Is it time to switch?

Posted on February 23, 2021February 24, 2021 by Network Support Essex

If your IT support company just wasn’t good enough last year, then is it time to switch? IT is too important to have a weak supplier. Our new guide explains why we partner with our clients and don’t just work with them.

Download The Top 5 Questions guide to help you make the best decision.

Why is it time to switch to LIS?

Investing in a good IT support company is essential if you want to generate sales growth, streamline your processes, and reach your goals. Are you wasting too much time trying to sort out your companies’ IT system yourself? Is your current IT provider working with you and do they understand your goals? If you answer no to any of these questions, then ask yourself is it time to switch?

As your IT support company, LIS will take the time to find out your exact needs of your company. Our Technical Support Staff use their expertise to deliver bespoke technology solutions that are fully aligned to your business plans. We are an extension of your business and will be a crucial part of your team.

Unlike other IT support companies, our focus is on being proactive. This means that the majority of our time is invested in potential causes of IT disruptions, before your company encounters any issues. Typically, our IT Help Desk spend time monitoring services and are proactive when there are issues.

The PC doctor will see you now

Prevention is better than cure: we do not wait for problems to occur. Our aim is to make sure your company is secure and has the latest updates. We try our best to do all we can to reduce the chance of anything going wrong in the first place.

By fixing the problem at its source, we can stop the symptom from returning. This enables us to provide you with consistently high levels of service. This ensures, low levels of risk and ultimately, enhance the productivity of your IT systems and staff. Is it time to switch to an IT provider that will assist you and your team with any IT problems? This in turn will allow you to concentrate on building your business or enjoy some of your favourite pastimes.

We have a belief at LIS: “If it has already happened, it’s too late. Why should it go wrong at all?”

Flick the switch – it’s time to switch

As a busy business owner or manager, we understand your time is precious. There is nothing more annoying than your IT systems running slow or being down. Fed up with staff moaning at you that their emails are down? Or the ultimate nightmare that your company has a virus, or your server is down.

Never fear. LIS can offer you a FREE IT AUDIT. Contact the LIS Help Desk and speak to our experienced and friendly support team. It is never too late to switch. We will talk to you about your current system. Advise on upgrades to improve performance. Review your security and back-up solutions. IT should not be painful. Let us take away your headaches. It is never too late to switch, we are only a phone call or email away.

LIS – SECURING YOUR DIGITAL WORLD

#FreeGuide #ITPartner #ITSupport #DownloadYourCopyNow

Your new PC is slow

Posted on February 3, 2021February 3, 2021 by IT Support Essex

There’s no better feeling than getting a new PC. Until you start it the first time and realise it’s full of software you didn’t want or need! To your frustration your new PC is slow. You would expect it to come with a fresh installation of Windows and a clutter-free hard drive. But often manufacturers will preload their computers with all kinds of unnecessary programs, often called ‘bloatware’ and it will slow down your computer. Our new video shows why bloatware is on your computer, and what to do about it.

PC slowed down by bloatware? Almost all manufacturers are guilty of doing this to some degree. There may be lots of strange shortcut icons on your desktop when you first start your PC. Or if the All Programs section of the Start Menu lists lots of non-Microsoft applications that you never use, then your PC may be bursting with bloatware.

Why is bloatware still a threat?

All computer manufacturers are guilty of installing software on new machines. Lenovo for example is a company that installed bloatware on its devices that made users susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks. Another question to ask is, why is every new PC in this country pre-installed with German, French, Italian and Dutch office trials. If bloatware isn’t secure, it can put a PC at risk. All software installed on a PC must be kept up to date and secure – including bloatware.

Are you protected?

What Anti-Virus and other PC “protection” software does your new PC have installed? Many machines are shipped with massive dead weight old fashioned Anti-Virus which saps 30%+ of your performance when compared to a fast modern cloud managed product such as LIS managed Anti-Virus.

Like most PC problems, mobile devices are also susceptible to bloatware. While Android bloatware could be relatively harmless and just show ads, it can be used to expose users to risks. For example, some bloatware that can be used to spy on device owners could technically be used for legitimate purposes, such as managing the device.

How to detect bloatware

Is your PC slowed down by bloatware? Often, bloatware is identified by performance degradation. For example, devices weighed down by bloatware can take a long time to boot up, have slowed reaction times or storage issues.

Trialware is a common form of bloatware. Such software applications are included on devices for free when they are purchased and work for a specific trial period until a license is purchased. Adware that pops up on websites or on devices’ screens is another form of bloatware, as are system utilities and applications pre-installed on devices by manufacturers.

Bloatware can be detected by end users by looking through the installed applications and identifying any applications they did not install. It can also be detected by an enterprise IT team using a mobile device management tool that lists installed applications.

Make sure your computers are set up by professionals

This time of year, businesses are reviewing their IT equipment. Is your system running slow or in need of an upgrade? Don’t be fooled by large retail outlets special offers. Their solutions may not be right for you and most of them do not offer monthly IT support contracts.

Contact the LIS Help Desk for friendly, knowledgeable and impartial advice about IT systems. We can advise you on the best hardware and software solutions to suit your business. Our technicians will set up your PCs so they are ready for you to plug and play.

A good professional install will review and remove all bloatware. All PCs shipped by LIS come direct from the manufacturer but are then cleaned, secured and prepared to your business standard by our team before being released to you

LIS – SECURING YOUR DIGITAL WORLD

#Bloatware #Computers #Technology #ITsupport

Make video calls better

Posted on December 7, 2020December 7, 2020 by IT Support Essex

Whether for work or pleasure, virtual meetings just got a lot more popular. How can you make video calls better?

We can all accept by now, that video calls will continue to be a staple of business communications next year. However, did you know you can considerably improve your calls with just a few little tweaks? There are four key areas to pay attention to. There are four ways to make video calls better in 2021. We will show you what to do and how to do it, in our brand-new video.

The global pandemic has ground much of the world to a halt. Worldwide, likely tens of millions are working from home as part of social distancing. Sitting in front of a webcam for hours is now normal – for both business meetings and sharing a ‘quarantini’ during virtual happy hours.

Now that Zoom, Skype and other services have taken over our daily lives as we know it – including job interviews and dinner parties – many are wondering how to look as good on the internet as they do in person. That means figuring out how to flatter your face on your colleagues’ laptop screens, or the importance of a tidy living room in the background. It’s not just vanity: viewers could “make snap judgments, unfortunately, about you as a person,” says Sunny Lenarduzzi, a Vancouver-based online entrepreneur, former TV reporter and regular YouTuber.

We talked to people whose job largely features talking in front of a webcam all day. Here are their tips to look nice and professional on camera.

Fill your face with light

If you take away nothing else, focus on your lighting. Front-facing natural light is best. It evenly accentuates and brightens your skin and features, giving you a clear, flattering, movie-star-like quality. “It’s amazing for making your eyes pop and making you look really presentable on camera,” says Lenarduzzi.

Set up your computer in front of a window, and importantly, make sure that light is hitting your face straight-on. Because whether you’re snapping a pic for Instagram or dialling in for a video call, having that light come from behind you ends up drowning you out entirely, reducing you to an inscrutable silhouette.

Avoid low angles to make video calls better

It’s one of the cardinal rules in camerawork: keep the camera eye-level or higher. “You want to make sure your computer’s at least a little bit elevated so that you don’t have the double-chin effect [or] the computer’s looking up your nostrils,” says Lenarduzzi. You can easily give your laptop some lift by stacking a bunch of things just lying around. Cookbooks or coffee table books work well, Yara suggests. “Angles make a big difference,” she says.

Mind your skin

In our webcam-dominated situation, practising good skincare is even more important than usual. The camera can make bad habits “look ten times worse,” says Tang, as the computer screen tends to highlight things like oil on your face. She recommends blotting your face before you go live. Be on the lookout for uneven skin tone or chapped lips, too. (Zoom also has a filter used to even your skin tone.)

The experts recommend applying a tinted moisturiser to your face before booting up your video meeting. (Tinted moisturiser is filled with subtle pigments of makeup that help your skin tone appear even.)

Know what you’ll look like

Preparation is important to make video calls better. You don’t want to join a call using the webcam as a mirror to make any finishing touches to your hair, face or lighting you could’ve done earlier. “Take a phone call using your webcam to prep. The call can be on your phone, but make sure your webcam is on so you can practise seeing yourself and your mannerisms,” Tang says. “It won’t feel so foreign next time when you’re actually doing it for real.”

Pick the right background

Although our homes are inherently less equipped for professional meetings than your office boardroom, there are better places to take a call than others. Zoom isn’t the place to showcase your bookcases performatively filled with literary tomes or your enormous Basquiat print – particularly on a work call. Though tempting, that kind of home décor flexing takes focus away from who should be the star of the show: you. Yara recommends a plain, white background.

The right tech to make video calls better

When you combine all these tips you are better equipped to think about how you are presenting yourself as a person. It’s an important skill, especially when all people will have to go on is your face on a computer screen.

It is important that you remember when you are on a video call you are still representing your company. Contact the LIS Help Desk to find out how we can help you make video calls better. Have a chat with our experienced support technicians about your security as well as software and hardware upgrades. All our clients benefit from our monthly IT support contracts, business broadband and telecoms services.

LIS – SECURING YOUR DIGITAL WORLD

#VideoCallFatigue #LookLikeAPro #Zoom

Digital Transformation

Posted on November 17, 2020November 17, 2020 by Network Support Essex

Misconceptions Surrounding Digital Transformation

Most people in the business sector are talking about digital transformation (DX). An example of this is Uber’s quick rise from a mere mobile phone app, putting a longstanding black cab industry at threat.

Because of its simplicity and how effective it is, a lot of businesses are rethinking their models. A lot of the time they are completely restructuring their own IT infrastructure, bettering their processes and redefining their team. They’re doing this to prepare themselves for an economy where everyone is using digital services. As well as thriving off applications instead of physical products.

On the contrary, amongst all of this excitement, there are a lot of myths surrounding this topic. This causes confusion for business owners and their staff. It’s for this reason; the wrong approach is often taken.

One aspect of digital transformation is the concept of going paperless

5 myths about digital transformation

People are desperate to see change

Generally, people react in one of three ways to digital transformation. They either pushback, have a sense of fear or try to bid so they can increase their power.

In an interview with CEO world, the management guru Cheryl Crann stated that the ones who limit digital transformation are the employees. The reason being is due to the extra work and aggravation before benefits can be detected.

It’s recommended for a successful migration to a digital-first model; businesses should make the necessary improvements to employee’s workflows and processes. Such modifications should begin with the major stakeholders and then to the rest of the organisation.

Digital transformation is only just for the technology

There’s more to change than just digital. There are other variables such as culture, objectives, processes and more. In today’s digital world, we must shift our attention from the technology to the outcome of the technology.

The best way to do this is to consider what you want to achieve first and then reverse-engineer the systems and processes. It’s not about merely acquiring the newest and most efficient technology. If you’re going to transform, you need to embrace change not just focus on the status quo.

If you fail, it’s classed as bad

McKinsey and Co estimated that even in the highest tech firms, only a mere 25% succeed. Moreover, if you’re in a field such as manufacturing or energy, it could be as little as 4%. However, you can learn a lot from failure.

Conversely, if the company’s organisational structure is strong, the process should be smooth to absorb and review feedback, come up with improvements and implement them. After that, it’s just a case of repeating the same method and getting an optimised workflow.

In this report, it’s also mentioned that effective and successful projects have a focus on the latest product and service launches in markets not being opened. Again, success only arrives after the amount of transformation comes from hitting a specific limit with multiple business functions and business units.

Everyone is undergoing digital transformation

According to Telstra, around 21% of experienced and senior decision-makers, class their organisations as “digitally mature”. At the same time, those who haven’t started transformation are at 30%.

Telstra believes that this is a great and clear opportunity for businesses to enhance and increase their way they approach digital transformation. Even though there is room to do more for digital transformation, a clear strategy for the company needs to be there for them to follow it effectively.

Digital Transformation is the same rules for everyone

Depending on your industry, digital transformation can vary a great deal. It can even change between organisations and subunits within a particular organisation. To effectively undergo digital transformation, you need to have a flexible ecosystem. The experience can be optimised and it is achieved within an organisation.

However, problems must be recognised and be solved using digital transformation. After this, you must customise the change and realise that it is not a one size fits all method. Similarly, this is an ongoing process which gets refined as part of the business model. While it evolves through time, it addresses challenges, goals and outcomes.

Ultimately, digital transformation is not a walk in a park, and you can’t predict the results. However, if you’re a business, you can only survive and change or become extinct. You must change alongside the market requirements. However, if there is an option between slow and expensive, or quick and cheap, fewer consumers like the former.

LIS, your IT partner

Lodge Information Services is one of Essex’s longest-standing IT partners. With over 25 years’ experience, we can assist you with IT support, consulting and cloud computing needs. We’re proud to be local, offering remote and on-site support. Contact the LIS Help Desk to book your FREE IT Audit.

LIS – SECURING YOUR DIGITAL WORLD

#Digital #Business #ITSupport #Technology

How to clean your laptop

Posted on November 13, 2020November 13, 2020 by IT Support Essex

Welcome to our guide on how to clean your laptop. Given how our hands are the easiest means of bringing germs and viruses into our homes, and how our tech is touched by us every day, it’s vital that we go about cleaning it properly.

So, we’re going to show you how to clean your laptop. It is important to get rid of debris that’s been residing between your keys since ancient times. As well as sanitizing it so you don’t need to worry about spreading bacteria between your hands, your tech and around your home and office.

Before starting, remember to wash your hands (and dry them, of course!). Now turn off your laptop and unplug it from the mains.

Businessman cleans and disinfects his laptop in the office, using disposable wipes. Credit: Getty Images

Vacuum-clean your laptop

To get rid of dust you should vacuum-clean every part of your laptop apart from the screen using the brush end of the vacuum cleaner. LCD screens are fragile and would be scratched by the brush bristles. They need to be cleaned more gently than the rest of your laptop. We’ll get round to cleaning the screen later.

Make sure you use the vacuum cleaner on a low setting. You’re just picking up dust and small bits of debris here and setting it too powerful may damage your keyboard keys.

As well as the keyboard, make sure to vacuum any speaker holes and vents on your laptop. These can build up a lot of dust that’s been pushed out from inside your laptop over the years. Keeping them clear is vital to your laptop running nice and cool.

Clean your laptop keyboard

The next step to a clean laptop is a clean keyboard. Now that you’ve vacuumed your keyboard, it should be dust-free and ready for more thorough cleaning. You could start by using some cleaning putty. A sticky, rubberised substance that you roll over your keyboard to pick up stubborn particles and debris stuck between your keys. You should also roll this putty over the speaker holes on your laptop.

Once the putty has worked its magic, lightly dampen (not drench) a microfibre cloth and wipe your laptop keyboard down with it. Apply more pressure to any stains or crusty bits that may be stuck to your keys.

Clean your laptop ports

Cleaning putty is also great at cleaning your laptop’s ports, which are another hotbed of debris and easily overlooked dirt. Squish the cleaning putty into your laptop’s various ports to pick out the debris from them. Whether or not you used the cleaning putty, you should also get a Q-tip or cotton bud stick. Moisten it in isopropyl alcohol, then stick it into your ports and swab around inside them.

The alcohol-moistened stick will serve the dual role of pulling debris out of the ports and sanitizing them. Don’t worry about moisture in the ports, as isopropyl evaporates almost instantly.

Isopropyl is one of the most widely used solvents for sanitizing and disinfecting surfaces. You don’t necessarily need to use the 99% strength stuff either. 75% isopropyl can be just as effective at killing bacteria. Because the purified water it’s diluted with acts as a catalyst in breaking down microorganism cell wells. It also takes longer to evaporate, increasing the exposure time between it and the microorganism.

Clean your laptop screen

The screen is one of the more sensitive parts of your laptop. So slightly different rules apply when it comes to cleaning it. Moisten a microfibre cloth with some isopropyl alcohol and gently wipe the screen in circular or straight-line motions.

Note that if you have a screen with an oleophobic layer (generally touchscreens), then you shouldn’t use isopropyl as this may deteriorate that layer over time. For these kinds of screens, use a mild non-alcoholic screen cleaner instead.

Once the isopropyl has evaporated, give your screen an extra wipe with a screen cleaner like Ecomoist or WHOOSH! Both are alcohol-free screen cleaners designed to get rid of smudges. They also have anti-static qualities that will help the screen repel dust for longer.

Sanitize your laptop

That isopropyl isn’t just for your screen. It’s an all-round surface cleaner that you should now use to wipe down the rest of your laptop. Moisten a microfibre cloth in isopropyl and wipe down your laptop all over – keyboard, speaker holes, vents, ports, you-name-it.

The high alcohol content in the isopropyl will help remove stubborn stains and smears on your laptop’s surface. Rub a little harder on tougher stains and the alcohol should help them come away. The isopropyl will evaporate soon after wiping and once it does you can rest assured that your laptop is clean and germ-free.

It’s a good idea to clean your laptop regularly, particularly in these uncertain times. As an extra precaution during the covid-19 outbreak, you should always wash your hands before sitting down at your laptop. Especially after coming in from the outside world and wipe it down with isopropyl alcohol at least once a week.

Spring clean your IT system

We can help you keep your IT system free from bugs and viruses. Our clients benefit from our anti-virus and anti-spam solutions. Keep your office systems secure and up to date with Office 365 and our Security Package. Are you fed up with your old technology or slow Internet speeds? It may be time for an upgrade.

Contact the LIS Help Desk to speak to one of our knowledgeable support technicians. We are more than your IT partner, consider us your IT doctor!

LIS – SECURING YOUR DIGITAL WORLD

#Laptop #CleaningTips #GermFree