Our advice: because these are fake and ‘phishing’ attempts please not click or open any attachments – they invariably contain a virus or trojan. SIMPLY DELETE the email. If you have any banking queries, just contact your bank in the normal way – important thing being that you initiate the contact.

Here is an example:

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you are in doubt.

These new settings are defaulted ON and include allowing LinkedIn to use profile information, names and photos in third party advertising. Please see the links below for opting out.

To reach the hard-to-reach settings options the following URL’s should take you directly to them (cut and paste into your browser if they don’t work as live links)

Manage social advertising: https://www.linkedin.com/settings/?modal=nsettings-social-advertising&tab=account

Manage enhanced advertising: https://www.linkedin.com/settings/?modal=nsettings-enhanced-advertising&tab=account

Data sharing with third party applications: https://www.linkedin.com/settings/?modal=nsettings-data-sharing&tab=groups

Partner InMail: https://www.linkedin.com/settings/?modal=nsettings-partner-inmail&tab=email

You may wish to consider alerting your own contacts on LinkedIn.

ESET’s product lines are award winning and industry leading. They not only get rave technical reviews but are also extremely competitively priced. See http://www.eset.co.uk for more product details.

The offers are:

• For 1 year new licence purchase – 3 months free licence extension
• For 2 year new licence purchase – 6 months free licence extension
• For 3 year new licence purchase – 9 months free licence extension

Valid for all new orders received and processed by 5pm on 31st January.

Please email @pensar.co.uk">eset@pensar.co.uk for a quote, or ask us for a technical comparison against your existing security product.

What comes in the box?

• Intel Core i3 Processor
• 3 GB MHz DDR3 SDRAM
• 250 GB Hard Drive
• DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL Optical Drive
• 15.6″ diagonal LED-backlit HD anti-glare Display
• 720p HD 2 Mega Pixel Webcam
• Finger Print Reader
• Bluetooth
• Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g/n
• 6 Cell Battery
• Windows 7 Professional
• Comes complete with Laptop Carry Case

This great offer runs until 31st January 2012. Please email @pensar.co.uk">sales@pensar.co.uk for details.

Why work with a HP Preferred Partner?
Preferred Partner is a high level of partner accreditation from HP. From a base of approximately 6000 partners in the UK, only around 300 make the grade as a Preferred Partner thus placing Pensar in the top 5%.

Industry-leading Credentials
Every time you see the HP Preferred Partner logo, you know you are dealing with a partner that meets HP’s stringent program criteria. As an HP Preferred Partner, Pensar consistently delivers the very best in IT solutions and places a premium on high-quality customer service.

Need Advice on HP?
Call us today on 0845 402 6797 for expert advice and guidance on the right HP solution for your business.

Research shows that only half of all IT projects are unqualified successes. While most don’t ‘fail’ outright, many fail to deliver the expected benefits, or are either delivered late or over budget (total failures are estimated to be anywhere up to 15% of projects).

The key reason for this lack of success is not that the teams implementing projects are lacking technology skills, it’s that they are lacking structured project management skills. Many IT Service Providers are delivering major projects without prior experience or without formal training.

PRINCE2® is the de facto standard for project management skills. People with PRINCE2® qualifications have the essential project management skills needed to deliver vital projects on time and within budget.

Simon’s training and his subsequent achievement are further proof of Pensar’s investment in its staff’s professional development.

A few weeks ago I was presenting at IT industry event at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London.

My presentation was just before lunch, and arriving early in the day I dropped my laptop bag (containing my laptop and my presentation) alongside many of my colleagues near the event registration desk.

About an hour before my presentation, I went to retrieve my laptop and in horror discovered that it was no longer where I had left it. I scouted around nearby tables, looked in every conceivable location, recruited help in the form of my friends crawling under tables but alas, the laptop had gone. My heart sank – not only had a £1,000+ worth of laptop gone, but all my valuable mobile accessories and more importantly, my presentation due in 30 minutes had gone with it!

Lesson Number One – Keep your belongings with you at all times!

Ironically (given I was about to give a presentation on Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery) I had stored a backup copy of my presentation in the Cloud. Borrowing a laptop, and using a fellow presenter’s wireless internet, I logged on to recover the presentation. Or at least I would have if I could find how on earth you actually logged on to the particular cloud service from a web browser. When I needed to access my backup in a hurry, the stress of trying to find out how to do so is most unwelcome.

Lesson Number Two – Know how to quickly access your Data Backups

Thankfully I finally found the correct login website, and thanks to having my KeePass information stored on my iPad (which was safely in my possession) I could logon, grab a copy of the presentation and copy it to a USB stick ready to go on stage with.

I’m glad to say the presentation went well, despite my thoughts admittedly being on to how I could find my laptop after I got off stage.

Over lunch, my friends and I scouted around again and with no luck in finding my laptop, I finally resigned myself to the fact that it had gone and contacted venue security. I reported my laptop stolen with the local Police Station who asked for specifics of the laptop. Luckily, I’d recorded the Serial Numbers and other specifics of not only the
laptop, but also my Flip HD camcorder which was also in the laptop bag, on www.immobilise.com – the website of the UK National Property Register.

Having this information easily to hand via my iPad meant I was able to describe the laptop and give all pertinent information quickly, as well as tag the laptop and camcorder as stolen. In the event that the stolen laptop turned up at a Police Station, it could be identified as mine.

Lesson Number Three – Maintain an accurate record of your high value goods

My thoughts then turned to the data ON my missing laptop. The laptop was password protected, and all data backed up to the Cloud, but it is not that difficult for someone determined to crack a Windows 7 password to gain full access to a system. Chances are that any thief would be stealing the laptop for the hardware, not the data contained on it, but that sinking feeling that you get when you realise the data on the machine is confidential is definitely not a nice one. I really wish I’d have gotten round to encrypting it as I kept
promising myself I would …

Lesson Number Four – Your Data is more valuable than your hardware. Protect it accordingly!

Then, thanks to a conversation which jogged my memory, I recalled I’d installed the free fracking software from Prey Project on my laptop. If the laptop was connected to the internet at all I’d be able to track where it was and even take a screenshot of whomever was using the laptop via its webcam, but more importantly, I could remotely lock the laptop to hinder any attempt to access the data upon it.

Lesson Number Five – Install free Tracking Software on your Mobile Devices before you lose them!

I reported the laptop lost on Prey Project, and waited for it to report back. The likelihood that it ever would was admittedly slim, but at least I wasn’t kicking myself that I’d not bothered to install that free tracking software that you know, takes all of 30 seconds to install!

When I got back home I dug out my insurance paperwork and prepared to make a claim. Thankfully I’d retained all details of my purchases, and in many instances, the original purchase receipts – so I’d be able to make a full claim for the items. I’d also set a diary reminder at the time of my insurance renewal earlier in the year to make sure the contents schedule was up to date – useful if you’re always updating your technology, as I am.

Lesson Number Six – Insure your Technology, and make sure your Contents Schedule is current

Now for most people, the story would end here with an insurance claim and the purchase of a new laptop and the inevitable hope (and prayer) that the confidential data contained on the lost laptop would never fall into the wrong hands.

But a few days later, I received an email from a lovely lady named Jo Flood entitled “Are you missing a laptop?” The email went on to explain how Jo worked for a company that had run an event at the Grand Connaught Rooms on the same day, and whilst sorting out equipment brought back from the venue, she had spotted that they’d acquired an additional laptop!

Powering the laptop up, Jo had spotted my name on the login screen and then Googled it. My blog post about my speaking at the event had come up as the first search engine hit, and Jo put two-and-two together and got in touch via the contact details on my blog to see if it was indeed my laptop.

Lesson Number Seven – Social Media helps connect the world in the most unexpected ways!

Thanking Jo profusely for taking the time and effort to track me down, another friend in London heard about my predicament and offered to retrieve the laptop from Jo nearby – going out of his way to organise all the details with Jo directly. A week later, I was re-united with my laptop!

Lesson Number Eight – There are some genuinely helpful and wonderful people in the world

Thankfully I got away without losing any possessions or more importantly, confidential data. But I learned a number of really valuable lessons about what it feels like to lose mobile devices and data.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Richard Tubb is an IT Business Consultant and the elected chair of the CompTIA UK Channel Community

Visit his website at www.tubblog.co.uk or connect with him via Twitter and LinkedIn

—————————————————————————————————————————————————–

]]> http://www.pensar.co.uk/lessons-learned-from-losing-laptop/400952/feed 0 http://www.pensar.co.uk/extended-hours-for-pensar-service-desk/400919 http://www.pensar.co.uk/extended-hours-for-pensar-service-desk/400919#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:00:16 +0000 admin http://www.pensar.co.uk/?p=919 …read more »]]> Pensar has extended the opening hours of its Service Desk in response to client feedback and market demand.

The Service Desk is now open an extra 2 hours each working day from 8am to 7pm (6pm on Fridays). Clients may call in or email service requests during these extended hours without incurring an out of hours charge. Requests will be dealt with remotely and/or via telephone and if necessary escalated to a field engineer for on-site response between 9am and 6pm.

The extended hours re-emphasises Pensar’s commitment to providing a quality service to its loyal customers.

Service Desk – Telephone 0845 402 6797

As well as the 3rd Floor of 71 Gloucester Place, we have now taken the 4th Floor, so almost doubling the capacity of our premises. This will allow us to further expand our Service Desk team, provide more room for field engineers to work between site visits and additional space for meetings.

We will also be installing a conference room/demonstration suite for use by both Pensar and its partners.

This additional investment in our facilities will help support our continued growth.

Mark was elected by the community members in recognition of his standing in the industry and the experience he brings to the group.

Please click here for the official announcement.