Windows 7 Battery Basher?

In amongst the pre-launch hype surrounding Windows 7 was the claim that it would be lighter on laptop and netbook batteries, extending running times, compared with XP and Vista. My own experiences have been reasonably positive, nothing dramatic mind you, but I certainly seem to be getting a few extra minutes out of my test machines now running Win 7. However, since the launch a growing number of users have been reporting the opposite effect with significantly shorter running times and in some cases, Windows 7 is telling them that their batteries need to be replaced. Microsoft is reported to be investigating the problem, which first arose during the pre-launch beta test and judging by the increase in complaints there does indeed seem to be a problem. One of the possibilities seems to be the PC’s BIOS as this is where Win 7 gets its information about the battery. If and when Microsoft gets to the bottom of it we’ll let you know.

0402  

More Disturbing Robot News

Here’s another piece of robot news to give you the willies. It’s a humanoid robot baby, called Diego-San, designed by the twisted techs in the Machine Perception Lab at the University of California and Japanese robotics company Kokoro. It’s supposed to be modelled on a 1 year old child and is apparently designed to help researchers study infant motor skills, so they say... If you ask me it’s all a bit weird, why invent a robot baby when the real things are plentiful and a lot cheaper to make. I can’t stress how important it is for everyone to be on their guard against this kind of thing, you’ve seen the movies, it’s happening people!

01/02/10

Wooden It Be Nice, part 5…

If many more gadget companies jump on the eco-green bandwagon we’ll have to add splinters and deathwatch beetle to the list of hazards posed by these devices. Based in France, Lexon are big on the use of sustainable materials with a growing (no pun intended) range of products encased in wood or made using bioplastics, derived from mashed up vegetables. It also includes a number of solar powered and wind-up widgets, like this rather natty looking bamboo radio, called the LA 81 Safe. You might also be interested in a bamboo clock radio, calculator and there’s even a bamboo coffee set.

2801

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