k_Street Consulting, LLC Blog

k_Street Consulting, LLC has been serving the Washington area since 2009, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

How Blockchain is Changing Health Technology

How Blockchain is Changing Health Technology

You’d think that the healthcare industry would be at the very cutting-edge when it comes to information technology implementation. That isn’t always the case. One technology that developers are really looking to take advantage of in the healthcare space is blockchain. The technology behind cryptocurrency is being used to help patients better control their care. Let’s take a brief look now. 

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What to Do Immediately If You’ve Lost Your Phone

What to Do Immediately If You’ve Lost Your Phone

In our last blog we gave you some advice on what to do if your phone has gone missing, but if it has been stolen or lost for good, there are more pressing issues than the anger and loss you feel; you need to ensure that you and the people you do business with are protected. Let’s take a look at what you need to do to make that happen.

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How to Find Your Lost iPhone or Android Smartphone

How to Find Your Lost iPhone or Android Smartphone

Imagine for a second you are out to a socially distant dinner date with the friends that you barely get to see. You wrap up dinner and say your goodbyes and when you get to your car you realize that you don’t have your phone. COMPLETE PANIC! Your whole life is on your phone. Now imagine that when you went back to the restaurant to get your phone, it wasn't anywhere to be found. We’ll talk you through how to proceed. 

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Benefits IaaS Can Bring to a Business

Benefits IaaS Can Bring to a Business

Of all the technologies currently used by businesses, the Internet is a strong contender for the most important. Regardless of their size, many businesses invest thousands each month into online Software-as-a-Service solutions as a means of more affordably equipping their users. Let’s talk for a moment about another cloud platform that has seen some advancement: Infrastructure-as-a-Service.

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Why You Need to Do a Security and Compliance Audit

Why You Need to Do a Security and Compliance Audit

Businesses that don’t see after their vulnerabilities are just asking to be breached. That’s the consensus view in the IT industry. It’s disconcerting, then, to consider how many businesses don’t actively assess their IT security, especially considering how much these platforms change from year-to-year. Today, we’ll briefly discuss what a security and compliance audit is, and why we think you need one. 

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Why Redundancy is EVERYTHING for Data Backups

Why Redundancy is EVERYTHING for Data Backups

With a business’ data being such a priority nowadays, protecting it against all circumstances needs to be appropriately attended to. One fundamental component of this protection is the implementation of a proper backup strategy. Let’s go over the most foundational element of a successful backup, and how we recommend businesses to accomplish it: redundancy.

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Building Consistency Only Helps Your Business

Building Consistency Only Helps Your Business

In business, building a strategy that produces results is the goal. If you are looking, you can find all types of stories about entrepreneurs changing the tried-and-true methods and finding abrupt (and sometimes sustainable) success. These stories may even have you questioning the way that you do business, especially if things aren’t going terribly well. Rest assured, that the best thing that can happen is to build processes that promote consistency. 

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Artificial Intelligence and the Tools Designed to Improve Business

Artificial Intelligence and the Tools Designed to Improve Business

AI has been one of the leading innovative topics to hit the technology world over the past couple of years. At first, people thought that AI was only the process of creating machines that will inevitably destroy the human race, and didn’t understand that algorithmic machine learning could have stark benefits for business and society. Today, AI can be found in all types of different pieces of software. Let’s take a look at a couple of ways AI is currently being used in business.

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Solid State Is the Way to Go

Solid State Is the Way to Go

Whenever you ponder the purchase of a new computer, one important specification that you likely consider is its data storage. This was especially the case when you considered a new machine for family use—there are a lot of documents and photos to store, and any kids you have will want to fill it with games and other apps. Nowadays, it’s a little different. Rather than focusing on storage, you’ll want to focus on the computer’s speed. Let’s get into it a little further.

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Is Going Paperless Cost Effective?

Is Going Paperless Cost Effective?

Printing is costly and those costs come from a lot of different directions. They come from paper and ink and the fact that printers seem to need constant maintenance. For some businesses, it’s all too much and they are actively looking for ways to go paperless and cut out their printing and filing costs. Today, we will examine whether or not forsaking the troublesome printer is actually cost effective. 

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2021 is Poised to Hold Some Big IT Challenges to Overcome

2021 is Poised to Hold Some Big IT Challenges to Overcome

Considering that 2020 was… less than great for many businesses, it should come as no surprise that there will likely be difficulties that carry on for some time into 2021. Naturally, these difficulties will require some new ideas and fresh thinking to properly resolve, as well as an openness to adopting innovative technologies. Let’s look ahead to some of the IT challenges we anticipate that 2021 will hold for businesses.

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You Better Update Your Microsoft Password Today

You Better Update Your Microsoft Password Today

While we would strongly recommend that you update your passwords more than once a year, now is as good a time as any to do so. Reflecting on this, let’s go over how to fully lock down your Microsoft accounts.

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Hey You… Update Your Google Password, Right Now!

Hey You… Update Your Google Password, Right Now!

If you haven’t taken the time to go through and update your passwords lately, particularly the one protecting your Google account, you should do so… despite it undeniably being a pain. After all, Google serves various purposes and is attached to many accounts for most. Considering the number of data breaches and other cybersecurity issues this potentially contributes to, you will want to ensure your Google account is properly locked down.

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Lessons to Learn From Lego’s IT Development

Lessons to Learn From Lego’s IT Development

Businesses of all sizes have been able to successfully overcome operational challenges by rethinking and adapting the technology they utilize. Let’s consider a huge example and look at what The Lego Group (as in the building blocks) has done to address some of their technological challenges with improved solutions—as well as how your business can do the same.

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Tip of the Week: Essential Information Technology Practices

Tip of the Week: Essential Information Technology Practices

Information technology is a critical tool for many businesses today, which means \\it is crucial that your IT is compliant to a few key best practices. Let’s go over these practices so that you have a roadmap to ensure that your operations can remain secure and productive.

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Why Is It Super Important to Keep Your Software Updated?

Why Is It Super Important to Keep Your Software Updated?

Your business’ software is one of its critical assets, so it really can’t also host many risks to your security and business continuity. Therefore, keeping your software up-to-date and fully patched should be a priority. Let’s go over what patch management entails and why it is so important.

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How Not to Teach Your Team About Phishing, Courtesy of GoDaddy

How Not to Teach Your Team About Phishing, Courtesy of GoDaddy

GoDaddy—the domain registrar and web-hosting company once famed for its risqué advertisements—is facing some significant backlash for a much different reason. On December 14th, GoDaddy’s employees received an email that appeared to be from the company, promising a holiday bonus. However, while the email was from the company as it appeared to be, it was actually a phishing test that the hosting provider decided to run.

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Tip of the Week: Four Tips and Tricks Within the Google Play Store

Tip of the Week: Four Tips and Tricks Within the Google Play Store

The Google Play Store is the Android operating system’s primary source of applications and widgets and can do a lot more than many might first think. Let’s consider a few useful tools and tricks that are incorporated into the Play Store that you should keep in mind.

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Net Neutrality and the Digital Future

Net Neutrality and the Digital Future

In the United States, the political atmosphere in 2020 was extremely testy and one element that we typically keep our eyes on is the net neutrality rules that seem to change every few years or so. Today, we thought we’d revisit the issue and tell you what to expect over the first few months of the new administration. 

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What You Need to Know About the Massive Solarwinds Hack

What You Need to Know About the Massive Solarwinds Hack

2020 has been filled to the brim with adversity and just as we’ve mercifully arrived to the end, the largest and most brazen cyberespionage attack ever has been carried out. Today, we’ll tell you what we know about the attack, what problems it caused, and what we should learn from it going forward.

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Is 2021 the Year Your Business Embraces VoIP? (It Should Be)

Is 2021 the Year Your Business Embraces VoIP? (It Should Be)

Since its widespread adoption, the telephone has proved to be a hugely beneficial tool for businesses of all kinds… despite the considerable costs that it can incur. Fortunately for your business’ budget, however, there is a far more cost-effective means for you to enjoy the benefits of telephony: VoIP, short for Voice over Internet Protocol. Let’s go over some of the reasons why VoIP is just a better option for any business.

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Watch Out for Malicious Browser Extensions

Watch Out for Malicious Browser Extensions

Browser extensions are nifty little programs that can be implemented into your web browser itself, adding onto its capabilities and utility… at least, that’s the concept. Unfortunately, these programs also give cybercriminals a means of secretly launching an attack. The security firm Avast recently identified 28 such third-party extensions that have been installed—according to the download numbers, at least—by about three million people on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge combined.

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Even Santa’s Workshop Can Benefit from Managed Services

Even Santa’s Workshop Can Benefit from Managed Services

While some places get to take the holiday season off to some extent, other establishments are at their busiest—and as such, don’t have time for any inefficiencies. Let’s meet an employee from such an establishment, located far up north, to learn about how any workplace might benefit operationally from managed IT services.

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Where MSP Services Come From

Where MSP Services Come From

For most people, the term tech support is pretty self-explanatory. The terms managed services and MSP… not so much. Let’s go over what makes managed services and what we do as a managed service provider so different from the IT support you may be used to. To start, we’ll review where the idea of an MSP came from, and end with what one like us can do for you.

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What Exactly Is a VPN?

What Exactly Is a VPN?

One of the major shifts we’ve seen in business in 2020 is the establishment of the remote workforce. Stay-at-home orders brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary for businesses to find solutions on how to securely transfer information from what could be unprotected networks. The virtual private network is a solution to this problem. Today, we will describe what a VPN is, what its primary use is, and how secure it really is for secure file transmission. 

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How Managed Services Developed into What They Are

How Managed Services Developed into What They Are

When you see that we offer tech support, you almost certainly have an idea of what that means. However, upon hearing about our typical service delivery for the first time, many people are really surprised by how different our services—as a managed service provider—are. These differences are not an accident. Let’s go back in time a little while to explore how managed services came about, and what difference they could make for you.

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Tip of the Week: Making Use of Chrome Actions

Tip of the Week: Making Use of Chrome Actions

As the most common Internet browser, Google Chrome is in a position where they always need to be coming up with new draws to maintain their hold on the market. Their latest efforts may help them to do so. Let’s take a moment and examine what Chrome is implementing, and how you can use it to your advantage.

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Improving Your Backup Strategy Doesn’t Have to Hurt the Bottom Line

Improving Your Backup Strategy Doesn’t Have to Hurt the Bottom Line

If you are a regular visitor to our blog, you know just how important we think data backup is for any business that relies on data. If your business stores and creates data, you need to have a backup strategy in place. It’s that simple. Today, we want to discuss how to improve your data backup strategies with a BDR.

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Some of 2020’s Biggest Tech Flubs

Some of 2020’s Biggest Tech Flubs

It’s no secret that 2020 has been relatively tough on all of us, down to the technology that so many use and rely on each year. Now that we’re in the home stretch towards a hopefully better 2021, let’s look back at some of the technologies that didn’t deliver as promised and some of the other issues that we saw this year—some relatively harmless, and some decidedly not.

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Tip of the Week: 5 Ways to Improve Mobile Business Etiquette

Tip of the Week: 5 Ways to Improve Mobile Business Etiquette

Mobility is important to today’s workers and can be valuable to many different types of businesses; so much so that businesses demand that employees stay connected. Sometimes, especially when in public, this can become a social problem. Today, we will discuss mobile phone etiquette and five ways that you can improve yours. 

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Some Consumers are Aware of Data Privacy, But It’s Not Enough

Some Consumers are Aware of Data Privacy, But It’s Not Enough

With the holidays approaching, and with the global pandemic still underway, online shopping is going to be under even more demand than usual in 2020. With all of these transactions online, it would stand to reason that people would be more keen to follow best security practices than ever before. This week, we take a look at how people are staying secure online and whether or not the need for speed outweighs their security and privacy efforts.

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Have You Applied the Recent Chrome Patches?

Have You Applied the Recent Chrome Patches?

Being told by an IT provider how important it is for you to update your software is probably a bit like your grade school teacher telling you how important it is to do your homework: of course they’re going to say it, it’s their job to do so. However, we’re telling you what the Department of Homeland Security announced when they released a warning to update your Google Chrome web browser.

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You Even Need To Worry About Phishing In Your Text Messages

You Even Need To Worry About Phishing In Your Text Messages

As serious as they are, cyberattacks are not always labeled with the most serious-sounding names. We are, of course, talking about phishing: the use of spoofed email addresses and fraudulent messages to get hold of data, or whatever goal the attacker has in mind. One of the silliest-sounding versions of phishing—smishing—has proven to be of particular risk.

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The End is Nigh for Adobe Flash Player

The End is Nigh for Adobe Flash Player

Once the cornerstone of many websites on the Internet, Adobe Flash Player is finally going into retirement. As soon as December 31, 2020 rolls around, support for the software will end. This means that it needs to be removed from your business’ technology before then.

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A Few Budget Options for Your 2020 Smartphone Search

A Few Budget Options for Your 2020 Smartphone Search

For the past couple of weeks we’ve taken a look at the 2020 flagship smartphones as well as some innovative new devices that are available now. This week, we will take a look at some of the budget options that are available to consumers. Not everyone has $1,000 to pay for a smartphone, but there are some pretty solid options out there that can provide a sufficient user experience to meet people’s mobile challenges. Let’s take a look at some of the options.

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How Software as a Service Fits Into Your Business’ Technology Plans

How Software as a Service Fits Into Your Business’ Technology Plans

Traditionally, if a business needed a solution to a problem, they would research which technology is the best for the problem they had and go out and buy it. If a company didn’t have the money to buy that solution, they would borrow to buy it so that their business wouldn’t stagnate and fail. In today’s tech-driven business environment there is a much better option than mortgaging your business just to save it.

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How SMBs Use Social Media

How SMBs Use Social Media

Social media companies are some of the most powerful entities in today’s world. Their ability to connect people with others of like mind or specific wants and needs often goes overlooked because much of the experience of operating online in today’s climate is adversarial. With the average user spending roughly two hours and 24 minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, companies can use that exposure to promote themselves. Let’s take a look at how small and medium-sized businesses use social media to their advantage.

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Flip and Fold: Innovative New Smartphones

Flip and Fold: Innovative New Smartphones

Last week, we explored the flagship smartphone market. This week we thought we would explore some innovative new devices. There have been some advances in some of the technology used by smartphone manufacturers to create cool new features. Today, we take a look at some of these devices. 

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Tip of the Week: Keep Google Keep Working For You

Tip of the Week: Keep Google Keep Working For You

There are a lot of Android apps that are good for productivity, but Google Keep offers a particularly significant advantage. Today we’ll take a brief look at Google Keep and tell you about some features that will help you use it proficiently.

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Don’t Forget to Add These Handy Home-Office Gadgets to Your Shopping List!

Don’t Forget to Add These Handy Home-Office Gadgets to Your Shopping List!

There is no denying that gifts are a major part of the typical festivities around this time of year, so it only seems that having some ideas as to what you’d like to receive to share with others is a helpful contribution. As our way of helping, we’ve decided to share a few tech-based suggestions that would find a welcome home in any home office or remote workspace.

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Smartphone Flagships to Consider Going into 2021

Smartphone Flagships to Consider Going into 2021

The modern smartphone user is dedicated, spending an average of three hours and 15 minutes per day using them. On average, people check their phones 58 times a day. With this amount of traction, it’s not a surprise that people want to get the best devices they can. Today, we will take a look at what makes a flagship phone, and give you a couple of popular options that are available for the power user right now.

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Why is VoIP Seen as Such a Great Business Solution?

Why is VoIP Seen as Such a Great Business Solution?

Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is a common business communication solution nowadays… but it is still possible that you aren’t aware of what VoIP is and the many benefits it can deliver to your operations. To remedy this, let’s briefly review the concepts behind VoIP, and how your business can embrace them to its advantage.

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The User Experience Using Windows Apps on Chrome OS

The User Experience Using Windows Apps on Chrome OS

After a long period, punctuated by no shortness of user demand, Chromebooks can now finally support Windows applications. Well, in a manner of speaking. Let’s examine the process that now allows a user access to the applications once denied to ChromeOS users, to consider if it is worth using after all.

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Examining Some Unusual Cybercrime Patterns in 2020

Examining Some Unusual Cybercrime Patterns in 2020

As compared to the past few years, there have been considerably fewer successful data breaches in 2020. While this may sound like exclusively good news, there are a few reasons why this information should be taken with a grain of salt.

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How Listening to Your Team Can Improve Your Use of Technology

How Listening to Your Team Can Improve Your Use of Technology

Business leadership is an important trait for more than just a business’ leader by title. It is something that should be present at every level, encouraged by the individual at the top. To do so, it helps to ask your team the right questions to put them in a mindset of responsibility for the business’ well-being. Here, we’ve shared some of these questions to get you started.

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IoT Can Really Make a Difference for Your Business

IoT Can Really Make a Difference for Your Business

For a couple years leading up to 2020, the Internet of Things was all the rage, but for obvious reasons, IoT hasn’t been at the top of many IT administrator’s minds unless it was in an effort to secure file access for the endpoints of a newly remote workforce. Despite the questions surrounding revenue and budgets, IoT can bring a lot of value to the small business. Let’s take a look at today’s IoT and talk about a few options that you can use for yours.

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Clearing the Ethical Hurdles of Employee Monitoring

Clearing the Ethical Hurdles of Employee Monitoring

Employee monitoring—the practice of keeping an eye on your employees and their computer activity during work hours—isn’t exactly a new practice. However, with remote work suddenly seeing a huge boost in popularity, many businesses have sought to confirm that their workers are spending their work time as productively as possible. If you do choose to go this route, however, it is important to be aware of the lines that you cannot cross.

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How to Establish Fast, Secure Wi-Fi for Guests to Your Healthcare Organization

How to Establish Fast, Secure Wi-Fi for Guests to Your Healthcare Organization

Patients and hospital visitors have come to expect Wi-Fi internet access. It’s no longer seen as an extra convenience, but a requirement for the comfort and confidence of your patients. That said, it’s your responsibility to provide reliable Wi-Fi access that is reasonably fast, secure, and easy to sign into.

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Collaborate Better with Microsoft SharePoint

Collaborate Better with Microsoft SharePoint

As businesses continue to adapt to the ever-evolving workforce, many are now supporting a variety of environments. Ranging from hybrid, remote, and in-office, the one constant is the need for your team and clients to communicate with each other. Learn how Microsoft SharePoint can help.

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Should You Use Wired or Wireless Connections?

Should You Use Wired or Wireless Connections?

It hasn’t been too long since connectivity required an actual physical connection between the connecting endpoints, making a wired connection the de facto option for businesses. However, now that wireless connectivity is so widely available, businesses now have a choice… but which is the better option? Let’s compare some of the pros of each to make the answer a little clearer.

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Is Your Business Taking Advantage of Enhanced Mobility?

Is Your Business Taking Advantage of Enhanced Mobility?

Mobility has to be one of the most talked about technology trends in business, and for good reason. Consumers use mobile. They use it for shopping, banking, checking the weather, for driving directions; and today, they use it for productivity. Let’s take a look at the rise in mobility and how small businesses can use it to their benefit.

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Drones Use Up in Several Industries

Drones Use Up in Several Industries

Drones are a technology that comes with some controversy, but also some real utility. Known best as an unmanned deterrent measure used by governments, today drones are used for a multitude of different tasks. Today we’ll discuss how drone technology has expanded over the past several years. 

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Today’s VoIP Platform is Completely Customizable

Today’s VoIP Platform is Completely Customizable

A business has to have a telephone system. It is the simplest and most utilized method of communication. Many businesses, however, have to consider many variables before choosing theirs and it adds up to a lot of confusion. They need to take into account the cost, yes, but also the feature set, and the phone system’s ability to support much-needed mobility. Today, we will tell you about an option that checks all the boxes: a hosted VoIP system.

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Tip of the Week: Keeping Track of Changes Made in Excel

Tip of the Week: Keeping Track of Changes Made in Excel

With today’s software solutions, the fact that collaboration is possible has helped many business processes move more efficiently. Despite this, there is also the potential for these solutions to contribute to confusion within your business. Take, for instance, changes people make in Microsoft Excel. Fortunately, Excel offers a means for you to track changes made.

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CAPTCHA and Its Many Challenges

CAPTCHA and Its Many Challenges

We’re all familiar to some degree with the security measure known as CAPTCHA. You know the one—you usually see it when filling out forms or logging into sites online, where you have to prove that you’re a human being by identifying which of a variety of images fit a certain description. You may have noticed that these tests have gotten far more difficult over time. This is because, predictably, computers are getting better at beating them.

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Become an Email Champion by Spending Less Time Dealing with Email

Become an Email Champion by Spending Less Time Dealing with Email

Email is important, but it seems to steal so much of your valuable time, doesn’t it?

Conquering your never-ending inbox can seem like a feat all in itself—let alone having it done before lunchtime. There’s an easier way, and when done properly, you’ll be able to spend less time sifting through your email and more time on the more important stuff.

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Tip of the Week: What Google Lens Can Do

Tip of the Week: What Google Lens Can Do

Not many Android users are aware of the Google Lens application, and the supplemented utility that it can bring to your device’s camera. Let’s fix that by going over what Google Lens is, and how you can use it to your advantage.

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Why Business Technology Won’t Change Back

Why Business Technology Won’t Change Back

There is no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some major operational shifts in how most businesses conduct themselves and their processes, with many of these shifts relying on technology solutions. While there’s still no telling for certain how much longer these conditions will persist, we predict that many businesses won’t abandon these solutions once the present danger has passed. Let’s discuss why we have this expectation.

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What You Need to Know to Stay Ahead of Hackers in 2020

What You Need to Know to Stay Ahead of Hackers in 2020

Let’s face it, it is nearly impossible for the modern business to stay ahead of every cyberthreat. It is just too much to proactively ward against. Today’s best practices will try to keep your network from being breached and your data from being stolen, but they may just allow you to understand how your network was breached and how your data was stolen. Unfortunately, cybersecurity is not foolproof, but let’s look at a few strategies you can use to improve your chances of holding onto your data and keeping unwanted actors out of your network. 

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Tip of the Week: Minding Your Manners in the Office Again

Tip of the Week: Minding Your Manners in the Office Again

In the office, there are certain courtesies that most people follow, simply to make sure that the environment remains a peaceful and effective place to work. Working at home (as many have) makes many of these courtesies redundant. As many return to the office, resuming these manners will be important. Let’s go over some of the biggest shifts that your employees should remember as they head back to the office.

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How Companies Will Need IT as They Return to Workplaces

How Companies Will Need IT as They Return to Workplaces

As the pandemic enters its third quarter, many places have the spread of the COVID-19 virus under control and are starting to open up offices and other workplaces. Ultimately, it is the business owners’ and managers’ decision whether or not to demand attendance in an office, as most jobs completed in one can be effectively completed from home. For businesses that are opening their office and inviting their employees back, technology is still going to play a significant role. Let’s take a look at what IT is going to be important for people returning to the office after all this time.

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Partition Your Network to Prioritize Network Resources

Partition Your Network to Prioritize Network Resources

Wi-Fi can be found in many homes and businesses alike, as it is perhaps the simplest means of connecting your various computers and mobile devices to the Internet without installing networking cables or risking going over any data caps you may deal with. Of course, some devices may take priority in such a setup, so it could be very useful for you to partition your Wi-Fi.

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Tip of the Week: Simple Solutions to a Few Android Problems

Tip of the Week: Simple Solutions to a Few Android Problems

While the Android platform is a highly capable mobile platform, there are a few oddities baked in that can create some annoyances for the user. To help you out, we’ve assembled a few tips to help you prevent these annoyances from impacting your use of your mobile device.

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Are Developers Going to Eliminate the Password?

Are Developers Going to Eliminate the Password?

A lot is made about data breaches and hackers, but I think you’d be surprised to find out that over 80 percent of cyberattacks are the result of stolen authentication credentials. This has led many security-minded IT administrators to try and find a better way than the old username & password strategy that we’ve all been using for as long as there have been user accounts. One organization that is actively making waves trying to replace the username/password combo is Microsoft. They are at the forefront of the move to passwordless authentication.

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Gmail Templates Can Speed Up Your Communications

Gmail Templates Can Speed Up Your Communications

Email is one of the most popular business communication tools, with Google’s Gmail service being a popular choice with a market share of around 33.7 percent. It therefore makes sense that a lot of time is spent using Gmail, time that you might like spent on other initiatives. To help reduce the amount of time spent in Gmail on routine correspondence, we’re sharing how you can use Gmail templates to get the job done.

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Tip of the Week: 2 Wi-Fi Tips for Your Home or Office

Tip of the Week: 2 Wi-Fi Tips for Your Home or Office

The COVID-19 pandemic has a lot of people spending a lot of time at home. As a result many people are getting more out of their Internet service. With school starting back up and people still working from home, the Internet needs to be available for everyone in the house. One of the best ways to make this happen is through Wi-Fi. Oftentimes, however, setting up a Wi-Fi connection can be troublesome. Today, we thought it would be useful to give you a couple of tips that can help you get the most out of your Wi-Fi network at home or in the office. 

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Include Your Staff in Your Security Strategies

Include Your Staff in Your Security Strategies

When it comes to cybersecurity, your employees are simultaneously your biggest benefit and your most glaring weakness. This can be outlined in the telling of one story that emerged from automaker Tesla. Let’s take a look at the particulars.

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Evaluating the Security of Your Chrome Extensions

Evaluating the Security of Your Chrome Extensions

Google Chrome is currently used by 69 percent of global desktop Internet users, as of July of 2020. With such a large amount of people using Chrome, its security becomes even more important… which makes it all the worse that many people are unaware of the permissions that some of its extensions claim.

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There’s Scheduling, and Then There’s SMART Scheduling

There’s Scheduling, and Then There’s SMART Scheduling

A schedule has long been the tool of choice for businesses to uphold their productivity, despite the challenges that managing everyone’s schedule can often present. Fortunately, today’s cloud solutions provide a means to overcome these challenges. Let’s explore the idea of smart scheduling and how it can make your entire process so much simpler.

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Small Businesses Make Progress with Managed Services

Small Businesses Make Progress with Managed Services

For a lot of businesses, 2020 has seen some major challenges. Many SMBs feel like they are in a snow globe attached to a paint mixer that is always switched on. With all the problems laid out in front of them, many businesses have decided that in order to protect their business that they would subscribe to a strategy of proactivity. Let’s take a look at a couple of ways managed services help keep you ahead.

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You Need to Be Asking These 4 Questions to Maximize Security

You Need to Be Asking These 4 Questions to Maximize Security

Today’s business has to prioritize its data security. There are endless examples of businesses that haven’t done enough. Some aren’t around anymore. To help you build a strategy, we’ve put together four questions that need to be asked to give you a chance to outwit and overcome the endless threats your company could run into online.

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How to Make the Most of Mobile Device Management

How to Make the Most of Mobile Device Management

The concept of remote work is closely tied to mobility, which means that solutions and strategies that promote this mobility are particularly important for businesses to adopt if they are interested in benefiting from remote operations. Mobile device management is one such solution.

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What’s Next for Microsoft Windows?

What’s Next for Microsoft Windows?

It may be hard to believe but Windows 10 has been around for five years. It may not have reached the on-every-device OS Microsoft had planned, but it still can be found on over a billion devices worldwide. That’s pretty impressive. Today, we will be taking a look at Microsoft’s plans for Windows 10 and how it might just be the last build of Windows.

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Artificial Intelligence Will Be Assisting Cybercriminals

Artificial Intelligence Will Be Assisting Cybercriminals

To effectively manage the risk that your business is under due to cybercriminals and their activities, it is important to acknowledge what attacks your business may soon have to deal with. Due to the increased accessibility of artificial intelligence and related processes, we predict that cybercrimes will likely use AI to their advantage in the very near future.

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Tip of the Week: Three Ways to Improve Remote Meetings

Tip of the Week: Three Ways to Improve Remote Meetings

Remote work has certainly shown its utility over the past months, but despite this there are still many businesses who struggle to effectively run remote meetings. As remote meetings aren’t likely to phase out anytime soon, we felt it would be helpful to offer some tips to help make these meetings a little smoother for all involved.

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Windows 7 Should Be Long Gone

Windows 7 Should Be Long Gone

Windows 7 was the most popular operating system Microsoft ever created. It’s so popular that months after the software giant officially retired their record-breaking OS, some businesses continue to use it. Today, we will take a look at why some businesses haven’t moved off of Windows 7, and what effect it could have on their company.

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Cybersecurity Needs to Shift for Businesses to Survive

Cybersecurity Needs to Shift for Businesses to Survive

With some motivation from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses are adjusting their approach to cybersecurity. Typically, businesses would take a more measured approach in their day-to-day security improvements, while swiftly acting if there was any kind of clear and present danger. While this proved effective, the current situation has now shifted priorities over to maintaining resilience. Let’s examine some of these shifts, and how an advantage can be gained through a consistent cybersecurity strategy.

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Tip of the Week: Specifying Your Google Queries

Tip of the Week: Specifying Your Google Queries

Searching for something on Google seems stunningly self-explanatory: type in what you’re looking for, press Enter, and like magic, it appears. However, there is a lot more that you can do, if you know how to use Google’s full capabilities. Let’s go over how these capabilities can be harnessed to your advantage as you perform your next search.

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How to Set the Tone for Workplace Collaboration

How to Set the Tone for Workplace Collaboration

Collaboration—one of the more popular workplace buzzwords you hear nowadays, it serves a very important function for any successful business. Therefore, establishing healthy collaborative processes should be considered a priority in any establishment’s operations.

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COVID-19 Vaccine Attacks Teach an Important Cybersecurity Lesson

COVID-19 Vaccine Attacks Teach an Important Cybersecurity Lesson

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus has wreaked havoc across the globe, there has been a lot of hope and effort put towards developing a vaccine against it. Unfortunately, just as some experiments have produced promising results, hackers have begun targeting the research centers responsible. Let’s look at this situation to see what it can teach us.

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How to Host a Hamilton Party Online

How to Host a Hamilton Party Online

Hamilton had risen to be one of the most coveted theater tickets before the pandemic struck, having a low-end price tag of over $600, with a nine month wait. Now that the pandemic is in full swing, however, there is another option that enables you to catch the show.

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What’s the Best Way to Secure Your Mobile Device?

What’s the Best Way to Secure Your Mobile Device?

Smartphones now come with a variety of ways that users can elect to unlock their device, from biometrics to tactile patterns to good, relatively old-fashioned personal identification numbers. Of course, not all these authentication measures secure your phone equally well. Let’s consider some of these measures to determine which one is best for your device’s security.

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Nope, You Haven’t Been Hacked By Google and Apple’s COVID-19 App

Nope, You Haven’t Been Hacked By Google and Apple’s COVID-19 App

Google and Apple have recently started an initiative with local governments to try and help prevent the increased spread of COVID-19. Basically, this app would notify people if there were positive COVID-19 test results in their area. While this does bring up some major privacy concerns, we wanted to discuss something else today: the prevalence of false warnings that have already been forced onto mobile devices. Let’s dig in.

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Tip of the Week: Warning Signs of a Mobile Malware Infection

Tip of the Week: Warning Signs of a Mobile Malware Infection

If you’re the average business user today, you probably rely on a smartphone to manage much of your life, both personally and in the professional sense. As our phones have become so central to our lives, hackers now have the opportunity to attack through malicious applications. For this week’s tip, we wanted to go over a few ways to tell that an app might be an attack in disguise.

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It’s Time to Audit Your IT

It’s Time to Audit Your IT

Unfortunately, small businesses are having a hard time right now. If your operations are to continue throughout this time, some significant changes are going to be required. Here, we’re looking at how you can use current technologies to help sustain your business. Chances are, you may already have these technologies available to you.

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Improve Your Business With These Documentation Practices

Improve Your Business With These Documentation Practices

With the amount of technology that the modern business relies on today, each business needs to maintain comprehensive documentation outlining it. As a managed service provider, we can provide an expert perspective on what needs to be included in this documentation. Let’s get into it.

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Tip of the Week: Useful Excel Shortcuts

Tip of the Week: Useful Excel Shortcuts

When most people think “spreadsheet,” they’re thinking about Microsoft Excel. Yet, for how well-known it is, many people are unaware of many of its capabilities. This is particularly true of the shortcuts available to properly format these spreadsheets. For this week’s tip, we’re sharing a few of these formatting tips.

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Why There Has Never Been a Better Time for Managed IT

Why There Has Never Been a Better Time for Managed IT

Okay, time for some real talk: There is no denying that 2020 has held a few unique challenges for everyone who runs a business. Economic challenges, political tensions, and an honest-to-goodness pandemic have all thrown us all for a loop. As a result, it is important that businesses all adjust their technology priorities to survive. Let’s discuss these priorities, and how they will need to shift. 

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Demystifying the Cloud for Business Computing

Demystifying the Cloud for Business Computing

As businesses have been allowed access to more advanced tools, the cloud and its capabilities have been shown to be among the most useful to operations. Let’s examine some practical applications of the cloud to see why this is.

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Tip of the Week: How to Work Best While Working Remotely

Tip of the Week: How to Work Best While Working Remotely

While remote work has been more widely implemented than ever as of late, many people still find themselves struggling to remain productive throughout their workday. We wanted to share a few tips to help them really make the most of working from home.

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Understanding the Benefits of Data Automation

Understanding the Benefits of Data Automation

Businesses of all sizes rely on data to operate, which means that this data needs to be collected somehow. Let’s consider how the concept of data automation has assisted these businesses to successfully accomplish more.

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Are Macs Inherently More Secure than PCs?

Are Macs Inherently More Secure than PCs?

It has long been assumed that computer viruses are a Windows operating system exclusive, that Macs are immune from these issues. Let’s examine the validity of these assumptions, and how much you need to be invested in your technology’s protections.

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Tip of the Week: Reviewing Some Remote Work Best Practices

Tip of the Week: Reviewing Some Remote Work Best Practices

Despite many having to work from home for some time now, a lot of these people still haven’t quite gotten the hang of remote productivity or have developed some less-than-productive habits. This week, we’re providing these people with a few remedial tips to make their efforts while working from home as effective as possible.

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Four Cybersecurity Tools Your Business Needs

Four Cybersecurity Tools Your Business Needs

In 2020, conducting business has been hard enough to have to constantly worry that your business is going to be the victim of a cyberattack. Unfortunately, it is an issue that isn’t going away, and can be a truly devastating experience. 

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Are You Practicing Good Password Hygiene?

Are You Practicing Good Password Hygiene?

Passwords are not a modern invention by any stretch, but as we have dealt with them for so long, there are a lot of bad habits that many people have adopted. That’s why we felt that it was appropriate for us to call out some of these habits and discuss some better options for you to adopt.

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Tip of the Week: Bookmarking Your Google Documents

Tip of the Week: Bookmarking Your Google Documents

Productivity is always an important consideration when it comes to your business’ processes. That’s why, for this week’s tip, we’re going over how to boost your productivity by adding some of your G Suite documents into your bookmarks bar.

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Understanding the Benefits of a CRM Solution

Understanding the Benefits of a CRM Solution

Business success is largely based on the quality of the relationships you develop with your prospects and clients. Of course, no relationship is ever easy, and they usually don’t number in the hundreds. To simplify things for you, we want to discuss a tool that provides a lot of benefits: CRM software.

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Protect Your Personal Information when Using FinTech

Protect Your Personal Information when Using FinTech

For decades you had to go into a bank to complete your transactions. Today, you can do most everything you need to do without stepping into one. Between online banking and now FinTech-fueled mobile apps more people than ever are avoiding the bank. In fact, a study from Bank of America found that 62 percent of people are now using some type of digital banking or financial services. Today, we’re going to give you a few ways you can protect yourself when using mobile banking apps. 

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How to Create a Useful Employee Handbook

How to Create a Useful Employee Handbook

If your procedures and policies aren’t currently documented, they need to be. A written policy and procedure guide can help keep your team up-to-speed on the expectations that you have of them. Consider it a quick and easy reference for your employees to use to answer their questions. In light of this, here’s some tips to keep in mind as you put together your business’ employee handbook.

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Are These Technologies Protecting Your Operational Security?

Are These Technologies Protecting Your Operational Security?

With businesses slowly resuming their operations, it is effectively guaranteed that this process will be bumpy. However, this in and of itself presents an opportunity for these businesses to improve their operations for long-term benefits. Whether you are actively opening your doors or ramping up to do so, you need to have today’s technology supporting you and your activities.

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