Phishing emails remain the #1 threat to cybersecurity. More data breaches happen using phishing than any other method for one simple reason, because it works. 

Unfortunately, hackers have become master craftsmen when it comes to drafting emails that look nearly identical to the real thing and they trick millions of computer users. It just takes one click on a dangerous link or opening a malware-laden attachment to allow a hacker into your system.

30% of phishing messages get opened by the user.

While the best-case scenario is of course not to fall for a fake email, what do you do after you’ve clicked on one and think you may have downloaded a virus or other type of malware?

At Pro Tech Guy, we’re always helping our customers in Framingham and the surrounding area with virus removal services, anti-phishing tactics, and keeping updated about any new phishing scams that may be coming to their inboxes.  

The scammers have become so sophisticated that it’s often difficult to tell a real email from a fake one these days, unless you know certain tricks, like:

• Hovering over any links before you click to see if the URL looks legitimate

• Viewing the source code of the email headers

• Using an anti-phishing software that sandboxes threats

• Using a safe web browsing tool that blocks malicious sites

But if you, a family member, or employee do end up getting tricked by a sneaky phishing email, read on for the steps you should take immediately afterwards.

Been Caught by a Phishing Email or Social Media Post? Take These Steps Immediately!

Phishing isn’t only found in emails these days, it’s now migrated to social media and instant messaging too, where URLs are generally shortened, making it more difficult to know what you’re clicking.

If you’ve become a phishing victim, here are the steps you should take right away.

Disconnect from the Internet

The first thing you’ll want to do is disconnect from the internet immediately because staying connected could mean that other devices on your network could also get infected.

If using Wi-Fi, disable it on your computer. If using ethernet, unplug the connection to your device.

Back Up Everything on Your Device

It’s important to back up everything as soon as possible so you don’t end up losing any files. If you’ve downloaded ransomware, having a backup will protect you from getting scammed out of money from a hacker that demands a ransom to give back files they’ve corrupted.

The act of trying to remove a virus or other dangerous script can also cause data to be erased or destroyed in the process, so backing up right away ensures your files are safe.

Do a System Scan for Malware

It’s important to NOT reconnect to the internet to download a virus scanning tool, remain offline while doing this. If you’re running Windows 10, then you already have a built-in anti-malware application. You can find it by clicking the Start icon and typing “security” into the bottom search bar.

If you don’t have a tool to scan your system offline, it’s best to take your device into an IT professional who can check it thoroughly for viruses and malware and initiate a removal process for you. 

Change Your Logins & Email Password

Once you have your clean system back or can use another device to go online, you’ll want to change all your login credentials to various websites, like banking sites, social media sites, etc. and don’t forget to change your email password too.

This will help stop anyone that was able to gain access to logins with a spyware script.   

Check Other Devices on Your Network

Even if you disconnected right after you realized you clicked a dangerous link or opened a malicious attachment, there could be other devices on your shared network that were infected.

You’ll want to have a virus/malware scan done for:

• Other computers and laptops on your network

• Mobile devices that connect to your Wi-Fi

• Smart devices that use your Wi-Fi (security cameras, voice assistants, etc.)

• If you’re in an office, do a full scan of all servers as well

 Stay Vigilant

You’ll want to stay on high alert in the coming weeks and months after a possible malware infection, because not all malware is easily detectable, and some go into “sleeper mode” when being scanned.

You may also want to put a credit alert on your credit cards just to ensure your information hasn’t been compromised.

Get Virus and Malware Help Fast from Pro Tech Guy

 If you think you may have a virus or malware infection, please call on us. We pride ourselves on professional, prompt, and complete service. We’ll ensure any infection is taken care of and your device is delivered back to you clean and ready to use safely.

Contact us anytime at 508-364-8189 or through our contact form.

It seems just about everything is in the cloud these days from old favorites like Word and Excel to newer products like Slack for chat and Todoist for list and product management.

The advent of cloud computing has also brought along new ways to save time by enabling communication between those various cloud platforms in order to automate tasks. Things as simple as saving SMS messages to a spreadsheet or flashing the lights when an important email comes in can make life easier.

We can all use a little more time these days and using triggers and automations can free up minutes per day that can turn into hours per week.

At Pro Tech Guy, we’re always looking for ways to make our residential and business clients’ lives easier through efficient use of technology. One of the ways we do that is through our Cloud Care Premium service which combines managed antivirus and malware protection with other benefits like managed Windows and software updates and unlimited cloud backup.

If you’re looking to save time by letting technology take on some of your manual tasks, read on for some great automation triggers you can start using right away.

How Do Automations & Triggers Work?

To get the most out of a program that enables automations between a variety of cloud-based applications, it helps to understand how the process works. 

There are many online facilitators you can use to set up automations, two of the most popular are:

• IFTTT

• Zapier

 IFTTT’s name actually helps explain how the trigger process works. Their name is based on the term “If this, then that.” Or in other words, if THIS thing happens, THEN do that thing.

So, for example, if you were setting up a volunteer training workshop and were receiving registrations by email, you could set up the following automation to capture those emails automatically in a spreadsheet.

Trigger: When a new email comes into a specific email address.

Automation: Add email as new row into specific spreadsheet 

Using the “if this” (trigger) with “then that” (automation), there are tons of things you can do to not only save time but also eliminate re-keying errors.

Time-Saving Automations for Home & Work   

Some automations are real time savers and can also improve productivity, while others are just for fun. Both can help make your life better whether you’re at home or the office.

73% of customer support professionals say managing workload and time is their biggest issue. (Workato)

Here are some great automations you may want to try.

Keep Your Facebook & Twitter Profiles in Sync

Save time when updating your profile by connecting Facebook and Twitter via IFTTT so that when your Facebook profile is updated, Twitter automatically grabs and applies the same update.

Keep Up with Sales Invoices

Having trouble keeping up with cash flow projections and which invoices your team has out there? Have Zapier set up an automation that sends a digest of new Xero sales invoices to your Gmail account either daily, weekly, or monthly. 

Save Time on Repeat Texts

If you have an iPhone, you can take advantage of Siri Shortcuts, automations that Apple enabled in their iOS 12 update. Say you often text your co-worker while on the way to work, “I’m at Starbucks, do you want your usual?”

Instead of typing that out each time, you can set up a Siri Shortcut that will send the text to the appropriate person automatically on a voice prompt of your choosing, like “Hey Siri, Starbucks run.” 

Make Project Management Even Easier

 If you use Asana for project management and Slack for team communications, streamline the process by connecting the two with Zapier. This allows you to create new Asana tasks from a Slack chat, and then have updates to the project trigger notifications between the two programs automatically to help you keep on top of what’s happening from either place.

Add Your Favorite YouTube Tracks into Spotify 

Keep the music you love automated by using IFTTT to add any favorited YouTube track to a Spotify playlist automatically. 

Morning Wake Up Call

Instead of just an alarm going off, how would you like to wake up to a pleasant greeting, a reminder of what time you need to head out the door, and the morning’s weather report? Siri Shortcuts can enable this automation by connecting the appropriate apps to help your day start off right.

Automatically Post Blogs to Your Facebook Page

Whether you’re a personal or business blogger, you can save a considerable amount of time by using Zapier to automatically post new blogs that you publish in WordPress to your Facebook page.

 Get an Alert When an Astronaut’s in Space

This one is more on the awesomely fun side and could help impress friends and colleagues. Through an IFTTT trigger you can get a SMS alert or email anytime an astronaut enters space.

Save Time on Accounting Entry

Using Zapier, you can reduce manual entry time and potential keying errors by automatically creating invoices in QuickBooks online for any new Shopify orders that come in.

Learn More About Automating to Save Time & Money

Would you like some help setting up time-saving automations? Pro Tech Guy can sit down with you and help you decide which cloud applications to connect and how to get the integration set up to save you time by automating tasks. 

Contact us today to get started at 508-364-8189 or through our contact form.

You’ve had your copy of Microsoft Office for years, and you’re wondering if it’s worth it to upgrade to Office 365 if you should just stick with the software you have.

There are a several reasons to upgrade to a newer version, such as older versions being phased out of important security updates and compatibility with newer applications.

But the thought of paying a monthly or annual fee instead of just buying the software and owning it forever, keeps many home users from choosing the cloud-based Office 365.

Could you be missing out? By staying away from Microsoft’s subscription-based Office you could possibly be losing some pretty nice features that would make your life much easier and could end up saving you money.

Over half of businesses globally use Office 365. (Wire19) 

On the business side, we see a lot of Pro Tech Guy clients that use the business versions of Office 365 not only for the core Microsoft Office programs – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook – but also for the additional tools that come along with them, like OneDrive for storage.

When we’re providing business IT consulting for companies in Framingham and the surrounding area, we often find great features of Office 365 business that are included in the home user version as well. OneDrive is just one of those.

If you’re a home user and use your computer either for work, pleasure, or both, does it make sense to purchase an Office 365 home subscription?

We’ll go over all the benefits for the home version below so you can decide if the extras they package with Office 365 make it worth it for you.

What is Office 365 & How Does it Differ from Office 2019? 

Let’s look first at what Office 365 is and how it differs from the “offline” versions you may be used to.

Office 365 is what we call a cloud-hybrid, meaning that although you can access all the Office programs online, you also download them to your computer and can work on them offline as well, which is convenient as you don’t always have to have a internet connection to use Word or any other Office programs.

Office 365 includes all the basic software you’re used to, plus more. A big benefit is that your software is accessible online from multiple devices, mobile included.

Office 365 vs Office 2019 

Office 365 Home (and Personal) includes:

• Word

• Excel

• PowerPoint

• Outlook

• Publisher (PC only)

• Access (PC only)

• OneDrive

• Skype 

Office Home & Student 2019 (one-time purchase) includes:

• Word

• Excel

• PowerPoint

So, if you’re just comparing pricing on a one-time purchase of the Microsoft Office programs versus subscribing to the online version, you’ll be missing out on a lot of the extra applications & services you get with Office 365. 

Pricing between Office 2019 (offline) and Office 365 (cloud-hybrid)

There are two versions of Office 365 for home users, the main difference is the number of users you get. With Office 365 Personal, you get 1 user only. With Office 365 Home, you get up to 6 users.

• Office 365 Personal: $69.99/year or $6.99/month

• Office 365 Home: $99.99/year or $9.99/month

• Office Home & Student 2019: $149.99 (one time)

What Features Do You Get with Office 365 Home/Personal?

Here is a run down of six features that may make you rethink your decision to upgrade to the cloud-based version of Office.

OneDrive Storage

OneDrive is an online storage service that you can use to automatically backup your computer, drag & drop files to save or share, or do an auto upload of your smartphone photos/videos. With your Office 365 Home subscription each of your 6 users gets 1TB of space on OneDrive.

Skype Minutes

With your subscription of Office 365, each user gets 60 Skype minutes per month to make calls to mobile phones or landlines.

Office for Mobile Devices

Office 365 allows you to fluidly start a document on your desktop, then pick it back up on your tablet and continue. The mobile capability is one of the biggest benefits for users who enjoy mobility and being able to work away from their main computer.

Activate on 5 Devices Per User 

You get a lot of freedom to use your Office 365 subscription on multiple devices, for no additional cost. Each user can install Office on unlimited devices (computers, laptops, mobile devices) and have up to 5 of them activated at a time (meaning you’re signed in) 

Real-time Co-Authoring 

Because Office 365 is cloud-based, you can use it to work on a document simultaneously with another person. The mobile versions also include the ability to co-author.

Use it with Microsoft Teams for Chat Collaboration

While Microsoft Teams may be marketed more to businesses, you can download it for free and use it with your Office 365 subscription to easily share documents between your family or friends, set up a private chat group for your HOA or volunteer group, and as a launchpad for all your Office applications.

Get Help with a Custom Office 365 Setup

If you’re planning to take advantage of all that Office 365 offers, give Pro Tech Guy a call. We can help you customize all the settings and show your family how to make the most of it to save time and money.

Contact us online or call 508-364-8189 to schedule your custom setup today.

Have you ever had a friend who seemed to have a magical ability find what they needed in seconds a Google search? Even the most obscure information? But when you try to find that same information, you end up searching forever and having to click through page after page of results. 

A world of information is right at our fingertips in today’s internet driven world, but as more and more web content is created, finding exactly what you need is getting more difficult.

What that savvy friend may have had that you didn’t were some secret Google search tips that helped them shortcut their searching to find exactly what they needed much faster.

Our mission at Pro Tech Guy is to help our clients with any and all technology needs and provide the best service they’re ever gotten. Whether they need an expert Wi-Fi set up for a business or help with a home computer virus removal, we’re there with expert and responsive support.

One thing that both our residential computer service and business IT service clients in Framingham, MA have in common is they both use the world’s #1 search engine to find information.

Google has 92% of the search engine market share globally. (StatCounter)

If you’re looking to save time and find things online faster, then you’ll want to read on for some amazing and time-saving Google search tips.

Search Like a Pro with These 10 Google Search Tricks

Frustrated when you can’t find what you need on Google fast? Once you try these tips, you’ll open up a whole new world of searching.

1.    Site-Specific Search

Are you looking for a show about Nikola Tesla that you heard was on the History channel? You could spend time going through their site pages to try to find it OR you could use a Good site-specific search, which brings up search results only for the site you request.

Just type the operator “site:” then the website followed by the keyword. So to find that Tesla show you’d type: site:history.com tesla

2.    Remove Unwanted Results 

You want to know the speed of a mustang, but Google doesn’t know if you mean the horse or the car, so you get results for both. Use a “-“ in front of the keyword you want omit, to have Google read it as a negative keyword (i.e. one you don’t want).

To find out how fast mustang horses (not cars) are, you’d type: speed of mustang -car

3.    Look for Similar Entities 

You love Outback Steakhouse but there isn’t one near you, so how can you easily find other similar restaurants? Use a “related:” operator and Google will do it’s best to give you sites related to the one you enter.

To find your next best steakhouse, type: related:outback.com

4.    Find a Specific File Type

If you are looking for a PowerPoint presentation on poison dart frogs without knowing this Google search tip, it could take you hours of searching. Find several of them in seconds by using a file type search.

To find that very specific PowerPoint, type: poison dart frog filetype:ppt

(Note: this also works for .pdf, .doc, .xls, and other common file formats.)

5.    Quick Unit Conversions 

You’re in an international conference call and everyone is taking about the weather in their country, you’re able to quickly answer in both Fahrenheit and Celsius, with a little help from Google.

All you need to do is type: fahrenheit to celsius into the search bar and a handy converter will come up. This also works for multiple other conversions, like “feet to inches” or “pounds to kilograms.” 

6.    Fast Translations

You’re still on that international call and everyone’s talking about their pets. You expertly tell your German colleague that you and your hund enjoyed a long hike yesterday. How did you know that hund is German for dog? 

You simply pulled up Google typed in: dog in german

7.    Area Calculations

 You’re painting your office but aren’t sure how to calculate the amount of paint needed for a triangular area. You could do a lot of searching to find an online calculator to use, or you could use this Google tip.

Type in: area of a triangle

Google will bring up a calculator for you with the proper inputs you need to enter. This works for the area of a circle too!

8.    Get a Quick Tip Calculator

Another handy calculator that Google will serve up to you in seconds, and that doesn’t require downloading an app, is a tip calculator.

Calculate the tip faster than any of your dinner companions by typing into the search bar: tip calculator

9.    Search on Twitter (with Google)

Looking for all the apple pie information you can find on twitter? You can use google to search user names, hashtags, and tweets that contain your keyword.

To find all Twitter has on apple pies, you’d type: apple pie @twitter 

10. Search by Date

If you’re tired of getting out of date results when you’re trying to find statistics from 2018, you can narrow your search results to only pull up a specific date range.

Once, you’ve typed in your keyword, click Tools (far right, under the search bar), then click Any time and choose your desired date range.

Looking for the Best PC & Mac Repair in the Framingham & Metrowest Area?

Come to an IT Pro you can trust to fix your system right the first time! Pro Tech Guy offers low flat rate pricing and has a passion for helping people with their technology.

Contact us for all of your technology needs. You’ll be glad you did! Call 508-364-8189 or reach out online.

The average person has about 23 different online accounts for which they use passwords. And once you incorporate the accounts they sign into for work, that’s a huge number of logins to keep up with every week.

Many people fall back on the habit of using a small list of rotating passwords for everything, but this makes it easier for hackers to get into multiple accounts after stealing just a single password.

How prevalent is password theft when it comes to cybercrime?

 81% of hacking related data breaches are due to weak or stolen passwords. (Trace)

When we’re assisting clients with business and residential virus removal in Framingham, Natick, Sudbury, Wayland, Wellsley, Ashland and surrounding Metrowest area, a key culprit that we find responsible for a breach is a weak password.

Users try to keep their passwords easy to remember because it can be like getting a papercut when you’re trying to get into a website and you’ve forgotten it. Not all sites make it easy to go through password recovery.

But if you don’t use password best practices, which include strong and hard-to-hack passwords, you can leave yourself at risk of some of the following: 

• Bank account hack

• Someone impersonating you on Facebook or other social media

• Hack of your iTunes or Google Play account

• Breach of your business network and customer data

• Identity theft

• Stolen credit and debit card details

• Spyware, ransomware or other dangerous malware

• Hacking into a home security system or baby monitor

• Remote use of your computer in a coordinated cyber attack

Password Best Practices You’ll Want to Start Using

Our team at Pro Tech Guy are experts at troubleshooting computer and IT issues of all kinds, which is why we can often identify a breached password as the source of a malware or virus intrusion or just a case of a system “acting funny.” Our IT services are far from limited… it’s our goal to be your “go to” IT guru for any and all tech needs.

Here are some of the password best practices that we teach our home and business clients to use to stay safe and greatly decrease their chance of a data breach.

Make a list of “Don’t Use” Passwords 

Before you start exploring how to build strong passwords, it’s good to know which ones are the easiest to hack that you should stay away from. Most of us know not to use “password” for a login password, but there are plenty of others that are just as easy for hackers to guess.

Some of the easiest to hack passwords are:

• 123456

• password (or password1)

• welcome (or welcome1)

• ninja

• abc123

• 12345678

• sunshine

• princess

• qwerty

Use at Least 7 to 10 Characters 

It may be annoying when you are setting up a new password and the system tells you it’s too short, but it’s just trying to protect you. The longer your password, the harder it is to hack. 

Use a Password Phrase 

An easy way to create a long password that is still memorable is to use a phrase that is not too common, rather than just a single word as your password. Such as: “todaymy5blueumbrellasareneeded”

Use a Combination of Letters/Symbols/Numbers

This can be another stuck point when you’re setting up a new password because the more secure a system is the better chance it’s going to require a combination of letters (both lower and upper case), symbols and numbers. This practice helps ensure your password is strong and much harder to guess than one that includes letters only. 

Don’t Use the Same Password for Everything 

It’s easy to fall into the habit of using one password, or a group of 3 to 4 rotating passwords, to log into multiple sites and applications. This is a dangerous practice because once a hacker gains just one of your passwords, they’re going to bet you’re using it other places (like Paypal or iTunes) and will try it to hack into multiple other logins.

Use a Reliable Password Management Application

If you’re like most of us, after reading thus far in the password security list, you’re probably thinking, “How I am supposed to remember all those different strong passwords?” The answer is a password management application. These applications give you a master password to use to login to the system, then the app can generate and store for use unique and strong passwords for everything.

Change Your Passwords from Time to Time 

Have you been using the same password to login to your online banking for four or five years? It’s probably a good idea to change it. Changing passwords regularly, such as once or twice a year, helps them stay confidential and can thwart a hacker that may silently be in your system without you knowing it.

Use Two-Factor Authentication 

A practice that significantly improves login security is using two-factor authentication along with your login. Many providers offer this like Google, PayPal, Office365, and others. Once enabled, when you enter your username/password, you’ll be sent a text (or email) with a time-sensitive code to enter to complete the login.

Get an IT Security Checkup from Pro Tech Guy  

How secure are your devices and wireless network? Pro Tech Guy can come and take a look at your system and help you implement security best practices to keep your personal or business data safe.

Don’t leave yourself open to hackers! Give us a call today to get started at 508-364-8189 or reach out online.

Windows 10 has been a very well-received operating system (OS) for many users, with great new features, excellent stability, and a user-friendly interface. In fact, it marched into 2019 as the world’s most popular desktop OS, finally bypassing its predecessor Windows 7.

With so many new features released in this version, including several that came with a big end of the year update in 2018, it can take a while to get up to speed on some of the most time saving and helpful things you can do with Windows 10.

At Pro Tech Guy, we enjoy helping people get the most of out their technology and that includes providing expert computer repair and tech support services in Framingham and the surrounding Metrowest area.

We’ve enjoyed getting to know Windows 10 since its debut over three years ago, and it’s our pleasure to help our residential and business clients use it to the fullest to save time, increase productivity, and enjoy all the new features. 

We’ve got 9 of our favorite tips and tricks for Windows 10 that will turn you into a computing pro!

Windows 10 Pro Tips & Tricks… Just for You!

From taking editable screenshots to opening your favorite programs faster, these tips will supercharge your computer time.

1.  Screenshot an Area

This feature came out in the fall 2018 feature update and it makes it much easier to take a screenshot of a certain area on your screen, instead of having to pull up the snip tool.

Hold Windows key + Shift + S and you’ll have the ability to take use a rectangle or freeform to designate a screenshot area. Once you take the screenshot, you’ll see it appear in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, click to open it in Snip & Sketch to add markup if you like or save as is.

2. Pull Up a Program Fast 

Windows 10 has created a few different ways to get where you’re going faster on their operating system. To quickly open a program:

Click the Windows key then begin typing the name of the program, the system will search and bring it right up for you in the Start panel.

3. Design Your Own Start Panel

When you click the Windows key, you’ll see a number of programs arranged into groups on the right-hand side of your Start panel. These are meant to be helpful placeholders, but they’re easily editable so you can make it just how you like it.

• To rename the sections, click on the name to edit it.

• Drag and drop applications from the menu on the left into the panel on the right

• Drag and drop the program icons to rearrange them

• To remove an app icon, right-click and choose “Unpin from Start”

4. Get Your Own Voice Assistant 

Widows 10 comes with Cortana capability so you can enjoy voice activated searches and functions from your PC.

To enable Cortana, click the circle on the bottom, left-hand search bar to activate. Next, if it’s the first time you’ve used it, click the notebook icon in the Cortana sidebar menu to set your “hotword” (i.e. “Hey Cortana”) and follow prompts to help it learn your voice. Then you’re good to go!

5. Organize with Virtual Desktops

Do you have too many windows in the way when you’re trying to work on something? You can create virtual desktops and easily switch between them by using the Task View. So, you could have one desktop for browsing and the other for a spreadsheet you’re working on.

Just click the Task View icon which is immediately to the right of the search bar, then choose “+ New Desktop.” 

6. Snap Assist for Split Screen

Instead of trying to carefully position two windows next to each other on your screen, you can have Snap Assist do it for you. Once you have two or more windows open, drag one to either the left or right edge of your screen and when you release your mouse, the window will automatically size to fit half of your screen and the other half will be filled with thumbnails of any other open windows.

7. Text from Your Computer 

Tired of picking out letters on a small smartphone screen? When you’re at your PC you can text from there just as if you were on your phone. Android users can use the Your Phone App in Windows 10 to pair their device with their PC. In addition to texting, you’ll also be able to easily access your phone’s photos. (Sorry iPhone users, this is only compatible with Android for now.) 

8. Save Your Favorite Webpages in the Start Menu

Remember how we talked about customizing your start menu? Well, you can also add quick links to your favorite websites there too. You’ll need to use the Edge browser, then once on the site you want to add, click the “three dot” menu and choose “Pin to Start”

9. Hidden Screen Recorder

We call this hidden because it’s included in the Game Bar and meant to be part of the new Xbox app to record footage of your game playing. But it can be used for recording other applications as well, for instance to make an instructional video.

Access the Game Bar by pressing Windows key + G, once you have it launched, it’s pretty easy to use, just click the red button to record.

Need Computer or Software Help from a Pro?

Pro Tech Guy is the tech guru you’ve been looking for that can help with repairs, tech tutoring, or software optimization. We’re fast, friendly, and experienced!

Give us a call today at 508-364-8189 or reach out online to discuss any of your technology needs.