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Dear Reader,
Back again in your inbox after an
extended Christmas and New Year break. Just
about at the end of the most depressing month of
the year and looking forward to Spring!
Is your PC doing strange things? Do
you get loads of popup adverts every time you
open Internet Explorer? Have you lost your
normal internet homepage? - Chances are you've
got some sort of "Spyware". Nasty malicious
software that hijacks your internet session and
fills your screen with adverts, or worse!
Well at last Microsoft have acknowledged
the problem of SpyWare and are doing something
about it. Read all about the Microsoft AntiSpyware here.
I've been studying hard over the
Christmas break to get my TMB
accreditation. What, you've never heard of
TMB ?- Don't worry, not many people have - yet.
But I believe this could be the Corgi mark for
IT Consultants.
Finally I take a look at a newcomer
in the world of online backups.
Datadepositbox is
set to make online backups even cheaper and
easier, so there's no excuse for lost data. I'll
also remind those of you who use
AVG Virus checker to upgrade to the new
version to continue your virus protection.
We'll be back next month with more
hints, tips and IT help. If there is a topic
you'd like us to cover in one of these
newsletters just let me know and I'll
incorporate it in the next Burning Issue.
There is an
archive of past
Burning Issues on our web-site with an
index to help you find past articles. If you've only
just subscribed you can catch up on old issues
there. Of course if you like this little
newsletter, tell your friends, send them to the
website or get them to
subscribe here.
If you don't like it, tell me. You can unsubscribe with
[UNSUBSCRIBE], or send me
an
email and I'll make sure you don't receive
another copy.
Stuart Box -
Email me your feedback
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Microsoft Anti Spyware
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Earlier this
month Microsoft released a "beta preview" of
Microsoft AntiSpyware, based on software
from the Giant Software Company, which Microsoft
acquired on December 17. The fact that
Microsoft rushed out the beta version of the
new security tool only three weeks after the
acquisition shows that Microsoft at last
recognises it has to do something about the
plague of spyware infecting Windows
machines.
An initial look shows that
Microsoft AntiSpyware is a very useful tool
that can go a long way towards keeping spyware off your system. It stands up well
against competing antispyware products,
including the free
Ad-aware and
Spybot Search & Destroy, and in fact
offers far more features than the free
versions of those programs, such as
real-time antispyware protection.
It's not a perfect solution, but it's
certainly better than nothing. If you don't have any
anti spyware already installed I recommend
you get it. At present the software and
updates are provided free by Microsoft, but
this may not be a permanent situation,
however for the moment make the best of it
and download it for free.
To get a copy, go to the
Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware beta site.
For general background about spyware, check
out this
Microsoft tutorial.
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Have you heard of TMB ?
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One of the reasons for the extended gap
in Burning Issues is that I've been
studying hard for my Technology Means
Business (TMB) Accreditation.
If
you've just said "what on earth is TMB"
then you're not alone. TMB is currently
a very well kept secret, but I believe
it will become very important.
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Research shows
that small businesses are unsure where to turn
to for effective, business related IT advice,
and when they do find an IT advisor, they don't
know how to compare or validate them. What is
needed is some sort of "Quality Mark" that lets
the client know that their advisor has attained
and maintains certain technical and commercial
standards. That they have the skills, expertise
and understanding to provide quality IT guidance
and advice.
Technology Means Business is
an independent, Government and Industry backed
accreditation for IT Consultants and Advisors.
It ensures that we know our stuff, and are able
to give up-to-date advice on the latest
technology and links to other sources of useful
business information. Importantly, as well as
having the technical ability it ensures we
understand the issues facing small businesses,
and provide cogent, relevant, jargon-free advice
on all aspects of Technology in Business.
I hope that in future TMB will
be regarded much as the Corgi accreditation is
for gas fitters, a prerequisite for anyone
working in business IT. A way to select quality,
knowledgeable relevant advice, rather than just
trusting to luck, or "some bloke down the pub".
As I write this I have
completed all my TMB accreditation tests, cases
studies and development plans, and I'm waiting
for my final grading. Hopefully I'll be able to
tell you more next month. If you would like to
know more about TMB or my own consulting
experience, or would like any sort of IT help,
please contact me.
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Alison's tip of the month,
use Project.
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Some people
consider Microsoft Project is only useful if
you're building houses, or managing Nuclear
Power Stations, creating Critical Path Analysis
and Gantt Charts. Whilst Project is very good in
both these situations it can also be used to
manage virtually any scheduling and time
management task.
 Project is great for most
management scheduling tasks, it's not just for
classical Critical Path style Big Projects. It
can be used in a number of ways to both plan and
track activities, and communicate their status
to a group of participants.
Says Alison "Project is so
flexible, I'm currently creating Project
Templates for two clients, one to manage
Publishing Schedules of documents, and another
for a College to plan and support their
application for Specialist status in the
Performing and Visual Arts. Project is used to
plan and track progress towards a goal, and can
produce wonderful visual plans, charts and maps,
either as printed reports or as a web page.
These are great for sharing with clients,
customers or accreditation bodies and can often
improve communication to enhance any bid or
plan".
So this month's tip is simple,
take a look at
Microsoft Project, if you plan, schedule,
manage or collaborate in bids with clients or
customer, it could just be the tool you need.
If you'd like Alison to help unlock the
secrets of Project, or any other of the
products we train on, for you or your company,
feel free to
contact her, or look at the course
details on our
website.
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Online Backup
Developments
With so many online backup
companies offering secure backup of your data
there is little excuse for loosing any
information from your computers and systems. I
last looked at online backup services in the
May Burning Issue,
and not surprisingly there have been some
developments since then.
A new name in online backup
services is
datadepositbox.com an online backup
service that secures your data whilst you work,
backing up new documents and changes as you
create them to a secure internet site. Of course
you need some sort of always-on internet
connection, and the faster the better, but this
looks a very good service that is certainly
worth trialling if you don't already have an
online backup.
What is different about
datadepositbox is the continual nature of the
backup. Data is secured as it is created or
changed, so if our PC crashes or you loose your
laptop you should always have an up to date copy
accessible from the datadepositbox secure
website.
The pricing is innovative too, they
simply charge 1 cent (US) per megabyte per
month. So to secure 100mb a month costs $1.
This, with volume discounts once you go past 2GB
backup, and the current strong pound against the
dollar makes for a very cost effective solution.
I'm not the only one to recommend
datadepositbox David Hewson in the Sunday Times
called it "one of the best products I've seen in
years"
read his article in the Sunday Times online.
AVG Update.
Many of you will know the AVG
Anti-Virus product I recommend for personal and home
use. This is just a reminder that AVG has been
updated to version 7, and those of you still using
version 6 and below will need to get an upgrade to
continue to get virus information updates. Like to
original AVG it's a free download from
http://www.grisoft.com
Do you need
some I.T. Help?.
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I am now able
to take on more projects and increase my client
portfolio, so if you, or anyone you know, needs an
experienced IT man, please don't hesitate to get
in touch. I'll be happy to discuss any
opportunity, large or small, or just chat about IT
in general.
As an example of the sort of
thing I do, here are some of the projects I've
worked on in the past.
·
Migration of 200 PC users from Windows to Mandrake
Linux and OpenOffice.
·
Appointed UK Online For Business Regional Champion
for the South East.
·
Installation, configuration and maintenance of
networks of PCs based around Linux, and Microsoft
Small Business Server 2003.
·
Specifying, selecting and installing a Customer
Relationship Management system for a large
Telecoms supplier
·
Installation of Wireless Networks and Wide Area
Networks using Virtual Private Networking and
Point-To-Point Tunnelling
·
Author of “The E-Business Know-How Guide”
Published by Wired Sussex
·
Project Management of a £100,000 project to
implement a new e-commerce web site for a business
support agency
·
Lecturing in E-Business at Brighton University
·
Running “Presentation skills”, and “Management
Development” courses for a wide range of clients
If you could use any of these
skills, or know someone else who does then please
contact me by email
mailto:stuart.box@burningsuit.co.uk or 'phone
01403 786740.
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01403 786740
