Antivirus Software

Is your anti-virus software working?

Some years back virus software suppliers offered 2 options as part of their services:

1. An annual licence where each year you were entitled to continual updates as viruses were found, plus an update of their Virus Engine Program itself.
2. Perpetual Licence where once you had purchased the software, you received just the updates to cope with the new viruses.

Unfortunately Perpetual Licences are less likely to pick up the newer viruses/ Spyware. If you are finding your PC and network slowing down, you may find there are viruses/spyware on your system that are not being picked up.

The test is, if you are not currently paying annually for updates, you are likely to be on the old Perpetual Licence system, which is clearly not desirable.

If you have any doubts get your system checked.

Windows 7

Windows 7 is the latest operating system to be launched by Microsoft. There are various editions available including upgrades. Microsoft has produced a quick guide on the differences.

So what’s new?

One of the things I love the most is that you can use the Snap feature to quickly open two windows side by side quickly. I might use this for opening Word and then opening Internet Explorer at the same time to gather information.

Other new features include:

• HomeGroup – connect 2+ PCs running Windows 7 to easily share you music, videos, etc. It’s password protected too.
• Jump Lists – files and programs you use frequently eg recent documents, recent songs. You can add to the jump list by dragging a document to the jump list.
• Windows Search – click the Start button and type in the search box. The documents that match your keywords will show above. You can also preview files before you open them.
• Windows Taskbar – easier to see, can rearrange them in any order you want by clicking and dragging. If you hover over a taskbar icon it will shows you a preview of the file open.

To see a full list of new features, see http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/products/features.

Here's a comparison chart showing the differences between Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/products/compare.

Technology World 2009

Technology World 2009 is being held in Ricoh Arena, Coventry between 23 and 24 November 2009.

It’s a meet the buyer event for companies wanting to expand their business internationally. It has been organised by UK Trade and Invest.

It also has seminars running:

• Cambridge Wireless - Mobile Health, which will explore examples of the technology applicable to remote monitoring, telecare, the SMART House, wireless tracking and self- managed health. Speakers from Orange, Hidalgo, University of Birmingham & MiLife
• Intellect – Software as a Service
• Low Carbon South West – Green Technology
• Digital Communications KTN – next generation access.
• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) – Linking with Research: How to access the best of UK university innovation. Speakers from IBM, Microsoft & Universities of Bristol & Manchester.

It costs £100 for a day pass and £150 for a two day pass.

More details can be found here https://www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk/ukti/fileDownload/Technology_World_Invite.pdf?cid=434444

Netbooks vs Notebooks

What is the difference between a netbook and a notebook?

Here are just a few obvious differences:

• A netbook is smaller than a notebook.
• A netbook is usually cheaper to buy than a notebook.
• A netbook has really been designed to be very portable, inexpensive and efficient to run; it’s screen size is between 7 and 10 inches.
• A notebook has a larger hard drive.
• Netbooks do not have a DVD drive (they do have usb ports).
• The battery life is usually longer on a netbook.

If any readers would like to share more detailed differences, please comment.

Deleting blank rows in Excel

Can I delete blank rows in Excel?

Yes, highlight the cells that you want to remove the blank rows from.

• Press F5 on your keyboard.
• Choose Special
• Select Blanks
• OK - this will select all the blank rows
• Select Edit, Delete Cells, Entire Row

Google, Yahoo! and Hotmail Phishing Problem

Google, Yahoo! and Hotmail email accounts have all be the victims of phishing. Over the last few days there have been various reports about how lists of email accounts and passwords have been posted on Pastebin.

Change your passwords ASAP.

Best practice recommends that passwords must be changed every 120 days and they should not be reused.

We recommend using a pass phrase which is a combination of a memorable word mixed with some numbers, for example, 1dIwtl&e - one day i'll win the lottery and escape.

Best practice is to create a password that has:

• at least 8 characters
• at least 1 lower case letter
• at least 1 upper case letter
• at least 1 number
• at least 1 special character (?, *, %, etc)

Passwords must not:

• be all or part of your account ID
• be all or part of your account name
• be blank
• contain dictionary words
• contain more than 2 repetitive characters (Mmmmmm1, Ab77777, etc)
• contain substituted numbers and symbols for letters (3 for E, $ for S, etc)

The Economic Impact of Innovation

A white paper has been published by IDC and contains forecasts for the IT industry for 52 countries. To download the report in pdf format, click here.

Key points highlighted in the report include:

• IT spending for 2009 for the 52 countries will be $1.414 trillion.
• Employment in the IT industry and IT professionals will rise by 5.8m by the end of 2013.
• 51% of IT employment will be software-related.
• 75,000 new businesses will be created by the end of 2013.

The list of 52 countries and the study methodology can be found here.

Google Docs

Google Docs has announced that it will make Google Docs documents, presentations and spreadsheets publicly available for search on the internet.

See the blog article for how to stop publishing if you do not wish your Google Docs to be made public.