A copy of the slideshow and video footage of the presentation are included below.

UKNetWeb will be running a free follow up taster course on using Social Media for Business on the afternoon of the 2nd of April. For details and booking for the event please click here.

Web development company, UKNetWeb, which advises businesses on their use of Social Media, has issued the warning after noticing a number of local business people had fallen victim to the virus which spreads itself through messages sent to each member of a their friend list.

The title of the dodgy message varies with messages such as “Maan,yyou’re great!” and “your ass looks not bad in this video” forming part of the message body or Facebook wall posting.

Anyone receiving messages of this kind should not press the link under any circumstances and should delete the message from their inbox or wall immediately.

Once clicked, these links forward you to a site which hunts for a file on your PC referred to as a cookie and prompts the user to update their video or flash software. Once accepted the Trojan virus proceeds to lock the user out of their account and messages each of the friends on their friend list with a similar message, further spreading the virus.

UKNetWeb Managing Director, Toby Parkins says, “Issues of this kind are not uncommon; however, they can be extremely disruptive and annoying to the individuals involved.”

“It is always best to exercise caution and where suspicious do not take any chances. You should ensure that your computer has the latest anti-virus and anti-phishing software installed and run on a daily basis”. He continued.

Facebook has now taken steps to deactivate malicious links in messages through the network; however, it is still possible that some may get through. Anyone worried about their security should seek the advice of their web developer or IT specialist.

Last week, Cornish web developers, UKNetWeb, hosted a free virtual conference for local businesses wanting to know more about the Convergence round of funding for the county.

The conference entitled ‘Insight: Convergence’ was the second in a series of virtual events organised by the company in a drive to help businesses gain deeper insight into a range of topical issues of importance to business in the region.

The keynote presentation came from South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), Innovation and Enterprise Convergence Manager, Josie Linton, supported by other members of the SWRDA team.

The purpose of the Convergence Programmes is to speed up the economic development of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The programme follows on from Objective One which closed for investment on the 31st December 2006.

Josie’s presentation covered how Convergence business support will be implemented; with regards to business support, the aims of the funding and how it will affect businesses operating within the county.

Talking about the conference, UKNetWeb Managing Director, Toby Parkins said,

“We are really pleased that members of the SWRDA team agreed to speak at the event. Local businesses are keen to learn more about Convergence and what it means for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

“Our aim with the Insight Sessions is to give businesses access to more detailed information around a specific issue or subject of a topical nature and you can’t get more topical than the plans for Convergence”. He continued.

A full transcript of the event has been published and can be viewed online at http://www.uknetweb.com/docs/insight-convergence.pdf. Anyone interested in attending future sessions should speak to Aren Grimshaw at UKNetWeb on 01872 555933.

Ends

Notes to Editor:

• For more information on the Convergence Programme visit http://www.objectiveone.com/O1htm/01-convergence/convergence.htm
• For more information on UKNetWeb visit http://www.uknetweb.com
• For information on past UKNetWeb Insight Session please visit http://www.uknetweb.com/blog/tag/insight-sessions/

The innovative party was planned by the company to demonstrate how businesses can use emerging technology to cut business running costs while adding new and exciting ways of promoting their businesses.

The party began at 12.30 on Tuesday (29th July) when a link was published on the old UKNetWeb site. Guests were told to go to the company website, UKNetWeb.com and follow the on-screen instructions to enter a virtual room.

On entering the room, guests could select their own music from a selection of preloaded tracks and carry out conversations with other attendees via on screen text based chat. At 1.00pm Managing Director, Toby Parkins, made a speech to the room where he introduced the new site and recession guide.

All guests were given an opportunity to introduce themselves to the room, following a similar structure to conventional face to face networking events. Guests came from all over Cornwall and further afield, with at least one international guest signing in from an Icelandic advertising agency.

The launch of the new site and recession guide was well received with over 300 people accessing the site and over 150 downloads of the recession guide within the 24 hour period after the launch.

Toby Parkins, MD, UKNetWeb

Managing Director, Toby Parkins said, “The possibilities opened up by emerging technology offers exciting prospects for businesses that want to cut costs and attract new sales. This launch party demonstrated that there are alternatives to travel and we hope that businesses will adopt some of the ideas within the guide to help them through more difficult times.”

“Since the event we have been inundated with interest in similar events. It seems everyone who attended has been telling their friends about it and now there is a real buzz for more virtual events to be organised.” Toby continued.

The new website can be found at www.uknetweb.com with the recession guide available for download at www.uknetweb.com/recession-guide.

St.Agnes based, UKNetWeb, and neighbouring business, Forward ITC, both undertook the ISO 9001 accreditation process last year and will be presented with their certificates, marking completion of the application process, at a special event later this month.

The event aimed at helping interested businesses to understand the business benefits associated with ISO status will feature talks from the two companies, as well as a presentation from the company responsible for assessing and granting the new statuses.

Toby Parkins, Managing Director of UKNetWeb said, “We have worked very hard to achieve the ISO status and have seen the positive effects on our business and planning model. We aim to help other businesses, who may want to gain the status for themselves, understand what it means to apply, and what the process can do for their business.”

“Many businesses may be under the impression that the status is nothing more than a marketing ploy but there is so much more to it than that. It is about putting the customer at the centre of everything you do and committing to a set of standards that are universally adopted across your organisation.”

The event will take place over lunch on Wednesday the 18th June, starting at 12.30pm. Rojer Isaacson of Forward ITC, Toby Parkins of UKNetWeb and Roger Preston from International Management Systems Marketing (IMSM) will each present a short presentation and then be on hand to offer advice to interested businesses.

Anyone wanting to find out more should contact Aren Grimshaw at UKNetWeb for more details on 01872 555933.

The system built for Travel Smith Limited, based in the South East, required more than 400 hours of complex programming over a period of 6 months. This was needed to ensure that a range of back end systems could work together seamlessly to assist those booking holidays on the Channel Islands.

Built by St. Agnes based, UKnetweb, the new system allows customers accessing travelsmith.co.uk to book flights and accommodation through the one site building on their previous success in arranging accommodation and ferry travel for customers throughout the UK.

Although flight booking systems of this kind often appear relatively simple to the consumer using them, they involve a range of highly complex programming languages to ensure that the different parts involved in the process work together to generate the required results.

“Many people could be forgiven for thinking that the site is pretty simple, after all, that’s how the customer should see it. However, behind the scenes we have to ensure that thousands of processes work hand in hand to deliver the service they expect.” Says Toby Parkins, UKnetweb’s Managing Director.

“As a company we focus on these kind of projects which other companies find difficult. Knowing that nothing is impossible we work to establish new ways of doing things and have become nationally renowned for a number of European internet firsts.” He continued.

The Travel Smith system is not the first project of this complexity undertaken by UKnetweb, past projects have included a national sales system for genealogy store, Parish Chest and a mobile application for brand leader, Nokia.

Anyone looking to develop their own booking system, or other complex web development can contact the company at their offices on 01872 555933 or visit the company’s website at www.uknetweb.com