Pass on Provider-Provided Gateways

Whether you get your Internet and VOIP telephone service from your local phone carrier or cable company, you likely use their “gateway” as a router. They’ll tell you it’s free, but it’s not. You pay a monthly rental fee, for one thing, and you may be bound by the strings attached – later if not now.

You have choices when it comes to choosing and setting up the equipment and configuration of your communications and network systems. For starters, you can have your service provider configure your gateway, which can bring in your TV, Internet and phone service, to be just the modem. That way, you can use your own router for your Wi-Fi network.

Using your own router has its pros and cons.

  • You can use your existing network configuration or, if you get a new router, set up your configuration to match the needs of your office or home.
  • You can control the bandwidth going to computers, printers, TVs, devices, etc. on your network and to any applications that run over your network.
  • You – or anyone you hire – can make changes to fine-tune your network as needed. Your provider’s tech support may not cover everything you want to do, regardless of whether they give you support by phone or send a technician.
  • You control all access to your network.
  • Depending on the provider’s set-up, you may lose some features they provide, such as remote controls or caller ID on your TV screens. In some cases, you can work around those issues.

However, the aspect of provider-provided gateways that we dislike more than anything is that your provider can use your gateway – the device they put in your home or office – to create a public hotspot. While it won’t give outsiders access to your network, we see it as a way to use your service fees to expand their networks when they should be spending money on infrastructure. In some ways, it also makes you dependent on their customer base to provide your service in an urban or more densely populated area.

Once they create that network of hotspots, it becomes easier for the provider to control the bandwidth and affect how you use your network.

Personally, I think that’s just wrong.

If you have any questions about gateway and router technology or need advice or assistance in setting up or optimizing your network, we’re ready to help. We can service any technology system that comes into your house or business and make sure it meets your needs – not your provider’s. Send us an email or call us at 973-433-6676 to discuss your needs or make an appointment.

New Devices and the Texting Blues

We’re starting to see a lot of texting problems for customers who have switched from iPhones to Android devices. They’re not receiving text messages. One of the most common problems is other people’s phones not realizing that their new devices are not on the Apple network – even though they see “blue” while texting.

The reason is that Apple’s network isn’t as smart as the phones that use them. If you switch to an Android or Windows phone, it can take up to 45 days for Apple to remove your phone number from its network. So, when friends with an iPhone or Apple device want to send you a text, they pull your cell phone number out of their directory and send you a message – just like they’ve always done.

And, just as always, they see the blue that indicates they’re sending the text across the Apple network – which, by the way, is why there is no texting charge from your carrier. However, if your new phone is not an Apple, it’s not on the Apple network, so you don’t get the message

If you still have your old iPhone, here’s what you need to do.

Go to “Settings” and then “Messages” and turn off the “Instant Messaging” or “IM.” That will take your old phone off the cellular – or data – network. If you want to hang on to your old iPhone, you can use it like an iPod without telephone capability. Simply go to “Settings” and turn off “Cellular Data.” That will limit emails, web browsing and push notifications to Wi-Fi only.

If you are traveling internationally with an iPhone this summer, you can take similar steps to reduce your cellular roaming charges. You’ll have Internet capability at Wi-Fi hotspots, and you’ll be able to talk to people by using apps such as Skype or Viber as long as you have an Internet connection.

You can read more about the uses of Airplane Mode from Apple. If you need help with your settings, we can walk you through the process. Just call us at 973-433-6676 –not from the phone you want to reset. We can also answer your questions by email.

The Apple of Our ‘i’

With Apple’s announcements of new operating systems and products, the summer of anticipation begins. The word we like to sum up some of the new possibilities is “continuity.” Here’s why.

One of the new capabilities you’ll have with the new iOS 8 operating system for the iPhone is the ability to start writing an email on your iPhone and continue writing it on your Mac, which may be able to run OSX 10.10 – to be known as Yosemite. In many ways, it’s Apple’s attempt to succeed where Microsoft hasn’t in enabling users to work across multiple platforms.

Apple is also offering the capability to send text or instant messages to contacts with non-Apple devices. It will end a major headache for many who have contacts with Android devices (see New Devices and the Texting Blues). Apple also announced several new apps for the new OS.

Naturally, Apple will want you to use that capability on their new iPhone 6, due to hit the market in September. The new iOS 8 will run on the iPhone 4S and all iPhone 5 devices, and it will work with iPad 2 and later.

A lot will be happening this summer as developers start working with the new operating systems. You can read more about Apple’s new features on the company’s iOS 8 Preview page. We’ll keep you posted as news unfolds.

Keep Your Guard Up

Email hacking seems to be picking up, putting you and your computer’s security and well-being at greater risk. To continue our “look before you click” message from last month, here are a few protective reminders.

Above all, use common sense and trust your gut feelings. If something doesn’t seem right, it’s probably not right.

  • We’ve seen a lot of reports about messages sent through AOL. They come from hacked email address books and contain either a link or attachment. There is a tipoff: The sender’s address doesn’t look like a normal AOL address. It usually has a double “aol.com” in there.
  • Whoever is trying to attack your computer through any email address usually has a subject line such as “hey there check this out” or something similar. Does the person who is supposed to be the sender usually send you something with that kind of subject line?
  • Does the person who’s supposed to be the sender normally send you email, or is it from someone you haven’t heard from in a while – quite a long while?
  • Are you really expecting something to be delivered by UPS or FedEx? When was the last time the freight carrier – not the merchant – sent you tracking information?

If you click on a website address, open an attachment or even reply to one of these bogus messages, you can open up your computer to malware, a Trojan horse or some other attack that can be an inconvenience at best or a major problem at worst, such as a keystroke logger that can steal your passwords for financial-related sites.

You may not be able to protect yourself against everything out there, but a little common sense can go a long way:

  • Look before you click
  • Keep your anti-virus and malware/spyware up to date
  • Use strong passwords with combinations of upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters

If you suspect you have a virus problem, call us – 973-433-6676 – right away. Don’t email us and don’t try to reboot your machine. Just call us, and we’ll take it from there.

 

Back-ups Beat Outage Woes

We typically associate outages with power outages, but communications lines – whether coaxial, copper or fiber optic – can go out, too. Do you have a back-up plan ready to go?

Power outages are relatively easy to overcome – or keep problems on a small scale. You can locate battery back-up systems strategically around your office to cover computers, servers, routers and other networking equipment and peripherals. These systems are not designed to provide long-term power to keep on working. Instead, they should give you and your workers enough time to finish a task, save your data files and then shut down systems in an orderly fashion. This will help everyone resume work more quickly when power is restored. You should augment your battery back-up systems with surge protectors to prevent sensitive electronics from getting fried when power comes back.

If your back-up plan includes storing apps and data files to the cloud, you can respond more effectively when power goes down. Within your office or home, make sure your work is regularly saved to an offsite storage server. That will make it easier to save work manually and help people get restarted from another location.

Depending on whatever else is happening, you may have the option to send your workers home, where they can reconnect – assuming they have power – and continue working through an Internet connection. Another option, depending on your location and size of workforce, would be to go to a coffee shop or some other place that has Wi-Fi – and power – available. The cost of coffee and lunch or a snack may be a good investment if it helps everyone tie up some loose ends or respond to customers’ immediate needs. And if the outage is short, everyone can get back to the office quickly.

If your business is in an office building, check with your landlord or property manager to see who supplies telecom connection services. You may be able to split your connections among multiple providers, and they may have contingency plans that keep at least part of your office running if communications go down. While we all love our feature-rich VOIP telephones, it’s important to note that the old copper telephone lines still function in a power outage or when coaxial and fiber-optic lines go down. You can generally use cellular connections for phones and devices when all else fails.

Once you know all of your available connection and networking options, we can work with you to design and deploy a system that will help you weather a storm or work through an outage. Call us (973-433-6676) or email us for a consultation. We can help make sure you ask your landlord or property manager the right questions and then install a system that best meets your needs.

 

Windows 8.1 Update – Do it Today!

Did you just install Windows 8.1 on your computer and think you are set? Think again. You need to install Update 1 (like a Service Pack update) Windows 8.1 today in order to get all service updates for that version of the Windows operating system. Here’s why it’s important to act now.

Windows 8.1 Update is a cumulative update to Windows 8.1, containing all the updates Microsoft has released for Windows 8.1. This means that if you install this update, you will not need any earlier updates. And that’s a good thing – because there won’t be any more updates for 8.1 unless you have Update 1. More important, Update 1 is the new servicing baseline for Windows 8.1, which means that May’s security updates and all future updates will be dependent on Windows 8.1 Update.

Today, May 13, Microsoft will issue security patches that detail flaws they are fixing and those flaws will be left unpatched for all Windows 8.1 users until you install Update 1. If you stay with Windows 8.1 and don’t install Update 1, you will face the same problem as Windows XP after Microsoft cut off security updates last month. This is nothing new. Major updates to previous editions of Windows (“Service Packs”) also had “cut-off” dates for users to apply updates. But the XP cutoff came after 13 years, not after just eight months.

Once you install Update 1, you’ll be fine. In fact, you’ll be able to take advantage of some features that should have been in Windows 8 all along.

If you don’t have a touchscreen, Update 1 intelligently goes to the desktop by default on startup or reboot and uses desktop apps by default. It also reduces the sensitivity of hot corners, highlights newly installed apps and dramatically improves the Modern UI for keyboard and mouse users. It also cuts its install size in half (from 32GB to 16GB) on SSDs, runs faster on slower hardware and drops minimum memory requirements from 2GB to 1GB of RAM.

While the results are better, we still believe it changed too much too quickly for businesses with users accustomed to using a keyboard and mouse. The update won’t solve all of our issues, but it will help make them more manageable.

Regardless of your OS, it’s important to keep the software up to date. Updates maintain protection against malware and hackers and help keep your system at peak performance. Having all your software up to date also makes it easier and faster to install new programs and equipment.

We do have some cautions about updates. Make sure you get them from the software publisher to ensure you’re getting the genuine product. Also, don’t click on “extra products,” such as other browsers that you may accidentally set as your default or that may reset your search-engine preference.

If you have any questions about the Windows 8.1 Update 1 or any other updates, contact us right away for help – info@sterlingrose.com or 973-433-6676. Keeping your OS and other software up to date aids security and keeps your IT system running more smoothly.

 

Get Internet Explorer Update Immediately

GET INTERNET EXPLORER UPDTE IMMEDIATELY

 If you’re wondering why we didn’t put out a notice this week when the IE security issue blew up, there are two main reasons why we didn’t hit the panic button and get you all stirred up.

But first, if you rely on Internet Explorer as your web browser, let’s take care of that problem. You can get an update from Microsoft, and we strongly recommend you download and install it now.

Here’s what you need to do:

  • Click on the Start button
  • Click on Control Panel
  • Click on Check for Updates on the left side of your screen
  • Click on the update for your version of IE
  • Reboot your computer after the update is installed

Once you complete these steps, you can go back on the Internet using any browser you like.

With your IE update successfully installed, here’s our reasoning on staying calm.

The first reason is that this really wasn’t earth-shaking news. The security problem with IE started back in 2001 with the release of IE 6, and it has continued through IE 11.

The second reason is that we believed that rushing to download Firefox or Chrome browsers could have created more problems. Businesses have been using IE for many years and are set in their ways. Mass changes at the spur of the moment would have upset a lot of work routines, and the likelihood of inefficiencies were greater than the likelihood of security breaches. That’s our opinion.

An extension of the rush to download a new program is a problem we’ve discussed before. When people download programs in a hurry, some don’t look at everything carefully. They can make the wrong choices and get versions riddled with spyware and malware that could disrupt their computers and networks and lead to bad security problems.

XP users have dodged a security bullet this time around. Whatever you want to say about Microsoft, the company has acted responsibly to plug up this hole. XP users may not be as fortunate the next time around. It’s time to stop playing electronic Russian roulette and move on to new technology.

Free Software Has a Price Tag

We love free software, and we use a lot of it. Programs like Adobe Reader, Java, media players and browsers come immediately to mind as indispensable tools. But they can get pretty costly pretty quickly, unless you look before you click.

It’s really easy to download free software with strings attached – especially from Google. Here’s a typical scenario:

  • You want to download the Google Chrome browser. It’s free.
  • You type Google Chrome into the search box – using Google.
  • What do you see first? You see an ad for a free download, but who is offering it?

Here’s a hint: It’s not Google. We strongly urge you NOT to find out the answer to this. It’s not because we want to single out this particular third-party program provider. Rather, we want to suggest what may be behind a provider’s free offer.

That third party might be collecting data about you to sell to its customers who have an interest in selling you something. They could be putting cookies on your computer to track where you browse and then send you ads and spam. That could be an annoyance and an invasion of your privacy, even though you likely agreed to accept those cookies without even realizing it.

At worst, you could be downloading a Trojan horse that could put some serious malware and/or spyware on your computer. It could also compromise your address book and get to any financial information or passwords stored on your computer. We guarantee you’ll get some sort of infection on your machine.

Some of those “free” offers also offer help with the application or with some aspect of your computer’s operation. Here are two more guarantees: They’re not going to help you, and you’ll have to go through a long, aggravating process to get rid of their “help.”

We don’t think of these consequences often enough. We tend to download free software when we need it to continue something we started. You might need Adobe Reader to open a PDF file. You might need RealPlayer to watch a video a friend just sent you. You might need Java to fill out a form. You might need to update Chrome – or Firefox or Internet Explorer – to access information on a website.

The temptation is to simply click on the first link we see because it’s convenient and because we’re rushing or trying to do two things at once. Our advice: Slow down. Look before you click, even if it’s the software publisher.

Yes, the publisher can create problems, too. Many have marketing partners, and their products are part of the free download. You need to look carefully to remove accepting those partners before you click to activate the download. Yes, you can get rid of those partners and all the baggage they load onto your browser and computer, but it’s a pain in the neck. It’s one of the biggest complaints we get.

The solution, of course, is to look before you click. There will always be strings attached to “free” offers, but you can keep them from tying up computing resources or even wreaking havoc on your computer by taking that little bit of extra time. Go to the publisher of that program you want and get it directly. Look closely at everything that site offers and make sure you agree that you want whatever you download.

If you have any questions or need help getting rid of unwanted software, please contact us (973-433-6676 or info@sterlingrosellc.com. We won’t say we told you so. We’ll just remind you to look before you click.

This article was published in Technology Update, the monthly newsletter from Sterling Rose LLC.

‘Clean Your Room’ and Improve Performance

Every computer user is like the kid who doesn’t clean his or her room. Stuff just piles up, and at some point, you can’t get to things easily. Your hard drive is like that room. When you have too many files, your computer can’t store and then find bits of data easily. As a result, performance gets excruciatingly slow.

Here’s a spring cleaning tip: Get rid of as many temporary directories and files as you can.

Whenever you install or download a program, the process creates temporary directories and files. In very simple terms, the programs need to be able to write and transfer files from the source to your computer. When you install an upgrade, those temporary directories and files are used to hold the new program while the process removes the old one.

Most programs are pretty good about removing the temporary directories and files, but some are not. In those cases, the temporary directories and files become the operative files, and every time you need to retrieve a file or save a new or existing one, your computer starts looking for the applicable directory and needs to find its way to the temporary one.

In many ways, it’s like you looking for something where you think it should be. When it’s not there, you stumble around and eventually find it.

How do you get rid of all those temporary directories and files? It’s actually a simple process:

  • Click Start.
  • Type %temp% in the Search Box. A lot of directories and files will appear.
  • Type Ctrl+A (the universal Select All command)
  • Click on Delete
  • Click on Yes

This will get rid of most – if not all – of your temporary directories and files and give your computer a more room to put things and fewer places to look for them. You can enhance performance even more by running a defrag and optimization program. Think of those processes as reorganizing your closets and shelves.

If you still believe your computer is running more slowly than it should or need some assistance with deleting temps and getting your hard drive organized, contact us (973-433-6676 info@sterlingrosellc.com). We’re happy to answer your questions or walk you through the process.

This article was published in Technology Update, the monthly newsletter from Sterling Rose LLC.