Security and Convenience

Major retailers have been vulnerable to security breaches because we want convenience. New credit card systems that rely on chips instead of magnetic strips will help solve the security issue and so will Apple’s new ApplePay, which uses NFC (Near Field Communications) technology.

There won’t be any need to open an app or even wake your display because of the combination of NFC and the antenna in iPhone 6. To pay, just hold your iPhone near the contactless reader with your finger on Touch ID. You don’t even have to look at the screen to know your payment information was successfully sent. A subtle vibration and beep lets you know.

Instead of using your actual credit and debit card numbers the system assigns a unique Device Account Number that is encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element, a dedicated chip in iPhone. These numbers are never stored on Apple servers. When you make a purchase, the Device Account Number, along with a transaction-specific dynamic security code, is used to process your payment. So your actual credit or debit card numbers are never shared by Apple with merchants or transmitted with payment.

If your iPhone is ever lost or stolen, you can use Find My iPhone to quickly put your device in Lost Mode so nothing is accessible, or you can wipe your iPhone clean completely.

This is a major step toward convenience and security. Another step will be the replacement of that magnetic strip on your credit with chip technology already in use in most of the world. Again, it will separate your credit and debit card info from the info stored by retailers.

Retailers’ storage of your transactions and credit and debit card info has given you the convenience of being able to return merchandise without a receipt. It also presented a plump, juicy target for hackers. Banks, which bear the liability of covering the cost of fraud, are behind efforts to speed up the conversion to this new technology. Their goal, of course, is to minimize their risk, and they’ll minimize ours, too.

New credit and debit cards will be better for those of us who still carry them around in our wallets. Apple Pay and evolving technologies will help us get rid of our wallets all together – and probably our keys, too.

Millennials are driving device technology. They don’t like to bother with carrying wallets and keys and anything else they deem bulky. The changes are likely to trickle down to the rest of us, especially as we find them to be secure and convenient.

While the new technology looks great, there are other steps you can take now to protect your data. We’ve discussed these measures before:

  • Strengthen your password. The greater the combination you can use of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters, the longer it will take for hackers to crack your password.
  • Use two-factor authentication for Internet access to your data. It’s a second password, a reference to a graphic symbol or an answer to a question. Dropbox now offers it, and you can click here to learn more.
  • Look before you click. Use common sense when clicking on websites or opening attachments to email. If something doesn’t look right or feel right, leave it alone.
  • Make sure your protection is up to date and running. Anti-virus programs, malware programs and firewalls for home and office systems can prevent unwanted problems and intrusions. Make sure you have all systems up to date and turned on.

Now you can buy your new iPhone 6 or 6+ and enjoy the benefits of Apple Pay and NFC – whenever the technology is activated, most likely in October.

What your thoughts on this? How willing are you to embrace this new technology? Share your thoughts with us. And if you have any questions about buying an iPhone 6 or 6+ or any other phone, tablet or computer and getting them all to work together, drop us an email or give us a call at 973-433-6676.

New iPhone Puts More Tech in Play

Apple’s new iPhone has raised the bar for the device industry and for you, the business owner and consumer. You should consider upgrading to a smartphone and upgrading your tablet because more and more of everyday living will require it.

The new iPhone 6 and 6+ are going to improve your convenience and online security when Apple Pay and NFC (near field communications) technology kick in. As the technology expands, it will be possible to use it in more stores and for other payments such as electricians, plumbers, appliance repairs, landscaping, taxi cabs, etc. Train and bus riders with monthly passes may be able to use their cell phones more and more, eliminating the need to carry separate cards.

You might also find it possible to enter your home or place of work with your cell phone – and for owners to quickly reset access codes.

At home, smartphones and tablets can be integrated with computers to control home entertainment systems, lighting systems and your kids’ access to the internet. You can use your cell and home phones almost interchangeably to start a conversation on one device or system and continue it on another.

The possibilities to do more with smartphones and mobile devices seem to be unlimited. The only limiting factor may be the phone or device itself.

If you’re carrying a flip phone, for example, you likely don’t have access to the Internet for doing any kind of research, getting directions, making purchases or accessing email. You likely have SMS or texting capability, but it’s cumbersome. If all you want phone for is to talk, that’s fine.

If you have an older smartphone, you can still do the basics: find a nearby restaurant or gas station, purchase goods and services online, get your email and maybe watch streaming content. But your options will always be limited, and you’ll never get the performance that is driving so much of our online traffic.

Concurrent with the new iPhones, for example, Apple has released iOS 8, but it will only work with an iPhone 4S or newer model or with an iPad 2 or newer.

Apple is not alone. Samsung is already taking preorders for its new Galaxy Note 4, and you can bet that will raise the bar for performance and features.

On top of that, the major device manufacturers and OS developers will be keeping pace. Why? Because we not only want to be able to do more things online, we want to be able to do more of the things we already do, such as watch movies, play sophisticated games and make even more use of our Internet applications.

Within all of this, you will need to choose a device manufacturer, a cellular carrier and a phone and data plan. In addition to making technological choices, you’ll need to make financial choices and decide how long you actually want to keep your phone or tablet. Depending on what you need and what you want, you may need to replace your technology more often, and that will affect the device and carrier you choose.

Whether you’re a business with 20 computers and devices or a family, we can help. Once you get past the “ah” factor or the “OMG” moment, we can help you choose a technology that matches your needs and your budget as best as possible. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us for answers to your questions and to set up an appointment.

The OS Outlook

Operating System updates are a way of life, but some of them can offer the means to change your technology life.

Apple’s iOS 8 is getting all the attention now because it coincides with the introduction of the iPhone 6 models and the Apple Watch. In our home, we’re using the new OS to monitor and control our kids’ use of their phones and devices, and we’re taking advantage of cool features, such as integrating with our iPads and computers.

Yosemite, the next OS for Apple computers will have similar ties. The net effect will be to put more pieces of the integration puzzle together.

Similarly, Google is looking for more integration with its Android OS for mobile devices and Chrome for laptop and desktop computers. Reports indicate that Android ???L devices will able to tell a Chromebook the user is nearby and have the laptop automatically login — doing away with the password once again. Chrome will also be able to display SMS messages and call details on a Chromebook and warn that your nearby phone is running low on battery.

On the Microsoft side, we’re working hard to get past our issues with Windows 8, which we believe fell short of integrating the tablet look and feel with laptop and desktop computers. We are looking forward to hearing about changes or seeing previews of the next Windows OS – hopefully a new Windows 9.

To counter the problems of Windows 8, we have encouraged clients to buy new computers capable of running Windows 7. We are now hearing rumors that Microsoft will end its support of Windows 7 in January 2015. What that means is that support options will change.

We believe Windows 7 will remain a strong OS. Many companies are still rolling out Windows 7 systems, and we still see more XP operating systems than we care to acknowledge. We continue to recommend migrating from XP to Windows 7 to get better performance and tighter security.

We can help you select and manage devices, computers and operating systems. Drop us an email or call us at 973-433-6676 to discuss your needs.

Spend More for Speed and Capacity

As we demand more performance from our IT systems, our choices can come down to balancing the speed to write files and the cost of storage media. You can have the best of both worlds if you combine planning and foresight.

A number of so-called “power users” have fallen in love with SSD (solid state) drives, which are totally electronic. They contain no moving parts and they can write data to memory with lightning speed. But they have their downsides, such as cost per gigabyte of storage and the lifetime of the data in flash memory. Data recovery is a much more complicated and labor-intensive process than if you have mechanical drives.

As a result, we think they’re better suited for users with higher levels of technical knowledge and corporations that have the technical capability to support the drives and their users. Most users and small businesses can get great system performance by buying the right drives for computers and servers and planning to replace systems after five years.

We find some basics have held true over our 20 years of IT service.

For individual computers, we recommend SATA drives. They are more than adequate in terms of storage size and speed and provide good cost value. Today’s desktop and laptop computers are available with hard drives having 1 terabyte or more of storage. Some bargain hunters think they’re saving money by buying a smaller 500 GB hard drive, but file sizes are growing larger, and they can eat up free space very quickly. If you’re planning to keep your computer five years – or even longer – you’ll likely exhaust the capacity sooner than you planned, and you’ll need to replace the hard drive (and restore files) or buy a larger external hard drive. As we’ve noted before, once you approach 60% to 75% of your hard drive’s capacity, you make it more difficult for your computer to write files to the drive, and that can severely limit performance. It’s much more cost-effective to buy a large-capacity drive with the computer, which is already set up with the right RAM (random access memory) capacity and motherboard to optimize performance.In addition to size, get a hard drive with enough speed. In general, SATA drives range up to 7200 RPM. When you combine the larger size and RAM with the higher speed, you’ll get better performance for a longer time, and that will keep you happier with your investment.

If you do find you need a new hard drive for your desktop, we may be able to walk you through the process of installing your new drive and recovering your data from an online backup site or an external drive.

For a server, we’ve found SAS drives running at 10,000 to 15,000 RPM offer the best performance. Again, your needs will grow as your business grows, and you’ll want to be able to add upgraded application software, more file storage capacity and more users without sacrificing performance. Whatever you save in buying under-performing technology can be eaten up very quickly in reduced production and unnecessary, unplanned downtime.

For us, the bottom line is getting our clients to think proactively about planning for a cost-effective technology purchase today and budgeting for the next purchase. Everyone has different needs and budget constraints, but everyone has the opportunity to take a smart approach. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to discuss your hard-drive and system needs for your computers and servers. Making the right decision today can save you money and give you peace of mind.

Foiling Fouled Autofill Addresses

It’s one of those really annoying email problems. You send a message to a group of people, and you get back a message that reads: “Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:” It’s followed by: “The email address you entered couldn’t be found or is invalid.” It may be due to a bad entry in your Outlook or Outlook Web App recipient AutoComplete cache.

Use the steps below to clear the entry from the cache:

  1. Click New E-mail.
  2. In the To field, start typing the recipient’s name or email address until the recipient appears in the drop-down list.
  3. Use the DOWN ARROW and UP ARROW keys to select the recipient, and then press the DELETE key.
  4. Delete and retype the recipient’s address, then try sending it again.

Autofill is one of those conveniences that we all love when it works right. But with many people changing email servers, outdated email addresses can pile up in your cache. For example, we’ve changed our main contact email from info@sterlingrosellc.com to info@sterlingrose.com. Deleting our old address from Autofill would be a good first step in making sure you’re following the steps correctly.

If you have any questions about clearing your email address cache or any other software applications, we’re more than happy to walk you through the steps. Just call – 973-433-6676 – or email us for help.

Avoiding the Virtual-Drive Hiding Place

One of our clients knew – without a doubt – she hit “save” for a downloaded file. But, she couldn’t find it where it was supposed to be. There’s a place where those files go, and it takes some detailed knowledge to find them.

The problem usually results when you download a file from an email or a website. Unless you specify a path – a specific folder in your Documents or Pictures libraries, for example – the file is stored in a protected temporary location. It’s located in another Documents file that’s accessed through your C:\Users series of directories and files. It’s a protected area designed to protect your computer against malware invasions, and it’s not well documented.

The location leads to an additional problem. When you run any automatic or manual backup program, files in that location are not backed up. If your hard drive fails or you change computers and don’t know where to find them, you could lose them.

When our client told us of the problem, we knew where to look, and we found lots of files. She was very happy, to say the least.

But it’s easier to avoid the problem.

If you’re downloading files from an email, make sure you file them in the appropriate folder when you save them. Sometimes, it just takes that extra second thought when you’re really busy, but if you make it a habit, you’ll save a lot of time and probably a lot more aggravation.

If you’re downloading from the Internet, do the same thing. Store it in an appropriate file folder right away, and make it a habit. If you regularly download files from specific websites, you can add them to your Trusted Files, and that will help you download them to your designated directories.

You can browse the protected temporary location, and we can show you how to do it without losing files that are critical to your computer’s operation. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to set up an appointment. We’ll be able to guide you through the process and provide you with instructions for finding files in the future.

Software: A Cost of Doing Business

A common question from a number of our smaller clients is:” Does that computer price include (Microsoft) Office?” Our answer is always “no,” and it’s followed by the comment: “Well, our previous guy included Office.” That inclusion may have been questionable at best and didn’t do the client any favors.

The issue typically arises when we go to set up a computer system we ordered for a client. They may have been running a copy of Office but have no master disks or a product key, which indicates they don’t have a licensed copy. That makes it impossible to install the software.

We are not the software police, and we’re not making any accusations. It’s entirely possible you had a legal copy to use if the person who installed the software had a license to do so. Our tipoff is when we see a small business running the enterprise version of Office. No small business would ever buy this version of Office, and Microsoft doesn’t sell single copies. If you happen to be running it, only the person who installed it would be able to reinstall it – if he still has the license.

But as with everything else in life, nothing is really free. If you have “free” use or reduced-cost use of software such as Office but can’t reinstall it and continue your operations seamlessly, what have you saved?

What other costs might you incur? The cheaper cost is simply buying the software. The more expensive cost is any business interruption that results from losing your application software unexpectedly.

What are your options?

First, you can buy a single copy for one-time use on one computer. Shop online. The cost should be somewhere around $220.

If you have more than one computer, you can buy a subscription to Office 365, which provides your Microsoft Office suite and Outlook. It costs $150 per year to cover up to five computers, and you can find plans to cover more computers if needed. With Office 365, you will access your application and data files over the Internet – through the cloud – and you can store a data file, such as a Word document or Excel spreadsheet, on your computer’s hard drive.

You can also buy multiple-computer licenses from Microsoft, and that might be beneficial for small businesses still using Office 2007 or 2010. You’ll need to buy Office 2013, but you’ll have “downgrade” rights to license the software and get the media and product keys you’ll need for reinstallations.

We can help you select the right software purchase plan for your business or home based on the number of computers you have and the versions that make sense for continuity and consistency. Give us a call – 973-433-6676 – or send us an email to set up an appointment. Software has a cost, but not having licensed software usually carries a higher cost.

Steps to Take – Mitigate Fallout from Russian Hacking Incident

If you haven’t seen or heard the news, a Russian group has hacked user names and passwords for some 1.2 Billion accounts worldwide.

We urge you to run a virus scan and malware scan as quickly as possible on all of your computers to determine if your system has been infected. This post from The New York Times, which first reported the incident, covers some basic steps you can take. We’ve discussed them before, and they are now very much worth repeating. If you want to learn more, you can read reports from PC Magazine and The New York Times.

 

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, contact us immediately by phone (973-433-6676) or email.

It’s a Matter of Trust – and Reassurance

Choosing the right technology is a balance between investing your money wisely and getting enough system capability and capacity to do a little more than you might envision at the time of purchase. The planning stage is the time to ask questions and get advice from your IT provider and trusted friends.

Most people are not that tech savvy, but they buy what they’re told because they trust an advisor or more knowledgeable friend. To paraphrase a PSA (public service announcement) from a few years ago, friends don’t let friends buy the wrong technology. Our friendly and professional advice is: Don’t skimp on technology today because it will cost you more money in less time than you think.

The story of a client with a two-year-old computer illustrates the point. He’s rapidly running out of space on his hard drive – which has only 80 GB of storage. Not only is the storage space too small, the rest of the computer’s tech specs are just not up to date for today’s world. A computer should last three to five years. So, spending $100 or $200 more would have avoided spending $500 to $600 or so now.

In 25 years in the IT business, one of the things we’ve learned is that we always ask our technology systems to do more than we planned. Today, a hard drive with 250 GB of space is relatively small, 500 GB can be acceptable, and 1 TB (terabyte) or more is ideal. Besides needing more storage space for bigger files – at work or at home – we need more RAM (random access memory) and faster processors to work with larger more complex files or handle streaming video over the Internet. Disk speeds are faster, too, also improving performance.

As for cost, we haven’t raised our prices on computers for the past two years, but you still get more. That’s because technology continues to improve and prices actually come down. In a sense, you get more power for the same money every time you make a purchase.

In addition to giving you more power, we don’t partition hard drives. This gives you the flexibility to add more programs and the space to store files and access them. When you change computers or hard drives, it’s easier to transfer your data and programs.

Rapidly changing technology makes it imperative to have a professional assessment for your business and a consultation for home computers. Good planning will help you get the best value for your money and give you better performance with fewer worries about your system’s ability to handle more tasks. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to start your assessment or just to ask our opinion. And check with your knowledgeable friends, too. As we see it, the only way you can go wrong is by not going far enough.