Hello, and welcome to Shogem IT Services.

Despite appearances to the contrary, as is much in evidence elsewhere within this site, 'Shogem' is just one person - me, Dennis Bird.

I am in fulltime employment as an IT specialist for a major UK employer.  Outside of work, I find I am much in demand by friends and family, and by friends of friends etc. as a font of knowledge in all things IT.  I regularly receive calls for assistance from France and I have even been received a call from a friend in Cyprus.

I provide support in all Microsoft operating systems, both graphical and non-graphical, going all the way back to MS-DOS3.3.  This ranges from installation advice to usage and compatibility issues.  Many calls currently relate to the Windows 95-98 families and in the main is a result of the users trying to run software that is too advanced for the host system.

I spend a lot of my free time getting to grips with the newer Microsoft operating systems, Windows XP and the server software, Small Business Server 2003.  Driven partly by interest in the way the software operates, I have been finding that I am frequently asked to explain how networks operate with regards to their application in the business environment.

I have been associated with IT for as long as I can remember.  My father, Ron, worked for ICL, as it was then, for something like 42 years and more (Powers Samms, ICT, then ICL and latterly Fujitsu) before he passed away in September 1993.  It was through him that I saw my first computer, an ICL 1904, sometime around 1968.  I remember little of those days, save to say that I spent many a Saturday morning playing with punch cards whilst he made sure the machine kept operating.

It was not until late 1989 when I started working in IT for myself, starting on a variety of ICL 2900 series machines.  In those days I worked in COBOL, and moved to MANTIS on an ICL3900 series machine in 1990.

In the mid 1980s the IBM-PC started appearing on the desks at work and I began to develop an interest in the new technology and how they worked - an interest that is still as avid in this age.  Borrowing some redundant Apricot and Wang desktop equipment during the late 1980s, I spent my time exploring the inner workings of these primitive PCs and learning to program in Basic.

Since then, I specialised in the maintenance of the desktop PC - and in particular its relationship to the local server environment.  Initially this was within a Netware 4.10 environment, linking through to a DRS 6000 server and more latterly working with Microsoft NT 3.51, and NT4.0.

Since then, experience has been gained in Windows 2000 and Windows SBS 2003 environments.  In more recent times, this has translated through to windows XP and, of course, Windows Vista.

When asked, I endeavour to offer the best solution to my clients; such advice is offered impartially.  Despite the fact that this site - and its base - is powered by Microsoft products, I do not feel constrained to suggest a Microsoft only solution. 

© Shogem 2008