Three Bears IT Consultancy

Thawte to withdraw personal e-mail certificates

inclusivepublishing — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:11:43 +0000

Thawte have recently announced their intention to cease supplying and supporting their personal email certificates as of November 16th 2009. The announcement comes as the sector sees more and more emphasis being placed upon the importance of data and information security in transit. It is also likely as a result of fewer corporate customers placing large orders for the higher end security products, making the provision of similar technologies to personal customers untenable.

Affected users are provided with the option of cashing in a $100 voucher to upgrade to a higher specification Thawte certificate or switching to Verisign, where you can obtain your first year free when signing up for a two year certificate subscription for around $19.95. However, you only have until January 16, 2010 to make the transition.

Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for October 2009

inclusivepublishing — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:53:45 +0000

As promised, details of the updates due to hit Windows Update / Microsoft Update / WSUS implementations any time around now.

Beginning with Windows 2000 – there are critical and important updates for the operating system, plus critical updates for Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 4 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 3 users also have a string of critical and important updates, including critical updates for Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 6, 7 and 8.

Windows XP Professional 64-bit edition have critical and important updates as with it’s 32-bit cousin, with updates also for Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 6, 7 and 8. It’s a similar story for Microsoft Vista Service Pack 1 and 2. There are even updates for the as yet unreleased Windows 7.

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 and Server 2008 sees a mixture of moderate, important and critical updates plus updates for the relevant versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Versions of Microsoft Office affected include 2007, 2003 and XP with updates for standalone applications such as Visio, Visio Viewer, Project, Word Viewer, Excel Viewer and PowerPoint Viewer. Microsoft Office Groove 2007 is affected, along with Microsoft Works Version 8.5, Expression Web 1 & 2 and the compatibility pack for Microsoft Office 2007.

The only server tool to be affected is Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and 2005, including Reporting Services – all critical.

Microsoft Forefront Client Security 1.0 is the only security software to be updated via this release, but developer tools including Silverlight 2, Visual Studio 2003 (.NET), 2005 & 2008 are affected and even old Visual Foxpro for anyone still using this database technology.

On the whole, a wide range of updates across all supported operating systems, but thankfully not too much affecting server applications other than databases. We’d be interested to hear any issues which you’ve found with any of the updates and will keep you posted on anything which we hear about …

Brace yourself for Microsoft update frenzy

inclusivepublishing — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:14:03 +0000

System Administrators and home users alike, prepare for Microsoft’s biggest release of updates to date. On October 13th, updates will be released to address issues with 34 vulnerabilities spread across 13 bulletins. Updates are even downloadable for the relative newcomer – Windows 7.

Anyone with a multi-centred WSUS update schedule should check to ensure that all machines aren’t scheduled to download all of the updates immediately from your central servers, otherwise kiss goodbye to your wide area connection for most of the day!!! Depending upon download speeds and the total number of seats within your organisation of course …

Other critical patches to be released include Internet Explorer 8 as well as a patch for Internet Information Services, the application which serves web pages up for Internet browsers. A long known (and long exploited!) vulnerability in the way in which IIS handles some FTP requests is finally being addressed.

We’ll keep you posted on exact details of the new patches available as soon as they are known, so keep checking back…

UK Students offered Windows 7 for £30

inclusivepublishing — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:29:23 +0000

Microsoft have released plans to make upgrades to Windows 7 available for UK students from September 30th for either Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional. The offer is time limited (though no timescales were visible on the launch site – http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/studentoffer/default.aspx).

To qualify, users need to have an academic email address ending in .ac.uk or .edu for the United States and to possess a PC capable of running Windows 7, but which already runs a genuine copy of Windows Vista or Windows XP.

We’ll pass on any more information as it becomes available…

Microsoft Office Genuine Advantage (KB949810)

inclusivepublishing — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:22:36 +0000

System Administrators across the UK were caught out with a new update being pushed across their systems via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) – the Microsoft server application that centrally manages updates across an enterprise/business.

The update is designed to catch out those companies who, having entered a licence agreement with Microsoft and upon receiving a Volume Licence Key (VLM) decide to then allow pirate copies of their licence key to circulate, either across the workforce or out onto the Internet.

Microsoft Office installations licenced under a VLK do not require online activation and so this problem has placed a rather large dent into Microsoft’s profits. Hence the move late last month with KB949810 being downloaded onto machines in the UK around August 26th.

It would appear that the update has previously been published to a handful of countries with a low user population, later being accidentally further rolled out to higher volume countries.

Many genuine users are now reporting issues with Office Enterprise 2007 and previous version now require online activation and users being left in the lurch, unable to work.

Three Bears IT have experience in establishing and administering WSUS systems and can offer help and support in this area for competitive rates.

If you are receiving a message telling you that your copy of Office is not genuine and/or your system is displaying a message telling you that you only have 15 (or so) days until your Office installation is deactivated, then download the OGA toolkit.

Running this on your machine with validate both Windows and Office and will give you an error message which will say why your copy of Windows or Office is no longer valid. It could be that your company’s VLK was leaked onto the Internet and was invalidated or it could be that your mate who got a copy of the software at a car boot sale has been conned.

Always buy your software from a reputable supplier!!! And although the update will not appear in your Add/Remove Programs list, there are ways in which is can be uninstalled for those system administrators who have genuine copies and VLKs.

Download OGANotifier.msi from this location:
http://www.box.net/shared/t4aq9va0qa

If your system won’t allow you to download executable files, then you can access the compressed CAB file here which you can extract file from using WinRAR:
http://www.box.net/shared/i2sok35e2t

Once downloaded and uncompressed, right click the file and choose Uninstall. That should then remove the problem.

Making business connections using LinkedIn.com

inclusivepublishing — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:40:46 +0000

In the current economic times, it counts to have as many business connections and leads as you can, but how can you spread the word about your products and services and clinch that all important deal.

Such a niche market has seen the growth of business networking sites such as LinkedIn.com where registered users can join groups, make/share connections and improve the profile of your business. Far removed from the realms of MySpace and other similar sites, LinkedIn provides you with access to a wealth of resources and information.

Joining special interest groups can assist you in finding out lots of information about potential market sectors before you take the plunge. The site is littered with experts in all manner of disciplines who are usually more than willing to answer any sensible questions that you post.

You can also link your homepage to sites such as Google Docs, Huddle and good old WordPress to provide dynamic content and to make best use of those marketing materials and presentations that you have.

We’ve been members now for some years, so check it out and see you there …

Three Bears IT branch out into healthcare systems

inclusivepublishing — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:07:19 +0000

Three Bears IT have recently added healthcare and clinical trials to their portfolio of sectors. We have recently been providing a variety of consultancy services and information systems to assist in the capture, storage and management of clinical and research data.

In addition to the development of bespoke data collection systems using a variety of Microsoft Office products and Microsoft SQL Server, we have also been providing consultancy services in relation to a number of open source systems including OpenClinica and OpenCDMS.

If you have an interest in this field and would like more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at enquiries@threebears.biz

BT’s free broadband boost for subscribers

inclusivepublishing — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:34:03 +0000

BT have recently launched their Broadband Accelerator module which filters out interference from your home phone wiring to help you go faster. There’s one free for every BT Total Broadband customer if you order it from their dedicated web site – and you only need to pay for the postage – which works out at around £1.20. If your broadband connection doesn’t improve by at least 0.5MB after a few days, then they will refund you £1.20 P&P; so don’t forget to take a broadband speed test before you add the device, leave it a week and try again …

For more information and to see whether your connection needs the accelerator, go to:
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=25075

Non-BT subsribers can buy the same technology, but under it’s previous name as i-Plate. Costing around £7, you can order it from here:
http://www.shop.bt.com/iplate

We are currently undertaking tests on our newly delivered Broadband Accelerator and will post our findings within the coming days …

Exposed: Repair Shops Hack Your Laptops

inclusivepublishing — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:33:56 +0000

Check out the results of this undercover investigation by Sky News reporters into the practices of some more unscrupulous IT and computer repair shops.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090722/tuk-exposed-repair-shops-hack-your-lapto-45dbed5.html

Rapidly Develop A Web Presence

inclusivepublishing — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:02:10 +0000

You will see a number of services and products on sale both on eBay and on other sites across the Internet which offer quick and ready customised web sites ‘out of the box’ using a variety of web site templates and pre-defined scripts to get your site operational in minutes. But what should you consider before taking the plunge and deciding whether this is something you want to invest in?

With the costs associated with web hosting and domain names dropping all the time, more and more people are turning to web based marketing to promote their business; this is especially true in the current economic climate with businesses seeking to reach out to a wider consumer base whilst also keeping control of their marketing budgets.

There are now an increasing variety of products on the market for getting your web site up and running in no time, with no need to do any kind of programming or have any technical knowledge. Before you invest any money in your first online venture, you should first ensure that your web site fits into your overall marketing and promotion strategy – a web site is not a strategy in itself and if you think that visitors will find your web site amongst the plethora of similar sites then you are wrong!

Therefore, when evaluating ready made and template driven web sites you firstly need to identify just how unique you want your web site to be. If you’re happy to have your web site look like tens, possibly hundreds or thousands of other web sites around the world, then by all means invest in a pre-paid and ready available template driven site. However, you may find that you need to hire the services of a developer if you need to make any significant changes to the site, so make sure that you ask for examples of where the template is currently being used and statistics on how many other sites are currently running that template.

If you are looking for a unique web presence, then again you have two options. You can still purchase a bespoke web template from the relevant vendor or Internet site, this time with a guarantee that this template will not be resold. However, such an agreement will cost anything between £1000 – £1500 and you should have a legal agreement in place to ensure that your site is unique; where you are dealing with vendors from across Europe and beyond, you may find it difficult to enforce your rights.

The only true way in which you can ensure a unique site is to develop it yourself and ensure that you own all images, fonts and copyright to the site – and watch out for deals which appear to offer you cut price graphic design services, but which tie you into a contract with the same company for web hosting. This is where they will make their money!

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and don’t be afraid to shop around. There isn’t a one size fits all model for a web presence and if you don’t mind other sites on the Internet having a similar look and feel to yours then a template is definitely the way to go. However, for those looking to stand out from the crowd, there is no alternative to a professionally developed and hosted web site.