Google Chrome making a simple change in “backspace” function in the browser

The change is that the “backspace” key was causing your browser to the previous displayed screen. My response was when I read this was, “It does that?”. Which points to the reason that Google is making the change. Hardly anyone used it and it is a confusing function for those of us who primarily do data entry and not just simple browser “browsing”.

I read about this in an article in Naked Security, that went into a light rant about losing that function in the browser. What is the issue?

The problem with [Backspace] is that it has traditionally had two meanings, and two quite different behaviours, in your browser:

• Go back and delete the previous character when you are filling in a field in a form.
• Go back to the previous page if you aren’t filling in a field, even if you’re in a form.

Think how many web warnings you’ve seen in your life saying, DO NOT PRESS YOUR BROWSER’S BACK BUTTON IN CASE YOU ACCIDENTALLY PAY FOR THIS ITEM TWICE, or words to that effect.

I’m not sure this is really a security issue but change always takes us awhile to get used to.

Have you heard of OneCore? This is what is at the core of Microsoft’s Windows 10 Everywhere.

Microsoft has always had a vision of having their operating system being the center of all things electronic. You know, the center of control. The thing that all things talk to. Well, according to arstechnica writer Peter Bright wrote a great article: OneCore to rule them all: How Windows Everywhere finally happened, that describes in great detail the path that Microsoft has travelled to get to this point.

It is a rather long article but if are interested in what Microsoft is doing and how they are doing it with all of their different points of attack this article provides a lot of insight.

As a whole, I am real happy with Windows 10 and the way that it is working with all of my workstations that I have it on. It is worth learning its features and work arounds. I think that you will agreee.

I know this isn’t really Technical, but, we are going to have a booth at this weeks Airshow at the Westmoreland Airport.

This is our first year to have a booth at the Westmoreland County AirShow and we are looking forward to seeing all of you there! Hopefully the weatherman is totally off base with their predictions and that we have good weather throughout. Come by our booth to see some of the products and services that we can provide to you and to talk to our staff. If your phone is a little short of a charge plug it into our charging station to give yourself a little boost.

If you are having issues with your phone or tablets let our excellent staff know and we can provide you with a discount coupon to have it serviced at our state of the art cell phone repair center.

We can fix more than just cracked screens. Hope to see you there!

We had a great visit with Sam Liebl from Lenovo today

We were able to discuss many ways that we can provide our customers with products and services from Lenovo and how we can fine the best deals for you on the products that you are looking for. We have been having a great year with them and it is primarily because of the wonderful support we have been receiving throughout the process of determining the best product for the best price and support possible. We love the new Flex-3 notebooks that we currently have on the floor and apparently so do our clients. They are priced well, are light and ease to work with and provide you with a wide range ways to work with the notebook, whether it is in the typical notebook mode, tented, or as a tablet. It’s a great choice for a well built notebook for all-around business use.

Jessy just came back from a Lenovo conference in Florida so he is full of some very useful information that you should really take advantage of.  Be sure to give us a call and, Hey!, stop by and see what we have on the floor.

Email Spoofing...Yes it is a real life problem.

One of my friends, Michelle Drolet fom Towerwall, Inc. just posted an interesting article about Email Spoofing and how the Sophos Product Reflexion Total Control can help prevent this issue.

You can find the entire article here.

Reflexion Total Control provides quite a few ways for dealing with controlling SPAM and other email problems. Take a look at a quick list of features here. To purchase, find out more on the product or to have us setup a trial be sure to contact us.

Easy On Hold Support Notification

Easy On Hold streams for all easyonhold.com URL groups will be down for upgrades for approximately 2 hours Sunday, May 22, 2016 from 10pm to around midnight. Does not affect brandimusic.com URL groups.

During this time, we will be upgrading our databases for increased capacity and speed.

Streams will stop during these hours, but will return to normal operation.

If your installation uses a Grace Digital streaming player, a reboot of the device may be necessary.

ProStream devices will play onboard audio fail-over files during the maintenance window (you will not experience silence). The device will begin using the live stream as soon as it becomes available.

For questions and support, please contact us at 888-798-4653 or support@easyonhold.com.

AMD might actually be making a comeback in CPU architecture

Michael Hunter passed along this article

http://www.itwire.com/it-industry-news/development/72853-amd-zen-will-favourably-compete-with-intel-skylake.html

“Zen will compete with Intel on performance, power and specifications – not just price”

“By the end of the year, AMD will have moved on, to both its Zen CPU core as well as the Polaris graphics architecture. We are far close to Intel than ever before – you always need a number two to keep them honest”

New feature: Office 365 Groups ability to update privacy type

New feature: Office 365 Groups ability to update privacy type

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The ability to update privacy type for Office 365 Groups is a new Office 365 feature. You’ll begin seeing this feature today.

How does this affect me?

When you create an Office 365 Group, users have two privacy options: public (anyone can access the Group's content) and private (only approved members can access the Group's content). This update enables Group owners to change the privacy setting from public to private or vice versa by editing the Group properties in your favorite browser.

What do I need to do to prepare for this

You don’t need to do anything. Please click Additional Information to learn more.

Additional information

New SharePoint home experience in Office 365 rolling out starting today

New SharePoint home experience in Office 365 rolling out starting today

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Direct Link Copied to Clipboard.

As announced at the “Future of SharePoint” event on May 4th, we are starting to rollout the new SharePoint home experience in Office 365, starting today, to First Release. The rollout will be completed to all tenants within the course of the next several weeks. We’re committed to evolving your intranet to be more accessible on the go, and more personal with intelligence-driven content based on user activities across sites, the people they work with, and the content they work on.

How does this affect me?

Starting May 11th, 2016, we will begin to rollout the new SharePoint home experience in Office 365. What was the 'Sites' page is now the 'SharePoint home' and the “Sites” tile becomes the “SharePoint” tile - same logo, redesigned for a modern, responsive user experience.

What do I need to do to prepare for this change?

Please click Additional Information to learn more.

New updates make OneNote even more powerful

I find myself using OneNote all of the time not only in the office but outside of the office as well for so many things. It has become the go to application for me to collect some thoughts, take notes while I’m on the phone, and keep up on meeting topics for our office. With recent updates to the program, there are even more things you can do with it. Some of the new features follow:

Users can paste a video link into their OneNote note, and they'll see a thumbnail of that video and have the option to play it. This will work in OneNote for Windows 10, Mac or iOS, and users can paste video links from YouTube, Vimeo, Vine and Sway.

In OneNote for Windows, users will be able to sign in using their Office 365 organization ID.

In OneNote for the Windows Phone, users can now speak their notes, as there's a new audio recording feature.

In OneNote for iOS, users can rearrange audio recordings, images, text and shapes by touching and dragging. They can also use a newly-debuted lasso tool to select items for grouping and rearranging. Finally, they now have the ability to insert multiple photos on a page at once.

In OneNote Online, users will be able to use Bing for Smart Lookup -- i.e. they'll be able to find related notes by selecting a note's contents and selecting an option in the right-click menu. The ability to find related items -- and act on them accordingly -- will be huge for people who are compiling and acting on research.

And for academic users, they'll have the ability to sort their stacks of notebooks by "your personal notebooks, notebooks that others have shared with you and OneNote Class Notebooks you belong to."

You can read the full text of the OneNote team's announcement here.

Comcast increasing data caps from 300GB to 1TB in June

While we here in Pennsylvania have enjoyed not having our 250GB data cap even being turned on, I am glad to see that Comcast is taking the initiative to increase is bandwidth cap to 1TB so when they do begin enforcing it we have a greater chance of not being billed for overages. If you do go over the limit Comcast plans to bill you $10 per each 50GB’s of overage. If you want to add unlimited data to you plan this cost is rising from $35/month to $50/month.

So what does 1TB allow us to do? Comcast says: "You can stream about 700 hours of HD video, play 12,000 hours of online games, and download 60,000 high-res photos in a month." Comcast stated that as of late 2015 8% of their customers are now exceeding the 300GB cap and this increase is to help lower that percentage.

Comcast says that the caps isn’t really a cap at all. Customers are allowed to go over them though they have to pay extra when they do. AT&T is also stepping up its enforcement of their caps as well it is being reported.

New Logitech MX Master Wireless Mouse

While a little on the expensive side this is the one mouse to rule them all!  ‘'

Web Pricing: $63-$86

Hand-sculpted comfort contour - The perfectly sculpted, hand crafted shape* of this comfort mouse supports your hand and wrist in a comfortable, natural position.
Experience fine-motion control and fluid experience with well-positioned buttons and wheels.
Speed-adaptive scroll wheel - Scroll through long documents or web pages faster and easier. The precision wheel auto-shifts from click-to-click to hyper-fast scroll. Logitech Options™ software lets you customize this experience
Unique thumb wheel - Experience side-to-side scrolling with a stroke of your thumb. To unlock the full range of thumb wheel possibilities, install Logitech Options™ software. Turn pages, switch applications, reassign buttons, and much more using Logitech Options software.
Darkfield Laser Tracking - Darkfield™ Laser Sensor tracks flawlessly virtually anywhere, even on glass* and high-gloss surfaces.
Dual connectivity - Connect this performance mouse via included Logitech Unifying™ Receiver or via Bluetooth Smart wireless technology.

Easy-Switch technology - Pair up to 3 devices and easily switch between them with the touch of a button.

Rechargeable battery - Charge quickly. You can get enough power for a full day of usage in 4 minutes only, with no down time while recharging. A full charge can last up to 40 days*. When the battery gets low, an indicator light lets you know. Recharging is fast and easy. Just plug MX Master into your computer using the micro-USB charging cable. Continue using your mouse while it charges.
*Based on a 6 hour daily office use. Battery life may vary based on user and computing conditions.

Spec Sheet

How do I share my work calendar with all the applications that I use?

Like a lot of you, I would want to have to enter information into my computer once in the best of all worlds have it show up everywhere that I may want to access it from.

I live and breathe inside of Microsoft Outlook with everything from email, scheduling, task management and accessing information about the people I need to be in contact with. So Outlook is a good container to house all this information for me. It also integrates with a lot of the business applications that we use at our office so it is an essential part of my daily routine.

So over the past month I've been experimenting with some ways to be able to share information that is in Outlook with other applications and devices that I use. The picture to the right is a good example of how I have accomplished at some the things that I use on a daily basis.

Google Calendar seems to be the central application that I need to coordinate the sharing of all the calendar data. Using a shareware program that I've commented on last month, called Outlook Google Calendar Sync, I have the conduit that I can use to connect Outlook calendar to Google calendar and have them synchronized automatically. This allows me to set up the connection from Cozi Calendar to Google Calendar to display all of my events for my family to share, again, without me having to reenter the information.

So now as I enter new events into my Calendar in Outlook, the Outlook Google Calendar Sync Application periodically updates Google Calendar and when ever my wife looks at our family Cozi Calendar she has the ability to plan around my schedule very easily. Another nice thing that happens is that unable to connect our Amazon Echo to my Google account and when I come down in the morning I can just ask Alexis what my days schedule is. I know then what I have to ramp up you soon I need to get moving towards the office. Voilà! Information at your fingertips

• Outlook Google Calendar Sync - Offers calendar synchronization between Outlook and Google, including attendees and reminders. Completely free, no install necessary, works behind web proxies and actively developed.
• Google Calendar -  With Google's free online calendar, it's easy to keep track of life's important events all in one place.
• Cozi - Cozi is the must-have organizer for families. It helps coordinate and communicate everyone’s schedules and activities, track grocery lists, manage to do lists, plan ahead for dinner, and keep the whole family on the same page.
• Amazon Echo - Echo provides hands-free voice control for Amazon Music, Prime Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn. Plus, Echo is Bluetooth-enabled so you can stream other popular music services like iTunes from your phone or tablet. .

New Ransomware called Jigsaw is now live

ZDNet’s headline Tick, Tock: Jigsaw ransomware deletes your files as you  wait just posted with a scary tale of how this new malware product works. The code is being sold to would be blackmailers for $139 but so far ZDNet states that only 24 people have purchased it.

According to most of the discussions out there on this new malware package it was poorly written and Forcepoint researchers were able to easily reverse engineer the code.

Forcepoint says:

"A genius malware author this is not, the use of C#/.NET makes it trivial to reverse engineer and analyse. At the current rate, by selling the source code for the software is not going to generate nearly enough money to pay for much.
Finally, the customers who have purchased this kit are non too smart either, even with the documentation available some have left their names in the malware."

ZDnet goes to say that while this version is not as dangerous as it could be but future versions could be even worse:

The infection rates are small and the return seems to be poor. However, the functionality of this new type of ransomware is still worth noting. As cybercrime becomes more sophisticated and tools are developed, even those with a lack of skill can cash in -- and Jigsaw is a prime example of how ransomware may end up evolving on a wider scale in the future, reported

See more coverage here.

Another OneDrive Issue!

Until I read this article from our friends over at https://winsupersite.com I didn’t realize that this feature ever existed. This is something that I have used in DropBox when I was using a my old surfacepro2 that had limited storage space on its drive. Now that I see what they are talking about, yeah! I want it back, too! Hopefully they will bring something back that will useable in this manner and help you to manage the files the files that you put on OneDrive. The link to this article is below:

Will OneDrive Placeholders Return for Users of Microsoft's Cloud Storage?

Lexmark has new ownership

We just had notification that Lexmark has entered a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by a consortium of investors.  According to the press release and our representative at Lexmark we should see and change in services or availability of product and that this merger will help to provide a larger base of cash to continue to grow from.

Supporting Quotes

“This is an exciting transaction that Lexmark’s Board of Directors believes is in the best interests of our shareholders following an exhaustive strategic alternatives review process to maximize value,” said Paul Rooke, Lexmark chairman and chief executive officer. “The transaction will benefit our customers and provide new opportunities for
our employees. 

“As part of the Consortium, Lexmark will be able to reach the next level of growth and innovation, to the benefit of our customers, business partners and suppliers, faster than we could achieve on our own,” added Rooke. “With the Consortium’s resources, we will be able to continue to invest in and grow the business to more fully penetrate the Asia
Pacific market for hardware, software and managed print services.”

Jean-Paul Montupet, lead director of the Lexmark Board of Directors, said, “This transaction represents the culmination of an extensive review process by the Board of Directors and the next step in Lexmark’s growth and transformation. We anticipate that the transaction will cause no disruption to our operations or our ongoing cost-savings
initiatives, and will only strengthen the business.”

“Lexmark is a recognized global leader in printing technology and enterprise software, with a proven track record of performance, a consistent annuity-based business model and a talented workforce,” said Weijian Shan, group chairman and CEO of PAG. “We look forward to working with Lexmark’s management team and focusing on expanding
the business in the Asia Pacific region.”

“Lexmark’s passion for excellence and unwavering commitments to customers, employees and communities represent a tremendous cultural fit,” said Jackson Wang, Apex Technology chairman. “We are excited to work alongside Lexmark as it continues  to invest in advanced technologies and solutions to best serve its customers and business partners while simultaneously pursuing additional untapped opportunities for future growth.” 

Savings in the Cloud: How the Cloud Cuts Costs

Local IT infrastructure and the employees needed for maintenance, troubleshooting and general repair are a costly investment. However, the advancement of cloud technology has made localized infrastructure obsolete. While some businesses are skeptical, others have embraced cloud computing and reduced their operating costs in the following areas:

Hardware

Localized IT infrastructure is an expensive investment. On top of the initial costs of the hardware, most companies don’t use the majority of their hardware, which wastes space and money. A lot of IT infrastructure is more complex than most businesses need, so they end up paying for capabilities and functionalities they’ll never use.

Alternatively, cloud computing services utilize the hardware they have because multiple companies, businesses, firms and individuals use different aspects of their hardware. Cloud service companies pack huge amounts of hardware into secure data centers, so when a company pays for their service, they are technically renting the hardware the cloud provider owns. Cloud providers make the initial investments in hardware and IT support, so businesses have more time to complete other tasks and focus on the products and services they specialize in.

Capital

In addition to most companies not needing all the functions of local hardware, many cannot afford the upfront costs of purchasing the local servers. Even though they may recoup the costs over time, the initial investment may be too much for startups and small businesses to pay. However, cloud computing enables businesses to forego this equipment and let specialized cloud companies invest in it instead. By not having to come up with the capital when starting their organization, businesses can put that money into production, marketing, advertising or other areas that may need it more.

Power

Businesses are not turning the cloud on and off like they would with their computers or overhead lights to save energy. One of the byproducts of the cloud is that it uses less energy than localized servers because it uses more efficient hardware. Since cloud service providers run hardware at its maximum capacity, they pass the savings onto businesses who subscribe to their services. As a bonus to cutting down on the cost of the power bill, the cloud is a greener option for the environment.

Labor

Any company that uses localized servers should have a dedicated IT department that can troubleshoot and support the business’ employees in-house. However, many cloud services provide full IT support, which eliminates the need for in-house IT employees. Outsourcing IT support can cut costs for businesses using servers without cloud support, but this is not the only affordable option. Many cloud services can provide IT support for their servers as well as support for internal IT departments. This enables businesses to grow their company and maximize their profits, rather than wasting time, energy and resources on IT maintenance.

Environment

Although the environment is a less tangible type of savings, it can make a big different for organizations and their customers. People want to work with and buy from environmentally friendly companies, and corporate responsibility is becoming more popular. In addition to public perception, cloud computing reduces the amount of energy used and the amount of carbon dioxide emitted. Cloud data centers are doing more to decrease their carbon footprint, which means their business partners are reducing their environmental impact as well.

Kyle Peterson    March 28, 2016

Article Healthcare InfoSecurity questions why we are so stupid!

These tricksters are getting better and better at finding ways to bilk us out of our hard earned cash. Here is an article posted at HealthcareInfoSecurity Blog that asks: Why Are We So Stupid About Security?

And we really are at times, letting our greed and hopes for easy or quick returns to egg us on. The new FBI Alert states that businesses have lost over $2.3 billion in the last 2.5 years. The article above gives some examples of what to look for and some of the security that you need to consider with your transactioins.

Surface Book-OneNote-Handwriting-Text

I have been continuing to work with my Surface Book and finding new things that I can do with the pen or other applications in Windows 10 that are really quite amazing. I have been working between the OneNote App and the Desktop OneNote Program to see what the differences are and how to work around some of the limitations I have found in the OneNote App. If you take a quick look at it you don’t have anywhere near the options but the big ot ne that I see missing is the ability to transform handwriting to text. This is something that the OneNote Desktop Program does very well and is missing from the App. Not a problem though. If after you have done all your handwriting in the OneNote App when you are at a meeting or seminar or wherever, all you need to do is jump to the desktop program and go to the draw tab while on the page with you handwritten text and choose the function to Ink to Text. It works like a champ

Meet Root: The Robot that Brings Coding to Life

Here is a very interesting program presented by Harvard’s Wyss Institute that is providing a robot that can be controlled via a app and travels on a school’s whiteboard, making drawings primarily but it is being controlled on several different levels of programming platforms. This is an interesting video discussing this new concept.