Century IT Services - Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
My name is Paul Marsh, I am one of the partners at Century IT Services, and I am willing to offer you 2 Free Hours of engineers’ time to troubleshoot any server or networking problem you may have free of charge.
There is no catch, no hidden charges, no contract to sign, just a simple, honest offer that you will find difficult to match elsewhere.
Why would I do this?
Experience has shown me that a majority of companies continue to accept poor service from their IT support company, but are reluctant to change suppliers!
I would like to prove to you that we can do a better job that your current IT support company by removing the risk from you trying someone new. I am confident that you will be delighted with our IT services and that you will use us again or become one of our happy and satisfied customers.
What can I use the 2 free hours offer for?
The 2 free hours offer can be used for any number of IT problems; Examples:-
Troubleshoot server or networking problems
Test backups, perform test restores
Check for viruses, spyware and security issues
Network or Server Performance Issues
Email Problems
Even if you don’t have an immediate problem, you can register your company to ensure that you don’t miss out on this great offer.
Why is Century IT Services Different?
Century IT Services is very different, the three company partners, have each spent many years in the IT industry, building experience, a range of industry based qualifications and importantly a very good understanding of what actually ensures customer satisfaction.
We are skilled in specifying, supplying and installing computers, networks, servers, internet, security and email solutions. We are particularly skilled in fault finding on some of the most troublesome networks. We consider ourselves to be experts in our field and partnered with all of the main technology vendors.
We have many satisfied clients, some of who have volunteered testimonials for publication on our web site. However if you are still unsure or not convinced with the testimonials on our web site, talk to me and I will provide you with some alternative reference sites you can talk to. We treat each of our clients as a potential reference site, and our reputation for customer service is second to none.
Questions you may have:-
Q. What happens once you have diagnosed or repaired our fault
A. As I have said, you are under no obligation, nothing to sign, no charge. Although I would like to provide you with a no obligation quote to support your computer network for a yearly fixed cost, no matter how many support incidents you have.
Q. What if you can’t fix our problem within 2 hours free offer?
A. We will update you on our progress and diagnosis. We will give you an estimate of what parts or if further labour is required. As I have said, you are not under any obligation, nothing to sign, no charge.
Ok, I am Interested, what do I need to do?
To take advantage of this great offer or if you have any further questions, you can either contact me by telephone (023 80 070 101) or you can use the ‘register free’ form on our web site.
As you will appreciate, I can only agree so many free 2 hour network support offers per month and this offer is proving to be very popular, so to avoid disappointment, don’t delay and book yourself an appointment.
To my knowledge, computer problems seldom get better by themselves!
Century IT Services - Getting IT Right Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
ADSL Broadband speeds are in contention, both technically and literally. Since the arrival of ADSL in the majority of local BT telephone exchanges around April 2002 the speed of ADSL broadband has not really improved in the subsequent 7 years since.
In 2002 there was much excitement for those who were migrating from their ISDN 64K internet connections to ADSL. Back in 2002 broadband speeds began at the 2MB mark, but unfortunately a lot of people today in 2009 are only still only receiving between 2MB and 5MB download speeds, again upload speeds have also virtually remained unchanged at 400k if you are lucky.
It seems that ADSL technology has not really kept pace with other technological advances. The more seriously affected areas in the U.K are rural areas, with an even more limited connection speeds and supplier options. You will hear that broadband speed is dependant upon a number of different factors:-
Distance from local BT exchange
Quality of the connections
Faster speed with underground cooper wire, slower with cheaper underground aluminium wire
Contention ratio
ISP rating
Is the problem only going to become worse? The U.K government aims for 100% broadband penetration by 2012 with the current figure at about 65% with broadband internet access
But should it really matter? If we were talking about mobile phones, would we accept that with some suppliers or tariffs we were likely to get a sub-standard connection, or perhaps could only make quality telephone calls at optimum times of the day, I doubt anyone would call that acceptable. So why does a large proportion of U.K businesses accept a substandard ADSL broadband connection?
Is OFCOM doing enough to regulate, control and monitor ISPs? All other U.K service companies’ i.e. gas, electric and water are properly regulated and follow strict operating guidelines. As consumer we don’t generally experience problems with the supply of service from these other service or utility companies, so why should the broadband industry be any different?
Have we exhausted this current ADSL broadband technology? Has the issue become more to do with sharing the existing ADSL availability fairly amongst subscribers?
The Prime Minister Gordon Brown said digital technology was as important today as “roads, bridges and trains were in the 20th Century”. The Digital Britain Interim Report which was produced by the Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform states that “A successful Britain must be a Digital Britain.”
Gordon Brown - On the subject of Digital Britain & Broadband
The average speed of a broadband connection in the UK is 3.6Mbps (megabits per second) according to new research from regulator OFCOM.
On average, consumers receive 45% of the advertised headline speed and less than their phone lines can deliver.
Why is this? I think part of the problem has to do with the basic fact that ADSL is not a guaranteed service; it is a best endeavours service. The speeds are dependent upon a number of factors, distance from local BT exchange, quality of the connections, faster speed with underground cooper wire, slower with cheaper underground aluminium wire, contention ratio, ISP rating. It is not uncommon to receive different ADSL speeds between different ISPs but still using the same physical telephone wire.
The 8MB connection speeds the ISPs advertise are difficult to achieve. Century IT Services look after many small and medium sized businesses along the south coast and have yet to see a company with a reliable ADSL connection running at the maximum advertised speed of 8MB.
There are also many techniques to share network bandwidth efficiently and the principle behind them I am not sure many people would argue with. Basically the purpose of sharing bandwidth is to prioritise certain types of internet traffic (at busy or peak times) over other types. For example, video streaming might take a higher priority than say email downloads. Someone watching a program from BBC I Player will definitely notice if the video clip they are watching cuts out whereas if someone else is checking their email it doesn’t really matter if their email takes a few extra seconds to download. This traffic prioritisation can be a good thing, although the danger here is that it is not used to throttle internet traffic at busy times.
What if Moore’s law was true for ADSL broadband connections as well as computer processor technology, where might we be now?
Well Moore’s law refers to the history of computing hardware and Moore’s Law says that every 2 years, there will be a doubling in the number of transistors in a computer processor. This doubling in the number of transistors has made the massive increases in the performance and computing power of modern computers what it is today. Moore’s Law has actually kept true with technological developments for the last 40 years.
Well even by my conservative reckoning, if Moore’s Law applied to ADSL broadband, we could be enjoying a modest 16MB ADSL download connection speeds and 6MB upload speeds with perhaps businesses having ADSL connections several times faster than that. What has gone wrong why hasn’t broadband technology kept pace with other technological and computing advances?
Interestingly now, the Federation of Small Business have taken this subject up and are battling the government on behalf of every small and medium sized business in the U.K. THE FSB says the government is “stuck in a time-warp over broadband speeds”
The FSB report warns the expected 2mbps by 2012 lacks ambition and shows the UK is in a time-warp. It also reports:
Britain has the highest proportion of internet advertising of any developed economy
By 2012 £1 in every £5 of all new commerce in this country will be online
Around 60 per cent of small businesses want a minimum broadband speed of 8mbps
More than half of small businesses rely on the internet for up to 50 per cent of their annual turnover
Simple tasks such as emailing, marketing, buying and selling, are time-consuming because their broadband speeds are letting them down.
What I think ADSL users really want is something which presently seems unattainable is broadband with the following qualities:-
Reliable connection, no drop outs
Fast broadband exceeding the 8MB sound barrier
No Contention, traffic shaping or bandwidth throttling by the ISP
ISPs more heavily regulated by OFCOM to ensure the ISPs infrastructure matches the needs of its customers
I think the points above will be a good place to start to ensure the U.K remains competitive within the global workplace. Moving forward we need to be investing more into researching the broadband technology, pushing way beyond this theoretical 8MB sound barrier. If this can’t be done with the present ADSL technology, then we need to be researching and trialling the next generation of broadband technology.
If digital technology is to be as important today as “roads, bridges and trains were in the 20th Century we need to develop and invest in tomorrow’s technology today.
Century IT Services - Getting IT Right Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
If your computer system failed, which application could you do without for a few days?
Nearly every business has a computer network of some description and I wondered what priorities people put on their computer systems. Quite a few companies leave their I.T support to chance and only respond to a computer problem once it has stopped their business.
You can’t run your company without computers. Have you ever had your server go down, your email lock up or your backup fail? then you know how quickly an IT problem can impact on your overall business performance.
Recently I ran a poll on LinkedIn and asked the question:-
If your computer system failed, which application could you NOT do without for a few days?
Interestingly, nobody thought an accounting system was a business critical application and said they could probably do without an accounting system for a few days. It was very strange that no respondents seemed to think an accounting system was business critical application.
Email and Internet were the primary business applications for many companies, with the majority saying they simply could not do without email for a few days, closely followed by Internet.
I would suggest that you need IT support to keep your company running so downtime is minimised, productivty is not affected a situation where you lose revenue is averted
I would like to get some more respondents to this survey, so if you can spare me a minute of your time, please can you add your opinion to my results.
Century IT Services - Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
Outlook 2007 displays an error message when opening an Excel attachment
“Cannot create file:” error
This can be caused by deleting the complete contents of your “Temporary Internet Files” folder. When you open an attachment in Outlook 2007, it uses a folder in the “Temporary Internet Files” folder as a temporary store for the file attachment in Outlook.
To solve this problem, you will need to edit the registry, see below:-
Locate and click the following key in the registry using regedt32:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security\OutlookSecureTTempFolder
1) Make sure the path exists
2) Set the key to read-only for the user
Century IT Services - Getting IT Right Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
Ever had a problem with a HP2600N colour laser printer where the Magenta is faded, even when you print the demo pages or supplies status print outs the Magenta is faded or washed out?
The self test and cleaning page come out fine?
There seems to be a design flaw with these printers. The Magenta cartridge sits in the bottom of the printer and over a period of time, Magenta toner leaks out through apparent normal use.
Toner dust builds up on the mirrors and lens inside the laser unit causes the fading. The only way to resolve this problem is to get the lens and mirrors cleaned.
I would advise getting this work carried out by a skilled technician, this procedure is not for the in-experienced. Incorrect repair of the laser unit can cause blindness , cancer or electric shock.
Century IT Services - Getting IT Right
Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
Swine flu is the current biological disaster which is threatening to become a worldwide problem, before that I seem to remember it was bird flu, blue tongue or foot & mouth disease.
For many businesses, in the least it will probably mean workers not turning up for work or the government enforcing quarantine or restricted travel arrangements. Complying with any rules will obviously be everyone’s duty and moral responsibility, but after that where does this leave British businesses and the U.K economy?
Short term we could be just talking about losing trade & business, perhaps an accountable financial loss. Longer term, the question has to be how long can British businesses survive without service or sales especially in the current global economy.
Large or corporate companies who have embraced globalization probably have a tried & tested business continuity plan, but what about the millions of small & medium sized businesses? What business continuity options are open to them? Every business is different, each having different priorities and concerns.
Many businesses nowadays are heavily reliant on information technology, even though IT can be a large part of the business continuity subject, business continuity is not just about the topic of information technology, it should cover a vast range of issues for example:-
Do you have all your employee contact details & next of kin?
Do you have your customer, supplier or banking details to hand?
Can your employees do anything productive working from their homes?
What essential business functions must continue in any emergency?
How will you communicate the plan to everyone involved?
There are many questions to consider, some will probably require much debate among your key staff. Many small and medium sized business simply do not have a business continuity plan or have considered what if scenarios. In the current competitive world out performing your competitors is often key to survival.
Century IT Services can help you address the IT issues. We can advise on computer systems and infrastructure to enable remote users to access business critical applications and help your company continue trading. We can also advise on how remote users can use VoIP technology telephones to communicate with each other, the office, your customers & suppliers.
Being a remote user or home worker need not mean being disconnected from your business, colleagues, clients or suppliers. Being in a situation where you have to force your employees to work from a remote location or their homes doesn’t mean that business should stop.
Careful planning could see your business continue trading in some of the most difficult times. If you don’t see this opportunity, the risk is your competitors will and seize the moment and leave your business behind.
Should you wish to have a confidential & without obligation discussion of your needs, contact the writer, Paul Marsh, Century IT Services
Century IT Services - Getting IT Right Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
With an economic downturn history tells us there is an increase in crime. As well as the traditional notions of crime, this year has been cited for an explosion of cyber crime and online identity fraud. Were you aware that the majority of I.T security breaches come from within? Protecting your company by ensuring your computers are secure from internal as well as external threats should be your priority.
“Around 830,000 businesses in the UK suffered an online/computer related security incident in 2007/08″
Would you know if a disgruntled employee copied confidential data to a memory stick, or uploaded it to a web site? Do you know if emails are being sent containing confidential company information?
When considering the subject of computer network security a holistic approach should be taken. Properly installed and supported computer networks should have layered security; starting at the perimeter of the network, and ending with robust security policies on the user’s computers.
“Often reliable computer networks are not the largest, or ones that have had the most money spent on them, it’s just they were properly planned and considered”
Improving your computer systems can increase productivity. These increases can be made in several ways; by making your computers more secure, by allowing remote access for workers away from the office, and also computerising manual processes to save you time. These changes will make your systems slicker, high tech and more importantly secure.
Century IT Services offer a range of support options to suit different types of business and budgets. We are particularly skilled in fault finding on some of the most troublesome computer networks.
Century IT Services - Getting IT Right Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
Century IT Services - Getting IT Right Providing Computer Support & Network Support to businesses in Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Wiltshire, Sussex & Berkshire
Were you aware that when you delete files from your computer that the files are not really deleted and can be undeleted? Defragmenting your hard disk after deleting files or rebooting your computer will make no difference.
Some companies, when disposing of their IT assets don’t even bother erasing the contents of their computer or server hard disks, or ensuring their IT support company properly erases the contents.
There has been a lot of bad press recently about hard disks, computers and servers being sold on EBay, found in computer auctions or sold on from companies which recycle computers. This IT equipment has been found to still contain the previous owner’s data and the data is still readable by the new owners!
Basically this occurs because when you delete a file from your computer, only the information which maps the location of the file on the hard disk is erased, the location of the file still exists and the file still exists. These files can be retrieved using a range of readily available software titles on the internet or from your local computer shop. Undelete or un-erase software programs basically search the hard disk for files which can be undeleted and restore the ‘bookmark’ or location information so the files can be accessed again.
When disposing of computers and servers, you should ensure that the hard disks are professionally wiped, this means that some specialist computer hardware or software is used to properly erase the contents of the hard disks. The contents are erased by writing a sequence of meaningless data to each area of the hard disk, often several times over, this is normally enough to stop the opportunists or even an experienced computer technician. More intensive and a more complicated pattern of writes means the less likely a 3rd party will be able to see your data after you have disposed of the computers or servers.
Were you aware that when you delete files from your computer that the files are not really deleted and can be undeleted? Defragmenting your hard disk after deleting files or rebooting your computer will make no difference.