Increasingly I am seeing customers that are paying for several types of cloud storage, but really only need purchase one of them. Over a period of time, they just built up (the common reason I am told). Every provider seems to want to sell you their storage system, and they always offer a small amount of storage “for free” before asking you to pay for the full version! It’s so easy to click yes, rather than lose data!

Most people are now buying Office 365 Personal, Family or Business subscriptions (annually or monthly). We love to setup the Business 365 systems here at BCS. These allow you to install and run a local copy of Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access). Did you know that Office 365 also comes with 1024Gb of OneDrive?

OneDrive can backup your desktop, documents and pictures folders automatically. Anything you save into the OneDrive folders can be uploaded and therefore available on the cloud.

If have Office 365, and you want to save money, install OneDrive, log it in, and use it to store the bulk of your data. You can keep the other systems, but don’t pay for them. Put it on your phone, and with the correct options, it can synch your photos too.

So if you are paying for more than one cloud storage, think about reshuffling and questioning whether you should. Always make sure you export the data out to a computer, and upload to the service you want to pay for, before cancelling the old one! Don’t lose data (contact us for support if you need help).

DropBox – one the most popular, great for sharing family photos. There is a business version too. Can be used to synch photos from your phone to your DropBox.

iCloud – sold to many clients who had an Apple device at some point. It used to be handy at synching photos, calendar and contacts. If you use gmail, outlook.com, hotmail then those systems can keep everything. Maybe to don’t need this anymore.

Google Drive – Google’s version, allows editing to be done in the cloud.

Matthew Clark
matthew.clark@bristol-computer-support.co.uk
07966 497090

Microsoft have upped their restrictions on how you can send emails using their Office 365 system. They won’t document them, in case the Spammers use the rules to their advantage.

We used to be able to use the Office mail servers to send out newsletters, either using a simple mail merge, or using a tool like a CRM, or database. We’ve got clients using Encore (Estate Agents) and SFD or Exact (Dental Practices), who are now tripping the security systems and getting their accounts blocked.

All of these clients were also sending out mail notifications, for appointments mainly. No longer – Office 365 is detecting the email account you are using, and blocking it from sending or receiving. Your admin has to go to Security, and run the wizard each time to unblock the account.

The answer – from the Microsoft website – use a different service!

We’ve done just that for our clients. For a very low fee, we’ve set up a separate email service, where Encore/Exact/SFD can send the newsletters and notifications. This service is highly secure, and specialises in allowing this kind of email.

If needed, we can generate reports of success/failure of email delivery, statistics of when the emails were sent and so on.

If you need this assistance, please contact me below:

Matthew Clark
07966 497090
matthew.clark@bristol-computer-support.co.uk

Be careful of all kinds of social media asking for various bits of information!  They seem innocent, but are they really?  Give nothing away.  Call the company direct, using their actual phone number, if you wish to discuss anything.

We’ve all seen these posts, often from your friends and colleagues who have already responded. What is your favourite food?  What was you first car?  What sort of pet did you have growing up?  Who is your football team?  Looks like your answers to the classic “security questions” setup on your accounts don’t you think?

Who do you think might be gathering all this information?  Everyone bad on the internet is looking for this information.

When mixed with what they can already gleam from your systems, and phone calls, they can put it all together and start to build quite extensive picture of your security.

Phone call.  “Good morning Sir, this is your bank calling”….”What Barclays?”……”Yes sir, it’s Barclays” and what ever other scam they do.

Email “Your password will expire, please change it here, or your xxxx will cease to work”

The classic, is the phone call with “Hi we are (name any company you might use), we have a wonderful offer, but before we continue can I ask you some security questions..DATE OF BIRTH, FULL NAME, FULL ADDRESS WITH POSTCODE, MOTHERS MAIDEN NAME.

Surprisingly, we can all give bits of this information away.  We might be expecting a call from our bank, or our phone provider, based on an outstanding issue.  The hacker phishing for information sometimes just gets lucky and emails/rings at the right time.

matthew.clark@bristol-computer-support.co.uk

Why not use a password manager such as Dashlane. A really good tool, it helps keep your passwords strong, different and protected while allowing you easy access to the systems you need. It will even let you know if your passwords/systems have been compromised and recommend changing them. Bristol Computer Support Limited. #cybersecurity #datasecurity #security

Dashlane Password Manager

One of my clients, based in Bristol, is in his 80s. He was having some issues with TalkTalk – the line wasn’t so good or something. About the same time, a call came in, claiming to be from TalkTalk. They were offering to help, and they convinced my client to type a few things into his PC. It turns out, it was TeamViewer being installed.

They got him to reveal the codes and passwords, and quickly remoted in. While they were in, and this is another clever bit, they had my client writing down several long numbers and letters – made up – just to distract him from what they were attempting to do.

Part way through, luckily, he became suspicious and turned his PC off. They were not happy. They tried everything to get him to switch it back, sometimes becoming angry and aggressive on the phone.

We’re not sure which country the call centre was from, my client thought they sounded from India or Bangladesh, but that could be from many different countries.

Is enough being done to stop this? I don’t think so. If anything it’s getting worse.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-51753362

I advise my clients to trust no-one who calls. Wait several days, and then if you think there is an issue or a need, call the company direct. By then you will have really thought about that call, and what was said. You will realise it was a scam, or will call the correct number and get to the bottom of it. The same can also be said about emails that come.

We’re forced to have quite a cagey/guarded mindset on the phone, and with email. It is because there are so many scams going on. They prey on the older generation who tend to want to be polite and are not used to this happening.

Once, on my mobile, O2 “called me”.
“Hello Mr Clark.”
“Hello”, I said.
“So we can confirm it is you Mr Clark, what is your date of birth?”
“My date of birth, I said, you have to be joking. You called me, I know who I am….who are you?”
“O2”, they said.
“Well how to do I know?”, said I.
I asked them what it was about, and they could not tell my until I gave my DOB.
At this point I ended the call.