Manx Computer Bureau News and Info

Manx Telecom Ltd Access Network starting Tuesday 26th January 2010 for 3 weeks.

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 19 Jan 2010 12:15:40 GMT

This is to inform you that planned maintenance work has been scheduled Island-wide across the Manx Telecom Ltd Access Network starting Tuesday 26th January 2010 for 3 weeks.

This work involves the software upgrade to all Exchange based ADSL ISAM nodes that provide access connectivity for Broadband ISP services; and will cause up to 30 minutes service disruption whilst the ISAM node is upgraded.

The proposed dates/times are detailed below:

WEEK 1:

· Tuesday 26th January (05:00 – 08:00hrs) – Douglas North ADSL ISAMs (Majestic Drive FTTC ISAM will be temporarily affected)

· Wednesday 27th January (06:00 – 08:00hrs) – Laxey ADSL ISAMs (Glen Mona FTTC ISAM will be temporarily affected)

· Thursday 28th January (05:00 – 08:00hrs) – Castletown ADSL ISAMs (Ballasalla & Ronague FTTC ISAMs will be temporarily affected)

WEEK 2:

· Tuesday 2nd February (05:00 – 08:00hrs) – Peel ADSL ISAMs (Glen Maye FTTC ISAM will be temporarily affected)

· Wednesday 3rd February (06:00 – 08:00hrs) – Sulby & Kirk Andreas ADSL ISAMs (Ballaugh, Sandygate, Jurby & Bride FTTC ISAMs will be temporarily affected)

· Thursday 4th February (05:00 – 08:00hrs) – Port Erin ADSL ISAMs (Colby FTTC ISAM will be temporarily affected)

WEEK 3:

· Tuesday 9th February (06:00 – 08:00hrs) – Marown ADSL ISAMs (Mount Rule & Braaid FTTC ISAMs will be temporarily affected)

· Wednesday 10th February ((06:00 – 08:00hrs) – St. Johns & Kirk Michael ADSL ISAMs

· Thursday 11th February (05:00 – 08:00hrs) – Ramsey ADSL ISAMs (Maughold FTTC ISAMs will be temporarily affected)

Fraud email

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 15 Jan 2010 16:37:41 GMT

If you get an email something like the one below it is NOT from MCB. Delete it and scan your system with your antivirus and antispyware programs just to be safe. ----- Original Message ----- From: automailer@mcb.net To: someone@mcb.net Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 4:57 PM Subject: A new settings file for the anne.mcdonald@mcb.net mailbox Dear user of the mcb.net mailing service! We are informing you that because of the security upgrade of the mailing service your mailbox (someone@mcb.net) settings were changed. In order to apply the new set of settings click on the following link: http://mcb.net/owa/service_directory/settings.php?email=anne.mcdonald@mcb.net&from=mcb.net&fromname=anne.mcdonald Best regards, mcb.net Technical Support. Letter ID#D7X1O3L14XV4AQYOOKJ558NJI

MCB Support opening times over Christmas

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 22 Dec 2009 14:10:18 GMT

We are going to be open between 10am and 4pm 28th - 31st December. Telephone support - 623841 Email support - support@mcb.net Thanks And have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Planned maintenance work on the Douglas North Core

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 16 Dec 2009 11:25:32 GMT

The planned maintenance work on the Douglas North Core IP/MPLS Network was cancelled earlier this morning due to unfortunate circumstances. An incident occurred with the redundant connectivity to the Douglas North BRAS at approximately 00:13hrs and this unfortunately caused a number of Broadband ISP customer sessions to clear down. The work was immediately rolled back and sessions re-established within a 15 minute period. The root cause to the incident has been identified and will be rectified accordingly. The Douglas North upgrade work will now be re-scheduled for Friday 18th December between 00:00hrs and 06:00hrs. The planned maintenance work scheduled at Douglas Central will proceed as planned from midnight this evening (as per the notification below). This is to inform you that planned maintenance work has been scheduled at both Douglas Core sites on Wednesday 16th December & Thursday 17th December 2009, between 00:00hrs and 06:00hrs. This work involves the software upgrade to several Core IP/MPLS network devices that provide connectivity for Broadband services. We do not envisage service impact upon the Broadband service due to network resilience; however, this notification is to advise you that the Broadband service is at risk during this maintenance window. The details are: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- START DATE: 16/12/2009 (Wednesday a.m.) MAINTENANCE WINDOW START TIME: 00:00hrs MAINTENANCE WINDOW FINISH TIME: 06:00hrs END DATE: 16/12/2009 (Wednesday a.m.) AREA AFFECTED: Broadband ISP customers connected to ADSL & SDSL ISAMs that are served by the Douglas North BRAS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- START DATE: 17/12/2009 (Thursday a.m.) MAINTENANCE WINDOW START TIME: 00:00hrs MAINTENANCE WINDOW FINISH TIME: 06:00hrs END DATE: 17/12/2009 (Thursday a.m.) AREA AFFECTED: Broadband ISP customers connected to ADSL & SDSL ISAMs that are served by the Douglas Central BRAS.

"Out of the box, Win 7 less secure than Vista"

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 11 Dec 2009 11:59:05 GMT

According to a well respected security firm, Microsoft's flagship Windows 7 operating system is less secure in its default configuration that Vista.

Suspect hacker calling residents

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 3 Dec 2009 16:08:37 GMT

A warning has been issued about a suspected computer hacker who has been calling residents on the Isle of Man.

NEWS FROM MT

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 24 Nov 2009 09:56:31 GMT

Upgrade of ADSL to ADSL2+.......... I'm pleased to announce that with effect from the 11th January 2010 we will remove the charge to ISPs to upgrade customers to the ADSL2+ profile. Orders received up to close of business on 10th January 2010 will continue to attract a one-off upgrade fee of �40 ex VAT. This change is being made after discussion with the Director of the Communications Commission and is in response to the view that the current upgrade charge acts as a barrier to customers switching to ADSL2+.

Who wants to change their email address???

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 4 Nov 2009 12:32:47 GMT

Anyone want to change email address??? How about changing to username@mymail.im If you do you can use either IMAP or POP3 on your email account, your choice. We can forward your username@mcb.net email to your new account for a while in case there is anyone you have forgot to tell about your new email address. And once you tell us we can stop forwarding your username@mcb.net email you can imagine how much spam will no longer reach you!!! If you want to change email me and let me know at support@mcb.im

Sweden loses its internet connection

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 14 Oct 2009 12:56:48 GMT

The internet connection for the whole of Sweden went down for almost an hour when routine maintenance broke every single .se address.

Sidekick outage says more about the future of 'Pink' than Microsoft's cloud

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 14 Oct 2009 12:56:16 GMT

I was (trying to) unplug most of the long holiday weekend, but couldn't help but read all the headlines about how the Sidekick outage spells trouble for Microsoft's cloud strategy.

The T-Mobile-Microsoft Sidekick data disaster: Poor IT management going mainstream

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 14 Oct 2009 12:55:42 GMT

If you're a T-Mobile Sidekick user who put data, contacts and other items in the cloud we have some bad news for you: Your data is gone.probably forever. With cloud computing increasingly reaching the masses the average consumer will soon be enmeshed in the world of poor IT management. Welcome on board the IT failure express.

Patch Tuesday: MS plugs critical IE, Windows Media Player holes

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 14 Oct 2009 12:54:31 GMT

Microsoft today released its largest ever batch of Patch Tuesday updates to fix a whopping 34 security holes in a wide range of widely deployed software products.

Connection problems 14 09 2009

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 14 Sep 2009 16:49:13 GMT

There are still problems with some broadband connections due to today's power glitch. Our advice is to report the fault with MT on 151 as it is a problem with the exchange and not with MCB. If they don't allow you to report a fault please let us know as this is an ongoing issue we have had with MT.

Benchmarks: Windows 7 RTM versus Vista, XP

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 4 Aug 2009 10:34:51 GMT

Now that the final version of Windows 7 has been released to manufacturing, it's time to find out how much of an improvement or not it will make over its predecessors, Windows XP and Windows Vista. Kai Schmerer of ZDNet Germany put all three operating systems under the microscope and here's what he discovered:

Problem with IE8 Security Patch installed this week accessing HSBC online banking

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 31 Jul 2009 11:41:21 GMT

Problem with IE8 Security Patch installed this week accessing HSBC online banking A recent security patch has stopped HSBC online banking from using https for secure logins, resulting in a message "Connection reset by peer". To resolve, remove the IE8 Security patch or use another browser like Firefox.

Keeping your Internet Speeds to an Optimium and Power Cycling your Equipment

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 7 Jul 2009 11:59:11 GMT

To maintain and keep your speeds to a maximum you need to power cycle your router for an hour or so, preferably over night and that is enough to maintain your optimum internet speed.

11/07/09 service drop out for Douglas North

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 7 Jul 2009 11:59:11 GMT

Service Drop Out - Douglas North 1530 - 1600 11-07-09 Some folk may of experienced a drop out of service between 1530 and 1600 on Saturday afternoon 11-07-09, this fault has now been cleared.

06/07/09 service drop out

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 7 Jul 2009 11:59:11 GMT

Yesterday there was a drop out of service for some users. Timescale for the loss of service varied from 0-30 mins caused by another network having problems which affected our network. We have been told that their problem is now fixed.

Internet 'speeds up decision making and brain function'

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 23 Jun 2009 10:46:34 GMT

Internet use could improve brain function and speed up decision-making, but it comes at the expense of empathy and the ability to think in abstract terms, scientists have found.

"The days of the free Internet will draw to a close over the next five years"

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 15 Jun 2009 10:37:22 GMT

“I absolutely believe the Internet is passing from its free days into a paid system. Inevitably, I promise you, it will be paid," Diller said in a keynote discussion opening up the Advertising 2.0 conference held at his company's futuristic glass building alongside the Hudson River in Manhattan. “Not every single thing, but anything of value. “

BT calls for BBC to fund the costs of iPlayer

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 11 Jun 2009 08:47:16 GMT

BT, the country's biggest internet provider, has called on the BBC to fund the "huge" costs of broadcasting programmes on its popular iPlayer website.

The Web's most dangerous keywords to search for

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 28 May 2009 15:02:53 GMT

Which is the most dangerous keyword to search for using public search engines these days? It's “screensavers" with a maximum risk of 59.1 percent, according to McAfee's recently released report.

Microsoft finally acknowledges Windows 7 will ship in 2009

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 13 May 2009 14:30:19 GMT

Specifically, Windows 7 is going to be generally available in time for holiday 2009. Windows Server 2008 R2 will ship “in the same timeframe," officials are conceding.

DNS and Mail Servers

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 25 Mar 2009 08:53:48 GMT

Hi I am often asked what the mail servers are when you are setting up email accounts on your computers so I have added a page on the site to keep them on for you. Thanks John

POP3 Setup

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 17 Mar 2009 15:48:36 GMT

A walkthrough on how to Set Up Outlook Express for POP3 (@mcb.net) email

IMAP Setup

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 17 Mar 2009 15:48:36 GMT

A walkthrough on how to Set Up Outlook Express for IMAP email

Hello and welcome

John.Hulley@mcb.im — 17 Mar 2009 15:48:36 GMT

Hello, and welcome to the Manx Computer Bureau new website and news and information feed.