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.

Avoid Big Surprises from Summertime Cellphone Bills

It’s so tempting to watch streaming video – movies or ballgames, for example – on a mobile device when you’re out of town. It’s also tempting to tap into that Internet radio station or music website to hear your favorite music on a long road trip. But there could be a big bill you didn’t expect. Here’s what you can do to control your cost.

The first thing you should do is determine what you need to stream and what type of network can deliver the content for you. Video especially eats up bandwidth, so you may need to be judicious about what you watch if you’re cost-conscious.

Some people stream Netflix videos over the Internet. Others like to stay up on their local sports teams and other programming from their cable-TV by streaming through devices such as Slingbox. Both eat up a lot of bandwidth, which translates to using more data. So, think about whether you really need to watch that movie or TV program.

If you’re streaming on a mobile device, you should take care to watch while connected to a Wi-Fi network. You may need to lower the resolution to lower the data being streamed, but that can be OK when watching on an iPad instead of your huge flat-screen TV. If you’re watching over a cellular network, the data files can add up rapidly and so can your cost.

Some people have portable hotspots that enable them to use Wi-Fi-only iPads, for example, through a cellular connection. Don’t forget that because your device is on a Wi-Fi network, it will do all the things it normally does while on a network, such as download apps, back up to iCloud and any other things you’ve set it up to do. It’s good for getting access, but you need to remember that your device doesn’t know it’s really using a cellular network; it thinks it’s on a Wi-Fi network.

Cellular contracts charge you for the number of gigabytes of data you can access during a month. Your charge is based on an agreed-upon limit, and you pay more if you go over the limit. The amount of data and charges vary from one carrier to another. So, once you have an idea of how much cellular data you’ll need to access, talk to your carrier.

If you need to increase your data plan, it’s good to do it before you go over your limits because it can ultimately cost you much less. Conversely, you may already be paying for more data than you actually use. One of our clients had a plan for 5 GB of data per month but was barely topping out at 1 GB. We had the plan lowered to 2 GB per month, saving our client $30 per month.

You should also be careful to avoid roaming charges, especially if you are traveling internationally with a smart phone or device with cellular connectivity. You should turn off the cellular capability. That capability uses a cellular network to find Wi-Fi hotspots, and you don’t want to be on a network with heavy roaming charges.

We’re more than happy to answer your questions about managing your cellular roaming and video streaming charges. Give us a call at 973-433-6676 or email us with your questions or to set up an appointment.

We’ll Back Up Your Everything to the Cloud

Did you know that not all data back-up services back up all of your data? While you may not be surprised to read that, you could have an unwelcome surprise if you need to restore files lost from your hard drive.

When we do audits for new and existing customers, we’re always amazed – and dismayed – that few business owners and home users know how their files are backed up. Of course, that assumes that the files are, indeed, backed up.

Even with a back-up program in use, you still may come up short.

One of the limitations many computer users – business and home – ignore or don’t regard is the limit on data storage. Free services, as most you know, have a cap, and paid services have them as well, depending on how much you want to pay.

Carbonite, for example, won’t back up a file larger than 4 GB. What kinds of files can be larger than 4 GB? One is a .pst file, which can hold your Outlook contact and email files. What would happen if you couldn’t retrieve your contact list after a hard-drive or server crash? What would happen if you couldn’t retrieve a customized dictionary or some other file with data you’ve collected over a long time?

How many videos do you save? Many of them can exceed 4 GB, and let’s face it, a family video can be as valuable as some of your business files. One of our clients was very lucky with videos. He had sent them to someone, so he was able to retrieve them after his computer crashed.

One other problem with many back-up services is that they don’t care which files are important to you. They allot you space, and when you run out, that’s it. You can’t set up any rules to determine which files or types of files get backed up.

We can help in a number of ways. We can set up rules to make sure that certain types of files are backed up. We also monitor your backup activity, and if we don’t see any activity for 72 hours, we contact you to make sure everything is OK – unless you’ve told us you’ll be away and not online. That’s how we put service into your backup.

Contact us by email or phone – 973-422-6676 – to discuss your needs. We’ll meet your storage and budget needs and – most important – meet your retrieval needs.