Covid-19 and Working RemotelyA 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 a 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.
Microsoft Tips for Office
Join Words With A Curve
Open a Word document and select Draw > Ink Editor. Draw a curve between two words to join them. Make sure the ends of the curve touch the words you want to join.
Shortcut of the Week
Protect The Computer
Make sure to protect your computer from electrical surges, brownouts, and blackouts. At the very least, every computer user should have a decent surge protector on their computer. Surge protectors can help protect your computer during an electrical storm and could save you hundreds of dollars in repair costs if it were to get damaged. It’s also a good idea to have computers on a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to prevent damage to a computer during a brownout or blackout.
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