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Libraries are a new feature in Windows 7 that allow you to group folders from more than 1 location under 1 heading. Here’s the official description from Microsoft:

where you go to manage your documents, music, pictures, and other files. You can browse your files the same way you would in a folder, or you can view your files arranged by properties like date, type, and author.

It may not sound all that sexy and interesting at all. Except that you can customise the properties and which folders go into a library. Now you can collate files by purpose, project, or your own personal needs. You can also cross reference files. All achieved by not moving any files or making copies of any files. Instantly this decreases the chances of a file going out of date whilst also making it easier for you to find based on the use you are going to make of it.

If you are the kind of person who needs to organise lots of files, then should take a look at libraries, it will make your life much easier.

For the nitty-gritty on getting into and managing libraries there is a good blow by blow account by lifehacker listed below.

Over the last few weeks much has been said regarding the safety of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web Browser, things got so heated that the governments of France and Germany recommended that you no longer use Internet Explorer and Microsoft itself rushed out a unscheduled security patch to help alleviate the situation. This has led to a lot of recommendations regarding browser security, and this can be boiled down in the simplest and most general terms to do not use Internet Explorer 6, and remember that Internet Explorer 8 is the better option.

Many people say do not use Internet Explorer.

You could do that. In fact I personally favour the Firefox and Chrome Browsers.

However if you stop using Internet Explorer you may actually not be stopping using Internet Explorer. Allow me to explain.

Microsoft uses Internet Explorer throughout Windows and the Office range of products. For example you will find that Outlook uses Internet Explorer to display emails. This means that if you display an email that contains a payload (such as some malware or a link to a web site containing malware) then you will be as exposed to the same risk as someone using Internet Explorer. A lot of people use the preview pane in Outlook to quickly look at whichever item of email you are pointing at. That is very convenient. It is however very easy to look at an email that you should not, and that can cause you big problems. So what to do about it?

My tip here is a very simple one. Turn off the preview pane and look at the senders name on every email you open and check the subject line on every email you open. You should then only open emails that look like things you should be opening. If the email is not opened, the security flaws in Internet Explorer cannot be accessed and you are in a safer position.

So turn off the preview pane, and think about what which emails you are opening. You will be safer.

This week we’re launching a customer referral scheme. Our plan is simple to offer a 5% discount that lasts for 1 year to you if you refer a new customer to us.

You can find full details of the scheme if you click here.

You might wonder why we’re adding this scheme? Well we like to work closely with our clients, we have a lot of loyal clients, and we have received a good amount of word of mouth advertising from our clients. It struck us that we should offer something back to customers who do us the honour of recommending us. Out of this thought was born this new referral scheme. It transforms traditional word of mouth advertising into a way of receiving a tangible long term discount.

Something that at what we hope is the tail end of a recession will deliver something useful to our customers.

I’m taking a bit of inspiration here from last weeks security alert.

Let’s recap on the nature on this scam.

• Someone from claiming to be from Microsoft calls you

• They claim there is a security issue with your computer

• They talk you through “fixing the computer”, though actually they are invalidating security and exposing you to a web site full of hungry malware.

• They take your credit card number and money vanishes from your account.

This is classic approach that preys entirely on the victims ignorance and fear.

It opens up the question how do you gain the savvy to avoid being a victim to this kind of attack.

The answer is a fairly simple – you do it keeping a clear and thoughtful head applying these rules

• Any unexpected telephone call that makes you feel fear or concern has a good chance of being some one trying to manipulate you. Put down the phone and try to verify their claims. Do not blindly believe them.

• No large computer corporation ever calls customers to fix problems ad-hoc. It doesn’t happen as there are better solutions to the problem for them. Again put down the phone this is not real.

• A company you know calls you and asks for access to your computer. Possibly real but unless they can prove who they are put the phone down.

Scams are all about convincing you to do something. Remember this – a computer criminal attacks computers. A good computer criminal goes after people. Psychology is a powerful weapon and it is horribly easy to get you to do something that is not in your best interest. After all why hack a computer if you can get someone else to do all the work for you? 

These days every company and web service has an opinion on what makes a good password. The general consensus is that the more complex the password the lower the chances are that someone will be able to crack it. Providing of course that the password is not stolen by clever social engineering or a nasty piece of malware.

Web darling of 2009 Twitter has gone a step further – it’s done some research and created a list of 370 passwords that it will not allow users of it’s service to use. The list was published in Techcrunch over the holiday period. I’ve taken a look at it and have to say that this list makes a lot of sense, it really does contain some very bad passwords. Worse now that the list has been published.

Make sure that you never use a password that is on the list.

I have had a disturbing call from an old friend of my parents who have been hit by a scam.

The scam goes like this, a person claiming to be from Microsoft calls and claims there is a security issue with your PC and asks you to do a few things at the command prompt then transfers you to a technician who asks for credit card details, that is when he put the phone down, however they have screwed up his PC and I am about to go out to fix it, it appears they target older members of the public praying on their ignorance.

Please pass this on
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We’ve been offering Web Site hosting for some time. In fact all of our web site design packages come with 1 year of free site hosting. However until now it hasn’t been really easy for you to visit our website and just pick up a domain and hosting package. We’ve now removed this little obstacle by creating a new shop dedicated to enabling you to buy or update your own web site hosting.

Of course we do not want to automate things to the point of removing the human touch. We don’t believe in removing the personal interaction. That is why all of our hosting packages come with support via a free phone 0800 number. In fact we encourage you to give us a call. Especially if you are not sure which package will suit you. Call us and we will be happy to talk through your needs and give you our best advice.

We also fully support a technology called 1-touch. This will automatically install some of the best blogging, community building and web site design software that you can get. So if you want to build a web site or have a go at starting the next Facebook then at least getting started will be easy.

If you have any questions about our hosting offering feel free to visit our hosting website by clicking here, or give us a call on 0800 0354148.

Its the start of the first working week of a new year, and everyone is getting back into the swing of things after the Christmas break. So instead of getting right back into your routine take a little bit of time to check that your backups are working well. I’ll admit this is a bit of a boring an onerous job but it is a very important one.

There is nothing worse than suffering a disaster, running to a backup and finding out that what you need is not there.

The trouble is that very few people ever check their backups. Backups are set, and they run and they run and they run.

You thing in fact you are sure what is being backed up.

However you don’t know for sure unless you regularly check your backups.

So do yourself a  favour. Before this years work really builds up – check your backup. Hopefully all will be well, but if it is not – well at least you can now save yourself.

If you happen to be one of the many who never backup, make your first job creating that backup.

It’s the last few days before Christmas and one of the hottest technology items that will be given away will once again be the laptop. If you are going to be giving away a laptop I would ask you to take a moment to think about the recipient. The person you are giving the laptop to will want to use it straight away. However if you give it to them out of the box they’re going to have to go through the first run sequence and then if they are sensible they’re going to download updates and get a good anti-virus solution going before they do anything. Christmas day is a day for fun- not being sensible. So I say why not prepare the laptop for them. Get it ready so that all they have to do is press the on button and have some fun.

Remember these  steps and you won’t go far wrong.

Before you start doing anything plug the laptop into the mains. Never setup a new laptop using the battery, you probably won’t have that much charge in the battery and you should fully charge a laptop before giving it away anyhow.

Start the laptop and follow the wizard to get it ready for use. At this point make the name of the user account the name of the person who is going to be using the laptop. If you are security conscious create a separate admin account and a named ordinary user account for its owner. In the long run this is more sensible – although you probably won’t be thanked for it.

Ok now that the laptop is up and running take a moment to see what software has been preinstalled on it. Get rid of 30 or 60 day demo software unless you are also giving away a licence for it. Take a look at the anti-virus software too. Chances are it will be a demo that will run out in a month. Unless you are paying for the antivirus get rid of that too. You don’t want to have the person you are giving the laptop too worrying about this one month after they receive it. I’ll tell you where to get an excellent free anti-virus from in a moment. The basic rule at this stage is get rid of things that are unnecessary or that will start asking for money in the near future.

Take a moment to check the firewall is on. It should be on all modern computers – but lets just be sure of that shall we.
Now it is time to go online. Your first destination should be:  http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/ This is the home of Microsoft Security Essentials a first class and free piece of software that guards against viruses, spyware and other malicious software. Told you not to worry about removing the antivirus.

By this point Windows Updates should have started downloading. If they haven’t go to Windows Update and start running Windows Update.  You should now download and install all the of the updates you can. These are an essential part of securing a PC so make sure that download all of the available updates. Also take a moment here to make sure that automatic updates are turned on. This will help keep the PC secure in the long run.

When the updates are complete take a moment to install a second browser. Its always a good idea to have a spare browser on a computer. Firefox, and Chrome are good choices here. Come to think of it – I prefer both Chrome and Firefox to Internet Explorer.

You’re almost done now – this next step is simply to install any software that you think the person who’s going to be using the software might like.

Make sure the laptop is fully charged. Once it is turn it off, unplug it and let the laptop cool down. Once it is cool you can wrap it up and give it away.

Do this and you will have a ready to use laptop, someone will be delighted on Christmas day.

I’ve just got to show you a news report about the latest demonstration of the muscle suit. Something that takes you closer to being Iron Man or running the Power Lifters from Aliens.

The suits designers have actually have medical applications in mind. Something more awesome that the science fiction versions. Imagine being infirm and then suddenly stronger, Or being a health worker who could suddenly lift patients safely – alone.

So take a look and enjoy. This isn’t far from being released.