We have put together a list of some of the Business Resources that we have
found useful for our business. We use, or have used, all these resources at one
time or another and, more importantly, we would use them again.
PayPal has
been our Credit and Debit Card processor since before we started selling Visual
Accounts in 2000. If you are starting out and need an easy to use, low cost,
credit card processor take a look at PayPal.
We have recently started using NOCHEX as
our Credit/Debit Card processor. Your customers do not have to sign up as they
do with PayPal provided the transaction is for less than £99.00. Their
charges are broadly similar to PayPal (though slightly cheaper), but they tend
only to handle UK transactions.
HR Systems
HR System - Snowdrop provides integrated HR Systems, Software and Services to mid sized UK businesses.
Internet - Dialup & Broadband
Telecom Plus are one of the UK's cheapest Internet Service Providers (ISP).
They also offer excellent rates on your telephone calls and mobiles phones and
are the UK's cheapest domestic gas and electricity suppliers. We use Telecom
Plus for all our utilities as well as our telephone and mobile.
Mobile Phone
Telecom Plus offer excellent rates on your telephone calls and mobiles
phones and are the UK's cheapest domestic gas and electricity suppliers. We use
Telecom Plus for all our utilities as well as our telephone and mobile.
Stationary & Office Supplies
Store Plus offer an excellent selection of Office Products and Gifts at
prices well below the high street. Go on, have a look...
have provided most of the stationary for JQL for years and years. They've also
provided a lot of the office equipment and furniture. The service has always
been very good (usually next day) and, more importantly, their "returns" service
has always been excellent. You can also get the "Sage Style" invoices
from Viking Direct (Stock # Q28-SGE040).
Telephone
Telecom Plus offer excellent rates on your telephone calls and mobiles
phones and are the UK's cheapest domestic gas and electricity suppliers. We use
Telecom Plus for all our utilities as well as our telephone and mobile.
Utilities - Gas & Electricity
We use Telecom
Plus for all our utilities as well as our telephone and mobile.
Web Hosting
The Visual Accounts Web site is hosted on UKWebHouse.
UKWebHouse provide
excellent facilities at very reasonable rates. They have a number of different
packages available to suit most people. Oh, and they are based in the UK
Christmas Trees
We get our Christmas Trees for the office delivered from XmasTree2U.
The
aim of XmasTree2U is
to deliver a high quality Christmas tree straight from Pen Lan Farm to your door
at a very competitive all inclusive price. Nice Trees and excellent
service.
Protecting Your Computer
Viruses and the like are used to open up your computer so that criminals
can use your computer to send spam (open relay), attack other computers (denial
of service DoS), to spy on what you type (Spyware) and to install rogue diallers
which secretly dial premium rate numbers.
AVG is
an Anti virus program which is free for personal use. With today's "always
on" Internet connections it is imperative that you have some sort of Anti
virus program, like AVG, protecting
your computer otherwise you will be infected.
A firewall in a building stops fire spreading. A firewall in a computer stops
hackers, Trojans, Worms, 'bots and the like spreading to your computer. From
when you connect to the Internet it takes less than one minute for an intrusion
attempt to take place.
ZoneAlarm is firewall
which stops most intrusions. It also stops rogue programs connecting to the internet.
ZoneAlarm is free for personal use.
Spyware watches what you type. It is particularly interested in passwords,
bank details, pin numbers, credit card numbers and usernames.
Spybot S&D (Spybot
Search & Destroy) is a free Spyware detector that will detect and remove
spyware from your computer. Spybot
S&D also comes with a little program called Tea Timer
that watches your Registry and reports when certain activity takes place. This
helps to track rogue diallers and the like
Adware is tracking software installed to show you pop up advertisements,
or to change your search engine or, even worse, to change your dialler to secretly
dial a premium rate number when you access the Internet. There are reports that
these rogue diallers have cost some people in excess of £3000!
Ad-aware is a free
program that will find and remove these adware and rogue dialler programs.
The pull of the US dollar is felt strongly in Eastern Europe,
where virus writers are minting it by selling airtime on networks of infected
computers to spammers - by the hour.
MessageLabs' Chief Technology Officer Mark Sunner
told us that increasingly close ties between virus writers and spammers is creating
a cottage industry.
'Virus writers are now selling airtime on botnet
networks,' he said. 'They're flogging two-hour sessions for between $50 and $100.'
'Viruses are now intrinsically linked to
spam,' he told us. 'Nearly all the viruses this year were written to create botnets
- or zombie networks.'
We use, or have used, all these resources at one time or another.
As with all things in life, please check that these resources provide the services you
need and that they are suitable for your business prior to doing business
with them.
We've been asked by a number of businesses "How do we
get a mention on this page?" The only way you can get a mention on this
page is if you provide us with a product or service and we are happy with
that service. We will approach you, please do not approach us.
