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“There is no such thing as perfect security,” says Jim Waldron, Senior Architect for Platform Security at HP. If you can access a website or server, consider it vulnerable to security breaches. That’s why so many businesses account for fraud in their business models—they expect to lose a certain amount each year to security leaks, lost IP, and more.

While you can never be 100% secure from hackers while connected to the internet, there are steps you can take to help protect your personal and professional data. All you need to do is activate features that are increasingly common (or easy to manage) on modern business-class PCs: Multi-factor authentication, client-based user authentication, and password best practices.

Multi-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication is a simple but effective security system that involves the use of at least two factors (or methods) of authentication. It groups different factors together so that even if one is compromised, the data remains protected. Under this system, factors are divided into three domains:

• Something you know: Password, PIN, etc.
• Something you have: ATM card, smartcard, etc.
• Something you are: Fingerprint, iris, etc.

For multi-factor authentication to be successful, you want to pull from at least two different domains, with a maximum of three domains. A common example of multi-factor authentication is when you withdraw cash from an ATM. To do so, you insert your ATM card (something you have) and enter your PIN (something you know). Without both factors you can’t access your account—and neither should anyone else.

Businesses are taking notice too, and multi-factor authentication’s popularity is rising. In 2014, 37% of enterprise organizations surveyed used multi-factor authentication for the majority of their employees, and that number is expected to grow to 56% by 2016.

What you can do now
If you have a business-grade PC, chances are your PC already includes the technologies you need to start using multi-factor authentication. In fact, HP offers multi-factor authentication on all of its business PCs. Consult your manual or HP Support, and identify the factors your PC supports in addition to traditional passwords, such as fingerprint or smartcard readers. Just make sure to choose factors from separate domains.

Client-based user authentication
Every time you log into a system, your identity needs to be authenticated by that system. This process occurs one of two ways: server-side authentication or client-based authentication. With server-side authentication your unencrypted information—such as your password or fingerprint—is sent to a server where it is compared against that server’s records. With client-based authentication, the authentication process—e.g., “Does this fingerprint match the one in our records?”—is performed on the client device, such as your work PC.

While client-based authentication is not as common as its counterpart, it is far more secure. In fact, “In almost all authentication scenarios it is preferable to perform the direct authentication on the client and then communicate an ‘Identity Assurance’ to the relying party,” says Waldron.

Everyone wins when it comes to client-based authentication. The client no longer has to send unencrypted, private information over the internet or store that information on another party’s server, while the relying party no longer has to store sensitive client information on their server—reducing the amount of information that can be stolen if and when a hack occurs.

What you can do now
One of the easiest ways to use client-based authentication is with a hardened fingerprint sensor. The sensor authenticates your fingerprint directly in the hardware, rather than sending it to a server or hard drive, and returns a key that can be used to decrypt password vaults.

Password best practices
As we’ve mentioned before, passwords aren’t perfect. While implementing and using the above features might not seem practical for some of us, everyone can benefit from following basic password best practices. They are quick to implement, and can save you a lot of hassle down the line.

To make the most of your password security, your passwords should be:

• Long—at least 16 characters. Use a password manager to store unique passwords and fill out log-in forms so that you don’t have to memorize them.
• Complex—containing symbols, numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and spaces (if possible)
• Unique—only use a password once, don’t recycle or repeat across accounts
• Short-lived—the National Cyber Security Alliance suggests changing your password every 60 days
• Difficult to guess—avoid common words found in a dictionary, all or part of your name, repeated letters, or combos that align to your keyboard layout, such as “QWERTY” or “123456”

If you are uncertain whether your password is secure enough or if it meets enough of the criteria above, there are several reliable services that will check your password strength for you. Microsoft’s Safety & Security Center offers a free password checker you can access through your browser, while Mac users can access Apple’s Password Assistant through the Keychain Access utility.

What you can do now
The first thing you can do—right this second—is revise your most important passwords to align with password best practices. That includes your work accounts, personal email, bank accounts, and any other services that contain sensitive data. If you need help remembering your new passwords, consider using a password manager such as HP Password Manager. That way you only have to authenticate once to gain access to all your systems. You can also adopt a system to make your passwords easier to remember. Using acronyms, for example, you can turn the phrase “I was born in 1986 and my parents still live on Lake Street!” into “Iwbi1986ampsloLS!”—creating a strong password that’s easy to remember.

Passwords are changing, and while they will never be perfect, they can still provide an effective first layer of defense against hackers and ne’er do wells. The above features and techniques are increasingly common on modern business PCs, making it easier than ever to protect your private data. All you have to do is use them.

Have questions?

Get help from IT Experts/Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LLC is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

To read this article in its entirety click here.

Think back to the last time you bought a new PC or laptop for your business. Did you approach the purchase the same way you would for a personal device? And if you had a problem, were you satisfied with the level of service you received?

Many small and medium-sized businesses purchase consumer-grade PCs and notebooks by default, not realizing the amount of difference a business-class model can make. Consumer-grade devices can work fine for many organizations, but businesses with more stringent performance, reliability, and support needs can save time and frustration by moving up to business-class devices.

Think of it this way: when you purchase an economy-class plane ticket you know there’s going to be a marked difference between your experience and the experience of someone flying first class. More legroom, better menu options, more responsive service—the benefits are clear, and for many business travelers it makes sense to upgrade, especially if the flight is long.

When it comes to technology, the difference between consumer-grade and business-class PCs is just as marked as for flights—and for many businesses, the upgrade is just as worthwhile. Here’s the difference a business-class device can make for you:

• Performance: Many modern consumer-grade processors and mobile operating systems prioritize battery life over processing power. Business-class PCs often offer both better performance and longer battery life, allowing users to work faster and longer while on the road.

• Reliability: HP Elite PCs are designed to pass MIL STD testing and are tested for 115,000 hours to HP’s own testing standards to help ensure durability. New HP EliteBook 700 series notebooks are also made with Corning^® Gorilla^® Glass and a magnesium alloy chassis that’s 18 times stronger than plastic.

• Support: Every HP Elite PC comes with HP Elite Premium Support, providing 24/7/365 dedicated service from U.S.-based specialists who are dedicated solely to supporting HP Elite products.

• Software and security: Business-class devices help their users take advantage of their advanced features with free, bundled software that is not available (or requires an additional purchase) on consumer-grade PCs. For example, HP Elite family products come with security software and features that protect at the data, identity, and device levels to help keep proprietary data safe.

On average, small businesses hold on to their PCs for five to seven years. Your next device purchase will likely be with you for years to come. So when you consider that many of us are quick to upgrade our airline tickets—even though flights don’t last more than a day—upgrading to a business-class device can make a lot of sense. Weigh the benefits, and choose the device with the level of support and reliability that meets your business needs.

Have questions?

Get help from IT Experts/Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LLC is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

To read this article in its entirety click here.

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Microsoft Word

Sorting data in a Word document isn’t something you routinely do. On the other hand, presenting list and table data is, so the potential exists that one day you’ll want to sort something. The good news is that it’s easy to sort data in a table or a list. In this article, I’ll show you how to do just that. We’ll work through a few simple sorting examples. You can use most any table, or you can download the example .docx or .doc file.

Behind the scenes

Word relies on paragraphs when sorting, which seems a bit odd within the context of a table (or list). The paragraph formatting mark determines where one paragraph ends and the next starts. As you can see in Figure A, there’s no paragraph mark in a table. The end-of-cell markers denote the end of each cell’s content. The similar marker at the end of each row (outside the right border) is an end-of-row marker. These markers also contain cell and row formatting. When sorting a table, Word relies on the end-of-row marker to identify where one row ends and the next begins, the same way the paragraph mark does. (To see a document’s formatting symbols, click Show/Hide in the Paragraph group on the Home tab.)

Figure A

Sort by the first column

We’ll start with the simplest sort possible; we’ll sort a table by the values in the first column. To do so, select, the table by clicking its move handle (the small square in the top-left corner). If you don’t see this handle, check the view. It’s available only in Print Layout and Web Layout. With the entire table selected, do the following:

1. Click the contextual Layout tab. In the Data group, click Sort — or click Sort in the Paragraph group on the Home tab. In Word 2003, choose Sort from the Table menu.
2. The resulting dialog does a good job of anticipating the sort. Notice that the Header Row option (at the bottom) is selected. As a result, the Sort By field is set to Species — the label in the first column’s header (Figure B).
   Figure B

3. This is exactly what we want, so click OK. Figure C shows the sorted table.
   Figure C

Before we move on, let’s discuss the Type and Using options to the right. We didn’t need to change either, but sometimes you will. The Type options are Text, Number, and Date. Word usually defaults to the appropriate data type. You can force a specific type by choosing a different option other than the one Word assumes (but you’ll rarely have reason to do so). The Using options defaults to Paragraph — we talked about that earlier.

Sort by the second column

That first exercise was easy. Let’s complicate things a bit by sorting by the second column. Fortunately, it’s just as easy as the first. Repeat steps 1 and 2 from the first exercise. Then, do the following:

1. In the resulting dialog, click the Sort By drop-down.
2. Choose Common Name, the header label for the second column.
3. Click OK. Figure D shows the results of sorting by the second column.
   Figure D

That wasn’t any more difficult that the first sort. Tell Word which column contains the values you want to sort by and click OK — that’s it!

Sort by multiple columns

With only two sort tasks under your belt, you’re beginning to see how simple the sorting process in Word can be. Let’s complicate things a bit so you can see how flexible this feature truly is. Let’s sort by the Class column and then sort the bird and mammal groups in a secondary sort. Repeat steps 1 and 2 from the first two exercises. Then, do the following:

1. To sort by the Class, choose Class from the Sort By drop-down.
2. To further sort each class group, click Common Name from the Then by drop-down (Figure E). You could add a third column to the sort if the results warranted the additional grouping.
   Figure E

3. Click OK to see the results shown in Figure F.
   Figure F

What about lists?

You might be wondering how to sort the same data in list form. Word handles the list sort the same way — the exact same way. Highlight the list and click Sort in the Paragraph group on the Home tab. In the resulting dialog, check the header option and set appropriately (if necessary). Then, determine the sort order by choosing the fields (columns), appropriately.Figure G shows the result of sorting the same data in list form.

Figure G

Sort a columnar list the same way you sort a table.

Small and Medium-Size Businesses (SMBs) will often take shortcuts to cut costs when purchasing.  To avoid disasters such as a loss of data or work, SMBs are strongly suggested to focus on the ten points below.

Hardware

Considering the rapid change of technology requirements, a pro-active approach for replacing desktops, laptops, servers, and networking hardware is to look five years into the future.

Backup Software

Although built-in backup software and Windows Server backup are adequate, purchasing a third-party backup solution will have the ability to recover from an image.

Internet Connection

Providing your SMB with a consumer-grade DSL line would not be an efficient business plan. Setting up a network that provides your business with more bandwidth than required will prevent a network bottleneck from occuring.

Firewall

Securing your business with only Windows built-in firewall is not ideal.  Configuring a Cisco, Fortinet, or Sonicwall is more secure, reliable and flexible in a SMB environment.

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage provides scalability, reliability and portability.  Cloud storage is divided into three categories:  Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).  Many companies are transferring to Cloud services for access to data outside the network.

Website

Online presence has become an important key for all businesses.  A solid solution is to have a strong website, blogging and effectively using social media.

Redundancy

Redundancy is an appropriate investment towards ensuring that your SMBs network does not go down.  Similar to backups, redundancy does not affect everyday business but should an incident arise, you’ll be glad it’s there.

Support

IT Support is a necessity, whether it’s an in-house department, third-party service provider, or support for software.

Mobile Devices

The ability to work from outside the office and accessing data from anywhere  is now an important key for businesses.  Setting up a virtual private network enables laptops, tablets and smartphones to connect and work from anywhere.

Printers

Supply your SMB with a printer that has the sustainability and features required for business use.

The Surface by Microsoft is a crossover between a laptop and a tablet. The Surface Pro is a business tablet that has a detachable keyboard, stylus and a kickstand. Putting the Surface Pro above other tablets is the aptitude to run Microsoft Office programs including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Microsoft released a television commercial for the Surface Pro, “The Vibe”, starring Daniel ‘Cloud’ Campos from the original Surface Commercial.  This enthusiastic campaign includes professional dancers as “business people” showing the capabilities of the Surface Pro. Similar to Windows 8, Metro “Modern” UI; the commercial has the same ambiance.

According to IDC, Microsoft has finally made its way to the Top 5 for Tablets. In the first quarter of 2013, Microsoft has 1.8% Market Share. Unlike the first quarter of 2013, Microsoft has 0% Market Share. Also, ASUS moved up from #4 to #3, knocking Amazon down a space.

Takeaway:  Tips for making environmental choices whether buying a new computer or maintaining your current one.

To reduce energy intake you can use a power strip, monitor usage with utilities and unplug components when not in use.  Deciding to go green for current computers or buying a new computer can help with power management to cut down on wasted energy and costs.

Energy Star is a voluntary energy efficiency program that prevents greenhouse gas emissions with strict guidelines.  EPEAT is an assessment tool to help users compare and purchase computer equipment.  Both provide tools to help make an environmental choice.

Buying a New Computer Tips:

• Research:  Find out if it is Energy Star rated, how much energy the computer will use and power management options.
• Recommendations:  Check out product reviews from previous purchasers and from non-profit organizations that provide accurate feedback (Such as EPEAT and Energy Star)
• Purify New PC:  Read the Hazardous Material Use Policy on manufacturer’s site.
• Don’t be Greenwashed:  Research the company to make sure that their “Green Computer” is not a marketing campaign with few benefits towards the environment.
• Green Guide:  If you would like user ratings and reviews for products, several websites provide these options as well as advice for purchasing new equipment. 

Upgrading Current Machine Tips:

• General Health Check:  The three major components that play a role in energy are graphics card, microprocessor and monitor.
• Replace CRT Monitor:  CRT Monitors may contain Lead, Mercury, Barium and more toxins.  Replace your old monitor with a new LCD or LED Monitor to save energy and money. 
• Upgrading Memory:  Upgrading your RAM will increase the speed of your machine while lowering the power intake, which is a quick, inexpensive fix.
• Greener Battery:  Similar to CRT Monitors, older laptop batteries contain hazardous chemicals such as lead.  Companies are starting to manufacturer Green Batteries that have a longer life expectancy using earth-friendly features.
• Greener Power Supply:  The ability to scale the power required for particular actions with your power supply is an efficient way to save energy; while regular power supplies emit a steady rate of power at all times.

On April 8, 2013 Hewlett-Packard took a fairly dramatic departure from traditional server designs with the release of the Moonshot Server.

Moonshot uses low-power smartphone style processors to optimize data center servers.  Although, Moonshot looks traditional, the Moonshot 1500 Chassis contains shared power, cooling, networking, storage and 45 pluggable servers.  There are several chipsets available.

Instead of putting together another server that requires intense power and cooling, HP reconstructed the server design.  Moonshot provides a vast amount of resources such as scalability while reducing the use of physical space, cooling and power.

Many companies partnered with HP on the Moonshot Project including:  AMD, Intel, ARM, Citrix, Cloudera, Redhat, SUSE and many others.

Disadvantages for the Moonshot server could range from an unenthusiastic entrance to the risk of a minimal hardware component failure that could bring down 45 critical servers because an entire rack of servers are set in one box.

If you are looking to purchase new equipment please contact us at (856) 745-9990.

Takeaway: When equipment reaches the end of its useful life, IT must either dispose of it or find it a new home. Here are several good ways to handle the situation.

Few companies amortize their computing equipment for more than three years of useful life. So once computing assets reach the end of the line, what do you do with them? In 2013, some best practice answers remain the same, but others are new. Here’s a checklist for dealing with old IT equipment.

1: Meet Your Green Requirements

In some industries and geographical areas, companies are now required to demonstrate adherence to green standards and environmental sustainability. One way to show compliance is by having environmentally effective policies for disposing of old computing equipment. In doing so, you also contribute to corporate sustainability compliance. There is value in that.

2: Work with Local Schools

Corporate IT can partner with local schools by donating good but used equipment that they can use for technology projects. Some companies take this goodwill effort even further by partnering with schools in tech development programs that include student internships with the company. “Proven” interns from these programs can make excellent IT hires. The company also develops a great reputation in the community.

3: Use Older Equipment for Training and Testing

Especially in thin client application environments that don’t depend on compute-in-the-box (think cloud), older equipment is ideal for training, which historically operates on thin budgets and is always looking for a resource infusion.

You can also use older equipment for testing purposes, as long as your test results will accurately emulate the production environment they are targeted for.

4: Cannibalize

Some older equipment can be used as spare part sources if there is enough version compatibility between the old and the new equipment. Replacement disk drives are a great example.

5: Work your Trade-ins (lease/buy)

Never underestimate your ability to trade up to new equipment by turning in your old equipment. You can secure a discount that may be as much as one-third of your new equipment retail price. If you lease equipment instead of buying it, a mechanism in the lease contract allows you to get credit for older equipment on the lease that you are exchanging for new.

6: Sell to the Third-party Market

Especially for power servers, mainframes, and disk drives, you can usually find a third-party reseller of older equipment that will buy it from you (only to resell it to another company). However, to qualify your equipment for this market, you must first recertify it with its original vendor. In the equipment re-certification process, the vendor examines and (if necessary) repairs the equipment to make sure it is production-ready.

7: Cycle Down Older Equipment to Low Power Users

In most companies, the high power users are in areas like finance and engineering. Users requiring desktop or laptop computers with fewer bells and whistles might be in the warehouse, the factory, or in work locations where there is a lot of environmental interference (dust, etc.), which you don’t want to subject your newest equipment to. Many companies have a downward rotation cycle they apply to desktop and laptop computers that cycles these assets into lower-power user groups after a certain time frame. By using this strategy, companies can often extend the life cycles of these assets for two or more years.

8: Sell or Auction Older Equipment to Employee

Many employees look for inexpensive laptops that they and their children can use at home or at school. If they can purchase a nice computer that might not be the latest and greatest but that still works and fits their budgets, they are happy to take an older piece of equipment off your hands.

9: Donate to Charities

Charities are always looking for free computing equipment that can run their operations. However, never approach them with an eye toward dumping off equipment that is so antiquated it won’t support Internet or run a current word processor or spreadsheet program. In fact, many charities have wised up to the old “dump it” approach and now set minimum standards for accepting older equipment (e.g., “must at least run a Windows 7 operating system”).

10: Sell for Scrap

Companies used to give away old equipment to recycling.  But in today’s lucrative scrap metal market, the goal instead should be to sell this equipment to scrappers.

If you are looking to purchase new equipment please contact us at (856) 745-9990. 

Summary: In case you didn’t get the memo — or CEO Steve Ballmer’s latest shareholder letter — Microsoft officially is a devices and services company now.

Microsoft really wants to make sure its shareholders, customers, partners and competitors realize it’s not just a big software company any more.

In an October 9 letter to shareholders, part of Microsoft’s just-released fiscal 2012 annual report, CEO Steve Ballmer repeated his new “devices and services company” mantra to drive it home.

Ballmer hasn’t (yet) chanted “devices, devices, devices” in front of any public or private audiences (that we know of, at least) in the way he once infamously chanted “developers, developers, developers.”

But Ballmer told The Seattle Times a few weeks back that Microsoft can and should be considered a devices and services company. The latest Ballmer shareholder letter re-emphasizes that message.

From the letter:

“Last year in this letter I said that over time, the full value of our software will be seen and felt in how people use devices and services at work and in their personal lives. This is a significant shift, both in what we do and how we see ourselves — as a devices and services company. It impacts how we run the company, how we develop new experiences, and how we take products to market for both consumers and businesses. The work we have accomplished in the past year and the roadmap in front of us brings this to life.”

The Ballmer shareholder letter also claimed again that Microsoft is still counting on its partners to produce business and consumer devices and hardware that customers want. But it’s clear Microsoft isn’t getting into the hardware game on a lark or just to incent its OEMs to make more well-designed products, as some company watchers and partners have said.

Ballmer noted that, going forward, Microsoft plans to continue to focus on the development of “new form factors that have increasingly natural ways to use them including touch, gestures and speech.”

Along with the Xbox, the Microsoft Surface — which Microsoft described as “a series of Microsoft-designed and manufactured hardware devices” in its latest proxy statement (also released today) — are here to stay and seemingly will include more products as part of the family.