?Thank You for Calling Technical Support, Have You Tried Dropping Your Computer?? Huge disclaimer here, we don?t advocate dropping, kicking, or suplexing your computer in order to get it to work if something goes wrong. Any physical blunt trauma to a computer should be administered by a professional. Back in 1982, Apple was on top of the game. Steve Jobs was on the cover of Time magazine, and by the end of the year they were the first company to reach a $1 billion annual sales rate. Apple was starting to make aesthetic decisions about their hardware that would sometimes trump function, and the Apple III is the first real example of that. Apple, likely following the wishes and demands of Steve Jobs, decided they were going to make the Apple III computer look even more marketable than the Apple II by removing the air vents. Computers, when processing information and just running in general, produce heat. That heat can build up within the case, and if there isn?t proper airflow or other forms of cooling, it can cause hardware damage over time. When certain computer components get too hot, they may need to be throttled and thus underperform, or they may malfunction and break over time, or both. Steve Jobs wanted the Apple III to be the sexiest Apple computer yet, and either in his opinion, or the advice of Apple?s marketing team, that meant ditching those unsightly air vents. And while they were at it, they nixed the internal fans, because if you aren?t going to have air vents, you may as well not bother with intake and outtake fans. So now we have a product that just bakes the internal components while it?s running. Heat makes metal expand, and there?s quite a bit of metal inside a computer. It would cause the internal parts within the computer to become dislodged, which would obviously cause the computer to stop working. The Apple III?s retail price started at $4340 in 1980?s money, which is equivalent to around $14,270 today. Keep this in mind for the rest of the story, it definitely puts things into perspective. So you have a fairly sizable handful of people running into issues with their extremely expensive new computer. Sometimes the computer would get so hot, it would melt the floppy disks in the drive. Eventually, the computer would get too hot, stop working, and you have to look up Apple in the phone book and give them a call. Fortunately, one engineer at Apple, Daniel Kottke, ran into this issue with his Apple III. Out of frustration, he picked up his computer and slammed it down on his desk. That sudden shock happened to cause the internal parts to snap back together and his computer started working again. Eureka!  So what did Apple do? The company instructed its support staff to recommend lifting the computer up off the desk by about two inches, and dropping it. Fingers crossed, this would set the internal parts back in place and you can go back to using your extremely expensive door-less oven. Modern Tech Support is a Little More Complicated While this story is true, it?s fun to make a joke about it. We?ve come a long way as a species in the last 40 years, and […]

According to the United States Census, around 8.9 percent of workers hold more than one job. That?s around 13 million workers who do it, whether it?s to get ahead or to simply make ends meet. We all know that side-hustles are a very real thing for some employees who want to get ahead, whether it?s saving up for a vacation, a down payment on a home, or some other major expense. They might work a part-time job after hours. The problem is not with these employees?it?s with employees who work two, full-time, asynchronous jobs at the same time. We know this is a controversial topic, and it?s one that you might not have thought about, but it?s something that could potentially impact the quality of work for employees who struggle to make ends meet. Some employers feel that employees working multiple jobs are costing them money, and depending on how it is done, they might be. For example, if an employee is using their time working one job to perform work for the other, it could lead to work for your job being performed haphazardly or without focus. In some professions, this could lead to dire consequences. We know that you can?t really do anything about your employees holding multiple jobs, and we aren?t here to tell you that you should implement any policies to actively prevent this or to punish them for it. That said, you do have a responsibility to your company to hire workers that can pull off their day-to-day tasks in a way that is undivided and focused to the best of their abilities. Strictly speaking, it might be worth having a frank and open discussion with employees who you think might be burning themselves out by working too much. In order to keep the problem of ?overemployment? to a minimum, we recommend that you consider the following: Make sure your employees maintain an appropriate work-life balance?at least for your own company. Compensate your employees as well as you can, budget pending. Understand that everyone?s circumstances are different and that some employees simply cannot afford to live on just one salary alone. At the end of the day, we think it?s important to understand one thing: nobody wants to work themselves to death. Do what you can to make your employees? workplace experiences as comfortable as possible. After all, we?re all human. One way you can dramatically reduce the stress of the workplace is through implementing appropriate technology solutions that make your employees? jobs and duties easier to perform. With the right support on your side, you can help your employees be as productive as possible before they leave your office and set their sights on their side-gig. To learn more about how we can help you best manage your technology, contact White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.

Now, before we get started, it should be clear that these translation functions are not going to be 100% accurate, and the only way you?ll know exactly what is being said is by working with someone who is fluent in the language. That said, you should be able to get a decent idea of what is being said from Google?s translation, so if that?s all you?re after, then by all means, give it a try. How to Translate an Email in Gmail First, you might notice that Gmail is already offering to translate the message because it recognizes that the message is in another language. In cases like this, it will show the detected language, the language your Gmail is set to, and a Translate button. If you click it, it will run the translation right there. If you don?t see the option, you will have to use the three-dot menu on the message to locate the Translate Message menu. This will open up the Translate bar, where you can either select the language from the drop-down list or you can have Gmail try to detect the language. After you do this, just click on the Translate Message button. You can then revert it back to the original by clicking on the button again. If you would rather the message just automatically translate, you?ll see the option on the right side of the screen, along with the language you have selected, after you translate your message. You can also disable automatic translations in much the same way by using the same selection. We hope you find some use out of this blog! Be sure to subscribe so you don?t miss a beat.

Hardware Costs Are On the Rise The supply chain and events all around the world have impacted hardware costs dramatically. The microprocessor shortage has in turn affected people consuming the technology?businesses included. With the costs of components not decreasing anytime soon, you can expect this to become problematic for your business. This inflation leads many businesses to just abandon the purchasing of new hardware altogether. We know that hardware refreshes are frustrating enough without having to worry about your budget, which is why we do our best to hook your business up with affordable and effective technology that suits its needs. Through comprehensive consulting, we?ll help you get the best bang for your buck. Cybercrime is Also a Factor You know you need to invest in cybersecurity, but do you know what you should focus on and how? You don?t want to deal with a data breach or a ransomware infection, so we urge you to consider just how you are going to protect your business so that you can prevent these expensive issues from impacting you even after the fact. You might think you won?t encounter a security issue with your business, but you can?t know that for sure?and therein lies the problem. When you have a lot of options at your disposal and you?re not confident in any of them, we urge you to consider investing in three primary areas of security. They are: Employee training: Most security exploits happen because someone on your staff falls for a scam, whether it?s a phishing attack or accidentally downloading the wrong file from the Internet. A lot of good can come from training your employees to identify potentially hazardous situations, and trust us when we say that paying for proper security training will pay for itself. Security tools: Preventative tools that can help you keep your network secure are great ways to prevent small issues from becoming larger and dramatically more expensive problems. It?s far easier and less expensive to put a stop to an attack in the early stages compared to after it has weaseled its way into your network and corrupted or encrypted it, for example. There are many security tools on the market, so we recommend you work with White Mountain IT Services to identify the ones that will best suit your needs. Annual security assessment: Similarly, a proactive method of keeping your IT safe and secure, like performing annual security assessments, can help you preemptively address problems before they become even bigger and more dangerous. It helps to have this assessment performed by a third party, too, so that the results are not skewed or biased. Businesses Don?t Know What They Need Unfortunately, investing in the wrong parts of your IT can lead to more expensive implementations over the long term. Indecision leads to disorganization, so if you aren?t sure what you need, then change your mind halfway through the implementation, you can bet that the next project will be vastly more expensive because you have the failed attempt haunting your every step. To ensure that you know what your business needs from its IT, we recommend sitting down for a discussion with a knowledgeable IT consultant like those at White Mountain IT Services. We can help you make the most informed decision possible so you can appropriate your funds in the […]

This Rebrand Has Been Years in the Making We?ve taken note that, over the past few years, Microsoft has clearly and deliberately made steps to promote Microsoft 365 as the be-all, end-all option for businesses to use. Now, it seems that they have determined the time has come to fully retire their Office branding. So, the big question is, what does this mean? What Microsoft Has Said About These Changes Based on the webpage that the transition was first announced on, your business? users should see minimal impacts, besides more options and features and a few cosmetic alterations to reflect the new brand. These options include things like: New templates to make content creation easier and faster Tagging capabilities to help organize content A new Apps module to help you prioritize your most-used tools A new feed to deliver relevant content to you based on what you work on, and with whom. What Do You Need to Do? Nothing. That?s right, nothing. Microsoft will push out an automatic update to give the application its new icon and name later this month. Your existing account and profile, subscription, and files will remain untouched. This is mainly just a heads-up to let you know that your Microsoft subscription will see some changes so you aren?t concerned when it happens. Something that won?t change, however, is that we?ll be here whenever you have challenges or questions concerning your IT. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more about our services.