How do I protect my PC
October 6, 2009 — 10:15 amWhy Should a Small Business Spend Time and Money on Data Backups?
August 24, 2009 — 1:00 pmWhat is a Data Backup and Why is It Necessary?
Data backup is as important as the data you store on your system; if that holds valuable information critical to the daily operation of your business, then making a backup of it is also critical. Think about the customer information, supplier details, debtors & creditors, etc. stored on your hard drive, and then imagine that one morning you can no longer find them.
Backups are for your peace of mind, and to save you a lot of time and money if anything terminal happens to your data files. Your data is fundamental to the operation of your business, and should be valued as an important asset.
Any backup is basically copying your data files to disk or some other storage device, to provide a working copy of your data ready to be restored if the original copy is lost, damaged, or corrupted. This can can occur in a surprising number of ways – viruses, power failures, power spikes (these may not even be noticed! ), system crashes, external events such as flood, fire, theft, or vandalism , or even a simple user error.
How do you deal with email spam (Part 3 of 10)?
April 25, 2009 — 12:11 pmWe all receive irritating spam emails but did you know that there are billions of spam emails sent every day? Not only are they irritating but they also potentially carry damaging attachments that can cause problems for your business.
There is also another aspect that’s an issue for small businesses and that’s the amount of time wasted dealing with spam. Have you ever considered how the minutes add up and cost your business?
By way of an example we were talking to one client about the amount of spam they received. When the client had considered the interruption time, opening the email, briefly reading it, deleting the email and moving on to the next one they estimated that on average an employee spent 15 minutes spread throughout the day dealing with spam emails.
Tom Lord Antivirus Software (Part 2 of 10)
April 22, 2009 — 9:05 amLike spam, viruses are a problem which affect all computer users, choosing the right anti virus product means that you are getting the best protection for your money while also minimising the performance impact the software has on your PC.
It’s all too common to find people with reasonable spec PCs that are being bogged down by their antivirus software. How many times have you wondered why your relatively new PC is running slowly? There is a good chance that if you’re using one of the more ‘famous’ brands that this is killing your PCs performance!
Backup Solutions (Part 1 of 10)
April 14, 2009 — 7:00 amOK to start off with, NO business should be without a backup solution! That’s right, EVERYONE should have a backup of their valuable data.
So let’s look at 2 questions:
- Imagine what would happen if your office burned down and all your data was destroyed, how would you cope?
- Let’s make it even simpler, what if you accidentally spilt a cup of coffee on your laptop?
Maybe you’ve already guessed the answers, but if you haven’t try the following:
What’s a Firewall (more Geek Speak demystified!!)
March 31, 2009 — 6:00 amDon’t be put off by the unusual term ‘Firewall’ or it sounding like Geek Speak!
The job of a firewall is to stop unwanted intruders from getting access to your PC, data and network. It works by sitting between your internet connection and your PC or server. Then using some really clever stuff it analyses the data request that’s leaving and entering your network. If it’s worked out that either event is not what it expects then it’ll block the request.
Without getting too complicated it also allows ‘authorised’ users to have access to your PC and network – I’ll come on to this a little later.
A firewall comes in two forms – hardware and software. Let’s take a look at a hardware firewall first.
David Thomas How important is internet security to your business?
March 1, 2009 — 7:25 pm
The Internet is an exciting place where you can have loads of fun but it can be wild and dangerous! As general users we only scratch the surface of the internet but it’s a highly complex environment that’s rife with opportunities for less-than-ethical individuals ready to take advantage of your business and information.
It’s easy to think, with the security software you’re already running that you don’t have to worry. Unfortunately, that’s one of the ways these individuals cause businesses so much damage.