Covid-19 and Working Remotely
A How-To Technology Resource

Welcome to The Computer Center’s Covid-19 resource center for small businesses. Our focus is to provide you with the information you need to keep your business running, collaborate with your team, meet with customers, and make the best of the current situation by leveraging technology. Visit www.computer-center.com/covid19/ for access to more helpful information.

IT Security Tip #40:
Basic Cybersecurity Training

Think fast: what’s the first thing you do after realizing you just replied to the e-mail from the Nigerian prince wanting to give you a sum of $34 million? Okay, you most likely didn’t reply to that…but the concept still remains. Do you know what to do immediately upon discovering a virus, e-mail threat or other cybersecurity issue?

You need to have step-by-step instructions about what to do if employees believe they have witnessed a cyber-incident. Training needs to happen NOW – not when the problem is happening. A simple training program can be very effective. Things like physically disconnecting the machine from the network (or the power from the machine), notifying us of any suspicious e-mails or unusual activity and what to do if you lose your mobile device are all parts of a simple yet effective employee cybersecurity plan. Give us a call if we help you develop your plan.

This Tuesday Tidbits series is one great way to keep your employees informed, but you STILL need a good AUP in place and training. If you’d like our help in creating one for your company, based on best practices, call us at (608) 755-1524. You’ll be glad you did.

Contact us if you have any computer-related needs by visiting computer-center.com.

Microsoft Tips for Windows

Update At Your Convenience

To choose a convienent time to apply updates, change active hours and let us know when you’re using your device. Windows won’t automatically restart to apply updates during that time. Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update, and select Change active hours.

Shortcut of the Week

Quickly Bookmark A Web Page

Quickly bookmark any web page in all major browsers by pressing Ctrl+D on your keyboard.

Have an unfortunate co-worker that’s not getting a copy of the TCC Tuesday Tidbits? Forward them your copy. Or, better yet, have them sign up at https://computer-center.com/tuesdaytidbits/

Submit your TCC Tuesday Tidbit requests and ideas to me by calling (608) 755-1524.

Sincerely,

James Pearson, President The Computer Center 39 S. Main St. – Upper Janesville, WI 53545 (608) 755-1524

Covid-19 and Working Remotely
A How-To Technology Resource

Welcome to The Computer Center’s Covid-19 resource center for small businesses. Our focus is to provide you with the information you need to keep your business running, collaborate with your team, meet with customers, and make the best of the current situation by leveraging technology. Visit www.computer-center.com/covid19/ for access to more helpful information.

IT Security Tip #39:
Is This Request REALLY From The Boss?

A common scam going around requires everyone to be on their toes. Here’s the situation… An e-mail comes in from the boss asking you to e-mail a copy of employee pay stubs, tax information and files with confidential data such as social security numbers in them. In another example, the boss asks for a transfer or ACH payment to a vendor or a different bank account. The problem: even though it has the boss’s e-mail address and name, and appears to come from the big guy…it is still a scam. To compound problems, a lot of bosses DO legitimately send these types of e-mails.

If you get a request relating to personal, confidential information or a request for banking transactions from someone in your organization, you must double-check that it really came from that person. In lots of cases, a quick text message is an easy confirmation. And even if it’s a legitimate request, never send confidential information like social security numbers (or attachments with this information inside of them) without taking precautions to password-protect and encrypt the message first. If it doesn’t feel right, it’s probably not right.

This Tuesday Tidbits series is one great way to keep your employees informed, but you STILL need a good AUP in place and training. If you’d like our help in creating one for your company, based on best practices, call us at (608) 755-1524. You’ll be glad you did.

Contact us if you have any computer-related needs by visiting computer-center.com.

Microsoft Tips for Windows

Change The Note Color In Sticky Notes

In Sticky Notes, select Menu …, then select a color you like.

Shortcut of the Week

Undo Closed Internet Browser Tabs

Did you close a tab by mistake? Press Ctrl+Shift+T to undo a closed tab. Pressing this key combination more than once brings back multiple closed tabs.

Have an unfortunate co-worker that’s not getting a copy of the TCC Tuesday Tidbits? Forward them your copy. Or, better yet, have them sign up at https://computer-center.com/tuesdaytidbits/

Submit your TCC Tuesday Tidbit requests and ideas to me by calling (608) 755-1524.

Sincerely,

James Pearson, President The Computer Center 39 S. Main St. – Upper Janesville, WI 53545 (608) 755-1524

Covid-19 and Working Remotely
A How-To Technology Resource

Welcome to The Computer Center’s Covid-19 resource center for small businesses. Our focus is to provide you with the information you need to keep your business running, collaborate with your team, meet with customers, and make the best of the current situation by leveraging technology. Visit www.computer-center.com/covid19/ for access to more helpful information.

IT Security Tip #38:
Don’t Just Throw Out That Old Computer

Getting rid of old computers or servers? Did you know that the components used in technology equipment are not landfill-safe? On top of the environmental hazards, unprotected e-waste typically contains a lot of confidential and private information in the form of saved passwords, Internet history and files left on the retired computer or server. 

As a first prevention step, find a local recycling facility where e-waste can be safely disposed of. And make sure to take the following #1 security precaution before you haul it off: remove and destroy the hard drives. A drill and hammer usually do the trick just fine. Alternatively, many companies that shred paper documents will also destroy your hard drives. 

Don’t forget other e-waste such as mobile phones, copy machines and any other device that ever touched your company data. Give serious thought to what data is on any device before you recycle it.

This Tuesday Tidbits series is one great way to keep your employees informed, but you STILL need a good AUP in place and training. If you’d like our help in creating one for your company, based on best practices, call us at (608) 755-1524. You’ll be glad you did.

Contact us if you have any computer-related needs by visiting computer-center.com.

Microsoft Tips for Windows

Encrypt Your Local Drive

Make sure local drive encryption, such as BitLocker, is enabled. That way if your device is lost or stolen any local data will be difficult to access.

Shortcut of the Week

Quickly Switch Between Open Tabs

Hold down Ctrl and press 1 through 0 on the keyboard to open the tab you are looking for.

Have an unfortunate co-worker that’s not getting a copy of the TCC Tuesday Tidbits? Forward them your copy. Or, better yet, have them sign up at https://computer-center.com/tuesdaytidbits/

Submit your TCC Tuesday Tidbit requests and ideas to me by calling (608) 755-1524.

Sincerely,

James Pearson, President The Computer Center 39 S. Main St. – Upper Janesville, WI 53545 (608) 755-1524

Covid-19 and Working Remotely
A How-To Technology Resource

Welcome to The Computer Center’s Covid-19 resource center for small businesses. Our focus is to provide you with the information you need to keep your business running, collaborate with your team, meet with customers, and make the best of the current situation by leveraging technology. Visit www.computer-center.com/covid19/ for access to more helpful information.

IT Security Tip #37:
Why Is It So Important
To Have Unique Passwords
For All Your Online Accounts?

A complex password is a necessity in the current age of cyberthreats, data breaches and other security incidents. Those of us who live in reality also know how hard it is to keep the seemingly hundreds of passwords straight, secure and different. Wait, what’s that? All of your passwords aren’t different?

Why is having different passwords so important? When an online retailer, or a website, gets hacked, oftentimes all you hear in the news is about how many credit cards were lost or what the financial damage was. You rarely hear about the user accounts that were compromised. However, if you have an account on a compromised website, the username and password you used very possibly could be published and available to anybody who wants to look at it at on the Internet. A clever crook knows that you probably use the same password on the compromised website as you do on your eBay, Amazon or other online account that may have a bank account tied to it. A good enough chance that they’re likely to try it anyway. Sure enough, when you used the same password on your eBay account that you also used to set up an account on the compromised website to reserve hotel rooms, buy clothes or whatever else, the hacker now has your eBay credentials.

It is possible to keep the password madness under control. Ask us for tricks to having unique but memorable passwords. You might be surprised by how easy it really is. The bottom line is that no matter how much of a pain it is, it is very important to have different passwords for each online account.

This Tuesday Tidbits series is one great way to keep your employees informed, but you STILL need a good AUP in place and training. If you’d like our help in creating one for your company, based on best practices, call us at (608) 755-1524. You’ll be glad you did.

Contact us if you have any computer-related needs by visiting computer-center.com.

Jump Between Apps

Go from app to app in a flash. Place three fingers on your touchpad and swipe left or right to switch between your open apps.

Shortcut of the Week

Undo Any Closed Tab

Pressing Ctrl+Shift+T re-opens the closed tab. Alternatively, right-clicking a portion of the tab bar also displays this option. You can press Ctrl+Shift+T multiple times to re-open all last closed tabs.

Have an unfortunate co-worker that’s not getting a copy of the TCC Tuesday Tidbits? Forward them your copy. Or, better yet, have them sign up at https://computer-center.com/tuesdaytidbits/

Submit your TCC Tuesday Tidbit requests and ideas to me by calling (608) 755-1524.

Sincerely,

James Pearson, President The Computer Center 39 S. Main St. – Upper Janesville, WI 53545 (608) 755-1524

Covid-19 and Working Remotely
A How-To Technology Resource

Welcome to The Computer Center’s Covid-19 resource center for small businesses. Our focus is to provide you with the information you need to keep your business running, collaborate with your team, meet with customers, and make the best of the current situation by leveraging technology. Visit www.computer-center.com/covid19/ for access to more helpful information.

IT Security Tip #36:
The Long-Forgotten Piece of Security for Road Warriors

Do you connect to the office network or VPN (virtual private network) to get some work done in the evenings, on the weekends or when on the road? For many, the answer is yes.

One of the most frequently forgotten pieces of network security is making sure that personal devices used in employee homes conform to the standards in your office. Make sure your road warriors and remote workers have up-to-date antivirus software on the computers they are connecting in from and that a good firewall is in use when possible. Just know that it’s generally safe to connect into work from public hotspots as long as your office VPN is in use. The VPN secures the connection between the computer and the office. Remote login software such as GoToMyPC and others may not use the same type of security as your VPN and therefore may not be safe to connect from a public hotspot.

This Tuesday Tidbits series is one great way to keep your employees informed, but you STILL need a good AUP in place and training. If you’d like our help in creating one for your company, based on best practices, call us at (608) 755-1524. You’ll be glad you did.

Contact us if you have any computer-related needs by visiting computer-center.com.

Keep Your PC Up To Date

Get the latest features and security updates. Select Start > Settings > Updates & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates to see if there are new updates.

Shortcut of the Week

Open A New Empty Tab

Pressing Ctrl + T opens a new tab in all browsers.

Have an unfortunate co-worker that’s not getting a copy of the TCC Tuesday Tidbits? Forward them your copy. Or, better yet, have them sign up at https://computer-center.com/tuesdaytidbits/

Submit your TCC Tuesday Tidbit requests and ideas to me by calling (608) 755-1524.

Sincerely,

James Pearson, President The Computer Center 39 S. Main St. – Upper Janesville, WI 53545 (608) 755-1524

Covid-19 and Working Remotely
A How-To Technology Resource

Welcome to The Computer Center’s Covid-19 resource center for small businesses. Our focus is to provide you with the information you need to keep your business running, collaborate with your team, meet with customers, and make the best of the current situation by leveraging technology. Visit www.computer-center.com/covid19/ for access to more helpful information.

IT Security Tip #35:
Your Copier Is Spying On You

Modern business equipment has radically changed how we conduct everyday business. Do you realize that copiers and multifunction printers are also one of the leading causes of data breaches?

They are the one device on the network that commonly does not ever have the default password changed. After all, who would want to get in and copy your settings? There might be a different answer if you realize that quite often those copiers keep images of all pages scanned on an internal hard drive. Perfect for someone to anonymously access and steal social security records and sensitive business data.

Take steps to secure your MFP copier today. Change – or ask your IT support firm to change – default passwords on ALL network-connected devices. Don’t forget this rule when the copier lease is up and a new one is installed! A few quick steps can save a lot of personal data breaches and a lot of security headaches down the road.

This Tuesday Tidbits series is one great way to keep your employees informed, but you STILL need a good AUP in place and training. If you’d like our help in creating one for your company, based on best practices, call us at (608) 755-1524. You’ll be glad you did.

Contact us if you have any computer-related needs by visiting computer-center.com.

Microsoft Tips for Windows

It’s All About Meme

Add GIFs to inject some personality into your conversations. Select the GIF button under the box where you type your message and search for the one you want. Select Send when ready.

Shortcut of the Week

Open Previous Page In A New Tab

Middle-click the back button to open a previous page in a new tab.

Have an unfortunate co-worker that’s not getting a copy of the TCC Tuesday Tidbits? Forward them your copy. Or, better yet, have them sign up at https://computer-center.com/tuesdaytidbits/

Submit your TCC Tuesday Tidbit requests and ideas to me by calling (608) 755-1524.

Sincerely,

James Pearson, President The Computer Center 39 S. Main St. – Upper Janesville, WI 53545 (608) 755-1524

Covid-19 and Working Remotely
A How-To Technology Resource

Welcome to The Computer Center’s Covid-19 resource center for small businesses. Our focus is to provide you with the information you need to keep your business running, collaborate with your team, meet with customers, and make the best of the current situation by leveraging technology. Visit www.computer-center.com/covid19/ for access to more helpful information.

IT Security Tip #34:
Don’t Send Your Private Information To Anyone

We’re seeing a new variant of an old scam. Here’s what happens: a secretary gets an e-mail from her boss – who is traveling – to please send him, as soon as possible, scanned copies of all the W2s the company issued at the end of January. The message appears to come from her manager, including having what looks like his actual e-mail address when she looks at in Outlook. She gets suspicious – she has just talked to her boss on the phone that morning, and he never mentioned needing that information. Before she collects the W2 PDFs that are on the HR drive, she decides to text her boss and check on it. Great catch! The boss never requested that information. Had she not been proactive and instead just completed the task assigned to her, she would have given a scammer all of the confidential information that is on a federal W2 form for every employee in her firm! The scammer likely would have used the information to commit identity theft and/or file false returns next year to claim the refund.

Always be vigilant and proactive – it’s better to be suspicious and double-check everything when dealing with confidential information. Try to provide that detail in an encrypted e-mail, or at minimum with a password on the files (and don’t include the password in the body of the e-mail!). The few extra minutes it takes could save months of heartache for all of your employees.

This Tuesday Tidbits series is one great way to keep your employees informed, but you STILL need a good AUP in place and training. If you’d like our help in creating one for your company, based on best practices, call us at (608) 755-1524. You’ll be glad you did.

Contact us if you have any computer-related needs by visiting computer-center.com.

Microsoft Tips for Windows

Get Their Attention With @Mentions

Need someone’s help with a document or slide? Insert a comment, @mention them, and they’ll get an email containing your request.

Shortcut of the Week

Closing Tabs

Clicking an open tab with your middle mouse button closes that tab.

Have an unfortunate co-worker that’s not getting a copy of the TCC Tuesday Tidbits? Forward them your copy. Or, better yet, have them sign up at https://computer-center.com/tuesdaytidbits/

Submit your TCC Tuesday Tidbit requests and ideas to me by calling (608) 755-1524.

Sincerely,

James Pearson, President The Computer Center 39 S. Main St. – Upper Janesville, WI 53545 (608) 755-1524

Covid-19 and Working Remotely
A How-To Technology Resource

Welcome to The Computer Center’s Covid-19 resource center for small businesses. Our focus is to provide you with the information you need to keep your business running, collaborate with your team, meet with customers, and make the best of the current situation by leveraging technology. Visit www.computer-center.com/covid19/ for access to more helpful information.

IT Security Tip #33:
Physical Security Matters!

In a recent incident reported in US news, an office secretary unknowingly gave some of her law firm’s most private data to a gentleman who had bought a Comcast Cable polo shirt off eBay. He dressed in khakis with a tool belt, and told the secretary he was there to audit their cable modem specifications and take pictures of the install for quality assurance. She had no reason to suspect he was part of a now-extinct hacker ring who would gain access to a business’s private network by going inside the office and noting the configuration details and passwords for their firewalls and cable modems. In some cases, they actually built a secure VPN private backdoor they later used to steal data. If someone dressed up in a utility-provider uniform, would you let them in?

Ask for identification and who they have spoken with about the service they are performing, and be gracefully suspicious, as they say in the South. Keep any company policies about how visitors are allowed in the building, if such policies exist. If those kinds of policies don’t exist, work to define them. We can help, if needed – but this is a real problem your office needs to address.

This Tuesday Tidbits series is one great way to keep your employees informed, but you STILL need a good AUP in place and training. If you’d like our help in creating one for your company, based on best practices, call us at (608) 755-1524. You’ll be glad you did.

Contact us if you have any computer-related needs by visiting computer-center.com.

Microsoft Tips for Windows

Choose The Notifications You Get

Select Start > Settings > System > Notifications & actions to choose notifications. For specific apps, select the app under Get notifications from these senders.

Shortcut of the Week

Open Any Link In A New Tab

Clicking any link with your middle mouse button or wheel opens that link in a new tab. Clicking an open tab with your middle mouse button closes that tab. Middle click the back button to open a previous page in a new tab.

Have an unfortunate co-worker that’s not getting a copy of the TCC Tuesday Tidbits? Forward them your copy. Or, better yet, have them sign up at https://computer-center.com/tuesdaytidbits/

Submit your TCC Tuesday Tidbit requests and ideas to me by calling (608) 755-1524.

Sincerely,

James Pearson, President The Computer Center 39 S. Main St. – Upper Janesville, WI 53545 (608) 755-1524

Covid-19 and Working Remotely
A How-To Technology Resource

Welcome to The Computer Center’s Covid-19 resource center for small businesses. Our focus is to provide you with the information you need to keep your business running, collaborate with your team, meet with customers, and make the best of the current situation by leveraging technology. Visit www.computer-center.com/covid19/ for access to more helpful information.

IT Security Tip #32:
Routers Are At The Big-Box Stores –
Why Do I Need To Pay?

Routers and firewalls can be confusing – they essentially serve the same purpose of distributing Internet to devices on the network. A router like you’d purchase at a big-box store is designed to serve the needs of home, not the needs of business. It’s likely more important that the Xbox has a great WiFi signal so little Jimmy can play his game, rather than being able to deny all Internet access from North Korea. A firewall, unlike a router, is intelligent. You typically pay a subscription fee because the firewall is constantly updating itself to protect against the newest cyber-attacks. Unlike a router, the firewall actually looks at all Internet traffic passing through it to make sure it’s legitimate, not a virus, and was requested from a computer inside. They also allow us to block access totally to some third-world countries known for producing cyber-attacks. A good firewall can also let you know what your staff has been up to – who’s that looking on careerbuilder.com for five hours? Don’t cheap out, and don’t buy your gate to the Internet for your business at a big-box store. It truly is the gate between your business and the rest of the world – and you want a strongly armed guard, not a non-intelligent robot. If you can afford to invest in one thing, get a good firewall!

PS – Business-grade firewalls can be used in homes, too – especially if you want to control the content users can access on the Internet, and want to see what the people in the house have been doing. There is no rule that a firewall is just for business – we sell them for use in the homes of lots of CEOs, CIOs and other professionals.

This Tuesday Tidbits series is one great way to keep your employees informed, but you STILL need a good AUP in place and training. If you’d like our help in creating one for your company, based on best practices, call us at (608) 755-1524. You’ll be glad you did.

Contact us if you have any computer-related needs by visiting computer-center.com.

Microsoft Tips for Windows

Have A Question About Teams?

In the bottom left corner of Teams is where you’ll find Help. Select Help > Topics, then browse featured topics, or search for something you need. You can also check out the Training tab for short how-to videos to get up to speed on Teams.

Shortcut of the Week

Show File Extension In Windows 10

By default, file extension are not displayed in Windows 10. To view file extensions, open a new File Explorer window by pressing Windows Key + E and then Select the View tab. Check the box labeled File name extensions.

Have an unfortunate co-worker that’s not getting a copy of the TCC Tuesday Tidbits? Forward them your copy. Or, better yet, have them sign up at https://computer-center.com/tuesdaytidbits/

Submit your TCC Tuesday Tidbit requests and ideas to me by calling (608) 755-1524.

Sincerely,

James Pearson, President The Computer Center 39 S. Main St. – Upper Janesville, WI 53545 (608) 755-1524