If you or someone you know is looking to improve their IT skills to help them get back into work or startup their own business, Access To Business have some online programs that might be of interest to you or them.
If you’re reading this and think you know someone who would benefit from the courses below, but the don’t have any way to get online at the moment, or are not confident getting online, then contact us and we might be able to help them.
Basic Computer Skills
If you need help with the first steps to being online (turning a computer, phone or tablet on, getting connected, setting up an email account and so on) then the Future Digital Inclusion – Learn My way course is for you.
It’s module based and takes you through every step at your own pace and in a way you can understand and learn from.
Becoming More Confident Accenture Project
This project is aimed two groups of people:
Those with a current employment history (currently in work or have previously worked) including:
People aged 25+ years (i.e. not first-time job seekers) interested in building their digital confidence and capability – ready for future job opportunities, and less vulnerable in a digital world.
Helping people with low digital skills to build their digital skills and confidence to achieve their personal goals
Providing skills training for enterprise or employment
Supporting job-seekers 25+ years
Supporting people in full-time or part-time work to improve their job prospects.
Use of existing or new resources, including free online courses through Learn My Way.
Apps & Services – Make IT Happen
There are many modules here designed to teach you how to best use common apps and services such as the many Google services (GMail, Calendar, Docs…) Microsoft services (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint…) Photography, Online design tools (Canva) and more.
HMRC
And if you’re after help with Child Tax Credits, Working Tax Credit, PAYE, VAT, National Insurance, JRS (Job Retention Scheme), Tax Returns and Furloughing, the HMRC Sessions are an excellent place to get the information you need.
How do I access the courses?
Simple, just call or email Jim Brennan or Simon Moore at Access To Business and they’ll get you sorted with log in details.
If you need help getting started with technology, remember that we offer a range of services for new businesses, taking care of your IT needs so you can concentrate on what you do best.
We can sort out your IT needs with equipment, websites, email accounts, domain names and everything else IT related, that you might need to help your business flourish.
A recent survey of full-time employees highlighted the gap between company IT security policy and the awareness and effectiveness of that during day-to-day practices. Read more
There’s a growing awareness of the importance of keeping your information secure and many people are now looking at ways to protect their internet communications. With Google upping the standards on secure HTTP connections and the GDPR re-emphasising the importance of protecting information both in your care and during transport, attention has been turned to the insecure, ubiquitous, e-mail.
The GDPR regulations have been in force for one month now and it’s great to see so many organisations large and small taking on board the message that individuals personal information is a privilege to process and not a right. But for every exceptional measure we’re also seen some poorly put together privacy policies that fail to pass GDPR standards, either using inappropriate lawful bases, not declaring the use of their party processors, not notifying individuals of personal information obtained not directly from them, or just outright misuse of personal information. Read more
As we roll on towards the European Union General Data Protection Regulation early next year, it’s becoming even more important for companies of all sizes to tackle data security within their structure. Small businesses may have a simpler organisational setup but lack the required skills and resources to manage their data within the new regulations framework, and medium sized enterprises might have some in-house IT skills, but a massively more complex data structure and processing setup that are adding to data security issues. Read more
It doesn’t matter how how big your server is, without it, some critical part of your network is not going to function correctly.
It might be as simple as a home computer managing connected devices, or it could be a virtual server farm hosting business critical applications.
We’ve seen all sorts of servers over time, from old Unix based boxes, or Windows 2000 desktops, through to Virtual Server farms running on VMWare with multiple host OS’s.
We’ve had some interesting operating systems and setups that don’t usually qualify as a server environment too. But if it’s providing your network with a service, it is a server and it’s important or even critical to your needs.
What qualifies as a Server?
Like many terms used in IT, the term ‘Server’ nowadays refers to a broad range of devices and applications that serve a resource of some nature to other devices that request it.
Typically we think of a dedicated device or machine that has an operating system that is configured to perform one or more services to other computers (known as clients) on the network.
The services (sometimes called daemons) can be anything from providing information (such as DNS) configuration information (such as DHCP) storage (like Shared files or printers) or resources (such as shared processing)
Some common services you might come across (and are using even if you don’t realise it) are;
DNS (Domain Name System) Which is like the phonebook of the internet and networks, letting one device connect to another over a network.
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) Which is the way a device can connect to your network and be identified by a number. (IP Address)
File (Sometimes called NAS, SMB, CIFS, AFP, NFS, FTP and many more protocols) This is how networks share files around, usually by means of a ‘shared folder’ on your computer.
Printer (Or spooler) This is the way many computers can print to a single printer that itself is not necessarily network aware.
Web This is a type of server that provide web pages when you visit a website.
There are many other types of daemon/service that are in common use and many many more that are specialised. Some require quite specialised knowledge on how to configure and maintain them, others are more simple or are able to maintain themselves to a certain degree.
#WeCanHelp
We’re experienced in installing, configuring and managing servers of all sizes and varieties. We’ve dealt with some very interesting configurations over time, as some networks grow they inherit peculiarities and creative thinking! so we’re used to dealing with non ‘white paper’ setups and configurations.
We know how networks grow, so don’t be embarrassed if your network is not conventional!
In 1971, an engineer working on the ARPANET sent the first ever email from himself on the workstation he was sat at, to himself on the workstation sitting next to his. From this humble beginning email bloomed into the de-facto communication tool used world over.
How we use Email
The way in which email is used, and the technology used for sending and receiving emails, has changed only slightly since it’s conception. The internet boom of the early 1990’s saw email become the most popular form of communication between connected users. This was especially significant in business, where it quickly became a hindrance to business not to have an email account.
Free Email v Paid
Remember when the internet used to sound like this?
The growth of email was spurred by the boom in free web-based email accounts such as Freeserve, Hotmail, AOL and Gmail. Many users signed up with a free email account that they still use today. Hotmail (now Outlook) recently reported that 66% of email accounts created in the first three years of its service are still in daily use.
While having a @hotmail.com email address is fine for casual users, using a free email account for business is best avoided, not least because many free email accounts explicitly state that they are not to be used for business.
Having a registered domain name such as www.yourcompany.com gives you the opportunity to have a personalised email address such as sales@yourcomapny.com giving a much more professional look to your printed and published media.
Spam
It’s a matter of fact that spam exists and it’s practically impossible to have an email account that you use and not get spam of some kind or another. Some spam is going to be annoying unsolicited adverts, while more dangerous unwanted emails are linked to virus spreading or phishing attacks.
Being able to manage your inbound email gives you the ability to remove a lot of the junk before it gets to your inbox. You can also manage genuine emails better, filtering out and highlight potential new clients, service and sales emails from admin and other day-to-day communication.
#WeCanHelp
We can help you setup and manage your email every step of the way. We can help you if you decide to self host or use a hosted provider, with configuring your DNS records and setting up inbound and outbound email viruses scanning.
We can install a firewall to monitor incoming and outgoing emails for make sure confidential data is not being sent out without your knowledge, and to generate reports on your email so you can see which emails generate the best response from recipients.
You have probably heard on the news that millions of computers around the world have been infected with a piece of ransomware, have you checked if your home and business PC’s are protected? Read more
Scam emails pretending to be from the Government Gateway are being set out again.
Some scam emails are still offering larger bodily parts or performance enhancing substances but they are easy to spot by both humans and computers. So the scammers have taken things up a notch in the past year or so, creating plausible and relevant scam emails that could catch the unwary.
One such email currently being distributed is pretending to be from the Government Gateway, part of the UK’s e-Government service for various business and tax electronic form submissions. Read more
