Emailing Photos
It's actually quite easy when you know how. Have a look at our specially created web page here

Browser wars
We seem to have a rash of new browsers at the moment with new versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera, and Google’s new offering, Google Chrome. Also it’s only a year or so since Apple launched its browser, Safari, in a Windows version.

All the new browsers feature higher levels of security by way of enhancements like anti-phishing and anti-malware upgrades. With version 8 Internet Explorer 8 has finally come into line with other browsers in terms of standards comlpiance. It seems that Microsoft has finally recognised that it cannot continue with its own way of doing things. The time was when websites were designed specifically for internet Explorer as it had 90+ % of th emarket share. Some of these websites will not display propely under IE8 and so it has a built in compatability featre to make it behave like IE7.

So what does it all mean for this website? Fortunately not too much. It has been designed to embrace modern standards and display properly under any standards compliant browser.One minor change from IE7 to IE8 is that pictures with built in captions will no longer display those captions when hovered over unless IE8 is running in compatibility mode.

Is one browser better than any other? Firefox is the market leader with 46% of the market share. Next comes Internet Explorer with 26% and then Google Chrome with 12%. My personal favourite is Google Chrome for its sheer speed and elegance but it's minimal interface is not to everyone's liking. Firefox has always been a good browser but could be a little slow and used to serve up cached pages for speed. Current versions seem much better so it's a close number 2 in my rankings. Internet Explorer is slow, especially reading JavaScript, and has been full of security issues, even in version 8. As I write this a security update has just been released so we'll have to see if that closes the loopholes.

The last browsers to mention are Safari and Opera. Safari started life as an Apple Mac browser but there is now a version for Windows. It is fast and has about 4% of the market share across the 2 platforms. At the bottom of the popularity pile is Opera. It is generally a good browser with some nice features but it is the only one to have problems with the Spry coding used on this website

Of course, as webmaster, I do my best to test this website with all browsers. You'd be amazed how something that works with one browser does not fare so well with another. Overall browser are becoming more standards compliant and that should mean more reliable performance, always assuming the code is right in the first place!

Firewalls
On a similar subject to that above, you may need to consider having a Firewall installed. This a means to stop people accessing your computer while you are on-line. It is an especially important consideration if you are using broadband rather than a modem and dial-up, although even with modem the extra security is worth it. Firewalls come in two flavours, hardware and software. With the hardware versions are now quite cheap and you will often find them incorporated in DSL modems and broadband routers. The software route for normal personal security is equally as good.

Windows XP has a built in software firewall but early versions were not that effective and not enabled by default. All this changed when Service Pack 2 came along so if you have this installed on your PC you do have some protection. You can check by pressing and releasing the pause key whilst holding down the Windows key. This brings up the System Properties box and under the 'General' tab you will see service Pack 2 mentioned if it is installed.

Many people (including me) like some extra protection and there are now many excellent products on the market. One of the best known software products is Zone Alarm, and trial versions are often found on computer magazine discs, or you can download it from the web (see the bottom of this page). Alternatively, firewalls come as standard with products such as McAfee and Norton's Internet Security suites.

Browser blues !
Note that some pages on this website open up in a new browser page and the BACK button in this instance may not take you back whence you came - just close or reduce the new window to go back. This is especially true of linked external websites in order that there can be no mistaking that the website is not part of the Swift Owners' Club website.

Email enhancement programs and services
These allow you to view and manage your email in useful ways not always available in standard email clients such as Outlook Express. Before we take a look at them it's worth noting that most ISP's allow you to log into your email account via their web page. Once inside you can view, read, reply and delete your e-mail. This is especially useful to check for any junk mail, or any mail that has a whacking great attachment that will cost an arm and a leg to download! It's also useful if you are away from home but have access to a PC. However if you have an ISP without this facility, these free email services come into their own.

One such service is available from MailReader.com This provides a sophisticated web-based POP mail reader, with many options, including SSL access for added security, the ability to view and save attachments, an address book, and many advanced mail composition functions. Similar services can be found at www.eprompter.com, mail2web, Net My Mail and XS2Mail

Yet another program is Mailwasher from Australia! Navigate to http://www.mailwasher.net. This program has the facility to fool others into thinking that your e-mail address does not exist by bouncing the unwanted mail back and deleting it from the ISP's server. It then opens (for instance) Outlook and you download the rest of your (wanted) e-mail as usual. This is especially useful as it is NOT recommended that you answer unwanted emails to get yourself off their email list - it only confirms you exist to robots!

Anything that helps you monitor your incoming mail must be a bonus, especially as these programs are free. With the proliferation of viruses about these days, you just cannot be too careful. If anyone else has any useful utilities they would like to share, just email me with the web address.

Email attachments
Always be very careful before opening any unsolicited attachments - even if sent by family and friends. Even if your virus checker says they're safe it could simply be that they contain a virus so new the virus checker does not recognise it. I have been caught out in this way. If in doubt delete the email or at least wait a week before re-checking is with your anti-virus software.

When sending attachments always be mindful of their size, especially if the recipient does not have a broadband connection. A 10Mb attachment will take around 25 mins to download on a fast 56k modem. One of the biggest culprits in the large file league are graphics (picture) files. However it's often not difficult to reduce the size of such files without adversely affecting their quality by using simple photo editing software . Also some files (not always picture files) can be greatly reduced in size by compressing them inside a zip file- see below

Had trouble accessing the Members only area of the website?
Firstly you must have the current username and password. These are given to by the Club Secretary on joining. One or both of these are changed early each January and notified in the Rally Book for that year. Secondly the words must be entered exactly as they appear. Pay particular attention to spacing (or lack of it) between characters and be aware that the words are case sensitive. Because the password appears just as blobs when you type it in it's easy to miss the fact that you might have caps lock enabled such that all letters appear as capitals, so do watch this one.

Nothing changed since your last visit to this website?
Be advised that computers stores web pages as you download them. This process is known as caching. If you re-visit a site on a regular basis, it is possible that you will see the stored page rather than the latest one. You can get your browser to clear its cache by asking it to delete its temporary internet files or (with more recent browsers) to delete your browsing history. In IE6 go to Tools/Internet Options/General and click the delete files button. You can check if any page you are viewing may have since been updated by pressing F5 or clicking the refresh button on your browser to re-load the page.

Zipping up files
Windows XP has a zip facility built in as standard. It can be accessed by right clicking a file and selecting 'send to' from the drop down list. XP can also see what is in zip files and extract the information for you. If you're using an earlier version of Windows you will need a utility such as WinZip. You can download an evaluation version here

If you're running a Mac then the equivalent is Stuffit. A basic version called Stuffit Expander is available for free download here. There is also a Windows version.

Some useful utilities

1. Most of us know what a Search Engine does. It searches for web sites that contain words or content you specify. You'll have your favourite, it could be Google, AltaVista, or for instance, but how about using something that will search several search engines at the same time? Copernic Agent basic is one such program, and it's free. You can pay for a better version if you like it, or stay with the freebie. The same applies to a similar utility WebFerret

2. Adobe Acrobat Reader is a free program used to view Portable Document Files (PDF files). You need it to view some pages in our website. Sadly it's become very bloated over the years and is now a massive 20.8mb download, meaning it will take approximately 50 mins to download on dial up modems. You may also find the program on computer magazine cover discs. If you wish to download it now simply click on the link at the beginning of this paragraph.

3. With many of us having digital cameras these days, photo editing software is a must. You probably found that you got such a program with your camera but, if not, here's one or two free ones you might like to try. The first of these is PhotoPlus, now in version 9. It claims to allows beginners and professionals alike to produce incredible images for print, multimedia and the web. The second is Picasa from Google. In addition to the normal features It has a unique face recognition facility and can scan all your pictures for particular faces. Last but not least is GIMP for Windows. GIMP is a popular open-source image editor originally developed for Unix/Linux. Often lauded as the "free Photoshop," it does have an interface and features similar to Photoshop. Because it's volunteer-developed beta software, stability and frequency of updates could be an issue; however, many happy users report using GIMP for Windows without significant problems.

4 - see the "Zipping up files" item above. WinZip is now at version 11.0. Click the pic to download an evaluation version

5 If you think you need to have a firewall (that is a means of actually stopping hackers trying to attack your machine while you are on the W3 for any length of time) then you could not do much better than ZoneAlarm which comes with a 15 day free trial. You may also find the program on computer magazine cover CDs.

6. A FREE email enhancement utility, ePrompter Check your email accounts for junk and large attachments without downloading them first!

7 Mentioned above, also try Mailwasher from www.mailwasher.net This program also allows you to bounce mail back, giving the impression that your email address does not exist! VERY useful to use against spammers.

8.A good source of Windows information for fault finding is www.annoyances.org/ . This covers Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista and Windows7.

9. If you are looking for Drivers of the computing variety - try www.driverguide.com/

The Swift Owners' Club and/or the Webmaster, can accept no liability for any problems however caused, by the use of items downloaded to your computer from any links above. You download and use these at your own risk! The Webmaster would be pleased, however, to receive e-mail from visitor's who believe they have spotted an error, or an inappropriate link

YOU ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO INDIVIDUALLY VIRUS CHECK ANY ITEM YOU DOWNLOAD FROM ANY SITE ON THE INTERNET.