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Tackling IT Administration from a MacBook Pro

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Recently, I was given the opportunity here at Tech Solutions NC to try out a brand new MacBook Pro as part of a focus group.  This is something that really intrigued me, so I signed up for it.  Last week, I received the MacBook Pro, and am now in the process of testing it out.

First, a little background information.  The computer is a Mid 2015 MacBook Pro, with a 15″ screen, Retina display, 2.5 GHZ Intel i7 Processor, 16 GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD.

For the computer itself, it is incredibly responsive, quick, and does just about everything I could ask of it.

Well, that was a short post, wasn’t it?  Well, I’m not quite done yet.

Using a MacBook Pro in a Windows Environment

There are a few things related to the environment that I am in that do make things a bit problematic for the MacBook Pro.  Most of these are common sense things, but still, if you are considering making the switch from a Windows system to a Mac system, and you manage any sort of IT environment, these are things you’ll probably want to consider.

Remote Administration

Like you would expect, on a Mac OS X system, the options for connecting to a remote system are suited primarily for connecting to other Mac systems.  Fortunately, though, the Microsoft Remote Desktop app is available, it’s free, and it makes connecting to a Windows system pretty seamless.  Search in the App Store for Microsoft Remote Desktop or click the link.

Office 365 Apps

For many businesses, Office 365 by Microsoft is the tool of choice for productivity software.  Unfortunately, though, while Microsoft has released 2016 versions of their software through Office 365 for the Mac environment, not all the apps are created equally.

The biggest issues I’ve had with this new laptop is related to how Outlook 2016 for Windows works verses how Outlook 2016 for Mac works.  There are some significant differences that I’ve documented here.

  • The CRM I use for my business is from Hubspot.  I came across them over the Internet, and knew them from other stuff, but had never used their CRM.  The good news with Hubspot is that they have a plugin that you can install in your Outlook 2016 for Windows program that will log the emails you send to your clients to the client account you have setup in your CRM.  The bad news, though, is that, due to limitations with Outlook 2016 for Mac, such a plugin does not exist, so you can’t seamlessly log those emails to your clients.
  • One workaround for this problem is to just BCC the address that logs the email in your CRM.  Doing so is fine, and is what I do right now, but I’d prefer a simpler way to do that rather than type it each time.  Of course, I can set a rule that automatically BCCs the correct address, and I may do just that, but I’d rather not have to do that.
  • The only other thing with Outlook 2016 that isn’t quite up to my standards is the calendaring portion.  Since my mail is driven through GSuite, my calendar is also, and the calendar for Outlook (either version, really) just doesn’t handle Google’s email very well.  This is definitely something that Microsoft and Google should work on.  The good news, though, is the the built in Calendar app for Mac OS X works all of my email and calendars really well, and I’ve not had any issues with using that.

Having just started working on this MacBook Pro, there are other things that I’m sure are not as good from an IT perspective as they are on the Windows platform, but I haven’t run across them yet.  The great news is that, by and large, operationally, there has been very little I have had to do to utilize my MacBook Pro in a Windows environment, and still be able to perform the IT tasks that I need to do day in and day out.  That, my friends, makes this testing a win in my book.

What do you all think? Are you able to perform IT administration work on a MacBook Pro or other Mac system?  Let me know your thoughts on what works well and doesn’t work well, and thanks for reading!

Beware of Phony Tech Support!

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phony tech support

Yesterday I received from the North Carolina Department of Justice Alert mailing list a warning — to beware of phony tech support.  The ruse is elaborate and devious, and can cost you hundreds, even thousands, of dollars if you fall victim.  Here’s the email I received:

Phony tech support and overpayment: two scams in one

For years, crooks have charged victims to repair nonexistent problems on their computers in order to gain access to sensitive personal and financial information stored inside. Now they’ve added a new scam: trying to talk you into long-term technical support that is actually just an excuse to swindle you out of as much as $10,000.

It starts when you agree to charge the tech support membership to your credit card. The scammers call back a few days later to say the company is closing and needs your bank account information so they can to refund money directly into your checking account. To get the so-called refund, they take a large cash advance from your own credit card and deposit it into your account. Next, the con artists claim that they’ve accidentally overpaid you by thousands of dollars and need you to wire the extra funds back to them, usually in China, India or the Philippines.

These greedy crooks have been known to take out another credit card advance, put those funds into the victim’s account, and then claim that the first wire transfer didn’t go through. Victims have been convinced this way to send multiple wire transfers to the scammers. One elderly North Carolina woman ran up $10,000 in credit card debt when she fell for this scam.

Remember:

  • Avoid tech support scams. You can learn more about phony tech support from Microsoft and the FTC.

  • Be very skeptical if anyone asks you to wire money overseas. Once you’ve wired money it’s nearly impossible to get it back.

  • If you receive one of these calls, report it to the Attorney General’s Office at 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or online at www.ncdoj.gov.

I’ve been a subscriber to the NCDOJ Alert mailing list for years, and I suggest you do the same.  Click the link to subscribe. Also, check out their website for their list of alerts that they have written about in the past.

So how do you know who to trust? I’ve written a post about that, please read it, and remember that you need to do your homework when it comes to who you are going to trust. Contact us if you have any questions, or need any support for your computer. We are a source you can trust.

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Patching your computer – what’s the big deal?

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Patching

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!

Why having a home firewall isn’t enough security

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home firewall

Why having a home firewall isn’t enough security.

By Mike Ellis.

Having a firewall for your computer, as discussed in my post on the security settings you need enabled on your computer, is a must for any computer system. However, while having a home firewall is good, it’s not enough security. Today, I’m going to explain in greater detail why this is the case.

In normal firewall operations, if someone outside of your network attempts to make a connection to you, that traffic is blocked by the firewall.  That is one of the main purposes of the firewall, to prevent unauthorized access to your computers. I can go into great detail other aspects of the firewall, and talk about the DMZ and what that means, but in this case, I’m going to just leave it at this. So, unauthorized user outside of our network attempts to connect to your computer, and the firewall blocks it.  So far, so good.

However, what happens when you want to make a connection to something outside of your network? What, you say, you don’t make connections to other computers? Well, here are some that you may make many times a day without even thinking about it:

The key to this list is that each of those services that you and your computer makes each day is to a server, or, in all actuality, a series of servers, all located all over the web. So yes, you make connections to other computers all day long, perhaps without even realizing it.

There is actually nothing wrong with that at all, the point is to gather data, whether it be in the form of that email you are waiting on, or to see what status update your significant other left, or to see what the price is for that new game is.  The difficulty, though, lies in this one little fact:

When you connect to a website, you actually download content from the website into your computer.

I hope I’m not making you feel foolish for writing it this way.  If I am, please accept my apologies, for that is not my intention. In my experience, though, there are a lot of people who just don’t realize what actually happens when they go to a website. So, when you do access a website, your firewall isn’t going to stop you because it’s default behavior is to allow that traffic, so when you connect, you download content into your computer for viewing.  If that content, i.e., that website, is compromised, then you could be bringing into your computer a virus, spyware, trojan horse, keystroke logger, etc., without you even realizing it. Just like that, your computer, your network, even, is compromised — unless you have good, reliable anti-virus software that can detect the malware.

So, if that’s the case, how do I prevent my computer from being compromised? Well, first of all, you need to have a defense-in-depth strategy in place concerning your computer.  You need to have your firewall, you need to have current and reliable anti-virus software, you need to keep your computer updated, and you need to keep your User Account Control settings enabled. The key here is that one of these things may not stop the compromise, but combined together, they might just do the trick.

Another thing you need to have is someone who’s got your back, someone who will take time to explain what is happening, why it is happening, how they are going to clean it up, and how they are going to prevent it from happening in the future.  My company, Tech Solutions NC, is able to be that resource. Do you need support? Reach out to me by phone at 919-606-6725, email at mike@techsolutionsnc.com, or by leaving a comment on this post.

The internet is a useful tool, and there are a lot of good things about the internet. The key to using it, though, is to safeguard your computer and yourself from the things that lurk in the shadows.  That’s my goal — to help you safely navigate the waters of the internet without harm.