Surge protectors need to be banned from your wiring closets Hi Lisa, A few thoughts on UPSes and Surge Protectors. If you need help with getting your arms around your power plug requirements in your closets, give us a call. -Scott Quimby

Tech Tidbit – UPS + Surge Protector = Disaster

Tech Tidbit: When the “Bat Phone” goes off on a weekend, it is never a good thing
“I think someone shot a torpedo at us” -The Hunt for Red October It started out as an ordinary weekend full of kid’s schedules and errands. I was over at the Boy Scout Camp in the woods picking up my son from the annual Klondike event.

Tech Tidbit – Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUA)
You can easily block these applications from getting on your endpoints Here’s a quick Tech Tidbit: Configure your “Potentially Unwanted Applications” (PUA) settings in Windows Defender. Hopefully you kept Windows Defender on each workstation and server regardless of what your primary antivirus or EDR type security product is.

Tech Tidbit: Rejection is hard
“Everyone fears rejection” -Derek Jeter It finally happened. I got kicked in the head and rejected. Here is what happened. As you may know, for last couple of years I have been writing and presenting on email reliability.

Tech Tidbits – Manage Your Browser Extensions
Keep your browser extensions limited to those you need to support the district and trust “There is a snake in my boot” – Woody, Toy Story When I was whitewater rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, our guides warned us to shake out our shoes/boots before we put them on in […]

Tech Tidbits – Happy New Year!
“I am watching you…Always watching” -Roz Monsters Inc. For New Year’s we once again had a holiday crisis. Fortunately, this wasn’t an attack. Microsoft had a 2022 date bug in Exchange that totally shut down the on-premise Exchange server’s ability to send emails worldwide.

Your Weekly Tech Tidbit…Boring is good
Boring Email Formatting = Improved Reliability We love to use graphics and links in our emails. There are lot cool tools. However, the reality is that your district sends emails out in bulk. Spammers do that too.

Tech Tidbit: Patching your Holy of Holies
Your technical staff’s equipment needs to be the best maintained in the district Some thoughts on patching your holy of holies. If you need help getting a handle on your patching process, give us a call -Scott Quimby

CSI’s Cybersecurity Event Session Two- The Front Lines of Ransomware – Recording Available
Cybersecurity Event Session Two: The Front Lines of Ransomware Speaker: Chris Loehr, Co-Founder, Service Provider Partners Chris Loehr is a cybersecurity professional and has worked firsthand on the resolution of roughly 300 ransomware incidents this past year.

Tech Tidbit – What do we do when we have done everything the vendor told us and it isn’t enough?
It has been a very frustrating couple of months trying to keep everyone safe and stable. Since the Spring we have been pummeled by multiple Exchange exploits, a Microsoft 365 exploit, a bunch of printing exploits quickly followed by massive printing stability issues.