EBase Asia

27/04/2017

20/03/2017

Microsoft Started Blocking Windows 7/8.1 Updates For PCs Running New Processors

You might have heard the latest news about Microsoft blocking new security patches and updates for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users running the latest processors from Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and others.

Don't panic, this new policy doesn't mean that all Windows 7 and 8.1 users will not be able to receive latest updates in general because Microsoft has promised to support Windows 7 until 2020, and Windows 8.1 until 2023.

But those who have upgraded their machines running older versions of Windows to the latest processors, or manually downgraded their new laptops to run Windows 7/8.1 would be out of luck.

A recently published Microsoft Knowledge Base article suggests that if you are running the older version of operating systems on your computers that feature new processors, including Intel's 7th generation Core i3, i5 and i7 ("Kaby Lake"), AMD Ryzen ("Bristol Ridge") and Qualcomm 8996 chips or later, the security updates will not install.

Instead, you will see error messages when using Windows Update to get patches for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. The error messages read:

"Unsupported Hardware.

Your PC uses a processor that is not supported on this version of Windows, and you will not receive updates."

"Windows could not search for new updates. An error occurred while checking for new updates for your computer. Error(s) found: Code 80240037 Windows Update encountered an unknown error."

So, What's the Solution ? (According to Microsoft)

Users would require upgrading their systems to the newest version of Windows, i.e. Windows 10, despite Windows 7 being supported to 2020 and Windows 8.1 to 2023.

Microsoft announced this limitation in January 2016, when the company said making Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 OSes run on the latest processors was "challenging."

"For Windows 7 to run on any modern silicon, device drivers and firmware need to emulate Windows 7's expectations for interrupt processing, bus support, and power states- which is challenging for WiFi, graphics, security, and more," Terry Myerson, VP of Microsoft's Windows and Devices Group, said last year.

The initial announcement also included PCs that use 6th-generation Intel processors ("Skylake"), but Microsoft backed off on its plan and released a list of Skylake-based systems that will be fully supported to receive security updates through the official end of support phase for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, i.e. January 14, 2020, and January 10, 2023, respectively.

Microsoft Indirectly forcing users to adopt Windows 10

This end of updates for new devices doesn't come as a surprise to some PC owners, as Microsoft is making every effort to run its latest Windows on all Windows computers since the launch of Windows 10.

An alarm for those still running Windows Vista on their machines: The operating system will no longer receive security updates, non-security hotfixes, paid assisted supports, or online technical updates from Microsoft beginning April 11, 2017.

So, it's high time for Windows Vista users to upgrade their PCs to the latest version of Windows operating system in order to protect your devices from malware or other security threats.

Ditch Windows for Linux; Try This:

No doubt Windows 10 has been viewed as a welcome successor to Windows 8, both by businesses and individuals, with more enhanced security features. But the OS has also come under scrutiny from those who are concerned about their privacy.

So why not switch to a free Windows 10 alternative? Privacy concerned people can move to Linux operating systems, such as Ubuntu – a Debian-based OS and part of open source Linux family, and Fedora – Red Hat's Linux distro with estimated 1.2 Million users.

12/03/2017

5 SEO tips to help gain website traffic

Good on page SEO strategies come in all shapes and sizes, but these are proven.

#1 Keywords Are Key, How to Choose Them

So much time and effort on optimizing websites with keywords that are not being searched. You should invest your time and energy in finding the best keywords that are suited to the content you are providing. One of the most effective ways of doing this is using Google Trends.

Google Trends allows you to look at the search volume, and rising search terms by category, region, country, and time. For example, you can see what the best keyword searches are related to tech and sports were for the the past 12 months, as well as what the current top 10 keywords are. There are other tools that can do this for you, but this is the one that I personally recommend. If you have a Google account, it also lets you export this data for later use. You can also determine this information by also running searches through the search engine of your choice and they will usually offer “related searches”.

Once you know what keywords you will be targeting, its not only enough to include them in your keyword meta tags, they should be used appropriately within the content of the page. Keyword stuffing is something that marketers and SEO’s are tempted to do and it is a terrible practice that never helps the end user. The true goal of any marketer, web designer, or developer should be to create a positive experience for users in which their needs and/or desires are met.

#2 Optimize Your Page Title If You Want to Reach the Top

Choosing an appropriate title that will tell users and search engines what your content is about is important. Just using the common titles “Home”, “Index”, or “Page 1”, does not tell a human being, or a search engine, anything useful about the information someone is going to find on the page they are going to. I recommend keeping it under 60-80 characters as some search engines cut them off at that point.

If you really want to be on the first page of the search engine results, you have to include your keywords in your title tag. If at all possible, before any other words in the title, Try to put the keywords in the title before any other words if you can. Repeating keywords in the title can get you flagged as Spam, so try to avoid this when you can.

It also helps if your title represents a Call to Action, a statement that compels the user to do something. For instance “Become A Famous Motion Designer” may be and ideal title for a blog featuring advice on how to accomplish that particular goal. Call to Action statements are a good way to attract readers to click on your link. Click Through Rates play a major roll in how search engines determine the relevance of your web site.

#3 Using Headings and Bold Text to Organize Content

Headings are important when it comes to organizing information. It's similar to how newspapers and other print material are setup and typically how humans recognize important information. Be sure to include at least H1-H3 when assembling your page, and try to set them up appropriately. Search engines, like human beings, notice this, and if you tie your keywords to your heading tags, it helps the search engines understand how valuable or relevant the content of your site is to that particular keyword or phrase.

Bold tags also work in a similar fashion to a lesser degree, and may be used to highlight an important portion of content within a sentence or paragraph.

#4 Using ALT and Title Tags

The importance of website accessibility is something that many web designers overlook. Part of the issue is that in addition to no taking a portion of your audience that may be disabled into account, you’re not looking at the obvious advantages this gives you from a SEO perspective.

Computers by nature are mostly “blind, and deaf”, when you really think about it. The same accessibility and interaction issues that the handicapped would have with a website are the same problems that a search engine will have. Using the title attribute is the direct method of telling the search engines about the relevance of the link. It’s also a standard for making your page accessible to disabled people.

#5 Naming Conventions

People and search engines both only understand what you tell them. How do I know when I can download an image of a dog from your site if its file name is “galleryimage001.jpg”? You can't really. The search engine referencing images of dogs is certain to over look you as well if your content isn't named correctly. Naming your image “small-poodle-01.jpg” makes a lot more sense to the search engine, as well as the person who is trying to download an image from your site without renaming the file.

This same logic applies to the directory structure of your site. By naming your pages in a logical way that utilizes your keywords, both search engines and people will have an easier time understanding and navigating the contents of your site. If your keyword is the title of your web page, the file name, the alt and title tags of your links and images, as well as the content of your page, you’re well on your way to having all of your sites SEO squared away.

03/01/2017

A Big Thank you to all our Customers for having trusted us to maintain your system. We also take this opportunity to say a very BIG THANK YOU for all staff who was involved in shaping us to what we are now since 1997. Thank you everyone and have a Awesome New Year.