Affinity I.T. Services Ltd

Affinity I.T. Services Ltd Affinity IT Services deliver unrivalled quality of service and unparalleled integrity, enabling our clients’ to operate to their full potential.

Ever wasted time searching for the right person in Outlook?Typing. Clicking. Opening folders. Trying to remember job tit...
12/06/2026

Ever wasted time searching for the right person in Outlook?

Typing. Clicking. Opening folders. Trying to remember job titles instead of names...

Microsoft is introducing a new “People” experience in Outlook designed to make that process much smoother.

Whilst it might sound like a small update, it tackles a surprisingly common source of daily frustration.

The biggest improvement is smarter search. As you type, Outlook starts showing results immediately, including:

👤 Names
💼 Job titles
🏢 Departments
📇 Contact details

It also learns from your working habits, meaning the people you interact with most regularly are more likely to appear first.

What’s particularly useful is that everything is now brought together in one place.

Your:
📧 Company directory
📱 Personal contacts
🔗 Linked accounts

…all feed into the same experience.

Once you find someone, you can message, email, or call them without jumping between multiple apps or windows.

There are also practical improvements for organising contacts:
⭐ Grouping clients or suppliers
📂 Managing project teams
📋 Viewing contacts in clearer layouts
⚡ Taking actions on multiple contacts at once

This is the kind of update that improves the flow of the working day without needing people to learn a completely new system.

💻 We’ve all had this moment…You’re about to shut down your laptop after a long day, and suddenly Windows decides now is ...
11/06/2026

💻 We’ve all had this moment…

You’re about to shut down your laptop after a long day, and suddenly Windows decides now is the perfect time to install updates.

It’s one of the reasons software updates have developed such a bad reputation.

They’re often seen as disruptive, inconvenient, and easy to postpone.

Windows 11 is starting to improve that experience by giving users more control over when updates happen.

That means:
⏰ Fewer unexpected restarts
📅 More flexibility around timing
✅ A more predictable experience overall

On the surface, that’s great news, but there’s another side to it.

When updates become easier to delay, people often delay them longer than they should.

And many updates aren’t just about new features or improvements.

They contain security fixes for vulnerabilities that are already known publicly, and sometimes already being exploited by attackers 🦠

Once those weaknesses become public knowledge, delaying updates effectively extends the opportunity for someone to target them.

That’s why it helps to think about updates differently, not as interruptions, but as routine maintenance.

The same way you’d lock the office doors, back up important files, or set the alarm at the end of the day.

You don’t necessarily need to install updates the second they appear.

But businesses should have a regular process where devices are updated, restarted, and checked consistently.

Done properly, updates stop feeling disruptive and simply become part of keeping systems healthy and secure.

“Unusual login detected on your account.”That message is enough to make anyone stop what they’re doing, and attackers kn...
10/06/2026

“Unusual login detected on your account.”

That message is enough to make anyone stop what they’re doing, and attackers know it.

Some of today’s most convincing phishing emails are designed around panic and urgency. They imitate security alerts from trusted companies like Microsoft, Google, banks, and online retailers.

The branding looks right, the wording feels official, the warning sounds urgent. And that’s exactly why they work.

These emails often claim:
⚠️ Suspicious login attempts
🔒 Locked accounts
🔑 Urgent password resets
🚨 Immediate action required

But here’s the important thing…

Not every security alert is bad news.

Sometimes your systems are simply doing their job by spotting and blocking suspicious activity before it becomes a problem.

The key is not reacting too quickly.

Instead of clicking links in the email:
👀 Pause for a moment
🌐 Open your browser directly
🔐 Sign into your account normally
✅ Check for alerts there instead

If there’s a genuine issue, you’ll see it inside the account itself.

A lot of phishing attempts still reveal themselves once you slow things down. Strange wording, unusual requests, or pressure to act immediately are all warning signs.

There are also two simple habits that dramatically reduce risk:
🔑 Use unique passwords for every account
📱 Enable two-factor authentication wherever possible

Good security isn’t about paranoia. It’s about creating small pauses before acting, because attackers often rely on speed and emotion more than technology.

09/06/2026

📢 Microsoft 365 prices are changing from 1 July.

If your business uses Microsoft 365, it's important to understand what happens next:

✔️ New subscriptions purchased from 1 July will be charged at the updated price.
✔️ Existing subscriptions will generally move to the new pricing when they renew after 1 July.
✔️ Several Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise plans are affected.

Not sure whether your licences will be impacted? We can help you review your subscriptions and renewal dates so there are no unexpected costs.

Get in touch with the Affinity IT team today.

When was the last time you checked that your backups could be restored, if all your devices are up to date, and even who...
09/06/2026

When was the last time you checked that your backups could be restored, if all your devices are up to date, and even who still has access to your systems?

These are the kinds of things that can easily be missed, and only come to surface when something goes wrong.

Follow our quick check list and get in touch if you need any support...

🔐 Most businesses say data security is their top priority.So why do so few feel confident about passing a compliance aud...
08/06/2026

🔐 Most businesses say data security is their top priority.

So why do so few feel confident about passing a compliance audit?

As businesses adopt more cloud tools, AI platforms, and hybrid systems, IT environments become increasingly complex. The challenge is not just protecting data, it’s understanding where it lives, who can access it, and whether your systems are still fit for today’s risks.

Our latest blog explores why so many organisations feel uncertain about their security foundations, and what can be done to improve confidence 👇
https://affinityit.co.uk/blog/why-so-many-businesses-still-feel-unprepared-for-security-audits

When businesses upgrade devices or move to Windows 11 Pro, the conversation usually starts with performance.Will it be f...
05/06/2026

When businesses upgrade devices or move to Windows 11 Pro, the conversation usually starts with performance.

Will it be faster?
Will everything still work?

Important questions, of course. But they’re not the whole story.

A lot of the real value in Windows 11 Pro comes from the security working quietly in the background.

Because most cyber incidents don’t begin with dramatic hacks.

They start with everyday moments:
🚕 A laptop left in a taxi
🔑 A reused password
📂 A file opened without a second thought

Sometimes, that’s all it takes.

Windows 11 Pro includes built-in protections designed to reduce those risks without making work harder.

That includes:
🔐 Device encryption to protect data if hardware is lost or stolen
👤 Sign-ins tied to the device instead of relying only on passwords
🛡️ Safety checks on unfamiliar downloads before they run
📦 Isolated environments that can open suspicious files safely

The important thing is that most people won’t even notice these protections working, and that’s exactly the point.

Good security should support productivity, not slow it down.

For many businesses, the biggest value in technology isn’t what it helps people do. It’s the problems it quietly prevents.

👉 When you assess business technology, are you only measuring performance, or also the risks it helps reduce?

There’s a lot of noise around “AI malware” right now.It can sound dramatic. Almost like cyber attacks have suddenly beco...
04/06/2026

There’s a lot of noise around “AI malware” right now.

It can sound dramatic. Almost like cyber attacks have suddenly become fully automated overnight.

But the reality is more subtle, and more important to understand.

AI hasn’t magically turned attackers into masterminds.

What it has done is make them faster.

Tasks that once took time and technical skill can now be done much more quickly:
✍️ Writing convincing phishing emails
🛠️ Tweaking malicious scripts
🔄 Testing multiple attack variations
📧 Sending realistic-looking messages at scale

That changes the pace of attacks significantly.

A phishing email no longer needs to be perfect. It only needs to look believable enough to catch someone at the wrong moment.

Behind the scenes, attackers can now adjust tactics rapidly if something gets blocked, trying slightly different approaches until one succeeds.

And for businesses, that speed matters ⏳

Once an attacker gains access, even briefly, the window to detect and respond can shrink dramatically.

What used to unfold over hours might now happen in minutes.

But here’s the important part:
The fundamentals of cybersecurity haven’t really changed.

Most attacks still begin with:
🔑 Stolen passwords
👤 Compromised accounts
⚠️ Someone clicking in a hurry

Which is why basics still matter so much:
✅ Multi-factor authentication
✅ Strong password habits
✅ Security awareness training
✅ Visibility across devices and accounts

Tools like Microsoft Defender help by spotting unusual behaviour early, before a small issue becomes a larger one.

Because modern threats often don’t look obviously malicious anymore.

Sometimes they look like:
📧 Normal emails
🔐 Normal logins
💻 Normal activity

…just slightly out of place.

The challenge now isn’t only stopping attacks. It’s spotting them quickly enough to respond before they spread.

💭 If an attack started inside your business today, how quickly would you know? And what would happen next?

🔐 Your phone might be more vulnerable than you think.Security researchers have shown how certain Android phones could ha...
02/06/2026

🔐 Your phone might be more vulnerable than you think.

Security researchers have shown how certain Android phones could have sensitive data extracted in under a minute using a USB connection and physical access to the device.

The phones affected use MediaTek chips, which appear in a surprisingly large number of Android devices.

What makes this concerning is that the attack doesn’t rely on someone clicking a bad link or installing malicious software.

Instead, researchers accessed a low-level part of the phone responsible for handling encryption and PIN protection. From there, they were able to retrieve security keys, unlock stored data, and even determine the device PIN.

That could expose:
📱 Messages
📸 Photos
📂 Files
💰 Crypto wallet information

…and potentially business data too.

The good news is that this vulnerability has been responsibly disclosed and security patches are available.

But it’s an important reminder that cybersecurity isn’t just about email threats and passwords. The devices we carry every day hold huge amounts of personal and business information.

If your phone was lost, stolen, or left unattended for a short period of time, what could someone gain access to?

Keeping devices updated is no longer optional. It’s one of the simplest and most effective security steps you can take.

🔐 Would you trust AI to generate your passwords?It sounds like a smart shortcut. After all, AI tools can write emails, r...
01/06/2026

🔐 Would you trust AI to generate your passwords?

It sounds like a smart shortcut. After all, AI tools can write emails, reports, and even code.

But recent research shows AI-generated passwords may not be as secure as they appear.

Read the full blog to learn why password managers are still the safer option: https://affinityit.co.uk/blog/can-ai-really-create-secure-passwords

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