With the benefit of 30 years' experience of computing, Mike O'Connor offers a wide range of services for the design and development of applications tailored to your requirements.

Mike O'Connor has built applications for various companies of all sizes, including Morgan Grenfell (now Deutsche Bank), Kleinwort Benson and Crawford & Co (world-wide loss adjusters).

If you require rapid development, assistance or advice, backed by:

• an understanding of business problems
• in-depth experience
• real expertise

If you are a non-specialist user of computers, please see also the sections 'Non-technical' and 'Firewall & anti-virus' on the left.

However, if you prefer to have your application written in a better-known system such as SQL Server or Access, I would be glad to work with either of them too.

Internet web site development
Although the look of this site may not be exactly what you want for your own, don't let that put you off; there are endless styles and effects available and I can prepare a site to your exact requirements.

For all but the simplest sites, it is often important to be able to link the site to a database, something of which I have had years of experience.

Trouble-shooting
Some programmers have a strong distaste for "clearing up somebody else's mess" - not I! Many years ago I was called in to a well-known television company who were having a terrible time with a suite of accounting programs (written by a different firm) which kept crashing, leaving ledgers out-of-balance etc. I found the problem and corrected the fault - which was the start of a most agreeable relationship which continued for many years. So - big problem? - give me a call.

Non-technical (simple English)
If a lot of the technical terms you hear mean nothing to you (and if so, there's no reason why you should feel any guilt about it), this section is for you.

Two or three of my clients have kindly told me that I have a talent for describing things in simple terms. If you just know that you want a particular job to be done, or problem solved, but don't know much about the technicalities, I will make things easier with simple English.

It's a sad fact that in these days of hackers and other criminals, you need both an anti-virus program and a firewall if you ever connect your computer to the internet - even if only for e-mail. It's not just a question of having your e-mails scanned for viruses - the problem is that whenever you are connected to the internet, it's like having no front door (and nobody watching it) if you haven't got a firewall. Having a firewall is like

1. Having a front door rather than no door at all, and
   
2. Having somebody guarding it, checking everybody coming and going.