Television remote controls, SCART cables and sockets and switching boxes

It’s time to watch the television news. All you have to do is turn on the TV, push the Sky remote control button for the channel number, flick the switch on the SCART box, unplug the video, plug in the Sky+ box, re-press the Sky remote control, turn the TV back on, using the remote control, press the right button on the TV remote control to change the channel to the Sky+ channel... give up and go listen to The Archers on your battery radio in the kitchen instead.

I’m afraid there may be no solution to this problem other than either reading the instructions. Or forcing the person who set the system up in the first place to write down, in plain English, how you turn the system on and make it do what you want. In theory most televisions have two SCART sockets. Into one you plug your DVD player; into the other you plug your video recorder, which in turn has your Sky box plugged into it. The SCART system should automatically detect which box you’re using and change the channel on the telly to suit.

3G mobile phones

Third Generation mobiles have been the Next Big Thing in the world of mobile telephony since I started writing about the industry in 1997. While some people are attracted by the idea of watching Dr Who and the footy on the tiny screens of their mobile phones, most people don’t care. Manufacturers and networks have come up with a few other ideas for all the extra bandwidth 3G telephones have available. Theoretically you can surf the Internet faster on your mobile telephone than you can on your broadband home Internet connection, but do you want to?

Paypal and eBay

Paypal (www.paypal.com) is a way of sending money around the Internet. You fund your Paypal account from a credit or debit card or by accepting Paypal payments from others. You can also transfer received monies to your regular bank account. Paypal is linked with its parent company eBay (www.ebay.co.uk), the online auction house where you can sell (and/or buy) some absolute bargains and/or some absolute tat. Warning – eBay can become addictive.

Google (www.google.co.uk)

We geeks loved Google when it first appeared because of its simple, uncluttered interface and comprehensive indexing of the World Wide Web. Its premise was the same as other pre-existing search engines – it indexed all the Web pages it could find and you could search through the results – it just did it better. Now, “Google” has become a verb – “Just Google it” – and it’s good advice.

Google now offers many extra services – Google Earth to show you aerial/satellite photos of your home and Buckingham Palace, Google Convert (type, without quotes, in the Google search box ‘Convert 3.5 metres to furlongs’ to see what I mean), Google Chat, Google Mail (Gmail, the email service that’s independent of your ISP) and much more.

iMacs

Cute all-in-one-box computers. If you’ve never owned or used a computer before, just buy an iMac with a gigabyte of RAM (Random Access Memory, the part of the computer where it does its work when it’s turned on) and the nicest screen you can afford. If you’ve already owned and/or used Windows personal computers (PCs), buy a Dell with the extended 3-year warranty because an Apple will drive you nuts – it’s similar enough to look familiar but you’ll spend hours trying to work out how to do stuff you already know how to do with your old machine.

Bluetooth

Many new mobile phones use this wireless system to connect to, for example, your computer. It’s a short-range system designed to replace cables. The danger is that the security on many phones is very light or non-existent and can leave it open to hacking (someone getting into it and using your connection, stealing your contact book and so on) or even a virus (this is rare but possible). This is not the same as Wireless Internet (although it may be involved). All Wireless Internet means is that you connect your computer to the Internet without any wires – you use radio waves instead, either WiFi or Bluetooth. Note: If you’re doing this, read carefully the instructions about security, and enable every precaution you can.

Virus protection

Computer viruses have been around since 1982. Protect yourself by installing protection programs on your computer and, on your mobile telephone, by turning off the Bluetooth capability except when you’re using it. For your PC, use Norton Anti-Virus (www.symantec.com) or the free AVG (from www.grisoft.com) to intercept viruses before they can do any harm (as long as you follow the instructions and allow them to update automatically every day or so).

Install a firewall, named after the sheet of metal between the engine and passenger compartments of a car. A computer firewall closes the link between your computer and the outside world but has ‘holes’ in it to allow communications like emails and Web browsing. All other access to your machine is blocked so hackers can’t get into it. Use the free version of ZoneAlarm (www.zonealarm.com).

‘Spyware’ installs itself while you’re browsing round the Web and reports back on what you’ve been doing for marketing and/or other nefarious purposes, so install an anti-spyware program like AdAware (www.lavasoftusa.com).

Chris Ward is a former technology specialist for The Times newspaper and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Troubleshooting your PC (Prentice Hall). Visit his online message board at www.drkeyboard.net