Our introduction to the Synology NAS

You need to read this if you have several gadgets spread across your home, like smartphones, laptops, intelligent sound systems, Smart TVs and more. With your devices situated in your bedroom, front room, and across the house, are you looking for a device that can keep all your photos, films, songs and files from your gadgets in one location that is safe, easy-to-use and readily accessible?

Sharing photos and movies

With thousands of files stored across all your gadgets, finding specific photos, documents and videos can become a real headache. With a Synology NAS, however, you could consolidate all of these files in one location. Simply upload all the files and each device connected to the NAS and this works without a glitch. Once it was done, you will be able to find exactly what you needed in seconds. No more frustrating searches across all your devices and drives. A click on an app, and there are your photos. You could even tag them like Facebook, search by location or share them online publicly or privately.

Safe and Secure

Now you have all your files in one place, you should be concerned about what would happen if your NAS was damaged or your hard drives failed. No need to worry.. with Synology, you can setup RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) very easily. Enabling RAID means you can save to your NAS as usual and if a drive failed, you would have a backup already stored. Also, if you needed to replace any of the drives in your NAS, you can simply restore data as if nothing happened.

Much more than a NAS

The more you use your NAS, the more you will wonder how you ever managed without it. Sharing photos and movies with friends and family, or sharing files with colleagues at work was simplicity itself. And you can do it from anywhere there is an Internet/WiFi connection, even over 4G with your smart phone.

Your Synology NAS is full of surprises, going way beyond what you expect from NAS drives. With the free apps, you are able to use it as a home server, streaming all the content from your GoPro, as well as the movies and TV shows you have stored, straight to your Smart TV. When friends and family stay over, you can even stream movies, or music, to different rooms of the house... all from this one NAS.

If you’re still unsure or would like to find out more, then give Optima Computer’s experts a call on 020 8445 6700

Be №1 In Google - SEO

SEO is one of the most powerful and important online marketing strategies. We make sure your beautiful new website or current one is easily found on search engines. 

We use the latest google algorithms and social media marketing techniques to ensure your website performs well in the google rankings.

• Website Speed Optimization
• Search Engine Optimization
• Content Optimization
• Social Media Integration
• Keyword Research & Selection

Social Engineering Scam

Social Engineering

If you get an email or phone call claiming to be from your bank or credit card provider, a government department, a membership organisation, a website you buy from or the police – and it’s asking for confidential information – chances are it’s social engineering and is not legitimate.

If you get an unexpected phone call from a computer company or engineer telling you that you have a problem on your PC and offering to fix it, chances are that’s social engineering too.

Social engineering is the name we give to confidence trickery, because the criminals who perpetrate it have very clever and convincing ways to deceive you.

To find out how to spot social engineering and how to deal with it, have a look at the videos on this page. They describe three common types of social engineering, but there are many more.

Then click here to get some great free, practical advice at Get Safe Online.

Phishing Scam

You wouldn’t get certain types of emails from your bank, card provider or the police. So STOP & THINK!

Vishing Scam

You wouldn’t get certain types of phone calls from your bank, card provider or the police. So STOP & THINK!

Computer Support Scam

If a computer company calls to tell you that there’s a problem with your machine, it could be a scam.So STOP & THINK!

Windows 10 - March Update

Microsoft has been ever increasingly aggressive in its attempts to push consumers to download Windows 10. Starting recently, the company is upping the ante once again. As of now, Windows 10 is now classified as a “Recommended” update, which means many Windows 7 and 8.1 users will download and begin the installation automatically.

The upgrade process is less problematic now, some users have managed to upgrade with no problems. But there still remains a small risk if upgrading, we can normally sort out any problems for you.

By default, Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 shipped with updates enabled and a second box — “Give me Recommended updates the same way I receive important updates” checked as well. Plenty of users have changed these settings, but you can bet millions of people haven’t. 

Microsoft has stressed that end users who begin the upgrade process will still have the option to say “No” before the upgrade begins, but we're dubious of this for several reasons:

First, we’ve already seen what Microsoft’s version of “No” looks like — it looks like this:

Microsoft have made it nearly impossible to NOT upgrade to Windows 10. The company’s opt-out for Windows 10 installation is unlikely to be much better. Even if it is, however, there’s still a larger issue — specifically, the people this upgrade is going to hit are those who are the least likely to know it’s coming.

There’s no way this doesn’t create headaches for at least some Windows users, as well as Microsoft. Some drivers still won’t update properly if you upgrade to Windows 10. Some people will misinterpret the installation as malware, since Microsoft hasn’t historically updated its operating systems in this fashion. Some will click on “Get Windows 10″ without realizing that it’s an entirely new operating system that makes massive changes to how basic system functions work and look. 

All of these issues are issues with any system upgrade upgrade, but OS updates are typically something the user initiates and wants. Microsoft clearly wants its entire user base on Windows 10. But think about this: This move targets users who don’t know enough to disable Recommended updates, but have also rejected Microsoft’s previous offers. This could create a nasty snarl of blowback if the upgrade push starts making life difficult for large numbers of people.

Microsoft has published a KB article detailing how end-users can control the upgrade prompts and disable them in the future, available here.

We are still advising customers to only upgrade if they have newer computers and have taken a full backup before they start the process. Sometimes it is possible to downgrade back to your old OS, but a lot of the time it is not, so think twice before upgrading.

How to extend WiFi internet to a Garden Office or Outbuilding

How to extend your home internet to a garden office or outbuilding

With more and more people working from home, it's increasingly common to have a converted barn, garage, summerhouse or out-building specifically built for a home office. Often people come to us saying that the WiFi range from their router in their house just won't reach the office.

What’s the situation?

You've probably tried moving your router to the windowsill nearest the garden or pointing it towards the outbuilding, but often you find this still won't provide a stable strong wireless link to the outside office or it suffers annoying drop-outs, or can even adversely affect the wireless coverage in the house.

Let's assume you have an external office in a summer house approximately 30 meters away from the house, which already has power but no internet connection. The house already has a Broadband connection with a WiFi router in the hallway. The garden office has two PCs, a network printer and you would also like to use a laptop and iPad wirelessly in the office. You can't get a signal in the office from the WiFi router in the house but you want to share the broadband as no-one wants to pay for another line - right!?

What’s the solution?

Well, the simplest way to do this is with a WiFi point to point link. This means you have a dedicated WiFi link between your house and the office providing maximum data-throughput with no drop outs. At the office end, you're presented with an Ethernet connection which can be connected to a switch to provide connectivity for all the desktop PCs, printers etc and to a WiFi access point to provide WiFi for your iPad and laptop. Happy days!

What is a WiFi Point-to-Point link (PtP)?

The WiFi Point-to-Point link consists of a pair of outdoor WiFi access points for a dedicated link between the two points. This link runs on a completely different frequency to that of the house Wi-Fi, so it doesn't cause any interference or affect the range in any way.

Is it difficult to install?

No, it's easy to install but sometimes requires a bit of drilling. We mount one of the bridges on the outside of the main house and the other on the office building, the higher the better. The unit on the side of the house needs to be connected via an Ethernet cable to the WiFi router.

For ease of installation you can always use Homeplugs to provide a physical Ethernet port where the cable enters the building rather than moving the router. Alternatively, a more long term solution is to lay cable is between the 2 devices.

At the office side, you have exactly the same setup. The other WiFi Point-to-Point link is mounted on the building and a single Ethernet cable runs from the unit into the office delivering your connectivity, only this time the wireless signal is now converted back to Ethernet, via a cable into an Access Point to provide a local WiFi hotspot in the office as well as some wired links.

How much is this going to cost?

We will carry out a free* site survey to see if this solution is good for you. If it is then it really depends on the distance between the house and the outside office and the speed of your current internet. We can then give you a rough indication of the costs and any other solutions.

Contact us on 0208 445 6700 for more information! 

*Free - subject to completing the job with us otherwise there will be a charge for the site survey.