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One of the few positives to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic is the rise in the number of companies offering their teams working...
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In the beginning, you might handle your IT in-house. But after your business reaches a certain size, there comes a time when it's no...
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Remote working numbers were on the rise before the COVID-19 pandemic. But during and since, they've skyrocketed. This has led to conversations about who...
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If you want to protect your organisation (or protect your reputation and get to work on bigger projects, e.g. with the government) , the...
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Tools like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are two of the best collaboration tools you can use in your office. They give your team...
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Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise in hybrid and remote working has led many organisations to start using employee monitoring software to check...
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All your VPN questions are about to be answered! Virtual Private Networks have been growing in importance and profile in recent years. But do...
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What will the modern workplace look like by the end of 2022 and beyond? At Dial A Geek, we think that the many changes...
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You might picture a hacker as someone sitting in a basement motivated by a purely mercenary desire to rip off businesses. They want to...
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There's one major factor responsible for cybersecurity breaches that not everyone likes to think about: your people. Human error – most commonly related to...
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If you want an easy way to know that you've protected your business from cyberattacks, the UK government-backed Cyber Essentials scheme is it. It's...
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83% of successful cyber attacks in the UK in 2021 were phishing attacks. If you want to protect your business against this serious threat,...
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Without MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) or 2FA (2-Factor Authentication), all it takes is one employee to use a terrible password. Then, suddenly, all your business's...
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Looking for the right place to focus your business tech investment in 2022? Driven by pandemic restrictions and a new wave of digital evolution,...
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Happy New Year from the Dial A Geek team! If you're anything like us, you're just squidging back into your office chair, promising yourself...
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If you haven't gotten on board with our #Take15 campaign yet, now's the time to get started! For the past few months we've been...
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You might be looking forward to Christmas this year. Sadly, so are the cybercriminals who are feeling positively festive about using your disrupted working...
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We hope you enjoyed our 'Meet Your Geek' series as much as we have. Sadly, all good things come to an end and this...
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Join us for the latest in our #Take15 series talking with local Bristol business owners about how their companies and industries have evolved over...
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Microsoft 365's commercial price plans are going up. If your business uses Microsoft or Office 365, depending on the license you have, this means...
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Google Calendar is perhaps one of the less “flashy” parts of Google Workspace. On the surface, it's just a calendar. For millions of us...
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Meet Harry - the newest addition to the Dial A Geek team. Harry is one of our 2nd line IT Technicians (a.k.a. Proper Geeks)...
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Data leakage is when your sensitive business data gets exposed either physically or electronically. This isn't usually a planned cyber attack. It's often an...
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Smartphones are so ubiquitous these days it's easy to forget that we're all carrying in our pockets something that would once have been regarded...
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Most businesses faced some serious disruption in 2020 and 2021. If you were one of those who suddenly had to institute distance working policies...
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Cutting carbon emissions. Net Zero. The UK government has started to drop heavy hints that, for businesses, the time to start acting to stay...
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Meet Alix - our Finance Manager. Alix is responsible for all things money and is probably much geekier than you'd think (which is, obviously,...
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WooOOooh... It's (almost) Halloween. Time to don your spookiest costume and get out there to scare the neighbours. Because it's that very special time...
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HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It's quite a mouthful. If you're a life sciences company wanting to trade in the...
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Meet Gildas (although you probably have, multiple times): our Chief Geek. The O. G. Geek. To most of us: the boss. Gildas is the...
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Finding the right time for that meeting is one of the scourges of the modern workplace. You might be using Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or...
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We had a good look at the last 15 years; but what about the next 15 years? What do you think the average workplace...
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A few years ago, digital transformation in the financial industry was all about getting on the cloud. Now that cloud-based services are the norm,...
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Meet Edoardo: our 3rd Line Support Geek. None of us remember Edoardo being hired which means that he is the second most experienced in...
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Data breaches can be expensive. In fact, the average cost of a breach in the UK is £2.37 million. That's a staggering amount. But...
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Microsoft Teams is the way that over 145 million people communicate in their workplace. It's easy to see why: Fast. Smart. Efficient. It lets...
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Welcome to the latest edition of our #Take15 campaign, in which we celebrate the local people and businesses that have inspired us over the...
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As you'll know all too well, law firms have access to all kinds of sensitive data. Financial records. Intellectual Property. Personally Identifiable Information. This...
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The ESFA just announced that any organisation that receives funding from them is going to need to meet Cyber Essentials requirements if they want...
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It's not a type of power that comes up much in conversation. But if you've been to Glastonbury Festival any time in the past...
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No business is too small to suffer from a cyber attack. As you grow, so do the risks. Most SMEs that suffer cyber attacks...
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Meet Yusra: our 1st/2nd Line Business Support Technician. Yusra is our award-winning apprentice - we're very proud of her. She mainly works on Helpdesk,...
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A story emerged over the weekend of how a Russian hacker group going by the name of REvil conducted a massive cyber attack on...
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This continues our #Take15 series exploring local business owners' experience and development over the past 15 years. Here is Russell Smith of Bristol's favourite...
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Your brand's reputation can make or break your business. It's sort of like your credit score. A positive reputation drives sales growth and success....
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Meet Nina: our Marketing Geek. Nina develops marketing strategies, produces and delivers content, analyses marketing success, manages marketing budget... and does all the things...
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Even if you don't watch American Football, you might tune in for the Super Bowl. And even if the Super Bowl doesn't do it...
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2020 transformed the way businesses around the world operated. With COVID-19 lockdowns and the sudden remote working boom, big changes were happening fast all...
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Meet Glen: our Operations Manager and Business Support Geek. Glen manages all the Geeks and the Helpdesk, oversees our technical solutions, develops processes, oversees...
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Starting our #Take15 series looking at how local businesses have developed over the past 15 years is our own Gildas Jones, tackling the evolution...
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If you have a growing business, the biggest cyber security threat to you might just be your own team. That's not to say that...
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Join us in our #Take15 campaign and celebrate the local people and businesses who have inspired us over the past 15 years! First up,...
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If you're an SME or start-up that wants to grow, your tech can be your wingman or a source of woe. Particularly if your...
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Making sure you have comprehensive managed cyber security protection in place is vital. But what happens if something still goes wrong despite all of...
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Dial A Geek's #Take15 campaign is all about celebrating the people who have helped and inspired us and the events of the past 15...
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Dial A Geek turns 15 years old this year! To celebrate, we're launching our #Take15 campaign. It's a chance to look back at the...
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IT can sometimes have negative connotations when it comes to the environment. But there are ways to make your use of IT more sustainable....
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What is your business's current cyber security set-up like? If you are like 40% of UK businesses, the answer could be “non-existent”. Given it's...
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Modern businesses that want to get the most out of their team's efficiency and their profit margin migrate to the cloud. More than ever...
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Hopefully, we're all progressing back towards a time when we can get back to the office. It might not happen all at once. But...
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When things hit the fan, having a proper data backup and disaster recovery plan in place will save you a whole lot of time...
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International Women's Day falls today, on the 8th of March 2021. To celebrate, let's take a look at famous women in tech. Some of...
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You may remember our video in which we went through the changes Microsoft brought to Teams in the last year - they really made...
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Going from nought-to-sixty in terms of a fully functioning business IT system can feel like an insurmountable task. But, as with all big tasks,...
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Setting up an out of office message in Outlook is quick and easy. But failing to set an OoO response can be a big...
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No one wants their own business to go down to a cyber attack. No one wants their client businesses to either. In fact, for...
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The apprentices cover a range of roles within our company – from Jack the dispatcher, through first line IT support, to 2nd line in training. They...
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Working from home is the 2020 revolution that just won't quit. For many business owners, WFH has given their team a way to continue...
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COVID-19 has changed the working landscape. And it may have changed it for good. How has your business's way of working been affected? Do...
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It usually takes something very big – think missing money from your account – or something very weird before many businesses notice they've been...
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When it comes to your business IT or cybersecurity, there always seems to be some time in the future do it in. Until suddenly,...
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Or rather, are your employees' passwords endangering your company? It might seem funny that people are still using passwords like “qwerty” and “123456”. But...
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'Tis the season to be attempting some socially-distanced shopping! What could be more fun than crowded stores and people awkwardly trying to keep a...
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Since we hired our first apprentice, Joe, back in 2016, Dial A Geek has been a real fan of having minions in the office....
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The prospect of the second UK national coronavirus lockdown (also known as Lockdown 2 Electric Avenue, Lockdown 2 Electric Boogaloo and Lockdown 2: Lock Harder) has already prompted...
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Microsoft Lists might have appeared in your Microsoft 365 package as if by magic in the later part of 2020. Good news though! You're...
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If your business doesn't have a tech focus, it's easy enough to fall into the trap of doing your cybersecurity on the cheap. As...
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Is your company already setup on Teams and SharePoint to make remote working easy? Microsoft 365 is doing a lot of work keeping teams...
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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to huge numbers of businesses suddenly making the switch to working from home or having a hybrid working set-up....
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For many business owners, data breaches sound like things that happen to other people. After all, who would want to steal data from a...
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Is your cybersecurity up to scratch? If you ask many business owners, most will tell you “yes, I've got antivirus software” and believe this...
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System failures are inevitable. Third-party service providers get hacked. Files can get corrupted. Hard drives and servers fail. A disaster recovery plan is crucial...
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Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is the in-the-know name for a situation where your team uses their own laptops and other devices for company...
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The coronavirus pandemic has forced a whole lot of businesses to suddenly rethink the way they operate. For some, this meant all hands to...
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With more than half a million organisations and 13 million people using it every day, Microsoft Teams is already the biggest collaboration tool on...
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About 2 billion people around the world use WhatsApp as their go-to messaging app. Roughly 5 million people specifically use WhatsApp Business, the business...
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With the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic and the huge disruption it has caused around the world, many more businesses are finding that they...
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As if life wasn't challenging enough for charities and not-for-profits already, COVID-19 has added an extra level of problems. Fundraising is hard work. But...
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The “fact” that it is impossible to get a virus on a Mac has been something of an urban legend for many years. But...
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If you ask most business owners why they haven't set up proper cyber security for their business, they'll have a ready-made reason in mind: ...
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Microsoft SharePoint is one of the most effective business collaboration tools. Whether your team is working from home, from the office or part and...
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Working remotely as a team is really important right now, with so many of us sitting in different places instead of the office. SharePoint is a...
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Switching to cloud computing is the goal of large numbers of businesses at the moment. It's easy to see why. Cloud adoption: Saves you money Increases...
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Hackers are always on the lookout for your data. And they love it when you make it easy for them. Never assume your passwords...
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Google's G Suite is part of the way thousands of businesses operate. Millions of people around the world collaborate through Google Docs or communicate...
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The benefits of moving to Office365 (Microsoft365) are there for every business leader to see: There's the incredibly tough security. The easy access from any device....
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An IT health check helps you protect your business from cyber security threats inside and out. It finds your vulnerabilities. It confirms you're using...
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Your Managed Service Provider can be a source of security, convenience and value for your business. Not to mention on-demand support when it comes...
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In the age of perpetual connectivity, slow Internet is unacceptable. For businesses, sluggish broadband is a sinkhole for money. Your average employee loses a...
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Employees will join and leave your company on a regular basis. When they're no longer part of your team though, it's important to remove...
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Cyberattacks, unless you’ve had it happen personally to you, can seem like a far-away threat. More than half of SMBs don’t think they’re at...
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Our Geek apprentices are our first line of IT support. They spend most of their time with us, part-working and part-studying their coursework in...
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The covid-19 pandemic has taught us many things. Not least, how important it is to be set up to keep our businesses operating even...
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MFA is far superior to password-only protection when it comes to account security. The reason is pretty simple: If you are trying to gain...
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Technology is an integral part of any business, regardless of its size. However, managing technology can be increasingly tough. As a company owner or...
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The operating system you choose affects how you operate your business. From how fast your employees can accomplish tasks to how much of your...
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The recent COVID-19 situation has suddenly presented IT personnel and users all over the world with a set of cyber security challenges that, whilst...
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Have you wondered why all the geeks use two or more monitors at once? According to The New York Times’s report dual monitors have...
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In Feb 2020, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau identified 21 reports of fraud where Coronavirus was mentioned, with victim losses of over £800k. That...
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No matter how smart or innovative your small business is, you are bound to face tech problems from time to time. Many businesses struggle...
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Email is the de facto medium for communication in the digital age. It’s a very noisy data highway with over 124 billion business emails...
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We are making some changes due to Covid-19. As of this week, we are all working from home. Remote working isn’t new to us,...
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As the coronavirus spreads across the world, some companies are asking their workers to work remotely as a measure against the spreading of the...
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Bristol has long been leading the way as one of the UK’s top smart cities by using data and technology to improve the quality...
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Bristol is one of the UK’s major digital hubs, and this is mainly due to the innovative tech companies based in the city. Bristol...
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Over the last decade or so, Bristol has become one of the most important robotics hubs in Europe. It is not only the UK’s...
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Cybercrime is an ever-present danger today. UK businesses, in particular, have much to be concerned about. The National Cyber Security Centre reports that 2017...
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Despite the leaks, the breaches, and the endless privacy risks, many people were still using simple, easy-to-guess passwords in 2019. In fact, the list...
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On 25 September 2019, the European Commission awarded Bristol €100,000 for its One City approach to improving the fairness, health, and sustainability of the...
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A recent report from DJS Research found that more than 80% of UK councils had little to no involvement in smart cities, with a...
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In 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect to protect the private and sensitive information of EU citizens. Compliance to the...
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If you’re a freelance coder or developer, or even if you run a startup AI, augmented reality or even robotics, you have no shortage...
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Bristol is one of the most important tech hubs in the country, so it’s no surprise that there are a huge variety of technology-related...
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Cybercrime is at an all time high, and criminals are only developing more devious and ingenious ways to steal your data. Cyber criminals have...
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Have you ever heard ‘cyber-security’ and thought ‘my business is too small to worry about it’? According to the FSB, small businesses are collectively...
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G Suite and Office 365 are today’s biggest and most widely used productivity suites. Between the two you get applications for everything from creating...
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A play on Silicon Valley and Avon Gorge, Silicon Gorge is a region comprising Bristol, Gloucester and Swindon where there is a particularly large...
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What is Microsoft Teams? Microsoft Teams is a communications and collaboration platform that combines instant chat and video meetings with quick access to...
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Bristol provides plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs not just to start but grow companies that can compete with the best in the UK and...
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As technology progresses, the potential for crime escalates along with it. Cybersecurity threats have made big headlines in 2018, pointing to an evolving underground...
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Most of us use email all the time, but while it allows us to communicate with our colleagues, clients and customers, it can also...
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If your business is expanding, it can easily start to outgrow its IT infrastructure. These days, IT touches on almost every area of the...
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It’s rare to find a modern business that doesn’t rely to some extent on information technology in this day and age. Yet IT can...
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Are you sitting in your car before going into the office? Are you looking through your calendar and trying to carve out some time...
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As a very techy lot our IT support geeks often come across interesting apps and websites that make our lives easier or just more...
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“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t receive the email” is surely the 21st century equivalent of, “the cheque’s in the post” when it comes to...
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Christmas is on its way. If trudging around shops in freezing weather does not appeal to you, you might start looking into doing your...
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As a very techy lot, our IT support team often come across interesting apps and websites that make our lives easier or just more...
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What Storage should you choose at the end of 2018? As technology progress, manufactures manage to squeeze more storage in less and less space....
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Security in IT has skyrocketed with the GDPR regulations. Even the smallest businesses now are aware that you need to protect your cyber properties...
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We’re all aware by now of GDPR and the huge fines companies risk if they don’t take steps to comply with it. There are...
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At Dial a Geek, we work with an IT service desk ticketing system: all our work is channelled through Freshdesk, where we can manage...
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Dial a Geek were proud to sponsor the TEDxBristol event, which took place at Colston Hall on the 2nd and 3rd of November 2017....
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The Dial A Geek story Dial A Geek began in the kitchen of Gildas Jones, working from a laptop perched atop an ironing board....
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October is bursting at the seams when it comes digital-focused events for small business. Here’s our round-up of the best free events this month....
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Dear students, Welcome (or welcome back) to University. You probably haven't heard of us (yet) but a large number of you will contact us...
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There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to IT support. Dial A Geek, a Bristol-based IT company, have risen to the challenge...
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Office tech driving you mad? You're not alone. According to a survey of 1500 UK office workers, technology is the most irritating aspect of...
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Security experts say it's just a matter of time before another mass ransomware attack hits the UK. Is your business ready? Ransomware...
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Is your business safe from phishers? You may think your business is small fry for hackers, but the statistics suggest otherwise. According to research...
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We work with computers, a lot. It's kind of our thing. So you might be surprised to learn we have a pretty strict no...
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Email signatures are an essential part of your company’s branding: they can include a logo, important company info, and other details you’d like every...
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Thank you to Matt Powell from Broadband Genie for submitting this article. The Online Security Basics You Need To Know The internet is vital for modern...
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'Bogus Boss' email scams on the rise in Bristol. True to the wider trend across the UK, we have noticed an increase in the...
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If your password is on this list, you better change it, quick. Millions of passwords are stolen every year, and 2015 was no exception...
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How to get the most out of your IT support plan When you’re running a business, having an unexpected IT meltdown can set you...
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Can you improve your business' productivity in one afternoon? Attendees of our recent event were given the tools to do just that, and for...
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Have you seen the new banner on our home page and wondering what it's about? The exciting news is that Dial a Geek have...
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Many of our clients have been asking us, 'should I upgrade to Windows 10?' And our response is usually, 'wait a little longer.' Unless...
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Unroll.me is a free service that scans your inbox and presents you with a list of everything you’ve subscribed to. You then have the...
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Ransomware is a particularly nasty kind of malware virus that encrypts your files and holds them hostage for money. It's something that our IT...
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Here at Dial A Geek, we see hundreds of machines a year that have been infected with viruses, so you can trust us when we say...
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Will your business be ready for the Google update on April 21st? On April 21st Google will change their search algorithms to reflect the...
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Gmail doesn't just send and receive email, If you know where to find them there are dozens of tools to boost productivity and improve...
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Hello, I'm Chief-Geek, Gildas Jones. Recently a client brought in a Power Macintosh 7200/90 from 1995 for data recovery, and I wanted to share...
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Hi, Chief Geek Gildas Jones here. One of the most issues that IT helpdesk people deal with is passwords. So I want to talk...
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Here are the top ten questions our IT helpdesk get asked about Windows 10. 1. How much does it cost? Windows 10 will be...
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Boomerang is a Gmail extension that allow you to schedule, track and resend emails. Here at Dial a Geek we like to keep a...
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Like a lot of Bristol businesses we have signed up to the Bristol Pound and excitedly started receiving payments from our customers. As a...
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We had this today, a new client called us... He was called up by someone claiming to be a Microsoft representative. He then said...
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Alison Armitage is one of our clients and I thought it would be good for her to share some tips on dealing with the...
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