Riverbank It management

One key part of working productively is using a written to-do list. Do you work from one every day? If not, you need to ask yourself why not – it’s a proven way to improve your efficiency. If you do use a to-do list, is it on computer or on paper?

Going digital gives you added benefits. You only have to write stuff once - jot down your ideas as you create the task, and they are ready to copy and paste to wherever you need the information next. Sort your task list in different ways. Prioritise items and set deadlines. Get the computer to search your list for a particular item.

And this improvement in your personal organisation doesn’t need to cost anything. If you use Outlook you already have a great to-do list facility in the shape of Outlook tasks.

 As part of the upgrade of the entire UK telephone system (the 21^st Century Network, or 21CN), BT and other telecoms suppliers are upgrading Internet connection equipment in telephone exchanges. As these upgrades occur, connections should operate at a higher speed of "up to" 20Mb.

When this will happen depends on when your exchange is being upgraded. It might have happened already (eg Oxford) or it might not happen until 2011 (eg Swindon).

What the higher speed service will cost depends on your Internet service provider. Some are making no charge, and others are charging a small upgrade fee.

The rumours were true. It's now official, Google is working on an operating system to rival Microsoft Windows. It's not at all clear quite what the product will be or when it will be available, but it is safe to assume that it will be bad news for Microsoft and good news for the rest of us.

Competition in this market has been sadly lacking since the demise of CP/M and DR DOS about twenty years ago. So the injection of serious rivalry from Google can only result in faster, more secure computers that are nicer to use.

So you’ve got your firewall, you have a password for your computer. Life is good, and IT security is covered. Well, not really. While that might have been good enough a few years ago, it certainly isn’t now.

As we and our computer equipment become more mobile, the security risks are growing. With all the laptops, USB data sticks, hosted services and web-based storage options, can you hand-on-heart say that you know exactly where all your vital data is, never mind how it’s protected? And do you know exactly who has access to your data? Do employees keep their passwords secure, could any ex-employees still have remote access to your network, and how many people know your network administrator password?

The US parent company of retailer TK Maxx has agreed to pay out $9.75m as the settlement for its data security breach. The security breach enabled an international gang to connect to its wireless network and access credit card details being transmitted from its tills.

It's a lot of money to pay for an unsecured wireless network, and the moral is clear. Make sure your wireless network is secure, because the damage to your bank balance and your company reputation could be severe.

If you need help or advice about your wireless network, just ask Riverbank.