Windows 10 Update – what to expect

October 23, 2018
, , , Tech

If you’ve just downloaded the latest Windows 10  update, you might be wondering what you’re getting. There’s a new set of features, efficiency tweaks and, of course, new emojis. Here’s the full info…

Have you updated your computer to the latest version of Windows 10? It comes with new features such as the latest emojis, a smarter keyboard and more intelligent, faster updates.

 

As always, the update is free and available to download (if you haven’t go it already) and brings with it better sharing and integration with your mobile device. You can manually download the update by clicking the Windows/start button, clicking the settings cog and then typing ‘update’ into the search box. Select the ‘check for updates’ option and follow instructions from there.

 

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This is the second major update this year and there are some important security and privacy updates as well as allowing different users to tailor what information is shared with Microsoft.

 

 

Faster, Smaller and Smarter Updates

 

To be more precise; 31% faster, 40% smaller and a lot smarter about when to reboot your system. The updates are important, but you can delay it slightly by changing your update settings. However, one of the new features is Microsoft’s ‘Intelligent Reboot Scheduling’.

 

Too many of us have stepped away from our screens for a little too long and returned to find our system rebooting itself and being forced to wait for it to finish updating before being able to get back to work.

 

The new version will take into account your frequently active hours, whether you’re on battery power and will even mute sounds so that if it’s updating at night it won’t make a lot of noise and wake everyone up!

 

 

Mobile Integration

 

Part of the update is geared toward Windows relaunching its integration with other devices. Microsoft announced last year that it was no longer going to continue development of Windows 10 Mobile as it had been unable to effectively gain traction in the mobile market. This means Windows phones will only receive bug and security updates until 2019.

So there’s now a new ‘Your Phone’ app for providing access to photos and SMS messages on your Android phone. If you have an iPhone, then you’ll be able to send web pages you’re browsing to your PC.

 

Clipboard in the Cloud

Cloud-powered clipboard gives you the ability to copy something from one computer and paste to another. While this might not be the most exciting feature to hit your desktop, being able to pin frequently used paragraphs or images could be much more useful.

Timeline feature

Want to be able to track the documents and web pages you’ve been working on? This updated feature helps you look back at what you’ve been working on and has now been added to ‘Task View’. With the extra mobile integrations, it’ll now also be able to track your phone activity as well. Android users go to Google Play Store and install Microsoft Launcher App. iPhone users, your release will be coming soon.

 

New Virtual Keyboard

SwiftKey was bought by Microsoft two years ago and they have been working on a smarter screen keyboard for Windows. This update gives you SwiftKey’s predictive texts, AI learning, better autocorrect and better next word prediction.

 

Search Improvements

A better search facility

 

New emojis

Once you’ve downloaded your latest update, view all the new emojis by clicking Windows key  + full stop [ . ]

 

Search improvements

 

A better search facility has been added with previews of documents and files, recently accessed files when you search for an app and a pick up where you left off display.

 

 

Embed 3D animations

 

Add an extra dimension to your documents and PowerPoint presentations with embedded 3D animations and AI-powered smart art if you have a stylus you can also add in drawings and scribbles.

 

 

Magnifier

 

Enlarge part or all of your screen with Windows key and plus sign (+)

 

 

Snip and sketch

 

Share images and sections of your screen with the relaunched feature taking over from screen sketch. It gives you the ability to copy and paste snipped parts of your screen to share in emails and documents.

 

 

Block AutoPlay videos

 

Microsoft’s browser, Edge, also sees some added features with improvements to how it handles PDFs, a new definition dictionary feature and more usefully the ability to stop web pages automatically playing videos.

 

 

The Windows 10 update is an important part of your security. If you’re not quite sure that your security is up to scratch, then get in touch with us for a free security check at Free 30 Day IT Support Trial

 

 

Contact Us today, to know more about our IT network support services and discuss your project requirements.

What is a firewall?

July 30, 2018
, , , , Security

In computing and networks, a firewall is software, hardware or firmware (which is permanent software programmed into a read-only memory.) that follows a specific set of rules to decide whether to allow information or data to enter or leave a network.

Firewalls have been a crucial defence in network security for over 25 years. They are a virtual barrier between sources that are checked and trusted, and untrusted sources that come from outside an internal network.

Firewalls can be used for a wide range of devices and systems to lower the risk of malicious data travelling to and from the device.

The term firewall is a metaphor relating to a wall or partition designed to inhibit or prevent the spread of fire. The most common ones you see are fire doors in a commercial building or school. There are two main types of computing firewall; network based and host based.

Host-based means it’s installed on individual servers and monitors signals going in and out. A network-based firewall is held in the cloud as a virtual firewall.

When you’re looking at firewalls, you’ll come across some various terms within those host and network-based firewalls; proxy, stateful inspection, unified threat management (UTM), next-generation firewall (NGFW) and Threat focussed NGFW.

 

Why do you need a firewall?

Firewalls are just the first line in the defence against hacks and malicious intent.

In the same way that you lock your doors and windows before leaving the house, your firewall locks out unwanted intruders and makes you much less vulnerable to hackers who want to access your data or imitate your company (also known as spoofing).

Some of the most common attacks are IP spoofing, network packet sniffers, man-in-the-middle attacks, distribution of sensitive internal information to external sources and password attacks.

Password attacks can be achieved via password guessing (like you see in the movies), brute force login (where a programme guesses at a much higher rate per second but can often crash a system due to the resources required to cope with the constant attack) and password cracking (where the attacker gains access to the file on a computer that stores your passwords).

The results of not having adequate firewall protection can be minor or devastating. Sometimes the downtime alone is the most costly part of the disruption, but other outcomes can be damage to a company’s reputation or loss of crucial information.

Talk to us about the best firewalls and security for your organisation – get your free consultation via our contact page.

Contact Us today, to know more about our IT network support services and discuss your project requirements.

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