http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/ en-gb Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:36:41 GMT http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/February-2010/End-of-Windows-7-RC-Trial.aspx http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/February-2010/End-of-Windows-7-RC-Trial.aspx Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:08:54 GMT If you are still running a release candidate version of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, it's almost time to move on. The trial, pre release version of the operating system was made available by Microsoft for free to both vendors and consumers early May last year. All Release Candidates have a limited life to which they will be able to be used. As of March 1, 2010, any Release Candidate of Windows 7 will begin shutting down every 2 hours, no work will be saved during the shutdown. Further measures such as a solid black desktop wallpaper and persistent messages, will add to remind your copy of Windows is no longer genuine. To continue, a prior version of windows or a retail copy of Windows 7 will need to be installed on any machine running a release candidate, from scratch. http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/February-2010/Dell-disable-nondell-disk-drives-from-high-end-controllers.aspx http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/February-2010/Dell-disable-nondell-disk-drives-from-high-end-controllers.aspx Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:13:47 GMT Dell recently confirmed on a mailing list, that Dell is barring the use of non-Dell-qualified hard drives on its newest PowerEdge servers. A poster asked on the mailing list why his 11th generation Dell PowerEdge server - a R710 with H700 PowerEdge RAID controller (PERC) - had not allowed the non-qualified hard drives he attempted to install. Dell replied, "It is common practice in enterprise storage solutions to limit drive support to only those drives which have been qualified by the vendor. In the case of Dell's PERC RAID controllers, we began informing customers when a non-Dell drive was detected with the introduction of PERC5 RAID controllers in early 2006. With the introduction of the PERC H700/H800 controllers, we began enabling only the use of Dell qualified drives." "There are a number of benefits for using Dell qualified drives in particular ensuring a positive experience and protecting our data," They went on to say. The blocking of other brand Hard Disks is typical in high end vendors and Dell does have seem to have good reason of taking this policy with their high end drive controllers. http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/February-2010/HMRC-Phishing-Scam.aspx http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/February-2010/HMRC-Phishing-Scam.aspx Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:45:11 GMT Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has warned taxpayers not to respond to the "phishing" e-mails, as it currently informs customers of a refund by post only. A large quantity of e-mails appearing to be from a valid HMRC domain on first glance have been sent out ahead of this Sunday's tax return. They will lead users to fill in forms online to gather confidential information where victims data is typicalls sold on to criminal organisations. Fake HMRC e-mails are not uncommon and such an event as a scheduled tax return has caused a surge of phishing e-mails. They can appear as such. From: HM Revenue and Customs [mailto:no-reply@hmrc.gov.uk] Sent: To: user@domain.co.uk Subject: Notice of Underreported Income Taxpayer ID: Name-00000281265065UK Tax Type: INCOME TAX Issue: Unreported/Underreported Income (Fraud Application) Please review your tax statement on HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) website (click on the link below): Link Removed review tax statement for taxpayer id: Name-00000281265065UK HM Revenue and Customs http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/January-2010/Microsoft-Patch-Tuesday--Janurary-2010.aspx http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/January-2010/Microsoft-Patch-Tuesday--Janurary-2010.aspx Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:58:53 GMT Microsoft scheduled release of updates on a tuesday has come for 2010's first batch of updates. The main secuity update is MS10-001/KB972270 Low Importance (XP, Vista, W7, 2003, 2008) / Critical (2000): This patch fills a hole in the OpenType font engine. This vulnerability would allow specially crafted fonts embedded in a file to allow a remote code execution attack. The executing code has the rights of the currently logged on user, which is presumably why Microsoft gives a lower rating to the newer products. 437KB - 1.2MB Other updates incuded tuesdays release. KB971513 - Windows Automation API KB973685 - Update to the XML 4.0 Core Services SP3 KB973688 - Update to the XML 4.0 Core Services SP2 http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/September-2009/Windows-7-Home-Premium--30-For-Students.aspx http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/September-2009/Windows-7-Home-Premium--30-For-Students.aspx Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:37:58 GMT Microsoft has announced that from October 1st it will offer Windows 7 Home Premium pre-orders to UK university students for just £30. This is confirmed to be a limited time only offer and is only eligible to college and university students with a valid .EDU email address (an email address given by the college or university, for example: Suzanne@warwick.ac.uk ), a PC that is currently running a genuine copy of Windows Vista or Windows XP and can run Windows 7. A special promotional price on professional edtion is also expected to be announced shortly. http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/June-2009/Windows-7-To-Ship-Without-Internet-Browser.aspx http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/June-2009/Windows-7-To-Ship-Without-Internet-Browser.aspx Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:10:51 GMT In Feburary 2008, Microsoft was fined 899m euros (£765m) by the European Commission for anti-competitive behaviour for bundling software into the operating system. Software such as Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player. Brussels reached a preliminary view that Microsoft was denting the chance for true competition by bundling its browser software in with its operating system. Microsoft earlier this year announced that Windows 7 was to be modular in design, allowing users to remove components that they did not want. It has now been confirmed Windows 7 will not be released with an internet browser at launch date. Microsoft will provide users a method of installing Internet Explorer 8 if they so wish as a matter of user choice. Windows 7 is to be released worldwide on 22 October. http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/June-2009/Windows-7-Release-Date.aspx http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/June-2009/Windows-7-Release-Date.aspx Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:38:19 GMT The next major release of the world's most popular operating system, will be available on 22 October 2009. Bill Veghte, Senior Vice President in the Windows Product Group, announced the launch at Computex 09 by stating, “we feel confident that we will deliver Windows 7 with our partners on October 22nd.” Windows 7 has been designed to be compatible with Vista so users do not have to invest in new hardware. Customers who buy a new PC with Vista will be offered upgrades to Windows 7 Windows 7 promises an improvement on Vista, and a simplification of security measures, features such as the UAC (User Access Control) which caused frustration for many users. Testers of the Windows 7 Release Candidate, have reported of increased performance over the Vista operating system, especially in terms of start-up and shutdown sequence of the computer. http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/April-2009/Google-has-become-the-worlds-first-100billion-brand.aspx http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/April-2009/Google-has-become-the-worlds-first-100billion-brand.aspx Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:29:00 GMT Google has become the world's first $100billion (£67 billion) brand, according to the latest BrandZ survey. The company was ranked No.1 for the third year running. The study found that the internet search giant has reached a brand value of $100,039m, a 16% year-on-year increase, the equivalent of £68.5billion. They are valued at almost 25 per cent more than their nearest rivals Microsoft. Microsoft, are valued at $76bn (£51bn) value, and Coca-Cola at $67bn (£45bn). Google marketing manager Lorraine Twohill said: "We know that without consumers you have nothing and there is a great element of trust in us." Google was formed at Stanford University by students Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1997. Other technology firms who made the top 10 include IBM in fourth place, Apple in sixth place and General Electric in eighth place. Vodafone made it into the top 10 for the first time, largely on the back of its wireless networking business. "It is a fantastic achievement to be one of the most valuable brands in the world, and we congratulate all brands that are featured in this ranking," said Eileen Campbell, global chief executive at Millward Brown Optimor. http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/April-2009/Microsoft-manufacturing-Windows-Vista-and-Server-2008-Service-Pack-2.aspx http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/April-2009/Microsoft-manufacturing-Windows-Vista-and-Server-2008-Service-Pack-2.aspx Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:52:55 GMT Service Pack 2 will include all the issued updates since Service Pack 1 and also offers support for new types and standards of hardware. The key benefits of Service Pack 2 are faster and improved relevancy in searches using Windows Search 4.0, a Bluetooth 2.1 feature pack which supports the most recent specification for Bluetooth technology, native support for Blu-Ray media, Windows Connect Now (WCN) to simplify Wi-Fi Configuration, Windows Vista SP2 enables the exFAT file system to support UTC timestamps, which allows correct file synchronization across time zones. Microsoft expect that Service Pack 2 will be publicly available via Automatic Update in the second quarter of 2009. Microsoft has also stated that the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Blocker Tool is being removed, meaning that those who are yet to upgrade to Service Pack 1 will see it starting t appear in Windows Update also. Microsoft is also ready to release the Release Candidate of Windows 7 to the millions of beta testers who have been trialling the Operating System, a full launch is expected later this summer. http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/April-2009/Oracle-Buys-Out-Sun-Microsystems.aspx http://www.ITServicesConnected.co.uk/News/April-2009/Oracle-Buys-Out-Sun-Microsystems.aspx Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:53:12 GMT Software developers Orace are to acquire computer hardware and software maker Sun Microsystems for $7.4bn (£5.1bn). Oracle is to pay $9.50 in cash for each share. Sun Microsystems portfolio of products include Java, MySQL, and the Solaris operating system. Oracle having a determined interest in pushing its own commercial database engine, makes the future of MySQL unclear. The deal comes a month after IBM abandoned its bid to buy Sun. Sun currently employs 33,000 people, while Oracle's workforce totals 86,000.