SME-UK Limited is pleased to announce the launch of its new Company website

www.sme-uk.com

SME-UK Limited new website launch continues to aim to meet the requirements of its loyal customers and now provides a CRM-Like ticketing system, and call back request feature and direct connect via a Skype Hot-Link on the Contact Us page. Also the ability to leave feedback and submit testimonials

If you have any questions or need any help registering then please get in touch

Regards
Stuart Sharp
Director
0871 288 3540
07715 000 133

Small victory against Laptop Crime

Recently (and sadly all too often) I received a call from a client letting me know they'd had a burglary and their laptop had been stolen. In all cases up until this event this is the last we ever hear of our stolen laptop and our precious data.

This time things were different. I use remote access software http://www.logmein.com/ with 99% of my clients which helps me to be agile and respond in a timely fashion and this "missing" kept appearing online over the next few weeks, well today I was able to access the laptop, look up its default gateway, login to its local router and find the ISP login inforamtion which detailed the landline connection the ADSL Connection was making.

Needless to say Thames Valley Police were very pleased to receive this information and my client will be shortly receiving their laptop back.

With Laptop theft a real problem these days this was a lucky break in that the laptop had not been wiped, which would have not given me the opportunity to access the machine and find out the user and location information.

I always recommend clients to keep their laptop safe and secure never to leave it in the car and always to keep the data backed up.
There are some great software packages, my personal favourite is SafeSync from http://www.trendmicro.co.uk/ , it allows you to backup and share data between multiple machines and the cloud, also you can access the files from any mobile device or tablet direct from the cloud storage.
Stuart Sharp

stuart.sharp@sme-uk.com
SME-UK Ltd
+44 871 288 3540

Windows Updates

Now here's a topic and a half. My personal opinion may not be the mainstream but I believe keeping your Windows operating system up to date as important as having up to date Anti-Virus software.

There's a downside however with the latest sets of updates from Microsoft, Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista is BIG and when I say big I mean HUGE this latest service pack, which has some performance improvements as well as bug fixes, is almost 350MB in size.For all of us that know friends in the countryside (or even the outskirts of a main town) this is going to cause some problems.SME-UK Limited's business covers clients in places such as Cookham Dean, Holyport and Shurlock Row, all popular places in the Berkshire area, which all struggle to get broadband speeds over 1MBs (some places in Shurlock Row there is no broadband available), what are these businesses to do ?Well, SME-UK Limited offers these service packs via CD or DVD-ROM along with other large updates too (Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 weighs in at 290MB) to all its Support Subscription clients.
There is a small bright spark on the horizon though, BT at a recent business presentation tell me that the speeds will be getting better with improved and updated telephone exchanges and the arrival ADSL2+ (newer faster ADSL Broadband) but hey I'm sure we can count on Microsoft to find bigger and "better" Service Packs to rollout when Windows 7 hits the streets later this year. Not that I'm a cynic of course but with a new version of software there are bound to be some major fixes hard on the heels of the launch.

I hope I'm wrong in a way and that new operating systems and new application suites are better and more stable, but ask most people about Windows Vista coupled with Office 2007 versus Windows XP with Office 2003 and I think you'll not be surprised by the feedback, lets at least hope they are smaller, more manageable patches and service packs.

Internet Explorer 8

Some of you PC end users may have noted that the latest round of Updates from Microsoft now include Internet Explorer 8.

This maybe a good thing but also maybe a problem for some of you out on the web that use online services and online database systems.

I've always been of the mind that updates from Microsoft are a good thing, a good example of this is the Office Outlook Junk mail filter updates, but with IE8 you may want to tread a little more carefully before installing.

One thing to consider is that if you access any 3rd party online systems which are designed to be 100% browser based (in other words you dont need any additional software installed on your PC) it would be prudent to check with either your Company's IT administrator and or the Service Provider who designed the system

For those of you that are concerned or curious about this latest incarnation of Microsofts Internet browser- take a look at Microsofts office website, theirs a tour and some videos about whats new OK

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/internet-explorer/welcome.aspx

Stoo

Credit Card Scammers and Free Internet access

Spoke to a client today who rang me as they had some one come to their door claiming to be from Talk Talk Internet saying they could have free Broadband from BT, they were suspicious and rightfully so, it turns out they were credit card scammers trying to get peoples credit card details.
As I say to all my clients if you are in any doubt about anything technology or otherwise be cautious, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is, and free usually means you get what you pay for or less !!
If you find the Internet useful dare I say critical then don't look at free options, choose a reputable provider at a reasonable price and value it, check out the online forums and see what their current clients are saying about them too.

Stoo