Bristol and Bath Home Computers

Link: http://www.travian.co.uk/?uc=uk4_20307

I found Travian through an advert on Runescape.

The initial idea is quite fun, you build a village make troops and kill other villages with well co-ordinated attacks and many not so well co-ordinated attacks, you can build troops to defend your village attack troops on other villages and raid their supplies and bring them back for your own use.

My initial opinion was that Travian is a game of hate, it is not generally friendly like Runescape, the more ruthless players can build big armies and catapults and destroy other players villages, as the game progresses this is quite a common occurrence and many players quit because of it.

You do have the option to join alliances, these are groups of players who help each other out by sharing resources and troops, this is the friendly side of Travian but to be any good in the game you need to be in a good alliance or you will get flattened or farmed (Farmed is when an aggressive player regularly raids your resources).

I have played on the speed server, this game goes on for about 4 months and on the normal server that I have been informed goes on for a year.

Conclusion is that Travian is an unfriendly game, perhaps ideal for the pkers from Runescape when Pkin was abolished recently to make it a more friendly and better game to play.

Click here to check it out.

Link: http://www.bristol-and-bath-home-computers.co.uk/

One of our most popular services by far at Bristol and Bath Home Computers is the, installation and configuration of Wireless Routers, switches or access points, we have even set up entire wireless networks, there are many broadband suppliers such as Blueyonder, now Virgin Media, and all the badged versions of BT, AOL Broadband, Be, BT Total, Demon, Eclipse, Madasafish, O2 Boadband, Orange, Pipex, PlusNet, Post Office Broadband, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, Tiscali, Toucan, UK Online and a few more.

Bristol and Bath Home computers can set up your wireless internet access very quickly, for many this may suffice, we will if required setup your broadband connection to ensure you as a user are as safe as possible and ensure all the best security practices are implemented on your system, this can be the basics like setting up a secure wireless connection to your router ensuring you have the appropriate virus scanners, firewalls and anti spyware detection, we will also configure your broadband suppliers or advise the optimal configuration setting for you to configure if you prefer.

In order to minimise our time on site there are a few things that can be done to speed up our configuration and install time.

1/ Ensure you have your modem plugged into the mains and the power light is illuminated.
2/ Ensure your router is available with all supporting software drivers, manuals and power leads/adaptors
3/ Ensure all driver disks, manuals and adaptors for all interface cards are available
4/ Have all login information for your service provider account and any helpdesk numbers at hand
5/ Have any required connecting leads, USB, Ethernet, Mains, we carry most leads but to minimise our charges having your own (normally supplied free) will help.

Keep a folder with all computer related information in one place this will help to organise your information and minimise our on site time.

We charge by the hour and will give you a progress report before we continue into the next charging period, we will also where appropriate or requested continue to optimise your computer for speed, safety and comfort until the end of the charging period.

You may remember my post recently about removing dust from a computer can cause more harm than the dust itself, although its effects on the computer are minimal dust is still not a desirable for a few reasons.

a/ dust can cause some components to over heat, I am yet to see any proof of this in fact it is more likely to help cool areas where a fan generates a steady air flow, the dust is effectively increasing the surface area of the component and therefore making it easier for the fan to cool, although dust is not a great conductor of heat it is still a heat conductor, dust can be considered a problem where a steady air flow is not available so routing cables to maximise airflow around memory and hard disk drives is a good idea.

b/ Dust on a computer monitor is not a problem unless it is on the display where it can obviously reduce visibility, cleaning with a duster is the easiest way to clean or for CRT monitors a damp cloth with a touch of household soap, LCD monitors can be effectively cleaned by using our previously mentioned cleaning procedure.

b/ Keyboards con now be left unclean, the main problem is a build up of dust can restrict movement of the keyswitches, although dust looks unpleasant it is when you try to remove it that the problems occur, again please look at our Keyboard cleaning guide.

c/ Printers are normally OK when used regularly, the most dust related problems occur with printers when they have been left unused for a while, common problems are pick up rollers collecting dust and not able to pick up or feed the paper, cleaning these with alcohol is the easiest way to get them as good as new, you should also ensure that the laser path on laser printers is kept free of dust by wiping with a soft cloth or following the manufacturers instructions.

Ways to prevent dust entering a computer system

There are covers that you can put over computers to protect them from dust, these covers need to be removed when using the computer to avoid it over heating, there was a comment from a reader about a product they sell that acts as a filter itself but need to be replaced, I can not vouch for how effective these are but they appear to make sense, if he adds a comment here I will publish it again.

The worst time for dust is when the computer is being used, CRT monitors caused by static generated on the screen, computers by dust being drawn in by the fans, normal nylon or plastic covers can be used to help crt monitors, base units, keyboards and printers while switched off, I would never recommend the use of a cover on an LCD monitor, no matter how good the construction of the cover there is always going to be a part of the cover touching the display, over time this will scratch the display, it is not a maybe it will scratch, you may not notice for a while but eventually it will show and that time will be too late, its like putting your car through an automatic car wash you get millions of tiny scratches over time it will build up.

Link: http://www.runescape.com

Beware Runescape is a seriously addictive and fun game that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

Runescape is a game where you own a character account and you use this character to have a virtual life, there are a vast amount of things that you can do from mining, fishing, killing monsters and other players, there are currently 24 different skills to train for member players, there are a fewer number of skills for free players to enjoy but it can give you a good insight about what the game involves before you pay for membership.

When you play Runescape you are given a low level character, you need to perform activities to increase your levels so you can do more and go to different places, wear different armours and weapons, it is difficult when you first start many things can kill you quite easily but provided you stay away from the danger areas you should be OK, initial levels can come quite quickly but as you get better it takes a lot of time and work to gain levels.

To play Runescape you need to be over 13 or have permission from a parent to play, I play regularly and my son aged 9 is a member and plays as well in stages, I pay for my sons membership because there are lots of real life lessons to be learnt playing Runescape, many lessons I prefer him to learn in Runescape as opposed to real life.

AS well as learning to socialise Runescape also teaches about rules and the importance of keeping to the rules, many of the rules on Runescape are designed to keep the children playing safe and encouraging players to be good citizens by reporting rule breakers.

Although I have mentioned about children playing there are a large amount of adults playing too, many adults group together and play as clans and help each other out and do activities together, there are also younger children clans, leading a clan is very valuable in teaching younger players leadership skills, social skills, being able to take and give requests and participating in group discussions.

There are many fan help sites out there to help you make the most out of Runescape, I even have a Runescape Blog site myself, Runescape Gameplay I am a high level player many tips are designed for the higher level player but there are many that are good for high or low level players.

Give it a go, go to www.runescape.com</a> make a free account and train a few skills, provided you get past the “I don’t know what im doing” stage there is hours, days and even years of fun, ive been playing for 3 years and I still love it.