Dairy free muffins

This dairy free recipe is perfect for those who are intolerant to eggs, milk or butter. It makes about 20 cakes.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe bananas
  
• 1 cup orange juice
  
• ¹/₂ cup vegetable oil
  
• 2 ³/₄ cups plain flour
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• ¹/₂ teaspoon salt
  
• ¹/₂ teaspoon grated orange peel (optional)
  

Heat the oven to 190°C

In a large bowl, mash the bananas until they change to a gloopy liquid. Add the orange juice, oil, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir into an even mixture.

Spoon into a baking tray, garnish with orange peel, and bake for 19 minutes.

Computing basics

Protection



Virus protection
Free anti-virus is available for Windows machines from http://free.grisoft.com

Firewall protection
Make sure your firewall is turned on. Go to Control Panel -> Network Connection -> and right click on the network adapter either local area connection (wired) or wireless network connection (wireless). Select Properties and click on the Advanced tab. Click Settings and from there you can turn on the firewall for that adapter.

Spyware protection
Go to http://www.download.com and click on the link ‘Ad-Aware 2007’ to download the application. Note, after installation the program will ask you for a registration code. Just press ‘Cancel’ to run the free version.
Spybot at http://www.spybot.com is another recommended anti-Spyware program.

System optimisation
CCleaner from http://www.ccleaner.com is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space.


Backups



Data can be important so make sure you keep it backed up. You can back up locally or to the internet.

Physical backup
http://www.ntius.com/backup_now.asp

Online Backup
http://www.idrive.com
http://www.mozy.com


Batteries



A very good souce for batteries for laptops and other devices is http://www.battery.co.uk


Internet Service Providers



The main rule about choosing an Internet Service Provider (ISP) is that there is a nightmare story about all of them. Use an ISP comparison site like http://www.thinkbroadband.com to minimise your chances of becoming another horror statistic.

On the whole:

• Bethere – A reasonable ISP, they provide you with good free hardware (up to 24 meg)
• BT – Higher than average reports of support issues
• Nildram - No issues
• Pipex – Generally a good provider with good support
• Plusnet - Used to be good but have been bought out by BT
• Virgin Media - Good if you live in the area they cover and don't want to pay BT for line rental. Only advised for the more technical user
• Zen Internet - Expensive but good

Testing your line
If you are concerned that the actual throughput of your service is slower than the one you subscribed to, visit these sites to perform service tests:
http://www.speedtest.net
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html


Routers



The following routers are reliable and good value for money:
Netgear DG834G Router
3com

If you are having problems, with a poor signal strength in certain floors and areas of your house an access point is a good way to boost your signal.
Range booster


Wireless troubleshooting



NetStumbler is a free tool for Windows that allows you to detect local wireless networks. You can use it to:-

• Verify that your network is optimally configured
• Find locations with poor coverage in your wireless network
• Detect other networks that may be causing interference for your network
• Detect unauthorized "rogue" access points in your home

You can download NetStumbler from http://www.netstumbler.com/downloads

Using NetStumbler
When setting-up or troubleshooting your wireless network, it is best practice to ensure that the wireless connections are not using the same adjacent channels (e.g. your neighbour uses channel 1 and you use channel 2).
Two separate wireless networks using adjacent channels in the same vicinity will interfere with each other. Decrease the amout of channel cross-talk by ensuring that the two networks have the maximum channel separation, this will provide a noticeable performance increase.
The preferred channel separation between the channels in neighbouring wireless networks is 5 channels. If your neighbour uses channel 1 try channel 6, if they are on channel 6 try channel 11.
Please take note of your other surrounding networks and their strength when setting-up or troubleshooting your own wireless network.


Remote Control



If you have relatives or friends who need assistance, or perhaps you need assistance from another expert, use LogMeIn from http://www.logmein.com to have one machine take control of another for a period of time. It is free, secure and easy to use.

A suite of sounds for your mobile device

The right set of sounds can turn ordinary hardware into a cool gadget. Here is the Moistness suite ready to click and use...

The Wake Up Sound
Waking up to the right sound sets the er, tone for the day. Here we have chosen Stephen Fry's exquisitely soothing butler's voice. Mr Fry has recorded over 150 wake up messages for the Voco clock and this is an excellent example.

The Ringtone
Obviously choosing the right ringtone to suit your personality is important, but repeated studies and surveys have shown that there is nothing cooler than The Creeps by Camille Jones vs. Fedde Le Grand, just check out the video.

The Personal Alert
Sometones you want to be alerted but you don't want others to know. Vibrate is meant to do this but we all know now when other people's phones are vibrating. So here is the answer. It sounds like a sound in the room but it will take people a long time to figure out it is your phone. You will know though.

The Scary Sound
Sometimes for fun you need a sound that will scare people. This is the sound that death makes before taking people in the movie "The Grudge". If you have seen the movie you'll know this is a scary sound. If not, then it is still scary.