29
Dec, 2017
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11 Ways to Enhance Android Security

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It should come as no surprise that hackers are always trying to get ahead of security developers, just as it should be no surprise that these hackers often target the Android operating system. After all, the Android OS is used on mobile devices all over the world. If your business leverages these devices, there are quite a few security considerations you need to keep in mind.

Remember Security Basics
There are multiple ways to help your mobile security that take relatively little effort on your part. If you aren’t already in the habit, get used to locking your device whenever it isn’t in use. To unlock your device, you should require a PIN at the very least, and leverage biometric authentication whenever possible. This will help to keep your phone secured if it should be lost or stolen in public.

Use Google Play to Keep Your Devices Organized
Whenever you download an application from the Google Play Store, you are given the option to install the app on any device associated with your Google account. This list is also used to locate a misplaced device. You can help to make this easier by renaming your devices to differentiate between them more easily. Should you need to remove a device from your list, all you have to do is uncheck the box labelled Show in Menus.

Make Sure Your Trusted Devices are Updated
Every device you access your Google account with is automatically added to a list of trusted devices. You should make sure that this list only has devices on it that you know and trust. If there is a device that is unfamiliar on this list, you should remove it and change your password immediately. To check which devices have access to your Google account, visit https://myaccount.google.com/device-activity.

Finding a Lost Device
In the event that your device is misplaced, Google has a solution that you can leverage to find it more easily by taking a few proactive measures. First, open up your Android device’s Settings and find the Google option. From there, select Security and activate the Find My Device setting. While in settings, you should also confirm that your Location settings are activated so that Find My Device will work properly. You can even use the web version of Find My Device to make your lost device ring and help to find it.

Leverage Google’s Security Check
If you ever suspect that your Google account is vulnerable to access by unauthorized parties, the web giant provides a security checker that evaluates your preparations. This tool can be found here: https://myaccount.google.com/security-checkup.

Review the Passwords Saved to Smart Lock
One of Google’s features is a handy one, but could foreseeably create some difficulties in the future. Smart Lock will save the credentials you use to access different accounts with the device. However, you should periodically check and be sure that the passwords are properly updated to avoid issues when you try to access your saved accounts.

Connect with Caution
While it can be handy to connect an app to your Google account, this isn’t a permission you should grant willy-nilly. Some apps will only be needed once or twice, and others will become a tool you regularly use. If you no longer have use for an app, it is best that you remove it from your account. After all, the more connections your account has, the more vulnerable it is to attack. You can edit your account permissions by visiting https://myaccount.google.com/permissions.

Be Discerning When Downloading Apps
Even the Google Play Store can have a threatening application available, despite the best efforts to screen out such apps. As a result, you should be sure to only download applications from the Play Store, and even then, consider each app and its permissions before adding it to your device.

Leverage Android’s App-Scanning Capabilities
Android has a security scanning feature built in, eliminating the need to download a third-party app to accomplish the same thing. In Settings, access Security & Location. Under Google Play Protect, make sure that Scan device for security threats is selected. Your device will now periodically run automatic scans in the background for threats, only notifying you if an issue is discovered.

Reinforcing with Third-Party Apps
Despite the incorporation of Android’s security scanning capabilities, it may not hurt to add additional protections. A trusted IT provider will be able to recommend solutions that you can rely on to protect your devices.

Incorporating 2FA
2FA, or Two-Factor Authentication, is another excellent way to keep others from accessing your accounts. With a solution like Google Authenticator or many others, a single-use code will be generated that is a necessary credential along with your username and password. You’ll want to lean on your IT provider to ensure you have a trustworthy 2FA solution that meets a business’ needs.

If you want to learn more about mobile security, or any other IT topic, lean on the resources at NuTech Services. We’re available at 810.230.9455.

27
Dec, 2017
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Tip of the Week: Is OneNote or Evernote Better for Your Needs?

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The ability to take notes is invaluable to business, but the ability to take cohesive, well-organized notes is essential. Therefore, it is important to utilize a solution that enables you to do so. For this week’s tip, we’ll compare and contrast two note-taking applications — Microsoft OneNote and Evernote — to evaluate which will better serve your needs.

What OneNote Has To Offer
OneNote offers a fairly comprehensive suite of features to its user, offering a wider variety of tools than Evernote does. Depending on the platform you use, you can draw, record a quick audio or video clip, add images and spreadsheets, and share everything with other users — all in addition to the basic text-based note function.

The way it is set up, OneNote also enables the user to remain well-organized in a logical and sensible way, with the ability to create individual notebooks that are themselves able to be divided into sections and subsections, each divisible into pages. The many functions that OneNote allows are divided into a tabbed system similar to what can be found in the Office applications. This interface is most prominent in the Windows version, with similar (if less comprehensive) features in the Mac, iPad, iPhone, web, and Android versions.

OneNote’s major flaw lies in its web clipping function. When content is clipped from a webpage and added to OneNote, it is added as an image. As a result, links and videos and other similar content will not work, and you can’t copy and paste any content from the clipped webpage. It is also only available to users with a Microsoft account.

Finally, OneNote utilizes OneDrive to keep itself synced across all of your devices. Depending on what version of Office you use, your OneDrive storage space allotment will vary. There is also the option of purchasing additional storage space through various plans.

The Features of Evernote
Evernote offers the same basic functionality as OneNote, but there is still enough of a perceptible difference that the comparison between the two feels a little like comparing apples to oranges. While Evernote also allows the user to create notes and such from scratch, it has clear strengths in its capability to clip web content.

Rather than just taking a screenshot of the web page, Evernote provides a toolbar application that allows the user to capture content in a variety of different ways. A user can grab the article alone, without ads and extraneous content, or just the stripped-down text and graphics, sacrificing the original formatting. Evernote also accepts the full page, a working bookmark to that page, and yes, a screenshot of a particular page.

The clipper also allows you to add tags, as well as notes by adding text, highlighting what’s there, drawing on it or adding arrows, and more. Plus, the only element to a captured page that isn’t live and editable are things like videos. However, clicking on the video in Evernote will take you to the original page where it can be viewed.

Evernote shows some significant changes between its versions for Windows and Apple devices, making the Apple device versions a little trickier to navigate than the lists that the Windows version showcases. The web and mobile versions have a shortcuts feature that enables the user to save a quick link to a particular note in a special favorites menu.

Evernote comes in a limited, trimmed-down free version, as well as in various subscription models for differing price points and data caps.

Why Not Both?
Clearly, both OneNote and Evernote have their specific strengths, which translate into improved capabilities for certain tasks. As a result, it may best suit your needs to have a version of each, which is made easier if you only require the free version of one or the other. You may want to use Evernote to compile research for a given project, and OneNote to map out the project and take notes for reference.

One thing to keep in mind, although both systems are relatively secure, business owners will want to make sure employees aren’t storing sensitive company information on their own personal OneNote or Evernote accounts. Both services offer business/enterprise versions that let you manage and control your data.

Whichever approach you take, NuTech Services is here to help. Call us at 810.230.9455 for more information, and be sure to subscribe to this blog for more tips every week!

25
Dec, 2017
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Technology Has Influenced a Few Holiday Traditions

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Everyone has their own holiday traditions, and Christmastime is no exception. Some might stick to more traditional roots, while others focus on more contemporary trends to create a Christmas culture that changes with each passing year. Many of these newer traditions have been molded from modern technology solutions, so let’s celebrate both new and old holiday traditions by looking at how technology has changed them.

Holiday Cards
Today’s technology has largely replaced physical holiday cards sent over postal. Social media is one trend that makes it easier to stay connected than ever before, allowing you to keep friends and relatives up-to-date on the major happenings. The annual occurrence of a holiday card is less important due to this, and younger generations simply prefer to communicate online than physically or in-person, making snail mail a moot point.

Automation
The holidays are stressful. There’s no getting around that fact. You need to properly prepare for the celebrations, as well as organize any get togethers that your family hosts. Of course, real life doesn’t just disappear during the holidays, so you’re essentially trying to juggle additional responsibilities on top of others. Technology helps you automate tasks so that you can get more done during the workday. Some tasks, like grocery shopping and even paying bills, can be automated to an extent, allowing you to spend more time preparing for the holidays.

Shopping
Nowadays, retail and commercialism are a part of the holiday season. Gift-giving is a deep-seated tradition that makes people feel good about themselves. With the advent of online shopping, shoppers are capable of finding gifts without going to the physical location of a retailer, allowing for less travel and fewer headaches, while overall, providing a larger variety of available goods and services.

Stores are even taking matters into their own hands, allowing for a better consumer experience as a whole. Online price tracking lets users find the best deals in any store, and smart shelves can be used to find out if an item is even available in the first place. Near-field communication, or NFC, can be used to help shoppers finish their transactions in the most convenient way possible.

Online shopping is flourishing, and the holiday season is when it’s most successful. There are even browser plugins that help shoppers locate the best deals around. Discount codes are used as an incentive to get online shoppers to double-down on their purchases, and retailers introduce countless other bargains and sales to make the holiday season “the most profitable time of the year.”

What are some of the other ways technology has affected the holiday season? Let us know in the comments. All of us at NuTech Services wish you a happy holiday season and a wonderful new year.

22
Dec, 2017
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Amazon Has Taken Over the Cloud

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Amazon Web Services, or AWS, has long been a provider of quality web-based applications and services for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Nowadays, AWS is providing more services than ever before for the business world with more offerings regarding video creation, augmented reality, and virtual reality. With these new cloud-based services, Amazon is hoping to take advantage of a new market for emerging technologies.

Amazon’s Elemental Media Services introduced five new solutions that allow users to implement workflows to produce high-quality video content. The idea is to give users of AWS the capability to build custom video infrastructures to deliver content to viewers. Users can even build out custom video applications that only use technology resources paid for. This comes at a time when it’s much more efficient and cost-effective to hire outward for managing and maintaining a video delivery system, which allows for more flexibility.

Until recently, companies were spending most of their time and resources ensuring that the infrastructure they build works in an efficient way. In other words, they were more focused on the operations aspect of managing an infrastructure rather than the quality of the content produced. Amazon Web Services users can now outsource the management and maintenance of their video content infrastructure so they can focus on creating content that outshines the competition.

Some of the notable features of AWS’s new service include:

  • AWS Elemental MediaConvert: Formatting and compressing videos for distribution to devices
  • AWS Elemental MediaLive: Encoding for live broadcasts on televisions or connected devices
  • AWS Elemental MediaStore: Delivery of video from high-quality storage
  • AWS Elemental MediaPackage: Prepare and protect live video streams
  • AWS Elemental MediaTailor: Insert targeted advertising into media without compromising on quality

All of the above services will be compatible with other Amazon Web Services applications, so it’s worth considering for the deployment of a video infrastructure, even for small businesses who are on a budget.

Other new services offered by Amazon Web Services include Sumerian, which is AWS’s augmented reality and virtual reality development platform. Users can build out environments using 3D applications for multiple platforms, including some of the most well-known VR and AR technologies like Oculus. You can also import assets to edit 3D scenes, as well as using your own created imports or the pre-installed library of objects.

How do you see these new Amazon Web Services changing the way that your business functions, if at all? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to our blog.

20
Dec, 2017
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Tip of the Week: Sync Your Inboxes with IMAP

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How many emails do you send on a daily basis? You use it so frequently that you might not second-guess how it actually works. Depending on the way your business uses email, you might be able to optimize the way that it works for your mobile devices. There are two types of protocol that work to varying degrees for your email solution.

The first kind of email protocol is called POP, or Post Office Protocol. This can be seen in a similar way to snail mail. POP works by downloading messages to your device from the mail server through your email client. However, this keeps you from downloading the messages onto other devices. If you want to check your email on your smartphone, the same messages will not be accessible on your desktop–it’s just the way it works.

On the other hand, you have the preferred method of handling multi-device email: IMAP, or Internet Message Access Protocol. IMAP stores the messages live on an email server rather than downloading them directly to the devices. This means that the messages remain on the email server and are accessed by a mail client on any device you use. Any actions performed on the messages are done so through the mail server. This is the best way to use email if you’re hoping to keep your messages in sync across your devices.

Modern email systems generally allow for IMAP, including Google’s Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, and Mozilla’s Thunderbird. Some, like Apple’s iCloud, even default to it. Depending on your business’ needs, you’ll want to implement a communications solution that allows your team to access email on a multitude of devices–that’s where we come in.

If your business is unfamiliar with mobile devices, NuTech Services can work with your organization to ensure that your mobile device policy matches up properly with your email client. You want to ensure that any devices accessing company information are secured from end to end. Furthermore, these devices need access to information unimpeded so that productivity can commence. We can work with your organization to make this happen.

To learn more about email, mobile devices, and business technology for a modern workforce, reach out to NuTech Services at 810.230.9455.

18
Dec, 2017
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Does Credit Card Theft Mean Identity Theft?

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Almost anyone would consider having their credit card stolen a major problem, but while it may technically constitute identity theft, identity theft itself can be any number of things. Today, we go over the difference between credit card theft and identity theft and what you can do to keep your staff, clients, and vendors safe.

Defining the Crimes
The first thing you have to know is that credit card theft and identity theft are not mutually exclusive, but while credit card theft is identity theft, identity theft obviously isn’t credit card theft. Credit card theft is when someone has stolen your credit card information and is able to use that information to purchase goods, services, or dispense money.

Identity theft, however is a blanket term that covers these three situations:

Fraud or misuse of an existing account — With 16.4 million of 2014’s 17.6 million victims being targeted by this variety of identity theft, this is easily the most prevalent form of identity theft. This is defined by situation where a party gains access to an account without the account holder’s authorization and uses its credentials to benefit them in some way.

Fraud or misuse of a new account — Opening a new account in another party’s name. This type of fraud can happen all over, and can range anywhere from opening a consumer benefits account, to opening a line of credit or a checking account, to buying property. This type of fraud was reported about 1.1 million times in 2014.

Fraud or misuse of personal information — All other uses of stolen personal information added up to a relatively paltry 713,000 reported cases. This is mainly when someone uses your identity to gain a benefit they couldn’t have otherwise. You see this used mostly to find employment, rent property, see a doctor, or lie to the authorities.

Protecting Yourself
As a business owner, you are responsible for the data people have entrusted with your. By knowing what to do to protect your own data, you’ll know how to approach securing the clients, employees, and vendors personal data you hold on file. Make sure to have a strong firewall on your network to keep unwanted intruders out, and antivirus and spam blocking solutions to eliminate threats when they do get past your defenses. Also, consider learning today’s best practices to ensure you are always in the right position to keep your identity secure. Here is a resource from the University of Pittsburgh to help you.

For more information about identity theft and network security, visit our blog regularly.

15
Dec, 2017
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VoIP Delivers Benefits That a Traditional Phone System Can’t

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Communication is a critical part of your business’ operations, but how can you ensure that you’re not holding your business back by failing to consider modern solutions to age-old problems? While your telephone system likely gets the job done, you shouldn’t let complacency keep you from striving for improvement. For telephony solutions, you can consider leaving behind your service provider and investing in a digital solution called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

Traditional telephone solutions rely on telephone lines being installed throughout your office. If you are privy to the finer details of this particular process, you know that it can take quite a while to fine-tune your infrastructure to best suit your organization’s needs. Depending on the number of users, each handset needs to be hooked up to your organization’s phone infrastructure. This makes adding new users quite a pain, as you may need to move your office around in order to accommodate such growth. Furthermore, you may find that you don’t use all of the services provided by your telephone service provider. Many providers bundle together services, like television or Internet, without giving users the option to section off exactly what type of service they want. This means that you’re ultimately paying for services that you don’t want or need, which is a considerable waste of resources on your part.

Thankfully, VoIP improves the communications conversation. VoIP allows your organization to take advantage of more flexible telephony solutions by using your Internet connection to transmit and receive calls. It works in much the same way as your traditional phone solution, but with less reliance on your physical infrastructure itself. While you can acquire physical handsets for your employees’ desks, the main draw of VoIP comes from the fact that you can use the application in any way you see fit, whether it’s on your smartphone or your desktop.

Imagine being able to take your workplace phone number on the go so that you won’t miss a thing; or being able to dodge extra costs for long-distance calls. Imagine ditching the expensive services that you’re forced to pay for, like cable television, when all you use is your Internet and phone. By implementing VoIP, you’re eliminating unnecessary expenses that would otherwise place restrictions on your ability to effectively communicate and afford the comprehensive solution your business inevitably needs. With NuTech Servicess VoIP solution it’s easy to add user accounts, and since you’re using your Internet connection instead of telephone wires, you’re saving quite a lot of money that could be better utilized if spent elsewhere.

Of course, you still have to be wary of your bandwidth, as you’ll be putting additional strain on your business’ Internet connection in order to use VoIP, but this is only a minor hurdle that a managed IT provider like NuTech Services can help you work through. To learn more about VoIP, call us today at 810.230.9455.

13
Dec, 2017
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Tip of the Week: Would Remote Workers Benefit Your Business?

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If you allow your workforce to work remotely, your business can flourish under the right conditions. You still need to think about the risks associated with it, though. If you’re not careful about your remote work strategy, it could blow up in your face. Here are some of the ways you can minimize the risk of remote workers.

The Benefits of Remote Work
Have you ever stopped to consider that a lot of your budget is spent paying for rent and other utilities, like heat, power, and air conditioning? These are some of the major costs associated with operations. You need to pay for these services in order to actually make a profit for your organization. However, if you downsize your office space and eliminate unnecessary expenses, you can take advantage of new opportunities. You also provide your employees with more flexibility so that they can work how they want. Thanks to this flexibility, you can provide your workers with benefits that they may not be able to find elsewhere. That’s not even mentioning that you can hire anyone from anywhere, eliminating geographical barriers for good for any new hires.

A good example to consider is how a remote working plan could help parents with young children. They need to work, but it’s also important for them to spend time with their new family. A flexible schedule is the ideal way for a parent to keep their work schedule while taking care of their kids, allowing them to be there when it’s needed. The freedom and flexibility associated with remote working can help you retain employees, as it costs more to hire new employees than keep current ones.

The Downsides
The freedom and flexibility that comes from remote working can also be a major issue. What if the worker decides to just throw away the workday on chores or television instead of doing their work? These types of distractions don’t exist in the office environment, but they might prove to be too irresistible to the remote worker. Plus, remote employees have been known to suffer from reduced communication and interaction skills with their coworkers, which can limit productivity and morale.

Correcting the Downsides
To keep remote workers from holding your business back, you should focus on hiring only remote workers that have strong communication skills and use them to foster a sense of connection during the on-the-job training stage. You should periodically check in with your remote workers to ensure that they are working properly and to remind them that they are an important part of your workplace. Make sure that they feel valued and develop camaraderie. However, there is a fine line that you don’t want to cross here, as a misstep could lead to micromanagement.

Having the technology to ensure your workers can collaborate is a crucial step toward making sure your business is ready for this development. Technology can reduce the gap between your in-house and remote workers to create a great workplace for your entire staff. To learn more about remote workers and managing them effectively, reach out to NuTech Services at 810.230.9455.

11
Dec, 2017
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Net Neutrality Still Needs Your Help!

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December 14th is the last day that our government representatives can vote whether or not to continue the Internet’s protection under the net neutrality rules established in 2015. Without these rules in place, your data can be analyzed by your Internet service provider, and they are free to act on that knowledge and manipulate your Internet in support of their own interests.

From the beginning of our democracy, there are a few basic freedoms that all citizens have been given through the First Amendment to our Constitution: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. Rolling back net neutrality rules would allow your Internet service provider to analyze your web activity and adjust what you are able to access to support their agenda–or more realistically, that of the highest bidder–infringing on those rights in order to make themselves a bigger profit.

We recently discussed this in more depth in a post entitled Net Neutrality: Everything Business Owners Need to Know. Make sure you give it a read for more context into this issue.

How this Affects You
Small and medium-size businesses have enough competition to deal with from large corporations as it is. Without these rules, however, ISPs could essentially allow large corporations to pay for prioritization, making their website’s user experience better than yours, encouraging users to go to them instead.

Your competitors could literally pay your service provider to give you an inferior service, slowly sending you out of business.

On a wider scale, the removal of these rules would also allow ISPs to deny access to any website whose agenda wasn’t in line with their own, censor content that they didn’t agree with, or block visitors from accessing a website belonging to a protesting labor union–all of which happened before the net neutrality rules were put in place, and will happen again if they are rolled back.

What You Can Do to Help
Regardless of your industry, this will affect you as a small- or medium-sized business owner. The time to act is now. Visit www.battleforthenet.com to contact your representative today and tell them to stop the FCC from doing considerable harm to the free and open Internet. Send an email, call their offices, make sure they know how opposed you–their constituent–are to this transparent attempt by the telecoms to abuse the Internet for profit.

11
Dec, 2017
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Which Approach Puts Your IT in a Better Position?

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Technology management is one of the major issues that challenge small businesses. Do you know the various strengths and weaknesses of having an in-house IT department versus an outsourced IT provider? As a managed service provider ourselves, we’re in a unique position to help your business make an educated decision about the future of its IT management.

In-House IT Management
If your business is fortunate enough to have its own in-house IT department, you know what it to get the right people for the job you need to painstakingly assess all applicants. Since, your business’s in-house team will always be at your disposal, your technicians have to be chosen with the applicable know-how to mitigate the technology troubles your organization will most frequently come across.

On the other hand, small and medium-sized businesses are known to have some troubles, even when working with an in-house IT department. Training new team members can be tricky, time consuming, and expensive, especially if your business has complex technologies that need to have dedicated management. Once these technicians are trained to cover the bases your business technology demands, they will only get more expensive; so seeing a substantial return your investment may not be possible.

Managed/Outsourced IT
Outsourced IT provides one of the most sought after assets for a business: predictable technology costs. When you hire a managed service provider, your business will always be using maintained and monitored technology, where issues are solved remotely for a flat monthly fee. An MSP generally stays updated on the latest findings and technologies in the industry, making them more well-rounded technicians than those that are simply concerned with the workings of your business’ current technology. It’s actually much more affordable as well, as you’re only adding one payment to your budget compared to the multiple salaries that would be assaulting payroll for an internal IT department.

The only issue that you’ll encounter with a managed service provider is letting go of the reigns a bit and trusting someone else with control over your business’s IT. Therefore, trust is something that is absolutely crucial if you choose to outsource your IT management.

NuTech Services wants your business to benefit from outsourced IT solutions. To find out what we can do for you, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

8
Dec, 2017
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5 Security Analogies to Help You Better Understand Hacking

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How often do you read a blog article about network security only to be blown away by all of the overly complicated and confusing jargon of the industry? We know that it’s not necessarily your specialty, but it’s still important that you understand how network security works for your organization. While the complicated details should be left to IT professionals, we can help you better understand the general idea of security by comparing it to a locked door.

Brute Force Attacks
Let’s say that a robber wants to break into your home. He will try to go through a door, but he might not have the keys required to get in. In this case, he will have to use everything at his disposal to get in. He might try to kick the door down or smash a window. In other words, he’s getting into your house by brute force.

Brute force in computing can consist of a hacker trying to use as many passwords as possible in a short period of time to get in. There are programs that can randomly generate countless passwords in seconds, making this method of attack quite devastating when it’s effective.

Social Engineering
Let’s say that you have a new neighbor on your street. They ask you over for dinner and you get to know them. You feel like you are getting along with them quite well–well enough to trust them to water your plants while you’re out of the state on vacation for a few weeks. You give them a key, but when you come home, all of the plants are dead and you’re missing some furniture or technology. Yup, they’ve robbed you–you’re sure of it.

Social engineering takes a calculated approach to hacking and data theft. Hackers will make personalized attempts to steal your passwords and information by taking on the identity of someone you think you can trust with this information, like an “old friend” or “your elderly grandmother.”

Security Exploits
Robbers may try to find weak points in your front door. Maybe the door doesn’t quite lock all the way due to a defect in the manufacturing process. In this case, the robber may research what the weak points of the door are so that they can know the best and most efficient way of getting past your defenses.

Security exploits are weaknesses in software on your computer that allow hackers to sneak into your system and get into all sorts of trouble. These can range from weaknesses in the way that sensitive information is handled, to particular lines of code that create problems for your organization. Ultimately, it only takes a single crack in your defenses–a security exploit–to allow a hacker into your infrastructure.

Trojan Horse
Someone might knock on your door and tell you that something within your household is in need of repair. Maybe they know that you have a leaky faucet that needs to be addressed, or they know that you have some concerns about your furnace. They are then invited into your home and go about their business. You may then notice that you’re missing important items afterward, hinting that the off-the-street good Samaritan was, in reality, a scammer.

Trojans work like this in many ways. Just like the Greek horse of old, a Trojan sneaks onto your system and plants a backdoor, allowing for secret re-entry at a later date. Often times, a Trojan will use a larger data breach to mask its presence, and then continue to steal information in small doses as time goes on.

Two-Factor Authentication
Two locks are better than one in most circumstances. For example, you can have one lock on the doorknob and another on the deadbolt, which keeps the door fastened in place even if the door is forced open near the doorknob. Basically, having two types of locks makes it twice as hard to get to anything of value.

Two-factor authentication can be used to provide this secondary credential to your digital assets, including online accounts or network logins. A secondary code can be sent to an email address or mobile device, which allows your employees to access important information only when both of these are present.

Does your organization need help with network security? NuTech Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

6
Dec, 2017
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Tip of the Week: Saving a Windows Product Key to a Microsoft Account

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To activate Windows 10, every user will need a product key. Every legitimate version of the software has one, but often times, users will need the product key later down the road, only to find that they’ve lost it or tossed it. For this week’s tip, we’ll describe a way to link your software’s product key to a Microsoft account so that you’ll never lose it again.

Step One: Get a Microsoft Account
In order to link your Windows 10 product key to your Microsoft account, you’ll have to have a Microsoft account. If you don’t have an account under the Microsoft umbrella (hotmail, live, outlook, etc.) and depend on another platform such as Google or Apple, have your IT administrator set up a Microsoft account for you. This way you can know you have an authorized account that is ready to go.

Step Two: Link the Product Key to Your Account
Now that you have a Microsoft account that is authorized by your organization’s IT administrator, you can log in and navigate to Settings in the Windows 10 Start Menu. Click on Update & Security, and then on Activation.

The Activation page will read “Windows is activated with a digital license”. If it doesn’t, you can stop because your product key doesn’t enable you to digitize your license and you won’t be able to link your Microsoft account with Windows 10. If this happens to you it is important that you keep your Windows 10 product key on file.

If you have a digital license, you then have to change your type of account to successfully link your Windows 10 product key to your Microsoft account. To do this, open Settings and then click on Accounts. You will then click on Your Info. Find the hyperlink on the page that reads “Sign in with a Microsoft account instead” and click on that.

You will then sign in using your Microsoft account using your username and password and click the Sign In button at the bottom of the screen. Enter your Windows password if it is different, otherwise click Next and it will ask you to Set up a PIN. If you don’t want to set up a PIN, you can click on the “Skip this step” hyperlink on the left side of the box.

Step Three: Verification
To check to see if this process has been successful, open your Settings, click on Update & Security, click on Activation, and you will see “Windows is activated with a digital license linked to your Microsoft Account” under the Activation subheading in the main box under Windows.

To protect your software and yourself, knowing the best practices of software management is important. If you would like to know more great tips and tricks in Windows 10, visit our blog regularly.

5
Dec, 2017
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Net Neutrality: Everything Business Owners Need to Know [VIDEO]

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There has been a lot of buzz about the term net neutrality in the news, on social media, and around the water cooler lately. The FCC is preparing to end net neutrality on December 14th, 2017, and it’s causing a major stir. From activist groups encouraging people to call congress with their concerns, to headlines exclaiming that the Internet as we know it is dying, there is a lot to sift through to really understand what the stakes are. Our goal is to make sense of net neutrality without the sensationalism, and explain how it can affect small business owners.

Click here to skip ahead if you want to take part in saving net neutrality right away.

What Is Net Neutrality?

Plain and simple, net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) need to treat all data on the Internet the same. Regardless of how you connect to the internet, your provider isn’t allowed to prioritize certain types of content, websites, or online services for you. This also means they can’t decide to limit or restrict certain types of content.

For example, let’s say your internet provider also has their own on-demand video streaming service. They would much rather you use theirs instead of Hulu or Netflix, so they could put limitations on how much Netflix you could watch (or block it entirely) to try to encourage you to use their service. Since most Americans have very limited options when it comes to choosing an internet service provider, this really leaves us helpless when it comes to what content we can consume.

A lot of people are using similar examples like this to explain net neutrality, but as much as it would be undesirable for your favorite video streaming service to become harder to access, life goes on, right? There is a whole other side to consider…

The Internet Isn’t Just About Consuming Content for Entertainment

This Netflix example is just scratching the surface. The same problem could happen more frequently at smaller scales. It’s not just entertainment and media that could get prioritized, but any and all web content. Social media, search engines, ecommerce and banking, and small businesses who rely on their online presence could eventually see an effect from this.

If your business relies on online traffic to generate leads, abandoning net neutrality means that your internet service provider could make it harder or impossible for some customers to get to your website. Your ISP could prioritize and otherwise interfere with traffic simply because they have partnerships or get paid by businesses who compete with you. This may sound a little extreme, but it has already happened:

Real World Examples of What Net Neutrality Protects Us From

In 2010, DSL provider Windstream Communications admitted to hijacking search queries made using the Google toolbar within Firefox. Users thought they were searching on Google, but instead were delivered results through Windstream’s own search portal.

We’ve also seen cases where service providers were blocking other services on their network to attempt to get users to use their own:

Between 2011 and 2014, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon blocked Google Wallet, a mobile payment system, which competed with Isis, a competing mobile payment system that the three carriers each had a stake in developing.

Over the last decade or so, other cases have come up where ISPs had blocked various VoIP services, including Skype, Google Voice, and Vonage. The most notorious case was in 2012, where AT&T announced that it would disable FaceTime, a video messaging app on iPhones, unless subscribers paid additional fees.

While many of these earlier cases happened before net neutrality rules were officially in place, net neutrality enforces ISPs to keep the Internet open and transparent. The net neutrality rules were a result of these cases.

The Argument Against Net Neutrality

Myth: Net Neutrality Hurts Small Businesses
Although the argument for net neutrality is pretty simple–keep the Internet open, the argument against it is a little more complex. FCC chairman Ajit Pai (who formerly worked for Verizon) claims the rules are “heavy handed” and “all about politics.” His argument states that small internet providers were hurt by regulations. Net neutrality does prevent Internet service providers from charging more or less for different tiers of internet, capitalizing on advertising revenue and partnerships by redirecting traffic, and throttling competing services, but it also prevents smaller businesses from being excluded from a fair, open online ecosystem.

Myth: Net Neutrality is the Government Regulating the Internet
Another argument against net neutrality is that regulation always gets in the way of progress. However, the net neutrality rules aren’t crafted to regulate the Internet and how consumers use it, instead it regulates how it is delivered and how the businesses that deliver it can manipulate it. Imagine UPS prioritizing your deliveries based on the brands you buy or the stores you buy from. You’ll make decisions on what to buy and where to buy from if you knew you could get it faster. Next, imagine ordering a Samsung phone, but UPS has a partnership with Apple and swaps out your new device with an iPhone before it gets to your house. It sounds silly when put that way, but this is exactly what we’re fighting to prevent.

Myth: Tiered, Lower Cost Internet Will Benefit Low-Income Households
One of the strongest arguments against net neutrality is that enabling ISPs to create tiered Internet packages will allow more users to get access to the Internet. This sounds like a very strong point–we want to give poorer families the same opportunities and resources. The idea of an ISP coming out with a cheap, barebones broadband service designed for households who simply can’t afford or struggle to afford current plans tugs at the emotions. However, limiting the open Internet can lead to limitations of the value of the Internet itself. If lower-income households were given access to an Internet without the same perks and resources, they still miss out. These families will inevitably choose Internet packages that limit the experience, and thus limit the amount of opportunity both economically and educationally they could have otherwise. Children growing up with a limited, restricted Internet might not be able to watch tutorials on YouTube, take free online courses for programming, or gain the skills to use the Internet to reach a wider audience through marketing and social media. They won’t even know the opportunities are there because the only Internet they know is the restricted, limited tier.

There are long-term ratifications to this that we simply can’t predict, but it’s clear that there is more to gain from an open Internet.

Abandoning Net Neutrality Stonewalls Content Creators and Small Business

Let’s go back to how abandoning net neutrality affects business owners. In the example above, where Internet Service Providers could start offering a cheaper, limited Internet tier, this potentially limits small business. If a percentage of your audience dials back their Internet tier to a plan that prioritizes the ISP’s partners and agenda, this could make it harder or impossible for those users to find and engage with you. The money that you put into online marketing won’t go as far, or even have an effect on these users. Smaller businesses and content creators might not have the resources to get past all of the barriers when reaching deals with carriers to have a fair shot at getting in front of customers.

As business owners, we already pay for full access to the Internet. We likely pay other companies for services beyond just Internet access – mobile data usage, email hosting, web hosting, online marketing, VoIP, cloud storage, and the list goes on. If telecoms and ISPs prioritize the delivery of the Internet to us and our audience, we all lose.

Let’s Save Net Neutrality Together

On December 14th, the FCC will vote to abandon Net Neutrality and Title II rules. Our only hope is if congress puts a stop to it. Many members of congress have come out against the plan to end net neutrality, but many are for ending it. We need to band together and speak out.

The best way to do this is by reaching out directly to members of Congress and telling them about your concerns. By writing and calling those who can save net neutrality, we’ll help them understand that we depend on an open, transparent Internet.

Fortunately, the people behind https://www.battleforthenet.com/ make this easy. You can compose an email to Congress from the homepage, and even dial Congress members to tell them that you are concerned with the impact that killing net neutrality will have on your business.

If we all work together on this, we can help preserve the open Internet. Please, we urge you to take a few minutes out of your day to go to https://www.battleforthenet.com/ and make your voice be heard.

4
Dec, 2017
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BDR Needs to Be a Business Priority

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Of any of your business implementations, a data backup and disaster recovery system is a serious contender for the most important. However, many neglect to prepare for a data loss event or disaster, which means they leave their business vulnerable to the ill effects of both. Protecting your business begins with a data backup and disaster recovery solution that prepares you for a worst-case scenario.

For a long time, tape backup was the preeminent form of data backup for business purposes. This process, storing a copy of your data on magnetic tape, is no longer sufficient for the modern business due to shortcomings that would only slow down your recovery efforts after a data loss event.

First of all, backing up on tape isn’t an automated process, so it falls to an employee to initiate the backup process when the workday is over. How likely is it that one of your employees will be focused on running a data backup at the end of a particularly long and stressful day? In addition to this, restoring from a tape is also a manual process. All it would take is a slight mistake, and poof–there goes your data.

Secondly, a tape backup doesn’t keep a full backup of your data in the first place, only saving changes that have taken place over the previous 24 hour period, technically even less. Tape backup is a resource-intensive process, and so can only be run once each day, typically after-hours. Therefore, you could lose a full day’s worth of data to a disaster.

Finally, the third reason that tape is considered outdated is the amount of time it takes to restore your backed-up data. If you needed to restore your data, the process could easily take hours–and that’s assuming that whatever event caused you to need to restore from your backup didn’t also damage your internal hardware infrastructure. This downtime will undoubtedly have a negative impact on your business, and can be avoided.

Instead of relying on tape, companies today leverage enterprise-level Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solutions from providers like NuTech Services. Utilizing the cloud, BDR takes data backups that are more complete and can be restored much more quickly, leading to decreased downtime. This is accomplished through ‘snapshot’ data backups, which updates any changes as often as every fifteen minutes. This means that any data that may be lost is minimized, offering your business improved protection from threats to your data.

If BDR sounds like the right choice for your business, reach out to NuTech Services at 810.230.9455.

1
Dec, 2017
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Is a Generation Gap Causing Workplace Issues?

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There are over 83 million millennials in the United States. That is one out of every four Americans; and, now the most populous generation of people in the U.S. are all of working age. It is not a surprise, then, to find out that there are more workers who were born between 1981 and 1997 in the United States than any other generation. Millions of new workers for the modern economy that continues to grow.

A problem has come to light, however: the workers they would typically replace aren’t finished just yet. For the modern worker there are fewer opportunities to save money, and as a result, people are working longer and longer. What happens when young workers clash with the workers who have been in the trenches for decades? What specific issues do they have trouble with? We’ll look at this phenomenon and try to identify ways your business can limit generational strife among workers.

The Millennial Mindset
While only a few can definitively say that their job was great before millennials came along and ruined it, there has been a major shift in the type of work that companies do; and, the way that work gets done. Moreover, there is a shift in the way that these new workers (millennials) look at their job’s role in their life. People can argue about the viability of it, or the justifications behind it, but “The Millennial Mindset” (as it is sometimes referred to) has grabbed the business world’s attention as millennial workers demand more from a business than any other generation of American workers in history.

The millennial mindset, to explain it simply, is one that embraces flexibility, innovation, connectivity, collaboration, and most of all, transparency. This can cause conflict with older workers who have been plugging away for decades and have a routine method to work. Both the millennial’s perceived lack of respect for traditional constructs, and excess of pride in their own abilities can often set the stage for conflict. Since millennials have spent their formative years surrounded by technology, they tend to take for granted that they’ll have access to it at all times. Other generations have adapted to the use of technology and, as a result, often avoid it whenever possible. While technology has allowed people near-ubiquitous access to information, simply having access doesn’t make people experts.

Millennials also seek flexibility with their time, tending to leverage technology into jobs that feature access to remote work and flexible schedules. Like many of the workers before them, they want to be mentored, but can often rebuff potential mentors. They often seek for quick promotion, or at the very least, demand say in how they approach their jobs. Those that find it difficult to have their ideas taken seriously, or that feel underappreciated at work, are willing to look for other opportunities and explore their options. Since the workplaces of today have changed, largely as a result of technology, it really isn’t all that surprising that the people most proficient in the use of this technology are in high demand.

What’s the Problem?
Generational conflicts are nothing new. Young people of every generation have always been seen as a problem in America; but, those young people age. As older people, they then take issue with the next new generation of young people. That’s not to say there aren’t major differences between this particular set of people, but by-in-large, people will always squabble with people younger than them because young people generally are far more ambitious and less interested in convention. As useful as it is, the current generational friction in the workplace has been exacerbated by business’ reliance on technology.

Older workers tend to take exception to the millennial’s “me first” attitude, even if that attitude is based in an optimistic view of the work they are doing. Generation X-age workers tend to understand the world the millennial comes from a little bit better than Baby Boomers do, but since, as a whole, Gen-Xers tend to view the world, and people’s motives, through skeptical eyes, their motivations are typically their own.

One of the major problems you will see among your workforce is a misunderstanding on how each generation communicates. In a study performed by Robert Half, managers were asked “In which one of the following areas do you see the greatest differences among your company’s employees who are from different generations?” The results:

  • “Communication skills” – 30%
  • “Adapting to change”- 26%
  • “Technical skills” – 23%
  • “Cross-departmental collaboration” – 14%
  • “None” – 7%

What Can You Do?
You’ll have to consider two major steps if you hope to get them on the same page. The first is simply understanding that no matter what generation a worker is from, they are all individuals that you are asking to work with others for a purpose. While older workers may respect you for looking at the bottom line when making decisions, younger workers may not as often, so leveraging the options you have at your disposal (pay increases, more time off, flex schedules, etc.) is always going to be a good strategy.

The second step is to follow a relatively simple four-step plan to get the most out of all of your workers. The four steps are as follows:

  1. Identify to what generations workers belong – Baby boomers were born between 1946-64; Generation X 1965-1980; and millennials 1980-2000.
  2. Employ the talents and strengths for each set of workers – To resolve negative conflict you need to find positive attributes of each set of workers and ensure they are dispatched in a manner that makes it possible for them to succeed and stay positive.
  3. Try to enable each generation with alternative management style – If there is generational friction going on in your workplace, you may have to alter your management style to gain the respect and trust of your staff.
  4. Focus on the merits of each generation, not the stereotypes – It’s best to stay positive and focus on the strengths that each can bring to your team, rather than dwelling on negative attributes that cause the conflict in the first place.

By following these steps, you will prove to your staff that you are committed to understanding what exactly every person is after. Using these principles can also help you ascertain which among your staff is ready for more responsibility, and which members of your staff may just not be a good fit to keep your organization working productively.

What do you think about generational conflict in business? Do you consider it a major hurdle to success, or just a blip on the radar? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.