Nexus Blog

Neighbourhood Watch!

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 08:49:00 +0000

Google map has added a new feature 'streetview'.

What is Street View?

Street View takes Google Maps to a new level, allowing you to visually explore and navigate a neighbourhood through panoramic street-level photographs.

What can I use Street View for?
Street View has a variety of practical uses. Using Street View you can easily find the exact location for your crucial meeting and the nearest coffee shop, plan a restaurant venue to meet friends for dinner, or find the best viewing spot for a marathon or carnival.

If you are moving house or re-locating, you can save time by exploring properties and their surrounding area in advance and also by looking up driving directions. Street View allows you to check out a hotel or holiday home before you book, and to explore different travel destinations around the world - or be a nosy neighbour!

Hidden within the Street View imagery in the UK will be well-known children's story book character "Wally" wearing his trademark blue trousers, red and white striped hat and jumper and walking stick. Rest assured Street View also features technology that automatically blurs both faces and licence plates!

Cool, how can I check it out?
http://maps.google.com/ type in your postcode, click search map, click on orange A, click on streetview.

Don't press F1

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:44:00 +0000

Another potential flaw with Internet Explorer - In short if you see F1 do not click on it. If you do call us and we can fix it for you.

Our advice for non clients - microsoft update..

Microsoft had released a security advisory related to the use of the F1 key while using its Internet Explorer browser.

Microsoft says that the nature of the vulnerability is tied to “the way VBScript interacts with Windows Help Files when using Internet Explorer.” Unless and until that vulnerability gets patched, the workaround to protect yourself is simply to avoid using the F1 key:

If a malicious Web site displayed a specially crafted dialog box and a user pressed the F1 key, arbitrary code could be executed in the security context of the currently logged-on user.

Free Office 2010 E-Book

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:20:00 +0000

For a limited time you can download this free e-book without stepping through any registration.

First Look: Microsoft Office 2010, by Katherine Murray, offers 14 chapters of early content.

Share it with your internal teams, partners, and customers!

You can download the e-book here. It's about 10.5 MB.

Thanks to Harry Brelsford for this information.

Office 2010 Free upgrade and April release

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:07:00 +0000

Microsoft have announced that the release date of Office 2010 (did you know it was on its way!!) is to be April.

for all of those people looking to purchase Office 2007 fear not as there is an upgrade path to the newer version and it is free of charge.

Generally, customers who intend to take advantage of the free Office 2010 upgrade program have to do the following:

1.Purchase or buy a qualifying Office 2007 product (with or without a new PC) from an authorized reseller between March 5 – September 30, 2010.

2.Install and activate Office 2007 by September 30, 2010.

3.Request the free upgrade to Office 2010 by October 31, 2010.

Office 2010 can be downloaded for free when it’s generally available, or customers can order a DVD for a fee.

The qualifying Office 2007 suite products and the corresponding free upgrade path to Office 2010 suite SKU:

•Office Home and Student 2007 -> Office Home & Student 2010
•Office Standard 2007 -> Office Home and Business 2010
•Office Small Business 2007 -> Office Professional 2010
•Office Professional 2007 -> Office Professional 2010
•Microsoft Publisher 2007 -> Microsoft Publisher 2010

In addition, the free Office 2010 upgrade product key must be requested by October 31, 2010 using the activated Office 2007 product Key and dated sales receipt. And, only one Office 2010 product per qualifying Office 2007 purchase, and the free upgrade licenses is limited to a maximum of twenty-five upgrades per person.

Be careful with Valentine's Day E-cards

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:09:00 +0000

Valentine’s Day is upon us again and whilst we are all thinking of what to buy our beloved, people are putting together e-scams to trick you into infection and ‘amazing cures’ offered at barmy prices.

Our tips for avoiding this are as follows:

Do you know the sender, if you don’t know the sender delete it! Legitimate companies have standard, obvious ways for you to recognize that an e-greeting is not a fraud.

For example, with Hallmark Greetings, the "from" area in the message header always shows "Ecard from Hallmark" as the display name and "ecards@hallmark.com" as the e-mail address.

Make sure you check both the display name and e-mail address of the sender.

Do not click any links when you are not sure of the sender or intent of an e-mail message.

Never download or click anything from an unknown source.

Our advice would be to purchase Malwarebytes. Although a free copy is available the purchased version comes with active protection disabling any potential threat before it takes out your machine!

If purchased through Nexus we will help you install and ensure it is configured correctly. To purchase click here.

This is a one time Valentine offer and limited until the 15th Feb 2010.

Warning of potential malware problem

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:51:00 +0000

We have had a high report of malicious emails being sent similar to the message below:

Dear customer!

Unfortunately we were not able to deliver your postal package which was sent on the 1st of December in time because the addressee's address is incorrect.
Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our department.

United Parcel Service of America.

Our advise is DO NOT open these type of emails, if you are unsure of whether the email is indeed legitimate please contact the support desk on 0844 888 3300 and we will verify the email for you.

Google launches Nexus Phone!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:03:00 +0000

Google have launched their latest offering within the Smartphone market. The Nexus One Smartphone is aimed at the business-minded customer. The Android phone is manufactured by HTC and is touted as a nice addition to the consumer line-up of Android Smartphone’s although it does lack a physical keyboard.

The Nexus One features the newer Android OS (2.1)a much speedier processor (1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon).

Will it be a contester to the iPhone, time will tell, we hope so purely due to its name!

For further information visit googles site:

http://www.google.com/phone

Tax Return Email Scam

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:45:00 +0000

Here is a new spam that is circulating and very difficult to know it is spam. Please tell as many people about this as it’s a very clever one.

Note: It is titled: Please submit your payment refund or similar.

Note: you may find that the ‘£’ amount changes, this is a good indicator of spam.

Note: It also has an attached form called ‘Refund_Form.html’ which you shouldn’t even attempt to open

———————————————-

Dear Applicant:

We have reviwed your tax return and our calculations of your last years accounts a tax refund of 865.24 is due Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-6 days in order to process it.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

Please submit the form attached to your email in order to complete your tax refund

Best Regards,
HM Revenue & Customs

--------------------------------------------------------------
© Copyright 2009, HM Revenue & Customs UK All rights reserved.
TAX REFUND ID: SAT-19287

For all other HRMC scams please visit their site on http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/examples.htm

ESET listed as a Windows 7 Security Software Provider

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:39:00 +0000

What does this mean for you????

· Eset are listed on the Microsoft website as providing consumer security software that is compatible with Windows 7.
· Our customers who are moving towards Windows 7 can do so in confidence that our latest Version 4 software will work. Free upgrades from previous versions are available online.

In order to ensure full compatibility with Windows 7 OS, we recommend that users download and install the latest installation packages for ESET Smart Security 4 and ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4, as well as Business Edition versions running ESET Remote Administrator 3.

All Nexus Clients will have this carried out for them as part of their support contract.

My Time at Nexus

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:45:00 +0000

For the past few months during this summer, I have been lucky enough to get a 9-5 part time job at Nexus. Finishing GCSE’s in June and starting college in September; I had I massive amount of time on my hands. Working the three days a week at Nexus as a marketing assistant meant I could gain some experience to add on to my C.V. However, on the mornings I had work I didn’t get up thinking “urgh work...” I got up thinking “ work today. Let’s go!” this may seem a little odd, but the office atmosphere at Nexus made me want to be a part of something. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time, as it hasn’t felt like a chore going to work and i can take what iv learnt from the design side of things with me to my design course at Fareham college. It has also prepared me for life after education with lots of work experience!

The people here work extremely hard to make sure their clients get the best from their service and everyone chips when it comes to the tea making!(which is always a plus!). At Nexus the balance of professionalism and friendliness is perfect, making it a comfortable environment for both workers and clients: This makes nexus an enjoyment to work with, along with the knowing they are committed to get the job done it its best potential.

I’d just like to say thank you for having me for the past few weeks, it’s gone so quickly! Thanks for the experience I’m very grateful.

All the best,

Alice May

Browsing the Internet!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:50:00 +0000

It has been widely publicised in recent years that browsing the Internet can be dangerous! There are always people out there trying to gain information which they should not have access to, and the recent hole found in Microsoft's Internet Explorer was no exception.

The vulnerability, disclosed by Microsoft on July 6, affects Internet Explorer users whose computers run Windows XP, it can allow hackers to remotely take control of users machines subsequently they can access all of your passwords and secure information. All the user has to do is visit a Web site that’s been hacked to get infected, and often are drawn to the site by clicking a link in a spam e-mail.

Within our Active Fix software, a script was created which was pushed to all workstations with the relevant fixes needed to ensure the highest security. So to summarise, if you are reading this as a client of Nexus Business Group, you are protected. If you are not a client of Nexus Business Group, ask yourself this...who is looking out for your company’s interests?

Ross Crate
Technical Manager

Wedding with a difference......

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:55:00 +0000

Although I have searched every way possible to legitimately tie this you tube video into a marketing campaign, I just can’t!! However, a tenuous link is the fact that we run hospitality events and the main objective of any event is to ensure attendees have a great time and a memorable experience, this video certainly achieved both those goals! It has made all of us here at team Nexus smile, so I wanted to share it with you and hope it brings a smile to your working day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

Sam Knight
Business Development Manager

10 Don'ts for SEO Copywriting

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:33:00 +0000

1. Don't push as many keyphrases into the copy as humanly possible. Which pages land at the top is decided through a series of workings, not just about the sheer number of keyphrases you include within your text. When you overload your web pages with keyphrases you damage the end user’s (a person not a robot) experience and often interest in your services or products. We regularly check our web stats to ensure one page is not repeatedly the exit page, if it were we would look closely at the copy and make amendments.

2. It’s about balance. Balance. You have two audiences with SEO copywriting: the search engines and real people visiting and reading your content. It is no surprise it is so difficult to please both audiences. You need to remember the end user is the more important of the two, but if you don’t use enough key words and key phrases within your SEO, how will you drive them to your site in the first place?
3. Don't try to select your keywords without professional advice. Our web specialists work closely with our copy writers to ensure web copy not only gets picked up by the search engines, but that it also flows, is concise and interesting to the human reader.

4. Be specific. There is little value in cramming in as many terms as possible just to get traffic to your site. To use your website effectively as a sales tool, keywords and keyphrases should be specific enough to actually generate leads and a strong opportunity to convert those leads into real business. If you do take this path, the end result will be greater traffic to your site but they will click off almost immediately if it is not the service or product they were looking for, and led to believe you offered..

5. Don't try to be clever and include the use of typo’s and incorrect spellings. Always ensure your website represents you as you would wish a customer to perceive you. Often people do search and search using incorrect spellings. Typo’s within copy are glaring obvious and create an impression of a company that pays little attention to detail.

6. Don't use keyphrases the exact same way every time. Search engines ignore punctuation so you can break up pages littered with key words with the use of punctuation, again ensuring the human visitor is not left with the perception of a company who cannot present themselves well.

7. Don't use all types of search phrases for every page. Use specific keywords and keyphrases for your products and services; try not to include them on your homepage.

8. Don't neglect ALT tags/image attributes. You must work with a professional to advise you on this, it’s simply too complex for most of us to get right.

9. Don't forget the chain of protocol. You should always be aiming to let the search engines know you have content that is applicable and relevant about a topic, the more narrow the topic via the use of your keywords and keyphrases the more likely the result will work. Try to aim for an average of 4 keyphrasess per web page. The page title, META tags, ALT tags, and other coding elements and text being displayed must support each other as far as keyphrase use goes.

10. Don’t try to be jack of all trades and master of none. We have an in house team, experienced in web design and development in addition to innovative creative copy writers who will always add value to your websites. We aim for websites not to only look great and ready well, but to act as real sales tools to generate profit for your business!

Samantha Knight
Business Development Manager

Client Satisfaction

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:43:00 +0000

Recently I was asked to take over client satisfaction here at Nexus, in these financially difficult times client satisfaction is key to maintaining successful business relationships. Below is an excerpt from Stuart Crawford’s Book “Do You Have IT” and I believe it relates to anyone that is in business.

“Complete Client Satisfaction is the only key performance indicator that is crucial to our success in business. When we are focused on taking care of our client's best interest and ensure that we are delivering the most effective level of service, innovative solutions that bring value to our client base, billing them properly and timely only then will all the other stuff (profits, cash flow and anything else) automatically fall into place.”

Because we believe at Nexus that the client is a key to our success, Nexus would like to invite you to complete a survey which you will receive in the coming days. The first three clients to return there survey will receive a complementary meal at Cafe Lulworth on behalf of Nexus Business Group.

We look forward to you constructive feedback.

Will Maxted
Technical Specialist

October Launch for Windows 7

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:02:00 +0000

Microsoft have confirmed that Windows 7 will be launched on the 22 October 2009. But before the launch of W7 if you are in need of more disk space why not try out the tool "compcln.exe" it will clear out previous service pack uninstall information and duplicate system files. On averae you will gain 30GB of disk space..

New IPhone releases 19th June 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 09:27:00 +0000

The new IPhone is nearly here, 5 more days and we will finally get to see what Apple has to offer. If it is as good as the first IPhone then we are in for a treat!!

http://www.apple.com/uk/iphone/iphone-3g-s/?cid=AOS-EDM-B10000000502

New SBS 2008 Book

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:02:00 +0000

We have just received our copy of David Overtons new SBS2008. We will be reviewing it and adding our thoughts over the coming weeks. To obtain your own copy of this book please visit:

http://www.packtpub.com/small-business-server-2008-installation-migration-configuration/book

Vista SP2 Released...

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:59:00 +0000

Today Microsoft released the final version of SP2 including support recording Blu-ray straight from the Vista OS.

Make sure you un-install any previous pre-releases of SP2 before installing (look for KB948265)

The new service pack can be downloaded from 'here' or if you already have our Active Fix Technology we will be pushing the update out to you very shortly after testing to ensure it does not have any adverse effect on your machine.

Additional Vista SP2 Updates include:

* Fixes Wi-Fi issues when Vista awakes from sleep mode.
* Improves performance of Vista desktop sidebar gadget allowing for RSS feeds to perform better.
* Address overall Vista system performance issues. Microsoft says SP2 repairs nearly 700 nagging Vista bugs and security updates.
* Boosts power management efficiency by 10 percent.
* Give your computer support for VIA Technologies' new 64-bit CPU
* Let your system support exFAT, which can handle larger files and can also use UTC timestamps so you can synchronize files across different time zones.

Google unveils 'smarter search'

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:37:00 +0000

Web giant Google has unveiled new products that it says will push search in a new direction.
Google is using so-called semantic web technology to leverage the underlying data on websites to enhance results.

"The race in search is far from over and innovation and continued improvement is absolutely pivotal," said Google's Marissa Mayer.
Google said it could not afford to rest on its laurels in the quest to build the perfect search engine.

Google has over 63% of the US market compared with rival Yahoo, on 20%.

"I've said this many times but search is still in its infancy. Our engineers are worried about what is the next big thing in search and how are they going to find it," said Ms Mayer, who is the vice-president of search products and user experience.

She said that last year Google had released more than 360 products and in the first quarter of this year it had been 120. Ms Mayer added that this was proof that "Google gets better all the time".

Google has in the past said that despite its lead in the marketplace, users were "one click away" from switching to other alternatives.

Vanessa Fox of SearchEngineLand told the BBC that Google's ability to constantly innovate gave them a leading edge.

"Google is saying: 'We have to provide for all searchers and do things at scale.' It means they have to launch all sorts of features while some companies can concentrate on just one thing. The key thing behind why they are still ahead is because they are able to innovate at such a pace," said Ms Fox.

For the full article click here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8047076.stm

Windows 7 revs up for launch

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Tue, 12 May 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Microsoft has signalled an early end to the Vista era with the release of the near-final release Candidate 1 version of the next-generation Windows 7. Not only that, it looks like XP may have a reprieve!

New PCs could be loaded with Windows 7 as early as October, according to US reports.
Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions will offer an XP Mode (XPM) running applications in a virtual XP environment. Licensed users will be able to download the XP code, with Service Pack 3.

XPM will not be like XP because the app will be launched from within Windows 7. It will, however, bypass upgrade conflicts and the need for backward compatibility into new code – one reason Windows gets so bloated.

We awaited Vista with baited breath in the hope it was to be next generation of OS only to have to move back towards XP. Perhaps Windows 7 will be the one, watch this space for further updates!

Carphone to purchase Tiscali UK

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Sat, 09 May 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Carphone Warehouse is to buy the UK assets of Italian internet service provider Tiscali for £236m.
The deal, which is expected to be completed by the end of June, will create the UK's largest home broadband provider with 4.25m subscribers.
Tiscali had previously been in talks with BSkyB, but negotiations broke down earlier this year.
Carphone Warehouse currently provides broadband services under its TalkTalk brand and via AOL Broadband.
Thousands of Prodigy internet customers were reported to have been left with no internet after the service provider was cut off by its supplier BT. Earlier it was fined £30,000 by Ofcom for mishandling broadband migrations.

Malicious H1N1 PDF file spreads password stealer as swine flu leaflets begin to be delivered

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:24:00 +0000

As the UK begins to receive leaflets giving advice on swine flu, spammers are not far behind with a malicious file.

For the full article on this click here

Web is 20 years old

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:24:00 +0000

World wide web turns 20 Friday 13th March was the date, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) celebrated the 20th birthday of the worldwide web, an event that sparked a technology revolution. To read more about the history of the web please view 20 years of web.

New Site is Launched..

noreply@blogger.com (Gareth McQuaid) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:18:00 +0000

Well I have just got up early to check over the new launch of the site. Impressed I think Matt has outdone himself this time but I would be biased!! Let me know what you think and more importantly if it stands for who we are - email me on gareth@nexusbg.com.