Top Tech Resolutions to Keep in 2017

2017 is around the corner and people are starting to think about their New Year's resolutions. Here are the top tech resolutions you should make, and keep, in 2017.

Backup Your Data

You have a lot of precious data on your server, computers, laptops, and phones. When is the last time you backed up your data? Have you ever done a backup? If the answer is no, then there is no time like the present. Make a plan to start secure, cloud based backups in 2017. This will ensure that your files are secure should anything happen to your hardware, or any human error occur. Find out more about how to backup properly here or contact an IT professional today.

Upgrade Your Devices

Do you have an old computer, laptop, or phone that is on its last leg? Consider upgrading in 2017. If you are using these devices for business consider where to get the best return on hardware upgrades and swap out some of that outdated technology. Old, slow, and unreliable devices are a liability. They don’t work properly and their unreliable nature can put your business at risk, not to mention the annoyances of using an extremely out of date piece of equipment. If budgets are tight, look for a commercial hardware vendor that carries high quality refurbished or off-lease devices to cut down on cost, while still updating your current device.

In addition, time wasted due to a slow computer is a real threat to productivity. An estimated annual cost of time waste totals $5,676 per employee (a number based on 200 work days per year, and 13 minutes wasted per day). Consider the cost of a hardware upgrade and weigh it against the mounting costs of time waste. Even with a short amount of time lost, the repercussions are staggering.

Clean Your Devices

Over the course of time your computer and other hardware gets...well...filthy. Dirty devices are not only disgusting and unsanitary, but the buildup of dust and grime can cause them to overheat or not function at full capacity. If your fan is running all of the time, or your computer seems overheated, dust and dirt buildup may be causing it. If you are hesitant about cleaning your own device, contact an IT professional who has the tools and the skills to address the issue.

Update Your Website

Is your website holding you back? Do you have slow load times and out of date information? Use the start of a new year as a catalyst to work on resolving this. There may be updates to your site you are able to make yourself. If you do not have the time or knowledge to update your site yourself, look for a local business to help you source website solutions. Look for agencies who do website design in your area to keep jobs local!

Manage Your Personal Brand

We have all sent that message or posted that pic on social media that we regret and take down. Maybe we commented on an issue to quickly on Twitter or posted an image that was questionable to our Facebook page. Use the start of 2017 as a chance to start better managing your own personal brand. Especially when it comes to professional networking and employment, our social media profiles are so easily accessible. Take some time to clean up your profiles in the new year!

These are 5 ways to get your tech on track in 2017! Happy new year from our team to yours!

Buying Hardware: Commercial versus Consumer

The Big Box Store Dilemma:

Small businesses, when it comes time to purchase hardware, often turn to retail and big box stores to find something to suit their needs. Business owners may even head to Costco or Best Buy and rely on the advice of in-store staff, advice which may or may not be entirely knowledgeable or reliable.

The advice you get from a sales associate at a box store is may not be misinformed, but it is usually not going to result in a business owner getting an appropriate device for their business needs.

In addition to a lack of applicable business knowledge, sales associates are often incentivized to steer you towards a certain model, getting promotions or incentives for selling certain items, or simply needing to move out old inventory or make room in the store.

The Best Operating System?

There are many hardware options and operating system variations out there for a variety of functions and tastes, however, in our professional opinion, Windows 7 Pro is best for most businesses. It’s familiar, uncomplicated, and let’s you run your business efficiently.

We can deliver computers with Windows 7 ready to go. They will work and they work well, allowing you to get on with running your business. Big box stores attach a lot of free trials to their hardware upon sale. Trial software clutters and bogs down these computers, and often people don’t know how to remove it, keep it up to date, and it can become, not only an annoyance, but a liability. Removing this trial software keeps your computer clean and fast. In addition, the cheap software preloaded is not always secure.

A Better Way:

An IT professional may seem like the longer more complicated route than simply walking into a shop and walking out with a computer, but that is not the case. Consulting with an technician saves you time researching computers, they will think of things you haven’t thought of, ask questions that need to be asked, and make sure you end up with a machine that works for you (not against you). IT professionals add unmatched value when compared to retail shops geared to consumers.

Next time to find yourself looking to upgrade or replace hardware, consider consulting with a professional. You will likely have better service and end up with a better product, more in line with your business needs.

3 IT Services You Should Have Professionally Monitored

While there are many benefits to having your updates and other routine system functions automated, there are also risks to leaving these actions completely unmonitored.

There are 3 services which deserve to be monitored professionally: updates, antivirus, and backups. Doing so can save grief and expense down the line.

Updates

System updates, when left to the individual user or employee, can be postponed and ignored for prolonged periods of time, leaving computer systems out of date and open to vulnerabilities. When you leave people to update their own systems, they tend to delay and ignore the prompts, ultimately failing to update their systems and potentially putting systems and data at risk. An IT professional can ensure that updates are being completed when required and that all systems are functioning as they should.

Antivirus

Antivirus is another feature which is prone to breakage and malfunction because of the complexity of what they need to do. Users often assume this feature is working efficiently and trust that their system is secure, when in fact this may not be the case. A certain percentage of antivirus will stop working suddenly, and leaving these processes unmonitored means that their effectiveness is not guaranteed. Monitoring can ensure that antivirus protection is up to date and working effectively, and will be notified if something isn’t working so the issue can be resolved quickly.

Backups

Backups are absolutely critical for both your personal and business data. When it comes to backups, there is no room for error, yet, these routine processes are often not done and are left up to individuals who do not complete them. Professional monitoring makes sure backups are actually done, ensuring all data is captured, recoverable, and secure.

If alerted, an IT professional can quickly fix issues which will crop up as a result of these failing systems. They will get a notification as soon as an issue occurs, and can usually correct it in a couple of clicks, without you even knowing about the issue until it is resolved.

All 3 of these issues relate back to computer system safety. Having any of them fail quietly is a problem. When you’re selecting these services, you want them professionally monitored – it is essential.

Windows 10: The Good and The Bad

It has been just over a year since Windows 10 was released, and some businesses are still unsure whether or not they should update to Windows 10 from their current operating system. You may be thinking it is time to update your organization's operating system to this new iteration of Windows. Not so fast. Here are some of the issues you may encounter with your upgrade:

Failed Upgrade

While Windows 10 is lighter, and definitely the way to go in the future, it may not be a wise move at this point in time. Some who have updated have experienced issues and have not been able to rollback to the previous version. If you are thinking of updating it is imperative that you take a full (image based) backup of your computer. Having this complete backup will protect you from a failed upgrade process that you cannot undo. Talk to your IT professional to ensure you are backing up correctly.

Compatibility Issues

In addition, some users have also experienced issues with existing hardware and software not getting along with Windows 10. Older printers and scanners are commonplace in many offices, and they won’t necessarily work with Windows 10. In order to know for sure, you have to upgrade, test, and see if it works. This process can be time consuming, not to mention risky. Your best bet is to buy a new computer with Windows 10 on it down the road, once there has been sufficient testing of the new operating system. Older computers will have little, if any, testing with Windows 10.

Who Should Update?

There are some businesses that make excellent candidates for upgrading to Windows 10. Upgrade if all of these are true:

1. Your business is predominantly web based work
2. You have relatively new hardware (printer, scanner, etc.)
3. You have mixed operating systems (Windows 7, 8, 8.1) within your workplace.

If, on the other hand, your company falls into the following categories, we recommend holding off. Don’t upgrade if:

1. Your company uses mostly old hardware (computers, printers, scanners, fax, etc.)
2. You use any kind of specialized software to run your business
3. You operate in a big corporate environment

Many people have upgraded to Windows 10 and experienced no issues at all, but it is important to outline the risks and take the necessary precautions before upgrading. With Windows 10, the longer you wait to upgrade, the better. The longer you wait the more tested it will be and the greater chance your staff will have a computer running 10 at home, making the learning curve easier. This will save many hours of training and onboarding and ultimately save your business unnecessary expenses.

While Windows 10 is similar to 7 in many ways, there are critical changes that will take getting used to. Talk to your company’s IT professional before making changes to your operating systems. This will ensure that your business is uninterrupted.

Disaster Recovery

What would you do if tomorrow you experienced a major, business interrupting event? Fire, flood, break in; what would you do to get your business up and running again? Would you have all the information you need? Where would you move to? How long would your business be interrupted?

If you have answers to these questions, great! You have likely spent some time thinking about a disaster recovery plan for your business. However, if these questions left you feeling semi-anxious and ill prepared, don’t worry. The 3 steps below will get you on your way to being disaster ready:

Write a One Page Plan

Develop a one page disaster recovery plan. In this plan outline what you will do in the days following a disaster. Go through what information you need to keep your business intact. Secure vendor lists, pertinent contact information, and any other relevant details you would need to reboot your business. Keep this plan in the cloud, so that you are able to spring into action should your business be halted by an unforeseen event.

Discuss Your IT Solutions

Do you work with an IT provider? Have you discussed disaster recovery plans with them? If not, we recommend having this conversation with them as soon as possible. Find out if they are prepared to assist you should something occur. Find out how long it would take them to restore your backup to new hardware, in the event of hardware theft or destruction. Having this discussion with your provider means you are both on the same page and have the same expectations regarding what they will do to help, and the timeline of events.

Secure a Temporary Workspace

If your physical workspace is destroyed, do you have options so that you are able to keep working? Discuss temporary office space with fellow business owners and come to an agreement that you can each provide temporary workspace in the event of a major disaster. This kind of arrangement is mutually beneficial and gives peace of mind. Another option is to restore your files to a new piece of hardware and work from home. How quickly could you make space in your home to work there? If home is not an option, then securing emergency work space in other office is a great alternative.

Hopefully after reading this article, you already have answers to some of the questions asked at the beginning. Writing your plan, discussing your IT needs, and securing a temporary workspace are 3 ways to ensure your business is able to become fully operational soon after a business interrupting disaster. By being disaster ready, and having relevant conversations with colleagues, there will be no question as to the plan of action in the event of an emergency. Your business will be up and running, barely skipping a beat.

Backups 101

We have all heard cautionary tales about data loss and failure to safely back up our data. Computers fail and 1000s of photos, music, and important files are lost. You may have an external hard drive and back up occasionally, but you may not know that external hard drives are not the most secure or reliable option.

One of the quickest ways to ensure your personal or business backups are done on time, and at the right frequency, is to automate them. Backing up manually places the onus on the user or employee to complete the backups themselves. Busy schedules often put doing our backup at the bottom of the to-do list. By automating this process, you ensure that your data is safe and secure.

While automating backups to a physical hard drive in your home or office is a good start, external hard drives themselves are not necessarily the most reliable choice. External hard drives have a life expectancy and can fail at any time. Relying solely on an external hard drive for your data storage could leave you vulnerable to mass data loss. In addition, ransomware attacks are now targeting local backups and are specifically looking for those to encrypt. By backing up to the cloud, rather than locally, your data is not accessible to ransomware attacks.

While you should maintain a local, hard drive backup, you should also have a cloud based backup of your data. In the event you need to restore your data, it is much quicker to do so from a hard drive, as opposed to the cloud. Cloud based backups and storage are the most secure, reliable, and effortless way to backup our data. Cloud based storage means you do not have to worry about hard drive failure, damage, or computer loss or theft, you can rest easy knowing your files are secure in the cloud.

Max Sadlowski of Sadlowski Consulting knows the importance of cloud backups from personal experience, “A client of mine once left their work laptop on an airplane in the seat pocket, upon realizing that the laptop was gone about 3 hours later, the laptop was nowhere to be found. The next steps for the client were to buy a new computer, download a single application, and within 2 hours, had her complete computer restored as if it had never been lost. If she had not had an up to date, cloud backup, the client would have been severely impacted”. Let me know if you like this anecdotal bit here from Max. We were chatting and he reminded me of this incident with a former client.

Frequent, automated, and monitored backups is your best defence. If you are backing up regularly, even if your computer is lost or stolen, you can get up and running again on new hardware with little stress or interruption to your business.

2016: The Year of Ransomware

Ransomware is a type of malware that is installed on a computer, restricting and infecting the device, demanding that the user pay a ransom to the malware operators to remove the restriction. Ransomware is hostile and can spread to your server and all the computers on your network, quickly and without your knowledge. Even if you have antivirus protection on your machine this may not be enough to keep your devices and data safe from ransomware. Antivirus software is always one step behind in terms of your protection. They can only protect you from known malware and predictable variants. While they do try and predict and protect you from viruses yet to be released, they are not perfect and should not be your only line of defense against malware.

If you run a small to medium sized business, you may be thinking that you are not a target for ransomware, that these malware operators won’t bother going after such small organizations. In reality, small businesses make perfect targets for these kinds of attacks as they often have little in the way of protection and backups. “Small business is classically unprepared to deal with ransomware”, says Bill Hughes, Managing Director of Weehooey. Small businesses do not have the resources to withstand their business being halted, and so they often settle and pay the ransom so they can keep their lights on and doors open.

Finding and prosecuting those operating these malware attacks is virtually impossible. Anyone can purchase this malware. It is monetized, building momentum, easily accessible, and can quickly be used to encrypt network drives. It is hard to remove and untraceable.

According to Hughes, “2016 will be the year of ransomware”. Make sure you business is prepared and protected for a potential ransomware attack. Your best defense is thorough, secure, and frequent backups of all of your company’s data. If you have a complete backup, pre-ransomware install, you can restore your data easily, and the malware operators no longer have leverage. Backups need to be cloud based, as traditional external hard drives can fail, deteriorate, or be compromised.

Protecting your small to medium sized business through knowledge and more frequent and thorough backups can help immunize you from ransomware attacks and keep your business running.

How Secure Is Your Most Important Password?

This struggle to memorize and maintain passwords is not only stressful, but can lead to the adoption of bad habits, like creating weak passwords, or setting identical passwords for multiple accounts. You may be surprised to learn that your email password is your most valuable. Here is why this password should be the most guarded.
Picture your inbox and the vast amount of personal data it contains. Imagine all of the accounts you have created over the years using your email address and all of the websites you have given your email address too. You should think of your email as the gateway to a multitude of other accounts, all holding personal information and data about yourself. Your email password is the lock on that gateway.

Security Questions/Password Resets:

Your inbox contains enough personal details about your life, your family, your job, and your interests for people to gain the information they need to answer your security questions. Think of the security questions you may have answered in the past in order to reset a password. The answers to those questions are likely somewhere in your message history, whether you are aware of it or not. Even if people are not able to easily guess your passwords based on the contents of your inbox, they can always reset them.

Rethink Your Email Provider:

You may have, or know someone who has, an email address from their internet service provider (ISP), for example johnsmith@cogeco.com. While these email addresses may seem harmless and convenient, they can leave you open to vulnerabilities.
If you have an email account with your ISP and relocate, losing this email address, this means that address can now be assigned to a new Cogeco client and used to reset passwords. Using a universal email provider like Google or Hotmail means you can take you email address with you wherever you go and do not have to worry about antiquated email accounts from years gone by.

Your Own Domain Name:

If you are a business owner it is vital to have email accounts from your domain name and not generic addresses from a universal email providers. Not only do universal email addresses look less professional, but you have little control over the address. If, for example, an employee leaves they would have the ability to access and reset passwords for this account and could do your business serious damage.
For help securing your business’ email accounts contact Weehooey today. We can register and establish domain names and assist with all of your email security needs.