Many small businesses have embraced data virtualization over the past few years. And as with any kind of business data, virtualized data needs to be protected from disaster, cybercrime, and human error and, therefore, needs backup. When backing up your virtualized data, there are some most common difficulties you need to prepare for.

Data virtualization involves taking all enterprise data stored in different local computers or systems, and moving them to a virtual server for centralized management and for on-demand delivery to business users. This provides multiple long-term benefits, including integration of various data types, centralized governance and security, minimized data replication, reduced movement of data across different locations, and real-time data delivery to consumers. But data backup can be a bit tougher with virtualized data, because of these hurdles.

Overwhelming rapid file growth

Before, businesses had to worry about managing servers containing millions of files. Now, they have to manage billions of files. For this reason, it has become almost impossible to back up servers of such immensity through traditional means using legacy systems.

You should take steps to ensure that your backup solution can handle immense volumes of data. While a virtual solution may be working now, it is a good idea to check that your IT partner can easily scale to handle all your data.

Rapid server growth

The advent of virtualization has led to the development of an “app mentality” among many users and business owners. There’s an application for every function, with many being delivered through a virtual machine.

For businesses, this means an increasing number of virtual servers needed to host your virtual solutions. It is crucial to protect these virtual machines and the servers that host them because they are quickly becoming the most essential tools for your business. If your business is growing, your current virtual machines are likely backed up, but you will need to ensure that these are also backed up as you add more servers.

Very high user expectations

Needless to say, users have high expectations caused by misunderstandings about technology, and virtualization in particular. Users expect their IT partners to have emerging issues resolved in an instant or as quickly as possible.

While backup speeds are increasing year on year, it still takes time to copy data files from backup servers, especially when there are over a billion files to be copied. It is worthwhile talking with your IT partner about backup and recovery times to know what you can expect when you need to recover virtual systems.

If you have questions about data virtualization or virtualization in general, don’t hesitate to contact us.

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For all its benefits, email frequently distracts small-business owners from increasing sales and improving the bottom line. If you feel like a slave to email, 2019 could be the year to shake things up. These productivity hacks for Gmail will help you do just that.

#1. Customize your email address and harness filters

Did you know that Gmail lets you customize your existing email address? Whether you have a regular @gmail.com or @company.com address, you can adjust your username depending on who you are giving it to and what you are likely to receive. For example, if your email address is [email protected], you could give [email protected] to friends and use [email protected] to invite blog comments.

Combine this feature with Gmail’s native filters to label and group messages according to which address they are sent to or from. If you don’t want to see Facebook email notifications, just change your profile to use the email address [email protected] and set up a filter to direct those messages to the trash. These compartmentalize your email and let you see what you need to, when you really need to.

#2. Create templated responses to save time

Do you ever feel like you're writing the same email over and over? If you pen a fresh reply to each new message, you can save yourself a heap of time by using Gmail’s built-in Canned Responses function. This allows you to store messages that you frequently send so you can reuse them at the touch of a button.

Enable Canned Responses from the Advanced tab of the Gmail settings page. Then, when composing a new message, just click the three-dot icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen and select Canned Responses. From here, you can use an existing canned response or add a new one. Then just hit Send.

#3. Schedule emails and reminders

You can set your emails to be delivered at a specific time and date. After you have typed your message, click on the down arrow button beside the Send button. Click Schedule send to open a pop-up where you can find options to send your email the next day, on the afternoon of the same day, and the next week. You can also pick a specific time and date by clicking on Pick time & date. Once you’ve set your desired schedule, click on Schedule send.

Gmail will send your emails even when you are away from your desk. You may also use this feature to send emails to yourself as reminders for tasks or events.

#4. Quick question? Chat instead

Don’t underestimate the value of Gmail’s chat system, Hangouts. You can avoid a lot of tedious back-and-forth between recipients by penning a brief chat message when all you need to do is ask a short question.

In most cases, you'll also get a response much quicker by sending a chat rather than an email. And best of all, Hangouts conversations aren't limited to just two people. Open a chat with one colleague and then click the + icon beneath their name. You’ll see a list of contacts that you can add to the conversation.

#5. Treat your email like a relay race

Of course, the best way to spend less time writing emails is to simply set limits. Mail Timer is a nifty add-on that allows you to set yourself a maximum amount of time — say two minutes — to respond to each email. Once your time is up, a pop-up message will encourage you to continue to your next message.

Mail Timer is a great way to get into the habit of swiftly clearing out messages that only need a brief reply. You can use Gmail's Snooze feature to remove emails from your inbox until a later date or time.

If you’d like to learn more about using Gmail or any other Google app, please get in touch with us today.

The post Increase your productivity with these Gmail hacks appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Web browsers are gateways to the internet, which is why you should care about how they transmit and store sensitive information. Want to learn more about which browser is safest? Take a read.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge, Windows’ current default browser, is an improvement over its predecessor Internet Explorer (IE). Edge was developed with Windows 10 integration and IE end-of-life in mind, resulting in a powerful and more efficient browser that has Cortana (Windows’ answer to Alexa and Siri) integration and Microsoft Store extensions.

Edge’s main advantage is that it is Windows 10 computers’ native browser, which means it should integrate more seamlessly with the Windows OS ecosystem in terms of power usage and data security. Its built-in security features, called the Code Integrity Guard (CIG) and the Arbitrary Code Guard (ACG), prevent malicious codes from loading into a computer’s memory.

Safari

Safari is a graphical web browser developed by Apple for its iOS, iPad OS, and macOS. The current iteration is Safari 13, which was released alongside macOS Mojave and macOS High Sierra in September 2019.

Safari 13 is highly secure, as it utilizes Safari 12’s baseline security features such as Automatic Strong Passwords and Intelligent Tracking Prevention 2.0. These features are augmented by a built-in password strength analyzer, FIDO02 USB security key authentication support, “Sign in with Apple” support, Apple Pay capabilities, and increased speed and encryption. Its main drawback, however, is that it is only available on Apple devices, with full capabilities found only on MacBooks and Macs.

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation. It is widely available across platforms, even on Unix and Unix-like operating systems such as FreeBSD, OpenBSD, illuminos, and Solaris Unix.

Because of Firefox’s open-source development platform, it can be quite unsecure to use on publicly accessible computers. For personal and single-user business devices, however, Firefox is relatively safe, especially once all security features are activated and tweaked to your needs. Some key features are its “Do not track” privacy feature, phishing and malware blocking features, the Noscript Anti-XSS add-on (so you can determine which sites are allowed to execute scripts), the Noscript Anti-Clickjacking add-on (a detector that reveals invisible, malicious links and buttons), and its renowned pop-up ad blocker.

Firefox is also unique in that Mozilla has a bug bounty program, which offers a financial reward to anyone who can identify gaps and holes in Firefox code, so that it can be patched and improved as urgently as possible. Mozilla also promises no legal action against anyone who complies in good faith under its Bug Bounty program, including any claim under the DMCA for circumventing technological measures.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It is the default browser for Google’s line of laptops and Google Chromebooks. Chrome utilizes a process allocation model to sandbox tabs. “Sandboxing” is a security mechanism for separating running programs to keep software vulnerabilities from spreading.

Chrome also regularly updates two sets of blacklists, one for phishing and one for malware, which it uses to warn users of potentially harmful sites. It also touts site isolation and predictive phishing protection features that receive regular and critical updates every six weeks and within 24 hours of a known threat, respectively.

Being aware of how your web browser stacks up against its competitors is only half the battle. WannaCry spread to uninfected systems through a gap in the Windows security framework, and most other ransomware infections prey on human error. What your business needs is a comprehensive security audit. For more information, call us today.

The post Make sure your web browser is safe appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Web browsers are gateways to the internet, which is why you should care about how they transmit and store sensitive information. Want to learn more about which browser is safest? Take a read.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge, Windows’ current default browser, is an improvement over its predecessor Internet Explorer (IE). Edge was developed with Windows 10 integration and IE end-of-life in mind, resulting in a powerful and more efficient browser that has Cortana (Windows’ answer to Alexa and Siri) integration and Microsoft Store extensions.

Edge’s main advantage is that it is Windows 10 computers’ native browser, which means it should integrate more seamlessly with the Windows OS ecosystem in terms of power usage and data security. Its built-in security features, called the Code Integrity Guard (CIG) and the Arbitrary Code Guard (ACG), prevent malicious codes from loading into a computer’s memory.

Safari

Safari is a graphical web browser developed by Apple for its iOS, iPad OS, and macOS. The current iteration is Safari 13, which was released alongside macOS Mojave and macOS High Sierra in September 2019.

Safari 13 is highly secure, as it utilizes Safari 12’s baseline security features such as Automatic Strong Passwords and Intelligent Tracking Prevention 2.0. These features are augmented by a built-in password strength analyzer, FIDO02 USB security key authentication support, “Sign in with Apple” support, Apple Pay capabilities, and increased speed and encryption. Its main drawback, however, is that it is only available on Apple devices, with full capabilities found only on MacBooks and Macs.

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation. It is widely available across platforms, even on Unix and Unix-like operating systems such as FreeBSD, OpenBSD, illuminos, and Solaris Unix.

Because of Firefox’s open-source development platform, it can be quite unsecure to use on publicly accessible computers. For personal and single-user business devices, however, Firefox is relatively safe, especially once all security features are activated and tweaked to your needs. Some key features are its “Do not track” privacy feature, phishing and malware blocking features, the Noscript Anti-XSS add-on (so you can determine which sites are allowed to execute scripts), the Noscript Anti-Clickjacking add-on (a detector that reveals invisible, malicious links and buttons), and its renowned pop-up ad blocker.

Firefox is also unique in that Mozilla has a bug bounty program, which offers a financial reward to anyone who can identify gaps and holes in Firefox code, so that it can be patched and improved as urgently as possible. Mozilla also promises no legal action against anyone who complies in good faith under its Bug Bounty program, including any claim under the DMCA for circumventing technological measures.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It is the default browser for Google’s line of laptops and Google Chromebooks. Chrome utilizes a process allocation model to sandbox tabs. “Sandboxing” is a security mechanism for separating running programs to keep software vulnerabilities from spreading.

Chrome also regularly updates two sets of blacklists, one for phishing and one for malware, which it uses to warn users of potentially harmful sites. It also touts site isolation and predictive phishing protection features that receive regular and critical updates every six weeks and within 24 hours of a known threat, respectively.

Being aware of how your web browser stacks up against its competitors is only half the battle. WannaCry spread to uninfected systems through a gap in the Windows security framework, and most other ransomware infections prey on human error. What your business needs is a comprehensive security audit. For more information, call us today.

The post Make sure your web browser is safe appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..