We have been told for years that our passwords for emails, online banking, shopping etc. need to be long, contain capitals, numbers, and special characters. These can be a nightmare to remember, and many people end up using the same one for everything or just replacing letters with special characters. Such as C0mput3r or some other word that is recognisable. … Read More
Where Does the Office Fit in the Post COVID-19 World?
What’s Next for the traditional office workplace? It is nearly a year since we were first put into lockdown and the end is still a few months away. But how will we all be working once we are free of any restrictions? Companies who used to always feel it was necessary to have everyone in the office have realised this … Read More
Phishing Emails and Office 365
What are phishing emails? Phishing emails are sent to trick you into divulging a password of some kind or other personal details. Some estimates claim the number of fake emails sent each day is now in the billions. During these long periods of working from home due to Covid, many workers are unable to quickly ask a colleague if they … Read More
Increase Your Productivity With Office 365 on Your Mobile Phone
Office 365 Apps Office 365 is now used by most people, especially in business. However, many people see it as just Email, Word & Excel. Although these functions have changed the way we can work, what about Shared Files and To do Lists. If you are not familiar with OneDrive and SharePoint these are both elements of Office 365 that … Read More
How to Backup your Emails, SharePoint and OneDrives Files
Moving to the Cloud If there is one thing that we have learned during this lockdown it is that with the various IT Systems available, it is possible to work from home efficiently. With emails on Microsoft Office 365, confidential documents saved in Microsoft OneDrive and those that need to be shared across many users saved in Microsoft SharePoint everyone … Read More
IT Considerations for Preparing to Return to Office Life
Although possibly premature, as a business we must start to think about what we need to put in place for the eventual return to work of our employees. The Government has issued guidelines and there will be many comments in the press over the coming months, with suggestions about how we can stagger our return and ensure employees safety. There … Read More
How to Use Virtual Desktops in Windows 10
The Virtual Desktop feature in Windows 10 can help you split your work and personal apps on the same computer. What is a virtual desktop? A virtual desktop is another desktop running on the same PC / Laptop / Server as the one you are currently using. Rather than having 2 PCs to run as a different person, you can … Read More
How Can I Backup My Data While Working From Home?
Backups are even more important now we are all working from home. How are you storing your data? Those lucky enough of us who can work from home are probably using laptops, either sitting at our kitchen table or ensconced in our small offices (converted junk room), using all the tools we can to keep things going. When we are … Read More
How to Integrate Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Teams
What is Microsoft SharePoint? Within most Office 365 Business Licenses there are apps called SharePoint and Teams. SharePoint is like OneDrive or Drobox as it allows files and folders to be saved in the Cloud and then synchronized to make a local copy on your PC, Laptop or Mobile Device. The synchronized copy on your PC or Laptop will reflect … Read More
4 Great Tips for Video Conferencing
We are all being forced to use video conferencing for all meetings and catch-ups during the COVID-19 lockdown. For some of us this is a new and strangely scary thing. But for now, we have no choice and after all this is over, we may find we are working from home far more. But there are a few things you … Read More
Working from Home – The Pros and Cons I’ve Noticed So Far
What happened to my commute?! Being in my late 50’s and having started work at 17, I have to confess to finding this whole “Working from Home” thing difficult. My entire working life has been spent commuting to work. In the early days of the IT industry there was no “connect to this PC remotely”. If a client had an … Read More
A Look Back at My 25 Years in IT
This year is the 30th Anniversary of the start of Optima Systems Ltd and my 25th year of being part of the journey. When looking back over my time at Optima it doesn’t seem such a long time. But when I start to think about the things that have changed both personally and professionally it’s quite scary. Optima has seen me … Read More
What is Microsoft Teams and Should You Be Using It?
What is Microsoft Teams? Microsoft Teams comes either as a browser based version or a desktop App, with most versions of Office 365. Teams, in its basic use, is like Skype and Skype for Business. In fact, it is the direct replacement for Skype for Business. However, Teams integrates far better with outlook and enables all sorts of handy Features. … Read More
An Announcment for Optima Customers during Coronavirus
Dear Optima Customers, Our offices might be closed but we continue to provide the same service as before to all our customers. Please be assured that in these uncertain times we are still working and giving all support necessary to keep your business working. All our emails addresses, telephone numbers, and opening hours will remain the same at all times. … Read More
Microsoft Office 2010 End of Life is October 2020
Office 2010 has now been around for 10 years but in October of this year Microsoft will stop supporting the software and no longer release security updates. As with Windows 7 and Server 2008 at the end of 2019 this means the software will be vulnerable to attacks through malicious code. What are the options for upgrading? Microsoft has released … Read More