VIRUS ALERT – THIS IS NOT A HOAX - 'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK'

We rarely comment on virus alerts as they are often hoaxes. This particular virus did concern us and toward Christmas the number of viruses increases, as does the number of eCards sent to friends and family.

We have verified the 'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK’ virus with Norton Anti-Virus and Snopes, and they are gearing up for this. This is the worst virus announced by CNN. It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.

This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.

What does it do?

This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.

What action can I take?
Do not open any message with an attachment entitled 'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK,' regardless of who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which 'burns' the whole hard disc C of your computer.

If you receive a mail called' POSTCARD,' even though sent to you by a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer immediately.

Be alert

This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list. This is the reason why you need to share or forward this post with all your contacts.

Please share and forward this posting.

AWARD WINNING ACUTEC

Acutec is delighted to announce that we won an award for Best Business Value at the ICT Excellent Awards in Birmingham last night.

Hugh Pearson who managed the project said “we were delighted to win this award. It is great to get recognition after the all hard work and effort that went in to delivering a complex system, on time and on budget.”

Acutec created a Fund Management and Monitoring System for a team in Africa. The technical team in Coleshill worked closely with a team in North Africa to develop the software.

The ICT Awards were announced at the National Motorcycle Museum last night at a gala dinner. There were over 350 people attending and the event was organised by AWM. Acutec’s award was a result of its service delivery, functionality and agility.

Apple iPhone 4 case - deadline coming to an end

We mentioned in an earlier blog article that anyone experiencing issues with reception on their iPhone 4 could get a free case.

The case is to prevent the 'death grip' which is when the user holds the phone and it covers the antennae causing the signal to drop.

The free cases will stop for all phones purchased after 30 September 2010, however if you are experiencing antennae issues you can call AppleCare.

IT Downtime Costs £2bn a year for the UK.

IT downtime costs an average of Euros 263,347 a year for European companies with 50+ employees.

The findings were from a survey commissioned by CA Technologies and carried out in August 2010. 1,808 organisations across 11 countries participated in the survey.

The report shows the departments most affected by downtime in Europe are finance and sales.

The full report can be downloaded here.

If you want help putting a disaster recovery plan into place, please do get in touch.

BT Wi-Fi Hotspot App

BT has launched an app for iPhone and Android that will find and connect to a BT Wi-Fi hotspot. The app is called BT FON and is free for those that have a BT internet email username and password.

BT has 1.6 million Wi-Fi hotspots.

Details of the app can be found here.

UKtech50 list

Computer Weekly needs your help.


In association with IBM, Computer Weekly is launching a list of the top 50 most influential leaders in IT in the UK.

To nominate someone to be in the list, email your suggestions along with why you are nominating them to computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk and include the words UKtech50 in the email subject line.

For more information, please click here.

Careers in IT - the hottest academic areas

Did you know Microsoft looks to hire those with unique backgrounds. The blog post on the Microsoft Careers blog at http://microsoftjobblogs.com lists the three of the hottest academic areas that are expected to be in demand in the future


1. Data mining

2. Business intelligence / competitive intelligence

3. Analytics / Statistics such as web analytics and A/B testing

Read the full post at http://microsoftjobsblog.com/blog/top-three-new-tech-majors

Facebook Dislike Button

There is an app available called the dislike button. This does not work as a 'dislike button' and is not an official button from Facebook. We recommend that you do not download this app.

According to a news article on the BBC the app encourages people to complete a survey and then posts as a status update "I just got the dislike button, so now I can dislike all your dumb posts lol!!!"

As Mashable points out, if Facebook introduced a dislike button it would automatically add it for you and you would not be required to download it!

Graduates expect flexible working hours

A study by Orange shows that 53% of the 1,000 graduates interviewed expected to be offered the option to work flexibly either from their own chosen location or outside of traditional office working hours. Nearly half also expect to access emails outside of work and on the move.


69% of respondents said learning experiences were important in a first job. Followed by happiness 58%, flexible working 53%, a good salary 51% and great colleagues 43%.

http://newsroom.orange.co.uk/2010/07/28/orange-finds-2010-s-graduate-expect-a-flexible-working-life-from-future-employers

Social Networking costs £14 billion

According to the results of a poll by myjobgroup.co.uk social networking is costing the UK £14 billion in lost working hours.

It shows that almost 2m people spend over an hour on Facebook each day at work.

MyJobGroup polled 1,000 workers and 10% claimed that social media made them more productive with 14% saying it made them less productive.

http://myjobgroup.co.uk/media-centre/press-releases/social-media-costing-uk-economy-up-to.shtml

Gartner's IT Spend Forecast

Gartner's latest forecast of IT spend shows it predicts a growth of 2.9% this year to reach £1.5 trillion in 2010.

The forecast is down from its original forecast of a 4.1% growth.

Spoof Amazon emails

I've received an email from Amazon confirming an order - I haven't ordered anything, what should I do?


There are a number of spoof emails around at the moment and many are the best advice that we give is. If it looks suspicious, never enter in your login details or credit card details. Contact Amazon to report the email.

You can always go to the official Amazon website and login to your account from there and view your order history.

For further advice see the Amazon website http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=15340571

Free iPhone 4 case

Are you experiencing signal drop-off issues with your iPhone 4?


If so, Apple are offering a free iPhone 4 'bumper' case to help.

To get the case you need to download the App http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/iphone-4-case-program/id383941000?mt=8 on your iPhone 4 before 30th September 2010 and you should receive your case within 6 weeks.

£20 Laptops?

Students at the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science have developed a laptop that could cost less than £20.


It has been designed as a touch screen for browsing the internet, word processing and holding video conferences.

It uses a memory card rather than a hard drive and can run on solar power.

A manufacturer for the device is now being sought.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10740817

Police trialling crime software

According to the Guardian newspaper, two Police forces in the UK are trialling a system called Crush - Criminal Reduction Utilising Statistical History which helps to identify where crimes are mostly likely to happen. It has been likened to the pre-crime units used in the film Minority Report.


Crush, developed by IBM, evaluates patterns of previous incidents and can help police to determine potential hot-spots and deploy resources to that area.

Browser Check

Qualys has launched a free tool to "check your browser to identify any security issues" You need to install a plugin and it checks for security holes in your browser and its plugins.


The FAQs can be found here: https://browsercheck.qualys.com/support.php#s2  

If you want to speak to someone about potential security threats, speak to your IT support team.

.co Domains

The new .co domain was made publicly available to everyone yesterday. Anyone can now register a .co domain. It opens up many opportunities to buy a domain name that is not available as a .co.uk or .com.


Companies wanting to secure their trademarks could purchase .co domains first which ended on 10th June 2010 and was called the .co Sunrise Phase.

co could stand for company, corporate and commerce.

Blacklisted Email Address

Am I blacklisted?
Find out your IP address by searching on the internet for 'what is my ip address'. Enter this number into spamcop at http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml and it will tell you.

To find out if you have been blacklisted you can ask your ISP:
will need to find out what your IP address is.
Go to Google and type in “what is my ip address” and any of the websites listed will tell you if you click on them.
Then go to http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml
You will then need to request your IP address is removed.

Add an email address to a whitelist

How do add someone onto my Whitelist?

You need to go to find out who your registrar is.

You can find this out by visiting www.names.co.uk and entering in the domain. This will tell you the name of your Registrar. Contact them and ask them for access to your control panel so that you can add people to your whitelist.
Alternatively, if you have webmail you may be able to add people to a whitelist under preferences or settings.

Online Egg Timer

If you find that you are always getting carried away searching the internet you can use http://e.ggtimer.com/


Simply enter in the time you want the egg timer to set off an alarm and click go.

You can even use it for counting down years and months.

eps Viewer

I have a file in eps format but I can’t open it as I don’t have the software – what can I do?
You can use the 3m Eps viewer

Find the file on your computer and click on the view button.

http://promote.3m.com/eps_viewer/index.jsp

How to add an Addthis button to your Blogger blog

Visit www.addthis.com

Select Blogger

Choose a button style

Select whether you want analytics or not.

The code will appear. Copy this and login to your blog. Go to Layout, Edit HTML and tick the box to Expand Widget Templates. Paste the code after the

Gartner forecast for netbooks / tablet PCs

A report by Gartner shows that netbooks (mini-notebooks) sales will not be affected by tablet PCs until 2013.


It forecasts sales to decline from 2010 onwards with sales for 2014 falling to 13.9% of the mobile PC market from 18.6% in 2010.

"Media tablets will not impact the mini-notebook segment this year," Mr. Vasquez [research analyst at Gartner] said. "However, media tablets, such as the iPad and similar devices, will significantly detract from mini-notebook shipments in 2013 and onward, when we expect their prices to be lower and, more importantly, their functionality to be more similar to mini-notebooks."

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1375313

Google SSL Search

Google has introduced SSL to its search. You can access this at https://www.google.com and it is currently in Beta.


Using SSL means that ISPs are unable to see what search terms you have used (but can still see which sites you have visited).

It also means that analytics software will not show what search term was used to arrive at a website by those using Google SSL search .

Google SSL search is not currently available for images or maps.

Online Infringement of Copyright

Ofcom has proposed a draft code of practice for dealing with those who illegally download films, TV programmes and music.

It proposes that ISPs start to collect details of customers who download illegally. A letter could then be posted to the customer with a warning. After three letters, details could be handed over to the copyright owner.


The Online Infringement of Copyright and the Digital Economy Act 2010 draft code can be downloaded here

Internet Explorer 9

Microsoft is currently working on Internet Explorer 9 and Ryan Gavin at Microsoft has been given the task of getting IE6 users down to zero. 

Microsoft will support IE6 until April 2014 on Windows XP Service Pack 3. IE9 will not work with Microsoft Windows XP.


ZDNet reported that some companies still use IE6 because some website such as Facebook do not work properly.
Other companies are phasing out support for IE6. Google reader will no longer work with IE6 from 1st June 2010 and it will suspend support for Gmail later this year.

BCS Information Pioneers

The BCS has shared five stories of Information Pioneers at http://pioneers.bcs.org. It aims to show how they have helped to shape today's information society. The top 5 are:

1. Ada Lovelace
2. Alan Turing
3. Hedy Lamarr
4. Sir Clive Sinclair
5. Sir Tim Berners-Lee

For more information you can:
Watch the videos on the website
Follow on Twitter http://twitter.com/InfoPioneers
Like on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Information-Pioneers/119914224690501

A list of 150 people, voted by BCS members, who contributed to today's information society can be found here http://pioneers.bcs.org/2010/5/17/top-150

How to carry out a mail merge from BCM

1. Find the contacts you want to send the letter to in Business Contact Manager and highlight them

2. Click Tools, Mail Merge

3. Choose either New Document or browse for Existing Document. You will now be directed to Word.

4. You will need to add in the date, address block and greeting plus any other fields you need.

5. After you have finished, save the letter that contains all the merge fields so that you can use it in the future quickly.

6. Preview your results

7. Merge

Race Online 2012

The Race Online 2012 website http://raceonline2012.org/ is about helping those people who are not online of which there are 10 million people in the UK. Race Online 2012 wants companies to sign up by making a promise to help people get online. It asks 'what can you do to help people get online?' with the following options:

• Spread the word
• Events
• Give
• Train someone
• Your ideas

The site also provides templates of press releases to help you spread the word, hold an event, etc.

Fake Amazon Emails

Information is circulating about malware disguised as an order confirmation from Amazon.

According to sources, the email contains information to say that an order has been dispatched to the recipients address. There is an zip file attachment. Do not open this as it is a Trojan.

Open Day

On Thursday 17th June ACUTEC will hold another Open Day. This is a chance for clients to pop in, meet the team and see where we work.


1.We have FREE on site parking

2.Open day from 11.30am to 3.30pm

3.Pop in for coffee, or lunch or a cup of tea

4.Contact Carole Doyle if you’re able to join us on 01675 469020 or carole.doyle@acutec.co.uk

5.Enter into the draw for a new NETBOOK

Recalling email messages

If you send an email by mistake or from the wrong email address you can recall it. This means that it will be removed from a recipient's inbox if they have not yet read it or will appear as crossed out in a recipient's inbox if they have already read it.


To do this go to your Sent Items folder and find the email you want to recall. Open it up and click on Other Actions.

Choose Recall This Message.

Fined for a tweet

Doncasterfreepress.co.uk has reported that a man was fined for an angry tweet he posted on Twitter in January when his flight at an airport was cancelled due to snow. The tweet was found to be too close to a threat and the man was fined.


The full article can be found here http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/free-press-news/You-Tweet-Court--finds.6293520.jp

Acutec helps give Royce Lingerie a lift

It’s a case of boom rather than bust for an Oxfordshire bra manufacturer.

Royce Lingerie, which is based at Canada House in Banbury, has seen sales flourish at home and abroad after improving its website to make it easier for its trade customers to order online.

The company, which was set up by husband and wife team Bob and Jane Fleming in 1992, has particularly seen its overseas market grow and now exports to a range of countries including Australia and the USA.

The site, which gives trade customers their own log-in access and allows them to place orders and check stock levels, was written and designed by Coleshill-based IT company Acutec.

The firm employs 23 staff from its Banbury base, which includes offices and a warehouse, selling a range of wire-free bras, including specialist products for sport, pregnancy and post-surgery.

Customers include small independent shops to major stores such as Debenhams and John Lewis.

Pasting Text into Blogger

If you are trying to Paste into Blogger from another program and it is not allowing you to do so, you need to upgrade your Blogger editor. To do this carry out the following steps:

1. Sign in to blogger
2. Go to Settings
3. Select Updated editor under the Global Settings / Select post editor options.

Acutec urges businesses to take up interest free loan

A leading Midlands IT firm is urging small and medium-sized companies to act fast in taking advantage of an interest free loan to upgrade their IT equipment.

Chris Roche, the managing director of Coleshill-based Acutec, said there were no guarantees that a loan of up to £100,000 from the Carbon Trust would be available after the General Election on May 6.

So he believes firms should make the move now to overhaul their IT systems.

He said: “When upgrading your computer network, not only does it improve the efficiency of your business, it also cuts down on the amount of energy you use.

“That is why the Carbon Trust has made these interest free loans available to allow companies to invest and also save money on their energy bills.

“In the present economic and political climate – and with an election on the cards – there are no guarantee that this opportunity will remain in place. Businesses still working from older PCs, printers and screens would be wise to look into upgrading now.”

Older desktop PCs can use up to 1,000 KWH over the course of the year, which is dramatically reduced with newer equipment.

The loans from the Carbon Trust are available for companies with a turnover of less than around £43 million and assets of less than around £37 million.

Eligible businesses must have fewer than 250 employees but must operate 20 PCs or more.

The loans of between £3,000 and £100,000 are available now and businesses must go on to save 8,379 KWH per year through the scheme.

Chris added: “It’s an excellent scheme and one we believe more businesses can make us of. If they speak to us, we can help to provide evidence that they would make the necessary energy savings.”

For more information contact Acutec on 01675 469020.

Microsoft achieved Carbon Trust Standard

Microsoft has achieved Carbon Trust standard after reducing its carbon footprint by 7% since 2007. It intends to reduce it in total by 30% by 2012.

It reduced its carbon footprint in many ways including:

• Composing and recycling from its company cafes
• Providing an employee bus service (The connector)
  See the video mms://msstudios.wmod.llnwd.net/a2294/o21/presspass/1001394_Environment_Leadership_MBR.wmv

Microsoft is helping others to reduce their carbon footprints. Here are a few examples:

• Windows 7 includes power saver features
• Microsoft has developed Environmental Sustainability Dashboard for Microsoft Dynamics AX to show companies their own environmental impact
• Microsoft Hohm (only available in the USA) http://www.microsoft-hohm.com/ is a free web service providing tips on energy saving.

Google Maps and 3D Imagery

Google Maps now contains Earth View to show maps in 3D imagery. You might need to download a plug-in but it will prompt you.

It provides some 3D views to see such as Stonehenge, Sydney Opera House, Grand Canyon, Statue of Liberty.

Just go to www.maps.google.co.uk/earthview.

Bing Maps 3D also provides viewing in three dimensions http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=e9298080-50c4-4f2e-9fc4-4009074996ba.

3 Peaks Challenge

Why not take part in an event for IT professionals - the 3 Peaks Challenge?

You will climb Ben Nevis in the Scottish highlands, Scafell Pike in the Lake District, Snowdon in Wales and then celebrate your achievements with a meal and awards ceremony afterwards.

The minimum fundraising per team is £6,0000 and the event is very demanding. The money raised will go towards helping people in poverty.

The event is for IT professionals and if you want to find out more, visit http://www.carechallenge.org.uk/IT

Floppy Disks

Sony will stop manufacturing Floppy disks in March 2011.

Sales of floppy disks have gone from 47 million in 2000 to around 12 million in 2009.

To read the history of the floppy disk see Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk

Website Age Ratings

Tibboh www.tibboh.co.uk, a broadband provider has developed age rating classifications for websites. It worked with the British Board of Film Classification to create age ratings of U, PG, 12, 15 and 18.

The service is available with Tibboh's £19.99 a month broadband package.

Digital Economy Act 2010

The Digital Economy Bill became the Digital Economy Act 2010 on Friday 9th April 2010 after it was given Royal Assent.

It includes provisions relating to copyright, domain registries, security and safety online and more. Contents on the Act can be found in the press release here: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=413002&NewsAreaID=2

50 pence Broadband Tax Update

We wrote in a previous blog post that a 50 pence broadband tax was being introduced.

http://softwareandsupport.blogspot.com/2009/07/tax-for-broadband.html

This has now been put on hold - at least until after the General Election.

In Private Browsing

You can carry out private browsing in Internet Explorer 8. This means that if you share your PC with someone they will not be able to view your browsing history.

To turn this on open Internet Explorer 8. Click Tools on the menu bar and InPrivate Browsing and an InPrivate icon will appear at the start of your browser bar.

Setting up an email marketing campaign in Business Contact Manager 2007

How do I set up an email marketing campaign using Business Contact Manager?

Once you have opened Business Contact Manager here are the instructions to set up a marketing campaign:

1. Open your contacts database
2. Click on View on the menu bar at the top
3. Current View
4. Customize Current View
5. Click Filter and under the More Choices tab click on how you want to filter to leave just those you want to send the emarketing campaign to eg categories and select the category you require
6. Edit
7. Select All the contacts (Ctrl A)
8. Right click over those selected
9. Click on Create, New Marketing Campaigns Business (Contacts)
10. Complete the details eg Title, Start Date
11. Add in an email subject
12. Click on Create to enter in your email text and attach any documents
13. After you have finished click on Save and Close
14. Launch
15. The emails will be sent to your outbox and emailed out

Help for Heroes

What a day, we started unloading the cakes at 08:15 on a gloriously sunny morning on Saturday 13th March 2010.

We had cakes donated from The Upper Crust in Coleshill as well as the Acutec team. Richard from Coleshill Social Club donated a handmade Mothers' Day Cake and a Help for Heroes Cake which we raffled and raised just for those alone £160.

Pastries were donated from Somerfield in Coleshill.

Asda in Minworth generiously donated all the ingredients for 20 cakes to be made by Carole Doyle who was leading the event!

Carole and her team strategically positioned themselves by the bus stop in Coleshill at the entrance of The Croft where dear James (who we lost in Afghanistan in October 2008) and the rest of the boys would play till their hearts content after school and during their holidays.

PHOTO: Carole Doyle, Darilyn Buck (one of the boy's mums), Sue Witts and son Adam (who made some of the cakes ) and Keith Doyle.

It was the perfect location - next to a busy bus stop. So much so that as people came and went on the bus they bought CAKE and more CAKE, by 11:45am we had completely and I mean completely sold out!

WE RAISED an amazing £523.67 for Help for Heroes.

The Colossal Cake Sale will be an annual event and next year it will be bigger and better still.

Ada Lovelace Day

Today is Ada Lovelace Day which is the international day of blogging to celebrate women in technology and science.

The idea is to write a blog post today about a woman that you admire in technology or science.

The Ada Lovelace website says that she wrote the world's first description of a computer and software, wrote the world's first computer programmes for the Analytical Engine.

To find out more about Ada Lovelace and the Ada Lovelace day, visit http://findingada.com

If you do write a blog post please do share the link to your post with us!

Automatic Resizing Windows in Windows 7

To enable automatic resizing of Windows in Windows 7 you will need to change some settings in the Control Panel.

Click Start.

Choose Control Panel.

Click on the Ease of Access Center.

Then select Make the mouse easier to use.

Make sure the 'Prevent Windows from being automatically arranged when moved' to the edge of the screen is not ticked.

Click on OK

Now when you open a window you can drag it. Click on the toolbar of the window, hold down the left mouse button and drag the window to the edge of the screen. Release and it will resize to cover just half of the screen. Really useful if you are working with two documents at the same time.

The State of Spam and Phishing Report

The State of Spam and Phishing Report by Symantec dated March 2010 shows a 16% rise in phishing attacks in February compared to the previous month.

The report also highlights that many phishing attacks happen when tragic events happen. Be wary of clicking on email messages claiming to be from charities. Do not complete forms, give out passwords or provide financial details.

http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/other_resources/b-state_of_spam_and_phishing_report_03-2010.en-us.pdf

Privacy Policies and Trust

A survey of 1,000 internet users shows that half do not trust the privacy policies on websites.

Internet users surveyed were between 18 and 82 and the survey also included unsolicited phone calls, unsolicited emails and privacy invasion.

Many are worried about identity theft.

The press release can be viewed at http://www.isg.rhul.ac.uk/node/366

E-mail is making you stupid

Joe Robinson, has written an article entitled "E-mail is Making You Stupid" and that constant e-mail interruptions could make you less productive and it could change the way our brains work. This is due to interruptions all the time and information overload.

In an article on www.entrepreneur.com, Basex, an IT research and consulting firm claims "the average information worker loses 2.1 hours or productivity every day from interruptions and distractions".

See the full article here http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2010/march/204980.htmljavascript:void(0)

IT Security Professionals are "recession-proof"

A new survey shows that IT security professionals are 'recession-proof'.

The global survey of 3,000 IT security professionals by ISC2.org (2010 Career Impact Survey) shows that more 52.8% received a salary increase in 2009 and 4.8% lost their jobs.

13% said they would be hiring 3 or more new permanent or contact employees in 2010. Many that took part in the survey and were hiring said it was difficult to find candidates with the right skills and level of experience.

The press release can be found at http://www.isc2.org/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?id=6102

Office 2010 Price

The Guardian reported the prices of Microsoft Office 2010 in an article on 17th February 2010.

Microsoft is offering Office 2010 as:

• Starter version free with new PCs but this is a lightweight version without advanced features.


• Office Home and Business version £239.99 or £189.99 for just a product key.


• Office Home and Student version is £109.99 or £89.99 for the product key. This can be installed on three PCs.


• Office Professional version £429.99

Browser Choices

Microsoft has been forced by new competition rules to allow users to switch from Internet Explorer to their preferred browser including Firefox, Safari, Opera, Google Chrome.

The legal agreement between Microsoft and Europe's Competition Commission means that from 1st March 2010, Windows PC users will be able to install their preferred browser.

A Windows Update will automatically be installed or you will be asked to download it or need to check for updates.

After the update users will see a screen where they can choose a browser.

Microsoft Outlook Social Connector

Downloading Microsoft Outlook Social Connector will create allow you to see those that are connected to you on LinkedIn, view all emails between you and a contact, see LinkedIn status updates.

To add the Microsoft Outlook Social Connector to your Outlook close all applications that are open.

1. Download the Microsoft Outlook Social Connector http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c87e257c-d76f-4785-a09b-af36babd6e32&displaylang=en

2. Download the LinkedIn Outlook Connector http://www.linkedin.com/outlook

3. Open up Outlook and it will show a message which says

"You can now connect Outlook to your online social networks. View contacts from all your networks and automatically keep them up to date. See related information, such as attachments, email and pictures while reading your email.View news from your friends and colleagues"

4. When you open an email, it adds a viewing pane to the bottom of it and you can easily see emails between you and the contact, attachments received from them, a photo if they have included one on LinkedIn and their most recent LinkedIn status updates.

Microsoft to check for pirates

Microsoft will check for pirated software of Windows 7 by releasing an updated every 90 days.

Any users found to be using pirated software will receive a watermark on their desktop warning them to only use genuine software.

These updates are for individuals only and are voluntary for companies to install.

Browser Upgrades

As of 1st March 2010, Google will no longer support Internet Explorer 6 which means that is you are using Google Docs or other Google sites, new features may not be supported.

To upgrade your internet browser, follow these links:

Internet Explorer 8.0 http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/internet-explorer
Mozilla Firefox 3.0 http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox
Google Chrome 4.0 http://www.google.com/chrome
Safari 3.0 http://www.apple.com/safari


It is free to upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer, go to x

Microsoft is continuing to support Internet Explorer 6.0 until 8 April 2014 when it will no longer support Windows XP.

Masters in Information Leadership

City University London is providing a new Masters courses for executive positions in IT. The course is Masters in Information Leadership. It is described as "those with responsibility for the IT function in industry and government, and their equivalents in the library and information services professions".

The modules include:

Modules:

• The Information Leader in Organisations
• The Information Leader in Society
• Strategy and Governance
• Service Management and Delivery
• Portfolio, Programme and Project Delivery
• Information Security and Risk
• Information Law and Compliance
• Information, Transformation and Change

For more information visit http://www.city.ac.uk/study/courses/interdisciplinary/information-leadersh.html

University of Leeds Excessive Internet

According to new research, excessive internet use can cause depression.

The report by the University of Leeds claims that they have found evidence that some people are addicted to the internet and replacing real-life social interaction with online chat rooms and social networking sites. The University of Leeds says the results suggest this addiction can have a serious impact on mental health. 

The full report, The relationship between excessive internet use and depression, can be downloaded for around USD 30.00 at http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?doi=277001 

Copy and Paste problems with IE and Blogger

I can't copy and paste from my notepad into Blogger?

This seems to be a problem with Internet Explorer.

If you are having trouble, open up a different browser such as Mozilla Firefox and try that.

Apple unveils iPad

Apple has unveiled it's tablet device. Features include

• View web pages.
• Play music
  
• Browse iTunes, download music / apps.
• Read iBooks.
• Watch YouTube.
• 9.7 inch LED backlit IPS display
• Multi-touch
  
• up to 10 hours battery life and lots more features!
  

Size:

242.8mm (height)
189.7mm (width)
13.4mm (depth)

For more information see www.apple.com/ipad

Worldwide IT Spending Forecast

Worldwide spending in IT is set to grow by 4.6% in 2010.

The Worldwide spending forecast by Gartner can be viewed here http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1284813.

Top 10 most commonly used passwords

Imperva has released the top 10 most commonly used passwords. Its findings are from the Rockyou.com hack that occurred in 2009.

The top 10 passwords, including the word password are:

1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123
11. Nicole
12. Daniel
13. babygirl
14. monkey
15. Jessica
16. Lovely
17. michael
18. Ashley
19. 654321
10. Qwerty

The full report can be downloaded here http://www.imperva.com/docs/WP_Consumer_Password_Worst_Practices.pdf

See our advice on passwords http://softwareandsupport.blogspot.com/2008/09/passwords.html

Bill Gates is using Twitter

Bill Gates is now using Twitter. He joined on 19th January 2010 and already has 300,000+ followers.

www.twitter.com/billgates

Acer's Environmentally Friendly Laptop

Acer has launched an environmentally friendly notebook which is from its new Timeline series.
The Aspire 3811TZ/TZG It does not contain polyvinyl choride (PVC) or brominated flame retardants.

The laptop is also recyclable.

See http://www.acer.co.uk/timeline/

Google Phone - Nexus One

The new Google Phone, Nexus One was launched on 5th January 2010.

It runs on the Android 2.1 operating system, has a 3.7" OLED display, Google applications and built in 5 megapixels camera.

For the full specs see www.google.com/phone.

See a video here http://www.youtube.com/googlenexusone?utm_source=nexusonesite&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=embed.

It costs $529 to buy the phone and insert your own SIM Card. It will also be available on Vodafone in the Spring.

Importing Bank Holidays into Microsoft Outlook

As it's a new year, you may want to import the Bank Holidays into your Microsoft Outlook calendar.

To do this, open up Microsoft Outlook

1. Click Tools, Options, Calendar Options
2. Click the Add Holidays button.
3. Select your country and it will add in all the Bank Holidays for you.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all our clients and readers of our blog!