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The term for this is shadow IT. Shadow IT generally consists of IT solutions that are integrated without oversight on the matter. For example, having an employee set up a free antivirus on his workstation, while better than no antivirus at all, isn?t the ideal solution to your business?s security problems. Going behind the backs of your trusted technology professionals isn?t the right way to approach business technology solutions. In this case, the employee might have had the best interests of the organization in mind, but they went about the implementation of new tech in the wrong way. Instead of doing it themselves, they should have asked for permission, or contacted the staff member in charge of making the business?s IT decisions. What would happen if the solution weren?t set up properly? The blame would fall on the employee, even though all they wanted to do was make their job easier. Another reason why shadow IT might resurface is if there?s an immediate issue that needs to be resolved, but your IT staff doesn?t have the time or money to implement it right away. This could prompt a frustrated employee to resort to ?home-grown? solutions that may (or may not) be similar to other tools on the market. Again, the problem here is that there are untrained employees implementing solutions that aren?t enterprise-level. This should never happen; you only want those who have the expertise, knowledge, and relevant training to implement new technology solutions. So, in theory, we can explain the implementation of shadow IT with two reasons: 1) The absence of a dedicated in-house IT department, which forces employees to perform maintenance themselves, and 2) An overloaded IT department that?s too busy to deal with spontaneous or recurrent issues. Either employees are given complete and total jurisdiction for performing system maintenance on their workstations, or IT is too busy with their day-to-day routines to aid in the implementation of both new and previously existing IT. What?s the busy business owner to do? In this case, the ideal solution is to contact White Mountain IT Services and ask about our managed IT services. Our offerings are ideal for SMBs because they fulfill two critical functions for small business management: 1) We provide enterprise-level solutions at a reasonable monthly price, and 2) We free your staff from the burden of regular IT maintenance and implementation of new solutions. We aren?t out to necessarily replace your in-house team (if you have one, that is), but what we can say with certainty is that they?ll have more time to innovate without dealing with regular tech hiccups. Regardless of whether or not you have dedicated in-house IT support, we can provide your business with the flexibility needed to fully leverage your technology. For more information about our managed IT service offering, give White Mountain IT Services a call at (603) 889-0800.

You don?t need us to tell you that hacking into hospital technology is bad, especially considering the possibilities for loss of life. The point we?re trying to make here is that everyone is vulnerable to hacking attacks, even your business. Hackers have such a powerful influence over technology that they can directly affect physical objects, provided they?re connected to the Internet. If there?s a technology a hacker can compromise, they most likely will try, and maybe even succeed. It?s called innovation. Businesses take advantage of it in order to gain ground in their chosen industry, and hackers will innovate to take away everything you hold dear. Data breaches can result in stolen files, including private employee records like Social Security numbers and dates of birth, or even client payment information like credit card numbers. Even if hackers don?t have a specific agenda, viruses and malware can cause data loss, leading to expensive downtime and pricey compliance fines. Therefore, the most effective way to limit how much damage hacking attacks can do is to limit your network?s exposure to threats in the first place. Taking a proactive stance against online threats is a great way to approach cyber security. This includes integrating comprehensive security protocol and best practices that are designed to minimize your infrastructure?s risk of compromisation, as well as eliminating any current threats to your network. A great way to achieve both goals is to use a Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution. The UTM takes all of the best aspects of cyber security and uses them to keep potential threats out, and limit the damage done by existing threats. A firewall keeps threats out while an antivirus can cleanse your systems of any potential problems. Additional security features, like spam blocking and content filtering, are available to limit your staff?s exposure to threats; spam protection keeps threatening emails out of your inbox while web content filtering blocks content that might cause infections while surfing the Internet. Your business?s network security might not pose a threat for your employees? physical well-being, but a data hack can cause more damage than you might initially realize. To ensure that your network is working at maximum capacity to handle hacking attacks, give White Mountain IT Services a call at (603) 889-0800.

What is a guest account? It?s actually set up differently than a regular account, allowing the guest user to access the computer?s core functions, without being able to see your personal files or mess with your settings. Here are four distinctions of a guest account. Guest accounts allow others to use your PC while preventing them from browsing password-protected files, like those stored on your own personal user account. Using guest accounts, users won?t accidentally stumble upon your logged-in accounts and email, which could give even those with the best intentions the urge to take a peek. Keep in mind that any browsing history or logged-in websites will be available to future guests, as well, so be sure to tell your guests to log out of their accounts before logging off. Guest accounts don?t have access to the administrator privileges that you would as the owner of the PC. Guest users can?t install software, configure hardware devices, or change settings. They can still use the Internet and other applications that are already installed, giving them the best experience possible without risking any breach of privacy. Before we walk you through the steps on how to do this, be warned; setting up guest accounts on office workstations is generally frowned upon. We advise you to first check with your company?s IT administrator if you?re going to do this at work. Making new guest accounts to access a network might complicate security if the account is unaccounted for. How to Create a Guest Account for Windows 7Go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Add or remove user accounts. You?ll next be prompted to alter an existing account. If the Guest account isn?t already turned on, it will appear in your available accounts. Click it, and select Turn On. With the guest account turned on, you and anyone else can now access it from your PC?s login screen. How to Create a Guest Account for Windows 8/8.1You can access the guest account feature in the same way as you did with Windows 7 (via the Control Panel), or you can type ?guest account? into the search bar. Make sure you?re only searching Settings. You?ll see an option titled Turn guest account on or off in the results. Click on the Guest account, and select b. How to Create a Guest Account for Windows 10For Windows 10, it?s actually a bit more complicated. Rather than accessing your guest user options through the Control Panel, you can go through the Windows Command Prompt. Type CMD in the search bar to find the Command Prompt, and then right-click it and select Run as administrator. You?ll then see the command prompt open on your screen. Type the command net user guest /active: yes, and finish by hitting Enter. After that, a message will display saying that ?The command completed successfully.? By having a guest account available for new users, you?ll be ready to let anyone borrow your computer, without having to worry about them discovering your secrets. For more useful tech tips, be sure to check back next week, and subscribe to White Mountain IT Services?s blog.

According to a study from Intel, there are over a billion PCs in the world that are three years old or older, with around half of those being up to four or five years old. This immediately sounds like a big issue. That?s over a billion PCs that could very well be using technology that will be obsolete in a year or two. Or, it could not; therein lies the current issue with the PC industry. Technology continues to move forward with increased reliability, which means that people are less likely to buy new hardware when their current machines work perfectly fine. In today?s modern technology environment, the problem that many PC manufacturers face is the fact that technological growth, though still far surpassing that of the past, has slowed down, and PCs from three years ago are still capable of being used with today?s software. More importantly, though, is that hardware is growing more reliable, meaning that there?s less of a chance that you?ll encounter troubles before your technology?s time is up. As reported by ZDNet: Sure, on paper it’s going to be advertised as being faster, and benchmark tests will support this, but in the real world – assuming that the old one isn’t all kludged up and ailing – you’re just not going to see much difference. Sure, there might be a slightly faster boot up time, or it might be a little snappier, but most of the gains that new PC owners see are nothing more than confirmation bias. Sure, if you go to the performance end of the scale then things are different, but your average home or office PC spends most of its time running a web browser or a word processor application. A three-year-old PC can do that without breaking a sweat. In other words, what winds up happening is the replacement of one PC with a machine that can largely perform the exact same function. When this happens, people find that it?s often not worth the extra investment to upgrade to more recent technology, considering their old tech works just as well and doesn?t have a hefty price tag on it. There is some logic to this statement. You don?t want to spend money on new solutions haphazardly; it could break your business?s budget, and more importantly if you still take advantage of certain legacy applications, your organization could hit a brick wall when upgrading to more recent operating systems or hardware. One more thing to think about: if you are experiencing slow computer issues or sluggish performance, it might just be a single component of your workstation that needs to be addressed. Certain hardware components, like hard drives and RAM, attribute the most to how well a PC performs, and these upgrades are much easier on the budget than replacing the entire workstation. Beyond hardware, it?s also possible the slowness can be caused by a software issue, or simply a need for routine maintenance. Before shelling out for any expensive hardware or software solutions, be sure to consult a trusted technician. This isn?t to say that the latest and greatest technology doesn?t have its uses. In terms of business strategy, it?s a best practice to be working with only the best technology solutions. If your office?s technology is top of the line, […]

Some technology solutions, however, change the way people think about tasks they take for granted. Below are three pieces of upcoming technology that have been developed, manufactured, and are now close to being universally available. These innovations are just a few of the numerous new products that tech-savvy companies are releasing. Zcan Mouses Most people will remember the flatbed scanners that were once very popular, or the handheld scanners that took several tries to get the image scanned properly. The Zcan is a two-in-one scanner and mouse that features the typical mouse set-up with a one-button scan feature that allows users to capture pictures, documents, notes, and more to save or quickly share with others via social media. With the built-in Evernote integration, users can be more organized than ever. Zcan?s newest product (as seen in the video above) is a wireless version of their scanner mouse. This product allows users to bring their Zcan anywhere, making it a valuable tool for work, leisure, and everything in between. The Zcan is currently raising capital via Indiegogo. To learn more follow this link. Slide N?Joy When you?re on the go, and you?re working on your laptop, you often don?t have enough screen space to properly manage all the tasks you are trying to complete. The people behind the Slide N?Joy understand this and have created an expandable display. It isn?t the first time we?ve seen a company try this, but the Belgium-based Slide N?Joy has developed a product that will immediately give laptop users more real estate in which to get things done. The company is currently seeking financial contributions through Kickstarter to get their product funded. The display comes in the form of two magnetically-attached screens that connect to your laptop so that you then have a three-screen display. Each is connected with an aluminum hinge giving the user the ability to seamlessly share information with people by turning around the display as they continue to work at their computer. It is a great idea for any professional setting where briefings and meetings are conducted on the go; or, if a user simply has too much going on to properly multitask on one screen. Swiftpoint GTThe development of the mouse follows the development of the computer. Now that a majority of computing is being done on touchscreen devices, there needed to be a change in the way that people are able to interact with their computer. Using a touch screen is easier for many things, but doing work on a touchscreen device is extraordinarily difficult. This is where the Swiftpoint GT comes in. It is the first wireless mouse that mimics the controls of using a touchscreen device, making navigating around a tablet much easier. The way the Swiftpoint GT mouse works is by utilizing two separate modes. There is the traditional point and click mode that a typical mouse uses. The other mode allows you to use the built-in stylus to pan and flick to use today?s most dynamic mobile OS. It also integrates other touch features, like zooming and application switching. The mouse is connected through either Bluetooth or via a USB dongle that also is used to charge the mouse. Each 30 second charge is good for an hour of use. In a world dominated by touchscreens, Swiftpoint GT delivers […]