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The Latest Expansions To Office 365 Will WOW You!

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

The availability of productivity apps is astounding. Basic word processors that were the desktop staple haven’t been replaced, but have evolved from requiring installation from a CD-ROM to not even requiring a downloaded program file anymore!

Yes, Microsoft Word, the workplace word processing darling, is accessible online through subscription-based Microsoft Office 365, which has a multitude of integrated apps designed for the flexible workforce.

Create documents in Microsoft Word or spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel and save them to SharePoint or OneDrive, send emails through Microsoft Outlook, design innovative presentations with PowerPoint, and the list goes on.

The list of apps that integrate with Office 365 expands every day! Considering Microsoft Office 365 now includes Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Flow, the possibilities are incredible. If you’ve not yet experienced either of these apps, you’re truly missing out. [Read more…] about The Latest Expansions To Office 365 Will WOW You!

Internet Speed Loss: Get What You Pay For

Jason Cooley is Support Services Manager for Tech Experts.

Long gone are the days where you accepted the speed that your dial-up connection allowed.

I remember when 56k modems were exciting. I can easily recall my first cable Internet connection. It was a lightning fast 3mbps (megabytes per second, in case you were wondering).

With gigs and megs, people talk about data and speeds sometimes as if they are interchangeable. They aren’t. Let’s get that clarification out of the way.

Thanks largely to cell phone data plans, people think in terms of how many gigs they have. What that means is that you can transmit a certain amount of data during your monthly cycle, such as 10 gigs.

The megabytes per second phrase is used to describe the rate at which data transfers. This is your Internet speed.

So now that we know what we are talking about, let’s talk speeds and how to maximize them.

As I mentioned before, I remember getting a 3mbps connection. It was lightning fast compared to the dial-up connections that had been the standard.

As times change and technology becomes more demanding, old connection speeds just won’t cut it. Web pages become more complex and the amount of data transferred goes up as well.

In order to have the same type of experience and to avoid long loading times, expectations for higher Internet speeds continue to grow.

My home 25mbps connection came and went; now, I have speeds up to 150mbps. There are speeds much higher available, but before you go paying for more speed than you need, make sure you are getting what you pay for.

Running Internet speed tests is a good place to start. You can use a website, like speedtest.net, to check your upload and download speed, as well as ping.

Ping is used to measure latency, or what you may classify as lag. Ping is typically measured in milliseconds and is the measured response time after sending out a request on the Internet.

The download speed is the number typically advertised and the number that is most important to your connection. So you pay for 150mbps. You run a speed test over Wi-Fi and you are only getting 80mbps. What could be the cause?

First, the best way to test your speed would be over an Ethernet cable directly connected to your modem or router. Check your speed over a wired connection to rule out any loss caused by the modem.

If you are experiencing lower than expected speeds while wired to your modem, you may need to contact your service provider. If you are getting the correct speeds while wired, there are a few possible causes.

The most likely culprits of speed loss are the devices between your modem and computer or other device. Wi-Fi and regular routers, especially those that are a little older, often have a maximum speed set at 100mbps. You may even see 10/100 on the router, indicating its 100mbps speed.

Having one of these devices is going to cost you one-third of your potential speed whether you are wired in or not.

Having quality devices to distribute your connection is as important to speed quality as the connection itself.

There are many other factors that can contribute to speed loss. Too many Wi-Fi networks in close proximity can even cause interference. While the possible causes of speed loss can vary, one thing that does not change is that you want to get what you pay for.

Ransomware Vs Atlanta: How To Protect Your Systems

Chris Myers is a field service technician for Tech Experts.

On March 22, the local government in the city of Atlanta, Georgia experienced a widespread ransomware cyberattack that affected several city applications and devices.

Ransomware is a type of malware that takes over a computer and locks out the user. The attackers then make contact with the victim and request payment. If the ransom is not paid, they may publish the victim’s personal files and data or just continue to block access to them.

In Atlanta, the attackers gained access to some of the city’s applications through a network vulnerability. Once they had locked the city’s systems with a ransomware known as “SamSam,” they asked for six bitcoins to unlock everything. Six bitcoins are currently worth around $51,000 US dollars.

Atlanta chose not to pay the ransom, as there is no guarantee that they would get their files back and they didn’t want to encourage any similar attacks. Instead, Atlanta officials awarded nearly 2.7 million dollars to eight private companies in the first couple days after the start of the attack.

The FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Secret Service have also been assisting city officials in investigating the attack.

As you can see, the consequences of a ransomware attack can be severe. Nearly a month after the breach, nearly all city functions were still being carried out with pen and paper. With that in mind, what are the best ways to prevent them from happening in the first place?

How to protect yourself against similar cyberattacks

Ransomware attacks usually infiltrate organizations through their network. Therefore, maintaining good network security practices is a must. These can include:

Using strong, unique passwords. Both individuals and companies have a tendency to use shared passwords for different programs, even Windows logins.

If someone gains illicit access to your network or a specific computer, they can’t immediately gain access to all of your program logins and computers if you use unique passwords.

Staying vigilant for phishing. Phishing is another common method of attack for gaining entry to install ransomware. 91% of phishing attacks are targeted at specific people in a company, a technique known as spear phishing.

The attacker will study an organization’s email format, then send a simple email to an employee designed to appear as if it is a common email from a co-worker.

Most of these emails will look completely normal except for the full sender email address, which is usually something odd such as “ejhjsh@jk.cn.”

In many email management applications, the full address is automatically hidden behind the given name of the sender, so staff must be trained to interact with that name to confirm the address.

Securing your network. Ensure that a monitored firewall is in place and that all Wi-Fi networks are password protected with WPA2 encryption.

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is also a very good thing to have, especially if you have any staff working remotely.

Keeping operating systems and firmware up-to-date. Patches for known security vulnerabilities are released quite often.

Most of these are to combat specific new threats that are being used or about to be used in the wild. Staying up-to-date with security and operating system patches shores up your defenses against many common attacks.

What Is Data Retention? Why Do I Need It?

If you are in the medical or legal industry, regulations require you to retain data and records for a certain period of time. The data retention process was a little more clear-cut back when it was only files and sheets of papers in brown boxes that you stored in the attic or the basement.

However, in today’s time, almost everything is in digital form, whether it’s stored locally on a file server, external hard drives, or in the cloud.

This data needs to be secure and easily accessible in the event you need to retrieve any of it. Depending on how much data you have, there are many options.

The one thing you do not want to do is buy a cheap hard drive, move your data over to it, and think you’re safe.

If you only have one copy of that data and you move it to a new location, that is your only copy. You want to have your data saved in more than one location or a mirror copy of it saved.

A business might want to consider a local or cloud server with a RAID setup so that there is a copy of your copy. It creates a copy of your data so that, in the event of a hardware failure or data corruption, the data can be restored from the second copy.

The first copy would be returned to the last version, like nothing happened to it.

If you are a larger business and/or deal with medical or financial information, it would be very wise to utilize data encryption for the stored data.

However, every business should create a data retention policy and follow it. Categorize documents and images, then specify how long the data is to be retained.

Make sure all employees and IT professionals with access to company and client data know and adhere to this policy.

The main thing to keep in mind is the type and quality of hardware that is used. It’s great to have a data retention policy in place and follow it exactly, but if your data gets corrupted, stolen, or a hard drive fails, the policy does you no good.

The key to a rock-solid data retention policy starts with having a robust backup solution in place as well.

The backup solution can either be a cloud-based system or an on-site enterprise storage device or server with a proper RAID setup.

Here at Tech Experts, we can assist you with establishing a file server with the correct RAID configuration to ensure that the retained data is safe and secure, with encryption and redundancy built in. Cloud based image backups are also a great way to ensure the safety of your data.

We can also start you on a managed service plan for monitoring and maintenance of that server and your other workstations, laptops, printer, and VoIP phone systems.

Wherever you decide to store your data, make sure that enterprise hardware and security measures are used to ensure that your data will remain intact.

Watch Out For This Overlooked Threat In Your Business

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

With the risk of being hit by hacking, malware, and other forms of cyber-crime so high, most organizations go to great lengths (and expense) to protect their networks and infrastructure.

However, one major security risk that’s being overlooked is the printer!

All too often, print falls beyond IT teams’ field of view and is left hanging in an abyss ready and waiting for hackers to take advantage.

Here are some interesting statistics: According to research that was conducted by the Ponemon Institute, 64 percent of IT managers are suspicious that their printers have been infected with some form of malware; however, just 54% of organizations include printers in their security strategy.

With organizations placing all eyes firmly on network security, the major threats that are posed by printing devices that are directly connected to these networks are all too often completely overlooked.

So, what actions can you take to reduce the risk of print-related breaches? [Read more…] about Watch Out For This Overlooked Threat In Your Business

Stopping Power Surges Before They Reach Your Equipment

Ron Cochran is Help Desk supervisor for Tech Experts.

We all have some sort of electronic device that we plug into the wall, either to charge the battery or power the device. While these devices are connected to the power source in your home or office, they are being subjected to power surges on a regular basis. Some of these surges can damage your electronic devices.

The main source of a power surge is inclement weather. A surge protector or suppressor will keep your devices safe from inconsistencies in power delivery.

Most people will use power strips to connect more than one device to an outlet and these are OK to use, but they do not offer any surge suppression attributes.

A legitimate surge protector or suppressor will have a rating that is measured in joules, which represents how much of a power surge it can mitigate without damaging your electronic devices. There are several manufacturers of surge protectors for home use, whole-home use, and even industrial applications.

Depending on your needs and budget, you could install a whole-home surge protection system which would protect all of the devices in your house from a surge.

If you are budget-minded, then picking up a couple brand-name, surge-protecting power strips for your entertainment system or electronics charging station would be sufficient.

The one thing you have to keep in mind is if you are not protecting your computers, printers, and display devices from power surges, then you are taking the risk of losing valuable data on your storage devices.

You are also opening yourself up to the potential need to replace faulty equipment due to the power surge.

These repairs are not cheap and the data that you lost due to the power surge is most likely irreplaceable, unless you have a backup solution implemented.

Now, once you have decided to purchase a surge protector, you will need to decide how many and what devices you want plugged into it, keeping in mind the total power draw of all of the devices.

You do not want to use a lot of high-power equipment on one single surge protector because they are rated for a certain power draw; if you are consuming more power than they are rated for, they might not be able to do their job properly.

On top of an overloaded surge protector having issues operating and protecting your devices, it poses a fire hazard due to wires being overheated.

Winter is over and we are entering the stormy season of spring. Power surges will be happening in our area before you know it.

If you are concerned about protecting your home or office equipment from a power surge, then now is the time to evaluate your needs for a surge protector.

We’d be more than happy to conduct a site survey, then recommend and install surge protectors for your business needs.

Protect Yourself Against The Phone “Port-Out” Scam

Chances are that you probably haven’t heard of the port-out scam. However, just because it is something that has yet to attract widespread attention doesn’t mean it’s not a threat you should take seriously. Let’s take a look at why.

What Is a Port-Out Scam?
It’s very common for people to take their existing phone numbers with them when they switch mobile provider. Recently, unscrupulous individuals have been taking advantage of the ease with which this can be done by porting other people’s numbers and essentially taking control of them.

Here’s how it works: Someone calls your carrier or visits the store and pretends to be you. They then instruct the provider to port your number to a new carrier. Without warning, you find your cellphone service has been cut off, and some stranger has complete control of your number. A variation of this is SIM hijacking, which operates in a similar way but the attacker orders a new SIM.

Why Should You Care?
Losing the ability to use your phone is the least of your worries. Once the attacker has control of your phone, they will receive all your messages. If you have set up banking security measures that involve SMS authentication, the hijacker can potentially access your bank account and many other sources of highly sensitive information.

How To Protect Yourself
Fortunately, it’s really easy to avoid the port-out scam. All you need to do is add a security PIN to your account. From that point onward, people will not be able to make any type of change to your account without citing the PIN. As such, you are protected against both the port-out and SIM hijacking scams. Most carriers will let you set a PIN quickly and easily online or via the phone.

What Are The Seven Basic Parts Of A Computer?

Chris Myers is a field service technician for Tech Experts.

People usually notice performance issues in their computers after five to six years. When that starts to be the case, a hardware upgrade can be a real boost to both performance and the computer’s lifespan. Where do you even begin when upgrading a computer, though?

Even though their inner workings can seem complicated, computers are actually made up of a few key parts.

Core Upgradable Components – RAM
Random-access memory comes in small removable cards (or “sticks”) that are inserted into the computer’s motherboard. RAM modules usually come between two and four gigabytes each, used in sets of two.

In a computer, RAM holds the code and data actively used by the CPU. Every program you have open takes up a certain amount of space in RAM. For example, using an Internet browser with 8 tabs open takes about 1 gigabyte of RAM.

Using up 95-100% of RAM capacity will usually cause the computer to crash, so it’s something you want to avoid. Adding more RAM to a computer will allow the user to have more programs running at once.

Hard Drive
The hard disk drive (HDD) stores the operating system and all user files on several small disks, called platters, stacked on top of each other. They are read by a mobile arm, much like record players.

Hard drive performance is determined by how much data the manufacturer is able to fit on each platter (areal density) and how fast the platters spin (RPM). Usually, the only public number is the RPM, either 5400 or 7200. A 7200 RPM hard drive is about 30% faster than a 5400 RPM one.

If you want real performance though, you need a solid state drive (SSD). Solid state drives are five times faster than 7200 RPM hard drives. They just have a little less storage capacity and can be more expensive.

Graphics Card
The graphics processing unit (GPU) handles graphics and image processing. Most business computers don’t have one since they just use database or word-processing applications. However, if you use any graphics intensive programs like computer-aided design (CAD), computer-generated imagery (CGI), or digital content creation (DCC), you will see a massive performance boost after installing a graphics card.

Other Parts In A Computer – CPU
The Central Processing Unit is the core of the computer. Every action taken by the user or a program is processed one-by-one in a CPU thread. Modern CPUs have multiple cores so that it can have more threads running at once. Four cores are the standard amount now.

CPUs are the main source of low performance on older PCs, especially if they were bought for a fairly low price to begin with. However, changing a CPU often requires changing the motherboard as well. Therefore, it is not a cost effective solution versus buying a new computer.

Motherboard
The motherboard is a large circuit board that all other PC components connect to. It is basically the framework that turns all of those pieces into a working computer.

Case
The case refers to the outer shell around all of the components. Most cases come with several cooling fans installed. The main thing to remember about cases is that the smaller the case, the hotter the computer will be.

Power Supply
A small box with its own fan that runs power cables to all of the other parts. More expensive computers usually come with better power supplies, which is a good thing considering the severe damage that can occur when a power supply fails.

Windows Fall Creator’s Update: Breaking More Than It’s Fixing

Jason Cooley is Support Services Manager for Tech Experts.

Microsoft dominates the world of operating systems. Windows has been a part of our lives for years and some of us can’t remember a world without it.

Each time Microsoft rolls out a new operating system, it is updated and patched for years for various reasons.

Over the lifespan of a Windows operating system, there are various security updates perhaps more than any other type of update.

There are fixes for issues, whether that’s problems with Windows itself or interaction with other hardware and software.

Then there are the outliers: Windows feature updates. These updates typically introduce new features or changes to the core function of the operating system. Feature updates can improve the user experience for many people.

Windows 10 launched in 2015 and, like all of its predecessors, did not launch with perfection. There have been numerous updates of all kinds since its launch. Those security patches, hotfixes, and even a handful of feature updates had rolled out by October of 2017.

That is when Microsoft released the Window’s Fall Creator update. This update was going to create a better user experience. Personal connections were going to be easier to make.

A new application allowing you to resume work or browsing started on a mobile device like a smartphone on your computer was introduced as well. There were a few security updates as well.

All in all, the Fall Creators Update was going to fix a few bugs and introduce some quality-of-life improvements.

In previous versions of Windows, the updates were able to be shut off and postponed.

Large scale feature updates are known to have some complications when rolled out.

That is why these updates are not “pushed” when initially launched, but available to download as an optional update at first.

Upon this introduction window, there were, as expected, reports of problems coming in. What was not expected was the range of issues and the severity of some.

The first issue arising from the release of Windows 1709, the Fall Creators Update, was the update failing to install.

Many people reported issues of an error when attempting to install the update. The initial portion would install, but the finalizing of the updates upon a restart would fail.

If that wasn’t frustrating enough, if the update did manage to install, it was reported that the applying updates portion could take two hours (and in some cases as many as ten hours).

Then, let’s assume you got that far. Maybe you want to use Microsoft Edge, the Microsoft browser of choice. With the 1709 update, many users found that Edge was essentially broken. It would crash repeatedly.

Then, bring in the numerous broken drivers. Imagine an update breaking your Ethernet adapter. It happened. Applications disappeared, began opening on their own, and in some cases just didn’t work. The problems continued to roll in.

Many of these issues were resolved in a timely fashion and some were not. In mid-January, Microsoft declared the Fall Creators Update ready for business. This means that the update would be pushed out to anyone that was not already using it.

After 3 months, many issues were still present and others would soon be discovered.

Many users of corporate software and other specialty software were surprised by software that no longer worked. In some cases, the suggested fix was to roll back the update, which will force itself to reinstall shortly after.

There have been some big patches to fix these issues since January and I’m hoping that in another three months Microsoft will have all of these issues resolved.

Five Ways To Prepare For, Respond To, And Recover From A Cyberattack

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

When we asked businesses about cybersecurity threats, breach points, policies, company readiness, and recovery, we were surprised at the responses that we received.

The most frightening response of all was the following: “We have no formal process for assessing readiness to deal with a cyberattack of any sort.”

Hindsight is always 20/20 – how many times has something happened that you could have and should have prevented?

Here are five ways to prepare every company for a cyberattack:

[Read more…] about Five Ways To Prepare For, Respond To, And Recover From A Cyberattack