Welcome to our news feed. This will regularly be updated with information technology news aimed specifically at small businesses and small business owners, whether you have one computer or a hundred computers you should find something here for you. We appreciate that you aren't all geeks like us, so our intention is to pull out the interesting news and put it in a way that will make sense to anyone, so if you want to know what Apple are up to with their next iPad or what Microsoft might be doing next then make sure to bookmark this page and check back regularly.
If you find something that doesn't make sense to you, or if you want help implementing something that you read here, then please email us with your feedback: info@fireflyits.com
Should I send this email flowchart
22nd February, 2012
I couldn't resist posting this....
Created by: Online IT Degree
The stupid things you do online (and how to fix them)
6th February, 2012
We all love having access to the internet, but this link can show you how to work around some of the major pitfalls.
Symantec advise disabling PC Anywhere
26th January, 2012
Symantec have published a document on their website detailing an increased security risk for users of PC Anywhere and have advised that users disable the product until Symantec issue a final set of software updates that resolve currently known vulnerability risks. You can find the document here. The document includes a set of security recommendations and best practices that are worth a quick read, but should be common knowledge for any IT expert.
What does this mean to my business?
Essentially if you are running pcAnywhere 12.0, 12.1 or 12.5 you are at increased risk and should disable it immediately and keep an eye on Symantec for some updates that will resolve the problem. If you need pcAnywhere for business critical operations then you should read the document that is linked in the above paragraph and make sure that you are aware of the risks. It would also be worth considering alternatives such as www.logmein.com
Happy New Year - and be carefull with your tweeting!
3rd January, 2012
Happy New Year everyone. We are back and will resume our normal updates. We hope that you've all had a great holiday period and that you haven't come back to the office too reluctantly.
In the meantime we'd like to remind you to use social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, cautiously in the New Year. There have been a number of instances in 2011 of people losing their jobs over careless tweets, not to mention all of the personal information available out there from people that haven't locked down their Facebook pages adequately.
What does this mean to my business?
If you are an employer then you need to make sure that all of your employees have signed up to a suitable IT and communications policy. This will give you some recourse if they abuse your IT systems or make slanderous comments on social media sites. Basic policies can be obtained easily from certain institutions, such as the FSB if you are a member, or you can talk to an experienced IT expert or solicitor to point you in the right direction. Any policy that you use should be carefully reviewed and updated for your particular situation, to ensure that your company is adequately protected. We would suggest considering keeping it seperate from individual employment contracts, so that you can keep it uptodate and get employees to sign-up to new editions.
Hard drive warranties being reduced
19th December, 2011
It has been announced that Seagate and Western Digital are to reduce their hard drive warranties. On some lines this has meant a reduction from five years to just one. Seagate claims that these changes have been made so that they are "more consistent with those commonly applied throughout the consumer electronics and technology industries."
What does this mean to my business?
Probably not too much. Hard drives aren't that expensive compared to the cost of reinstalling a computer or attempting to recover lost data from a failed drive, and none of that would be covered by the warranty anyway. We would recommend that if you need a larger and more expensive hard drive then you shop around for one of the higher spec drives that still comes with a 5 year warranty, such as the Western Digital Caviar Black range. Other than that make sure that your nightly backup is running, so that when a drive does fail you don't have to worry too much about costly data recovery. Of course there is always the more cynical view that the manufacturers may start letting the standards drop if they know they wont have to support their drives after one or two years...time will tell.
Internet Explorer to be updated automatically
16th December, 2011
Microsoft will soon be setting Internet Explorer (IE) to update automatically as part of its routine update procedure. This means that any of you who have your PC set to update automatically will be upgraded to any new version of IE when it is released. They are going to roll it out gradually across the world, starting with Australia and Brazil.
What does this mean to my business?
This isn't anything new to the area of web browsing, as Chrome and Firefox already update automatically by default. However, there may be some of you that are using old versions of Internet Explorer due to compatibility issues that could be affected. For those of you that are then now is the time to either plan an upgrade to the legacy software that is causing you to lag behind, or perhaps it is time to put some pressure on anyone that is supplying you with a product or web page that is not compatible with latest versions. In this day an age it really isn't acceptable to be using old web browsers, as you open your system to a myriad of security risks that will endanger your data and possibly your business. There are secondary effects such as not having the latest browser features that make your life easier, as well as the browser not displaying many pages in a way that they were designed for, so you aren't getting the best Internet experience. With all that said and done, if you really can't afford to upgrade your browser for the time being then there will be the facility for you to opt-out of these particular updates.
Hard drive sudden death
6th December, 2011
Hands up those of you that have a recent backup of your data.
Now hands up those of you that have a backup of your data taken in the last week.
No? Ok, I can see that we need to work on you a bit.
The modern computer is a wonderful thing, but most of them do have a major single point of failure i.e. one thing that can cause a catestrophic loss of data if it breaks. The hard drive. If anything else fails then we can easily recover data, but if the drive itself fails then you could be waving good bye to all of your work, photos, music, movies etc. If you are a business with a server then your backups should be done from your server and managed accordingly, however if you are a home user it isn't always so easy. Your best bet to get a basic level of protection is to simply buy the largest external (e.g. USB) drive that you can afford and used the built-in backup software on your machine to backup to it. On Windows 7 this is called "Backup and Restore" and on OSX it is called "Time Machine", both of which are very effective. We will do a future blog on backups, but if you need to put something in place immediately then get in touch and we will be happy to help.
So what do you do when your hard drive starts making a funny noise, or stops working all together? My recommendation would be to take it to someone that knows what to do, but read on for an insight into what we will do to sort it out. As a rough guide we would do the following:
- Make sure that the funny noise or problem is indeed coming from the hard drive and isn't coming from another component e.g. a dusty fan.
- Remove the hard drive and connect it to another PC
- Attempt to either take an image of the entire hard drive (if stable enough to do so), or just pull off the customer's most important data. If your drive is a Western digital then they provide free imaging software, alternatively Image X is built into some editions of Windows 7 or Clonezilla is an opensource option that you can use. There are also a number of imaging products that you can buy if required e.g Acronis TrueImage or Symantec Ghost.
- If the above fails, and particularly if the drive seems to work for a short period before stopping, then you can attempt to freeze the drive. In this case we would put the drive into a suitable container and leave it in a freezer for 24 hours before attepting steps 1 and 2 again.
- If all of this still fails then you are looking at using a data recovery company, but only if you really can't afford to lose the information and have no backup. These companies wont charge you if they can't recover anything, but if they can recover something then their bill will often be very high with higher prices for larger drives, so most people don't get this far.
- Once we've got any data off then we will put a new hard drive into the computer and copy the data or image onto it, before handing it back to the customer.
There are a couple of other things that we will also try and a few extra steps we can take, but I don't want to give away all of our secrets. We also have certain software that we can use to access data on failed hard drives, so sometimes we can recover part of the data, if not all of it.
The moral
If your computer is making a funny noise, then it's never too soon to find out what is causing it! Oh, and don't forget to backup!
Firefly move offices in Devon
1st December, 2011
After starting up our Devon office last May we have now moved into the Falcon Business Centre in Plympton. It is just a few minutes off of the A38 and is an ideal location for us as we continue to expand. If you want to talk to us then why not call on 01752 424 373 or if you fancy something less formal you can often find us at the first and third Friday breakfast meetings organised by South West Innovation Centres at either Ivybridge or Paignton. http://swinnovationcentres.co.uk/
Nokia Lumia 800 mini review
1st December, 2011
Anyone that has been keeping an eye on our Twitter feed will know that we have been waiting for our Nokia Lumia 800 phones for a couple of weeks now, you'll also now that I received mine yesterday and it appears to be accident prone - read on for more. The phone itself is very pleasing to hold, with the screen and case both feeling very tactile and comfortable whether in your hand or held against your face. The rounded edges make it feel very small in your hand, although it is about average in size compared to other major smart phones. It is running Windows Phone 7, so there were no suprises there. I found it to be as business friendly as ever and it was straightforward to get all of my contacts and email accounts onto it, as well as doing some minor customisation (ring tone, theme etc). The interface is very smooth, even more so than on the LG Optimus 7 that it was replacing, and the screen is incredibly sharp. The call quality is also extremely good, as you would expect. Microsoft's Marketplace seems to be getting better by the day and with the popularity of these phones I'm sure it wont be long before it has got a range of apps to rival that of Apple and Google, if that sort of thing matters to you.
Yesterday evening while bathing the kids I sat it on the side of the bath (I know, I know!) playing the radio and it slowly vibrated its way off of the edge and into the water. It fully submerged with a "gloop" type noise and I pulled it out almost instantly and powered it off. I couldn't remove the battery as it is a fully enclosed unit. Fortunately this means that there are also very few holes for the water to get in. I turned it on a little while later and I'm very pleased to say that it was still running this morning when my daughter spilled a full glass of water over it....It survived that too. A few years ago my wife dropped her iPhone 3GS into a cup of coffee, it only partially submerged and never worked again, so I'm pleased to say that the Nokia is already one of the most durable smartphones that I've ever used, although I would suggest that you don't test this for yourself.
Fake Facebook emails
22nd November, 2011
I receive Facebook status updates by email and this morning I had a very convincing looking message saying that someone I had never heard of had put an update on one of my posts. It wanted me to click on a link to supposedly go to my Facebook page to respond, but when I hovered the mouse over the link the tooltip (little pop-up message) showed that it was obviously going somewhere else. This is called phishing and mostly you'll get fake bank emails or fake message from a distant relative that you've never heard of. The idea being to get you to click on a link that will either cause malware to be installed on your PC or ask you to put in some personal information. They are often badly worded or don't look convincing, but occasionally they are like this one and look very authentic. In this instance I caught it because I am quite strict about who I allow on my friends list and knew that an unknown person wouldn't be able to put anything on my wall, so I checked the link out before thinking about clicking on it. The moral of the story is to never trust links in emails unless you are 110% sure they are genuine. Instead it is simply a case of manually opening a browser and navigating to the site directly to check what, if anything, is going on with your account. If in doubt then don't click!
What is the cloud and how do I turn it on?
17th November, 2011
Ultimately The Cloud is a buzzword for the Internet and generally refers to any service that is hosted outside of your own business i.e. on someone elses server that you access over your internet connection.
When accessing The Cloud you need to be wary of many things, in this instance I have broken these down into two areas: Your business requirements and physical limitations.
Business requirements: As a business owner you will firstly want to know if the cloud can save you money, whether it is through increasing staff productivity or through direct hardware, software and licensing savings. The answer is "possibly." Any migration to the cloud is going to cause you an initial cost, so we recommend that you only chose to migrate at a time that makes sense to your business i.e. factor it in to your next server refresh or licensing renewal. You also only need to migrate services that make sense to your business. For example there is no point in moving to an all singing all dancing helpdesk solution if all of your staff are located in a single building and your internet connection speed is poor, more on that later.
A really good place to start considering the cloud is on any of your services that already require an internet connection, such as your email. Many small businesses will be running a Microsoft Small Business Server primarily to host their own email service. While this is a great value package, you may be able to save a lot of money during your next upgrade by migrating the email element off onto the cloud (the Microsoft Office 365 Hosted Exchange packages make the migration very easy, starting at £3.50 per month per mailbox for 25GB of space for each mailbox and spam/virus filtering included) and then only putting in a standard server to manage your files, accounts software, antivirus software etc. This has many benefits in the right circumstances and is something that can easily be calculated for direct cost comparison. It also means that you don't have to open up your internal network to allow mobile and remote workers to access their email, calendars and task lists, thus reducing the risk to your network.
Other key things to consider include making sure that your company data will be secure with your chosen Cloud product vendor and that they offer suitable guarantees, so that their service is available when you need it most. Key tip: Don't forget to make sure that the vendor is also financially viable, you don't want their business collapsing and taking your data with it.
Physical limitations
Whatever you do don't spend a fortune migrating a service onto The Cloud only to forget to consider how you connect to it. We have seen plenty of companies suffer outages because they don't have a secondary method of connecting to the internet when their bog standard ADSL line fails due to an ISP outage. For the sake of a £200 ADSL modem that can handle multiple internet (WAN) ports and a second connection method that can cost as little as £20-£30 per month, you can protect yourself from many failure scenarios. Of course your options vary hugely depending on how far you are from your BT exchange.
Conclusion
This mini review of The Cloud is only the tip of the iceberg, but hopefully it has helped to get you started. If you want more information, or a quote for moving to a cloud based service then we would be happy to help. Why not let us know what you think by getting in touch on twitter, or by emailing us. Follow @rlanderstow info@fireflyits.com
Steam online game service hacked
11th November, 2011
Valve's online video game service, Steam, has been hit by hackers. It is used by over 35 million people and was hacked on the 6th November through Valve's discussion forums. The attackers were able to go on to access a database that held personal information and credit card data. Specifically valve list that the hacked database contained the following information:
- User names
- hashed and salted passwords
- game purchases
- email addresses
- billing addresses
- encrypted credit card information
Valve go on to state that they don't have any evidence that the protection on the credit card numbers or account passwords was cracked, however assuming that this data was stolen then it could be that the hackers now have all the time in the world to work on it. Our recommendation is to change your steam password immediately and update any other accounts that may have a similar or identical password. As the hackers also have your email address I would be even more wary than usual of any emails asking you to go anywhere and put in personal information as the hackers will likely target the email accounts that they have stolen. Finally keep a close eye on your credit card bills, just in case they do manage to break the encryption on the card information, although this isn't very likely.
Providing the information from Valve is true then this leaves users in a slightly better situation than when Sony was hacked recently. In that case the password information wasn't encrypted, so could be more readily exploited.
Is your laptop working as fast as it should?
8th November, 2011
When your laptop or netbook is working on battery power it will often be working in the "Balanced" power saving mode. This particular mode means that when running on mains power the laptop will be functioning at full speed, but when it is running purely on battery power it will sacrifice some performance to make the battery last longer. This performance hit can actually be quite significant and can potentially cause some grievance if you don't realise that there is a good reason for your laptop performing poorly. The performance hit can be particularly noticable on cheaper laptops and netbooks. The moral of this article is to check your power saving mode and to set it so that you are running without compromise to see how much of a difference it makes. To check or change your power saving mode in Windows 7/Vista click on the battery icon in your taskbar (near the clock in the lower right hand side of your screen) and select the "High Performance" power saving mode. This will probably half your battery life, but give it a try and see if it makes a difference. If it does, then you know that you aren't likely to have another more serious problem slowing you down, and running in the Balanced mode may be a compromise that you are willing to make for the extra battery life.
Are you getting all of your voicemail notifications?
7th November, 2011
We recently noticed that our voicemail notification texts weren't coming through on the Vodafone network and had a quick look into it. For some reason the phone was ignoring the text message that Vodafone were sending through. To get around this we switched to icon alert, which seems to be a bit more intelligent in certain situations. Firstly we seemed to get an alert a lot more quickly and the icon then remained on screen until the message had been listend to. It also showed an indicator of how many messages we had. The downside is that the number of messages seems to remain at one, even if you have more. We figured that we would rather know we had a message, rather than not know so have decided to stick with it. If you are on Vodafone then you can do the following to try out a different alerting system to see which one suits you:
- Call your voicemail
- Choose 4 for mailbox settings
- 3 for message alerts, then listen to the menu as the numbers on the following will change, depending on what you have selected:
- Text message alert (default for Vodafone) - sends you a text.
- icon alert - an icon appears on your phone.
- alert and deliver - The answering system calls you.
Nokia Lumia Available for Pre-Order
4th November, 2011
We've been very impressed by Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system and have been using it on the LG Optimus 7 for some time. In particular the recent "Mango" update to the phones seemed to make them even quicker, as well as stepping up the Social Media integration quite a lot by adding new Facebook features and further integrating all of your social media feeds (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Windows Live etc). Today the Nokia Lumia went up for Pre-Order and will be the first flagship Windows Phone 7 device from the new Nokia/Microsoft partnership. The Lumia 800 sports a very high quality AMOLED 3.7" screen with Gorilla Glass, an 8MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics and a 1.4GHz processor, amongst other features. We've pre-ordered a couple to try them in the field, to see if they are worth the money. Our existing LG phones were cheap and cheerfull, but they've survived the "accidental drop test" a number of times without so much as a scratch. WIll the Lumia be just as much of a survivor? To see the TV add on Youtube click here.
Firefly Launch Amazon Shop
1st November, 2011
The Firefly IT Solutions Amazon store has just opened for business. Currently we have put our first allocation of stock online and it is here, ready to ship. We will only sell products that we use and have faith in, so you can rest assured that our products are of the highest quality. For example we list Draytek Vigor ADSL modems and access points as we have found them to be incredibly reliable, as well as having great range and throughput. We have also found that the Draytek routers in particular always seem to be able to get the best speed and stability out of any given broadband line. Have a look and let us know what you think, particular if there is a type of product that you would like us to try out and then potentially sell at a great price.
Good news for Western Digital Hard Drive Owners
1st November, 2011
Did you know that if you own a Western Digital Hard drive then you can use Acronis True Image WD edition software to help you clone your entire computer onto a new hard drive...for FREE? Most of you are now wondering what on earth I am talking about and what I mean by "clone" and "image." I apologise for getting carried away and using some techie terms, as I previously promised that I wouldn't. This software basically lets you copy all of the data on your hard drive onto a second hard drive, primarily to allow you to upgrade your hard drive without having to re-install windows and all of your favourite software and data. The reason that Western Digital provide it is that they want your new drive to be one of theirs and, as we usually recommend WD products, we can't see anything wrong with this. Unfortunately it doesn't help you with the rather more technical issues of installing and connecting your new hard drive, but it should save some of the cost of upgrading, should you wish to do so. Click here to be taken to the ATI WD download page.
Hard drive shortage
1st November, 2011
The recent floods in Thailand have severely interrupted the hard drive supply chain to the UK. This means that many populer resellers, such as Misco, wont sell you a hard drive online at the moment. Instead you have to give them a call, as they don't want to sell you something that they might not be able to get. It has already caused a price raise in some external hard drives, and could potentially cause a small raise in PC/laptop pricing in the near future. General feeling in the industry is that this wont cause too much difference once things settle back down though.
The dangers of wireless mice
23rd October, 2011
I've recently started using a Microsoft wireless desktop solution (keyboard and mouse to the rest of us), and have been quite impressed with it so far. There was one element that I hadn't considered though, that came to light earlier today, and rather suprised me. I was at my desk and turned to reach for my cup of tea, at which point my elbow connected with my new wireless mouse and it accelerated off of my desk at speed. This wouldn't have been a problem before, as a USB mouse has an integral "safety wire", but this time the mouse flew across the office and ejected its batteries across the floor. It's gone back together and is no worse for the experience - Richard.
Microsoft Authorised Education Reseller
19th October, 2011
Great news! Firefly have just achieved Microsoft Authorised Education Reseller (AER) status. This means that if you are in Primary, Secondary or Higher education, or even if you are a non-profit or charitable organisation, we are now better placed to respond to your needs.
A great deal on a budget computer
19th October, 2011
Occasionally we spot good deals and like to bring them to our customers. This HP DC7700 is great value at Misco at the minute for just £116.66 excl VAT. It has a Core 2 Duo processor, XP Pro, 2GB RAM and an 80GB hard disk. It doesn't come with a keyboard, mouse or monitor though, so you'll have to re-use your own. It's a great deal if you have some really old computers lying around and you can't afford a larger upgrade. It is also fast enough to take Windows 7, if you want to upgrade it later on.
Solid State Hard Drives - A great upgrade
17th October, 2011
A solid state hard drive (SSD) is essentially a large memory card in the shape of a hard drive. This means that they have no moving parts so they run reasonably coolly, use less power, and don't break if you drop them when they are running...depending on how far you drop them of course! The key fact is that they are also a lot faster than a conventional hard drive, which is probably the slowest component in any modern computer. We would recommend that anyone spending money on a new computer considers upgrading to a SSD, although you may find it cheaper to add it as an aftermarket option. Some SSDs are also a lot better value for money than others. If you chose the right one it will also come with a caddy to put your old drive in, some good instructions and the software to easily copy your data across. We've just put a 128GB Kingston SSDNOW100 into a Core i7 laptop running Windows 7 and it turns on within a few seconds, rathar than the minute or so that it was taking before.
iPhone 4S on sale today
14th October, 2011
So far hundreds of people have been queuing for the new iPhones across the globe in Sydney and Tokyo. Later today stores will open to sell the new phone in Germany, France, Britain and North America. The new phone looks similar to the previous model, but sports a faster processor, upgraded camera and voice-activated software that allows users to ask questions.
This is the first new device to be released by Apple since the death of Apple visionary Steve Jobs and Apple are hoping that strong sales will be a sign of things to come. Are you planning to upgrade? Let us know what you think info@fireflyits.com
Blackberry Services Back to Normal
14th October, 2011
As of yesterday RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis reported "We have now restored full services." While this is great and will come of something as a relief to those of you with Blackberries it does make you wonder how much this "little" incident has cost people and businesses worldwide. Apparently through the last 18 months the Blackberry network has had a "99.97 percent service level," which I assume means that they've only lost service for approx 0.16 of a day in that time period. Again, this is great news, but it is a little bit like a burglar turning around and saying "well I didn't steal anything from you for the first 30 years of your life, so that makes it better that I'm stealing from you now..." Perhaps I'm being harsh - Richard
Firefly Newsletter Launched
13th October, 2011
Today we have officially launched our first free newsletter. It will be emailed out to all existing customers and affiliates and it has a number of aims:
- To promote interaction between our customers by giving them visibility of one another.
- Provide small businesses and business owners with relevant tips and information in a language that they understand.
- Give more information on the services that we can provide to our customers.
Click on the picture to the left to access our archive and let us know what you think and if you would like any free hard copies to hand out to your staff: richard@fireflyits.com
Blackberry Woes
12th October, 2011
Steve Jobs Dies
6th October, 2011
Apple shares drop 4% - New iPhone unveiled!
5th October, 2011
Apple have launched the iPhone 4S. It looks the same as the current model but houses a much faster processor (the same on that is in the iPad 2), a better camera and boosted battery life, amongst other things. It doesn't appear to have impressed investors though as Apple shares then dropped 4% in the next couple of hours. The iPhone 5 is due next summer so perhaps a part of the problem is that Apple are releasing new models a little too quickly? The iPhone is a great tool, but they are one of the most expensive smart phones and each time you buy one you know that it will be superseded in the next 8 months or so...We think that they should lower the price on them to make them more competitive with their Android and Windows counterparts.
Windows Phone 7 Update Problems
29th September, 2011
Microsoft are currently rolling out the latest version of Windows Phone 7. It is called Mango and it will eventually fit onto all existing Windows Phone 7 Devices. Currently a few people are seeing an issue, particularly those with the LG E900, or Optimus 7 as it is more widely known. Apparently some people are able to update their Optimus 7, but there are many showing an error. Microsoft are investigating and will resolve the issue shortly. They are sensibly performing a staged rollout over 4 weeks, so they will have fixed the issue before the update gets to many of you.....hopefully!
Thinking of buying an iPad?
26th September, 2011
iPads are great devices and can have a place in your home and at work, however before you buy one make sure that it will do what you want it to. If, for example, you want to use it as a portable tool at work and you will need to access certain websites on it then make sure that you test those websites on an iPad before you buy it. The first reason for this is that the Safari browser on the iPad isn't as fully featured as many full Mac or PC browsers, nor does it support flash, so quite a few websites don't work as you would expect. The second reason is that many corporate websites are only designed to work in one or two browsers and might not have been fully tested on mobile devices. The problems aren't always on the first page, so it's worth trying the website out for a few minutes before commiting to a purchase. We have a variety of devices around the office, including iPads, so give us a call and we would be happy to help you test a particular website.
Gmail and other online email services
23rd September, 2011
Tip 1: If you use gmail as your main email account and also use it to sign up to other Google services such as adsense, google docs, webmaster tools etc then you need to be aware that if Google decide to block your email for any reason, and they don't tend to give one, then you will lose access to all related Google accounts. Our tip is to use a non Google email account to register for Google services. You may think that this will never happen to you, however it happens quite regularly, and Google's lack of direct customer service means that it is very hard to get your account unblocked.
Tip 2: Don't use an internet email provider such as Google, Yahoo or Hotmail as the only source for your email, contacts list and calendar. Always ensure that you have your own copy, even if it is simply by using software such as Outlook, Live Mail or Thunderbird to store an offline copy of the data.
Broadband usage
21st September, 2011
Tip 1: If you are getting emails from your ISP because you are regularly going over your bandwidth then I strongly recommend that you chose a package with a larger allowance. It may cost you more per month, but the data costs will be much cheaper than paying for a data top-up every now and then.
Tip 2: If you are on an unlimited package then you may find that the performance of your broadband line is reduced elsewhere and your internet access may not be as quick as it should be. Consider a package with a cap if you want more performance, just choose the right cap for you. If in doubt give us a call and we can recommend a package as we offer very competitive broadband with great support.
Email passwords
19th September, 2011
A lot of people use the same passwords for multiple online accounts. After all, who wouldn't as it is impossible to remember them all otherwise. Our tip for today is to make sure that your email accounts have totally unique passwords compared to any other account that you may have. The reason for this is that if someone manages to get a password for one of your other online accounts, whether it is for a forum, a shop or anything else then you don't want them to be able to then get access to your email account as this will make it much easier for them to pretend to be youand much harder for you to access your emails to reset the hacked accounts.
4G connectivity delayed
6th September, 2011
It looks like the upgrade to 4G for the UK is being delayed due to disagreements between Ofcom and the major networks. What does this mean to me? Not a lot really, the premise is interesting as raises the bar for mobile communication speeds, but if you look at where it would be available then it isn't likely to be an issue for you any time soon. Just look at 3G coverage, it's only available to a small amount of the UK and 4G wont be any better. There is also a chance that 4G will disrupt your digital TV signal, with upto three quarters of a million people are likely to be affected. This is due to how close the digital TV and 4G signals are in the wi-fi spectrum
Facebook privacy settings locked down at last
24th August, 2011
On Thursday Facebook will start to rollout some significant security updates to Facebook, including the ability to approved tagged pictures before they appear in your profile and individual privacy control over everything that appears on your wall. If you are a Facebook user and hadven't looked at the privacy settings yet then I can seriously recommend having a look and locking them down a bit.
virustotal.com
17th August, 2011
This can be a useful website if anyone has sent you a link to a website that you are unsure of. Simply go to the site, select "Submit a URL" and then paste the link into the box provided. Within a few seconds the site will come back and let you know if it is safe.
Ivybridge Devon Forres Moray
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