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Sign up for our Remind notifications!

October 26, 2016 by Mike Ellis Leave a Comment

In the world of computer support, the more information you have, the better your chances of being able to put your computing device to the best possible use. As a result, at Tech Solutions NC, we make sure that we do as much as we can to teach you about your computers. For us, training our clients on how to get the most out of their systems is as much of a priority as making sure that their systems work the way they should.

To that end, today we are pleased to announce that you can sign up for notifications from us using the Remind app. For parents of school-aged children, you’ll know Remind as one of the tools that your child’s teacher uses to help you stay informed on things that are going on in the classroom that everyone needs to know about. Remind is uniquely positioned as a great way for people to receive little tidbits of information quickly, easily, and in such a fashion that they can act on that immediately or hold off on it for a little while.

If you are interested in signing up to receive Remind notifications from Tech Solutions NC, here are the steps to follow.

Sign up via Text Message

Sign up for email messages

In addition to those means of signing up for Remind messages, you can also sign up using the link below:

https://www.remind.com/join/techsolu

This is a new communications mechanism for us, so we haven’t sent many messages yet. A sample of one we did send is this:

There was a huge data breach of Yahoo! accounts affecting 500 million users. Click to read this post about it: https://techsolutionsnc.com/breaking-news-yahoo-data-breach/

Give it a try — you may find that this becomes a great source of information to you!

Thanks for stopping by, let us know how we can best serve you in the comments below.

Patching your computer – what’s the big deal?

July 6, 2016 by Mike Ellis Leave a Comment

When it comes to your computer, regardless of the platform, it’s only as good from a security standpoint as it’s latest patch. Patching your computer is a crucial component to our defense-in-depth policy for staying secure in today’s online environment, so let’s go into greater detail why patching your computer is important.

As computer programs have become more advanced, the number of lines of code — the commands that make up a program — has increased considerably. As that complexity has increased, the chances that something could be manipulated within the code to allow access to a computer system has increased as well. When someone takes advantage of some code in a program, that is called an exploit, and the program is then known to have a vulnerability.

When a computer program, whether it be a program like Microsoft Word, or the Windows OS, or even Apple OSX or iTunes has a vulnerability, the maker of the program will write a fix for that vulnerability, called a patch, that fixes the problem so it is no longer an issue.

The more complex a program is, the more likely it will have vulnerabilities, and sometimes, even though the patch may fix one vulnerability in a program, it may not fix all of the vulnerabilities, or it may even expose a different vulnerability altogether. So, because of the complexity of our computers, it is vital that we take responsibility on our home computers to make sure that they are patched regularly.

In looking at my laptop, which is running Windows 10, in addition to the operating system, which will have it’s own series of patches over time, there are currently well over 100 applications installed on the laptop. Many of these are part of the OS, and some of them are patches that have already been installed — but despite that, there are a lot of programs, and each one of them could have a vulnerability, or multiple vulnerabilities, that could become a problem down the road.

That is why patching your computer is an extremely important task to stay on top of. The good news is that often the OS will check for patches automatically and let you know of new updates to install. Additionally, anti-virus makers also often check for updates to programs for you, so you have multiple ways of being updated. It is possible, though, to disable these protections, so check periodically to make sure something hasn’t done that.

Do you have any issues in patching your computer? I’m here to help. Reach out to me via email, phone, Facebook, LinkedIn, or schedule an appointment here on the website, and I’ll be glad to help you. Thanks for reading, have a great day!

Safety 101: How do you make sure your family is safe online?

July 5, 2016 by Mike Ellis 1 Comment

When it comes to your family and their online safety, there are several things that you should consider. In Safety 101: Making sure your family is safe online, I’m going to explore some important factors that can help your family in their time online.

Safety 101 Step 1: Parental Controls

The first thing I recommend when you are working with your child’s online usage is to setup a separate account for them on the computer, and to turn on parental controls for that account. By enabling parental control over your child’s computer account, it will give you control over the sites they can visit, and even the applications they can run on the computer. This will allow you to have a conversation with your children about why this site or that site isn’t allowed to be accessed, and will help you teach them about the importance of online security.

Safety 101 Step 2: Monitor Social Networks

Facebook. Instagram. Twitter. MySpace. The list of social networking sites goes on and on. While these sites can be fun and a useful way for your children to keep up with their friends, it’s especially important that you make sure that you know what sites your child is on. Some tips to help with this include making sure that you know the passwords for their account, and that it isn’t changed without you knowing and working with your child on that. Additionally, make part of the permission to access these sites be that you have to friend or follow them. Also, make sure that your child is aware of the dangers of communicating location information to those that you don’t know online. Online safety extends into your offline world as well, and by not being safe online, it could very well lead to security issues offline.

Safety 101 Step 3: Have a no-online policy

Far too often, we spend way to much time online, staring at our computer monitors. I’m as guilty of this as anyone, and it’s one of the reasons why having a no-online policy is a good idea. Setup designated times when being online is acceptable; for example, consider setting a policy where it’s okay to be online from 4-6PM each day, or perhaps for an hour after lunch and an hour after dinner each day. The timing is up to each family, of course, as is the duration, but having a policy in place will help your children be keeping them active in ways other than just online activities.

Safety 101 Step 4: Designate areas where online usage is allowed

Just as it’s important to set guidelines on the time of day when your child can be online, it’s also important to set guidelines to the location in the house where your child can access the internet. In our family, the rule that my wife and I have set in stone is that our daughter is not allowed to use her computer in her room, with very few exceptions (which happen so infrequently that they are truly exceptions). For our daughter, that means using her computer in the family room, or the dining room, depending on what is going on. This allows for some oversight in what she’s doing just by glancing at her computer.

Safety 101 Step 5: Explore using internet accountability software

Lastly, one evolving area for keeping your children (or yourself, for that matter) safe online is in the use of internet accountability software. Tools such as Covenant Eyes, Net Nanny, K9 Web Protection, and Cybersitter (to name a few) are all designed to help you in your online life stay safe and secure. Most come with a price, but if they work, then it could be the best investment you ever made. In future posts, I’m going to explore the more popular of these tools and give my recommendations on the ones for you to use.

In summary, the key to keeping your children safe online is vigilance. Your child thinks that they are not vulnerable online, and as a result, it is up to you to teach them internet safety to ensure that something doesn’t happen to them while they are online. Some would argue perhaps that by implementing these steps I’m just showing my child that they can’t be trusted. I, however, would counter that it isn’t my child that I don’t trust — it is those that she encounters online that can’t be trusted.

What do you do to ensure the safety of your child online? Please let us know in the comments or subscribe to our newsletter, and thanks for stopping by!

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