Ever wondered if your apps are spying on you? Now you can find out

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It’s no secret that some applications are a little too interested in us and what we’re doing.

We’ve all had this experience. You might be talking to a friend about a new product that you’d like to try. Or perhaps you’ve discussed somewhere you’d like to visit.

Then the next time you go online you see adverts for the exact things you were talking about.

It’s more than a coincidence, surely???

Until recently, we haven’t had a lot of control over what information our apps are gathering about us.

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Your business is losing hundreds of hours to spam every year

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Spam emails. Everyone hates them.

It’s not just the emotional pain of clearing spam from your inbox. Having to do that is a real productivity killer, too.

A recent report found that each one of your employees could be losing up to 80 hours each year, thanks to filtering and deleting spam emails.

That’s a LOT of lost productivity.

Anywhere between 45% and 85% of emails generated each day are spam emails. And worryingly, that also includes malicious emails and those hoping to infect you with malware.

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Now ‘Do Not Disturb’ means exactly that

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Imagine hours to get on with your most important tasks, without any interruptions from your team.

It’s the dream isn’t it?

A major update to Windows 11 will help you work with zero distractions. Our new video shows you how.

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Most ransomware victims would pay up if attacked again

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Ransomware is one of the fastest growing cyber-crimes in the world. Last year, 37% of businesses were victim to an attack.

In case you didn’t know, a ransomware attack is where cyber criminals infiltrate your network (or device) and steal your data by encrypting it. The data is still there, but you can’t access it.

Then they demand you pay a large ransom fee for the encryption key.

If you don’t pay the demand (which can be tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds), they delete your data.

It’s not just the cost of the ransom fee to worry about. There’s the stress, reputational damage and downtime that goes with it. In 2021, the average downtime suffered after a ransomware attack was 22 days.

Official advice is not to pay any ransomware demands.

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3 easy upgrades to improve your video call setup

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Early on in the first lockdowns in 2020, did you ever sit at your computer and think “I really like working from home”?

Or were you the opposite; desperate to get back into a building and meet with other people like in the old days?

Whichever was the case – and whether you feel the same now – we’ve ended up with a mix of the two: Hybrid working.

Some people are in the office. Some are at home. The days of having everyone together at the same time are gone. Maybe forever.

Which means that video calls are here to stay.

If you want to invest in your video call setup, here are three easy upgrades for you.

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Is this the end of passwords?

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No-one likes passwords.

Creating them. Remembering them. Typing them in.

Your whole mood can change when an application you’re using suddenly logs you out, and you have to go through login all over again.

It’s frustrating for everyone.

So here’s some very welcome news, courtesy of Microsoft, Apple and Google. The tech giants have joined forces to kill off the password for good.

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Three new Teams features to look forward to

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The use of Microsoft Teams has just exploded in the last few years, and it now boasts 270 million people using it every month.

Of course, it was the right tool at the right time when we all rushed to working from home at the start of the pandemic.

But the growth of Teams has continued, even if some believe the growth has slowed down a little recently.

Teams is so important to some businesses, that the owners and managers wonder how they ever managed without it.

Teams gives us the ability to stay connected wherever we’re working, and to collaborate on projects with no fuss.

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Three clever tricks to get more out of Teams

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Many business we discuss Microsoft Teams with agree it’s an incredible tool for communication and collaboration.

There are many clever tricks you can do with Teams. Here are three you might not have seen before.

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Businesses are spending more on IT this year

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As a business owner or manager, you know how important good IT is. Your business couldn’t function without it.

Your IT isn’t just about computers and data. It’s everything from your phone system, to your printers, to where you access your documents.

And that’s without going into the measures you must take to keep your data and infrastructure safe and secure from cyber criminals.

So we weren’t surprised by a new forecast from IT research and consultancy firm, Gartner, which predicts businesses will spend more on technology this year.

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Is your team still working at 10pm?

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If you have people working remotely in your business, you’re probably used to emails flying around at all hours of the day or night.

Working from home has been life-changing for some. Your people are able to be more flexible with their time during the day, fitting in time for school pick-ups and appointments where perhaps they couldn’t before.

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