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AVG Gets faster and lighter

IT-Pro Support — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:16:32 +0000

AVG Internet Security 2012

Security vendor AVG has launched Internet Security 2012 Business Edition, with improved performance, a smaller footprint and new tools aimed at speeding up downloads and controlling browser memory hogging. Other improvements include enahnced web security and a reorganised user interface.

Aimed at SMBs, the package includes antivirus, anti-rootkit, a firewall, online shield (instant messenger protection), anti-spyware, email protection and anti-spam. Identity protection and social network protection (pre-scanning links on facebook pages, for example) are also included, plus a server protection module and remote admin tool.

Detection of evasive web threats has been improved, as has rootkit detection with added support for anti-rootkit exceptions, while a simplified user interface has components grouped together to reduce clutter. AVG claims a 50 percent faster download and install time, 45 percent reduction in disk space and 20 percent less processes and memory usage.

New in the 2012 edition is AVG Accelerator which reduces waiting times for large files such as Flash videos by splitting them into four simultaneous downloads. Also new is AVG Advisor, which monitors web browsers (IE, Firefox and Chrome) for excessive memory usage, popping up a warning when consumption is likely to slow the system down.

If you would like more information on AVG Internet Security 2012 or would like a no obligation quotation, please feel free to contact our support team on 0845 474 2216

Backup your important files to the cloud for safe keeping for only £5 per month

IT-Pro Support — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:30:15 +0000

Simple, Secure Online Backup

Our Cloud Backup protects your precious files by keeping a copy safely online. It’s hassle-free, easy-to-install, completely secure – and backs up your entire PC or Mac, no matter how many files you’ve got!

Keep your files safe

Our Cloud Backup works quietly in the background to protect your files as you use your computer. You don’t need any technical knowledge, and it backs up all of your files – no matter how many you’ve got. You can restore your files at any time with one click.

View your files anywhere

Once you’ve backed up your files with Our Cloud Backup you can view them from anywhere – from any web browser, or from your mobile and tablet. You can view your photos and documents, and even listen to your music and watch your movies, wherever you are.

Complete peace of mind

With Our Cloud Backup you can be sure your files are safe and secure. We keep multiple copies of your files, so you can get to them at any time, and we encrypt them with military-grade encryption, so that they’re completely private. If you need help at any time our outstanding support comes free!

Affordable Prices

Our Cloud Backup comes with unlimited data storage for only £5 per computer per month. Call us on 0845 474 2216 to discuss your requirements.

8 Tips to keep your SME safe online

IT-Pro Support — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:27:54 +0000

For any small business the security of their website should be crucial, especially if it’s a transactional ecommerce website. Your website is available to be accessed by anyone with an internet connection, so you can never guarantee 100% security – being connected to the Internet means there’s always a possibility that a hacker could find a way into your web server.

The good news is that by following these simple tips you can minimise the risks of hackers being able to access your site or, far worse, stealing sensitive information which you might be holding on your customers.

Passwords are key: You’d be surprised how easy it is for hackers to crack passwords. Be sure to use intricate passwords containing numbers, symbols and capitals. If setting up a ‘security question’ make sure it’s information that only you would know. You should also change your password occasionally just in case you have been hacked and don’t know it.
Who has access to your account? Make sure only a very limited number of people have access to your server. Fewer people means fewer risks of the password being inadvertently passed on to someone with malicious intentions.
Look out for suspicious website traffic: Keep an eye on Google Analytics and look out for any strange direct traffic spikes which could mean you’re under a ‘DOS attack’.
Use a professional & reliable hosting service: Having secure and reliable hosting is really important as it allows you peace of mind at night, so that when you go to sleep you can be safe in the knowledge that a reputable company is looking after your website. Without this security you could be missing out on valuable traffic, especially if you’re an online business. IT-Pro Support comes with Fasthosts Dedicated Server hosting – one of the best in the business.
Ecommerce, outsource it: Planning on incorporating ecommerce into your site? Instead of investing in expensive ecommerce software, use a widget from a trusted provider, like PayPal or Google Checkout and embed it into your site. This means all sensitive transactional information can be inputted on one of their secure web pages, while your customer temporally navigates away.
Choose a secure Internet Service Provider (ISP): There are a variety of ISPs to choose from and most people mainly choose on the criteria of speed and price, but as you will be accessing your site via an internet connection it is important to consider what protection your ISP provides. Some ISPs offer a very high level of security while others offer almost nothing.
Be aware of the latest threats, scams and viruses: By simply visiting a threat tracking website, businesses and consumers can check what’s out there, and whether it will affect them. If you notice an outbreak of spyware that steals people’s details, among other things, it’s easy to avoid the web or maintain a greater level of vigilance until the security companies can plug holes or uncover the criminals prowling the web.
Keep your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs up-to-date!

Free email marketing software

IT-Pro Support — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:51:09 +0000

Shout Mail FREE

Email Marketing Software for Outlook 2010

With ShoutMail email marketing software for Microsoft Outlook, you will create, send and track personalized messages to lists just as-if you sent to each individual person.

ShoutMail is ideal for marketing campaigns and newsletters for small businesses. ShoutMail turns your Outlook into an email marketing machine.

ShoutMail is different from other email marketing services, because you control your own mailing lists and your message is sent from your own authentic email server—without Bcc:’s or a disguised From: address—making your message more likely to reach the intended inbox.

When using ShoutMail you’ll know what happens to all the messages you send, whether you’re sending to one person, ten people, or lists of hundreds or thousands.

With ShoutMail you can easily create HTML formatted email messages which you can save for later use or you can import a pre-designed email (HTML format) which can then be sent out to your list.

Best of all it’s completely free software, there is no time limit or maximum number of recipients. Feel free to use it as often as you need

Download

You can either download it directly from our site Download Shout Mailer

Or you can download it from Download.com

Reilly Building Services

IT-Pro Support — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:24:58 +0000

We have recently taken over the I.T. support for a local building firm which included the design, development and launch of a new website.

Here is a snippet from their new website “If you currently reside in North Wales and require a professional customer focused North Wales based building company relax, despite the vast number of building companies in North Wales you have come to the right place! Reilly Building Services is a newly formed yet highly experienced building and construction company based in North Wales who pride themselves on quality workmanship, customer care, efficiency and building performance excellence. Reilly Building Services take pride in being one of the building companies that the public can trust! The building company formed to deliver timely, cost effective, quality building projects in an efficient and professional manner across North Wales and Chester.”

How to Easily Backup Your Facebook Data

IT-Pro Support — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 09:09:29 +0000

How to Easily Backup Your Facebook Data

So how do you backup all your Facebook data? Here is a quick and easy procedure to backup all the items you post to FB:

Login to your Facebook account.
Click the “Account” drop-down menu located in the top-right corner of your Facebook page.
Click on “Account Settings”.
From the “Settings” tab, Look for the line that says “Download Your Information” and click the link to the right of it that says: “learn more”.
Click the “Download” button on the page that follows.

After you click “Download”, you will receive a Facebook pop-up message stating that they are “gathering” all your information into a ZIP formatted file for you to download. The message says it may take awhile and that they will send you an e-mail when the file is ready to be downloaded. The length of time it takes to build the archive file will depend on how much data (videos, pictures, etc) that you have posted to your account. For people who have been using facebook for several years, this could take a few hours or more. Mine took about 3 hours before it said it was ready for download. Make sure you have ample room on your computer’s hard drive to store the data file that you are about to download. Before you can download you Facebook data file, Facebook will force you to prove your identity through a couple of security measures such as inputting your password and having you identify some of your friends by their pictures. These security measures help to prevent hackers from obtaining the backup file which would basically provide them with a digital dossier of your Facebook life to take with them offline.

Google drops support for aging browsers

IT-Pro Support — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:47:55 +0000

Google has told its users they will have to download “modern browsers” if they want access to its applications. In a blog post this week, the internet giant claimed older versions of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari didn’t “have the chops to provide you with the same high-quality experience” as newer browsers, so Google applications couldn’t provide the service the company wanted. “For web applications to spring even farther ahead of traditional software, our teams need to make use of new capabilities available in modern browsers,” wrote Venkat Panchapakesan, vice president of engineering at Google. As a result, the company will be discontinuing Google App support from 1 August for Firefox 3.5, Internet Explorer 7 and Safari 3, along with all their predecessors. “In these older browsers you may have trouble using certain features in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs and Google Sites, and eventually these apps may stop working entirely,” added Panchapakesan. “As the world moves more to the web, these new browsers are more than just a modern convenience, they are a necessity for what the future holds.”

Windows 8 What’s new and what’s hot

IT-Pro Support — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:34:57 +0000

Windows 8

The expected release date is autumn 2012 which will be exactly 3 years after Windows 7. Windows 8 beta will most likely be launched in September this year around the Build conference time. During a Q&A at D9 this year some interesting statements were made.

Windows 8 will offer a new Windows Phone 7 like Start experience (tile view) and will be something that cannot be turned off.
Windows 8 will still offer full windows (aka Explorer) to run real apps. OEMs will not be able to prevent or hide access to full windows.
The new Windows 8 experience will feature HTML5/JavaScript app experiences.Although they have not ruled out Silverlight it will be interesting to see how these mix.
Window 8 is fully embracing Metro UI theme and touch input.

What’s being shown is very new (for Windows), and uncharacteristically bold for Microsoft.

It’s being built to run on Intel, AMD and (most importantly) ARM chips
It won’t require any additional horsepower beyond Win7 (in some cases, less)
It will likely integrate (to some degree) with WebCams/Kinect
It may feature more integration with Xbox/Xbox Live/Xbox Avatars
It definitely will feature more native integration with social media (twitter, Facebook)
It will feature direct integration with a Windows (App) Store (confirmed this week)
It will likely feature a renewed cloud integration story (based on Azure)
It will focus on delivering super-fast start-up, sleep, and wake times
It will likely use the Ribbon UI throughout Windows Explorer
It will offer native support for mounting ISOs

Here are some of the points mentioned by Mary Jo Foley on ZDNet

Windows Server 8 would contain more than 100 new features
Will have next version of Hyper-V Hypervisor and will support more than 16 virtual processors per machine.
Hyper-V Replica feature will allow asynchronous virtual machine replication

Windows Server 8 has already been leaked months back though expect for the new Hyper-V no other important features were discovered in that build. Windows Server 8 would be released alongside Windows 8 client and according to information available we may see the Beta version in September during BUILD and RTM version during April 2012 Here are a few aspects of the new interface we showed today:

Fast launching of apps from a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of apps.
Live tiles with notifications, showing always up-to-date information from your apps.
Fluid, natural switching between running apps.
Convenient ability to snap and resize an app to the side of the screen, so you can really multitask using the capabilities of Windows.
Web-connected and Web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript that have access to the full power of the PC.
Fully touch-optimized browsing, with all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10.

Two Llangollen firms collaborate to save time and money

IT-Pro Support — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:05:59 +0000

COLLABORATION between two Llangollen companies has transformed the way staff work at a translation and interpreting firm in the town. Linguassist had built up a huge database of contacts which had become unwieldy, slow and time consuming to search. So it worked with an IT firm to develop a new system combining its data with mapping software, allowing staff to pinpoint the nearest contractor to a client. Linguassist’s managing director Graham Paton said the result was a bespoke system which saved staff time and the client money.

“The database has transformed the way we work,” he said. “With more than 1,600 qualified and accredited interpreters and translators on our books, it was important to speed up the process to find the right linguist for the clients’ requirements. “It means we can offer a fast and efficient service and that’s very important when providing interpreters for the police, solicitors or probation workers.” Linguassist asked Llangollen based IT-Pro Development to create the system and the two firms worked to perfect the software. Now called LinguaBase, the database is being made available to other companies. David Pinel, technical director at IT-Pro Development, said: “The system is now semi-bespoke, meaning that with a few tweaks, it can be customised to suit other businesses.”

Rolls Royce ATEX software rollout

IT-Pro Support — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:50:35 +0000

Rolls Royce ATEX software rollout

We have just completed a roll out of our ExAM (Ex Assessment and Management) software developed for InterTek into Rolls Royce (application details : http://www.itprodevelopment.com/Exam/) The software will allow engineers to log equipment faults based on a selected location within the RR plant; this will improve the efficiency of repairs and allow for trend analysis to determine which equipment requires more maintenance in those areas.