Webroot notified us today as a Partner, that it is exiting the email security, email archiving and small business web security service’s to focus on ‘web and mobile security solutions that will most effectively protect individuals and businesses in today’s threat landscape’. I think this will be a common ground with most email filtering provider’s now, who do not provide hosted email to compete with the such of Microsoft’s 365 and Google Apps/ Postfix. The costs of full hosted exchange email solutions now to the end user is only double the cost of  email filtering so it makes sense to move your small business mailflow all together and migrate into the cloud! If you are a Webroot customer looking for a migration path for your webfiltering, email archiving and filtering and new provider contact us !gdfgdf

Routing

It looks like some of our customers using BT internet as an ISP are having issues routing to American Sites. UK Sites and Servers seem uneffected, however domains that have their nameservers in the US will also have issues remotely connecting to the office. This can be temporaly fixed by using the direct server IP. This looks to be a local BT issue as other customers on Zen connecting through a BT line are uneffected.

Recently one of our clients upgraded to Virgins new 50mb Service for there existing ADSL2+ Service. The day of change over we moved IP’s and the server started to accept new email from the new IP, accept SMTP transmissions were timing out. We adding a middleman SMTP server inbetween the Spam Filter and the Exchange box with a low MTU connection size 1440 and this fixed the issue temporarily.  After a week plus with Virgin Technical Support, Virgin have found there is a problem with their new 50Mb service. There’s a workaround which is to reduce the MTU to 1460 on the receiving server

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\[ID of interface]\MTU

The virgin router partners Netgear are working on a firmware update for their new superhubs to fix it properly.

Following on from Facebook and Privacy issues, it looks as it LinkedIn has done us the “favour” of having a default setting whereby our names and photos can be used for third-party advertising. 

Completely down to you whether this is of any relevance, but if like me you don’t want to participate, here are the quick steps to rectify LinkedIn’s devious ploys!

[CLICK DIAGRAM TO RESIZE]

1. Sign into LinkedIn, and click on your name, then choose “Settings“.

2. Now click on “Account” (bottom left).

3. In the box to the right click on “Manage Social Advertising” .

4. This opens a new window – now remove the tick from the box next to “LinkedIn may use my name, photo in social advertising” .

All done.

Nearly got us LinkedIn – close escape!

Additionally: If you you may want to have a look at the settings within “Email Preferences” very reminiscent of Facebook! Eg: Check out Turn On/Off Partner InMail (junk mail coming your way!). 

We have had a few customers contact us with issues trying to email our Microsoft frontbridge systems from Orange or Wanadoo email accounts. We have spoken to Orange Technical Support and they have confirmed this is general fault with their system which they are working to fix!

Recently we helped a new customer combine their existing webmail accounts from Yahoo and Gmail into one Free Google Apps Standard account that could send from their domain name. The merger involved transfering 4 Gigabytes of Email and 1700 Contacts from Yahoo and as well another 600mb of Email from their gmail account.

We used the migration tools from https://www.yippiemove.com which copied over the 4 Gigabytes of email via the “cloud” in under 2 hours. We used the export CSV Tool for the contacts and the Gmail Backup and Restore tool to migrate the Gmail Emails. The custuomer has now consolidated all their accounts into a free Google Apps Standard account which is valid for up to 10 users.

Let us know if we can help you out with any cloud migration problems or questions!

I reported earlier about  Indian call centers, calling you up, pretending to be from Microsoft here then using this as a ploy to use teamviewer to login to your machine and install spyware

It seems the latest craze we have just expeirenced is recieving a call from an automated number via skype , telling you there is  ‘System Update Information’ for your computer and please go to this address

sosgt.com <- This address goes to the standard Spyware screen displaying the fake information about your machine being comprimised!  Watch out and block these calls from skype and report them as abuse! If you have installed the software we recommend Spybot, Malwarbytes and even System Restore for Removal!

Welcome to the new generation UK broadband is here which is Fibre Optics! This is provided by FTTC ( Fiber to the Curb ) which means fibre is run from your local telephone exchange to your nearest “BT Cabinet” outside your premise. You may have seen the television adverts, advertising speeds of up to 40mb through BT’s infinity service , 40Mb Download , 10 Mb Upload. These are perfect speeds for small to medium business! Main offices can now host their own high speed terminal servers with high speed VPN and file access. However BT unfortunately do not offer static IP address’ for such services, and a few customers have also been complaining their upgrade plans via Virgin’s fibre network also do not come with a static IP.  This is obviously a way for communication providers to force business’ to pay for a leased line ( instead of using existing economical communications ), which for a 10mb Upload/Download can retail at £400/Month plus a high installation fee. We are pleased to announce however, as Response IT is a Zen Certified Partner, we can now supply you with a Fibre Connection ( If your exchange is FTTC Enabled ) with a Static IP address starting at a £55 monthly charge! Check out the crib sheet for more information on the different packages and details on when your exchange is going to be enabled. Zen Fibre Broadband Crib Sheet

If you are already an existing customer you will receive an email when your exchange is going to be enabled and when we can swap you over to the new fast service!

Response IT has successfully finished it’s first complete refurbishment of a new secondary school in Clapham. The refurbishment tasks included :

1) Upgrading of existing small business server 2003 infrastructure from the primary school to a new virtualised small business 2008 server including the new installation of 2008 R2 Terminal Server

2) Installation of a new Toshiba phone system ( which doubled up as a school intercom system) , utilising IP handsets around the building and SIP Trunk for calls with a backup Analogue lines

3) Provisioning of 2 onsite Internet connections with automatic failover for voicecalls

4) Installation of 20 new slimline desktops and screens mounted to the walls which will rise to 40 after the completion of a new IT Room

5) Working with the building architect to provision and install cabling around the school

6) Provisioning of a Site to Site VPN with the existing Primary school

7) Installation and Setup of 3 Interactive Whiteboards with projectors and training of staff

The schools utilised quite custom app’s for development and learning in the classroom,

Thanks to the Microsoft Charity Open License program , we were able to set this up at very little cost to the school , who now run the most up to date Microsoft Server Operating System, Microsoft Desktop Operating System and Office 2010.

The school have outsourced all of their Schools IT Helpdesk to Response-IT which is managed remotely through an online ticketing system for staff as well as remote logins to fix issues without interrupting the classroom.

We completed the project on schedule for their first opening Ofsted inspection, an Engineer was present throughout the day to make sure any technical questions where answered and verified and any issues could resolved straight away.

Let us know if you would like Response IT to guide you through the process of integrating ICT into your school organisation

If it’s not people trying the fool you into a webpage that pretends to “scan” your computer for virus and find 100 Cirtical Objects that need removing through their software , only after the unknowing user installs the software they are constantly harrased by popups!

It’s people from India calling you up after getting your name and number out of the telephone directory and pretending to be your ISP or Microsoft saying you have issues on your machine that they will need to fix.
A site F1Compstepuk.com ( Now shutdown by HostGator ) which charged you £185 after install teamviewer so the person could remotely access your machine “and remove the virus’” which had been causing your computer slowness and even 404 Errors!

From Microsoft’s Own Website

“Microsoft does not make unsolicited phone calls to help you fix your computer

In this scam cybercriminals call you and claim to be from Microsoft Tech Support. They offer to help solve your computer problems. Once the crooks have gained your trust, they attempt to steal from you and damage your computer with malware including viruses and spyware.

Although law enforcement can trace phone numbers, perpetrators often use pay phones, disposable cellular phones, or stolen cellular phone numbers. It’s better to avoid being conned rather than try to repair damage afterwards.

Treat all unsolicited phone calls with skepticism. Do not provide any personal information.”

So guys, make sure you recognise the number and you know the person logging in remotely to your machine!

Gardian Article Here