FREE UK IT Recycling & Data Destruction

UK wide IT recycling with no hidden costs. A free of charge collection requires a minimum of 10 working PCs, laptops and flat screen monitors. Each collection includes a report with serial numbers and asset tags, together with data destruction certificates. See: https://www.innovent-recycling.co.uk/ or email joe@innovent-recycling.co.uk

FREE Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software

HubSpot CRM is everything you need to organize, track, and nurture your leads and customers. Features include Gmail & Outlook integration, email scheduling, team email, live chat, tasks, ticketing, reporting dashboard and more. With unlimited users and up to 1 million contacts and companies, for free, forever. See: https://www.hubspot.com/products/crm

Free Resources for CIOs and Leading Technologists

The CIO WaterCooler is free, open and supportive social network for CIOs and leading technologists from around the world to come together, share their news and views and discuss the challenges facing the industry. They have updated their entire research library and made it freely available, where you’ll find the latest research from leading European analyst firm Bloor Research, along with their own benchmarking surveys and more, all ungated.

This is just one of the many free resources on offer to the community, either online or via the CIO WaterCooler lite app, now available for iOS or Android. See: https://ciowatercooler.co.uk

Edit, Send & Sign PDFs Online For FREE

DocHub streamlines document signing, distribution and form completion. Features an online PDF editor to annotate documents, whiteout text, append pages, merge files, add fields and more. Create PDF forms and templates, as well as instantly eSign any document. Integrates with Gmail, Google Drive and Dropbox, with 256-bit SSL encryption. A FREE account is limited to 2000 docs and 5 signed docs per month. See: https://dochub.com/

Add Safe Mode to Windows 10 Boot Options

Quite why Microsoft made it so difficult to get into Safe Mode in Windows 10 is beyond me, but you can actually make it a boot option in just a few steps.

Step 1
Open a Command Prompt with Administrator Rights by typing into the search bar CMD, then right clicking on the now highlighted Command Prompt to select 'Run as administrator'
Next in the Command Prompt window enter: bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Windows 10 Safe Mode"
If it works you will see 'The entry was successfully copied to .............'

Step 2
Type msconfig into the search bar and select System Configuration
Click on the Boot tab
Click on the new entry Windows 10 Safe Mode to select it
Under Boot options, tick Safe boot
Under Boot options, select Minimal
Set the Timeout to 3 seconds
Next, tick Make all boot settings permanent

Step 3
Restart your machine and press F2 or whatever the boot options prompt is to boot into Safe Mode.

Repeat the whole process to add extra boot options by changing the text you first enter into the Command Prompt that is in speech marks to "Safe Mode with Networking" and selecting Network in Boot options.

Lastly a big thank you to IT PRO for bringing this to my attention in the article:
https://www.itpro.co.uk/operating-systems/25802/17-windows-10-problems-and-how-to-fix-them

CyberTalks - Cyber Experts Sharing Their Knowledge

CyberTalks is a unique platform producing cyber content direct from leading cyber industry figures. Started in 2016, the community is now more than 6000 strong. Join up for free to enjoy their on-demand talks, interviews and articles. See: https://cybertalks.co.uk/

Has your email been hacked?

Anonymously check for free if your email has been compromised in a hack or data leak and shared publicly from over 12.4 billion addresses and 172,687 leaks. Results are only shown after you click a verification link back to the email you provide and your email is only stored  during the verification process. See: https://hacked-emails.com/

FREE Threat Exchange Network

Blueliv’s Threat Exchange Network is a collaborative community designed to improve everyone’s ability to fight against cyber threat. Features include cyber threat map where you can check your IP adresses to see if you are infected and the ability to analyze suspicious files using Blueliv's automated sandbox. Sign up for free at: https://community.blueliv.com

FREE Task & Project Management Software

Cirkus is a cloud based task and project management solution built to reflect and adapt to the way teams actually work together. A FREE account allows up to 3 team members, 1GB file storage per user, custom templates and fields, groups and roles, task and project filters. Available via Web, Android, iOS, and macOS apps, in English, Spanish and German. See: https://cirkus.com/

Secure Email and File Sharing From Any Email Account

StayPrivate takes the hassle out of encrypting emails and sharing files securely in a GDPR-compliant manner. Send AES-256 encrypted emails and attachments direct from any email account. Smart links plus PIN security give contacts convenient, secure access. Clients receive email notifications directly into their current email inbox. No download, set up or sign up required.

Free forever for 1 user, with 1GB Storage Included in UK-based Servers. See: https://stayprivate.com

A Practical Guide to Cyber Security for Small Businesses

Cybercrime is a massive 21st century problem and small businesses face a huge hurdle to effectively protect themselves and their customers, compared to larger firms. Budgets are tight and not fully understanding the risks means that gaps can easily be left. This practical guide acts like a pocket cyber security consultant, helping you build a layered cyber security strategy using a mixture of free and paid for services. Just because you are a small business, it doesn’t mean you need to be a victim of cybercrime.

To get a taste for the book, check out these blog posts:
▪ Is cybersecurity awareness training worth the bother?
▪ A Realistic View of Passwords
▪ Why I Won’t Phish My Own Staff
▪ Battling Software Update Fatigue
▪ 12 Free Security Steps for SMBs
▪ Fighting Back Against Cybercrime

Available as a paperback and eBook on Amazon, see: https://www.booleanlogical.com/cybersecurity-books/

Apple iPhone UK Comparison - Sept 2018

If you are thinking about getting a new iPhone in the UK, every iPhone from the 8 onward costs you £0.78 per GB of additional storage over the base model. The iPhone 7 costs £1.04 per GB. There is no sweet spot, see the most up to date chart at: http://bit.ly/iPhone-UK-Comparison

Make Gmail Smarter For FREE

Gmelius add a ton of features into your Gmail or G Suite email like CRM, send later, smart snooze, email tracking, shared templates, Kanban boards, email notes, and more. A free account includes unlimited smart smart snooze and email tracking (read notifications), as well as detection and blocking of email trackers and quick unsubscribe from newsletters. For more info, see: https://gmelius.com/

FREE Windows Server Auditing Tools

Free auditing tools from Netwrix can save you a lot of time and make your network more efficient. Audit Active Directory and file servers, troubleshoot account lockouts and password expirations, and more — all for free and network tools will never expire. See: https://www.netwrix.com/top_7_freeware_tools.html

Microsoft Teams FREE Messaging and Meeting Solution

Microsoft Teams is a complete cloud-based chat and online meetings solution. Host audio, video, and web conferences, and chat with anyone inside or outside your organization. Features includes unlimited messages and search, with guest access. Free version is limited to 300 maximum users and includes 2 GB of file storage per user and 10 GB of shared storage. For more info, see: https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/free

FREE Mobile Device Management for Apple Devices

Jamf Now, is a cloud-based Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution for the iPad, iPhone and Mac devices in your workplace. Manage your first three devices for free. Add more starting at just $2/device/month. See: https://www.jamf.com/products/jamf-now/

Fight Back Against Phishing

Phishing is a fraudulent attempt, usually made through email, to steal your personal information. Join the fight against phishing! Submit suspected phishes, track the status of your submissions and verify other users' submissions. PhishTank is a free service operated by Cisco OpenDNS, see: http://www.phishtank.com

Read This Before Buying Apple Hardware Products

Apple hardware is expensive, so the last thing you want is 2 months after making your purchase, a new improved model is released. The MacRumors Buyer's Guide offers free advice on which products to buy or avoid, when the item in question was released and whether it is about to be superseded. See: https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

Troubleshooting Information for Windows Logs Event IDs

Troubleshooting Windows event logs is no easy task. To help, turn to the Event ID encyclopedia at: https://www.ultimatewindowssecurity.com/securitylog/encyclopedia/

Conquer the Web: The Ultimate Cybersecurity Guide

I wrote 5 of the chapters in this book.
Conquer the Web is the ultimate guide to protect your data on the web. From passwords to opening emails, everyone knows what they should do but do you do it?

Tons of malicious content floods the internet which can compromise your system and your device, be it your laptop, tablet or phone. How often do you make payments online? How often do you sit at a coffee shop and log onto their free WIFI? How often do you use social media on the train or bus? If you believe using an antivirus software will keep you safe . . . you are wrong.

This book will guide you and provide solutions to avoid common mistakes and to combat cyber attacks.Grab a paperback or Kindle version from Amazon today.

How to Spot HMRC Related Phishing Emails

The UK Government HM Revenue and Customs department has guidance to help identify or report tax refund and rebate scams, as well as HMRC related phishing emails and bogus text messages. Probably worth adding the addresses used to distribute the tax rebate scam emails into your spam filters.

See: http://bit.ly/HMRC-phishing-examples

Take Five To Stop Fraud

Take Five is a national awareness campaign led by Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA) and backed by Her Majesty’s Government. It aims to engage, empower and educate people on how best to protect themselves against financial fraud, such as email deception and phone scams. Take Five offers straight-forward free and impartial advice to help everyone in the UK protect themselves against financial fraud. See: www.takefive-stopfraud.org.uk

FREE Endpoint Application Discovery Tool

Thycotic offer a FREE Endpoint Application Discovery and Risk Assessment Tool for Windows. It quickly identifies the riskiest applications running in your environment, creating a summary and two spreadsheets of results:

No need to install either, for more info see: https://thycotic.com/solutions/free-it-tools/free-endpoint-application-discovery-tool/

Free ebook: Cybersecurity for dummies

Get better at defending your digital self, at home and in the office.

Cybersecurity for dummies focuses on the aspects of security that most IT security technology can't help with, it's a concise, easy to digest guide to understanding your risk, improving protection, and attack response.

From award-winning cybersecurity specialists, Thycotic, Cybersecurity for dummies - Thycotic Special Edition is your secret weapon in the fight against cybercrime - whether you're an IT expert, or occasional user. It's a concise, digestible guide to understanding your risk, improving your protection, and responding in the event of an attack.

To download a free copy, see: https://lp.alpha-gen.co.uk/secon-cybersecurity-for-dummies/

FREE Windows Active Directory Weak Password Finder

When your users have weak passwords, that’s like having an open door to your Active Directory. If a hacker breaches even a standard account they have an opportunity to monitor users’ activity, access confidential data, and even raise their level of privilege. This FREE tool finds weak, duplicate, and non-compliant passwords lurking in your Active Directory in minutes and produces a detailed report. See: https://seconcyber.com/resources/tools/weak-password-finder/

A Faster Way For Your Team To Communicate

Flock lets you collaborate with team members, share opinions, and manage tasks. Start a direct chat or group conversation or video conference with anyone, Invite guests and share files and find them easily. Integrates with Google Drive & Calendar, Dropbox and more. A FREE account includes unlimited messages and 10GB file storage. For Windows, Mac, Chrome, iPhone & Android, see: https://flock.com

FREE Cyber Essentials Risk Assessment Tool

Titania’s FREE Risk Assessment Tool automates the process of checking your systems over the network from your PC. Audits against 17 Cyber Essentials checks and 4 “Best Practice” Security Checks. Offers simple explanations and advice to help you to prioritise and plan fixes.

Helps accelerate Cyber Essentials compliance, by discovering security gaps creating major risks in your business. For more info see: https://www.titania.com/customers/bonus-tools/risk-assessment-tool

GDPR Data Classification Template

For a small to medium sized business knowing where to start with the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR can be a nightmare. It is important to think of this as a series of questions about your data when it comes to personal information. What do you hold, Who do you have data on, Why do you have it, Where is it stored, When did you get it, How did you get it, etc. These questions need to be answered to classify your data for GDPR and decide whether a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is required, no matter the size of your business.

A good starting point is this GDPR Data Classification Template which lists over 51 types of personal data that you might be holding and the basic questions that need answering. Download it today at: www.booleanlogical.com/gdpr/

Risk and Security Information At Your Fingertips

Virtually Informed is a huge information resource to help risk and security professionals make informed choices. Covering all topics which overlap security, including information security, cyber security, physical security, app security, privacy, fraud, mobile security, smart-cards, cryptography, business continuity, smart devices and more. See: https://www.virtuallyinformed.com/

Take the Headache Out of DMARC Email Security

OnDMARC is an intuitive cloud-based DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) solution to help organizations stop cybercriminals being able to send impersonated emails. Built on an AI powered cyber security platform it makes implementing DMARC simpler and more secure. Available for FREE for sole traders (single domain) and UK registered charities, see: https://ondmarc.com/

FREE Protection From Unicode Domain Phishing Attacks

IDN Safe is a browser extension which blocks internationalized domain names (known as punycode domains) to prevent you from visiting probable fake sites.

The use of Unicode in domain names makes it potentially easier to spoof web sites as the visual representation of an IDN string in a web browser may make a spoof site appear indistinguishable to the legitimate site being spoofed, depending on the font used.

With IDN Safe you can temporarily allow domains or whitelist them, by default they are blocked. Available as FREE browser extensions, for Chrome, Firefox and Opera.

FREE Daily Security Threat Intelligence Alerts

IT supplier BT Business Direct are offering FREE daily security threat intelligence alerts to help protect your organisation, with all the latest details of emerging threats and trends occurring around the world. BT have built a team of 2,500 experts who are constantly watching, learning, predicting and responding to threats, sharing their knowledge through this FREE daily email service. See: http://marketing.businessdirect.bt.com/daily-threat

FREE Remote Access to your PC or Mac

Remotely connect to your computer or support your family members - anywhere, anytime! RemotePC by iDrive are offering a FREE lifetime one user license, to access one computer. Platform independent, works from a PC/Mac, iPhone/iPad or Android devices. Additional features include file transfer, chat and remote printing. See: https://www.remotepc.com and select pricing.

FREE DNS Security Solution

Quad9 is a free security solution that uses DNS to protect your systems against the most common cyber threats. Quad9 routes your DNS queries through a secure network of global servers and uses threat intelligence from 18+ cyber security companies to give a real-time perspective on what websites are safe and what sites are known to include malware or other threats. If the system detects that the site you want to reach is known to be infected, you’ll automatically be blocked from entry. See: https://quad9.net/

Free AWS Backup

Cloud Protection Manager by N2WS offers FREE backup & recovery for all types of AWS services, including: Amazon EC2, Amazon EBS, Amazon RDS, Amazon Redshift, and Amazon Aurora. CPM Free Edition is a snapshot-based backup tool that lets you protect up to 5 EC2 instances from any type of data loss, outage, or failure. For more info see: https://n2ws.com/free-aws-backup

Free Cloud Monitoring Platform

Datadog is the essential monitoring platform for cloud applications. Datadog brings together data from servers, containers, databases, and third-party services to make your stack entirely observable. These capabilities help DevOps teams avoid downtime, resolve performance issues, and ensure customers are getting the best user experience.

Free edition offers core collection and visualization features for 1 to 5 hosts, with 1-day metric retention and discussion group support. See: https://www.datadoghq.com/

Fix Volume Shadow Copy Service Issues

Acronis VSS Doctor is a free tool for diagnosing and repairing Volume Shadow Copy Service issues. Volume Shadow Copy Service (aka VSS, Shadow Copy, or Volume Snapshot Service) is a built-in Windows technology that allows snapshots of PC files or volumes to be taken. Most backup software programs rely on VSS to perform backup and recovery operations.

Acronis VSS Doctor helps quickly identify the problem and efficiently fixes the most common Volume Shadow Copy Service issues. Available for Windows 7 or higher and Windows Server 2003 or higher, see: https://www.acronis.com/en-gb/personal/vss-diagnostic-free-tool/

Free Business Startup Resources

If you are thinking of starting a business, going freelance or already working for a yourself, Startups#nofilter's resources pages lists hundreds of free web services, tools and assets to help you get started. Covering: Startup Business, Startup Marketing, Design & Code, Startup Productivity and Startup Learning. See: http://startupsnofilter.com/resources/