16th December 2017
Looking Back at the Year in IT
As we see yet another year rocket to a close it is interesting to look back at some of the newsworthy happenings in IT. While we wonder where the time has gone I see quite a few IT trends either strengthening or weakening and we can’t ignore what is happening in Central Queensland with the NBN.
After several government changes, implementation design changes and billions of dollars over budget we are still only getting a half-baked system which relies on aging copper and is limited in our existing town centres and most commercial areas to a speed of 100Mbits. Along with this substandard design we still see huge problems occurring during its implementation with many customers often left with no Internet for extended periods of time.
On the back of the NBN rollout and increasing Internet use worldwide, we are also seeing the emergence of more web based services from the entertaining likes of Netflix through to cloud based data storage and server hosting. All of these services are vying for a monthly stake of your pocket and not all will prove worthwhile to all of their users.
Be careful when signing up to any monthly service and in particular pay attention to the ease of getting away from the service if it does not work out. Use Google to read other users experiences and work out if you need to go as far as cancelling a credit card if you need to opt out.
I had problems myself this last year with a cloud backup service for my own personal photos. Luckily it was billed through PayPal and I could raise a dispute with them and get an annual subscription fee reimbursed as the service was not performing and there were far better alternatives.
Another of these Internet based services is the accounting packages such as Xero and the Internet based versions of Reckon, MYOB and Phoenix. These are great services and there software works extremely well, however their effective use will challenge your Internet connection and in particular your Ping times. If you are on any type of Satellite then tread carefully in this territory.
One of the more bothering trends is the increase in more complex and intelligent Internet scams – whether through phishing emails, man in the middle emails or through computer hacking. This Internet scourge is leveraging the increase or reliance of people on Internet use and the increasing speed of Internet connections is only helping to bring these threats to our screens.
The only way to stay ahead of these scams is to follow suggested security measures of keeping your PC updated, running a good antivirus, keeping your PC well maintained, having secure passwords, being vigilant at all times and if you run a business – then make a good IT company your new best friends.
We hope that next year does not appear to zip by so quickly and that some of these Internet threats can be reduced by greater awareness and smarter security measures.
Future Byte Me topics can be emailed to [email protected] and Bruce is contactable at Kerr Solutions, 205 Musgrave Street or on 49 222 400.
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