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The latest news from Hightrees Organisation Limited

Microsoft Prices changes in 2017
Microsoft Prices changes in 2017 150 150 Small Business IT Solutions

As you have probably seen in the press, the news of Microsoft’s announcement of cloud-based licencing price changes in 2017.  This has been linked to the reduced value of the pound against the dollar in recent months.

From 1st January 2017, prices for all Microsoft cloud services, including Office 365, Azure, Dynamics 365, etc., will increase by 22%. However, because many of these services are price-protected for the term of a 12-month subscription, this price-change will only be realised at renewal. For example, if you have previously added a new Office 365 subscription in September 2016, the price will remain the same until September 2017, after which the price for the subscription will then increase in line with current levels.

This increase will impact all suppliers of Microsoft cloud services in the UK, including Microsoft direct.

Hightrees is just finalising pricing for 2017 and we hope to keep the increase at LESS than the 22% due to the good relationship we have with our Microsoft Software Service providers.

 

Small Business IT Online Services – October Specials
Small Business IT Online Services – October Specials 150 150 Small Business IT Solutions

We like to help Small Businesses get a good deal so throughout October 2016 we are offering the the current Small Business IT Services offers, ideal for if you are just getting your business started on the internet.

Small Business Email Offer for only £32.50/month

  • 5 x 25Gb 50Gb Exchange Mailboxes
  • Email anti-spam and virus protection
  • 1 year inbound and outbound email archive
  • Mobile email ‘push’ technology
  • Easy mailbox control
  • Public folders and subfolders (if required)
  • Instant scalability
  • Multiple UK Based Data Centres

Small Business Office 365 for Business Offer for only £6.95/month

  • Full Office Applications (Word,Excel,Powerpoint,Outlook,Publisher & OneNote) + access to web versions of Word,Excel & Powerpoint
  • 1Tb File Storage
  • Use Office 365 for Business on your PC, tablet or mobile device (up to 5)

Small Business 250Gb Cloud Backup Offer for only £15.00/month

  • Windows, Mac & Linux support
  • MS Exchange Server backup
  • MS SQL Server backup
  • MySQL database backup
  • Bare metal restore options
  • 256-bit AES encryption
  • Pre & post scripts
  • Centralised backup schedule management
  • UK based storage

Small Business Web Hosting Offer for only £15/month

  • 10GB UK UNIX Web Space
  • 5GB Bandwidth
  • Advanced Domain System
  • Unlimited MySQL Databases
  • Free installation of WordPress if required
  • If you don’t need the full features of Exchange and just need small mailboxes, then you get (included)-
    • Unlimited 1Gb IMAP/POP3 Mailboxes – Mailboxes allow you to send/receive e-mail on your server via your e-mail software and using our web based e-mail.
    • Web Based E-mail – Web mail is available for all mailboxes on our system, so wherever you are you can always check your e-mail.

 

Small Business VoIP Offer for only £25/month

  • 5 x Extensions – so great for up to 5 members of staff or staff with multiple devices. (no handsets included)
  • 1 Geographical Number of your choice included – one number, multiple lines !
  • 1 Geographical Fax to Email Number of your choice included
  • 1 Ring Group included
  • 1 IVR (Basic Menu system included)
  • 1 Conference Room – host conference calls with your clients or with staff in multiple locations
  • Voicemail to Email – get your voicemail in an email – ideal when you are unavailable, away from the office or heaven forbid, on holiday !
  • Choice of call packages available (not included) or just pay for your calls as you go.
  • Use the VoIP system on your mobile with a range of apps, or PC (with a headset/mic) or via a VoIP handset !

Now the small print

  • If your small business already has web and email hosting facilities there MAY be setup costs involved to move from one provider to another.
  • Some modifications of existing DNS records may be required to utilise the new service(s). It sounds confusing but don’t worry we can help with this !
  • The above pricing is displayed ex VAT and offer is only valid to companies based in the UK until 31st October 2016
  • The offer is based on a 12 month commitment, however this will be invoiced on a monthly basis.  Cancellation fees will be applied if you terminate any of the services before 12 months.

New website launched for The Little Wee Man
New website launched for The Little Wee Man 150 150 Small Business IT Solutions

We’ve donated a WordPress website, hosting and email and a quick spot of training to “The Little Wee Man” in order to help Jackson and his parents (Jim & Debbie) spread the details of Jax’s medical condition which has no diagnosis as yet.

The nearest recognised condition with similar characteristics to Jackson’s is a rare condition called Hyperekplexia. but genetic testing has come back negative for this, so the official diagnosis is we have “a none diagnosis”. Jackson’s condition is not recognised by the NHS and are no further tests that can be carried out at present, although his MRI & CT scan will be repeated when he is older.

Debbie & Jim will be publishing regular updates on the new blog site- The Little Wee Man to help keep his growing fan base informed as well as offer an insights and advice to other parents who are in a similar situation.

Little Wee Man image

Hightrees will be be lending a helping hand with the website over the coming months with website updates, SEO and social media and generally help promote “The Little Wee Man” !

 

Every Hosted Exchange mailbox now has FREE Email Signatures!
Every Hosted Exchange mailbox now has FREE Email Signatures! 150 150 Small Business IT Solutions

full-exchange-logoWith Email Signatures you’ll benefit from:

  • Manage all of your signatures in the cloud
  • Signatures are applied on an organisational basis
  • Online signature designer
  • Automatic personalisation (name, role, DDI, etc)
  • Free Outlook plugin
  • Also works with Outlook Web Access (OWA)
  • Exclusively FREE to Hightrees Hosted Exchange only.

Email Signatures are managed for all of your email accounts centrally within your Cloud. Because it’s locally hosted from our servers it’s ultra-secure and no email interception is needed.

Get your FREE email signatures on your Exchange Email now

Wiltshire Police warn of Council Telephone Scam
Wiltshire Police warn of Council Telephone Scam 150 150 Small Business IT Solutions

Police have been made aware of a telephone scam in Wiltshire and are urging residents to be vigilant.

On Friday, a woman received a phone call from a man who said he was calling from Wiltshire Council.

The man claimed to be from the council tax department and was very convincing. He told the woman that her instalments had increased recently and as a result, she was out of sync with her payments. The man told her she owed just £17 and could pay it over the phone immediately if she provided her card details. read more

No More Ransom Project – Fighting back against ransomware
No More Ransom Project – Fighting back against ransomware 150 150 Small Business IT Solutions

A new website, No More Ransom, https://www.nomoreransom.org has been unveiled to help computer users fight back against ransomware.

The “No-More-Ransom” website is a new project by the National High Tech Crime Unit of the Netherlands’ police, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre and two cyber security companies – Kaspersky Lab and Intel Security – with the goal to help victims of ransomware retrieve their encrypted data without having to pay the criminals.

No More Rnasom website screenshot

Whilst the “No-More-Ransom” has only just launched, there is a mechanism available to users to upload files to try and identify the type of ransomware involved and to offer potential solutions to get the data back, without paying the ransom.  The site hopes that with more user involvement, from both the public and security companies, more keys and variants can be discovered to help decrypt more ransomware keys.

The website is also aimed at educating users as to how ransomware works and the steps that can be taken to help prevent infection.

Hopefully you will never need the site, but it is worth checking out for the Q&A’s on ransomware, prevention steps and the tools available to help if you do get infected.

 

 

 

Small Business Offers – get yourself online !
Small Business Offers – get yourself online ! 150 150 Small Business IT Solutions

Not sure if it is the vague sight of the sun or we just like to help Small Businesses get a good deal but throughout July 2016 we are offering the the current Small Business Special Offers, ideal for if you are just getting your business started on the internet.

Small Business Email Offer for only £32.50/month

  • 5 x 25Gb Exchange Mailboxes
  • Email anti-spam and virus protection
  • 1 year inbound and outbound email archive
  • Mobile email ‘push’ technology
  • Shared calendars and contacts
  • Easy mailbox control
  • Public folders and subfolders (if required)
  • Instant scalability
  • Multiple UK Based Data Centres

Small Business Web Hosting Offer for only £15/month

  • 10GB UK UNIX Web Space
  • 5GB Bandwidth
  • Advanced Domain System
  • Unlimited MySQL Databases
  • Free installation of WordPress if required
  • If you don’t need the full features of Exchange and just need small mailboxes, then you get (included)-
    • Unlimited 1Gb IMAP/POP3 Mailboxes – Mailboxes allow you to send/receive e-mail on your server via your e-mail software and using our web based e-mail.
    • Web Based E-mail – Web mail is available for all mailboxes on our system, so wherever you are you can always check your e-mail.

 

Small Business VoIP Offer for only £25/month

  • 5 x Extensions – so great for up to 5 members of staff or staff with multiple devices. (no handsets included)
  • 1 Geographical Number of your choice included
  • 1 Geographical Fax to Email Number of your choice included
  • 1 Ring Group included
  • 1 IVR (Basic Menu system included)
  • 1 Conference Room – host conference calls with your clients or with staff in multiple locations
  • Voicemail to Email – get your voicemail in an email – ideal when you are unavailable, away from the office or heaven forbid, on holiday !
  • Choice of call packages available (not included) or just pay for your calls as you go.

Now the small print

  • If your small business already has web and email hosting facilities there MAY be setup costs involved to move from one provider to another.
  • Some modifications of existing DNS records may be required to utilise the new service(s). It sounds confusing but don’t worry we can help with this !
  • The above pricing is displayed ex VAT and offer is only valid to companies based in the UK until 31st July 2016
  • The offer is based on a 12 month commitment, however this will be invoiced on a monthly basis.  Cancellation fees will be applied if you terminate any of the services before 12 months.

So which Office 365 for Business version is best for my small business ?
So which Office 365 for Business version is best for my small business ? 150 150 Small Business IT Solutions

Confused as to which version of Microsoft Office is best suited for you and your small business ?

Use our  quick look guide to the different versions of Office 365 for business available, to help you decide which is the best for your small business.

So what is Office 365 ?

Microsoft Office365 LogoOffice 365 is is a subscription version of Microsoft Office, which offers cloud storage and Skype bundled into the various versions and works on a subscription model, i.e monthly payment terms, either pay as you go, or under a 12 month commitment (a 12 month commitment normally attracts a pricing discount).

Office 2013/2016 in its traditional form (i.e a one off purchase) is still available, however  applications are not automatically updated and to get the latest greatest version, you need to purchase the product again when it is available. None of the cloud based services are available.

Online Only Versions of Office 365

The Office 365 plans that are online only are a great choice for certain business needs, and they are designed to work with the latest version of Office, Office 2013, and Office 2011 for Mac. However you will need an internet connection to access the Office applications online and some functionality may not be available.

It is important to note that previous versions of Office, such as Office 2010 and Office 2007, may work with Office 365 with reduced functionality.

Offline/Desktop Versions of Office 365

Office 365 packages which include the desktop version of the latest Office applications, allow users to install across multiple computers and devices (including PCs, Macs, Android tablets, Android phones, iPad, and iPhone).
The fully installed applications include: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. (Publisher and Access are available on PC only.) and can be used without an internet connection after they have been installed.
When you have an active Office 365 subscription that includes the desktop version of Office, you always have the most up-to-date version of the applications.

read more

Outlook not responding – Lack of progress indicators
Outlook not responding – Lack of progress indicators 150 150 Small Business IT Solutions

Outlook-progress-bar image

A late finish last night as a client had issues with her email not working.  All email accounts were configured correctly, however Outlook seemed to be “stuck” accessing her Hotmail account.

Any attempts to delete and recreate the Hotmail account resulted in a an “Outlook not responding” message which was really helpful.

Creating a new Email Profile resulted in the same type of errors.

The Outlook Hotmail connector was reinstalled – no joy

The Office repair utility was run, and the email profile deleted and recreated.  Two out of the three email accounts loaded fine, and synchronised quickly yet Hotmail still seemed to be “stuck” with the Send & Receive details just showing “Processing”.

Using Task Manager to try and monitor what was going on, should that there was sporadic network traffic and CPU activity for Outlook.exe and after almost 30 minutes mail started to appear – seems this was just down to a slow internet connection and poor visual feedback to show the user that something is actually happening.

 

VoIP Number Porting – The flexible option for small business
VoIP Number Porting – The flexible option for small business 150 150 Small Business IT Solutions

Number porting is the facility which enables you to change your telecommunication provider whilst keeping your existing telephone number(s).

Why should you port your number ?

By porting your numbers across to us, you stand to save money on line rental, calls and gain a host of new Internet VoIP telephony features as well. We are normally able to port your numbers locally and nationally throughout the UK, as well as internationally.

How does number porting work ?

It’s usually straightforward process.You need to do is fill out a small form detailing the numbers that you wish to port – including information like your current provider and installation address – we then use this information to bring your numbers across to us and add them to our VoIP services. The duration of porting numbers can vary depending on telecommunication provider , but usually a single number can be ported in around 7-10 days.

Typical Scenarios where number porting is invaluable :

Your business is moving premises and the new office space is in a different telephone area code.

By porting your number to VoIP, you can :

  • Save money on reprinting costs for stationary and informing your customers of the change of phone number
  • You move from a single number which can normally only handle one call, to a VoIP system that allows you to have multiple calls on a single phone number.
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