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Protect Your Home from Technology Fire Risk

August 11, 2020 by Paul Schwegler

You love your technology and probably have a lot of it at home. You might not think of computers, smartphones, printers, or routers as a fire risk, but they can do real damage.

Microwaves, laundry machines, and air conditioners are the top sources of residential fires, but computer equipment is also responsible for fires that injure and kill homeowners.

So, what should you do? Keep in mind that your technology generates heat when it’s switched on; that’s why it’s designed with venting. But desktops, laptops, routers, modems, and printers can all overheat.

Desktop computers have fans to push out the air, but they can get clogged with dust or blocked. Often, we’ll see computers pushed up again a wall, covered with papers, or kept in a small alcove that gets no airflow.

Laptops can also overheat. People often sit with their laptops literally on their lap, or on a blanket or pillow. If you’re blocking the device’s exhaust port, the laptop can’t cool down.

Air also needs to get into the device to cool it, but that won’t happen properly if dust or pet hair clogs the vents. Your precious technology could overheat and cause a fire or stop functioning effectively because it has to work harder all the time.

Other Tech-Related Fire Threats

A rat’s nest of cables represents a fire risk. You should always try to avoid overloading your circuits with too much electrical load. You can also upgrade your electrical wiring and go with heavy-duty extension cords.

Charging cords and overheated batteries are another issue. You’ve probably heard of airlines banning certain smartphones because they have been known to spontaneously combust.

You can prevent charger and battery damage by choosing brand-name items. Third-party chargers for phones, tablets, and laptops can save money, but they are cheaper because they lack safety features. If your charger sets your room on fire, your cost savings go up in flames.

You might also think about getting an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). This battery backup supplies power if your regular power source fails. It can also prevent power surges and allow for safe shutdown of connected equipment.

Finally, plan to get your computer cleaned annually. You might do this yourself, but many people prefer to hire computer tech help.

Whether its computer cleaning, or setting up safe wiring or a UPS, we can help protect your home. Contact us at (515)422-1995 today about fireproofing your technology!

Filed Under: Residential, Security, Tips Tagged With: Fire, residential, Safety, technology

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Returning to Work: Prioritizing Safety with IT Too

June 2, 2020 by Paul Schwegler

Your business has the OK to go ahead and get back to work on-site. You want to return to your office, but you don’t want to risk people’s health by doing so. After all, some say it’s too soon to go back. Plus, others predict a second wave of COVID-19 is likely. These suggestions can help you return to work while prioritizing safety.

Not everyone will welcome the call back to the corporate environment. Some employees may still be in a population vulnerable to the virus. They may want to take leave instead of returning to the work environment. Others may simply not show up.

Have your HR team send out a written notice informing employees of the timeline for returning to the office. Educate them about precautions you’re taking to provide a safe work environment. Ask for a written response of people’s intentions. Then, IT can start establishing procedures for getting everyone back to work.

You may have had great success with remote working during the quarantine. This could position you to allow workers to stay home if they are at risk or oppose the idea of returning “too soon.”

For those coming back, support social distancing by phasing in people’s return. Your business could also use a hybrid IT solution to allow people to come in just three days a week, and they could continue to work two days at home. This allows staggered re-entry and reduces the numbers of people on-site at the same time.

Back-to-Work Technology

You may be thinking you already have all the tech you need to go back to the office. C’mon, you were already working from there before this whole thing started. Plus, now you have all the new tools you added to support remote-employee productivity.

Still, you may not have invested in a long-term remote-work solution that will now support a hybrid model. Or perhaps the on-site tech you’ve long relied on isn’t meant to handle remote working for the long haul.

To achieve a flexible hybrid model, go with cloud solutions or expand on-site IT. Do you need to add infrastructure to handle remote employees using virtual private networks (VPNs)? Both on-site staff and off-site workers might need to securely access systems at the same time.

Adopting cloud collaboration software allows co-workers to access network resources simultaneously, regardless of location. Or with virtual desktops, employees can access the same files and business applications on their work machine or on a personal device.

Bringing people back to the office, you’ll want to rethink the physical setup. Support social distancing by spreading employees’ seating arrangements out more. This will require moving around computer hardware, too.

If you were previously sharing technology, you’ll also need to add more desktops. Or you might invest instead in more laptops or portable devices. This could mean securing more software, too.

Added IT Precautions

Finally, cybercriminals are opportunistic. They’re already exploiting people with malware promising vaccines or cheap masks. These bad actors are also looking to exploit the tech demands on businesses. Many businesses adapted to a new way of doing things: they moved files to the cloud, and they allowed employee access from personal devices, but they did so quickly.

Explore any new vulnerabilities from your transitions. This is a good time to double-check permissions. Ensure that accountant Jane can access staff wage data but that receptionist Jenny can’t. Also, confirm that all virus protection and security patches are current.

Active planning is the answer to a smooth return to work. While offering protective coverings and ramping up cleaning in the office is important, make sure that you don’t overlook your technology needs.

Our IT experts can help you adapt nimbly. Contact us today at (515)422-1995!

Filed Under: Business, Productivity, Security, Tips Tagged With: business, COVID-19, Safety

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3 Internet Habits To Keep Kids Smart and Safe

April 2, 2018 by Paul Schwegler

How can you make the internet a safer place for your children? It’s a common concern as all parents want their kids to be protected and happy whenever they go online. It’s relatively easy to supervise and monitor the very young ones as they stare delightedly at the NickJr or PBSKids site, but the risks increase greatly as kids get older and more independent. As a father of three boys, I have had to start thinking about this very concern. Hopefully, this post will help others in keeping their little ones safe online.

You’ve probably heard the term ‘cyber safety’ before, but safe internet usage goes beyond reminding them not to talk to strangers. With the evolution of the internet and the way it’s now woven seamlessly into our lives, the focus needs to be on ingrained habits. That means ensuring your children have the tools and predefined responses to online events so that no matter what happens, they’re not placing themselves (or your family) at risk. I’ll start with a few general ideas and concepts to teach and then finish with some actual methods to help protect your kids and computers.

Downloads are a no-go

Most kids can’t tell the difference between a legitimate download and a scam/malicious link. It’s not their fault, the online world is full of things that will trick even the savviest adult. The difference is that kids tend not to take that extra moment to check exactly where that link is pointing, question whether it’s too good to be true, or even read what they’re agreeing to. They want to get back to what they were doing, and if something pops up, their first instinct is to click ‘yes’ – purely so it goes away. Unfortunately, that single ‘yes’ may have just opened the doors to malware and viruses that will ruin their computer. Set a family rule that they need to ask permission for all downloads (and an adult will check it first), and to never click a popup. When you’re called over to give download permission or check a popup, talk through exactly what you’re checking and why. As your child matures, get them involved in this process so their safe habits extend outside the home.

Critical thinking is a must

Most youngsters think the internet is a magical place and can’t imagine their life without it. To them, the internet is on the same level as oxygen! With that acceptance though, comes unwavering trust that the internet would never lie to them, never trick them and never hurt them. While we adults know better, it’s only because we already view the internet with a certain level of distrust. The best way to keep kids safe is to teach them to approach every aspect of the internet with critical thinking. That includes teaching them to question the motives of other people online. Is that person really a kid? What do they really want? Unfortunately, all kids do need to be aware that predators use the internet to target and lure children. Ensure your children tell you immediately if a stranger makes contact. Along with this stranger danger, teach them to identify what marks something as suspicious, and what they should avoid. If they come across anything inappropriate, they should shut down the computer and come straight to you.

The internet is forever

Kids have an overwhelming drive to contribute to the internet, they don’t think twice about recording a video, jumping in a chat room or onto social media. The world really is their playground! But what they don’t understand until they’ve been burned, is that anything they upload, write or say is on the internet forever. Even if they delete it or use a platform where content self-erases, someone can still screenshot and send it right back out. Many cyber-bullying cases are based on this exact type of blow-back. Once your kids know that everything they post is permanent, they’ll be more likely to pause and think.

OK, now that we have identified the dangers, how can you actually help prevent this from happening? No matter how much you tell your kids not to click on a link, I know from experience that they aren’t always going to listen! While there are some things we can’t prevent, there are still steps we can take to help.

Lock it down!

There is a hard rule when it comes to the relationship between security and convenience. The more you have of one, the less you have of the other. Most modern systems try their best to strike a balance between the two but often err on the side on convenience. Take Microsoft Windows for example. After 15 years of historically being the LEAST secure operating system, it still defaults to your user account having full administrative permissions! This means that you can install any program and change any setting with only the click of the ‘OK’ button. Kids aren’t going to know what this means, they are going to click OK…and now you have a virus. What can you do about this?

  • Make a new Windows account for your kids that does NOT have administrator rights. Then, put a password on your account that they don’t know. Now, whenever they are prompted to install something or change a setting they will be unable to continue without you typing in the password. Of course, this means that you need to not leave your computer unlocked all of the time. So, turn the screensaver on and make it require a password on wake. This way, your kids can instead log into their account and do what they need to do.
  • Install a parental control application. There are a plethora of parental control programs out there that claim to keep your kids safe. And for the most part, they do effectively keep the kids out of things they shouldn’t be in. However, don’t for a second think that there aren’t instructions on how to bypass that program freely available online! Use these as a stopgap, but don’t put all of your trust into them. NOTE: I have limited experience with these applications, so I can’t really vouch for one. They all come with their benefits and drawbacks so make sure to try it before buying.
  • Get rid of Windows. What I have done with my boys is eliminate the whole risk of Windows to begin with. Instead, I purchased inexpensive Chromebooks for each of them. These allow fully compatible access to the internet (which is filtered as I will cover soon) but have no vulnerabilities to infections. They are cheap, durable, and last forever on battery. Also, they are familiar to children because most schools have Chromebooks in the classrooms these days. They can’t run Windows apps, but to be honest that doesn’t really matter as pretty much everything they do these days is online or available as a Chrome App.

OK, but what about porn?

No longer do kids have to scrummage through the basement for their dad’s box of playboys. A simple Google image search can turn up stuff that no kid should be exposed to. What do we do about this? Well, nothing is perfect, but by far the most effective thing I have found is to use a maintained filtering service on your entire home network. This way, even if your child is using a device that does not have parental control software they are protected. The one I use at home is OpenDNS.

The free home version does take a little setting up, but once in place, it allows you to selectively block any of 58 categories of content. It also can help protect against malware, botnets, and phishing attacks all for free! If this setup is a little past your pay grade, we can do this for you or you can utilize the ‘Family Shield’ version of the service which is preconfigured to block adult content. All you need to do is set your main router’s DNS to 208.67.222.123 and 208.67.220.123. Click the previous link for instructions.

That all being said it is possible to override OpenDNS or any other filter if you know what you are doing. A mobile device on cellular data or just at a friends house will still allow them to visit any site. But, these methods should suffice for the younger kids.

Filed Under: Security, Tips Tagged With: dns, filtering, kids, Safety

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