Is your critical data backed up? Do you have antivirus installed? Is your email secure? Are your systems running their latest patches? Have you tested all these systems?

With your computer network, preventative measures can have a big impact on not only your peace of mind, but also on your bottom line. The fact that something fails is not necessarily attributable to an incorrect setup, or a bad piece of equipment. At the end of the day computer systems are complex, and require maintenance. A backup application may incorporate thousands or millions of lines of code, and interact with various operating system components that are constantly being updated. As such, a backup that is not tested is not to be trusted. Routine, periodic restoration tests have the benefit of giving you real-world timelines for your office to work with in the event that you need to restore. While it’s easy to deal with theoreticals based on backup size, bandwidth, and more, there’s nothing quite like doing an actual test restore to put those numbers to the test so you can determine exactly how long your systems will take to recover in real life. It also verifies that you’re able to decrypt encrypted backups, because let’s face it… typos do happen. You don’t want to discover a typo on either your documented records or your configured backups AFTER you need to recover data.

Silver Pine I.T. is committed to providing cost effective routine maintenance as an option to our customers. We seek to actively train our customers on proper procedures, and their associated costs so that they can make their own informed decisions regarding maintaining their network. If your current I.T. provider isn’t proactively maintaining your network, or worse is simply charging you obscene amounts of money for some nondescript maintenance, contact us to review your current systems to ensure that not only are you getting what you’re paying for, but that you’re reducing costs with targeted, cost effective maintenance of your systems.

Windows 10 version “2004” is scheduled to release on May 28th according to current timelines, and will be the latest in a twice annual upgrade cycle for Windows 10. Let me explain how this will affect your computers (users with older/cheaper computers will want to upgrade sooner), and what you’ll want to watch out for to avoid disrupting your productivity.

Windows 10 has adopted a biannual release cycle for major updates to it’s operating system. Each of these updates are supported for 18 months from their release (an exception being Windows 10 Enterprise customers, who are supported for 30 months on some releases), meaning that we can expect Windows 10 computers to all be running the same base operating system code released within the last 18 months. In the past, Windows used to release patches frequently, with individual patches release for each component of windows, with 20-30 updates coming out every month. This led to additional software unreliability, as one computer may have 270 of the latest updates installed, but be missing 1 critical update from 3 years ago that a new software application is counting on being present. Microsoft has greatly simplified things with “cumulative updates” being released containing patches for large sections of Windows 10/Windows 8.1. This means that as long as you have the latest cumulative update, you have ALL of the updates for that version of Windows 10. There’s no more inconsistency where some machines have this patch for the printing subsystem, but others do not.

Back to Windows 10 “Feature Upgrades”, which are biannual. These major updates introduce new changes to Windows 10, including new features, and often work to further simplify the operating system and adjust to technology changes over time. This is similar to “service packs” back in the days of Windows 7 and earlier, where major elements of the operating system would change all at once, making a new operating system effectively. With Windows 10 2004 (named for it’s targeted release date of 2020, in April 04), Microsoft is introducing several major changes.

#1. Indexing optimization for improved system performance. The indexer reads and catalogs the contents of all of your files on your system to allow you to search for and find content easily. Older computers and cheap computers without Solid State hard drives would typically run slower during these indexing scans, resulting in slow computer response and decreased battery life on laptops. Windows 10 2004 will significantly change the indexer, allowing it to intelligently determine idle periods suitable for indexing without impacting your experience.

#2. Bluetooth Pairing improvements. Pairing should be easier and less disruptive with Windows 10 2004, requiring less visits to the settings panel to connect your bluetooth devices.

#3. Virtual Desktop changes. Virtual desktops are retained over reboots, and can be named for specific tasks or projects.

There are other changes related to searching, Cortana (Microsoft’s voice assistant similar to Siri or Google Assistant) and more. As with any Windows 10 update, it can help to be patient and evaluate the update on a variety of systems prior to deploying it across all of your systems.

VPN stands for “Virtual Private Network”, which in English means ‘make your computer act like it’s somewhere else’. In the case of businesses and advanced home users, this is extremely useful: You can connect to your office or home network and access data, files, etc as if you were plugged in directly, all while sitting on Old Orchard Beach enjoying your favorite carnival food. But ‘VPN’ services are now commonly bundled with antivirus and other security services, and this has a totally different meaning. I’m going to discuss these “home VPN” solutions, and what exactly they are going to do for you.

A VPN will route your traffic to somewhere else securely. Hey… that sounds like a good thing, why wouldn’t I want that??? Well, let’s say you want to transfer some money on Big Corporate Bank’s website, which is hosted on a server housed in Dallas Texas. Fearing for your safety, you’ve purchased NotRun antivirus, which comes with NotRun VPN service, which securely routes your data to it’s server in New York City. So instead of you connecting from Portland, Maine to Dallas, Texas, your data is routed from Portland, to NYC in a secure and encrypted method, then transferred across the public internet from NYC to Dallas. “Wait, so my data isn’t securely routed over the VPN to my bank?” No, at some point your data is being routed across the public internet just like it would without a VPN. Your data is likely protected by TLS encryption if the address bar shows ‘https://’ or or lock symbol in the address bar, so it’s not as if the data is being sent in plaintext and open to sniffers, but there are potential vulnerabilities to TLS that a VPN can solve in certain scenarios.

So what’s the point? Well, a VPN can make it harder to intercept secure data transmissions at the endpoint, for example over a public WiFi hotspot at an airport. What proof do you have that “Portland Free Wifi” is actually being offered by the airport, and not by John with a laptop in the concourse, harvesting data? You don’t know, so it’s easy to fall vulnerable in these cases. So using a VPN service when using insecure networks is a way to secure against SOME common hacking methods.

It can also provide privacy, since instead of the websites you visit getting YOUR ip address, they’ll get the IP address of the VPN as a visitor. So if you don’t want Pawtery Barn N’ Bowls to know that you have been looking at getting a birthday present for your Golden Retriever, a VPN will prevent them from seeing 24.123.22.189 in Portland Maine accessed the site. This hardly increases privacy in any meaningful way, since cookies and other trackers can easily reveal your identity (or the identity of your computer/browsing habits) without even needing your public ip address, so again, this hardly improves your privacy either.

It can allow you to access content you’re not supposed to access. Say you want to watch some wacky tv gameshow that you became addicted to while traveling in Japan. You can use a VPN to connect to a Japanese endpoint, so that the tv website will think you’re living in Tokyo, and show you last weeks episode, instead of blocking you since you live in America, and wouldn’t understand it anyways.

Another common claimed benefit is that a VPN can prevent your Internet Service Provider (ISP) from spying on you, or slowing down competing traffic from streaming services. While this is true on a technical level, there are several reasons why a VPN is likely causing more issues than it’s helping. First off, most ISP’s aren’t blocking streaming services, and even if they are, there’s no guarantee that a VPN is going to provide a faster or more reliable connection to your streaming service of choice. Many home users now have internet service plans with speeds of 200, 400, and even 1,000mbps of download throughput. A VPN is going to dramatically limit the speeds you’ll get, down to likely 150mbps or less, with an emphasis on less. It will also add latency to your connection, so while trying to load your favorite news site, those 50 other sites loading ads and trackers in the background are going to take that much longer to load and connect. These are not insurmountable problems, or inherently bad speeds, however it’s worse than what you’ll get directly from your ISP. Most reports of “I can stream shows better over VpnHyperExpress” are anecdotal, and can often be attributed to the different route traffic is taking when going through your VPN. For example, connecting directly from Maine to a streaming center in Sacramento, California might route you through Chicago, Illinois which is having bandwidth issues when you’re trying to watch your favorite show. Connecting to VpnHyperExpress in New York City might instead route your traffic through the center of the US, like Nashville, Tennessee. So the improvement isn’t from the VPN hiding TVTubeDelux from ComGreedy ISP, the improvement is from going a different route to your destination service.

So VPN’s are a tool akin to a double edged sword. They can cut through compromised “free” WiFi network hacks, but they’ll also cut your internet speed down by at least half. They have their place, but using them while you’re at home provides minimal benefits that are often times not worth the negatives experienced. Speak to an experienced technician at Aces IT Support LLC to help you reach your network goals, whether that be increasing your network security, availability, or speed.

I’ve been advising people with their computer purchases for nearly 20 years now, and one piece of advice has remained constant: Spend money on a decent monitor. It’s the gateway to the data on your system, and you’re using it 100% of the time you’re on your computer. Not only that, but most people will use a monitor for 10 years, which means it will last you the average of 2 computers. That doesn’t mean a cheap monitor isn’t the best option for you, but for many users, spending a few extra dollars can result in less eye fatigue, time saved working with multiple windows, and additional flexibility when working with certain data. Here are a few tips for picking the right monitor for your use.

1. Size matters. That being said, size isn’t everything, and like many things in life, what’s best for you isn’t best for someone else. This also depends on your workspace ergonomics, and a variety of factors such as your eye health, and the applications you use. For general users, a 23-27” monitor is the “sweet spot” in terms of price to productivity/comfort.

2. Resolution matters. If you have poor eyesight, a lower resolution is going to result in less eyestrain, so a 27” 1080p display might be perfect for you! If you’re a general user, 1080p can start to feel “blurry” once you hit 25” or so, again depending on how far you sit from the monitor, etc. But if you are working on media creation, having a high resolution display can be essential to spotting errors/flaws in a photo, video, etc. So a 4k/5k/8k monitor can start to make a lot of sense.

3. Ergonomics matter. A cheap monitor will typically allow you to tilt the monitor up/down at a fixed height, but this likely isn’t the “right” height for you. As an example, a basic 24” monitor might run $120 (https://amzn.to/35KuQnQ ) but if you’re tilting your head down all day due to your desk height, you might need to visit the chiropractor weekly to deal with the neck pain. Or you could spend another $80 to get a monitor with a fully adjustable stand (https://amzn.to/35Huhv7 ) and avoid the pain and discomfort you face when spending hours in front of your workstation. Anticipating a 10 year service life, that’s an extra $8/year, so skip a coffee twice a year and avoid the fatigue and stress of a sore neck.

There are many other factors to consider, such as Color Gamut (critical if you’re creating media and output to various mediums), connectivity (Thunderbolt/USB-C can save tons of hassle with a laptop based office), and panel type (IPS/VA are ideal for most users, TN might be an acceptible compromise if you need low latency).

Here are some general recommendations to consider if you’re finding yourself working at home and need a new ‘window to your Windows’.

General Desktop Use: $200 https://amzn.to/2WBOLRG

You get a display with an anti-glare coating to reduce reflections, Displayport and HDMI inputs, a Displayport Output (so you can connect 2 of these to your desktop/laptop even if you only have 1 monitor output on your computer), and a fully adjustable stand. Special Mention: The 16:10 aspect verion of this display costs a bit more, but works better for most office work (https://amzn.to/2LeIoyk ). Dell covers most of their Ultrasharp monitors with a 3 year warranty which can add your piece of mind as well, although monitors in general fail infrequently in my experience unless you’re buying the cheapest garbage out there (and even then they typically run more than 3 years…)

Photo Editing/Media Creation: $600 https://amzn.to/3cj6yUe or $1100 https://amzn.to/2WiL0lo

How much resolution do you need? Color is king, and both of these displays will give you near 100% Adobe RGB coverage, allow for calibration, and are well suited for video and photo manipulation. I think 32” is the minimum size for general purpose 4k use, so the 27” option here is at a more usable 1440p resolution for general office productivity as well. But if you’re working on 4k video, or high resolution photography then save up your pennies and grab the $1100 4k display instead. A quick note on 5k/8k monitor options: Keep in mind compatibility can be an issue when you get to high resolutions like this, so make sure you know your system will support the resolution before purchasing. Neither of these resolutions are common or standard yet, so 4K remains the general recommendation for high resolution use at this point