April 2020

TEKKTIMES
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April 2020
What’s inside
this month...
Things That Made The p.3
News Last Month
5 Top Tools For Remote p.4
Working
Web Security p.6
News Feature p.8
Don’t forget, we’re
always here to help!
Whether it’s a faulty screen, or
you’re looking to link your local
printer to 73 different buildings,
Tekkers really can help. Call us
today on 01329 888 625 to speak
to the team!
Introducing Rob
Hamilton!
Hello, I’m Rob Hamilton the new owner of
Tekkers!
On the 5th March 2020, along with my business partner Stuart
Winterburn, our company Dynamic Edge successfully secured the
acquisition of Tekkers IT Solutions in Fareham, Hampshire.
It’s been a three-month journey to get here since Pete Matheson and
I were introduced by a mutual contact in late November 2019. It was
clear after that initial meeting there were considerable synergies
between our two companies and what seemed like an identical
culture.
Pete said that he and his wife Erica felt like they had taken Tekkers as
far as they felt they could, and they were looking at options. This was
encouraging, as we had been looking for 18 months to secure our ...
Continues on next page
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...third acquisition, and a well-established
MSP (managed service provider) with a great
team located on the sunny English Riviera
ticked all the boxes!
A slick legal and due diligence process
following and the deal was done!
Pete and Erica are still working for the
business as part-time consultants until such
time we agree to part company and they look
for that next challenge.
Founded in 2009, Dynamic Edge is a UK-wide
technology partner for business. Dynamic
Edge including Tekkers now supports a
growing client base of over 500 businesses
across the UK, from the Isle of Wight to
Shetland! The company has 55 staff.
Dynamic Edge provides clients with complete
managed IT services. The company has
a proven track record in successfully
supporting businesses with between 20
and 3,000 PC and/or Mac users – and have
adopted a proactive model to their services
both in supporting clients using the latest
technologies and by introducing them to
solutions that can streamline business and
enhance employee productivity.
This is the third acquisition Dynamic Edge
has made to date; in 2015 acquiring Alchemy
Plus in Inverness and in 2017 Waytime
Technologies in Leatherhead.
As CEO for Dynamic Edge, my responsibility
is growth strategy; this includes business
development and business acquisition. In 2017
we decided that the next acquisition would be
in the South East of England which meant a
move with my family to Surrey; the next phase
of the company’s growth plan.
On leaving university with a degree in
Business Computing I worked through the
ranks at Lloyds Register up to the position
of IT Manager for their oil & gas operations
based in Aberdeen. Following that, I
moved into IT consultancy and business
development working in London, Central
Scotland and Aberdeen.
I am also a board member of Inspire
PTL (https://www.inspireptl.org.uk), a
charity that provides support and learning
opportunities for adults with learning
difficulties in Scotland.
Away from work, I am a self-confessed
petrolhead, both 2 and 4 wheels. I hold a
UK race licence and, time-permitting I enjoy
distance running having completed 10
marathons since 2004. I am also a life-long
Aberdeen FC supporter.
I am married to Mandy and we live in Surrey
with our two youngest daughters. Our son,
Jack is studying in Aberdeen.
Rob
Rob Hamilton,
CEO
Tekkers IT Solutions & Dynamic Edge
rob.hamilton@dynamicedge.co.uk
www.dynamicedge.com
WE ARE LOOKING FOR SOME
GREAT CONTENT FROM YOU!
TekkTalk goes to around 100 business every month, so
whilst it doesn’t have thousands of readers, those who do
receive it, are reading it – just like you are.
We’re looking for useful, interesting or entertaining content
and would welcome any submissions from you, so please
get in touch!
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3
Things that
Made the News
Last Month
Minecraft Offers
Free Lessons To Kids
With many children unable to attend
school, Minecraft has created educational
worlds to explore for free. There are 12
digital lessons to download, including a
tour of the International Space Station
and the inside of a human eye. Each
world offers creative writing, puzzles and
building challenges. The lessons will be
available to download until the end of
June.
UK Broadband
Data Caps
Removed
UK’s leading internet provides have
decided to remove data caps on fixed-line
broadband during the Covid-19 outbreak. A
few of the companies that have agreed with
these terms are, BT, Virgin Media, Three, O2,
with many others joining them. Providers
will also offer “generous” new mobile and
landline packages..
Netflix Reduces
Video Streaming
Quality
Netflix has reduced the video quality to
reduce reduce strain on the available
bandwidth for home workers. Lowering
the picture quality will reduce Netflix data
consumption by 25%. The change only
applies to the UK and other European
countries.
Call us today on 01329 888 625 | www.tekkersit.com
Openreach Stop
Home Visits.
BT Openreach has stated they have
suspended installation for new broadband
connections when a home visit is involved.
This means customers that are switching
between suppliers will not be done if it
requires an engineer to enter the customer’s
house. However, exceptions will be made
for the “vulnerable” users. They are now
focusing all their efforts on other “essential
work”.
Houseparty Offer
Reward For Proof Of
Sabotage
Houseparty a video chat and game app
are offering a $1m reward for evidence
their app is guilty as is claimed in an
apparent online smear campaign. The
rumours state downloading the app
will result in other services like Netflix
and Spotify being hacked; however
Houseparty says there is no evidence to
support the allegations.
News
Bryony Brennan
Apprentice Marketing Assistant
News
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Top 5 Tools for
Remote Working
The rising popularity of remote and flexible
working is not surprising, as current and
emerging cloud solutions have allowed staff
and contractors to easily stay connected
with their colleagues, with an array of
communication and file sharing tools.
Working for an IT company that use and promote
these tools as part of their service offering was
certainly beneficial in the change from office to
home. This is because I knew how to operate these
systems; a transition that may have been a lot
more daunting with previous companies I have
worked with, who operate more traditional and
‘clunky’ systems with no access to the cloud.
Let me tell you… it’s not daunting in the slightest.
It is actually really simple!
In this article I’ve outlined my top 5 programs and
systems that have made remote working more
effective than ever before for me:
1. Microsoft Teams
Part of Microsoft’s “Office 365” platform (more
on that later), Teams was quite literally designed
to facilitate remote working. With Teams, staff
in multiple locations can connect in real-time
with ease – sharing files, high definition video
conferencing, collaborating on documents and
much more. Teams is the ultimate essential for
remote working and staying connected with
colleagues and other stakeholders.
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5
2. SharePoint
SharePoint is one of those systems that can be
built to support a whole host of functions. It is
commonly used to support the storage of crosscompany
information in the form of intranet sites,
and for remote working this can be extremely
beneficial. In my capacity of Marketing Consultant
I am able to quickly and easily upload and manage
files to be shared with the wider company –
everything from written content to graphic design,
video projects to campaign plans. It can all be
shared using SharePoint!
4. Good Old Outlook
Some things just get better over time, and that’s
certainly the case for Microsoft Outlook. The
age-old email communication tool is the hub of my
communication when remote working, connected
via a cloud-based address book to all of my
contacts and allowing me to easily manage my
calendar along with those from the wider team.
Email is still as relevant as it was ten years ago
and Outlook is the king of email platforms – and
the remote workers’ best friend!
3. Office 365
Microsoft’s Office 365 product has been around
for quite a few years now but the way it has
revolutionised the way companies work is there
for all to see. For remote workers, Office 365
allows quick and easy access to cloud-based
everyday applications such as Word, PowerPoint,
Excel and Teams – and the beauty of it, no physical
installations and the systems all talk to one
another! For me I can create a marketing plan on
Excel, pull together a report on Word, present an
idea on PowerPoint and collaborate with the wider
business via Teams. Due to these systems being
cloud based, access to them is easy and instant,
regardless of device or location, and that’s what
makes Office 365 great for remote working.
Call us today on 01329 888 625 | www.tekkersit.com
5. Adobe CC
As a marketing professional, it is important
that I am able to be creative and pull together
engaging and varied content to get across
messages and ideas. Adobe CC (creative cloud)
is the industry-leading software that allows me
to achieve this – it contains big hitting programs
such as Photoshop for graphic design, Illustrator
for logos and illustrations and Premiere Pro for
video production amongst others. The cloudbased
nature of the software means no physical
installation is required and my creative content
can be accessed easily from any device simply by
signing in!
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Web Security
One of the most common misconceptions is that
you don’t need to web security. Well, we are
here to tell you just how crucial it is to have web
security in place.
Most people think of web filtering as something
that stops you from visiting various websites,
like blocking online shopping or social media.
But actually, it is something that can seriously
upgrade the level of security on your networks.
It can be just as damaging to catch something
through a website as it is to receive an email that
has malicious files attached. Not only that but
it also adds another level of protection to your
emails that have web links in them. If the link is
dodgy, the web security will kick in and block it, if
your email security hasn’t already caught it.
It’s about having multiple layers of protection. It’s
another system scanning your network, using a
different algorithm to determine whether the link
is dodgy or not.
Decent web protection can block not only the
pages you are visiting but also files, images etc
that you are downloading from the internet. If
you are downloading malicious content, the web
protection will process it whilst downloading and
will block it immediately.
will block all malicious content from being
downloaded. That is why it is important to have
email protection, web protection and anti-virus
in place as well.
We ran a quick report from a random subset
of customers who’ve used web protection and
web filtering in the last 30 days. The software
we are using has serviced a total of 21.6 million
queries. There were 356 security events, 273 of
which were malware and were blocked. This is
273 times Malicious content could have corupted
the user’s system but was stopped because of
web protection. All these customers also had
email protection and anti-virus in place but web
protection still caught 273 cases of malware that
might have slipped through the net.
If you are downloading
malicious content, the web
protection will process it
whilst downloading and
will block it immediately.
With everything in life, there is no 100%
guarantee that a web protection software
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Web protection isn’t a waste of money. It is
there all the time, constantly scanning malicious
content.
There were 356 security
events, 273 of which
were malware and were
blocked. This is 273 times
Malicious content could’ve
corupted the user’s system
but was stopped because
of web protection.
A big bonus is web protection isn’t very
expensive, it’s another £2, £3, £4 per user, per
month. We understand that all these things
do add up, which is why we have created our
essentials package. The package includes your
email protection, web protection, windows
updates and virus protection all bundled
together. Everything you need for £15 per user,
per month.
It gets you on your way nowadays with your PCI
Compliance, your cyber-essential certifications,
even your liability insurance as a lot of insurers
are now asking technical questions on how you
are protecting your business from these kinds of
threats.
Security Essentials
Getting the basics covered
£15/User
• 24x7 ProActive Monitoring and Alerting
• Email Security sssssss
• Web Security ddddddddddddddddddd
• Desktop and Server Antivirus dddddd
• Microsoft Update Managmentdddddd
• Third Party Update Managementdddd
Did you know?
Shutting down your machine does not completely
stop your machine. To get you up and running faster,
Windows 10 runs a fast shutdown / startup sequence.
Whilst this benefits normal operation, if you do not
reboot your machine (Selecting Reboot instead of
Shutdown) regularly, you may get a backlog of Windows
updates that have not applied.
If you reboot your machine at least once a fortnight
overnight, you can avoid lengthy delays and system
issues and keep your machine healthier for longer.
Call us today on 01329 888 625 | www.tekkersit.com
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News Feature
Doris Hughes Celebrates
102 nd Birthday With The
Power Of Technology
During these unprecedented time, the
residential home where Mrs Huges is housed
has stopped visitors coming on to the site.
Which means Doris Huges would be unable
to spend her 102nd birthday with her family.
Doris’s son also shares the disappointment that
he wouldn’t be able to spend time with his mum
on her birthday.
But, with the power of technology, Doris was
able to celebrate her milestone birthday with
her family.
Glyn Williams, the owner of the residential
home, organised a Zoom event so the whole
family could share her birthday with her.
“My sister who lives in Northern Ireland was
able to see and talk to her too as well as my
niece - and care home staff who are selfisolating
at home also joined in, it was lovely.”
“She’s as bright as a button and clearly enjoyed
chatting to us.”
The celebrations didn’t stop there!
The other residents were keen to have a party
with Doris and she wanted to play bingo. And
that’s actually what she did, and loved every
minute of it!
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