k_Street Consulting, LLC Blog

You may have purchased a solid state drive because of its many benefits over the hard disk drive. Although, if you want to get the most bang for your buck with a SSD, you’ll want to follow these best practices.

Writing an email is one of the most prevalent methods of communication in the business world, but it’s not as easy as you might think. There are considerable details and intricacies to mastering this art, and we’re here to help. By the end of this blog article, you’ll be armed with five tips to write the most effective email that you can.

It’s difficult to judge whether or not an app can expose your business to risk without first downloading it. Despite their best efforts, Google Play and the iTunes store can’t possibly identify every single malicious application out there. Unfortunately, you’re charged with taking the security of your mobile devices into your own hands, but thanks to Google Play Protect, this responsibility is a bit more mild.

It only makes sense that you would want only the best security for your organization. It’s natural to want to eliminate risk entirely. However, this simply is not a realistic viewpoint to take where your security is concerned, and it can even contribute to greater security issues as a company holds out for the best solution.

Security is always changing due to the volatility of online threats and vulnerabilities. Things have changed so much over the past decade that solutions that worked back then are so outdated that they put your business at risk today. This brings into question what you should expect in the years to come. What are some of the threats that your business can expect to face in the future?

One of the most important considerations in any business is to ensure that payments are properly received and processed. Otherwise, you may as well not be in business at all. To help expedite this, we’re dedicating this week’s tip to creating a better, more effective invoice. Let’s get into it.

You don’t need us to tell you that servers, workstations, and many other network components create a lot of heat from constant use. Servers in particular produce an incredible amount of heat, so much that they need to be kept in a climate-controlled room to ensure they don’t overheat and cause hardware failure. How can you make sure that your business’ servers are in an adequate environment to preserve your organization’s future?

You literally never know when your data may be lost. It may be frightening to consider, but there are so many factors that could lead to you losing your data, ranging from an act of nature to user error. To counter this, you need to make sure your backup solution meets certain requirements. Today, we’ll review those requirements.

As useful as a spreadsheet can be to convey information, they can be a little drab and disengaging if the full capabilities of Microsoft Excel aren’t understood and leveraged. For today’s tip, we’ll go over a few little-known and underutilized features that can help you create spreadsheets with both more style, and more utility.

A key component to effectively attracting your audience is to better understand their preferences. Even the most seemingly insignificant change, like changing the color of the buttons on your website, can have a major impact on how effective your materials are. Fortunately, through a process called A/B testing, observing the impact of these changes is somewhat straightforward.

There’s a big difference between turning off any other appliance, like a stereo or a television, and turning off a computer. A computer takes much more time to shut down than your average device, but why is this the case? Is there a way to speed up this process? This tip will explain these processes and provide some ideas for how you can make this process much faster.

More businesses than ever before have been falling victim to the various threats found on the Internet, which has provided a valuable opportunity to learn more about how to protect your business and ensure its survivability in the face of data breaches. However, even your employees are a valuable method of securing your business, especially if you take the time to explain to them the important role they play in security.

How confident are you that your employees act in the best interest of your company’s security with every decision they make? While it’s certainly the case that you, as the business owner, think along these lines, it’s also true that the average worker isn’t nearly as motivated about network security as you are. The challenge, then, for business owners is to get everyone in your organization on the same page when it comes to security best practices.

The future of any organization is only as good as its business continuity plan. This is a well thought out plan that instructs a company of what to do in the face of a disaster, so they can return to normal operations as quickly as possible. One key part of every business continuity plan that should never be overlooked: the backing up and recovery of your data.

Businesses don’t typically pay enough attention to the possibility of a cyber attack--a scary thought if you’re unprepared. Instead of just hoping that hackers will overlook your company, you need to equip your network with enterprise-level security tools while taking proactive measures that keep threats out of your infrastructure.

How does your business handle threats to its data security? You might think you’re safe, but according to the Ponemon Institute, nearly four out of every five organizations aren’t prepared to fend off threats to their security. This is a major problem, so it should make you question whether you’re prepared to handle the various security risks that could potentially plague your business.

Stress is a natural part of the workplace. It’s almost impossible to make it through the workday without getting stressed out about at least one thing or another, especially when you’re a business owner. In these stress-filled circumstances, it’s important to remember that stress isn’t always a bad thing; it has some redeeming factors that are often lost amongst the cacophony of shuffling papers and constant phone calls.

It all goes to show: don’t mess with the IRS. The prison system has two new residents, after Anthony Alika, 42, and his wife Sonia, 27, were sentenced for filing fraudulent tax returns through the often-exploited “Get Transcript” site maintained by the Internal Revenue Service. In addition to their incarceration, the Alikas will each be responsible to pay restitution to the IRS.

One way that your business can save money is by purchasing used computer equipment, but only if you do your research and perform a meticulous analysis of where it’s been, and why it’s no longer being used. If you’re serious about purchasing pre-owned computing equipment, consider these four tips.

It’s been almost one year since the release of Windows 10. Are you taking advantage of everything Windows 10 offers? Here are four of the best Windows 10 features that you’ll want to start using right away.

Everyone loves a good vacation, especially if you have the good fortune of having a reliable staff on-hand that can handle the administration of your office while you’re away. Although, it might be tempting to just cut yourself off from technology and enjoy your time off, doing so might cause problems down the line that could easily be prevented by simply checking your email or calling home-base once in a while.

It makes no difference how your business’s administrative chain of command is set up. Everyone should have a basic understanding of how your IT works, as well as its related responsibilities and functions. Here are four easy ways that you can educate yourself (and your staff) on how your IT department works, be it internal or outsourced.

You implement technology solutions to keep your network safe from hackers, but what would you do if your systems were bypassed and infiltrated? Every business owner needs to consider this scenario, because even the best of us can fall victim to hacking attacks when we least expect them. Approaching such an event in a reasonable way is your best chance of making it through in one piece.

Security is a top concern for anyone that utilizes the Internet. The problem for businesses is that the average employee probably doesn’t care much for your security practices, and it can be challenging to get them to comply without upsetting them.

Social media, as wonderful a tool for connecting and communicating as it is, does have its dangers. Fortunately, these risks may be mitigated through careful deliberation and pragmatic posting habits, but only if you know what they are. What follows are some easy habits to encourage a heightened state of security both digitally and in the physical world.

Laptop touchpads can be rather fickle. You may have experienced the frustrating situation where you’re using the laptop and then an unexpected glitch causes the mouse to jump across the screen. This error can actually cause data loss if it happens at the worst possible time, but it’s also just plain unproductive. Here are five troubleshooting tips to keep your touchpad in good working order and prevent this all-too-common issue from happening.

It’s clear that your IT department should have administrator privileges with your business’s technology, but the average employee is another story altogether. Administrator privileges provide users with the ability to do many things, such as install programs and access admin settings. Administrator privileges are exactly what you want to keep users away from, and it turns out that the majority of flaws in the Windows operating system depend on these privileges.

Computers are complex devices that require special attention to keep in optimal shape. Unfortunately, some people don’t pay enough attention to the current state of their computers. Once you’ve cleaned your computer properly, though, it’s important to make sure that it stays that way for as long as possible. Doing so can increase the longevity of your technology, and prevent it from an untimely demise.

At the end of the workday, you’ve got an important decision to make: power down your desktop or log off? Each option has its own set of pros and cons, but are you confident that you’re making the right decision? Here’s how to find out for sure.

Knowing how to properly use your PC is key to its longevity. Therefore, you should never take for granted basic PC best practices. Here are three basic PC best practices that are easy to overlook.

Today’s society practices a policy of upgrading to brand-new devices whenever the next big thing drops. We see this all the time when businesses want to keep up with the latest trends by upgrading to new workstations that utilize recent operating systems, or because their old hardware feels slow. However, this can have a negative effect on the environment in the form of e-waste.

Email is a staple in offices around the world, but many organizations are finding it easier than ever to make simple mistakes that can be easily avoided with proper training procedures. It’s a best practice to ensure that your team is adequately trained on how to efficiently use your chosen email client to its maximum potential. Here are four of the most common email mistakes that the average employee can make, and how they can easily be avoided in the future.

With new threats emerging all of the time, it’s no wonder that cybersecurity is such a major part of any technological endeavor. Your should be using the most powerful security solutions on the market in order to avoid intensive hacks. Despite the emphasis that our society places on security, it takes a high-notoriety hack to truly shake the public into action; for example, what if the Central Intelligence Agency were hacked by a teenager?

The purpose of business technology is to propel an enterprise into the future. Yet, too many businesses are reluctant to make major adjustments to their current IT systems, wrongly believing that it’s not worth the investment. The best way to approach upgrading is to use an IT roadmap that lays out a plan for your technology’s future. This way, you won’t be surprised by what the future holds.

In today’s competitive workplace environments, productivity is at a premium. Although, thanks to our gadgets, the allure of the Internet, and of course, having to interact with people, working at the modern office isn’t without its fair share of distractions, which hinder productivity. Here are three tips that you can use to tune out the distractions so you can get more work done.

October is Cyber Security Month and we want to use this time to bring awareness to the different aspects of cyber security. One often overlooked element of cyber security is employee risk management. What level of risk does your staff pose to your network’s security? You can easily find this out by taking an online test.

Running a business means going to meetings. There’s really no way around it. And while you can’t run a business without meetings, you can run your meetings as efficiently as possible so that they’re not a complete waste of time. Unfortunately, according to a recent study by Blue Jeans Network, the worldwide trends for meetings show that they can hinder productivity more than help it.

We don’t need to explain how dangerous the Internet is. Behind a veil of deception is a horde of malicious entities that are practically begging you to make a mistake and allow them access to your infrastructure. If there’s one thing you should be sure of, it’s that a single mistake is all it takes to allow dangerous entities into your organization, like ransomware, viruses, malware, or even spyware.

Spam emails often contain viruses leading to any number of potentially threatening situations for your company’s network. Therefore, it’s essential that your network has a security solution in place that acts as a sort of virtual sheriff, blocking malicious messages from accessing your network, while granting passage to the good guys.

Is your network running a little sluggish? Computing hardware isn’t perfect and requires a certain level of maintenance in order to keep everything running at capacity. Before you swap out your old server units for new ones, try these maintenance best practices.

Sometimes explaining issues with your technology to someone over the phone is difficult at best. To help your tech support better understand the issue you’re dealing with, provide screenshots to help with your explanations. All you have to do to take a screenshot is hit a few keys. Here’s how it’s done.

Smartphones are exceptionally useful tools capable of enhancing your productivity, even while out of the office, but this comes at a steep cost. If your phone’s battery isn’t optimized to handle the workload, the multitude of apps will quickly drain it and you’ll be left with a dead device.

As technology grows ever more complex, the average garden-variety threats grow exponentially. As such, security measures grow more comprehensive to battle the myriad of new threats that appear every day. If you’re not protecting yourself by maximizing your network security, you could be weak and vulnerable.

One of the most memorable Super Bowl XLIX commercials yet again came from Coca-Cola. In classic Coca-Cola fashion (pun intended), they premiered an inspirational video with the message, “Let’s all make the World Wide Web a better place, #MakeItHappy.” We can’t contest to Coke’s feel-good message, but as an IT Company, we must object to one horrifying aspect of this commercial.

Occupational burnout is a real risk for the busy business owner. Wikipedia defines it as, “Characterized by short-term exhaustion, lack of enthusiasm and motivation, feeling drained, and also may have the dimension of frustration and/or negative emotion and cynical behavior, and as a result reduced professional efficacy.” Can you relate? How can you prevent occupational burnout?

Even if you’re a top-tier businessman, you’re still only human; and the human body can be defeated by something as insignificant as germs. Eventually, your body’s immune system can give in and let a biological virus or two into your system. When you’re feeling under the weather, it’s probably best to stay home, but you can still keep yourself preoccupied and productive if need be.

Passwords are slowly becoming obsolete in the face of more powerful security solutions. This is especially true considering how a hacker can input millions of characters every second in an attempt to break into your account and unleash who knows what into your business’s network. While using a password is still a good idea, professionals are working tirelessly to bring the new face of two-factor authentication to light.

It seems most logical to store every byte of your data, and with the advent of cloud computing, it's more affordable than ever. While most companies tend to store a huge amount of data, some forget that they should always be willing to delete old files if need be. This is especially true if you deal with sensitive data which can leave your business liable to a possible lawsuit.

These days, with the Ebola virus on everyone's mind, sanitation is a major issue. Enacting proper sanitation procedures is a must for any public place, especially in the office. Unbeknownst to most office workers, one of the biggest transmitters of germs is frequently-handled technology. Therefore, it's imperative that you properly use your technology in a sanitary fashion. Here's how.

In a survey by Cyber-Ark, close to half of employees interviewed admitted that if they were fired tomorrow, they would take with them their former company's proprietary data. This is a shocking revelation considering how much you trust your current staff, maybe even to the point of referring to them as "family." What can you do to protect your business from a former employee with ill intentions?

Owning and running a business means that you have to be good at making and implementing plans. Every business owner has this skill, but there's one aspect of planning that often gets overlooked--testing. It's easy to skip testing because of the amount of time it takes, but it's necessary to ensure success. The clearest picture of this is with data recovery.

When something goes wrong at the workplace, it could be for any number of reasons - power failure, system crashes, or even malicious software. But, before you go and assume that the problem is irreparable, check your cables for any abnormalities. Even the slightest cabling issue can cause big problems for your company's entire network.

Do you have trouble keeping track of your budget and expenses within your company? It's not your fault - prices change over time, and paperwork can be tedious to go through. By taking advantage of Microsoft Excel's basic mathematical formulas, you can simplify the way that keep track of your business's budget.

Two weeks ago, the National Communications Administration managed to weaken a set of malware designed to steal banking and personal credentials from unsuspecting users. They warned the world that GameOver Zeus and Cryptolocker ransomware would be back with a vengeance, and that immediate action could prevent a whole lot of pain later.

Despite what many people think, Microsoft Word is far from a normal word processor. Microsoft has thrown all sorts of nifty new toys in there for its consumers to enjoy, such as a built-in citation machine for all of your research needs. When writing a white paper, you want to use specific examples and you want to give others credit when it is due. That's the only professional way to do it.

Details are still coming in regarding one of the biggest data breaches in history that compromised the personal records of 200 million Americans! The scam was propagated by the online ID theft service Superget.info, and it's currently being investigated by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

It's a nightmare scenario for any business when a computer virus cripples their system. It's even worse when it happens to a company that has invested in a dedicated antivirus software, especially when the virus got through because someone felt the need to disable it! Because of scenarios like this, you should never disable your antivirus software.

In the midst of one of the coldest and most grueling winters the U.S. has experienced in years, millions of Americans are growing impatient for the arrival of spring. As subzero temperatures spread across the country, the cold weather and snow has become a hazard not only to humans, but to their technology. How cold is too cold for your gadgets?

Saving a little on your technology can go a long ways, but cutting too many corners can lead to additional problems and expensive downtime. Here are a few ways you can cut costs without creating long term issues.