The BYOD Hangover

Some businesses got drunk on BYOD – Bring Your Own Device. They bought heavily into the idea that they could cut costs and get more work out of employees by letting them use their own mobile devices and computers. Now we’re starting to see more problems for businesses, individuals and everyone they touch electronically.

Ten years ago, the benefits were clearly present for businesses and their owners/partners and employees. As the first generation of smartphones, mostly Blackberry, took hold, busy people and small businesses found they could untether themselves from office systems. Tablets, starting with iPad, increased their freedom because their bigger screens and keyboards made it easier to read spreadsheets, written documents and email and update files or respond to email.

  • Salespeople could access pricing lists, customer records and just about any critical information they needed to provide better service.
  • Everyone with a smartphone – and soon after, a tablet – could respond with increasing capabilities.
  • Busy parents could stay in touch with the office, giving them more flexibility to manage their lives.

In our business, IT professionals could respond to client or corporate information management needs from anyplace that had cellular service.

As Wi-Fi and all forms of communications networks grew and more smartphones and tablets came to the market, along with various carriers, the ways to stay connected lost all technical limits. And because everyone wanted to have their own personal technology – smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer – to use on their own time, businesses of all sizes met the demand. Employees no longer needed to have specific products. IT managers were able to incorporate everyone’s devices, and employers were happy to give everyone 24/7/365 work capability.

It was intoxicating for everybody. Now, it’s intoxicating for hackers and cybercriminals; everyone else is having a big, bad hangover. The problem is security.

Here are some sobering concerns:

  • While we can help our business and professional services clients secure their networks and access to the data on their corporate servers, we need to educate employees about programs to control security. A business really needs to depend on its employees to keep their individual devices and computers secure. One hole can be an entry point to sensitive data anywhere.
  • Mobile phones and tablets are becoming more vulnerable to security problems. Why? That’s where the money is. With people conveniently accessing critical data over cellular and Wi-Fi networks all the time, hackers are finding more ways to penetrate security measures. Everyone needs to make sure they know that anybody in the world can take a peek at their business on any unsecured public network – like one in a coffee shop, hotel lobby or airport.
  • Even if you take every available security step in your corporate and personal systems – strong passwords, strong firewalls, up-to-date and active anti-virus and malware software – anyone with access to your system who doesn’t follow the same precautions puts you at risk.
  • The convenience of publicly accessible storage sites, such as Dropbox, can lead to the loss of privacy of your data. When you give someone the ability to download files from a storage site onto their own computers or tablets, you effectively give them ownership of that data. That means an employee can “own” client lists, financial information, etc.

With the horses already out of the barn and out on the open range, you can’t corral them and bring them back. But there a number of steps you can take:

  • Educate everyone in your organization about the need for security and what they need to do:
    • Have strong passwords and change them often
    • Be aware of when they are on unsecured public networks
    • Keep their own personal technology protected with up-to-date, activated anti-virus and malware programs
    • Understand that any holes in their own security systems can open holes for hackers to get into your business’s system and the systems of anyone or any organization they’ve ever contacted over the Internet – and that it can go viral from there
  • Require strong passwords (combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters) to access your data files wherever they are
  • Require frequent password changes
  • Determine which files need to stay on a secure server that you control
  • Backup data securely and often
  • Monitor your backup

We can help you with all of these steps:

  • Lunch ‘n’ Learn programs about security
  • Audits of your system’s security
  • Monitored backup services

Contact us by phone – 973-433-6676 – or email to keep your data clean and your systems sober in the BYOD environment.

Effective Parental Control on the Internet

Wondering where your kids are wandering on the Internet is a major concern for parents. We’ve found a product we really like in our house. It’s Circle with Disney, a joint effort by Disney and Circle Media. You can buy it online through the Disney store for $100.

For parents, it’s the best solution we’ve seen yet to cover Internet management needs for their children of all ages. In summary, here’s what you can do:

  • Track where your kids go on the Internet from a mobile phone, tablet or computer
  • Block sites you don’t want them to access
  • Track how much time they spend on any website, including homework websites
  • Set a time to shut off Internet access
  • Set a time to allow Internet access
  • Stop access to any website at any time

We installed it a few weeks ago, and we’ve more than happy with its capabilities. They go far beyond the tools provided by many other filters. We also love our accessibility. You can monitor and manage everything from a mobile device.

Circle with Disney gets hardwired into your computer system, and it has a set-up process. While they say the set-up is routine, there are some complexities, especially with how you need to recognize a number of devices. They can have unique information, and you need to program Circle for those devices.

You can order them online or have us order them for you and set it up before we put it on your system. Or, we can remotely set up your Circle once you connect it to computer system and make sure it will do everything you need. Contact us by phone – 973-433-6676 – or email to get your Circle with Disney set up and running to protect your children and you or to answer any questions once it’s running.

Cutting Cable and Satellite: The Big Picture

On our lists of businesses we love to hate, our cable/phone/Internet providers and satellite TV providers rank right at the top, regardless of who it is. The temptation is overwhelming to cut our ties with each and every one of them, and many people have given up landline phones and cable or satellite TV. Many have resolved to cut them in 2016. If you’re thinking about making your great escape, consider the possible consequences.

At first glance, it all seems pretty simple. Get rid of cable and satellite and stop paying for all the channels in your bundle that you never watch. Program providers and carriers such as Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon, Hulu and Roku, to name a few, all stream content over the Internet. Even longtime cable and satellite staples, such as HBO, Showtime and ESPN stream programming, and so do the over-the-air networks. All have charges, and all limit program availability.

So, if you think you are going to save a bundle of money by unpacking a bundle of TV channels, you may be in for some big surprises. A recent article in the New York Times can give you an idea of what some streaming services might cost you if you choose an a-la-carte combination of services. Depending on the services you choose, you could easily hit $100 for very limited offerings. And, just like any provider can suck you in with low introductory prices, you can expect to see prices go up and take you back to Square 1.

In the meantime, despite your monthly cable or satellite bill of $200 or more, you are getting a “deal” by bundling TV, phone and Internet for a certain period of time. When you unbundle your services and just take your Internet connection, you’ll need high-speed service, say 100 Mbps, and that could be $100 per month right there. Verizon’s FiOS service, for example is $44.99 for 50 Mbps and $264.99 for 500 Mbps. On the 50 Mbps plan, you get TV for $30 more per month.

Further, you need to either rent or buy your gateway – or modem and router system – that’s compatible with your Internet provider’s service, and you may need a network of boosters throughout your house to make sure wireless devices get a quality signal in every room. The Wi-Fi modem from Verizon for all packages is $10/month or $199 to own it.

So far, you may argue, we’re not that far off from what we’re paying for our cable and satellite bundles. You’d be correct. But now, let’s look at data caps – because the big providers are looking at them long and hard.

Just like the electricity, natural gas and water coming into your house are measured by a meter, it’s very easy for your data providers to measure what you use. Your cellular carriers already cap your limits, although some are lifting caps, at least for now. They can do that because your phone or tablet doesn’t require as much data to watch a movie or TV show. We bring that up just for comparison.

In reality, data caps are just around the corner. An article in the Motley Fool, which always shows you the money, says Comcast and AT&T are testing programs, and warns that you’re gonna pay. Comcast is testing a 300 GB/month limit in several markets around the country with a charge of $10 per 50 GB over the cap. They are looking at $30 to $35 a month more to go unlimited. AT&T is looking at 150 GB/mo for DSL customers and 250 GB for U-Verse customers. GigaPower fiber customers receive either 500 GB or 1 TB of data each month, and all customers can spend an additional $10 to receive 50 GB of data.

How much will you use? “To put this amount of data in perspective, ArsTechnica recently mentioned a Sling TV report that said if users streamed about 4.8 hours of TV per day they would hit 300 GB of video streaming each month,” the article says. “Data from Nielsen shows that adults in the U.S. spend an average of more than 5 hours watching TV each day. So it would appear Comcast’s data limits are already coming very close Americans’ TV viewing habits. As more viewers start streaming their content (as opposed to watching it through cable or satellite) it’s easy to see how users could start reaching their data limits quickly.”

That ties in with some thoughts in a Yahoo Finance article that looks five years into the future. Cutting the cable appeals to millennials and to any group of people who want to share subscriptions and have a small group of shows they want to watch. And right now, it’s likely cheaper.

However, the inevitability of data caps, expanded tastes in programming and more data-intensive viewing equipment – a really big 4K high-def TV uses a lot more data than an iPad – can easily wipe out those savings. With cable/satellite providers always looking to bundle products to lock in customer commitments, some cord-cutters might want to return to the fold.

“We believe that if consumers knew now what they will know in five years, they would change their mind and go back to the big bundle which costs them $0.25 per viewer hour and gives them 300 channels to choose from at any time,” says a note from financial analysts. The analysts say that putting together your own show list will eventually become more expensive than your cable bill.

If you really want to cut your costs way down and are happy with over-the-air TV, you can buy HDTV antennae for your HDTV TVs. As long as you have good reception, you will get an exceptional picture – and a bonus; many HDTV broadcasters have side channels that can provide extra programming.

As techie as I am, staying with the cable company I hate makes sense for my family of four. But if cutting the cable ditching the dish makes sense for you, we can help make sure you have the right network set up to power the TV sets – as well as the devices you’ll use for viewing. Give us a call – 973-433-6676 – or drop us an email to arrange for a survey.

Are You Smarter Than a House?

The smart home is the rage at this year’s CES (Consumer Electronics Show). Devices, gadgets, appliances and cars are generating a lot of buzz – along with TVs you can’t buy and drones that you probably can’t fly. Here’s what got our attention.

Apple’s HomeKit platform is ready to install. If you ever marveled at the X-10 or the Clapper, this will have you doing backflips. With Siri-control of Wi-Fi connected to home automation accessories, you can control ceiling fans and window blinds. Very soon, you should be able to control electrical outlets, switches, thermostats and door lock options. HomeKit is matched to products come from some notable companies such as Honeywell, Lutron, Kwikset, iHome and others.

With Apple getting heavily involved, you can expect to have a lot of capabilities all tied to a single app, and using Siri’s voice capability will make it a snap to turn appliances and systems on and off or lock your doors with a simple spoken command.

We’ve already had a preview of how you can keep tabs on everything going on at home even if you’re nowhere near your house. We installed an Internet-accessible doorbell monitor a few years ago that uses a camera and two-way sound system to talk to anyone who rings the bell. It came in really handy soon after we installed it when we were able to accept the delivery of equipment needed for a client installation. Without the system, there would have been no delivery, and the project would have been delayed.

One system at CES takes our old one a step farther by also enabling you to unlock the door to let people into your house. For some families, that can add a totally new dimension to what used to be called “latch-key kids.”

Inside the house, a smart refrigerator is generating some cool news. Expected to hit the market later this year, the deluxe models take pictures of what’s inside your fridge after you close the door – or doors. You can use the pictures for your trip to the supermarket on your way home – unless, of course, you order your groceries online and use a credit card app to pay for them. It’s a combo play from Samsung and MasterCard. Oh, and just to give a good-old warm and fuzzy feeling, the refrigerator has a screen for leaving messages and notes or displaying (scanned) artwork from your kids.

Ford got a lot of attention with its Sync 3 and its compatibility with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but it’s not alone. Many auto manufacturers are jumping into the game. Systems will feature a lot of infotainment applications, but they will tie more closely to smart-home systems.

To be prepared for all the smart-home systems coming to the market, you need to be a smart homeowner by making sure your Wi-Fi network is secure. We’ve discussed network security many times before, but now more is at stake. Smart-home systems will require more passwords and stronger passwords, and you’ll need to make sure you only use secure networks to access your home remotely. If not, it will be just like telling the world the key to your front door is under the mat or in the mailbox.

All of this new technology is both exciting and overwhelming. We can help you eliminate the anxiety by helping you understand how the systems work to make smart selections, and we can make sure your home Wi-Fi network can handle all the technology you install. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us. We can help

Microsoft Pushes IE to Edge of Extinction

Sometime this week, Microsoft is ending its support for Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10. It’s not that the company didn’t tell you it would happen. Word – make that Notice – went out in the summer of 2014. One final round of patches for those versions of IE came out recently, but that’s it. Your options are to upgrade to IE 11 or make the jump to Microsoft Edge.

We recommend making the jump to Edge, which you’ve already done if you run Windows 10. While it has some quirks and limitations, it gives you a couple of good features as soon as you launch it. The first thing you see is “Where to next?” It’s the address bar to go right to a website or you can use it to search. Speaking of searching, you can use Cortana, Windows 10’s virtual assistant. Cortana pops up as you browse with Edge when you highlight a word and choose Ask Cortana or when you type in queries for weather and other common search terms in Edge’s search bar.

You can also have a lot of the features already enjoyed by users of Firefox and Safari. Those features include a Reading List feature to save articles and webpages for later reading, much like Pocket or Instapaper, though it doesn’t work offline. You can see a page in a stripped-down format that removes ads and extraneous banners for easier reading, similar to Apple’s Safari browser on OS X. A note-taking mode lets you doodle and mark up a webpage, then save that image to OneNote or share it though another app. Edge’s native sharing feature makes it easy to post a link to Twitter or Facebook without having to bounce between apps.

Part of the strategic thinking behind Edge is to make it compatible with mobile devices, such as the Surface tablets and Windows-based phones. That has led to a lean, mean browser that loads pages much faster across all platforms. In many ways, Microsoft’s move reflects those of other software publishers, most notably Adobe and Flash, as old standbys give way to new generations.

If you are a Microsoft devotee and have weathered IE and all of its faults, you’ll like Edge a lot better. But beware of those quirks and limitations. Changing your default search engine from Bing to Google, for example, is a chore. You’ll have to go to Settings in Google to make it your default.

It doesn’t have some Chrome and Firefox features, nor does it support extensions or plugins or have the ability to pin tabs. For now, you can’t sync your browsing history or favorite sites with your mobile device – not until Windows 10 for phones launches. Edge also doesn’t play nice with Google’s web apps.

We don’t think the shortfalls are reason to back away from the Edge, but if IE is still your choice, you should upgrade to IE 11. With close to 350 million IE users worldwide, Microsoft is not about to let it just die, but you should consider it a transition from IE to Edge. For most individuals, the switch to Edge should be beneficial with a short learning curve. For organizations that use IE for a number of Internet functions, take this as a warning that you need to make the switch sooner rather than later. We can help you with installing Edge and bringing over the sites you use to drive your business. Give us a call – 973-433-6676 – or email us to ride the Edge to better browsing and Internet utilization.

Preventing Viral Infections

Early shopping season reports showed online purchasing way up over in-store shopping this year. If you know what you want and what you want to pay for presents, online shopping is convenient and efficient. We’ve written a lot over the years about being safe online, but you’d be surprised who could be infectious.

One culprit, for example, could be an electrical contractor or video-surveillance-system contractor who does work at several locations for a national or regional retailer. That contractor may use some sort of billing app to invoice the retailer – let’s say it’s Target or Walmart, but it could be anybody; we’re talking about the size of the company. That invoice goes somewhere in the retailer’s massive data management program.

Now, let’s say that contractor hasn’t had the time to keep all of their security software update – or they’re using some free antivirus program that has more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese – or they’re using easily cracked passwords.

Do you see where this is going? A hacker gets into the contractor’s computer system, simply because it’s open. Once inside the system, the hacker sees that the contractor has done business with the large retailer and is able to find all the information the contractor uses to get into the system. Once hackers are in, they have the opportunity to explore other parts of the system, and that’s where it’s possible for them to get all sorts of personal data about the retailer’s customers.

It could only be email addresses, but that may be enough to help them launch a scam – which we’ll get into later in this article. They could also get into credit card information, which leads to financial consequences.

As a business or consumer, what can you do to keep from being infectious? First of all, make sure all of your antivirus and malware software and firewalls are up to date and activated. We always advise going beyond free versions of all of this software. The paid versions are stronger and better supported.

Second, make sure you have strong passwords and change them. Yes, it’s an inconvenience, but that’s the tradeoff you need to make to protect your security. We also recommend using additional security measures such as two-factor authentication or requiring a text notification being sent to your cell phone when you change a password. The text notification will tip you off if someone is impersonating you online.

Third, be VERY, VERY CAREFUL at this time of year. Holiday season is scam season. When you buy online, it’s common to receive an email from a retailer or shipper with a link to track your packages. With thefts of packages commonplace, it’s useful to know when a package will arrive to make sure you or a neighbor can take it in. With everyone rushing to complete shopping and get work done, it’s all too easy to click on a link, and that’s the opening for scammers to get into your system.

Another scam is in the travel industry, such as a special offer purportedly from a hotel or airline. Again, you invited to click a link to take advantage of a “great opportunity.”

You should do your best to verify the authenticity of any link before clicking it. One effective way to check is to hover your mouse over the link. You should see the link’s origin. If it looks funny, avoid it. Even better, open your browser and go to the company’s website to see if you can find the information contained in the email. If it’s legit and available, you should be able to access it. Your other option is to pick a phone and call the company – using a number provided on its website, not from the email.

The sad truth is that no person, business or government is safe from hacking. The question is not if you will be hacked, it’s when you will be hacked. And the consequences can be even more widespread than they used to be. Some of the viruses now get into your computer’s firmware. That means that even if you wipe your hard drive clean and reinstall your operating system and all your other software, the virus is still there.

If you think you’ve been hacked or have a virus in your computer, call us or your IT specialist immediately. We know where to look and have the tools to discover your breach and mitigate the virus if it’s all possible. Call us – 973-433-6676 – immediately if you have a security concern or contact us by email if you have any questions about your online security.

Finding Tech Discounts

We love Apple products, but we hate paying top dollar for them. Apple stores have been the traditional retail outlet for many of the company’s products, but this year, the landscape has changed. You may find competitively discounted prices at leading retail stores and websites.

We’re not privy to Apple’s marketing and sales strategies, but we are seeing the Apple store as the place to showcase technologies, take care of repairs and let customers come in and really put a product through its paces. Factory-trained experts can better concentrate on answering questions and offering suggestions without the pressure to sell at full retail prices.

When it’s time to make the purchase, we’re finding lower prices at “big-box” retailers, and that includes many of the latest iPads and Apple Watches. We suspect the retailers are happy to offer Apple products to help build traffic for all other types of products, and if they make a little less on an Apple device, they can more than make it up selling something else.

We’re also finding more widespread buying opportunities and lower prices on Microsoft’s Surface tablets and other manufacturers’ tablets and devices. It could be the start of a “tablet war,” that also includes Samsung and puts three mobile operating systems into play.

The winner of any tablet war should be the consumer. Each tablet manufacturer has several models on the market of varying ages and capabilities – and putting them on the open retail market heats up the pricing competition.

Naturally, this wide-open market is not restricted to tablets. Computers, mobile phones and TVs are part of the product mix. All of this puts it on your shoulders to find the best prices. Research both online and brick-and-mortar retailers for the best prices but be aware of a few caveats – all of which add up to caveat emptor, or buyer beware:

  • When shopping a specific brand and model, make sure you are comparing the same performance specs for the products offered at each store. TVs especially may be a mix of older and newer models, with the older ones having lower refresh rates and resolutions or not having as many features, such the number of HDMI and USB connections or older connection ports. Some may or may not Internet connection capability. There’s nothing wrong with the older or lesser technology; just don’t think you’re scoring a deal that’s too good to be true.
  • Some items just may not be discounted. They may be too new to the market and still have a WOW factor, or their market may be so limited that the manufacturer cannot produce and sell enough to take advantage of any economies of scale.

As you get deeper into your shopping and price comparisons, questions will inevitably arise about whether a product and its price are right for you. We can help you with both the questions and the answers. Just call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us. And remember, we can help you set up any home electronics system.

iPad Pro and the Tech Transformation

Our new iPad Pro is a great device. We love it for what it does – and maybe for the technology transformation that it and other tablets are ushering in.

We can see the iPad Pro and other large tablets edging closer to replacing laptop and notebook computers for some people. If your primary use is to surf the web and take care of email, simply hook up a keyboard, and you’re up and running. If you want to watch videos, the screen on the iPad Pro is amazing for its clarity and speed.

Yes there are some downsides. For one thing, as much as I love it, the tablet is not a full computer. It’s a mobile device, and Apple gives every indication it will not merge its iOS (mobile) and OSX (computer) operating systems. However, with Apple and Microsoft fighting for market share, don’t bet against a tablet replacing your computer. You can get Microsoft Office for tablets – and mobile phones – and as more people get comfortable with storing documents in the cloud, they’re likely to demand more computing capability.

As far as tablets go, iPad Pro is bigger and heavier than previous generations of tablets, but I personally don’t find that to be a problem. In 2005, screens on cell phones started to get bigger, and as we advanced to smart phones with Internet capability, it was only a matter of time that users would demand even bigger screens to watch videos.

By 2010, recalling a once-every-five-years family reunion, the iPad was new to the market, and many family members wondered about the need for it. Well, the iPad and other tablets are here to stay, even though sales have slumped lately. They have a variety of sizes and uses professionally, ranging from healthcare professionals in offices and hospitals who need to maintain patient records as they move through an office or hospital – to IT specialists and sales reps who can do a lot of work without being tethered to a computer.

So, don’t sell tablets short. If the history of mobile devices holds true, enough users will try to push the technology a little farther than its capabilities so that Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and others will notice. Their teams will respond to market demand, and the cycle will start again.

iPad Pro, I love you – until the next better device hits the market.

Have questions about tablets? Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us and tell us what you’re looking for and how much you’d like to spend. There’s a tablet that’s right for you today – and maybe for the next 18 months.

Newsflash: Flash is Dead…Well…Not Really

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em…sort of. That’s what Adobe is doing with Flash. With longstanding complaints about its stability and security vulnerabilities, Adobe has decided to rename its latest version Adobe Animate. While it’s an improvement over Flash, most of us in IT support will take a wary view of Animate as Adobe rolls it out.

Why are we skeptical? Flash has been a staple of online advertising, which continues to grow. Website developers have hated it for years, but it wasn’t until Steve Jobs slammed it in 2010 that Adobe began rewriting it. One of his major problems is that it was designed, as he said, for the PC era and did not work for touch screens – which is the staple of Apple’s mobile devices and everyone else’s.

At times, too, its security was so bad that we and other IT specialists regularly advised clients to uninstall it. Adobe’s rewrites have made it a better product, but it still has a bad reputation.

So, Adobe will release Animate next year, essentially rebranding the programming tool. It will enable developers to work with HTML5, a programming language widely used for the web and many other animation applications, and you won’t need download the Flash Player to make it work. While Adobe wants to put Flash out of mind, we’ll be on the watch for security vulnerabilities. We’ll be sure to let you know when we see problems that require action, ranging from installing updates to uninstalling it.

Be sure to keep an eye on email warnings from us or postings on our Facebook page for news on Animate. If you have any questions about Adobe Flash right now, call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us for advice.

Rolling Out Windows 10…Rolling Up 7 & 8

If you haven’t chosen to install Windows 10, Microsoft will be making the decision for you – though you will still have the opportunity to roll back to Windows 7 or 8. If you still want to buy Windows 7 or 8 for your computer, Microsoft has set the final purchase dates. Here’s what you need to know.

When Microsoft began rolling out Windows 10, the company invited users to reserve the new operating system. As Microsoft got the new OS ready for computers based on each machine’s manufacturer, it sent each owner a notification that it was ready for download and installation. That’s changing, according to a post by Terry Myerson, executive vice president of windows and devices, Microsoft.

Before the year’s end – which is approaching fast – Microsoft will make Windows 10 an “optional update” for all Windows 7 and 8 users. The kicker comes in 2016.

“Early next year, we expect to be re-categorizing Windows 10 as a ‘Recommended Update,’” Microsoft says. “Depending upon your Windows Update settings, this may cause the upgrade process to automatically initiate on your device. Before the upgrade changes the OS of your device, you will be clearly prompted to choose whether or not to continue. And of course, if you choose to upgrade (our recommendation!), then you will have 31 days to roll back to your previous Windows version if you don’t love it.”

However, the move to Windows 10 is getting harder to avoid. You can read more thoughts by a couple of commentators, such as Gordon Kelly for Forbes and Mary Jo Foley for ZDNet. But here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

  1. Microsoft is proactively installing Windows 10 code on computers to make the process go faster. It won’t spring into action unless you complete the Windows 10 installation process, but it is there – and that could understandably bother some people.
  2. At some point, you will need to make the active decision NOT to install Windows 10.

In my opinion, Windows 10 is big upgrade over 7 and 8 with more speed, security and capability. I encourage all Windows users to install it on their computers. I am not happy about some of Microsoft’s tactics, but I understand the “big picture” strategy behind them. It becomes expensive for them to support outdated software.

With that in mind, Microsoft has set the final purchase dates for OEMs for Windows 7 and 8. For all intents and purposes, Windows 7 has not been available for computers purchased at retail stores, but as a reseller, we are able to get them. We are able to get computers with Windows 7 Professional, but Microsoft has set Oct. 31, 2016 as the cutoff date. For Windows 8, the cutoff date is sooner – June 30, 2016. The final sales day for Windows 8.1 is Oct. 31, 2016.

We have no problem with any client staying with Windows 7 and 8 or 8.1 operating systems – even though we intensely dislike the Windows 8 family. While we strongly urge home and SOHO users to go to Windows 10, we understand that larger business and professional users may have application software tied to 7 and 8. Migrating from those older systems will require planning to make the move efficiently and cost-effectively. We can help you map out a technology plan for the next 12 to 24 months. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to set up a strategy session