ATECH MSP Blog

Habits are hard to break - but there are some habits that simply have to be broken if your business is going to be secure. Many of these habits may have been developed by your employees, which means that it is important that you recognize them.

Productivity is a huge priority in today’s business world, and with today’s technology, it can be achieved at just about any time. However, with the way our brains are wired, staring at our screens late at night isn’t great for our capacity to sleep. However, there are a few settings that you can change to reduce these impacts. Here, we’ll give a few tips to help you do so.

Malware is a commonality in today’s computing environment, though businesses do everything in their power to avoid encountering it. Some people have difficulty identifying threats, which makes for a dangerous situation whenever they actually have to handle them. We’ve put together a malware guide that will help your employees identify the most common types of threats out there, as well as how to respond to them.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence have enabled us to accomplish great things with the computers we have access to today. However, it is equally true that these same innovations have also produced a great number of threats. One threat that is particularly dangerous in today’s day and age is the presence, and growing prevalence, of “deepfakes” in the media.

In the previous parts of this computer buying guide, we discussed how to determine the specifications for your desired PC, including CPU, RAM, storage, and display options. In this final part, we’ll cover some ideas that didn’t quite fit into the previous parts.

Your desktop needs a monitor or a screen to plug into it, so let’s discuss some of the options and considerations you should keep in mind when purchasing a new display. Chief among these are how many monitors you’ll need, the graphics type, and the specs associated with each of the monitors.

We’ve reached part three of our guide to buying a new computer. As you’re comparison shopping, you’ll probably notice that there are a few options regarding their storage. This is true of most modern gadgets, like smartphones and tablets. iPhones can come with 64 GB (gigabytes) of storage, or you can invest in a model with 128 GB. However, when selecting a computer (desktop or laptop), its memory is especially important to its performance.

Part two of our desktop buying guide is dedicated to RAM, or random access memory. Many users find this difficult to understand, so we’ll do our best to explain it and emphasize how important it is to ensure you get the best build possible for your new computer.

If you are looking to purchase a new desktop for your office or your home, you need to ask yourself several difficult questions to get the most bang for your buck. This is a five-part blog that will help you determine the right computer for the job. In this article, you’ll learn how to select the right CPU, or central processing unit.

Florida’s Atlantic coast is a destination for millions of visitors each year. One visitor is costing a coastal city a pretty penny. Riviera Beach, a small city just north of West Palm Beach, has been hit with a major ransomware attack. Today, we’ll tell you how it came to be that the small beach city would make dubious history by paying what is the largest ransomware payout in the short history of these attacks.

Being an authority in small business IT, we have to suggest a lot of different solutions to our clients. One thing we are sure to do is to suggest implementing cloud platforms, whether public or private, as a way to extend the reach of your business. The problem becomes that once some people are bit by the cloud bug, they go all out. Today, we’ll take a look at cloud computing’s cost, and whether or not access to cloud applications can actually be hurting your business.

When was the last time you thought seriously about upgrading your business’s technology solutions--particularly its software? We know that administering patches and updates can be challenging for some businesses to maintain, but with the right support, it’s more manageable and certainly more secure. Unfortunately, after a certain period of time passes, Microsoft stops supporting certain outdated solutions, rendering them dangerous and obsolete.

Any organization that is running unpatched versions of older Windows operating systems is playing with fire… period. Therefore, it’s your prerogative to make sure you’re adequately protecting your business’ data, and one of the most important ways you can do this is by ensuring your infrastructure is properly maintained.

Work isn’t always great, and it can be stressful to boot. Distractions certainly don’t help, as they can complicate your schedule and get in the way of responsibilities. With the right strategies on your side, you could potentially eliminate some of this stress. Here are some of the ways you can do so.

Ransomware is a contender for the favorite method of attack for hackers. If you think about it, ransomware presents a no-loss situation. Either the victim pays the ransom and the hackers laugh all the way to the bank, or they move on to the next target and give them the same ultimatum.

Hackers aren’t the only ones out there developing malware tools, but sometimes, they get their hands on some of the others. This is precisely what happened when Double Pulsar, a malware that the NSA has used in the past, was paired with a Chinese hacking tool and used to attack Hong Kong and Belgium in 2016.

There are many aspects that go into making effective use of your office workstation, and one of them is utilizing the features that come with your Windows operating system. There is a lot to cover on that front, but one of the simpler ways your business can leverage its workstations more effectively is through its taskbar. You’ll be able to save time and customize your workstation to best suit your needs.

Microsoft’s place as one of the forefathers of modern computing is solidified, and one reason is that most PCs in the world run Microsoft Windows OS. In fact, some figures have reported that the number of Windows run PCs compared with other OS’s to be about 9-to-1. With that many computers relying on Windows OS, the software giant has made a habit of updating their offerings with the capabilities of the hardware produced to run this OS. As a result, they can’t support older software titles forever. It just so happens that two of the most utilized operating systems Microsoft has ever created are approaching their end of life date. They are Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Ransomware is still going strong, and now more than ever it’s important to emphasize the danger that it poses for your organization. Even municipalities and other high-profile targets are at risk of being taken down by ransomware. Since 2013, over 170 government systems at the county, city, or state levels have been attacked.

When you consider your business’ strengths, you might feel the need to focus on quantifiable aspects that can be defined with numbers. There are some competitive advantages to this, but it’s especially important to keep in mind that perhaps the most important quantifiable strength you have is your ability to sustain a positive company culture.