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May 7, 2013
Bitcoin is a digital currency that has been around since 2009 and has no central monetary authority. A Bitcoin can either be purchased or “mined” through difficult computer number-crunching, up to a limit of 21 million total Bitcoins. Given that this currency is limited and cannot be produced at the will of any government, economists worry that it will ultimately be subject to high levels of ...more >>
April 18, 2013
Moving to a new office can be a stressful time for any business. Here are some key technology considerations to address before the move.
Service Migration
The migration of your services usually involves much coordination between you and your vendors. It is important to review which services you currently maintain and, at least 60 days before your move, validate connectivity and viability of ...more >>
April 8, 2013
A traditional Chief Information Officer (CIO) offers full-time strategic IT analysis and management but is usually out of the price range for small and medium sized businesses. On the other hand, a Virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO) is outsourced, providing these services at a lower cost.
vCIO duties include the following:
Offering extensive guidance on new IT ...more >>
April 4, 2013
You can customize the bar at the top of your Office 2013 applications by selecting a background and theme. It's quick and easy. Here's how:
Click File in the top left corner (this should work in any application…Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.).
Click Account (or Office Account if you’re in Outlook).
Under Office Background, you can select from a menu of choices to customize the top bar ...more >>
March 26, 2013
Our internal IT guy upgraded my computer to Microsoft Office 2013. Although I was looking forward to this upgrade, the switch has been a little challenging for me (one of the only non-technical people at Convergence). I don’t need super computer powers. I just need basic word processing, publishing, html and photo editing capabilities. But it seems like things that used to be simple now take ...more >>
March 11, 2013
If you’re new to Windows 8, you may have noticed the autocorrect feature relentlessly autocorrects your "misspelled" words, whether you’re online or using Microsoft Office, or both. This has been driving some people crazy. Just because something is not found in Microsoft’s dictionary, does not mean it’s not what you intended to type. We hear you.
Here are the steps you can take to disable ...more >>
February 25, 2013
Cyber hacking is a growing security problem for small and large businesses alike. So how do you prevent it? And after you’ve done your best to implement security to prevent it, how do you verify you’re safe? There’s actually an easy answer to that. The best way to keep a hacker out of your network is to hire a hacker to invade it.
Let me clarify: an ethical hacker.
A Certified Ethical ...more >>
February 18, 2013
I’m really excited to announce that Convergence Networks made The MSPmentor 501, the ultimate guide to the world's best managed services providers. Ranked 99, we’re the only MSP in Oregon (and 1 of just 2 MSPs in the Northwest) to make the top 100 portion of the list.
How the list is determined
According to MSPmentor, “Companies are ranked on a range of metrics, including annual recurring ...more >>
February 12, 2013
Looking to implement the new BlackBerry 10 devices in your office? Here’s the skinny.
A run down on operating systems and servers
Old BlackBerry devices are running BlackBerry 7 OS or older.
Old BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (BES) are BES 5 or older.
New BlackBerry devices will be running BlackBerry 10 OS (estimated release date of first device is mid-March; the Z10 will be ...more >>
February 6, 2013
PCI compliance is vital for all businesses that process credit or debit cards. You can learn the basics of PCI compliance – like what it is and who it applies to – in our PCI Compliance 101 post. If you’re ready to dig deeper, I’ve answered some frequently asked questions about PCI below.
What are the exact PCI DSS requirements?
You can download the complete detailed list of requirements ...more >>
January 31, 2013
PCI compliance has been around since 2004, but many businesses are still catching up and implementing the standards. Read more to learn what it is, if it applies to you (chances are, it does) and what you can do to become compliant.
What is PCI compliance?
PCI compliance is a set of IT standards created by the credit card industry (Visa, MasterCard, etc.) to ensure that any business swiping ...more >>
January 24, 2013
When someone emails you an attachment, it’s tempting to open the file and start making changes to it before you remember to save. Here’s why that’s a bad idea.
As soon as you open an attachment in Outlook, that file goes to your Outlook temporary folder, which may be jam-packed with everything you’ve ever opened. Until you save the emailed file to a regular folder, it will continue running ...more >>
January 7, 2013
Microsoft recently announced a security vulnerability that may affect users of Internet Explorer 6, 7 or 8. As of this writing, Microsoft hasn’t yet released a patch for this vulnerability, but we have a workaround in place to protect our clients.
People using Internet Explorer 9 are not affected by this vulnerability, making now the perfect time to go over the benefits of keeping your web ...more >>
January 3, 2013
Simply speaking, virtualization is a way of taking hardware and running it as software, reducing the amount of hardware your business needs and greatly increasing your efficiency. Chances are that your business would benefit from virtualization.
Here are the basic types of virtualization:
Server Virtualization: Running multiple servers on a single physical server.
Computer or Desktop ...more >>
December 21, 2012
New Year's resolutions are notoriously difficult to keep. Make 2013 different by finding the right tools to help you measure and achieve your goals.
Get in shape
The Fitbit One is a pedometer and then some. It tracks your steps, distance, calories burned and stairs climbed, so you can set goals and measure your progress day-by-day.
Chronicle your life
I’m really excited about the 1 ...more >>
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