What is the world coming to? (About 400mb)

I was rebuilding a work machine today and had to re-install all the drivers and software necessary for the user.

It was while downloading the mouse driver and the printer driver that I suddenly noticed that both of these seemed to take a long time in installing.

The mouse driver took longer to install than the anti virus program (We install a business/networked version of Kaspersky) and the printer driver was over 400mb, which was also bigger than the install size of the anti virus!

I couldn't believe it!

Is this a crazy pattern that developed from a sloppy practise of programming? Or is it simply the amount of code necessary to drive the hardware nowadays? 

Have computers gotten so complicated, that the devices that connect to them are requiring large chunks of programs to keep control and make them accessible? 

Talking of which, I need to switch my twitter enabled coffee machine on. 

The Benefits of a Social Network

I was quite surprised today to hear somebody say that they deleted an invite to "LinkedIn" because it was of no benefit or use to them as a salesperson.

While its true that Social Networking has a history of being a bit of a 'gamers and gossipers way of keeping in the know', it also holds some value for businesses.

How often have you met a friend of a friend (Fig.1) and found that you have a lot in common? Or needed some work done at home, and were able to get in touch with a friend who knows somebody that can do the job reliably for you?  As a human race, we prefer dealing with people that we know, than pass the work on to an unknown untrusted person that we found in the local business directory.

Social Networking can be a powerful tool in enabling you to get to know the people that your friends know, and getting your business credentials across to a customer of a customer.

Its quite normal to join a social networking site and start finding people that have similar needs to your existing customers, or who you are not normally able to approach because they don't know you.

However, now that you have a common interest, a common friend, the door has opened for you to have the opportunity in extending your network in that direction.
(Fig 2)

So don't be afraid of the technology. It's a tool that will save you a lot of leg work and will open doors of opportunity.

A properly worked Social Network has the ability to work more effectively than cold calling on the telephone. So join, fill out your profile in the best way you can, and start meeting the people that might make a difference to your working life.

Old Tin Can

An article in The Telegraph today, reported that Britons are losing around 5½ days because their computers are slow. This got us thinking... and calculating.

Lets say the basic wage for an office worker is around £16,000.  That's around £307 per week, or £61 per day. So 5½ days at that rate is around £338.

Most IT departments would purchase a basic office machine for around £300. They'd get a reasonable machine for that price and everybody would be happy. But add another £338 to that budget and suddenly it's a different story..

The difference between the two is striking. You go from a 2 core processor to an 8. You increase your ram from 4gb to 16gb. The graphics processor leaps from a built in motherboard display to a 2gb graphics card and the storage also increases from 500gb to a 2TB drive and 128gb Solid State Drive.

Certainly the performance between the two machines would make a huge difference in the lives of the workers, increasing efficiency and reducing stress.

It doesn't surprise us to read these stats. This is something we've been a great believer in, giving the worker a full orchestra to do the job instead of expecting them to write a concerto with a tin can and a cocktail stick. 

We've seen workers struggle with slow machines and seen support staff spend countless hours trying their best to find ways to tweak a little more speed out of the workstation. In the end you spend more money in time and resources than you would have spent investing in the right equipment at the beginning.

Don't be afraid of the tech and invest wisely.

In Defence Of The Tech [I]

The first in what I fear will be a regular series...

We've read a recent spate of news articles that turn up at least once a year. In their simplest form, they go like this,

'I went on holiday, came home and got a mobile phone bill for £27 million.'

There is a recurring theme in almost all of these stories. And it goes something like,

'I didn't know I was going to be charged £120 per MB while abroad.'

And therein lies the problem. Not that the bill was a mistake. Not that the phone was racking up a phone bill with an evil smile on its face. The issue was that the human in this equation didn't know all the facts.

That's not to say the mobile service providers are completely blameless. Historically, roaming charges were notoriously hard to find. It really wasn't even made clear enough that charges were significantly increased while abroad. There again, how could it not be. Being able to phone or text the same number and have that person or message reach you wherever you are in the world is a phenomenal technological achievement.

So this seems to be down to getting all the facts, then using your phone within your means. Data use is what will rack up the largest portion of your mobile bill while abroad. Some apps will use data to check for updates and that data can mount up quickly. Most phones have the facility to switch off roaming data and if you don't need constant internet access and can live off of WiFi only, switch it off. If you do need mobile data overseas, it's worth asking your provider what offers they can give you or buying a SIM card specifically for the country you're travelling to.

Estuary IT - Defenders of Tech since 2013!

Default Password? No Thank You!

Have you ever been in a location where you need Internet access and you use your mobile phone as a Personal or Portable Hotspot.  Essentially you use your mobile phone's Internet connection as a WIFI for your laptop or other devices.

Upon setting this up initially, you might find that your device will provide you with a password to use. How convenient! However, you might give consideration before making use of that connection.

In a recent test, researchers found that the list of words selected for these default passwords was little under 2000, and with equipment that could try 390,000 guesses per second, were able to crack the password in under a minute.

Have you evaluated your password recently ? How secure is your password ? Social networking is an open book when it comes to your life, is your password made up of names of places or children or maiden names - things that could easily be guessed from the locations of your photos, or list of children you mention in your posts?

Why not see how secure your password methodology is? Follow the link below and try out a few passwords to see just how secure they are:-

http://password.social-kaspersky.com/en

Certainly consider changing any default password that your device thinks up. Why not put THAT password in the web site above and see just how secure it is?

Cryptolocker and the importance of Backups.

Imagine walking into your office, or switching on your home computer to find all your important files, word documents, spreadsheets or music, photographs and videos locked.

Locked so tight, that you'd have to contact the NSA to unlock it for you.

Now imagine seeing on your screen the words "Your data has been locked, pay $300 to have them unlocked. You have 50 hours..."

Seem crazy? Well, this is a new breed of nasty virus spreading around at the moment, and once your data is locked, even removal of the virus wont help. Antivirus software companies are working hard to come up with a good detection for this breed of Trojan virus, but it seems one of the only ways you can get your data back without paying the money is by having a BACKUP.

We've always championed backups, regular ones at that. But now is a prime reason to do so.

Always be careful about what you download, particularly if it contains an attachment. This is one way that the virus spreads, as an attachment to your email and so if you get any emails that contain an attachment treat them with utmost caution. Delete it if you're not sure. If it's legitimate, you'll be able to get the company to send you another copy.

Backing up your data is VITAL for businesses and if you have data that you cherish, it's important that you backup regularly.

The Big Apple

So tonight was interesting as we heard a few things from the big Apple. I don't mean that location in America, but the bigger Apple. The one that makes all those lovely devices.

Apple tonight made more tech history with their announcements from California.  iOS 7 is to be launched on the 18th September and contains a lot of default things built in that most of us had to get apps for.  A cleaner screen, ease of use and the nice thing is that if people have a device with iOS 5 or above they'll be able to do this over WIFI directly from their device.

Interestingly one of the things that caught my attention was the announcement of the iPhone 5C. Multi-coloured and a "cheaper" version of the iPhone 5S.  I am sure that it might be better than it first looks, but in my mind it's devalued the iPhone. I always thought of the iPhone as a classy phone to have. Now... not so much.  How many people will buy the iPhone 5C compared to the more expensive and more "full on" iPhone 5S? Who knows.. time will tell. But was it a good strategy move?

Surely Apple don't make mistakes, they know what they are doing. Right ? 

Oh yes. Google Maps.  "Nuff Said" ;)

However, the A7 64 bit chip in the new iPhone 5S? Now that is interesting. The A7 chip is about 40 times faster than the original iPhone !  Serious bit of processing speed.. They've also added a new M7 chip which will monitor the movement of the phone. This will apparently give rise to more motion and fitness apps and this could be an interesting watch.

Security was addressed, with a fingerprint reader. Not so sure about this and again it'll have to be seen to be believed. To think that my phone will not open and potentially delete everything because it can't read my fingerprint is a concern.. but I guess if I worked for MI-5 I would like that.

Well.. let's wait and see..  I know for a fact that week tomorrow, most of the iPhone planet will have a new iOS to be introduced to, so we'll bring you more information as that becomes relevant.