MSPNetworks Blog

Everyone knows how to do a Google Search, right? Go to the site, type whatever it is you’re looking for into the search bar, and you’re off to the races. Fewer people are aware, however, of the ways that you can help Google narrow its search a bit. Let’s go over a few handy Google cheat codes that can make your search results more precise.

Basic Searches

There are many simple ways that you can adjust your Google search queries.

-

Adding a hyphen (representative of a subtraction mark in this case) allows you to preemptively omit any search results that include a term. For instance, if you wanted to learn about computer hardware for your business, and didn’t want to see tons of gaming hardware, you could search for computer hardware -gaming.

|

The pipe icon enables you to effectively run two searches at once. By separating your queries with the pipe, it effectively serves as a stand-in for or as Google considers your results. So, if you were to search for tortilla | jazzercise, your results page would become an entertaining mix of recipes and locations to take a class.

()

Parentheses can help you add some context to your search. By emphasizing it separately from the rest of your search query, the parentheses tell Google that their contents should impact the rest of the search. Let’s say that you needed to plan a bowling-themed birthday party. Searching for (bowling) birthday party ideas could provide you with a smorgasbord of resources and party supplies vendors, all dedicated to birthday parties with a bowling theme.

Search Operators

site:

Sometimes, you know that you’ve seen something on a specific website, but when you go back later, you can’t seem to find it. Adding this tag into your Google search allows you to tell Google the specific website you want to search. For instance, let’s say you were looking for a specific blog that we posted about data backup. On Google, you could search for data backup site: www.mspnetworks.com.

filetype:

Google even enables its users to define their searches down to the filetype. Adding filetype:pdf will only return results for the defined search that come in PDF form.

intext:

We’ve all had those moments where we can remember something that we read, word-for-word, but we just can’t remember where we read it. Google can help. By typing in the remembered phrase after intext:, Google will scan the on-page text for that phrase and kick it back to you.

Which of these do you see being the most useful to you? Let us know in the comments how they work out for you! For more IT tips, best practices, and support services, MSPNetworks is always here. Reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

Wasting time is a big concern in any business, and this is one place where the Internet can potentially hurt as much as it helps. Of course, it does still help, as the Internet is where many of today’s business tools are accessed. How can you ensure that your team is spending their time working, rather than on social media or other distracting websites?

MSPNetworks has the answer in a content filtering solution. Let’s review what content filtering is, and how it can help maintain productivity.

So, What is Content Filtering?

Content filtering is pretty much what it sounds like: a solution that helps keep certain content off your network. Basically, it’s a form of access control that enables the content that you need to use through, while blocking inappropriate and not-safe-for-work content from appearing.

This blocked content could seriously damage your business’ operations. First of all, there’s the lost productivity, of course, but other impacts can take hold as well. A threat that piggybacked in on something could easily create financial, legal, and cybersecurity issues. Therefore, by blocking content that hasn’t been officially approved, you can help minimize these risks.

Considerations for Your Content Filtering Solution

For your content filtering to be a resource to your team, you need to ensure that your content filtering is configured to meet their needs. What kind of content do you want to have filtered out, and for whom should these filters apply? Are you going to completely block all sites for everyone, or are certain departments going to have customized filters to account for their responsibilities? A social media manager will need access to social media. Should restrictions ever be relaxed? For example, will employees be able to use social media while they’re on lunch?

These considerations will be important to come to a final decision on, and the content filter you use should accommodate all the capabilities you need.

Why You Should Work with Us

MSPNetworks can ensure that your content filter is shipshape, as its management will fall to our reliable team members. There are a few benefits that such a relationship can bring to you, as you’ll be able to devote your focus to your business processes, and not that your employees are being diligent in completing them.

Whatever your content filtering needs are, we can help. Give us a call at (516) 403-9001 to learn more about it and our other managed services.

The Internet has never been more valuable than it is today. Over the past couple of months tens of millions of students have been introduced to telelearning, millions of businesses have promoted telework, people are meeting with their friends online, and consuming content from their living rooms (or their home offices) at rates never before seen. So what about security? Today we’ll take a look at how all this use is changing the Internet. 

Some Internet Stats

Prior to the pandemic, studies showed that only 5.2 percent of Americans worked from home in 2017. That’s roughly eight million people, or one out of every 20.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 29 percent of Americans can do their job from home. All other 71 percent have to physically be in a place to do their work. 

At present, telework has been made available as businesses look to maintain their revenue streams. In fact, it seems that COVID-19 has done something that almost a decade of advocacy has done: made business owners realize the benefits of telework. The question becomes, now that we know that telework is possible (or even preferred), how will this change the Internet?

How is the Internet Holding Up?

The Internet is now hosting roughly a third of workers who are doing their jobs from their homes, most students who spend half of their day online, and millions upon millions of online shoppers who are more apt to use online resources than go out and put themselves in physical risk. That’s not even mentioning the normal use of streaming services and typical online-based services. So the answer is that the Internet is holding up extremely well. 

Most Internet service providers have loosened or eliminated the normal data caps, supposedly saving people billions of dollars, but it is quite curious that these companies claim that the caps were in place to ensure the service works well. We’re led to believe that they are helping people by eliminating data caps, but it looks like the Internet would function fine without them. It will be interesting to see how people react when they are put back in place. 

It’s not perfect for everyone: Rural users with limited access to broadband still struggle to get the bandwidth they need. Larger cities, where infrastructure hasn’t been updated in some time,  are seeing more downtime. Still, tens of thousands of businesses are able to continue operations, giving people hope.

Cybersecurity is Still Crucial

Businesses that have been able to make it through the stay-at-home orders using remote technology are fortunate, but many of them have been targeted by hackers. By allowing remote work, you open your business to a whole list of new threats. Making sure your systems are up-to-date, and that your people understand how they are the first wave of defense, can take you very far in this environment. 

This whole era could change the office forever. Imagine it, productive and happy workers, fewer expenses, sweatpants. Or, we’ll forget this has ever happened and go back to working like we used to. Regardless of how it is going, your business needs to have the comprehensive network security tools in place including:

• Around-the-clock monitoring
• Firewalls and intrusion detection
• Anti-malware
• Security training
• Encrypted messaging and file sharing
• Help desk

And more.

If you would like to talk to one of our IT professionals about network security, telework, or any other technology-based solution used to make business possible during these tough times, call us today at (516) 403-9001.

Skipping the commute, wearing comfortable pants, and foregoing everyday office distractions has become the new norm during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s very likely that the businesses that do well with a remote workforce might continue to keep operating that way even after we’re all able to see each other again.

Work Can Get Done From Home? Who Would Have Guessed?

Before the pandemic, if you were to ask a hundred small business owners what their biggest turn off was when it comes to allowing their staff to work from home, most would tell you that they didn’t have the confidence that their employees would treat their jobs as seriously. Less work would get done. At home, there are pets, television, video games, children, and a number of other distractions that would seemingly fight for the attention of your employees.

At the office, the business owner and managers can march around and make sure everybody is working hard, right?

It reminds me of a Dilbert strip. The exchange goes something like this:

Dilbert: I’d like to work from home so I can be more productive.
Boss: I can’t manage you as easily when you’re out of the office.
Dilbert: That’s why I’d be more productive.
Boss: But you’d be missing out on all of this.

Granted, every manager has their own management style, and every business has their own needs when it comes to keeping things productive, and there are always going to be employees that buck the trends. Still, a lot of employees around the world right now are suddenly discovering the fact that they are able to be as productive, if not more productive, when working from home.

Much of the office workforce is getting very used to wearing those comfy pants, and it’s going to be strange (and a little disappointing) having to go back to the old ways of doing things. 

Some Businesses Figured This Out Years Ago

Telecommuting isn’t anything new, but experts were pretty sure it was going to take a bit longer to catch on. Many organizations have been offering different flavors of remote employment for a while now. Some might have certain departments or employees working from home all the time, or they might offer flexibility to have people work from home a few days every week.

Either way, these organizations are using it as both a perk for prospective employees, and as a way to cut down on costs. It’s not cheap to keep and maintain a working area for employees. Keeping the lights on, the A.C. running, and maintaining a cubicle and workstation adds up.

Look at your office space. Add up the rent/lease costs, utilities, and the snack budget. It’s a big chunk of money. Imagine reducing that down to almost nothing - moving your IT to the cloud, finding a shared space for meetings and interviews (if needed), and ditching the expensive office space might look pretty attractive once you discover you don’t really need it.

Whether You Go Back or Stay Remote, We Can Help

MSPNetworks has worked with a lot of businesses during this pandemic to help get them set up to allow their workforce to be productive from home. We can help your business implement new technologies to make it easier for your staff to collaborate and work from home (or anywhere) for the long term.

Whether you need immediate help or you are looking to plan out strategies to keep things running smoothly for the long run, give us a call at (516) 403-9001 to discuss all the options.

Wi-Fi has swiftly become one of those amenities that we just expect to have, including in the workplace. While it does make work around the office more convenient, it should not be at the cost of your security. To help prevent this, we’re reviewing a few key Wi-Fi security considerations to keep in mind.

Don’t Rely On It For Your Security

Regardless of how secure your network purports to be, it doesn’t hurt to continue subscribing to best practices when it comes to maintaining your security -- in fact, it could very well hurt you not to do so. Wi-Fi in particular isn’t the most secure method to use out of the box, so you should always be sure to support what you use with additional protections and security measures. For example, you should always incorporate encryption to help protect your traffic, something that you need to make sure is done, because your traffic won’t be secure otherwise.

You should also follow general browsing best practices at all times, just as an added precaution. Avoid websites that lack the ‘s’ in https, as that ‘s’ stands for secure.

Protect Your Wi-Fi With Good Passphrases and Practices

At this point, most people are at least aware of what makes a bad password: the usual suspects, including:

• Simple and common words and letter combinations being used
• No variation in character type
• Reusing the same password for different sets of credentials
• Passwords written down on scrap paper or sticky notes

This is just a small sample of all the little habits and shortcuts that users will understandably start to pick up to make sure that they can remember all of the different passwords they need to maintain (not to mention the idea that they should use a different password for each account).

While your employees certainly shouldn’t be shortchanging your security measures, they are only human. One way to compromise with them (without compromising your security) is to use passphrases instead of passwords, creating a very bland sentence and using that as your authentication proof instead - something like “ipourthemilkintothecereal.” Memorable, yes, but certainly not well-known. Naturally, these should be kept confidential, and it will probably help to use a password manager to keep track of them. On top of that, add numbers, symbols, and capitalization.

Consider Your Wi-Fi Network

There are many ways that you can help increase the safety of your wireless network. Here are some quick highlights:

• Change your SSID away from the factory default to a unique but unrevealing alternative, even if you keep your network hidden.
• If a device has Wi-Fi capabilities that you are not actively using, make sure that the device is off to help truncate the amount of access points you have into your wireless network. If a device can be connected to your network via ethernet, consider doing so.
• Keep business use of the network separate from any guest use of the network with a dedicated guest network, protected by a simple passphrase that you update periodically. Turn off the guest network whenever it is not needed for added security.

Want extra help with any of these security considerations? Trust the experts at MSPNetworks! We can help keep your technology safe for you to continue your business operations with it in your corner. Call (516) 403-9001 to learn more.

Social media has completely changed the dynamics of how people communicate with one another. While some users might only keep in touch with friends through it, others--including businesses and brands--use it to promote their products. In an age where a picture can appear on thousands of devices all over the world, privacy has become a major concern for anyone using social media.

Social media was built on the foundation of users sharing parts of themselves through the Internet, and in a world dominated by mobile devices, it’s not surprising that the majority of today’s computing is done through mobile platforms. One study found that in 2018, 69 percent of all American adults over 18-years-old used social media regularly over the subsequent year; this does not include YouTube as a social media platform. This number grows ever larger, particularly in regard to seniors. Nearly 40 percent of them use some form of social media--a number that has increased by about 200 percent since 2012.

Due to this increase, there is also a much larger group of individuals out there to steal money, information, and identities. Privacy concerns are prevalent in today’s social media environment, and users must be aware of how they are putting their data in harm’s way. Most people cite social media as a place where they can share their civil and political views, personal health information, learn scientific information, engage in job, familial, and society-related activities, and where they get most of their news.

Role of Privacy

As always, privacy will depend on how much an individual prioritizes the security of his or her personal information. If someone wants to keep a semblance of themselves private, they have to avoid placing that information in a public space like social media. As social media usage increases, the issue only grows larger. Add in the functionality that a lot of developers integrate into these websites and, before you know it, control over personal data is suddenly a problem.

Obviously, these platforms require you to give over some of your personal information to them in order to use the service, but when you begin to lose control over who has your data, and what data has been shared, negative situations can arise. A 2014 survey suggested that 91 percent of Americans have lost control over their data, and that advertisers and social media companies are taking more of their data than they even know.

Half of Americans know, and largely understand, the problems they face by having their information fall into the wrong hands. This leads them to be more proactive about securing their personal information. An issue everyone runs into, however, is that in order to use social media (or e-commerce for that matter), companies demand access to more personal information than necessary. By mining all this data, they then have carte blanche to do with it as they please, which can become a problem if that data is scraped by odious sources.

Why Stay on Social Media If They Are Stealing from You?

If you are at the beach and a professional lifeguard were to tell you that you need to get out of the water because there is a good chance you will be bitten by a shark, would you wade around in waist-deep water trying to spot the sharks? No chance. That’s why we scratch our heads when we see companies openly take our client’s personal information, the information they share, and their user histories to create a consumer profiles that will be sold for profit to advertisers. We constantly warn people to protect their personal information, and they consistently don’t.

We understand… maybe you use social media for marketing. Maybe you are one of the ones that are careful what they share with these sites. Maybe, you are comfortable with it and are one of the millions of people that trade their privacy for convenience. Whatever the reason is, if social media has become an important part of your life, you most likely have made some privacy concessions, knowingly-or-not, in order to use it.

Between social media and online commerce, more personally identifiable information is shared with corporations than you would ever knowingly share with your best friends. This speaks to just how oblivious the typical user is about their own personal information. People find value in social media. In fact, there are businesses that provide their staff with regular social media breaks as to not interrupt organizational productivity with social media. When you consider 30 percent of all online time is spent on social media (which only increases when people go mobile), you begin to understand that it carries value for hundreds of millions of people.

Are you concerned about your private information being tracked and shared by Internet-based services? Do you have a good idea about who has your personal information and where it is going? Leave your thoughts about this issue in the comments.

I have a question for you: when did you last examine the bandwidth that your business Internet package provides you? This is a very important consideration to make, for the sake of your productivity. This week, we’ll offer a few tips on how the proper bandwidth can help you get much more out of your IT solutions.

What is Bandwidth?

On a very basic level, bandwidth is simply how quickly you can download content from the Internet, measured in megabits per second, or Mbps. The higher the bandwidth, the faster these downloads will run.

Think about it like this: you’re trying to move water from one bucket to another. You have two tools you can use to do so, a fire hose, or a straw. Which connection will move the water more quickly?

If you answered the hose, you understand how bandwidth works. Just like the fire hose can move more water than a straw can, a larger bandwidth can move more megabits in the same amount of time. Some high-speed connections can even be measured in Gigabits per second.

How Does Bandwidth Translate to Download Speed?

Calculating your projected download speed is fairly simple, as long as you keep in mind that there are 8 bits for every byte. This means that, if you were trying to download 8 megabytes of data on a 1 Mbps connection, it would take approximately 1 second. 512 megabytes would take just over a minute to download on the same connection.

How Do I Know What My Business Needs?

In order to accurately estimate your business’ required bandwidth, a little more math is in order. While other factors, like connection reliability, should also be considered, your approximate bandwidth needs are relatively simple to calculate.

First, you will need to have the estimated traffic that each of your processes take up, as well as the total users that are likely to be engaged in that process. You will want to assume that this is during peak operations, so you don’t inadvertently short-change your business. Naturally, the bandwidth required by different processes will vary, but the following is generally the case:

100Kbps and Under - Low-end, single-line VoIP phones and e-fax machines. Some basic-use computers and laptops may utilize under 100 Kbps, but this isn’t often the case in businesses.

100Kbps to 500Kbps - It is much more common for computers and laptops to fall within this range, as they are more often used for streaming and downloading, emailing, and more rigorous browsing.

500Kbps to 2.0Mbps - If your business utilizes cloud solutions and (standard definition) video conferencing, you’re likely taking up this much bandwidth. This is commonly the range that Enterprise Resource Planning solutions, Customer Resource Management platforms, and Point of Sale devices will bring your bandwidth to as well.

2.0Mbps and Up - This bandwidth is usually called for by a high-definition conferencing solution, a lot of remote access, heavy cloud access, and more.

Now, still keeping peak activities in mind, add up what your staff is likely to need. Let’s say you have a total of 10 users in your business, including yourself. Let’s also say that you’re always on your email, corresponding with your business contacts and using 450Kbps. Six of your employees are engaged with the CRM solution they utilize, each using 2.0Mbps, and the last three are involved in a high-def video conference, each leveraging 2.5Mbps.

Totaling these use cases up, your business can expect to use almost 20Mbps at heaviest use - although it may make the most sense to assume everyone was attending a video conference, totaling 25Mbps, just to be safe.

What other tips would you like us to share? Let us know by leaving a comment, and make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss it!

With so many people depending on the Internet for a litany of reasons, there might not be the general acknowledgment of just how powerful the ubiquitous use of the Internet really is for businesses. From the storage and redundancy of business’ data to virtualized computing platforms to browser-based interfaces that provide access to productivity and communications software, today’s Internet is filled with solutions for the modern business.

High-Speed Data
The Internet was around a while before broadband was rolled out, but today data delivery systems necessitate that users have a fast Internet connection. With all the options that the average business has to choose from, many of them are only feasible if a company has the necessary bandwidth available to run the technology they depend on.

The strength of the Internet for today’s business is largely based on the availability of high-speed Internet. If your business lacks the bandwidth it needs to utilize cloud-hosted platforms, communications solutions, and other important business applications, it can not only create substantial data bottlenecks, it can hinder collaboration and productivity.

Mobile Data
The development of the Internet has coincided with the development and innovation of the smartphone. Today, 77 percent of all Americans have a smartphone. The main benefit of a smartphone is the development of applications (apps) that provide shortcuts to web-based platforms, and plenty of additional functionality.

The numbers suggest that more content is viewed on mobile devices than on desktop or laptop PCs today, making it extremely important that cellular and wireless Internet is readily available and fast enough to facilitate all the demand. Most of us pay twice for Internet (home and cellular), but the figures show that there are more people than ever today eliminating the cost and paying for one or the other. This has led to nearly 20 percent of smartphone owners forgoing at-home broadband service and utilizing their cellular data plans. As this number rises, it will have an effect on every device market, as well as the sustainability of affordable high-speed Internet.

Communication
Another strength of the modern Internet is the numerous ways it can facilitate successful and secure communications. Platforms such as telephone, instant messaging, email, as well as newer applications that prioritize collaboration fuel what are major changes in the way people communicate.

Today’s Internet-based communications are a major profit center for a business. While it would seem that these solutions would come without a lot of return, without them, many businesses would see their profitability fall off to a point where growth simply isn’t possible. The Internet also provides options for conferencing, webinars, and other group meetings that provide organizations the kind of end-to-end communication they need to keep business rolling.

Supply Chain
One of the biggest challenges for business is to keep a successful supply chain running. Changes in technology have provided the ability for businesses to acquire the things they need affordably improve dramatically. Internet-connected software, communications solutions, and other platforms are changing the way manufacturers and retailers handle their supply chains.

Tackling the logistical problems that typically come with a supply chain system can be one of the biggest headaches for any business. Access to resources that can be connected to the Internet, such as e-commerce, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management; not to mention the significant real-time communications options provided on the Internet, allow people to manage their procurement and distribution better, while routinely providing direct access to vendor representatives that can keep business moving faster and more effectively.

Marketing and Sales
One of the most obvious ways the Internet has helped business is by making a company’s products or services available to larger markets. Since marketing - and, specifically Internet marketing - has become a major investment for many organizations, companies have to have a dedicated plan in place that turns traditional advertising on its head.

Many organizations have invested heavily in this aspect of their business, but for those that cannot, the use of social media is another great option. With low overhead and the ability to touch hundreds and thousands of people in a short span of time, many organizations that do invest heavily in marketing also utilize their social media accounts for their benefit.

The Internet continues to be used by many organizations to conduct business. How does your business utilize the Internet? Has it been beneficial for your company, or has it been a struggle? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below, and make sure to return to our blog for more great technology information and commentary.

For the modern small business owner, there are situations that you are forced to deal with that are frustrating; but, in the course of doing business would be considered normal. Then there are other situations that arise where, every step of the way, the figurative floor falls out from under your feet and you are forced to react quickly. Some of these circumstances can be pretty spooky for your business. This Halloween, we’ve decided to outline three scary circumstances your business may have to deal with, and how to keep your cool.

The Walking, Talking Dead
Unfortunately, employees sometimes do things that force a business owner or manager to terminate his/her employment contract. Other employees leave if they have problems with management or find better opportunities elsewhere. Unfortunately for the business, a clean break may not be possible, and a disgruntled former employee can make things extremely difficult for your business.

One way that a former employee can virtually haunt your business is through the use of social media. If it was a rough break, a former employee can slander your business on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as social media designed for employer reviews like LinkedIn and the anonymous review site, Glassdoor. This may be nothing more than a hindrance, and typically no one is going to pay a solitary source much mind, but if multiple complaints of the same nature start popping up on social media, you might spook the high-end talent out of considering working with your business.

Residing Evil
Another way former employees can hurt your business, is if you let them. When they leave, you have to remember to ensure that any account authorization they had access to is deleted. There have been cases where former employees will make their way onto their former company’s infrastructure or network and corrupt things, either manually or with the help of malware.

Typically, those who would go ahead and effectively hack their former employers’ systems, know what they are looking for, and use this access to make it more difficult for a company’s business to run efficiently. As long as your IT administrators have a plan on how to remove former users and do so immediately after the employee is let go, this may not be much of an issue.

Some former employees have deliberately built in a way into a network away from the procedural protocols outlined by IT administrators. In these cases, a full network audit is necessary to ensure that any trace of the worker is removed promptly. Any other result keeps the potential for jaded former employees to do some pretty disgusting things to your company’s network.

Trick or Treating
While some former employees want to take it out on their former employer, some former employees will want to steal company data, client data, or intellectual property. In fact, in one study done by security experts Symantec, data showed that nearly half of all fired employees had kept some sort of confidential corporate information. While this may not be a massive deal, 40 percent of them planned on using that data at a new job.

While organizations may not be able to completely avoid this from happening, there are some courses of action that can be taken to ensure that this data isn’t used against their own company. Make every employee sign, and enforce, a non-compete agreement, while also utilizing access control systems to ensure the people who don’t need certain information, don’t have access to said information. Giving people fewer chances to make off with data is a great way to keep people from taking it in the first place.

Business can be scary sometimes, and the last thing you need is for your bottom line to be hacked and slashed because of your former employees. At MSPNetworks, we can help you protect your data and network from all manners of threats; and; help make sure that former employees don’t haunt you long after their gone. To learn exactly how we can help you, call us today at (516) 403-9001.