Windows 10…Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’

Windows 10 is continuing its rollout. If you have a qualified computer, you can upgrade to the new OS for Windows-based computers over the next 11 months or so. We’re seeing a lot of tips and tricks for Win 10 floating around the Internet, and that’s a good sign people are embracing it. Here are some remedies for some concerns.

For the most part, Windows 10 has been working fine for most installations. The biggest early problem we have seen is with application software that has been customized primarily for businesses. In all likelihood, the app software publisher should be the one to update their code to meet the needs of Windows 10. Check with them to see if they have updated their code. If enough customers let them know it’s a need, they’ll get it done to protect their business base, if nothing else. If they don’t do it, start planning for new app software because change is an ongoing process, and you’ll hit serious limitations with an outdated program.

Microsoft is pushing out updates and fixes as other issues are reported, so we don’t think it’s worth waiting for bugs to be corrected. It took less than two weeks for the company to start issuing the cumulative updates, and the new OS is designed to install them automatically.

However, if you want to turn off the automation and choose which updates to install and when to install them, you can select those options. You can also choose to update all Windows 10 computers on a network.

A number of users are concerned about Windows 10’s capability to share passwords for Wi-Fi networks. Again, you can turn off that function.

You can explore all of your options by going to the new Control Panel. Click on Settings and then click on Updates and Security. Then, click on Advanced Options. Choose “How Updates are Installed” and “How Updates are Delivered” customize them to your preferences.

Some problems with Windows 10 have involved drivers. Check with the manufacturers or Windows Updates to see if new drivers are available. They should be there, and everything works fine once you install the new drivers.

While we have seen a lot of complaints about having to pay for some features that used to be free, we’re seeing that many of them involve having to pay for games such as Solitaire. Our reaction: “Come on!”

The more important concern is whether to use Microsoft’s built-in (free) security software. We’ll just remind you that Microsoft is not in the security business. We strongly encourage you to get your security software from providers who specialize in that field.

Again, just to repeat the experience of loading Windows 10 on my son’s computer, all I did was start the process. While it was loading, I ran some errands. When I returned home, all I had to was accept the licensing agreement, and the computer was ready to go.

We know new technology has its quirks, and we know some people can be intimidated by it. We can talk you through some of the issues with a quick phone call – 973-433-6676 – or remote in to help you. We can also answer some of your questions by email. Just let us know how we can serve you.

Summer Safety for Your ID Data

Did you get a good rate on your car rental for this summer’s trip? The real bargain might go to whoever downloads your personal data from the electronic breadcrumbs you might leave behind. Taking the time to button down a few details can save you a lot of grief.

Let’s start with cleaning out that rental car. Rental companies always update their fleets, and they want you to feel as comfortable as you would feel in your own car. One of the features increasingly common at any price and size level is Bluetooth, which lets you use the car’s audio system for handling calls on your smartphone, streaming music and getting directions from any GPS system you want to use. Some cars include a USB connection so you can have all those features and charge your phone.

That’s a great convenience, but as we’ve noted many times before, convenience usually involves a tradeoff with security. Syndicated radio host and blogger Kim Komando of the Kim Komando Show, gets to the heart of the issue.

“When you connect your gadget to a car with Bluetooth, the car stores your phone number in order to make it easier to connect later,” she points out. “It also stores your call logs, which include any contacts you dialed. There’s just one problem: All of that information is saved inside the system and is just sitting around for the next renter to find.”

We’re sure there are some other tech-savvy people who could also see your data before the car goes back on the road. So, take some time to clean up your electronic breadcrumbs – and build that time into your schedule for returning your rental car.

Komando offers two suggestions.

“Simply go into the car’s settings (it will vary for every car make and model) and locate your smartphone from the list of previously paired Bluetooth gadgets,” she writes. “There should be an option to delete your phone. That should wipe the call logs and saved contacts. Better yet, look for an option to clear all user data or do a complete factory reset. Talk to the employees at the car rental place if you can’t find these options.”

To that, we would add that you should not leave your car until you take care of this – or be prepared to email the rental company’s customer service department right from the check-in line. You could also post to Facebook or tweet about the problem – right then and there. But you’re better off getting the data deleted.

If you used the car’s navigation system, go into its settings and clear your location history. You don’t want anybody knowing where you’ve been or where you live.

By the way, if you are selling or trading in your car and turning back a leased vehicle, you should follow all of the suggestions for rental cars.

Komando’s article also talks about how easy it is for someone to hack into a car’s computer system and some of the consequences. Again, for your own data security, she recommends using the cigarette lighter adapter to charge your phone instead of a USB connection in the car or bringing along your own third-party Bluetooth audio kit for hands-free use of your smartphone. She adds that systems are being developed to allow you to use your device without storing any information in the car.

We have some other tips to protect your data and your hardware:

  • Remember that your data is out there for anyone to see when you use a public, unsecured Wi-Fi network. It’s not a good network to use for accessing your bank, credit card company or institution that has sensitive data. A secured Wi-Fi network is better, and so is your cellular data network.
  • Whether traveling or in your office or home, we recommend using a surge protector while your computer is plugged into the socket. Summer is a notorious season for power surges when you have lightning and power interruptions, and they can damage your machine’s circuitry. If your computer is older, it’s more susceptible to possible damage.
  • When working from your computer’s regular location, we recommend using a battery back-up system that sits between your outlet and your equipment. In the event of a power outage – even a very brief outage can trigger a computer shutdown – you’ll be able to save your work and initiate proper shutdown procedures to protect your work and equipment. Most battery back-up systems have outlets for you to plug in your computer, your gateway/router, printer and other similar devices.

If you have any questions at all about automotive systems or protecting your equipment during the summer, we’re happy to answer them or help you with installing or configuring any products. Contact us at 973-433-6676 or email us.

Shortcuts Can Take You the Long Way

Just like there’s no free lunch, there’s no easy solution when you use a shortcut that cuts corners. Whatever time and money you think you are saving can easily be wiped out – at the cost of more time and money – when a failure occurs without warning. You can protect valuable data by taking the time to set up your system properly.

That advice was brought home to a client who received some bad advice from a bargain-basement IT support provider. The provider had moved away but still provided support. When our client – before we took over the account – contacted the provider to help with a database problem, things went from bad to worse very quickly.

In a nutshell, our client’s system had some built-in redundancies, all designed to prevent data-loss problems, but their failure had never been detected. As result, our client was walking a tightrope without a safety net. When called in, the former IT provider instructed our client to reboot the server, but the server never came back online. That was one problem.

Another problem was the failure of the hard drive, and we found a problem there that we consider totally avoidable. It began when the client started running out of space on the server’s hard drive. Instead of taking the time – and money – to back up the data and install a new hard drive, the IT provider repartitioned the drive using a compression program.

That step is something we never even suggest to our clients. In all the literature we’ve come across and in our many years of IT experience, it’s not a stable program. It’s just a bad shortcut to try to pick up extra space.

So, when the hard drive failed, it lost some data that the client had thought was saved. We tried several restore points, but we never could get the data that had been lost. That’s because the database had been corrupted at some point, and the client was backing up corrupted data.

Going forward, the client now understands that imaging a hard drive or partitioning the drive or using any other questionable technique to create more space on a hard drive will only expose them to more risk. It’s a lesson everyone should learn and heed. You can only stuff so much data onto a hard drive before you get distortions (corrupted data) and an outright failure.

If you need more data storage capacity, we can explore a number of options and find the one that best fits your office’s needs and protects the safety of your data. Contact us at 973-433-6676 or email us to set up an appointment.

Finding the e-Fountain of Youth

When I got impatient with my desktop computer’s performance, I was able to install a new SSD hard drive. My old machine is faster than a new one would have been, and it was a lot less expensive. Can changing a few parts help your computer find an electronic fountain of youth?

The short answer is: yes. How much you can do depends on your computer’s age and its internal systems, and it also depends on a cost-benefit analysis to determine if it makes economic sense. And, of course, I did mine on my own time, which was not an out-of-pocket expense. I knew my time would include reloading all of my software, which is the biggest chunk of time, and I also knew that if I didn’t like the way the new hard drive worked, I’d simply swap it out for the old one and buy a new computer.

The project cost me $300 for the new drive, and the process took four hours. Most of the time saving was the result of new hard drive’s speed.

While prices are coming down, SSDs are still several times more expensive than HDDs in terms of cost per unit of storage.

I decided to install the new drive on a desktop computer that went into service in December 2011. I found my computer was running slow by my standards. It was taking two to three minutes to load up all of my key programs at startup; that’s tolerable for some, highly annoying for others and exasperating for some users.

For me, it was a good investment. However, every computer is different, and every user has different needs. Here are some guidelines for deciding whether to upgrade an older computer and what steps to take.

  • You have many, many options for new hard drives. In addition to technology options, there are size options, all of which affect the cost of the drive.
  • You might want to add new RAM (random access memory), which can speed up performance considerably. A Client’s old computer runs Windows 7, and the 2 GB of RAM was dreadfully slow. The amount of RAM you can add varies with the age and quality of your computer.
  • Whether you have a 32-bit computer or 64-bit computer will affect your options. I have a 64-bit computer, and it made sense to add the speedier performance options. If I had a 32-bit computer, I would have replaced the machine.
  • If you have a desktop computer, an upgrade such as mine generally makes more sense because the case has room to hold a faster processor. A later-generation processor also can take better advantage of a bigger, faster hard drive.
  • If you are replacing an old computer, you may also need to replace the software. That’s another expense to factor into your decision.

We can help you make an informed decision by pricing out viable options based on your system and present and future computing needs. Technology always changes, and prices always come down. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to discuss where you and your computer are and where you’d like to be. If you don’t make changes now, you can start to budget your next move.

Windows 10 to Arrive July 29

The date we’ve been waiting for is out there. Microsoft will make Windows 10 available for laptops, desktops and Windows tablets July 29, and it can’t come a day too soon as far as we’re concerned. Yes, it will be free – if you download within a year of its release. Don’t wait. Here’s why you should migrate to Windows 10 ASAP.

Freebie – Well, it’s a freebie for life if you install it within a year. You know our feelings about freebies: they always come with strings attached. The “free” upgrade is for customers running Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 running Home, Home Premium and Pro versions. And while it will be free for life, early reports indicate that not all the features will be available July 29. Neither will Edge, the new browser that replaces Internet Explorer, nor Windows phone be available. If you have a really old version of Windows, such as Vista, XP or even RT, you’ll have to pony up the money. Speculation is up to $199 for Windows 10 Pro. Enterprise users will be charged for an on-going service, and that’s where Windows will ultimately head with everyone. As we’ve discussed before, software as a service with automatic updates is a good thing.

Easy Transition – Unlike most migrations to a new operating system, you’ll be able to retain all of your data, drivers and settings if you are using Windows 7 or 8. Microsoft used the analogy of the egg and the yolk, calling your data, drivers and settings the egg and your operating system the yolk. The egg stays while the yolk changes. Let’s hope it’s more like “eggs easy over” and nothing gets scrambled. Once you make the transition, you’ll have 30 days to get used to everything and decide if you want to keep it. We fully expect you’ll make that decision pretty quickly. If you find you don’t like Windows 10, you can revert back to your older operating system with a simple click. To further ease your mind, Microsoft will continue to support Windows 7 until Jan. 14, 2020 – almost five years from now – and support Windows 8 until Jan. 10, 2023.

Return of the Start Button – The Start Button is back, and that might be reason enough by itself to migrate from Windows 8 or 8.1. The big advantage for many users is that it will restore a well-known way to navigate through various application programs. However, it will retain some of the visual cues from Windows 8, and those will be resizable to help you find and launch your key apps quickly and easily. Along with the Start Button, there are also reminders when you install new apps and an alphabetical grid when you click on a heading letter.

New Browser – The Edge will replace Internet Explorer. Names aside, the new browser will load pages faster and display some useful information, such as weather forecasts, in a pop-up menu below the toolbar. Edge will also feature a predictive search engine, which could come in especially handy on a mobile device if you’re looking for a restaurant or a store. This could also be a good salvo against Google for getting more search (and advertising) traffic.

Cortana – This is Microsoft’s personal digital assistant. It will differ from Siri or Google Now by giving you the ability to conduct a single search across your hard drive, as well as the cloud and the web, bundling the results into a single pop-up menu.

Apps – We talked about a photo-editing app in our initial evaluation of an earlier version (build, as we say in the tech biz) of Windows 10, and you should find a lot to like with various apps. The new Photos app will scan your devices and OneDrive account for photos, arrange them into a giant collection and automatically enhance them, such as fixing red-eye. Microsoft will use a unified code for its apps that should work across desktops, tablets and smartphones. A new code base makes it easier for iPhone and Android developers to make their apps work with Windows.

With more than six weeks until Windows 10’s release, you have plenty of time to prepare for the migration. Windows 7 users must be running Service Pack 1 to enable the update, and Windows 8 users must have upgraded to the latest version of Windows 8.1. Your computer should have these minimum system requirements:

  • Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or SoC
  • RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for a 32-bit version, or 2GB for 64-bit
  • Hard disk space: 16GB for a 32-bit OS; 20GB for 64-bit OS
  • Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver
  • Display: 1024×600

You’ll also need to enable your Windows 10 reservation. Look for the tiny Windows icon down in the right corner of your taskbar, and click it to launch the Windows 10 reservation app. However, even if your PC seemingly meets those specifications, it might not be upgraded. Use the “check my PC” function within the reservation app.

If you are cleared for takeoff, the process could take 20 minutes to 3 hours, depending on your computer’s age and networking setup – among other things. It goes without saying that even though the upgrade is expected to be a proverbial “piece of cake,” you should have all of your important files backed up before you start the process.

We can help you make sure your computers are ready for the Windows 10 upgrade. If your computers don’t qualify for the upgrade, we can help you purchase and install the software. If you are an enterprise user, we can help you migrate to the new Windows 10 service. Call us – 973-433-6646 – or email us with any questions you may have about making Windows 10 work for you.

 

Passwords and Underwear: An Analogy Worth Mentioning

When Thycotic, a security software company, compared passwords to underwear, it certainly got a chuckle or two. But they share three characteristics that are worth more than a mention:

  1. Change them regularly.
  2. Don’t leave them on your desk.
  3. Never lend them.

Without getting into TMI, changing every password every day is a lot more involved than changing your underwear, and it’s really impractical. But you can help make your data more secure by changing passwords monthly or quarterly – or any time you see something that looks funny, odd or out of place.

We’ve seen numbers indicating that 75% of all Internet users employ the same password for all the sites they visit. I would strengthen it by using upper and lower case letters, numerals and special characters. I feel my information is safe because it could take years for a hacker to figure it out.

However, hackers have various tools to crack passwords, and they’ll get one eventually. The longer and more complex your password is, the longer it will take. And, hackers make a business decision in how far to go. If they can get a whole bunch of easily decoded passwords quickly, that’s where they’ll concentrate their efforts. So, if you want to keep your password simple, change it more often. But, do change it regularly.

Don’t leave them out on your desk. I can’t tell you how many times I visit clients and see passwords taped to monitors or walls for the whole world to see. In busy offices, where people walk in and out all day, it would be very easy for a practiced password thief to see a password or two and remember them. If you recoiled with horror at the thought of someone seeing your underwear on your desk, how do you feel about someone getting into your personal or corporate bank or credit-card information?

Never lend your passwords to anyone. Yes, the thought of someone using your password should be just as disgusting as someone wearing… Well, you get the idea.

You can further protect your password by being very careful about which websites you provide information. Remember that 75% figure? If a hacker uses a website for a bogus offer – such as something for free – to get you to sign on with a password, he’ll make the assumption that you lack good judgment or common sense. He’ll also assume you use the same password for dozens of other places, including those where he can either take money from you or find information to sell to others.

If you use cloud-based services, such as Microsoft Office 365, the provider will monitor patterns and notice something out of the ordinary. You, too, should be on the lookout for out-of-the-ordinary things, such as emails with attachments or links from people who normally don’t send you those things or emails with odd subject lines.

If you have any questions about password security, contact us by phone – 973-433-6676 – or email. In the meantime, treat your password like your underwear.

Virus and Malware Protection Requires Vigilance

The numbers are grim when it comes to the ability of antivirus and malware software to protect your computer from an invasion. Keeping a close eye on your computer is a huge help.

Let’s start with the bad news. I was astonished to learn that the four major antivirus engines used to combat viruses combine can only detect 40% of the viruses floating around. If you want to take some consolation, it’s a higher success rate than this past year’s flu vaccine, but it’s not comforting. It’s the same with antimalware protection. Quite simply, the antivirus and antimalware software developers can’t keep up with the volume of viruses and malware that’s produced every day.

If you know or believe your computer is infected by a virus or malware, disconnect it from your network or the Internet or shut down the computer and call us – 973-433-6676. IT professionals know which tools to use and where to use them to find and remove them. The tools are Microsoft tools, and they are free, but, again, it’s a matter knowing how to use them and being able to verify that a computer is totally disinfected.

If you have an infected server and no back-up in place, we’ll try to clean the server. With a computer, it’s easier to isolate the infection and – if needed – rebuild it, which means wipe it clean and reinstall the operating system, application software and data files. If you are using cloud-based applications and data files, the chances of an infection are greatly reduced because the hosting companies constantly update the software.

While the numbers may seem to be stacked against you, you can take steps to protect yourself. First, install, update and use your antivirus and antimalware software. Those programs will pick off the more numerous “easy-to-detect” viruses and malware.

Second, be very careful about the websites you visit and the networks you allow to connect to your computer. Only go to trusted sites and only connect with trusted networks. Of course, there’s a caveat here. Sometimes, your antivirus software may flag a network or computer trying to connect, and it may be a false positive. If it looks like something that’s OK, it’s most likely a network driver update.

Contact us – 973-433-6676 or email – if you have any questions about anything having to do with viruses or malware on your computer or server. It’s a dangerous world out there, but it’s more than survivable with good judgment and common sense.

Guide Needed for Office 365 Subscriptions

It’s no secret that Office 365 subscriptions are the way to go for small and medium-size businesses. Using the cloud increases everyone’s accessibility to the files they need to do their jobs effectively, and it reduces a lot of your IT management headaches, especially for installing those necessary updates. But while all roads can lead to the cloud, finding the right road for your business can be a daunting task. We can help you find your way.

As one of the IT professionals and Office resellers quoted in a recent article in Channel Pro Network, we are very aware of all the organizations that want to lead you to Office 365. Besides subscribing directly through Microsoft, you can sign up through a number of carriers, such as a cable or telephone carrier. You already use them to access the Internet and, in many cases, to provide your email. Because competition drives them to keep their prices lower or to add capacity, these large carriers need to find ways to increase their revenue. Offering Office 365 as a “software as a service” is one way to do it.

But is it right for you?

As we point out, there are so many different SKUs and plans in Office 365, it can be very confusing. Microsoft offers three packages: Business Essentials, Business and Business Premium. Pricing ranges from $5/mo/person on an annual basis to $12.50/mo/person, but only the premium package includes everything. Microsoft allows you to mix and match services and features from the packages, but you really need to know what they’re charging for this customization and whether the cost makes sense for you. While it might be more convenient to just choose the package that has one thing you need and one or more that you don’t, differences of $3.25 or $7.50/mo/person can add up quickly.

By reviewing our clients’ carrier bills, we see many instances in which they start with free offers and then wind up paying for tools they don’t use. While our reviews can help clients cut their bills, getting us involved in the selection process can put you on the most cost-effective plan at the start. There are two key areas where our knowledge of your application needs and your technology can work for you.

First, we know how many people need to be using each of the various Office 365 tools. We can help you subscribe to just the services you need and set up the access just as you need it. We can take into account how many people work from a central or branch office and how many people need to work from remote locations – and whether they are accessing Office 365 from a computer or mobile device.

Then, we can set up your system to meet those needs and train everyone to make sure they know how to work within your system. The question you need to ask is: Can the large carrier provide you with this level of understanding your set up and your needs right from the start?

Second, once you have Office 365 installed, can the large carrier troubleshoot problems? Microsoft will be able to help you with problems directly related to their product, and they will do a good job with that. But small businesses have unique technology. There is no “standard” computer, server or networking system, and there is no way that anybody providing telephone support can get you to tell them all the technical information they might need to solve your problem satisfactorily. Training a tech support staff to cover every possible combination of systems and potential problems is virtually impossible.

As your IT consultant, we can look at every aspect of your software and technology needs and guide you through the myriad pathways to Office 365 nirvana. We have the knowledge of your systems, and we’ll take the time to help you select the right packages and tools for now and plan for your future needs. Call us – 973-433-6676 – email us to help you find the right Office 365 package for you.

Outlook App Puts Power in Your Hand

Microsoft has amped up the power of Outlook with apps for iOS and Android. They come as Microsoft prepares to release Windows 10, which is designed to work across multiple platforms, and they enable you to work more efficiently while you’re on the go.

Despite the smartphone becoming a primary screen for reading email, most people prefer to deal with action items on their computers. Sorting a lot of email, managing calendars and sharing files require too many steps or multiple apps that don’t work together well on the phone.  The new Outlook app brings together your email, calendar, contacts and files in a way to help you get more done, even on the smallest screen.

Here are some of the features that can help you be more productive with your smartphone or tablet in those short time bursts available between appointments and tasks.

Starting at the top, the Outlook app allows you to segment your email inbox into two broad categories: Focused and Other. The app uses some intelligence tools to learn what’s important to you, and it has a single-tap capability to unsubscribe from unwanted email. That’s a huge benefit when you’re trying to manage email in seconds.

From there, you can continue to use swipes to delete, archive, and move messages, and you can also “schedule” a time to handle a specific message. The feature removes it from your inbox until the time you have scheduled it to return. That eliminates a lot of extra scrolling as you move through the day. The “People” view shows you messages  that the app determines (learns) the people you’re in contact with most by email.

All of these features work across your favorite email accounts, including Office 365, Exchange, Outlook.com, iCloud, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail.

The Outlook app makes your calendars available within the app, allowing direct interaction with your email. The ‘Quick RSVP’ feature lets you respond to meetings (Accept / Tentative / Decline) right from your inbox, without even opening the mail. The ‘Send Availability’ feature lets you find and share available meeting times in email. Once you’ve settled on a time, you can even create a meeting invitation—all within the app. You can view meeting details, invitees and their attendance status.

Outlook simplifies sharing files stored in the cloud.  With just a few taps, you can insert a link to any file from OneDrive, Dropbox and other popular accounts in your email message. Recipients are automatically granted permission to view these files, with no extra steps. You can find files quickly by viewing your recently received email attachments, and you can search across both your cloud storage and your email attachments at once with Quick Filters to let you quickly sort by file type.

The app is free. For iPhones, it requires iOS 8.0 or later. It’s compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch and is optimized for iPhone 5, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus. For Android users, Android 4.0 or later is required. If you have questions about how to use it with your phone or tablet, call us – 973-433-6676 – send us an email. We’ll be able to answer your questions or walk you through the set-up steps.

Patch for Patch Tuesday

Patch Tuesday can be a dreaded day even though it fixes a lot of critical breaches and bugs in Microsoft software. Because the fixes are issued monthly, hackers always have time to exploit holes before users get the patches installed. That’s all about to change.

Microsoft announced last week at its Ignite event that beginning with the release of its Windows 10 operating system, security updates will be released as soon as they’re available, instead of once a month. The new update policy will follow the protocol used for smartphones and other mobile devices, which are capable of receiving updates as soon as they are available. That’s part of the Windows 10 strategy to work seamlessly across all platforms, including Apple and Android.

The good news for network administrators is that they won’t have to scramble every month to install a boatload of updates while worrying about what parts of their systems might have been attacked. But they will still need to decide when and how to deploy them. Windows Update for Business will have tools to help administrators decide which machines get updated first and determine when to install or not install specific updates.

SOHO and home users who want their PCs to be frequently patched can choose to do so with the option to sign up for either a “fast ring” of security patches, where security patches are released quickly; or a more conservative “slow ring.” We don’t know how quickly or slowly those updates will be deployed in each “ring,” and we don’t know yet if Microsoft will push out certain updates faster if they’re needed.

We believe that making updates available on an as-need basis instead of once a month will be better for everyone who uses a computer or a device – especially in this day and age, where most people shuttle among computers, tablets and smartphones to access all sorts of data and application files from the cloud. We’ll keep you posted on how the process to deploy updates develops. If you are thinking about upgrading your technology now or sometime in the next 6 to 12 months, let’s talk about the timing to make sure you can maximize your productivity and cost-efficiency. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to start the discussion.