With schools now back in session, students may be re-establishing in-person friendships and making new ones, with social media being a major factor in many of these friendships. But kids can be exposed to unique risks in cyberspace. Help kids remember that cybersafety should always be a priority, and check out these tips for promoting kids’ Internet security.

1. Increase awareness: Help ensure younger children know the basics of staying safe online by using techniques like online games and videos that will define computer terms (e.g., cyberbullying, netiquette, virus protection) to establish basic understanding.

2. Protect your kid’s identity: Remind your kids never to give out personal information, such as name, home address, or telephone number, to anyone they don’t know through email, Twitter, Facebook, or in online chat rooms or bulletin boards. Talk with your children about the online risksof interacting with strangers  through the computer and sending notes and pictures into cyberspace. Online games may help kids understand how to protect their personal information and the ramifications of stolen identity.

3. Protect your computer:  Regularly updating security software can protect your family against scammers, hackers, and other online threats that can compromise your computer system and, consequently, your family’s financial security and other private information. Using software security that automatically updates keeps your technology current and decreases the likelihood of picking up bad programs or malware.

4. Create unique passwords: For online safety, tell your kids to use different passwords for every online account they have to help prevent others from accessing their personal information. Make sure that you monitor each account and make sure your children know that strong passwords should include elements like symbols, numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters, and no names or words that others could easily guess.

5. Monitor online activity: Monitoring your kids’ online activity can help keep them safe. Explore various parental controls and consider what options may work best for you and your family.

6. Prevent cyberbullying: Cyberbullying—bullying using electronic technology—can happen anytime and anywhere. Teach your children to think through what they post on the Net about other people and the consequences those posts could have if they are unkind or mean.  Also, keep communication with your child open and speak up if you suspect someone is bullying him or her.

7. Promote appropriate online interactions: Use some online games to help show kids how to make responsible decisions about online communication and learn about key issues of digital citizenship. Online activities can include exploration of methods of communication in chat rooms and emails, for example.

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When purchasing new computers, buyers used to have limited choices when it came to what kind of storage they got with their laptop or desktop PCs. But nowadays you can configure your system with either traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), increasingly common solid state drives (SSDs), or in some cases both. Here’s a comparison of both storage drives so you can figure out which best suits your needs.

What is an HDD?

An HDD is basically a storage device in a computer. It consists of metal platters with magnetic coating, a spindle, and various moving parts to process and store data. The common size for laptop hard drives is the 2.5” model, while a larger 3.5” model is usually found in desktop computers.

What is an SSD?

An SSD is another type of data storage that performs the same job as an HDD. But instead of storing data in a magnetic coating on top of platters, an SSD uses flash memory chips and an embedded processor to store, retrieve, and cache data. It is roughly about the same size as a typical HDD, and resembles smartphone batteries.

HDD and SSD comparison

The differences in capabilities between the two storage devices can be grouped into six categories:

1. Speed

This is where SSDs truly prevail. While HDDs need a long time to access data and files because the disk must spin to find it, SSDs can complete this task 200% faster since data is instantly accessed through flash memory chips. This is why an SSD-equipped PC will boot operating systems within seconds and deliver blazing-fast speed for launching programs and applications, whereas a computer that uses an HDD will take a much longer time to boot the operating system, and will continue to perform slower than an SSD during normal use.

2. Capacity

The largest SSD units have a maximum 100 TB storage capacity. Although there are large SSDs, anything that’s over 1 TB will cost businesses a lot of money. HDDs, on the other hand, have much larger capacities available for much more affordable prices.

3. Durability

HDDs consist of various moving parts and components, making them susceptible to shock and damage. The longer you use your HDD, the more it wears down and most eventually end up failing. Meanwhile, an SSD uses a nonmechanical design of flash storage mounted on a circuit board, providing better performance and reliability, and making it more likely to keep your files and data safe.

4. Noise

An HDD can sometimes be the loudest part of your computer. Even the highest-performing HDDs will emit some noise when the drive is spinning back and forth to process data. SSDs have no moving parts, meaning it makes no noise at all.

5. Heat

More moving parts means more heat, and HDD users will have to live with the fact that their device will degenerate over time. SSD uses flash memory, generating less heat, helping to increase its lifespan.

6. Cost

SSDs are generally much more expensive than HDDs for the same capacity. This is why many budget laptops may only have up to 512 GB of SSD storage.

Despite the high costs and low capacity, however, SSDs are the clear winner over HDDs in terms of performance. While you’re paying more for less memory with an SSD, you’re investing in a faster and far more durable data storage option in the long run.

We recommend using an SSD as the primary storage for your operating system, applications, and most-used programs. Many laptops and computers also allow you to install additional SSDs, so you can upgrade as required if your storage needs grow. Implementing HDD as a secondary storage unit is another great idea, especially if you need a place to store documents and pictures because they don’t need to leverage the incredible access times and speeds of an SSD.

Looking to invest in some new hardware for your business? Talk with our experts before you make a decision. We can provide sound advice and help guide you in the right direction.

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Business success comes down to whether profitability can be sustained, which is why building and maintaining relationships with your customers is crucial. To help with this, business owners are implementing customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

Imagine buying a product, and it breaks the first time you use it. You contact customer support and describe the issue, only to be told to wait for another representative to call you back. You wait for hours, and still nobody calls. After sending an email to customer support, you finally get a call from a customer service representative, but it’s from someone unfamiliar with your problem. You awkwardly explain your problem for the third or fourth time, during which you wonder if the value of your time has exceeded the value of the broken item.

We’ve all been there before, but this scenario can be avoided by having an effective CRM system. Here’s what you need to know about CRM systems and how they can mitigate frustration among customers and keep them delighted.

What is a CRM system?

CRM is a system that allows businesses to manage, record, and evaluate their customer interactions to provide better services and boost sales. You can use CRM to store customers’ contact details, accounts, leads, and sales opportunities all in one place.

What are the features of a CRM system?

• Data management – When customer data is recorded, the CRM system centralizes the data into one file called a master file. Everyone within the company then has access to this data source, preventing confusion from inaccurate or duplicate data.
• Collaboration – Nowadays, clients demand quick and efficient customer service, so all involved departments must work together to quickly resolve client concerns. CRM systems enable collaboration by facilitating the sharing of customer information among departments. This way, everyone is on the same page about clients’ circumstances and requirements.
• Customer segmentation – A CRM system arranges your customers into groups based on criteria such as age, gender, location, and even their likes and dislikes. This allows you to target marketing messages to your customers more accurately, potentially increasing engagement and conversion.
• Task tracking – CRM systems have task tracking features that help your employees stay on top of important tasks, such as contacting customers via email or phone and following up on leads. CRM systems also send reminders to employees about their assigned tasks so that nothing falls through the cracks.
• In-depth reporting – CRM systems provide a thorough analysis of your customer base. CRM reports give details including an overview of product sales numbers, marketing strategy performance, most successful products or services to date, and even a prediction of whether your sales target will be met at the end of the month.

If you’re looking to improve customer service and increase sales conversion using a CRM system, contact us today!

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Has your Mac become sluggish? Is it taking too much time to boot or load websites? Different factors can slow down your computer. In this post, we have prepared various tips on how to resolve this.

Clean up your Login Items

The Login Items list (also known as the Startup List) contains all the apps and programs that automatically start when you log in. Having too many Login Items forces your computer to work harder at startup, slowing it down.

You can remedy this by going to System Preferences and selecting Users & Groups. Click on Login Items to see the list of the apps that open on startup. Highlight the apps you want to prevent from launching automatically and click the minus button underneath the list.

Start up in Safe Mode

Your Mac’s Safe Mode can be used to troubleshoot system-wide issues, including problems with particular apps. Booting up in Safe Mode also deletes system caches.

Cache files are temporary data stored on a hard drive to speed up various processes, such as loading websites or certain apps. Unfortunately, some of these files can become corrupted, which results in your computer slowing down. To bring back your Mac’s speed, you will need to clear the cache and delete temporary files.

Starting up in Safe Mode is easy. Just press the Power button and immediately after the computer starts, press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard. Release the key once you see the gray Apple logo and the progress indicator.

If you want to leave Safe Mode, just restart your computer. Make sure not to press any key once the machine starts up.

Upgrade to solid state drive (SSD) storage

An SSD is a disk storage system that uses interconnected flash-memory chips to store your data. It’s faster and more reliable than a hard disk drive (HDD), which stores data in a spinning magnetic disk. HDD has been around for years, but many new computers continue to use it. If your Mac uses HDD storage, upgrading to SSD will amplify its processing speed.

But before you proceed, know that SSD storage costs more than HDD. If you want the same storage capacity offered by your machine’s HDD on your SSD, be prepared to shell out some extra money. Alternatively, you can settle for a much smaller memory capacity and just upgrade to a bigger one once your budget allows it.

Free up storage space

Having too many files can reduce your Mac’s speed. To free up space, just click on the Apple logo located on the top left corner of the screen. Select About This Mac and go to the <Storage tab. Here, you will see how much free space your computer has.

If your Mac’s storage is nearing full capacity, clicking the Manage button will give you four options:

• Store in iCloud – This offloads various content, including your files and text messages, to the cloud.
• Optimize Storage – This optimizes the TV app storage by deleting videos you’ve already watched.
• Empty Trash Automatically – With this option, all items that have been in Trash for 30 days will be automatically removed.
• Reduce Clutter – This lets you see the large files stored in your computer, and allows you to delete them manually to save space.

Update to the latest macOS version

macOS updates benefit your computer’s speed in several ways. First, they contain performance enhancements that help your computer run as smoothly as possible. Second, they augment your Mac’s protection against cyberthreats, which can slow down your machine. Updates are free, so you should install them once they become available.

You can also configure your computer to install updates automatically. In System Preferences, select Software Update. Go to Automatically keep my Mac up to date and check the box.

If you’ve tried one or several of these tips and are still experiencing sluggishness, it may be time to consider other options, such as trading in your old Mac for a new one. But before you do that, let us help you explore other ways to improve the performance of your trusty machine. Get in touch with us today.

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7 Urgent Security Protections Every Business Should Have In Place Now

82,000 NEW malware threats are being released every day, and businesses (and their bank accounts) are the #1 target. To make matters worse, a data breach exposing client or patient information can quickly escalate into serious reputational damage, fines, civil lawsuits and costly litigation. If you want to have any hope of avoiding a cyber-attack, you MUST read this report and act on the information we’re providing.

Download This Free Report To Learn:

• The #1 threat to your business that even the BEST firewalls and anti-virus software can’t protect against (and what you need to do now to remedy it).
• The biggest security risks with cloud computing and what you need to do to stay safe if you’re going to store client data, confidential data and financial information in the cloud.
• A common misconception about business bank fraud that will shock you – and 3 simple things you can do to protect your bank account from unauthorized access and theft.
• How to keep your network secure with the proliferation of mobile devices, cloud applications, e-mail, and social media sites connecting to your computer network.

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18 Things to Make Your Remote Work Secure, Convenient, and Stress-Free

New to remote work? There are a lot of processes IT has put in place to make your lives easier and more secure in the office. If you’re transitioning to work from home, our checklist can help you put similar processes in place to make your experience more secure, reliable, and, ultimately, more enjoyable. Download our free guide for specific details.

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