Protect yourself against hackers

  A client of ours recently reported their email account was hacked. Without going into any specific details of this, here are some words of advice:   Wifi Networks When using free wifi networks, often there is no encryption between you and the network. That means you can only rely on encryption end-to-end, such as […]

Encrypting your emails

Recently we have been asked by a client about sending encrypted emails, so this was written in response to their query, as it’s likely to crop up again with the GDPR edging ever closer. The first question perhaps should be, do I need to encrypt my email? This could be answered ‘no’ if you don’t […]

NHS Ransomware Attack 12th May 2017

Here’s a copy of an email sent to our maintenance customers following the high-profile 12th May Ransomware attacks which affected a number of NHS services . Important – please read and distribute to all computer users.   You will no doubt be aware that on Friday the NHS as well as the rest of the […]

How Ransomware Works

There’s been a lot of talk about Ransomware recently, so here’s some information about what they are and how they work.   A mass email is sent containing malicious code. Often this is hidden inside  or disguised as a zip file, word or excel document attachment Once opened, the code contacts a central server and […]

Beware Bogus Text Message (not) from Apple

Just a quick post to mention about a new(ish) type of phishing scam. I received this text message just now: Being the curious type, I opened the bit.ly link (Hint – I doubt Apple would use Bit.ly, which is a perfectly acceptable and reputable company by the way) and was greeted with this: Yep that’s […]

Office 365 New Pricing 2017

Microsoft have made a couple of announcements around their Office 365 cloud product suites, and around how they see the business model going. In essence they have put the prices up from 2016 by around 20%, and have decided they no longer want to deal directly with end-users so are pushing for partners to deal […]

Office 365 Questions Answered

Some of our clients have asked about moving from a server-based network to cloud-only and Office 365 in particular – removing the server(s) on-site completely – and the implications of doing so. Here’s a few of their questions and the answers. Also see this article about why we believe Office 365 is the best hosted […]

Microsoft Volume Licensing

Microsoft Volume Licensing can be a minefield, so here’s a quick guide applicable for small businesses. Generally we don’t recommend it to our clients unless there’s a very good reason, mainly because it often works out more expensive than buying OEM/PKC. Eligibility To start a Volume License there are eligibility criteria. For businesses, this typically […]

Office 365 is best

We think Office 365 is best for several of the solutions it offers when compared to various other solutions. Of course this is just our opinion and is based on our experiences of software, companies and customers. History Email started with basic POP and then IMAP type mailboxes. Moving from ‘just email’ to ‘groupware’ is […]

Is cloud computing for me?

Is cloud computing for me? A question I am being asked more often. My answer is always the same – it depends. There is a lot to know about cloud and navigating can be a minefield. Here is the vital information you need to consider before making a decision: 1. What sort of cloud solution […]

Adobe Reader 11.0.9 Error opening this document

Here’s a problem we encountered recently – if you update to Adobe Reader 11.0.9 and then get an error every time you double-click on a PDF file saying ‘Error opening this document’ you might want to know how to fix it. In essence it seems that Adobe no longer trusts PDF documents on a network […]

Moving Premises? Check your broadband speed first

If you are moving premises check your broadband speed first. Since the Internet is so integrated into our lives and businesses it is often important to know what sort of broadband speed you may be able to get before you commit to a 5-year lease. It isn’t as easy as you might think it should […]