The World Wide Web turned 25 last week so to celebrate we’ve picked out some of its milestones and some things to remember.

 Launch

On 6^th August 1991, Tim Berners-Lee launched the first ever website but it was on March 12 1989 when he first wrote the proposal for it, describing an information management system. He shows it to his boss at CERN who described it as ‘vague, but exciting.’ The following year, along with Belgian computer scientist Robert Cailliau, Berners-Lee wrote a proposal for a ‘web’ of ‘hypertext documents accessible by ‘browsers’. Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web on a NeXT Computer – the company founded by Steve Jobs when he left Apple in the late eighties.

 

Buying Stuff

In 1994, things started to get commercial. Online banking popped up, as did Pizza Hut’s online ordering system, then came Amazon and eBay in 1995. Today, online shopping is huge. In 2012, there were 242 million people shopping online in China and in 2015, the US online retail industry is expected to be worth $279 billion.

  

Searching Stuff

Google was founded in 1998 in California by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were PhD students at Stanford University. Search engines were already around, but the Googlers invented a different system to how pages were found. They invented Pagerank, which looks at relevance, not just the number of keywords on a web page. In fact they tried to sell Google in 1999 because they felt it was taking too much time away from their studies. They offered Excite CEO George Bell the opportunity to buy the company for $1 million but he rejected the offer. Today, Google’s total assets amount to $110 billion and it pulled in $59 billion in revenue in 2013.  It has over a billion unique visitors every month.

  

Social Stuff

Facebook may be the biggest social networking site in the world today but it was certainly not the first. The first of the social networking sites as we know them today popped up in 1997 and lasted until 2001. It was called SixDegrees.com and users could list friends, send messages and post bulletin board items to people in their first, second and third degree lists. Eventually it was overtaken by more popular sites such as Friendster, MySpace and Bebo. Facebook was launched in 2004 as a Harvard-only social network.

 Crime stuff

Unfortunately, one of the few bad things about the web is the storing of people’s personal information, hacking and cyber-attacks, fraud and other crimes. Websites that require or store personal information such as payment details, bank records or phone records all need to be secure, but sometimes secure isn’t enough. The web has allowed for a different platform for criminals to commit crimes.

 Changing Stuff

One of the greatest achievements of the Web is the ability for large amounts of people to come together in support of something. Change.org is a website that allows anybody to sign a petition and support change. In 2010, a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests emerged all over the Middle East and North Africa and helped to overthrow four different governments including President Muburak in Egypt and Libyan leader Gaddafi. Nine out of ten Tunisians responding to a poll, said they used Facebook to organise protests and spread awareness. The use of social networking sites was a major tool for people coming together quickly in numbers to make change.

  

Annoying Stuff

The World Wide Web has changed the world but it wasn’t always as big, as fast or as easy to access. There are some things that only those old enough will have the pleasure of remembering:

the awful dial-up tone, external modems, disconnecting the phone to use the internet, paying by the minute, chat rooms and a/s/l, very slow loading times, images loading line by line, MSN Messenger, Ask Jeeves and the huge box computers we used to access it all on. Those were the days.

Phasing Out Windows XP & Server 2003

 

On April 8th 2014 Microsoft will stop supporting Windows XP and Server 2003. For those of you still working with those faithful old operating systems, this may come as a surprise, but from that date, there will be no further updates and no more assistance from Microsoft.

Why?

Software companies can’t continue to support their products forever. At some point keeping decades-old software protected against increasingly smarter hackers, for the tiny proportion of people still using it becomes untenable.
Microsoft guarantee continued support and service for a minimum of 10 years. It may not seem like it (and you might want to sit down for a moment) but Windows XP was launched in 2001.

What Does This Mean?

From the 8th April 2014 Microsoft will issue no more updates to the following operating systems:
1)  Windows XP (for PCs)
2)  Windows Server 2003  (for servers)
3)  Microsoft Office 2003 (Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc.)
That includes security fixes and updates – any new vulnerabilities and security holes that are discovered will not be fixed.
As a result, any machines still running these operating systems will be under serious threat. If you’re not sure what version of Windows your PC is running click here to find out.
If your business is still running computers with Windows XP, servers with Server 2003, or you’re using Office 2003 (Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc.), we highly recommend upgrading, to ensure that you’re up to date and protected from future threats.

What To Do Next?
Don’t panic, we’re here to help!
Migrating to newer operating systems is relatively simple, but can take a while. Whether you want to upgrade to Windows 7 or 8, or you want to move to something completely different, give us a call on 9891011610 and one of our engineers will be happy to have a chat with you. Alternatively send us an email at computerannexe@hotmail.com and we’ll get back to you.

 

What is a Wireless Network?

What is a Wireless Network?

 A wireless network is very similar to the wired network in that all the same pieces are still required, a wireless NIC, Access Point (similar to a wired network Ethernet Switch) and a wireless router. The only thing that's missing is the cables. 

First you will need to determine if your desktop or Laptop PC already has a wireless NIC built in. Again, check your users guide to confirm this. Once your wireless NIC is installed you will need to configure the SSID (service set identifier) on each of the PC's to use the same name. Also, you need to make sure all the wireless NICs are configured to be on the same channel and set levels of encryption if desired. Your wireless access point or router should come with detailed explanation of how to configure the SSID and security features such asaccess lists. Many of today's wireless routers come with the access point functionality built right in

 

Stay safe with iCloud

You’ve most likely detected by currently that some celebrity photos were allegedly taken from Apple’s iCloud by a hacker. It had been according that the hacker(s) found a vulnerability with iCloud and was ready to hack into it and steal photos that some celebrities had wittingly or inadvertently backed-up.

Apple confirmed it found no security breach however that some accounts had been compromised. Though it’s most unlikely that your knowledge can be taken from your iPad/iPhone/Mac, its price taking the time to create certain you’re safe.

So here square measure some tips for keeping your stuff safe:

Use sturdy passwords
 

Access to Apple’s iCloud needs a watchword therefore build its sturdy. Minimum of fourteen characters and a mixture of upper/lower case and numbers can build it a watchword that’s arduous to crack. Don’t use it for all of your on-line accounts although as a result of if somebody was to induce hold of it, they might access everything of yours on-line. To assist you retain track of all of your passwords, use a watchword manager.

 Review what you backup
 

Go to settings on your device and choose iCloud. Here you'll activate and off what you wish insured. It’d be that you just select to not have your photos insured (but if you decide on to change this off confirm you back them informed associate external disk drive or with iTunes). Or even you’d rather keep a copy your photos however not your contacts or mail – it’s your selection.

 Delete any compromising pictures
 

If you’ve got some photos on your iPhone or iPad that you just don’t need others to envision, you’ll got to delete them in 3 places. The primary is that the ‘Cameral Roll’ that is wherever photos square measure keep on the device itself. The second is ‘My icon Stream’ that is actually what’s insured in iCloud. Third, if you don’t need to stay the photos in the slightest degree, visit your Mack and delete the photos from iPhoto. Deleting from these 3 places can take away your photos from your iPhone/iPad, iCloud and your laptop.

There is no reason to be frightened of iCloud or different cloud storage. They’re terribly helpful for keeping your documents and knowledge insured and accessible where you've got web. There’s a way bigger probability that your device be physically taken than your cloud storage being hacked, however it’s perpetually necessary to remain safe on-line. Follow these 3 tips and you’ll be simply fine.