This trend is most likely due to the popularity of the iPhone and iPad consumer products, these easy to use, feature-rich devices are luring businesses back to the sleek designer Mac laptops and desktops.  Apple have been working hard in recent years to ensure their software is compatible with Microsoft, especially with Microsoft’s servers and email solutions such as Microsoft Exchange.   This seamless integration and compatibility is opening the door to various hybrid IT infrastructures consisting of either Windows or Apple servers that deliver to a mix of Mac and Windows desktop computers.

Apple Mac Book laptops as well as  iMac and Mac Pro desktops are always going to be more expensive than their Windows computer counterparts.  Apple has continually invested in beautiful, built to last designs that use only the latest hardware technology, so a surcharge is acceptable to most.  What is in Apple’s favour, is the pricing of its operating system, with upgrades much cheaper than Windows and less than £30 per license.

With the high specification hardware, Apple computers keep their value and hold their own over time in performance tests, this usually safeguards future releases of the Apple OSX operating system.

Searching for a knowledgeable Windows IT support company is an easy process due to the vast number of Windows based engineers in the country, but searching for a good Mac IT support company may not be so easy to find.

When looking for Mac support, ensure your supplier has a good history of supporting Mac’s in a business environment, and can supply testimonials from Apple based clients that they support.  It’s also worth making sure the provider has more than 1 Mac specialist, a team of Mac engineers will ensure your support queries are resolved quicker and more effectively.

Here at Fenton IT HQ we’ve been putting the nearly completed operating system through its paces and we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 new features it has to offer.  In no particular order, are favourite features are;

1. Faster Boot Times

No more sitting around waiting for your PC to start up or shut down, Microsoft claims to have made Windows 8 boot times 70% faster than those of Windows 7.  This has been achieved by making some subtle changes to the way the PC shuts down and resumes.  Windows 8 takes advantage of all available processor cores to accelerate boot times and resuming from hibernation.

2. Restore PC and Reset PC

Microsoft have looked at making the reinstallation of Windows a much easier process, with Restore PC, all files and settings can be left intact, and everything else getting cleared out.  The Reset PC option provides an automated way to completely wipe a Windows 8 installation and start from scratch.  This can prove handy if you’re planning to sell or pass on a PC with its operating system fresh and intact, ensuring there is no trace of your data or applications left on the disk.

3. Windows To Go

A fantastic business feature is Windows To Go, which allows companies to provide employees with a locked down installation of Windows 8 on a USB media stick.  This means remote workers could be given a computer image with applications stored on a memory stick, this could then be used to boot from on their own hardware.  The USB stick can be encrypted with BitLocker, ensuring data is safe if the drive was lost or stolen.

4. Less computer restarts

Windows 8 is much more considerate regarding computer restarts.  Microsoft promises the need to only restart once a month when critical updates are released.   It has changed the Windows update 20 minute notification for restarts to 3 days, and computers will not restart if an application or unsaved work is open.  Only once work has been saved will Windows force an update to install and restart.

5. Interactive Tiles

The Metro start screen in Windows 8 is a completely new user interface and does away with the traditional task bar and Start button.  Large tile icons make up the desktop; these turn the desktop into an interactive dashboard displaying live data.  The tile for the Mail application provides snippets of unread messages in your inbox, the Music tile shows which track is currently playing, and the calendar app displays forthcoming appointments in your diary.  It’s great for getting an overview of what’s going on when you fire up you PC first thing in the morning.

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is free to download from the Microsoft website:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download

This consumer preview edition will eventually run out and when the final versions of Windows 8 are launched you won’t be able to upgrade from the consumer preview edition, although there will be migration tools to make the process of transferring data and settings easier.

Apple have stayed with the core logic of using iOS on their mobile devices and spent their time making the new iPad’s screen HD, doubling the RAM of the device and replacing the old 0.7 megapixel fixed focus camera on the back into a 5 mega pixel camera capable of autofocus.

Even with the added features the battery life stays high at 10 hours, the same as the previous iPad.  The iPad 3 is also capable of using 4G networks although the use of 4G will diminish battery life by an hour reducing the overall usable time to 9 hours.

The display’s resolution has increased with the new HD screen, previously it was 1024×768.  Now it’s a massive 2048×1536.  That’s more than most 15 inch laptops and double the previous resolution allowing users to zoom in on pictures further and watch HD movies clearly.

The only change that would make this good tablet a great tablet would be the inclusion of a desktop operating system such as a slimmed down version of Mac OS X, even if the feature was optional or came as an extra charge it could boost the usability and create a truly mobile computing experience.

In our opinion the Apple iPad 3 is still the best touch screen tablet on the market, but we are still waiting for something that will make us leave our powerful laptops in the office for the weekend…

Facebook insists that anyone using its Android smartphone app will have agreed to grant permission for the software app to read text messages, although Facebook have confirmed that they’ve not yet taken advantage of this yet.  Social media sites Flickr and Yahoo! are also alleged to read text messages via their apps, while apps from smaller companies allow them to extract private details about users’ lives. They even have the ability to take images from users’ handset cameras and dial their phone and intercept calls without the user ever knowing.

The Facebook app has been downloaded more than 100million times on the Android platform, yet few of its users are aware they’ve agreed to Facebook having access to SMS messages stored on their phone.

App’s can also be used to gain information to a users web browsing history.  These details are often sold on to advertisers and market research companies, exposing them to unwanted advertising and marketing campaigns.

If your phone is used to exchange sensitive business data, it’s recommended that you choose apps carefully before installing them, and read all T&C’s to ensure they avoid requests to access personal information.

With the number of mainstream apps now spying on consumer’s smartphones in a similar way to computer malware virus infections, the personal information we keep on ours phones is less secure than ever.

What do the Google policy changes mean to its users?   Mainly their data privacy, the new policy enables Google permission to search more of your personal data than ever before.  For example the new policy allows Google to track a person via GPS if their mobile supports it, device-specific information such as your hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information including phone number are all collected.

Along with this information, it will also be possible for Google to collect and store the following data in what they call “Server logs”.

• Details of how you used their service, such as your search queries
• Telephony log information such as phone numbers, calling-party numbers, forwarding numbers, time and date of calls, duration of calls, SMS routing information and types of calls
• Internet protocol addresses
• Device event information such as crashes, system activity, hardware settings, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and referral URL
• Cookies that may uniquely identify your browser or your Google Account

Essentially Google’s goal is to build a profile on how you use its services, when the time comes to agree the policy, we recommend its read and understood before accepting.  Be aware that due to the policy covering all of Google’s services choosing not to accept the agreement will render you unable to use sites such as Gmail, YouTube and BlogSpot as these are all Google owned.

With this in mind when it comes to the changeover you have to consider what is more valuable to your company, the ability to use Google services or keeping your companies browsing and personal data private, all services record data to a certain extent however not in the same way Google plans to.

The question is; what is the value of your organisations privacy – do the free services Google offer equate to the value of your privacy?

Spam email is a daily occurrence and the effort to reduce it via spam filtering solutions is usually effective, although some spam still manages to trickle through.  Spam filtering works by software scanning emails and scoring them in a number of ways.  This scoring process will look at the content of emails, searching for keywords such as ‘viagra’.  It will then investigate the sender address to see if it’s a likely spam sender.  Once the scoring process is complete the email will then go through more vigorous analysis to estimate whether it’s likely to be spam or a legitimate email

Spam filtering solutions generally come in 3 different styles:

• A hosted spam solution, whereby spam never reaches your computer or network.  With this solution, emails are scanned and scored on a server hosted in the cloud.  This ensures your network and internet connection isn’t bogged down with pointless junk email.
• A server software solution, this is software that’s installed directly onto your network, either on its own server or the company email server. It scans every email coming in and filters spam before they reach your Inbox
• Email client solution, this is software that sits on your computer and scans your email client for spam. It’s the least secure of the 3 as by this time, the spam has reached your email and computer anyway.

Sometimes distinguishing between spam and poorly written emails can be difficult and spam filters will flag legitimate emails as spam, these are called false positives.  On the flip side, some spam emails that are cleverly written and sent from recently hacked email servers can sneak through the even the best anti-spam solutions.

The amount of spam sent daily is on the rise; a single computer with the slowest internet connection still has the potential to send over 100,000 emails a day.  Once you factor in high speed internet connections, botnets and masses of hacked email accounts, the volume of spam that can be sent in a day reaches incredible proportions.

Investing in a good anti-spam solution will reduce the likelihood of viruses and receiving excessive spam.  Always be wary of emails from unknown senders, never click web links or open attachments in spam emails.  The majority of links and attachments in spam emails contain malware and link to web sites that are fake versions of real sites.  These are designed to trick the user into entering their log in information. This personal information is then stored and you’ll usually be redirected to the real site without even knowing.  This process is called phishing, scammers use phishing to hack into internet accounts and retrieve further personal details.

We are independent advisers and can offer guidance on many types of anti-spam solutions, please  find more details on our it support Sussex page.

As an IT support company, we are often asked by clients ‘What is the best way to choose a secure password?’  A secure password is completely random string of text, consisting of upper-case and lowercase characters, with numbers and special characters that is 8 or more characters long.

The most common passwords people use relate to something personal to them or their business; this is never going to be secure!  These types of passwords may be someone’s favourite food, the name of their children or favourite sports team.  These days’ hackers can easily find this type of information via social networking sites and other websites containing personal data.  A professional hacker with the intention of cracking a password for someone with a Facebook account is able to detect a wide range of personal information without even meeting them.  Data such as a passion for Chelsea football club can be detected from pictures of matches or a posted interest expressed online.  A hacker can run software to collect words from the Chelsea website and begin discrete trial and error attempts with likely passwords, in the hope one matches the passwords hash.

Unfortunately there is no such thing as a password that cannot be cracked, if the attacker has the resources and time to put into cracking a password, they will!  However, having a longer, secure password will make cracking harder and more frustrating for the criminals involved.  To conclude, when choosing a new password, follow these steps to ensure it’s as secure as possible;

• Don’t make it basic just because its easy to remember
• Change your password every 60 – 90 days
• Ensure its completely random
• Choose 8 or more characters – the longer the better
• Ensure its made up alpha numeric characters, containing upper and lower case, preferably including some special characters
• Never reveal your password to anyone, especially over the phone, via email or on the internet – there are many scams involving passwords, always remember a supplier would never ask you to reveal a password
• Never write your password down – keep it in your head

One of the main reasons behind the increase in small IT support firms is the economy.  When the economy is bad, redundancies are more common and IT departments are generally the first to get struck.  Many IT engineers have been expensively trained to high levels by the companies making them redundant.  The next logical step for an engineer being made redundant is find another job, this either being a permanent post, contracting out to larger firms or trading their skills to smaller local businesses.

There are certainly a growing number of small IT support companies with highly skilled engineers across the UK, which is increasing the competition in the IT services market.  We believe healthy competition is a good thing in any service industry; it generally increases customer service levels and can lower overall customer charges.

With this increase in companies to choose from, it can be more of a challenge identifying a supplier that fits your individual businesses needs.  So if you find yourself searching for a Worthing IT support company, the following questions should help ascertain whether they are an appropriate match:

1. How many of you are there in your company and what are your plans for growth?  If there’s only 1 or 2 engineers, what happens when busy, sick or on holiday?
2. Do you have guaranteed response times to urgent faults?
3. Will we have a dedicated account manager; and will we be able to speak with the same engineers each time we call?
4. Are you legally insured with public liability and professional indemnity insurance?
5. Are you a registered partner with any IT related bodies or organisations, such as the BCS, Google, Apple, Microsoft etc
6. Are your engineers qualified and what qualifications do they have?  Also, how many years IT work experience do they have?
7. What are your labour charges; including Standard, Out office hours, Urgent call outs and Travel, and are there any hidden costs we need to be aware of?

Most small businesses either have their own email server or are using some form of cloud based email technology.   Choosing an email service that suits a company’s requirements is a vital decision; it can determine the level of employee productivity and help win or potentially lose business.  With so many email solutions on the market, it’s crucial to investigate and choose the best service that suits your needs.

Currently the main cloud based solutions are offered by Microsoft in the form of Office365 and Google with their Google Apps service, on top of this there are many smaller companies offering cloud services at competitive prices.

Microsoft and Google’s price plans work on the same basis; you pay per mailbox or user per month, Microsoft also offers a volume licensing option.  The cheapest Office 365 plan is £4.00 per user, per month, whereas the plan from Google is 70p cheaper at £3.30 per user per month.

Both Microsoft and Google offer an online Office suite as part of their Email service, this enables users to create and work on documents, such as letters, spread sheets and presentations.   To use these options in Microsoft’s Office 365 you would need to purchase a more expensive price plan, however Google provides Google Docs as part of their basic £3.30 per user service plan.

There are many advantages of opting for a cloud based email service.  It was once the case that you could only benefit from advanced business email when purchasing an expensive server running software such as Microsoft Exchange. Now it’s the opposite, with more features available using online email solutions.

After working with both Microsoft and Google’s solutions, we favour Microsoft’s most.  That being said, don’t rule out Google Apps, as it’s sometimes a better fit depending on organisation requirements.

Microsoft’s Office 365 uses Exchange without the expense and responsibly of buying and storing a server.  It offers the solution to businesses as small as 1 email address, and as large as global corporations.  The main benefits of Microsoft’s Online Exchange are;

Backups – all email is stored on online servers,  no need for manual backups anymore

• 99.9% uptime – financially backed
• Cost savings – no requirement for Exchange  IT support or maintenance, no electricity or server running costs, just the £4 per mailbox per month
• Redundancy – if your businesses internet fails, email is still accessible via phones or mobile devices
• Built in anti-spam and anti-virus security
• Excellent 24/7 free Microsoft support service

We are seeing a major trend with small to medium sized businesses moving their email solutions to cloud environments.  The only companies holding back are ones with security concerns, and for some this is down to the cloud still being a new concept.  Only time will tell how things pan out, but it’s our vision that most SME (Small and Medium sized Enterprise) email will be hosted off-site within the next 5 – 10 years.

What is not so well known is that Hackers are finding more and more ways to identify and hack into wireless networks. Once they gain access to a network, they not only use and exploit your internet connection; they also gain closer access to servers and computers within the network.

The risks that are associated with wireless technology have increased as the service has become more popular, nowadays most homes and businesses have a wireless network. This creates a multitude of targets for a hacker, as the amount of networks increase… so does the threat!

In recent years the targeting of wireless networks has shot up, hackers can download simple free tools from the internet , these tools require no more than a few clicks of the mouse to break into a badly pass worded wireless network.

It’s recommended that all wireless networks should have tight security measures applied; here are some tips to strengthen the security of a wireless network:

1. Use a strong form of wireless encryption, such as WPA2 ( Don’t use WEP or WPA as these can be broken into very quickly if the hacker knows what they are doing )

2. Disable SSID broadcast ( This hides your wireless network, making it harder for hackers to identify )

3. Create a whitelist of allowed MAC addresses on the router ( This will ensure only the IP addresses of computers and devices are allowed access to the wireless network )

4. Use a strong encrypted password for wireless access and change it periodically ( Ensure you make the password a mixture or alpha/numeric and a minimum of 8 characters )

These steps will help to protect a wireless network, but as technology is constantly changing, hackers are always looking for security vulnerabilities to exploit.

We will be blogging about new secure methods of network protection once we have installed and tested them fully.