WYNCHCO Blog

Grab your .UK domain before it is too late!

Just a quick reminder that the .UK extension introduced by Nominet in 2014, will be made available to anyone with effect from 25 June 2019.

Until that date, registrants of the .CO.UK domain extension have priority.

So if your domain is .CO.UK and you want to grab the .UK version, maybe to protect your brand, do so ASAP.

Visit the following link for more information.

Details

Last Updated: 11 March 2019

Read more: Grab your .UK domain before it is too late!

Bringing the Joomla! 3 Update History up to date!

Since 2015 the average number of updates issued by the Joomla! Project has been 10 per year.

Approximately HALF of these updates have been SECURITY fixes.

Timeline

2019 Jan - Apr: 4 updates (ALL security fixes).

2018: 12 updates (6 bug fix & 6 security fixes).

2017: 10 updates (4 bug fix & 6 security fixes).

2016: 8 updates (5 bug fix & 3 security fixes).

2015: 9 updates (5 bug fix & 4 security fixes).

Miss critical security updates at your peril.

Be proactive or engage the services of someone who will be proactive on your behalf.

Details

Last Updated: 12 April 2019

Read more: Bringing the Joomla! 3 Update History up to date!

Making Tax Digital is on its way!

In the coming years businesses will need to keep digital records of their finances and submit tax returns through HMRC-approved accounting software.

For starters MOST businesses with turnover greater than £85,000 (VAT threshold for 2018-19 tax year) will have to submit their quarterly VAT returns in this way WEF April 2019.

This story was covered by Radio 4 Money Box Live on Wednesday 24 October 2018.

Listen here: Money Box Live - Making Tax Digital.

We use FreeAgent to get ahead of the game

You may already be using an accounts software package which is recognised by HMRC as being ready to support MTD for VAT.

If not then we recommend FreeAgent.

Details

Last Updated: 25 October 2018

Read more: Making Tax Digital is on its way!

Ask your hosting company for PHP 7.1

If you have updated your Joomla! CMS to v3.8 or later, you should also upgrade your server's PHP version to PHP 7.1.

PHP 7.1 was released in December 2016.

And will continue to receive security support from the developer until December 2019.

Joomla! 3.8.0 was the first release in the Joomla! Development Cycle to be compatible with PHP 7.1.

Why upgrade your PHP?

PHP 7.1 provides a significant performance boost for Joomla! 3.8 websites when compared with using previous versions of PHP.

If your hosting company offers PHP 7.1 then you should use it.

Reasons to upgrade

1. Improved performance, including page load speed.
2. Significant reduction in memory usage, meaning more users can be served at any one time.

Details

Last Updated: 05 September 2018

Read more: Ask your hosting company for PHP 7.1

Need help gearing up for GDPR?

GDPR: General Data Protection Regulations

Last month I posed the question "How might GDPR affect any business or organisation?".

I also recommended that small business owners learn from how larger organisations are adopting the new privacy regulations.

To this end I have been monitoring the plethora of GDPR related emails arriving in my inbox from suppliers and service providers over the past few weeks.

Whilst most are the usual ya-de-da (and amount to nothing better than spam), a gold nugget arrived in my inbox this morning from the provider of our cloud accounting package: FREEAGENT.

I recommend that you read the blog post by Richard Grey (FreeAgent) and then take a look at their GDPR Policy Statement.

Read on to see the links:

Details

Last Updated: 25 October 2018

Read more: Need help gearing up for GDPR?