If you’re the owner of a small or medium-sized business, mark your calendars for July 14th. This is when Microsoft will stop supporting the 12-year-old server operating system, Windows Server 2003. Any business that is still running this ancient OS needs to upgrade to a more recent one before the end-of-support date arrives.
Macro Systems Blog
In order for your business to be competitive, you need every aspect of your company operating at maximum efficiency. If just one component of your business isn’t functioning properly, then you’ve lost the competitive edge. This principle applies especially to the network of a small-to-medium-sized business.
You shouldn’t need to be convinced that the Internet is a dangerous place. Hackers are lurking around every corner, waiting to breach your network and snatch your data. Despite this risk, many computer users need convincing to back up their data; a task that minimizes the negative effects associated with data loss. This is why March 31st is officially known as World Backup Day.
Most IT administrators see virtualization as a means of increasing efficiency, and they’re not wrong. Virtualization of your hardware is a great way of decreasing operating costs and improving accessibility to mission-critical applications and information. However, network virtualization has the potential to increase the security of your business’s data, too.
With the failure of Google Glass, some people are questioning the effectiveness of wearable technology. However, a new form of smart technology might turn things around for it. At the Kaspersky Labs Security Analyst Summit, it was proposed that embedding technology in the human body might be one of the more viable ways to take advantage of smart technology.
You can’t have IT without information, you can’t have information without data, and technology is what creates data so that you can better use your company’s technology to increase sales. Got it? Understanding the flow of data can be confusing. It’s important to have a handle on it so you can leverage your data for the success of your business.
The online world is a scary place. Viruses, malware, spyware, adware, and more are all out there trying to get at your network. These threats are almost always prevalent, but compared to each other, some are vastly superior and far more dangerous and advanced than the others. Advanced malware has the potential to disrupt your business’s operations, cause extensive data loss, and more.
Today’s headlines are dominated by stories of major companies getting hacked, making the average computer user feel uneasy about their security. If you’re solely dependent on a measly password to protect you from hackers, then you’ve got good reason to worry. Adding a second layer of verification is an easy way to protect your information. Here’s how to set up 2-Step Verification for your Google account.
One telling sign of how far we’ve come as a society is the selfie. What’s a selfie you ask? Not only is the selfie a real thing, but it’s a legitimate word. According to the Oxford Online Dictionary, a selfie is, “A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media.” Aiding in the popularity of selfies is the rise of selfie technologies, such as these three examples.
When it comes down to it, your employees are being paid for their time spent at work. Business operates on the principle of “time is money,” which means that every minute wasted cuts into your bottom line. If you’re looking to squeeze the most productivity out of your employees, then there are technologies available that can take back those precious minutes.
The topic of online pornography can be rather uncomfortable to discuss, but it’s an issue that business owners need to be aware of; especially considering that 70 percent of all online porn access happens during business hours! Whoa. This statistic has some naughty implications for what your employees may be doing on company time.
During the broadcast of Super Bowl XLIX, Coca-Cola premiered a bold new commercial meant to inspire viewers, make the world (wide web) a happier place, and of course, sell Coca-Cola. To be sure, it was a monumental marketing effort, but for those of us in IT, we find it cringeworthy and must object to the commercial’s content.
As seen by the recent Superfish app debacle, software that comes preinstalled on a new PC shouldn’t always be trusted. Most of the time, the innate software on a device can be trusted; but the Superfish application is an exception. This app, which came preinstalled on new consumer class Lenovo PCs, such as those that are available at local retailers such as MicroCenter and BestBuy, between the months of September and December of 2014, can potentially compromise the security of your machine.
Smartphones may have been some of the first Internet-connected mobile devices, but they are still as vulnerable to attack as ever. This is especially true for those who forsake any sort of mobile device security policy. With modern businesses utilizing mobile devices, it’s more important now than ever before to have solid security practices in place.
We often discuss why it’s important that a business takes proactive measures to resolve IT issues before they become problems, but these definitions might be lost on some of our followers. In order to understand the true value of our IT services, it’s imperative that you’re able to distinguish the difference between these two disruptive sources to your technology.
Accessibility and mobility are important parts of a business’s data infrastructure. To this end, some businesses take advantage of a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which has the power to extend a personal network over a private network like the Internet. However, with new services like cloud computing gaining traction, is it time for businesses to switch up their VPN policies to stay relevant in their industry?


