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John Reilly

How to Automatically Recover Your Lost Microsoft Office Files

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How to Automatically Recover Your Lost Microsoft Office Files
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b2ap3_thumbnail_ms_office_recovery_400.jpgHave you ever been in a situation where you’ve had your computer shut down randomly or lose power, only to lose progress on a file that you’ve been working on for countless hours? If you haven’t recently saved the file, you might panic and assume the worst. How can you prevent this catastrophe from falling upon your business?

Microsoft Word, as well as other parts of the Office productivity suite like Excel and PowerPoint, all are capable of performing an auto recovery. By harnessing the power of this aspect of the Microsoft Office productivity suite, you’ll be able to minimize data loss due to unsaved files or sudden power-downs.

How to Enable AutoRecovery in Office
Autorecovery is enabled in Office 2013 by default, but just in case, you should check to make sure that you don’t have to manually turn it on. Go to File > Options > Save, and you’ll see the option to Save AutoRecover information every x minutes. There should be another option directly underneath, which says Keep the last autosaved version if I close without saving. If both of these are checked, you should be all set. Just don’t forget to enter a number for how frequently auto recovery occurs. Click OK to continue.

Depending on how frequently you saved your work, the next few steps will be somewhat different. If you saved the file that you want to recover, you can restore it to what it looked like prior to the sudden power-down. To do so, open the file you’re working on, and go to File > Info. Under Versions, you can see the various versions of the file you were working on. The one labeled (when I closed without saving) should ring a bell. Once you’ve selected it, click Restore in the yellow bar at the top of the page. This will overwrite any previously saved version of your file, but at least you’ll have it back.

If you haven’t saved your file, however, you can still recover it. You just have to follow a slightly different path. Click File > Info > Manage Versions > Recover Unsaved Documents. If you’re working in Excel, select Recover Unsaved Workbooks, and in PowerPoint, you should select Recover Unsaved Presentations. Once you find the file you want to recover, click Open. In the yellow bar, choose Save As, and you’re done.

Other Solutions
Even with built-in autosave features, your business is going to need other data backup and recovery solutions. One of the best ways you can improve the way you approach disaster recovery is by implementing an enterprise-level backup and disaster recovery (BDR) device. By taking backups as often as every 15 minutes, and rapidly deploying backups as needed, the BDR can keep your business’s data as recent and up-to-date as possible, ensuring minimal data loss in the face of disaster. A BDR can also temporarily take the place of your server, which makes it a great way to deal with costly and frustrating downtime.

For more information about Microsoft Office or BDR, give Infradapt a call at 800.394.2301.

Tags:
Microsoft Office Quick Tips Microsoft
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John Reilly

There’s No Good Reason Why Managing Your Email Should Be a Hassle

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There’s No Good Reason Why Managing Your Email Should Be a Hassle

b2ap3_thumbnail_email_in_the_cloud_400.jpgYour business is no-doubt reliant on your email solution as a critical communications component. Without it, your organization’s operations could be significantly hampered, forcing you to improvise in order to reach out to internal and external parties. As an important part of any business’s communications, it’s crucial that your email solution is as efficient as possible, but managing an email server can be challenging for the average business owner.

Email server hosting is an issue that outsourced IT companies like Infradapt help businesses resolve. Doing so allows your business to reap the many benefits of outsourced IT solutions, one of which frees your business from the burden of managing its own technology, and the immense costs associated with doing so.

What is Hosted Email?
Email hosting is a service that helps businesses save money and time by outsourcing the upkeep and management of the organization’s email server to a third party. Your email server would be hosted in a secure, off-site data center that is maintained by a managed service provider, like the professional technicians at Infradapt. The most valuable aspect of a hosted email solution is that it’s tailored to your business’s specific needs. It’s not an “out of the box” solution that’s designed to work for all businesses; rather, we take the time to help it work specifically for your business.

The Benefits
Your business has the power to gain a significant advantage over your competition by outsourcing your email hosting to Infradapt. Here are three key benefits that your business will enjoy:

  • Less time spent on maintenance and management: One of your business’s most valuable assets is time. There’s a finite amount of it in the day, and if it’s lost to technology maintenance and management, you can’t get it back. If an external party is managing your technology instead of your in-house team, you free up countless hours during the workday that can be better spent on other initiatives.
  • Flexibility and scalability: Another major benefit is that hosted email is designed specifically to suit the needs of your business. This means that you get an intensive email solution that helps your business play to its strengths. You can easily add or remove users, which makes hosted email a much more flexible solution that can fit into any business’s budget.
  • Security and redundancy: Hackers understand that your email solution is a valuable asset, and they want to use it to siphon as much information from your network as they can. Spam and phishing emails have the power to completely derail your network security if left unchecked. Having your email hosted in a secure data center allows your business to focus primarily on network security measures that are designed to mitigate the threats posed by spam and malware. Enterprise-level spam blocking solutions have proven to be proficient at limiting exposure to threats, so they’re exceptionally powerful solutions for your network.

Infradapt wants to help your business fully leverage its technology through email hosting and other communications solutions. To learn more, give us a call at 800.394.2301.

Tags:
Hosted Solutions Cloud Email
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John Reilly

Prevent Being Taken By Familiarizing Yourself With These 4 Social Engineering Tips

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Prevent Being Taken By Familiarizing Yourself With These 4 Social Engineering Tips

b2ap3_thumbnail_the_risks_of_doing_business_400.jpgDid you know that some of the most successful hackers actually know very little about computer coding? In many cases, a hacker simply tricking someone into handing over their personal information works out even better for them. This is a tactic known as social engineering, and the only way to defend against it is to stay one step ahead of the hacker’s devious plans.

What makes social engineering tactics so dangerous is that there are so many different ways that a hacker can fool their victims. These hackers know how to appeal to the wide range of human emotions in order to get someone so riled up, panicked, or excited that they’ll go ahead and fork over their personal information without considering if the source of the message is legit or not. For business owners, the worst thing about social engineering is that these tactics can bypass your expensive software security solutions, due to the fact that the nature of the scam tricks an employee into manually bypassing it. Therefore, you and your staff should know what social engineering tricks hackers have up their sleeves.

4 Social Engineering Tactics You MUST Be Mindful Of
Generally speaking, most social engineering tactics fall under the category of phishing scams. These are specialized scams where someone’s personal information is targeted, which can often be easily gleaned from a basic Internet and social media search. Note: a reason like social engineering is why it’s best practice to be extra careful regarding the nature of the personal information you post to the web.

Be sure to commit these four social engineering tactics to memory:

  • Play on trusted relationships: There are people in your life who you’ve come to trust over the course of several positive interactions. If a hacker can pose as a person whom you trust, like a close friend or a family member, then they’ve got easy access to your personal information.
  • A request for information: Using tactics similar to the above example, if a hacker can convince you that they’re a bank, insurance company, or any other large institution which holds your account information, then they’ll try to trick the user by requesting a confirmation of your sensitive information, like passwords. Remember, reputable institutions never request this kind of information via email. Also, you should be on the lookout for phone scammers that will try the same approach over the phone.
  • Posing as one who has authority: Some people trust authority figures so much that they’ll do what they’re told without question. Overly trusting people like this can be susceptible to being conned by hackers posing as authority figures, like government agencies and even employers. One such trick that you may have seen in your own inbox is spam messages trying to get you to sign up for “jury duty.”
  • A fake IT department: This one hits a little too close to home for us. Companies that are large enough where your employees aren’t familiar with who runs their IT may fall for an email posing as someone representing their IT department. This is why it’s vital that your staff knows, without a doubt, who’s running your business’s IT, no matter what size of company you operate.

These attacks don’t just come in through email; scammers might attempt to introduce themselves over the phone before they can infiltrate your network.

Having your staff be familiarized with these common tactics will go a long way in keeping your data safe, but there’s more you can do. Like understanding that any unsolicited request for sensitive information, whether it be by email or phone, is an automatic red flag. It’s also prudent to teach your workers to cross reference the contact information provided in the message with what you’ve got on file.

At the end of the day, a software security solution like a spam filter from Infradapt will still help in preventing spam messages from even hitting your inbox in the first place. To protect your company from every tactic in a hacker’s arsenal, call us today at 800.394.2301.

Tags:
Social Engineering Hackers Malware
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John Reilly

2 Troubleshooting Tips For Common VoIP Issues

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2 Troubleshooting Tips For Common VoIP Issues

b2ap3_thumbnail_new_phone_solution_400.jpgVoice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is a voice communication solution that’s grown exceedingly popular in the workplace environment. One of the reasons it’s preferred is that it cuts costs on your cable bill, and allows for maximum mobility. Unfortunately, even a solution as reliable as VoIP can have a few minor kinks that will need troubleshooting. Here are two ways your business can optimize your VoIP solution.

Make Sure Your Internet Connection is Substantial
Any online technology that your business utilizes will need a strong and stable Internet connection in order to function properly. An Internet connection that constantly drops out could lead to dropped calls with VoIP, which is both embarrassing and unprofessional, especially if you’re in the middle of important business discussions. Downtime is something that you want to avoid at all costs, especially if there’s a significant portion of your infrastructure and files that are stored in the cloud. CyberTrend explains:

If you’ve ever been on a VoIP call and heard the other person’s voice cutting out, then you’ve experienced jitter, which is due to occasional packet loss. Other issues, such as echo and delay, also impact the quality of a VoIP call and are often caused by network-related issues.

Therefore, guaranteeing that your Internet connection can handle sufficient amounts of traffic is an imperative part of optimizing the way you use your VoIP solution. You should work with your Internet service provider to ensure that your connection is both secure and stable, but if you need help understanding the specific needs of your business, Infradapt can give you an idea of what you need.

Make Sure Your Network Can Handle the Traffic
Bandwidth is a fickle mistress for organizations utilizing resource-intensive technology, and even for growing companies. For example, a small startup might have been able to get by just fine at first, but as a company grows, its number of employees will increase, and so does the strain put on its Internet connection. Older networks in particular might not enjoy the increased workload that VoIP services tend to exert without some retooling. Generally speaking, older networks will probably have trouble keeping up with new technology simply because they’re aging, which can negatively affect your ability to get work done. CyberTrend explains:

If you run your VoIP system in-house over your own network and encounter performance issues, then it's possible your current network was set up “using older assumptions,” says Dan Conde, Enterprise Strategy Group analyst. When your network was built, he says, you perhaps only had regular landline phones and “were not set up properly for VoIP.”

The best way to guarantee that your business’s network will work well with Voice over Internet Protocol is to contact Infradapt. Our expert technicians can perform a comprehensive analysis of your network infrastructure to ensure that any choke points or bottlenecks have been addressed, and that your data is being deployed at optimal efficiency. Doing so will help to make VoIP an easier solution to take advantage of.

Troubleshooting problems with your VoIP solution doesn’t have to be painful. Not only can Infradapt aid in the troubleshooting process, but we can also help you set up VoIP, if you don’t already have a solution put in place. Our technicians are trained in maintaining and implementing new VoIP technology, so you can rest easy knowing that you’re in capable hands.

One of the primary goals of your VoIP solution is for it to be completely scalable for your needs. Furthermore, we can host your VoIP solution for you, which means it’s hands-off maintenance. For more information about getting started with VoIP, give us a call at 800.394.2301.

Tags:
Telephone Systems communications VoIP
John Reilly

4 Features Every Business Needs in a Backup Solution

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4 Features Every Business Needs in a Backup Solution

b2ap3_thumbnail_data_backup_solution_400.jpgOne of the most valuable assets of your business is its data. Hackers know this; it’s why they choose to go after those who fail to protect their information. Without your data, you’ll lose valuable time and expenses that can potentially result in the complete and total destruction of your business. This is why it’s so crucial that your organization understands how to integrate a proper data backup solution that optimizes business continuity.

To give you an idea of what you should be looking for in a backup and disaster recovery solution, here are four traits that your business continuity plan should have.

Fully Automated Backup Processes
One of the most common backup solutions - tape - is notorious for being prone to user error. Tape backups must be taken manually, and users are responsible for making sure the backup media is archived with minimal complications. In the event that the backup process doesn’t happen for some reason, you could be losing as much as an entire day’s worth of data and progress. This is why an automatic backup solution, like Infradapt’s Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solution, is the ideal choice; you get a fully automatic solution that doesn’t depend on your staff to be performed properly.

Multiple Backups Daily
Another major pain point for business backup solutions is the fact that tape backups only happen once a day. Considering how much data can be lost from an entire day, it’s no surprise that this is a major problem. The main issue here is that tape backup is an exceptionally resource-intensive process, and that tape backups take copies of all files on a network, even those that haven’t been changed since the last backup was taken. Infradapt’s BDR is unique in that it only takes snapshots of data that has been changed since the last update, rather than all files, which allows for multiple backups throughout the day. The backups with BDR are less intensive so they can occur more frequently; we like to recommend backing up every fifteen minutes.

Secure Off-Site Storage
A key component of any business looking to optimize business continuity is by taking advantage of off-site locations for data backup. Too many businesses keep their tape backups on-site, either physically or digitally on the network. The problem with this is that the backed-up data can be destroyed in the event of a catastrophic natural disaster or hardware failure, causing businesses to lose their data permanently. Infradapt’s BDR device can back up data that’s stored remotely in an off-site data center, which makes accessing your data much easier in the event of a disaster.

Rapid Disaster Recovery
One last feature that you want from your backup and disaster recovery solution is a fast restoration time. Restoring from tape can be a drawn-out process that’s limited by hardware restraints, and it’s often the case that tape restoration will require the oversight of a technician. Following the disaster, your organization can restore its network data from its BDR in a matter of minutes. Furthermore, the BDR can act as a temporary server, effectively taking the place of your hardware while your downed server is repaired.

If you need assistance setting up a quality backup and disaster recovery plan, contact Infradapt at 800.394.2301.

Tags:
Recovery BDR Backup
John Reilly

Botnets Go Mobile, Making the Internet Less Safe

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Botnets Go Mobile, Making the Internet Less Safe

b2ap3_thumbnail_botnet_dangerous_400.jpgHackers are notorious for exploiting technology for their benefit, but users often forget that mobile devices are exploited just as often as desktops and workstations; perhaps more so, due to their higher exposure to wireless networks that may not be secure. One of the greatest threats to mobile devices is the botnet, which is designed to enslave a device and have it turn on its owner (and the entire Internet).

How a Botnet Works
What makes botnets so dangerous is the fact that you’re not dealing with a single threat; rather, you’re dealing with several computers or devices that have been infected and turned into bots, which are controlled remotely by hackers. As explained by CyberTrend, botnets are:

[...] a series of computers, or smartphones and tablets in the case of mobile bots, that have been infected with a self-replicating backdoor Trojan that lets cybercriminals force the network to perform unauthorized commands, en masse. Once infected with such malware, a computer or mobile device becomes a single node in the botnet, referred to as a zombie or bot. The strength of the botnet is in the numbers. Cybercriminals use a system known as a command-and-control computer to issue commands and distribute the malware.

In more basic terms, the botnet is the very definition of a zombie horde; it absorbs more devices by infecting them over time, eventually becoming a huge force to be reckoned with. The devices are then coerced into performing all sorts of functions, like spreading the malware to new systems, generating spam, collecting or stealing information, and so on. One of the more dangerous things that a huge botnet can do is perform a DDoS attack, which can overload servers with enough traffic to knock them offline. Immense downtime can lead to wasted time and expenses that can otherwise be avoided.

Why Mobile Devices?
While the desktop and workstation platforms can take advantage of comprehensive security solutions that are specifically designed to keep threats out, mobile device security often doesn’t work in the same way. Plus, when you consider the fact that many people forget that smartphones are viable hacking options, mobile devices can be considered at risk of being turned into botnets. With Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) being a popular office trend, malware, viruses, and spyware can be spread at an even greater rate than before.

What To Do
The most basic way to keep your devices from being turned into part of a botnet is to ensure that your security solutions are both comprehensive and up to date. Taking a proactive stance against online threats can help your systems stay away from botnet infections, and more importantly, your devices will avoid becoming pawns that only make the infection worse. Your mobile devices should be using some sort of security solution, and all apps used on the device should stay updated. Using the most recent versions of apps can minimize your business’s security risks.

Mobile botnets are growing in number, but the PC variant is much more common. You should be prepared to protect your business’s assets from hacking attacks of all kinds. A Unified Threat Management solution is the ideal solution to your network security needs. It can keep malware and viruses from accessing the network, clean up potential threats, put a halt to spam, and block malicious or time-wasting web content. To learn more, give us a call at 800.394.2301.

Tags:
Network Security Hackers Malware
John Reilly

3 Questions to Consider Before Implementing a Private Cloud Solution

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3 Questions to Consider Before Implementing a Private Cloud Solution

b2ap3_thumbnail_security_of_private_cloud_400.jpgWith cloud computing on the rise in the business environment, it’s becoming more clear that organizations need to know what type of cloud solution will best benefit their business model. With the private cloud gaining much attention, it’s important to know what attracts businesses to it. Why should your business implement a private cloud solution, and how should you go about doing so?

The private cloud is an infrastructure that businesses usually host either in-house or remotely through a managed provider. This cloud system is managed and maintained by either in-house technicians, or by outsourced IT professionals like Infradapt. Either way, you need someone who has the skills to maintain your new cloud solution, and this depends on how much control you want over your cloud. This is the main idea behind going with a private cloud; you get more responsibility, but you achieve far greater control than you would if you were to take advantage of the public cloud.

Without further ado, here are three questions to consider before committing to a private cloud solution.

Can Your In-House Staff Handle It?
Before implementing a private cloud solution, you should be absolutely certain that you have personnel on-hand that are ready to take on the responsibility. Integrating and maintaining a private cloud solution is knowledge-intensive, and you’ll need dedicated technicians available to handle your in-house cloud demands. If you’re not sure whether or not your team has the time or skills necessary for such an implementation, you can still take advantage of a private cloud. Infradapt can host and maintain your cloud solution for you, and our technicians are more than happy to help you with any of your cloud computing needs.

Is Data Security a Top Priority?
A good business owner should realize that their data’s security is a top priority, and it’s one of the biggest points of contention when choosing your cloud infrastructure. Compared to the public cloud, which is hosted and maintained by the provider, the average business owner who utilizes a private cloud has the freedom to integrate secondary security measures if they so desire. Even though the public cloud is relatively secure (or at least it’s expected to be), this plays into the fact that a business needs more control over security than the typical Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive user.

How Much Control Do You Need?
Data control is another pivotal pain point that the business owner needs to consider before implementing a cloud solution. Having so much control over your data is a good thing, but only if you’re absolutely sure that you need to have complete and total control. By hosting your data in-house, you can know with certainty that it’s in your hands, rather than in the hands of some third-party cloud provider.

If any of these pain points seems to be an issue for your organization, you should know that a hybrid cloud solution presents many of the same benefits of a private cloud without sacrificing functionality. As reported by Processor magazine, “It’s also safe to assume that hybrid cloud environments will advance as both private cloud infrastructure and public cloud offerings share the market.” You can invest in a hybrid cloud with confidence, knowing that your organization’s infrastructure will be solid for years to come.

Today’s cloud computing technology shouldn’t be daunting, especially with experts like Infradapt standing at your side. To discuss how your organization can fully leverage your business technology solutions, give us a call at 800.394.2301.

Tags:
Private Cloud Hosted Solutions Cloud
John Reilly

Why it’s Beneficial to Know What Your Network’s Firewall Does

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Why it’s Beneficial to Know What Your Network’s Firewall Does

b2ap3_thumbnail_firewall_security_400.jpgYour network’s firewall plays a vital role in protecting your business’s mission-critical assets from external threats. As one of the most basic PC security layers, it would be silly to function without one. Granted, having a firewall and knowing what it protects you from are two different things entirely. To maximize your business’s data security infrastructure, you should pay close attention to how each individual part of your security solution works, including your firewall.

What a Firewall Does
As the first security entity that threats come up against, the firewall is a prominent part of your network security strategy. It analyzes the data that flows in and out of your network, making sure that threats aren’t sneaking in or out. You can consider it a bouncer for your network, making sure that only safe information passes to and from your network.

As defined by Gartner’s IT glossary:

A firewall is an application or an entire computer (e.g., an Internet gateway server) that controls access to the network and monitors the flow of network traffic. A firewall can screen and keep out unwanted network traffic and ward off outside intrusion into a private network. This is particularly important when a local network connects to the Internet. Firewalls have become critical applications as use of the Internet has increased.

Basically, the best part of your firewall solution is that it keeps the threats out of your network, while still allowing you to use your network without any hassles. Even the average PC user can benefit from a firewall solution. Considering how most computers and devices aren’t nearly as wary about sharing their information as they should be, it’s important that you are using one at all times. This is the precise reason why many businesses choose to integrate separate hardware-based security solutions that are capable of being deployed to your entire IT infrastructure, not just individual workstations and servers.

Why Firewalls Are Necessary
The Internet is an unpredictable place full of threats, like viruses, malware, spyware, phishing attacks, and so much more. If left unchecked, these threats can steal information, render your infrastructure inoperable, lock down your systems for ransom; pretty much anything is game for hackers. This is why you need to keep threats out of your system at all costs, and a firewall is the first big step toward doing so. If your organization handles sensitive data like Social Security numbers, credit card information, and personal records, you need to make sure that your business is extra secure; otherwise, you could run into some trouble by violating HIPAA, PCI, and other compliance regulations.

One of the most important benefits of using a firewall is that it makes your business’s security initiatives proactive rather than reactive, meaning that you can keep potential issues in check, provided they’re found early enough. This helps you limit the damage done by potential security breaches, and helps you better manage damage control. Integrating a firewall is a vital first step, but you should also be aware of a Unified Threat Management solution, which includes antivirus, content filtering, spam blocker, and the ever-important firewall. For more information, contact Infradapt at 800.394.2301.

Tags:
Firewall Privacy Security
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