July 10th, 2018 by admin
Running automatic updates for applications and operating systems helps protect your company's digital devices, but those updates can harm productivity if not well managed. Unpatched software is the single biggest security risk in the workplace, so it's...
Posted in: Cyber and Data Security
February 12th, 2018 by admin
At the end of 2017, the world learned about Spectre and Meltdown: two far-reaching security threats that exploit how CPUs work to expose protected information on nearly every recent PC, server and smartphone. Hackers can use these exploits to do things...
Posted in: Cyber and Data Security
January 16th, 2018 by admin
Hot off the tail of the massive 2017 Equifax breach that exposed personal information of 143 million customers, businesses are on high alert concerning IT security in 2018. While the IT security industry has been successful in mitigating and cracking...
Posted in: Cyber and Data Security
September 19th, 2017 by admin
Setting up your conference room for wireless screen mirroring is the answer to employees sharing in a collective groan when it's time to connect a computer or mobile device to show a presentation. While setting up the conference room television or projector...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
August 22nd, 2017 by admin
In July of 2017, some Windows 10 users received an error message when trying to install the Creators Update, stating, "Windows 10 is no longer supported on this PC." This first-of-its-kind problem stems from an incompatibility with a handful of Intel's...
Posted in: Cyber and Data Security, Hardware and Software
June 20th, 2017 by admin
Amazon Alexa, the voice-based intelligent personal assistant you may have seen an early adopter friend use at home, has surprising business use potential to increase productivity in the workplace. Like Apple's Siri, Google Assistant, and Microsoft's...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
May 10th, 2017 by admin
It happens to everyone: You turn your computer back on after you intended to leave the office, or come in early to get a head start on a new project, only to be greeted by a 20-minute operating system (OS) update session. This common workplace frustration...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
April 11th, 2017 by admin
If your business hasn't already made the switch from Windows 10's predecessors to a new operating system, it's time to make the initiative a priority. While your IT staff doesn't need to upgrade every computer in your office, it's necessary to make sure...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
April 5th, 2017 by admin
If one of your office computers always seems to shut down or slow to a crawl at the busiest of times, you may have a case of overheating on your hands—especially if IT can't find anything wrong on the software level. Performance hiccups might seem like...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
February 23rd, 2017 by admin
It's quite common that, over time, Windows systems accumulate a laundry list of programs that load when a user signs in. While generally benign, most of these "startup" programs are unlikely to actually benefit the user—so the computer ends up...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
February 15th, 2017 by admin
It's a familiar sighting in the workplace: the employee with half a dozen sticky notes attached to their computer monitor. While not the most confidential or elegant solution, these employees are on to something. Fortunately, technology has stepped in...
Posted in: Cyber and Data Security
February 8th, 2017 by admin
Your employees' computers may not be up to speed anymore after two or three years of use, but in many cases your staff can upgrade or tune up these devices to keep pace with work demands. Upgrades can often be purchased and installed for under $100 a...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
February 1st, 2017 by admin
Multi-tasking wizards have a secret: Modern operating systems offer a handy technique for managing multiple windows while maximizing available screen space, significantly increasing productivity. Depending on the OS, this feature may be referred to as...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
January 11th, 2017 by admin
For anyone unfamiliar with the Google Applications platform, Google Docs et al. are a Cloud-based spin on mainstay office suite programs that can help your staff work better together. With a zero-dollar price tag (compared with Microsoft Office's...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
December 21st, 2016 by admin
Phishing attacks are a dangerous and devastating method hackers use to steal personal information and accounts—primarily by striking the user instead of the machine. According to the APWG Phishing Activity Trends Report, the first quarter of 2016 saw...
Posted in: Cyber and Data Security
October 26th, 2016 by admin
Work-disrupting messages like “please connect charger” and “plug in or find another power source” can be a huge source of frustration—not to mention a major productivity killer—for employees on the go. Nobody wants to see their phone battery go belly-up...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
October 19th, 2016 by admin
Good news: Your IT staff can stop running regular hard drive defragmentation on your office computers. Improvements in technology have rendered this decade-old practice largely irrelevant. One less thing to worry about, as far as we’re concerned. Hard...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
October 12th, 2016 by admin
While modern computers are much more stable than their ancestors, trying to get work done on a slow, malfunctioning computer is still a business world rite of passage. Troubleshooting bad behavior on your work computer can, of course, be a tedious...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
August 24th, 2016 by admin
Secondary monitors have incredible potential to increase productivity in the workplace. It might not seem like much, but minimizing, maximizing, and arranging application windows on a single computer monitor can take up a significant amount of time....
Posted in: Hardware and Software
June 7th, 2016 by admin
One of our pet peeves with some of our new customers is that once we come in to upgrade their IT network, they're careless about disposing their old hardware—specifically, their PC hard drives. They think that by simply deleting their existing files—email,...
Posted in: Cyber and Data Security, Hardware and Software
May 24th, 2016 by admin
Those “Upgrade to Windows 10” notifications seem to be showing up everywhere, even in the middle of a weather forecast on Iowa television. What would’ve otherwise been an embarrassing interruption turned into a watercooler moment that anyone who used...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
May 3rd, 2016 by admin
Today we'd like to pass along a critical security advisory to all our customers: If any of your company's Windows systems still retain Apple's QuickTime for Windows software, uninstall it immediately—as soon as you finish reading this post (if not...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
April 12th, 2016 by admin
A couple months back, we touched on the story of our normally tech-savvy friend who got tricked into allowing his desktop PC to be infected with obvious malware. At first, he had the sickening feeling that comes with a virus-infected computer—but thanks...
Posted in: Cyber and Data Security
February 25th, 2016 by admin
The end is here for all versions of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer outside of the most recent version. If your business is still using older versions of the browser, it’s important to switch to a different browser—or upgrade to maintain the latest in...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
February 11th, 2016 by admin
We were as optimistic as anyone about Microsoft's long-awaited release of the Windows 10 operating system. As we discussed last May, we looked forward to real improvements—chiefly a better desktop interface—over its widely unloved predecessor, Windows...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
February 2nd, 2016 by admin
How dependent have you and your employees become on public Wi-Fi outside the office? Mobile hotspots are almost everywhere now—from coffee houses and fast-food restaurants to hotels and airports (and even aboard most planes). Without Wi-Fi access,...
Posted in: Cyber and Data Security
December 10th, 2015 by admin
Apple announced the iPad Pro in September of 2015. Microsoft announced the Surface Book just a month later. Both devices are blurring the lines between tablets and laptops, offering interesting new opportunities for technology use in the workplace and...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
October 27th, 2015 by admin
Now that the dust has settled around the release of Windows 10, your SMB may be looking to increase productivity by upgrading your OS. Still, you should proceed with caution. The latest version of the operating system offers a more secure computing...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
October 6th, 2015 by admin
The big news out of Microsoft over the past couple of months is the much-ballyhooed release of Windows 10. While “Win10” finally addresses those annoying shortcomings of its predecessor Windows 8 (as we've discussed), it still hasn't corrected a dangerous...
Posted in: Cyber and Data Security
May 13th, 2015 by admin
It was about a year ago that Microsoft officially ended support (most importantly, automatic security patches) for Windows XP. Particularly for business users, running a computer on XP after April 8, 2014, became about as wise as leaving keys dangling...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
December 23rd, 2014 by admin
Cloud-based applications have the potential to increase productivity for your business. By de-localizing your computing resources, your employees can benefit from ease of access, broader device compatibility, and reliance on local hardware. IT Managed...
Posted in: Hardware and Software
April 30th, 2014 by admin
Serious Security Flaw Found in IE A security flaw or bug has been discovered in Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), which affects all versions of IE from 6 to 11. This flaw allows a hacker to potentially gain access to your computer and hard drive when...
Posted in: Cyber and Data Security
April 8th, 2014 by admin
Microsoft Corporation has just announced it will stop supporting Windows XP, one of the world's most popular and successful operating systems. Though Microsoft XP will not magically disappear from the desktops of anyone currently using it (which is...
Posted in: Cyber and Data Security, Hardware and Software
