Is your computer plugged in?  Do you use a power strip with a surge protector?  If so, you are a heartbeat away from disaster and don’t even realize it. The same electricity you depend on to run your computer and network is also trying to destroy your data. 

Believe it or not, electricity is one of the biggest threats to your computer network and the data it contains. Here are four computer power problems you must know about and how to prevent them.

1.)  Transients – Commonly known as surges and spikes, these are caused by lightning storms, wind, squirrels shorting out power lines, auto accidents, etc.  Several times each week these spikes can travel up the power cord into your computer damaging everything from power supplies to motherboards.  Conventional wisdom says use a power strip with a surge protector and you are safe.  As usual, conventional wisdom is dead wrong.  After several months, these surge protectors become useless having been zapped by the surges they were designed to protect against.

2.)  Blackouts – Whether momentary or prolonged, the sudden loss of power can corrupt your PC to the point of not being able to start up again when the lights come back on.

3.)  Sags – This is when the power drops below normal.  Have you ever seen the fluorescent lights flicker for a moment?  Then you have witnessed sag.  Sags are more common than surges and are caused when equipment like air conditioners, blow dryers, water heaters, laser printers, copy machines and other electrical equipment are turned on or come out of sleep mode.  A typical small office will experience 30 or more sags each day.  Sags cause many of the weird and unexplained problems computer users complain about every day.

4.)  Noise – Ever been watching TV and seen fuzzy pictures and/or white lines or dots when you turn on a blender or vacuum cleaner?  This is the result of electrical noise. While a fuzzy TV picture is an annoyance, this electrical noise causes many computer problems including loss of data.

So how do you protect yourself from electrical problems? The most simple and inexpensive solution to all four of these hazards is a battery backup.  The battery backup (also known as a UPS or Uninterruptible Power Supply) senses when there are problems with the power and automatically switches to the battery protecting you from computer damage and data loss. 

Choosing the correct battery backup for your computer or server can be tricky.  Having one with a battery too small is the same as having none at all.  For most desktop computers, a battery backup with a 500VA or larger rating should be sufficient to keep you going through momentary power problems.  Protecting your server requires detailed knowledge of the server functions and power consumption in order to pick the right battery backup solution.  If you want help in determining the right protection for your specific network, give us a call: 614-503-7139.

     The most important thing you need to know is that these are relatively new technologies with new features being added on a monthly, even weekly, basis. And like any new technology, there are things that will not work as well as a very mature desktop application hosted on your machine. If you are a power user of Microsoft Office, you’ll quickly get frustrated when you discover Office 365 can’t perform some of the more sophisticated functions such as creating Macros in Excel or the advanced markup in Word.

     Google Apps is a good platform for those businesses that need simple, inexpensive cloud-based collaboration software. However, if your company has been using Microsoft Office for years, you have a big investment to consider since all those documents will change when switched to Google Apps. Therefore, most companies will want to stick with Microsoft Office 365 rather than go through the pain of having all their documents slightly “off.” Additionally, Google Apps doesn’t always play well with certain line of business applications that were designed to integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Office.

     Then we have Apple’s iCloud. While this is a cloud-based service, it shouldn’t be compared to Office 365 or Google Apps since it’s geared towards organizing, storing and accessing media (music, videos and pictures). While they do have some applications for e-mail and calendaring, it’s not designed to replace an office productivity suite.

But the war is far from over yet, and in the grand scheme of things Google may resolve all the above mentioned issues. Again, these are new technologies that are changing rapidly; what might be a good choice today could be a second rate choice next week. So which one should you choose? That depends on your own unique situation. No two companies are alike in the way they communicate, store information and work; therefore, it’s important you work with an IT consultant who takes a custom approach to solving your organization’s needs—not a one-size-fits-all company that only sells hammers and treats every client like a nail.

A few months back tornados ripped through Joplin, MO and Tuscaloosa, Alabama causing massive devastation. If you were fortunate, you only had to suffer through minor interruptions of utility services, with others paying a far steeper price.  In fact, a colleague of mine who also offers IT services had his office in Joplin reduced to a pile of rubble. This got me thinking about how important disaster recovery planning is to any business. No one expects terrible things to happen, but when they do, having that plan in place can really save your bacon. And one of the MOST important aspects of this is the recovery part – how are you going to get that data back onto a working platform that allows you to continue serving your customers and operating your business. The shocker for most business owners is that simply having a copy of the data does NOT guarantee a fast recovery. Let me give you an analogy to help you understand…

Let’s suppose we put together a disaster recovery plan for your home. Your house would represent the server and platform, and all your furniture and personal items would be the data. Now let’s suppose we could make a backup of your home by making an exact copy of everything that’s in your house (all your furniture, appliances, clothing, etc.) and storing it in a “backup” shed. Then the unthinkable happens: your house gets leveled by a tornado, flood or fire and everything is gone (or a critical part of it is damaged and needs to be replaced). You would think, ”Well, at least I have a copy!” True, but the first thing you would need to do is replace the home itself (remember, that’s the platform that everything resides on). Next you would have to ”reinstall” the services like gas, electricity and water (let’s call that the software). Then you would have to haul everything from the shed back to the house and “reformat” it by arranging it into the house. Depending on the extent of the damage done to your house, that could take days or weeks; chances are you’d have to find a hotel to live out of in the meantime. In addition, there’s the time and cost of moving everything back in and re-arranging and restoring everything to its proper place.

Plus, the above assumes you have a recent, working copy of your entire home and everything in it. If you failed to make a copy – or if the shed where you were storing everything had a water leak that destroyed everything inside due to mold – then you’re really out of luck.

Of course, this is a simple analogy – and there are ways to backup your data and network so that recovery can happen inexpensively in a matter of hours versus days or weeks. But if you simply think having a tape backup is going to be your saving grace, you might be unpleasantly surprised. I can’t tell you the number of businesses who ended up losing incredibly valuable, irreplaceable data because they didn’t think through the RECOVERY part of the backup equation.

So what do you need to think about? First, the way you backup your data should be based on how important your data is and how fast you would need to be back up and running in the event of a disaster. If losing your data would only be a mild inconvenience and you could stand to be down for a couple of days, then tape backups may be okay. If that’s not an option for you and there are certain critical functions that need to happen to keep you from getting into hot water with your customers and to prevent you losing a LOT of cash, then you want something more reliable than tape drives.

The BEST thing to do is contact our office to schedule a strategy meeting to go over your needs and expectations for what should happen in the event of downtime or an outright disaster. That way you know for sure what to expect and – more importantly – how to accurately prepare for a disaster.

A phishing e-mail is an e-mail sent by a hacker designed to fool the recipient into downloading a virus, giving up their credit card number, personal information (like a social security number), or account or login information to a particular web site. Often these e-mails are well designed to look exactly like an official notification from the site they are trying to emulate.

For example, a recent phishing e-mail was circulated that appeared to come from Facebook stating that videos or photos of Osama Bin Laden’s death were posted online. These e-mails looked exactly like a legitimate Facebook e-mail and even appeared to come from ”Facebookmail.com.” Once you clicked on the e-mail the phishing site would attempt to install a virus on your machine.

And now due to recent security breaches with Sony and e-mail marketer Epsilion, phishing attacks are going to increase – and they are going to get more sophisticated and harder to distinguish from legitimate e-mails. That’s because the hackers that were able to access the private databases of the above mentioned companies now have the name, e-mail and interests of the subscribers, and in some cases birthdays, addresses and more. That means a phishing e-mail can be personalized with relevant information that the user provided to Sony, making the e-mail appear to be more legitimate and the user more likely to click on the links provided and take the actions requested. Now more than ever it’s critical that you are wary of e-mail notifications and the actions they request you take. Even having good anti-virus software installed won’t protect you if you give your account information away freely.

But it’s certainly true – there are plenty of awesome things to say about cloud computing.  The main advantages are:

• You can pick and choose the applications you use and pay for – on demand

• Payment for cloud applications is usually incremental which saves money

• All software updates are automated

• Because the servers are not your own there’s no investment, upkeep or replacement costs

• If your workforce is mobile  they will have better access to company data if you store your data in the cloud

• You can scale up easily by paying for additional application users without capital expenditure

These benefits can save  smaller  businesses plenty of time and money. But for every person who raves about the cloud there are others who talk about the risks. Here are two objections we hear most often:

“But is it secure?”

For our clients, security issues are mainly to do with the security and privacy of information stored. So can you be sure that your data is secure and not at risk from hackers or your competitors’ beady eyes? For most small businesses these security risks are reduced to a minimum by:

• Windows security routinely managing day to day security

• Hosted centres where data is held are highly secure installations that do not routinely allow personnel inside the premises

• Data encryption

“It’s just too new!”

Cloud computing has been seen by many as yet another new distraction – especially when the past couple of years have bought more pressing challenges. With many companies now using the cloud for email, IT support or online data back-up very successfully it’s no longer seen as new or particularly risky. Our advice?

• Start small

• Get some expert help to weigh up the potential savings for your business

• Move parts of your IT infrastructure  to the cloud one at a time.

(If you would like some free cloud consultancy contact us or look out for our new e-course coming soon.)

You may have heard about the new “Buy Back” program being offered by Best Buy. The premise behind Best Buy’s Buy Back program is simple: Buy a technology product in certain categories – mobile phones (but not pre-paid phones), laptops, netbooks, tablet computers and TVs – from Best Buy, and the store will let you bring it back and receive a portion of the purchase price. Of course, there are “catches.”

First, the Buy Back program isn’t free. Its upfront cost is based on what you’re buying. For example, the Buy Back benefit on a $2,500 TV would cost $349.99. New laptops can run $70 and phones $40 to $60.

Second, Best Buy won’t give you the full purchase price back. The amount is based on the age of the device and the condition it’s in. An item returned within six months will get you a maximum of 50% of the purchase price provided it’s in good condition and you have all the parts. If you wait 18 to 24 months, you’ll get no more than 20% and if you wait 24 to 48 months, you’ll only get 10%.

Finally, you don’t get cash but a Best Buy gift card, which, naturally, can only be used at Best Buy. So is it a good deal? Depends on how of ten you like to upgrade your equipment and how much you frequent Best Buy stores. If you like new things and love Best Buy, it’s probably a great deal. However, there are many critics of the promotion who say the only beneficiary is Best Buy.

They are, in fact, the largest independent provider of warranties so they have enough data for a valid analysis.

They have analyzed failure rates on 30,000 laptops and notebooks.  Here are the main findings:

• One fifth (20.4%) of laptops have hardware failures during the first 3 years. SquareTrade doesn’t publish data beyond 3 years, but one would assume that the failure rate increases still further.

• Failure accelerates markedly with age. Less than 5% fail in the first year, but this rises by an additional 8% in each subsequent year.

• Netbooks are 20% more unreliable than laptops.

• High end laptops are more reliable than cheaper alternatives – 18.1% versus 25.1%.

• Surprisingly HP was the most unreliable of the manufacturers with a hardware malfunction rate of over one quarter in the first 3 years.

• Apple and Dell are about average

• Asus is the best with a failure rate of only 15.6%.

If you would like to read the full report click on this link:

http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf

According to a little birdie, only 50% of the customers who take iDevices into Apple Stores for repair have their apps, settings, contacts and the like, backed up.

That’s right – around half of iPhones, iPads and iPod touches don’t find themselves plugged into iTunes after that initial set up – a set up that won’t even need to be done after iOS 5 lands…

“A little birdie says that about 50 percent of Apple Store customers who need to get their iPhones swapped have never plugged them into iTunes after the initial activation and sync. This is a big reason, according to this birdie, for why Apple Store Geniuses are excited about iCloud.”

The comment about iCloud makes sense. The current barrier to entry when it comes to backing up iOS devices is the cable and computer. Theoretically, and apparently this is happening, devices need never actually be connected to a computer other than to do iOS software updates.App installations and updates can all be handled on-device, and music can also be purchased from the iTunes app. People just don’t need to connect to the desktop iTunes.

But there is one thing they need, and that’s power.

The way iOS 5′s backups will work changes the game completely. Now, when a device is plugged into a power outlet and the screen is locked then a backup will be performed. This happens once a day, usually at night when there is less chance of a user interrupting the process. With the default setting being ‘ON’ there really is no reason for users to not back up their data.

Apple, once again protecting its users from themselves.

How does rogue security software get on my computer?

Rogue security software designers create legitimate looking pop-up windows that advertise security update software. These windows might appear on your screen while you surf the web.

The “updates” or “alerts” in the pop-up windows call for you to take some sort of action, such as clicking to install the software, accept recommended updates, or remove unwanted viruses or spyware. When you click, the rogue security software downloads to your computer.

Rogue security software might also appear in the list of search results when you are searching for trustworthy antispyware software, so it is important to protect your computer.

What does rogue security software do?

Rogue security software might report a virus, even though your computer is actually clean. The software might also fail to report viruses when your computer is infected. Inversely, sometimes, when you download rogue security software, it will install a virus or other malicious software on your computer so that the software has something to detect.

Some rogue security software might also:

• Lure you into a fraudulent transaction (for example, upgrading to a non-existent paid version of a program).

• Use social engineering to steal your personal information.

• Install malware that can go undetected as it steals your data.

• Launch pop-up windows with false or misleading alerts.

• Slow your computer or corrupt files.

• Disable Windows updates or disable updates to legitimate antivirus software.

• Prevent you from visiting antivirus vendor websites.

Rogue security software might also attempt to spoof the Microsoft security update process. Here’s an example of rogue security software that’s disguised as a Microsoft alert but that doesn’t come from Microsoft.

Example of a warning from a rogue security program known as AntivirusXP.

For more information about this threat, including analysis, prevention and recovery, see the Trojan:Win32/Antivirusxp entry in the Microsoft Malware Protection Center encyclopedia.

Here is the legitimate Microsoft Windows Security Center:

Screenshot of legitimate Microsoft Windows Security Center.

To help protect yourself from rogue security software:

• Install a firewall and keep it turned on.

• Use automatic updating to keep your operating system and software up to date.

• Install antivirus and antispyware software such as Microsoft Security Essentials and keep it updated. For links to other antivirus programs that work with Microsoft, see Microsoft Help and Support List of Antivirus Vendors.

• If your antivirus software does not include antispyware software, you should install a separate antispyware program such asWindows Defender and keep it updated. (Windows Defender is available as a free download for Windows XP and is included in Windows Vista.)

• Use caution when you click links in email or on social networking websites.

• Use a standard user account instead of an administrator account.

• Familiarize yourself with common phishing scams.

If you think you might have rogue security software on your computer:

Scan your computer. Use your antivirus software or do a free scan with the Microsoft Safety Scanner. The safety scanner checks for and removes viruses, eliminates junk on your hard drive, and improves your PC’s performance.

Get help from Network Logix. If you have trouble removing the software yourself, you can contact us, and one of our competent technicians will be happy to assist you.

Check your accounts. If you think you might have entered sensitive information, such as credit card numbers or passwords into a pop-up window or at a rogue security software site, you should monitor your associated accounts.

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