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We develop Cloud Hosted Software Applications - Software as a Service (SaaS), secure, trusted business systems avoiding the purchase of hardware or software. Our applications are available on a 'Pay-as-you-Go' model. From Helpdesk to Smart Phone Apps we provide a range of Cloud Applications.

We now provide a home based security review service for people working at home using their own personal PC equipment. See web site for details.

Authenticator App (which one)

To enhance your online security you should definitely use an authenticator app. This then enables 2FA (two factor authentication) which will require your cloud web service application to request a PIN number as the third step in your login process, following your email/user-id and pswd.

This unique PIN number is generated afresh every minute. There are two apps we recommend for authentication, ‘Google Auth’ and ‘Authenticator-cc’ both work the same way but are different in operation.

Google Auth only works on your mobile phone, which is fine, and works wells, it is easy to set up new security accounts as the mobile phone is used to scan the set up QR code. So this works well, however, you need to be careful, in case you lose access to your mobile phone.

People lose access to their phones regularly, after theft, damage or loss. In all circumstances you will now have lost access to all your online accounts that were set up for 2FA. Worst case, if you used your browser to remember your user access credentials then now the new holder can access all your web services, disaster!

So first of all - ensure you never require your browser to store your online credentials for any service.

Also, it is critical with Google Auth that you should back up your security accounts to a 2nd / backup / old phone. Keep this backup mobile at home, safe in a drawer. Then if you lose access to your daily phone, you can get back to all your online services at some point.

The method for completing this backup is fairly straight forward, and fully detailed instructions to help you can be found here : https://www.how2shout.com/how-to/transfer-google-authenticator-accounts-from-old-device-to-new-phone.html

The method described assumes that you are creating a new mobile phone, but the principal is the same, and allows you to retain your old phone as backup.

Now the easiest way to avoid the security issues associated with using your mobile phone for PIN authentication, is to use a different authenticator app - found here https://authenticator.cc/

This app operates as a browser extension, you install it as a plug-in to your desktop PC browser. It can operate with Chrome, FireFox and Edge. And it works on all 3 at the same time.

Using the export option, you create a text file on disk which you use to import to the other copies running on your other browsers, these can be on the same PC or on other devices.

This allows for complete resilience, now if you lose access to your home PC you can have access on your alternative device, it is simple to set up and very secure. Of course you can also store the text file with all your account codes in a secure online web email service, thus ensuring that you can always get back your security codes and re-access your online web services.

Adopting this methodology allows you to increase the security of your online presence whilst also securing your recovery options in the case of any minor device disaster.

#dataprivacy

Personal Vault (OneDrive)

Did you know that the cloud file storage service - Microsoft OneDrive - provides for a ‘personal vault’ which can hold your files in a secure manner.

MS OneDrive can be installed for free on your windows PC, and then you can store up to 3 (three) files for free within your vault. More than 3 files requires a premium account.

Initially this vault needs to be unlocked using a mobile phone or email address linked to your MS Account, so set this up first. Then you can unlock your vault and store your (up to 3) secret files.

To cover yourself against loss of equipment, we propose that you create a word document file containing all your web service access credentials, including recovery codes for any 2FA you have set up.

Then cut and paste this into your vault and make any future edit amends there as you change or update your online credentials for any web service.

This same file can be backed up into a separate cloud email service as an encrypted attachment ensuring that your internet access credentials are duplicated into two secure systems.

Using this methodology provides a very secure backup model for recovering access to all your web services after loss of your PC/Laptop or mobile device.

To recover, simply install OneDrive on your new PC, or login into your secure email service when your cloud service recovery document can be downloaded and reviewed allowing to you get back into your web services after equipment loss.

Of course - you will need to memorise (or write down on paper) either your MS account access credentials or your secure email account, but with this one recovered document, you can get back every service you need.

2-Factor Authentication (2FA)

2FA is a perfect method for securing your online web accounts - when the web service provides the option - if it does you should use it.

But be careful, generally most people utilise their mobile phone to access their Time-Based One-Time Password (TOTP) or single-shot PIN to put things simply.

This is fine - but what are the risks, and what steps are needed should you lose access to your mobile phone if it is lost or stolen?

If stolen, there is little the thief can do - unless you have also stored your web service user credentials on the phone or kept them in the browser (remembered) in which case they have access to all your online services.

So - first point - is to ensure you do neither of these things on your mobile, always log out of web services and never ask your browser to remember your access credentials.

There are methods available to separate your authenticator app from your mobile device, thus ensuring everything is very safe, contact us for help if required.

Meantime, when you have set up 2FA, make sure that you have the details backed up, so that if you lose access to your authenticator app you can go through a process to recover access to your web services.

This text below is copied from an authenticator app we recommend.

<<----------------------------->>

Most of the time, losing your secrets doesn’t mean you will lose your account forever. Here are a few steps to take to get your accounts back:

Websites usually give a recovery code to you when you enable 2FA on your account. Use your recovery code to get access to your account. If you don’t have a recovery code go to the site’s support and ask them to disable two factor authentication on your account for you. Recovering your account this way can take a while to process and you will likely need to provide proof of identity. To prevent from losing codes in the future remember to make a backup every time you add a code.

Home PC Security Review - Client Testimonials

"If anyone is interested in IT security advice or support I can wholeheartedly recommend David Amos, who was himself recommended to me.

In the interests of security, I try to review my IT security reasonably regularly, but its not always easy to find someone who is really competent, trustworthy, and can explain the issues clearly and simply. David has worked in corporate IT at a senior level and so has all the relevant knowledge. He really listened to my concerns, explained everything very clearly, confirmed the protections that were already in place, and gave me some really constructive advice about what I could do to reinforce and strengthen my security.

I have no hesitation recommending David to anyone who, like me, needs someone trustworthy to advise them.”

Maureen - Lutterworth March 2021

Home PC Data Security Review

We are now providing a new service, ‘PC Data Security Review’, where anyone working at home can get an ‘MOT’ style check up of their existing security levels - and if needed, help with upgrading or the adoption of new security protocols.

We can visit your home / office to conduct a security review of your PC equipment, including any mobile or tablet use.

We provide an 'MOT' style of examination of your existing levels of security and consider how you are using the equipment to access any cloud applications.

In consultation with yourself we consider your present risks - if any - and what can or should be adopted to reduce your data security risks.

Increasingly, people are working from home using their own Desktop or Laptop PC, combined with occasional access to the same systems from their mobile phone.

This new level of use of personal equipment can expose the individual to an increased risk of virus infection or personal data loss, or Identity Profile hacking.

Why not check and be sure your present level of protection is up to scratch?

Our security review includes a check on your existing Anti-Virus software, along with your password protocols - such as Two Factor Authentication.

Check Windows Updates - A settings review, are Windows updates are being applied?

Check Anti-Virus App - Which package is used and level of protection active?

Check on Email - Which Email accounts are used, are they secure?

Check on Logins - What passsword policies are adopted across systems?

Check on Banking - How is Bank Account access protected?

Two Factor Access - Consider which cloud apps need a second level PIN

Check on Browser - Consider which Browser is in use and advise

Check on Mobile Apps - Consider how your mobile is used for cloud access

Check on Data Backups - Review how Data Files are presently stored/secured

What Action Needed - We provide on-the-spot advice on any urgent actions

Next Steps - We can assist with new levels of software protection or configurations

We can visit your location and provide a review for GBP90 (payments accepted by card) inclusive of 3 hours onsite and reasonable travel. If required a formal written report detailing our findings can be provided at an additional charge.

Subsequent visits can be planned if any software updates or changes to working practises need assistance.

GoPromo - Shopper Marketing

GoPromo is the perfect tool for promoting Special Offers, Events and Promotions to existing and new clients for any business.

We are looking for investors to help us take this exciting new service to a global market, we have some innovative new ideas in mind, including a TV channel. If you would like to consider investing please get in touch.

A service description follows:

Simply with your mobile phone, snap a picture of your offer, enter a few details and 'Click', within a minute your offer is promoted to a large audience via Facebook, Twitter and Digital Media channels to thousands of consumers. It's instant fast and easy to use, you can choose to broadcast your offer to your existing customers only, or everyone in our GoPromoaudience via multiple digital channels that we manage.

We create the market and provide the channelsYou Advertise to thousands of mobile users

Sign up for your free trial of our Shopper Marketing Advertising Channel, purpose built for broadcasting to mobile consumers, a low cost pay-as-u-go service suitable for any high street business, you only need a smart phone - nothing else. Ideal for use by a retail operation needing to promote their brand or special offers to regular customers, and attract new customers via multiple social media and digital broadcast channels that we manage and promote on your behalf. This low cost advertising service (from £40 per month) will grow your customer base and trading volumes, quickly, simply and easily. GoPromo has been purpose built for ease and speed of use, it has been developed as a pro-active real time shopper marketing tool, helping you compete against the budgets of the bigger brands, perfect for City Shopping Centres, or individual high street retail outlets, GoPromo easily and instantly pushes out your promotional offers to regular customers or anyone who follows your own social media accounts. Any number of staff can operate the service via their own personal smart phones (no PC's or dedicated equipment needed), enabling discount offers and marketing promotions to be sent out (broadcast) instantly on the spot there and then as often as you like all within the fixed monthly fee. We provide unique bespoke POS materials for use in your premises, and a simple app to allow cusomter facing roles to invite new customers (using their own mobile phone) to follow your GoPromoaccount, increasing your client base daily. Any member of staff can simply and quickly upload a new promotional offer (they just snap it), then use our GoPromo web service to broadcast out your offer to your existing customers (perhaps selecting 'Premium' only) or the wider world instantly. We provide the ability to distribute your promotion to your regularpremium customers via SMS or our combined Twitter andFacebook followers, automatically in a matter of minutes - Free of Cost. Your customers can share your offer with their friends ("see you there") and new customers can register to join your Premium Listby entering their details directly into your address book, you can then ensure they receive future premium offers from you before anyone else does.

#shopper marketing advertising offers gopromo

Mobile Phone Surveys with Colour Themes

'Mobile Phone Surveys' New Enhancement with Branding Themes

27th March 2013 Applied IT are pleased to announce that our Mobile Phone Surveys service is now enhanced with new additional features, for example the ability to upload & display your company or organisations Brand Logo in your survey splash page, which increases your respondents confidence when answering your survey request. It is now also possible to create your own survey colour theme, which provides the ability to match survey page colours to your own marketing brand colours and use themes across all your surveys or deploy a colour theme per survey. Get 3 months completely FREE! get started now, find out what your customers are really thinking. You can create your own free account here: Mobile Phone Surveys where you can use your own free personal Keyword to create as many surveys as you like.

Mobile Quizzes & Surveys for Smart Phones

Create your own Quiz or Survey

Works on all smart phones

Captures Mobile & Email details

Mobile Phone 'Micro' Surveys are linked with Facebook Get yours here

Perfect for collecting consumer information, our instant Mobile Phone Survey service for Smart Phones delivers feedback results in minutes.

Smart Phone 'Micro' Quizzes are designed to execute directly on the users smart phone - from the cloud, without the need for the user to pre-install any App in advance, and so are perfect for use with consumers where easy access and instant results are required.

Also great for - Instant Survey Consumer Feedback

A key benefit of using our Micro Surveys is that there is no need to know anything about your respondent in advance, all you need to do is create a Face Book page which is used to publish an invocation keyword and then anyone can find your page and invoke the survey for themselves, respondents can feed back instantly because there is no time consuming App Store for them to navigate and nothing to download & install

- critically they do not need to register or log in to complete the survey.

At the end of the survey there is a Face Book 'Like' button which is linked directly to your Face Book page, so that builds your 'Likes' profile and creates more followers for your page, a perfect way to generate SEO traffic.

Along with that you collect the answers to your questions and if you offer a voucher reward for their input - you can potentially collect mobile phone numbers and Email address lists automatically, perfect for follow up campaigns.

Of course you can also promote your survey via a QR code, both methods will work together, you can publish the invocation Keyword information in a magazine, on a Poster, on a bill board, or even on a shop till recieipt.

You can also send out your survey Keyword using our in built SMS auto-responder.

Designed using the latest technology our Mobile Phone Surveys work with all Smart Phone types, including Blackberry, during operation a 3G or Wi-Fi signal is required, the software is designed to work using small neat pages so the performance is always great.

Mobile Phone Surveys are designed to be quick and simple to use without the need for any typing input, a simple point and tap will suffice, however, they can also collect small amounts of data input including the end users Email address and mobile phone number, this is your choice.

As long as the user inputs their mobile phone number then the system will send them a confirmation response as a SMS text message, this maybe just a message - or a 'come back again' discount voucher.

SMS discount vouchers can be used as part of a loyalty scheme, the system will also send an Email if they input their correct Email address.

Since the voucher is stored on their mobile phone as a text message, then they are sure to have this with them when they visit your store or premises.

Retail Stores with POS Till systems can print survey innvocation details on the till ticket print out, a retail survey can then be used to capture instant on-the-spot consumer views about service or product quality.

If your survey requests the user to input their mobile phone number (this can be optional or required) then your account will retain these numbers for your future use in a SMS 'Broadcast', where you can send out a subsequent survey to all those initial respondents.

Each survey manager is sent your Mobile Phone survey user results instantly - directly into their Email account, and using the control panel it is possible to download a CSV file directly into Excel - containing all the survey results collected at that time.

We can also build you a survey or quiz results data capture directly into our cloud Data Mine application service, this uses API calls to record survey details as they are completed, within a few minutes you are then able to review & analyse the results in real time. This facility is an extra cost and is bespoke to your requirements.

Via your control panel account our cloud platform has the ability to send out mass SMS mobile text messages as a 'Broadcast' to all those numbers that have been input by your respondents, which can include a new survey - or indeed a new voucher to be used in a loyalty scheme.

Because our Mobile Phone Surveys are self invoked by the respondent - they are perfect for use as a very low cost method for engaging Employee Staff Surveys, there is no need for you to know details of your employees Email address nor their Mobile phone numbers, all that is required is for you to publish (Lets say via an A4 poster) the information about how to find the correct Face Book page, or how to scan the QR code, this will allow your employees to invoke the survey for themselves and respond using their own smart phones, great when the issue of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) can be turned to a company advantage.

Using your control panel account Mobile Phone Surveys can be set up very easily in a matter of minutes, you can register your account free of cost here , and we provide you with a free survey for you to use as a test or a live service.

Our Micro Survey Service is able to send SMS text messages from our UK based GSM gateway servers to end user respondents in any European Country, it is also possible to set up a dedicated SMS gateway which can use your own local non UK GSM number, this ensures that your respondents text message is free.

We will be happy to provide you with unlimited support and a Free of Cost service to cover any early phase of your adoption and trial of the system with your particular client base.

Because the application is totally cloud based, access can be provided to all the players in the process, whether they be third party vendors, or your organisation members, and they can use any type of mobile device they choose to access the control panel and see the survey results.

Deployments can be made within just a few hours, and new surveys can be launched as demands require - you only pay for use of the system at a nominal value per active survey per month*, access to the control panel for your own staff is unlimited.

There is no set up charge, you can survey any number of internal end users, or remote customers and clients, they can use any type of smart phone mobile device, and because of the low bandwidth requirements, access works out on the road, or in a Store with any reasonable 3G signal.

You can get started very simply, there are no long term contracts to cause concern, no equipment to purchase and the application is fully supported by comprehensive telephone support, so your team can get going and begin using the system with very little training or local hands on support, so you can get started with the least amount of effort and cost.

We take care of all the practical problems, we run the servers in a reliable, fully resilient environment, and we ensure that your data is fully backed up and available at all times.

Our Mobile Phone Surveys application is owned and operated by ourselves, its design is based upon many years of experience in the world of application development

The software is fully owned by Applied IT and is operated from our own virtual server platforms via a managed virtual server service with a leading European ISP.

New application features will be released as part of any new version at least once a year, when the new features provided will be made available to all existing users.

To read more about the Voucher and Reward features of our

Mobile Phone Surveys see our dedicated web site here

Instant Smart Phone 'Micro' Surveys & Rewards

#mobile phone surveys #smart phone survey #mobile quiz

SEO Training & Consultancy Service

'SEO Consultancy Services' now available from Applied IT

November 2012 Applied IT offer their own variant of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Services to their clients. Rather than a "Do it all for you" service offering typically provided, we work with you from the ground upwards to develop a strategy for existing or new web sites, such that they develop a higher natural ranking which grows over time as the site content is tuned and enhanced.

We do not provide a Google Ads service, nor do we work to create a stack of questionable back links, we set out to deliver your search results free of cost.

Time and effort results in free enquires which are derived from Google or Bing searches and not from expensive click-through campaigns which can cost dearly.

We begin at the begining by helping clients establish what Keyword Sets will be most suited to their Target Markets, we help clients understand the Role Profile of the person who is looking for their services and set out to build or re-focus a web site which then captures enquires from those most likely to become new customers.

This includes all the help that will be needed to create a full set of Social Media utilities and a series of weekly business processes required to ensure that your business attracts new clients.

We ensure that we train your own staff (or yourself) in the skills and knowledge required such that you can become expert in driving your own results.

Comment from our early clients are noted below: Ian Sterritt, Managing Director at Martec of Whitwell said "Don't believe anyone who tells you they know all about SEO until you talk to Dave Amos. He doesn't over promise and under deliver but knows what is realistic based on having done the hard graft himself from first principles to understand and guide. You won't get a flashy salesman, just indepth knowledge honestly applied." Gary Phillips, Partner at QOfficeFurniture Milton Keynes said "We at QOfficeFurniture have been really pleased with the SEO approach devised by Applied IT. Also, the help and advice in defining our ideas and objectives into actions necessary to develop our marketing plans have been extremely useful and relevent, in particular their tips & training on the web developments tools needed and social media services to use." Get in touch with us now to arrange a Free of Cost Consultants visit. Enquire Here

#SEO #SEO Consultancy #SEO Training #SEO Page Ranking #SEO Web Site Tuning

Corporate Fun Day

On Friday 7th September, Applied IT ran another of their corporate fun days where customers and associates enjoyed a very sunny time making plenty of noise - shooting at clay pigeon targets.

Find a series of photos following , where Ben can be seen winning the Trophy.

You can find out more about Applied IT here.