We make technology work for you!

 

That's our motto and our mission. But what does it mean?

First - "We make technology work..." This means we have great technicians, great technology, and everything that makes a quality I.T. support company. But our mission doesn't stop there.

The Turn Key Solutions difference is the "FOR YOU" part of our mission.

We focus on your business' special needs, and our team of professionals takes pride in our personal touch.

Click here to learn more about how we can help, or call us today at (225) 751-4444 and we will show you how "We make technology work for you."

 

Online nightmares & how to avoid them

The internet is a rapidly shifting and evolving environment.   One of the most rapidly evolving issues related to the internet is security.   Our technicians and sales team get asked about keeping client networks safe from viruses, spyware, hackers, etc. hundreds of times a week; and that's on a quiet week.

To give you an idea of what we are all dealing with every time we get on the internet, here are some facts about 7 common threats:  (If you're like most people, at some point you may have thought these threats were the same thing.)  

  1. Viruses - These dreaded programs manifest themselves in many forms and have the ability to spread, via executable code, from one computer to another, debilitating productivity and business.
  2. Trojans - Designed to trick users, Trojans invade computers in the while looking like legitimate applications. Once they're running, Trojans unleash a range of annoying and malicious behaviors, from deleting files to altering your computer's behavior.
  3. Phishing attacks - One of the most prevalent threats to identity & security, phishing relies on faked websites, emails and instant messages to get users to give up sensitive information such as usernames as passwords.
  4. Rootkits - These programs or groups of programs let hackers gain total control of computers to launch major attacks on businesses.  They use their victims' computers and internet connections to try to harm or invade corporate or government networks.
  5. Spyware - These privacy-invading programs monitor their victims' activities and transmit confidential information to their designers.  Victims' internet surfing habits, and sometimes even their every keystroke are sent off without their notice.
  6. Adware - Programs that provide some perceived benefits (games, utilities, screensavers, etc.).   These programs usually slow computers down, and almost always eat up employee productivity by popping up advertisements.
  7. Worms - Rapidly spreading, self-replicating programs that usually cause major damage to businesses by slowing down networks and causing other damage (deleted files, compromised security, etc.).

So what do you do to keep your business secure?  A layered approach to security is the best advise we can offer.  This includes all of the following at a bare minimum, with other measures being necessary depending upon your industry, what you do on the internet, and many other factors:

  1. Implement a good firewall that can do content filtering.
  2. Use good antivirus software.
  3. Use good anti-malware software (sometimes this is different from your antivirus software, sometimes it's the same package).
  4. Educate your staff about being careful what they click on.
  5. Partner up with someone that can help keep your business secure.

Turn Key Solutions would love to be that partner for your business.  If you'd like to talk to us about how we can improve your security, please give us a call today at 225-751-4444.

 

 

Malware & Virus Removal Tips & Tricks

Everything requires a little regular maintenance.

Your flowers need to be watered daily, the cats need to be fed (at least daily, more if you really like them), the car has to have the oil changed periodically, and yes, your computer probably needs to be cleaned up from time to time.

So, straight from the I.T. professionals here at Turn Key Solutions, here is a list of a few things you can do to keep your computers running at their best (note: most of these tips are for the Windows operating systems):

1. Patch it!  Microsoft releases patches for Windows, Office, and their other products very frequently.  These patches are designed to improve how the software works, improve security, and to deliver many other benefits.  Be sure your computer is set to automatically download & install patches.   For more about how their patches work, click here - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/windowsupdate/faq.mspx

By the way, other software authors like Adobe and all the Antivirus software vendors frequently release patches for their software too.  If a piece of software is important to you, familiarize yourself with how & when that manufacturer distributes updates.

2. Boost your immune system!  In other words, use a good antivirus / antimalware product, and keep it up to date at all times.  We here at Turn Key Solutions currently tend to favor Bitdefender, Trend Micro and AVG products, but there are many other good ones on the market as well.  Trust us, 20 - 50 dollars a year spent on good antivirus software is money well spent.

3. Clean it!  Over time, even the most meticulous computer users will gather a bit of junk on their machines.   But deleting pictures of Grandma's dog probably isn't going to help you much, and trust us, deleting folders & files from system directories on your C: drive will probably cause more problems than it fixes.  So what's a person to do?  

Here is a short list of a few tools that we at Turn Key Solutions use all the time to clean & tweak computers; and you can too.  One thing to be wary of when straying too far from this list is that there are many programs & websites that claim to remove spyware, but actually cause more problems than they fix, or worse yet actually come with hidden viruses in them!  There are a lot of programs out there that claim to do the job, but these are the ones we use day in, day out.      (Disclaimer: read their instructions before you use these tools! - You're responsible for how you use these tools!)

CCleaner - this program does a great job of cleaning all the unnecessary junk files, registry keys, and other stuff off of your computer.  http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Malwarebytes - this is a great malware-removal program.  Update & run this from time to time to make sure that you're malware-free, and to get rid of any bugs your other programs may have missed.  http://www.malwarebytes.org/

A-Squared - this program seems to occasionally miss a few things that Malwarebytes catches, and occasionally gives a few false positives, but their deep scan also seems to get rid of some problems that no other program can.   http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/antimalware/

SuperAntiSpyware - this has the same basic negatives as A-Squared (occasional false positives), but we find that sometimes it cleans things no other program can.  http://www.superantispyware.com/

Spybot Search & Destroy - a long-time favorite for our techs, this program does a great job of cleaning malware as well.  Use this in conjunction with other anti-malware software to make extra sure that you're clean. http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html 

 

There are a lot of other tools & tricks to fixing more complicated problems, but these 3 simple pointers (Patch, Boost, Clean) work wonders for keeping computers healthy running right.

For more help with these or any other I.T. questions & problems your business is having, call Turn Key Solutions at 225-751-4444.  We look forward to making technology work for you!