Many gifts that show up under the tree this holiday season will include technology like computers and laptops. And while they may come with the option for an extended warranty, they don’t come with peace of mind that they’ll be protected from viruses, malware, and other online threats. [Read more…]
How to Avoid Falling Victim to Popular Christmas Scams
This year’s holiday shopping season has already gotten off to a big start with online Black Friday sales up $1.2 billion over last year for a total of $7.4 billion spent only online that day. [Read more…]
8 Crucial Reasons a Firewall is Important for Your Small Business
No matter how large or small your business is, you’re just as much of a target for online threats and cyberattacks. In fact, small businesses are typically targeted often00 because many hackers find they have less security protecting their network than larger enterprise companies. [Read more…]
What Amazing Improvements Can You Expect with the Release of Wi-Fi 6?
We typically take our wireless connections for granted. As long as our Wi-Fi router is working and keeping us connected to the internet, then we don’t expect a lot more from it. But with the newly released Wi-Fi 6 you have several things to get excited about. [Read more…]
Using Amazon Alexa to Build the Smart Home of Your Dreams
It wasn’t all that long ago when images of the Jetsons receiving phone calls by video and the ability to tell your house to open the curtains, seemed a little fantastical. But in 2019, that’s become a way of life as our homes get smarter and more connected each year.
Windows 7 is Coming to an End Forever! Here’s How to Prepare Before It’s Too Late
Time is quickly running out for Windows 7 and those still using the operating system. Microsoft is ending support as of January 14, 2020. [Read more…]
LetMeIn101: How the Bad Guys Get Your Password
Passwords are essential to our cybersafety. We all know it, but if you’re like the rest of the digital society, you probably have dozens of passwords to remember. It’s a lot. So, you might take shortcuts. We understand. But taking advantage of our laissez-faire attitude is one way bad guys access your passwords.
Incredibly, there are still people out there using “password” or “123456” in their access credentials. Some people don’t change the default passwords on their devices when they first set them up. So, anyone can pick up a router, look at the sticker identifying the password, and access that network. Even if the bad guys are not around to physically look at your device, they can hack into your network from the outside and wreak some real havoc.
Tip: Avoid the obvious passwords! When you have to create a password, make an effort. When it’s time to update a password, don’t ignore it and change it now. Steer clear of simple, easily guessed patterns.
Cybercriminals can also guess your password. With a little bit of research about you online, they can make some informed guesses. Common passwords include pet names, birthdays, and anniversaries. These are all easy to find via your social media accounts.
Tip: Be careful what you share on social media! Don’t befriend strangers, as you are giving them access to a goldmine of info for personalizing an attack on you.
If that doesn’t work, criminals may try brute force. They might get really sophisticated and script an automation bot to run thousands of password permutations until they get a hit. The software will try a long list of common passwords and run through dictionary words to gain access to your stuff. Not cool.
Tip: Use a complex password with numbers, letters, and symbols or a passphrase. A passphrase is typically at least 19 characters long but is more memorable, as it unique to you. Try some song lyrics and some meaningful numbers.
The criminal may also be working with info from a data breach. In early 2019, a security researcher found more than 2.7 billion email/password pairs available on the Dark Web. Criminals accessing that database could use the data as a starting point, as many people duplicate their passwords across accounts. So once a bad guy gets into one account, they can keep going and try other accounts.
Tip: Use a unique password for each site. Yes, that’s overwhelming to remember, and that’s also why you should use a password manager to keep track of it all for you. A password manager is a piece of software that runs on your computer and smartphone and records and manages your website logins, making your life easier. You can create a Master password that opens the vault to all your other passwords. You can also simply use a notepad or password book. Less sophisticated and convenient, but gets the job done.
Criminals can also access your account if you’ve used a hacked public computer. The bad guys may have installed a key logger on the computer. The logger records every key you press on the keyboard. Or they might have compromised a router or server to be able to see your information if you’ve connected to free wifi (we say that’s always a No-No!).
Tip: Be cautious about your online activity on computers or networks you don’t trust.
Of course, there’s one more method of getting your password that we haven’t addressed yet. It’s the familiar phishing attack. For instance, you get an email that looks like it was sent by your bank or other familiar place. Phishing typically has an urgent message and a link that directs you to what looks like a credible page. You click a link and it asks for your email address and email password. Once you’ve done that, you gave the bad guys your credentials.
Tip: Pay attention to who is sending the email and hover the mouse over the link to see where it goes. If you are concerned about your bank account, for example, open up a browser and type the URL manually rather than clicking the link. Or if you’re really nervous, call the number on the back of your credit card or ATM card and ask the bank if they sent you the email. Another trick is to simply hit the REPLY button and see where the email is going…if it looks sketchy and unusual it’s probably bad.
One of our favorite exercises is to have everyone change their email and banking passwords when you change the clocks for daylight savings. That way your oldest password is just 6 months and you will be familiar with the process in case you’re away from your computer and need to get into one of your accounts.
Finally, turning on 2FA (2-factor Authentication) or MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) is a great way to secure your accounts. Basically, when you login to your email or bank it will send a one-time code to your cell phone in order to get into the account. So, if a bad guy tries to hack into your account, he won’t be able to because he needs the code sent to your phone. It’s a good thing.
These tips can help you to protect your valuable passwords. Still, setting up a password manager and amping up your internet security can help too. Need support getting ahead of the cybercriminals? Contact our experts today! Call us at (732) 747-0020.
Does Mesh Wi-Fi Make Sense in Your Home?
Wi-Fi is a top contender for a technology most of us rely upon. After all, Wi-Fi often provides our wireless high-speed internet and network connections. Without Wi-Fi we’d be stuck watching another reality TV show on a cable-connected device. We couldn’t work from wherever we wanted in our homes.
Well, just when you were becoming familiar with Wi-Fi, the technology is adapting. Now, you might want to consider Mesh Wi-Fi for your home. If you live in a big house or an apartment with thick interior walls, or your living space is spread out over multiple stories, you may have experienced dead spots.
Enter Mesh Wi-Fi. Traditional Wi-Fi relies on a single device to broadcast your Wi-Fi signal, aka your router. If you were having connectivity issues, you might have invested in a Wi-Fi booster or Wi-Fi extender, but now you can reach far areas with a Wi-Fi Mesh system. Besides, those boosters, repeaters and extenders seemed to only work in limited cases…and never well or long-term.
Mesh networks aren’t a new thing, really. They’re already in use in businesses, hotels, hospitals, college campuses and on military bases with their own isolated networks. But now you can also optimize home connectivity with Mesh Wi-Fi.
How Mesh Wi-Fi works
With Mesh Wi-Fi, you’ll place several smaller, connected devices around the house. Instead of having one main router, you’ll have many access points (also known as satellites) capturing and rebroadcasting the routing signals you need for whole-house connectivity.
Benefits of Mesh Wi-Fi
Having ready access to a strong, reliable Wi-Fi signal wherever you are in your home is a good thing, but that’s not the only advantage of Mesh Wi-Fi. Other benefits include:
- Greater speed. With all access points broadcasting the same signal, you can cut the lag from having multiple, simultaneous connectivity requests. This is HUGE!
- Better coverage. Typical Mesh Wi-Fi devices can cover homes 4,000 to 6,000 square feet and more!
- Ease of use. The typical Mesh router system is automated and provides a mobile app for easy management, even remotely. You can make changes, monitor activity and even pause the internet for the kids and make them do homework!
- Integration with other Smart Home devices such as Alexa is often a feature.
Securing your Mesh Wi-Fi
Just as with traditional Wi-Fi, the security of your Mesh Wi-Fi will depend on your keeping your router devices safe. This means:
- Changing the device’s administrative credentials and password from their default settings;
- Setting up devices to automatically check for and install security updates;
- Changing the Wi-Fi network name to something unique, not something that immediately identifies the network as yours (e.g. if you live at 804 Water Street, don’t call your network 804 Water);
- Setting up a guest Wi-Fi network allowing visitors to log on to that instead of providing every guest to your home with your access credentials.
Mesh Wi-Fi is also known as whole-house Wi-Fi, but you may not need this expansive solution. Consider this…how often do you have connectivity issues? How many Wi-Fi dead zones are you dealing with? What’s your budget? And do you really want several more devices around your house? You just might need only to set up your traditional router more efficiently in terms of placement.
Want to learn more about dealing with slow internet connectivity or Wi-Fi dead spots in your home? Give us a call at (732) 747-0020 or visit www.tworivercomputer.com. Our experts can help you decide on the best Wi-Fi connectivity option for your needs.
5 Computer Myths Debunked
Common urban myths would have us believe alligators live in sewers or people put razor blades in kids’ candy. Common misconceptions about computers are just as persistent. Here are several IT myths debunked for your benefit.
#1 A slow-running computer has a virus
A virus can be to blame. Spyware or other malware can also cause a computer to slow down. However, there are also many other reasons your computer might run slower:
- You may have a lot of programs that start up when you boot up the computer. You could remove or disable programs that start every time.
- The computer has gone into power save mode every night, but you haven’t rebooted the computer in a long time. We recommend restarting your computer once a week to keep it running well.
- There are many programs running in the background. On a Windows PC, you can go into task manager and see what is running and the computer resources in use.
- A security utility is running. If it’s an antivirus scanner, let the scan finish first, then see if your computer speed improves. Routine scans are necessary to maintain security, but when they run on older computers it can really slow them down while it’s running.
- Temporary files or other junk are taking up too much hard drive space. Your computer needs at least 200–500MB of free space on the hard drive to be able to move and manage files. An annual clean-up or tune-up should ensure that you don’t have too little free space to operate properly.
- Your computer doesn’t have enough RAM to run programs within memory. If your computer has to swap information on the hard drive to get enough memory to run programs, it’s going to work slower. Computers with only 4gb of RAM these days fall into this category. 8gb is almost a must and more is always better.
- The computer is old. You may need to upgrade to a computer that can handle current software needs without slowing to a snail’s pace. Or you can upgrade what you have by adding a fast SSD hard disk to replace your older mechanical hard drive. That can keep your computer running super-fast and keep it out of the landfill.
#2 Macs don’t get viruses
Many Apple owners believe their Macintosh computers are immune to viruses. Not true! Macs do get viruses and can get malware infections; they are simply targeted less than PCs. Why? There are many more computers running Windows, which means a bigger, easier target for cybercriminals.
As Apple’s market share rises, the threat to Macs is growing. Apple works to protect its users from malware, but you still need to use caution with downloads and when clicking on links from unknown sources.
#3 My Windows registry needs cleaning up
Registry cleaning companies will say that scanning your Windows registry can speed up the computer and avoid error messages. The cleaner finds unused registry keys and any malware remnants for removal.
But let’s consider the fact that Microsoft has not released its own registry cleaner. Why not? Because it’s really not necessary. Worse still, going in to clean your registry (when you don’t know what you’re doing) can actually do serious damage. This was an issue years ago back when Windows 98 and Windows XP were still prevalent, but it’s no longer the case.
#4 My laptop battery needs to be dead before I recharge if I want it to last longer
This was once true. Nickel-cadmium batteries suffered from what was called a “memory effect.” If discharged and recharged to the same point several times, they would remember that point in the future and not go further.
Now, however, laptops typically come with lithium-ion (or Li-ion) batteries. They don’t suffer from this memory effect. In fact, they function better with partial discharge instead of letting the battery run down to zero. We still recommend that new laptops should fully discharge and recharge 3 times when you first start using them to increase battery life.
#5 I don’t have anything hackers would want
Cybersecurity should be a priority for everyone, not only large companies and government agencies. Let’s put it this way:
- Do you have any money?
- Do you have an identity that cybercriminals could use to access money or sell for money?
- Do you work anywhere?
Hackers have all kinds of ways to profit from your data or from hijacking your computer’s processing power. They can turn your computer into part of a bot network or use your information as a bridge into a business target’s system.
Keep all your computers at top speed with the best security measures in place with the help of our experts. Contact us today at (732) 747-0020 or visit www.tworivercomputer.com
Windows keyboard shortcuts
Time for What Matters: Essential Windows Shortcuts
The average person spends 90,000 hours at work. These hours can cost us sleep, affect our mood, and cause us to gain weight. Oh, and work can cause stress, too. We can’t give you a “get out of work free” card, but these essential Windows keyboard shortcuts will help you save time. Some of us LOVE the keyboard shortcuts, while others use the right-mouse button click for these functions. We’ll focus on the keyboard shortcuts in this month’s TechTalk.
By gaining efficiency at your computer, you may find you have more time for what matters. At work, this may be devising new innovations or getting out in the field to visit a customer or vendor. At home, these shortcuts can free up time to play a board game with the kids or do some serious NetFlix bingwatching!
So, try these out and see if they make sense and save you time also. We know they will, so try them out!
Ctrl + C to Copy
Use your mouse cursor to highlight the particular text/table/image/file that you want to copy. Once you highlight the area you want, press the Ctrl and the letter C to perform the “copy” function. See Ctrl + V to Paste below for the next step.
Ctrl + X to Cut
Think about X marking the spot in the text where you want to cut words, an image, or a website address. Drag your cursor over the selection to highlight the particular text/table/image/file (or a part of it). Once you highlight the area you want, press the Ctrl and the letter X to perform the “cut” function. The highlighted area will disappear or “cut” from the page. If you don’t want it at all, the cut function is another version of delete. Therefore, you do nothing more. But if you want to move or paste the selection elsewhere, this is your first step. See Ctrl + V to Paste below for the next step.
Ctrl + V to Paste
With this simple shortcut you can place the information you just copied (Ctrl + C) or cut (Ctrl + X) anywhere you want. The important thing to remember is that the paste function only holds one selection in memory. So, if you cut a phrase from one place, don’t get distracted by an image you want to copy or other text to cut. You want to paste what you have first, then go back and copy or cut the next thing so as not to risk risking losing anything.
Ctrl + Z to Undo
If only this shortcut was available in real life. We could retract that thing we inadvertently said to Uncle Steve, or take out the salt we put in a recipe instead of sugar, or avoid leaving the house for the gym without our running shoes. This would truly be amazing!
Still, Windows users are able to undo their most recent action with this key combination. Whichever Windows program you’re in, you can use Ctrl + Z to reverse your last action. So if you deleted something by accident…inserted something by accident…or just decided that the colors you just picked or the font change you just made in your resume don’t look good, then just Ctrl+Z to “undo” it. In fact, you can keep hitting Ctrl+Z and undo the last bunch of changes you made.
Alt + Tab to Switch Screens
There are many things you can do with Windows. Perhaps you’re multitasking and you have a PowerPoint open, as well as an Excel spreadsheet, and Internet Explorer, too. By pressing Alt and then the Tab key, you can switch between tabs or screens. If you hold down the Alt button while tapping Tab, you’ll scroll through all screens. I will press and hold the Alt key and tap TAB without letting go of Alt. All the open windows appear in a nice grid. Keep holding Alt and then tap TAB to move the highlighted box to the program you want to switch to and release the keys to open it! This is my favorite and I use it all the time. Perfect for going back and forth between 2 programs.
Ctrl + F to Find
This is another one we’d love to see in the real world. Using the find shortcut calls up a pop-up box where you can enter text or numbers. You can use this shortcut to find what you’re looking for on a Web page, in a PDF document, or in your rough draft of a speech. In fact, you’ll be able to see how many times your search text appears and easily toggle from one selection to the next.
Ctrl + Mouse to Zoom
Forget your reading glasses? Having a tough time locating the right tiny file on your desktop? You can zoom in with this shortcut. Using this shortcut on your desktop makes files and folders larger. In your internet browser, this function zooms in on the page. You can leave it zoomed in or zoom back out when you’re done. So, press Ctrl key and hold it while you scroll the mouse wheel, but move slowly or things will shrink or expand too quickly on you!
Want to know more about Windows and technology to streamline processes? Our experts can help you find the right computer solutions for your home or office. Contact us at (732) 747-0020 today!