Technology Years and Dog Years

Dog owners are used to extrapolating their pet’s age into more human terms by multiplying their age by seven. A 10-year-old dog is roughly the same “age” as a 70-year-old person. A technology year can be more like 20 human years; your 3-year-old computer could be more like a 60-year-old person. If you have a business, old technology can hamper employee retention because there are only so many tricks you can teach an old computer.

It makes good sense to keep your technology younger and more athletic because employees feel old systems hold them back. This is especially true for employees who work remotely, including salespeople. Older systems are not as adaptable for security measures to get to protected data they need to do their jobs better. Nor are they able to accommodate the new ways innovative employees find to do their jobs more efficiently. We’ve talked to many people who have accepted less money at new jobs because they want the opportunity to improve their skills and performance levels in ways that could lead to higher pay later.

The Windows 7 end of life should give business owners with old technology reason to rethink their technology. A 5-year-old system still running Windows 7 is like a 100-year-old person who has really slowed down physically.

That’s well past the retirement age, but even more, it illustrates the problem of old technology. There are no nursing homes for old technology. The industry just doesn’t support old software and old hardware. Technology arteries harden, becoming less flexible and subject to fractures. Even if you have a Windows 10-based system, older versions of office present the same symptoms of aging. Employees are not able take advantage of new features, and that prevents them from increasing their work throughput.

Our clients who have invested in Office 365 subscriptions are benefiting from an improved work environment. Employees are “playing around” with newer, more powerful tools to do their jobs better. The Microsoft Teams tool is a major upgrade over Skype for Business. We’ve seen employees use Teams to set up meetings, share screens and use other collaborative tools, including video conferences, to get more work done faster. Any business that relies on field technicians, for example, can let them use these tools on their cell phones to chat with office-based resources and solve their customers’ problems faster and more efficiently.

If you have Office 365, all these advanced tools are part of your package. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to help you determine the tools and features that are best for your business and to help you set them up with your employees. We can also help you make sure your current hardware has the capacity to help you make use of your new tools.

Microsoft ‘Ignites’ Tech Initiatives

We’ve all grown along with Microsoft, starting with its DOS operating system and moving through Windows and its many reiterations and the package of Word, Excel and other apps that evolved into Office 365. It’s fair to say the company and its products are entrenched in our daily lives, like it or not. At the Ignite technical conference, they showed how they’re digging deeper.

Delivering the keynote at this year’s Ignite conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella highlighted the company’s latest product and service launches, including new tools and services for the Azure cloud platform. Most of you are familiar with Azure because we’ve built your backup services on it. We’ll talk more about Azure and backup services in Azure – Always at Work in the Background, but Nadella’s talk showed how all the technology is tying together to ultimately give you more computing power.

“We want every organization to be a digital software company. And that means you all need to have the capabilities to be able to turn every organization into a digital company,” Nadella said. “In fact, our goal is to commoditize digital tech. We don’t want it to be just the province of a few companies in the West Coast of the United States or the East Coast of China…we want every company out there to be a tech company in its own right.”

Let that sink in. Whether you are a small business, a home-based business or a family user, Microsoft wants to treat you as a digital company. We can trace our path to this point from the time that Microsoft opened Office 365, OneDrive and Azure to the smaller users. It’s enabled all of us to share in the technological advances made possible by the economies of scale – and it will only get better.

Nadella touted the introduction of Azure Arc as the beginning of a new era in hybrid computing. Boiled down to simple terms, hybrid computing allows data and applications to be shared across public and private cloud environments – server systems. It will, in turn, enable companies – and you, eventually – to switch seamlessly between private servers used for sensitive operations and public servers for less sensitive operations. That will add speed and ultimately let you pay only for the service you need. Nobody will need to build systems to handle spikes in operations because the hybrid system will handle the supply-and-demand needs of users. Everyone will benefit from flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiencies with the lowest possible risk of data exposure. Azure Arc will be enhanced by open-source projects that will allow developers to build and deploy more power applications.

With the introduction of Azure Synapse, Microsoft will offer data warehousing and big-data analytics, using cloud-native memory hierarchy and storage hierarchy to redefine the rules around analytic workloads. It will bring together two separate categories, data warehousing and big data – in ways that integrate analytics systems. Eventually, this capability should filter down to smaller users who need it on an affordable scale.

Two other products that caught our eye are:

  • Project Cortex is an AI (artificial intelligence) initiative that works with Office 365 to classify and categorize content, such as documents and email, to gain greater knowledge within their context. It is expected to be generally available during the first half of 2020.
  • Project Silica will use quartz glass as a storage device. The company is collaborating with Warner Bros., who stored the original 1978 “Superman” on a piece of glass approximately the size of a coaster. Project Silica uses laser optics to encode data in glass and then uses machine-learning algorithms to decode the data. It’s said to be incredibly durable.

As time goes on, we may be able to incorporate some or all these advances into your technology or business operations. Some of these advances may involve new computers, services or networks to help you take advantage of the benefits that apply to you. We can help you plan for these and other developments. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to talk about where your business is heading and how we can plan for the most efficient acquisition and deployment of suitable systems.

Azure – Always at Work in the Background

Microsoft’s Azure platform has been our backup program of choice for clients since Office 365 became a product for small businesses and home offices/users. We like that it’s a living system – one that continues to evolve and grow.

If you read the article Microsoft ‘Ignites’ Tech Initiatives, you couldn’t help but notice that Microsoft is throwing massive resources behind Azure as a technology platform. As we see it, Azure will become an even stronger backup resource as it helps you use your data files and apps more efficiently. That said, you need to make it your backup program – or at least one of your backup programs – if you want to take advantage of advancing technologies.

Backup is a misunderstood term in the context of IT services. We define a backup as an extra copy of data from a computer. Simply putting data in the cloud – even with OneDrive through Office 365 – is not a backup; it’s storage. Now, it can be useful – even vital – to store data in at least one cloud and on some sort of external device that’s separate from a computer or office server. But it’s not backup.

Why is backup critical? Two scenarios come to mind: 1.) a catastrophe that wipes out your computer or cloud-based server and 2.) a rogue employee or hacker getting into your account and deleting files. The big issue in both scenarios is recovery.

Azure solves the recovery issue for us because it works seamlessly with Office 365, including Outlook and its PST files for your email. For some, backing up email may be more important than backing up files.

As an IT professional, I like Azure’s ability to generate reports – with more capabilities coming online all the time. Microsoft constantly uses customer feedback to add more power to the platform. That gives us the ability to go back into our clients’ backup records to trace incidents and to restore files after a catastrophic event. That’s critical because it can be 90 days – sometimes longer – before a hack or data loss is discovered by a client. When that happens, we can go back in time through the power of Azure to find data files that help us help you recover.

As a set of powerful tools, Azure needs to have respect from users. Yes, you can go into Azure, but you can also create havoc with your systems and our work if those tools are misused. One of the things that drives me crazy is when we look like we don’t know what we’re doing when restoring files because somebody messed with the system.

That being said, we believe in educating our clients. If you want to learn more about how your Azure backup is set up and see what it can and can’t do, we’ll be more than happy to give you a remote tour. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to book your tour of your system.

Backup and Security

What happens when you use the cloud to store files encrypted for security instead of backing them up properly? You can face huge expenses, compounded by the consequences of lost data.

Let’s set a scene to show you how things can play out.

When your files are backed up or stored, they can be encrypted. That’s not a bad thing because it can add a layer of security, and it can help your cloud provider make better use of their server space. However, you and anyone who works on your IT system must make sure that all your system software stays intact.

We had a situation with a client that shows how multiple missteps can create exponential problems. The first misstep was that Windows updates had not been installed. We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to install updates, which include security measures and bug fixes. Without the bug fixes, you’ll run into a problem somewhere along the line that causes a performance failure.

The client decided to call in another IT person to fix the problem that arose with their system. During the diagnostic process, that tech erroneously removed a vital part of the system software, which included the encryption key for stored files. The net result was that the data files could not be restored when they thought the problem was fixed.

Fortunately, the client still had their old computer, which had been sitting in the office for a year. It wasn’t ideal, but it helped. Because they had Office 365, they were able to restore their Word and PowerPoint files, but they lost their QuickBooks files and a year’s worth of data because there was no effective backup in place for the files. They had to be recreated – painstakingly – at the cost of time and money.

We see three lessons for everyone based on our client’s experience:

  1. Install your updates. While security updates are top-of-mind for most users because of prevalent hacking, you can’t overlook the bug fixes. Bugs will cause performance problems that you’ll recognize and motivate you to take corrective action, which brings us to the next point.
  2. Use IT consultants who know what they’re doing. Cheaping out on a service provider compounds the effects of not keeping your software up to date. Today’s tech systems are complex, and your IT tech must know where to go and where not to go within your system. When someone uninstalls software, for example, they must have the encryption key to restore software.
  3. Have a good backup program in place. Cheaping out here, too, can have dire consequences. Again, we go back to Azure and Office 365. Together, they store and encrypt your files on secure servers. And because they’re in the cloud, you can access your files from any device that has internet access. Ultimately, that means you should be able to recover your data in the event of a catastrophic event.

We can help you with any technology issues, including system wellness checks, setting up a process for updating your software, and installing and setting up Office 365 with an Azure backup program. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to discuss your needs and their solutions.

Who’s Your Office 365 Partner?

As an Office 365 administrative partner for almost all of our clients, we have extraordinary access to your systems – and a huge responsibility. You depend on our honesty and competency to keep your systems running and protect you from breaches. Some of our colleagues are not as good about this. Microsoft finally provided some tools to strengthen security.

We’re shocked it took Microsoft so long to do this, but they finally are requiring outside administrators, such as Sterling Rose, to keep two-factor authentication turned on at all times. We instituted this control years ago on all of our administrative accounts.

What brought the issue to a head? When Microsoft Office 365 went mainstream by making the subscription service available to individual users, families and small home-office businesses, it created a lot more accounts for us to service for our clients. It also created a password nightmare.

As administrators, we can go into accounts to see what’s needed to make sure you and anyone included in your subscription can do what’s needed. In most cases, we go in when called on to solve a problem. We are scrupulous about signing out properly, effectively shutting the door to your account on our end, and we have been scrupulous about two-factor authentication to protect access from our end.

In our opinion, the two-factor authentication covers the laziness or carelessness of some IT providers – and it also protects Microsoft from being responsible for any losses of data not connected to a Microsoft meltdown.

That puts the data-protection ball back in our court. We want to make sure you have your side of the court covered, and here are some things you can do. The big thing, of course is to have all of your files backed up. Microsoft OneDrive does this, but we don’t recommend it to be your only storage location. Azure, another Microsoft product, has backup and restoration capabilities, and there are other providers.

On our side of the court, we have two-factor authentication and other tools that fall under the label of cyber resiliency. Through the Information Technology Laboratory of the US Department of Commerce, a three-level approach to cybersecurity is being developed and refined. The first level, of course, is to resist penetration by cybercriminals. It’s an approach that’s been around, but we’ve learned that no defense can be entirely impervious.

Thus, we have two additional layers. One layer seeks to limit lateral movement within a system once it’s been penetrated. The strategies include barriers to gaining permissions to move laterally within a system, a technique that hackers use to get to other systems. Defenses can include time limits to lock out an intruder or limit the amount of data that can be exported from a system under attack. Another defense is to provide misinformation. Another layer of security will allow a system to operate while under attack so that business won’t be disrupted.

This gets us back to why it’s so important that Microsoft hardened its defenses for Office 365. It provides one more defense against penetration. At the same time, it provides another reason for your IT providers to have access to your system.

We have access to some of the tools needed to limit lateral movement within a system, many of them customized to your needs. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to set up an appointment to discuss your needs and implement a plan.

More Companies Want Your Collaborative Efforts

Dropbox has entered the collaborative space by adding a host of new tools to help you and teams share files. We see it as a big leap for a company that started as a file-sharing provider, but we don’t see it as the equal to Microsoft OneDrive.

Two areas where we see OneDrive as far superior are cost and feature sets.

The cost of OneDrive is built into the cost of the monthly subscription of Office 365 for all but the most basic plans. For most of our clients, plans range from $5 to $12 per month, and the key benefits are access to the most widely used business and home applications, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The subscription provides updates for security patches and bug fixes and performance and feature updates. OneDrive almost comes across as a throw-in, but Microsoft has recognized the value of keeping its massive user base in the family. What was an extra-cost feature set is now a way to provide tools and features, such as collaboration and file backup tools and useful apps from other providers. We covered some of them last month.

Depending on your plan, the cost of Office 365 with OneDrive includes the ability to store terabytes of files, which can be set up as shared files when needed. Collaborators can make changes, and the files are immediately updated, so everyone knows they are working with the most recent file. This capability has been available through Google Documents and Dropbox, but by keeping it all within Office 365, it’s about as seamless as a process can get.

Dropbox has always made a limited amount of file storage free, now 1 terabyte, but you need to be on a plan if you need more. The cost of the additional storage, for most of our clients, is roughly the same cost as having Office 365 without having the applications and tools included. In effect, you pay twice for the same capabilities.

As for capabilities – and features and tools, Dropbox can argue that by teaming up with Google, Slack and others, you can benefit from a broader range of ideas. Yes, that may be true, but here are two considerations:

  1. In the course of all the things you do, what are the tools and features that matter most to you? If you have Office 365 and it does all that you need it to do, you might be better off keeping it in the family.
  2. For a business or network of volunteers, how much training and retraining do you want to do? Learning a system is a lot like learning a language. The more you use it (or speak it), the better you become. That translates to better productivity.

Yes, Microsoft can be a big, plodding giant, but we believe its standardization works best for consistency, and that’s a huge advantage for businesses and volunteer networks. It’s easier to keep everyone together.

Finally, we like OneDrive’s file transfer capabilities better. Prices for cloud-based services can change at any time, and it can be difficult to move and verify the transfer of large volumes of files. We share a concern that this could make it difficult to migrate from Dropbox because the transfer process is too complex. Part of this may stem from changes made to a computer’s registry, where Microsoft, Dropbox and other applications are waging a war for the limited number of overlay icons to show file status. Each app changes its name to claim a spot in your Registry Editor, which Microsoft allots in alphabetical order. This could potentially create registry problems, which are all difficult to resolve.

We can help you set up OneDrive and transfer files from your computer and Dropbox. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to discuss your options and begin the process.

Trade War’s Perfect Tech Storm

You could see this one coming way off on the horizon. Computer users on Windows 7 are starting to move to Windows 10 as the date approaches in 2020 – it’s eight months off – for the end of Windows 7 tech support. The shortage of chips is starting to abate, but with tariffs looming on chips imported from China (which means just about all chips), prices will rise – possibly affecting supply and demand. We’re finding ways to work around the issues for many of our clients, and we can still keep options open for those who call quickly to get equipment ordered and work scheduled.

For clients still running Windows 7 who have computers with the capability of upgrading to Windows 10, we’ve been able to execute a two-step strategy. Success depends on having a good processor and enough RAM (random access memory). The first step is to install Windows 10, and the second step is to install a new solid-state hard drive (SSD). The combination of the new OS and SSD makes those computers run like new, and that will buy you time to make a bigger investment in a new computer.

The new SSDs we’re using are mostly 256 GB hard drives, and they are providing enough space for users with 500 GB mechanical hard drives – and even some with 1 TB hard drives. For those who need to store a lot of files or may want to store them, we’re installing 500 GB SSDs.

There are two primary reasons why the smaller SSDs work for most of our clients. First, SSDs are a different technology. They don’t require the space to physically access, use and store files. Second, our clients with Office 365 packages, including those with the $5, $8.25 and $12.50 monthly plans, can store files on OneDrive and access them on any device from where they can get to the internet. Personally, I have 32 GB of files on OneDrive and keep only a handful of files on my hard drive.

With OneDrive now making the storage space part of its package and integrating it with Office 365, we believe it is now a better value than Dropbox. While Dropbox has a free plan, it is limited to use on three devices, and it can easily escalate to more than $100 year just by itself. OneDrive also gives you a better feature set, including Mile IQ, which we talked about in our opening letter in the email.

With prices expected to rise because of market conditions and/or tariffs, anyone who can solve their Windows 7 and upgrade issues with a new SSD hard drive can do it at a reasonable cost. A 256 GB drive costs $125, and 512 GB drive is $200. We generally need about 1-1/2 hours of time to set up the drive, including file transfer. While we can’t predict what prices will be in the near or long-term future, we can look at Apple for some guidelines. If a new iPhone costs $1,000, a 25 percent tariff increase will raise the price to $1,250. The supply chain can only absorb so much of the increase for a limited time, and once the prices go up, they won’t come back down.

If you are an Office 365 user, see our article Setting Up and Using Microsoft OneDrive to learn how to get ready for migrating to a new hard drive or computer. We recommend you call us to help you get your OneDrive account set up, and then you can manage the transfer of files on your own.

Again, we urge all who need or want an upgrade to Windows 10 and a better hard drive to call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to discuss your best migration path, order the required equipment and schedule the work.

Setting Up and Using Microsoft OneDrive

Microsoft OneDrive may be as close as we’ll get to finding a safe harbor in the perfect storm created by the end of Windows 7, chip shortages and trade wars. Even without the storm conditions, it can give you smoother sailing.

We’ve found that OneDrive fits several trends we’ve seen among many clients, including more mobile computing, more collaborative work, and the need to work with larger files across all platforms. For those of you with Microsoft Office 365 plans starting at $5 per month, you get 1 TB of storage as part of your plan. If you need to access a lot of large files, including huge spreadsheets as well as photos, music and movies, this a good place to keep them. You can send collaborators links to any files in your OneDrive folder, and they can make changes, just like people do with Dropbox. This eliminates the need to send emails with attachments back and forth. As an added bonus, files are automatically saved in real time when working with a file in a OneDrive. And, finally, you can get Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Office 365 apps for mobile devices, enabling you to view, edit and even create documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Granted, it may not be the same as on a computer, but it’s another tool at your disposal.

In addition to being free for Office 365 users, you also get a couple “blow-away” features. One of them is a version history, which is great for tracking financial reports on Excel spreadsheets or changes to Word documents. Instead of saving umpteen million versions, you can go back to a date and see the file as it was. It was meant as an autosave feature for data recovery, but it’s certainly not restricted to that.

We also like Mile IQ, which we discussed in our email for this newsletter. It works on your phone, and it senses motion when your car moves and starts to track miles. At the end of a trip, you swipe right for business use, and left for personal use. You can always go back and add details for each trip you track. It’s not a well-publicized feature, but it’s great. You can sign up through their website.

Installing OneDrive is not a particularly difficult process, but it has a few complexities in the setup. We recommend you have us help you with the setup so that you can work more easily with your file. The first two steps are:

  1. Select the Start button, search for “OneDrive”, and then open it. In Windows 10, select the OneDrive desktop app. In Windows 7, under Programs, select Microsoft OneDrive. 
  2. When OneDrive Setup starts, enter your personal account, or your work or school account, and then select Sign in.

At this point, we’ll help you configure OneDrive to match your needs and get you started on transferring your files. We recommend putting all of your files on OneDrive for two reasons: 1.) You’ll have them there for recovery in case your hard drive crashes, and 2.) you can always select files to put back onto your hard drive.

By having access to all of your files but only having a percentage of them residing on your hard drive, you’ll free up space that will allow a mechanical hard drive to work more efficiently, or you’ll be able to get by with a smaller hard drive.

In operation, you’ll access your files from your OneDrive folder instead of from your File Explorer and work on them through your application program. If you turn on AutoSave, everything you do will be saved in real time, and you’ll never lose data due to a power outage or hard drive crash. Yes, if you lose your internet connection, you’ll lose OneDrive, but you can continue to work on your files and save them. When OneDrive access is restored, the changes will be saved.

If you are getting a new hard drive or computer, we use OneDrive to transfer your files. We believe that if you have an Office 365 plan and if we’re doing the work already, you are better off keeping your OneDrive and using it. You’ll find more benefits as you go along.

Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to get your OneDrive set up. If you’re an Office 365 subscriber, it’s there for the taking. If you don’t have Office 365, let’s talk and see if it’s right for you.

Microsoft Goes Passive on Passwords

Microsoft recently announced it will not enforce password policies that require you to change your Windows password periodically. One reason is that most passwords and password changes are pathetic. Microsoft’s Windows Hello can eliminate some password requirements now, and it will eliminate more as website owners and developers catch on. Right now, it’s available for Windows 10 Home and Business users.

Windows Hello logs you into your Windows devices three times faster than a password, using your camera to recognize your face or a fingerprint reader. Just to put you at ease from the start, you can always keep your PIN as a backup.

Windows Hello addresses our biggest concerns with passwords:

  • Because strong passwords can be difficult to remember, many of us reuse passwords on multiple websites. If your password is hacked and works on one site, you can bet that cybercriminals will use it on every site they know you visit.
  • Server breaches can expose symmetric network credentials, which is a technical term for passwords.
  • Passwords are subject to replay attacks, which happen when an attacker copies a stream of messages between two parties and replays the stream to one or more of the parties. Consequences can include redundant orders of an item.
  • Users can inadvertently expose their passwords due to phishing attacks.

We’ve cited all of them in one way or another when discussing the need to be extremely careful about what you click on a website or in an email.

Right now, Windows Hello lets you authenticate access to:

  • A Microsoft account
  • An Active Directory account
  • A Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) account
  • Identity Provider Services or Relying Party Services that support Fast ID Online (FIDO) v2.0 authentication, which is now an official web standard for making the web more secure – and usable – for users around the world

The last item in that list will be the key to implementing better security for everyone who has a presence on the internet. Even though we have a way to go before it’s fully implemented, Hello can give you a head start.

After an initial two-step verification during enrollment, Hello is set up on your device. Windows asks you to set a gesture, which can be a biometric, such as a fingerprint, or a PIN, which Windows uses through Hello to authenticate users. It works across all Windows 10 devices. Individuals can create a six-digit PIN or a biometric on their personal devices. Unlike the business application, it is not backed by a public/private key or certificate-based authentication, but it’s still more secure than passwords.

PINs provide better security because you still need the device to access websites – or ATMs. Someone may know your number, but unless they have your device or ATM card, they can’t get access.

For businesses, we’ll help you set up Hello for your organization, including setting policies to help you manage access to computers and mobile devices. This will eliminate the practice of employees in an office putting their passwords on sticky notes that they attach to monitors. (Did you ever stop to think that anyone in your cleaning service can empty your data files as easily as they empty your trash cans?)

In our opinion, Hello is the most compelling reason to update your Windows 10 operating system or upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Again, we can’t over-emphasize that Microsoft will discontinue its technical support for Windows 7 in February 2020, and that will leave security holes in an already out-of-date, obsolete OS.

Windows 10 will step you up to the next level of security and protection and put you on track to take advantage of advances as they happen. Technology changes fast, and security improvements are always significant. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to talk about upgrading to Windows 10 or adding Hello to your personal or business systems.

Inside the World of Updates

Facetime updates got a lot of face time recently with all the reports about how a 14-year-old discovered a bug that left a mic open even if a recipient didn’t answer a group Facetime call. It was shocking but not surprising, based on how updates are developed and implemented.

Apple, Microsoft, Google and other technology companies are huge corporations and, as such, are highly compartmentalized. When I visit trade shows and conferences and can find an engineer or software developer to discuss very specific issues related to hardware, firmware or software, the conversations very technical and very tightly focused. They are brilliant people, but they operate in silos.

So, when a problem like the Facetime issue surfaces, it’s likely to involve a piece of code that only one person or a small team worked on – based on instructions that may have come down through several layers of command. That person or team didn’t talk the public or get any feedback based on a personal interaction. Further, the amount of code needed to implement a feature such as a group Facetime session is massive. It’s written in sections and assembled in sections, and even though they are tested, errors can occur each time lines of code from various teams are put together. The people involved do a great job, and the percentage of errors to lines of code written is practically microscopic.

The bottom line is that bugs will show up in the real world, and they need to be found and fixed before any catastrophic consequences show up. But code is not the only factor in updating software for use on a computer or device. We see a lot of old computers and devices with old operating systems that simply cannot handle updates.

We were reminded of the technology gap that opens up when working with older systems. It involved a family business, and technical challenges arose as some family members wanted capabilities that were requested by others. The challenges came as we had to work with computers and devices with a wide range of ages and with differences between Windows 7 and Windows 10. We had to be mindful that Windows 7 is 12 years old and that we are six versions into Windows 10.

Our common thread in the solution had to be sealing up security breaks. We can’t emphasize enough that security patches are the biggest improvements in upgrades and updates, although we all get excited about new features and capabilities. And the problem is that an older system can only handle a limited number of security and feature updates.

At some point, it doesn’t pay for a software or hardware provider to support older systems. Their developers have to jump from one issue to another like playing Whac-A-Mole, and then there is a smaller universe of real-world users to provide feedback on the new code and then use it.

One of our missions is to make the most efficient use of your money. We’ll always do our best to avoid having you buy new equipment or software by trying to find a good workaround. But sometimes, buying new technology can give you a better return on your investment, and one of the reasons to do so is to take advantages of upgrades and updates that are used by a larger universe of people and businesses. That can be especially beneficial based on the how the update world lives.

We can help you install, configure and test updates, and we can advise you on whether to upgrade or keep your current technology. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us for a consultation.