What Is A Domain Name?

The key part of your website address, for example our web address is www.flint-it.com and so our domain name is flint-it. Your domain name locates your company on the internet, telling a domain name server where to look for your web page.

You may wonder why this is relevant to you, after all you probably have IT support who deal with this kind of thing. However, it is important that you read on as companies who are unaware are commonly caught out by domain name scams.

 Domain Name Renewal Hoaxes

Whoever set up your domain name will have paid for it – you don’t get space on the internet for free unfortunately- and your domain name will need to be renewed every so often.  Hackers and scammers have ways of finding out your renewal date, and send emails pretending to be your domain name provider and asking for a renewal payment.

We all know not to make online payments to vendors we don’t trust, but if you don’t know what a domain name is or who provides yours then it’s easy to be caught out by an official looking email.

Why not find out who in your office deals with domain name renewals and who your official provider is? It only takes a few minutes to find out and will make sure you aren’t susceptible to fraud.

Domain Name Check Hoaxes

Occasionally you may receive emails – usually from abroad – telling you that another company wants to register a similar domain name to yours, and asking for your permission.

Whatever you do don’t waste your valuable time trying to figure out what to do about it. This is usually a scammer trying to gather information about your company so the best thing to do is delete the message and block the sender.

Do You Know Who Controls Your Domain?

 In some companies no one knows anything about the domain, sometimes it turns out that a former employee set it up and then left the company. This becomes an issue if there is a problem with your domain name or you want to switch to a new provider.

Always make sure you know and trust the person managing your domain. Know how to contact them, and have access to your log in details should you need to take over management of your own domain.

Why not take a few minutes now to check who in your company manages your domain?

 

If you can’t find anyone who knows about your domain and want to know what to do next, or if you have any other questions please contact Flint IT at sales AT flint-it DOT com or call 0845 3309680.

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Flint IT can provide the backup software you need to keep your business running no matter what.

1. Remove unnecessary Bloatware
2. Disable unnecessary toolbars in Internet Explorer
3. Check that your antivirus software is not running scans throughout the day as you work
4. Scan your PC for upgrade options to get the most out of your memory
5. Check how much memory your PC has and how much of it you are using. To check this use the shortcut CTRL+Shift+Esc to open task manager. This will show you how much you are using in green (in GB – multiply by 1000 to get MB) and how much your PC has available under ‘total pysical memory’
6. Always try to make sure you have 15% or more of free disk space
7. Use CCleaner to remove temporary files from your computer and free up space
8. Defragment your drive regularly to speed up your computer’s response time. First make sure all your files are backed up to another hard drive, CD Rom or DVD. Your computer should have a built-in Windows defrag tool in the Start menu; it could take up to several hours to run if you haven’t run a defrag before and you can’t use your PC while it’s running, so best to do it overnight

If none of these tips make any difference, it may just be that your PC is no longer adequate for your needs. Some PCs are just too old or slow to do what you want them to do, regardless of what clean-ups you try.

If you know the details of your processor (CPU) compare its processing power with other models; a modern processor should have a rating of 2000+.

Here at Flint IT we would be happy to talk to you about which computers we recommend to our customers and why, giving you an unbiased review of what’s out there and what is best for your particular needs. Contact us on 0845 330 9680 or email sales AT flint-it DOT com.

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Contact Flint IT for IT consulting in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.