Microsoft Office 2010 includes slimmed-down versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote – under the term Office Web Apps.  The Office Web Apps is a good new feature and allows users to view, edit and share documents online.

Microsoft has also priced Office 2010 aggressively – you can download the basic Home and Student version, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, for $149 (£110 in the UK), or buy it loaded on a new PC for as little as $119 (£90).

There is just one big interface change in the latest version: the inclusion of the ribbon on Outlook, Microsoft’s e-mail, contact management and calendar desktop app, making it feel much more integrated into the Office suite. Office 2010 users can now customise the menu ribbon in all the desktop apps to assemble the commands they use most often – which should help satisfy critics who felt the ribbon lacked the simplicity of the old Office menu bar.

Overall, Office 2010 will feel familiar to anyone who uses Office 2007, and the version of the software available on Tuesday is very similar to the beta version, which was Microsoft’s most extensive software trial to date. More than 5.5m users downloaded the beta code, which expires in October. 

I like the new feature, the Backstage view, which includes several new options for creating, printing, saving and sharing a document as well as information about recent versions of the document and the “permissions” (who can do what) associated with it .

Outlook that has undergone the most dramatic – and long overdue – changes.

Some, such as the option to view all messages in an e-mail thread, rather than in purely chronological order, match those already available in Google’s Gmail. Others make it easier to manage, delete and organise messages (including deleting a whole e-mail thread), add new e-mail accounts and configure automatic “Out of Office” replies.

Overall, these changes transform Outlook from an ageing desktop e-mail app into a modern communications-management tool that can compete with the best of the rest, including applications such as Mozilla Thunderbird and Gmail.

Some four-fifths (79 per cent) of retailers claim they couldn’t have kept their high street presence alive without being online at the same time, according to a survey from eBay.

While British shoppers currently spend £1 in every £13 online, eBay sees this rising to £1 in £5 over the next decade, with online sales in categories such as electricals and books exceeding those offline.

According to online sales body IMRG, e-commerce was up by 11 per cent in November compared to last year, with shoppers spending £5.3 billion online last month.

British SME’s (small-to-medium enterprises) are increasingly turning to ecommerce as a means of improving their retail operations, according to new research.

Figures from Actnic show that over 35 per cent of retailers quizzed now sell goods on the internet – jumping from the 11 per cent share recorded in 2006.

It was also found that over a quarter of companies questioned operate through several channels, with outlets welcoming customers on the high street also taking orders over the telephone and on the internet.

“Meanwhile, it was discovered that a sizable proportion of firms asked are making use of online marketplaces on the web.

Amazon and eBay were picked out as the most popular websites for the placement of goods in online auctions.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has confirmed that ecommerce is rapidly is growing in popularity in the UK.

According to its latest figures, December saw £238 million spent on products online, totalling 3.5 per cent of all retail transactions.

This was up from a 2.8 per cent share recorded in June, although the ONS said in its report that the figures represented “an estimate of the specific contribution of internet sales to overall retail sales in Great Britain”.

The transactions recorded in the report also only refer to products, as opposed to services, and those bought by “consumers for personal and household use”.

While statistics from the ONS are typically classed as “official”, other reports have suggested that online retail was up considerably in December.

While the IMRG said that 14 per cent fewer people used ecommerce sites on Christmas 2008 compared with 2007, the number of transactions was 26 per cent higher.

Most hosting packages offer a set amount of storage and bandwidth limits (this is the amount of data that can be downloaded from your site) for a monthly fee. When you are first selecting a web host you need to consider how much space and bandwidth you’re going to need. Most web hosting companies will slow down your connection or charge you extra if you exceed your monthly bandwidth limit. Always read the small print when selecting a web hosting package….this will pay huge dividends.

Some web hosting packages come with a free domain name, so you can choose some thing memorable like www.smeology.co.uk.

Email accounts are usually included with your hosting package, together with some handy tools to help you manage your email a good example of this would be to get your business email to point to your personal email package…saves loads of time.

If you want a site that is termed (in geek speak) a dynamic site, which creates web pages on demand you may want to opt for a scripting language such as MySQL. MySQL holds the database, which holds the content and the PHP scripting language, which is used to extract content from the database. You can use the database within your site for a chat forum or a content management system.

So always consider what you need from your web hosting provider and package before you go shopping for a web package.

Microsoft has said that Morrow, remember this is only the rumoured name, will offer protection against viruses, spyware, rootkits and Trojans.  The release of Morrow is seen as a strategic move by Microsoft against anti-virus providers  such as Symantec and McAfee who both generate billions of dollars each year with their anti-virus products.  McAfee and Symantec are said to make most of their revenue from full security suite software that features encryption, password protection, a firewall, parental controls and data backup features in addition to basic anti-virus protection functionality.

Apparently Symantec and McAfee have indicated that they don’t see Microsoft’s entry into the ant-virus market as a threat, but this seems a bit strange to me, Microsoft not a threat?  However, it is also rumoured that Morrow is said to be a basic product and and will not offer the same type of protection as Symantec and McAfee products.  We will wait to see what happens but it’s a very interesting development.

It’s expected that Windows 7 will become the dominant Operating System for Laptops and Netbooks.  As the processors that usually run netbooks are roughly equivalent in power to a typical processor found inside laptops bought five years ago.  It’s possible that your old Windows XP laptop will be able to run Windows 7  too.  So it’s expected that Windows 7 will become the dominant OS for Laptops.

Windows 7 removes the need to load up separate software when you’re connecting through mobile broadband.

With Windows 7, there is the option to connect a second screen or projector, where you simply attach it to your Windows 7 laptop and press <Windows-P>.  you’ll be offered four choices that can either click or cycle through using the cursor keys.

Microsoft has made much of the the multitouch features within Windows 7.  These range from the friendly taskbar buttons to the ability to zoom in and out.  If you are reading a web page this means that if you want to zoom in , you can put two fingers to the screen and move the section you want to zoom to apart, this functionality is similar to that offered by the iPhone.  It’s also possible to quickly bring up the right-click menu – press and hold until a circle animation appears and the menu will pop up.

The standby and hibernate mode on Windows 7 is also much improved.  By default, your laptop will go into sleep mode when you close the lid and within a second or two of being re-opened you should be greeted by your login screen.

Windows 7 offers improved battery life, by reducing background activities when on battery power and also by shutting off power to unused Ethernet ports.

Windows 7 also offers an enhanced ability to tweak your settings further.  Not only can you take control over basic settinggs such as how quickly the display switches off after a period of inactivity,  you can also xcreate your own power plan that controls how much power the system uses in different occassions.

The software section provides pratical advice on Software Features and functionality and includes articles such as….Windows 7 for laptops…Windows 7 Home….Anti virus software FAQ’s….Firewall buying guide….What is firewall software?….Benefits of Business Software?….Buying business software

The good news is that once you’ve set up a HomeGroup, it will show up on other Windows 7 PCs, but not XP or Vista machines, as being available to join in the Network and Sharing Centre.  Once you’ve joined up, an icon for the group appears in the left-hand pane of Explorer, containing default library categories that mirror those of local document libraries and you can add files and folders in the same way.  This feature is simple and user friendly.

HomeGroup also avaoids the hassle and need to install printer drivers on every machine in the home.  Once the printer has been installed on the first PC in the HomeGroup, the drivers are automatically installed on any subsequent Windows 7 PC that joins the network.

The document libraries in Windows 7  are in some ways an extension of the file shortcuts that have been around since Windows 95 – they allow you to organise files from different locations via a link, without the need for multiple copies of the file.  There are huge benefits to the use of libraries.  A large media collection o can be housed on an external hard disk, and doesn’t have to be tied to the system disk.  This makes organisation and backup easier.  You can also create as many custom libraries as you want.

Once you’ve associated two Windows 7 PCs with an online ID, you can sign in and stream media from your home PC across the internet to the other PC.  The second streaming option is to allow remote control of the Media Player.  Once that’s activated you can push media from one PC to another on the home network.  So if you have a PC connected to your hi-fi, you can push music from your laptop to it, instead of playing it through the laptop’s speakers.

There are plenty of backdrop images to choose from with Windows 7.  You get six themes by default, Architecture, Characters, Landscapes, Nature, Scenes and a local theme for the UK, which gives you views of heritage sites such as Stone Henge.  The themes seem to be much improved than the equivalents on Vista.  There’s also a good desktop background sideshow option with a configurable time delay.

Windows 7 is heavily based on Vista, so if a program fails to install and run, a dialog box pops up automatically and offers to try and run it in a special compatibility mode.  The Program Compatibility wizard then starts up and attempts to identify problems automatically.  Windows 7 will then try to launch the application in an environment resembling close to an old Operating System as possible.  If it doesn’t work it offers to try again, giving you the chance to simulate a different operating system.

Amount of web space: A web hosting service provider will give you a certain amount of space on their server depending on the package you select.   You need that it does have the correct amount of space for your website and your requirements.  You also need to make sure that there is the flexibility in your package should you extend your web capabilities.  So it is very important that you select the the correct web hosting package which provides you with the flexibility to extend your web offering or have more graphics or video clips.

FTP access.  FTP access is crucial where it provides the ability to upload new pages.  Some web hosting providers allow you to design your web pages with your own personal web builder.  This could be useful for beginers, but you need to ensure that they provide you with the capcity to expand later.

Degree of reliability and speed of access: When choosing a web hosting provider you need to ensure that speed, security and reliability are part of the package delivered by your provider.  A site that is not reliable, down or not updated will only lose visitors.  If an online visitor finds your site listed on a search engine and tries to access it and it is down, they will move from your site and are unlikely to visit again.  So how do you know if your web host is reliable, by feedback from others, so please put a blog link below.  Remember your site has to be secure at all times expecially if it is an ecommerce site.

Support: Does the web hosting provider give you 24 x 7 support.  Can you rely on them? Remember if you have a fault and your site is down this causes your business problems and you lose customers and money.

Bandwidth.  You need to make sure that your hosting provider gives you enough bandwidth for efficient data transfer.

Before you decide on your web hosting package , make sure you check the features you need and the features you require.  Compare features and the different price of the different packages.   But most of all select a package that meets the features that you require.  Here are several web hosting plans available for you to choose for your website.

Standard Web Hosting

This hosting is suitable for sme websites that don’t require a lot of server resources and the level of traffic sme businesses can deliver.  On a shared plan, you share the server resources with other websites, you should be aware that you are some limitations when using this type of hosting.

Shared hosting prices range from £1 to £20 per month, but the price you pay depends on the features you require. Ultimately the price you pay depends on the features you need and the providers you choose.  Higher prices usually give you more features, more space and more bandwidth.  

Free Web Hosting Service

With free hosting packages it does what it says on the tin and you get the package free.  But you will usually need to place advertising on your web pages when using the free hosting service.  I don’t recomment you use this type of service as it won’t look that professional, will provide next to no support and basic features.

Dedicated Web Hosting Plan

If you have a large number of visitors to your website on a daily basis, you need a package that provides good server resources.  With this in mind, a shared hosting plan will not be good enough for you.  A dedicated web hosting plan is probably your best option for you where you don’t have to share the server resources with other users.

If you are looking for a dedicated hosting plan, your best option will be to go with one of the big hosting providers.  They usually offer serveral dedicated server plans you can choose that suit your needs and budger.  The prices are higher than that of a shared plan, but you can do almost anything with a dedicated hosting plan where more server resources are at your disposal.

Co-location Hosting Plan

Co-location plans are similar to dedicated hosting plans.  The difference is you are the one who buys the computer server and maintains it.  Do you really want to do this?  You will also need to pay for the internet  connection and the storage of your server equipment.  Co-location hosting is perfect for the larger business that needs full control over their website.  Most big online companies use this type of hosting since they need full control of the server and website…but remember that they have the resources at their disposal to maintain it.

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What is Virtual Hosting? Virtual hosting refers to the fact that your site is on one server, and that this server hosts a number of sites. You are virtually shared – your site will not be the only one on this specific server. Very few sites would need the power of a dedicated server (a server dedicated to one user or one web site), so virtual hosting provides a reliable and cheap solution.

What is Web Space and Bandwidth? Web Space is the amount of storage space available for your website within a chosen Hosting package. To host a website that has 200MB of images, you need at least 200MB of Web Space. Web space is your online hard drive where your web site is housed. If you outgrow the Web Space provided by your Hosting provider can upgrade your web hosting package to provide you with more Web Space.

How long will it take for my Web Hosting account to be set up? Usuallly your Web Hosting account can be activated within 24 hours.

Do I need to change my domain if I get a new host? No. Provided that the domain is registered in your name you can simply update your nameservers, from where you manage your domain names, to that of your new hosting provider.

Is it possible to buy Hosting without a Domain Name? Yes. You can usually either point an existing Domain name at your new Hosting account, register a domain with your Hosting company or transfer your Domain name to your Hosting provider.

What is space and bandwidth data transfer? Every single letter or page on your website has to be stored on your web hosts’s server. Each letter is one byte, and a megabyte is roughly one million bytes. HTML pages are usually very small, but it is the pictures, graphics, scripts and databases that can take up large amounts of disk space. Bandwidth/Transfer is the amount of data the server will allow your site to send in a month. Transfer is usually measured in gigabytes – billions of bytes. If you go over your monthly limit, your web hosting company can either shut your down or it can charge you an “overage”. 

What is uptime? Uptime is the amount of time your site is online throughout the enire month. The best uptime is 100%, but because things can break, many osts offer 99.9% uptime gurantees. This means that if your site is not accessible for more than 43 minutes in a single month, they will reimburse you, depending on their terms and conditions.

How can I pay for web hosting? Most web hosts will accept credit cards and some will accept PayPal and/or Cheque.

What is the difference between UNIX hosting and Windows hosting? Depending on which operating system defines your needs. If you need to support Microsoft products such as ASP or VBScript, then Windows hosting would be better. If you are comfortable with IIS and do not have the time to understand how UNIX works, Windows hosting would be a better choice. Linux is much more common with web hosts due to its superior stability and because it is free. Since it is free, Linux hosting is usually cheaper than Windows. Just because it’s free does not mean it’s not as good.

Can I host my own site? Yes wou could, but its’ definitely not recommended. Most Internet Service Providers have clauses that do not allow you to use your Internet connection for web hosting – doing so could result in the termination of your account with your Internet provider. Make sure your system is secure so that no one can hack into it 24/7 can be a major problem. Most good web hosts use powerful servers with lots of RAM and high performance hard disks. They have multiple Internet connections at speeds far higher than the Broadband connection to your premises. There is also the issues of support if something goes wrong it will be your job to fix it.

Why don’t I just go with the cheapest hosting package? Some hosts do not properly understand the market and may be pricing themselves too cheap. So if they are too cheap now will they be in business in 6 months? Look closely at what is written in their terms of service (TOS) and acceptable use policy (AUP) documents. Some hosts try to limit the activity of their customer through these two documents. So understand what you are paying for, it has to be cheap for a reason.

What if the web hosts server is down – what do I do? The vast majority of web host providers offer support options with the web hosting packages they offer. In some cases support staff are already working on the problem before you realise there is a problem. A number of web hosting packages provide 24 x 7 onsite support staff maintaining servers. Where as soon as there is a problem with a server, message alerts are immediately sent to the appropriate staff.

Most viruses are comparatively harmless, and may be present for years with no noticeable effect: some, however, may cause random damage to data files or attempt to destroy files and disks. Others cause unintended damage. The virus can cause significant damage by occupying disk space and/or main memory. Many viruses are disguised in e-mail attachments with an interesting name. When a curious computer user receives the mail and opens the attachment, the virus attacks. The virus attempts to modify the registry in order to copy itself into the Windows directory. The virus will then attempt to send infected mail messages to the addresses in the Windows Address Book. By causing congestion through self-propagation, the virus can also cause mail server performance problems. The subject line and attachment name may change as the virus spreads.

How should I protect myself?

• Install virus-protection software. Make sure to update the product at least once a week. Because an increasing number of viruses cannot be “cleaned” by simply running the “latest” virus checker if you are already infected, preventing infection is the wise course of action.
• Beware of e-mail attachments. Do not open any e-mail attachment unless you are expecting the file and know it is from a reliable source, especially if you are using Windows.
• Back up your files. On a regular basis, back up your files (somewhere other than on your machine). This can save hours, days, even years of work should you lose data because of a virus problem.
• Make a rescue disk. If you own an IBM-type system create a bootable floppy disk, put the antivirus software on it, and set the write-lock tab. This may be useful later.

Stay informed. Keep up with the latest news about viruses

What is anti virus software?

Antivirus software is a program that either comes installed on your computer or that you purchase and install yourself. It helps protect your computer against most viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other unwanted invaders that can make your computer “sick.” Viruses, worms, and the like often perform malicious acts, such as deleting files, accessing personal data, or using your computer to attack other computers.

Why should I use anti-virus software?

You can help keep your computer healthy by using antivirus software. Remember to update your antivirus software regularly. These updates are generally available through a subscription from your antivirus vendor. The first is when a computer virus is reported, the virus is examined and a file is created to clean up or inoculation of the virus, this is called a signature file. The inoculation is added to the antivirus software database, a .dat file, and is used when scanning to identify and destroy viruses. The other way of identifying viruses is called heuristics. Heuristics monitors all activity on the computer and if a program is acting like a virus then it is destroyed or contained.

How does anti virus software work?

Antivirus software works in two ways. The first and the staple of the industry is based on signature files. When a computer virus is reported, the virus is examined and a signature file is created for inoculating the virus. This inoculation is added to the antivirus software database (.dat file) and is used when scanning computers to identify and destroy viruses. Unfortunately this is a reactive process so someone has to be the guinea pig and get infected. The other more progressive way of identifying viruses is called heuristics. This method will be the future of the industry and is basically the only hope we have in eliminating computer viruses. Heuristics monitor all activity on your computer and if a program is “acting” like a virus, then a red flag is raised and it is destroyed or contained and reported. The biggest hurdle for advancement in this area is the difficulty of determining what constitutes virus-like activity. For instance, replication is a common attribute of virus activity, but there can also be valid replication, like in program association. During program association, programs check to see whether or not they are the default. If they are not and you want them to be, then the program will change all of the files, which is akin to replication.

What should I look out for when purchasing anti virus software?

There are many different vendors of Antivirus software, and you are probably wondering which one is the best. There is unfortunately no simple answer to that question. Whatever solution you choose for your computer, make sure of the following specifications:

• The software can automatically update itself
• The software can integrate into your email program and scheduled to run automatically
• Virus scans can be scheduled to run automatically
• The software has a proven track record
• The software provider eleases timely and accurate information about new viruses

Is anti virus and anti-spy software the same thing?

No. Antivirus software helps protects against viruses. Antispyware software helps protect against spyware and other unwanted software. Some security services help protect against viruses and spyware.

Do I need a firewall if I use anti virus software?

Yes. You should use a firewall in addition to antivirus software to help protect your computer.

How can I find out if I already have antivirus software on my computer?

Check the Programs list on the Start menu and look for an antivirus program, such as McAfee or Symantec which is often provided on a trial basis by the computer manufacturers.

How can I make sure my anti virus software remains effective?

Purchase an annual subscription of your antivirus software to make sure your antivirus software stays current and effective. If you have purchased a subscription, most antivirus software will update itself when you are connected to the Internet. To ensure your software is up to date, open your antivirus program from the Start menu or the taskbar notification area and look for update status. When I want to install a new software programme, the installation process is telling me to turn off my anti virus software. Is this safe? Sometimes when you install new software, you may need to turn off your anti virus software during installation. Make sure that you that you turn your anti virus software back on again when you are finished.

I disabled some settings on my antivirus software, and now I’m not sure I should have done that. What are the most important settings to enable?

A number of settings should be enabled when you install the software and shouldn’t be disabled. If you have to, disable these settings to install new software or for any other reason, be sure to re-enable them as soon as possible. “On-access” or “real-time” scanning should be enabled. You should not disable this option as it will leave you vulnerable to threats. An icon should appear in the notification area of the taskbar to indicate that this setting is enabled. Clicking on Programs list in the Start menu should give you the same information.

• Anti-virus software should be configured to scan emails for viruses by default.
• Antivirus software should be set to perform a scheduled scan of your hard disk.

The software section provides pratical advice on Software Features and functionality and includes articles such as….Windows 7 for laptops…Windows 7 Home….Anti virus software FAQ’s….Firewall buying guide….What is firewall software?….Benefits of Business Software?….Buying business software