Gartner predicts that Windows 10 will be used by half of all businesses come January 2017, which means that it will be one of the most widely used Windows versions so far. This is somewhat surprising, considering how its adoption rate thus far has been relatively tame. Businesses still like using their familiar Windows 7 operating system, and thus, feel little need to upgrade at the present moment. However, there are several noteworthy factors that will affect the adoption rate for Windows 10 over the next few years. For one, Windows 7 is slated for its end of support date in January 2020. This means that eventually, just like previous versions of Windows, like XP, Microsoft will cut the cord on its aging operating system. This means that users of Windows 7 will be forced to upgrade to something more recent, and considering the fact that Windows 8 and 8.1 are as unpopular as ever, Windows 10 is the natural choice for a replacement. According to ZDNet: Gartner said many organizations are planning to begin pilots for Windows 10 in the first half of 2016, and will broaden their deployments later in the year. It expects that at least half of organizations will have started some production deployments by the beginning of 2017, with an eye to completing their migrations in 2019. In other words, it will be quite some time before most businesses adopt Windows 10, but they?re still making plans to do so in the near future. In fact, up until very recently, the Windows 10 adoption rate was staggering, surpassing both Windows 7 and Windows 8. Granted, these figures fail to take into account the primary reason adoption has been so incredible: the free download. This free download is only for the first year that Windows 10 is available to consumers, but businesses want to make sure that they?re going to run into minimal resistance when upgrading to their new operating system. Just because everyone else is waiting to take advantage of the latest Windows operating system, doesn?t mean that you have to. You can get a leg up on the competition by upgrading to Windows 10 early, before your competitors decide to finally make the switch to Microsoft?s latest operating system. Doing so will give you access to great new features that will help you fully utilize your business?s technology solutions, as well as provide the peace of mind knowing that your tech is up to date and ready to go. It?s still recommended that you consult an IT professional before making this commitment, as legacy applications and other complications can arise that will need to be addressed by experts. White Mountain IT Services can answer your business?s questions about Windows 10, including how and when you should make the switch. To learn more, give us a call at (603) 889-0800.

Snap To is a nifty feature that automatically moves your mouse pointer to dialogue boxes that might pop up while you?re using your PC. The dialogue boxes usually appear when you delete a file, close a window, or perform other similar tasks. When using Snap To, it?s important to make sure that you?re not just clicking the Ok button blindly. Otherwise, you might accidentally delete a file that you shouldn?t have, or you change a setting that otherwise wouldn?t normally be touched (like, ?are you sure you want to delete all files?). Paying attention to the messages as they appear will make it much easier to handle damage control. To enable this feature, go to Control Panel > Mouse Properties. Next, click on the Pointer Options tab and then checkmark the Snap To box that says ?Automatically move pointer to the default button in a dialog box.? Click OK or Apply when you?re done. Keep in mind that using Snap To might take a little while to get used to, primarily because it?ll be different from dragging your mouse pointer to each dialogue box manually. Just in case you don?t want to enable Snap To, you can usually just press the Enter key to select the Ok button in dialogue boxes. While Snap To might not seem like a very dynamic feature, by using it, you might find yourself saving quite a bit of time in the long run. The productivity-minded worker will understand the value that Snap To presents, and will enjoy the ease-of-navigation that comes without working with the mouse so often. Plus, some laptops have quirky touchpads, making Snap To an ideal candidate when you need to close out of dialogue boxes and get back to work. For more productivity tips and tricks, subscribe to White Mountain IT Services?s blog.

This kind of security oversight is known as role-based access control. While role-based access control has always been a major component of network security, for some reason (perhaps due to the cloud?s ease-of-use), user permissions can be overlooked when it comes to cloud computing. With a traditional, in-house IT infrastructure, user permissions and other aspects of network security are overseen by an in-house IT staff member or your trusted IT guru. The advantage of having an in-house network is that your IT technician is familiar enough with the company to know who the users are, along with their roles within the organization (this is especially the case for SMBs). With cloud computing, security oversight is often outsourced to the cloud provider, who may not know every user or understand what their roles are within your company?s organizational structure. To be clear, we?re by no means advocating against outsourced network security. Instead, we want to raise the concern of not blindly rushing into a cloud computing service without first properly vetting its security measures. For example, you?ll want to make sure that your cloud computing solution gives you enough control that you can implement different levels of access to sensitive data based on the roles within your company. Doing so will require you or an administrator within your company to set these parameters, or maintaining a relationship with your cloud provider so they can understand the role-based access control needs of your business. NetworkComputing explains: When you have employees with different roles in your company, access control is a key feature that can help ensure basic cloud administrative security. You?ll need to exercise caution to prevent credentials from being compromised, and to ensure menial errors don?t spoil your day. Implementing robust and powerful access control is important to protect company resources. Additionally, you?ll want to implement ways for the information that one?s granted access to (due to their role) to only be seen by them, and not shared with others who have no business accessing it. For example, in-house IT workers have access to more information than the average worker, much of which is sensitive in nature. Despite this, according to a recent study by Intermedia and Precision Sample, IT workers are 10 percent more likely than non-IT staff to give away their login credentials for superfluous reasons. What precautions do you have in place to prevent scenarios like this from happening? One extra layer of protection you can add to your cloud service is two-factor authentication. This will mandate another form of authentication, like a text message or phone call, in order for the user with the proper role to access the information they need. A security solution like this will make it much more difficult for a user to exchange account information with those outside of their roles. The many benefits of cloud computing are obvious, which is why enterprise-level cloud services are growing so rapidly. The best approach to cloud security is to understand the intricacies of the services you?re using, as well as to lean on a cloud service provider that you can trust. To that end, White Mountain IT Services is here to assist your business with all of its cloud computing needs, including the management of who in your organization can access your cloud data, and who can?t. […]

What is Google Fiber?Google Fiber initially began as an experiment that was designed to deliver high-speed Internet and cable television to the Kansas City metropolitan area, but has since developed into a full-fledged Internet provider for a number of locations around the United States. As explained by CIO: And optical fiber is the only choice for connectivity that exceed 1,000 Mbps, aka Gigabit Internet. Optical fiber provides higher bandwidths ? download speeds 40 times faster and upload speeds more than 300 times faster than garden variety broadband ? and spans much longer distances than electrical cabling. And some companies, such as Bell Labs, Cisco, and Comcast are claiming that their new “fiber optic” services (when eventually installed) will be 10 times faster than Google. Google Fiber ReceptionMany people are finding Google Fiber to be an exceptionally potent way to keep both their personal lives and their businesses online. Especially in light of the controversy surrounding Comcast and Time Warner Cable in recent years, folks in participating cities are happy to have an alternative for their Internet. In particular, businesses in areas where Fiber is available are finding that they appreciate the fast Internet access, citing that the service is cheap and convenient for their purposes. On the other hand, however, there have been some instances where Google?s bundled services aren?t up to snuff, including a major complaint over privacy. Apparently, Google?s systems scan your activity in order to customize advertisements for Gmail and YouTube. These settings can be altered, but should only be attempted by your trusted IT technicians. You need fast and efficient access to the Internet and all of your cloud storage, including applications and data stored online. When you have trouble accessing mission-critical data like this, it can impede operations and threaten your entire business model. Therefore, what you need from your Internet and wireless solutions is simple: reliability with the ability to scale and expand in accordance with your organization?s growth. When it comes to wired and wireless technology, White Mountain IT Services has the skills necessary to help your organization optimize its cabling and Internet deployment infrastructure. For more information, contact White Mountain IT Services at (603) 889-0800.

For example, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is one of the biggest new movies coming to theaters this month. We know barely anything about it, and sometimes it?s best to keep it that way so you don?t spoil yourself before seeing it in all of its glory. The Chrome extension, Spoiler Alert, can block web content according to protocol that you assign to it. All you have to do is sign up with your email and date of birth, which is a small price to pay considering that you?ll be blocking content specific to your favorite TV shows and such. CNet claims that the only movie currently available is The Force Awakens, but that will probably change in the future. Spoiler Alert can even block content from other popular media, like sports events and huge pop culture hits like The Walking Dead. You won?t have to worry about who survives through an episode or what the score of the big game is. You can even use Spoiler Alert to block political discussions, if you are sick of seeing people complaining about current issues. However, Spoiler Alert is still far from ideal. As explained by Rick Broida at CNet: One problem I discovered is that Spoiler Alert doesn’t seem to work past the initial page-load. So on Facebook, for example, if you scroll down far enough that the site loads more content, the extension doesn’t block anything in that additional load. That’s a problem. But this blocker is still in beta, so hopefully the developers can address that. In the meantime, I’m just happy to have at least some line of defense against our spoiler culture. Seriously, people, why would you want to know everything (or anything) about “The Force Awakens” before getting to the theater? Spoiler Alert also has some funky functionality from time to time; sometimes it only blocks headings, titles, or text, leaving the images in place. Other times, it will block the entire site, while asking the user whether or not their sure they want to enter the spoiler-filled site. The spoiler settings are adjustable, allowing for relatively dynamic control over what appears and what is blocked. Granted, you can avoid most, if not all news related to your favorite shows or movies, by avoiding the major news aggregates and social media sites. The problem here is that you also want to keep an eye on recent developments in your chosen industry, which is one of the main reasons that organizations find the Internet so useful. You shouldn?t be prevented from maximizing your productivity and finding new leads just because you don?t want to have your fun ruined by spoilers. Spoiler Alert should be able to help you avoid some major spoilers while on the Internet, but we?re always looking for better technology to make lives easier for consumers. What are some of the best ways you can think of to avoid being spoiled by the Internet? Let us know in the comments.