Modern programs do other things when being installed and these all need to be undone to restore the PC back to its original state. For example:

1. Shutdown services (programs running in the background) to unlock files
2. Remove COM servers
3. Deregister libraries
4. Uninstall drivers
5. Remove context and quick launch menu items
6. Unpin task bar and start menu icons
7. Remove registry entries and modify remaining ones as appropriate
8. Clear out user generated files
9. Unlink & remove browser add-ons & extensions
10. Remove the uninstall routine from the Programs & Features list

Now all related files can be deleted.

• Ensure that Windows and MS Office are kept updated with security patches as soon as they are published.
• Maintain a full, updated and paid for copy of a reputable Internet security suite (not simply anti-virus).
• Do not use an administratively privileged account for day-to-day activities.
• Be cautious e.g. remember that even your most trusted correspondent could have their e-mail address faked
• Maintain a sandbox in which to do potentially risky things e.g. Sandboxie, Acronis, BitDefender, virtualisation
• Password protect Windows accounts and encrypt sensitive files. Passwords must be robust, unique and private.
• Do not open e-mails from questionable sources in HTML compatible readers.
• Scan all removable disks, downloaded files and e-mail attachments for viruses before opening them.
• Rather than click a hyperlink type or copy/paste the address into a browser
• Keep your browsers and associated add-ons (e.g. Java, Flash) updated

Remember that viruses do not only attack Windows PCs - Macs and smart phones are also vulnerable.

Position the router next to the master socket – the phone socket that is closest to where the line enters the property. This minimises the distance that the signals travel and usually gives the opportunity of isolating your other internal wiring to preclude that as being responsible for performance degradation (which it often is unless recently professionally installed).

If you can demonstrate consistent low readings from the BT Speedtester and you have eliminated the possibility of your internal wiring or appliances causing the problem, then you can probably ask your ISP to have an engineer replace your socket for a modern one that removes the need for additional microfilters in your property. If you do not have this type of filtering you must have microfilters on every in use phone socket including Sky boxes, fax machines, ringers and security alarms.

Leave your modem (often incorporated in a router) switched on 24 hours a day. Each time it is powered off a retraining has to take place: for the next 10 days your line speed is monitored automatically. This involves every packet of data (e.g. web pages viewed or e-mail transmitted) being counted to see if it is an initial time being sent or a retransmission. If the ratio of retransmissions to total transmissions is above a threshold your line will be broken and reconnected at lower speed. If the ratio is below a threshold the line will be broken and re-established at a higher speed. This automated fluctuating of line speed settles down to deliver the fastest speed your line can sustain consistently but it takes 10 days.

If your master socket is in an inconvenient place for your computer, then use the mains electrical circuit to deliver the signal so as to minimise loss. Wireless signals are never constant and always slower than a wired connection. They are distorted by household appliances that share the 2.4 GHz frequency such as cordless phones and microwave ovens.

If you still are frustrated by download speeds, see if you are in a place where fibre optic connections are possible. These normally increase the speed by a factor of at least 5.

• They are fast - maybe 4 times the speed of typical traditional electro-mechanical disks. This gives a noticeable improvement in performance overall, especially when starting the PC or an application
• They use less power than rotating disks
• They are silent
• They generate less heat, requiring less noise and power to remove
• Much more resistant to shock that rotating disks - especially useful in portable computers
• No susceptibility to magnetic surges
• The mean time before failure predictions are superior to traditional disks

There is though, one drawback: they cost more to buy. Although as their use becomes more common this is falling but cost is still a factor affecting many would be purchasers. Enter Hybrid drives. These aim to give a good compromise between the cost of electro-mechanical disks and the benefits of an SSD. They do this by adding a small - perhaps 4GB SSD to a regular disk. The benefits in performance terms are exemplified below.

This compares the time taken to start a fast computer using a traditional 7200 rpm disk, a 10,000 rpm one, a hybrid and a pure SSD. Of course, the mileage will vary with the other components, but the relative advantages of each type of disk are plain.

I have recently installed a customer preview copy of Windows 8 and I predict a lot of resistance when many people see it for the first time. Not because it is anything other than a great improvement over Windows 7, but the way you use it - the user interface, is so radically different.

Those with a tablet or other touch sensitive computer will adjust most easily. It seems to me that keyboard and mouse integration was added as an afterthought. The key things that have changed are the Start buttom or Orb that used to live on the left of the task bar: there isn't one any more. The new interface, called 'Metro' presents you with a screen full of tiles, each one representing an 'App' - yes, they're no longer called programs.

The tiles are constantly being updated in the background by the program, sorry, App they link to. This is actually quite nice when you get used to it, but doing so takes time. The next great change, on the pre-release preview at least, is that the shutdown button is hanging off a setting on the charms bar - something that pops out of the right of the screen - hardly intuitive.

Performance appears to be at least as good and in some cases better than when running Windows 7 on the same hardware. There is a desktop, but many native apps are rewritten to assume that have the whole (or at least 2/3rds) of the available screen real estate. This, for me, is the biggest bug-bear - I like having two monitors with half a dozen programs no only running concurrently but visible concurrently. Yes you can share between co-operating apps by clicking the appropriate charm icon, but drag and drop seems to have dropped off the design board.

Also sadly missing is the option of dragging a file on to an app to launch it, virtual desktops (these have been a feature of Linux distributions for years), a dual pane Windows Explorer (although there are third party apps available in the App Store), and most of all a tutorial on how to use the new features aimed at people who are neither stupid nor sufficiently time rich to be able to snoop around.

What you do have currently is an 8 minute video available on MSDN channel 9 and some fast flowing overview videos.

So all that's left is to download it and try it out for yourself. If your bandwidth can stand a 3.5GB download you can get it free from Microsoft. You will need to have a spare computer and take an image of the disk before you start as downgrading later may well not work too well. Alternatively just install it as a guest OS on a virtual PC.

Your thoughts and comments welcomed.

The data may be pure text, a voice message, a business card, WiFi details, a web hyperlink, geo location or any other burst of information. They are free to create at sites such as Zebra Crossing at http://zxing.appspot.com/generator or http://qrvoice.net and may contain advertising as long as the error correction rate is large enough. More error correction does lead to more complex codes though so choose M (15%) or Q (25%) rather than L (7%) or H (30%).

You can grab a free reader for most smartphones by visiting sites such as http://www.mobile-barcodes.com/qr-code-software/

Finally, here is a free offer for all my readers:

The only ways to destroy data thoroughly are to use an industrial macerator which acts as an office shredder does for paper, melt the internal platters of the disk such as may be done with a welder’s blow torch or use magnetism to wipe the data.

If the disk drive is still good enough to be mounted in a computer, there are programs that can (magnetically) destroy data by overwriting the entire disk several times with meaningless patterns, but these take several hours for each disk. Not only do I not have time to do that for every disk I dispose of for clients of 1ComputerCare, but most disks are electronically damaged precluding this method of secure data removal.

Instead, I wipe the disk clean of data by rubbing an N52 grade Ultra High Performance Neodymium Magnet over it. I have tried to recover test data from disks after this treatment but it is quite impossible. To get this guaranteed data erasure the magnet has to be rather strong – the one I use cost almost £100 and has a 118 KG pull (one and a half times my own weight) and so would deliver a nasty crush injury if a finger got trapped between the magnet and a disk drive.

A result of this is that programs either don't work properly or mess up the whole machine. Most recently I have seen this with The Sims 3 where the owner did not check the minimum specifications before buying, and did not appreciate that none of The Sims 2 extras will run unless The Sims 2 base product is installed.

A good place to test your computer to see whether it can meet the minimum specifications - or indeed the recommended specifications to run a game is www.canirunit.com