Ferrum Technology Services Blog

Keeping your software up to date is one of the most important things you can do to secure your system and give your business the competitive edge. However, staying on top of these upgrades is a big maintenance job that's easy to neglect when things get busy. A system with neglected upgrades could spell trouble for your business.

The computer mouse is a great tool that has made our operating system navigation much easier. However, our dependence on the computer mouse has naturally led to an independence from its counterpart, the keyboard (aside from everyday word processing). Here are a few awesome functional keyboard shortcuts that everyone has forgotten about.

In Charles Dickens' tale, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge learned an important lesson that most of us already know. In order to get the best out of people, you need to give the best of yourself. For those of you who don't remember the 19th-century novella, Scrooge is a business owner who only cares about money and because of this, draws the disdain of his family and his extremely patient subordinate, Bob Cratchit. On Christmas eve, he's visited by three Christmas spirits, and as he gets a look at the reality of how his actions affect those around him, he wakes up on Christmas morning with a new perspective.

Some fashion of Microsoft's Windows series of operating systems are at the helm of roughly 90% of the world's PCs. Because of this, it's common knowledge that Microsoft will be ending support for the twelve-year-old Windows XP operating system on April 8, 2014. This "death date" has been publicized for years, but some businesses and end-users still rely on the OS.

On December 18 Target reported that there credit card secuirty system has been breached. A total of 40 million credit card numbers have been stolen. Some reports indicate that the card numbers were found on a blackmarket website that sells "dumped" cards, or cards that have had the magnetic strip replicated to blank card.

Remember the 3.5" floppy drive?  It held a ton of data back in the day remember?!?!  If you compare it to a USB drive today, they can hold hundreds if not thousands of those old disk drives - isn't that crazy?

At this point, mobile technology use is more than just another trend; it's ingrained into almost every facet of our culture. In fact, the majority of adults in the United States not only carry cell phones, but 56% of all American adults carry smartphones. If you haven't tapped into the potential of mobile marketing, your company is missing out!

Technology is moving forward at a blistering pace and it's changing the IT Industry in a big way. In order to stay competitive and profitable, your business needs to stay on top of the different technology trends. Here are five technology trends you need to be aware of that will shape 2014.

Spam in your email inbox is extremely annoying. Email spam is always an eyesore, and swallows up valuable time wasted on sifting through your inbox. Have you ever wondered how email spam got its name? You may be surprised to find the answer. Here's a hint: it has something to do with Vikings, a diner, canned meat, and a British comedy.

When getting work done on the Internet, users are faced with a slew of threats that could hack sensitive company and personal data. Integrating a VPN solution may be your best option in securing your company network and files from online attacks. What is VPN, and why should your company be using it?

Security company Trustwave made a discovery last week that sent the online world into a frenzy. They recovered two million stolen passwords from 93,000 different websites. This password cache included user accounts from major companies like Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Twitter, and Yahoo. Is your password part of this haul?

Last September, the Internet was introduced to CryptoLocker, a dangerous ransomware that has quickly spread and become one of the worst viruses we have seen. CryptoLocker will literally take your files hostage by encrypting them so it can force you to pay for the encryption key. A business hit with CryptoLocker will be locked out of their computers and unable to get work done.

There's a lot of buzz floating around about "The death of the PC." This is due to the growing popularity of mobile devices and the sluggish sales of PCs. Will the PC ever die, or are we just in a time of transition? For your business, it's all a matter of perspective and your computing needs.

How could it have ever come to this? The everyday practical use of the beloved computer mouse has been put in jeopardy due to the relatively recent introduction of touchscreen technology. Tablets, smartphones, and touchscreen computers are driving our handheld friends off of the shelves and into history books. Will the computer mouse go extinct in the near future?

Two hot trends in the business technology industry are companies going Green (adopting environmentally savvy work environments), and implementing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) system for your office. In reality, these two trends go hand in hand, as they seek to use technology to increase efficiency in the everyday operation of businesses worldwide. Here's how to implement your company's Green campaign with BYOD.

Have you ever received one of those chain emails that look like this?  You may want to think twice before you start forwarding to everyone in your contacts list.

Cloud computing can provide your employees with the option to work from home. Working from home has been shown to increase both employee satisfaction and productivity and it's good for the environment by saving on commuting. Is working from home right for your business?

Your company's data is debatably your most valuable resource. When companies accidentally lose their data, their future in business is not a favorable fight. In fact, if any given small business is unable to access their data for ten days or more, statistically they likely will not survive the following fiscal year. Learn how to defend your data.

Can you remember a world without cell phones? The thought of such a thing nowadays makes teenagers shudder in fear at the notion of face-to-face communication with other humans! Once upon a time in the 1980s, cell phones entered the market and changed everything. Here's a television ad that describes the selling points of cellular radio telephones.

Could the very devices that are designed to increase our productivity levels actual contribute to productivity decline? Mom was right, too much of a good thing can do you harm. Turns out, human beings weren't meant to be constantly connected to technology, and in fact, we can easily be overloaded by it. It's time to take a break.