Technology Advisor Blog

Microsoft Outlook has a built in feature to process junk mail and send it to a "Junk" folder as a way to control Spam in your inbox.  This is a great feature if you only read mail in one place, but for most users these days, mail is read on multiple platforms - smart phone, tablet, laptop, browser, etc.  This is why we typically recommend filtering Spam in the "cloud" so the mail is filtered BEFORE it gets to your mailbox, and gets cleaned centrally before going to all your devices.

We've recently started upgrading our Spam filtering platform, so it's time to post some updated instructions.   These days Spam messages account for 80%-90% of all email sent worldwide, generating a lot of clutter and in some cases, security threats.  We strongly advise filtering mail before it gets to your mail server, and many of our clients have signed up for Spam filtering services with us.

The latest security vulnerability is all over the news.  Microsoft is working on a fix to address a flaw that could potentially allow hackers to gain remote access to systems. This flaw affects all versions of Intenet Explorer (about 55% of the browser market) and a patch is expected soon.  If you're still running Windows XP, support has ended and there will not be a security patch.

Do you visit a lot of the same web sites over and over again?  Some examples may include line of business applications, banking, tax sites, etc.  Many people rely on browser "history" to find web sites when you need them...just start typing the address and Internet Explorer will try to complete it for you.  This usually works well, but the more organized way to memorize these sites is to use "Favorites".  

At a recent industry event, I had the opportunity to share some "war stories" over lunch. One of the guys at the table told a tale of an email server crash on a Friday night that one of his techs rescued after many hours of effort late into the night.  The Microsoft Exchange server had crashed, and they ran recovery and clean up tools to get the mail running again.  Mission accomplished!

March 1 was the 4th anniversary of the Massachusetts Data Protection Law which was introduced to help protect residents against identity theft and fraud.  The law identifies requirements businesses must follow to secure protected information, which includes a resident's first name or initial and last name, combined with a number of specified protected information including drivers license number, bank account number, social security number, credit card numbers, etc. We've all read the headlines about the major retailers such as Target, Hannafords, and TJX who have been in the news over the years for security breaches, but many small business owners may not be fully aware that the law applies to ALL businesses, large and small.

Many viruses are embedded in email attachments designed to get through even multiple layers of security.  CryptoLocker is one of the worst viruses seen in years and it only takes ONE message to get through to cause a lot of damage, and the “bad guys” have developed sophisticated techniques to get around your antivirus protection. 

We got a few calls on this and noticed ourselves that recently pdf files started taking a lot longer to open.  We receive electronic faxes in the form of pdf files, and I noticed that they took much longer to open starting around a week ago.  Bob also noticed that when he double checked quotes before emailing them, they were also slow to open.  Several clients also reported similar experiences.  

Microsoft Windows XP and Office 2003 both go out of support on April 8, 2014. We are advising all clients to start planning now for the transition.  When the software goes out of support, you will stop receiving security updates, and although your systems will still work, you'll be out of compliance for the Massachusetts Data Security Law as well as many other industry-specific security regulations.

On July 31, 2013, with short notice, Massachusetts introduced a new tax on computer software services (in addition to tobacco and fuel taxes).  While it has been widely reported as a “technology tax”, please note that this tax only refers to a narrow set of tasks that largely fall outside the scope of the work that Ekaru performs for you.