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NEWS
12 September 2007 – Security alert on Microsoft messengers

Microsoft has just released four fixes to stop hackers getting access to computers via it's software, including one that could allow them to remotely control machines using MSN instant-messaging programs.

The alert that has been issued about MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger is rated "important", which means it's a pretty serious threat and needs urgent action. The problems don't affect MSN Messenger 7.0.0820 or Windows Live Messenger 8.1, Microsoft says. But users of the Windows 2000 operating system are warned that the problems in their case are "critical'.

Anyone who has their Microsoft applications set up to automatically receive security updates needn't worry and will not need to do anything more. Those who don't auto update should manually check for security updates.

With the public getting wise to email scams, it seems the hackers are now focusing on the likes of instant messaging software, so computer users should be doubly vigilant about security measures.

NEWS
24 August 2007 – Older surfers are a huge potential market

Forget thoughts that the internet is a medium for young people. Older people are using it more and more and form a sizeable market that businesses cannot afford to miss.

According to the annual Communications Market Report 2007 from communications watchdog Ofcom, some 16 per cent of over-65s use the web. These silver surfers spend an average of 42 hours online every month, more than any other age group. Indeed, far from being just a young person’s technology, one quarter of all UK internet users are over 50 and the over-50s account for 30 per cent of total time spent online.

Among 25 to 34-year-olds, women spend more time using the internet than men. In this age group, 2.18m young women users account for 55 per cent of total time spent online. By comparison, just 1.83m 25 to 34-year-old men in the UK use the internet.

It seems the larger companies are wise to the internet's potential. The report says that as television advertising revenue declines, online advertising spending continues to surge, up 47 per cent during 2006 and just breaking the £2bn mark. Internet advertising expenditure is now equivalent to almost half (44 per cent) that spent on all TV advertising.

Looking to internet connections, the report says that by April 2007, 53 per cent of UK households had a broadband connection. And headline broadband speeds – the maximum advertised speed of a service - have doubled over the past 12 months. By June 2007 it was 4.6Mbit/s.

And as speeds rise, with more investment in infrastructure by both the BT and cable networks, competition is driving down prices for consumers. Ofcom’s analysis of the cost of a typical basket of residential telecoms services (including a fixed line, two mobiles and a broadband connection per household, all at 2006 usage levels) shows that consumers would have paid £6.51 (9 per cent) more for the same bundle of services in 2005 than in 2006. In the five years to 2006 the cost saving on the same bundle was £34.97 in real terms.

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BLOG
August 2007 – The great optimisation rip-off

There's nothing easier for conmen than preying on people's ignorance, and the search engine optimisation scam is a classic example.

Most people don't have an intimate knowledge of the technical side of webdesign or search engine policy. So a number of my clients have contacted me after unsolicited approached from companies purporting to offer high rankings on Google and improvements to their websites. All such approaches that I have dealt with have been a complete scam.

Here's how it works:
Someone cold-calls stating that a site has a number of 'faults' that are preventing it being ranked highly on Google and other search engines. For a fee, ranging from less than £100 to more than £300 a year, these people guarantee to raise a site's ranking on Google, without using a subscrption to advertise there, thereby getting better visibility and more business. If the site owner isn't convinced, a very impressive demonstration will be offered, showing that the optimisation company has got its own site to the top of a Google ranking. Then you hand over a bundle of cash and give the conman your site password and full access to do... who knows what.

It is a con. First, a number of sites these people have approached were already at the top of the appropriate category in Google. Second, the so-called faults were not faults at all, merely different pieces of browser-specific coding to ensure that the site looked correct on a range of different browsers. These would be identified and listed as incompatiblities with other browsers by an automatic site checker.
Third, anyone reading Google's information pages will see it categorically states that no one can guarantee any sort of position – or even inclusion – in the directory. Fourth, the impressive demonstration of topping the rankings uses such specific words, along with the company name, that it couldn't really fail. Sadly few people have the presence of mind to type in "search engine optimisation companies in England" and see what happens then!

There's nothing wrong with search engine optimisation. Most good web designers will do it as a matter of course. It's all about making any site as "search-engine-friendly" as possible. It involves such things as including titles and metatags to describe the site in a clear and concise form, as well as offering keywords to the search engine robots that scan it. Reciprocal links with other relevant sites also help the ranking a lot.

Of course certain sites have tried to abuse the system from the start and the search engines are constantly out to beat such trickery. It's usually some variant on this trickery that the cold-calling "optimisers" rely on. What this can mean is that if you use shady search-engine optimisation, a search engine may discover the attempt to beat the system and actually penalise the site.

In fact, the main search engines are very secretive about exactly how they rank sites, But certain principles pertain: a genuine site using genuine keywords, alt tags and placing pertinent information prominently, but appropriately, on the site shouldn't come unstuck. Reciprocal links really help, but beware, the search engines are wise to scams where hundreds of unrelated sites band together to link to each other. The links really must be relevant.

The moral: search engine optimisation makes good sense, but have it done by a reputable web designer who will add the correct tags and may suggest minor additions or amendments to the wording. It shouldn't cost much at all.

Promises to achieve a top ranking on Google are a con.
Resubmitting a site details to a search engine every month is useless.
Getting on 3,000 search engines is worthless – most feed off the very few large ones.
Huge reciprocal-link clubs are a con.
Anything that sounds like it's trying to trick a search engine is probably a con.

Please don't be suckered. If you don't fully understand the technology, talk to someone you trust who does. You may save yourself a small fortune.

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NEWS
August 2007: New site – at last

The new website is finally ready and the insites name has been brought within the banner of Terry Gault Media Services. Apologies are due to anyone who has been trying to access me by certain email addresses associated with my sites recently: one of the hosts I use, Vispa Internet, has taken what seems to me an excessive amount of time to complete the simplest of transfers. The lack of easy or prompt service, alas, is what I have recently come to expect.

This was the removal of the last of my business with Vispa Internet, a company I used heavily and whose services I often recommended to clients until a few years ago. My clients can rest assured that unless I see a sea-change in its levels of service and pricing, that it will not be recommended nor used for any of the sites I currently work on.

I'm sure there may be one or two minor errors popping up as the new site is fully tested, but please bear with us.

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