What is this site for?

Sharing information

John Steele, before he retired at the end of 2018, worked in IT from 1963, intially as a hardware designer for systems used in industrial process control, then he led a team writng an Operating System for a mini-computer. The next major project was to design and deliver a successful "dealing room" system used by many financial institution traders to access many sources of live data they used to trade in the financial markets as they migrated to electronic trading. Later he became a designer/consultant specialising in network and system security.

Over many years he has collected many IT related programs and tutorials, of interest to himself and perhaps helpful to you, and which are shared on this website. Other items have been contributed by friends. All programs listed and all documents, hosted on this site, are (unless otherwise stated) free to access for non commercial use – see individual copyright notices. Suggestions and corrections are welcomed!

John has also created a number of technical support documents and given presentations on many aspects of computer technology over the years to interested local groups. His most recent documents and presentations are available on this site in the hope that they are useful to others. Further documents are regularly added and suggestions for further guides (or even contributions) are welcomed and should be submitted to John for consideration.

Finally John has also summarised his extensive industry experience spanning over 50 years, and provided links to video interviews that have been recorded, that cover his career and described some of his memorable projects in some detail.

How to use this site

Many links to external sites for programs, and other technical information, have been collated under a number of categories and are accessed via the menus in the page header so they can easily be found. Most are free but where there is a charge this is noted (the information given was believed to be correct when the item was listed but may have changed). The content is reviewed and updated where necessary. The structure of these menus also is evolving so if you can't find something it may have moved – just ask if you need help.

The menus at the top of the page each contain pull-down lists leading to sub-topics. It is hoped that these are self explanatory. They currently include links to:

• Topics of interest to John and hopefully others:

  • Links to programs and sources of information that John (and others) have found to be useful

    • These are updated regularly as the sites are updated or disappear

    • Please inform John if you find information that is out of date or incorrect

  • They are listed under a number of different headings in the menus

    • These headings evolve over time so items may have moved to a different topic

• Guides/Advice:

  • Support documents, mainly written by John and published in PDF format, explaining how things work, or why you should do something

  • Other contributions welcome!

• Presentations (mainly in PDF format, some have other supporting material):

  • Individual presentations given by John to various local groups

  • Other contributions welcome!

• Links to external sites that may be of more general interest:

  • External advice on keeping safe online - this includes links to:

    • Action Fraud - Action Fraud Alert is provided by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau which is run by the City of London Police as a national service.

    • Thames Valley Police Alert - Local police alerts

  • Comp Cons. Society = Computer Conservation Society

    • Part of the British Computer Society, in conjunction with Bletchley Park Museum of Computing (TNMOC) and others

    • Associated with development of computing from early days up to current technology

    • They have interesting meetings on a topic every month in both London and Manchester apart from during the summer – see their website – they are also pblically available (for free) via Zoom

• Information about John including his CV, recorded interviews, archive material related to his work, and how to contact him

Feedback

Comments, suggestions, or contributions are welcomed. Contact can be made via email using the Menu John Steele → Contact John

Updated 4 Nov 2024