We know, “technology lessons for the federal government?” Who is kidding whom?

Well, we recently read an article from the 4-29-2014 edition of The New York Times headlined “Administration Begins Search for New Contractors to Run Health Care Site.

3-d Communications is a Ridgewood NJ based full scale marketing firm that specializes in developing, designing and producing marketing materials for a host of organizations.  Logo and identity design, brochure design and printing, direct mail campaigns, advertisements and web design are all areas of expertise.

Who knows how this international incident will play out, but we do know now that it can provide us some lessons that we can apply to protecting our business and network.

Have a strong firewall to protect your network from the outside world.

Had Crimea had a stronger border, like a firewall, outsiders would not have access to their territory.

One of our clients set up our technical consultant, Chuck Barry, with an assembly line at their office to roll out 6 of 20 new machines that will be replacing their aging Windows XP machines. By proactively replacing their Windows XP machines before April 8th, they are avoiding potential down time and ensuring compliance standards that their clients require.

On April 8, 2014, Microsoft will no longer support or update Windows XP or Office 2003.  What does this mean?  These programs will be even more vulnerable to outside attacks. Take action before you get in a lurch!

They will still work but, and it’s a big BUT…You could be facing serious security and compliance issues if you continue to use these programs.

It’s early July and we’ve already had some pretty severe weather. One simple device can protect your computer, printer and other network equipment from unexpected power surges – yup, the lofty surge protector.

Circuit breakers offer some protection but they weren’t built to protect sensitive computer electronics.

Today is National Pie Day.   At IT Radix we try to eat our “PIES” every day, but today we're enjoying some locally made apple, cherry and blueberry pies in honor of America's pie heritage.

Now, if we ate real pie every day, our company health plan would be doomed.

As many of you are returning to business as usual we would strongly recommend a quick but thorough check of your internal IT systems.  In particular, we recommend: 

Hurricane Sandy from Space

Verifying your backups are working properly by doing an actual restore
Reviewing your server error logs, especially the Windows System log and the hardware manufacturer logs, for any potential hardware problems that may be lurking as a result of inconsistent power or hard server shutdowns
Testing your power strips and UPS units to ensure that they are still able to protect your computer equipment through future power events.

All computers, tablets and smartphones have regular updates released by the hardware and software manufacturers.  Why update?  The basic answer is to ensure that everything works.
For example, Microsoft pushes out updates so the operating system will run smoother and seamlessly.

For most remote workers the “now what?” is getting reliable Internet.

But who is going to pay for it? Who will fix it when it’s broken?Well, you are!!!  At least in most cases you are.

Let’s face it if you have an employer that is willing to let you work from home then the least you can do is get decent Internet service.