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Browser Wars: Which Browser Should You Use?

March 18, 2014

by Lino Perna,Technician

Since its public release in 2008, Google Chrome has been taking its place in people’s hearts and minds, replacing the commonly used Internet Explorer.

Ever since then, these two browsers have been at constant war. The public loved the fresh, simplistic, elegance of Chrome which left Internet Explorer in its dust.

Now, after all these updates and changes, which of the two has made the most positive progress? Which browser is better?

Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer was the most widely used browser up until 2008. It had the internet navigation world in the palm of its hands, and because of its massive success Microsoft decided not to change anything.

Internet Explorer came standard with every new Microsoft computer, so to the general public, that was the only option. Yes there were other web navigators, but this was the best.

In its current state, Internet Explorer 11 is faster and more efficient than any other previous versions. The security and privacy features are phenomenal and coveted by other browsers.

In a general sense, the interface is usable, but may be too complicated for some users. While it doesn’t have site prediction or voice search, it is still faster and better than ever for everyday tasks.

Chrome
When Chrome was first released, it had low usage percentage because it was an unknown browser, but at that point, Firefox had become prominent and had passed up Internet Explorer.

Slowly but surely, Chrome became more widely known and used. It took until 2011, but finally overcame the competition and became the most used browser in the world.

Today, Chrome reigns over the other browsers. Its usage surpasses any of the other browsers, but the question is: Why? The reasoning for the era of Chrome is its design.

It’s easy enough for an individual of any age to use. It simultaneously possesses the ability to give you luxuries such as: a drop-down box with thumbnails to easily access your favorite websites or the integration of Gmail and Youtube.

The simplicity of it contributes to the unparalleled speed that it possesses. Speed, efficiency and quality are the necessary staples of success.

Google Chrome possesses all three of these essential attributes that helped it achieve and sustain dominance over its predecessors.

The built in flash player and PDF support put Chrome ahead of the competition because both tools are used quite frequently in both a business and scholastic setting.

Wrapping Up
It all comes down to this: When it comes to efficiency, speed, and quality, Chrome takes the cake.

Its facile interface, outstanding quality, and unmatched speed rocket it past Internet Explorer, and any other browser at that.

Though Internet Explorer may be easier to access, if you want a browser that can do all you ever needed and more, while also being considerably faster than its competition, Google Chrome is the browser for you.

(Image Source: iCLIPART)

Tech Tips For The Road Warrior

March 18, 2014

c382409_m Traveling is rarely guaranteed to go smoothly, but there are at least a few travel headaches that can be kept at bay thanks to technology. If you know how to make use of it in the proper manner, technology can increase your likelihood of having a positive experience on your next vacation.

One good tip is to use tech to keep updated on your flight status. Flights are commonly disrupted due to one reason and another, and delays and cancellations et al can be tough to keep up with. Many airlines today however enable you to track your flight status via a website or app, so if you own a smartphone you can stay updated on what is happening with your flight no matter where you are. If an app is offered by your airline for this purpose, be sure to download it and ensure your smartphone has been fully charged before you set off to the airport.

Translation apps are another good idea if you are jetting off to foreign climes. Many translation apps on tablets and smartphones are free of charge, and also have voice recognition software, meaning that communicating with people who speak a different language has never been easier.

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How To Make Hashtags Work For Social Media

March 3, 2014

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

On the list of the great rewards of social networking is its capability to reach a huge crowd while spending minimal costs. Making use of the famous hashtag notation (especially for Twitter and Instagram), you are able to spread your products and services across the globe, and reap the benefits of well-liked trends.

A hashtag must be short and simple to recall
Crafting a hashtag that is too unique or special could be risky. As much as possible, come up with a hashtag that is brief and straightforward so it can easily be remembered.

Long hashtags are at risk of getting misspelled and forgotten. Additionally, with the 140 character limit of every Twitter post, longer hashtags only consume needless space. Simple abbreviations frequently are very effective.

A hashtag must be unique and relevant at the same time
The primary goal of using a hashtag is to bring online users to your social media page.

Picking a general hashtag that may gain large numbers of results will lower the probability of getting your desired volume of traffic.

It may only just make your posts wander off in the search results. You must make sure that your hashtags are only sufficiently unique to be able to avoid too few results.

A hashtag must be searched first prior to using it
Even though you are confident that you have put together the ideal hashtag, it is still crucial to look for that hashtag prior to applying it.

This is the only way to make certain that you will not get classified with any messages that you are not related to. An example of a hashtag disaster was when a certain company used the hashtag “#notguilty” to express how their customers’ felt after eating their product.

However, this Twitter update was published during a popular person’s murder trial. The hashtag #notguilty became a trend, but for an entirely different cause.

Hashtags serve an excellent purpose which improves your chances of reaching a wider audience. Make sure that you know how to utilize them well.

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How To Prolong The Life Of Your Computer

March 3, 2014

by Jeremy Miller, Technician
One of the questions we get asked most often is, “What can I do to prolong the life of my computer?” We have been working on computers for years and have found that hardware protection and regular maintenance is the best answer.

What is regular maintenance?
Regular maintenance is the general up keep of your computer over time. There is a number of free software out there that offer this service with a stipulation.

They will partially clean up your system or some malicious software will state it will speed up your computer if you upgrade to the paid-for version. You should not trust this free software because it can damage some applications or even your operating system.

What can I do?
There are many things you can implement to prolong the life of your computer. You first want to think about your hardware because all software can be reloaded, but once your hardware fails your computer can crash like a house of cards.

Cooling is Key
The first thing I recommend is to regularly clean out your computer with compressed air. Nothing kills a computer better or faster than high internal temperatures. On average your computer is about 30 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the room it is in.

You can also increase your cooling by adding more fans. Many desktop cases have space for additional fans.
The better the air flow the longer your computer will last. For laptops, you must always ensure the fan vents are not being blocked, and you can increase cooling by using a cooling pad that has additional fans to increase the air flow around your laptop.

Make sure you have reliable power
You should always have your computer powered by a surge protector. If you live in a dwelling that has power fluctuations, you should consider an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) which are also known as a battery backup. Many also protect against brownouts.

Most UPS come with multiple outlets, some are protected by the battery as well as surge protection and some are just surge protected.

UPS will provide regular power to your computer even if your power fluctuates, and it can shut your computer down properly if you lose power.

Without reliable power you can short out just about any component in your computer.

If you shut your computer down incorrectly or if you just lose power you can damage your data and can cause your operating system to stop functioning.

Regular software maintenance
Your computer will accumulate a lot of temporary files from software that does not clean up after itself.

Your hard disk will become cluttered from constantly moving files around, and most computers have old unused software still running in the background.
All of this takes a toll on your computer hardware over time. The idea is to keep the software foot print as small as needed.

The less items you have launch at startup will lead to a much longer computer life. This is because most software needs your processor, Random Access Memory (RAM), and hard drive to run.

The more you have running at one time the higher the stress level on your hardware.

Virus infections may not cause noticeable issues right away but over time you will start to notice things not running properly.

Virus infections and other malicious software can take most of your hardware resources which makes your computer perform poorly. You can attempt to clean these infections out yourself, but without knowing how your computer works, you may end up doing more damage than good.

Is there an easy way to regularly maintain my computer?
We are constantly cleaning out computers and are very familiar with issues that arise in these processes.

We offer a solution to clean out your computer on a daily basis, so that you can continually use your computer without interruption. Our service runs in the background and will take care of most issues that arise.

We can help increase the longevity while you get the most out of your computer. If you are interested in learning more or have questions please feel free to call us.

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What Is Green Computing?

March 3, 2014

by Michael Menor, Network Technician
Green computing is the environmentally responsible and eco-friendly use of computers and their resources. It is also known as Green Information Technology (Green IT).

Green IT aims to achieve economic viability and improve the way computing devices are used.
What can you do to make your business and home more energy efficient?

Shut Down & Switch Off
While putting a computer into a “standby” or “sleep” mode will save a lot of power, many people remain unaware that even shutting down a desktop computer completely does not turn it off.

This is because the computer’s power supply will remain physically switched on, with the motherboard partially powered and waiting for a signal from the switch on the front of the PC (which is not a main power switch) to boot up again.

To prevent a desktop computer from using power, after being shut down it must either be switched off at the wall outlet, or turned off using the small rocker switch on the back of the power supply.

A typical desktop computer uses about 8 watts of electricity an hour when shut down but not switched off.

That’s about 1 kilowatt of electricity being wasted a week for a PC turned off around 16 hours a day.

It therefore really is worth remembering that simply turning off a PC at the back or at the wall when not in use can have a major impact on energy consumption and its environmental impact.

Upgrade: Use Low Power Hardware
If you’re using an older computer, chances are that your energy costs are a lot higher than normal. With the improvement of technology, manufacturers have been able to produce more energy efficient components.

An older Dell OptiPlex desktop purchased in 2003 typically had an Intel Pentium 4 processor, a hard drive that you could hear as it accessed data, and a bulky, powerhogging Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitor.

At the time of its release it was state of the art and quick but by today’s standards it is an ancient dinosaur.

Technology is ever changing and these desktops can be easily replaced with faster, more energy efficient hardware. Using the Dell Optiplex as a base line, let’s compare it with today’s business desktops.

Today you will typically find an Intel Core-i3 processor, which runs faster and more efficient, saving you on average 35% on your energy costs.

That old noisy hard disk drive (HDD) can be replaced with a Solid-State Drive (SSD). Since it has no moving parts it is virtually silent, faster and draws less power (2 to 3 watts vs. 6 to 7 watts in a HDD).

And last but not least that 50 pound CRT monitor you have on your desk can be thrown out the window and replaced with a flat-screen (or LCD) monitor.

Your typical 20 inch CRT monitor will consume about 90 to 100 watts; a 20 inch LCD monitor on the other hand only consumes a fraction of that, between 24 to 26 watts.

On average you will spend $3.29/month or $39.42/year to power one CRT monitor. Or you can opt to power an LCD monitor for $0.88/month or $10.50/year.

Average computer users can employ the following general tactics to make their computing usage greener:

• Use “hibernate” or “sleep” modes when away from a computer for extended periods.
• Use flat-screen or LCD monitors, instead of conventional Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors.
• Buy energy efficient notebook computers, instead of desktop computers.
• Activate the power management features for controlling energy consumption.
• Turn off computers at the end of each day.
• Refill printer cartridges, rather than buying new ones.
• Instead of purchasing a new computer, consider upgrading your hardware components.

With all these factors in mind, doing these simple upgrades and having a “Green IT” policy in place can save you money over the long run. If you are interested in making these changes or for more information, please contact us.

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What Is The Real Cost Of IT Downtime?

March 3, 2014

People working with technology understand that downtime happens, whether it is planned (as during upgrades and maintenance) or as an unplanned emergency. Unnecessary downtime often costs an organization significant amounts of money.

Not being able to process sales is perhaps the most direct way in which your company will lose revenue during downtime.

If your sales team uses your company’s online resources in their daily tasks, they won’t be ringing up the sales numbers. Add to this the costs of resolving the issues that caused the downtime, including both labor and materials, you’re left with the direct monetary impact to your organization.

There’s no doubt about it – downtime can damage your company’s reputation. Your customers don’t like to be kept waiting. Downtime may cause late deliveries, interfere with your customers’ ability to place an order or even to contact your customer service.

Efficient business owners understand that employee productivity has a direct impact on the company’s bottom line. It’s crucial that everyone has the tools they need in order to remain productive. Downtime causes loss of productivity, and, therefore, profits.

The only way to maximize uptime is to monitor your systems on an ongoing basis. This will provide you with specific details regarding any issues affecting your organization. If you are experiencing anything less than 99.9 percent uptime, you need to start looking into solutions to resolve the problem. Give us a call today.

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Windows XP: High Risk For Your Business

January 17, 2014

Microsoft will end all support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014. This means that everyone using XP beyond this date will no longer be able to receive security updates from Microsoft, which will turn Windows XP into a liability.

Despite the fact that Windows XP is a dozen years old and sunsets in under five months, it is still widely used by millions of users and claims a 21% market share. Rest assured, the hackers are gearing up for an all-out assault on XP users this spring.

Security reports from the Malicious Software Removal Tool and Microsoft’s free Security Essential program (which scans 400 million Outlook.com accounts and millions of Office 365 accounts), reveals that XP is by far the most infection-prone operating system.

Here are the latest infection rates (the number of infected computers for every 1,000 systems scanned) broken down by OS that contained malware.

Windows XP SP3:
9.1 per 1000 scanned.
Windows Vista SP2:
5.5 per 1000 scanned.
Windows 7 SP1:
4.9 per 1000 scanned.
Windows 8:
1.6 per 1000 scanned.

The data show that Windows XP is almost twice as likely to get an infection compared to Windows 7, and it is six times more likely to be hit with malware than Windows 8. Those figures should prompt even the most ardent XP user to start planning for an upgrade.

It is important to remember that malware is written to attack any system it encounters, and we can see that, by looking at the malware encounter rate from these same security reports, the percentages of computers having encounters with malware is fairly even across the different operating systems.

Windows XP SP3: 16.3%
Windows Vista SP2: 16.5%
Windows 7 SP1: 19.1%
Windows 8 RIM: 12.4%

This report shows that using the latest operating system, such as Windows 7 or Windows 8, is the safest.

Researchers provide a technical explanation as to why newer Windows operating systems have better security: “Microsoft has steadily incorporated defensive technologies into Windows with each new version. The only major technology XP had was Data Execution Prevention (DEP), and even the implementation of that has improved greatly in subsequent versions.”

It is human nature to put off a large upgrade project, especially for a small business where budgets are tight.

Part of our service includes a comprehensive evaluation of your systems and network, with the goal of providing you a report showing which machines on your network are vulnerable, which can be upgraded, and which should be replaced.

We use automated tools for much of this process, so we’re able to offer this service to clients, and prospective clients, at a markedly reduced consulting fee. Please call the office at (734) 457-5000 to schedule your appointment.

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Online Banking: Safety And Security Precautions

January 17, 2014

by Jeremy Miller, Technician
There are many avenues of attack when banking online safely. Many people simply use a computer that is attached to the Internet with little to no precautions at all. Some bank online even if they know there are issues with their computer or virus infections on their computer.

I will cover three levels of precaution that you can take to ensure your online banking information stays secure: simple, advanced, and paranoid. As the level of precaution increases, it will be more time consuming and difficult but worth it if you want to keep your online banking experience safe and secure.

Simple Precautions
To keep your information secure you must make sure that your computer is fully up-to-date with all Windows Updates and other software patches. Software vendors like Microsoft release security patches regularly to close exposed security holes in their software. Without patching hackers can use known-vulnerabilities to attack your computer.

Next you must make sure that you have anti-virus software installed and it is up-to-date with the latest virus definitions. You must also have your anti-virus run scans regularly to make sure the computer is clean of any known infections.

You should always look in the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) bar to make sure the web address you are accessing is the correct one. Also make sure that the first five characters are HTTPS.

This will ensure that your traffic is encrypted, which will make your entire web traffic look like gibberish. If your first characters are only HTTP and not HTTPS then hackers would be able to read your password in plain text.

Lastly, you must only do online banking from trusted-networks like your home network or in some cases your work network. Anyone else attached to your network has the possibility to access your bank information if they have the know-how.

To be sure you are on a secure network, you should not use online banking from public or free networks that anyone can access. When you do this you ensure that only you and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can view your online traffic.

This will also protect you from man-in-the-middle attacks (MITM).These attacks are when a hacker is in between you and your target destination usually a router. Hackers using MITM attacks will be able to see all unencrypted traffic.

Advanced Precautions
You must ensure you are implementing all simple precautions, including a few more steps you can take to up your protection level.

Run a full virus scan before accessing your online bank account each time. Your system will be clear of known infections, plus it gives you significantly less risk of an infection since your last scan. A full scan looks at every file on your computer and checks it against a known virus database.

You can also configure Windows Firewall to prompt you before allowing traffic in or out of the computer, or you can install a software-firewall to scan your active Internet traffic.

The firewall will prompt you with pop-ups to ask if specific connections are allowed. This will allow you to approve or deny all traffic on your computer. Usually firewalls have different settings to allow you to choose the level of security this firewall will provide.

Paranoid Precautions
This is the most secure of the three and implements the previous precautions. It would be best to boot to a new operating system every time you need to access your online bank account. You need to know how to change your computers boot order and how to create a bootable USB drive or disk.

There are a number of free operating systems that you can load onto a disk or USB drive. WinPE will allow you to boot into a portable version of Windows. This will be a clean installation with no additional software installed.

You can also use the more widely available bootable Linux distributions as a clean bootable operating system to access your bank information. Ensure you are getting your distribution from a reputable vendor.

Most Linux distributions are free. Downloading a reputable vendor will ensure that there isn’t malicious software pre-loaded into the operating system.

If you are interested in enjoying a safer browser experience you can contact us and we can answer any questions or concerns as well as help you implement any of these precautions.

(Image Source: iCLIPART)

HIPAA Risk Analysis And Assessment

January 17, 2014

by Michael Menor, Network Technician
The phrases “risk analysis” and “risk assessment” are becoming incredibly commonplace today. They’re littering the blogosphere, popping up in advertisements by newly-announced, so-called experts and being “webinar-ed” to death.

In reality, most people promoting these phrases don’t know what they’re talking about. They don’t know what they’re talking about, I’ve come to discover, because most people don’t understand what risk itself means.

Understand Risk To Conduct Analysis
In today’s increasingly more privacy- and security-minded world, and especially in healthcare, the state of risk management of information is a mess!

This problem comes about for many reasons, including but not limited to the following:

There is little agreement on standard terminology, approach and tools. Key risk-related terms such as assets, threats, vulnerabilities, controls, likelihood and impact are misused and sometimes used interchangeably. One does not find these terms in many other professions. All physicists know what velocity, acceleration, mass, energy, etc. mean. All accountants agree to definitions of basic terms such as debits, credits, balance sheets, assets, liabilities, etc.

Many so-called “experts,” some recently-minted and/or self-proclaimed as such, don’t understand basic risk fundamentals.

Most individuals do not understand that you simply can’t observe risk and that risk is a derived value.

You simply cannot begin to conduct a bona fide risk analysis if you don’t understand what risk is and what risk is not.

There is huge inefficiency and ineffectiveness in protecting the privacy and security of Protected Health Information (PHI) and electronic PHI (ePHI).
As of October 24, 2013 the PHI/ePHI of 26.9 million fellow Americans have been disclosed according to the HHS/OCR “Wall of Shame.” For example, laptops with unencrypted hard drives being stolen from Advocate Medical Group.

Actions To Take
First and foremost, organizations must understand some key, fundamental points about risk before they embark on completing a risk analysis. For example, I present you with five images and ask you to indicate the level of risk (high, medium, low, no risk) you observe in each image.

The images include a bald tire, the same bald tire turned into a tire swing in a backyard, a frayed rope tied to a beam, the tire swing in a tree perched over the edge of a cliff and, finally, a child swinging in the tire swing in a backyard.

What was the greatest amount of risk you observed? I would guess you “saw” high risk in more than one of the images! Some “saw” risk in all the images. 1) You cannot “see” risk; it must be evaluated; and, 2) In reality, there is no risk in any of these images.

Here’s what happens over and over again:

People make assumptions and make things up in risk analysis.

People don’t understand this fundamental truth about risk – you can’t have significant risk without the potential for significant loss or harm.

People tend to relate potential vulnerabilities (e.g., frayed rope, bald tire) with risk.

People forget that one must consider likelihood or probabilities of bad things happening and of impact or harm.

The most important actions organizations must take if they don’t understand risk are to “train up” and/or farm out the work to experts.

And they must remember these truths:

Risk can only possibly exist if three conditions are met: an asset like a laptop with ePHI, a threat to that asset (e.g., a thief may steal it) and a vulnerability (e.g., it is not encrypted) that may be exploited by that threat.

For any single asset (e.g., a laptop with PHI), there may be many different threats and many different vulnerabilities; therefore, there may be many risks to be identified, assigned a value and prioritized.

Controls may already have been implemented or may be implemented to mitigate the likelihood of a certain threat exploiting a certain vulnerability. Controls come in several forms, often categorized as administrative, physical or technical.

Risk has an impact or harm component.

When it comes to health information risk, the adverse impact or harm may come about if the confidentiality and/or the integrity and/or the availability of that information is compromised.

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