• It is very unlikely any software or hardware vendor will call our customers directly and they will not be asking for credit card details
• No one is going to give you money for free, so please ignore any emails or calls of this nature
• Renewal notices generally come from Betta Computers, but occasionally you may receive them directly.  Please feel free to ask us or forward over these notices
• If you get a pop up message on your computer to click or buy something to fix a problem; it is most likely a scam
• Purchase online from reputable sites and use services like PayPal for additional purchasing security
• Domain name renewals should cost under $100.  Many companies around are trying to take over the renewal process and charge fees in excess of $200
• Keep your virus and spyware protection up to date
• Use HTTPS when logging into sites that require a password where possible, i.e. when accessing facebook from an internet café or hotel could leave you completely vulnerable on a non-secured address (http://www.facebook.com).  Instead use https://www.facebook.com
• Try to avoid using one password for all services.  If this password is found out, a hacker will have access to all of your accounts
• Passwords saved in your web browser are generally not secure
• Use a product like KeePass (www.keepass.com) to securely store usernames and passwords.  KeePass is free and can be accessed on your Smart Phone and computer.

My experience: My iPad has become a tool I find difficult to operate without – having a 3G sim card in the device provides access while out of the office and makes connection to work and internet based applications a breeze. I would also recommend, to those who are looking at purchasing a sim for the iPad, to get a 12 month pre-paid plan. All four of the major mobile carriers offer this plan which provides the best value for money and enables bursts of data usage when needed.

Some of the key ways I use my iPad include email access, note-taking in meetings, calendar, contacts, maps, satellite navigation, utilities, entertainment, social networking, remote access, shopping and much more.

My favourite apps:

Business Applications

Dropbox – This handy application allows you to access and open email files from your Dropbox account.  Most of the other cloud-based file sharing applications have iPhone and iPad applications as well.

RDP Lite – Free application that enables remote access to a terminal server.

TaskTask HD – The native iPad does not have access or sync tasks from Microsoft Exchange Server.  TaskTask HD offers a sync and offline access to your tasks with the ability to add, edit and delete.

Evernote – This application is handy for any existing Evernote users.  Access all of your notes from the iPad and create new ones.

FileBrowser – Most of us like to access files remotely, but have security concerns with putting business data in the cloud on services like Dropbox or having separate copies in the cloud and on the company server.  FileBrowser enables the iPad to access files located on the company server over a secure VPN.  The access is based on username and password making it very secure and relatively straight forward to setup.

Whitepages – Whitepages is an application and can sometimes be handier than Google, especially if you are looking for a company’s phone number or address.

Keep reading to view my recommendations on applications for:

PDF Reader Pro – The best rated PDF application packed with features.  Features include: form filling, GoogleDocs online editing, bookmarks, cropping, email out, sticky notes, mark-up ability with lines and text, dropbox sync, WiFi transfer and much more.

Utilities/Other

Navfee GPS – This app provides a fairly good satellite navigation system.  It is not as complete as the expensive ones, but it is free!

Skype – Great for free overseas calls or chatting with friends.

Jumbo – A very large calculator.

Convert Units Free HD – Great utility to convert units like angle, area, data energy, force, length, mass, power, pressure, speed, temperature, time, and volume.

Currency – Deal in overseas currencies? This application will provide quick access to the current exchange rates.

iTorch4 – turn your camera flash into a torch.  Very handy at night.

Social Applications

MyPad – My preferred Facebook application.  It does lack in a few areas, but seems the most stable and fast.

Friendly – This was my preferred Facebook application, but it had become unstable and slow. However, it still has some great features which MyPad does not have.

LinkedIn – Connect with your business colleagues with LinkedIn for iPad.  It is hard to find the time to do social networking during the busy office day, so why not catch up while on public transport or eating breakfast.

Twitter – This application has multiple account ability so you can handle business and personal tweets from a single application.

News

Flipboard – A great way to read news articles, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  The content options include social, news, business, tech and science, video, cool curators, art and photos, living, entertainment, sports, local, travel and style.  My favourites are Car and Driver, Men’s Health, Engadget, and of course the Betta Computers twitter feed!

ABC and 7NEWS – Good news applications.

SMH – The Sydney Morning Herald on the iPad.

Shopping

Ebay – Easy to use application with push notifications for auction notices.  You can even bid and pay all within the app.

Amazon – Ability to browse and purchase items from Amazon.

Carsales – Searching for a new car or wonder what your current car’s value is?  The Carsales application works well and enables you to save a search that can be re-run in the future with a touch of the screen.

Personal / Entertainment

Plex – This one requires a server setup, but once going you can stream live video from your network at home to your iPad. You can also watch TV shows and movies from your iPad.  It even works remotely, but will use lots of data in the process!

VLC and CineXPlayer – Both good applications to play media files (TV shows, videos, and movies) that the native iPad will not.

Event Cinema – Locate cinemas, browse session times, read and view video trailers, and book your ticket all from the application.

Urbanspoon – Don’t know where to eat out?  This application will make the decision for you.  Just choose a location, a cuisine, and/or price bracket and the application will do the rest.  If you are feeling daring you can go completely random.  Each restaurant result has plenty of useful information including the phone number, address, map, and user reviews with a % of people that like it.

iFitness HD – The application I don’t use enough!  Filled with hundreds of exercises split into muscle groups and by exercise equipment with stretches, a My Workouts area, routines, logs, food tracker and online sync, this really is an all in one fitness application.

Shazam – Ever listened to a song on the radio and wondered who sings it?  This application will record a short part of the song and then return the information including band, album, song name, lyrics, tour info, and a link to download from iTunes.

Aroundme – For finding places by category based on your GPS location.  Looking for a park, hotel, servo, it is easy with aroundme.

Yellow Cabs – Now has an app which you can book a cab and it tracks the Cab to your door via Google Maps.  You can also track it whilst on your journey.

Mobile phones work in most countries and our local Australian carriers have relationships with overseas telecommunication providers so our overseas calls and data are routed and charged back to our account.  However, this convenient access comes at a premium!

Most smartphones have applications running in memory (the background) and they connect and sync over the internet on a regular basis. For example, email would be one of the largest data consuming applications for most business users.

The blow-out on a smart phone is caused when data is downloaded in a data roaming area (usually required in country areas or when overseas). The good news is data roaming can be switched off on most phones.

Follow the steps at the link to ensure you avoid a bill shock…

Avoid bill shock by following these steps

• Disable data roaming (if and where possible)
• Use free or paid Wi-Fi services where possible.  Many cafes, coffee shops, airports and hotels offer this service (eg. McDonalds and Starbucks offer free Wi-Fi)
• Change email fetch settings to manual or at least a reduced time frame
• Track data usage on the phone
• Be aware of the data roaming fees of the location you are travelling to
• Call your mobile provider and see if they have any discounts or options for the location you are travelling to.  Sometimes they offer international data packages
• Consider purchasing a pre-paid sim card from the location you are traveling in.  Local data and calls will be a fraction of the cost of roaming back to Australia
• Utilise applications like Skype and Facetime to make free calls on Wi-Fi
• Look at alternative options like www.travelsim.net.au

iPhone instructions are below for the mentioned steps.

Turn Data Roaming “OFF”

Settings> General> Network> Slide Data Roaming to “OFF”

Fetch Emails / New Data: “OFF”

Settings> Mail, Contacts, Calendars> Fetch New Data> slide Push to “OFF” and select Fetch “Manually”

 Reset Usage Tracker

Settings> General> Usage> Reset

First of all, it is good to understand what a computer virus is. Traditionally a virus is a program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. Viruses have now grown into many other nasty types including malware, adware, spyware, computer worms, Trojan horses, and rootkits just to name a few. Below is a brief description of each of these:

Malware is short for malicious software and is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather private information, gain unauthorised access to a system and for other abusive behaviour.

Spyware is a type of malware that can be installed in computers and collects information.  Usually spyware is installed secretly on the user’s computer and can be known to change computer settings resulting in slow connection speeds, changing home pages, key logging, loss of internet and redirection of internet traffic.

Computer worms are a self-replicating malware program, which uses computer networks to send copies of itself to other computers.  These worms are usually spread due to security vulnerabilities and cause harm.

Trojan horses are software that appears to perform and function normally to a user, but steals information or harms the computer.

Rootkit is software that enables access to a computer while hiding this access from the user and administrators.

It is critical that all electronic devices be protected from this range of computer viruses – this means protecting not just your computer but also workstations, notebooks, servers, mobile phones, tablets, and most devices that have user input or connectivity including internet and memory cards.

Keep reading to review our top ten tips to stay virus free…

12 Tips to stay virus free

1. Install and maintain reliable antivirus software
2. Update your antivirus software frequently
3. Don’t download programs from the web unless you are sure it is safe or from a reliable source
4. Use common sense and err on the side of safety
5. Keep your software up to date with Windows, Adobe and Office etc. updates
6. Do not use peer to peer (p2) file downloading/sharing applications such as Torrents, Morpheus, Limeware etc.
7. Use genuine and legal software only
8. Don’t click on pop-up windows that announce disaster, fixes for problems, repairs etc.
9. Don’t follow any links in emails that suggest your account has been comprised; a sum of money is waiting for your collection, or any offer that sounds too good to be true.  Remember most banks and genuine entities will not send communication like this via email.
10. Hover your mouse over links in emails and ensure they are exactly the same as the link name.  i.e http://www.bettacomputers.com.au should say http://www.bettacomputers.com.au and not http://viruswebsite.com
11. Educate staff on viruses and how to stay safe
12. Ask Betta Computers.  We are happy to look at any emails you think are suspect before you open attachments etc.

With more and more applications and devices integrating and connecting with the internet, it has never been more important to be virus-wise.

Microsoft Office 365 is a subscription service that combines the familiar Microsoft (MS) Office applications into a platform that is accessible via your familiar Office 2007 or 2010 applications, or it can also be accessed over the internet. It comes backed by the robust security, reliability and control you need to run your business.

Starting from $7.90 per user, per month, this subscription model is certainly going to grab the attention of business owners in small and large entities alike.

The features included with Office365 depend on the subscription you choose. The full list of features is outlined below:

Hosted Exchange:

• Email and calendar
• Webmail
• Mobile phone synchronisation
• 25GB mailbox
• Spam and virus protection

Office Web Apps (edit documents in your web browser for):

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• OneNote

Websites and Collaboration:

• SharePoint

Instant Messaging and Online Meetings:

• Lync

At Betta Computers we are also an Apple partner,  so we are also happy and impressed that Microsoft has invested energy in ensuring this platform also works well on Apple computers and notebooks.

As with nearly all applications, there are pros and cons.  Below we outline our top five pros and top five cons of Office 365.

The pros:

• It presents a great business solution and value for money
• You will be purchasing one of the newest platforms available
• There is no upfront investment required
• It will reduce server infrastructure costs
• Your Office 365 can be access from anywhere

The cons:

• Office 365 lacks features from the traditional (on premise) versions of Microsoft Office Applications
• Performance is slower, especially when accessing larger files
• It is not suited to very low bandwidth sites
• It has limited flexibility when compared to on premise options
• It may take some time for integrated third party vendors/applications to catch up

Office 365 is a Cloud based service and, therefore, limited capacity planning is required, services can be turned on and off, and licenses increased or decreased as required to suit your business.

As a Microsoft Partner, Betta Computers can help you decide if Office 365 is right for you. If you decide to begin a subscription service with Office 365 we can also assist with a smooth transition and help you get the most value from the investment.

If you would like to you know more information, please contact Betta Computers and check out www.office365.com.

This survey, undertaken by one of our suppliers, Acronis, found that Australian businesses are among the least confident in the world when it comes to their ability to recover in the event of a disaster.

Unfortunately, backup and disaster recovery systems are often given very little thought or share of the budget, especially as computer hardware has become more reliable and people adopt the attitude of “it will be right”.

In the following article, we will give you some basic information regarding backups and disaster recovery systems, useful tips and some recommendations.

Traditional Data Backup

The term backup has existed as long as the computer industry itself and the official explanation according to Wikipedia is “the process of backing up refers to making copies of data so that additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event”.

A traditional data backup usually means all data is backed-up, but the server and workstation setup and configurations are not.  While the data can be recovered, the business can still be out of action for many days while servers and workstations are rebuilt.  The cost of this process can be many thousands of dollars in terms of I.T. costs and a potentially much larger figure on lost income and staff productivity.

Image Backup

In the early 2000’s, vendors like Acronis and Storagecraft came out with the revolutionary technology that enabled a complete server and/or workstation to be backed up in full while still being used.  “An Image backup is a single file or storage device containing the complete contents and structure representing a data storage medium or device, such as a hard disk”.

While image backups were the ultimate solution, the price of these products was often out of an SME’s budget.

The good news is Microsoft and Apple have now caught up and introduced image-based backups into their latest operating systems.

Disaster Recovery

The term disaster recovery is probably one used far too often when explaining hardware solutions. The term actually means “the process, policies and procedures related to preparing for recovery or continuation of technology infrastructure critical to an organisation after a natural or human-induced disaster” rather than the equipment itself.

Betta Computers has been recommending and installing the more advanced image-based backup solutions since the early 2000’s and we are happy to report that every customer server solution put out since 2008 has been image based.

The key considerations for choosing a backup solution are:

• What is the cost to the business for every hour of downtime?
• How much (if any) data can you afford to lose?
• Who can be trusted with the backup process in terms of swapping media, checking reports and ensuring the backups are transported offsite?
• Do you have a safe and secure offsite location?

Recommendations to ensure your backups are adequate:

• Media is swapped regularly (usually daily for SME’s)
• Backups are stored offsite and securely
• The backups are password protected
• Media should be clearly labelled and a record kept
• Ensure someone is in charge of the process and has been trained to understand and read the backup reports
• Run test restores on a regular basis
• New programs and data may be skipped from the backup, so always review in these circumstances
• Where budget permits:
  • run two parallel backup systems
  • have the solution monitored and maintained under the Betta Care Program

The 5 most common reasons for backups failing or being unusable in the event of disasters are:

• A staff member leaves and no one continues the backup role
• Backup media is not swapped and then overwritten the next night
• Changes are made to the server or applications and the backup is not adjusted to factor in this change
• Media is not taken offsite and the server is stolen, lost or damaged in a disaster
• No one is checking the reports or performing test restores

The area of I.T. backups is certainly a very important and interesting topic which we will cover again in the future and as technology changes.

In a nutshell, it is a service that is you pay to use, generally with minimal or no setup cost, and is flexible with scalability of the number of users, space and size. Examples of Cloud Computing services include: Google’s Gmail and Microsoft’s Skydrive. Cloud Computing is not new; however, it is a major marketing buzz word of the moment. Many businesses have re-branded existing products as Cloud Computing product/services, when in reality some do not meet the full definition.

Are all Clouds white and fluffy?

In the past twelve months, some significant news announcements have raised Cloud based problems. We have seen entire providers go under, resulting in data being lost; providers have also had outages affecting thousands and millions of users. Most recently, Google lost access to customer data for a while when updating software for its email service, Gmail.  The good news is they restored access shortly after.

How is Betta aligning itself with the Cloud?

At Betta, we have been a very early adopter of Cloud Computing and have migrated over 400 email users onto Microsoft’s Hosted Exchange environment. It is not just the technology we look at when discussing the future of your IT needs. We look at the business, its staff, and requirements for today and into the future. Once this information is obtained, we then look at all options including Cloud Computing in some cases.

Betta Computers is also investing further into its Data Centre infrastructure and resources so Cloud solutions can be done directly through us.

5 top Cloud tips

1. Check productivity of the solution. Will it be more or less productive for your business? The    up-front savings can be attractive, but the total cost of ownership needs to be considered.
2. Look at where it is hosted and the access speeds. Services inside Australia are generally much faster.
3. Who is the provider? Make sure they have a good track record and are likely to be around in the years to come.
4. Consider backup methods and how you could migrate to and from them if required.
5. Look at the features as some Cloud offerings are only new and still under development.

Cloud Application Review

Microsoft has offered 25GB of free online storage with skydrive. Skydrive now integrates with their Office Web Apps meaning Office documents can be created, edited, viewed, shared and more from a web browser. Additionally, with Windows 7, you can also map your skydrive just as if it was a network drive.

Skydrive is a great example of a Cloud application/service which is affordable (free in this case!) and offers great features without the large investment.

Where is it?

Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, Snipping Tool

How do I use it?

This 77 second youtube video will show you how

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bs6tzfzc_c

Eventually (sometimes up to a minute), the live tv will catch back up; but this is frustrating.

The fix is very simple as per below:

Locate and delete these two registry keys and reboot to fix the issue:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Extensibility\Entry Points\{7e7a8710-9e4a-40a3-824a-7b0baf38abcf}]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Media Center\Extensibility\Applications\{a0cd8951-e5b6-4662-9c9c-d56c5b38ca59}]

Remember you should always backup your registry before making changes. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ for assistance.

Thanks to the social microsoft.com site for the answer (http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/mediacenter/thread/6e0f575a-4bed-4248-9cac-a6392b7b6d16)

The warning comes as a separate report from think-tank Kokoda has warned the Australian Government is susceptible to international cyber-attacks that could bring down essential systems such as water, transport and utilities infrastructure.

“We are not keeping pace with the growing threat and as a result we are placing our collective and individual security at risk,” the report warns.

Symantec has said in its 2011 SMB Disaster Preparedness Report that SMEs are not only ignoring the essential practices they must use to prepare for data loss, but they are losing thousands of dollars by not doing so.

The survey of 1288 SMBs worldwide, of which 200 were located in Australia, found that a massive 43% of businesses don’t have a plan if they suffer a data disaster. Of those, 8% have no plans to create s strategy and 35% intend to create one sometime in the future.

The survey reveals more disturbing statistics.

When asked why those businesses don’t have a plan if their data is lost or website taken offline, a shocking 55% said that thought never even occurred to them. A further 18% say disaster preparedness isn’t even a priority, and 9% think computer systems aren’t critical to the business.

However, Symantec director for SMBs in Asia-Pacific Steve Martin says these businesses are most certainly at risk and the potential for catastrophe is greater than they expect.

“There are businesses that may not expect to be hit, and as we’ve seen in Queensland there are businesses that can be affected even in capital cities,” he says.

The survey found 73% of SMBs live in regions susceptible to natural disasters.

“But those natural disasters aren’t the only types of challenges. The most common disasters we’re seeing are IT system failures, power outages and human error. They can have just as big an impact as a natural disaster could.”

The survey also found that the average business experienced four different outages last year, and that employee accidents and power outages were among some of the top reasons.

And when those disasters occur, the effects are devastating. The survey found that 50% backup less than 70% of their data, and that 50% back up weekly or more frequently – only 23% are practicing a backup every day.

And these backups aren’t complete – 28% don’t back up email, 15% don’t back up application data and 14% don’t back up customer data.

And in a sign that businesses are not prepared for a disaster, 50% said they would lose at least 30% of their data if disaster struck.

In order to survive a disaster, Martin says businesses need to complete five tasks: make a data recovery plan as soon as possible before disaster strikes, protect information completely through regular daily backups and get employees involved in the backup and safety procedure.

“Since SMBs have few resources, all employees should know how to retrieve the businesses’ information in times of disaster,” the report states.

Finally, the report also states that businesses need to test their backups frequently and review their plans as often as possible – at least one hour every six months.

Not being prepared has a massive financial impact. If a business suffers an outage, it costs them an average of $32,800 per day and SMBs won’t likely recover all of their data when systems come back online.

Martin says businesses need to start taking recovery seriously and protect their data through regular backups, with the disasters in Queensland only showing one possibility of how businesses can be affected by outages.

“Today, a company’s information is its livelihood and SMBs cannot afford the risk of losing it. By taking the time to do some simple planning, SMBs can protect their information and minimise downtime during a disaster, maintaining the trust of their customers and keeping their businesses running smoothly.”

Meanwhile, Kokoda has released a new report stating the Government needs to adopt a cyber-security strategy in order to protect essential resources from international attacks. The report argues that as cyber-crime increases, hackers become more powerful and governments rely more on the internet to do business, critical elements of society are more susceptible to attack.

“Significant weaknesses within industry need to be addressed, including the lack of effective governance, poor understanding of the cyber threat, and the sharing of data.”

“Many small businesses adopt the ‘it won’t happen to me’ attitude, placing themselves and others at risk if their systems are compromised and exploited through cyber intrusions.”

The report recommends the construction of a national Cyber Security Strategy in order to prevent a “cyber 9/11″ that could threaten critical utilities and government systems.

In order to accomplish this, the report says that government departments, agencies and interest groups need to work together in identifying priorities and resources that would be needed to adopt a national strategy.

This strategy would be a 10-year vision of what needs to be achieved in order to secure department systems and data networks.

“Most importantly, it could highlight the need for a flexible and innovative approach to dealing with threats that are as yet undefined and provide the vision of how those characteristics can be enhanced in the Australian environment.”

Practical methods for improvement would include:

• Developing a nation-wide program that would include a National Cyber Strategy and Plan.
• Assign a head of that program to coordinate security issues across government departments.
• Introduce a National Security Innovation Centre, a virtual cyber academy and a cyber test range.

“Australia needs to further harmonise the roles and responsibilities of government, industry and the public.”

“While there will be technical challenges in meeting the evolving threat, the greatest challenges will centre on the cultural and organisational changes that will be needed to improve Australia’s security in the cyber environment.”

Information source: http://www.smartcompany.com.au