5 Most Important Considerations of a New PC

hardware, Office IT, ,
18
Dec 2014

Computers_on_shelves

Whether you’re buying a new PC for the office, your business or personal use, here are the features you should focus on to get the most bang for your buck.

We’re going to highlight the 5 most important features to look for in a new PC. But before we delve onto our list of five important features, let’s discuss a preliminary checklist:

  • What are you going to use your PC for? You’ll need to determine if you’re going to be using to for work, where potentially, data protection and backups will be crucial. Even if it’s for personal use, you’ll still want to consider securing your data and backing up your documents, photos, emails and so forth, periodically.
  • What software will you use? General word processing and other similar office applications are not so resource intensive. On the other hand, if you are planning on using a resource hungry program, such as a graphic design software, or anything that requires a PC with a fast processor and plenty of memory, you’ll need to take note of the minimum specifications. Even the minimum specifications on a PC for any given software will not guarantee the best performance. 
  • Optical CD drive, anyone? If anyone remembers the phasing out of the floppy disk drives in the mid nineties, the same thing is happening to optical CD drives. They are fast becoming a legacy component, thanks to this age of digital downloads, portable USB storage and online video streaming sites. You’ll need to consider whether you’ll want one with an optical drive or not. Alternatively, you can purchase an external CD/ DVD drive if you really needed one for any intended purpose.

With all these preliminary requirements covered, let’s now dive into our checklist for the 5 most important features to look for when shopping for a new PC

  1. Customer support.

customer_support

When it comes purchasing something new, you’ll want peace of mind and know that you can call a phone support line and have a warranty to replace faulty parts. Also, some PCs may require registration in order to activate its warranty, so if you’ve any questions, you know where to call.

  1. Opt for reputable brands.

Lenovo-HP-Dell

Brands like Dell, HP or Lenovo, have a well-established community which also means that finding replacement parts is easy and less of a struggle.

  1. Double-check the preloaded software.

30_days_free_trial

Never feel too afraid to ask the sales rep about the software that comes pre-loaded with the PC. If you need a full version of Office software, make sure it has that and not just trial versions or 90 days’ worth of the full version. This is important if you heavily rely on using such software, as you won’t appreciate a break in your productivity whilst acquiring the full version!

  1. Watch out for unnecessary software.

Too_many_programs

Be sure to find out if it comes loaded with junk software from the manufacturer pressuring you to sign up to their services. This is often a sales pitch, and from our experience, a complete waste of time, money and digital space! Just focus on what you really need and stick to your requirements.

  1. Check the PC’s specifications.

fast-computer

You’ll want to look for a PC that has a fast processor and plenty of RAM. Many store sales brag about sub $300 systems, when in reality they are cutting corners like memory and processor speed.

Too often people have been mis-sold the wrong type of PC and software that comes with it.  Don’t be afraid to ask how systems you are comparing stack up against others in the market.

For more tips and advice on deploying the right PC workstations for your business or home office, contact your local IT professionals.

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5 Benefits of Virtualizing a Server

Office IT, virtualization,
16
Dec 2014

Virtualizing_a_server

Virtualizing a server can bring many benefits spanning cost, power savings, ease of management and business continuity.  Here’s what you should know.

Since we’ve been exploring the meaning of virtualization in some of our past articles, let’s quickly re-cap what it is for those of you who need a gentle reminder.

A virtual server is a projection of a physical server that can run with its own operating system, hosting applications and hold network files. A virtual server can co-exist with many other virtual servers within a single host machine.

Let’s take a quick look into what physical servers are and some issues they face:

  • Both physical and virtual servers are designed to serve resources such as an application or files over a LAN (local area network) to your office computers or within a datacenter.
  • Physical servers are larger computers that come built with powerful processors, large hard disks and a large amount of memory, which often have more than one of each component.
  • They are considered to be the “workhorses” of the physical computer world. As a result, they’ll use up a lot more power and resources from its own components.
  • From time to time, this can lead them to have hardware faults such as disk failures, overheating from faulty fans or chip creek (components such as memory cards displaced by heat).
  • These noisy machines are usually located in the server room, stacked on a rack next to a number of other servers, requiring a considerable amount of space and power.

With the problems given above, here’s how virtual servers can help solve these issues, and more:

1. Highly resourceful

Physical servers would generally run with one application, to prevent any issues with running multiple programs at once. This would cause servers to sprawl out in numbers, without using them to their full potential. This is different with virtualized servers, where space isn’t an issue and they can be set separately with the required programs. The recommended resources can also be configured to prevent unnecessary waste of any given resources (disk space, memory. Processor power, etc…) that can be reallocated to another server.

2. Improved Disaster recovery

Virtualization eliminates the need of having replicas of physical servers or disks, with specific model numbers and brands, to carry out data recovery successfully.
A whole site can be replicated easily, being much more affordable in a virtualized environment. Disaster recovery failover can be tested to see if it works, instead of hoping it recovers in a real-life situation or in a disaster recovery testing center.

3. Environmentally Friendly

It goes without saying, less physical servers will mean less power used, as you can pack in many virtual servers in on host machine. This has the added benefit of making more space in a server room. In turn, less power used leads to lower energy costs. This helps reduce a business’ carbon footprint, whilst saving you money.

4. Efficient provisioning and management

You can quickly and easily clone virtual servers, restore or create new ones, at a moment’s notice. You can create virtual machines that will hold legacy applications that may no longer be in support. This can help smooth any server operations that require migration, upgrades, mimic legacy setups, which you can no longer acquire and so forth. Even test labs can be set up to keep things separate from a live environment. It will promote uptime, maintaining business operations as normal.

5. Moving to the Cloud

“The Cloud” may sound like an abstract concept, mainly due to it being a virtual network resource. However, businesses are opting towards new ways of accessing resources; therefore a move to virtualized servers can seem like the next logical step. The Cloud can be either public or private. With the amount of server resources required at a data center to host a Cloud network, a virtual infrastructure would be more sustainable and practical than a physical one.

Virtual servers will soon replace the remaining physical ones out there. It is likely than within five years the shift to a virtual infrastructure will be the norm in many businesses. The top four virtualization vendors to look at are Citrix, Microsoft, Oracle and VMware.

For more information on how virtualizing your servers can help save costs and streamline your business, contact your local IT professionals.

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What is Encryption and Do You Need It?

Office IT, Security,
11
Dec 2014

What_is_encryption

With more regulatory commissions requiring encryption and privacy being a hot topic, it’s important to understand what encryption is and whether you need it.

Encryption is nothing new; in fact, it was used thousands of years ago during the ancient times in Egypt, encryption was used to hide messages in the tombs of kings. It has been used time and time again by different civilizations, and was even applied through the Word Wars to keep messages hidden away from the enemy.

However, in most recent history from the 90s, encryption has been adapted to be used as a security measure on computers and over the internet.

Nowadays it has become ever so important for financial institutions, healthcare practices, legal, law and governmental offices to apply encryption into their systems. This allows them to secure their information, whilst remaining complaint with data protection standards.

What is Encryption?

 

How_Encryption_Works

A basic encryption implementation explained by Oracle.

As you may now understand from our examples listed above, encryption obscures information, away from prying eyes. More specifically, it does this by making data unreadable to outsiders. In technical terms, a mathematical formula is used to scramble the data, which appears as gobbledygook to anyone else reading it. Only the person who holds the key can, in a sense reverse the mathematical formula to unlock and read the data.

Why encrypt your data?

Data encryption ensures that you can deter hackers and lessen the effect of being a prime target of criminal activities, looking to intercept your data. Often the most valued data is your personal information. Just think of how many emails contain passwords to accounts, medical reports archived, interests displayed, and an insight into all of your personal activities.

With all this, a hacker can spear-phish you and later target you again, with the likelihood of succeeding. This will be done by simply using your details against you, without you even realizing it.

Therefore, it is extremely important to encrypt your information if you work anywhere that handles sensitive information, confidential emails, and if you travel with a notebook or similar device that uses the Internet.

Encrypting your hard drive

 

bitlocker-encryption

Hard drive encryption can help to protect your computer from unauthorized access, since a user needs a key in order to read it.

There are many programs that can help to encrypt your disk such as TrueCrypt, Bitlocker and RealCrypt.

To learn more about Hard disk encryption, please read our how-to article here.

Encrypting your email

 

An example of what an encrypted email looks like using PGP.

An example of what an encrypted email looks like using PGP.

Email is used by just about every person who uses a computer, smart-phone, device and works at a business, or all of the above!

Did you know that your email can be intercepted and read by anyone who has access to the right tools?

A good tool to use is called PGP (Pretty Good Program), which can encrypt your email. In order for this to work, both sender and receiver need PGP installed. The sender will generate a random key, and once the encrypted message is sent and received, the recipient can unlock it with a key generated by their PGP plugin.

Encrypting your internet connection

 

How VPN works as explained by Private Internet Access.

How VPN works as explained by Private Internet Access.

As the name suggests, VPNs (virtual private networks) are a safe way to connect to a private network or to access the internet.

One good analogy is comparing a VPN connection to a walled tunnel, where outsiders would “hit a wall” along the tunnel, unable to infiltrate and access what goes through the tunnel. Whereas a usual Internet connection can be likened to your data travelling on a street and potentially be seen or accessed by outsiders. This is where the term “VPN tunnel connection” comes from. Within this tunnel, all of your data is encrypted. User can access a VPN by having a VPN client installed and accessing a login prompt that will securely authenticate them.

Some VPN clients worth considering are ProXPn, TorVpn, TorGuard, Private Internet Access and WiTopia.

There’s so much to consider with encryption. Just about everything can be a risk without it, so be sure to adopt this secure technology into your business practice to maximize your security.

If you need support and advice with your encryption needs to stay compliant, contact your local IT professionals.

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What is Two Factor Authentication and Should You Use It?

Office IT, Security, ,
07
Dec 2014

Two_Locks_Two_Factor_Authentication

We use the Internet for almost everything from email to banking. Lets review how two factor authentication works and how it can protect you.

How does one ensure that their accounts are being kept safe at any point without risk of theft?

The truth is, the world is full of hackers trying to steal your personal information and money.  They’ll go as far as to phish your information without you knowing it. However, one good way to lock down access to your accounts is by using two-factor authentication, also known as 2FA. It’s highly likely that you’ve already used 2FA without even realizing it.

High profile companies such as Google and Twitter, along with many more, have adopted this security measure. Does this make any sense to you? If not, don’t worry as we’ll elaborate more on this.

What is it?

Let’s begin by understanding what single factor authentication is. When you log into an account with just a password, this is considered to be a single factor.

However, two factor authentication is used to verify the identity of the person who they say they are logging in as with the help of an additional factor.
This additional factor can be a piece of information such as:

  • An extra password, pin or pattern
  • Something physical such as a phone, ATM card or fob
  • Biometrics, such as voice, fingerprint or iris scanning

The additional factor forms part of the two factor verification during authentication, even if there’s no evidence of the person accessing the system being the rightful owner of the account.

Once the two factors have been successful verified, this would grant access to a computer system or website.

Example of Two Factor Authentication

An example of how Zoho Uses 2 Factor Authentication

An example of how Zoho uses 2 Factor Authentication

A common example is when you use an ATM machine. For this to work, you’ll obviously need an ATM card, which is one factor, and a pin as a second factor.  This makes it somewhat secure, where one will not work without the other. Say if your ATM card (without long-strip) was lost or stolen, it wouldn’t be any good to whoever gained possession of it without knowing the pin. The opposite is also true, in the case of someone else knowing the pin without having the card. They would be unable to access your account.

Should you use two factor authentication?

In principle, yes. It adds an extra layer to dissuade hackers from gaining entry into your accounts.  Although it isn’t necessary to use it on all of your internet accounts, enabling it on your main email account if it’s supported by your email provider and any financial accounts such as banks or credit cards is a good line of defense.

There are, of course, some downsides to two factor authentication:

  • 2FA logins can take a little longer to work out to login, as the additional step can seem like an inconvenience when using something like a mobile or a fob key to generate a code.
  • If any device, such as a fob or a phone is lost, you’re stuck having to find a way to log in and you’ll need to contact the company’s support.
  • If a hacker gained access to your main email account, which is listed within your contact details in another important account, they can receive the account recovery email. They can then reset it causing them to bypass the 2FA of the account they’re targeting.
  • A good way to prevent this is by having a smarter recovery option, such as an SMS sent to a cell phone to request any account actions.

Final Verdict

All in all, it is better to have 2FA enabled on your accounts than no additional step at all, especially if it means dissuading unauthorized access to your accounts. As 2FA has become more commonplace, it is likely that new developments in security will pave the way for more practical two factor authentication methods. It is fast becoming a necessity for both personal and business use.

For more information on using two factor authentication to protect your business and personal accounts, contact your local IT professionals.

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Virtualizing Desktops
Virtualizing Desktops

Benefits of Virtualizing Desktops and Workstations

Office IT
05
Dec 2014

Virtualizing Desktops

Virtualization is fast becoming the norm in many small to large sized businesses. Here are some benefits when you virtualize office desktops.

With so many benefits to virtualizing desktops and workstations, it’s no surprise as to why this has caught on so well.

How does virtualization fit within a Small Business?

First, a quick recap on the meaning of virtualization. Virtualization is imitating a physical machine set-up, which has an OS (operating system).  Imagine taking your laptop or desktop, and running it on top of another computer called a host.  This host can run many desktops or laptops, eliminating the need for expensive physical computers.

What is virtualization

  • In the context of virtualized desktops, a centralized server acts as the host to hold the virtual desktop sessions, which imitate real desktops just like your Windows 7 or 8 based computers, complete with a whole list of different applications.
  • Staff and users would then access their files and programs via their terminal machines, from which they log in from, to initiate their virtual sessions to work.
  • The “connection” here involves the user gaining access to their operating system and programs, which are virtual. These exist on the host server, which allocates such sessions to logged in terminals.
  • A terminal machine can be a computer, Smart-phone, or a Thin-client.
  • A Thin-client differs greatly from a physical desktop system, in that they are physically designed to be basic, with much smaller memory, hard-disk space and processor. This makes them more streamlined and much smaller than real desktops.
  • Since Thin-clients are much smaller, the processing power demanded from any given applications or programs wouldn’t overload it as all that is taken care of by the server that hosts the session.
  • Host servers are generally built to withstand higher demands on their resources, such as memory, processors and Hard-disk space, which are generally much more powerful than a standard computer.

The Benefits of Virtualizing Desktops

Now that we’ve covered the concept of how a virtual desktops are set up in a VDI, let’s now understand the benefits behind virtualization.

Cost

  • Lowers admin and operating costs by as much as 70%! Operating costs can include repairing faulty or broken desktops, and extra man-hours to handle such requests, which are all mitigated by virtualized machines.
  • Thin clients and other terminal machines are significantly cheaper to run, helping you save on energy bills by around 97%, compared to physical desktops.
  • Since they save on energy costs, it has a positive impact on a company’s carbon footprint, making it more environmentally friendly. These savings can be reinvested back into the business and reallocated towards much needed projects.
  • Save on having to purchase large office furniture as they’ll be more room on desks, which also looks aesthetically better than having a clunky desktop to look at!

Management and Administration

  • Simple to manage centrally from a server at a datacenter. For instance this involves policies, security updates, changes to applications and so forth.
  • Reduces the number of issues logged with IT staff, unlike physical desktops which may have isolated issues and can be difficult to track within a large company.
  • Keeps downtime to a minimum, as it’s all managed centrally and more efficiently, which in turn helps with productivity.
  • Backups of user’s laptops, devices and profiles are simple to manage, for instance backups are carried out centrally.
  • Easy to clone VMs ( virtual machines), for an entire department or company, as they’ll contain  all the settings including its operating systems, drivers, applications and files. This saves time and man-hours too!

Security

  • End terminals and Thin-clients are locked down, making them more secure from unauthorized virus threats and policy breaches.
  • Prevents data leaks by not allowing information to be copied to a disk. All copies are usually only available via the datacenter as backups.
  • Centralized management via a host server means simple processing and monitoring for both sessions and end terminals.

Productivity

  • As previously mentioned, increased productivity is a highly noted benefit. Gone are the days where you would have to wait for a Desktop to be repaired, which would interrupt workflow. Issues can be resolved very quickly, meaning business can continue as usual.
  • Easy to set up new virtual machines, which can be preconfigured and customized VMs for any department, and ready to use in a matter of minutes. Thus makes it incredibly easy to scale up system, when needed. This can allow new staff to be set up quickly and be productive too!
  • Users can access the same programs and applications from anywhere they can log in.

Final Thoughts

A virtualized desktop environment comes with so many benefits that it’s hard to ignore. The ease of implementing and managing all virtual machines securely and reliably through one host, lends itself mostly this new technology model.

Administrators will also benefit greatly, as there would be an orderly Virtual system which is straightforward to monitor and secure. Staff are able to have the flexibility to work from home. With a VDI being considerably economical, this makes it a highly viable solution for small to large businesses.  The leading virtualization vendors to consider include Citrix, VMware and Microsoft.

For more ways virtualization can help secure and streamline your technology, contact your local IT professionals.

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