Rule Over Your Domain

We’re seeing more instances of clients and their customers/clients losing access to their websites and emails connected to their domains. The reason why? Somebody missed a notice to verify their identity with their domain registrar.

Prevention is totally within your control. It just requires paying attention to a couple of things that are easy to overlook – as these two stories illustrate.

On a recent Sunday morning, a client called to report their website and email were down. The bad news is that most problems like these seem to happen on a weekend. The good news is that they can be fixed before they interrupt business. When internet systems go down, we look for technical issues, such as the connections between our clients and their host companies or problems with the host company.

In this case, it was an identification issue. Domain registrars, the companies that issue domains, periodically send out a request for the domain holder to verify who they are who they say they are. It should be a simple matter going into your account with your registrar and verifying the names and contact info for the domain owner and the technical contact are correct.

When you don’t respond, two problems typically arise. First, most domain owners miss the message to verify their information because it comes across as a phishing email and gets deleted or ignored. Second, it winds up in a spam folder that never gets checked.

For this client, it took us 2-1/2 hours to solve the problem. First, we checked with their website company, who reported not seeing any notice for verification. Then, we went into their email system and into a list of emails they had deleted and trashed. It’s like going through an electronic dumpster, but we found and retrieved the message – which was never opened. They were fortunate to discover the problem and fix it before the business week began.

In a second case, it took a client more than two weeks to resolve a verification issue for its domain. Outages of this length are usually the result of somebody not having the credentials to get into their registrar’s website to verify their information. You have to jump through hoops to reestablish your credentials.

You can avoid all of this by knowing your username and password for your registrar’s website. It’s your responsibility as the domain owner. If you don’t know the info now, make it a priority to find it or start the process to reestablish your credentials. Second, make it a point to check your spam files or junk mail at least once a day to make sure nothing important is buried there. Third, make it a point to log in to your account with your registrar every six months to verify your info.

If you can’t find your domain registration information or need to manage your email, call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us. We can help you work with your registrar to verify or reestablish your credentials (and store a backup copy), and we can help you set up rules to better handle spam or junk mail.

Getting Oversubscribed and Fed up

Our love-hate relationship with Microsoft – and Apple and Google – is coming to a head. Our beef right now focuses on Microsoft and its hard push to get users to adopt the New Outlook. It’s the default for Microsoft 365 subscriptions, and it’s not as feature-rich as the Old Outlook, which Microsoft calls Classic Outlook. Subscription prices are another issue.

Let’s get one issue out of the way. We like subscriptions for application software, such Microsoft 365. They provide regular updates and bug fixes automatically, either periodically or as needed, to make sure you have the latest performance and security features. As we use the cloud more, these updates become a bigger benefit.

Our beef with Microsoft is with the New Outlook. In our opinion, Microsoft is pushing us into a new system that has fewer features than the one it replaced. We recently covered the differences between Old and New Outlook, and we invite you to revisit that article. Microsoft essentially forced us to go with New Outlook before it was ready for prime time. It may be faster, but Microsoft took away many features in the new version. It seems like they made the move for their own convenience, not for the betterment of its customers. They say they will restore some features, but we have to ask why they didn’t get in all the features before they rolled out the new version?

You can go back to the Old Outlook by clicking on the Help tab along the top of your screen and then clicking on Go to Classic. But it’s not a simple toggle-back-and-forth process. It takes some time, which you may not have when trying to get a lot of things done.

You really don’t have a lot of choices. Most organizations are locked into Microsoft 365 for email (Outlook), its suite of Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), and the collaboration enabled by OneDrive and Teams. Everyone knows how to use the apps, and businesses, non-profits and governments know how to support them, either through internal tech departments, IT consultants or both.

Microsoft knows they have a firm grip. If they maintain the best possible security measures for their customers, they can get away with fewer features to support while raising prices. They’ll add features (and support them) when enough customers kick and scream or when another software provider threatens a piece of their market.

We can help you on the economic side by analyzing all your Microsoft and other application subscriptions to see where we can eliminate duplications of licenses or scale back some to meet your needs more efficiently. There’s no need to be oversubscribed. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to set up an appointment.

Hardware Plays Hard to Get

As we were writing this issue of Technology Update, tariffs hit the fan. We have discussed their possible impact on prices before, but that was hypothetical. Now, they’re real, but we’re still not sure where they will land and how they will affect supplies and prices. At the same time, technological advances make hardware obsolete faster.

Before tariffs were officially announced, we saw a 10 percent minimum increase in hardware prices. Now, nobody is betting on how long the tariffs will stay in effect and for how long. Anyone who’s been living on the bleeding edge of their hardware’s service life – and there are many – has to feel uncomfortable because there is uncertainty supplies, prices and delivery dates.

That discomfort is heightened by a crunch from software providers, who need to meet demands for better online security and performance from operating systems and applications. It used to be that in some cases, you could expect seven years of service from a piece of equipment. That’s because the hardware manufacturers could provide updates for their products’ firmware (hardware operating system software) to keep pace with software developments.

Today, hardware can become obsolete in as little as three years. Security systems, working in the cloud, and higher-performing application software all demand more powerful equipment. The technology industry has made a business decision to put its resources into supporting the larger base of forward-moving customers than those who are trying to hang on to older systems.

For some organizations, it’s a double-edged sword. They find it’s especially critical to be lean and mean to survive in tougher economic conditions. But they can’t cut away too much meat after they’ve trimmed all the fat. At some point, they’ll need to buy new hardware regardless of the price.

The best way to work around a double-edged sword is to see what hardware is connected to the internet. That’s a security move. Hackers look for the weakest link in any system, and if you have any hardware that’s connected to the internet, it must be able to handle the latest security software.

When one of our retail clients ordered 10 new computers, we saw one old computer just running ads on a TV in their store. It was not connected to the internet, and that was a perfectly good use for it. You may have equipment in your office that’s not connected to the internet – or can be used without an internet connection.

We can help you make more efficient use of your hardware by taking a close look at what equipment you have to determine what needs to be replaced and what can be used in other ways. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to set up an appointment.