Last Chance for Windows 10 upgrade for 10% off labor costs

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Thanks for being a loyal customer.

We hope you enjoy this discount on our Windows 10 upgrade support and solutions like our previous special deal. We still  have a special for support in the upgrade for 10% off labor costs, ending July 29th, 2016.

The new information that can come out from Microsoft is, it will be a subscription. There has been MUCH speculation on what is to TRULY happen in the next few last weeks for the upgrade once it is no longer free.  One of the options now is a $7/mo/seat subscription.

windows-10

More Update on Windows 10

From PC Magazine, in an interview with Microsoft:

“Windows 10 Enterprise E3 for CSP is for business customers of any size (including one person) to get enterprise features and functionality on a per monthly/per seat cost,” a Microsoft spokeswoman said via email. “This new subscription model is not associated with our current upgrade offering or applicable to the Windows 10 consumer edition.”

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Now, About These Passwords…

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In past months we have discussed not opening email that has come from an unknown source, being sure you save often and have your system backed up, and even about malware and what to do if you download it. One thing that is one of the more important things to stay on top of is your password! Read the blog to avoid using some of the common passwords as mentioned in the blog.

First things first, do NOT write it on a piece of paper and stick it under the keyboard or monitor base, or even put it in a notebook that is “easy to get to”.
It needs to be something secure and it needs to be a SECRET! It ALSO needs to not be something obvious. For example, some of the worst and common passwords of 2015 were:

  • 123456SandraNet Password
  • password
  • 12345678
  • qwerty
  • 12345
  • Starwars

Let’s talk about what makes a GOOD password.

  • Create a password of twelve (12) characters or more
  • Use a different password for each website you log into. Though this is cumbersome for many, it is a safe practice, preventing easy access to all accounts and personal information.
  • If memory is the issue, there are many password managers that store and protect the passwords
  • Use a Letter/Number substitution. For example, instead of using:
    • Password (DO NOT USE. JUST AN EXAMPLE)
  • Instead use
    • 9@s$w0rD (DO NOT USE. JUST AN EXAMPLE)

SandraNet Forest

One thing that may also be used  to test is Password Meter. This website checks the integrity of the password and in addition shows suggestions on what could make it better than a common password on a security level.

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Did you just break the internet?

broken internetWhere it is very unlikely you actually broke the internet, there is always the fear and anxiety that something may be very, very wrong when you are unable to access any of the websites you need at that particular moment. Is it the internet? Is it you? Is it them? Is it your provider? Who is to blame?

Well, unless you posted a photo of one of those characters from that Kard***ian family, chances are you have not broken the internet by “Urban Dictionary” standards. But, there are certainly factors that could cause difficulty in connecting to the ISP (Internet Service Provider). One of the first things is ALWAYS to check the light on your router, and make sure it is plugged in and connected, and none of the cables have been disconnected or sliced.

There are unfathomable miles of cables wrapped around the planet, and many of the biggest are unprotected and in a lot of cases they are underwater. Generally, this is not the cause of the inability to connect to the internet. The problems are more than likely far more simple.

A few may be:

  • It could be the browser is not compatible with the site.
    • Have multiple browsers on your machine (Firefox, Google, IE,
      and now Edge)
    • If it does not work on one browser, try a different one.
  • If an error comes up “Internet may not be reached”, then it is not a
    browser issue.
  • A disconnected wire on or in the house
  • An outage with the ISP
    • The companies usually have a phone number on the bill that may be called to determine if the designated area is down.
  • Potentially, there is something wrong with the network card, but start with the simple first.

If at any point there is a panic beginning to set in, give us a call and we will determine what the issue may be. Hopefully you will NOT be the one to bring down the internet for everyone else!

When is it a Scam?

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There are all sorts of scams that come through email, but which ones are scams and which ones are legitimate? In most cases the first sign is its being from an anonymous sender, it is unsolicited and it is generally a mass mailing. All of those signals aside, the subject line tends to give away the suspicious email.

Mark Zuckerberg Is Giving Away Money!

Mark Zuckerberg Is Giving Away Money!

YOU are the Lucky Winner! Free iPads from Mark Zuckerberg, Miraculous drug for weight loss or male enhancement, or sometimes both. The Nigerian prince that is a long lost relative has died and you are the last known family member and will be receiving his millions stored in an off shore account.

As much as we would like to believe these stories are truly meant for us and there is a shred of validity to the email, chances are it is a phishing scam, or it is laced with a virus that is just awaiting your double clicking the attachment describing these awaiting riches or physical enhancements.

In some cases, the emails are far more malicious than promising wealth and other unrealistic notions. Imagine being a company working on a project, in the finance department and trying to get the month closed out. You receive an email from the supposed client letting them know the bank account and routing numbers for transfers had changed, and could $30,000 be transferred for payment as soon as possible. The email has the “correct” logo, mailing address and other pertinent information, yet… it was not. Upon further research, after the $30,000 had already been wired, the domain name was spelled incorrectly and originated in Russia, other than that, it seemed credible. The money is lost and a hard lesson is learned. This is an extreme and a very frustrating and hard lesson to learn, yet there are ways to prevent this. Always check with the sender, even if it means picking up the phone and speaking to someone in their accounting department.

Some things to watch out for

  • If it is a bank or credit card company, they will NEVER ask you to email your credentials.
  • If you are asked to logon to a site and verify your information, do NOT follow the link. Open a new browser window in a different browser and loon to the company site to verify. Be SURE you actually have an account in said business.
  • If you do not know the sender, do not open the attachments or send any personal information.
  • If there is a phone number to confirm, call it and verify the urgency. Also, find the phone number on another source and verify it.
  • If the email is garble, delete it.

    Garbled phishing email.

    Garbled phishing email. Click to view example larger

  • If it is a friend who seems to have lost their wallet in another country and are stuck there without a Visa. Advise them to go to the American Embassy, OR call their cell.
  • If a window pops up stating what type of damage it will do (steal credit card information, personal information, delete data etc.), it is a scam. Legitimate antivirus programs do not list the destruction they will cause. If that information comes up suggesting you have a virus, then the popup IS a virus.

detectedActivity

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How often do I have to save my work

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Save OftenEver hear of the old hang gliding saying? “Never fly higher than you’re willing to fall?” well, you should apply the same to how much work you are willing to loose. Time is valuable, and we all know that time is money. Therefore, properly saving work files is important to avoid losing your valuable work.

If the project that I am working on is billable for clients, then I save more often. I am not willing to lose an hour of billable work, so, therefore, I would not go an hour without saving. Backups are as important as saving. If 4 hours of work has been done, and diligently saved, and then my computer crashes, then I am still back to ground zero. Personally, I save work files every few minutes, and backup every hour. In the event that saving vs. backup is confusing:

 

Saving your work: When you are working, nothing is written permanently to your pc. All the current work is being done in memory, which is temporary storage for all the items you are working on. Memory is flushed when you reboot your computer, so it is not permanent. When you save your work, it commits it the hard drive. The hard drive is permanent storage. It’s like taking that list in your head, and writing it down before you forget!

Backing Up:

When you backup your files, you are creating a copy of your work, and putting it somewhere else. As much as we would like to think of our computer as permanent, hardware failures happen, and data is lost. By keeping a copy in a separate location, you can retrieve your data if you have hardware failure. If you are backing up to a disk, or tape drive, the backups should never be ON TOP of the computer you are working on. In the case of building damage (fire, water, etc), your backups are going to be ruined with your computer.

Most programs (not all) do an auto-save in the event you suddenly loose power, but it is still best to intentionally saving work on your interval. Programs also have shortcuts to saving work. Some of the shortcuts or features you can look for:

  1. AutoSave:  See if your program supports AutoSave, and if the increments are configurable.
  2. AutoBackup:  Some programs, like QuickBooks, do not necessarily allow you to “save” your work, each transaction is saved to the program database individually.  However, they do have a backup program that can remind you to back up your data daily or as you exit the program.  Ensure you are picking an alternate location to back up to.
  3. Keyboard shortcuts:  Programs, like Microsoft Office Products, frequently have Keyboard Shortcuts to save your work.  Ctrl-S is one of them.
  4. Cloud based Backup Products:  If you have contract with a cloud based backup company, or an IT company who supports and monitors backups, you should ensure you have continuous backups of all the work you have saved.

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Why do I need more than one backup?

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“My IT Company is crazy! They want me to have multiple backups… I use my flash drive nightly, and am ok.”

“I know I have backups, someone set it up years ago and it runs automatically… I think.”

“What, you should test your backups?”

Yes, backing up can be a pain, but unless you are willing to use all your hard work, or memories, it might be worth it. If your home or office burns down, what will you be able to retrieve if you don’t have multiple backups.

Types of data to backup:

System State:

This is a copy of the configuration of your machine. In the event of failure, sometimes the COST of rebuilding the machine and the programs is the most expensive element.

Data:

This is your documents, pictures, music libraries and company data. One should always create multiple backups for such data.

Application based backup:

Many applications have their own backup, and for restoration purposes, need the backup in their proprietary format in order to restore the data. If this is the case with the applications, you should run the application-specific backup, and then backup the data file set it produces on another medium.

Types of backups (Media)

USB Drive:

Great for second copies of data and system state and data. Do realize that after the USB Devices fall from the top of the cabinet once, they can mechanically stop working and become DOA. Not a good place for your only backup, and definitely not a good place for original files and music libraries!

Tape Drives

These have been in service for years, and still work. Unfortunately, they do rely on complicated restores of data, and offsite storage. Nothing says failure when your backup tapes are on top of the server you are backing up. Very expensive fire | storm | water victim when the tapes are ruined with the server they are backing up. Can be very expensive for both tapes and tape drives.

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I won’t click on random or suspicious links

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Fake | Spoofing | Virus-filled | Identity-stealing | Hacking | Phishing Emails. So how do you know?Online Thief

Fake emails and websites will try to look like a real company’s email: all for the purpose of stealing your personal information. Passwords and account numbers are the favorite to grab, but sometimes to simply track your browsing habits and send information to the criminal’s web site. Hence it is important to check shortened links that come in emails to ensure more safety.

EBay, PayPal, Amazon are some of the favorites to spoof, because they are such common web sites. If you are getting emails from a web site like those mentioned, and you are not sure, then close the email. Open a browser, and login to the web site directly. Any email that came to you should be mentioned somewhere in the notifications area. The good news is a lot of the emails come from out of country, and the wording of the emails are sometimes a giveaway. Check for proper use of grammar and spelling. Really look at the logo in the email – is it pixelated? Or, does it look as clean as the ones on the web site.

Online Thief

How to tell if the link in the email is safe without clicking on it

Use a link scanner

Link scanners are web sites and plug-ins that allow you to enter in the URL of suspicious link and check it for safety. URLVoid is a really good one, because it uses multiple services to research.

In order to copy the link safely, without clicking on it, you can right click on the link and choose copy shortcut (IE), Copy Link (Firefox) or Copy Link Address (Chrome). You can paste this into the Link Scanner utility.

Check Shortened Links

URLVoid can’t handle shortened URLS from services like tinyURL or Bitly, Ow.ly. To check shortened links that you usually find on services like Twitter, you can use Sucuri. It will expand the shortened links and check it against a variety of services to ensure no threats are pending. In order to copy the link safely, without clicking on it, you can right click on the link and choose copy shortcut (IE), Copy Link (Firefox) or Copy Link Address (Chrome). You can paste this into the Link Scanner utility.

Hover over the link

If you hover over a link without clicking on it, you will see the full URL pop up with the links destination in the lower corner of your browser.

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I Promise to Restart My Computer

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Reboot OftenHow often should I restart my devices? That is always the question. We all know the technology answer to everything: Did you restart? But why? Restarting your device simply gives your device a fresh start. Nothing bogging down memory, froze applications cleared, and generally either fixes or at least give a fresh troubleshooting start.

If the device is a smartphone, you should not have to restart it often at all. If you have recently installed OS updates, or, on occasion if things just don’t seem to be acting right. You can simply shut down the apps to solve the problem. Restarting your device is sometimes the quickest way to free up RAM. If the phone is suddenly running much hotter than usual, a restart is also in order.

If the device is a tablet, like an iPad or Android, they are in the same category as a smartphone. However, when you get into Surface Pros, Windows Tablets, or equivalent, then they should be treated and restarted as you would a laptop. If applications are hung up, or when the fans are whirring loudly and sound like a jet airplane. Most newer laptops with Windows 8 or Windows 10 are designed to sleep and use virtually use no power or resources. Because of this, you should not have to keep restarting your device.

If the device is a laptop, it depends on the brand, and the usage. If applications are installed, Windows Updates, or simply seems like the fans are whirring, it is simply time to reboot. Windows 7 Laptops have more of a power draw, and should be rebooted a little more often. And what about if you running something older? Restart at the end of each business day, and then call Sandra Network for a replacement!

If the device is your desktop, then same rules apply as a laptop. Windows 10, Windows 8 need a restart rarely. Windows 7, sometimes. Anything older, daily is best.

Personally, I try to remember to restart each Friday or at the end of my work week, to ensure the computer AND I both get a fresh start for my return Monday morning.

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I won’t click on any emails unless I know who it is from

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Are you surprised that Great Aunt Mildred is actually on email? Well, most likely she isn’t, and you are being scammed. Is it unusual that your Help Desk department just sent out a coupon for a great deal? If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is an email scam.

Typically, if the email is from a scam artist, known as a “fake” email, the sender will try to make sure the email comes from a real company. They are really meant to get you to click on them and share personal information. The real key is in the email headers. Where email headers are found varies based on the email program you are using. In Gmail it’s under Show original. In Outlook you can find it in various places, depending on the version. Most recently, it is in File – Properties.

Email Properties

email header txt

click to see sample of header

The headers should be read from the bottom to the top. Each server that handled your email is listed, with its own message, starting with Received. For example:

To find the REAL sender of your email, you have to find the earliest trusted gateway, which would be at the top.   You can trust it if it lists the mail server for the domain in question. So, if it is from [email protected], you will see SandraNetwork.com. If you’re really unsure, you can run a query from a utility like MXToolbox. If this is above your technical interest or ability, simply consulting with your IT person is the best idea. The best thing to do is copy and paste the headers into an email to IT and your answer should be quickly answered!

Fake emails also usually have
the following properties:

Urgent tones. If it is threating to suspend your account, ruin your credit, delete all your data. Especially if you do not respond right away.

Asking for an immediate reply with confidential information. Anyone legitimate would not ask for confidential information in an email.

Generic greetings. Most companies that you have accounts with personalize emails to you with your first and / or last name.

BadEmailExample

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