A Consuming Experience

Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Help make 080 calls free from mobile phones!

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom intends to make calls to 080 and 116 numbers free from all telephones, fixed and mobile, with
03 to be the only non-geographic number range linked to the price of a call to a geographic number (ie an 01/02 number).

But this is only its intention at the moment, it may change its mind. So if you want calls to 080 numbers to be free from your mobile phone, you've got until 28 May to respond to Ofcom's consultation to tell Ofcom that you agree, yes please!

It's been a big bugbear of mine for years, that calling supposedly freefone 0800 phone numbers in the UK is not free on most mobile networks - ie it doesn't come out of your allowance of minutes if you're on a monthly plan, instead you actually get charged extra by the phone company for making 'free' calls from your smartphone or other mobile phone.

Hence the rise and popularity of services like SayNoto0870 and apps like my pal Simon Maddox's 0870 app.

I hope lots of people will respond to Ofcom so that they change the current consumer-unfriendly situation. Please pass it on!

Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Error 0x80070052 The directory or file cannot be created - can't delete files - solution

Can't delete folders or files? I kept getting error code 0x80070052 in Windows when trying to delete files, and they just wouldn't delete. Bit of a problem.

However I found that I could permanently delete files (hold down Shift when selecting Delete or pressing the Del key). Ie bypassing the Recycle Bin.

I kicked myself when I realised the answer was simple. Just empty the recycle bin first! (Just rightclick it and choose Empty, for those unfamiliar with the process. It make take a while.) Then you can delete documents, pictures and other files again.

Nothing to do with file or folder rights or permissions, just as well as I couldn't take ownership of files where I was already the owner!

I just wish the error code was "Recycle Bin too full, please empty it!". That would have been rather more helpful.

Hope my posting this tip saves others some searching.

(If you get error 0x80070052 with USB flash drives apparently the solution there is to move files at the root into an existing folder, or new folder if you can create it.)