A recent report suggests almost three quarters of businesses are ill prepared for any kind of IT failure http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15866885

More and more companies these days are heavily reliant on the technology they use in the day to day running of their businesses. Consider for a moment the value of the data your company holds – accounting information, customer orders and details, emails, company documents, employee records etc etc…. What would happen to YOUR business if any of this was lost? What about the lost productivity when a PC in the office misbehaves or crashes all together. What about the Server? Is ALL your data backed up and easily restorable? In the event of catastrophic loss due to natural disaster or theft how quickly could YOUR company be up and running again? With total loss of data could you continue at all?

Computer Troubleshooters provide solutions to ensure IT systems are running at their optimum 100% of the time and data is backed up to ensure speedy recovery if required. From Remote Maintenance plans to full Backup and Disaster Recovery solutions we can provide YOUR business with the IT support you deserve. Let us look after all your Technology needs so you can concentrate on running your business.

For more information on how we can enhance your business get in touch to arrange an appointment.

Cloud computing – so what is it? The term “Cloud” is being banded about quite a lot these days with even Microsoft proclaiming in Windows 7 tv adverts “To the Cloud!”

The “Cloud” they are refeering to is just terminolgy used to describe the internet as an online storage medium or service host, where web users (i.e.anyone with a computer, smart phone or internet enabled device) can access, store and share data or use web based services. We’ve all been using the ‘cloud’ for quite sometime now – anyone with a Gmail or Hotmail account effectively stores their emails and contacts online and can access or share their data which is all stored ‘in the cloud’. Benefits of this is that your data isn’t tied into one device (i.e. your laptop) so in the event of the failure of loss of this device, your cloud stored data can be retrieved from another internet enabled device.

Online backup has been around for a while now also – which is effectively your precious pc documents, photos and files backed up and stored securley online, accessible from anywhere. For a monthly subscription, see this as an insurance policy – you hope that your laptop or desktop pc will never fail or be lost, but in the event of this happening you know that your files are safe and secure.

Businesses can also now take advantage of cloud services as they become more mature. Google apps are web based document creation and editing applications with online storage. Microsoft has also recently uped the ante of it’s cloud based services aimed at small business and larger enterprises. Office 365 encompasses Microsoft Office applications via the web or even the full blown Office suite (2010) on a monthly subscription basis. Tie this in with enterprise standard server applications (Exchange for email, Sharepoint and Lync for collaboration etc.) and you’ve now got a viable and cost effective alternative to an office installed server solution.

For more info on any of this and how it may help enhance your pc expereince or help your business grow, drops us an email or enquiry and we’ll be happy to discuss a solution thats right for you.

We are always getting asked “Why do people create these computer viruses? Why don’t they use their skills to do something useful??!!”

In the early days of computer viruses it was always about the kudos that the virus writers had between themselves about what their viruses could do – maybe flashing up a message on a screen or destroying the data on a computers hard drive with the intent on spreading automatically and infecting other machines. This was usually done via removable media such as a floppy disk.

The term “virus” is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a user sent it over a network or the Internet (via email or file sharing websites), or carried it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, DVD or a USB drive. Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a networked system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.

As stated above, the term “computer virus” is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware, even those that do not have the reproductive ability. Malware includes computer viruses, computer worms, Trojan Horses, most rootkits, spyware dishonest adware and other malicious and unwanted software, including true viruses. Viruses are sometimes confused with worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself automatically to other computers through networks, while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions. Worms and Trojan horses, like viruses, may harm a computer system’s data or performance. Some viruses and other malware have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but many are surreptitious or simply do nothing to call attention to themselves. Some viruses do nothing beyond reproducing themselves.

Nowadays, the most usual incentive behind creating computer viruses is motivated by financial gain. Whether it’s installing a keylogging program on a pc with the intent on grabbing a users login and password details for banking or ecommerce sites, grabbing credit card details or any other data that should be kept secure. This would be in the form of Trojan Horse piece of Malware which trys to remain undetected on the infected machine. Another method of exploit is installing a virus to join the infected machine to what is known as a ‘Botnet’. This is a collection of many pc’s, often 100′s of thousands located worldwide which then become under the control of criminal gangs. With such a de-centralised collection of compromised machines the criminal gangs can then use these machines to their own purposes. This may be to send out thousands upon thousands of spam email messages or to create Denial of Service attacks (DoS) on large organisations computer networks. An example of a botnet being put to use is the current attacks being made on major organisations related to the wikileaks campaign.

Now that more and more people are relying on internet based services it’s imperative that they protect themselves when online. Please check back for tips and advice on the best ways to protect your pc’s and also what to look out for when online.

As a follow on to yesterdays post about the current trend of criminals targetting home pc users on the phone, more information about safeguarding yourself on the internet can be found at the Get Safe Online website which is a joint initiative between the Government, law enforcement, leading businesses and the public sector. An annual awareness program being run this week provides lots of useful information about using the internet safely with lots of free advice and things to look out for.

http://www.getsafeonline.org/

Computer Troubleshooters is now sharing its computer expertise in another medium for its customers. Online! Computer Troubleshooters now has its own blog, which we hope will become a valuable resource for you as you navigate the sometimes complicated world of understanding computers.

Looking for networking tips, how to solve connectivity problems? Or even some more basic tips on how to use Excel or Powerpoint? We’ll be posting tips, suggestions and valuable resource material for your convenience.

We might even blog a little about what’s happening inside Computer Troubleshooters, so check back often.

And while you’re at it, feel free to contact us with your own tips and suggestions on what you would like to read on our new Computer Troubleshooters Blog.