Virtual Desktops Environment

A virtual desktop is a desktop that is remotely stored in a server instead of a local computer. This is made possible by software that can separate the desktop applications, operating system, and data from a hardware client so that those elements can be stored in a remote server. A remote server relies on hypervisor software to deliver a virtual machine that simulates local desktop capabilities and environment. With a virtual desktop, you can access your personal desktop over the internet from any device.

Having a virtual desktop can be beneficial for a small business environment. It provides access to files, programs, and other important aspects of your desktop computer anytime and anywhere, from another desktop computer or a mobile device. This way, you can be more productive, and you do not have to carry multiple storage devices every time you are away from your desktop. A virtual desktop may be the solution for increased security within an organization because it eliminates the need to carry around confidential files and data that could be tampered, stolen, or lost.

Certain industries like healthcare (where compliance to privacy regulations is crucial) can take advantage of virtual desktops to effectively manage the security of client data. Medical personnel may access patient records without worrying about downloading confidential information into their devices. They can view those online from their desktop. User data is regularly and centrally backed up, too, so users can be sure that all the data is constantly up to date.

From the perspective of IT professionals, a virtual desktop environment can reduce the time it takes to implement new desktops. Moreover, it helps reduce desktop support and management costs. Experts found that managing and maintaining PC software and hardware are about 50 to 70 percent the TCO (total cost of ownership) of a conventional PC. With virtual desktops, a small business can minimize IT labor costs because everything is centrally secured, stored, and managed. Hence, you do not have to worry about patching, updating, and installing multiple applications, back up files, and scan for malware or viruses on individual desktops, resulting in a streamlined management of assets.

There are different types of virtual desktop vendors. When choosing which one to use, you need to evaluate the needs of your business and the types of data that you need to access remotely. Vmware is one of the leading virtual desktop and cloud software and services vendors that runs on Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows. Its bare-metal hypervisors directly run on server hardware, even without an underlying operating system. Citrix is another virtual desktop vendor that you can consider, and it offers universal access to desktops, virtual apps, and data from any device.

Sources: http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/webmaster/article.php/3914891/What-is-a-Virtual-Desktop-and-Why-Should-You-Care.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMware
https://www.citrix.com/solutions/desktop-virtualization/overview.html

About the Author:
   
Mike Rana is the Chief Technology Advisor of Orion Network Solutions. Orion Network Solutions specializes in providing Computer Installation, Maintenance, and Consulting services along with 24x7 help desk services for small and midsize companies. We provide network solutions that enable small businesses to not only lower their management cost but also increases employee productivity at the same low price. We offer network solution that becomes an integral part of your organization and can provide an increase in productivity of your organization.

Email Lottery Scam: The Truth about It and What Everyone Needs to Be Aware Of

An email lottery scam is a form of advance-fee fraud that typically begins with an unexpected email notification explaining something along the lines of you, winning a large sum of money in some type of lottery. The recipient of this "You have won!" message (the target of the scam) is also typically told to keep the notice he/or she received a secret because of "a mix-up in some of the entries' names and numbers" and to contact a certain "claims agent," after which he or she will be asked to pay transfer charges or processing fees so the winnings can be claimed or distributed. However, the victim of the scam will never receive any lottery payment.

Email lottery scams will often even use the name of a legitimate lottery organization or some other real, trustworthy company or corporation but this doesn't necessarily mean that the mentioned organization is in any way, shape, or form involved with the scam. Anyone with an email account can be a target of these unscrupulous activities online, but there are always ways to identify fake lottery emails and protect yourself from fraud:

•    Being vigilant and using your common sense will go a long way in keeping yourself from being victimized by these types of scams. Unless you have bought a ticket, you can never really have won a prize. Email draws or lotteries where no tickets were ever sold don't exist. These scams are the invention of dishonest minds who want to victimize unsuspecting people.
•    Scammers will ask you to pay a fee in advance to receive your price. Genuine lotteries will simply subtract those fees (and tax) from the prize. Regardless of what the entity claims the fee is for (whether it be for courier charges, imaginary certificates, or bank charges), you can be sure that they are 100 percent fabricated by the scammer to obtain money from you.
•    Email lottery scams almost always come from free email accounts.

About the Author:
   
Mike Rana is the Chief Technology Advisor of Orion Network Solutions. Orion Network Solutions specializes in providing Computer Installation, Maintenance and Consulting services along with 24x7 help desk services for small and midsize companies. We provide network solutions that enable small businesses to not only lower their management cost but also increases employee productivity at the same low price. We offer network solution that becomes an integral part of your organization and can provide an increase in productivity of your organization.

Key Features of Office 365: Microsoft is moving to the Cloud for its Office Products

Microsoft is fully embracing the cloud and encouraging users to join in as they continue to develop Office 365. This is a collection of productivity software and related service subscriptions offered to clients, allowing them access to Microsoft Office apps on Windows and OSX, on top of other provisions such as storage space on OneDrive (Microsoft's cloud storage service) and Skype minutes. Email and Social networking services in the form of hosted versions of Skype for Business Server, Exchange Server, Office Online, Yammer, and SharePoint Enterprise are also in the works for business and enterprise users. Office 365 was launched in mid 2011 and is continuously growing to include many useful features and components that can easily be managed and configured via a single online portal.

Traditional on-premise deployments rely on in-house data centers in order to manage IT computing resources. This means everything from platform upgrades to maintenance storage, security, and extranet deployments are shouldered by your company, where as cloud-based services such as Office 365 enables you to simplify IT and off-load the burden of software and hardware management to the host organizations that own these servers and resources and maintain their own internet-accessible data centers. It is for this reason that many organizations are shifting to the cloud and leaving their on-premise traditions behind.

In addition to usual productivity software applications, Office 365 has two key offerings that you should consider when thinking to adopt the service, namely, Exchange-Online and SharePoint.

Microsoft Exchange is sort of a mainstay application platform for email management in enterprise organizations environments. With Exchange Online for Office 365, users no longer have to maintain their own on-premise Exchange servers. You can also take advantage of the best security available via ForeFront Protection, which guards against malware and virus outbreaks consistently. Exchange mailboxes also come with a 25GB-per-user storage capacity, while users enjoy full control over their email environment.

Office 365 also offers access to the latest and greatest SharePoint functionalities via SharePoint Online. This means great support for large organizations without the need to spend huge capital on hardware and storage solutions as your organization scales up or goes through significant changes. Every user is granted up to 500MB of space to utilize, which can later be pooled over your organization's SharePoint Online environment. If you need extra space to accommodate your process, additional storage space can be purchased to support scalability.

About the Author:
   
Mike Rana is the Chief Technology Advisor of Orion Network Solutions. Orion Network Solutions specializes in providing Computer Installation, Maintenance and Consulting services along with 24x7 help desk services for small and midsize companies. We provide network solutions that enables small businesses to not only lower their management cost but also increases employee productivity at the same low price. We offer network solution that become integral part of your organization and can provide an increase in productivity of your organization.

5 Steps to Safer WiFi Access

Wireless encryption is only one way to keep a wireless network safe and protected from hackers. The following are some practical steps you can follow to ensure security for your home, business, or enterprise-level wireless network:

•    Enabling encryption is the simplest way to protect WiFi access. Most wireless routers have their encryption disabled by default. To keep your router secure, enable either the WPA or WPA2 wireless encryption provision of your router. You can do this by accessing your wireless security menu and enabling encryption. Assign a password for the encryption to ensure protection.

•    Change SSID name. SSID or Service Set Identifier is the name of your wireless connection. It is the very name you see on your Available Wireless Connections list whenever you try to connect to the network. While changing the wireless name alone doesn't offer any technical protection, doing so usually discourages hackers and deters their plans because they know you have taken at least some steps to secure your connection. You can change your wireless network name by accessing your basic wireless settings.

•    Disable SSID broadcast to avoid your name from being displayed on Available Wireless Connections in your neighbors' devices. You can do this by instructing your router not to broadcast the name to everyone. To allow access to your network, simply provide your SSID name to people who want to join the network

•    Enable MAC filtering. Persistent hackers may still access your network even after doing the above steps. To prevent determined hackers from getting access to your network, you can enable MAC filtering and enable access only to trusted laptops and devices.

•    Disable administrative access through web. You may also disable administrative access through the web if you want further protection. Doing this will require you to access router configuration via ethernet cable and your PC, which can be quite taxing, but worth the additional layer of protection.

About the Author:

Mike Rana is the Chief Technology Advisor of Orion Network Solutions. Orion Network Solutions specializes in providing Computer Installation, Maintenance and Consulting services along with 24x7 help desk services for small and midsize companies. We provide network solutions that enables small businesses to not only lower their management cost but also increases employee productivity at the same low price. We offer network solution that become integral part of your organization and can provide an increase in productivity of your organization.

Latest Security News

We roundup this month’s latest security news—from the latest Microsoft patches to hacking news, as well as top antivirus solutions that can keep you protected.

Microsoft Rolls Out First Windows 10 Update
Last August 5, Microsoft delivered a large Windows 10 ‘servicing update’ that clocked in at a third of a gigabyte. It was called ‘KB3081424’and has been distributed to Windows Insiders (users who volunteered to try thepreview program) as well as everyone who upgraded to Windows 10since its launch.KB3081424 is a non-security update, with no patches for vulnerabilities. It included tweaks to enhance the operating system’s functionality with new improvements and features.

Hacking News – August 2015
A group called ‘Islamic State Hacking Division’ published personal details of over 1,400 US government and military personnel, urging its supporters to attack the people on the list. The spreadsheet was published online last August 12 and exposed names, phone numbers, email addresses, and passwords. Some members of the NASA, the Marine Corps, the air force, the state department, and FBI were among those on the list.

In a rather surprising turn of events, hundreds of thousands of new users signed up for Ashley Madison, the famous infidelity website, according to the parent company Avid Life Media. Despite the fact that the website was hacked and the personal data of millions of its clients were leaked. The hackers posted over 32 million names, emails, physical addresses and credit card numbers of people using the cheaters’ dating site.

Best-Selling Antivirus Software for Windows 8.1
BitDefender, Qihoo 360, and Kaspersky topped the list of bestselling anti-virus software. AV-Test (a leading antivirus testing house) released these findings after assessing almost 30 available antimalware solutions for Windows 8.1, pitting them against each other in terms of protection, usability, and performance.

About the Author:

Mike Rana is the Chief Technology Advisor of Orion Network Solutions. Orion Network Solutions specializes in providing Computer Installation, Maintenance and Consulting services along with 24x7 help desk services for small and midsize companies. We provide network solutions that enable small businesses to not only lower their management cost but also increases employee productivity at the same low price. We offer network solution that become integral part of your organization and can provide an increase in productivity of your organization.

Latest Security News from the IT World

From wireless hacker-carjackers tormenting motorists to rogue vigilantes threatening to expose married people from their adulterous ways such as in the recent Ashley Madison dating website breach, it is no wonder why cyber-world naysayers are gaining much ammunition for putting down and hampering IT advancements. The rise in global DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks and cyber terrorism rumors involving the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) and United Airlines, along with many other security glitches what were supposedly the most secure digital environments are not helping much in easing people's fears of progress through web technologies.

Fortunately, big name developers are always on a mission to make the web and all IT systems that feed on it, a safer and better place. Case in point, Microsoft's most recent round of updates for July, 2015. The new issue featured 14 bulletins, which offered fixes for dozens of vulnerabilities in various Microsoft products, including their newest Windows and Office versions.

Given the many vulnerabilities that web users, individuals, enterprises, and website owners face online, it is critical that everyone learns to be vigilant against clear possibilities of attacks and dangers, as well as the many risks that are associated with them. While it is only large-scale attacks that grab headlines, it is the increasing number and size of average DDoS attacks and activities that individuals and organizations should be looking out for, as these are the types of attacks that are causing headaches for people across the globe. Businesses should, therefore, take the necessary actions to define their risks and put up necessary measures in order to mitigate them and avoid their havoc.

Developers big and small are doing everything possible to protect clients from the perils of these malicious hacker activities, but it is also the responsibility of every web user and entity to be vigilant against them.

About the Author:

                          

Mike Rana is the Chief Technology Advisor of Orion Network Solutions. Orion Network Solutions specializes in providing Computer Installation, Maintenance and Consulting services along with 24x7 help desk services for small and midsize companies. We provide network solutions that enables small businesses to not only lower their management cost but also increases employee productivity at the same low price. We offer network solution that become integral part of your organization and can provide an increase in productivity of your organization.

Are You Still Using Windows XP and Do You Have a Plan in Place to Migrate?

It has been more than a year since Microsoft cut off support for Windows XP. Users of this operating system can no longer receive the latest security updates, assisted support options, or technical content updates. This also means that new vulnerabilities that may be discovered in Windows XP post cut-off will no longer be addressed by security updates from Microsoft. 

Despite the obvious risks of continuing to run Windows XP, some companies insist on using this operating system until the hardware fails. Windows XP loyalists have a hard time leaving their old ways behind not only because of the fear of transition, but because of the immediate cost implication of such a switch. What they don’t realize is that the long-term costs of managing an unsupported, out of date technology or system add up quickly—easily superseding the amount needed to pay upfront to license new technology.

The security risks associated with using Windows XP beyond its end-of-support date are serious. Attackers now have the advantage of having more information about the system’s vulnerabilities—and they know that Microsoft is no longer there to defend their new attacks. Malware attackers are now exploiting XP, and small businesses are particularly more vulnerable because they don’t have the same level of IT security as bigger entities.

Security issues do not end with the OS itself. Application-level vulnerabilities also proliferate it. Vendors will stop patching applications running on XP because it will no longer be economically worthwhile for them to do so. Finally, failure to move to Windows 7 or 8 limits productivity due to lessening compatibility. A company may miss out on opportunities because it cannot take advantage of the latest technologies, like desktop virtualization.

Plan for Migration

Migrating to Windows 7 or 8 from XP is not easy, but careful planning can help smooth the path. It makes sense to hire an IT consultant to assist you during the transition. A consultant can check if your current systems are up to the task and recommend hardware upgrades to improve compatibility. The consultant can also assess your organization’s needs and help you decide which new OS is a better fit. A consultant can likewise teach your staff how to handle legacy applications using the new OS.

Don’t underestimate the complexity and size of a migration project. Working with a consultant is the best way to ensure a smooth transition, and will save you money in the long run.

About the Author:

                          

Mike Rana is the Chief Technology Advisor of Orion Network Solutions. Orion Network Solutions specializes in providing Computer Installation, Maintenance and Consulting services along with 24x7 help desk services for small and midsize companies. We provide network solutions that enable small businesses to not only lower their management cost but also increases employee productivity at the same low price. We offer network solution that become integral part of your organization and can provide an increase in productivity of your organization.