Several Lineal Engineers have entered the 2022 international CyberDrain ‘Capture-the-Flag’ competition.

Designed to sharpen the problem-solving and technical skills of IT administrators, CyberDrain challenges test proficiency across a range of common platforms (including Microsoft Azure, Hyper-V, 365 & Linux environments). To rise to the top of the 1000-person strong global league table, contestants must recover as many ‘flags’ as possible before 14th March.

2021 saw three Lineal engineers (Hugo, Martyn and Joe) score among the competition’s best – each ranking within the ‘Top 50’.

Contestants must be able to answer both beginner challenges that mimic typical support tickets raised by end-users, but also demonstrate advanced PowerShell scripting and system engineering skills.

This year’s competition adds an extra layer of challenge – with both harder and time-limited challenges that earn bonus points – and a wider range of prizes sponsored by Huntress and other notable IT vendors.

Good luck to all our competitors!

For IT Support and technical expertise – please contact us today.

According to a survey conducted by Gartner at the end of 2020, nearly one in five workers consider themselves to be digital technology ‘experts’ since COVID-19 – and over half consider themselves proficient.

Researchers suggest the increase in confidence (or overconfidence) is perhaps due to the increased reliance on collaboration tools such as Teams and Zoom and a lack of in-person IT support while working remotely – but found more than half (55%) of those surveyed were using personal devices for access to work systems/data, or privately obtained ‘shadow IT’ applications not sanctioned by their employer, at least some of the time.

The sample group, spread across US, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions among around 10,000 full-time employees at organisations with 100 or more employees in November and December 2020, analysed workers’ technological and workplace experiences.

Whit Andrews, distinguished research vice president at Gartner, argued: “Workers seized on the crisis” adopting “a wide range of technologies and applications in the space of a few months.”

Workers Shift Device Preferences

The Gartner survey found that digital workers increased their reliance on portable devices during 2020. Workers reported an 11% increase in the proportion of their work time spent on laptops, smartphones or tablets. The proportion of their time spent on desktops declined by 8%.

The findings also showed a rise in the number of workers using personal technology for work purposes. Over half of respondents reported that they use applications or web services that they personally obtained – most of which are not employer-sanctioned – for collaborating with other workers. The same proportion (55%) are using personally owned devices for their work at least some of the time.

“When organisations were forced to go remote in early 2020, workers started to rely on their own devices or programs they discovered themselves to make up for their employers’ technology shortcomings,” said Mr. Andrews. “In 2021, organisations can embrace this trend by expanding the choice of devices and software programs that workers can use with little or no friction.”

Flexible Work Supports Increased Productivity

One of the main questions lingering among executives regarding the impacts of the last year is remote work’s effect on productivity.

According to the Gartner survey, among employees whose work-from-home time increased since January 2020, 36% reported an increase in productivity, while 35% reported no change. Flexibility in working hours was the most cited factor enabling greater productivity, selected by 43% of respondents.

A quarter of workers surveyed did report that their productivity fell. Connectivity issues and technology changes were among the top reasons cited for decreased productivity.

“Digital proficiency becomes even more essential for productivity when working remotely,” said Mr. Andrews. “CIOs should extend worker-to-worker lateral mentoring and training to ensure that no employees are left behind as technology mastery becomes the expectation.”

For IT Support expertise, please contact Lineal today.

Here at Lineal we’re seeing more and more users ask for upgrades to Solid State Drives (SSDs) in our Repairs & Upgrades Shop. What is this best kept secret?

Solid State Drives are the modern replacement for your old computer hard disk, superceding the traditional magnetically-written hard disk with an integrated flash-based system more like a memory stick. Without fragile moving pieces any laptop equipped with an SSD is much more durable in the real world, where computers receive frequent accidental knocks, scrapes and shocks which could damage a traditional hard disk. No laptop is invincible, and for businesses looking to avoid expensive hardware repairs, upgrading to an SSD can be a shrewd investment.

Operating through intricate circuitry rather than a spinning mechanism, SSDs run silently and are much more power efficient, more environmentally friendly, and offer users extended battery life.

“No moving parts means an SSD is much more practical than your old computer hard disk.” explained Ian Meredith, Network Analyst at Lineal: “SSDs are more advanced, reading and writing data quicker, running cooler and less likely to need maintenance.”

Manufacturers are already pushing boundaries: Samsung recently announced the world’s fastest SSD ever. Weighing in at just 10 grams, the Samsung 950 Pro is a 1 TB monster SSD boasting read speeds of 2.5Gb per second, and write speeds of 1.5Gb per second.

“It’s straightforward for us to replace the drives on both MAC and Windows Devices” added Ian: “SSD prices have plummeted recently and in our Repairs & Upgrades shop we can move all a client’s existing data across to the new drive once we’ve built it into their laptop.”

“With a routine SSD upgrade we can provide improved performance to users who need it, or peace-of-mind to those clients who fear their indispensible laptop’s hard-drive may be reaching the end of its life.”

Contact Lineal about upgrading your organisation’s IT with a Solid State Drive (SSD) today – call us: 01271 375999.

Lineal recently offered our photographic services to the 2015 Barnstaple Pilot Gig Regatta, hosted on the river Taw.

Managing Director Mike Matthews said: “It was fantastic for us to see such a popular event right here on Lineal’s doorstep at Castle Quay, Barnstaple. Crews came from every corner of North Devon and beyond, with spectators crowding onto the Strand and waterfront to get a good view. We were delighted to be able to photograph the spectacle for all of the participating rowers.”

“Capturing a large event like this can be a challenge because of the weather conditions and distances/obstacles involved – you need the right technology to get up close to the action as each race widens out. Being in the start boat allowed me to get up close, and sometimes very friendly, to the crews, with some of the exertion pictures not looking out of place at a gurning competition!”

The regatta drew in eight pilot gig crews from right across the wider North Devon and North Cornwall areas, with Ilfracombe Pilot Gig Club winning the regatta overall. North Devon’s beloved 22 Squadron’s Search & Rescue Helicopter from RMB Chivenor also performed a farewell flypast on the final day of its operations.

For help with all your IT needs, get in touch with Lineal today via: 01271 375999

Here at Lineal some of our most popular services are cloud-based, but this invaluable business tool doesn’t come entirely without pitfalls.

Cloud computing, storing your data and performing other IT functions over a shared ‘Cloud’ hosted by a third party, provides a wealth of possibilities. Accessible over an internet connection, storing files in the cloud means that a safe record of your data is kept on a remote servers should anything happen to your PC’s hard drive. For smaller businesses the small monthly investment in cloud computing avoids a huge capital expense for hardware, and gives a quicker return on investment.

Securing documents in the cloud also mean they can be easily accessed by team members in different locations or from different devices. Cloud-based services like Microsoft’s Office 365 even allow teams of users to collaboratively edit said shared files in real time from different places.

Yet Cloud computing has drawbacks too: for anyone dealing with very large data sizes (graphic design work, 3D modelling, video files and similar) most cloud systems will not be practical given long upload times. If your business is located somewhere with less reliable internet, over-reliance on cloud services may even hinder your business continuity if something fails.

If you’re storing confidential personal information, financial or medical details abroad, will your provider comply with UK data protection laws? How about your organisation’s own security procedures?

Above all – just how ‘remote’ should remote backup be? This is both the strength and weakness of cloud services – an unknown, distant server provides a safe backup vault for data until you need to manually access it. Storing your data in Germany, the United States or even further afield may be a cheap fix, until you need to book flights to access the hardware!

Our Verdict? Cloud computing is at its strongest when business users plan for contingencies. Never choose a provider so distant you can’t speak to a real person, or will have difficulty physically recovering backups if the very worst happens. Here at Lineal we know that we can always courier a physical backup to your business in the event that your IT suffers an unlikely disaster.

Lineal can offer professional cloud computing for your business with local reliability – get in touch with us today via: http://www.lineal.co.uk/contact/

Here at Lineal we’ve generally been impressed with the release of OS X El Capitan – but the release of Apple’s latest operating system has not come entirely without pitfalls.

Some of our own staff experienced printing problems for the Mac version of Microsoft Office 2016 – these have fortunately already been rectified in update version 10.11.1 by a humbly apologetic Apple.

One of the most notable surprises however was the outright removal of functionality that long-time Mac users have had from the earlier days of personal computing.

Apple’s Disk Utility app update has removed the ability to verify and repair disk permissions on your Mac, leaving users with no way to verify incorrectly installed programs with the correct disk permissions to read/write to their hard drive.

At Lineal we’ve always advised users to verify and repair disk permissions after major updates, and even some Apple software regularly flags up as in need of verification.

Apple has made two sweeping generalisations: firstly, that Mac users only need to run software that immediately cooperates with their hardware (a big assumption) and secondly that users will be content to let Apple worry about the details of their computer maintenance.

Personal computing today feels a little less personal. Mac users have become used to the idea that Mac updates are very reliable, and worthwhile installing promptly – yet the sudden removal of longstanding features puts this in doubt for the first time.

Should we all trust manufacturers? A question for Volkswagen.

Lineal can offer Tech Support for a range of Apple devices: get in touch with us today via 01271 375999 or contact us online. 

Flickr: M Dreibelbis

SMBs & ShoreTel

Presenting a professional face to the world relies upon efficient customer service, but if you’re just one small business starting out, how do you keep up?

ShoreTel’s Cloud Phone systems are a perfect example of how technology can be a force multiplier for SMBs allowing your small team to take on much bigger competition – and win.

Your goal should be to make dealing with your business stress-free and more convenient than bigger rivals. It’s no surprise that the UK Which? ‘Worst Customer Service’ Survey 2015 is topped by utility and telecoms companies – those with typically slow, large scale, poor quality interaction with customers over the phone.

A cloud-based phone system allows users to cleverly route incoming calls to the right place, by any method you choose – service level, skill matching, customer identity, caller location or simple priority. By deploying a smart call routing system to direct calls to the right person you can ensure that the customer spends as little time as possible holding on the line and gets their query answered.

In order to better serve customers when they call, ShoreTel’s unified communications platform can be configured to give members of your team the relevant details at their fingertips – such as simple screen pop-up containing a customer’s information. This helps your customer service team deal with queries faster, and in a more informed manner.

Being away from the phone need not be a barrier to SMBs either: voicemail and fax can also be routed onwards into transcribed email, so mobile working won’t hold you back from interacting with customers promptly. ShoreTel’s data also integrates with common CRM systems, seamlessly stitching the different strands of your business’ existing work flow together. Operating a business with a small staff, on the move, or across multiple locations? ShoreTel is made for you.

ShoreTel Connect’s Contact Centre is based around a monthly subscription service rather than a big hardware investment – a much more cost effective option for smaller businesses and ensuring a faster return on investment (ROI). Yet the true investment is in your reputation as a company – as a trusted business that is efficient and responsive to your customers’ needs.

Don’t get stuck holding: explore ShoreTel today.

To learn more, speak to somebody from Lineal today – call us on 01271 375999

More from Lineal News

Apple launched the new OS X 10.11 El Capitan to Mac users yesterday, in the latest free update of its trademark operating system.

The new offering is not a revolution, but an evolution of Apple’s OS X Yosemite released last year, with the newest version including a host of tweaks to improve performance and ease of use.

Having test-driven the software, Lineal staff had the following initial verdicts on El Capitan:

1. Immediate downloads are for die hard fans – even with 60+ Mbps download speeds, it took us several hours to download the full version today, less than one day after release. Conversely, some of our team managed to download it hours after release in under 20 minutes. Early download performance seems very inconsistent, presumably due to global load on Apple’s servers. For a more user-friendly experience, be patient and download over the weekend.

2. We liked the new multitasking tools, including the Split View window management system highly reminiscent of Microsoft Windows 10, but even more useful on Apple’s smaller screen MacBooks.

3. El Capitan improves performance behind the scenes, loading a test PDF file around 50% faster, and improving battery life in the process. Finder also shows a greater initiative, intelligently understanding ‘edited yesterday’ and similar phrases to speed up searching for your files.

4. Safari finally gets a refresh that includes pinned tabs, allowing for a more efficient way to keep persistent information open. This has been possible in Chrome and Firefox for some time so it’s good to see improvements to Safari to complete the user experience compared to the rivals.

5. Several of Apple’s most basic apps have received an overdue refresh – for example Notes, where users will find they can now add hitherto excluded images and video if needed, along with a few basic formatting options. Shake your mouse cursor and it will swell in size so that you can find it easily. Apple hasn’t changed – these are thoughtful touches.

Overall OS X El Capitan is a solid, if somewhat modest, revision to Apple’s software range, which clearly has not been rushed to release. The new features have been developed with care and the real draw is increased performance. Both are worth waiting a day or two for though, giving other users time to test the new system, and yourself a less stressful update.

Lineal can offer support and expertise for a range of systems, including various Mac devices – get in touch with us today via: http://www.lineal.co.uk/contact/