IT Support Tooting, UK

Working with a local computer support company in Tooting is essential if you want to be able to call somebody that can offer a speedy solution.

In many cases, if there is a real issue, it will need to be sorted right away. At Jaytag, not only do we offer a solution for remotely fixing your system, but we also offer a callout service. In fact, we can be at your office in no time at all as we are based in Croydon.

To go straight to our booking page you can click here. However, to speak to somebody who may be able to guide you through your issue give us a call on 0800 7879 258. On this number, we can tell you if you require additional assistance.
See more...

FreePBX – convert WAV call recordings to MP3

One of our customers recently reported an interesting issue. They were running FreePBX on a machine with a very small amount of hard drive space. Usually, this would not be an issue, as FreePBX can be installed easily onto a small drive, even less than 10GB (I have a moment of reflection now, thinking that actually 10GB is massive!!)

In any case, when you start recording calls on a system, the free space is quickly eaten up.
Within FreePBX, there is no way to set the call recording to MP3, and as a result, large WAV files are created.
See more...]

Using Ansible to update MikroTik routers

Administering a large installed base of MikroTik routers can be difficult. You can use The Dude, but this has not been updated in some time, and MikroTik have not made their long term intentions clear in relation to the continued development of the software.

We use Ansible internally to remotely configure machines, so it seemed a natural choice to update the firmware of the MikroTik routers we have installed.

Firstly, you need to generate an appropriate DSA SSH key.
See more...

Setup to shared printer from Mac OS 10.6 or newer

When trying to link to a Windows Vista, 7 or 8 shared printer from Mac OS 10.6 or newer, you may find that the printer gives this error message. Essentially, SMB printing from CUPS (the Mac OS printing system) seems broken – it does not pass along the correct user name and password (even when entered manually).

The solution is quite long winded… Firstly, ensure that the printer is shared on the Windows machine, with a share name with no spaces. (i.e. not “Canon IP 6700D”, but “CanonIP6”)

See more...

Adding phpShield to Linux Hosting

SSH into the server
Run:
​​/usr/local/bin/php-config --extension-dir
The result shows the PHP extension directory
/usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20100525
​
​Upload the latest version of ixed.5.4.lin to this directory using WinSCP or similar file transfer tool
Find the location of php.ini​
- See more...

Join a wireless network before login

Export the existing wifi setup

​netsh wlan export profile %SSIDName% folder=c:\temp
XML files of the existing connections will be exported to c:\temp. Find the one you want all users to access. You need to modify the to false and enter the wireless key.

You will end up with something like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<WLANProfile xmlns="http://www.microsoft.com/networking/WLAN/profile/v1">
<name>Best Network</name>
<SSIDConfig>
<SSID>
<hex>42657374204E6574776F726B</hex>
<name>Best Network</name>
</SSID>
</SSIDConfig>
<connectionType>ESS</connectionType>
<connectionMode>auto</connectionMode>
<MSM>
<security>
<authEncryption>
<authentication>WPA2PSK</authentication>

- See more...

cdr_mysql.c:203 mysql_log: Cannot connect to database server localhost

When restoring FreePBX from backup, you may find the CDR database is not updated. This is because the cdr_mysql.conf file is not overwritten by the restore, and so the password for the CDR database is incorrect.

You can resolve it like this:

SSH onto the server
nano /etc/freepbx.conf

Find the lines:

$amp_conf['AMPDBUSER']  = 'freepbxuser';
$amp_conf['AMPDBPASS']  = '3098SADFSLa';​​

Copy the password, quit nano

- See more...

Countdown to End-of-Support for Windows XP

On April 8th 2014, Microsoft will end support for its decade-old Windows XP. This means, you will no longer receive security updates, fixes or online technical support for PCs still running Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003. The security and privacy implications of this event could have significant impacts on your business, so if you’re running either of these products you should plan to take action soon.
As a precaution, we would recommend all our clients to consider upgrading to the latest supported operating systems such as Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. Customers migrating to these platforms will benefit from enhanced security, broad device choice for a mobile workforce and higher user productivity.
Why upgrade now?

1. No support: Microsoft support, including online and phone-based technical support, will end. As a result both Jaytag and any other IT support company will not be able to properly support Windows XP.
2. Security Risks: Critical security updates will stop, making machines much more vulnerable to viruses. Hackers are waiting to take advantage of this insecurity. If your computer gets a virus your machine will not only not perform properly – it may shut down entirely. Moreover, you are at risk for losing files and having your personal and business information stolen. Anti-virus software will also not be able to fully protect you once Windows XP itself is unsupported.
3. Compliance: Businesses that are governed by regulatory obligations may find that they are no longer able to satisfy compliance requirements e.g. PCI compliance.

- See more...

How Cloud Storage Could Help Your Small Business

Cloud Storage is the term used to describe using an online facility to store your information. These are usually operated by a third party company using data centres and there are a number of different operators providing it such as Dropbox, Skydrive, My Secure Backup, and Google Drive.

Cloud storage is an increasingly popular concept, and many small businesses are embracing it to help them. But how can cloud storage help a small business?

One popular use of cloud storage is to store your important documents such as databases, spread sheets or client projects. By doing this, it doesn’t matter if your computer breaks down, is stolen, or the file is otherwise lost; you will be able to successfully retrieve it from your cloud. You can usually set up an automatic synchronisation, so that when you save a document to a certain folder in your PC, the cloud storage facility you use will pick it up and automatically save it there too. Alternatively if you log onto your cloud storage remotely from a remote device or there web site you can upload/maintain documents and these will automatically synchronise/update on your home computer.

It is also a secure way of storing your information. You can change privacy settings of the documents so that it can only be accessed by yourself, people listed, or people who you pass the link to. This allows you to share it with people if you need it, or stash it away in a private folder if it isn’t something you want to share.

The cost of cloud storage can be considerably lower than other solutions, with many companies offering you a small amount of start-up storage for free, with higher amounts becoming available to you for a small fee, often on a monthly subscription basis.

So lets take a look at the four services I previously mentioned and see what they have to offer:

 

Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud storage facility which comes with an initial 2GB, which can be expanded to fit your requirements.

- See more...

Windows Server updates failing – Error 80072EFD

You may have found that your Windows Server won’t update via Windows Updates Services and the following error message is displayed on screen.

 

One issue which causes Windows Updates to fail with error 80072EFD is if the Windows Server is pointing at itself or another Server on the network to find the updates.

To check this click Start > Run > type “regedit”, and accept the UAC prompt to continue.

 

Now navigate to HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate.

- See more...