Need Home IT Help? Try Residential Managed Services

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Maybe you used to be able to troubleshoot your own technology, or had a tech-savvy family member or friend who could help out in a pinch. But now that home computing has become more essential, you may be feeling overwhelmed.

If you’re working from home, and others are doing virtual learning too, you can’t wait for your IT geek buddy to visit. You need your desktop to do your job, and you can’t risk missing a deadline or losing hours of work. Your kids might welcome the excuse to miss a few assignments, but you don’t want them falling behind at school.

With all the technology you’re using today in a regular basis, your home is basically a small business. You want to be able to access the internet from any room and print from anywhere in the house, or to have a cloud backup of all your photos and videos.

So, partner with a managed service provider (MSP) for your residential computers. Many businesses use MSPs for IT help, 24/7 monitoring, improved security, and reporting. Home users can benefit, too.

Advantages of Residential Managed Services

  • A managed service provider helps organize and protect your technology. These IT experts can:
  • network all your devices (printers, routers, laptops, desktops, and more);
  • set up the best internet connectivity option for your home;
  • recommend the best software and hardware to meet your individual needs;
  • put virus protection in place on your devices;
  • monitor your hardware for impending failure;
  • scan your computers for malware and other threats;
  • establish system and storage backups so you have a Plan B;
  • improve your productivity with more efficient solutions and expert advice;
  • keep your systems up to date by handling patches and upgrades;
  • move your computing to the cloud for greater mobility and cost savings;
  • educate you and your family on internet safety and best practices.

Valuing Your Time in Favor of MSPs

The idea of paying for IT assistance can put off home computer users. Before deciding an MSP isn’t for you, consider the value of your time. How many hours do you waste trying to figure out your tech solutions, or searching the Web for the answer to your problem?

With an MSP, if something does go wrong, you have to make only one call to get help. Don’t waste time on hold with your internet service provider only to find its a laptop problem, which means another helpline. An MSP is your one go-to for all your IT needs.

Also consider the value of your personal files, photos, and videos, and the importance of protecting and always being able to access any work you’re doing remotely.

For a small, set monthly fee, you add a human IT expert focused on your needs to your team. You have a lot to think about already. Take technology concerns off your “to do” list by partnering with a local MSP today.

We’ll simplify technology for you, offering a budget-friendly, customized managed services plan. Contact us today at (515)422-1995!

Disk Encryption Protects Your Personal Computers

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Always wanted to feel like a secret agent? Well, here’s your chance! Did you know you can encrypt your hard drive to protect the data on your computer? This is a good way to secure your information, whether at home or on the move with a laptop.

Setting up encryption scrambles your data so that only authorized parties can understand the information. Without the encryption key, anyone trying to read your information would see gibberish.

You’re already using encryption when you visit any “https” website. The lock symbol beside the URL shows that encryption is protecting your connection with the site. You’ll see it when shopping or banking online, and it’s protecting the data in transit.

You can also encrypt the data on your computers.

Password Protection Is Not Enough

Many people at this point have a password for their user account on a home computer or laptop. Some of these passwords are even complicated, although the number-one password people use continues to be “123456” – seriously – followed by “123456789” and “qwerty.”

Regardless of its strength, the logon password doesn’t stop anyone with physical access. You might have your browser remembering usernames and passwords (it’s not a shared computer, right?), and anyone with access can use those pre-populated credentials to access your accounts.

If someone really wants to get to password-protected files on a physical device, they can do so. The attacker might bypass your password by booting your computer up to a new operating system. Or the bad guy might even remove your hard drive and put it into a new computer. All they need is a second computer and a screwdriver!

Full disk encryption protects those files, even if the attacker has physical access and even if your laptop is lost or stolen, your home is burglarized, someone seizes your computers.

Encryption Is Not a Silver Bullet Of course, we need to be clear. Encrypting your hard disk doesn’t make your computer invincible to cyberattackers, although does force them to work a lot harder.

Attackers can also still exploit services running on your computer, such as network file sharing. Plus, encryption doesn’t stop a nefarious agency from spying on your online activity in transit.

Nevertheless, it does beef up your physical security. You can encrypt an external hard drive or your system’s entire hard drive. Then, when you turn the computer on, you’ll need to unlock the disk to boot up your operating system. The computer won’t work until the user supplies the encryption key or passphrase. You can also create multiple unlocking keys if you have several user accounts for that device.

Again, you’re going to want to come up with a strong password. If your key phrase is “password,” (the fourth most common choice in 2019), there’s little point in encryption.

You also don’t want to walk away from your laptop, leaving it open and accessible. You’ll want to set your encryption program to lock again after a certain amount of idle time. Otherwise, you’ll find encryption doesn’t impact your computer’s performance.

Make sure your computers and laptops are always physically secure. With disk encryption, only people you trust can access your data and files.

Ready to set up disk encryption on your home devices? We can help. Contact us today at (515)422-1995!

Want to Be Anonymous Online? Incognito v. VPN

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Maybe you want to be a little mysterious, but more likely you want to protect your privacy when browsing online. You don’t want cybercriminals seeing what you’re doing, or marketers knowing where you go online and what you search for. So, you anonymize your activity using Incognito mode or private browsing. Really though, you want to be using a virtual private network (VPN).

Google Chrome’s Incognito mode helps maintain your privacy when you are online. Other browsers, such as Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, or Internet Explorer, also offer private browsing. When the feature is at work, the browser does not save a record of the websites you visit or what you what you searched for. Plus, it doesn’t save any of your site logins. This means you have to do without the convenience of access credentials auto-populating.

Privacy browsing also disables plugins that may be used to track your internet activity. Still, plugins often serve a purpose while we’re on the internet. So, again, disabling them can disrupt your convenient, efficient browsing experience.

Yet, as cybersecurity concerns rise, recognizing privacy concerns while browsing may not be enough. For one thing, hiding your browser activity is only half the battle. You should also know that:

  • your internet service provider (ISP) may be monitoring the sites you visit;
  • the site you visited could be tracking your ISP address to find out where you logged in from;
  • if you’re not on an encrypted site, a cyber bad guy could potentially read your data.

That’s why many businesses and home computer users who want to preserve their privacy online look to a VPN. We’ll discuss the distinct advantages next.

Online Privacy Advantages with a VPN

With a VPN, you have your own secure and private connection to the internet.

Consider these advantages of having one for your computer, smartphone, or tablet:

  • A VPN encrypts your online activity. That means no third party (company, government, or hacker) can watch your activity as it is transmitted.
  • When you connect, your IP address is masked. The VPN provides you with a new IP address, so you can’t be tracked to your home or business connection.
  • You may be able to access otherwise restricted content. The VPN IP address could appear to be in a country that is allowed access to specific content. So, the website won’t know to block you.

Of course, the VPN provider could be recording your online activity (as an ISP might also do), but the most reputable providers make it a policy not to keep any activity logs for their users.

What Do You Want from Your Anonymity?

When deciding, it comes down to what you want from your anonymity efforts. If you want your browser to not record what you are doing locally, Incognito or another privacy browser will do OK.

If you want a private and secure connection that allows you to enjoy freedom and peace of mind online, the VPN is for you.

Need help securing your online activity? Our experts can help you determine the best approach and implement the right strategy. Find out more. Contact us today at (515)422-1995!

Local Business v. Big Box Computer Repair

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Your computer is down for the count. You’ve tried the perennial favorite – turning it off and back on again – but somehow, your tech magic has not worked this time! You need help, and you want it fast. The question is whether to take it to a local computer business or big-box store for repair.

Many big-box stores offer depot computer repair. Why are we calling it depot repair? Because just like at a bus or train depot, that store is only one stop on your computer’s repair journey. Typically, the store does not have the facilities to repair your laptop or desktop on-site. Also, their employees lack the skills to do the work right there.

Instead, that computer, along with all your important files, is shipped on to another location. This presents some problems:

  • Computers can get damaged in shipping/handling.
  • Accountability is lost when the device is passing through a chain of people.
  • You don’t know where your computer is at any given time.
  • Its return to you slowed by shipping times.

That’s why we recommend getting your computers repaired at a local business with the skills and facilities to do the work on-site.

Benefits of Small Business Repair

When you take your device to a locally owned small business, you know at all times who is handling your computer. You often hand over your laptop or desktop to the person fixing it, or at least to someone who is in direct contact with the person doing the repair.

Fewer people are going to have their hands on your device. You’re not dropping it off at one location to travel to another location via a major shipping company’s trucks, which means there’s greater accountability.

Another advantage is that should something come up while your computer is in for repair, you could actually get to your device, because it’s not on a loading dock or in some pile of laptops in a manufacturer’s centralized computer repair shop. You can simply take your thumb drive down the road and ask to power the computer on and retrieve what you need, assuming that the device still turns on, that is.

Selecting the Small Business for Your Repair

When selecting a local computer business to do the repair, do your research first. It’s a good idea to ask about the following:

  • Qualifications. Do they have experience with devices like yours, and licenses and credentials?
  • Services. You don’t want to be looking to fix a cracked screen and go to someone who focuses on retrieving lost data.
  • Customer service record. Look for testimonials – you can also check this with business monitoring groups in your area and on community website boards.
  • Savings. If you don’t want to have to buy a new computer, work with a business that is in the habit of reviving old devices.
  • Flexibility. When you’re anxious to get your computer back, you’re going to want someone available right away. Don’t let this cloud your judgment, though.

Some local computer experts will be able to fix your problems without you needing to go to them. Depending on the issue, they may be able to resolve the situation using remote access software, or they could be willing to come to you.

If you’re looking for a partner with a proven track record of giving quality computer service, contact us today!

Does Mesh Wi-Fi Make Sense in Your Home?

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Wi-Fi is a top contender for a technology most of us rely upon. After all, Wi-Fi often provides our wireless high-speed internet and network connections. Without Wi-Fi we’d be stuck watching another reality TV show on a cable-connected device. We couldn’t work from wherever we wanted in our homes. Gulp, the horror!

Well, just when you were becoming familiar with Wi-Fi, technology is adapting. Now, you might want to consider Mesh Wi-Fi for your home. If you live in a big house or an apartment with thick interior walls, or your living space is spread out over multiple stories, you may have experienced dead spots. They’re no fun, right?

Enter Mesh Wi-Fi. Traditional Wi-Fi relies on a single router. If you were having connectivity issues, you might have invested in a Wi-Fi booster or Wi-Fi extender, but now you can reach far areas with a Wi-Fi Mesh system.

Mesh networks aren’t new. They’re already in use in businesses and on military bases with their own isolated networks. But now you can also optimize home connectivity with Mesh Wi-Fi.

How Mesh Wi-Fi works

With Mesh Wi-Fi, you’ll place several smaller, connected devices around the house. Instead of having one central routing hub linking Wi-Fi signals via radio waves to the modem, you’ll have many access points (also known as satellites) capturing and rebroadcasting the routing signals you need for connectivity.

Benefits of Mesh Wi-Fi

Having ready access to a strong, reliable Wi-Fi signal wherever you are in your home is a good thing, but that’s not the only advantage of Mesh Wi-Fi. Other benefits include:

  • Greater speed. With all access points broadcasting the same signal, you can cut the lag from having multiple, simultaneous connectivity requests.
  • Better coverage. Typical Mesh Wi-Fi router devices claim to cover from 4,500 to 6,000 square feet.
  • Ease of use. The typical Mesh router system is automated and provides a mobile app for easy management, even remotely.
  • Integration with other Smart Home devices such as Alexa is often a feature.
  • Parental controls are available with certain brands of these router systems.

Securing your Mesh Wi-Fi

Just as with traditional Wi-Fi, the security of your Mesh Wi-Fi will depend on your keeping your router devices safe. This means:

  • changing the device’s administrative credentials and password from their default settings;
  • setting up devices to automatically check for and install security patch updates;
  • changing the network name to something unique, not something that immediately identifies the network as yours (e.g. if you live at 804 Water Wheel, don’t call your network 804 Water);
  • setting up a guest Wi-Fi network allowing visitors to log on instead of providing every guest to your home with your access credentials.

Mesh Wi-Fi is also known as whole-home Wi-Fi, but you may not need this expansive solution. Consider: How often do you have connectivity issues? How many Wi-Fi dead zones are you dealing with? What’s your budget? And do you really want several more devices strewn around your house? You might need only to set up your traditional router and modem more efficiently.

Want to learn more about dealing with slow connectivity or dead spots in your home? Give us a call at (515)422-1995. Our experts can help you decide on the best Wi-Fi connectivity option for your needs.

Time for What Matters: Essential Windows Shortcuts

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The average person spends 90,000 hours at work. These hours can cost us sleep, affect our mood, and cause us to gain weight. Oh, and work can cause stress, too. We can’t give you a “get out of work free” card, but these essential Windows shortcuts will help you save time.

By gaining efficiency at your computer, you may find you have more time for what matters. At work, this may be devising new innovations or getting out in the field. At home, these shortcuts can free up time to play a board game with the kids or do some gardening with Grandma.

Ctrl + X to Cut

Think about X marking the spot in the text where you want to cut words, an image, or a URL. Drag your cursor over the selection to highlight the particular text/table/image/file (or a part of it). If you don’t want it at all, the cut function is another version of delete. If you want to move the selection, this is your first step.

Ctrl + V to Paste

With this simple shortcut you can place the information you just cut (or copied using Ctrl + C) anywhere you want. The important thing to remember is that the paste function only holds one selection in memory. So, if you cut a phrase from one place, don’t get distracted by an image you want to copy or other text to cut. You want to paste what you have first, then go back and copy or cut the next thing so as not to risk risking losing anything.

Ctrl + Z to Undo

If only this shortcut was available in real life. We could retract that thing we inadvertently said to Uncle Steve, or take out the salt we put in a recipe instead of sugar, or avoid leaving the house for the gym without our running shoes.

Still, Windows users are able to undo their most recent action with this key combination. Whichever Windows program you’re in, you can use Ctrl + Z to reverse your last action. To redo something, go with Ctrl + Y.

Alt then Tab to Switch Screens

There are many things you can do with Windows. Perhaps you’re multitasking: you have a PowerPoint open, as well as an Excel spreadsheet, and Internet Explorer, too. By pressing Alt and then the Tab key, you can switch between tabs or screens. If you hold down the Alt button while tapping Tab, you’ll scroll through all screens.

Ctrl + N to open a new window

Pressing Ctrl+N together opens up a new document file or browser window, depending on the program you’re in. It saves you a few drop-down menus and works in most Windows applications and Web browsers.

Ctrl + F to Find

This is another one we’d love to see in the real world. Using the find shortcut calls up a pop-up box where you can enter text or numbers. You can use this shortcut to find what you’re looking for on a Web page, in a PDF document, or in your rough draft of a speech. In fact, you’ll be able to see how many times your search text appears and toggle from one selection to the next.

Ctrl + Mouse to Zoom

Forget your reading glasses? Looking at a too-small infographic? Having a tough time locating the right tiny file on your desktop? You can zoom in with this shortcut. Using this shortcut on your desktop makes files and folders larger. In your browser, this function zooms in on the page.

Want to know more about Windows and technology to streamline processes? Our experts can help you find the right computer solutions for your home or office. Contact us at (515)422-1995 today!

Facebook is for Sharing, Not Storing

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When was the last time you held an actual photo album or actual prints of photographs in your hands? Maybe you look back at older photographs only when Facebook’s TimeHop app reminds you of a pic from five years ago. If so, you may be risking your visual history.

Facebook is a great way to share photos with friends and family around the world. You get to enjoy their comments and the affirmation of their likes. But using Facebook as storage for your photos is not a good plan. Here’s why.

Some people treat Facebook as their photo album archive. They delete the originals from their devices or digital camera when they need more space. But Facebook compresses images for faster download. It satisfies impatient social media users, which means photo quality suffers. If you wanted to print those photos in the future, they wouldn’t look as good as the originals.

That’s not the only drawback. When you trust Facebook with all your photos, you’re letting a company control your visual archive. It’s hard to imagine, given Facebook’s reach today, but what happens to your photos if the company goes defunct? We don’t know. The people who were keeping their photos on Myspace in 2006 might have an idea.

The younger crowd is already moving onto other social platforms. Plus, Facebook’s growth rate in North America and Europe is slowing. Those daily active users are the primary source of revenue. So, you know Mark Zuckerberg is in some meetings about that.

Even if Facebook continues as the business behemoth it is today, we don’t know what policy changes it might make. It could change its terms of service whenever it wanted (if you even read those in the first place). Users have no guarantee for how long Facebook will store their images or any type of content.

Keep in mind also that many of the photos showing up in your timeline are actually taken by friends. Facebook provides an entire album of other people’s photos when they’ve tagged you, but if they decided to untag you or remove it, that photo would be gone.

Finally, there’s also the risk of your account getting shut down or hacked. You’ve probably had friends warn you not to accept any new friend requests from them because they’ve been compromised. You wouldn’t want a thief to steal all your photo albums. Similarly, you don’t want a cybercriminal to gain access to all your images.

Our Recommendation

Just as with data, we recommend you have a “3-2-1” backup system for your digital photographs. This means having three copies of the photos you care about. You don’t need to back up the blurry ones if you don’t want to.

You might keep one copy on the original device, but you’d have two other copies of the high-quality, uncompressed, original image as well. One might be kept on an external storage device such as a USB thumb drive, and the other you could upload to cloud storage.

The cloud backup gives you access to the photos from any device in any location. So, if a flood, hurricane, or fire devastates your home, and you lose your device and the USB thumb drive, you still have a backup. Your Facebook photos and videos are just there to be shared with friends and family.

Not sure where or how to safely store your photos and videos? We can help! Our experts may even become new Facebook friends. Then we can all like each other’s photos with the peace of mind that the original photos aren’t going anywhere.

5 Common Computer Myths Debunked

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Common urban myths would have us believe alligators live in sewers or people put razor blades in kids’ candy. Common misconceptions about computers are just as persistent. Here are several IT myths debunked for your benefit.

#1 A slow-running computer has a virus

A virus can be to blame. Spyware or other malware can also cause a computer to slow down. However, there are also many other reasons your computer might run slower:

  • You may have a lot of programs that start up when you boot up the computer. You could remove or disable programs that start every time.
  • The computer has gone into power save mode every night, but you haven’t rebooted the computer in a long time.
  • There are many programs running in the background. On a Windows PC, you can go into task manager and see what is running and the computer resources in use.
  • A security utility is running. If it’s an antivirus scanner, let the scan finish first, then see if your computer speed improves.
  • Temporary files or other junk are taking up too much hard drive space. Your computer needs at least 200–500MB of free space on the hard drive to be able to move and manage files.
  • Your computer doesn’t have enough RAM to run programs within memory. If your computer has to swap information on the hard drive to get enough memory to run programs, it’s going to work slower.
  • The computer is old. You may need to upgrade to a computer that can handle current software needs without slowing to a snail’s pace.

#2 Macs don’t get viruses

Many Apple owners believe their Macintosh computers are immune to viruses. If only. Macs do get viruses; they are simply targeted less than PCs. Why? There are many more computers running Windows, which means a bigger, easier target for cybercriminals.

As Apple’s market share rises, the threat to Macs is growing. Apple works to protect its users from malware, but you still need to use caution with downloads and when clicking on links from unknown sources.

#3 My Windows registry needs cleaning up

Registry cleaning companies will say that scanning your Windows registry can speed up the computer and avoid error messages. The cleaner finds unused registry keys and any malware remnants for removal.

But let’s consider the fact that Microsoft has not released its own registry cleaner. Why not? Because it’s really not necessary. Worse still, going in to clean your registry (when you don’t know what you’re doing) can actually do serious damage.

#4 My laptop battery needs to be dead before I recharge if I want it to last longer

This was once true. Nickel-cadmium batteries suffered from what was called a “memory effect.” If discharged and recharged to the same point several times, they would remember that point in the future and not go further.

Now, however, laptops typically come with lithium-ion (or Li-ion) batteries. They don’t suffer from this memory effect. In fact, they function better with partial discharge instead of letting the battery run down to zero.

#5 I don’t have anything hackers would want

Cybersecurity should be a priority for everyone, not only sprawling enterprises. Let’s put it this way:

  • Do you have any money?
  • Do you have an identity cybercriminals could use to access money or sell for money?
  • Do you work anywhere?

Hackers have all kinds of ways to profit from your data or from hijacking your computer’s processing power. They can turn your computer into part of a bot network or use your information as a bridge into a business target’s system.

Keep all your computers at top speed with the best security measures in place with the help of our experts. Contact us today at (515)422-1995!

Why You Need Professional Virus Removal

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“Your computer has a virus.” Such a dreaded five words! We don’t want to come down with a human virus; we’ll feel awful and miss work. But when a virus hits our computer, we could lose valuable information or be vulnerable to attack. Chicken soup won’t cut it.

Perhaps you have an antivirus product installed on your computer. This computer software is intended to prevent, detect, and remove viruses. Antivirus tools are designed to keep infections out. They can also delete any viruses that may already be on the computer when the software is installed.

The software provides protection by tracking malicious code and other computer threats via:

  • classifying the actions the file or code drives (as malicious or OK);
  • inspecting file signatures for matches to an existing signature in its virus dictionary;
  • scanning for rootkits that can change how your operating system functions.

However, antivirus software isn’t that good at cleaning up. When it detects a malicious file, it will delete it. But what if the virus spread before discovery? If the infection spreads before virus deletion, it can do all sorts of damage.

Think of it this way: you have a cyst on your knee. Doctors decide it is pre-cancerous and operate to remove the cyst before it spreads. But, that’s all they do. They have seen the cyst. They go for the cyst. However, they don’t notice the cancer that’s in your shin or femur, because they were only working on the cyst. The rest of your leg remains unhealthy, and you don’t even know it!

Getting a Second Opinion on Viruses

If the antivirus software is your primary physician, a computer professional is the specialist you go to for an expert second opinion. For one thing, antivirus products don’t always remove all the malicious files. Many viruses start as one thing but can mutate into several different strains. The antivirus software may not be programmed to identify all of the virus variants. A professional actively looks for undetected strains on your computer.

Viruses are always evolving. A recent strain of malware, SquirtDanger, let hackers take computer screenshots, capture passwords, download files, and empty out cryptocurrency wallets.

Some viruses can change the settings of your computer. For instance, a common virus changes your computer’s DNS, which is like a bit like the Yellow Pages for the internet. On a virus-free computer, when you type in “Google.com”, your browser goes to Google’s servers located at the IP address “216.58.203.100.” However, an infection can make Google.com on your computer go to a different address. Perhaps a server address cybercriminals use to capture your personal data. It still looks to you like Google, but it’s no longer safe. These settings can still remain after the infection is long gone.

Viruses can also leave behind browser toolbars, extensions, and other nasties designed to spy on your Web browsing habits. If you’re consistently redirected to unwanted sites, or seeing unwanted pop-up advertisements, it’s likely your computer’s infected with a browser hijacker.

Ultimately, if you detect a virus on your computer, check with a professional. Don’t trust that your antivirus software is going to do the same, thorough job an expert can offer. Sometimes your computer isn’t fully safe until the operating system is reinstalled, but you can’t know that until someone can go in and see what the virus did and what remnants are still there, lurking.

Cybercriminals are growing more sophisticated and better able to design viruses that disguise their tracks. Avoid being an unwitting victim. A computer security expert can diagnosis when your computer gets a virus, or determine if there are strains on your device you don’t know about. Let a security expert protect your computer from harm today! Call us at (515)422-1995.

Are You Banking Online Safely?

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Banks and credit card companies are making it easier for us to get money on the go. We can check account balances, pay bills, and transfer funds online. We no longer even have to go into a bank or visit an ATM to deposit checks. But are you banking online safely?

In the past, all we had to do was protect our PIN number (and remember it). Now, we need a mobile account password, too. The first precaution you can take is to have a strong, unique password. Can you believe that “password,” “123456,” and “letmein” remain common access credentials? Don’t do it! Also, avoid using things that a cybercriminal might guess or be able to learn from your social media. This eliminates anniversaries and birth dates, pets, and children’s names.

Don’t reuse your banking password anywhere else. Sure, if you duplicate the password, it’s easier for you to remember, but, a bad actor could access your credentials for another site. Then, they have that same email and password combo to use to try on your banking or credit card site, too.

It’s also not a good idea to write down your passwords or keep track of them on a note in your phone. If you’re worried about remembering all your passwords, consider a password manager. A high-quality password manager can be a safe way to keep your passwords secret yet available. Top password managers use secure encryption for your access credentials.

Make sure you’re only banking using your own, secured devices. This means don’t check your balance or whether a payment cleared while in line at the coffee shop or in the airport. Don’t risk banking using a public Wi-Fi network that a hacker could be accessing to steal sensitive data. You also want to avoid using shared computers to login to your financial data. A cybercafe or library computer could have a keylogger that tracks your login details for criminal use.

Watch out for phishing emails that look like they come from your bank, credit card company, or a tax agency. Criminals send urgent emails warning of strange activity or that you’re being audited to get you to react.

Don’t click on any link or download any attachments in an email that appears to be from a financial institution – they don’t send private data directly in emails these days. They will send you to a secure inbox on their site. Always type the institutions’ Web address into the address bar. Otherwise, you might go to a fake, mirrored site that looks legitimate but will rip you off.

Added security for online banking

Two-factor authentication can help protect your financial accounts. Various banks will set it up differently, but you should definitely take the time to set this up. You might have to identify an image you selected besides using your password. Or you might need to enter a code sent to another device (such as a text message to your phone).

The second level of authentication can be an annoyance in our convenience-first society. Still, it keeps your accounts secure, even if cybercriminals access your password.

You work hard for your money, and you don’t want a cybercriminal taking control of or emptying out your financial accounts.

Worried about securing your online activity at home or on mobile devices? We can help. Contact us today at (515)422-1995 for expert support securing your financial data.

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