Category: Support

Remember when Firefox was the cool browser to use? It was a time before Google Chrome, when Internet Explorer first started to fall.

As you can imagine, Mozilla isn’t happy with Firefox’s declining user base, and they’ve developed a plan to begin regaining territory lost to Chrome. This plan revolves around a three-pillar philosophy

1. Quality – Ensuring that every feature is streamlined and enjoyable to use.

2. Uniquely Firefox – Giving users Control to shape their web with a strong focus on online privacy.

3. Best of the Web – Creating better integration with add-ons and partners.

More usage of Firefox could mean less search volume for Google, as Firefox no longer uses Google as its default search engine. It’s hard to say exactly what else this would mean for the future, but it’s safe to assume that Google, Apple, and Microsoft will react and bring even more changes to our current selection of browsers.

Either way, this fierce competition will likely end in victory for consumers!

Information sourced from News360 Article: Mozilla outlines three-step plan to win back Firefox users

Has anyone else noticed an especially slow network lately? Well, according to Senior Technical Instructor, Doug Bassett, if you’re not using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), “It’s not you, it’s not crazy, it’s not malware, it’s just Microsoft pushing out Windows 10 to as many people as possible.”

Many IT admins out there have reported that their networks slowed to a crawl when those files were automatically pushed to their computers and none are happy about it. Especially those who deal with hundreds of computers on a limited amount of bandwidth.

In a statement from Microsoft, “For individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they’ll need if they decide to upgrade. When the upgrade is ready, the customer will be prompted to install Windows 10 on the device.” How thoughtful of them.

In the meantime, every computer on your network could be pulling somewhere between 2 to 4.3 gigabites of unwelcome data whether or not you actually decide to upgrade to Windows 10. These files are reportedly being stored on the Local Disk in a hidden folder that’s called $Windows.~BT.

So, what can be done about this? Well, Doug Bassett recommends that you use WSUS. Unfortunately, not all of us can simply do that, so his other work-around is to, “Either set a group policy to turn off automatic updates,” or “go and manually do it. Hopefully you don’t have 10,000 machines trying to settle this stuff up.”

Good luck! We hope you don’t have 10,000 machines to do by hand either!

When Windows Server Backup does its job, it works quietly. There are no alerts to indicate a successful or failed backup. Thanks to wsbalert.com powered by Skynet Solutions, there’s now a way to get instant Alerts in case of failure.

Seeing the problem with Windows Servers, we swooped in and created our own solution, electing to share it with others who are interested. This also marks another successful launch of a new website. This simple, sleek and functional website sports responsive design, making it mobile friendly, which has recently become very important after google’s Mobilegeddon ultimatum.

Signing up is free and easy! If you utilize Windows Servers and want that extra peace of mind, check out wsbalert.com. If you have any other custom software needs or website design needs, get in touch with our marketing team at www.skynet-solutions.net!

In this day and age, if you have a small business, you’d better have a blog somewhere to go along with it. Without an online blog, search engines are going to have a hard time finding you and so are your customers. The goal of a search engine is to return the most relevant results to users and your goal should be to keep those search engines happy. A lot of blogs receive the bulk of their traffic from the major search engines, so it only makes sense to work in conjunction with them to optimize your success. We have put together a list of tips that will ensure your business’s blog stays relevant and at the top of search engine rankings. Content drives search engine traffic, so updating your blog frequently is one of the best ways to push your company to the top of the list when people search for your products and services online. Post blog updates at least once per week to keep the search engine spiders coming back to your content more frequently. If they visit your blog regularly, they will quickly index your new content. Actively blogging on a regular basis is one of the most cost-effective channels for generating leads to acquire new customers. The more you publish, the more your site is crawled and the more leads are sent your way by search engines. Search engines measure the pages of your website based on their freshness and rank them accordingly. So, keeping around old content that exists simply to generate pageviews can sometimes do more harm then good. However, some old content that continually answers a user’s query may remain fresh forever in the eyes of a search engine. On average, blog posts have a fresh and relevant lifespan of about 2 to 3 years where they will continue to attract readers and be shared across other blogs and various social channels. So, if you have older blogs reaching the end of their lifespan you can give them a new lease on life by updating them with new information like current statistics or latest developments on that topic. Be consistent with a blog posting schedule no matter what it takes. This is critical because when your regular readers are looking for new posts and can’t find them, they may assume that your blog is no longer important to you or relevant to them and will quickly lose interest. Readers will adapt to your posting rhythm and will begin to expect that reliability from you. If you post every Monday, then it’s important to continue updating your blog on Mondays to remain consistent. If you’re running out of new ideas for content, there is nothing wrong with a little repetition every once in awhile. Sometimes before a message can get its point across, it needs to be repeated. Just don’t repeat something for repetition’s sake as that can become annoying to your readers. If you are concerned about not being able to keep up with a rigorous publishing schedule for your blog, find someone within your organization who can take it over or look into outsourcing your blog posts to a reliable company like Skynet Solutions. Not a tip in the world is ever going to take the place of actual personal knowledge gained by first-hand experience with tracked results and experimentation. Test your blogging strategies continuously to find out what works best for your business’s particular situation and you will be successful when search engines come looking for you.

China’s Lenovo Group Ltd is in an awkward situation. It recently came out that Superfish, a piece of software that Lenovo had been pre-installing on consumer laptops, is malicious adware.

Superfish had been reported on Laptops as early as last June. However it wasn’t until Thursday, February 19th, that U.S.-based security research firm Errata Security declared Superfish malicious and dangerous to users. It is reported that the adware hijacks and opens encrypted connections, allowing hackers to eavesdrop.

This should be a warning to you – Even large, trusted companies can create dangerous situations regarding your personal information. Keep your computer clean and safe, and have it checked by professionals regularly!