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Ferrum Technology Services Blog

Ferrum Technology Services has been serving the Elgin area since 2007, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

Who Has Your Data and What Are They Doing With It?

Who Has Your Data and What Are They Doing With It?

Protecting personal data has become a critical concern as more and more people use Internet-connected accounts. While this tech has undoubtedly enriched our lives, it has also paved the way for unprecedented invasions of privacy, particularly by enormous technology companies that claim to be doing it for their own good. Today, we will explore how these giants compromise data privacy, raising questions about the balance between innovation and safeguarding our most sensitive information.

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What is VoIP, and What Makes It Good for My Business?

What is VoIP, and What Makes It Good for My Business?

Communications are often the unsung hero in business operations, enabling all others to some degree. As a result, investing in the right tools can very much give your business a boost—and nowadays, the right tool for your communication needs is something called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, telephony.

Let’s go over what VoIP is, and why it’s the better option for your business.

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Google Search Has Loads of Easter Eggs to Find

Google Search Has Loads of Easter Eggs to Find

On September 15, 1997, Google registered its domain and began its climb to the top of the search engine ladder. It began as a simple search engine, but since then it has seen immense growth as it continues to develop platforms and services through its parent company, Alphabet. There is a certain nostalgia attached to Google Search, and the company regularly includes little tidbits with the feature that people find fun: Easter Eggs.

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Google: “Cybersecurity is Easy, Just Block the Internet!”

Google: “Cybersecurity is Easy, Just Block the Internet!”

What measures do you take to protect your employees and business from the dangers found on the Internet? One major company, Google, is implementing some extreme measures to protect against online threats. In this pilot program, the Internet is simply not available to its workers. How is Google—a company notorious for its search engine and web-related technology—making do with minimal access to the Internet? The answer might surprise you.

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What You Can Do to Improve Your Wireless Security

What You Can Do to Improve Your Wireless Security

Keeping your business’ Internet connections secure is paramount in the quest to maintain cybersecurity. There really isn’t any other option. Fortunately, protecting your business’ wireless connections isn’t that difficult. This month, we will go through a few steps that you can take to help keep your Wi-Fi connection secure. 

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Ask a Tech: Get More Out of Your Bandwidth

Ask a Tech: Get More Out of Your Bandwidth

Your business’ bandwidth could reference a couple of different parts of your IT infrastructure, with the most notable being your network bandwidth and your Internet bandwidth. Today, we want to focus on demystifying your network bandwidth by answering all of the frequently asked questions you might have on the topic.

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Consumer VPNs Are Not Tools for Businesses

Consumer VPNs Are Not Tools for Businesses

If you spend any amount of time on YouTube, chances are you’ve seen videos bring up the names of various sponsors, including consumer VPNs. VPN providers take advantage of the trendiness of these influencers to spread awareness of their products. We want to make one thing abundantly clear: the consumer VPNs offered by these sponsors are not the kind of VPN your business should be using.

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Not Even QR Codes Are Safe from Cybersecurity Threats

Not Even QR Codes Are Safe from Cybersecurity Threats

Quick response codes, or QR codes, are all over the place in today’s business world. They have largely been implemented as a means of providing contactless services throughout the pandemic and post-pandemic business environment, but they have also long been used for things like menus, document access and management, and so on. Even cybercriminals are using QR codes to their advantage, making it harder for all of us to trust them.

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Remember Google+? Its Successor is Shutting Down Too

Remember Google+? Its Successor is Shutting Down Too

Remember Google+? It was Google’s attempt at making a social media platform, and while it ultimately was not successful, it did have some interesting features that eventually made their way to other parts of Google’s growing list of business and enterprise services. Now, Google+’s legacy is in its final moments, as Google plans to shut down the Currents service this upcoming July.

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The Evolution of Internet Speeds

The Evolution of Internet Speeds

With the Internet cementing itself as one of the best tools to get work done, it’s easy to forget just how sluggish it used to be back when it first became available for use. Internet speeds have undergone some dramatic shifts over the years, so let’s remember the good old days when it took ages to do just about anything with it.

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Check Links Before You Get Yourself in Trouble with these Link-Checking Tools

Check Links Before You Get Yourself in Trouble with these Link-Checking Tools

It’s all well and good for us to recommend that you avoid phishing attacks and infected attachments simply by not clicking on the links in emails and other popular vectors of attacks, but the fact of the matter is that you might need to click on one at some point. In this case, it’s best to check the link before clicking it, and we’re here to offer tools to help you do so.

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Breaking Down Search Engines, Part 1

Breaking Down Search Engines, Part 1

You probably use Google more often than you think, but there are, of course, other search engines out there that perform similar functions. Why, then, is Google by far the most popular one? We’ll discuss some of the pros and cons of the various other search engines, but let’s start with Google itself.

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Breaking Down Search Engines, Part 2

Breaking Down Search Engines, Part 2

We started this series on web browsers by focusing on the biggest of them all: Google. Now it’s time to look at some of the other options users have for their search engine needs. This time, we’re focusing on Bing, Microsoft’s proprietary search engine, and DuckDuckGo, a different search engine altogether.

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How to Troubleshoot an Iffy Wi-Fi Connection

How to Troubleshoot an Iffy Wi-Fi Connection

Your business depends on its wireless connectivity, but you might notice that there are various factors that can influence how well your devices can connect to your wireless networks. We’ve put together a shortlist of things that can get in the way of your Wi-Fi connection and what you can do to avoid them.

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Looking at the Good and Bad of Relying on the Cloud

Looking at the Good and Bad of Relying on the Cloud

Nowadays, businesses are turning to the cloud to help resolve more and more of their daily challenges, and for good reason—generally speaking, the cloud can handle most everything thrown at it. However, are we becoming too reliant on cloud services? Let’s try to strike a balance between the pros and cons of the cloud and our dependence on it today.

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Stay Safe When Shopping Online

Stay Safe When Shopping Online

Some people shop almost exclusively online, and with the holidays gifting many folks gift cards, hackers are on the lookout for ways to exploit those who shop via the Internet. What can you do to stay safe while you are shopping online?

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Taking a Look at the Optimal Privacy Settings In Your Browser

Taking a Look at the Optimal Privacy Settings In Your Browser

Most businesses use the Internet to conduct many of their day-to-day operations, and the most-used ways that people interact with the Internet is through web browsers. That said, there are some ways that you can make sure you are using the Internet in the most secure way possible. Here are some extra steps you can take to work toward these protections.

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Tip of the Week: Shortcuts for Your Internet Browsing Convenience

Tip of the Week: Shortcuts for Your Internet Browsing Convenience

People are spending a lot of time online, especially as of late, with many working remotely and using tools and resources sourced through the Internet. In light of this, it seems to be an opportune time to review a few useful shortcuts that can help speed up one’s Internet browsing.

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Big Tech Antitrust Bills to Have an Effect

Big Tech Antitrust Bills to Have an Effect

Recently five bipartisan bills are being considered in the United States House of Representatives that intend to add additional oversight on the power of modern tech giants. Let’s take a look at these bills and why they are deemed necessary by many lawmakers. 

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The FCC is Using an App to Fix Internet Inequality

The FCC is Using an App to Fix Internet Inequality

Connectivity to high-speed, broadband Internet has quickly transitioned from a convenient luxury to a practical need for personal life and business alike. Considering this, it seems amazing that Internet access isn’t nearly as equally distributed as the need for it is. However, the Federal Communications Commission is calling on the public to help them change that by downloading an application that they first released in 2013: FCC Speed Test.

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