ATECH MSP Blog

It’s the end of the day, and you’re faced with a dilemma - shut down your workstation, or simply put it to sleep for the night? This is a topic that is debated quite often. We’ll compare the positive and negative aspects of both approaches to identify which is the better option.

The applications on a mobile device allow us to use that device in a number of ways, from productivity, to entertainment, to networking. However, despite the efforts of Google to keep out the riff raff, the Google Play Store has plenty of malware available to download in the guise of a desired app. Today, we’ll review a few tricks to help you spot them before pressing ‘Install.’

IT is important for more than just businesses. Governments and other similar organizations that handle top-secret information or important operations should also dedicate considerable resources to guaranteeing security and efficiency to the best of their ability. In the wake of so many dangerous entities, governments are having trouble keeping up with the latest trends, often at their own expense. What can your business learn from this development?

A slow Internet connection should be the least of our worries, but somehow, this most minor of inconveniences can be one of the most frustrating experiences in modern computing. Fortunately, there are a few ways to potentially improve your connection. At the very least, they might help to explain why your connection suffers.

Words are always changing to meet the needs of the times. As they grow in usage, new words are added to dictionaries on a daily basis. Today’s Tech Term, dongle, is one of these words. Have you ever heard it being used before? It might sound a bit silly at first, but dongle is a word that is used in technology more often than you might think.

Ransomware exploded in 2017, and after a year with as much success as these attacks saw, it is no wonder that 2018 is expected to see more. However, in order to remain successful, ransomware will have to change and improve. In today’s blog, we explore a few predictions as to how this threat will do so.

The Internet is gaining quite the reputation as a dangerous place. It hosts countless threats, many of which hide behind links that shield their intentions. Considering how much is on the line for your business, you need to make sure that you know which links are safe to click on, and which ones are best left ignored.

There’s no denying the importance of data management for businesses, but companies that utilize cloud-based data storage and infrastructure access have to be extra aware. How can your business ensure that your data storage methods are working for you, and not against you? For this week’s tip, we’ll discuss some of the ways that businesses can best use their cloud-based data storage without compromising efficiency.

We wish IT security was as simple as setting up a good firewall and installing an antivirus. We talk a lot about security solutions that cover a lot of your bases, such as our Unified Threat Management (UTM) system. While these enterprise-level solutions are important, any investment in protecting your network can be upended by a single act of user error.

Antivirus is one of the simplest means of protecting a computer network, but that doesn't necessarily mean that a business should overlook the benefits of having an antivirus. If a business doesn’t have antivirus on its systems, it’s usually because they really don’t believe they are in any danger. The harsh reality emerges after a data breach. Regardless of its size, any business holds the kind of data that would draw in thieves and rogues. From Social Security numbers to credit card numbers to many other kinds of personally identifiable information, businesses possess plenty of data that can bring in a pretty penny on the black market.

Spam: it’s something that just about every computer user has heard of, and knows is bad. However, how much do you really know about spam? For today’s Tech Term, we’ll slice into the different types of spam, as well as some theories as to where the term itself originated.

Does your skin crawl with the thought of what would happen if you lose track of your smartphone? These days, a lot of users keep a plethora of personal information on their mobile devices, which makes a loss all the more dangerous for them. How can you make sure that your mobile device doesn’t accidentally become a treasure trove of information for any hackers or thieves who might try to steal it?

Surprisingly enough, there are a lot of benefits to letting your employees work remotely. This doesn’t mean that you can’t still benefit from it--you just need to put a little more care into planning for it. Your business’s infrastructure must be set up to allow for remote capabilities without being influenced by the potential risks.

Most users are aware that their browsers offer a “secure” browsing experience. Google Chrome has Incognito mode, Microsoft’s Edge browser allows you to surf the Internet “InPrivate,” and Apple’s Safari offers Private Browsing as well. The trouble is, these “secure” browsing options aren’t actually all that secure. For today’s tip, we’ll discuss ways to actually keep your Internet browsing private.

You are going to inevitably be in the position where using public Wi-Fi is better than not using any Wi-Fi at all. The issue with this is that public Wi-Fi is considerably more dangerous to use than the secured in-house network of your office. How can you maximize the productivity of your business’ staff while on the go, without sacrificing security by allowing them to use public Wi-Fi to access important data?

Chatbots aren’t an unfamiliar technology. These artificially intelligent constructs are becoming more and more prevalent, especially with the rise of virtual assistants in recent years. Now, with an example of this technology residing in most new devices, it becomes important to consider what it could mean for businesses as this trend continues in the future.

Email is a solution that needs to be protected, lest you expose important information to any onlookers while messages are in transit. Encryption is one of the key ways you can make sure that your messages are safe, but email hasn’t always used this method to secure messages. In fact, it wasn’t until relatively recently that encryption became a staple of the major email providers.

When the time comes, the process of migrating your data from one server to another is a considerable commitment. In order to ensure a smooth and uneventful data migration that results in the greatest benefit to your business, it helps to dive in with a few procedures at the top of mind.

Passwords are everywhere. It seems that every account requires a password, in addition to the devices we use to access these accounts. This is a good thing, as it only helps to increase security - assuming that the password is strong. After all, a password that anyone can guess can hardly be called a password at all.

There’s plenty of terminology and acronyms used in the information technology field that may be unfamiliar at first. Take, for example, NAS. For today, we’ll explore this tech term to gain a deeper understanding of it, and how it may influence your business.