BF Internet - Established 1996

We’re recruiting: Senior designer & Experienced PHP programmer required

September 17th, 2009, by Chris Ward

Due to continued growth we have 2 positions available at our offices in Milnthorpe:

1. Senior creative web designer
2. Experienced PHP developer & Linux sysadmin
3. UPDATE: We also require a ASP.NET & C# Developer

For more information, please see our recruitment page.

Please apply directly to Chris or Rob using the details given, no agencies please.

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Password management & security: the do’s & don’ts

July 14th, 2009, by Chris Ward

Despite campaigns recently to increase awareness about the need for secure passwords in the UK, many web users leave use themselves open to hackers by choosing easy to guess and insecure passwords. A survey by Visa Europe found that “over three-quarters choose passwords relating to friends, family and memorable dates” whilst following a recent phishing attack on the website MySpace it was found that “the five most common passwords are: password1, abc123, myspace1, password and blink182 (a band).”

A recent UK Government report carried out as part of the Get Safe Online campaign found the following information:

• 66% of users use the same password for more than one website
• 46% of users use the same 2 to 3 passwords for every website they access
• 45% of users use passwords made up only of dictionary words or names (the most easily cracked)

The lack of proper password security is one of the factors contributing to the ongoing problem of online fraud in the UK. The UK Cybercrime report identified the following worrying statistics: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: keepass, managment, open source, password, secure, security, software, tips
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The web in 1996

May 11th, 2009, by Chris Ward

Back in 1996 the web was in its infancy; people referred to the new technology by its full name – the World Wide Web – and connected to it by noisy modems, tying up the phone line as they did. A page took minutes to load (using Internet Explorer 3.0), and you paid for your internet connection annually, as well as by the hour!

Google was just an idea in 1996 – a research project by Larry Page – and Yahoo! was king of the search engines. When you searched for a site on Yahoo!, you searched a directory of websites that was built by real humans; Yahoo! employees would painstakingly review submissions and rank them manually.

1996 is also when BF Internet was born – originally as Big Fish internet. A bit like looking fondly through old computer games of the 80’s, we take a look through the websites of 1996 and marvel at how far we’ve all come: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 1996, history, internet, old websites, web archive, web design
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Why upgrade your browser?

April 7th, 2009, by Chris Ward

To coincide with the new release of Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) this month, this article provides an overview as to what a browser is, and why you should upgrade to the latest version.

The Browser

A browser is a piece of software designed to view information on the internet, in the same way that Microsoft Outlook is designed to receive emails and Microsoft Word is designed to help create documents.

Statistics show that at the moment Internet Explorer 6 (released in 2002 and no longer supported by Microsoft) and is still used by 34% of people accessing the Internet (Feb 09, www.thecounter.com).

This is mainly because Microsoft includes Internet Explorer as the default browser in Windows XP and Vista.

How to find out which browser you are running

If you aren’t sure which browser you are currently using, you can click this link to find out which browser you are running

Reasons to upgrade your browser

Now that you know which browser you are running you might be thinking why should I change, or why do I need to update my browser? The simple answer is that you should always update on a regular basis. Some of the reasons are described below: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Browser, Firefox, Google Chrome, IE, IE8, Opera, Safari, Upgrade Browser
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Who’s visiting your site? And what do they look at?

April 6th, 2009, by Chris Ward

Wouldn’t you like to know in more detail how people found your web site, on what pages they entered and exited, and how they moved around when they were there? Wouldn’t it be great to follow trends, compare this week to last, and automatically generate reports on how your website is performing?

One of the clearest ways to analyse website traffic and visitor behaviour is by using Google Analytics. (Click here for a video walkthough). Google Analytics can be set up on any website by inserting the special tracking code into every web page and template. We can do this for you for a one-off charge of £50 + VAT, after which there are no ongoing costs for using the service, contact us now to arrange set up.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: google analytics, website reports, website statistics
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