FlexITechs Now in Its
Eighth Year
FlexITechs is now in its ninth year of serving Sussex County residents and businesses.
After two years as the computer services arm of our sister company, Sussex County Online, FlexITechs was formed to better define the computer services offered by owner Eric Magill.
We thank all of our customers who have made it possible for us to reach our 9th year! |
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Greetings!
Thank you for your continued interest in FlexITechs. If you'd prefer not to receive our occasional email newsletters, use the "Unsubscribe" link above.
Also, be sure to:
Sincerely, Eric Magill, FlexITechs |
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Internet Speed Seem Slow?
If you feel like your Internet speeds aren't as blazing as you expected or have slowed down over time, and you dread the idea of battling overseas tech support from your Internet provider, you can check your Internet speed using online speed tests to shorten the length of that phone call.
The speed tests measure download and upload speeds. On most Internet connections, the download speed will be considerably higher than the upload speed as that's how Internet Service Providers typically offer their services since most users download a lot more than they upload.
The speed itself will either be measured in Kilobits Per Second (kbps) or Megabits Per Second (mbps) depending on how much bandwidth you're paying for (think of kbps and mbps like they're "miles per hour").
It's also important to understand that this is your maximum speed, not necessarily the speed you will always have while you're on the Internet (again, to use the miles per hour analogy, the maximum highway speed might be 65 mph but due to traffic conditions you may not be able to drive that fast all the time).
As for the speed you pay for, let's look at Verizon. Verizon offers several flavors of DSL service, from 768kbps (about .75 mbps) to 3.0mbps. If you have a 768kbps connection, you should see speeds in the 600-700 kbps range on average. Anything lower than that could indicate a problem.
Likewise, if you have a 3.0mbps connection, you should see average speeds of at least 2.6-3.0mbps.
How do you know what your actual download speed is and what you're paying for?
First, determine the speed you're paying for by looking at your Internet or cable or phone bill. This will usually indicate the speed you have purchased.
Next, go to http://www.speedtest.net. This is a widely used speed testing site that will test your Internet speed. Run the test and you will get a reading of both your download and upload speeds.
Let's say you pay for a 3.0mbps download / 768kbps upload connection. If the speedtest.net reading comes within 10-15 percent of those speeds you're good. If it's lower than 15% of those speeds you may have a problem.
I say "may" because that only tested the speed of your connection at that particular instance. Remember what I said about the speed you pay for being the MAXIMUM speed?
Because each individual speed test only measures your connection at that particular time, you need to run several tests over a period of, say, 30 minutes to get a better picture of your Internet speed.
Write those results down and if they're off your purchased speed by more than 15%, you can provide those results to tech support right off the bat to shorten that tech support call.
Finally, if your upload speed is faster than your download speed, you definitely have a problem, but you probably already knew that even without the test because your Internet would barely be working at that point. |
Beware of What You're Downloading
Attempts to monetize Internet services are resulting in an increase in clients inadvertently downloading the wrong files over the Internet.
They go to a site to download an anti-malware product or a file compression program or some other free utility and because of the way the site is designed, end up downloading something else.
On occasion, that something else turns out to be malware.
How can this happen?
Many legitimate software developers offer free versions of their products. Rather than pay for the bandwidth for all the downloads of those free products from their own servers, they put those files on download sites like www.cnet.com or majorgeeks.com.
Those sites make their living by providing downloads for popular free products, which in turn brings them tons of traffic that they can sell to advertisers.
And here's where it gets tricky.
In order to monetize that traffic, the download sites design their pages to make the ads stand out, often making it difficult to find the link or button to the actual file you want to download.
So, you click on the first link to download the file, and get a page with a big DOWNLOAD button, and a bunch of other smaller links. Being visual people, we click on the big DOWNLOAD button assuming that's the file we want. Instead, after we've clicked the download button and downloaded the file, we begin to install the file only to discover it's not the MalwareBytes or Stuffit program we wanted.
(I should add that this is also a problem in Internet searches. Typically, we click on the first link that appears in the search results but it's for something entirely different than what we searched for).
How can you avoid downloading the wrong file inadvertently?
First, make sure your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) is set to show you the files the ad or button or link actually will be downloading.
In Internet Explorer, for instance, if you right-click on the top areas of the browser, you will get a drop-down menu with several options. One will be "Status Bar". Make sure it's checked. If it's not, left-click on that and a thin bar will appear at the bottom of the browser. That's the Status Bar.
Now, when you hover your cursor over a link, button or ad, the actual site or file will appear in that status bar. If it's not the file you're looking for, look elsewhere on the page for links that have the file you want.
You can also use the cursor hovering tip to determine if links in emails are legitimate or phishing attempts to get you to go to malicious web sites that either infect your system or trick you into providing sensitive user account information. If those links aren't going to the official site of the company the email purports to come from, don't click it.
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Biz Tech -- Security Policy
A Security Policy (also known as a Security Plan) helps your company quantify the risks to your business, the potential costs of those risks to your business, and what you should spend on measures to mitigate those risks.
With hackers and burglars increasingly sharpening their attacks and focusing on less secure small businesses, a Security Policy has become an essential document for keeping a company's data, equipment, employees and customers safe from theft, hacking and legal troubles.
Often working in concert with an Acceptable Use Policy, a Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan, Employee Handbooks, and other company guidelines, standards and procedures, a Security Policy encompasses all facets of security in your business, not just computer security.
It governs, for example, not only what anti-virus to use on your computers or the use of strong passwords, but also physical security such as locks, keys, alarm and surveillance systems, and authorized access to your firm's assets.
Just as importantly, it provides a laser focus on what needs to be protected with a Risk Analysis. A Risk Analysis identifies the assets in your business, the security risks to those assets (theft, hacking, viruses, etc.), and the potential hard- and soft-dollar costs those risks present.
With the Risk Analysis in hand, you can then determine justifiable procedures and expenditures for mitigating those risks.
For help with developing your company's Security Plan, contact FlexITechs owner Eric Magill at 302-537-4198. |
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We thank you for your past business and hope we can continue to fulfill your technology needs in the future. If you have any questions about current technology issues, feel free to contact us at 537-4198. |
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Sincerely,
Eric Magill
FlexITechs
Microsoft Small Business Specialist |
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