Do you have a copier?  A printer? A fax? Do you use it most days to copy or print confidential information? Well here is some rather worrying news that you ought to be aware of.

The majority of people don’t realise that most scanners, copiers, faxes and multifunctional printers, certainly ones manufactured since the early 2000′s have hard drives in them.  These hard disks copy and store every single piece of information that you put through them.  This includes anything that you have scanned, anything that you have copied, printed or in some cases even faxed.

Now, consider this – When you replace or upgrade a PC or laptop, people usually (as its been drummed into them by people like me) remove the hard disk, erase the data or destroy the disk before either recycling the machine, giving it away, selling it on or dumping it.  What happens when the lease on your copier expires and you upgrade it?  Do you clear its hard drive before you return it?  I’m guessing, like most people, you don’t.

Recently in America, when an undercover team looked into a number of places that re-sell used copiers and the like they recovered thousands of documents, images, photos, bank statements, accounts records etc from the many hard drives that were left, untouched, in the old copiers – all of which were waiting to be resold.  Imagine if everything that you have ever printed, photocopied or scanned could be seen by someone else? A competitor perhaps? Or even more worrying, an undesirable?  It could have devestating results for both you and your business.

Computer Rescue Ltd is all about Total Care for all things that concern your data.  If you do have a copier that has seen better days or a multifunctional printer, scanner that you are thinking of recycling and you want the data erased, get in touch and we will help you to clear it.

So the dust has settled on the launch of Apples’s latest and greatest – you cant beat it or bend it- and you most certainly – cant do without it(or can you?) – latest tech offering – the iPad.

There are many reviews that go into great technical detail about the iPad, this is not going to be one of them.

First impressions of the iPad are most certainly good ones.  It’s a very stylish piece of kit to say the least – no doubt that it looks the part – gorgeous design, as is Apples’ want, even the packaging looks great.

Straight from the box, there is enough charge in the battery for instant pleasure.  Once the iPad is activated, you are faced with the all too familiar iPhone “Slide to Unlock” slider bar.  From here, it’s onto the main screen itself, which, at first glance more than slightly resembles the iPhone / iTouch. I guess this is one of the inital great things about the iPad, straight out of its packaging most people will already know how to use it.

With a large 9.7″ screen which highlights awesome colours – the iPad is a pleasure to use.  Even reading email looks and feels better than using the iPhone (and I thought that the iPhone was amazing and just what I was waiting for – that is until the iPad).

There will be many functions for the iPad with the average user, Games, E-Books, Internet Browsing and of course reading your email.  The question is, is it really worth getting one?  I think the answer to that questions depends on your circumstances and what you are likely to use it for.

Currently, in its present carnation – version 1.  I can’t see it replacing the laptop for any real work.  It’s great to use to read with, to view pictures, videos and even to interact with social networks like facebook.  However, there are limitations that ive found using it.  Typing for example is not too bad, and most certainly a big improvement on the iPhone, but… Its still not as easy to edit and navigate word documents as a laptop is, or to update a wordpress page for example.

On saying that however, one of the places where in my opinion the iPad comes into its own is during a meeting or business presentation.  Having the iPad boot up immediately and fire up keynote almost instantly – without the client waiting for a laptop, then software to load – during which, the clients eyes usually glaze over with the fear of “not another powerpoint presentation”. Well with the iPad, it seems that they don’t have time to.

There are of course, a huge number of apps available for the iPad – some are good, some are free.  Like the iPhone, there is usually “an app for that” available, so you should be able to find whatever you are looking for quite easily.

Perhaps the most used and eagerly awaited use for the iPad is the ebook reader function.  There are two main ones, apples – ibook and amazons’ kindle reader, both can be used seamlessly on the iPad.  Both allow you to download samples of the books that you wish to read direct from either stores’ websites.  Once you decide that you want to purchase the full book, a quick tap on the buy button and after paying for it, its yours by electronic download.  You can then read the book, turn the pages with a simple flick of your finger, you can even bookmark your page so that you can return to it later.

All in all the iPad is a remarkable piece of kit that once you use it, you will instantly fall in love with and want one.  However, there may be some little voice inside that tells you that you ort to wait until the next version comes out. My advice – ignore it and get one.