Advanced Systems

Thanks to all who attended our Windows 7 Launch Party on October 22, 2009. We had over twenty party goers who took part. Since they were all business people, we talked about the performance and legacy compatibility features that this new operating system brings to the enterprise.

If you're interested in knowing more about Windows 7 for your business, give us a call at the office nearest you:

Following is a list of the top five technologies which will have an impact on how businesses use IT in their operation in the next few years. This is based on a larger list from Gartner Research targeted towards large enterprises but we have picked out the items more relevant to small and medium enterprises. Why do they these matter to your business? They will help you maximise the effective use of IT while driving down costs associated with traditional IT models. Many are easy to setup and low cost to implement. If they work for global enterprises, they'll work for you.

Trojans accounted for 70 percent of all new malware between April and June 2009, according to data compiled in the latest PandaLabs Quarterly Report. Adware rose dramatically over this period, from 7.54 percent in the previous quarter to 16.37 percent. This is largely due to the increase in fake antivirus applications, a type of adware that passes itself off as a legitimate security solution. As for worms, their percentage has also risen slightly, now accounting for 4.4 percent of all malware.Trojans were also responsible for more infections than any other type of malware over this period. This type of malware was behind 34.37 percent of all infections detected by PandaLabs, an increase of 2.86 percent with respect to the previous quarter. Adware infection levels remained stable, accounting for 19.62 percent of the total.

In terms of specific strains of malware, the number one ranked specimen between April and June 2009 was Downloader.MDW, a Trojan designed to download other malware on to computers. The Virtumonde spyware and Rebooter.J Trojan were also among the malicious codes that caused most infections.

With burgeoning data requirements in even the smallest of businesses, simplifying access to it becomes a major headache. Obviously, dumping data on a PCs internal hard drive isn't a viable option anymore. The complexity increases with the advent of devices like laptops, smart phones and PDAs, hooking up to the LAN and trying to access data conveniently through a central location.

A NAS (network attached storage) box is an acceptable option for small business networks. Not only are these devices small, but they are equipped with hard drives which can store up to 4TB of data, and connect through an ethernet cable into a network port or router. You can also plug in a USB device such as a printer, to a NAS device and make it accessible over the network. These devices are ideal for small offices with 10 to 15 PCs for compact, centralized storage accessible from anywhere, including over the Internet.