Meadow Mountain Technology | IT Services | Western Maryland

Optimizing Your Wi-Fi Network for Better Performance

meadowmttech — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 15:41:15 +0000

To optimize your Wi-Fi performance and ensure a fast and reliable internet connection, consider following these best practices:

Position your router strategically: Place your router in a central location within your home or office, away from obstructions like walls and large objects. This helps provide better coverage throughout the space and minimizes signal interference.
Use the 5 GHz frequency band: If your router supports dual-band Wi-Fi, utilize the less congested 5 GHz frequency band instead of the more common 2.4 GHz band. The 5 GHz band typically offers faster speeds and less interference from other devices.
Secure your Wi-Fi network: Set a strong and unique password for your Wi-Fi network to prevent unauthorized access. This helps ensure that your bandwidth is not being used by others, which can impact your own internet speed.
Update your router’s firmware: Check for firmware updates for your router regularly and install them to benefit from bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements provided by the manufacturer.
Optimize your wireless channel: Use a Wi-Fi analyzer tool to identify the least congested wireless channel in your area. Adjust your router settings to operate on that channel, reducing interference from neighboring networks.
Limit the number of connected devices: Having multiple devices connected to your Wi-Fi network simultaneously can strain its performance. Disconnect or disable devices that are not in use, particularly those that consume significant bandwidth, to optimize the connection for your essential devices.
Reduce signal interference: Keep your router away from other electronics, such as cordless phones, baby monitors, microwave ovens, and Bluetooth devices. These devices can cause signal interference and degrade Wi-Fi performance.
Enable Quality of Service (QoS) settings: QoS settings prioritize certain types of network traffic, such as gaming or video streaming, to ensure a smoother experience. Adjust the settings to allocate more bandwidth to critical applications or devices.
Use Wi-Fi range extenders or mesh systems: If you have a large home or office with dead spots, consider using Wi-Fi range extenders or a mesh Wi-Fi system to expand coverage and maintain a strong signal throughout the area.
Consider a wired connection for high-demand activities: For activities that require a stable and high-speed connection, such as online gaming or video streaming, consider using a wired Ethernet connection directly to your device. Wired connections generally offer better performance and lower latency than Wi-Fi.
Regularly restart your router: Restarting your router periodically can help clear out temporary issues and refresh the connection. It’s a simple troubleshooting step that can often resolve common Wi-Fi performance problems.

By implementing these best practices, you can optimize your Wi-Fi performance, minimize signal interference, and enjoy a fast and reliable internet connection.

The post Optimizing Your Wi-Fi Network for Better Performance appeared first on Meadow Mountain Technology | IT Services | Western Maryland.

Google Tips and Tricks

meadowmttech — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 20:10:49 +0000

When searching on Google, there are several tips and tricks you can use to help you find what you want more effectively. Here are some suggestions:

Be specific with your search terms: Use specific keywords that accurately describe what you’re looking for. For example, instead of searching for “best restaurants,” try “best Italian restaurants in New York City.”
Use quotation marks for exact phrases: If you’re looking for an exact phrase, enclose it in quotation marks. For example, search for “how to make chocolate chip cookies” to find results that include that exact phrase.
Exclude specific terms with the minus sign: If you want to exclude certain terms from your search, use the minus sign (-). For example, if you’re looking for information about lions but not the sports team, search for “lions -football.”
Utilize site-specific searches: If you want to search within a specific website or domain, use the “site:” operator. For example, to search for information about climate change on the National Geographic website, type “climate change site:nationalgeographic.com.”
Use the “related:” operator: If you’re looking for websites similar to a particular site, use the “related:” operator. For example, “related:nytimes.com” will provide you with a list of sites related to The New York Times.
Use the “filetype:” operator: If you’re looking for a specific file type, such as a PDF or PowerPoint presentation, use the “filetype:” operator. For example, “climate change filetype:pdf” will show search results with PDF files related to climate change.
Utilize Google’s advanced search features: Google offers advanced search options that can help you narrow down your results. These features include date ranges, specific languages, and more. Access the advanced search options by clicking on “Settings” under the Google search bar, then selecting “Advanced search.”
Try different search engines: While Google is the most popular search engine, there are other search engines available, such as Bing or DuckDuckGo. Sometimes using a different search engine can yield different results.
Read the search results snippet: Before clicking on a search result, read the snippet (the brief description below the title) to get an idea of whether the page is likely to have the information you’re looking for.
Use search operators: Google provides various search operators that can help you refine your search. Some common ones include “OR” to search for either of two terms, “intitle:” to search for a specific word or phrase in the page title, and “inurl:” to search for a specific word or phrase in the URL.

Remember that refining your search queries and experimenting with different techniques can help you find the most relevant information on Google.

The post Google Tips and Tricks appeared first on Meadow Mountain Technology | IT Services | Western Maryland.

The Importance of Backing Up Your Data

meadowmttech — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 17:58:09 +0000

Backing up your data is of utmost importance for several reasons. In today’s digital age, we rely heavily on electronic devices and data storage systems to store our personal and professional information. From cherished family photos and videos to important work documents and financial records, our data holds significant value. Here are some key reasons why backing up your data is crucial:

1. Data Loss Prevention: Data loss can occur due to various reasons, including hardware failure, accidental deletion, theft, malware attacks, natural disasters, or software glitches. By having a backup of your data, you can mitigate the risk of permanent loss and ensure that your information remains accessible even in the face of unforeseen events.

2. Protection Against Hardware Failure: Hard drives, solid-state drives, and other storage media can fail unexpectedly. If your data is stored solely on one device without any backup, a hardware failure could result in complete data loss. Regularly backing up your data to an external storage device, cloud storage, or another device provides an extra layer of protection in case of hardware malfunctions.

3. Recovery from Accidental Deletion or Corruption: We all make mistakes, and sometimes important files can be accidentally deleted or become corrupted. Without a backup, recovering these files can be challenging or even impossible. Having a backup ensures that you can retrieve previous versions of files or restore them entirely, saving you from the stress and potential consequences of losing critical data.

4. Protection against Malware and Ransomware Attacks: Malicious software such as viruses, ransomware, or other forms of malware can infect your computer or network, encrypting or destroying your data. Regularly backing up your data allows you to recover your files to a pre-attack state, minimizing the impact of such security breaches and avoiding the need to pay ransoms to cybercriminals.

5. Seamless Transition to New Devices: When you upgrade to a new device or replace a malfunctioning one, having a backup simplifies the process of transferring your data. You can quickly restore your files and settings on the new device, ensuring a smooth transition without the hassle of manually transferring each individual item.

6. Long-term Data Preservation: Some data, such as family photos, important documents, or research materials, may have sentimental or historical value. By backing up your data regularly and using reliable storage methods, you can preserve it for the long term and ensure that future generations can access and benefit from it.

To effectively back up your data, consider adopting a comprehensive backup strategy that includes both local and off-site backups. Local backups involve storing data on external hard drives, network-attached storage (NAS) devices, or other physical media. Off-site backups, on the other hand, employ cloud storage services or remote servers located in different geographic locations. A combination of these approaches provides redundancy and enhances data protection.

Remember that backups should be performed regularly and verified to ensure data integrity. Automating backups or using backup software can simplify the process and minimize the risk of human error. Finally, periodically test your backup restoration process to ensure that you can successfully recover your data when needed.

By understanding the importance of backing up your data and implementing a robust backup strategy, you can safeguard your valuable information and enjoy peace of mind knowing that your data is protected.

The post The Importance of Backing Up Your Data appeared first on Meadow Mountain Technology | IT Services | Western Maryland.

How To Get Started On LinkedIn

meadowmttech — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 16:02:05 +0000

Want To Know How To Get Started On LinkedIn?

Jason and I recently had a meeting with one of our clients who is going through the process of learning how to utilize social media to better market their business. They had a lot of questions about a platform that neither of us have admittedly been using very effectively. Because our client trusts our research skills, we began to dig in and find out how to get started on LinkedIn and we are excited to share this information with you! Hang in there for this article, it’s a rather long post, but worth the read.

Need to Jump to the Bullet Point Version?

If you’re not familiar with LinkedIn at all, I suggest you start with LinkedIn’s own platform help topic: “LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with hundreds of millions of members, and growing rapidly. Our mission is to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.”

Okay so you know the basics about LinkedIn but you want to know how to use it and more details of what it can do for your business! First, let me share with you some of the recent statistics I found. These might convince you that LinkedIn is the place for you!

LinkedIn is a platform to share your content. It doesn’t have the reach limitations that people are experiencing with other social media platforms. Right now, of the 500 million users on the platform, only 3 million are sharing content daily. The content on the LinkedIn feed was seen 9 billion times. What this data is saying, is that you have a much better chance of having your content seen and gaining traction.

If you only look at these numbers, LinkedIn doesn’t have the daily users that Facebook does. BUT… Here’s the thing, LinkedIn is a business to business (B2B) networking machine. Of the widely used social media platforms, LinkedIn is all business and professionalism. You won’t find silly meme’s and pointless quizzes, or family pictures here. You will find news about your connections, popular articles, helpful how-to’s, and so much more. LinkedIn is a platform of professionals for professionals. It’s a platform we should be paying more attention to.

What Can LinkedIn Do For You?

The biggest benefit I’ve found from LinkedIn is that it can generate leads for your business. Please understand, this doesn’t happen in a day, but once you’ve finished building your profile, creating a relevant network, engaging with content on the platform, your page will start to gain some traction and will reach more relevant people.

“LinkedIn’s ability to generate leads is 3 times higher than Twitter and Facebook!” ~ HubSpot

Getting Started on LinkedIn

Now that you’re all caught up on what LinkedIn is, let’s dive into how to get started on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Specific Terms

I’ve collected a few of the common terms and actions that can be taken on LinkedIn. All of these actions help you interact with your network in a unique way. I’ve included links to LinkedIn’s help topics which go into further detail and even tell you how to take the action.

Connect – this how you create your network on LinkedIn. By clicking connect on someone’s profile, you are asking that they join your network.

Follow – following allows you to see posts and articles of a person or company page without adding them to your network.

Endorsements – an endorsement of a skill on a LinkedIn profile is a vote of confidence in your skill from one of your connections.

Recommendation – a way to recognize colleague’s work and for you to have your work recognized

So the terms are a bit different here from other platforms and now that you know what they mean, we can get into the purpose of this post! How can you can you get started on LinkedIn’s platform and get those numbers working for you!

Complete Your Profile

It’s so much work. Trust me I know. As of the writing of this article my profile is only rated intermediate for completeness. LinkedIn requires a lot from a user profile, but the payoff is worth it, so I hear. Avoid using a stock photo for a profile picture. The number one thing I keep hearing throughout all advertising on social media platforms is people want to see the REAL you. Use a real photo of yourself, not the business mugshot you had taken for your ID card.

In the about section you have an opportunity to write a little about your skills and experiences and what makes you special. This can be your sales pitch, but make sure you sound like a real person behind the pitch. When it comes to talking about your accomplishments, try not to sound so cut and dry. Talk about your goals and where you’re going. Do you have project you love working on or one you’re about to launch? Talk about it. This is the space for it.

Your profile acts sort of like a resume. Post your work experience, education, certifications, and volunteer experience. The most important thing you can do on your profile is be honest. Next you have skills. Skills can be diverse. Make sure to keep them updated and relevant to your current job or business goal that you’re promoting. Your skills can be endorsed by your connections and you can endorse your connections skills. Be sure to read the section below about LinkedIn etiquette!

Build Your Network

Once your profile is complete, you can start the next daunting task: building your network. This one is an investment of time and effort. To start with you can see who’s on LinkedIn from your email address book. Once you’ve established these connections, you’ll have to decide how to tackle this next step in the project because the information is mixed. I’ve found LinkedIn professionals to say two different things.

Some say connect with everyone – the whole six degrees of separation concept. Others say, research and connect only with people you have met and have a professional relationship with

I myself will be networking through the people that I know and here’s why. I value connecting with people that I know, want to have better professional relationships, and I believe this will make the network I am building that much stronger and effective. Someone I know is far more likely to write a meaningful recommendation, provide an introduction, and share my content.

In addition to making connections via your personal contacts, you should find groups related to your industry and join them. Once a part of a group, just like more familiar platforms you can participate in conversations. This is where you get to make your voice heard and there is potential to meet new people. If you meet someone in a group and have an interaction in a group, you can send them a message to ask if you can connect with them. By doing this, you will begin to build an effective network on LinkedIn.

Did you meet someone new in person? Look them up on LinkedIn, send them a request to connect, reminding them of that time you met. This is just another step to start building your relevant network. Have a new client, ask to connect with them via LinkedIn. Is one of your connections following someone you’d like to connect with? Send them a message requesting that they introduce you. This is just like networking in person. You can read more about the etiquette of LinkedIn in this section here.

Start Sharing Content

So now you might be asking, what to post on LinkedIn. I’ll explain here common post points, but make sure you check out this article regarding etiquette on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a combination of networking and content marketing. For content this is the place to share company, career, and employee milestones, post news about the company, and post articles.

“As of the writing of this article, LinkedIn values images higher than video content”~ OkDork.

Don’t know what to write your articles about? Think about questions your clients have had. Write well researched articles to answer the questions in depth. The reason I’ve developed this article is because a client of mine recently asked how they can get started using LinkedIn. Lists and how-to’s have shown to be some of the most popular content on LinkedIn. If you have something to say that you can sum up in a brief list, share it. Make sure to include images.

The other content that you should be posting is valuable content that you find from trusted resources on LinkedIn. See something a client posted that you like? Make sure you share it. This helps them and you. A good mix of shared content with original content is key to success.

The Etiquette of LinkedIn

So now you know the gist of LinkedIn. This article isn’t meant to be all inclusive, but I hope it helps get you started in the right direction. Because LinkedIn is so unique compared to the other social media platforms, it is important to know some general rules to play by on this platform.

Requesting connections with a personal message is received better than sending the request without a message.
You should only ask for recommendations from people you know and who can validate your work.
It’s not recommended to offer a recommendation in exchange for a recommendation as it’s often less meaningful.
Endorse skills of connections that you have personally worked with. If you’re endorsing everyone’s skills, your word becomes less valuable.
Request Introductions with respect to the person you’re sending the request to. Keep in mind that sharing network connections is something that people are mostly only willing to do with someone that they trust. Explain why you want the introduction and be patient and wait for the response. While being patient, something to keep in mind, is that people aren’t necessarily checking into LinkedIn as frequently as other social media platforms.
LinkedIn is protective of the professionalism on their site. If you decide to go connect with people that you don’t know and don’t handle this professionally, there is potential to be flagged as a spammer. Ultimately, too many spam flags in your account can lead to your account being suspended by LinkedIn.
Post content should be professional. LinkedIn is not the place for family photos and silly Buzzfeed quizzes. LinkedIn is one of the few platforms where professional content is expected and people will call you out on posting the wrong type of content.
And finally, don’t be that guy who asks for connections, recommendations, introductions, and endorsements and never gives anything back. This platform is about helping trusted professionals build their connections, land new jobs, find the perfect resource, etc. It’s a community for professionals.

Quick Summary

Understand the terms and actions you can use on LinkedIn
Complete Your Profile
Connect with the people that you know
Join groups and work to connect with members of the groups
See someone you want to connect with, send them a message!
Once you build a network, ask your contacts to introduce you to some of their connections.
Create valuable content
Follow business networking etiquette rules

For Further Reading

If you need more reasons to use LinkedIn beyond what you found here, I recommend the following:

48 Eye-Opening LinkedIn Statistics For B2B Marketers In 2019

45 Experts Share Their Biggest Linkedin Marketing Strategy

The post How To Get Started On LinkedIn appeared first on Meadow Mountain Technology | IT Services | Western Maryland.

Does My Small Business Need A Website?

meadowmttech — Thu, 16 May 2019 23:24:46 +0000

Four Reasons A Small Business Needs a Website

Small businesses face obstacles that restrict their online presence. Some of these obstacles are created by misguided beliefs that a small business does not need a website. We’ve heard customers say “a website isn’t relevant for my business” or “my customers are not online” and even “I use Facebook and that’s enough” as excuses for not having a website. Market research released by reliable sources shows that businesses are not alone in believing that they don’t need a website. That same research analyzes consumer behavior that contradicts these beliefs. Small businesses need a website to help them establish credibility, increase accessibility, have a competitive edge, and increase brand awareness. Consumer behavior is changing across the globe, even for the small business, and it is necessary to keep up with that behavior.

4 Key Reasons a Small Business Needs a Website

Establish credibility
Increase consumer accessibility
Maintain a competitive edge
Increase brand awareness

A website establishes credibility with audiences.

Most consumers are doing research before making a purchase and they expect a business to have an online presence. Trends are showing that consumers are less likely to buy from a business that doesn’t have a website. In one study, 48 percent of consumers surveyed said they would not even consider buying from a business if it did not have a website. That’s a large number of customers to lose simply by not having a website.

Consumers say that a business looks suspicious without a website, costing businesses crucial credibility. According to a web credibility study from Stanford, 75 percent of consumers admit to making judgments on a company’s credibility based on website design. Market research breaks this data down further to show that consumers are more likely to not consider a business if the website has loading issues, is not mobile friendly, has grammar or spelling errors, or is out of date.

“48% of people cited a website’s design as the number one factor in deciding the credibility of a business”

Having an online presence is an easy way for business owners to educate visitors on their products and services. Credibility can be established by linking in customer reviews from Google, Yelp, Facebook, or other outreach efforts. Clients can find a business’s customer reviews easily on the website and see how that business is solving their client’s problems.

A website increases accessibility to services and products

With changing consumer behavior, small businesses can find it difficult to keep up with consumer demands. One of those demands that businesses cannot afford to leave behind is the need for a website. Consumers used to heavily rely on phone or other printed directories to be a quick way for consumers to find their business. However, in a recent study by Blue Corona “in 2019 the number of consumers that go online to find a local business has jumped to 97 percent.” This means a small business needs to be able to show up in local searches in order to be accessible.

“Studies show that between 70-80% of people research a company online
BEFORE
visiting the small business or making a purchase with them”
~Blue Corona

Right now, if using a Google search engine, the top results will always be paid advertisements. The next results are the local search results which will be targeted based on the location specified in the search or when using terms like “near me” in the search, targeted on the searchers geographic location. The results below the local search results are the ranked website pages that have targeted the specific keywords the searcher typed in.

Small businesses that market to their local area need to take advantage of their free Google, Bing, and Yahoo listings. These listings allow a business profile with a link to the website to be displayed in the local search results. Including the link to your phone number, address, website, as well as hours of operation are all free ways to advertise a business on the web. Additionally, endless paid directories exist for the purpose of listing a business‘s website. It is important for the business owner to weigh the costs of these directories against the type of client traffic that they get. For instance, if a local Chamber of Commerce has a directory, this can be far more beneficial to a business that markets locally than to a business looking for mostly global consumers.

Without a website, a business can still appear in the local search results; however, as pointed out above, businesses with websites are far more likely to get consumer traffic because a website by default establishes credibility over businesses without a website.

A website will maintain competitive edge

In today’s marketing environment, most businesses are establishing branding quickly and marketing through multiple channels. A website is a business’s central space where customers can find more information beyond what is available on social media platforms. One of the most customizable and personable channels to market with is a website. This is especially important for businesses trying to sell their products or services over the web.

“91% of customers have visited a store because of an online experience.”

With a website, a business is not only visible to current clients, but more importantly visible to clients of competing businesses. Remember, customers now have access to businesses that they never would have heard of with a simple search. Failure to have a website will allow the competition to easily surpass a business’s visibility and market reach.

A website increases brand awareness

A small business can use their website to get more precise with marketing, targeting keywords or hot topics that their potential clients would be likely to search. Through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) a small business can develop content (blog posts, news articles, sales advertised on the page, landing pages, etc.) that draw clients in, generating traffic and leads. Data from online advertisements is easily available through several affordable and some even free online tools. These tools allow a business to get a better feel for what content is working on the website versus what is not. Real data on marketing right at your fingertips whereas print and radio are far more difficult to measure. This type of online marketing can be done for free; although there is a learning curve that must be mastered, and it is often easier to leave it to professionals.

“57% of all U.S. online traffic now comes from smartphones and tablets”

In addition to the affordable measures, using paid ads through Google or other search engines, a website can expect to surpass print and radio marketing simply with geographical targeting that is becoming more precise every day. Think about this example. A business pays for a billboard advertisement that is put up on a busy highway. The major drawback of this type of advertising is that the business must rely on one key event: that customers interested in the product or service will drive past this sign to learn about their brand and then take action to later call or make a purchase. A website allows for instant view and click to make a call or purchase, especially as people are moving to more mobile devices.

With geo and interest targeting available in online advertisements, a business enhances the precision of their advertising. GoogleAds for example, allows a business to target a specific city or even an entire region. GoogleAds further breaks down the target audience based on interests meaning that it is going to work to show the advertisement to people who are already looking for the type of service or product the business offers. This method of online marketing is far more precise than the billboard example because the ad will be shown to people who are already interested in the product or service instead of waiting for the right customer to drive past the sign.

What should a small business take away from this?

A website can and will increase brand credibility, accessibility, competitive edge, and provide a more affordable and precise marketing experience. Building a website does not need to be overwhelming and it does not have to be overly expensive to meet marketing needs. Having a good website is important for many industries, large and small

Don’t get left behind by not having a website.

The post Does My Small Business Need A Website? appeared first on Meadow Mountain Technology | IT Services | Western Maryland.

Meadow Mountain Refocus: Getting our Blog Back on Track

meadowmttech — Sat, 13 Apr 2019 01:58:54 +0000

Back to the Grind

Hi readers,

We’ve been a little sloppy with the blog since starting it. Like really sloppy. We made first time blogger mistakes. We’ve got infrequent post history, chaotic and unclear messages, and boring topics. All of that is about to change! We put our heads together and have come up with a few exciting topics that we want to target with our new and improved space!

"We want to perk up our blog."

Tech Tips

We want your basic web design and technology questions answered. As customers come to us with questions, we will work to create informed blog posts regarding these topics. We hope to provide a knowledgebase of skills available to our readers for troubleshooting some basic issues, technical or design.

Cyber Security

If cyber security is your worry, we want you to rest at ease. We know it is a major risk factor for every business. That is why we want to keep you informed and educated on the latest attacks, tips on how to prevent the attacks, and much more.

"We are frothing with new ideas to share!"

Product Reviews

When it comes to having the latest and greatest hardware or software in the office, don’t hesitate to check our blog for reviews. We don’t carry any inventory and make no profit from our reviews. We provide an honest and trustworthy opinion from a tech who wants to make sure your home or business office is running at it’s best.

Website Marketing Strategies

We build the website but having one up and running is not where marketing your business ends. We are happy to offer our SEO monthly package; however, we want to provide you with tips on how you can take charge of your online presence. Keep your eyes peeled for our future posts about how you can further market your website!

MMT in the Community

MMT, that’s us! We are happy residents of Garrett County and want to give back in many ways. We are participating in extracurricular fundraisers for local school groups, host college interns, promote our littering and trash cleanup projects, raise awareness for seniors with technology, and much more!

Connect With Us

Interested in following our blog to stay up to date? Hit the subscribe button and we will send you an email notification whenever a new post is made. Also be sure to check us out on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see what we’re up to!

The post Meadow Mountain Refocus: Getting our Blog Back on Track appeared first on Meadow Mountain Technology | IT Services | Western Maryland.

New App Aims to Break the Stigma on Mental Illness

meadowmttech — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 20:30:12 +0000

New App iRel8 Aims to Break the Stigma Surrounding Mental Illness

This is a different direction than my usual cyber security and tech tips blog posts. While their are many topics to cover in those alone, I want to broaden my blogging horizons and occasionally provide other tech news. I want to focus especially on tech news that can improve lives, perhaps even save a life. This post is one of them, I hope you enjoy.

Breaking the Stigma...

Anxiety and other mental illnesses arguably carry one of the largest stigmas compared to other illnesses. 40 million Americans (1 in 5) have a mental illness according to Mental Health America, and 56% of them for one reason or another have not found the help they have needed. Some will argue this is an access to care and resources issue. Many mental health professionals also believe the stigma behind mental illness keeps folks from seeking help. A new app, iRel8 aims to shatter the stigma surrounding mental illness. The info graphic courtesy of Mental Health America shows some more staggering stats about mental health.

iRel8 hopes to shatter this stigma by helping those with problems and providing a confidential and safe forum to chat with others in similar situations (source: iRel8.org). The app is a chat program that anonymously pairs you with other individuals with similar situations in a no judgement zone. With iRel8, you can seek help from peers, or be a mentor to someone in need.

iRel8 Features

A safe “judgement free zone” for mental illness sufferers.
A series of rooms broken down to specific mental illnesses.
Anonymous individual messaging to reach out to peers in similar situations.
A group chat feature to chat with a group of peers

In Conclusion...

In an increasingly connected world, we still lack the necessary resources to combat mental illness as well as the stigma that surrounds it. If this app can help one person and perhaps even save one life, then it’s already a success.

Even if you don’t suffer from mental illness, why not give iRel8 a try? Maybe you can mentor folks and make their lives better. I call on Bill Withers to conclude this article in his song Lean on Me, “You just call on me brother, when you need a hand. We all need somebody to lean on.” You never know when that person next to you needs someone to lean on.

Have a great day and until next time…

Jason

Useful Links

A new app aims to shatter the stigma surrounding mental health – Microsoft
iRel8 Website
The State of Mental Health in America – Mental Health America
Garrett County Health Department – Local Resource

The post New App Aims to Break the Stigma on Mental Illness appeared first on Meadow Mountain Technology | IT Services | Western Maryland.

The Latest on the Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities

meadowmttech — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 03:20:12 +0000

The Latest on the Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities

Researchers are getting closer to a turning Meltdown into a useful attack

The Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities continue to gain a lot of attention in the tech industry. Today’s reports are stating that researchers are closer to finding a useful attack to the Meltdown vulnerability. That means if researchers are close to finding a way to exploit the vulnerability for an attack, so could would be hackers.

Another unfortunate update from the tech industry is that the updates continue to be buggy. Performance issues and random reboots are just the beginning of the issues running rampant as companies scurry to fix these major vulnerabilities. We are now learning that users with outdated or expired anti-virus software may not receive the patch at all.

Virtually all anti-virus vendors have updated their software to allow the Meltdown and Spectre patches to be installed. This means as long as your anti-virus is still within it’s current subscription period and receiving updates, your device should be able to receive the updates. Of course, making sure your anti-virus is valid and up to date is everyone’s priority, right? Unfortunately in today’s connected world and with more and more news of cyber security threats, folks are still browsing the internet with little or no anti-virus protection. Get up to date today, keep up on your patches, and cognizant while online. What are you waiting for, your data to be compromised? Don’t be that person.

Get Protected

Are you not protected with a current and up to date anti-virus program? Here’s some useful links.

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2018 $39.99 per year *TOP RATED*
Kaspersky Antivirus $29.99 per year

The post The Latest on the Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities appeared first on Meadow Mountain Technology | IT Services | Western Maryland.

Making Sense of the Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities

meadowmttech — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 15:23:59 +0000

Making Sense of the Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities

I’m sure by now many of you have heard the words Meltdown and Spectre. No Meltdown isn’t referencing a catastrophic nuclear meltdown. Oh, and Spectre isn’t referencing the Daniel Craig Bond film from 2015. Meltdown and Spectre respectively are two vulnerabilities affecting an overwhelming majority of PCs, laptops, Mac’s, phones, tablets, etc.

As many of you have. I have been trying to make sense of the flood of information out there about Meltdown and Spectre. What is it, how can it affect me, and how do I fix it? I’ll answer these questions in todays post.

What is Meltdown and Spectre?

Meltdown and Spectre are vulnerabilities that exploit a decades old flaw in your devices CPU (processor). The flaw is found in many current and former generations of Intel processor. Both Intel and AMD processors have been identified in this vulnerability.

The vulnerability when exploited can allow a hacker deploying malicious code via your web browser to access data that is currently in use on your device. This means that data stored on your hard drive isn’t necessarily available to the would be hacker. However, any data currently in use (open word documents, stored passwords for logged in websites, etc.) is available for exploitation.

What Should I Do?

Patch, patch, patch is the word from all the big tech companies. Browsers like Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Firefox have all released updates to harden their security to help protect against these vulnerabilities. In addition your operating system (Windows 7,8,8.1,10, Mac OS, iOS, Android, Linux, etc) either has or will be releasing patches to correct this issue. Unfortunately as pointed out by Microsoft, their will be some impact on performance. Now this doesn’t mean that you should not patch your computer. Having a slightly slower computer is much better than having a computer at risk of your sensitive data getting into the wrong hands. I’ve posted a list of resources at the bottom of this article for more information about the performance issues as well as links to other articles related to Meltdown and Spectre.

Final Thoughts

Cyber security is a big deal in today’s world. Threats like these have happened before and will happen again. Always be sure you keep up to date with patches from both your device manufacturer as well as operating system updates from Apple, Google, Microsoft etc.

We will undoubtedly be hindered from time to time by these updates and changes in the way we do things in this connected world, but it is necessary to keep up to date with our patches and updates. Most importantly, always stay vigilant at all times when online.

If you have any questions or concerns about these vulnerabilities, please feel free to reach out to me via email jason@meadowmttech.com

Happy (and safe) Computing,

Jason

Reference Links

Understanding the performance impact of Spectre and Meltdown mitigations on Windows Systems – Microsoft

Meltdown-Spectre firmware glitch: Intel warns of risk of sudden reboots – ZDNet

The post Making Sense of the Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities appeared first on Meadow Mountain Technology | IT Services | Western Maryland.

The Anatomy of a Strong Password

meadowmttech — Mon, 18 Sep 2017 00:40:24 +0000

The Anatomy of a Strong Password

According to many reports out there, the Equifax security breach was caused by installing a piece of software and not changing the default username and password. Because of this, many folks are asking, how can I make my passwords stronger to keep my data more secure?

We’ve all done it, we’ve created that super simple password and used it on multiple sites. Unfortunately simple doesn’t mean secure. Today’s article will go over the anatomy of a strong password, as well and some do’s and don’ts when it comes to creating a password.

How long should my password be?

Below are some industry standards on password length.

A minimum 12-14 characters in length.
Contain a mix of capital and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols.
Do not include your first or last name in the password.

Creating a password that long can be challenging, and remembering it can be even more daunting. Well it doesn’t have to be, we’ll show you.

First you find a word(s) that is at least 12 characters and some numbers that you remember, but not something someone else can easily guess. Using your ATM pin number or last four digits of your social is not recommended.

Base Example: MountainLion55324

Now that we have our initial password figured out, I’ll show you some tricks to make it even more secure in the examples below.

Example 1: M0unt@1nL10n55324

Example 2: M0unt@1n L10n 55324

With this method listed above I have taken the words Mountain Lion and substituted the vowels with numbers and symbols. The second example is putting spaces between the words and the numbers which adds more characters to the password and an even higher level of security.

You can substitute letters with numbers and symbols and still keep the password somewhat easier to remember. See our examples below.

S substituted with $ or 5
A substituted with @ or &
O substituted with 0
I substituted with 1 or !
H substituted with #
T substituted with 7

How many different passwords should I have?

Jason's Rule of 3

Three different passwords for these three categories.

1. Email

2. Financial Websites

3. Social Media

Click on the image below to download our free info graphic for tips to stay safe online.

The best practices for passwords is to keep your email password different from your passwords for your financial accounts, and yet another password for your social network accounts. Some security experts suggest a different password for each account you have. I know that’s nearly impossible and too much for anyone to remember so just following the rule of 3 that I have outlined will go a long way to being more secure online.

A strong password will go a long way to keeping your private information more secure. Just remember the longer the password the better. Lastly, if you feel as if one of your accounts may have been compromised, change your password immediately. If you have the same password on other sites, be sure to change it as well. I hope this article will help you and also encourage you to use stronger passwords with your online accounts. Stay safe online!

Happy Computing,

Jason

Need help with securing your data? We can help!

The post The Anatomy of a Strong Password appeared first on Meadow Mountain Technology | IT Services | Western Maryland.