Hi *|FNAME|*,
Welcome to DP Computing's
December newsletter. In this months newsletter we talk about whether
you should click on that pop up and also how to use social networks
on the Internet while protecting your privacy. First up though
we talk about the latest expo at Tonsley we were recently part
of.
Grow Your Business Expo
On Thursday 24th of November we were proud to be part of the inaugural Grow Your Business Expo. The expo was sponsored by the Marion Council and held at Tonsley in the old Mitsubishi plant. We met many great people and heard from some very informative speakers. Thank you to everyone who stopped by for a chat and entered out business card giveaway. The winner drawn by the Marion Mayor Khris Hanna was Andrew of Tooling & General Heat Treatment Pty Ltd. Andrew was the lucky winner of a Samsung VR Headset.
Should You REALLY Click That Button?
All of us have had that pop up that
just won't leave. It’s hounding you to upgrade your software or change some
sort of setting and clearly it has zero intention of giving you a rest. That
software wants to be upgraded or that setting changed and it wants it now. Begrudgingly
you click the "Yes" or "Ok" button and let it upgrade in the background or change
that setting. Maybe now it will leave you alone to get some work done but instead
of doing something positive you quickly discover it's given you the exact opposite.
Your essential hardware no longer works, you've got errors all over the place,
and that application no longer runs at all. The urgent popup was more of an
instant downgrade.
Before you click that nagging upgrade
button, consider the following:
Is the popup for legit software?
Do you have that software already installed
on your machine? Does the popup look dodgy with poor spelling or grammar? If so
it may be a virus or piece of malware trying to install on your machine.
Will this upgrade benefit your business?
Some upgrades are only cosmetic. They look great and the developers pitch them
as the latest and greatest, but without additional innovation on offer - you're
better off waiting for a version with some actual benefits. Is the upgrade
going to work with your current systems and processes? If your project
management software no longer talks to your scheduling software, you've got a
problem. It's reasonable to expect the upgrade to have gone through robust testing
and bug fixes, but even the mega corporations are caught out in an instant.
Is your current solution still an option?
Developers cease support of older software versions after a certain date. In
these cases, continuing to use an outdated version leaves your system vulnerable,
without patches and security updates. If your software is at the end of its
cycle, you'll need to upgrade regardless. This, however, gives you the perfect
opportunity to revise your selection and make some experienced decisions - upgrade
or replace. On the other hand, if the upgrade is going to have a positive effect
on productivity, efficiency or customer satisfaction, definitely put it on your
to-do list. Hold off for just a few days or weeks while your IT technicians
research any conflicts that might arise. Being an early adopter isn't always
the best idea. Sometimes you need to let your other software packages catchup
- compatibility issues will always be an issue. It's more important than ever
before to take your time and research the upgrade to see how others have fared
- before things come crashing down.
Call us for a quick compatibility check BEFORE you click any popups.
How To Stay Safe While Being Social
Online
How do you balance being social
with staying safe online??
These days it is common for people
to happily share all sorts of their private information online. Unknown to the
actual users this sharing builds information stores that can easily become a
one-stop goldmine for fraudsters.
It’s not exactly the intention everyone
has when they sign up to a social network site (as the whole point of most of
their networks is to share your life with your friends) but this social sharing
depends on us making certain privacy sacrifices.
So how do you balance being social
with staying safe?
On Facebook alone, the average person
shares 13 pieces of personal information ranging from a fairly innocent name/email
combo, all the way to their mothers maiden name and home address.
It doesn’t sound like a lot, but
those 13 pieces have the power to unravel your life within minutes.
Even checking in at home has become
the norm for some people, helping to create a multi-dimensional online identity.
The details are available to anyone who cares to look, whether they’re a friend
keeping in the loop or someone with a much darker agenda.
The problem is that you don’t know
who’s looking at your profile or why they are looking.
For example, someone could try accessing
your email account by clicking the ‘Forgot password’ link. The email service
follows its security rules and asks identifying questions like ‘which high school
did you go to? What is your pet’s name?’ These most common identifying checks
and their answers are probably available on a lot of peoples Facebook page.
Once your email address is compromised,
hackers can use that to break into other services by going through, clicking
‘Reset Password’ on site after site, account after account – since they have
full access to your email. So there’s nothing stopping them from compromising
all your online accounts.
7 Ways To Secure Your Facebook
Without Missing Out on the Fun
- Preview your profile as others
see it (ie see if you can login on a friends account to see what they can
see).
- Review what should and should
not be visible to strangers.
- Consider only sharing partial
details, like birth day and month, but not the year.
- Only ever ‘friend’ or 'connect'
to people you know and trust.
- Be wary of duplicate or ‘odd’
friend activity – hackers will often clone or hack a friend’s profile and
initiate an urgent and uncharacteristic request (usually for money).
- Update your past privacy
settings too.
- Set default future sharing to
‘friends only’.
Need help securing your social
media privacy? We can help– contact us today on 08 8326 4364 or via email at support@dpcomputing.com.au.
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