Best Practices Archives - NuTech Services LLC

Oct, 2022

Everything You Need to Know About Patch Tuesday

In the technology news sector, you’ve probably noticed a trend where Patch Tuesday makes headlines at least once a month. This is generally the day when Microsoft issues patches and security updates for its many different technologies, and it’s important for your IT department to know when Patch Tuesday falls each month.

Patch Tuesday Explained

Microsoft is perhaps the most high-profile software developer in the world, and with that kind of reputation comes many different technologies that must be maintained for countless people and organizations all over the world. However, no matter how big a deal Microsoft is, there will always be oversights and mistakes made, especially with complicated technology front and center.

This is why Patch Tuesday exists; it gives Microsoft one day a month dedicated to address performance issues and security risks associated with their products. Every month, the Microsoft Security Response Center issues information and updates using the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures numbers on their website. These updates typically cover all current Windows operating systems and products which have not yet met their end-of-life or those that are on an extended support contract.

Patch Tuesday is the second Tuesday of each month. Patches and updates are issued at 5:00 p.m. (UTC).

Why Is It Important?

When they are addressed in a routine fashion like this, IT workers for businesses that use Microsoft products can prepare to deploy these patches and updates accordingly. IT workers need to prepare blanket installations to the entire infrastructure, so an official date makes this much easier to pull off.

Hackers also find Patch Tuesday to be helpful, as they can look through Microsoft’s patches and updates for code that might give away hints about other potential vulnerabilities. In other words, they reverse-engineer patches to target individuals who have not yet implemented the patches and updates, thereby punishing them for not understanding the importance of them.

Why Should You Implement Patches and Updates?

Patches and updates are issued so regularly because your business has so much to lose if you don’t implement them. Patches and updates clean up potential security concerns with your software that could give hackers access to your infrastructure, and with how crafty hackers are these days, new vulnerabilities and bugs are found all the time.

Even Patch Tuesday is not an infallible solution, though, as there are often vulnerabilities that can go months or even years without being detected, simply because nobody is actively exploiting them. In cases like this, security researchers happen upon the bug or vulnerability and address it in the next updates. However, if they find one that is being actively exploited, you can safely bet that Microsoft will issue patches or updates more expediently.

Does patching your technology give you some anxiety? NuTech Services can help out with these tasks. To learn more about how we can help keep your technology safe and updated, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Oct, 2022

When Talking to an IT Service Provider, Ask These 3 Questions

There is an inherent value associated with outsourcing the management of your technology to a managed service provider, or MSP. With your team taking a more hands-off approach to technology, they can instead focus on being more productive. If you’re still on the fence about this approach to technology and business, then we have some questions you should consider asking if you are thinking about learning more about MSPs and what they do.

What Services Does Your MSP Offer?

It is important to know what services your MSP offers and what they do not offer. This helps you while you are making the decision about who to go with for your support needs. It can also help influence your decision down the road, as your business might grow and evolve over time to encompass goods or services which you might not see at the moment. For example, a growing business will likely want to take advantage of a cloud platform, including hosting and migration.

How Experienced Are Your MSP’s Technicians?

The level of expertise of your MSP’s staff will also factor into your decision-making. You want a team of seasoned and well-practiced technicians on your side, which will affect your company’s ability to resolve problems, streamline processes, and ensure optimal operations. Furthermore, you want MSPs who can take complex problems and distill them into easier-to-understand statements and language that you can share with management or your staff. When everyone can understand the problems and challenges at hand, they are more likely to be patient and resolve them effectively.

What is Your MSP’s Service Level Agreement?

An SLA is essentially what you can expect to receive from your managed service provider for their goods and services in exchange for your payment. It might include information on how much you pay them, what services they offer, and what kind of turnaround time you can expect for requests. It establishes the expectations you have for each other, in the most basic terms possible.

We Can Help You Today!

If you’re unsure if managed services are for you, then let NuTech Services help you make the choice. We can resolve any shortcomings in technology management that your company suffers from with our team of dedicated technicians.

If you do have an internal IT staff, they can benefit from you outsourcing some of their tasks to a managed service provider. This will help them stay on top of their workload and it can improve your operations.

To learn more about what NuTech Services and our managed services can do for your business, call us today at 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2022

Tip of the Week: Making Sure Your File Sharing Remains Secure

Nowadays, file sharing is so ubiquitous that most people in the office likely take it for granted. However, this is not a luxury that you have, as you need to ensure the file sharing that takes part is sufficiently secure—otherwise, you could find yourself in a tight spot. That’s why we want to devote this week’s tip to a few practical steps to making sure your files get where they’re going safely.

When Remote, Make Use of a VPN

When it comes to securing your data, a virtual private network—or VPN—is an indispensable asset. Public Wi-Fi is questionable at best in terms of security, potentially exposing users to threats and otherwise putting your data at risk. The VPN, however, provides an encrypted portal through which to transmit data to and from the office with minimal risk of it being intercepted on the way.

Prioritize Password Management

We could go on and on about the importance of secure passwords and acceptable password practices…the fact of the matter is that the only way to really be sure that your users are sticking to these policies is to make compliance the easiest option. A password manager is a key tool to doing so, as it securely stores passwords in a protected digital vault (out of a hacker’s reach) for your team’s convenience. Not only does it mean you and your team no longer need to come up with and remember the increasingly complicated passwords needed for security, it can also be used to help entire departments make use of shared accounts and thereby save you money. NuTech Services and our consultants are here to help you make the right choice for you.

Require Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Multi-factor authentication (sometimes called two-factor authentication, or 2FA) is a security step that puts more requirements on the user trying to prove their identity as a part of the login process. Rather than accepting the username-password combination, MFA uses any of three additional methods to verify the user is who they say they are:

Authentication through knowledge (Something you know) – This form of authentication requires the user to provide an additional password or PIN, presumably that only the user would know.
Authentication through possession (Something you have) – This method of authentication requires the user to have a key of some sort, either as a physical token or as a code sent to a specific mobile device.
Authentication through existence (Something you are) – This version of authentication relies on biometric data, often using thumbprint scans or voice recognition to confirm a user’s identity.

Requiring that your team members prove themselves in such a way can greatly enhance your data security, but you also need to be careful not to put too many hurdles in between your users and the work they need to do.

Manage Your File Sharing

Your file sharing is critically important to your collaborative processes, but without the proper security or the ability to integrate with your existing protections, it can quickly become a major liability. Various options are currently available, but you need to ensure that your selection fits into your comprehensive security strategy. Just consider a few features of a standard file sharing program that have heavy security connotations:

Emailing encrypted attachments
Sharing public or private cloud file links
Creating shared and collaborative folders accessible online, or via syncing information between spaces.

Control Access Permissions

This is one of the most effective means of securing your files. After all, if only so many people are able to access certain folders or files (or even file types), that’s a considerably smaller window for mistakes or abuse to take place. By establishing permissions based on department or even custom user groups, you can have much greater control over who can see what.

Staff Training

At the end of the day, it makes no difference how secure you’ve managed to make your file storage and overall business infrastructure if your staff members aren’t aware of how to use your technology in a way that preserves its security. Your staff is almost assuredly going to need some time to get acclimated to today’s hosted platforms, which means it benefits you to provide the training that will expedite this process. The more knowledgeable they are about practical business security, the more secure your files will ultimately be.

We’re no strangers to the needs that Michigan companies have of their IT, and we can help support it so it delivers the security and efficiency their success relies on. To learn more about any of the processes we will assist you with, including file sharing, give us a call at 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2022

Don’t Let Your Guard Down While You Travel

With so many workers constantly connected to screens and other technology, it is a good idea to disconnect every so often by taking a vacation somewhere. However, it’s not always this easy, especially for a business owner who is still minimally connected to the office even while technically on vacation. We’ve got a couple of tips for how you can make the most of your technology while on your vacation without putting your company at risk in the process.

Use Your Mobile Hotspot Over Public Wi-Fi

It is safer to use your smartphone as a mobile hotspot than using public wireless connections, and it is well worth paying a little bit extra. You’re not going anywhere without your phone, so it makes sense that you use your mobile hotspot to connect your laptop, tablet, or other device to it rather than use a potentially unsecured wireless network. As long as you have decent cell service, it’s guaranteed to work, unlike a public Wi-Fi connection.

Connect to Public Wi-Fi Only When Necessary

We think it’s safe enough to pull up directions or to look at your flight itinerary while using public Wi-Fi, but you should be a little more careful with checking your email, logging into your social media, or anything else involving sensitive information. The longer you remain on the network, the longer you are at risk of having your data stolen.

If you have a virtual private network, however, you can use that to create a secure connection for work-related information. Your business should be using one of these anyway, especially in the wake of a pandemic which forced countless employees to work remotely.

Be Careful of What You Share on Social Media

If people know you aren’t home, then who’s to say that they won’t try to break in? The automated outdoor lights are not going to be enough to stop someone who is intent on breaking and entering. It’s better to just not advertise online that your home will be empty for a week. We aren’t saying that you will be robbed while on your vacation, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

People could even come up with elaborate schemes to make your life more difficult, too. Imagine some hacker or scammer sees that you are on vacation for a couple of weeks, then uses your identity to get the help of a random Facebook friend with some nonsensical story about how you lost your wallet and need help getting home. When you consider how often accounts are hijacked, it’s not a stretch to think it could happen to you.

Make Sure Your Traveling Accounts are Secured

Traveling often means that you are creating new accounts, whether you are flying on an airline for the first time, using a ride-sharing service, staying at a hotel, or even something as simple as ordering food. Make sure that you aren’t getting too lax with your personal information, and ensure that you are always using complex, secure passwords for your accounts, stored in a password manager rather than your web browser. It can sometimes be easier to plan ahead so you don’t have to worry about it at the moment.

Let Us Take Care of Your Technology

If you are going on vacation, we hope you get as much rest and relaxation out of it as possible. The past couple of years have not been kind, and we could all use a break–especially now. Take some of the worrying out of your vacation by trusting your IT management to NuTech Services. We’ll make sure things run smoothly while you’re gone. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Jun, 2022

Securing Your Endpoints Can Help Thwart Cybersecurity Troubles

How many devices or points of access do you have for your business’ data infrastructure? Chances are it’s more than you think, at least at first glance. If you count up all the mobile devices, server units, workstations, laptops, and so on that have access to your network, you might suddenly realize how important it is to secure all of these endpoints, as any unsecured device could be a path forward for hackers.

What is an Endpoint?

In short, an endpoint is any device that interacts with your data infrastructure. Examples include smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, networking devices, servers, routers, and so on. Essentially, any device that has access to your infrastructure in any way can be considered an endpoint, so you must do what you can to make sure they are secured. Otherwise, you could be inadvertently putting your data at risk.

Considering the fact that many employees are still working remotely, and likely will for the foreseeable future, you must consider where and how your employees are accessing the data on your network. It doesn’t matter if the device is employee-owned or company-owned; it still needs to be secured, perhaps even at the infrastructure level.

What Can You Do to Protect Them?

We’ve put together a list of practices you can use to improve endpoint security for your organization’s infrastructure:

Implement enterprise-level security solutions including a firewall, antivirus, spam blocker, and content filter
Consider a zero-trust policy to ensure all users authenticate their identities before being granted access to data
Use a virtual private network to encrypt traffic into and out of your network
Consider permissions of all users on your network
Train your staff on how to identify potential attacks against your network
Back up your data just in case you need to restore it in the future
Secure devices that you don’t think need to be secured, like Internet of Things devices—perhaps even on their own network separate from your business’ operational connection

Get Us On Your Side!

If you need cybersecurity professionals to back up your endpoint security, we’ve got you covered. NuTech Services can help you implement any and all solutions you need to keep your business safe. With us on your side, you’ll know that your data is well-protected, no matter which device is accessing it.

To learn more about what we can do for your business, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

May, 2022

What is It that Impacts the Quality of Your Internet Connection?

For something as fundamental to a business’ processes as its Internet connectivity, it can be challenging to determine how reliable and fast your Internet connection is. We wanted to review the different factors that would impact the connectivity that your business gets.

What Impacts My Business Internet Speeds?

There are assorted influences that need to be considered to figure out the potential connection speeds you might achieve for your business:

The Infrastructure Connecting You to Your ISP

Regardless of your contract, your Internet speeds are going to be dependent to some degree on the infrastructure that is delivering them to your business. Cable and fiber-optic lines can deliver Internet at speeds that are far faster than what the antiquated DSL connection over the telephone network can.

How Far Away the Network Centralizer is from Your Business

Fast as data moves, it still takes a bit of time to make it from point A to point B. Therefore, the further away that the network centralizer is, the longer it will take for the transmitted data to reach your business and vice versa.

How Many Users and Devices are Connecting at Once

Naturally, when more people are getting a piece of the pie, the pieces are going to get smaller and smaller. The same goes for your Internet bandwidth. Each device that connects to the Internet impacts the availability and speeds available to the rest—the more there are, the slower the connection will be.

There is only so much that you can do to increase your business’ Internet speeds, short of shelling out more of your hard-earned dollars. We’re here to help you make up for the lost efficiency in other ways, through improved and optimized IT solutions.

Give us a call at 810.230.9455 to find out more.

May, 2022

Tip of the Week: How to Design Effective Recovery Strategies

In business, you need to be ready for anything, including potential disaster scenarios. Therefore, it stands to reason that you have a solid disaster recovery plan in place to help you address them should the need arise. We’ve outlined three disaster recovery best practices you should consider for your business continuity strategy, as well as some tips to help you implement them seamlessly into your own operations.

Figure Out What All Potential Threats Look Like

The first step toward figuring out your business’ continuity plan is to consider the types of disasters you will be facing. This means that you need to perform an analysis of all the potential threats your organization could face, no matter how unlikely they might seem. Granted, you should lend more credence to the most likely of disasters, but you can’t rule anything out. Otherwise, you could be ignoring a glaring hole in your plan.

Basically, we’re not telling you to plan for when an asteroid levels your office, but we are telling you to have a strategy in place to account for physical damage or power loss to your office. Your business continuity plan should be specific enough to address the most likely issues you’ll face, but flexible enough to account for other less likely incidents, too.

Determine Your Business’ Benchmarks

No matter the disaster, your organization will have critical data and systems that need to be recovered. It’s up to you to determine what they are and how you will prioritize them. This will help you when it comes to responding to these disasters.

What it boils down to is knowing your various systems’ maximum tolerable downtime, or MTD. This is how long a system can remain down before permanent damage is done to your business. Knowing this number gives you more flexibility and room for making important decisions in the event of a disaster. Your MTD can also help to inform your RTO and RPO, or your recovery time objective and recovery point objective, respectively. These metrics help you better prepare for a disaster by establishing how often a backup should be taken and how long it will take for you to restore said backup.

Test, Revise, and Test Your Plan Again

Your disaster recovery solution will only be successful if you have multiple people working in tandem to ensure that it happens regularly and effectively. Otherwise, if the disaster renders that one person responsible for the strategy unavailable, you’ll be left in dire straits. On the other side of things, the more people involved means more can get done, and the work is easier to achieve.

This is why it helps to have a hierarchy of people responsible for various parts of your plan; if one key person is unable to pull off the full plan, then at least certain other aspects of your continuity strategy will go off without a hitch. Furthermore, these processes should be written out to make them as accessible and easy-to-follow as possible.

After you have your business continuity plan mapped out, you should routinely test it to make sure that it works properly. This will help you in the event you actually need to use it, as you can be confident that the plan works as it should. It will also help you determine where weaknesses in your strategy lie.

Nobody Likes to Think About Business Disasters, But They Need to Be Anticipated

We have plenty of recommendations to provide for your business’ continuity plan, so be sure to reach out to us at 810.230.9455 for more information and tips!

Mar, 2022

How Proactive IT Management Works Better

How does your company manage its technology? Does it struggle with the idea of managing multiple workstations, server units, networking components, mobile devices, and more? If so, then read on—we have some tips to help you better manage the many different technological parts of your organization.

Keep in mind that this is general advice that can be applied to just about any company. If you want specific advice, we are happy to have a discussion with you with a network consultation!

Less Is More

The more complex an IT infrastructure gets, the more difficult it gets to manage. Therefore, in order to keep your infrastructure as easy to manage as possible, we recommend keeping things simple, or as simple as is appropriate for your business practices. The reason for this is that IT infrastructures with large amounts of varied software and hardware can be difficult to keep centralized and monitored without a dedicated technician to keep tabs on it.

Proactive is Better

If we asked you whether it is better to deal with problems that have derailed your productivity or to prevent them entirely and dodge that bullet, what would you say? Proactive maintenance is one of the most important parts of running any IT infrastructure. If problems persist and grow to be so bad that they cause downtime, then you are leaving money on the table and putting your business at risk. It’s better to just keep the issues from growing to become this bad in the first place.

Outsource When Necessary

We know that not all companies have access to the same talented group of IT technicians, and this lack of talent can often lead to businesses foregoing IT maintenance altogether or relying on existing resources that are not adequately trained or prepared to handle this responsibility. In situations like this, you can rely on outsourcing to an appropriate third party. Even if you have an in-house IT department, outsourcing can be a valuable investment to save your business

If you want to take the guesswork out of IT management, NuTech Services can help with that, too. Our trained technicians can provide all of the support you need to ensure maximum productivity and efficiency with your network and IT resources. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Mar, 2022

Tip of the Week: How to Stay Focused at Work

It can be difficult to stay focused in the workplace, especially with a litany of distractions at our fingertips at just about any point in the workday. What are some strategies you can use to keep your distractions to a minimum? We’ve outlined three great tips you can utilize to stay focused on the tasks at hand and be more productive with your time in the office.

Don’t Ignore Distractions

Have you ever tried to ignore something that is bothering you for a long period of time? Let’s say you are trying to write an email, but people keep barging into your office with all manner of issues to address. Sure, you could allow them to keep distracting you, but it will only take you twice as long to finish that email. Instead of just resigning yourself to the distractions, it’s better to accept them and address them in an appropriate way, like closing your office door and locking it until you have finished the task at hand. The same can be said for just about any other distractions out there, like phone calls or emails. Acknowledge the distractions, then take steps to minimize them.

Focus on Being Proactive

When you are going about your responsibilities at the workplace, how often are you responding to things that other people are doing or putting out fires, so to speak? Sometimes it can be difficult to get to your own tasks if you are too busy helping people who ask you for help. Instead of going about your day in a reactive way, responding to issues that need your attention or tasks that get thrown at you last-minute, focus instead on being proactive with your time. Take measures to ensure that you can intentionally approach the tasks you have been assigned to complete or the ones that require your attention. Forgive us for making this analogy, but compare it to IT maintenance–-it’s easier and more budget-friendly to keep a computer in proper working order than to fix one that is already broken down.

Minimize Digital Distractions Whenever Possible

Technology is wonderful for helping you get your work done, but on the other side of the aisle, it can distract you from getting it done. Services like social media, near-constant notifications for emails, text messages, phone calls, and everything else under the sun can distract you from your daily tasks. You can mitigate some of these challenges by disabling notifications for non-essential apps or services, as well as simply removing the temptation to check these websites by setting up website blockers or keeping your phone out of sight.

We know how hard it can be to focus on your day-to-day responsibilities when you have so much on your plate. Distractions come in so many different forms, but you don’t have to let them completely derail your productivity. To find out how we can help you implement technology solutions designed to enhance productivity, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Mar, 2022

Coinbase’s Super Bowl QR Snafu is Sending Shockwaves Through IT Security Circles

During the first half of the Super Bowl last month, cryptocurrency exchange company Coinbase bought a minute of ad space to broadcast an ad that was just a QR code on the screen, meandering diagonally around the screen like the famous Windows screensaver. Millions of people took out their smartphones and scanned the code and now cybersecurity professionals are publicly decrying the tactic.

How Do QR Codes Work?

The QR code isn’t new. It has been used by companies and other platforms for over a decade. It is effectively a barcode that can be scanned by a mobile application to bring users to content linked to the code. It looks secure enough, but in earnest, there is very little information that separates one QR code from another, and since they are relatively easy to generate they are used all over to engage users with product promotions, website links, etc. Your QR code reader will read a code in 8-bit blocks and take you to the information linked to the QR code.

How Are They Insecure?

While QR codes offer intriguing ways to store and access information, the risk they have is palpable. They can easily be swapped out for counterfeit codes, they can be hijacked by hackers, and can also be used by hackers to send malicious code to user devices. This means that while they may seem secure on the surface, they are actually not a good platform for end-user security. In fact, when they were developed, the creator did not envision all the possible security issues, stating publicly that they “…need security revamp.”

How to Protect Yourself From QR Code Attacks

Since they are an intriguing way to get people to interact with a company’s marketing material, they have been used liberally for quite a while. For the business that wants to utilize this technology it is prudent not to use them for user logins or financial transactions as they can be exploited to intercept information; meaning they can be used to steal credentials and provide threat actors means to access accounts and networks they have no business having access to.

One way to marginalize the risk to your organization from end-user QR code usage is to add it as a line item on your cybersecurity training platform. Your company probably already trains users about phishing (and if you don’t, you should start immediately), so adding in a bit about not using QR codes for work-specific tasks can be included without much fuss. Users have to know that sensitive, financial, or proprietary information should not be shared using QR code technology. Some talking points you should consider include:

Check URL carefully if using a QR code
Don’t use QR codes to navigate directly to a website
Don’t use QR codes to download any information
Don’t download a third-party QR code reader as most smartphone cameras have this functionality by default.

The QR code can be beneficial in some circumstances but keeping them away from your business’ critical information is imperative. We should mention that there are encryption enabled QR codes called dynamic QR codes that offer a little more security, but as a best practice, eliminating QR codes from internal data sharing within your business is prudent.

If you would like more information about setting up security training that actually makes a difference for your business, give NuTech Services a call today at 810.230.9455.

Jan, 2022

Tip of the Week: Placing Your Router in the Ideal Spot

Whether in the home or office, getting work done nowadays is very reliant on a reliable Wi-Fi signal. This makes it important to have your router placed in the right spot. Let’s go over a few best practices so that you can set up your router in a place where it does you the most good.

Keep Your Router in a Central Location

Let’s face it—if you’re trying to cover the entirety of a building, putting your router at one end or the other is going to be counterproductive. Not only is the signal generally directed outward in all directions from the hardware, putting the router on one side of the building potentially doubles the number of walls the signal will have to penetrate to reach a device on the other side. Plus, that also means that half of your signal is being sent where nobody will be using it. Keeping your router in the middle helps to keep the signal as centralized to your business as possible.

Minimize the Obstacles the Signal Will Have

On the topic, the more your Wi-Fi signal needs to go through to get to your devices, the weaker it will be by the time it gets there. Avoid putting your router in an enclosed space (as aesthetically preferable it may be to do so) to help keep your signal as strong as possible.

Other electronic devices count as obstacles as well, as they can let out interference that, well, interferes with your Wi-Fi signal. Try to keep your router away from these if at all possible.

Position the Antennas Appropriately

Depending on where you need your signal to go, you’d be wise to adjust how your router’s antennas are positioned (if your router allows you to adjust them, that is). If you only need your signal to cover the floor that the router is also on, keeping the antennas vertical will be your best bet. If multi-floor coverage is required, angling them slightly (to about a 30-degree angle) may be best.

Truly optimizing your wireless connection may take a bit of fiddling, but keeping these practices in mind is bound to help. For more assistance with your business’ IT, give us a call at 810.230.9455.

Jan, 2022

Some Places Encryption Should Be Used Frequently

Protecting your organization’s data is a major focus of businesses these days, especially as threats grow more powerful and they better learn to penetrate the countless safeguards put into place. Let’s go over how encryption can help you cover all your bases—especially if hackers do manage to get through your security precautions.

What is Encryption?

There are countless codes and ciphers out there, like the famous Caesar cipher where you take the original letters and switch them according to a set number down the alphabet. For example, the Caesar cipher with a shift of nine might look like this:

“Vjwjpnm bnaerlnb jan cqn bdyanvn xycrxw oxa j kdbrwnbb bnntrwp jbbrbcjwln frcq cqnra RC.”

It’s relatively simple to decipher if you have the key, but the problem is that lacking the key means that it just looks like total nonsense. Encryption works in the same way, but on a fundamentally more complicated level. Encryption software takes data, scrambles it through the use of an algorithm, and uses a key provided to unscramble it. The data remains private until the key is used to unscramble it, making it the perfect tool for ensuring data is safe while it’s in storage or in transit.

That jumbled text above, once decrypted, translates to “Managed services are the supreme option for a business seeking assistance with their IT.”

Encryption is a powerful tool that can be used to secure websites, hard drives, or even individual emails. It can also be used wherever you might store data to secure it.

When is Encryption Needed?

Encryption should be used wherever sensitive data is involved, especially if it is sitting in storage or being shared through email.

Want help incorporating encryption into your business’ protections? We’re here.

If your business wants to implement encryption, NuTech Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Dec, 2021

Remember These Tips if You Are Traveling During the Holidays

If you are traveling this holiday season to bridge the gaps created during the COVID-19 pandemic, then you’ll want to take specific precautions about your technology. Here are some of the best ways you can keep your technology secure while you travel from point A to point B, as well as how we can help you do so!

Be Cautious of Your Internet Connections

There’s nothing quite like a secure Internet connection, especially while traveling. Places where many people gather, like airports and hotels, are known to have spotty Internet reputations in terms of the connection quality and the kinds of security measures enabled on them. You can never know what threats are lurking on a network that is not as secure as your in-house infrastructure. When it’s not possible to get work done on your office network, we recommend using a virtual private network to encrypt your connection while traveling.

That said, there are significant differences between consumer-based VPN solutions and commercial-based ones. Some of the consumer-based solutions, like NordVPN, TunnelBear, ExpressVPN, and others are not designed with businesses in mind. These services do, however, lend themselves well for the purposes of traveling, as they encrypt your data when it is sent over Wi-Fi. This extra protection can go a long way when using a public network, but be mindful that the quality will most likely be determined by the price point. Even if they say they don’t store information about you, chances are they do.

We are happy to help you make the distinction between commercial and consumer-based VPNs. Give us a call at 810.230.9455.

Enable Multi-Factor Authentication and Location Services on Mobile Devices

Losing a device can be stressful, especially when you know it’s probably not stuffed down in the couch, outside your house in the yard, or somewhere else close to home. Therefore, you’ll need to take extra measures to protect your data, especially while traveling. Multi-factor authentication and location services can help you keep your device secure and potentially help you locate your device, should you lose track of it at any point on your adventures.

Establish Mobile Device Policies Ahead of Time

If you accidentally misplace your smartphone or another device while traveling (it can happen, airlines frequently misplace luggage, etc.), you’ll want to wipe that data remotely. This is done through device policies, and can be set up for every user on your network who uses their mobile device for work.

That said, losing a device means you lose the data on it, so you don’t want your data all in one place. Ensuring that critical information is always stored centrally on your network in a place that you are sure is getting backed up will mean nothing ever gets lost.

NuTech Services can help you travel safely and conduct business, even while out of the office. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Nov, 2021

It’s Possible to Change Your Bad Habits. Today, We Explain

Have you ever wondered how it is that people can build up bad habits over time, yet break them and establish better ones? Have you also noticed how difficult it can be to break habits that have been ingrained into the very fibers of our being over an extended period of time? Believe it or not, people can change, and the science behind it—neuroplasticity—can provide some valuable insights into how to make it happen.

Neuroplasticity is an umbrella term which refers to the brain’s ability to change and adapt in response to various stimuli. This is not a simple reframing of mindset or something of the sort—this is physical, neural change which occurs in the brain. Such is the power of our experiences; they literally shape the way we see the world, view opportunities, and adapt to change. The neural networks within the brain actively rewire themselves in response to what you experience throughout life.

The idea of a growth mindset is grounded in the concept of neuroplasticity, that things are not as set-in-stone as you might think. Dr. Carol Dweck, a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, speaks of the concept of a growth mindset in her TED Talk on the topic, making the case for how such a mindset shift is critical for today’s youth in learning environments.

In essence, Dweck claims that the growth mindset levels the playing field and makes knowledge infinitely more accessible. This concept of “not yet” versus “not good enough” or “failure” is incredibly empowering, as it implies a trajectory for growth rather than the static trajectory implied by the fixed mindset, where your skills remain the same and you have to simply learn to deal with your shortcomings.

You can see how this mindset shift can impact business operations as well as personal habit-building or learning. By simply saying “not yet,” you suddenly have a goal and a means to meet that goal. With an action plan in place, you can move forward with purpose, which is better than saying “I can’t do this” or “I’m not good enough.”

The thing about neuroplasticity that you must keep in mind is that the brain cannot rewrite habits and restructure tendencies overnight—this is a gradual process that can take place over a long span of time. Therefore, if you truly mean to use the concept of neuroplasticity to change the way you look at various parts of your life or business model, it is going to take time. You must be patient to see real change occur.

As for immediate change, we might recommend that you implement technology solutions designed to enhance productivity. You might find that your shifted mindset will allow you to leverage your new and improved technology in the most meaningful way. NuTech Services can help with the acquisition of new technology, from conception to reality and beyond. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Oct, 2021

Tip of the Week: Zipping and Unzipping Files

Large files like videos aren’t exactly the ideal attachments for something like an email. There are also cases where you have to send multiple files, some of which may be large, attached to an email, but when the files are too large, this just won’t work. Thankfully, there are some ways around this, one of which is to compress files into a .zip file with a tool found in Windows 10.

There are tools besides the ones built into Windows 10, like the free and open-source 7-ZIP, which allow you to compress and decompress files; for the purposes of this blog, however, we want to focus on the built-in functionality of Windows 10.

First, let’s explain what compression and decompression actually does to the files; please note that we will use the terms “zip” and “unzip” files when referring to these processes moving forward. When you compress a file, it becomes a more compact format that can easily be transferred. This process helps to reduce the file size of the files. A ZIP folder is one which stores these compressed folders or files.

Windows 10 has made great strides in terms of transparency and accessibility of compression/decompression. Windows now allows you to view the contents of a zipped folder just by opening it like any other folder (it used to be the case that you would have to decompress it first). You can then use this information to determine whether or not you want to extract (or unzip) the contents of the folder to your PC. Any edits made to these files will not be permanent until you extract them.

Zipped files are easily identifiable by the zipper that runs up and down the icon, as well as the file type being .ZIP. To unzip a specific file, click and drag the file to the extraction location. Alternatively, if you would rather just unzip all contents of the folder, you can right-click the .ZIP file and click Extract All. If you are in the folder already, you can click the button from within the folder. You will have to choose an extraction location next. In the end, all extracted files will go to your desired location.

As for the extraction location, click on the Browse option and find the folder you want to extract your files to. Once you have the destination selected, click on the Extract button. Depending on how large the files are, it might take some time, but the process is simple enough and quick enough that it shouldn’t take too long before you see the unzipped folder in your desired location.

Did you find this trick helpful? Let us know in the comments below.

Sep, 2021

4 Simple Tips to Secure the Data on a Lost or Stolen Device

With remote work still widely in place, the idea of lost or stolen devices has many companies terrified. Due to this security issue, you must consider what you might do should someone lose track of one of your company’s devices. Here are four ways that you can take preventative measures to ensure that lost or stolen devices don’t become a major security risk for your business.

Utilize Multi-Factor Authentication

First, you want to make sure that whoever finds your device cannot access any of the data found on it. Multi-factor authentication is valuable in this regard, and regardless, it just makes sense to have it enabled. With multiple measures keeping your device secure, like a PIN and a biometric authentication, you should have little trouble with security. Some multi-factor authentication methods also use a secondary device or account that can be just as effective for securing your device.

Turn On Location Services

Most devices have access to location services within their settings, so it’s important that you have these enabled. If you ever lose the device, the enabled location services settings should allow you to locate them, or at least give you an idea of where the device might be. Oftentimes this ballpark estimate is enough to help you figure things out, or at least narrow down the possibilities for where the device could be.

Back Up Your Data

In the event that you cannot locate or recover your device, you will want to know with certainty that your data is safe, even if you have to remotely wipe the device to keep said data safe. This is why we recommend that you always back up your data, even on a mobile device. The last thing you need when dealing with a device that is lost or stolen is data loss, too.

Utilize a Mobile Device Management Tool

We understand that you don’t want to think about what would happen in the event you lose a device, but it’s still something that you must consider. We can help you prepare for such an event through the implementation of a Unified Threat Management tool from NuTech Services. With our comprehensive mobile device management platform, you get all of the features above, plus some. It’s a great opportunity to optimize your odds of success should you lose a device.

If you take nothing else away from this article, we hope that you at least remember that the best way to combat a lost or stolen device is to adequately prepare for it. To learn more about how you can do so, reach out to NuTech Services at 810.230.9455.

Aug, 2021

4 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Point of Sale System

For many small businesses, the Point of Sale (POS) system is the main workstation. As a result, many of your business’ core processes run through it. If you aren’t taking advantage of some of the built-in features that most POS systems can provide, you may be leaving dollars on the table.

The point of sale system is not just a cash register. It is a wholly integrated digital hub for the management of your business, but many businesses don’t take advantage of some of the most advanced options. Let’s take a look at the best practices of utilizing your business’ POS system.

#1 – Choose the Right Terminal Structure

The POS system needs terminals in order to function and there are several different iterations that the front end of your POS system can look like. Since the main benefit of installing a POS system is to build efficiency, choosing the right one for your business has to be a major consideration. Let’s take a look at the four ways POS systems can be deployed.

In-store – On-premise POS systems are the norm. This means that you host your server at the place of business and run your POS system through that local hardware. In-store POS systems are great for smaller businesses that don’t need a lot of back-end computing hardware to do what needs to be done. Many retail and hospitality businesses use this method. They come with some increased costs (mainly because of the need for hardware and consistent maintenance), but are known to be easy to use and secure.
Cloud-hosted – Pushing your POS system to the cloud has major advantages as your capital costs will be significantly reduced. You also don’t have to worry about maintaining your solution as the provider will likely take on that role. Most cloud-hosted POS systems are affordable and available, just as long as you have an Internet connection. The problem, just as with any other cloud computing platform, is that security can be a point of contention and if your Internet goes down, so does your ability to use your POS system.
Mobile – Mobile POS systems (mPOS) is a POS system that is used through a tablet or phone. This method can save your business a lot of money and it allows you to take your POS system on the go if need be. The main drawback is that the hardware associated with this type of system will likely need to be repaired and replaced as smartphones and tablets can be damaged pretty easily.
Kiosks – Finally, one of the POS systems that is gaining the most popularity is the self-service kiosk. This cuts down on the need for customer interaction, so if your business is looking to cut costs, having kiosks set up that allows customers to check themselves out is a good way to do that. Unfortunately, many customers just aren’t technologically savvy enough to make use of these systems and you run the risk of complaints from customers having difficulties with the system.

To choose the best type of POS system for your business, you will need to understand your customers. For retail businesses, you will want a barcode scanner integrated into the system as well as a reliable printer. For a restaurant, you will want a scheduling program that can keep guests from being backed up or having to be turned away. For a salon, you will want one that integrates with online booking systems and membership points programs. Understanding your business and your customers can go a long way toward getting the POS systems that can really make your business more efficient.

#2 – Understand POS features

There are admittedly a lot of different POS systems to choose from, but most of them will come with more than just the hardware and transactional software that you directly interact with. Other features your POS system might have include:

Inventory control
Payment processing
Return pricing
Labor management
Integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) capabilities including supply chain management
Reports and analysis

These features can make up a lot of the gained efficiency your business would see by using the POS system. POS systems can keep inventory pretty simple, a major benefit for any type of business, but with the integrated ERP capabilities, users can now control their entire supply chain from their POS system. Of all of the features, this one will be most useful to build added efficiency.

For example, say you run a restaurant and want to utilize this feature of your POS. With a label maker, you can manage your inventory by slapping a barcode on every product that you take in. Instead of having staff spend hours trying to come up with a list of produce, meat, etc., you can simply look at your inventory on your POS system to easily make orders when you need them. You can set up alerts to ensure that you have everything in stock when you need it, a must for most businesses.

POS systems can handle any time management problem your business can have: Scheduling, reservations, and employee time can be tracked simply through a POS system. With cloud-hosted systems, scheduling and other employee information can be shared online to ensure that your business has its shift staffed and covered competently.

By using all the features of the POS system, your whole business is tracked inside the system. This gives users the ability to customize reports that will allow them to analyze operational information and make adjustments as needed.

The POS system can be one of the most frustrating tools, or it can be a complete benefit for your business. Choosing the right tools will help make it work. At NuTech Services, our knowledgeable consultants can help you choose the right tools for your situation, deploy those tools, and support them as they support your business. Give us a call today at 810.230.9455 to learn more.

Jul, 2021

Don’t Let Your Inbox Be a Source of Stress

What does your email inbox look like? Do you keep it clean for the most part, or do you let it get out of control because of how many email lists you find yourself on? If you find that you have a lot of trouble with managing your email inbox, well, read on. You’ll find some tips for how you can effectively manage and potentially even clean up your inbox!

First, it’s important to limit how many emails actually enter your inbox. Here are some ways to do just that.

Send Fewer Emails In General

This one is simple in theory. If you send fewer emails throughout the day, you will receive fewer emails, thereby cutting down on the amount of clutter in your email inbox. By design, email is best utilized as a passive method of outreach rather than an active one, so if you take action to send fewer emails, you should start to see some results, even if they are only small ones initially. As with most things, it takes building a routine to build a habit.

Plus, let’s be real here; how often have you sent emails when you could have instead just gotten a more immediate response with a phone call or instant message? While these methods might be reserved for the more pressing issues you face, you might be surprised by how much relying on these other methods of outreach can change your communication dynamic for the better.

Unsubscribe from Email Lists

It’s one thing to stay up-to-date on the latest in your industry, but it’s another to subscribe to a hundred email lists that send you messages every other day and bog down your inbox. Subscribing to too many email lists can easily render your inbox an insurmountable mountain of messages, drowning out emails that are actually important.

A good rule to follow is to unsubscribe from email lists when you have not opened a message from the recipient over the past month, as at that point it is safe to say that you are either uninterested in the message or it does not hold value for your organization any longer. Some email newsletters are monthly, but these shouldn’t be clogging up your inbox. The really intrusive senders might send messages out every other day or so. Most senders will have an Unsubscribe link at the bottom of their emails, but do be careful when clicking on these, as you don’t want to fall victim to a phishing attack.

Archive Messages When Possible

We all have those important email messages that we don’t want, or simply can’t get rid of. You could organize your inbox into folders and subfolders to hold onto these important messages, but this could lead you to “hoard” the emails out of fear that they might be useful at a later date. You can’t know which messages will be important over the next several months or years, so we recommend that you remove that stress from the equation and utilize an archiving system.

An email archiving system, complete with data backup and maintenance, is the best way to limit the influence that these potentially unnecessary emails have on you. You can essentially search your archive and pull specific emails from the bunch when they are needed rather than sitting on folders upon folders of potentially unimportant messages. Most cloud-based platforms like Office 365’s Outlook or Google Workspace’s Gmail give you this capability.

Schedule Time Every Day

If you think that you simply have too many messages to sift through, the weight of the task can be daunting and seem like an impossible thing to accomplish. You can break it down into more manageable chunks by simply dedicating some time each morning to deleting or archiving messages. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time, but if you can stay consistent with it, you might find that you get your email inbox under control faster than expected.

Implement Spam Protection Solutions

One huge way to clean up your inbox is to implement a spam blocking solution, thereby preventing threatening or time-wasting messages from ever hitting the inbox in the first place. This preventative solution is just one that NuTech Services can help your organization implement to save time and streamline operations. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

Jun, 2021

Use the SMART Model to Set Actionable Goals

When you started your business, you had a specific goal in mind. You wanted to prove something, to create something worth sharing with the world. We all have goals and aspirations, but it’s not always clear what the best path toward those goals is. Using a simple framework, you can maximize your odds of success and set great goals that you are much more likely to achieve long-term.

Created in 1980 by George Doran, SMART goals is a framework used for fleshing out goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. The idea here is that, by defining goals based on this acronym, you will have a greater understanding of the goals you seek to achieve, as well as how to achieve them.

One thing we would like to point out before diving into what makes a SMART goal is that goal-setting and habit-forming are two different things. The two are not interchangeable; strong habits are the impetus for achieving goals. Having solid habits is but one step toward achieving a goal, although it should be said that having a strong goal can provide motivation for building a habit.

Specific

The devil is in the details, or so they say. If you can answer a series of specific questions about your goal, then you will have a much better shot at achieving it. Here are some questions to consider for making your goal more specific:

Who is involved in making this goal a reality?
What is it you hope to achieve?
When do you want to work towards this goal?
Where is your goal taking place?
Why are you working toward this goal (this is perhaps the most important question of all)?

Measurable

A measurable goal is one that you can quantify somehow. In other words, you are using a unit of some sort to measure progress towards your goal. This might include profits earned, time spent, clients serviced, etc. You can also take this a step further by using milestones. For example, if you have a goal of replacing your office desktop solutions with new hardware, you could stagger progress toward this goal by department or units replaced.

Attainable

When asking yourself if a goal is attainable, consider just how far beyond your reach it actually is. Naturally, you don’t want to set a “safe” goal, i.e. one that you can easily achieve. While there is some merit to doing this early in the game, you should be challenging yourself and your business to extend beyond its reach. That said, your goal should not be so outlandish that it is impossible to reach. It should be just beyond your perceived ceiling.

Relevant

If a goal is relevant, this means that it is something that bleeds into more than one aspect of your organization. In other words, these goals are focused on what you truly want. This is especially helpful for getting your employees on board with the organization’s goals. If more profits mean more success for them and their careers, then they will be more likely to buy into the goals and strive to do their best to meet them.

Time-Bound

All good goals should have a concrete endpoint. Whether it is the end of the week or the end of the month, your goal should have an end date. You will either have completed your goal by this date, or you will have not completed it. You might be surprised by how much having an end date can influence your decision-making process while you are working toward the goal. You might find yourself making smarter choices, as no matter how much progress you are making, that end date creeps ever closer.

What Are Your SMART Goals?

Now that you know about SMART goals, what are some of your long-term goals to work towards? We bet some technology solutions and management from NuTech Services can help take some of the guesswork out of it. To learn more about how we can help you achieve your business-related goals, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.

May, 2021

When It Comes to Cybersecurity, Consider a Top-Down Approach

Cybersecurity is one aspect of running a business that absolutely cannot be underestimated in its importance. It doesn’t matter if you’re a huge enterprise or a small business; if you don’t take cybersecurity seriously, there is a very real possibility that your organization could be threatened in the near future. The easiest way to ensure your business’ continuity is to develop an internal culture of cybersecurity, and it starts from the top-down with you, the boss.

In the grand scheme of things, it does not matter how advanced or high-tech your security solutions are or how secure your passwords are. If your team members aren’t behaving with security at the top of their minds, your cybersecurity solutions will not yield the results you are hoping for. To this end, it is important to establish cybersecurity as a priority within your company’s culture.

How to Build a Culture of Cybersecurity for Your Business

Social proof, a concept that is mostly applied to marketing, can be a key component of implementing any type of lasting change in your organization’s cybersecurity culture. In essence, social proof refers to the idea that people can be convinced to think or act in a certain way based on testimonials of peers and colleagues. It’s easy to see how this can influence the workplace, but as is the case with most things in life, it’s not nearly this simple.

The key takeaway here is that the culture around your organization’s cybersecurity will mold around itself over time (if you give it time to do so).

Consider this scenario: a new employee just starts working for your company and is getting set up with network access, permissions, and everything else necessary for the position. If your organization’s cybersecurity culture is poor, the new employee’s coworkers might suggest they use the same username and password, a practice that is usually frowned upon. However, if this attitude is prevalent throughout the department, then it becomes the norm. This new employee then continues to spread the practice throughout the company as new hires are brought on, creating a systemic cybersecurity issue for your entire business.

Now let’s say that the opposite is true, and your employees instead reinforce good cybersecurity practices to all new hires. If company policies require that all passwords maintain a certain level of complexity and all staff are on board with this message of security, then it’s much more likely that new hires will move forward with security at the top of their mind.

It All Starts With You

There are several ways that you can organically infuse cybersecurity awareness into your business operations. Here are just a few of them:

Rather than simply having password policies in place, enforce them by only allowing passwords that meet these minimum requirements.
Access controls are important, but monitoring these protections on a regular basis is critical to identifying and addressing weaknesses or shortcomings.
Security onboarding is important but should also be reinforced periodically through a refresher course.

As the leader, your business’ employees will be looking to you to take the lead on security. By setting a good example, you can change your organization’s cybersecurity culture for the better. NuTech Services can help you with not only implementing security solutions, but reinforcing best practices that will foster the kind of culture you are looking for in your business. To learn more, reach out to us at 810.230.9455.