SystemWise

Is your website EU Cookie Compliant?

SystemWise — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:56:00 +0000

On May 26th 2011 a new EU originated law came into effect that requires website owners to make significant changes to their sites and may fundamentally change the whole web browsing and shopping experience for everybody. This Cookie Law is amended privacy legislation that requires websites to obtain informed consent from visitors before they can store or retrieve any information on a computer or any other web connected device. The law was then deferred for 1 year to 26^th May 2012.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2426/contents/made

Cookies are used by almost all websites, for a variety of purposes:

Analysis of visitor behaviour (known as ‘analytics’)
To personalise pages and remember visitor preferences
To manage shopping carts in online stores
To track people across websites and deliver targeted advertising

More info can be found here. This is perhaps the clearest explanation which I have read.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2012/04/27/the-cookie-law-clarity-at-last-but-not-from-the-ico

SystemWise can help make your website EU Compliant, why not contact us today.

SBS 2011 bare metal restore failure

SystemWise — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:52:36 +0000

The single best feature of Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 / 2011 is without a doubt the ability to do a full bare metal restore. In other words, if your server dies, you can restore it to exactly how it was at your last backup, and in record time too! This is something that we test on a regular basis and on every server that we install.

This weekend we were running through a SBS2003 to SBS2011 swing migration. Traditionally when we move clients away from their SBS2003 servers we would go in at a weekend, remove the old server, install the new one, transfer the data and then reconfigure every single computer on the network. This was a very time consuming and mentally draining excercise especially when you have 30+ PCs to reconfigure. Not something i’d like to do every month!

Microsoft have released an official migration path to SBS2011 but this has its pitfalls to; the need to carry out some reconfiguration at all PCs and the fact that you have 7 days to do complete the migration. If you over run this time frame due to technical issues you then need to do a bare metal restore to before the migration started and all the hassle that that entails.

The method that we have just started to use is the Swing Migration by Jeff Middleton. Jeff is a bit of a legend in the SBS community and I had the pleasure of meeting him recently at the Edinburgh Microsoft/HP SBS community roadshow. The swing migration allows you to perform the bulk of the SBS2003 to SBS2011 migration offline with the client still working away on their old SBS2003 server. After this, there is minimal client reconfiguration needed and it’s much simpler on transition day. The downtime comes when we need to actually move the client’s data from the old server to the new one. Swing Migration is something that we’ll definately be using more of.

It was during a swing migration that we had a problem that really threw us. We were preparing the client’s new Dell PowerEdge T410 server here in our office getting ready to install it the next day. While installing Microsoft updates on the client’s new SBS2011 server here in our office, we installed a SharePoint patch http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2553413 ran PSConfig (as it seems we have to after all sharepoint updates) and then rebooted. After the reboot we tested sharepoint and got a “Service Unavailable, HTTP error 503″ (how come we always get errors with sharepoint???!!!). We troubleshooted this issue for over an hour but didn’t get anywhere really so we we decided to restore the server to a point a couple of hours earlier using the normally excellent Windows Server Backup utility that is part of the operating system. One hour later and the server boots back up but instead of getting a log in screen we get a black screen with a white mouse curser. We wait and wait and wait but nothing happens. A bit of researching and we find the cause of the problem. As part of the Swing Migration, you are advised to install http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974674 Windows NT Restore Utility which allows you to transfer the client’s data from the old server to the new server. It seems that once this utility is installed subsequent backups are corrupt preventing a full bare metal restore. This is disastrous!!! it’s a pretty rare issue but one that I feel we’ll see cropping up on blog sites soon enough. I’m just glad we found it in a pre-production environment and not in two years time during a disaster!

I’ll be contacting Microsoft to let them know about this issue and will also contact Jeff Middleton so that their procedure can warn against this. Hopefully this will save someone’s business somewhere down the line.

For us, it means a failed Swing Migration, a few lost a few days worth of work and a delay to the client for getting their new server but we learned a very good lesson so in the end it was kind of worth all the hassle. So the moral of the story? test your backups regularly, not just restoring a single file, but the whole server. I also like to use two backup methods to counter a single bizarre issues like this. I’ve been in enough disaster recovery situations to know that the more backups and backup types the better!

Merry Christmas

SystemWise — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:49:41 +0000

We’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. We look forward to working with you all in 2012 along with our many new clients.

Best wishes from all the team at SystemWise

Please find below our Christmas opening times ;

Closed – Monday 26th December
Closed – Tuesday 27th December
Open – Wednesday 28th December
Open – Thursday 29th December
Open - Friday 30th December
Closed – Monday 2nd January 2012
Closed - Tuesday 3rd January 2012

We do have an out of hours emergency service,
simply ring our main telephone number to get through – 0131 313 0707

New SystemWise Website

SystemWise — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:58:17 +0000

Today, August 2nd 2011, we launched our new website.

The good old SystemWise.co.uk website has served us well over the past 7 or 8 years but we felt it was time to re-brand ourselves and freshen the company image and profile up a little.

We hope this new website will be able to provide all our existing customers with a way of following our news/blog updates and for all prospective customers, we hope the new website offers valuable information into both sides of our business;

There will be further updates and tweaks to this site throughout the next few weeks.

If you notice any issues please feel free to email helpdesk@systemwise.co.uk and inform us of the problem.

All the best

SystemWise

Looking for Business IT Support?

SystemWise — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:48:39 +0000

…then you’ve come to the right place!

SystemWise have been providing IT Support to Businesses all over Scotland for over 20 years.

click here to find out more

Founded in 1988, SystemWise has been providing solid computing solutions and service to businesses in Edinburgh and Central Scotland for twenty years.

Specialising in providing complete computing solutions for training, consultancy and support, we are the “one stop shop”. More than 50 companies in central Scotland have turned to us for their computing requirements and ongoing support.

From our base at Murrayfield, Edinburgh, SystemWise provides consultancy and computer support for both large and small organisations. Our expertise offers organisations a complete solution for computer advice, installation, support and training.

Whether you are a sole trader with a single PC or a major corporation with a 300 terminal network SystemWise realise that your computer systems are critical to the effective running of your business. We know that if your system is off-line this equates to lost opportunities and revenue. Consequently, we treat each client with the same respect and service. We have a comprehensive range of training and support schemes that we design for you and your business.

Our well-established customer base incorporates many Microsoft systems all fully supported by our experienced technicians. SystemWise embodies consultants, programmers, trainers and support personnel, all of which enable us to provide the complete computer service to our clients.

If you would like more information or to find out how we can help, contact us now on 0131 313 0707

Website Design

SystemWise — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:45:01 +0000

SystemWise offer affordable, search engine friendly websites, hosting, email and domain name management to businesses all over over Scotland and the UK.

Click here to find out more

Business IT Technical Support

SystemWise — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:00:46 +0000

Telephone hotline and on-site support for your hardware, software and network infrastructure.

If our technical support staff cannot resolve your problem immediately over the telephone we will guarantee a visit to your premises within the next half working day.

You will have a pool of expert support staff available to you without the costs associated with bringing these skills in-house.

Software Development

SystemWise — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:00:19 +0000

At SystemWise we have more than 20 years experience designing and building niche market software.

Typically we undertake the more complicated software applications. Legal Accounting and Insurance Broking are both heavy on administration and complexity.

Ask for references from users who use our software and support services. We stand by our reputation for excellence.

Preventative Maintenance

SystemWise — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:05:05 +0000

Have you ever held back from contacting an IT professional because of the cost of call out or labour? Many computer problems are allowed to worsen because of the perceived costs of support.

That is why SystemWise offer all of our Technical Support Scheme customers regular computer “check-ups”. During these visits we will run routine checks on your antivirus protection, backups, hard drives and operating systems. Thus helping to reduce the incidence of unexpected and costly problems.

Website Design & Development

SystemWise — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:00:52 +0000

We specialise in building websites for small to medium sized businesses. Our clients range from local retail companies to international tour companies – anyone who wants a professional internet presence.

We offer affordable, search engine friendly websites, hosting, email and domain name management to businesses all over over Scotland and the UK. From the smallest budget website to a full Content Management System website, call us to discuss your requirements today.

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