Monthly Archives: March 2017

When and Why You Should Use Remote Support?

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Remote Support

 

So much of todays business is computer based and it can be a stressful time when you have computer issues. With computer repair you generally have 3 options:

  1. Have a computer technician come to your site.
  2. Take the computer to a computer repair shop.
  3. Allow a technician to remotely connect to your machine.

Some people can be a bit unsure of allowing remote access so we have put together some pros and cons of remote access.

Benefits of Remote Support

Speed: If remote repair is a possibility, your technician can connect via the Internet and fix your issues in no time. If the issues is only minor you may choose to just leave your computer turned on overnight allowing the technician to fix the issue overnight. Without a remote option you need to juggle time in your diary to drop the system off at a store or work with  a technician to find a suitable time for them to come onsite.

Convenience: Rather than waiting on a tech to arrive at your site or having to lug your computer to a store having a technician quickly and easily remote in to your computer is a god send.

Negatives of Remote Support

Limited repair options: A remote connection can only repair certain software problems, and not hardware issues. It is not possible for the technician to swap out a failed part remotely, and unless you are confident in your own repair skills, guided physical repair isn’t very viable.

Sometimes the problem is caused by a device connected to the computer. The technician may be able to walk you through correcting some of these minor problems yourself but most invariably require a physical call-out or taking your computer in-store.

Connection speed: A slow or unstable Internet connection makes a remote repair take longer and increases the difficulty of the task. The extended time impacts the cost for the call, and in extreme cases, can negate any benefits of skipping the physical inspection. Your connection needs to provide a close to real time experience to see responses as if they were sitting at the computer.

Accessibility: If your Internet is down or the computer has trouble connecting to the Internet a remote technician can’t log in at all. This includes issues such as a ‘blue screen of death’, boot failure and Windows load failure. As much remote support is a great idea being able to log in to the computer is vital in the remote repair process.

For a fast response remote support is ideal but sometimes an issue can’t be solved remotely. In the event the remote repair is unsuccessful the technician now has a better idea of the problem and can speed up any on-site or in-store repairs. Remote support is the best option for many repairs and can get your computer working again with minimal disruption.

Remote access can be used on a case by case basis with users initiating the connection or an agent can be installed on your machine allowing the remote technician access without any interaction from you. We provide both types of access, please contact us on 08 8326 4364 or

su*****@dp*********.au











 for further information.

Internet Lingo 101 – A Cheat Sheet for Beginners

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Internet Terminology 101The Internet is growing and changing so fast that even the dictionary has trouble keeping up. Here are some common terms that are helpful to know.

Browser
A browser is a software program that lets you view web pages, videos and other online content. It’s a core requirement of going online, as it converts the computer languages HTML, Javascript and XML into a readable form.

Popular browsers are Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Microsoft Edge – Internet Explorer has been superseded by Edge and due to security issues is no longer recommended.

Email
Electronic mail (aka email or e-mail) is a typed message sent from one person/business to another via the Internet. Email is usually delivered to the recipient quite quickly (sometimes in seconds) but can take up to a few hours or longer.

To read and write email you will need a program such as MS Outlook or access to an email service such as Gmail or Outlook.com (usually through a browser).  Most emails are in the form of letters, newsletters or catalogs and are often written with a more casual tone. Email can include text, links to the internet and images but can only include video and sound as an attachment.

Firewall
A firewall is a security measure designed to act like a bouncer to your network. It can be both a hardware or software device. When an unauthorized user attempts to gain entry, the firewall blocks their path and refuses their access.

HTTP and HTTPS
These are acronyms for the rules of how data is transmitted across the Internet. The actual mechanics are incredibly complicated, but the terms have one very important distinction – the s on the end.

HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) describes how the images, text and links ion a webpage are transferred across the Internet.

HyperText Transfer Protocol Secured (HTTPS) means the page has an added layer of security to hide your personal information from hackers. Data sent through pages with this prefix are securely encrypted before transmission.

IP Address
Every device directly connected to the Internet is assigned a unique IP address to identify itself. It is used to make sure that when you request a page or document it is sent back to you. Your IP will look something like ‘202.9.64.55’ and may be referred to as fixed or dynamic IP address.

ISP
Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is the company that allows you to connect to the Internet. You usually connect to them through a hardware device such as a modem or router. They can also offer extra services like email or web hosting.

Malware
Malware is the short form of the phrase malicious software. It is a broad term used to describe viruses and other software that performs a function that you don’t know about. Malware can trick you into paying money, take control of your computer, be used to launch attacks against other computers, steal your private details or break your computer in some way. Instead of listing each specific threat separately you’ll commonly see them lumped together under the general term ‘malware’.

Router
The traffic system for your network the connects computers and devices within your office or home and acts as a basic defensive gateway to the Internet. These hardware devices can be wired or wireless and allow you to share one Internet connection amongst all the computers and devices in your office or home.

Social Media
A term to widely describe all the websites and applications that let you share and interact with others online. To fit this term the site needs to allow user profiles, live updates and the ability to add friends and / or followers.

The most common social media websites are Facebook and Twitter.

Spam and Filtering
Spam refers to any unsolicited email message sent over the Internet. It is the electronic form of junk mail but is also a technique hackers use to trick people into clicking links which may infect their computer with malware.

Email applications are reasonably good at identifying spam and should shift dodgy messages automatically to a spam folder before you see it. Occasionally the filters get things wrong and you may find a relevant email needs to be dragged back to your inbox from the spam folder or allowed through. Filters should also allow for blacklisting and whitelisting email addresses.

URL
Each website has a unique address on the web known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). URLs commonly end in .com but can also end in a country specific extension like .com.au or .fr, or more recently, in new and exciting extensions such as .xyz or .me

Let me know below in the comments if you have any other words or want a description for a word or phrase you don’t understand.

 

Four Reasons To Use Anti-Spam Filtering In Your Business

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Monitor screen showing spam in the mailbox

Remember the times when spam was obvious and unless you desperately needed a special blue pill they were easy to ignore and delete? The impact on your business was minimal as spam was just an annoyance rather than anything else. Unfortunately spam has now matured into an aggressive threat, marked by sophisticated attacks and rapidly evolving techniques. It is not just random electronic junk mail anymore and is putting a costly strain on your business resources.

How Spam Impacts Your Business

Hackers are now sending cleverly disguised emails to your business containing malware. Once clicked by an employee the malware can infect your computer system or steal your private data. The malware can spread across the entire computer network and beyond – including your clients and vendors. The fact that your employees must pause and examine every email adds hours of lost productivity. Some spam is so convincing that only an expert would be able to visually identify it. Employees are also more likely to miss an important email, either not seeing it arrive at the same time as a spam attack or becoming overwhelmed with the sheer number of emails.

How an Anti-Spam Filter Can Save Your Business

Spam emailEmail clients such as Outlook can perform basic filtering but to rely just on Outlook is not recommended. The best method is to implement a corporate grade filtering solution. Depending on whether you have an on premise or cloud based server an on premise or external filtering options are available. Even if you have an on premise mail server we recommend an external filtering option. An external option stops spam ever reaching your office saving precious bandwidth and server processing time.

Ways in which a spam filter will benefit your business includes:

  1. Block threats before they reach your inbox: The spam filter’s purpose is to block the spam from ever reaching your employees mailboxes. The threat is automatically identified and either held securely or immediately deleted. This is the best way to avoid activating any malware present in spam – as it’s so easy for you or an employee to click on a link in an email that seems authentic and / or important. The effects of that one click may be instantaneous or may lie hidden for months. Removing the email before it is in a users mailbox is a much safer option.
  2. Filter legitimate emails: Real mail needs to be able to stand out and avoid the trash. Anti-spam filtering has sophisticated recognition abilities which block spam only and allow real mail to land safely in mailboxes.
  3. Meet data regulations: Many businesses are subject to strict privacy and data storage regulations, some more so than others. To continue operation, they need to meet conditions including the use of spam filtering to reduce the risk of data breach.
  4. Protect your reputation: You can see how uncomfortable CEOs are when they go public to admit a breach. They must acknowledge that they failed to protect client data or that users may be infected with a virus. Not only do they then face financial loss but their business reputation takes a nosedive. Anti-spam filtering is a simple way to help reduce these types of scenarios.

Filtering has come a long way in recent years, with complex algorithms identifying and catching spam before it becomes a risk to your business. Real emails can now pass safely through without the classic catchcry of ‘check the spam folder’, and businesses can work with greater productivity and more safely than ever before. You need email, but you definitely don’t need spam or the chaos it can bring to your business.

We can block spam and keep your legitimate emails flowing. Call us at 08 8326 4364 or email

su*****@dp*********.au











 today!

Is Dropbox Suitable For Your Business?

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Dropbox - is it suitable for me?

It seems easy! Install Dropbox and then drag your files into a Dropbox folder and you’ve got yourself a cloud based file storage system that brings your business in line with modern expectations. But then again, maybe not!

Due to its simplicity Dropbox has grown to become one of the main file sharing and cloud storage solutions around. For some businesses using Dropbox can provide good value, and it never hurts when your staff already know how to use the software. In other cases another alternative designed to meet business needs may be more suitable.

When Dropbox is a Good Choice

Micro-sized business: If your business is small with only yourself or a couple of employees.

No sensitive information: This includes personal details of customers, vendors and staff or other proprietary data such as accounting information.

Nobody ever accidentally deletes anything: Dropbox is a syncing service, which means when a file is deleted, it is deleted from all machines. While you can recover the file from the Dropbox website you need to do this within 30 days – which by the time you notice it’s missing may be too late.

If you’re thinking those attributes sound more like a fictional business, you’re not far off.

Dropbox’s popularity in the consumer space has caused businesses to use Dropbox despite the risks. Dropbox is designed for syncing and NOT backup. This means while your data is copied across all connected devices, it is a mirror of the data only – when you delete or change the original file it is immediately synced across devices. If malware infects one machine this can spread between all your connected devices and put all of them at risk.

You may require access control on certain files or folders. Dropbox acts like a free-for-all, the shared files are sitting there available to anyone with access to read, change and copy. You will also miss collaborative editing, losing out in productivity and data resilience as multiple employees overwrite each other simultaneously.

Another issue is – where are your files that are located in Dropbox actually stored? What country, what type of data centre, what countries laws apply, for privacy reasons do you require all data to be stored within Australia or another country? These are all legitimate questions which Dropbox doesn’t have an easy answer for.

If Dropbox makes sense for your business, there’s no reason to change. But if it is clearly not a good choice for you there are multiple corporate grade solutions available. These are designed for specifically for businesses with security, encryption and collaboration controls built in. Rather than the easiest solution which may pose a risk to your business consider implementing a business class scalable solution that meets all your needs.

Call us at 08 8326 4364 or

su*****@dp*********.au











 to discuss online cloud storage solutions for your business