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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.

Your Backup System Provides an Immediate ROI

Your Backup System Provides an Immediate ROI

Data backup has the nasty misconception that it’s only worth having if you actually use it, but this isn’t necessarily the case. Businesses let this misconception get in the way of an important aspect of business continuity, simply because they don’t want to waste money on something that they won’t actually need. Little do they know that data backup is the only thing standing in the way of your organization failing forever.

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Tip of the Week: Using Less Data on Android

Tip of the Week: Using Less Data on Android

Mobile data is extremely important to the productivity and efficiency of modern businesses--especially when employees and administrators are out of the office. The major drawback of this is that it can be an expensive setup, as mobile data transfer can be pricey. We can help you get around this issue by minimizing the amount of data your Android device uses.

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Tip of the Week: What You’ll Need to Leverage BYOD

Tip of the Week: What You’ll Need to Leverage BYOD

Bring Your Own Device has a lot of benefits for businesses, chief among them being giving your users the opportunity to use their own devices for work rather than those provided to them. More often than not, they will benefit from easy-to-use apps on their preferred devices, allowing them to get more done throughout the workday. When you implement BYOD, though, there are various concepts that you have to consider in order to ensure productivity, flexibility, security, and profitability.

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Tip of the Week: How to Restore the Recycle Bin Desktop Icon

Tip of the Week: How to Restore the Recycle Bin Desktop Icon

Have you ever had your Windows PC lose its Recycle Bin? This has been known to happen since the update to Windows 10, but even updates to Windows 7 and 8.1 have seen similar issues. If your Recycle Bin has pulled a Houdini, we’ll help you get it back. Read on to find out how!

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Tip of the Week: Which Headphones are Right for Your Needs?

Tip of the Week: Which Headphones are Right for Your Needs?

If your office is hectic, a pair of headphones is practically a necessity in order to get anything done. If they are wireless, all the better. When picking your own set of wireless headphones, you’ll want to keep a couple of factors in mind. Here are some of them for your consideration.

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Tip of the Week: Moving Your Apps to Your New Phone

Tip of the Week: Moving Your Apps to Your New Phone

While it feels great to power on a new phone and marvel at its slick new interface and features, you might feel frustrated by the fact that you now have to reinstall all of the applications and data that was on your original device. This week’s tip is dedicated to helping you make this process easier and more efficient for an Android smartphone.

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Tech Term: What is a Dongle?

Tech Term: What is a Dongle?

There are countless examples of words that have evolved to meet the needs of their times. Meat once referred to solid food of any kind before it came to mean the edible flesh of animals. The word nice once had many meanings that completely contradicted each other. Today’s Tech Term, dongle, is another word that has evolved, albeit at a faster pace.

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Have You Implemented Email Encryption?

Have You Implemented Email Encryption?

If you don’t take measures to secure your email, you could potentially give up crucial information to anyone lurking on the same network as you. This is inevitable on public Wi-Fi connections, or anywhere data is in transit. Encryption is the best way to make sure that your organization’s communications are secure, so you absolutely want to encrypt your email.

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Tip of the Week: Surfing the Web, Securely

Tip of the Week: Surfing the Web, Securely

The Internet is often taken for granted, in both a professional and a personal capacity. You’d be hard-pressed to get anything done without it nowadays. This doesn’t mean it’s always safe to do so, however. There are many threats that lurk in the darkness of the Internet, and if you’re not careful, you could find yourself on the receiving end of them. We’ve put together some tips that can help you keep both yourself and your business safe while browsing the web.

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Tip of the Week: Comparing the Pros and Cons of Desktops and Laptops

Tip of the Week: Comparing the Pros and Cons of Desktops and Laptops

Should your next computer purchase be a desktop or a laptop? Let’s talk about the less obvious differences between the two so you can make the right decision when buying computers for your staff.

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Tip of the Week: Protecting Your Company from Invoice Impersonation

Tip of the Week: Protecting Your Company from Invoice Impersonation

While you should be sure to keep yourself apprised of threats, it could be argued that it is even more important for your employees to be aware of them. After all, they are the ones utilizing your business’ workstations, software solutions, and even Internet-based apps to facilitate their daily duties. You need to make sure that your employees are able to spot attacks and react to them properly.

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Tip of the Week: Protecting Your Mobile Device in 2 Easy Steps

Tip of the Week: Protecting Your Mobile Device in 2 Easy Steps

Mobile devices are one of the greatest tools available for business use today. However, because society has come to rely so much on mobile devices, these devices have become a treasure trove for cybercriminals to obtain information from. For this week’s tip, we’ll go over some simple ways to protect yourself from such threats.

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Tip of the Week: Google Chrome Extensions for Google Drive

Tip of the Week: Google Chrome Extensions for Google Drive

Google Drive lets its users take advantage of a lot of great tools and utilities, and this is only augmented by Google Chrome’s extensions. With these tools at your disposal, you can optimize the way your company takes advantage of Google Drive. Here are some of the best extensions out there that let you utilize Google Drive’s best assets to your advantage.

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Tip of the Week: Your Productivity Doesn’t Depend on the Internet

Tip of the Week: Your Productivity Doesn’t Depend on the Internet

It is an expectation for the modern business to rely on the Internet in order to complete its daily function. As a result, anytime there is an Internet outage, many employees may find themselves lacking purpose or direction. However, a lack of Internet doesn’t have to mean a lack of productivity. For this week’s tip, we’ll review some ways your staff can be productive without an Internet connection.

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Tip of the Week: Never Pay to Print Business Cards Again

Tip of the Week: Never Pay to Print Business Cards Again

It’s just good business to hand out your business card to prospective clients, and it has been for a very long time. As far back as the Renaissance, special guests were announced with name cards that displayed who the guest was and what types of greetings were due. It wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution that business cards became primarily a means of displaying trades or professional skills. Business cards are mostly used for marketing and networking in the modern age, and your organization should be using them.

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Tip of the Week: Why You Should Reconsider Your Best Practices

Tip of the Week: Why You Should Reconsider Your Best Practices

The term “best practice” has been used by businesses for years to describe the optimal way of performing a particular task. However, before fully adopting them into business operations, it is important for these practices to be examined and deemed to be beneficial to an individual company’s circumstances. If they are not, a company risks much by adopting a misplaced best practice.

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Without These Tools, Your Network Isn’t Secure

Without These Tools, Your Network Isn’t Secure

Your business might have a limited budget, but this shouldn’t hold you back from implementing the best and strongest security solutions. However, security is a complicated process for any business. This is problematic, especially since common threats and vulnerabilities show up frequently in the business environment. We’ll walk you through some security basics so that you can optimize your organization's protection.

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Tip of the Week: Cortana Can Do Even More than You Might Realize

Tip of the Week: Cortana Can Do Even More than You Might Realize

One of the most recognizable names in technology isn’t a person, it’s a virtual assistant: Cortana. While Cortana has been of great use to many users, sometimes that user isn’t actually the person who owns the device and is just someone else in the same room. This can be annoying, but there’s a way to acquaint Cortana with a single user’s voice and listen to them exclusively.

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Tip of the Week: The Basics of Data Backup

Tip of the Week: The Basics of Data Backup

Data backup and disaster recovery are two of the linchpins of any business that relies on data and IT solutions storing information. Your business needs to have a plan for when operations are interrupted due to an unforeseeable data loss event. There are a few ways that you can keep your data backups as safe and efficient as possible.

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Tip of the Week: Gmail Is Made Even Easier When You Use Filters

Tip of the Week: Gmail Is Made Even Easier When You Use Filters

Your email inbox can quickly become an overwhelming mess without the proper management, but who has the time to sort through their email inbox on top of all of their other, more urgent responsibilities? Fortunately for Gmail users, the program provides the answer with its filter feature. For this week’s tip, we’ll show you how to regain control of your inbox with filters.

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