Next year I am planning the following runs:-
Bradford 10k –
Leeds 1/2 Marathon –
Leeds 10K –
any maybe even the Great North Run!

watch this space for more information.

Do you Know what all the different windows services are, and which ones can be disabled safely?

If you have answered no to the above take a look at the folowing web site, for full details on how to speed up your windows insallation, and for details of which services can safely be disbaled.

Windows XP Speed Tweaks

Windows Vista Speed Tweaks

Windows Vista Services

The above links are to an external web site which I have no control over. Also I will not be held responsible for anyones systems after performing the above tweaks (If it goes wrong, it’s YOUR! Fault!)

The Internet is huge, vast, immense, if you type “Scout” into a search engine you will receive over 73,100,000 pages to browse through. So where do you go to find a programme idea or for that any idea about how to fill a troop night, arrange a pack outing or get advice?

The first thing to remember ( or learn) is that “ The Net” isn’t “ The web” the WWW is part of the Internet but is not all of it. This isn’t the place to discuss the history of the Internet, but there was Scouting on the Internet well before the WWW was thought of and some parts of it are still about ( more later)

For todays leader the best place to start is probably http://www.scoutbase.org.uk where you will find the Scout Association’s pages that are aimed at leaders. This has POR, latest news, badge requirements and lots more, if you save this in your browser favourites you will be able to stay up to date with what’s happening nationally and possibly stay ahead of the information cascade that is meant and so often doesn’t supply information to leaders. This site was set up by a group of volunteers in the mid 90′s and was run for the Scout Association by them until last year. There is another Scout Association site www.scouts.org.uk but this is or was meant to be a professional site aimed at those that aren’t leaders such as parents and media, however the distinction between the two is getting a bit blurred, however both sites are safe enough to allow Scouts of any age to range over.

If you are looking for other sites I suggest that unless you have lots of time to spare and are able to translate American that you use -bsa in your search, the Boys Scouts of America turn up on lots of pages, and with their policies being attached in many places you might get a shock with some of the language and comments you might get by not excluding the search term.

Closer to home of course there is the West Yorkshire Scouts Pages at www.wyscouts.org.uk , which like many non commercial web pages suffers from lack of copy.

But if it’s ideas you are looking for it’s individuals and Groups web pages that you need to find, pages that are filled with ideas that have worked for them, one such is www.shurdington.org/Scouts/resources.htm which has 8 pages of ideas such as “snake dodge ball” or “Cycle –o-rama “ but maybe it’s not games or ideas that you want , maybe you need to brush up on some ropework? In that case the site for you is www.42brghtn.mistral.co.uk/knots/42ktmenu.html over a dozen knots in animation, can watch as the live end moves over under and round the standing end to make the knot, and if you can’t see it you can do it again, and again, all without any hands getting in the way to obscure things. Another knots page is www.troop7.org/Knotsthis has forty different knots and their uses but without the animations, it’s a BSA page but this one is a “safe” page to view.Remember at the start ofthis article I mentioned parts of the Internet that weren’t the WWW? Well under that category comes a thing called Usenet which is a text medium used for discussions and a relevant part of usenet for UK Scouting is called “uk.rec.scouting” , you can access this via google but you won’t get the best value from it without using a dedicated newsreader. uk.rec.scouting is a discussion group , an unmoderated discussion group, so discussions can get quite heated, but in 10 years I have found it to be far and away the best place for up to date support and information, this is scouting as it’s meant to be with leaders all being eqaul and all moderting themselves. There are other discussion groups such as Escouts, Escouts is a moderated discussion board run by and for Scouts, and they also supply web hosting for Scout groups and very cheap rates, worth looking at if you want a web site.

Compared with uk.rec.scouting Escouts is moderated by a team of moderators and also has a very large number of users who are not leaders E-Scouts can be found at www.escouts.org.uk give them a try Richard that heads the organisation is a nice chap and I’m sure he will give your a virual tour. Yet another place on the Internet that you might want to visit, or even set up,for your own group is Yahoo groups. Yahoo groups are groups that are set up by people on the Yahoo service, you don’t need a yahoo address or pay them anythign for this and you will find over 20643 groups that have a connection in some way to Scouting.

I can’t let this article end without mentioning one of the best Scouting web pages that I know of , this was assembled by someone that I’m proud to call a friend ( although we have never met) a regular on uk.rec.scouting Steven Rainsbury , it’s here at http://web.ukonline.co.uk/scoutnotebook/ and I defy anyone not to read christiansatbuckmore,without laughing. I hope you’ve enjoyed this quick tour around the Scouting Internet and I hope I have convinced you that the Internet is more than just Scoutbase or a few out of date photographs on a local website.

For those who do not know me please find a little biog below about me.  (All Info Correct January 2008) 
This biog will also be availble on my about me page.

Name: Michael Holroyd
Age: 27
Occupation: Computer Consultant/DJ
Marital Status: Engaged
Fav Food: Chicken Tikka Massalla
Fav Drink: Beer
Fav Mag: PC Pro
Fav Song: Got More Than One!!
Likes: Everything
Dislikes: Everything??? (hey that’s clever)

Mini Biog: Currently work for an IT Consultancy company in Cleckheaton, as a Support Engineer, helping our customers with thier IT related issues.
In my spare time I run my own Mobile Entertainment Buisness (SOS Entertainment) I first started DJing back at Christmas 2004, helping out one of my best friends, Eventually I decided it was the right to go it alone, and now I don’t regret it, but I would like to say thanks to Pete, as without him it would never have been possible.
I am also a Cub Scout Leader for a Local Scout Group 11th Spen Valley (www.11thspenvalley.org)
I still find time to enjoy life and go out and you can’t beat a good gig when all those people are up dancing.