Passwords and Passing Information

We’ve had numerous articles over the years about strong passwords, thinking before you click and responding to requests for sensitive information. A recent seminar and a personal experience brought it all together. You still need to be mindful of several principles that can keep your systems – and your sensitive data – more secure.

At the seminar, conducted by a cyber expert from the State of New Jersey, the presenter said he “cringes” at the “stuff” he sees on walls when he walks into many offices. People have Wi-Fi passwords on sticky notes on the walls near their computers. Passwords are taped to monitors, or people use very simple, easy-to-crack passwords.

Yes, those notes are a convenience for busy, overworked people, and state employees are not exceptions. We’ve seen a lot the same things when we service our business clients – and you have to ask the question: Who else is seeing this information?

The answer is that countless people who you can’t recall have probably seen the information. Anyone who visits your offices can see passwords hanging on the walls of cubicles or taped to monitors. If you have a lot of traffic in your office, the chances are greater that your networks and data have been compromised. If salespeople, contractors and others need Wi-Fi access to work in your office, have you given them the network password instead of a guest network password? Even if you don’t have a lot of visitors, do you have a cleaning service? Any member of the cleaning crew could see that information and access your network and files.

The solution is simple: Don’t allow anyone in your office to leave passwords out in the open. If they must be written down so you and everyone in the office can access the correct information when they need it, then keep that information in a locked desk drawer.

You can take additional steps, such as changing your network password frequently, requiring your employees to change passwords frequently and establishing rules about the number of characters and types of characters that must be in a password. If outsiders need access to your network, set up a guest password – and change that even more frequently.

Remember, your security is only as good as the worst security of anyone who has access to your network.

Outside the office, make sure that you and everyone in your company have secure passwords for computers and mobile devices – especially if you have sensitive data, including passwords, on them. We can help you install and teach you how to use security systems that can lock computers and devices if they are lost or stolen.

Because we go in so many public places and can tend to leave computers and devices on a table, for example, it makes more sense to make more use of the cloud for storing sensitive data. Yes, we can lock devices and encrypt data, but unless you have a backup program, the data can be lost. We recommend both having a backup program and using one of the major storage providers such as Google, Dropbox, iCloud or Office 365. They all have security protocols to protect access – unless, of course, you have left your passwords on your computer or device or have used a simple, easy-to-crack password. They also have redundant systems to make sure your data are accessible anytime from anywhere.

While we are on the subject of security, this is a good time to remind everyone to think before you click. We recently installed a new PC for a client, and within a month, the client saw a pop-up message about a problem with the computer and a “solution” to fix it for $499. And instead of a credit card, the “solution” provider wanted the money transferred directly from a bank account. Fortunately, the client realized the error and was able to call the bank and freeze the account before the money was taken out – and before more was sucked out by the scam artist.

We were guilty of not thinking right away, too. One of our business partners sends us a check once or twice a year, and they wanted to switch to an ACH system. They sent us an email asking us to respond with our bank’s routing number and our account number.

I started to reply – without thinking it through – and then realized before I sent anything that this was an unusual request for sensitive information. I stopped and phoned the company. Yes, it was a legitimate request from our partner, but we can all learn two important security lessons from this:

  1. Don’t just respond to an emailed request for information – no matter how legitimate it looks. There are too many ways to spoof an email address or a phone number. Find the phone number of that person and that company independently, such as opening your browser and entering the website address (url) that you know or find through an online search.
  2. Never send sensitive information, such as passwords and bank accounts, by email. A phone call to the person you have identified as a legitimate employee who is designated to take your info is safe. So is using a secured page on a legitimate website.

Security is critical. If you have any questions about security measures for your system, email us or call us – 973-433-6676, and we will respond in a timely manner.

Windows 7 Pain Management

Windows 7 is still a viable operating system for many businesses, but as more users and software application publishers migrate to Windows 10, using the older system can be very painful. Managing that pain isn’t easy, especially when you have a large, highly customized application package that simply can’t be upgraded to work with Windows 10.

The problem comes when you need to reinstall your Windows 7 operating system. There is just no easy way for this OS, which is 11 years old. In technology terms, that’s more than just a ripe old age. In real-time terms, that old age creates a lot of problems.

The re-installation problem requires you to follow these steps:

  1. Install Windows 7 using your valid installation disk. That’s pretty easy, but don’t get overconfident.
  2. The installation process will ask – really, require – you to download and install Service Pack 1. It’s the only service pack that Windows ever issued for Windows 7. Nor has Microsoft ever released a “roll-up,” which would be a compilation of all updates since Service Pack 1.
  3. So, after you have downloaded and installed Service Pack 1, you’ll need to run Windows Update to get all the critical security upgrades and patches.

Windows Update has more than 200 important updates. You need to start the sequence, and then, you need to pay attention. There are numerous points along the way where you need to reboot your computer to complete the installation of an update. Then, you need to continue Windows Update.

We have reinstalled Windows 7, and it has taken us two to three hours with a fast Internet connection. If you have a slow connection, it can be like riding a bicycle on the New Jersey Turnpike.

If a re-installation is something you must do, we can walk you through the steps. However, you must be asking why all of your application software can’t just run on Windows 10?

For highly customized software, such as a Sage accounting program that one of our clients uses, there is a compatibility issue as well as a financial consideration. Windows 10 has a number of security features that will not work with a Windows 7-based application program. They are not issues you can solve simply by not using all the features. The application software must be compatible with the OS. The financial consideration is that an upgrade to the accounting package would be $15,000. The cost of the time to reinstall Windows 7 is nowhere near that, and that’s probably the pain-management equivalent of taking aspirin until the pain goes away.

If you are fortunate to have some planning time, you can manage the pain more effectively by talking with the app publisher about updates. Those are always difficult for the app publisher because customized programs take a lot more of their time. They need to write the upgrades into their basic package and then to several steps farther to add your customization. Customized software packages have a lot of moving parts.

Some other factors to consider as you migrate is how much you need to keep everyone together. If you have a senior executive moving to Windows 10 ahead of most of the people in the department, how will that affect everyone’s ability to use the same applications. Windows 10 and Windows 7 versions may be quite different.

In addition to the application aspects of the software, will there be major security gaps between the older and newer versions? As we are harping, security is extremely critical in today’s business-computing world. When you leave certain doors open to get the work done, you may leave an opening for an outsider to come in and compromise your system’s integrity.

If you see your business coming to a crossroads, contact us as early as possible by email or telephone – 973-433-6676. The more time we have to look at your options, the better your probability of having the best possible outcome in managing the pain of transitioning your OS and application software to a more stable, efficient and secure system.

Disappearing Hard Drives?

Will your hard drive go the way of the floppy disk? Fifteen years ago, I never would have given it a thought. Now, I think it’s coming.

Mechanical hard drives have inherent problems. One is that they can wear and crash, and unless you have a good backup system in place, you can lose a lot of important data. Another is that they are slow – some slower than others by design and some slower because they fill up and don’t give your software space to search for the files you need.

The next alternative is the SSD (solid state drive), which is much faster but also much more expensive. While it always comes down to a cost-benefit analysis, the speed differential can be substantial. On startup, a computer with an SSD can be ready to work in 30 to 40 seconds. It can take three to four minutes for a computer with a hard drive to boot up.

The difference won’t seem that great until you experience it for yourself – or see somebody else’s system boot up faster. We love faster computers, and the more data we need to crunch, the more we crave that speed and performance. We have a number of clients who have made the switch and have found it worth the expense to increase their productivity.

If you’re not ready to commit to SSD technology, you could speed up your current technology by moving your data storage to the cloud. With fewer files taking up less space, your computer will have room to look through your hard drive to find the files you need. It will make it faster to save files, too. You could gain a significant time advantage by only keeping “working” files on your hard drive and then putting everything back onto your cloud’s server when you’re finished.

With technology changing so quickly, you may also want to think about changing your hardware more frequently to make more productive systems work more cost-effectively. Businesses depend on productivity increases to reduce costs and add profitability. We can help you look at the future and see what pathways will get you to your goals. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to talk about your evolving needs as the tech revolution continues.

Backdoor Blues Need Legal Lyrics

The FBI’s request for Apple to unlock the iPhone used by the San Bernardino shooters has led to a far-reaching controversy in the United States. Parties on both sides of the issue have valid concerns, and we believe resolutions will need to come in the forms of a Supreme Court ruling (probably first) and federal legislation to better align technology and the law.

In our opinion, this collision was bound to happen because the push and pull between national security and privacy have gotten stronger as technology has made us part of a global society. Looking just at the United States, technology has advanced at a far greater pace than our legal system’s ability to keep up with it. Further, no matter how tightly our laws are written, there are always differing interpretations, and in our legal system, differences are resolved (in theory) through the courts and the appeal process. Even if Congress were to pass a law now to resolve the issue, one side would contest it.

Thus, the likelihood is that any legal decision will be based on a law that is already on the books, and it could wind up before a deadlocked Supreme Court. That’s a possibility, given our political environment.

This is where opinion ends. Here are the issues to consider.

There is no end. Once this specific cell phone is unlocked, the genie is out of the bottle – and the genie has the key to Pandora’s box. As we understand the legal world in practical, lay terms, there will be other legal cases in this country to justify unlocking a phone or any other access point to data, and arguments will be based on rulings that involve this phone. If a party in a lawsuit can successfully make the case that another request justifies unlocking a phone – with an argument made on a very fine point of law – a local or state government, in addition to our federal government, could gain access to data.

Knowing that a backdoor or master key is available, a foreign government could force a US technology company doing business in its country to unlock data. US businesses and citizens could be put between the old rock and hard place without the same legal protections that we have in this country.

There are no secrets. As the saying goes, “a secret is only secret when one person knows it.” Any solution to unlock the password and data on this particular phone will be a team effort. The greater the size of the team, the greater the chance a hacker will find a way to uncover the secret.

The defenses will need to be massive. If Apple and Google have software to unlock encrypted phones, they will be subject to massive “attacks” by parties interested in getting the code. Cyberwar is fought all the time by governments, corporations and hackers of all stripes. Who is going to keep the code, and who is going to have access to it? Defending against attacks burdens the tech companies.

Nobody’s data will be secure. This is the heart of the technology companies’ argument. They tout the security of their customers’ information, whether it be personal identification, health records and financial records. Corporations depend on security and access to how products are manufactured and how products and services are priced. We have already seen how a weakness in a contractor’s IT system opened a door to Target’s records. If someone can get into your phone, how safe will your life’s savings be? Could somebody use your healthcare and identity information to obtain services fraudulently and stick you with the bill?

The tech companies believe they have a responsibility to protect their customers’ data. There are very few issues that bring Apple, Google, Microsoft and others together like this one. It goes beyond mobile phones and tablets. Businesses, institutions and governments collect and store huge amounts of sensitive or proprietary data in “the cloud,” a global system of secure servers, routers and hard drives. These same organizations make extensive use of mobile phones and tablets. The tech companies argue that they must not do anything to violate the trust their customers place in them to protect the data.

What’s the greater risk? Is it a terrorist attack or somebody wiping out the life’s savings of millions of people in a matter of seconds?

Society needs to decide the privacy vs. security issue. It’s not right to make businesses the arbiters of public policy. We need an open, honest discussion of all the ramifications of possible laws, including the unintended consequences that always arise, and we need laws that do the right thing. There will never be complete agreement, and the right thing may not be the popular thing.

You can read many of the arguments from Apple and other tech companies here – as well as support from various privacy groups. There are no easy answers to the questions surrounding the issue.

Our call to action here is to speak up. We invite you to leave a comment below, and we encourage you to contact your government representatives to let them know what you think. We can sing the blues about privacy vs. security, but at the end of the day, our lyrics need to lead to laws.

 

Seniors and Scammers

People 60 years and older seem to be victimized more than any other group by scammers, whether they operate online or over the phone. While it’s always easy to let your guard down at any age, older people seem inclined to be more trusting when they get a phone call.

The rules for seniors apply to people of all ages. It starts with being an active listener and observer for three alarms.

The first alarm is visual as well as audible. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone systems are totally Internet based, and that allows any system owner to program a caller ID to appear as any phone number. It can be your local area code or an area code from anywhere in the US or the rest of the world. Scammers match a phone number to a name in a database, so it can even display a name that looks very normal with an unrelated phone number that looks normal. Sometimes, you’ll just see a string of random numbers. Be careful, and if something doesn’t sound right, disconnect the call. None of those phone numbers can be traced.

We live in a diverse society, so don’t take this second alarm the wrong way, but listen for an accent. A lot of scammers call from other countries because they can avoid a lot of laws in the US. If you hear an accent and something doesn’t sound right, don’t give the caller access to your computer or any other information and disconnect the call.

A third alarm is any caller who claims to be from Microsoft, some other large technology company or the IRS. Microsoft and the IRS, for example, will NEVER call you on the telephone to tell you there’s a problem with your computer or a tax return. Microsoft does all of its updates online through Microsoft update, and the IRS sends you a letter – by snail mail.

When it comes to the telephone, screen your calls. If the caller doesn’t leave a message, it’s just as well you didn’t talk them. If you get a call from someone who is NOT your IT consultant and who says he’s discovered a problem on your computer, hang up.

Also be careful of pop-up messages while you are surfing the web. Scammers can break through weak security measures on some websites or a hole in your security and insert a pop-up message. When you click a link on that message, they’ll make the screen look like your computer is infected. Then, they can offer you a repair or a service subscription while they gain access to your computer – allowing them to infect your computer or hold your data hostage.

Cybercrime is a fast-moving target. If you suspect something wrong, it might be best to shut down your computer and call us at 973-433-6676. We can discuss the best plan of action, which could a remote check of your system or an on-site visit. For non-emergencies, you can email us, too.

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.