How do you stop programs loading at startup

One of the reasons windows can take ages to start can be due to the number of programs or apps trying launch automatically at startup. Over time you install programs and they decide they should add something to your startup list. Our new video shows how to manage this.
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Help plan 2021 with Microsoft Planner

Microsoft 365 has some amazing productivity and collaborative tools already built in.Did you know that within Teams there’s a useful project planning tool?Watch our short video for the lowdown on how to use Microsoft Planner.
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What does ransomware mean to you?

It's one of the fastest growing crimes in the world.. but what does it mean to you? Ransomware can be scary. What if you switch on your work computer tomorrow morning and instead of the screen you normally see, the screen goes totally red. Your then shown a message saying that your business's data has all been locked and that the only way to retrieve it will be to pay thousands in Bitcoin. Statistics suggest is not a rare event. It happens to businesses every day - everywhere - even in Ryedale. Every business is at risk. And it can be one of the hardest things for us as your IT support company to fix. We’ve written a brand new guide.
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Is your phone system ready for the hybrid workplace?

When was the last time you upgraded your business phone system?If it’s been 5 years or more, then you’re overdue an upgrade.You probably update your laptop and mobile phone every few years. Business phones are no different.Designed to work in the office, from home or on the move, watch our new video to see the benefits from installing a 2020 VoIP system for your business.
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tKnowITman

Working From Home: Slow Internet? Try hotspotting your phone

I've had a few people saying that their broadband is slower than normal at home. This can be because you are normally not working from home at this time of day but more likely due to the increased volume of people using the internet for surfing, watching Netflix, Prime, YouTube, etc. First, try rebooting the router, check the microfilters on phone outlets and try an ethernet cable if wi-fi is poor. If you are using a laptop over wi-fi and you also have a smartphone with a decent 4G signal then try creating a local HotSpot on the phone and then connect your laptop to the hotspot rather than your normal router. See if things run any quicker Remember to check your data tariff and allowance though
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tKnowIT: Services mostly as usual

With the latest announcement from the government, it is important that you know that tKnowIT is able to provide you with your normal IT support, monitoring and maintenances services. This includes businesses who currently don't have a support agreement with tKnowIT but need help on a pay as you go basis. tKnowIT can help with IT systems, assistance with staff working from home, auditing and securing their machines, etc. It is sad to see so many businesses are having to shut their doors until this all blows-over but I’m in the fortunate position that a lot of IT tasks can be performed remotely.
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MS Teams: Here’s how to make project communication as easy as possible

Managing multiple projects with lots of different contributors can be a real headache.Unless you use one of the world’s favourite collaboration tools – that you may already be paying for.
Read more

New Utility: Has your email address been stolen?

Has your email address been stolen?We have put together a new tool for you to use for free that can tell you if your email address has been stolen.If it has been stolen you can use the contact form to request more information from us.
Read more

Office 365: Checking for updates

Start MS Word Click File menu option then click Account Click Update Options followed by Update Now A message will then appear
Read more

How do you stop programs loading at startup

One of the reasons windows can take ages to start can be due to the number of programs or apps trying launch automatically at startup. Over time you install programs and they decide they should add something to your startup list. Our new video shows how to manage this.
Read more

Help plan 2021 with Microsoft Planner

Microsoft 365 has some amazing productivity and collaborative tools already built in.Did you know that within Teams there’s a useful project planning tool?Watch our short video for the lowdown on how to use Microsoft Planner.
Read more

What does ransomware mean to you?

It's one of the fastest growing crimes in the world.. but what does it mean to you? Ransomware can be scary. What if you switch on your work computer tomorrow morning and instead of the screen you normally see, the screen goes totally red. Your then shown a message saying that your business's data has all been locked and that the only way to retrieve it will be to pay thousands in Bitcoin. Statistics suggest is not a rare event. It happens to businesses every day - everywhere - even in Ryedale. Every business is at risk. And it can be one of the hardest things for us as your IT support company to fix. We’ve written a brand new guide.
Read more

Is your phone system ready for the hybrid workplace?

When was the last time you upgraded your business phone system?If it’s been 5 years or more, then you’re overdue an upgrade.You probably update your laptop and mobile phone every few years. Business phones are no different.Designed to work in the office, from home or on the move, watch our new video to see the benefits from installing a 2020 VoIP system for your business.
Read more
tKnowITman

Working From Home: Slow Internet? Try hotspotting your phone

I've had a few people saying that their broadband is slower than normal at home. This can be because you are normally not working from home at this time of day but more likely due to the increased volume of people using the internet for surfing, watching Netflix, Prime, YouTube, etc. First, try rebooting the router, check the microfilters on phone outlets and try an ethernet cable if wi-fi is poor. If you are using a laptop over wi-fi and you also have a smartphone with a decent 4G signal then try creating a local HotSpot on the phone and then connect your laptop to the hotspot rather than your normal router. See if things run any quicker Remember to check your data tariff and allowance though
Read more

tKnowIT: Services mostly as usual

With the latest announcement from the government, it is important that you know that tKnowIT is able to provide you with your normal IT support, monitoring and maintenances services. This includes businesses who currently don't have a support agreement with tKnowIT but need help on a pay as you go basis. tKnowIT can help with IT systems, assistance with staff working from home, auditing and securing their machines, etc. It is sad to see so many businesses are having to shut their doors until this all blows-over but I’m in the fortunate position that a lot of IT tasks can be performed remotely.
Read more

MS Teams: Here’s how to make project communication as easy as possible

Managing multiple projects with lots of different contributors can be a real headache.Unless you use one of the world’s favourite collaboration tools – that you may already be paying for.
Read more

New Utility: Has your email address been stolen?

Has your email address been stolen?We have put together a new tool for you to use for free that can tell you if your email address has been stolen.If it has been stolen you can use the contact form to request more information from us.
Read more

Office 365: Checking for updates

Start MS Word Click File menu option then click Account Click Update Options followed by Update Now A message will then appear
Read more

If you have a Windows 7 machine and you use it for business, you MUST replace it by the end of this year.
Why? Because it’ll be a major target for hackers in January next year (2020).
This is a serious threat to many businesses in Ryedale and beyond. It will leave their entire computer network open to hackers.
We’ve created a new short video to tell you why it’s such a problem, and why you mustn’t wait too long to replace your old tech. Remember what happened when the NHS were still running Windows XP?
To comply with GDPR you should also have a plan to replace any machines running windows 7.

It might have only just turned 2019. But we want you to look ahead to next January, in 2020.
Because there’s a major software problem on the way… and it’s going to affect half of all businesses and organisations in Ryedale.
In January 2020 Microsoft is ending the life of lots of old versions of popular software.
This includes the 2010 version of Office, some popular server software – and Windows 7.
If you have even one computer that runs any of this software, you’ve got a major headache from next January.
In fact, your business will be at severe risk of being hacked, as well as no longer being GDPR-compliant.
We’ve put together a brand new guide to help you see if your business will be affected – anyone can check, regardless of technical ability.
Plus we tell you why you mustn’t wait till next year to take action. This problem has to be tackled now.

21 ways to help your staff get more done, in less time – with Office 365
Do you already use Microsoft Office 365 in your business?
Lots of people already do. It’s now got 120 million active users across the world. And 50,000 small businesses sign up every month.

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

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.

Your business is losing hundreds of hours to spam every year

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.

The business owner’s briefing: Reduce the burden on your brain

When you own or manage a business, your cognitive load can be overwhelming.Not only do you have your own work to think about, but your focus often has to be split between that and what your people need from you.That can mean interruption after interruption; a mounting to-do list; and never quite achieving that work/life balance. Which was probably one of your main goals when you started your business.

Now ‘Do Not Disturb’ means exactly that

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.

At last! Google Chrome’s going to block disruptive notifications

When you’re browsing it can feel like you’re being bombarded with things other people want you to see.Not only do we have to click on permissions for cookies and tracking, but now a lot of websites ask for our permission to send us notifications.And while many of these notifications are harmless – news updates, latest recipes, product releases – sometimes they can be outright spam.It’s distracting, it’s making us less productive at work, and it’s just really annoying.It’s called ‘notification spam’ and it’s becoming a problem. In fact, Google says it’s one of the top complaint reports from people using its Chrome browser.So now the tech giant has decided to do more about it.

Is your business making these cyber security mistakes?

It feels like every day we’re being warned about a new threat to our cyber security, doesn’t it?That’s for good reason. Last year, ransomware attacks alone affected 73% of UK businesses.And the cost of cyber-crime is estimated to hit $10.5 trillion by 2025, according to the ‘2022 Cybersecurity Almanac’.But we’re still seeing far too many businesses that aren’t taking this threat seriously.It’s not only your data that you could lose if your company falls victim to a cyber-attack. The cost of remediation or mitigation can run into tens of thousands of £££.And at the same time you’ll suffer an average of 21 days downtime after a cyber-attack. Imagine… 21 days without being able to use all your business technology as normal. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

Most ransomware victims would pay up if attacked again

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.

3 easy upgrades to improve your video call setup

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.
DigitalTransformation

What could digital IT transformation do for your business?

We have all seen a LOT of change over the past couple of years.We’ve changed the way we work. The way we shop. And the way we interact with others.How has your business changed?What change do you need to make in the years ahead?And how does your technology help to power that?