Tech Talk

Here are 12 essential tech tips to ensure a safe, enjoyable, and environmentally conscious Christmas season.

Read how a two pronged approach to cybersecurity can work for small business to reduce the threat of cyber attacks.

Find out about 9 ways that small businesses can utilise generative AI to be more productive.

The whirlwind of advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) over the past year has significantly impacted both our personal and professional landscapes. As an MSP, we've dabbled in various AI applications, uncovering innovative solutions to daily challenges.

In today's digital age, email remains a crucial form of business communication. We look at the easiest way to ensure you have consistent branding across your business.

In the fast-paced world of business, efficiency is key. Scribe, a cutting-edge tool designed to streamline the creation of process documentation, is making waves in the industry.

Explore our in-depth review of Microsoft Teams Phone, a unified platform for all business communications. Learn how it centralises calls, messaging, video conferencing, and more. Contact us to transform your communication strategy.

In this blog post, we will explore the importance of cyber insurance, who should consider it, and the benefits it offers.

This article will shed light on the potential risks of weak password practices and how a password manager, specifically Keeper, can mitigate these risks and substantially boost your company's security.

Prolonged user of DSE (Display Screen Equipment) can lead to health issues. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations in the UK provide clear guidelines for employers and employees alike, ensuring a safe and healthy work environment.

In this article, we will guide you through the process of turning the pronouns feature on or off in Microsoft 365, along with instructions for individuals to add their pronouns.

In this blog post, we'll explore three powerful strategies for boosting business productivity: training, equipment, and software.

In today's interconnected world, even the most robust and well-maintained software can be compromised by cyber attacks that target supply chain dependencies. In this blog post we look at the recent 3CX breach and the importance of proactive IT management.

The world has come a long way in terms of technological advancements, and the rapid digital transformation has shifted the global economy into a new paradigm. Today, regardless of their industry, every business is a technology business. This may seem like a bold statement, but let's delve into the key points that support this notion.

Microsoft Edge is a fast, secure and modern web browser that offers a variety of features to make your online activities more productive and enjoyable. One of these features is the integration of AI Chat, a powerful chatbot powered by Bing and ChatGPT.

International Women's Day is a day to celebrate the achievements of women around the world. In the tech industry, women have played a crucial role in driving innovation and progress.

Have you ever created a great document, only to realize that you also need to present the same information in a more visual way? Follow this guide to find out how to create a PowerPoint Presentation from a Word Document.

Microsoft has recently launched Microsoft Teams Premium, an advanced version of its popular workplace app. The new licence gives access to a host of new features and incorporates the power of OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT.

With so many distractions, it's important to find ways to stay on track. Optimize your mobile device with Focus Mode to increase productivity.

With the ever-increasing number of makes and models of laptops, desktops, monitors and docks it can often seem overwhelming trying to work out what the best option is for you and your business. This article details our recommended configuration.

In contrast to a standard Teams video call, Teams webinars allow you to reach a much larger audience with more interactive features.

Quick access links to all of our guides explaining how to set up MFA on your various accounts.

Why MFA is important and how to set it up to protect your accounts.

In the immortal words of Slade ... it’s Chriiiiiistmas! We’re getting into the Christmas spirit and delving into some local Christmas traditions. Did you know that you can go back to the time of Charles Dickens in Rochester, meet Reindeer in Ashford and be part of a living advent calendar in Folkestone?

Why MFA is important and how to set it up to protect your accounts.

Why MFA is important and how to set it up to protect your accounts.

Why MFA is important and how to set it up to protect your accounts.

Why MFA is important and how to set it up to protect your accounts.

Why MFA is important and how to set it up to protect your accounts.

Why MFA is important and how to set it up to protect your accounts.

Why MFA is important and how to set it up to protect your accounts.

Why MFA is important and how to set it up to protect your accounts.

Why MFA is important and how to set it up to protect your accounts.

Did you know that cyber security breaches in the UK cost an average of £4,200 per business over a period of 12 months? Multi-factor authentication takes moments to set up and makes it much harder for hackers to gain access.

The team at Heliocentrix is growing and we’ve recently welcomed three new starters to our team. Aurora, Mark and Edward have joined us to support with the day to day workload and we’d like to introduce you to them.

Is your business protected by using multi-factor authentication? It’s easy to set up and minimises one of the greatest security risks to your data – hacking of employee accounts like Google or M365 that are used to store and share work files.

Did you know that David Bowie had a connection with Maidstone in the 1960s? Our engineering team do a lot of work on IT support in Maidstone and visit regularly, so we’ve put together some of our favourite discoveries about the county town of Kent.

As Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach, we look at how scammers will take advantage of the shopping frenzy.

Is an in-house or an outsourced IT team best for your school or college? Whichever you choose, your goal should be to get the best from your investment and approach your IT strategically, rather than fire-fighting.

Many of us still use only a basic, password based authentication for our online accounts, despite plenty of evidence that passwords are easily and regularly hacked. Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) takes moments to set up and makes it much harder for hackers to again access.

If you want to structure and format your document so it looks professional and is consistent with your branding, using the Styles feature in Microsoft Word is an efficient way to do it.

If you are working with long, multi-page documents you can use headers and footers to display information that you want to keep consistent from page to page, for example document titles, author names, logos and page numbers.

Whether you’re a seasoned PowerPoint professional or a beginner there’s always more to learn, especially as new features are always being added. In this How-To guide for the M365 version of PowerPoint we’ll help you to save time while creating even better presentations.

How to decide whether you should invest in made-to-measure software or use something off-the-shelf.

How to close down Teams so it actually quits – and so you can open it up again afterwards.

We explore what Microsoft Viva is and how it could benefit your organisation.

Work more efficiently and keep your inbox clearer by using tasks to manage your emails.

We’ve given our branding and website an exciting new look.

We explore 21 ways to manage your emails so you can get more done with less stress.

Christmas is fast approaching. Will you be sending ecards or traditional cards this year? We look at the pros and cons of each from an environmental perspective.

We explore how to mitigate the risk of employees causing cybersecurity incidents and how to manage any which do occur.

An estimated 304.7 million ransomware attacks occurred in the first half of 2021. We look at what you can do to prevent an attack and protect your business.

Discover how Windows 365 could transform your organisation’s ability to work productively in a hybrid world.

Why you should archive emails in Outlook and how to find them afterwards.

How Microsoft Teams Rooms are supporting the move to hybrid meetings.

Windows 11 is due to launch on the 5th October 2021. We look at what to expect and how you can upgrade to this new operating system.

Archiving your Outlook emails will reduce clutter and ensure that your email servers don’t get overloaded.

Discover how to use technology to get the most from hybrid working.

It’s holiday season again. But what to write you your out of office response? Here’s some inspiration.

Using Outlook’s Automatic Replies feature to send out of office responses when you’re away.

If you don’t use Microsoft Exchange for your emails you can still set up out of office responses using rules.

Learn how to set up automatic email signatures in Microsoft Outlook, either server-side or client-side.

We have introduced extended warranties across a range of IT equipment.

Vodafone has been made aware of a Flubot SMS scam and are advising customers to be especially vigilant with this piece of malware and to always be very careful about clicking on any links received in an SMS.

Android and Apple have introduced features that could be used to help improve productivity but we need to enable these features. This article covers our top 3 tips for making better use of our phones.

Read our guide on how to use the dictation services while writing Word documents and Outlook emails.

Webinars are coming to Microsoft Teams during April and May 2021

Are your emails going into recipients' spam folders? A simple SPF record fix could solve the problem.

Whether business or personal the chances are you have used Zoom, Teams or Google over the last year, but what platform is best? Having used all three platforms to differing degrees this is what we think are the Pro's and Con's of the different platforms.

How to use real-time, automatic subtitles in PowerPoint and open your presentation up to a wider audience.

Its 2021 and for some businesses it has now been nine months or more since they were all together in an office. Managing your teams and their wellbeing during this time is harder now we are not seeing our teams every day.  We are going to have to rely on new tools to keep get […]

From the 1st April in the UK, the ability to store and backup photos and documents to Samsung Cloud will cease. Read more about this change and what to do if it affects you.

If you are using Microsoft Teams for voice calling you may come across times when you need to Transfer a call to another user. This guide will quickly show you how do to that: In order to transfer a call, open the call that you are currently on and click the 3 dots near the […]

Set up Microsoft teams calls so they ring through your speakers, not your headset.

Some of the headaches that we are suffering from can be easily rectified by just improving how we work with computers on a daily basis.

This week Apple have announced an important security update for iOS and iPadOS 14. This is to fix some security vulnerabilities found in their operating system.  Whereas some vulnerabilities are essentially theories that someone could exploit the vulnerability, these, apple say that these have been actively exploited.  Ultimately this means your phone is at risk […]

Apple have made it very easy to update your iPhone and to help with security they encourage users to have automatic updates enabled. Why do phones need updating? The obvious answer is that by updating software you gain access to new features. However, as well as new features the updates help protect you against known […]

Heliocentrix achieve recertification in the National Cyber Security Centres “Cyber Essentials” scheme.

Having the wrong equipment especially mice can cause discomfort when working. Here we talk about the advantages of using a vertical mouse.

Taking screenshots has always been a necessary processes on computers, right back to the early days of Windows 95. People often know that there is a way of doing it but forget which key it was to take a picture of the screen, even then if they did manage to take the screenshot then they […]

We are delighted to announce that we are now a Gold Microsoft Partner. Thanks to our team for their hard work in achieving this accolade.

2020 is now behind us and what a year it was. We saw the upgrades we had been expecting to take 5 years completed within a year. But what does that mean now? I personally think the most successful businesses this year, of any industry, are going to be the ones who make themselves as […]

Many of us have opened a document we have saved as a PDF, having lost the original Word document, and thought “Ah, I wish I could edit this PDF!”. Traditionally PDF documents have required expensive software to edit. Adobe Acrobat (Standard or Professional), a popular choice, is over £150 per year. Is there another way? […]

Do you often find yourself dosing off in the morning waiting for Windows to finish installing updates? Stop! It doesn’t have to be this way. Active Hours While we of course encourage everyone to install Windows Updates, they are important for security & reliability, Windows 10 offers a feature called Active Hours. Active Hours allows […]

One of the common complaints I hear from people using Microsoft 365 is that their outlook is slow. There are a few things you can do that could speed up your Outlook, but by far the best improvements can come from reducing the number of folders. When using Office 365 or other Exchange based email […]

Have you taken time to consider that email signatures tools could add value to your business? In 2019 on average, 40 emails were sent by individuals per day for business purposes. Emails from your employees have the potential to reach a vast, targeted set of customers. As well as business contacts and potential clients. Therefore, […]

Remote Workforce is a remote connection tool similar to LogMeIn

Microsoft Teams adoption has grown dramatically over the last few months with more and more people working from home. It has meant that Microsoft have released more features and custom backgrounds is something people have been waiting for.

To recall and replace a message 1) In the folder pane on the left of the Outlook window, choose the Sent Items folder. 2) Open the message that you want to recall. You must double-click to open the message. Selecting the message so it appears in the reading pane won’t allow you to recall the message. 3) […]

Spending more time at our computers doesn’t have to mean we suffer from more headaches.  Having the right lights and monitors can help dramatically reduce suffering.  How much do these headaches cost your business? During our annual review with clients we have noticed an increase in the number of cases where clients have been commenting […]

Office 365 is great because it is in the cloud and is available everywhere.  Office 365 is vulnerable… because it is in the cloud and is available everywhere! Under GDPR regulations business owners have a responsibility to protect their clients and staff data.  It would be great if this were just a one-off exercise that […]

The naming structure has been along the lines of 1803, 1809, 1903, 1909.  When these updates were installed you would have found that your computer often took a lot longer to restart while the update was applying. The good news with this update is that isn’t the case this time.  Microsoft has made this update […]

1. Navigate to settings 2. Find Control Centre 3. Click on Customise Controls 4. Find Screen Recording on the list and select the green + button to add it to the panel, if you want to remove this, simply select the red – button 5. To use the recorder, on any page, swipe down from the top right hand […]

What are Hosts Files? Often when previewing a website before it goes live you may be required to trick your computer into thinking that a website is on a different server to where the live site is.  To do this you will need to edit the host file. Modifying Hosts Files For Windows 10 and […]

Use Microsoft Authenticator with Office 365 If your organization is using 2-step verification for Office 365, the easiest verification method to use is Microsoft Authenticator. It’s just one click instead of typing in a 6-digit code. And if you travel, you won’t incur roaming fees when you use it. Download and install Microsoft Authenticator app […]

App/system: Microsoft 365 (aka Office 365) Learn: How to set separate passwords for each app you use (eg Outlook) Skill level: Moderate Read time: 2 mins

Set up 2-step verification for Office 365 Once your admin enables your organization with 2-step verification (also called multi-factor authentication), you have to set up your account to use it. By setting up 2-step verification, you add an extra layer of security to your Office 365 account. You sign in with your password (step 1) […]

Installing Microsoft Teams If you do not already have Microsoft Teams on your mobile phone, please go to the app store and search “Microsoft Teams”. The app, with the below logo, is free to download: Once Microsoft Teams is installed, please open the app and sign in with your Office 365 credentials, which will be […]

Creating the Meeting/Call Microsoft Teams is a very powerful tool for conference calls. It can be used for internal conference calls without a license, but with the addition of an Audio Conferencing license, you can arrange meetings and add in external contacts to your calls. In order for a call to have a phone number […]

On 1st July 2019, new switching regulations were introduced by Ofcom, and we want to ensure you are fully informed when it comes to requesting switching information from us. You can also request a PAC or STAC code via text, your online account or by phone.  We’re always sorry when our customers are thinking of leaving […]

Bespoke software solutions – how do you know if one is right for you? Are cumbersome tasks that take you and your team too long to complete costing you money? Do they lose you hours of productivity or possibly even clients? Are you struggling to find a system that could automate these processes? If you […]

It has been 30 years since Tim Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web. I attended the celebration at the Science Museum in London where Tim shared his thoughts on how he started the web, and his vision for it; and it made me think about how much the web has changed in this time. To […]

‘A Toxic Cause of Stress’ – Push v. Productivity You are at work deeply engrossed in a piece of work that is near completion and suddenly there is a ‘ping’ and you see you have a new notification. Do you a) click on it – you can’t help it, it might be important b) ignore […]

I did NOT steal your car! I didn’t STEAL your car! I didn’t steal your CAR! The emphasis you put on different words, can directly influence the meaning. Try it. Read the statements out loud putting in the emphasis.  Now imagine you are reading it in an email… The Importance of Email Etiquette Every now and then an email exchange […]

Dr Mike McGuire, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Surrey, teamed up with a virtualisation tech company, Bromium, and produced ‘Into the Web of Profit’ – a research study investigating the socio-economic and spending differences among cybercriminals. The headlines read like the script of a B list Hollywood movie with 15% of cybercriminals spending […]

The publishing of the Cyber Threat to UK Business Report 2017/18, the new GDPR regulations and the ongoing scandal of Facebook condoning the harvesting of private data means that data security is first page news. We are going to examine some key points of the report in real terms to SMEs. If you think that […]

What you need to know about the malware threat In Quarter 3 in 2017, the biggest number of the quarter was the count of new malware, which reached an all-time high of 57.6 million new samples, an increase of 10% from quarter 2. Source: McAfee. In May 2017 the NHS was attacked by the WannaCry […]