Last week, and 24hrs before a planned trip to an existing client, I started getting lots of emails from one staff member asking questions about iPad’s. The questions were increasingly detailed and it seems that the thrust of the communication was to find out more about how the iPad could be used as a laptop replacement for them at home, and for linking back to their desktop at work.

The client has a Citrix solution, installed by Abussi, and so it would be possible to bring up their ‘virtual’ desktop on the iPad and work from home, the train (with WiFi) or from anywhere. They were pretty much sold on the idea of getting one and so just wanted to make sure they bought the right one (What GB to get, WiFi or with 3G etc).

What seemed to be bringing this discussion forward was the increasingly common sight of ‘iPad Breeding’. If you have not experienced this for yourself then it starts very simply, with one member of your office bringing in an iPad one day. Like a mother with a new born baby, a small crowd gathers and they all coo and pet the new shiny faced device, while secretly envious of their co-worker.

The next stage is that the original iPad you saw a week or so ago suddenly has a brother ……….. another co-worker, so taken by the seemingly endless opportunity bought about by the iPad’s lightweight feel and glossy screen, buys one and starts a trend that see’s the number of iPad’s in your office grow and grow. This is all fine and Apple make’s huge profits, but let me just add a word of caution.

iPad’s are wonderful; they are a dream to use; they can do lots of things; they can bring together music, video, pictures, documents and email ……………… but, they can’t do everything. In the case of this specific user the issue was that a remote screen of their desktop could be bought up on the iPad, but with no full keyboard (only the screen keyboard) the ‘experience’ was poor. Moreover, they work in Accounts and thus on very complex spreadsheets so the half screen, half keyboard or the iPad was too restrictive for them to operate effectively.

The thrust of my post here is not to criticise the iPad …………. I have one and love it …………. but simply to suggest that prior to spending over £500 it would be worth seeking the advice of an Independent IT Professional who can understand your needs and assess the suitability of the product or service you want to buy. In the case of this user, I was able to demonstrate the experience on an iPad (my iPad) and they saw clearly it would not work for them and so was happier to arrange for a replacement home laptop …………… which was cheaper and more effective for their needs.

For more information on the services provided by Abussi, please visit our Website

IT support isn’t just technology support; it’s business support. That’s because using IT as a strategic asset can differentiate your company and increase your profits. That’s the mantra I stick by and use as the yardstick for all my conversations with clients. The key…………. Good IT will result in Good Business.

So, you can imagine my surprise and shock when a new enquiry reached Abussi this week from a prospect who initially outlined a need to update their IT hardware including a server. On the surface it was a straightforward job with new PC’s, Server and a refresh of software. However, it turned out not to be as simple as first thought.

The prospect advised me that the new PC’s must run Windows 98. “Why” was my reply, “well” said the prospect “we have this invoicing software that was setup by a guy that doesn’t work for us anymore and it only runs on Windows 98. We have a Windows XP machine but that won’t run the software and the remaining PC’s running Windows 98 are dropping like flies”. I thought about this for a moment and replied “well I think the key issue here is to look at the software and sort it out first, rather than try to just keep Windows 98 running indefinitely”.

What the prospect was facing is an issue which I see all too often. Software, written or installed by an individual (not an off the shelf product) and which is ‘bespoke’. Great for the first 12-24 months while the person that installed it is around and able to help; bad 15 years later (yes, the prospect said it must have been in place around 15 years!) when the installer or designer is no longer around.

In this case I’m going to look at the software and see what it is before making any further suggestions. I guess its probably some kind of linked Excel spreadsheet(s) or perhaps a bespoke MS Access 97 database, but the key is that this software is hindering the prospects ability to use IT effectively and thus it’s stopping them from being efficient, productive and responsive to new orders.

The lesson for us all here is clear. Independent advice, from IT professionals that understand your business and its needs both now and in the future. Technical people are great and they can certainly fix broken computers, but my experience shows me that they fail to look at the business need, and it’s this which is far more important.

For more information on the services provided by Abussi, please visit our Website

If you use Window XP, it might just be the time for you to upgrade (or at least start planning to upgrade) as Microsoft has announced plans to pull the plug on Windows XP support in 2014. While that may be a couple of years away, it never hurts to start assessing your options so the eventual move to newer Microsoft OS will be as smooth and efficient as possible.

Part of using any sort of software is the inevitable need to upgrade. Most if not all software needs to either be replaced and upgraded as the demands of the market entail more efficient processing of the various data and information a business handles.

Such is the case with Windows XP. While many continue to use this proven straightforward operating system, Microsoft has decided to stop support by the year 2014. Microsoft further recommends upgrading to its latest OS, Windows 7, in order for users to continue to receive OS support.

While there are some lines of business applications that have not been upgraded to work with Windows 7, most have — and there are alternative approaches. Also, your business needs the security and protection that only a current, up-to-date operating system can provide.

We understand that changing your OS will entail some expense, including new licenses, hardware, and some training. Fortunately, these things are designed to help you operate more efficiently and increase your productivity in the long run. But such change will take time, and if you are interested in starting to plan for an upgrade now, we’ll be happy to sit down with you and develop an upgrade process that meets your specific needs.

The drive to be more intimate can benefit your business. If you have a tighter circle of customers, you will establish yourself as a channel for consumption. This will make your next sale easier compared to the first.

November 17, 2010 was declared by Jimmy Kimmel during his television show as “National Unfriend Day”, the opportunity for all Facebook users to declutter their Facebook pages by “unfriending” people in their friends’ lists. He claims that Facebook has been “cheapening” the idea of friendship. To many the idea was hilarious, but others are seriously considering the wisdom of unfriending.

Is Kimmel on to something here? Can unfriending benefit your online business?

Research shows that as social media gets bigger, we’re getting smaller. Brian Wong, a network marketer says it simply: “With the growth of social networking, I am finding it increasingly difficult to separate business connections and personal connections.” He says that having almost 1,000 friends on Facebook has made it difficult for him to see the feeds and updates of his “real” friends and important business partners.

Lately there is a growing trend of de-scaling on the internet. People have started “pruning” their social lives online. For example, the popular Farmville app lost 30 million players this year, and people are beginning to realize that conversations and comments are more important than a huge number of blog hits.

So how can de-scaling and unfriending help your business? The drive to be more intimate can benefit your business by allowing you to form a tighter circle of customers, more successfully establishing you as a preferred channel for consumption.

Luckily, there are tools that can help you descale your social networks:

1. Path – Offers small-scale communities where people feel more comfortable sharing personal information. It controls who can view your information and does not include features that make your content viral.
2. Letter.ly – A subscription-based newsletter for bloggers who feel that public posts decrease the quality of conversations. This newsletter opens discussion only to people who pay, or who are privately invited to read a blog post.
3. GroupMe – A texting app which limits your group text participants to only 14, to ensure that meaningful dialogues take place.

What about the flip side of unfriending and descaling? While you’re considering who to eliminate from your social circles, your contacts are likely doing the same. Here are some tips to help you make their cuts:

1.       Be selective in your communications.
Of course, your product is important – to you. But not every little detail is as important to your audience. Be sure to focus on key features and benefits from your audience’s perspective.

2.       Stay on topic.
Always give relevant communications to your customers, and never rant or badmouth competitors. This is a sure way to lose customers.

3.       Provide value.
In addition to talking about your product or service, find ways to provide value to your circle of friends. Understand topics and pain points important to them, and provide valuable information and advice to help them succeed. You’ll soon come to be considered as a valuable resource to your contacts – one that they want to keep in their online social groups.

One thing is clear: quality is still more important than quantity, especially in the current economic downturn when people are downsizing everything. Start “pruning” your social network – and take steps to avoid being pruned – and you’ll reap the benefits of having a tight circle of loyal friends and customers.

Open Wi-Fi networks are indispensable, especially for people who need to work on the go. But without the proper security, you may find that they can prove to be troublesome as well.

These days, more and more people are on the go, and many of them bring their work with them. And in this day and age, it’s ideal if you’re working – or playing for that matter – while connected to the internet, which is often through public Wi-Fi hotspots.

While connecting to public and open-access Wi-Fi hotspots is indeed convenient, using open networks also poses risks that endanger your security. The open nature that allows anyone to use the connection also enables unscrupulous people to gain access to your private information. The whole act of stealing information from people who are using public Wi-Fi networks is called ‘sidejacking’.

There are applications such as Firesheep, for example, that provide an easy-to-use platform that others can exploit to spy and harvest personal, sensitive information from you. And since Firesheep is a Mozilla Firefox plug in, virtually anyone can download and use it to sidejack people on the same network.

You can’t be too cautious with your personal and business data these days, so you always need to have the proper laptop configuration and security infrastructure to protect your system, especially when you frequently avail of open and public networks. To know more about this, please feel free to give us a call and we’ll be happy to draw up some security options that meet your specific needs.

It seems that even the most innocuous machines in the workplace can serve as a security threat to companies. According to this report from CBS News, many office copiers save the images they copy on a dedicated hard disk installed inside them. This means that everything from mundane memos to your most sensitive information such as financial statements and contracts are stored – and could potentially extracted.

So the next time you dispose of a copy machine, if you’re not sure what’s stored on it and how to get it off – give us a call to help out.

To see the news report, watch this video.

Users beware of ransomware: malicious software that extorts money from users in exchange for freeing the user’s computer or data. One particularly nasty version was recently discovered by researchers at CA which came bundled with a software download called uFast Download Manager. The malware blocks Internet access for users until they pay the publisher a fee via SMS. Users who download the software are immediately infected, seeing a message posted in Russian demanding a ransom under the guise of activating the uFast Download Manager application. To keep your computer environment safe, always be wary of downloading suspicious free software on the Internet. If you need help or are unsure, please contact us first so we can help!

Spanish authorities report that they have arrested the masterminds behind a string of online criminal activities using the botnet dubbed Mariposa. Mariposa is the original name of a commercially distributed Do-it-Yourself malware kit, sold online for 800/1000 EUR for “wannabe” hackers.  Along with the arrest, authorities seized sensitive data belonging to about 800,000 users in 190 countries, gathered from an estimated 12M+ infected host computers on the Internet.

What’s particularly interesting is that the cybercriminals arrested were not themselves the author of the malware, nor were they any more techincally adept than many ordinary users. They simply had access to malware widely available on the Internet, and were able to conduct a crime of such a wide scale and reach.

This illustrates that it’s become easier for many cybercriminals to conduct their nefarious deeds online, and highlights the need for more vigilance on the part of law-abiding netizens in keeping their network secure from hackers and malware.

Is your network safe? Contact us to find out.

Related articles:

• How FBI, police busted massive botnet (go.theregister.com)
• Botnet takedowns ‘don’t hurt crooks enough’ (go.theregister.com)
• Vodafone distributes Mariposa Bot, Conficker and Lineage in HTC Magic (techie-buzz.com)

Microsoft recently released a number of security bulletins and patches addressing vulnerabilities in Windows and Office that are of high risk to users. It’s widely believed that many will be exploited by hackers within the next 30 days. One of them could potentially allow hackers or malware authors to easily compromise systems by tricking users to download malicious AVI-formatted files. Others require nothing more than just visiting a website. Another specifically targets Powerpoint Viewer 2003, and opening a malicious .ppt file could affect your system.

This latest round of patches and vulnerability updates is really nothing new – although the sheer number made public in one day is notable. This highlights the need for a comprehensive security policy, because vulnerabilities do exist in even the most mundane or old versions of software. Customers under our Managed Services plan can rest easy since we monitor and update their computers as soon as these patches and advisories are released. Find out more about what we do to make your systems safe and secure. Contact us today.

Related links:

• Patch Tuesday: Microsoft plugs critical Windows worm holes (zdnet)
• Researchers warn of likely attacks against Windows, PowerPoint (computerworld)
• Microsoft delivers huge Windows security update (computerworld)

A malicious piece of software making the rounds of news websites this week is believed to be behind the compromise of over 75,000 systems in over 2,500 international organizations – many of which are government agencies and large Fortune 500 companies.

Called the Knebner botnet after the name in the email used to register the initial domain used in the campaign to propagate the malware, the software infects computers and captures user login access to online financial services such as Paypal and online banks, social networking websites such as Facebook, and email. Infected computers can be centrally controlled from a master computer, which presumably harvests the data captured for nefarious means.

The Knebner botnet itself is not new. It’s based on the ZeuS botnet, and has gained prominence lately because it’s slipped under the radar of so many organizations. However, there are ways to prevent compromises from botnets – one of which is to have a proactive security system and policy in place. Our Managed Security customers have this assurance in place since we continuously protect their system from botnets and other malware. If you’re not sure that you’re protected, talk to us today.

Related articles:

• Kneber botnet described as ‘massive’ and ‘worldwide’ (inquisitr.com)
• Kneber attack resurrects notorious Zeus Trojan, say experts (guardian.co.uk)
• Malicious Software Infects Corporate Computers (nytimes.com)