Our News, Tips and Advice

Cyber-attack prevention is a new reality for the businesses of today. Yes, the selection of available antivirus software is impressive but hackers have also progressed! Today they can reach your data in multiple ways, often by crafting some very complex attacks.   Mechanisms they may be using to reach your data vary but broadly this is how they can be classified:  File viruses – infect program files, for instance .exe files. These can then infect other files…

In 1971 Bob Thomas wrote a program for BBN Technologies and unlike most programs at the time it had no productive purpose other than for research. It was designed to slowly fill up the storage of a computer until it was so full that the computer could no longer operate properly. They called this program “Creeper”. Later on, Ray Tomlinson created…

I was astounded to read (“Why you should never use Microsoft Excel to count coronavirus cases“) that the reason so many positive cases of coronavirus were missed off the statistics recently was because outdated software was being used.  What? Data was being uploaded to the national statistics in comma separated value (.csv) format to .xls Excel…

Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of an email looks like? Your inbox is a target of many companies, regardless of their size, industry or location. It is a destination for some very important information. Companies use email for day-to-day communication with their customers, to welcome them and to send updates…

Here are a few quick steps to take to solve some of the common problems you may experience with your email. Hopefully this may save you some time before calling for IT support – of course, if you would rather, you can call us (01522 797520) and one of our engineers will always be happy…

Email has become the backbone for many businesses around the world, moving both important and trivial information quickly to as many people as you want. Like many things in life, its importance is most keenly felt during its absence and it always seems to go wrong at the worst time. Email is used for a…

When graduating from University of Lincoln with a 1st class degree in Business and Marketing I never imagined I would be working for an IT company. In my early twenties computers and technology were never my passion. When studying at secondary school I never used to enjoy ICT, in fact I must admit that I found computers unattractive and learning to use a computer keyboard a waste…

Antivirus software has been around for decades, it is likely the third least wanted piece of software on most computers after actual viruses and bloatware, yet it is one of the most essential. In a perfect world it wouldn’t be needed so long as everybody behaved themselves, but that is not the world we live…

During the current COVID 19 crisis, many companies have shared their knowledge and offered tips and tricks to help other businesses “bounce back” and perhaps change the direction of their company or offer their services in a different way.  Octagon Technology has taken a full part in this by offering free online training on Fridays…

My iPhone updated overnight to iOS 14 and over breakfast I of course had to play with the new features. In the current circumstances the Exposure Notification has got a lot of the headlines but in my first 30 minutes I really like the new widgets. When I had a look and play with them…

The Covid-19 situation presented a major threat to many businesses and individuals in the UK and globally. In the UK lockdown led to the closure of many businesses and the hospitality sector has been seriously affected. As of tomorrow (18th September) there will be new measures in place that have been designed to help us…