Welcome!

If you didn’t know already, ThePCSpy is the online lair of Oli Warner.

If you’ve been here before, you’ve probably noticed that things look slightly different. The site is in the middle of quite a large overhaul so there may be some turbulence.

Popular Posts

Bootable USB Flash Drive

(578,220 reads)

What Really Slows Windows Down

(363,970 reads)

What Slows Windows Down?

(292,460 reads)

Get an @live.com email address!!

(131,080 reads)

The Cutest Human-Test: KittenAuth

(80,510 reads)

The Linux “1% myth” is pretty accurate

Linux market share is an oft-debated topic. Some people release statistics, others shoot them down. But are they incorrect? Is desktop Linux still at 1% share?

Published 1 day, 5 hours ago. Tagged with: linux statistics

Scraping websites with Python

How to extract data from sites without an API with just a few lines of Python and no regular expressions.

Published 3 days, 5 hours ago. Tagged with: python

The BBC needs to learn how to Google

Somebody at the BBC has no idea about their gaming history. Worse still, they seem completely unable to do any proper research on the game in question.

Published 3 days, 6 hours ago.

Ubuntu 10.04 is good, not perfect

Recently released, Ubuntu Lucid Lynx makes a lot of core improvements but in my eyes, falls further back in some aspects. This isn’t another review, it’s a list of what-and-why I hate parts of my favourite operating system along with some suggestions on how to make 10.10 better for everybody.

Published 4 months ago.

Dear ALSA, renew your domain!

Published 4 months, 3 weeks ago.

Linux isn't invulnerable. Don't say it is.

Every month or so, I find some blog or forum post telling the world that because Linux is so hardcore, there’s very little chance of it getting any malware. As you can probably tell from the title, I disagree and want these people to recognise why their arrogance is dangerous.

Published 5 months, 1 week ago.

Everything is new again

It’s been 19 months since my last regular post here. I have a few excuses but I’ve come to realise that I really enjoyed writing… so I’m back. This post is a quick catch-up on what’s been happening with the site and me, and what you can expect from both of us in the future.

Published 5 months, 2 weeks ago.

Debranding and Unlocking a Samsung M8800 Pixon

Locked, branded phones are a complete pain in the behind. Period. They shouldn’t sell them but they do. Luckily for you, me and everybody else, you can usually step around these issues. Here’s how I unlocked and debranded a fairly new Orange-locked Samsung Pixon

Published 1 year, 5 months ago. Tagged with: technology

Facebook worm

Facebook isn’t all bad but here’s a message that just got sent to my wall for me and all my friends to download. If they’re not careful, Facebook could be going the way of email.

Published 2 years, 1 month ago. Tagged with: security trojan worm

My issues with Linux et al

Like a warm ocean current, the tides of contempt are slowly eroding my enjoyment of Ubuntu. I’ve been using it full time for eleven months now but I feel I have to write down my grievances before I find myself jumping ship.

Published 2 years, 1 month ago. Tagged with: linux