Tag: tech tips

Technology Planning for 2025: Five Items to Focus on to Grow Your Business in the New Year
It’s November and 2025 is just two short months away, we don’t know about you but for us it felt like 2024 flew by and in that time technology planning for our clients has already changed.

For example, 2025 will bring the end-of-life date for Windows 10 which is still dominating the market share of Windows devices at 65%. We have also more clients in introducing AI into their business next year, including taking advantage of Microsoft’s Co-Pilot which works in tandem with their existing Microsoft subscriptions (you can see our latest blog on AI here).

Beyond AI or replacing hardware, what are five ways you can grow your business with technology in 2025? Here’s our suggestions:
1. Implement a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System
  A CRM platform (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot or Keap) helps centralize customer interactions, sales data, and service requests, providing valuable insights into customer preferences and buying behavior. By integrating CRM across your sales, marketing, and service teams, you can improve customer retention, streamline communication, and create targeted marketing campaigns that drive growth.
2. Leverage Automation to Streamline Operations
  Automating routine tasks such as invoicing, customer service, and lead generation can free up your team to focus on strategic work. Automation tools like RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and workflow automation software can improve efficiency, reduce human error, and cut costs.
3. Adopt Cloud Solutions for Greater Flexibility and Collaboration
  Cloud-based tools (like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace) enable teams to collaborate in real-time, regardless of location. They offer flexible storage, data security, and remote access to essential resources, which can increase productivity and support a hybrid workforce.
4. Boost Marketing Reach with Advanced Analytics
  Using data analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics 4, Tableau) lets you gain deeper insights into customer behavior, optimize campaigns, and track ROI. Predictive analytics can also help anticipate customer needs, allowing for proactive engagement and more efficient targeting.
5. Invest in Cybersecurity to Build Trust and Prevent Losses
  Protecting sensitive customer and business data is vital. Implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA), endpoint security, and regular audits can reduce the risk of data breaches. Prioritizing cybersecurity can build customer trust, prevent financial losses, and safeguard your company’s reputation.
If you’re looking to increase your technology prowess in 2025, Valley Techlogic is the partner you’re looking for. We stay ahead of advancements in IT to give our customers the best strategic advantage over their competitors. We also have an offer for new customers that you won’t want to miss, see the details below.

Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.
This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, leading provider of trouble free IT services for businesses in California including Merced, Fresno, Stockton & More. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/valley-techlogic-inc/.
November 1, 2024
7 Gadgets you shouldn’t leave home without this Holiday Season
The holidays are truly upon us and for many of us that means traveling to friends and family and enjoying some time spent away from work and in our loved one’s company.

However, for business owners being on the go doesn’t mean the work stops and we often carry our work devices with us to keep a watchful eye on things even from afar. We have 7 gadget recommendations that can facilitate working on the go or keeping in touch with those you’ve left in charge as you try to unwind a bit this holiday season.

Our 7 tech gadget recommendations will make traveling with your tech easier on the go.
1. Luggage trackers: The first step is making sure your tech makes it to your target destination, and luggage trackers will help you keep track of your belongings while you’re on the go. We recommend Tile Pro for Android users and AirTags for Apple. These trackers use Bluetooth to communicate to other devices in the area and will pinpoint the location of your luggage should you lose track of it. Our Recommendation: Airtag and Tile Pro.
2. Battery banks: Another way to make working on the go easier is having additional battery power at your fingertips, battery banks are inexpensive and can power multiple devices simultaneously. Our Recommendation: Anker Magnetic Battery 5,000 mAH
3. Portable monitors: Portable monitors have come a long way, for $200 or less you can get a decent secondary monitor that will make working away from your home office much more convenient. Our Recommendation: UPERFECT Portable Monitor
4. Cord organizing case: We have all pulled out a knot of cables we then have to untangle before we can begin charging our travel depleted devices, there is a better way. Our Recommendation: MATEIN Cable Organizer Bag
5. Laptop stand: In another effort to bring the comforts of home with you we recommend a good quality laptop stand that will make working on whatever open surface you can find much more pleasant. Our Recommendation: OMOTON Ergonomic Laptop Riser
6. Privacy screen: If you’re planning to work in any public spaces this holiday season you might want to consider a privacy screen, this will make it so passersby’s can’t take a peek at what you’re doing and most of them reduce blue light as well. Our Recommendation: Acer 2-Way Privacy Filter
7. Portable door lock: If your travel plans involve a hotel or shared AirBNB we recommend adding additional protection with a portable door lock. This will keep out unexpected and uninvited guests and leave any belongings you might have in your room (such as your laptop) more protected. Our Recommendation: Winchy Portable Door Lock
Tech advice like this is just one of the services we provide to our customers, and right now we’re offering $100 just for meeting with us and hearing about our services. Time is running out on this offer, click this link or on the image below to get started.

Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.
This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
December 21, 2023
Traveling for the holidays? Take 8 tech tips from our experts with you
If you’re traveling the holidays this year, we have eight tech tips to help you stay safe while using your devices on the go.

We’ve offered holiday themed tech advice before (here are a couple of our past articles on the top 10 Holiday Shopping Tips for Safer Online Shopping & 5 Holiday Tips for Your E-Commerce Business and 5 for Everyone Else). The holidays usually mean more time off which can lead to more time spent browsing the web or being able to work on things in your business you usually don’t have time for.

It’s also a good idea to keep in mind that bad actors don’t typically take the holidays off, in fact ransomware attacks usually increase by 30% on the holidays. That’s because many people are keeping an eye out for sale emails or emails from relatives this time of year – giving more opportunities for scammers and bad actors to take advantage of folks just looking for a good deal or a message from their loved ones.

Traveling especially can leave you more vulnerable, if you’re quickly scanning messages in-between flight connections, logging into public WiFi or any number of things that are a normal part of being on the go you can miss some obvious red flags.

That’s why we’re going to divide up our advice into 4 tips that are related to being safer online while traveling, and 4 tips for improving your technology experience while traveling.

First our safety themed tips:
1. As we mentioned, be careful on public WiFi. Nowadays, even if you need to use your laptop the better option might be to use your phone as a hotspot. If you do need to connect to public Wi-Fi, consider doing it through a VPN. We can personally recommend Mullvad which is not subscription based, one payment will get you online through a secure connection without having to remember to cancel it later.
2. Be careful about what you’re posting on social media. Posting travel photos for your friends and family to see can be really fun, but you should be wary about who else might be watching. It’s a good idea to make your social media profiles private but if you maintain a public presence, you can also think about posting those photos after your trip has concluded instead.
3. Public charging stations can also pose a risk. Unfortunately, these stations can be tampered with and become an attack vector to everyone who uses them. Battery banks are pretty inexpensive these days and even more convenient when you’re on the go.
4. Don’t leave your items unattended. Just as airport personnel will ask if your suitcases have been in your possession the whole time, it’s a good idea to keep track of your belongings from a tech standpoint as well. Someone with bad intent might not be after your device when your data is much more valuable.
Now for our convenience themed tips:
1. Keep track of your belongings on the go with an Apple Airtag, Tile Pro or other bluetooth based trackers. A misplaced bag can ruin your vacation, having one of these trackers inside it will prevent that from happening.
2. Turn any audio jack into a Bluetooth wireless transmitter. Whether you rent a car without a Bluetooth adapter or you want to use your Bluetooth headphones on the plane, a wireless Bluetooth transmitter is a gamechanger. Best of all many options are on sale at the moment for Black Friday, we’ve personally used the Anker Soundsync. It’s small so it won’t take up much room in your bag and as 12 hours of run time per charge.
3. We mentioned using your phone as a mobile hotspot up above, but if your data plan is not the best you can also purchase a standalone mobile hotspot (with a data package included). This can also be a gamechanger if your network Isn’t going to be stellar where you’re going, you can purchase a mobile data plan for a network that has coverage instead. T-Mobile, AT&T and more all have options for this.
4. Having to work on the go but don’t want to drag your whole setup with you? Consider a portable monitor. If you’ve gone to two (or more) monitors at work you know there’s no going back, but sometimes travel includes doing some work out on the road and bringing your at home setup is not going to be an option. Portable monitors often come with a travel ready case and can be connected to your laptop via USB-C (both for power and display), bringing you the convenience or two displays without the headache of trying to travel with a full-size monitor.
Technical advice like this is one of the advantages of being a Valley Techlogic customer, and for a limited time if you meet with us about our services, we will give you $100 cash just to hear us out.

What do you have to lose? Schedule a consultation today.

Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.
This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
November 22, 2023
Our Top 10 Technology Myths and Urban Legends, Debunked
The advent of the internet brought an influx of information right to our fingertips, and unfortunately not everything that proliferates on the internet is factual.

With “fake news” undoubtedly being one of the official buzz word phrases of the 2020’s, how close are you reviewing these common place technology tropes? These are the top 10 technology myths and urban legends we see as a technology provider:
1. Privacy/Incognito mode is DEFINITELY private: We’re sorry to say, if you think everything you’re doing in a private/incognito browser is hidden from view you would be incorrect. The way this mode works is it hides your browsing history from other people who may use your computer, but your ISP definitely can still see what you’re doing and depending on what’s been set up at work, possibly your IT Team/employer as well.
2. Leaving your phone plugged in destroys your battery: Nope this one is also false, we’re not sure how the idea of “over charging” a battery came to be but there’s zero evidence that leaving your phone or laptop on a charger for an extended period of time will have a long-term effect on your device’s battery.
3. At the same time, don’t let your device die completely before charging it: Letting a battery discharge completely before charging it again will not improve your phone’s battery life. Just charge your devices when they need a charge and let these myths about batter life go.
4. Mac/Linux devices (basically anything not Windows) are virus proof: Nope again, the bad news is if a device has access to the internet, it’s going to be a target for hackers. If even your smart fridge Isn’t safe, what makes you think any computer or cellphone would be?
5. Force killing apps save resources and speeds up your computer: If you have ever opened your computers task manager you’ve probably seen a lot of processes running, and you may have even force closed some of these processes to “speed” up your computer. It doesn’t really work that way unfortunately, many of the processes you see are background processes that your computer needs to run. Your computer will just open them again automatically, effectively making this activity a waste of time. You can, however, close applications you’re not using the regular way (and if you’re still having issues, it might be time to look at upgrading your device).
6. Full bars mean the best service: We’ve heard it time and again, “I have four bars!” someone will exclaim, indicating that their cellphone service has reached its full potential. More bars just mean stronger signal strength, but unfortunately for you if you’re in a heavily populated urban area it means you’re sharing that same strong signal strength with everyone else in the area. Mobile service, just like any other internet service, is subject to bandwidth load so even with a strong signal you may still experience slow service depending on where you are and how many other people are around.
7. You shouldn’t shut your computer down at night: This is another head scratcher for us, but we still see folks who believe they shouldn’t shut their computer down when they walk away for the evening. We’re happy to report that shutting down your computer will not harm it, in fact reducing the load on it each day by turning it off at night may even extend the life of your device.
8. Magnets will wipe your data/destroy your device: There’s a little bit of truth to this one but it’s run amok for so long that the truth has been obfuscated for most folks – we’re happy to report your device will NOT be destroyed by a common refrigerator magnet. However, a really big industrial magnet could do some damage, so we suggest not placing your computer near one of those.
9. Cellphones etc. can give you cancer: Nope, this one has been completely debunked. The radiofrequency that is emitted by your cellphone, tablet, laptop etc will NOT give you cancer.
10. I’m a small business/single person, no hacker will bother with me: This is unfortunately, quite untrue. It’s estimated half a million U.S. accounts are hacked each day – many of these are just regular folks or small business owners like yourself.
We hope this article helped in quashing some of these myths for you but if you have any other technical urban legends you’re not sure about, we’d be happy to weigh in (just jump on our live chat and ask away!).

If the last one was a scary one for you and you’re a business owner in California, Valley Techlogic can assist. We provide cyber security services for our clients that make sure they won’t be part of that frightening statistic. Learn more through a consultation today.

Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.
This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
September 15, 2023
Reddit experienced a major outage yesterday, and our 5 tips for what to say to customers when your website goes down
Reddit was down for several hours yesterday due to an “internal systems issue”. While the mobile version of the site fluctuated between being semi usable to being completed down, the desktop version was unusable for nearly five hours.

Outages like this that occur to major website are a newsworthy event, as users flock to social media to report the outage and speculate on the cause. A fix was implemented and the site slowly came back up just before 7:30 PM Eastern Standard Time. By the time it was back up it had already been reported on by major tech news sites such as the Verge, Apple Insider, TechCrunch and more.

We’ve discussed outages before on this site because as we just said, they’re newsworthy events, but what about when your company’s website goes down?

It might be less news worthy than Facebook, Reddit, Amazon, Twitter etc. having an outage but depending on the type of business you’re in it may still be noticeable to your customers if your website has a major outage.

When something goes wrong there’s often a knee jerk reaction to move along and pretend it never happened, but outages these days often go hand in hand with cyber threat events and moving along mums the word may leave your customers with the wrong idea (and rightfully concerned).

If you’re in a business sector that saves customer data at all, and there aren’t many that aren’t, it’s always good to be transparent when you have a major outage. Even if your website was down briefly it still might have been noticed by some and it’s best to keep ahead of the rumor mill.

Here are our five tips for what to say to your customers when your website experiences an outage:
1. If the outage is ongoing, update your social media. Customers often look to your social media pages for news about your business and this will be the first place many will check to find out what’s going on. You don’t have to cover everything about the outage, a summary of what’s happening and that you’re aware of it will be enough.
2. Let your customers know how they can reach if you needed (especially if going through your website is how customers usually contact you). Having an email address available specifically for customer concerns is a good idea.
3. Also send an email proactively, especially if the outage extends longer than a day. Not every user will check social media, sending an email covers the rest of your digital bases for letting customers know.
4. Be sure to post an update when the issue is resolved. Again, it’s best to stay ahead of your own narrative for outages within your business, posting an update and a brief description of what the issue was is a good idea.
5. Finally, if your outage was the result of a breach, follow state and country guidelines for notifying customers of any data leaks that may have occurred.
Your business reputation can be affected by major outages, we wrote an article on how to protect your reputation and recover. You can find it here.

Providing advice like this is a service that comes with being a Valley Techlogic customer, here are four other benefits to being a Valley Techlogic customer.

Reach out today to learn more.

Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.
This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
March 17, 2023
5 Holiday Tips for Your E-Commerce Business and 5 for Everyone Else
It doesn’t matter which e-commerce sector you’re in, the holiday time period is always a big opportunity to increase that year’s sales before the New Year rolls in.

With online shopping growing in popularity year over year there are specific ways to capture more of that online market – especially around the holidays.

Here are 10 tips for improving your sales during the holiday season (including 5 that apply to all types of business):
1. Step up your social media game. Anecdotal evidence from us, when we went from posting inconsistently 3-4 times a week to posting consistently 4-5 times a week our impressions didn’t just go up, they doubled. The holidays are a great time to post more updates about your business on your social media platforms.
2. Make sure your contact information is rock solid. It would be a tragedy to see sales calls go unanswered, make sure the contact information on your website it up to date and your sales people are ready to answer those calls.
3. Make sure your website it mobile friendly. This may be a tough one to knock out this year if you haven’t done it yet, but having a mobile friendly website is a must have in 2023. Google even offers a free tool for testing if your website is mobile friendly here.
4. Release holiday ads. During the holiday season your same old ads may not perform as well as a holiday themed one would as people look for those familiar colors and settings (red and green, blue and white, snow and Christmas trees).
5. Take advantage of marketing automation. Facebook for example lets you schedule posts and you can update your Google advertising with your holiday messaging and let it run.
6. If you plan on conducting a big sale, make sure your website is ready for it. If you’re planning on running any holiday “one day sales” make sure your website can handle the potential increased traffic or there’s a game plan in place for if it goes down so you don’t lose your momentum. You can check on your current page speeds with this other Google tool here.
7. Have a chatbot available. You might get the same questions repeatedly, having an automated chatbot that can answer those questions with the same feel as a sales representative could increase your sales.
8. Improve your holiday key words ahead of time. If you’re an apparel company for example peppering “holiday themed apparel” or “Chrstimas outfits” into your SEO keyword efforts is a good idea leading up to the holiday season.
9. Have a holiday themed front page. We’ve talked about having holiday themed ads and social media posts but you should also “dress up” your front page temporarily to clue buyers in that you’re ready for the season. Many website providers have the option of changing out a front page temporarily so you can easily switch it back when the season is over.
10. Make sure your buyers know any email marketing is from you. Phishing scams also increase in the holidays, having ways for a buyer to tell emails sales are from your company and not from a scammer is key. Mirror any sales you have directly on your website as well.
Speaking of holiday phishing scams, here is an infographic on avoiding holiday scams:

Click to grab the full size version.

Whether your business is e-commerce or something else entirely, Valley Techlogic can assist with your technology needs in 2023. We have our own holiday sale going on now that will even save your company money on IT support in the new year. Reach out today to learn more!

Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.
This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
December 22, 2022
Winamp is BACK again, and our 3 best Windows media player recommendations
If you came of age in the 90’s to early 2000’s then you probably have fond memories of Winamp (short for Windows Advanced Multimedia Products).

Released in 1997 it was the dominant music player for a while on PC, having 3 million downloads by 1998. With fun features such as music visualization and the ability to change “skins” it was one of the most downloaded software for Windows devices for a few years.

Winamp looks the same today as it did 20 years.

Skins and visualizations were just two of the popular “plugin” modules that could be downloaded, it could also be used as a media library and had the ability to add album art to help you sort your music. Remember having a plethora of MP3s on your PC before services like Spotify and Apple Music existed?

Winamp has passed through a number of owners over the years, with updates stopping in 2013 under parent company AOL as streaming music rose in popularity. It’s now owned by Radionomy and it’s first update in 4 years has just been released to the public.

Whether it sees success riding a wave of nostalgia during a time when 90s era clothing and branding seems to be making a comeback is yet to be seen, but we were excited to give it a try. Their new website is sleek and modern but we’re happy to report the application still feels the “same as it ever was” (another throwback for you guys).

If you clicked on this article, you may be wondering what’s available for media players on Windows besides the default – Groove music for well, music and Windows Media Player for video.

As no muss no fuss options those are fine but there are media players out there that will expand your capabilities, allowing you to stream the same content across multiple devices – even your TV.

Here are our top 3 picks:
1. Plex – Plex not only allows you to stream your own media for free across devices, including TV, PC, Android and Apple, they also have on demand content and even live TV.
2. VLC Media Player – Open source and cross device, this lightweight media player often has support for file types the others fail to play, especially useful for playing subtitles in a variety of languages.
3. Kodi – Another free media player option, this one is unique in that it works on Raspberry Pi devices, making it a good choice for helping you set up an inexpensive media playing platform for your television even if it’s not a “smart” tv.
Click to grab the full size version.

While this topic falls outside our normal wheelhouse we wanted to touch on it and offer our advice on safe picks for media players. It’s always a good idea to do your research when downloading any software. Here is our three-step guide for what you should do with any newly downloaded executable file:While Valley Techlogic can’t help you with your media playing setup at home, we can help you navigate software choices for your business. Set up a consultation with us today to learn more.

Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.
This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
August 11, 2022
5 of the Most Important Cybersecurity Training Topics to Cover with Your Employees
We’ve discussed cybersecurity training before and its importance in preventing the number 1 cause of cybersecurity disasters – human error.

We offer cybersecurity training as a core feature in our tech care plans, but many topics you can (and should) cover yourself with your employees. There couple be rules that specifically apply to your business sector; like HIPAA for healthcare or CMMC for Department of Defense contractors.

Maybe you’ve experienced a cybersecurity attack before and after the dust settled you came up with a game plan specifically to prevent it from happening again. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it’s a mistake to assume it never will. In 2021 42% of businesses experienced a cyberattack. It’s a numbers game most won’t win without preventions in place.

To start, we want to offer these posters we’ve created on two common cybersecurity threat topics, email and malicious attachments. These posters are free for you to print and brand to use in your office or send as a reminder, and these are two excellent places to start when you’re looking to beef up your office security.

Click to grab the full size version.

Click to grab the full size version.

Here are five more training topics all workplaces should also cover:
1. Like our posters above, email security and having strict guidelines for attachments and downloads is one key thing to focus on in your cybersecurity training efforts.
2. It’s also important to provide guidance for internet usage while at work. Many employers try to digitally lock this down, but these efforts are usually met with annoyance and disdain from employees and are often in vain. Instead of arbitrarily trying to block everything with software we suggest having guidance about what’s appropriate for work devices (and what Isn’t). We also suggest noting that even if a website looks legitimate it may not be, so they should be wary of sites that ask you to download something or enter private credentials.
3. This comes to the next topic which is practicing good safety hygiene with work devices. Three easy steps are: Locking your computer when you walk away, only downloading software from work authorized sites, and keeping your device up to date with patching and software updates. They may need assistance with the third step so it’s a good idea to have your IT provider manage workstations if you’re able to (this is something Valley Techlogic providers for all clients).
4. The fourth step is protecting company data. If you’re employees have to interact with documents that are confidential in nature you should have rules for the sharing of those documents, as well as a comprehensive plan for backing them up safety.
5. Finally, you should provide guidance on passwords and multi-factor authentication. Having a rule in your workplace that for work accounts they must have multi-factor enabled (or have your IT team enable it across the board) will drastically improve your office’s online safety. We have guidance for this topic here.
It can feel overwhelming to have all of these topics to cover with your employees, but we cannot overstate how important it is to cover these topics with your employees, even if you think they’re things they should already “know”.

At Valley Techlogic we have partnered with a platform that not only provides cybersecurity training resources, but it also allows you the ability to create your own training modules. You can even cover topics that fall outside the cybersecurity spectrum. We can also work with your business to assist you in the creation of these training modules, if you would like to learn more schedule a consultation with our sales manager Annette today!

Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.
This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
August 4, 2022
5 Tips for Conquering Email Spam (and Phishing) in 2022
We’ve posted on how to spot a phishing email before on this website, but what about just thwarting the attempt before it even reaches your inbox?

Email filtering is a complex topic, too strict and you miss important emails. Too lax, your inbox is flooded with spam and attempts to scam you. At Valley Techlogic, we feel like we have a good regimen for helping our clients get the emails they need and not the ones they don’t.

On top of that, email phishing is STILL the biggest security threat to your business. In 2021, 83% of businesses experienced phishing attack attempts and 15 billion spam emails occur every day.

That’s a lot of attempts to circumvent the security features you have in place within your business, or if you don’t have protections in place (especially highly effective ones like multi-factor authentication) then your business may be a sitting duck. All it takes is one employee clicking on the wrong attachment and you have a major security headache on your hands.

So, to foil those attempts, here are 5 tips for conquering email spam and preventing phishing attempts at the same time:
1. Mark spam as spam. One of the easiest ways to see less spam in your inbox is to mark spam as spam, email filters learn from you what you’re looking to see in your inbox. While the most egregious spam will still be filtered out by your email provider for the most part, for sophisticated spam attempts your assistance helps. This also blocks the sender from sending future attempts.
2. Learn the telltale signs. There 5 easy telltale signs an email is spam or phishing. They are: an unrecognizable sender, requesting personal information, an email that doesn’t match the purported sender, it asks you to take immediate action and/or there are a lot of typos.
3. Enable more advanced privacy settings. Many email providers have privacy and security settings to provide more advanced protection. See our guide below for enabling these settings for Gmail and Outlook.
4. For businesses, don’t go with the obvious choice for email. Many of us use just our first name or our first name and a last initial when creating our work emails, while this helps make our emails more memorable and easier to recite, it also opens us up to spam. If you have a spam problem, it might be best to switch things up in this area.
5. Unsubscribe from mailing lists, especially the ones you didn’t sign up for. Another good way to combat spam in particular is to unsubscribe from mailing lists, there are rules and regulations that say vendors must respect this request or they’re potentially violating their emailing providers terms and conditions.
  Click to view the full size version.
  
  Another way to combat spam and phishing emails is through a tool. There are tools that can be built into your browser or email client, many of them use the SLAM method. With this method they check the sender, the links, the attachments, and the message itself to look for telltale signs it’s a spam or phishing email.
At Valley Techlogic we provide security awareness training – which is another excellent tool for preventing cyberattacks – and an extension for Outlook that includes the training and spam/phishing testing tool right in your inbox to all of our clients.

We can also offer simulated phishing attempts so you will know if anyone in your organization could use additional training on the topic. Schedule a consultation today to learn more about how we can help you with your business’s email related goals.

Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.
This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
July 28, 2022
10 things you can do today (yes today) to make your business’s network safer
There’s an onslaught of information aimed at internet safety and most of it lets be honest, falls on deaf ears.

Most people online today feel like they’re technology savvy enough to avoid the scams out there (unfortunately at least 1 out of 6 are wrong) and even if you acknowledge tech falls outside your scope of expertise you’re still at risk.

The good news is we have a list of 10 things you can do today even if you’re technologically challenged that will make a major impact on the network safety in your office.
1. Confirm your backups are working. Backups are one of your best defenses against ransomware, especially if you have an archival copy which is a backup copy that’s made once and then tucked away until you need it (usually behind layers of security, like with our TechVault solution).
2. Security awareness training for you and your employees. When we know better, we do better. Many security awareness training programs are implemented in bite size doses that are easy to squeeze into your day. It’s easier to avoid a phishing scam if you’ve seen the obvious examples through training.
3. Speaking of phishing scams, don’t open suspicious emails. We’ve talked a lot about this topic including how to spot a phishing email, but email scams are one of the top ways hackers can infiltrate your network.
4. Upgrade software that’s reached End of Life (EoL). If your office computers are still on Windows 7 it’s definitely time for an upgrade and technically you can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free. While other upgrades may not be free, it’s still a good idea to get rid of software that’s no longer being supported by the vendor.
5. You should also make sure all the software you need to stay safe online is installed on your devices. Programs can go missing or just not be reinstalled if a computer needs to be wiped for whatever reason, you should make sure important software such as anti-virus detection is installed on all of your office computers.
6. While you’re at it, it’s time to serious think about Multi-Factor Authentication. We always hear a collective groan when this topic comes up, but password managers have become much easier to use and can even make logging into the various sites you use to work easier. Here are our top picks.
7. Remove any devices you’re no longer using from your network. Besides being a waste of electricity, devices connected to your network that aren’t being used can be vessels for infiltration if they’re not being kept up to date via patching etc. Get rid of them!
8. Have a plan for reporting suspicious activity. Do your employees know what to do if they receive a suspicious email or their computers acting “funny”? Having a plan documented somewhere (even if the only advice is “Contact our IT service team”) can mean a cyber threat event is recorded and dealt with instead of just ignored because they didn’t know what to do.
9. Have an office password policy guide as well. It’s a good idea to have a guide for passwords available to your employees, especially if it covers what not to do such as having your phone number or any other PII (Personal Identifying Information) as your password.
10. Know when to ask for help. This list is a good place to start but if your business has no IT help now (or possibly worse, inadequate help) it’s a good idea to call in the experts. Calling Valley Techlogic for a free consultation is another step you can take today to improve the safety of your office network.
Here are 5 things all Valley Techlogic Plans includes:

Want to learn more? Reach out today for a free consultation and learn how Valley Techlogic can specifically support your business’s technology.

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This article was powered by Valley TechLogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.
June 9, 2022