Centrend

Author name: admin

How to Automatically Lock Your PC When You Walk Away

You should always secure your computer by locking the screen when you walk away. But sometimes in a rush, we forget to lock it down. This article shows how to set up an automatic lock so that when you walk away from your computer, your screen will lock itself! Keeping your PC wide open when you walk away leaves it available for anyone to mess with. So whether you are concerned about office pranksters or someone prying eyes seeing your information, it’s best to keep the workstation locked when you leave it unattended. Microsoft has included a feature in Windows 10 called Dynamic Lock that will automatically lock the workstation for you, should you forget to lock it yourself. The Dynamic Lock feature works by monitoring the computer’s connection to your cell phone. When it detects that the phone has moved away and is out of range, it locks your desktop for you. For this to work, both your phone and your computer must have Bluetooth connectivity. Almost all laptops have Bluetooth, and many desktops are also including it. If your system doesn’t already have Bluetooth, you can add a USB-connected Bluetooth adapter for about $12. Sound good? Let’s get you set up! Once you know your phone and PC have Bluetooth, the first thing you need to do is pair your phone to Windows 10. Confirm that Bluetooth on your phone is turned on. Then on your computer go to Settings > Devices > Bluetooth & other devices. From this screen, click Add Bluetooth or Other Device.  Then Click Bluetooth as the device type. After a moment or two of scanning, you should see your phone appear on the list. Below is an example of pairing my laptop to the Pixel 3XL. After I clicked Connect on the computer, I checked the PIN that was shown to be sure it was the correct one, and then I clicked Pair on the phone. Now the laptop is paired with the phone, and whenever I have my phone in proximity (about 33 feet), the two will connect.  Click Done to exit the connection screen. Now that your phone is connected via Bluetooth, we need to tell Windows to use its proximity to lock your system down. On your computer go to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options. Scroll down to the Dynamic Lock section and check the “Allow Windows to automatically lock your device when you’re away” box. Now, assuming you have your phone on you and not on the desk when you walk away from your PC, your computer will automatically lock.  NOTE: There is a 30-second safety buffer that it must wait before locking your screen. If you or anyone else starts to use the computer, the screen will not lock. It’s best always to try to remember to keep your computer locked when you are away from it, but this is a great failsafe if you do forget to lock down your workstation!

How to Automatically Lock Your PC When You Walk Away Read More »

Should you buy a Chromebook, PC, or Mac?

While any Chromebook, PC, or Mac can be used for email and web browsing, it’s all the other activities that determine what is right for you. Read this article to get some insight into the advantages of each option. They are all computers but Chromebooks run the Chromium operating system whereas PCs run Windows (typically) and Macs run Mac OS. Which one is right for your particular use, depends on how and where you’ll use it and what you will use it for.  Below I’ll describe key considerations when you choose a platform, then I’ll highlight the key advantages each platform has over the others. Key Decision Factors Do you want to run specific programs that require one of the platforms? How important is portability? Does it need to start up fast? Will you always have a strong internet connection? Will you use it for long periods of time and need a full keyboard, mouse, and large screen? Advantages of Chromebooks: Chromebooks start very fast  Chromebooks are secure against malware and viruses right out of the box Lots of free, easy-to-use software (Google Apps for example) which minimize your expense. Video streaming on Chromebooks works great  Chromebooks require little or no maintenance and can be wiped to factory defaults in just a few clicks Very easy to set up – you need a free Gmail account and an internet connection Long battery life and highly portable Advantages of a Windows PC or Mac: Don’t need an internet connection all the time Can attach just about any screen Have more ports for connecting printers, scanners, etc Very strong processors and graphic cards Applications are wide-ranging and powerful though some are quite pricey Very tight security is readily configurable with VPNs, Next-Gen antivirus software, etc. In short, you can do a lot more with a Windows PC or Mac but it will take more work to set it up and your cost of ownership will be higher.  If you need help deciding what is right for your small business, We’d be glad to offer a free consultation to discuss. If you are a home user or solopreneur, visit our whizkidsupport.com site for great free advice along with programs tailored to individual needs.

Should you buy a Chromebook, PC, or Mac? Read More »

Why You Shouldn’t Get Mad When You’re Asked to Reboot

Many users leave their computers on all the time so that they can receive automatic updates and security patches. This is a great strategy but leaves users with the question, “How long can you go without restarting your computer?” Read on to find out. During use, programs open and close, background system processes filter network traffic, and your software updates regularly. When you reboot your computer, think of it as giving the machine a good night’s sleep. To your computer, the reboot is a Fresh Start that frees up memory from leaky applications and ends processes that are no longer needed. Rebooting also allows the system a chance to apply essential security patches that were downloaded during working hours.  Allowing, or even forcing a reboot is recommended to clean everything up. How often we recommend you reboot, depends on your operating system. If you are using Windows 10, for example, weekly reboots are adequate while Windows 7 may need to be rebooted more frequently.   The by-product of rebooting is that It not only speeds things up but can fix nagging, pesky problems that only a reboot can cure. So the next time a technical support person asks you to reboot, please don’t be insulted! They want your system to run well and not waste your time and money.

Why You Shouldn’t Get Mad When You’re Asked to Reboot Read More »

Solid State vs Traditional Hard Drives – which should you choose?

No doubt, solid-state drives are fast, energy-efficient, and long-lasting. Unfortunately for users on a budget, solid-state drives can be too expensive to justify the cost. Here’s some advice on how and when to use solid-state drives (SSD) and how to stretch your budget on this crucial technology. Because SSDs are significantly faster and longer-lasting than traditional hard drives (HDD), I recommend their use whenever the budget allows.  The downside to SSD is the cost. SSD can cost 2x to 10x the cost of traditional hard drives with the premium increasing significantly as the total size of the SSD increases.  A good solution may be to use an SSD for the operating system and program files but use an HDD for your data files. By putting the operating system on the SSD technology, you will be able to boot up much faster and load or change programs at a higher speed.  Your data can reside on the slower HDD drive, and you probably won’t notice a speed difference.  Your IT provider can set program defaults so that your data automatically ends up on the HDD and you don’t fill up the primary, premium booting SSD. It’s worth mentioning that Hybrid drives also exist, but in our experience, they are not a good value. While less expensive than SSD, they don’t provide nearly the same benefit because you are very limited in the solid-state part. The drive logic decides what data goes on the SSD, taking control away from you. My advice is to buy the largest SSD you can practically afford. If you can have your operating system, programs, and when possible, the data all on the SSD, the speed and reliability of the technology will justify the expense. 

Solid State vs Traditional Hard Drives – which should you choose? Read More »

7 Reasons Why You Should Replace Traditional Keys with card keys.

Card keys are fast replacing traditional keys in small businesses. Here are 7 reasons why it might make sense for your small business! Regular keys are bulky, clunky, and slowly going away. Have you been car shopping lately? You will be hard-pressed to find a new automobile that has a traditional door lock or ignition system. Instead, you will unlock the doors with the press of a button on a “fob.” Once in the car, you’ll press a button on the dash to start the vehicle. The card key technology, once reserved only for high-security facilities and fancy hotels, has become much more affordable for small businesses to adopt.  Besides looking professional and high-tech, there are some practical business reasons why card key technology is a great option. If a key gets lost, it’s no big deal.Think of the security concerns that arise when a key is lost or stolen. What expenses might be incurred to change the locks, etc.? With a card access control system, your company can deny access to the card with a couple of clicks of the mouse. The employee that lost their key is assigned a new card key, and no security risk has been incurred. Internal doors can be protected.Access control systems are well suited to protecting secure internal locations such as executive offices or Human Resources file rooms. For example, the janitor and the president can enter the building with their card, but only the president’s key card will open his private office. You’ll Have a History of Building Access.Whenever an employee scans their card, the system records their name, the current date and time, and the door location. If you have internal doors that are secured with key cards, their movement into these secure locations will also be documented. Optionally you can require card key scans to leave the building.It’s possible to require employees to scan when leaving the building. This helps complete the trail of an employee’s movement in, around, and ultimately out of the building. You could pull up a list of anyone that is currently in the building, or anyone that was accessing a particular area at a  specific date and time.  Automation options are nearly endless.A commonly assigned automation is to have the system unlock the doors during business hours, and then lock up automatically at closing time. Electronic access control systems have capabilities far beyond this, however. You can do things like adjusting the room temperature, turning on and off the lights, or triggering a video camera system to start recording activity. Systems are easy to administer.Whether using traditional keys or card keys, you will need to keep track of who has what key and what doors the various keys open. You will have to have a locksmith service provider rekey the locks anytime you have a breach such as a lost key, to keep the facility secure. Electronic access control systems make it infinitely easier to administer. You might use groups to assign access to outside doors and limit entry to only certain times of the day. Simple backups protect your cards and their owners.Centrend’s role in these systems includes installing the software on your computer or server and then making sure that the entire system is backed up. If there is a computer crash, we can have your access control system back up and running in less than 30 minutes. While the computer is “down,” the locks will continue to function correctly. You would be unable to make changes until the computer application is restored. Centrend, Inc. works closely with an excellent resource for installing access control systems. Please contact me if you need help determining if a card key system is right for you. We can help you plan the system and connect you with a local professional to perform the installation.

7 Reasons Why You Should Replace Traditional Keys with card keys. Read More »

Should my office be Wi-Fi only?

WiFi has come a long way in terms of speed and reliability. But there is still nothing like those irritating wires that are much faster and more reliable than interference-prone WiFi. Here are some guidelines for when you can go WiFi only and why you might not want to ditch all the wires just yet. This is a simple decision, and if you “Google” the topic, you will find lots of detailed, complicated articles arguing in one direction or the other. It comes down to this: the only place for WiFi is when you need portability and mobility. If your office has a lot of workers moving around and working in different areas of your space, it could make sense to let them be WiFi only. Otherwise, hard wire them and you will have a faster, simpler, and much more reliable network. You have to consider the physical capabilities of your computers and laptops. Are they capable of WiFi? Desktops sold today won’t include WiFi connectivity without specifically adding that capability. Many modern ultra-portable laptops, such as my Microsoft Surface Pro 6, have WiFi but don’t even have an ethernet port. If you order new equipment, make sure you know if it needs to have WiFi based on how and where it will be used. Need help to decide? Give us a call, and we’ll talk it through with you.

Should my office be Wi-Fi only? Read More »

Should you back up your cloud data?

So you’ve put your data in the cloud. Should you back it up? The short answer is Yes!  This article explains why I think it’s essential.  We put data in the cloud for different reasons. Sometimes it is the primary access point for our data, and it’s in the cloud for easy access from anywhere in the world. Or we might put the data in the cloud because, with today’s high standards for cloud security, it’s the safest place to manage confidential data. The cloud might be used as a backup of data that resides on our local computers or file servers. Your reasons for putting data in the cloud may vary, but here are the top reasons you should be backing it up yourself:  While the provider may have features that let you restore or roll back files and folders to a previous point, these processes can take a long time, and the copies of files may not go back as far as you need them to. Consider a file that is accessed quarterly, and you don’t notice that in setting up the file for the next quarter, you accidentally overwrote last quarter’s good data.  If your cloud provider only keeps copies for 30 days, your last quarter’s data is lost! A backup is only as good as the last test proves it to be. Many folks don’t find out their backup system doesn’t work until they need to restore something. By then it’s too late. Cloud providers may not be clear about what is backed up, how often, or how long and cumbersome it can be to restore the data when you need to. If your cloud provider experiences a failure, your data will be inaccessible. While it’s unlikely to be a permanent, catastrophic failure, the provider may be down for a long time. What will it cost you or your business to lose access to the data for a couple of days or more? With your local copy, you can restore the file quickly. If your Internet Connection fails for an extended period, you will want to restore your backup locally to get back up and running. You’ll be glad you had a local copy to fall back on!   Cloud data is not impervious to crypto-locker-type viruses. Especially true when you have a drive mapped to the data source. If a folder or group of files is encrypted and this compromise goes undetected for some time, your only recourse will be to restore a local backup. Having a local backup is inexpensive insurance and makes good sense. The ability to restore a backup locally provides your business with a great contingency plan to keep you up and running should the cloud provider go down for any reason.

Should you back up your cloud data? Read More »

How to Keep Passwords Safe in Email

No doubt, the most secure way to give someone a password or other confidential information is in person or over a private phone call. There are times, however, when you want to send a password or a bank account number via email simply because of the convenience. This article explores how to send secure information safely. Most people find email encryption software to be expensive and complicated to work with. Ephemeral messaging may be the answer. When something is ephemeral, it is considered “temporary” or “only lasting a short time.” A great early example of ephemeral messaging is from the James Bond movies. James Bond would often receive a tape about his secret mission. Upon hearing the message, the final thing it would warn 007 is that the message will self-destruct. SnapChat is a very commonly used application that is a modern example of ephemeral messaging. SnapChat lets users of its phone application send pictures or text that disappear either after a short time or after being viewed. While it’s popular among teenagers and some adults, it’s not practical for business use. The solution I recommend for business is called Shush.  It’s an online service provided free by Articulate, makers of e-learning course authoring tools. You can try Shush out for yourself at this link: https://shush.articulate.com/. You will be pleasantly surprised to find that the service is completely anonymous and does not require a login for either the sender or receiver! You go to the site and enter (or copy/paste) the information you want to encrypt into the presented window: After you enter the content, you then choose how long you want the message to live. You obtain the link by clicking the share button.  Click the Copy button and paste the link into an email message to send to your contact. Once the duration expires, the link will no longer work, and your message can no longer be retrieved. Depending on the duration you set, the message will be viewable to anyone that has the link. The default and most secure solution is “When it’s first viewed.” Upon the first view is an excellent choice for messages that you know will be read promptly as they only last for a maximum of 12 hours. Messages sent this way can only be viewed one time, and then they are gone forever. Messages that are set for a specific duration such as a day or a week can be seen again and again by anyone with the link. Thank you for reading. This blog post will now self-destruct!

How to Keep Passwords Safe in Email Read More »

Are Cell Phones Ruining Communications?

Technology is great. I believe in its development and use to the benefit of all humankind. However, there is a real danger that we are losing our ability to communicate with each other because of the way cell phones are way overused.  I’m sure you’ve seen the scenario. A set of parents with their two children are out to a nice family dinner at a restaurant. Rather than talk, they are all on their phones accessing social media or texting friends. It’s not just the kids; it’s adults as well. People are on social media and texting others instead of talking to one another. They are using cell phones at the dinner table instead of having a conversation with the people they are with.  We see this in families, couples, and friends that are out to dinner, at social gatherings, even while they are walking around!  Sometimes the behavior is just rude, and they are disengaged from those they are with due to a lack of respect or lack of interest. Other times it can be caused by a condition called FOMO, or Fear of Missing out. Psychology Today has an article that describes experiments done to prove that a Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a real and valid condition. The article continues to say that FOMO has become prevalent among young adults across America and in many other parts of the world as well. If you think it’s not really a thing, I’m sorry to say that it is. The American Addiction Center, LLC, a leading provider of rehab for addicts, has a website called PyschGuides.com on which they have published an article “Signs and Symptoms of Cell Phone Addition.”  I’m not the only techy to pick up on the dangers of excessive smartphone use.  Check out this article on the popular website, PC Mag. If this sounds like you, your family, or your friends, I urge you to get cell phone use under control and be present with the people you are physically with.

Are Cell Phones Ruining Communications? Read More »

How Big Can My Outlook File Get?

Who doesn’t love their email?  Ok, maybe love is a strong word, but we all tend to save a lot of email, don’t we?  How much is too much and what are the risks of letting Outlook grow out of control? This article assumes you are using MS Outlook so the steps may be different for you, but the same general principals apply to any email program. Depending on your version of Outlook, you may be well below the technical limit which, by default, is 50gb in Outlook 2013 and higher. From a practical standpoint though, you will have a much better experience, and much better hope for recovery from outlook data file corruptions if you keep your outlook file much, much smaller than that. We recommend keeping outlook to less than 10gb in size. When the outlook data file is larger than 10gb, it is going to be much harder to back up and take much longer to scan for errors if you encounter a problem. I’ll cover how to scan your Outlook data file for errors in a later blog entry. For now, though, know that it is something that can happen due to disk errors or data corruption from sudden power loss, etc. This past week I helped one of our users with a data file that was close to 48gb in size. Her outlook file had become corrupt and would no longer properly send/receive email. I started the scan at noontime and was checking on it throughout the day. By 11:30 at night it had been running nearly 12 hours but was still not done!  She could not access her outlook file while it was scanning, which was a significant inconvenience for her. If your organization doesn’t have its own MS Exchange server, your outlook data file is most likely stored in .PST format. This file is vulnerable to data loss because a copy of its contents does not exist anywhere else. It’s important to make a copy to another location such as a memory stick or external USB drive. It’s going to take a long time to copy the file if it gets much bigger than 10gb so the risk is you won’t take time to do it or you won’t back it up often because you can’t have outlook open during the copy. Finding the outlook data file can be tricky. Here’s how to do it: With Outlook open, click File, then Account Settings. Click the Data File Tab. Click Open File Location. In the list of files presented (see image at right) right-click the image and then click properties. Viewing the properties of the file, you will see how large it is in megabytes or gigabytes. You will want the PST to be less than 10 gigs in size. As you can see from my file, at right, I am just under the recommended limit and will need to archive soon. For now, though, I can copy the file to a USB stick or to my file server to back it up. Close the properties window and from the data file folder shown, you can right-click and copy the data file to another location such as your USB stick, an external USB hard drive, or a network share. Remember: It’s important to keep this file backed up because it is going to contain data that no longer exists on the servers of your email host.

How Big Can My Outlook File Get? Read More »

Scroll to Top