Having recently made the switch from Sky to Virgin Media, I thought I’d write a few words about both services. We were happy Sky customers for about 18 months, until our broadband started dropping out all the time. Since I’m a fairly heavy user of our internet connection, I needed something that would not only be fast, but also very reliable. So then…on with the review.

Firstly, television…

Now, this is an area in which we had no problems with Sky at all. Their Sky+ package is very good, and it’s an absolute doddle to use - be it normal TV viewing, pausing/rewinding live TV, recording programs on-the-fly, or scheduling recordings (one-off or regular) via the on-screen TV guide.

We subscribed to Sky’s top package, which gave us all the sport and movie channels as well. Now, I’m an avid fan of movies, cinema and home cinema setups, but there was rarely anything worth watching on any of the Sky Movies channels. Every now and again, there would be something interesting on Sky Movies Indie (showing independent movies), but generally speaking… it wasn’t worth bothering with. The sport was very good, but only really for the big football games - most other stuff isn’t really of interest to me.

Virgin Media is pretty similar, although we’re not paying for the movies or sports. The V+ facility is good, and I personally prefer it to Sky. The remote is nice and weighty and feels good in the hand. One major benefit of Virgin Media over Sky, is the “Tv on demand” stuff. There you have a massive bank of Tv programmes (often whole series) to watch. Stuff like “The I.T. Crowd” - something I never saw when it was on Tv, but have absolutely loved it.

A phone is a phone (as long as it works - my sympathies to Tiscali customers), so let’s skip that and move onto internet…

And most importantly, cable broadband…

As I said before, Sky broadband was ok for a little while, and very affordable - being only an extra fiver for their “upto 8MB” service. The telephone exchange could only handle about 4.2Mbps, which meant we weren’t getting half the advertised service, then when you take into account distance from the exchange and contension ratio, you’re getting even less. It kept dropping out every so often, and we weren’t sure whether it was a problem with Sky, with BT, with the telephone exchange, with our router, or what.

So… we made the switch and haven’t looked back, having been very impressed with the broadband service. The set-up and customer service was a bit of a joke - sometimes getting through to a UK call centre, sometimes getting through to the “technical” support; by that, I mean a set of barely-literature monkeys in India reading from a script, and charging us by the minute for the privilege. Takes me back to the I.T. Crowd joke: “Have you tried switching off and on??”

Anyway… customer service dilemmas aside, the broadband is supurb - haven’t had a problem with it yet. And what’s more, the 4MB service we’re receiving (of which, I might add, we get about 3.8MB of) is due to be upgraded free-of-charge sometime in the next couple of weeks. Will have to wait and see how that goes.

Well… we did it.

We headed up to Gretna for the weekend on 6th June and were married in a small ceremony in the Grenta registry office at 3pm on Saturday 7th June. Both of our parents were able to make the journey, which made it all the more special.

We are yet to receive the official photography, but my dad was busy with his camera throughout the weekend, so there are plenty of photographs to be getting on with. I will upload a selection of the best ones to my Flickr account over the next few days.

So… what’s married life like? Not much different really. Every now and again it’ll feel different, and it’s a kinda nice feeling wearing a wedding ring… if not a bit girly at first. Just need to get the house sorted and a few kids under our belt (so to speak!) and we’ll be sorted! ;o)

Like the majority of people who use a computer on a regular basis, I’m pretty used to Windows XP, although I’ve only recently found out about the following shortcut keys, which you might find useful.

I have known about holding the Windows key and pressing “L” (which we’ll call “Windows-L”), which locks your desktop - only really useful for popping to the loo at work without people spoiling your game of Spider Solitaire. But today, I found out about Windows-D, which minimises all open windows, allowing you to see your desktop. It does the same thing as the “Show Desktop” shortcut icon in your Quick Launch bar. Press the shortcut key again, and it restores your windows to their former state. Handy, huh?

Another useful shortcut - ever wanted to delete a file, without then having to empty it from the recycle bin? Hold down shift and press delete and it’ll be gone forever. Be careful when doing this, as it won’t be recoverable. If you’re likely to mess something up, stick with the standard method.

Yet another is Windows-E, which opens Windows Explorer, and Windows-F will open the Start menu’s Find window.

My site has undergone a number of changes over the last year or so - some minor, others not-quite-so minor. I am pleased to announce that it has been given its final facelift.

The previous version was a notable step up from the version before that, but I wanted something a little more professional to be my long-term site. Now though, I’m happy with it and feel it presents the right balance between personal and professional.

The most major change is this very blog. I have done away with the cumbersome HTML approach and plumped for the popular blogging tool, WordPress. I’ve grown very familiar with the open source CMS, Joomla - WordPress has taken a little getting used to, but I’m very pleased I have been able to create a theme that is a spot-on match for my main site. Hopefully…it’s a relatively seemless transition.

Anyway…I hope you like the new site. If I can be of any use with any websites you may require, don’t hesitate to get in touch.