Thinking of gifting a new laptop this holiday season to yourself, your employees, or a loved one?
Lost in a sea of tech specs with no idea of what to do?
PremierePC is here to help!
Here’s a list of specs to look for, what they mean, and what we recommend.
Platform
Windows – most flexible operating system, runs on more laptops than Chrome OS or Mac OS X.
Mac – limited line of computers, tend to run more expensive, less flexibility.
Chromebook – least expensive, however this functions more like a tablet than a laptop. Chromebooks use the Chrome web browser as the primary user interface and run applications rather than software and are highly limited in their feature set.
What we recommend: Windows
CPU
The CPU is the central processing unit of a computer where instructions are taken from programs and applications to perform calculations.
Typically, a faster CPU means applications will run faster.
What we recommend: Intel Core i5 and above. (Choose i7 and above if you tend to run many applications at once, edit or create media, or run high-end games.)
Storage
The Hard Drive contains everything the CPU is going to need to do its job, including the operating system, apps, and files. There are two types:
- Spinning hard disk drives (HDD) drives read and write data with a head similar to a vinyl record album. HDDs are less expensive, however they are mechanical and fragile.
- Solid-state drives (SSD) are a bit more expensive but offer at least three times the speed and a much faster laptop overall. SSDs require less power and increase overall battery life and are shock resistant.
What we recommend: 500GB SSD
Memory
RAM, random access memory, stores just the portion of the data from the hard drive that the CPU needs at any given moment. If you run multiple applications at once, you will use more of your RAM. Therefore, more RAM means a faster machine.
8GB of RAM may be sufficient for day-to-day computing, allowing for fully loading Windows, a few productivity apps, and a web browser.
However, if you run multiple applications at once, you will need 16GB of RAM.
What we recommend: 16GB RAM
Other specs to look for
Displays running full HD (1920 x 1080) will look sharp and not consume too much of your battery life.
Decide if you want a full size (15-17″) laptop with a number pad or a 14″ portable laptop.
Understand your laptop’s docking station capabilities and options.
Touch screen capabilities are widely available in many laptops.
Integrated graphics chips are typically sufficient unless you are doing high-res video editing or gaming.
Ensure your laptop has the ports necessary for connections you need.
8+ hours of battery life is ideal.
Test out or research the keyboard and trackpad.
Research the brand. Don’t buy simply because you found a cheaply priced computer.
Our top laptop recommendations: Lenovo Thinkpad E14 or E15
You’ll end up wasting money in the long-run if you don’t do your research! Call PremierePC today for a laptop recommendation.
Holiday Laptop Buying Guide
Thinking of gifting a new laptop this holiday season to yourself, your employees, or a loved one?
Lost in a sea of tech specs with no idea of what to do?
PremierePC is here to help!
Here’s a list of specs to look for, what they mean, and what we recommend.
Windows – most flexible operating system, runs on more laptops than Chrome OS or Mac OS X.
Mac – limited line of computers, tend to run more expensive, less flexibility.
Chromebook – least expensive, however this functions more like a tablet than a laptop. Chromebooks use the Chrome web browser as the primary user interface and run applications rather than software and are highly limited in their feature set.
What we recommend: Windows
The CPU is the central processing unit of a computer where instructions are taken from programs and applications to perform calculations.
Typically, a faster CPU means applications will run faster.
What we recommend: Intel Core i5 and above. (Choose i7 and above if you tend to run many applications at once, edit or create media, or run high-end games.)
The Hard Drive contains everything the CPU is going to need to do its job, including the operating system, apps, and files. There are two types:
What we recommend: 500GB SSD
RAM, random access memory, stores just the portion of the data from the hard drive that the CPU needs at any given moment. If you run multiple applications at once, you will use more of your RAM. Therefore, more RAM means a faster machine.
8GB of RAM may be sufficient for day-to-day computing, allowing for fully loading Windows, a few productivity apps, and a web browser.
However, if you run multiple applications at once, you will need 16GB of RAM.
What we recommend: 16GB RAM
Displays running full HD (1920 x 1080) will look sharp and not consume too much of your battery life.
Decide if you want a full size (15-17″) laptop with a number pad or a 14″ portable laptop.
Understand your laptop’s docking station capabilities and options.
Touch screen capabilities are widely available in many laptops.
Integrated graphics chips are typically sufficient unless you are doing high-res video editing or gaming.
Ensure your laptop has the ports necessary for connections you need.
8+ hours of battery life is ideal.
Test out or research the keyboard and trackpad.
Research the brand. Don’t buy simply because you found a cheaply priced computer.
Our top laptop recommendations: Lenovo Thinkpad E14 or E15
You’ll end up wasting money in the long-run if you don’t do your research! Call PremierePC today for a laptop recommendation.
Holidays and Cybercrime
Full of fun, family, friends, food.. and, unfortunately, increased cybercrime activity.
The holidays are a key time for cybercrime, exploiting unaware and uneducated internet users. Attackers can defraud and monetize their actions with little effort.
For example, spoofed email addresses can be used to gain access to supplier or customer login. Phony websites can be made to look exactly like those of major retailers. Public Wi-Fi is another hunting ground for attackers. All of these can be used to capture and record credit card information.
Never reuse passwords or even similar versions of passwords. Use strong passwords, mixing numbers, special characters, and letters.
Verify online reputation of the e-commerce sites you visit.
Avoid shopping online or accessing bank account information on anything other than secured, private Wi-Fi connections.
Never click on suspicious links, open unknown files, or download items from unknown sources.
Look at the URL of sites you visit, cybercriminals may create a site with just one character difference in the URL to gain access to your data.
Check in to your bank accounts and track all purchases. Report any fraud immediately.
Keep all operating systems and applications up to date, ensure you have security measures in place.
Educate! Stay up to date on cybersecurity trends and solutions.
We Are Hiring!
PremierePC has a fantastic full-time opportunity for a motivated self-starting technical support specialist with a keen eye for detail.
The Technical Support Specialist will assist in simple break-fix technology situations, onsite visits, drop off and issue diagnosis, and running remote optimizations and routines. Most importantly, we are looking for an individual who is eager to learn, highly customer-focused, patient, an effective communicator, and has a positive attitude.
NEW in Microsoft Teams
So what’s new?
The ability to create ad hoc breakout rooms will be available starting next month.
Microsoft says this is one of the most requested Teams features.
Meeting organizers will be able to split up participants into smaller groups to facilitate brainstorming sessions or workgroup discussions.
Presenters can then hop between breakout rooms, make announcements to all breakout rooms, and close the rooms to return everyone to the main meeting.
New Jive Communications integration, streamlining your phone calls.
Teams now allows people to start calls for the Jive platform from inside of Teams.
Microsoft is partnering with meditation app Headspace on a customizable “virtual commute” feature.
It uses automation technology to help users close out tasks and designate work for the following day, log their sentiment about the work day, and then directs them into a guided meditation process.
The company cites a 2017 study by Microsoft researchers that demonstrated the improvement in productivity that came from winding down from work at the end of the day.
Its more recent research finds that the blurred lines between work and home are hurting their feelings of well-being.
Teams is getting new “Together Mode” backdrops, and custom layouts for presentations.
The new backdrops show participants in shared virtual spaces including conference rooms and a coffee shop.
Custom layouts will let presenters determine how their content appears to meeting participants, including the ability to superimpose their own video feed on top of the slide they’re showing.
Social Media – Friend or Foe of Your Business?
There’s a risk?
Huge amounts of data have been gathered and leaked on the Dark Web about social media users, this is a problem.
In one breach earlier this year, a social media data broker exposed the public-facing profiles of 235 million users, 92 million profiles were scraped from Instagram, 42 million from TikTok and four million from YouTube via a misconfigured online database. That data almost inevitably ends up on the Dark Web, powering cybercrime like password cracking, credential stuffing, and phishing.
Attackers are getting smarter; they are facilitating phishing attacks not only with email, also with messaging apps like LinkedIn and WhatsApp. Cybercriminals build trust through these apps and then lead victims to visit a phishing page.
Password theft is on the rise through impersonation, shown in this recent Twitter hack. Attackers may trick employees into believing they are a contractor who lost their password. Data breach from brands and influencers empower targeted spear phishing against fans; these may look legitimate because they can include personalized details.
As it becomes increasingly more common for social media to be used for business, it will become increasingly more common for cybercriminals to use social media in their attacks.
Oh jeez. This is serious. Now what?
Taking action now to combat potential risks can prevent social media from being a source of trouble for your business.
PremierePC is a fully integrated IT provider, we eliminate the need for multiple vendors, and create a relationship where we are responsible and accountable to you. Our focus is, and always has been, local and regional small to medium-sized businesses.
We stay up-to-date on cybercriminal trends and the latest and greatest solutions to mitigate these attacks. PremierePC learns each client’s unique environment and looks for potential risks for cybersecurity breaches. We offer data backup in the event that a breach happens, we can access your data and get you back up and running as quickly as possible.
We are passionate about your security. We would be happy to review our baseline security questionnaire with you to analyze your current environment and security strength. If you see you need help, we also have a new client offer.
Bracket 3. Coming soon to an inbox near you!
Email encryption via Bracket offers an added layer of security to your email platform ensuring compliance in difficult industries like Health Care and Financial Services.
User-friendly encrypted email with no plugins or apps. Simply wrap brackets around the subject in any email client and Bracket handles the rest.
New with Bracket 3
Secure file transfer
Included with Bracket is our encrypted file transfer service, Bracket Share. This gives every Bracket user their own personalized file transfer page with an easy URL (Share link) they can give to anyone. Shared files and messages show up in the Bracket inbox just like a regular message.
Customizable link
Bracket Share links are customizable, so users can make them easy to remember and share.
Personalized invites
You can have Bracket email people an invitation to share. These can display your personalized profile, so your contacts feel more confident about sharing their sensitive data.
Anyone can share… anytime
Anyone with your Share link can share encrypted files and messages when it’s convenient for them. No account required.
Sender validation
Senders who share through the Share link are securely validated via inbox authentication to prevent abuse.
Want to take the solution for a spin? We are able to offer Bracket 3 for free until end of 2020 to all net new Bracket users (new users only, no existing domains).
Call us today to try it out!
864.335.9223
Virtual Scaling Up/EO Summit: Seeking Opportunities: Leading the Recovery 2.0
Join Robert Clinkenbeard for the Virtual Scaling Up/EO Summit: Seeking Opportunities: Leading the Recovery 2.0
Thursday, Sept 17, 3:22 pm – 4:58 pm EDT
Hosted by Verne Harnish, join a great lineup of speakers to include Sir Richard Branson!
Register here
Event Main Page
What are the cyber security risks around working from home?
There are many to consider. Depending on your industry and the type of data you collect and store, some are more critical than others.
Home networks: Usually residential networks rely on consumer grade routers with no intrusion protection or advanced security services. In addition, they have other unsecure devices like IoT devices, games systems attached. They may offer weak WiFi protection as well.
All these open these networks to additional risk of attacks, often without any awareness.
Secure VPN Connections: These should be used in ALL cases where access back to a central office is needed. In most cases, connecting to the VPN will then filter traffic for that device though the corporate router.
Single-Sign On (SSO):
While cloud services can be a wonderful way to stay connected and access work, ensuring that it is secured is critical. Where possible, get as many cloud applications talking to a central identify provider. There are solutions for clients with and without servers. When a user is added or removed access is then updated accordingly across all systems. This method also allows you to maintain password rotation and other high-level security policies.
Employee vs Corporate devices:
What is your team computing on? If corporate owned and managed devices, then you can ensure those are secure and have your security solutions loaded. When staff begins to use their own devices, you lose control of security and risk your data being stored on devices you do not own or manage. Based on your industry, this can be a huge issue.
Remote working policies and procedures:
Does your team know what you expect and how to move forward? Most firms raced to work from home but spent little time on formally documenting expectations around data security and privacy risks. Take some time to meet and get everyone on the same page around how to work smart from home.
Social engineering attacks:
With more of your team working from home, its easier for attacks to seem more legitimate. Phishing attacks are on the rise as many have their guard down do to changed routines. Routine training and awareness about company procedures, especially around financial transactions and access to systems is a must. If your team is not using instant communications software to stay in touch, consider it as email is still the most effective conduit for attacks. Use phone calls, virtual meetings, or instant messaging to confirm critical actions.
NEW CLIENT OFFER
Think of PremierePC as your own personal IT department. When you call we, answer and help with a full range of technology issues. We quickly gain access to your systems to help diagnose and repair, often without the need for a visit, so you can get back to work.
A service plan allows us to get to know you better, so when problems do crop up we have all the information we need to correct them as quickly as possible.
The PremierePC service plan requires no long-term commitment; this is a partnership.
We offer three different levels of service plans to meet your needs. Learn more here…
Understanding Your IoT Devices and Security
What is an IoT device? IoT stands for Internet of Things; these devices are pieces of hardware with a sensor that transmit data from one place to another over the internet. IoT devices include, but are not limited to, smart refrigerators, smart watches, smart fire alarm, smart door lock, fitness trackers, smart lights, echos, google home, etc.
These devices may be smart, but they are leaving security holes in home and business networks. If an attacker gains access to any of these devices and they are on the same network as your primary device (laptop, desktop, smartphone), this attacker now has a direct route to your sensitive and private data on your primary device.
What many do not consider is the nature of these “always on” devices. The convenience of being able to turn your lights on with voice comes at a cost. Devices placed near intimate or private spaces can reveal more than you want. At work, they can listen to passwords and critical business details. Placement is just as important is the network they live on.
How can you prevent this?
Glad you asked! The first major way to mitigate this security risk is to isolate your IoT devices on a separate WiFi network or LAN by using micro-segmentation.
Neat, huh?
This may sound overwhelming for a non techy. Thank goodness PremierePC is here to help!
A few more tips for IoT devices: change the default password to something unique and secure, know the permissions on all apps you are using, and keep devices updated regularly.
Consider muting devices when not in use to prevent always listening devices. Teach children and staff to be aware of devices and what is said near them.