We continuously stress the need for even our smallest clients to have a continuity plan. The bigger the business, the more comprehensive the plan has to be. After all, if there are a lot of moving parts in your business, you?ll have a lot of moving parts when it is hit with a data loss incident. In fact, we spend a lot of time talking about data loss and how it can negatively affect your business, but we will never be able to stress enough just how big of an asset your data actually is. All the expense that you?ve paid out in man-hours and resources can be lost in a blink of an eye, so doing everything you can to protect that asset is extremely important. The truth is, that for the small business, losing data can be the end game. Let?s take a look at some of the surprising statistics; and, for each we?ll break down what it potentially means for your business. Statistic #1: 75% of small businesses do not have a continuity policy So you run a deli, or a hair salon, or a small boutique. You have two computers that you use and one of them is your point of sale system. Why would you need to have a business continuity plan in place? The answer is in the name: Continuity. You don?t want to go out of business if something were to happen that would cause you to close your doors for a few days, would you? As far as data backup goes, here are some scenarios: Your deli accepts credit card information through its dedicated point of sale system. The hardware on the system crashes…Now what? How good would it look if you told your regular customers that their financial information was lost? Even if it wasn?t stolen, you have to imagine that your reputation would take a hit. You run a small clothing boutique. One of your employees checks their email while they are doing inventory. They click on a link that infects your computer with malware. Can you let a simple mistake floor your business? A comprehensive data backup strategy will protect you from anything that can put your data at risk. From hardware failure to employee sabotage. As an integral part of an overall business continuity plan, data backup protects your organization?s data in case something terrible happens. Statistic #2: Over half of companies have experienced a downtime event that was longer than a full workday sometime in the last five years. Downtime is a business killer. Think about it: during periods of operational downtime, your business is not producing anything, nobody is making any sales, AND you are paying people to sit around and twiddle their thumbs. It will be no surprise to learn, then, that the reason so many businesses fail after a data loss incident, isn?t that they didn?t back up their data, it?s that they didn?t recover enough of it fast enough. When we consult businesses, we stress the importance of redundancy. The BDR solution we offer has a network attached device that backs up data locally, but the device also pushes changes into the cloud, ensuring that data is stored in more than one place, and giving administrators peace of mind that if something terrible […]

Accessories may have been a major part of using a computer in the past, but smartphones and tablets have changed the name of the game, so to speak. Accessories still make up a large portion of the costs associated with purchasing a computer, but what exactly constitutes an accessory? Generally speaking, computer accessories will all provide various features to devices aiding in functionality, security, or support. These can be further split up into two different groups: basic and advanced accessories. Basic Computer Accessories Basic computer accessories generally aren?t as expensive, and they don?t usually come with their own power supplies. Some pieces of wireless technology aim to change this, however. Here are some basic computer accessories: Cables and Wires Keyboards and Mice Speakers and Microphone Webcam Headsets Flash Drives Adapters Bags and Cases Advanced Computer Accessories These more expensive computer accessories have a higher price tag, but also come with their own power supply. Another name for these accessories is peripherals. They tend to perform their own specialized tasks compared to basic computer accessories. They include: Printers (Ink, and Toner) Scanners Charging Stations Digital Signage External Storage Power Protection Overall, every product you purchase for your computer other than the computer and monitor is considered an accessory. Peripherals that come with their own power supply can also fall into this category, as they can?t be used without a CPU. White Mountain IT Services can help your business manage its countless devices and accessories. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

Idle Time in the Office The study conducted by the Harvard Business School showcased that employers lose $100 billion each year to time spent by employees remaining idle in the office. Even the researchers were shocked by the sheer magnitude of this number. Professor Teresa Amabile and Professor Andrew Brodsky expected significant loss from idle time, but were floored by the actual sum. For the purposes of the study, idle time is defined as time when an employee is ready and able to work, but something keeps them from being productive. Some of the primary causes of this idle time range from poor task allocation to equipment management availability, with everything in between. One method of research used by Amabile and Brodsky involved running a series of experiments that tested the effects of being idle. The subjects would copy over sentences (including typos) without having access to the Internet or their phones. The researchers found that participants would draw out their tasks to fit the time they had to complete the task rather than just complete it as soon as possible. On the other hand, if they had the chance to use the Internet or their devices, they would instead complete the task as soon as possible so they could get to something less menial or more enjoyable. Going slower didn?t result in fewer errors–only more time spent on the task. The researchers dubbed this tendency to slow down the ?deadtime effect,? noting that the ?deadline effect? is different in that it causes an increase in productivity as the deadline draws near. Fighting This Trend According to the research, Amabile and Brodsky found that some strategic ?leisure time? (time spent not working on something productive) was beneficial to keeping idle time to a minimum. If you can promote transparency and base evaluation of employees on outcomes rather than the road to those outcomes, managers can make the lives of employees much easier while still benefiting from all the work being done. Thanks to the increased productivity such a policy can bring about, management can obtain a better perspective on how long specific tasks can take to accomplish. Consequently, tasks can be allocated more efficiently, allowing employees to get more done throughout the workday without sacrificing quality. What are some methods you?ve used to improve productivity in your workplace? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to our blog.

Extension Restrictions While Chrome?s biggest asset is quite possibly its extensive library of add-on extension programs, security concerns that have frequently appeared in these extensions have led Google to pump the brakes a little and impose some new requirements. For instance, with cryptocurrency becoming such a huge topic in recent months, many extensions dedicated to mining and even cryptojacking popped up. Google is now putting the kibosh on these supplemental programs. Furthermore, Google is going to hold developers in general to a higher standard, requiring their accounts to be protected by two-factor authentication and putting those extensions that require extensive permissions, or feature code that is hosted remotely closer under the microscope. Security Measures In addition to putting extra restrictions on its extensions, Chrome 70 has a few additional security tricks packed in, including measures meant to foil phishing attacks and protect the end user from their influence. Chrome 70 is also going to push education of its native password management tools. Perhaps most apparent to the end user, instead of confirming that a URL is secure to access, Chrome will warn users when one is not. This makes sense, as it reinforces that more websites should be secure than aren?t. Login Concerns Not all of these changes have received such a warm welcome. One change in particular alarmed many users when it appeared. Prior versions of Chrome have allowed users to access Chrome without logging into the browser. However, some users have noticed that Chrome now appears to log a user in, even if they are only using a single service. The big concern with users here is that Google could possibly now share a user?s data, like their browsing history, something that the previous status quo didn?t require. However, Google has announced that this isn?t an indication that Chrome has been logged in to, it is actually a kind of ?in-between? alert to inform a user of which of their accounts are currently logged in. Of course, as we spend more time with Chrome 70, more things we like will emerge, as well as things we don?t like. If you?ve used Chrome 70, what do you think about it? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Links are often called hyperlinks, and they are calls to specific information that can be discovered by clicking on them with a mouse or tapping them with your finger on a touchscreen. Even if it doesn?t look like it, buttons and other on-screen elements often have a link contained within them so they can be connected to certain information. Links can be used to provide a direct path to specific information, such as a location on the network or a certain web page. Links can be embedded into text, as well–chances are you?ve seen links in blog articles before, linking to external information on either the same site or elsewhere. Links can even be used to navigate to different parts of a singular web page through anchor text. An example we like to use is an image on a website. Depending on how it?s set up, you can ?navigate? to another page to view the image, or you can just view an enlarged image of it right there. Either way, a link is used to display the image. The same can be said for clicking on a link to a PDF. You either download it by clicking on it, or you open it from its source in the web browser. Of course, with the ease of sharing information and files that links provide, some choose to use it to disseminate threats across the Internet. You should always hover over a link to see its destination before actually clicking on it. You certainly don?t want to download a dangerous file. This is a tactic used by many malicious websites. They will make a site that looks legitimate and use links to spread threats or convince users to download malicious files. You can basically avoid most of these just by paying attention. For more information about the latest technology, subscribe to our blog.