LATEST NEWS & IT TIPS

Opportunity to reduce threat of malware

7th June 2014, Posted by Mark Murphy

MalwareThere has been much made in the press recently of an upcoming increase in the threat of malware. As usual, it's a case of the media blowing things out of all proportion to make headlines. There are no new threats about to hit us (outwith the normal development of malware), in fact the NCA (National Crime Agency) has managed to disrupt the botnet used by GOZeuS and CryptoLocker to weaken their effectiveness. Now this weakening is only temporary, as the criminals will be able to bypass the blocks that have been put in place by the NCA (and FBI, this is a world-wide initiative). So now is a good opportunity to make sure your antivirus is up to date and working. In addition it is a good idea to use one or more of the following tools to run a one-off scan for these viruses:

Sophos
http://www.sophos.com/VirusRemoval (Windows XP (SP2) and above)
Kaspersky
http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/utility#kasperskyvirusremovaltool (if you think your computer is infected with malware)
http://support.kaspersky.com/8005 (WindowsUnlocker utility for if your computer is infected with CryptoLocker)
As always, the best way to avoid getting a virus is to be careful what you are clicking! Be very wary of links & attachments in emails - it is always better to manually log in to a website than to follow an email link. Be careful when clicking on links or advertising banners on the web too, they are the cause of most malware infections today.

Faster Broadband for businesses on rose street?

19th March 2014, Posted by Mark Murphy

I have been discussing the Rose Street phone exchange with Commsworld recently. You may or may not know that BT have said they have no intention of upgrading Edinburgh's main exchange. Why would they? They know they can fleece local businesses with costly leased lines. Well now Commsworld are about to unbundle the exchange, so we should have a cost effective broadband alternative soon. I'll report here on any updates.

New Website Finally Goes Live

18th March 2014, Posted by Mark Murphy

WebsiteAfter what seems like an eternity, the new website is up and running.
There's still plenty to do, but it's online!
This page is going to contain lots of handy IT tips, which I'm sure you will find useful. So please bookmark it and check back regularly.