Update: 23/05/2013 @ 20:40  - There's been LOADS of work done since My Previous Update . . .

Back Again . . .

It's been a major amount of time since my last post on this Updates Page BUT despite that - I've been doing LOADS of work in the background !!!   From adding content & Updating the GUI  ( Graphic User Interface - EVERYTHING YOU SEE )  to updating sections of the HTML Code in the background to cure minor issues.  The Content & GUI have especially been updated in the DJ M@CS Section.

I've also had to remove the Games Section as the Games were Google Widget based & they no longer function properly since the servers of my Site HOST were updated & changed Last Year.   I was really disappointed  about this because there were some cracking games including a couple of my favourites.

The site has undergone several improvements over the last year BUT there's still MUCH TO DO !!!

I STILL want to get the Right-Side Selector Bars up & running in the Hi-Res Site Version - They ARE ON-SCREEN already BUT they're currently INACTIVE !

ALSO - I REALLY WANT to add LOADS of extra FREE Software Programs to my "Useful Stuff" section.

I'm PLEASED TO SAY . . .  that the site has had WELL OVER 5000 Visitors so far - Nearly 5500 !!!

THANK YOU One & All  :o)

PLUS - I'm now sharing some of my Music on "PromoDJ" & "Sound Cloud"  -  As a result I'm now able to include my 30 Minute Club Mix from 2000 ON THIS SITE !  ( MY Site's host limits file upload size to 15Mb or less & the 30 Minute Mix is a 1x 41Mb MP3 File )  It is openly available to for you to DOWNLOAD FOR FREE NOW - In my DJ M@CS  Section.

MY Remix of New Order's"Blue Monday" has already had more than 640 FREE Downloads & the Extended Remix of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" has been Downloaded FREE 480 times !!!!!  I'm REALLY PLEASED with this success.

Hopefully it won't be a FULL 10 MONTHS until I Update this page again

Cheers for now . . .

Enjoy !

- Mike -

  Update: 28/07/2012 @ 09:00 - Just a 'Catch-Up' Update !

Yes - It's been a while since I last posted on here - this page seemed like a great idea at the time BUT sadlly - after working on the site for any length of time in the middle of the night - I'm usually to tired to post an update aswell & then I forget !   In actual fact - even though my last post was 05 Feb - I was working furiously on the site for weeks afterwards often putting in 4-6 hour days.   I completely re structured the 'Menu-Bars' & made them more uniform & rather than different coloured buttons for different areas / sections of the site - I created a full set of buttons NEW buttons - in a slightly different style BUT all the same colour !   I also added a surround for the Menu-Bars for extra effect !   I hope you like them.   You may also notice there are now Sub-Menu-Bars appearing on the top-right of the screen in the High-Res version of the site.   These are not yet live as there's a lot of work involved in setting these up.   These will give instant access to pages all within their section - IT/Windows etc. meaning you won't need to keep using the 'back' buttons to move on to the next page in the section or to find another one !!!

There were a couple of issues with the site's speed a couple of months back - beyond my control.   Basically - the site that provides my hit-counters on various pages across the site ( including the main Landing Page ) was hacked & as a result - it kept going off line - as a result - My pages were being held up waiting for counters that never appeared.   Paul @  'Free-Counters.Co.UK' worked seriously hard to return his site back to health & I'm pleased to say that there's been no more issues since he resolved everything !   :o)

After 13 MONTHS out of work - I'm FINALLY working again - which is obviously GREAT NEWS - BUT - it also means I have MUCH LESS TIME to work on the site !   I AM still logging in & doing what I can - when I can BUT it does mean features like the Sub-Menu-Bars will take longer to complete.

Cheers for now . . .

Enjoy !

- Mike -

 Update: 21/02/2012 @ 10:00 - More Background Build Work AND Content / GUI Improvements !

Yes - It's true - I just can't seem to stop at the moment !   Over the last couple of weeks - I've been busy making improvements where I find them needed - including repairing links I missed when I built the 'Lo-Res' half of the website.   And as I mentioned in the previous update post - half is over 80 pages of content & links - over 500 links so going through & checking each link to find faults is time-consuming in itself  ( not to mention mind-numbingly boring after a while )   so I decided to do a few pages every time I woke up in the middle of the nights - meaning I got back to sleep AND progressed with the work !!!   A Win - Win !

Since the completion of that stage of work around  10 days ago - I've started updating the "Useful Sites - Free Softwares" sections of the site.   I've started to make several 'Screen Snap-Shots' of each of the recommended softwares - on MY Laptop screen  ( NOT copied or downloaded from the web )  - this too is time consuming.

I've been using "Solid Capture" for the bulk of the work BUT when that was not able to do certain tasks - I was  back to the old 'Shift & PrintScreen' - followed by editing in 'Paint' / 'Photo Shop' or 'Picture It'.

This also included snap-shots of the 'System-Tray Icons' of the Task-Bar.   Once I had a decent supply of captures - I started to build new a page for each of the softwares & then insert & locate each capture  ( up-to 6 Program Captures per page ).   These pages then had NEW Site / Download links added & were then tied into the "Useful Sites - Free Softwares" pages - replacing the direct 'to-site' links.   The idea behind the captures & individual pages is one I've been planning on building for a few Months now & finally got around to.

It basically means that YOU the viewer can see at a glance if the software looks useful to use OR as user friendly as you'd like it to be - maybe compared to on you may already be using.   My intention is - in time - to add 'write-ups' - descriptions etc. on each software BUT I still have to complete the first stage of taking all the Snap-Shots & creating each page etc.   So far I'm over 60% there BUT I'm also planning to ad MANY MORE Softwares & Links etc. 

 ( maybe another 3 or 4 similar sized pages FULL ) before I move on to text additions.

Another change to this section comes in the feature of a "Direct Download".   Before - I sent you to the Software's Home Page & you then had to find the download.   On most sites this was a click or 2 away in the same site BUT on some it meant passing from Authors Site to a Download site then a few more clicks & occasionally getting a Download which included a built in "Wrapper" featuring a ToolBar or the like.   To prevent all of this hassle - I followed EACH Download route to it's FINAL link address of a CLEAN - ORIGINAL Installer & then linked to that instead - meaning if you click on the "Download" icon on one of MY pages - the download will  ( where possible )  instantly start - straight to your PC - without you having to leave my site.   I hope you find this feature useful !!!

The next stage on this first page of 'Useful Sites' will be to redesign & rebuild the whole Main Selection page to make it more professional looking & easier to follow.   I will also make new Link ID Tags for each of the Softwares on this page - similar to those I've created for the Fun & IT Sections !

Well  . . .  Thank You for reading through this post  ( Also available in HARD BACK )  - I hope you find the improvements to your liking !   PLEASE let me know of any issues you find OR any extra ideas you may have.

Thanks As Always -

Cheers For Now  . . .

- Mike -

 Update: 05/02/2012 @ 13:45 - Background Build Work COMPLETED . . . FINALLY  ! ! !! !

Well it's taken me around 15 days & nearly as many VERY LATE nights  ( 4-5 am some nights )  BUT I reckon it's been worth the extra work.   I discovered that rather than the 50+ pages I THOUGHT the site has - it was in fact 80 PAGES PLUS the 18 pages from my OLD website !   I ended up redirecting the links behind Menu Buttons etc. in batches of 50 to 80 links in a session.   Each session taking 6+ Hours & ending with me having square eyes & wanting to be doing ANYTHING ELSE . . . even washing dishes. :o)   From now on - all content I add to the site - has to be duplicated - between the Regular & Lo-Res versions of the site - with 2 lots of GrafiX !

As well as having built the SECOND version of the site - I've ALSO rebuilt the OLD WEBSITE emulator - making it now available to a much wider selection of screen sizes  ( with more to come ).   Just like the second version of the CURRENT SITE  ( ALL 80 pages copied )  - the 17 pages of the OLD site also have to be duplicated for each version available as each emulation has unique screen settings - based over screen-shots of the old site.   I've found that these emulations - were harder to build than the second version of the main site !   This was because - every LIVE item on the emulation - has to be millimetre / pixel perfect to match the screen-shot below it BUT this has 2 problems attached :

1: The end result that you see looks NOTHING like what I see on the site builder / editor - especially locations / margins etc.

2: IF the Internet Browser is NOT MAXIMISED - ALL of the settings are altered & ALL LOOK WRONG !!!

Anyway - I hope you find the NEW Hi-Speed VERSION of my CURRENT site easier to use - ALL of the pages in the NEW area end in "-Lo-Res" - ( ie THIS PAGE in "Low Res" is http://macs-pc.net/update-messages-lo-res.php) - if a link takes you to a page - NOT ENDING with this - I've missed it & you've been directed to the regular version of the site !

PLEASE let me know if I've missed ANY links.  ( well as it turned out - there were around 700 to change )

Cheers for now . . .

Enjoy !

- Mike -

 Update: 19/01/2012 @ 16:00 - Background Build Work AND Content / GUI Improvements !

Since my last update here I spent about 12 hours yesterday creating the copies of this site into Lo-Res pages. So Far I've copied the entire site to the Lo-Res scection AND amended ALL of the DJ Macs pages main Active Graphics BUT I still have to re-program their Buttons.   Unfortunately the software I have to create the Transparent Active Graphics - only Creates from NEW or from saved Template - it can't edit already created Graphics.  

Since the majority of the Graphics were created in 2006 for my first site - I can't find their templates.   As a result - I'm going to have to create NEW Active Graphics when I have time BUT until then - I'm taking STILL SNAPSHOTS of the existing graphics & making use of them to replace the Active Graphics on the Lo-Res pages !

I've also worked on the Lo-Res version of THIS "Updates" PAGE & the "About This Site" page as well as the Lo-Res Home Page !!!    PLUS - I 've added Content to the MAIN Home-Page - including the "No Ads" panel.

TODAY I've spent a few hours amending the DJ Macs Projects pages  ( Hi & LoRes ) - changing the GUI content to include the "Sorry No Download" dialogue boxes as well as Background work on the MAIN SET of DJ Macs Pages  !

 Update: 18/01/2012 @ 03:00 - Background Build Work.

I asked for suggestions & I've listened . . . I aim to please !

Following on from a visitor's feedback - I've decided to build a second version of the site - for low-speed machines / slow internet connections etc.   ( I had something similar on my OLD site BUT on a much SMALLER SCALE ! )

This basically involves me making copies of all of the 80+ pages & replacing most  ( if not all )  of the Active Graphics with stills.   As a result pages will be smaller in download size & quicker to load !   Sadly you good people won't see any of my work until I finally publish the new Front-End which will then give you the option of loading the EXISTING Hi-Res Home-page & site / the NEW Lo-Res Home-Page & site OR the Mobile Phone edited version of the site.

- Mike -

 Update: 14/01/2012 @ 16:45 - GUI Updated.

I've spent the most of today making changes to the site's GUI  ( Graphic User Interface )  - changing & adding Direct Access Buttons on the top left of your screen.   Because there are around 80 pages on the site & the buttons need to be amended on EVERY PAGE individually - this was a sizeable job.

- Mike -

Update: 14/01/2012 @ 03:30  -  NEW Update Message Page !

I've decided to create this page to post all message updates on - to inform visitors of all changes made to the site.   From now-on I'll record any work done / content added / issues addressed etc. 

I hope you find it useful !!!

- Mike -

Update: 13/01/2012@ 16:20  -  NEW e-mails !

It turns out that the servers of my e-mail forwarding ( FastHosts ) had dropped forwarding the messages through reply@Macs-Pc.co.UK - the second fault found in 2 weeks !   The First had stopped me receiving on another address for around 10 days BUT I have no idea how long THIS address was dead !

I apologise if you've tried to get through to me & failed.

I've now set up an e-mail Links page - with 5 different addresses covering . . .

Assistance in PC / Windows issues.

DJ-Macs - TraX & ReMixes etc.

Fun Stuff - Ideas for new content etc.

Notify Faults - Let me know of any issues with the site.

General Questions.

I hope you find this new page helpful !!!

- Mike -

Update: 12/01/2012 @ 20:00  -  e-mail issues.

Having discovered today - the original Reply E-mail address wasn't working  ( Thanks David for the heads-up )  - I've changed it while I look into the problem.

The temporary E-mail links are working now.

- Mike -

Note :   ALL times are UK GMT !