Your typical company executive is not a master in technological logistics. Many of them defer to people that have some semblance of an idea about those types of things. What concerns many companies is that they can?t afford to dedicate an employee to the development of a mobile strategy. There are also considerations that have to be made regarding the security of your mobile platforms, and whether or not your organization will be promoting employees to use their own mobile devices on your company network. If building mobility has become a priority for your company, there are many applications that are available on the three major mobile platforms. Two of which are: Calendar Every platform has an integrated calendar program and all three present an opportunity to keep you in the know about important events. All three of them sync up to a central account, the two most popular are Google?s Gmail and Microsoft?s Outlook. Each device, including the devices running iOS, can integrate their calendar with the mail account they use most. To use your calendar most effectively, you will have to utilize the sync feature made available by your device?s operating system. Follow the instructions on the corresponding pages to sync your smartphone calendar with your account. Android iOS Windows Phone 8.1 Once that?s done, you can begin to get the most out of your device. By keeping a dedicated and up-to-date calendar, you can begin to take advantage of the mobility that the smartphone promises. Note-Taking AppsThere are literally dozens of note capturing applications on the various app stores. Three of the best ones are Evernote, Microsoft OneNote, and Google Keep. Obviously OneNote will come standard on Windows 8.1 Phones and Google Keep will come standard on Android, but Apple device users will have to download one. The most popular one, for good reason, is Evernote. These apps mostly do the same thing: They allow users to jot down information, capture screenshots, and record audio to make it easier for people that have to juggle tasks and manage time to complete tasks properly. Controlling All of the DataAs a business owner, you need to be ahead of the game before your employees start piecemealing solutions together. If you don?t have a calendar in place for your business, for example, a staff member might take it upon themselves to throw something together. This isn?t a bad thing until you realize you have different applications and workflows being done all throughout the organization with no standardization or documented process. By researching and committing to a solution, you can take steps to deploy it for all employees, allowing you to control where your data is and what happens to it when someone leaves the company. You don?t need to handle this on your own. You can rely on your account manager at White Mountain IT Services for consultation. It is obvious that the number one device that a company can use to push their initiatives forward is the smartphone. The smartphone is such a productivity tool (and security threat) that as a part of a company?s mobile device management policy, a company will be absolutely forced to make a decision on the use of employee smartphones on the network, known as a BYOD strategy. If your organization needs a whole strategy to manage […]

Is Windows 10 Free?First, let?s talk about how Microsoft is handling the licensing/upgrade model. This has caused a lot of confusion over the past few months. If you are running a legitimate copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8, it?s likely that you?re eligible to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. There are a few requirements: If you have Windows 7, you need to be updated to Service Pack 1 If you have Windows 8, you need to be updated to Windows 8.1. Your version of Windows needs to be a registered copy. Windows 7 and 8 Enterprise are NOT eligible for the free upgrade. Windows RT is not eligible for the free upgrade. You have one year from July 29th, 2015 to get your free update to Windows 10. In short, most Windows 7 and 8.1 users will be able to upgrade their operating system to Windows 10 for free, as long as they do it within the next year. What?s New in Windows 10? The Slickest Windows Experience YetSince a lot of people didn?t care for some of the changes made in Windows 8 and 8.1, Microsoft toned down what wasn?t working. The Metro Live tile interface that received a lot of flack has returned, but it?s less intrusive. Unless you?re using a tablet-like device or you want it front and center, the brightly-colored tiles stay tucked away. CortanaMicrosoft?s answer to Siri, Cortana, is integrated with Windows 10. Cortana brings voice search capabilities to Windows in much the same way Siri does for the iPhone. She can help search for files, open applications, and search Bing. It?s nice to see this technology finally hit desktops and laptops, but it?s pretty clear smartphones are the ideal environment for Cortana. We don?t foresee many people talking into their PC?s microphone the way they might on their mobile device. Also, Android users will immediately feel out of place without any integration with Google. As expected, Microsoft?s Cortana is solely partnered with Microsoft Bing for web searches. It?s not a terrible interface, but power users are going to feel a little odd not having the choice. Asking Cortana to ?sing a song? almost makes up for this shortcoming though (give it a try). Lots and Lots of Little TweaksThere are new keyboard shortcuts, better window controls, improved notifications, and a lot of other little improvements. Most users probably won?t dig into these very deeply, but if you want to get the most out of your gadgets, Windows 10 delivers users a lot of nifty improvements to explore. One of the most interesting additions is virtual desktops, which allow you to spread your work across multiple desktops that you can cycle through quickly. The New BrowserMicrosoft Edge, the long awaited replacement for Internet Explorer, is a huge improvement. The browser is faster, more secure, and has a lot of modern features reminiscent of smartphone browsers. It?s easy to share information, take notes, and get access to relevant information. Edge might not convert any die-hard Firefox or Chrome fans, but it should improve the experience of users who just use what browser the operating system gives them. Furthermore, you can take notes and draw on web pages for future reference. Tighter Integrations with Office 365This is where things start to get really interesting. It?s […]

Text-to-Audio NotepadThere?s a plethora of text-to-audio apps available for download, but did you know that you already have this tool on your Windows OS with Notepad? This feature is not readily available, and requires some programming on your part, but don?t let that scare you; creating this Notepad audio program is as easy as copying and pasting. First, you will open Notepad. Now copy and paste the following text into Notepad: Dim msg, sapimsg=InputBox(“Enter your text for Conversation | Tool by Irshad (http://pctricksonline.blogspot.com)”,”PC Hacks Text-To-Audio Converter”)Set sapi=CreateObject(“sapi.spvoice”)sapi.Speak msg Next, you will go to File > Save As, and then save the file as text_audio.vbs. You will then close the note and open the saved file. When you open it, a text box will appear with a form. Simply type or copy and paste your text in the form, click ok, and then be amazed when you hear it read it back to you. One of the first lines you can enter into the form for playback is, ?Check it out. This makes me a computer programmer!? Google Voice SearchAnother fun way to interact with your PC audibly is by using Google Voice Search. Searching the Internet is something you do quite often; therefore, using your voice to enter text into the search bar is an easy way to make your everyday web-browsing experience feel more natural. Google Voice Search is a feature that comes standard with Google Chrome, and it is easy to use. All you have to do is go to Google?s homepage and click on the mic icon to the right of the Google search bar. You will then speak into your microphone what it is you want Google to search for, and the more you use it, the more accurate the app will be able to read your voice. Expect a few funny results when you first start using it, and be sure that you have SafeSearch turned on. Bonus Fun TipTo have some fun with your computer?s audio and voice features, try combining the two. Open your text-to-audio notepad, type some text into it, and have it read the text back to Google Voice Search. This is a highly inefficient way to search the web, but it is fun nevertheless. These features are already on your computer and they are just a taste of what you can do to make your computer more interactive. There are many great apps, like Siri for iOS and Robin for Android that can give your computer a personality and a semblance of artificial intelligence. Do you have a favorite interactive app? Share it with us in the comments.

Autocorrect is actually a pretty fascinating little program. In particular, its manner of selecting the proper spelling and usage of a word is surprisingly complex. Autocorrect was originally created out of a system that had previously existed in Microsoft Word as a glossary. This glossary allows for the expansion of existing text, either with an established replacement text or even adding an image. Autocorrect was first established by Dean Hachamovitch, a former vice president of Microsoft. Hachamovitch (thankfully, autocorrect works on his name) realized that the glossary feature could be used to add more functionality to Microsoft Word. The first word which autocorrect targeted was teh, a common mistake that appears all over the place on both the Internet and even in professional environments. Hachamovitch created a script that could automatically fix this error by hitting the left arrow key and F3 simultaneously, but the concept later evolved to make the feature more ?automatic.? Since English is very space-oriented language (we use a lot of spaces in our writing), autocorrect could be triggered upon hitting the spacebar; thus, making it much more convenient for everyone. Afterward, it was simply a matter of figuring out what the most commonly misspelled words were. Some of White Mountain IT Services?s favorite misspellings are as follows: seperate vs separate affect vs effect its vs it?s misspell vs mispell (nothing is more embarrassing than misspelling mispell) their, they?re, and there recommend vs reccommend could of vs could have So, how does autocorrect figure out which words need to be replaced? There are some that Microsoft simply cannot condone being used in autocorrect, like obscenities, which are never suggested or flagged. The replacements for other words are determined according to these factors: Keyboard proximity Phonetics Sentence context So, the words suggested through autocorrect are chosen through the overall context of the sentence it?s being used in. It lends itself to the literary terms prescriptivism and descriptivism; how words should be used, and how they?re actually used in the context of the language. Some words and phrases are often used when they shouldn?t be, or the writer is trying to say something completely different. Autocorrect is responsible for (somewhat) fixing these issues. Despite autocorrect?s somewhat humorous faults at times, it?s an integral part of ensuring your team puts together error-free emails and documents. Technology can do all sorts of great things for your business. Give White Mountain IT Services a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn making technology work for you.

The purpose of two-factor authentication is to add an extra layer of security when logging into a device or website. Everyone is familiar with using a password to log in to their email, bank account, or social network. Two-factor authentication requires the user to know more than just the password, they have to further prove that they are who they say they are. Typically this is done by entering in a short pin sent to the user via text. According to BioCatch, the way that a PC user uses a mouse can identify who they are. ZDNet explains: The entire way that we use the human-machine interface embedded within each and every modern computer, browser, or website, is like a unique fingerprint. Lefties will operate a mouse differently to right-handed people, for example, and each user ?grabs? an icon at a different point, angle, and so on. BioCatch can analyze the way that users use their mouse to create a profile for them. This profile is then used to determine whether or not you are who your machine says you are. It?s estimated that this method of authentication is capable of identifying and preventing fraudulent logins 80 to 90 percent of the time. There are several variables that are taken into consideration by BioCatch?s user profiles. These variables are put into four layers of properties: Layer One: Standard AuthenticationLayer one consists of the device, network, IP address, hardware, and location – all traits that physically tie you to your PC. These are the typical authentication properties used when logging into an account. The following layers, however, take a much different approach to authentication. Layer Two: Physical ProfileLayer two consists of mainly motion-related actions, such as moving objects around the screen, hand-eye coordination, and the mouse pointer (or finger on touch screen devices). Layer Three: Cognitive ProfileLayer three consists of examining mental abilities, such as response time and connection time. It also looks for suspicious activity that is out of the norm. One example used by ZDnet is online banking – normally, a user would check their balance before doing anything. If a money transfer is their top priority, something might be up. Layer Four: Invisible ChallengesBioCatch?s final layer of protection is meant to authenticate a user?s identity, but not in the traditional sense. BioCatch purposely puts problems in the way of the user in order to determine who they are. Everyone reacts to potential threats differently, and their response can be used to verify one?s identity. Despite whether or not BioCatch?s ideas become mainstream, there?s one thing we know is certain: you need to keep yourself protected from hackers with more than just a password. Two-factor authentication might have its flaws, but it?s a better protection measure than others, especially considering how weak passwords have been recently in light of powerful, sophisticated malware. White Mountain IT Services can equip you with two-factor authentication methods, like SMS messages via a cell phone. Call us at (603) 889-0800 today to see what we can do for your business.