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If you’ve finally made the upgrade to Windows 10, you may be disappointed that it’s running slower than expected. You may wonder, what’s the cause of this? Well, thankfully there are a few typical culprits, and solutions to fix them. Here are four steps you can take to significantly speed up your Windows 10 OS. […]

03 Mar, 2016 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Tips, Windows category

2016Mar3_MicrosoftWindowsNewsAndTips_BIf you’ve finally made the upgrade to Windows 10, you may be disappointed that it’s running slower than expected. You may wonder, what’s the cause of this? Well, thankfully there are a few typical culprits, and solutions to fix them. Here are four steps you can take to significantly speed up your Windows 10 OS.

Prevent programs from launching at startup

Windows loads several programs at startup so they’re quickly available. While Microsoft likely has good intentions for doing this, the auto-launch can also slow down the speed of your computer. To fix this issue, you’ll need to make some manual adjustments in the settings.

To see what programs are launching during startup, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc. Next, click on the startup tab of the Task Manager window, where you can easily disable any programs you don’t want launching at startup. However, there will likely be a few programs you’re unsure about. For those, it’s best to play it safe and keep them enabled.

Get rid of useless applications

Having a large amount of programs on your computer takes up valuable memory and hard disk space. In other words, it slows your computer down and makes it work harder than necessary. To quickly clean out your unused programs, follow these steps:
  1. Type Change or remove a program into the taskbar search box (this will show you all the apps stored on your computer)
  2. Select the program/s you no longer want, and click Uninstall.
Once you do this, you’ll then be guided through a number of steps to complete the uninstallation process.

Tidy up your disks

While most people like to clean out their houses come Spring, why not do so with your computer sometime this month? Thankfully, Microsoft’s Disk Cleaner tool makes it easy to do so.

To find Disk Cleaner, right-click any drive in File Explorer and select Properties and Disk Cleanup under the General tab. Once open, it will automatically find files that may be taking up unnecessary space, such as temporary Internet and system memory dump files, and presents them to you for your review. Once you’ve looked them over, you can easily erase them by simply clicking OK.

Turn off apps running in the background

Much to your surprise, there are likely some programs running in the background of your Windows 10 OS that you’re completely unaware of. Microsoft has enabled their native universal apps to do this so you can quickly access their features. However, it also will cause some slow down to your CPU, so you might want to disable them.

To find out what programs are running in the background, navigate to Start Menu>Settings>Privacy>Background apps. Then, switch off the programs you don’t want running at all times.

By following these four steps, you are sure to see a noticeable difference in the speed of your PC. If you’d like to learn more about how to optimize your Windows system or need assistance with your other Microsoft products, feel free to give us a call.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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Most of us are heavily reliant on our phones. So when your iPhone is low on battery and there’s no outlet in sight, it can be a stressful situation. Thankfully, there are some settings you can adjust that can help you squeeze a few more hours out of your battery. Here are five to consider. […]

01 Mar, 2016 / by Complete Technology Resources / in iPhone category

2015Mar1_iPhone_BMost of us are heavily reliant on our phones. So when your iPhone is low on battery and there’s no outlet in sight, it can be a stressful situation. Thankfully, there are some settings you can adjust that can help you squeeze a few more hours out of your battery. Here are five to consider.

Activate Low Power Mode

Perhaps the easiest way to save iPhone battery life, Low Power Mode can be activated with a single tap. When switched on, it automatically adjusts several settings to extend the life of your battery: it reduces the brightness of your screen and the amount of battery power your apps are using, disables the automatic fetching of new email, and it powers off the display more quickly.

To activate Low Power Mode, press Settings>Battery and then tap Low Power Mode so that the green light is on.

Lower the screen brightness

The brighter your iPhone screen, the more battery it drains. And really, there isn’t much of a need to have an excessively bright screen because in most instances (being outside in the sunshine excluded) you can easily see everything on the screen at a lower brightness level.

To adjust the brightness of your iPhone, flick the Control Center tab upward from the bottom of your screen. There you’ll see a horizontal line with a circle in the middle and a sun symbol to the side of both ends. Move the circle left or right to adjust the brightness.

Alternatively, you can adjust your iPhone’s brightness in Settings>Display & Brightness. On this screen you also can turn off Auto-Brightness, which automatically adjusts the brightness of your phone. When you turn this setting off, you’ll be certain that your phone is not wasting any excessive battery by automatically adjusting brightness on its own.

Switch off wi-fi

As much as you love using the wi-fi on your phone, it is a proven battery life killer. The funny thing is, the degree it drains battery life varies by location. For instance, if you’re at home (where iPhone battery life is less of a problem to begin with), wi-fi will use less battery. But when you’re out and about, your phone is often searching for a wi-fi signal to connect to, and this drains battery. So if you can hold off on your mobile browsing and email till you get home, your phone will stay powered on quite a bit longer.

Switch off cellular data

Like wi-fi, cellular data can also eat up battery quickly - especially if you’re in an area where there’s no cellular coverage. When this happens, your phone begins to search non-stop for a signal, and guess what this uses? You guessed it - battery. So if you’re short on battery and don’t need it, turn off your cellular data function. Doing this can easily provide an extra hour or two of additional battery life.

Activate Airplane mode

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and this is exactly when you need Airplane mode. If you’re down to 20ish percent battery life and need your phone to last for a few hours longer, then Airplane mode may just be your savior. By switching it on, your phone will shut down all wireless activity, including cellular, Bluetooth and wi-fi. Doing this is obviously not ideal, but if you have little battery life and want your phone available in case of emergencies, this is your best option (next to switching it off). Once in Airplane mode, you can turn on individual wireless functions, such as Bluetooth or wi-fi, individually while staying in Airplane mode.

To switch on Airplane mode, you can do so from the Control Center screen or by going to Settings and then clicking on Airplane mode.

Any other options?

If you must have your cake and eat it too, there’s an alternative choice that provides an extra battery bump with the ability to use wi-fi, keep your screen bright, and use your iPhone without adjusting any settings. The answer is to buy a power supply, also known as power bank, which you’ve likely seen for sale at your local Best Buy or on Amazon. These delightful battery saviors are continually shrinking in size, with some even as small as lipstick, so it’s no longer a hassle to carry them around. You can simply slide it into your pocket and use when needed.

If you’re looking for more ways to get the most out of your iPhone or are looking to service your Apple technology, feel free to shoot us a message. We’re happy to help in any way possible.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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The time to increase cyber situational awareness and establish better security strategies has never been more opportune. Since 2015, the number of attacks on the financial services sector has increased and shows no signs of letting up. Whether it be extortion or credential-stealing malware, different tactics are utilized to target desired areas. To optimize safety, […]

29 Feb, 2016 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Security category

2015Feb29_Security_BThe time to increase cyber situational awareness and establish better security strategies has never been more opportune. Since 2015, the number of attacks on the financial services sector has increased and shows no signs of letting up. Whether it be extortion or credential-stealing malware, different tactics are utilized to target desired areas. To optimize safety, security professionals should get up-to-date with the latest treats. Here are seven to look out for:

Extortion

The cyber criminal Armada Collective gained notoriety for being the first to utilize distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. This occurs when multiple systems flood a targeted system to temporarily or completely disrupt service. They evolved the idea further and started to extort Bitcoins from victims who were initially notified of their vulnerability. If they didn’t comply with the ransom demands of the criminals, they would flood their systems until the victim's network would shut down completely.

Social media attacks

This involved criminals using fake profiles to gather information for social engineering purposes. Fortunately, both Facebook and Twitter began to proactively monitoring for suspicious activity and started notifying users if they had been targeted by the end of 2015. However, you should still have your guard up when someone you don’t know, or even a friend or colleague, starts asking you suspicious questions.

Spear phishing

Phishers thrive off familiarity. They send out emails that seem to come from a business or someone that you know asking for credit card/bank account numbers. In 2015, phishers went to the next level and began whaling. This normally involved spoofing executives’ emails (often CEO’s) to dupe the finance departments to transfer large sums of money to fraudulent accounts.

Point-of-sale malware

POS malware is written to steal customer payment (especially credit card) data from retail checkout systems. They are a type of memory scraper that operates by instantly detecting unencrypted type 2 credit card data and is then sent to the attacker’s computer to be sold on underground sites.

ATM malware

GreenDispenser is an ATM-specific malware that infects ATM’s and allows criminals to extract large sums of money while avoiding detection. Recently reverse ATM attacks have also emerged, this is when compromised POS terminals and money mules to reverse transactions after money being withdrawn or sent to another bank account.

Credential theft

Dridex, a well known credential-stealing software, is a multifunctional malware package that leverages obfuscated macros in Microsoft Office and extensible markup language files to infect systems. The goal is to infect computers, steal credentials, and obtain money from victims’ bank accounts. It operates primarily as a banking Trojan where it is generally distributed through phishing email messages.

Other sophisticated threats

Various TTP’s can be combined to extracted data on a bigger scale. Targeting multiple geographies and sectors at once, this method normally involves an organized crime syndicate or someone with a highly sophisticated setup. For example, the group Carbanak primarily targeted financial institutions by infiltrating internal networks and installing software that would drain ATM’s of cash.

The creation of defensive measures requires extensive knowledge of the lurking threats and our team of experts is up-to-date on the latest security information. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us to find out more about TTP’s and other weapons in the hacker’s toolbox.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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Whether it’s instant coffee, a quick commute or fast food, in today’s world, speed matters. And when it comes to websites, this principle could not be more true. 21st century Internet surfers expect a site to load in at least three, if not two seconds. So how does your WordPress site measure up? If you’re […]

27 Feb, 2016 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Uncategorized category

2016Feb25_Web_BWhether it’s instant coffee, a quick commute or fast food, in today’s world, speed matters. And when it comes to websites, this principle could not be more true. 21st century Internet surfers expect a site to load in at least three, if not two seconds. So how does your WordPress site measure up? If you’re looking for ways to increase your site’s speed, here are some tips that can help.

Keep WordPress and plugins up-to-date

The Internet is constantly evolving. And if you want to keep up with it, you need to keep your site and plugins up-to-date. While you may already know that updating WordPress and plugins will keep your website secure, you may not know that doing this also increases your site’s speed. So if you want a fast site, install those updates as soon as they become available.

Choose a host wisely

Your host can make or break your website. A key reason for this is that website speed and uptime varies widely between them. So before you select your host, do some research on the various options out there.

Also, while your first impulse may be to choose shared hosting because of its low cost, be aware that it’s also going to be your slowest option in terms of speed because many websites are all relying on the same server for bandwidth. For many SMBs, however, using a dedicated server is simply not an option because it’s expensive. An alternative in the middle price and performance range is a Virtual Private Server (VPS). This acts like a dedicated server in terms of functionality, but still technically uses a shared server. Regardless, using a VPS will give you a boost in speed over typical shared hosting.

Keep your site lean

The leaner your site is, the faster its speed will be. So to create a lean site, be mindful of these four aspects:
  1. Theme - it can be tempting to choose a theme that has a seemingly limitless amount of design options. While the promise of a versatile theme can spark the imagination, actually implementing one can come back to haunt you in terms of speed. When a theme has a ton of features on offer, the amount of code to produce those features can bog down your site. So to ensure you avoid this scenario, test the theme demos to see how long it takes for them to load. If it’s more than a few seconds, it’s probably best to avoid it.
  2. Design - similar to theme, design elements also have the ability to dramatically slow down the speed of your site. Simple sites are faster, so think carefully about what ads, images and extras to use.
  3. Plugins - not all plugins are created equal; some run fast and others slow. So how can you tell one from the other? While it may sound like a bit of an oxymoron, there’s actually a plugin for that. The P3 Plugin Profiler will show the impact a plugin has on your site’s load time. Another plugin rule to follow is that less plugins equals more speed. So think twice before your next plugin installation spree.
  4. Images - bulky images can also slow down your site. And while many raw images are around 3,000 to 4,000 pixels wide, most featured images are 600-800 pixels wide. So to reduce image weight and gain a faster site, resize them to the exact size they’ll appear on your screen.

Mind your plugins

Yes, we just mentioned that you should get rid of plugins to speed up your site, but some specific plugins can actually have the opposite effect. A cache plugin, like W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache are two that can provide more speed. Another plugin that can help is Lazy Load. It speeds up your site by loading the elements at the top of the website first, where viewers are looking when they first visit your site. Before installing the Lazy Load plugin, check your Theme Options to see if you already have it.

Create redirects sparingly

If a page on your site needs to be redirected to another page, it can really slow down your site. So use 301 redirects as little as possible. And to ensure you aren’t using any without knowing it, use Redirect mapper or other tools that can help you find redirects you don’t need.

Implement some or all of the speed tips above and you’re sure to see a noticeable difference in the speed of your site. If you’d like more tips to optimize your website or need help with any of your web or IT needs, we are just a phone call away.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

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