Don?t believe us? After all, how can such a necessary task be harmful to your bottom line? Time to crunch the numbers. Eight days of productivity are lost every year due to moving back and forth with a mouse. That?s eight full, 8-hour workdays. Let?s assume that the average worker switches between their mouse and keyboard once a minute, and this switch takes up two seconds of time (or about 0.03 minutes). If the worker is typing for six hours a day (480 minutes) and they work about 240 days a year, we can build the following equation. [2 wasted seconds / min] * [480 min / workday] * [240 workdays / year] = 58 wasted hours / year! This creates a situation where the average worker spends almost 58 hours simply switching between the mouse and keyboard. Thankfully, keyboard shortcuts exist, so let?s dig into detail about how these can help you eliminate the time spent moving your hand back and forth, as well as the time wasted moving your cursor around. Here are some of the lesser-known keyboard shortcuts that can help you better navigate your toolbar, hopefully saving you time that could be put to better use on another task. Pressing CTRL+B will select an item in your System Tray, while the arrow keys can be used to select the one you need. To select an item in the Windows Taskbar, you can press the Windows Key plus the corresponding number to bring it up. When you hold Shift and press an arrow key, you?ll be able to select items without clicking and dragging the mouse. If you have your items selected, press the Menu Key (the one between the Windows key and the Ctrl key). This will work the same way as right-clicking the items. Once you?re done, close the program by pressing Alt + F4. On that note, just about anything you do on a regular basis probably has a keyboard shortcut that you can use to save time. You can also create your own keyboard shortcut by right-clicking on a program?s icon on your desktop and accessing its properties. Under the Shortcut tab, you can provide your preferred shortcut combo. Once you?ve finished, click Apply. What are some ways your organization improves productivity? Let us know in the comments.

Building Your Hosted Solution When you put together a hosted solution, you?re building one that is exactly to your specifications–at least, to the best of your ability. This means that you?re not using the same solution as any other business. It doesn?t matter if you?re the one hosting the solution or not. The end result is still something tailor-made for your business? needs, whether it?s an application, storage space, or connecting your data to applications. Buying a Hosted Solution If you?re not as concerned about getting a customized solution compared to just getting one that works, you can always invest in a prebuilt solution from a service provider. You can think of this as a kind-of template, in a sense. It might not be perfect for what you need, but if you?re just experimenting with what?s possible and you?re not entirely sure what you specifically need in the first place, it?s not a bad place to start. Renting Hosted Solutions If you?re not sure where the solution will be hosted, the option to rent the space on someone else?s infrastructure is always a possibility. Even if it?s not on your network, your solution will be hosted in an environment that allows for all the functionality you need, save for potential security differences as a result of not having the customization you might initially want. You will have to outline the responsibilities of the hosting provider as well as your own, but you could potentially eliminate many of the responsibilities your organization would be responsible for, saving you time and resources. What your business needs will be different compared to all others in your area, but you don?t have to make that decision without first consulting professionals. White Mountain IT Services can help you out with this process. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

Confirm Google Play Protect is on Downloading apps always presents a challenge, as you can never know if there is a risk to downloading the wrong one. Google Play Protect is a system put in place to keep this from happening. This feature can constantly scan your device for threats with the intention of keeping your device as secure as possible. If it?s not activated by default (which it should be), you can do so by going to Settings > Security > Google Play Protect. If all of these toggles are active, it?s already activated, so you have nothing to worry about. Enable Two-Factor Authentication This isn?t necessarily an Android-native feature, but you can enable two-factor authentication for your Google account. This makes it so that your phone has an additional level of security that can prevent some hackers from accessing important information located on the device. You can set up two-factor authentication by accessing your Settings > Google > Security, then following the instructions for 2-Step Verification. Limit Lock Screen Notifications Notifications on the lock screen are helpful for the user, but they can be a breach of privacy for those who don?t want others to see them. You can limit the information displayed by lock screen notifications by going through your Settings > Lock screen > Notifications. You can then toggle which apps you want to display the full notification, or just the app?s icon. Pinning Your Screen If you have other people using your phone every so often, you don?t want them to be accessing your applications or files. To keep this from happening, you can ?pin? your screen to a particular application, meaning that any time the device accesses the application or function, it is the only application that user can access. To pin your screen, all you have to do is access your Settings > Biometrics and security > Other security settings. Once you?ve done this, just scroll to the bottom of the page and toggle on Pin windows. You can enter a menu item and make sure the Ask for PIN before unpinning switch is toggled. Once you?ve activated screen pinning, you can then set it so that the one app they need to use is the only one that they can use until the application is unpinned. You can pin usage to a single app by opening the application and pressing the Recent button. You?ll see a pin icon on the screen. Press it to pin the application. Once you?re ready to allow other apps to be used again, you can just hold the Back and Recent buttons at the same time. This unpins the device and locks it, requiring your PIN to be plugged in before it can be used again. If you?re having trouble keeping your device secure, White Mountain IT Services can help. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.

What Are Templates? Evernote templates basically provide users with pre-built structures for their notes. This gives users a way of organizing information that may have previously taken more time than usual. These are particularly great if you are one who struggles with formatting each and every time you open a new note. Evernote also offers other templates on their website, and with a subscription to Evernote Plus, Premium, or Business, you can use formatting that you?ve used in the past to create your own custom template for future use. Applying Templates in Evernote Once you?ve found some templates you?d like to use, either from Evernote?s website or from one of your past notes, you can apply it to any new ones. In Evernote, start a new note. In the body of your note, click on Templates to see the ones you have saved. From here, you have several options. You can search for templates, delete ones you don?t need, edit their names, or apply them to notes. If you have Plus, Premium, or Business accounts, you can edit templates. To edit a template, follow this same process. Once you?ve finished making the edits, save it as a new template. Plus, Premium, and Business users can also create their own templates this way. What are your thoughts on these changes to Evernote? If you don?t already use it, will this be enough to convince you? Let us know in the comments.

The Internet of Things Continues to Grow Connected devices are everywhere, and at this point, it?s unlikely that it will go away anytime soon. To account for this continuously growing trend, businesses have taken to optimizing security to accommodate them. It?s safe to say that it doesn?t matter which industry a business falls in; the majority of businesses utilize the Internet of Things to at least some extent, but whether or not they are protecting themselves is another story altogether. Ultimately, it boils down to risk versus reward. Is your business willing to compromise security just to use IoT devices, or are you willing to ensure that they don?t become a risk for your business? Ransomware, While Still Dangerous, Isn?t as Common 2017 was the year of ransomware, and while it?s still a problem for many organizations, in 2018 it wasn?t nearly the problem that it was last year. As of last December, according to Malwarebytes, the rate of infection for ransomware had dropped to about 10%, which is a substantial decrease. Still, it?s best to prepare for it ahead of time if you want to make sure your organization can survive a brush with this type of malware. Cryptomining is King The next big thing to come from 2018 is a major increase in cryptomining malware, which can install itself on a device and remotely activate to mine bitcoin without the user?s knowledge. This can have various side-effects on the device that might manifest in different ways, such as slow device speeds and otherwise labored usage. Security is More Proactive as a Whole Too often businesses wait too long to address specific problems with their security measures. This can take the form of anything from failing to administer a patch or security update as soon as possible, to letting a threat remain unaddressed on your network without knowing it exists. Rather than take a reactive stance to security, businesses have been dedicating themselves to proactive security measures to offset the risk of being affected by threats. A new survey released by IDG showcases the security priorities of all kinds of businesses. The respondents to this survey claimed that they found the following aspects important to maintain a healthy, proactive stance on network security: 74%: Best practices 69%: Compliance mandates 36%: Responding to a security incident that occurred in their own organization 33%: Mandates from the board of directors 29%: Responding to a security incident that occurred in another organization How has your business taken steps toward network security? White Mountain IT Services can help you make sure your organization?s security doesn?t hold you back from reaching your goals. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 889-0800.