Another month passes and a lot of things have transpired in the IT world yet again.

Data breaches and the stealing of private credit card information from ‘trusted’ organisations such as Target Corp who had over 40million credit card numbers stolen from their systems, plus personal information from another 70million customers begs the question :

Is online shopping safe enough to use?

When ‘trusted’ organisations fail to properly secure our data, who ‘can’ we trust?

In January there was also an infection of malware known as ‘ChewBacca’. This malware targeted small retailers in 11 countries including Australia, and stole data of more than 49,000 credit cards from these sites before it was shut down.

Looking at EtherTech’s own firewall logs, we have people trying to hack into our systems every minute of the day. From all over the world.

How safe is your data?

What would happen if someone managed to get into your Intellectual or your financial property?

Many of our clients today have remote access to their network so they can access corporate resources from home.  Life is easier, but it exposes you to more risk.  Unless all your systems are up to date or use 2-stage authentication, then you’re exposing yourself to attack.

Another serious matter is using the same password across many sites.  Simple solution – DON’T DO IT!  Hackers might hack an internet forum you’re on, extract the email address and password then try using that to access corporate resources, Facebook or even your Bank details.

Online payment gateways have come a long way as well. We recommend that everyone with an online store, or those who are purchasing online to only use reputable payment gateways like PayPal or e-way, or those that are Visa or Mastercard approved, or those that use an SMS notification service and have an existing high banking reputation.

The last thing you want is to lose your hard earned money in fraudulent transactions and have all your cards cancelled.

To combat additional risk and exposure a timely reminder is that Microsoft’s Windows XP WILL BECOME END OF LIFE from April 8^th 2014.  Microsoft are now issuing ‘serious warnings’ to all users “We won’t sugar-coat it: If you are running Windows XP after April 8, 2014, you are putting your business at risk — and please don’t believe anyone who claims that quick fixes can replace a critical OS update,”

Microsoft said in their latest campaign document.

Surprisingly, there are still over 29% of PC’s globally still running Windows XP.

We can guarantee that the hackers out there are just biding their time waiting for the deadline so they can launch their malware without fear of Microsoft fixing the issues.

Please make sure that you adhere these warnings if you haven’t already and stay safe out there in cyber-land!

Welcome back, Happy New Year and we look forward to seeing you in what is set to be another great year this year in 2014.

In our last Boffin edition we briefly looked at cloud solutions and how being in the Cloud can help your business move forward. Choosing services that are right for you isn’t always a simple task. That’s why we are here to help you make informed decisions and provide you with the right fit for your business.

If your New Year’s resolution looked a little like this:

ü  Try to give up the fags and booze.

ü  Lose the Christmas timber from the waistline.

Well that’s not easy either; however if you are genuinely looking for a more productive way to help improve the services you provide to your clients then please look at EtherTech’s Cloud services.

Interestingly a recent study performed by Microsoft shows:

71% of SMBs are looking for technology to enable their staff to work anywhere, anytime.

79% of SMBs believe that technology can make work more enjoyable.

If you want easy access to services on your terms and want a business that cares about you. EtherTech can help you make the best changes when looking to strengthen the forearm of your business with Cloud services.

Smartphones are now reported to outsell the PC. With leaked information of the new Samsung Galaxy S5 to be released February 2014; keen onlookers await to get their hands on this new technology. Our favourable application Trend Micro is a smartphones armour in the world of cybercrime. There is an ever growing need to share resources using smartphones inside and outside the workplace. It is quick and simple to access your organisations resources anytime, anywhere.
Trend Micro helps protect against malware that can trick individuals or organisations into downloading and installing unwanted applications onto their smartphones. It is possible that someone can secretly control the device you are using and send messages, view incoming calls, web activity without you knowing. This is a reality we must deal with going forward into 2014; EtherTech continues to tackle challenges like these plus many more. At EtherTech we aspire to provide a first-time resolution for IT difficulties whenever you ask for assistance.

We focus on supporting organisations and providing the best possible quality of service no matter the scale or creative challenge you may throw at us. Let us bring your applications and technology to life by making things better this year, so join us and see the difference we can make.

Welcome to the latest edition of Boffin at EtherTech; still confused about which cloud solution is the best fit for your business?

Pushing part or all of your business to the Cloud can have colossal benefits. Retaining control and start progressing quicker than your competitors with services that can be automated and tailored to your business.

Virtualising a percentage of your business is a smart way to help identify and process cost cutting measures to drive your business forward.

Making the move to the Cloud can also reduce your company’s administration and integration costs by forming baselines. A workplace is a diverse environment which includes a range of workstations with varied Operating Systems (OS), Service Packs and programs. Virtualising applications enables these devices to run the executable programs on a platform that is readily accessible with the use of an Internet connection.

Our cloud storage solution has backup and recovery systems in place with added security and peace of mind built to keep cybercriminals at bay. This means less time worrying about the security of your data and more time driving the business to record highs in the cloud. Your business therefore can become quicker and more efficient to push past rivals.

Avoid hidden costs that other I.T. company’s may offer and talk to us today. We can help you drive your business further with a catalogue of Cloud services to safely and securely put your business into the Cloud.

Christmas is nearly here and what a great year it’s been. Here is a 2013 selection of goodies at EtherTech:

Microsoft (MS) Windows 8 & 8.1 this year changed the way we looked at interacting with information on multiple devices. Microsoft moves to remove Windows XP and looking to the future of Operating Systems.

MS Office 2013 was released bringing with it new ways to be creative, edit and browse media on multiple platforms.

Trend Micro antivirus successfully showcased its ways to fight Cybercriminals.

The latest highly powered smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy & IPhone series available at EtherTech

Specials on Solid State Drives (SSD) speeding up processes on workstations.

The only downside for this year were some price increases from Microsoft which will affect a few cloud services.  We will have more information on December 10 and will advise affected clients by Friday the 13^th.

Plus many more so have fun, play safe and we look forward to a prosperous New Year.

Welcome to Summer!.. Well with only one month before it officially starts, and with our recent weather here in Melbourne summer can’t come soon enough!

In late October though, Microsoft released the latest Windows 8.1 update from the Windows store.

This is a FREE update for all Windows 8 users, although at around 3GB, the download from the windows store can be very painful to download and install, so if you are having problems give us a call and we’ll give you the upgrade on a DVD.

Microsoft have focused on a number of features to help improve the user experience from version 8.0, including enhancements to the search function, the Graphical User Interface (GUI) has also been improved (by integrating the new Internet Explorer 11) to give people more choice with backgrounds, tiles and improve the ways of working with up to 4 applications viewable on any given screen at once.

Version 8.1 also brings back the trusty old ‘start’ button when in ‘desktop’ mode, although it only takes you back to the tile pane. We still recommend our clients to download and install ‘classic shell’ to get the proper ‘start menu’ and program launcher everyone is used it with every previous version of Windows.

Interestingly, Microsoft have already reported problems with this software release on their Surface tablets. The upgrade has reportedly crashed the devices and Microsoft have had to temporarily remove the RT version from the Windows Store.

We have noticed a few issues as well, with many 3^rd party software applications having to be re-installed after the upgrade to 8.1 as they exhibit failures when launching.

So, is it worth upgrading to 8.1? Well, it’s definitely not a ‘ground breaking’ release, but if you think of it more like a ‘windows service pack’ then yes its worth upgrading due to the patches and updates.

In other news, we have been busy bees here at EtherTech   upgrading and migrating ALL our hosted Exchange clients from Exchange 2010 over to the latest Exchange 2013 release.

This release brings a range of speed, security and functional benefits, all at no cost to our subscribers as part of our obligations for providing best-of-breed solutions.  Features like auto-unsubscribe, Bing Maps integration, automatic meeting and action detection and a revamped web app are now available to those running Outlook 2013.

If you would like more information on this or how we can help you get ahead please contact us on 1300-ETHERTECH!

See you next month!

Welcome to the latest Boffin installment; A footy frenzy to finish off  September with the Mighty Hawks winning their 11th AFL premiership! For the non Hawthorn supporters out there, there’s always next year!

To kick us off into October we have an amazing offer that you cannot miss on new OKI printers. Please call us to discuss the right options for your business and save $$$.
The OKI team supply us with superior printers for businesses and when there’s an offer we pass the benefits on to our clients. This offer is purely for the month of October so don’t miss out on the savings you can make with EtherTech.

The OKI MC862 A3/A4 Colour Network Multi Function Printer boasts:

–       Duplex printing as standard

–       Flexible media handling from CD labels, business cards and banners to standard, day-to-day business documents

–       One touch Copy, Scan, Print and Fax buttons

–       Scan to USB stick, client, email or network PC

–       Print Speed A4: 26ppm colour, 34ppm mono; A3: 15ppm colour, 17ppm mono

–       Fax directly from a PC or forward incoming faxes to a PC

–       Embedded LDAP provides diredt access to contact and email data in an existing directory file

–       A Job Interrupt function to allow printing to be paused whilst urgent documents are copied, scanned or faxed

–       3 years extended warranty upon registration within 30 days of purchase.

Now with a FREE toner bundle fo October only (Magenta, Cyan, Yellow, Black). Saving you an extra $1200 !

Or, downsize to the OKI MB471 offering an all-in-one package with multi functions such as print, copy, scan and fax. It holds a resolution of 1200dpi, has print speeds of 33ppm. This comes with 3 year warranty and duplex printing.

–       33ppm mono

–       Print Resoultion1200 x 1200 dpi

–       Emulation- P53, PCL 5/6. Epson/IBM

–       Interface- USB, Parrallel, Network

Don’t waste anymore time and money on inefficient printers; start recovering costs and benefit from these plus many more printers and consumables from OKI at EtherTech.

Security

Is an eye-opener for most when they hear horror stories from like-minded business owners who have been caught out without the aid of security cameras.
IP cameras can be effective and cheap to install. The camera never lies, and can identify problem areas within any business; ones which you may never have suspected before. So take back the control and let EtherTech help you. .

With technology on our side, EtherTech have time and experience on our side to help you make informed decisions with your IT infrastructure

If you would like more information on this or how we can help you get ahead please contact us.

Welcome to the latest Boffin edition; warming up with the latest tech news and springing into life in September.

To kick us off, Smartphones are playing a huge part of our daily worklife with the ability to stream content directly from/to the phone and other devices using a 3G/4G/WiFi connection.

For the devote fans of the BlackBerry smartphone, the new BlackBerry 9720 hits the shelf with a underwhelming specification. The new model is using the aged OS 7.1 instead of OS 10, it boasts a 2.8 touchscreen, 5 MP camera and you can choose from Black, White, Purple, Blue, or Pure Pink!

The new iPhone 5S is due for release in September and reported to showcase its new A7 quad core processor with 3 GB RAM. It is also rumoured to have a fingerprint sensor, 128 GB internal storage and a much longer battery life. We are looking forward to seeing how this will hold up against the latest Samsung Galaxy.

Competition for the number one smartphone hotspot between Apple and Samsung has been interesting to watch, since Samsung released the Galaxy S4 and their overwhelming sales hit all time highs boasting the smartphones performance and specification. Dependant on how the new iPhone sales go, Samsung is reported to release the new Galaxy smartphone late 2013 / early 2014.

This month UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) has saved the day for a number of us. Interestingly we have seen a number of companies encounter problems without having a UPS hooked up to their servers, backup devices, switches, telephone systems etc.

The UPS is a core component of a company’s infrastructure and shouldn’t be overlooked especially when expensive hardware and services are to be protected. With the appropriate setup and configuration a sequence of hardware failures can be avoided.

As a reminder, your UPS battery should be replaced at least every 3 years and it is certainly worth considering an environment without having the added protection of a UPS; how would your business operate in the event of a power failure and the UPS didn’t respond to the demands of your attached devices. Look especially at the time and money it would cost for this to be overlooked.

Is your UPS right for your business? Will it allow enough time for the administrator to power down the attached devices safely.

In other news the Compact Cassette had its 50^th birthday. How times have changed using the cassettes to run programs on the old Sinclair Spectrum; not to mention recording your mix tapes from the radio! Have you still got your mix tapes?

If you would like more information on anything IT related, please contact us on 1300-ETHERTECH. See you next month!

I was just complaining that it seems like the last newsletter only went out a few days ago, but alas it was a month… Oh how time flies.

Another busy month here at EtherTech, with a lot of clients migrating to the cloud, and we have also been undertaking some capasity upgrades and extra redundancy setups to ensure we have the most resilient network infrastructure around.  We have Exchange 2013 upgrades coming this month as well as CRM this weekend, with our own support staff launching in to the world of Dynamics CRM.

Here at EtherTech, things seem to go in waves for no apparent reason. For example : July has seen a large number of broken notebook screens sent in for repair, whereas the month before it was notebook hard disc failures.

We want to briefly touch upon notebooks and the myriad of issues that do and will occur with them due to their portable nature.

Screen breakages, hard disc failures, power connector breaks, power supply failures, and water damage are the most common issues we’re faced with when trying to repair notebooks that come into us at the office. Most of the time it’s a distraught owner with their home PC who has no backups of their data and kids photos, or a 2 year-old who has been pressing buttons to no end.

Notebooks (up until about a year ago) historically contained a SATA ‘legacy’ hard drive that contains the platters and heads that have to move back and forth to read and write your data and are prone to damage due to shock/wear and tear etc, and generally look like this :

Here in 2013 though, we’re lucky that a technology which replaces the moving parts of ye olde HDD is here. SSD or Solid State Hard Drives are here, they’re cost effective, have no moving parts and they’re FAST!

Solid State Drives have been around for a number of years now, but have always been cost prohibitive until very recently.

The advantage of Solid State Drives is that they have no moving parts at all, and just like your USB data keys rely solely on reading and writing data very quickly to chips instead of moving discs.

The benefits don’t stop there.

SSD uses 2-3watts of power meaning an extra 30mins of notebook battery life! SSD also takes a median average of 16-22 secs to boot Windows compared with 40-120+ secs.

SSD’s can get your data in to RAM 3x faster, which means a more responsive computer.

The Samsung SSD drives we have available start at $155 / 120GB, $265 / 250GB and $718 for 512GB.

So even if your computer is about 2-3 years old, it might be worthwhile the investment in a new SSD upgrade for your laptop or even destkop. Give us a call for more information!

Until next month!

As always if you have any questions or need any advice please contact us on 1300-ETHERTECH.

Dont forget to add us on Facebook !

Its simple.. visit and like us at       http://www.facebook.com/ethertech.au
See you online !