The addition of the smartphone to every consumer’s repertoire has been great for enhanced productivity and accessibility, but it’s not all bright and sunny for everyone’s favorite mobile device. While productivity might be on the rise, manners seem to be in decline, thanks to people not knowing how to properly use their smartphone in public without annoying everyone around them. Here are four smartphone etiquette tips that every device owner should keep in mind.
Macro Systems Blog
One minute you’re browsing trusted sites on the Internet, the next, your PC freezes up and displays the dreaded blue screen of death, along with a fake tech support message. This strain of malware is duping plenty of computer users into calling the provided phone number, which only makes the situation worse.
Password security is a common problem that businesses that take their cybersecurity seriously have to deal with on a regular basis. Passwords need to be complex and difficult to guess, but easy to remember at the same time. Unfortunately, these two goals don’t go hand-in-hand, and as such, users often have to sacrifice one for the other. The “passpoem” is a concept born to resolve this issue, though it takes a pretty roundabout path of doing so.
Whenever you receive an email, there’s the possibility that it’s a spam message sent to infect you with viruses or malware, or to just waste your time. This chance isn’t just negligible; in fact, it’s enough to warrant concern for anyone utilizing email as a communication medium, including business owners. Thankfully, users of Gmail will soon be having a much easier time knowing the origin of their messages, and whether or not they were sent over a secure connection.
Windows 10 is making its rounds in the business environment, which is hardly surprising. Microsoft is known for making great operating systems that are ideal for both consumer use and workplace productivity. Though Windows 10’s adoption rate has been somewhat slow, it’s expected to be on par, or even surpass, other Windows OSs in terms of sheer usability over the next few years.
Your workstation might be designed to save time, but sometimes shaving off seconds doesn’t have to be complicated. A few seconds here and there can really make the difference when it comes time to wrap up a major project. Taking this aspect to a whole new level is the often-forgotten mouse feature, Snap To.
Cloud computing is a normal part of today’s business landscape. In fact, in a recent poll of IT and business executives by Harvard Business Review and Verizon, 84 percent of respondents said they increased their use of cloud services in the past year-- 39 percent of which “increased significantly.” However, with more users accessing cloud data, business owners must be mindful of employee permissions.
We all know how important an Internet connection is to the success of any business. In fact, it takes an exceptionally powerful cabling protocol to ensure that your business’s Internet connection remains constant. While many businesses take advantage of big cable companies like Time Warner Cable and Comcast for their Internet needs, a select few have the option of Google Fiber.
The average human being spends a significant portion of their life online, especially now that smartphones make staying connected to the latest happenings in both news and entertainment even easier than before. This, unfortunately, makes it rather easy to see spoilers for major plot points in your favorite movies, TV shows, or video games. To avoid these, try out the Spoiler Alert extension for Google Chrome.
Today’s civilization might be the most technologically advanced in the history of the world as we know it, but this also comes with the burden of properly disposing outdated technology. Unfortunately, the world faces a significant e-waste problem that cannot be ignored. As consumers of technology, this responsibility falls on your shoulders.
Nothing can damage a computer quite like user error. It’s sad when this happens because it’s often the case that the resulting issues could’ve easily been prevented if the user simply knew of PC best practices. Take for example these three easily-preventable PC mistakes that will do your computer harm.
When it comes to your business’s technology infrastructure, the more basic it is, the better. Granted, a simple IT infrastructure isn’t always easy to install, especially when there are so many great solutions on the market that can be implemented to achieve optimal efficiency. Sometimes the best IT solutions are those that make your technology simpler to manage, and your network less complicated. That said, you’d think redundancy would complicate this formula, but it’s actually a necessity for your business continuity plan.
The modern business is inundated with all types of threats, from people outside the organization phishing around for information, to employees that are aloof to their role in your network’s security. If your network’s security is like a levee, it is indisputably an IT department’s job to fill in the gaps to ensure a deluge of misfortune doesn’t swamp your company’s IT. So what happens when your company’s IT department is the biggest offender of perilous activity?
Your business thrives when your technology is running smoothly, but when it fails to function as intended, it can have unforeseen consequences that reach deep into your IT budget. One of the best ways that your organization can optimize your IT is by taking advantage of outsourced services, but you don’t want to approach these “as a service” offerings uninformed.
Since you run a business, you know that your business’s network requires a secure firewall in order to keep threats out. In fact, the firewall is the most basic of security protocol that you should be taking advantage of. Knowing what a firewall protects you from, and what it doesn’t protect you from, is an important first step toward improving your data infrastructure’s security, and in turn improving your business’s continuity.
A recent trend in cybersecurity is the omnipresent threat of ransomware and distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS). With hackers out to get you and your business, you need to stay updated on how to take the fight to these extortion masters. Unfortunately, victims who have become targets of ransomware, DDoS attacks, and other kinds of threatening hacker activity, often feel that “paying the piper” is the best way to resolve the issue. Well, we have news for you: it isn’t.
Take a good, hard look at your desk telephone. How often do you use it for day-to-day operations? With the advent of technologies like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and the smartphone, it seems silly to be reliant on the telephone that’s tethered to your desk. However, some people still aren’t ready to leave the office telephone behind in favor of these new technologies. But… why?
Despite the rapid advancements of business technology in the past decade, enterprises the world over are still heavily dependent upon email. Therefore, every modern worker needs to be trained on how to send a professional email. If not, classic email mistakes will be made that could bruise your company’s reputation, like these four common email blunders.
Have you ever wondered how the Internet is capable of connecting countries on the other side of the world? You may already be aware of this, but the Internet’s cables run deep underneath the ocean’s surface, all around the world. In fact, you might wonder how we could even keep these cables safe when they’re submerged underneath such an immense amount of water.