The Macnamara Blog

copilot-logo
Information Management

Copilot for Microsoft 365

Copilot for Microsoft 365 is here and in general release. This post is a summary (not by Copilot, but by us!) of some introductory documentation from Microsoft Learn on what it is, how it works, and how you can incorporate it into your Microsoft 365 experience.

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AI Support 09
Macnamara blog

IT Support vs IT Security – Are You Getting The Service You Deserve?

Small businesses are just as vulnerable – if not more so – as larger organisations to cyberattacks, data breaches, and other IT-related issues (including simply poorly maintained equipment) that can compromise their operations, reputation, and profitability. They also need an occasional helping hand with some of the more everyday helpdesk issues that arise, be they problems, or simply helping to get new staff set up on the systems.

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copilot-logo
Macnamara blog

Copilot and AI in Windows 11

Over the last 2 years AI has taken the tech world by storm, and for good reason. With the release of AI models such as DALL-E and ChatGPT, we have seen what AI is truly capable of and this is just the beginning.
Microsoft is keen to utilise this breakthrough in technology and is introducing a seamless integration of popular AI features into Windows itself. No more creating accounts on various platforms, or even downloading large models manually and using funky command lines (looking at you Stable Diffusion), it will all be at your fingertips within Windows.

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Best practices

What is Information Management and Information Security?

Before the cloud, when businesses were primarily working from an office, they knew where their information was, how people could access it, how it was backed up and how it was protected. Now since we’re ever increasingly working in the cloud and from multiple remote locations, it’s less clear. This can cause all sorts of problems and headaches for businesses, including a heightened risk of becoming the victim of fraud through to non-compliance with your legal and regulatory obligations.

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Unlocked Padlock
Best practices

Why You Shouldn’t Mix Personal and Business Browsing

Using browser profiles is extremely useful. It allows you to sign in on multiple devices and get the same bookmarks, passwords, and history across your devices. BUT, you should never use the same profile for work that you use for your personal browsing, and for good reason.

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Email Signature
Best practices

Why Use Managed Email Signatures?

While email signatures are not (let’s face it) the most glamourous aspect of IT, they are however often overlooked and under-appreciated. Not only can they be great for branding, they can even be used as an important element of your company security. There are also some regulatory reasons to have a signature on company emails too. ‘How can my email signature contribute to my security’ you ask? Good question!

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Cyber Criminal
Macnamara blog

Could You Have Been Breached And Not Even Know It?

If your account is breached, how would you know? A clever cybercriminal, on gaining access to an account, would not necessarily take immediate action. They may linger for some time, taking advantage of their access to explore what you have access to, examine your data, and read your email transactions, waiting for the moment to pounce. In this article by one of our security partners, we dispel some myths and examine some scary truths about how malicious actors take advantage of access.

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Best Practice
Best practices

How do you know if your IT company is doing the right things for your business?

Reviewing your IT Support is something that all businesses, large and small, should do periodically. IT is an ever evolving environment and the rapid pace of change presents new opportunities as well as threats. Yet, IT Support is a very different thing from IT Security. At Macnamara, we’re clear on the distinction. We do both, but they are NOT the same thing. In this great article by one of our security partners, we highlight some of the things you should consider when reviewing your service or choosing a new one.

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Thumb Print Key
Best practices

Biometrics: Face The Future Of Digital Security

With 4 in 10 small businesses and a quarter of charities reporting cyber security breaches in the last 12 months * it’s more important to protect your personal and company data than ever before. With the increasing rise in cyber-attacks and data breaches, relying on a password alone can leave your computers, mobile devices, and online accounts in a vulnerable state. This is where passwordless sign-in can save the day.

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ChatGPT CE
Cloud Services

What Does ChatGPT Know About Cyber Essentials?

A day doesn’t go by when AI, and ChatGPT in particular, are not in the news. The Large Language Model (LLM) has absorbed every word on the internet up to the year 2021 and as a result it’s able to answer all manner of questions as well as write content for you based on the simplest of queries. It even threatens the once dominant status of Google as THE go to source of information. Curious, I asked it why Cyber Essentials is good for small business. Here’s what it said.

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Word Long File Path
Best practices

Why Is The File Path Length Important?

The file path length is the total number of characters in the file path. This includes spaces and backslashes. When working with files and folders, it is important to consider the file path length. The Windows operating system has a maximum file path length of 260 characters, but this limit is often reduced to 255 characters due to some reserved characters that take up extra space. In this blog, we’ll discuss why file path length is important and the potential issues that can arise if the length of the file path is too long. Additionally, what can be done if you are encountering an error caused by a long file path.

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Unsecured Network
Best practices

Stay Safe Online: Why Public WiFi is a Risk You Can’t Ignore

Love using public WiFi? Beware! It can be dangerous. From hackers to identity theft, public WiFi can leave you vulnerable to all kinds of online threats. But do not worry, I have your back! In this blog, I will show you why public WiFi is so risky and give you some easy tips to stay safe. So, before you connect to that free WiFi hotspot, read on to find out how to protect yourself!

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3d rendering of computer monitors with stock market data on the display
Best practices

How to Configure Your Display and Monitor Settings

Are you tired of straining your eyes and feeling uncomfortable while working on your computer? In today’s digital age, we spend a significant amount of time in front of computer screens. Configuring your display monitor settings can greatly enhance your computing experience and improve your work comfort.

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Small people cleaning a processor
Hardware

What Does It Mean To Say “My Computer Is Supported By Macnamara”?

At Macnamara, we like to say that we support people, not machines. And, of course, that is true. We support people who use computers, and we help them to get past the problems that their computers throw up. Every now and again though, when no one is watching, we drop what we learned in Marketing 101 for Small Businesses, and admit that we love computers and we do in fact support computers as well as people (who we love even more).

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Celebrating 20 Years 2003 - 2023
Celebrating 20 Years 2003-2023

Celebrating 20 Years 2003 – 2023: A Look Back

2023 marks a milestone for Macnamara, at 20 years since the company was founded, way back in 2003, by Ciaran, with a view to bringing the world of enterprise IT to the SME market. In 20 years a lot has changed in technology, but that same commitment to outstanding service hasn’t. We take a look back at some of the history of the company and how we ended up where we are today.

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CEO Fraud
Best practices

CEO Fraud – How It Works

CEO fraud is up there, along with phishing and ransomware, in the top three cyber threats facing small businesses. CEO fraud comes in a variety of more or less sophisticated forms, but most commonly appears as a forged email or SMS message purporting to come from the CEO or other senior person and asking for money to be transferred to meet some urgent requirement.

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Master Of Your Domain
Macnamara News

Chapter 3: DNS and Domains

In this excerpt from Ciaran’s upcoming White Paper ‘The Mail Must Get Through’ on email deliverability, we examine one of the core underlying features of the internet, DNS and Domains.

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Password Manager
Best practices

LastPass Password Manager

Password management can be a bit of a nightmare. We’re always told to use complex passwords that are hard to guess, and to never re-use passwords. But, in practice this can be a challenge to remember them all! Most of us may have dozens if not hundreds of online services that require a username and password to access. How on Earth are we supposed to have a different complex password for them all and be expected to remember them without writing them down?

The good news is, you don’t have to remember them, or write them down!

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Fax machine
Macnamara blog

You have a new Fax!

When was the last time you received a fax? Possibly never. But, it might surprise some of you to know that millions of faxes get sent every day. In Germany, Japan and the US especially, they are alive and well, if not so much here in the UK. But how are they used in Phishing?

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