Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Philips Delares War on Product Piracy

Philips wants to protect users against counterfeit lighting products. The company developed an easy way for users to check if a Xenon product is the real deal.

Each Philips Xenon package features an authenticity seal (Certificate of Authenticity or COA). It’s an effective way to protect the brand and customers against piracy.

Furthermore, each product package also features a QR Code. Once this code it scanned by a smartphone, it displays a security code which grants access to www.philips.com/original. The user can then access that code to find out the origin of that Xenon product.

This security feature was necessary since a growing number of counterfeit Xenon products flooded the market. This supply is triggered by numerous online and offline shops. These counterfeit products are inferior and pose a serious risk.

Please, avoid cheaper knock-offs and go for the real article! It’s not only the ethical thing to do – there's also the legal matter of liability and insurance.

Be smart, go for the real McCoy!

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Microsoft Promises Dutch Government to Keep Their XP Computers Safe – Really?!

As we all know – from April 8, 2014 on Microsoft stopped supporting its Windows XP. In an unexpected move, Microsoft will go on maintaining and securing the Dutch Government’s computers running on Windows XP.

The Dutch government struck the deal with the software giant. Dutch Minister Mr. Stef Blok (Housing and Central Government) officially announced the agreement.

It is unclear how much the Dutch government has to fork out for this “privilege”. Mr. Blok stated that the amount is part of the contract negotiations and therefore confidential.

As announced, Microsoft will stop supporting it Windows XP from Tuesday 8th of April 2014 on. This means that that there will be no more technical support of Windows XP. There also will be no more security patches for the 12-year-old operating system (OS). Anyone using XP after April 8 could be faced with viruses or other data-stealing malware.

In the Netherlands, many governmental computers still run on XP. The Dutch National Cyber Security Center already advised way back in February to migrate as soon as possible from Windows XP to a new operating system (OS).

There are also an estimated 1 million private computers in the Netherlands running on Windows XP. The amount of business users is unknown.

According to research, two in five Dutch municipalities currently use Windows XP computers.

Dutch banks have recently warned their customers NOT to use Windows XP when making transactions. The banks also modified their terms & conditions to point out that customers will themselves be liable for any fraud resulting from online banking if they do not have an updated OS.

But curious minds want to know: how come that Microsoft can keep on supporting the XP computers of the Dutch government but not those of your average Joe?!

Anyway, if you are a small or medium-sized company (SME/SMB) or a private user with one or more computers running on XP – contact ScotPlanet NOW to quickly and safely move away from XP to a new OS. Let’s keep your computer(s) and data safe!

(Image courtesy of www.ncsc.nl)

Friday, April 04, 2014

ScotPlanet Launches Problem Solver to Help Individuals and Business Users to Migrate Their Computers Away From XP


ScotPlanet enables private and business computers and laptops running on XP to migrate to another OS in order to keep their systems, programs, applications and data secure

 

ScotPlanet, a provider of IT services, announced today the launch of its XP Problem Solver service. This service is aimed at small and medium-sized companies (SME/SMB) that have one or more computers running on Windows XP, one of Microsoft’s operating systems (OS).
Starting April 8, 2014 Microsoft® will stop supporting Windows XP. As a result, all desktops and laptops running on Windows XP will be vulnerable to cybercrime (data theft, Trojans, phishing, malware attacks, etc) since no more security patches for vulnerabilities will be issued. Microsoft® will also stop supporting Office® 2003, Outlook® 2003 and earlier versions of Internet Explorer (IE).
To help individuals and business to keep their computers and data safe, ScotPlanet has launched its XP Problem Solver service for migrating XP desktops and laptops to a new OS. The service consists of four comprehensive phases: analysis, planning, migration and follow up.
Our XP Problem Solver provides individuals as well as businesses with an optimal way to quickly move away from Windows XP once Microsoft® stops its support”, said Michael Cina, owner of ScotPlanet.
There are currently an estimated 500 million XP users around the world facing the risk of having vulnerable computers and unprotected data,” he continued. “Using security solutions such as Antivirus will not be enough to keep XP computers safe. The only option for those millions of users is opting for a service that will migrate their XP computers to a new OS”.
For more information or for a free consultation, please contact ScotPlanet at:
About ScotPlanet
ScotPlanet provides IT services to individual and business users. Services include IT management and maintenance, technical support, training and consultancy.
Company contact:                                                       Press contact:

ScotPlanet                                                                   Tip Top PR
Michael Cina                                                               Debra De-Jong                                   
Email: Info (at) scotplanet.com                                  Email: Debra (at) tiptoppr.com          
Tel: ++ 972-58-530 8167                                            Tel: ++972-77-915 0040
www.scotplanetxp.com                                              www.tiptoppr.com