Amber Computer Solutions

Backups
We all know backups are important, boring, inconvenient, but essential in saving our bacon when things go catastrophically wrong.
So why do so few of us do them on a regular basis?

Read the rest of my article about Backups here on my website blog
https://www.ambercomputersolutions.co.uk/

Happy New Year Everyone!

I had a phishing email in today so I thought I would share this with you.

So what is phishing?

Phishing is a type of social engineering attack in which cyber criminals trick victims into handing over sensitive information or installing malware.

More often than not they do this via malicious emails that appear to be from trusted senders

So this email is not a very good phishing email, it has some features that are just plain suspicious.

1. It arrived to an email address that I have never given to the NHS.
2. The email address does not match who it should be from, the email is supposed to be from the NHS. So you would expect the email address to end in .scot (if you're in Scotland)
3. They used an email address instead of my name in the body of the email.
4. The link they want me to click on is also not connected with the NHS. It starts with NHS but the important bit is just before the 3rd / in the link, it says mond.jp and jp is the internet location for Japan.
5. They are telling me that I have 12 hours to click the link. The NHS wouldn't give such a short time limit. Scammers like to give you short deadlines so you are more inclined to click on the links.

So to sum up

1. Always check who sent the email by looking at the senders address.
2. Always check where a link will take you before clicking on it.
3. If you think an email maybe a scam, simply delete it before clicking on any links. If it is a legitimate email, the sender if desperate will either phone you or write to you by letter.

I hope you found this info helpful. If you do get an email and you are unsure you can always contact me and I will help you decide if it is legitimate or not.

Take care.
Ian

Windows 11 is coming

Hello Everyone, I hope you’re all well.

Windows 11 is coming as a free upgrade from Windows 10 and should start rolling out on the 5th of October.

Windows 11 is the new Operating System that will replace Windows 10.

I know, we all thought Windows 10 was going to be the very last version of Windows and that Microsoft would just simply keep upgrading and improving Windows 10. And we all thought that because Microsoft had been saying that ever since Windows 10 came out.

But no, Microsoft changed their mind and here comes Windows 11.

Will my computer run Windows 11?

Windows 10 is less fussy about the hardware of your computer than Windows 11. If your computer currently runs Windows 10 then there is a good chance it will run Windows 11 except for one major hardware sticking point. And that is the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip, version 2.0.

Windows 11 requires this Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip, and it must be version 2.0.
If your computer was manufactured after 2015 then it has a TPM chip which is version 2.0.

The TPM chip handles all things to do with encryption, so it’s a good thing that Windows 11 requires it to work; it’s a move by Microsoft to make all our computers more secure. But it does mean that if your computer was manufactured before 2015 then you won’t be able to upgrade your Windows 10 to Windows 11.

Do you want Windows 11?

Most of Windows 11’s improvements are cosmetic, changes to the start menu, taskbar and desktop.
There are some improvements in app speed and resource usage, which could translate into better battery life and faster wake times from sleep mode.

One thing to bear in mind is that whenever a new operating system is released there are always teething problems, incompatibilities and things that just weren’t tested before release.

All Microsoft products have suffered with this, Windows 10 had many problems when it was first released. And Windows 11 will no doubt have similar issues.

So it may be better to wait and see. Let other people try and use Windows 11, let them fix all the faults, you can then upgrade in a year or more, when the problems have all been ironed out.

Windows 10 security patch updates end in 2025, so we have plenty of time for other people to fix any problems and for Windows 11 to become a much better product.

If you have any questions or want to talk about upgrading then please get in touch.