Start off 2020 with a bang!

Over the past year, we’ve read a lot of business books. We thought we’d switch it up a little and start off 2020 talking about business plans. There is a myriad of books on the subject, and just as many philosophies about how to plan. We’re not here to say if one book is better than another, or way is better than another; we simply want to share what we’ve found in the hopes it might help you too.

One of our favorite books is The E-Myth (Revisited) by Michael Gerber. It’s an easy read and has lots of great information. Another good book is Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish (and Scaling Up, which is a revision of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits). We also like Mike Michalowicz’s books. The common theme between all the books we’ve read is that having a business plan is a great way to start setting goals and reaching them. Even if it’s just jotting down a few goals along with activities to reach the goals, that’s great; it doesn’t have to be a multi-page complicated document. The important thing is to get started. Once you get in a rhythm, it becomes habit.

Taking the time to sit down away from the whirlwind and create a plan is important too. We start our planning in late November and try to set aside at least half a day of uninterrupted time. The key is to be uninterrupted while working on your plan, whether it’s for 15 minutes or an entire day, so you can truly focus.

If you would like to discuss this topic further, would like introductions to business coaches, or would like more book recommendations, fill out our contact form: bit.ly/2pPj4C8

Best of luck in the new year!

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Password Managers

So many *choose your own explicative* passwords to remember with different requirements!!! Ugh, there must be a way to remember them all without writing them on post-it notes!! Hello Password Manager!

What is a password manager and why should I use one? According to Wikipedia, a password manager “assists in generating and retrieving complex passwords, potentially storing such passwords in an encrypted database or calculating them on demand”.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Install the Password Manager
  2. Enter all your passwords you want it to remember
  3. When visiting a website, the password can be pulled from the password manager and automatically filled in to the fields.

When you are required to change a password, you can use the password generator, built into most Password Managers, to generate a long complex password. Now, you can be secure and compliant without having to remember that password.

When selecting a password manager you should ensure that it *does* store your passwords in an encrypted format and has multi-factor authentication. For the top Password Managers in 2019, including complete features and reviews, check out this article from PC Magazine here.

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National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. What is cybersecurity? Google defines cybersecurity as “the state of being protected against the criminal or unauthorized use of electronic data, or the measures taken to achieve this”. The technology industry uses it as an umbrella term to cover anything from the anti-virus protection on your home computer to corporate policies that define how to respond to a data breach.

So what can you do? Education is key. The most common way to be affected is through email based scams called phishing attacks. Here are a few examples of these fake emails: http://bit.ly/2qkHAOU. You can also take advantage of a wealth of information available online such as:

Making sure you are backing up your data, and using multiple layers of security, like firewalls and anti-virus software, are other ways to minimize your risk. You should also make sure all your software is up to date; this includes Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and any Adobe products.

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Tips to identify phishing emails

A phishing email is an email scam designed to trick the recipient in to clicking a link, opening an attachment, or giving valuable information to a hacker. Have you ever received invoices claiming money owed, unsolicited UPS or FedEx shipping notifications, or emails claiming your online bank password needs to be reset? These are phishing emails trying to reel you in by imitating legitimate businesses and their communications; once you click the link or open the attachment the hacker has set the hook. Here are some Google Image examples of phishing emails: http://bit.ly/2qkHAOU.

How can you protect yourself? The best way to stay protected is through education. Knowing what to look for in an email to determine if it is legitimate, being suspicious of any communication that seems out of the ordinary, and verifying the authenticity of an email through another means like phone or text are all ways to avoid getting caught on the hook. Take our phishing quiz to test your knowledge: http://bit.ly/2zw0wiC. There are also many technologies available to assist in protecting you. Email systems with anti-spam components, security software with anti-phishing link tracking, and spear-phishing pattern detection and testing systems are all available to help keep you safe. This infographic from one of our partners has some great tips on what to look for in an email to determine if it is legitimate or not: http://bit.ly/2HKaGzP.

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Buying A Computer For School

Mom, Dad, I need you to buy me a computer for school. What?! What happened to textbooks? Schools are requiring computers to complete classwork, homework, and research. We are often asked what computer is best for this purpose, so we decided to write about it.

When deciding to buy a new computer for school, or for any purpose really, the question you should ask is, what am I going to use it for? Some common answers are:

  1. browsing the internet
  2. email
  3. specific applications

For points 1 and 2, the specifications are not demanding. You can get by with a stock computer from any local computer sales store. However, we’d still recommend that the processor be an Intel Core i5 or i7. The RAM (or memory) used for browsing the internet will depend on how many browser tabs or windows you have open at one time. The more tabs or windows you anticipate opening the more RAM you should have in your computer. We’d recommend at least 8GB.

A computer used for specific applications will need to meet the requirements of the vendor who made the application. All vendors will list minimum and recommended system requirements. You should review those requirements for each and any application you plan on using before buying the new computer. Just as with browser tabs and windows, the more applications you run at one time the more RAM you should have in the computer.

The last component that should be considered when buying a new computer is the hard drive type and size. You have two choices for type: traditional spinning drives (often referred to as SATA) or Solid State Drive (often referred to as SSD). We’d almost always recommend SSD drives because the performance is much better versus traditional spinning drives. The size of the hard drive all depends on how much data you plan to save on your computer. If you’re using the computer to browse the internet and/or use email, then the size of your hard drive doesn’t need to be large. However, if you are saving images or video (which are the largest file size consumers) then you should get a larger hard drive.

Happy shopping!

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Is there a computer performance impact of environments with different temperatures?

We are in the “heat” of the summertime. Computers can run hot. What does that mean for computer performance? For most of us, we just accept the fact that the more we use our computers the slower it will run. However, if a computer gets too hot, then it will slow down and can sometimes lock up or reboot.

Is there something we can do about it? Some non-technical things that can be done to make sure your computer is not over heating:

  • Make sure the computer exhaust fan is not blocked by any objects
  • Keep the computer out of direct sunlight
  • Use a laptop fan
  • Ensure the room temperature is not over 72 degrees
  • Keep the inside of your computer free from dust build up

CBTech Support deploys technical measures to collect trends which identifies if the computer is running at an optimal temperature. These includes:

  • Monitors which alert when components are above a threshold
  • Event log reviews to determine when/if the computer processor is throttled
  • Periodically measure room temperature
  • Regularly review computer performance metrics

Enjoy the rest of your summer while maximizing the performance of your computer!

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Working from the beach

It’s summer. You’re at the beach. You need to finish up some details to close a last-minute deal. You need to access that critical file because you’re the only one that can handle it. You’re out of luck, right? Not so fast! There are many ways to remotely, and securely, access business resources outside the office.

The first rule of thumb is to ask your technology services provider what methods are available to you. They should be able to help you implement something that fits your needs, budget, and security concerns, if they haven’t already.

The next rule of thumb is that the ways to get to what you need are as varied as the types of resources you want to get to. It all depends on what you need to get to: files like documents or spreadsheets, or applications like QuickBooks. And each business is going to have different requirements, regulations, and budgets, et cetera, that will determine what method or methods can be used. This brings the first rule of thumb back in to play: your technology services provider will know what methods fit your situation best.

To learn more about a simple way to get secure access to your files from anywhere, collaborate with your team, and even share documents securely with people outside your organization, download our free whitepaper: 8 Ways to Boost Employee Productivity (http://bit.ly/2sI3rPz).

Enjoy your summer!

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Backups – Help, our summer intern just deleted our files!

Marc, our summer intern, just deleted that super important presentation file that he spent a week putting together for the super important person, Dan, for a super important client meeting. What now!?

Backups can help mitigate an issue like this. However, just setting up backups without a plan doesn’t necessarily ensure the files will be there when you need them. You should create a Backup Strategy to ensure you are fully protected. Here are some things to consider when creating your Backup Strategy:

  • Define where critical files are located. Not only on which servers/computers, but also in what drives and folders.
  • Define where you save your backups. A local storage device can increase the speed of backing up and/or restoring data. A cloud location can help in the event the physical location is unavailable.
  • Define how often to run a backup. When determining how often to run backups, you’ll need to consider the performance impact, whether you want to be able to recover a file that was created and deleted during the day, and how much storage is required to save all the backups.

Having a backup strategy in place is only half the battle. Performing periodic test file restores can assure you that the files can be restored when needed. In addition, performing a full system restore, at least annually, can identify the amount of time it will take and the impact to your operation in the event there is a disaster. Evaluating the backup strategy from time to time helps ensure that any new files are included in future backups, and that the strategy meets your current business needs.

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Low disk space – Performance factors

Did you know that the amount of free disk space on your hard drive can impact the operation of your computer? Over time, your hard drive will consume more and more disk space and eventually get to the point where it impacts your computer’s performance. Typically, this isn’t an issue unless you’re storing a lot of photos and videos. However, with new computers now coming with smaller, faster drives, this could start to become an issue again. Here are a few things that happen when you don’t have enough free disk space:

  • Windows Updates cannot download new updates – Your computer cannot download new updates which plug security holes and can repair/resolve known performance bugs.
  • Programs often need to create cache files, so they may crash or experience other errors if there isn’t enough disk space to create these files.
  • A hard drive must have at least 15 percent free space for the Disk Defragmenter to work properly. Disk Defragmenter is a maintenance task that runs every week to re-sort the files on your computer. This maximizes the speed of hard drive when it is reading and writing files.
  • Printing – low disk space will causing slow printing because the printing service uses disk space to spool jobs and if there isn’t enough space to spool the job, the computer will have to wait until one job is finished before sending the next job.

How do I know if I have low disk space? If you have windows 10, simply check your notification area (notification bubble icon). If you have windows 7, follow these steps:

  1. Open Windows Explorer (click the folder icon at the bottom of the screen or hold down the windows logo button and press “E”)
  2. Right-click on the drive icon labeled C: and select Properties
  3. This will show you the hard drive capacity and used space from which you can calculate the percentage of free disk space.

The amount of free disk space you have will vary, depending on what the computer is used for and what software is installed; but as a baseline the free disk space should be no less than 15% of the total capacity.

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