Author: Janet Riley

“Always do your very best. Even when no one else is looking, you always are. Don’t disappoint yourself.” ~Colin Powell

Welcome to March and to the beginning of a new global war.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the Ukrainian people.

A quick google search tells me there is 5,796 miles between Coos Bay, Oregon and Kyiv, Ukraine.   That’s a lot of miles.  We probably don’t need to worry much about stray bullets, or tanks accidently going off course and landing in our front yards.  But there is another hazard that can get us: Cyberwar. 

What Is Cyber Warfare?

Cyber warfare is usually defined as a cyber attack or series of attacks that target a country. It has the potential to wreak havoc on government and civilian infrastructure and disrupt critical systems, resulting in damage to the state and even loss of life.  https://www.imperva.com/learn/application-security/cyber-warfare/

I don’t want to be an alarmist, but I don’t want to be a “sitting duck” either.  If you don’t have a business continuity plan in place, now is a good time to start one.  The following article is used with permission from The Technology Press.

Your business faces all sorts of threats that can disrupt your operations. A comprehensive continuity plan can help address them.

Carrying on with business as usual is easy when nothing out of the ordinary is happening. But the fact is, crises can strike anytime. And when it happens, you need to be ready to pivot your operations quickly, safely, and efficiently. 

That’s where a well-thought-out business continuity plan comes into play. 

It prepares you for the worst, such as market nosedives and governments shutting down entire countries. And in these cases, your plan allows you to embrace remote work, enabling you to keep functioning and servicing your clients. It also lets you support your team at home and make them feel comfortable through various predicaments. 

These are just some of the key benefits that a business continuity plan can bring to your business. And this article will delve deeper into its significance and explain how to create one for your company. 

WHY YOU NEED A CONTINUITY PLAN

A business continuity plan details a process that your company should take to neutralize and recover from different threats. It can also help protect your business’s assets and personnel during disasters, allowing them to function uninterruptedly. 

Business continuity plans are usually developed as part of a company’s overall risk management. This means you should consider creating this plan ahead of time, not in the middle of a crisis. 

The most significant benefit of creating a business continuity plan is that it provides a clear picture of how to proceed should those threats happen. It also tells you how those circumstances can impact your operations and how to implement procedures to mitigate them. Furthermore, it helps you check if the systems work and are up to date. 

Another tremendous advantage of having a continuity plan is its ability to ensure secure and continued access to your systems. It dictates how your team and IT service provider can reach critical platforms, the available bandwidth, and whether you need to boost their network capacity. 

The overall effect can be a reduced risk of losing your business and team members. 

It can safeguard against financial loss, lost productivity, and a damaged reputation. On top of that, it helps protect your employees from injuries or death in case of threats. 

But what specific threats can you address with a continuity plan?   Here’s a quick list:

THREAT #1. PANDEMICS

Pandemics can affect your business plans in numerous ways. 

For example, they can force your employees to work from home, increasing demand for some services, and reducing demand for others. Moreover, they can prevent you from distributing your offerings due to supply chain problems. 

A business continuity plan can help you overcome these bumpy periods. 

It formulates how your team will communicate throughout the period and perform business off-site. And it can also provide several options in terms of service distribution.

THREAT #2. NATURAL DISASTERS

Natural disasters are extreme geographic phenomena, including tornados, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, and earthquakes. They’re tricky because they’re hard to predict and can leave disastrous consequences within seconds.

Like global pandemics, they can disrupt the supply chain in affected areas, which is why you need a business continuity plan.

THREAT #3. UTILITY OUTAGES

Water shutoffs and loss of communication lines or power can hinder your daily operations. It’s especially true if such outages are predicted to last long.

Without a continuity plan, the risk of asset damage and productivity loss is drastically higher.

THREAT #4. CYBERSECURITY

Cyberattacks are computer-based attacks on your technical assets. The most common examples include data theft, ransomware, distributed denial of service, and SQL injections. 

In the best-case scenario, your infrastructure will function less efficiently until you resolve the issue. But in the worst-case scenario, you could lose access to all business data.

CREATE THE BEST CONTINUITY PLAN FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Developing a foolproof continuity plan requires a systematic approach. Here’s what your strategy should involve:

#1. IDENTIFYING GOALS

Business continuity doesn’t just comprise your IT systems. It encompasses all essential business functions, like public relations, human resources, and operations.

Since your company is unique, you’ll need to create a plan according to your specific goals.

So, determine the most important processes and figure out how to back them up with recovery strategies.

#2. SETTING UP AN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS GROUP

Choose several cross-functional managers and anyone else who can contribute to the plan, such as your IT service provider.

Determine the emergency response leader and make it clear they’re in charge of moving things forward when disaster strikes. 

#3. BUSINESS IMPACT ANALYSIS AND RISK ASSESSMENT

Identify, research, and analyze your potential threats thoroughly. Discuss them with your team and see what would happen if you had to reduce, eliminate, or modify certain services.   Make sure to document all issues along the way.

#4. FOCUSING ON CUSTOMER SERVICE

Your clients need empathy and transparency during crises. And the only way to meet their expectations in such trying times is to ensure your customer support team understands your continuity plan.  If necessary, hire more people to answer client inquiries.

#5. ADDRESSING BUSINESS FUNCTION

Your plan should incorporate critical business functions. These include business risk, impact on customers and employees, emergency policy creating, community partners or external organizations, and financial resources during disasters. 

This is vital to ensure business operations are functioning asap.

#6. STAFF TRAINING AND PLAN UPDATES

Present your continuity plan to stakeholders and promote a proactive approach through trial runs to verify the plan works. This way, you can pinpoint any weaknesses or missing aspects. Then, based on your findings and feedback, train your staff to make the implementation smoother.

Following this tactic doesn’t leave much room for error. 

Besides helping you maintain business operations and the supply chain, it also builds customer confidence. If your response to emergencies is effective, your customers will appreciate it. This allows you to preserve your brand, prevail over your competition, and mitigate financial loss. 

DON’T LET CRISES CRIPPLE YOUR BUSINESS

Disasters can be the ultimate test of your leadership abilities. That’s why instead of leaving your company to chance, create an in-depth business continuity plan before emergencies arise. Make sure everyone is on the same page, and you’ll be able to come out stronger after any predicament. 

If you need more insights into developing a continuity plan, get in touch with us today. Let’s set up a 10-15-minute chat to determine your goals and how to achieve them. 

Stay Safe,

Stay Healthy,

Be Prepared!

~Janet

Because It Made Me Laugh

The smallest good deed is better than the grandest good intention. -Duguet

February is here.  January resolutions are gone.  I had an epiphany concerning my resolution to lose weight.  It’s my mother’s fault!  During my growing up years, she would hand me stuff and say “keep track of this”.  Or give me stuff and say “don’t lose this” or “hang on to this”.  I’ve been nurtured since childhood to keep this weight!  I have to “hang on to it” and “take care of it”.  So I’m blaming my mother!  That’s my story and I’m sticking with it! (Which is also my mother’s fault.)

And speaking of hanging onto things:  How are you hanging onto your data?  There are several ways:

1. Create and Pray – Unfortunately, this is more common than it should be.  This is the belief that you created it and it will be okay.  No additional action is necessary.

2. Local File Backup – This is much better.  This copies your most precious files and photos to an external backup drive that hopefully, you are detaching from the computer when the backup is complete.

3. Local File Backup with Offsite Storage– This adds an extra step to option two above.  When the local backup is complete, you take the external drive to a secondary location protecting you against fire and theft.

4. Disaster Recovery – This automates the protection of your data.  First, it backs up the entire computer, including all programs (ie: Word/Excel/Quickbooks) not just the documents and pictures.  Second, it puts is on a timer.  It can backup once a day, or several times per day (as frequently as every 15 minutes) Third, it pushes it to a secure data center in a different state.  Fourth, if your computer is lost, stolen, ransomed, or otherwise becomes unusable, the backup can be virtualized. 

What is virtualization?  Virtualization allows us to turn the last good backup into a functional computer that is accessed via the internet.  We call this working in the “cloud” .  Don’t let working in the cloud freak you out.  Your data is only accessible by you.  It is fully protected with encryption.  This is considered a Security Best Practice.

Benefits of Virtualization:

1. If your physical machine goes kaput (a word my mother taught me) you can be “back up” and running in hours, instead of days.

2. If your backup is current and complete, you don’t need to worry about paying ransoms.

3. It provides peace of mind concerning computer theft, computer failure, accidental or malicious file deletion.

4. Cyber Security Insurance Policies love to see Disaster Recovery Plans in place.

5. It’s affordable.  Pricing starts at $40/month and configuration/setup is free during the month of February.  Give me a call and we can get your computer protected ASAP.

Stay Safe,

Stay Healthy!

~Janet

Because It Made Me Laugh – And I Really Can’t Blame It On My Mother!

It’s more important to not fail than to succeed. 

– Japanese proverb

Happy 2022 to You!!  Let’s hope this year is better than the last two!

Per normal, (and don’t we all like normal?) the beginning of a new year means attempting new life style changes.  My attempts at weight loss and better fitness have failed multiple times, so how about we tackle some easier, and just as important resolutions together?

PRIVACY:  Let’s take a look at our Google Privacy settings.  If you have a gmail account, (and who doesn’t?) you might want to limit how long google remembers where you’ve been.  The following web page was posted 18 months ago, but the directions are still relevant.  I recommend taking 10-15 minutes and following the steps to enhance your privacy.  The site address is long so I’ve created a tinyurl address that will get you to the same place but with less typing. If what you find in your google account settings really freaks you out, I suggest abandoning google search and replacing it with Brave, downloadable at  https://brave.com, or DuckDuckGo,  downloadable from https://duckduckgo.com  Neither product will track you.

· Real Address:  https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/google-collects-a-frightening-amount-of-data-about-you-you-can-find-and-delete-it-now/

· Shortened Address: https://tinyurl.com/5xf9w4mz

EFFICIENCY:  We just cleaned up and reduced what google can remember about your web searches.  How about a couple of tips to improve your search results?  These are the three I use frequently:

· +(plus sign)  Putting a + in front of a word forces the search results to only show sites with the word included.  Example:  search for green bean +recipes, to see lots of results for recipes and nothing for growing/planting

· -(minus sign) Putting a minus sign in front of a word will remove all sites containing that word from the search results.  Example:  search for North Bend.  Now exclude any reference to North Bend, Washington by searching  North Bend  -WA

· “”(quote marks) Putting a phrase in Quotes will only return sites that contain that exact phrase.  Example: “apartments for rent” “Coos Bay”

Want more tips?  Check out: https://www.lifewire.com/web-search-tricks-to-know-4046148

PROTECTION:   The south coast just experienced a major wind storm that  dropped a redwood tree on my brother’s house.  My brother and sis-n-law are safe (thanks for asking) but the house is a loss.  If that happened to your home or business would your data be safe?  How upset would you be if your computer was lost, stolen, broken or destroyed and your data went “Bye-Bye” permanently?

We have affordable backup and data protection plans.  A backup makes copies of your data.  A data protection plan gives you the added benefit of operating all of your programs and accessing your data via cloud services should your existing system become unusable.  I would love to chat with you about data protection.  My preference would be to have that chat before you need the protection and not after.  Please give me a call.

Stay Safe,

Stay Healthy!

~Janet

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah!

It’s hard to believe the year is almost over.  As we race to the finish, here are some things to consider:

Your Upcoming Tax Bill:

Did your business make money this year?  Will you be paying taxes?  If so, you might be able to take advantage of the section 179 depreciation law. 

Section 179 of the IRS tax code allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and/or software purchased or financed during the tax year. That means that if you buy (or lease) a piece of qualifying equipment, you can deduct the FULL PURCHASE PRICE from your gross income. It’s an incentive created by the U.S. government to encourage businesses to buy equipment and invest in themselves, (and reduce their tax burden).

Check with your tax accountant to confirm your eligibility for this deduction and purchase accordingly.  If you want it this year, do it soon.  The supply chain and shipping channel is in shambles.  Getting inventory is a daily battle.  We would love to have you spend your money locally, see our suggested offerings on the back.

Your Privacy:

I’m sick of being stalked.  I’ve turned off targeted ads.  I use DuckDuckGo as my search engine, and still I’ve got ads following me.  Co-workers were telling me they had a verbal discussion about birds the other day and suddenly their browsers were inundated with bird feeders.  (Makes me question the purpose of Alexa.)  If you want to take back your privacy, take a look at a new browser,  Brave, and stop being followed online. Brave blocks all creepy ads from every website by default. And that thing where ads follow you across the web? Brave blocks that, too.  Download brave at https://brave.com/

Your Credentials

I can’t image how I would do my job without Microsoft products.  I had a small panic attack when this email hit my inbox. 

Hovering over the “Stop Cancellation Process” Link yielded this:

That doesn’t look like a Microsoft link to me!  Be careful what you click!  We want to keep the “HAPPY” in the “HOLIDAYS”!

Because it Made Me Laugh!

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy!

~Janet

Enjoy today—don’t just endure till tomorrow!                 

Welcome to November.  The holiday season is officially upon us!  Holidays are typically steeped in good eats and family traditions.  They are also steeped in technology scams.  Here is the list of the sneakiest scams of the 2020 holiday season.  Like the tradition of serving turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, I suspect these scams will come back again this year.  This is what you should watch for as reported by https://money.com/christmas-scams-holiday-scams-2020/

1. Virtual “Holiday Markets”

Premise:  The annual craft fair is cancelled.  Someone is selling tickets for a virtual market on Facebook.  No entrance fee is required during non-pandemic times.  There is a $10 fee to attend the virtual event. 

Caution: Scammers will trick you into spending more on raffle tickets or donations.  They can also steal your credit card info and install malware.

2. “Secret Sister” Gift Exchanges

Premise: Opt to buy one present for a secret sister and receive up to 36 packages in the mail.

Caution: this is the “free money” or pyramid scheme.  Most people will be out the gift and get nothing in return.

3. Gift Card Scams

Premise: A coveted and hard-to-get item  is offered for sale on Facebook or Craigslist.  The catch: you must pay with a gift card.

Caution: Once you give the gift card, it is nearly impossible to get your money back.  And to add insult to injury, the coveted item won’t show up either.

4. Package Delivery Scams

Premise: You get an email from a delivery service (UPS/FedEx) asking for confirmation of personal info before they deliver the package.

Caution: UPS, Amazon, FedEx will never ask for your personal info.  Delete all texts and emails asking for these details.  Remember: you can watch the package travel via the tracking number provided by the company shipping it to you.

5. Bogus Charities

Premise:  People are in a giving mood during the holidays.  Scammers will imitate real charities or set up fake charities.  Needy kids and pets are favorite subject matters.

Caution:  Don’t assume the organization is legitimate.  Look them up on CharityNavigator.org and GuideStar.org.  If you don’t find them there, they might not be a real charity.

May your Thanksgiving be filled with Thanks!

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy!

~Janet

The best investments aren’t in the bank — they’re in people. 

-Mike Costigan

October is national security month.  Truthfully, every month should be national security month and I want to share some really frightening security events that are happening locally. 

The bad actors have stepped up their game.  Again!

To understand this story, you will need to know the definition of domain.  Domain is the name associated with your business for website purposes or email purposes.  For example, in the email address: someone@gmail.com, anything after the @sign is the domain name, so in this example, the domain is gmail.com.

If you are trying to locate something on the internet, you might go to www.google.com or http://google.com to start the search.  In this example, google.com is the domain name.  If you want more information about Comp-U-Talk services, you would browse to www.comp-u-talk.com.  Comp-U-Talk is the domain. 

The bad actors are utilizing what I refer to as look alike domains.  How many times have you misspelled google?  I know my fingers occasionally get confused and type gogle or goggle.  Research says that approximately 88 percent of all breaches are caused by human error.  (https://www.influencive.com/human-error-is-still-the-number-one-cause-of-most-data-breaches-in-2021/)  No one would intentionally bring in bad actors, but all it takes is one bad day: the dog died, you’re not feeling well, the water heater exploded and flooded the house…. Just one bad day…

Meanwhile, the bad actors are buying up look alike domains.  They pretend to be the real domain owners and request payment via electronic transfer.  And people are falling for it, because IT LOOKS LEGIT!!

Moral of the story:  Look closely.  In the true story above, the bad actors bought up a domain name that had the letters “ti” in the name.  They substituted the letters ’tl’.  Did you catch the difference?  The real domain included T I , the look alike domain spelled it T L.  In lower case type it is nearly indistinguishable. They injected email requesting payment for services via ACH.  They received a payout.  How they were able to inject mail into an ongoing thread has yet to be determined.  I suspect there was undetected malware or a keylogger somewhere.

I always told my kids to learn from the mistakes of others.  It is way less painful to learn from the mistakes of others than to learn from your own mistakes!

I have partnered with a company that specializes in training end users to be watchful and vigilant.  We are still working out the kinks of the service, but it should be ready to deploy in the coming week.  Depending on how many bells and whistles you choose, it will run between $3-$6 per user, per month.  If you are interested in learning more, please call me. 

In the meantime,

Stay Safe,

Stay Healthy

Go Easy on the Candy!

~Janet

“Let your smile change the world, but don’t let the world change your smile.”  ~Connor Franta

I woke up this morning and it was September!  How did that happen?  In case you are curious, there are fewer than 115 shopping days until Christmas!

I spent the last several days attending a security class.  It was an  introduction to a bunch of tools that will assist in protecting networks, analyzing what is already on the network and tracking down hackers.  I’m proud to say I’ve completed the class and even better, I understand the concepts.  Next step:  practice. 

One of the comments from the instructor was:  all end users should be running an ad blocker.  I’ve mentioned ad blockers several times over the years.  It’s time to remind you:  Install an adblocker!!  uBlock Origin is a trusted vendor and its FREE!  Download it from:  

https://ublockorigin.com. 

Do it Now!

If you use multiple browsers, you will want to download it for each browser.  (Edge/Chrome/Firefox)

In other news:  Microsoft will start rolling out Windows 11 to eligible PCs on October 5.  The Operating System has a new hardware requirement: TPM (Trusted Platform Module). A TPM is a security chip that provides a hardware-based tamper-resistant environment to generate, store and protect encryption keys.  In English: it is a security alarm to prevent hackers or malware from accessing your data.  I’ll be playing with the preview this month with hopes of giving you a first hand account next month. 

If you are thinking ahead, you know when Microsoft introduces a new product, it means they are going to stop supporting the old product.  The Windows 10 funeral is currently scheduled for October 14, 2025, roughly four years from now.  If you just bought a computer, you can breath easy for the next 4 years, and possibly longer, if your new computer supports TPM.  If you are shopping for a new computer, ask about the TPM feature. 

Also on the chopping block is Internet Explorer (IE), the beloved browser for the last 26 years.  Microsoft 365 ended support for IE in August and the funeral is scheduled for June 15, 2022.  If you are still using IE, now is the time to get acquainted with Edge (or Chrome or Firefox).

And one last tidbit:  Intel’s chief executive, Pat Gelsinger, says the worst of the global chip crisis is yet to come. 

Mr Gelsinger predicts the shortage will get worse in the “second half of this year” and it will be “a year or two” before supplies return to normal.

The disruption, caused by huge demand for devices, the pandemic, and poor relations between the US and China, has created “a very large gulf” he says. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57996908

What that means to you:  Computers aren’t going to get cheaper any time soon.  Set your budget and buy the best computer you can afford sooner rather than later.

To Health & Hippieness!(that was supposed to say happiness, but I liked the autocorrect version so I left it!)

~Janet

Did You Know? 

If there was a computer as powerful as the human brain, it would be able to do 38 thousand trillion operations per second; and hold more than 3,580 terabytes of memory.

Having read that fact, the next question is:  Why can’t I remember where I put my keys?!

In normal times, I look forward to the Dog Days of Summer as a time to kick back, relax, and enjoy a slower pace for life.  Current times, seem to have forgotten how to slow down and relax. 

As technology advances  we can access almost any-thing from anywhere on any device.  And that’s great.  We have the ability to work from anywhere in the world without worrying how to communicate or access info.  It’s all at our fingertips.

However, with the benefits comes a downside.  Which is that we simply don’t switch off.

Look at the last month.  How often have you found yourself replying to work email late at night?  How many times have you had an “I’ll just get that done” moment outside of your regular working hours?  How many calls have you received when you were spending time with family or friends, or trying to have moment to yourself?

And because of this, we’ve become impatient waiting for responses.  Gone are the days of getting back to someone in 3-5 business days.  We want it now! And it’s really frustrating when we do have to wait for something.

It’s no surprise that there’s been a huge rise in people burning out.

But slowly, some people are rebelling against this.  And it’s starting with a new email signature. Many businesses are asking their people to add a disclaimer to their email signature (or a human footer, as it’s being called).  Here’s a great example…

TRULY HUMAN NOTICE:  Getting this email outside of normal working hours?  We work at a digitally-enabled relentless pace, which can disrupt our ability to sleep enough, eat right, exercise and spend time with the people that matter most.  I am sending you this email at a time that works for me.  I only expect you to respond to it when convenient to you!

What do you think?  Would you adopt a human footer?  Do you already have a human footer?  We would love to see it.  Comment to us!

To Health & Hippieness

(that was supposed to say happiness, but I liked the autocorrect version so I left it!)

It’s a great day to SMILE!

~Janet

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.

—Leonardo da Vinci

Ransomware is still the scourge of the internet.  Safetydetectives.com reports that 54% of US organizations reported ransom attacks last year and the most common method of infection is coming via email.  (https://www.safetydetectives.com/blog/ransomware-statistics/) 

Windows 10 has built in Ransomware Protection.  This is not a guarantee against ransomware.  This is just one more tool to add to your arsenal of tools to stay protected. 

To implement, click on the Windows button in the lower left corner of your screen.  In the search bar type ransom.  Click on Ransomware protection.

Change the Controlled folder access from Off to On.

The current user Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music and Favorites Folders are automatically protected.

You can add additional folders by clicking on Protected Folders and follow the prompts to add additional folders. 

The standard settings will let Microsoft programs (Word/Excel) continue to save to these folders without issue, but non-standard programs, like my accounting software, and scanning software had to be added to the exception list. 

It’s easy to add them to the exception list.  The first time they are blocked, go back to Ransomware Protection, Click on Block history.   Click on the  top item on the list,

Click the Actions button and chose Allow on device. 

Problem Solved!!  You have just configured your Windows 10 computer for Ransomware protection. 

Stay Vigilant, Stay Safe,  Stay Healthy,

~Janet

Because It Made Me Laugh!

“When the time comes to die, make sure that all you have to do is die!”

~Jim Elliott

Well Hello June!  Mom was right.  Time really does fly when you are having fun!

I stumbled on the Jim Elliott quote above in my recreational reading last month.  It left an impression.  I’m fairly certain my kids would be angry with me if I died suddenly.  I have many unfinished projects and even more boxes and shelves of “clutter” they would need to sort thru.  I’d like to blame it on moving, but truth is, I have a hard time disposing of stuff that reminds me of my childhood, my kids childhood, or my deceased parents.  There’s probably a disease named after these symptoms, but I don’t know what that would be.  Which is a good thing, because if I could tag it as a named disease, I might google it, and discover I’m going to die!  OH MY!

Anyway…. Do you have unfinished projects? 

Circle One

Are your backups automated?

Yes     No

Have you verified the backup is working?

Yes     No

Why backups are important: The number of ransomware victims has risen significantly over the years as has the percentage of those victims paying the ransom and amount of the ransom per victim paid. Just a few short years ago, the average ransom paid was under $20,000 and most victims did not pay. Today, most victims are paying the ransom, the average ransom paid is over $100,000 and we so routinely read about multi-million-dollar payouts that it rarely generates big headlines (https://blog.knowbe4.com/cybersecurity-insurance-landscape-is-fundamentally-changing-right-now)

My comments concerning the last statement:  A good backup will save the agony of paying a ransom.

Are you using a spam filter?

Yes      No

Can you say “good riddance” if  all of your email disappeared forever?

Yes     No

If you need to keep copies of email, have you implemented an archive service?

Yes     No

Do you regularly patch your computer operating system and utility software?

Yes     No

Do you regularly de-gunk you computer?

Yes     No

Is your computer running Windows 10?

Yes     No

Why spam filtering, email archiving, patching, de-gunking and using Window 10 important:  Everyone still agrees that the best way to run an organization is not to get compromised by hackers and malware in the first place. The number one way hackers and malware break in is social engineering (followed by unpatched software). Anything you can do to prevent social engineering and phishing from being presented to your end users, you need to do. A good defense is cheaper than incident response. (https://blog.knowbe4.com/cybersecurity-insurance-landscape-is-fundamentally-changing-right-now)

My comments concerning the last statement: Social engineering frequently shows up in spam emails.  You can’t patch obsolete software.

Did you answer “NO” to any of the questions?  If so, you better head to Janet’s!  (Sorry… couldn’t resist the urge to mimic the hardware store.) 

Stay Safe,  Stay Healthy,

~Janet

Because It Made Me Laugh!

Done is better than perfect ~Nigel Moore

Happy May.  Thought I would share some interesting tidbits that came across my desk last month.

First Up:  Something Scary: New methods to get you to pay the ransom.

Top ransomware gangs are deploying a new pressure tactic to push more victim organizations into paying an extortion demand, by emailing the victim’s customers and partners directly, warning that their data will be leaked to the dark web unless they can convince the victim firm to pay up.   (https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/04/ransom-gangs-emailing-victim-customers-for-leverage)

Second:  Some shortcuts to help you finish the project sooner, so you can go outside and play in the sun. 

Snip & Sketch is an enhanced version of the snipping tool.  I love the snipping tool.  I use it for creating how-to guides and grabbing rectangular shaped objects, but if you need to take images in other shapes, than snip and sketch is for you.  To activate it, either type snip in the search line or use the shortcut keys: Windows key + Shift + S.  When the tool bar pops up, choose from full screen, windows, rectangle, or freeform.  Whatever you captured gets placed on the Windows clipboard.  A pop-up will appear briefly in the lower right corner.

If you click the popup, you will land in a window allowing you to further edit the image.  If you miss the pop-up, open any appropriate program, and paste the captured image there.

And speaking of saving things to the clipboard.  I remember hearing way back in the windows 95 days, that the clipboard could store multiple items, but I was never able to figure out how to make it work.  Maybe no one else could figure it out either, because now they are touting the new features of Windows 10 and the ability to see the clipboard history.  To get there, press the Windows key + V.  If History hasn’t been turned on, it will request permission to do so.

Things to note about the history feature:  it is limited to text, HTML (web pages) and images less than 4 MB in size.  It is also limited to 25 entries.  You can pin items to the clipboard so they don’t get replaced by new clips.  Click the triple dots in the upper right corner of the clipped entry and choose pin from the drop down menu.

Third:  Something to keep your system running smoothly:  Storage Sense.

Click the Start button and choose the Settings Cog.  Click the System Icon and then choose Storage.  Turn the Storage Sense to On and click the words: “Configure Storage Sense or run it now”.  Set the timer to Run Storage Sense Every Month.  Put a check mark in the box next to Delete temporary files that my apps aren’t using, and set the number of days to wait before emptying the recycle bin.  I recommend setting  the wait time to 30 or 60 days.  Before you set the timer for the downloads folder, move any purchased downloads to the documents folder.  Once you have protected your purchases, you can continue to set an appropriate timer.  Normally, 30 or 60 days is good, but your needs may vary.  If in doubt, set it to Never.  We can always delete items from the downloads folder manually.

Until next month, 

Stay Safe, 

Stay Healthy,

~Janet

“Being kind to someone you don’t like doesn’t mean you’re fake, it means you’re mature enough to tolerate your dislike for them.”

(I have no idea who said this, but it is very apropos for the current political climate.)

Do you talk nice to your computer?  You should!

I have customer(s), whom I will affectionately refer to as Buster, to protect their identities,  who tell me they had no idea they were supposed to speak sweet things to their computer.  They never read it in this newsletter.  How could they possibly know, they queried?

So I apologize.  I’ve been remiss.  I failed to mention the positive effects that saying nice things can have on your electronic equipment and co-workers, kids, spouse, significant other, neighbors, complete strangers, and your computer tech!

Seriously though, the absolute hardest problem to solve is the one that only happens at your location and cannot be reproduced at my location.  I’ve seen the videos.  I believe the screen is flickering and the computer is randomly turning off.  How do we fix this?

Since these problems are almost always environmental, we start looking at the physical setting.  Does your wall look like a cable factory exploded?  Are surge protectors plugged into surge protectors?  Your electrical circuit might be having trouble providing an even current. Putting in an Uninterruptable  Power Supply (UPS), also known as Battery Backup, could solve the problem.  A UPS will level out the current.  Newer computers are sensitive to current fluctuations.  When you stabilize the current, you stabilize the computer.

What else is running on the property?  Thirty years ago we  learned the hard way that industrial equipment and arc welders do not politely co-exist with Novell servers.  We also know that

fluorescent lights and network cables are enemies.  Cables aren’t very fond of vacuum cleaners and teething puppies either!

What’s the temperature?  Heat is not a computer’s friend. Neither is dirt.  Keep the system out of direct sunlight.  If you work in a dusty environment, keep the fans cleaned.  If you’re savvy with a screw driver and careful you can clean the innards yourself. Remove the computer cover and blow the dust off the fans with canned air.  If you’re not savvy with a screwdriver, feel free to let us do the spring cleaning.  Besides cleaning the dirt, we can also clean off the spyware and optimize the system to keep it running at it’s best.

Mention you read it in the newsletter, and during the month of April, you can save $15 on a computer spring cleaning.  (Regularly $90, on Sale for $75, until April 30, 2021).

Until next month,

Stay Safe, 

Stay Healthy,

Happy Easter!

~Janet

Because It Made Me Smile!

(a tree pretending to be a rabbit)