Sometimes you might write an email to someone who you’ve never emailed before (perhaps you scrawled down their email while on the phone or at an event), and questioned the authenticity of your recipient’s email address. Those who use email frequently know all too well what this feels like. It makes the most sense to first make sure that you have the right email address before sending a message.
Tip of the Week: Unsure if an Email Address is Valid? Here’s How to Check!
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3 Fundamentals Every IT Strategy Needs
When running a business, you can’t always upgrade your technology to the latest and greatest equipment or software every time something new comes out. Yet, you also don’t want to be left behind, which would be limiting to your growth and mobility. Moving forward can be a daunting task, especially if you haven’t revamped your IT strategy in some time. Paying attention to the details is an important part of avoiding potential roadblocks with your future IT strategy.
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What Makes Windows 10 Twice as Popular as Windows 8?
Microsoft’s most recent addition to the Windows family of operating systems, Windows 10, is full of new features, but when it comes to implementing it, many businesses are still dragging their heels. However, the primary reason for this seems to be the fact that organizations want to make sure Windows 10 won’t break their IT infrastructure. Despite this handicap, Windows 10 is still being tested on twice as many PCs as Windows 8 was following its release.
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Tip of the Week: How to Lock and Unlock Your Google Wallet Card
Google might be best known for its search engine and groups of desktop apps, but it’s also known for innovating and rattling the cages of how we live our lives. One of the ways it’s doing so is with Google Wallet, an app that’s designed to make sharing cash and money transfers online even easier. What a lot of people forget, however, is that Google Wallet, and its associated card, can still be the target of fraud.
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Police Recruit Eagles to Take Out Illegal Drones... Seriously
While they might seem like glorified toys for adults, drones are fantastic tools that can help people take some breathtaking photos and videos of their local scenery. Unfortunately, as is the case with most good technology, there are people out there who want to use them for nefarious purposes. This leads authorities to a tough question: how do you knock an illegal or dangerous drone out of the sky without harming those down below? The answer is simple: eagles.
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5 Cuts Your Business Should Consider Before Laying Off Staff
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could provide your staff an over-the-top benefits package similar to what Google offers their employees (aka, “Googlers”)? For most SMBs, making Glassdoor’s annual list of “50 Best Places to Work” (a list routinely dominated by Google) is a fantasy; primarily due to the fact that the average enterprise operates within the confines of a strict budget. As the owner of an SMB, this reality often means making tough decisions and budget cuts.
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Tip of the Week: How to Change Your Mouse Pointer in Windows 10
The mouse is a critical part of navigating your workstation. Without it, you’d struggle to open applications, move around Office documents, create images, and countless other functions. Just like many other features in Windows 10, you can customize how your mouse pointer looks and functions, making it much easier to maneuver around your system.
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Getting Started With Cloud Computing
The cloud is a technology that’s taking the business world by storm. Most organizations take advantage of some form of the cloud or another, be it for data storage, email hosting, or application deployment. Either way, it’s clear that the cloud is a technology that your business should be investing in, especially if you want to stay current in an increasingly competitive environment.
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Is Apple in the Right to Refuse the FBI?
Apple has been a major contributor to advancements in computing over the past few decades. Their iPhone was the first commercially available smartphone, and they continue to innovate with new and exciting consumer technology. However, one of Apple’s most recent decisions might be one of the most important for today’s cyber security world.
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Tip of the Week: Use Android to Get Gmail Functionality for Your Non-Gmail Email Account
Gmail is a great email client, but not everyone uses it as their primary method of email communication. Some might prefer Microsoft Outlook, or they might still be using Yahoo Mail. Even if Google wants you to be using their email service, they know that they can’t win them all. For those who want the experience of Gmail without switching providers, you can now do so on the Gmail app for Android.
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Can Your Firewall Protect You From 304 Million Different Kinds of Malware?
Small and medium-sized businesses continue to have problems shoring up their cyber security. Even with the latest solutions, like antivirus and firewalls, they still need to be wary of impending attacks. New threats are created on a daily basis, all of which want to infiltrate your network and cause harm to your business. In fact, 27.3 percent of all malware in the world was created in 2015 alone. Will we ever escape from the clutches of malware?
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66% of Organizations Will Wait for Their Operating Systems to “Expire” Before Upgrading
When it comes to technology, upgrading is part of the package. Despite this being a well-established fact, some business owners will delay upgrading for as long as possible, while others will upgrade as soon as the latest product is released. What’s behind a company’s motivation to upgrade or not? We can better understand this by looking at a study on why businesses upgrade their operating systems.
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Tip of the Week: Google Docs Now Lets You Type With Your Voice, Here’s How to Use It!
Voice-related technology is hardly news for Google. Android smartphones have had voice capabilities for a long time now. Google Now, the function's official name, can be used for Internet searches, setting alarms, adding calendar entries, activating entertainment like movies and music, calling or texting friends, and countless other functions. Now, however, you can literally write entire documents by using your voice in Google Docs.
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New Technology Delivers Staggering Data Retention Options
As more data systems develop the need for structured data storage, the development of fast and secure solutions have become essential to the viability of storing and retrieving data. Scientists have been looking at the field of optoelectronics to develop constructs where an enormous amount of data can be stored for exorbitant amounts of time.
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New Mac-Targeting Ransomware is a Real Bad Apple
Ransomware has been spreading like wildfire over the past few years, but up until very recently, Mac users were spared from this troubling development. Now, security researchers at Palo Alto Networks have discovered what they believe to be the first instance of completed ransomware on an Apple device. As this threat is “in the wild,” Mac users should be wary of it and see it as a potential threat.
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Tip of the Week: 4 Brilliant Ways to Get More Work Done
There are some workdays where distractions are abound and you can’t even remember what you’re supposed to be doing. In trying times like these, you need all the help you can get, just to stay focused and on task. Here are four simple adjustments to your work routine that have been proven to do wonders to increase productivity.
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Find Out When the Best Time is to Upgrade Your Company’s Technology
There comes a time when your business needs to upgrade its technology. Holding out for as long as possible might seem beneficial for your wallet, but in the end, it’s much more cost-effective to replace outdated and inefficient technology before it winds up becoming a liability. In many cases, businesses might not even realize how much their outdated technology is hurting their bottom line. How can you know with certainty that it’s time to upgrade your technology?
Businesses need to take this question seriously, as the slightest hiccup can cost your business significantly. Old equipment can have a direct impact on your company’s operations. An employee might be suffering with issues or a slow, unresponsive computer each and every day, limiting their potential. There’s always the possibility that the hardware can fail unexpectedly, but there’s also the risk of replacing perfectly fine technology that might still have some use left. For your mission-critical technology systems, it’s best to have the expert opinion of IT professionals to fall back on. Consulting technicians is a small expense compared to the immense costs associated with wasting money on faulty or unnecessary IT solutions, and the result is an infrastructure that’s designed specifically for your business’s needs and budget.
For example, Interconnect Networks can provide quality consultation that can help your organization make educated decisions about utilizing cloud computing. By now, we’re sure that you’ve heard about the leaps and bounds made by cloud computing technology. By allowing companies to access important data anytime and anywhere, and equipping employees with powerful collaboration tools, the cloud is paving the way for innovations in communication, data access, and so much more. However, knowing about the cloud and knowing how to upgrade to the cloud are two completely different matters.
There are several different ways to take advantage of cloud computing with your business model. You can invest heavily in it by migrating all of your data to the cloud, or you can replace your hosted legacy software with cloud-based applications. Another great use of the cloud is equipping your in-house network with cloud computing hardware that helps you achieve greater mobility, while retaining control over your data. When implementing a new cloud solution, it can help to first assess your current computing needs.
Here are just a few things that our IT technicians look for when determining if an organization needs to upgrade their technology.
- Hardware quality: If your workplace is always having to deal with run-down, faulty computer equipment, then you want to upgrade your technology before it can cause any further damage. In this particular case, it would be most beneficial to upgrade to the cloud due to the lower price of stripped-down thin clients. By connecting thin clients to the cloud, they can be just as effective as a fully loaded workstation. On a related note, it’s important to consider a machine’s peripherals, like upgrading to USB 3.1.
- Operating systems: Some organizations tend to cling to their favorite operating system long after its manufacturer pulls the plug on it. Two classic examples of this are Windows XP and Windows Server 2000. Without the necessary patches and security updates, outdated operating systems can quickly become both a liability and a risk. If you’re still using outdated software, then you’re in prime condition for a technology refresh. If you want to make updating your desktops as easy as possible, the cloud can be a great tool for remote monitoring and maintenance.
- Legacy applications: The latest version of an application can provide a significant benefit, but only if you make sure that you won’t break your infrastructure by making an upgrade. It’s important that you look into what is required of your legacy application before making a hardware change or a shift to the cloud. As explained by InformationWeek: “Application upgrades that run locally on PC hardware also influence whether or not you should upgrade PC hardware for your end-users. If an application upgrade requires a significant boost in memory, processing, or graphics power, it may be the primary factor in deciding to upgrade.”
The answer for how you should approach the cloud and tech upgrades is clear: call Interconnect Networks at (760) 333-8523.
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Tip of the Week: Easily Transfer Your Contacts From One Google Account to Another
Google Contacts is a useful tool that allows you to share your contacts with other users. In fact, it’s a great tool in general for any professional who is always on the move, and has to have access to a set of work contacts through an Android device. Today, we’ll help you import and export your Google Contacts to a different Google or Outlook account.
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Redundancy, Reliability, Recovery: What You Need in a Data Backup Solution
March 31st is World Backup Day, and it’s the perfect time to evaluate the redundancy and reliability of your data.
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5 Hilarious Computing Tips From Mr. Wolfdog [VIDEO]
Happy April Fool’s Day! It’s a time to celebrate pranks, practical jokes, and laughter. Therefore, we thought we’d mix it up a bit and seek out technology advice from the funniest and the furriest CEO we know, Old Spice’s wolf-dog hybrid, Mr. Wolfdog!
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