Never mind Valentine's Day... 14 February is Patch Tuesday!

As you probably know, Microsoft updates its software using Windows Update. The reason for updates is often to address security vulnerabilities. Hackers and viruses exploit these vulnerabilities in order to gain access or cause harm to your computer.

Once it discovers potential problems, Microsoft releases a fix to ‘patch’ the hole through which hackers could gain access. Most updates are released on what has become known as Patch Tuesday (usually the second Tuesday of each month).

This month, Microsoft are preparing for their biggest ever February release, which will consist of nine bulletins and will fix a total of 21 vulnerabilities.

The first four bulletins are rated ‘Critical’ – the highest rating that Microsoft uses. The remaining five bulletins have been given the second highest grading, ‘Important’.

It is essential that your computer is configured to automatically update and install these patches. This, together with good, up-to-date anti-virus software, will help to ensure that your system is as secure as possible.

For more information and advice about these issues, just call us on 01225 636000 or email info@priorityit.co.uk.

Who do you turn to?

None of us realise just how much we rely on technology until something goes wrong. But who do you turn to when your computer system goes into meltdown? And are you sure they’ll deliver?

We recently had a phone call from a potential new client who needed help – and fast. Their server had failed and they needed someone on site immediately to investigate. They’d had to send their staff home, and their current IT support company couldn’t help until later that day.

We arrived within the hour, and soon discovered that the server had suffered a hardware failure. After reconfiguring the network to provide the remaining staff with email and internet access, we returned to our workshop with the broken server. This enabled us to prepare a loan server, run hardware tests and potentially fix the fault at the same time.

Due to the age of the server, the fault couldn’t be fixed. Fortunately the data on the server was unaffected by the fault – we were able to run the company’s broken server on our loan server, which we installed first thing the following morning. We then spent the rest of the morning ensuring all users were happy, and rectifying other system issues.

Could your IT support service react as quickly and efficiently in a similar situation? Don’t take the risk – for expert advice on computer support from a company that puts your business first, call us today on 01225 636000 or drop us an email.

Plus Net Broadband Customer - Very Slow Internet

A number of our clients using Plus Net Broadband are currently experiencing very slow internet speeds.

As well as slower speeds, customers may also be experiencing data transfer issues, causing web pages not to load and other internet activities to be slow or unresponsive.

Plus Net engineers are continuing to investigate the problem and we will update this service status as soon as we have more information.

HM Revenue & Customs Email Scam

New Scam Email.  

There is a new email circulating, informing the recipient they are subject to a Tax Refund, the email at first glance looks to have come from HMRC.  The recipient is advised to fill out the attached form, in order to receive the refund.

This is a scam and is basically after your credit card details, asking for your Visa Security Password and security card.  Please see below a copy of the form.

If you receive this email please disregard. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will never send notifications of a tax rebate by email, or ask you to disclose personal or payment information by email.  If in doubt contact HMRC.