Cloud Computing Services: How Much Should You Rely On The Cloud?

a desk with a laptop and a computer monitor
Cloud Computing Services

With the use of cloud computing services on the rise, businesses face numerous, often complex choices about which services to rely on currently or plan for in the future.

A recent article from Tech.Co discusses three ways for businesses to manage their cloud computing decisions and make a successful transition to using different services.

One of the points they emphasize is that businesses have to figure out in advance how much they want to use the cloud, versus relying more on local storage and on-site solutions.

The answers aren’t always straightforward. It depends on a number of factors, including the following:

  • Your business’ current needs. Maybe what could really benefit your company now is relying more on different Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions, for example. Some areas of your business, such as accounting or marketing, may be best served by a transition to the cloud. You also have to keep in mind what’s cost-effective for you and fits your budget.
  • The foundation you establish for future changes. Certain decisions you make now will allow you to adopt new computing solutions in the future. You will have already laid the groundwork for them.
  • The best way for you to make changes to your IT set-up. For example, some businesses may want to rely on a hybrid mix of cloud-based and on-site solutions. While others may want to move to the cloud for the most part. The rate at which businesses transition to different cloud services, and the way they prioritize which services to adopt, will depend on their particular needs.

If these decisions seem complex, fortunately, you don’t have to deal with them on your own. Please contact us for more information about how we can help you adopt the best cloud computing services for your company.

Creating Secure Passwords: How To Do It And Why It Matters

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Start the new year off right by creating secure passwords. Make sure that your passwords are as secure as they can be. It’s the computer tip of the day. Everyone’s computers, all the time, are subject to people, both in the U.S. and overseas, attempting to break into their accounts by hacking the passwords.

Creating Secure Passwords for Your Business

Creating secure passwords

Partly it’s because people are not sensitive enough, even yet, to the need for truly secure passwords. The most common passwords in use, still, are the word “password” and consecutive numbers, like 123456. Phrases like “love” or “iloveyou” run close seconds. Words connected with the computer user, like their name or a birthday, are high up on the list as well.

If you are really using these, a hacker can find your personal, sensitive information in just a couple seconds.

So how do you create a secure password?

First, accept that you will not be able to remember your passwords. Write them down and keep them in a safe place. Many people use simple passwords because they don’t want to be bothered memorizing a bunch of passwords. You can’t memorize all that you need to keep them secure, so don’t even try.

You should have a different password for every account. Why? Simply because it compromises the security of your accounts if one password unlocks them all.

Second, you need passwords that are totally random words and phrases. If they’re random, the thinking goes, hackers won’t be able to guess or predict them.

One strategy is to open a dictionary at random. (Drop it on the floor, and wherever it opens, place your hand on a page and there’s your word.) Another is to use a software that generates random combinations of words and numbers, like Diceware. A third strategy is to think up a nonsense sentence, like “itsnowedbutwasn’tcoldat53degrees.” Would a hacker be able to predict this? No. And that’s what you’re going for.

The longer, more complex, and more random the password, the better.

Contact us for more information on computer security.

Making Your Screen More Readable

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Today’s computer tip of the day about making your screen more readable.

But it already is, you say? Sure. But there are several ways to really enhance the readability.

Making Your Screen More Readable

making your screen more readable

Readability Features

First, you might be seeing or hearing a lot more on your screen than just the text you’re trying to read. If you’re trying to read a news story, for example, you might see a video on another news story as part of the screen. Yes, you can mute the video. But some people find it distracting. Ads, whether banner notifications or videos, are also an issue for some people.

Enter readability. First, look at the right hand side of the bar where you enter URLs. Many pages will show a small icon that looks something like an open book.

Move your cursor over it. It will say “enter readability.”

Click on it.

It will immediately remove videos and banners from the page. The text will be the same, but the distracting elements will be gone. It looks more like, well, a book page.

Another method is to get a free app that will let you save anything you want to read. Instapaper and Read It Later are two apps that will let you do this and also have a readability function.

Size Text

Another issue with reading material on computer screens is the size of the font. If it’s too small and you’re reading a lot, it could cause eye strain.

Increasing the size of the online font is very simple. Just press the Control key and the + key at the same time. The font size will increase gradually every time the + key is depressed.

Contact us for all your computer needs.

How To Minimize Trackers: Computer Tip Of The Day

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As great as communicating over laptops, PCs, and mobile devices can be, there are also drawbacks. Learn how to minimize trackers.

minimize trackers

One is the persistent dropping of cookies and other trackers on your screen as you browse. Unless you are very computer adept, you may not realize that cookies and multiple trackers are there.

Minimize Trackers

But you see the evidence of them in the ads you see as you move through pages on the internet. Say you were shopping for shoes on a site, for example. On your next site, or when you go to your e-mail, you might see advertising banners for shoes, maybe even from the same company. Same with lawn equipment.

They’re reading your browsing interests (and making decisions about what your interests are) via trackers.

There are several ways to stop trackers. All are very simple and knowing how is one of the great computer tips of the day.

Search Engines

First, you can use a search engine that vows not to track people. Yes, despite the ubiquity of Google as a search engine and tracker, there are alternatives. One, mentioned in Julia Angwin’s book Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance, is Duck-Duck Go. (Angwin is a reporter who writes about the commonplace tracking of Americans through computers.) It can be found at https://duckduckgo.com/. Simply set it as your default search engine, just as you would search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, or the others.

The advertisements will disappear virtually overnight. You see, the cookies and trackers are so your search engine makes money by, among other things, selling your buying behavior. It’s a marketing tactic, and your browsing history is tracked and marketed by these companies. Some, though, have been formed specifically not to track people.

Software

Second, you can install software that tells you what trackers are on a given screen and gives you the option to block them or not. The most popular is Ghostery. It can be downloaded at https://www.ghostery.com/. Go through and choose to see the trackers. A list of names will pop up in a purple balloon. You will see the option to block or unblock. You can block with a click, or choose not to block.

Both are free to use, and will give you a great sense of how many trackers there are out there.

Contact us for more information.

Benefits of Outsourcing IT Support

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Outsourcing IT support is a step towards having a more organized business. Letting trained professionals handle your IT questions can make daily work easier and allow for more time for important projects, expansions, and other business-related tasks, as well as minimizing interruptions of daily activities. Here are 4 reasons to outsource your IT support to maximize your business’s productivity:

outsourcing IT support
  • Prevention, not intervention. In-office IT support is likely there after the problem has already occurred, restoring normal activity. Outsourcing makes it easier to spot problems before they put a halt to your productivity, and can make preventing latent problems easier.
  • Improved response times. Outsourced help centers can increase the speed of resolution. Turning a face-to-face encounter into a brief phone call for simple fixes. Instead of waiting for the IT professional to come by, employees or managers can call the support center and receive the same level of expertise in less time.
  • Saved money on staffing. Because IT support centers are most likely located out-of-state, and even out of the country, the cost of receiving help is less. Hiring full-time IT technicians with benefits and other costs can drain a business instead of aiding in its growth. The support is there when it is needed, and no more.
  • Higher levels of security. By outsourcing IT needs, security standards are greatly improved. If a team of IT professionals within a company has access to sensitive information, it may be misused. External assistance is brought in on a need-to-know basis, protecting the company from internal damage.

Contact us at Bluwater Technologies for more information.