Debunking the three major ransomware myths
On March 14, the UK National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Center sounded the alarm about the growing cyber threat. One of their conclusions was that ransomware represents a significant, and growing, threat to UK business. Combine this with the fact that the last 12 months has seen cyber attacks on an unprecedented scale, and you’ve got a melting pot of cyber activity right now.
These warnings come as no surprise. Ransomware use has exploded over the past year or so, particularly in the UK, simply because it is an easy way for cyber criminals to make significant amounts of money. Ransomware works, simply because many firms are forced to pay the ransom because they don’t have the defense systems in place to avoid doing so.
Has Windows 10 Creators Update reset your default apps back to Microsoft stock?
It should come as no surprise that some users -- myself included -- have experienced a problem with the new Windows 10 Creators Update changing existing app default choices back to Microsoft’s own bundled apps.
This, after all, was a problem that we saw previously after both the November and Anniversary Update rollouts.
Why technology is key to managing mobile workforces
Workforces are increasingly mobile, but that presents a problem for businesses when it comes to controlling workloads.
Scheduling software specialist Skedulo and marketing company Column Five have produced an infographic showing how technology is key to managing field workers.
How to unlock Microsoft's secret settings menu in Windows 10 Redstone 3 Build 16170
Windows 10 Creators Update is rolling out to all from today, but Microsoft is already working on the next big iteration of the new OS, codenamed Redstone 3.
Last week, the software giant pushed out the first build from the Redstone 3 branch, Build 16170, and while on the surface this doesn’t seem very exciting there’s a hidden menu in Settings which you can unlock.
How to create a bootable Windows 10 Creators Update USB drive
Microsoft has officially launched the much awaited Windows 10 Creators Update. The latest release brings lots of exciting new features and improvements that make the operating system much more powerful and refined. And, naturally, many of you will want to create a bootable USB drive to perform a clean install of Windows 10 Creators Update on your PC.
Creating a bootable Windows 10 Creators Update USB drive is very easy. All that you need is a USB drive, a Windows 10 Creators Update ISO, a Windows device, and a couple of minutes to spare.
What you need to know about moving monoliths to microservices
There are many benefits to the "monolithic" application model -- especially at the beginning of a project -- but monoliths can become unwieldy over time, limiting companies’ ability to move quickly and flexibly in today’s dynamic business environment.
To overcome this and other issues, companies like Amazon, eBay and Netflix are leveraging microservice architectures. The microservices model has been defined by Martin Fowler, author, software developer and an early supporter of microservices as "an approach to developing a single application as a suite of small services, each running in its own process and communicating with lightweight mechanisms, often an HTTP resource API."
How to download Windows 10 Creators Update and create your own installation USB flash drive or DVD
Windows 10 Creators Update is slowly rolling out to all users but the process may take a while. You can hurry it along, by following the instructions here, or there's another even better way.
If you can’t wait to try the new features, the good news is Microsoft has updated its Media Creation tool to include the update and you can use this to download Windows 10 now and create your own installation media on either a USB flash drive or DVD. This is particularly handy if you want to perform a clean install, or update multiple computers in quick succession.
Global IT spending will reach $3.5 trillion in 2017
Worldwide IT spending will jump another 1.4 percent this year, according to a new report by Gartner. The report says IT spending is expected to hit $3.5 trillion this year. A quarter before, the increase was 2.7 percent, but the difference occurred mostly due to the strengthening of the US dollar.
"The strong US dollar has cut $67 billion out of our 2017 IT spending forecast," says John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. "We expect these currency headwinds to be a drag on earnings of US-based multinational IT vendors through 2017."
It's game over for Windows Vista as Microsoft ends support today
According to NetMarketShare, Windows Vista's usage share is now down to just 0.72 percent of the desktop OS market. In the real world, that's still quite a large number of people using Vista -- around 10 million or so -- although significantly fewer than those using XP. The ancient OS, which Microsoft stopped supporting in 2014, currently has 7.44 percent share, making it the third most popular version of Windows after 7 and 10. Yes, it's more popular than Windows 8.1 which has 6.66 percent share -- go figure.
Today, April 11 2017, is the day when Microsoft kills its extended support for Windows Vista. If you're still using that OS -- which was never very good even when it was new -- now is the time to really think about making the switch to a more modern operating system, such as Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (which now receives extended support only), Windows 8.1, or Windows 10. We all know which OS Microsoft would like you to choose.
Registry Finder adds concurrent search support
Sergey Filippov’s excellent Registry editor and search tool Registry Finder has hit version 2.18 with some major additions.
The big news is that searches now run independently of everything else. There’s no need to sit and wait for a search to complete: you can browse other parts of the Registry, carry out edits or other tasks while the search continues.
Accountants are embracing artificial intelligence
Despite the popular belief that artificial intelligence is coming to take your jobs away, accountants would love some robotic help to get them through the day. This is according to a new report by Sage, which says 96 percent of accountants are confident about the future of accountancy as well as their role in it.
Despite welcoming change, more than two thirds of respondents (68 percent) expect their roles to change through automation, in the future.
Are bot-on-bot battles holding the IoT back?
We know by now that smart home devices have the ability to make our lives more convenient. Moving beyond devices, some IoT providers are deploying bots, which use artificial intelligence to create hyper-personalized services that will take consumer convenience to a whole new level.
Bots are a relatively new term for most, but this past year consumers have become more familiar with bots thanks mostly to conversations around chatbots. Recently, Wikipedia’s content-editing bots made the news too when Oxford researchers found that they were contradicting edits they were making to articles on the website. The bot-on-bot fights went unnoticed because our knowledge and understanding of how bots interact with one another is limited. As bots began to find their way into other services, we’ll see this problem span beyond Wikipedia, proving an enormous need to understand their interactions.
Microsoft Spring Sale offers amazing deals on Windows PCs, Xbox games, apps, videos, music, and more
Spring is officially here, and for many people, that signals the start of cleaning their homes. "Spring Cleaning," as it is typically called, sees people throwing out unused items, donating old clothes, and rearranging clutter.
If you aren't in the mood for cleaning, Microsoft is offering a less responsible alternative -- shopping. The company's "Spring Sale" starts tomorrow and offers amazing deals on video games, apps, music, TV shows, movies, and hardware. There is great content to be had for Windows, Xbox One, and even Xbox 360. If you need a Windows PC, Microsoft will be offering 33 percent off select models too.
Merchants need to make payments a core part of their commerce strategy
Transactions are the foundation of business, but too often in our line of work we see payments treated as an afterthought.
As a consumer, we’ve all gone through an online checkout only to find they don’t take our card or our preferred mobile wallet, spotted a product online and struggled to find a place we can buy it, had to leave an app, or, worse still, download one to buy something, or landed on a confusing looking checkout page that looks completely different to the rest of the website.
MicFlip 2.0 reversible microUSB cable [Review]
USB Type-C has a number of benefits over older connectors, but the one that might appeal the most to the average Joe is its reversible design. This makes it easy to plug a cable in, as you no longer have to guess which way is up -- unlike, for instance, with microUSB. It's not a game-changing feature -- considering Apple's Lightning offered it years ago first -- but I think it's pretty damn close to it.
The problem is that, in order to enjoy that reversible design, you need devices that support USB Type-C. And, right now, not many of them do. However, there is a way to have your cake and eat it too. WinnerGear's MicFlip 2.0 gives you the best of both worlds: it has reversible microUSB and USB Type-A connectors, which means that you can use it without problems with the vast majority of smartphones and PCs.
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