The Sensationalism of Dark Web Searches

The dark web, a term that often conjures images of a murky underworld thriving on illicit activities, has become a frequent subject of sensational journalism and research. This trend, however, poses several issues, notably the distortion of reality and the...

Find Missing Outlook Folders

There are occasions when an Outlook folder inexplicably vanishes. You’re certain it was previously present, but now it seems to have vanished. Frequently, the reason is that the folder has unintentionally been shifted under another Outlook folder, unbeknownst to...

Cloudflare for your Android or iPhone

Are you an Android or iPhone user looking to improve the performance and security of your mobile device? Are you having troubles connecting your email or social media accounts. If so, you may want to consider using the Cloudflare app. Cloudflare is a well-known and...

Reset DNS to 8.8.8.8

When your local DNS server fails, reset DNS to 8.8.8.8 by following these steps: Click Start |  KatyComputer.com | Network Connections Double click on Ethernet if hard wired into network, Wi-Fi if connected using wireless: Click on Properties box: Highlight...

Cybersecurity in Your Suddenly Remote Workforce

Introduction Serve one man bands and organizations with up to 75 staff members All clients have security systems in place We hold cybersecurity classes in our office Our client base went from 87% office based to approximately 20% office based within a week using their...

Be Safe When Zooming

When stay-at-home orders were issued in March, many individuals and organizations began using online communication tools such as Zoom. It has been reported that over 90,000 educational institutions turned to Zoom as their main provider of virtual education. Their...

QuickBooks for KatyCare clients

KatyCare clients can take advantage of our relationship with Intuit to purchase discounted QuickBooks licenses. QuickBooks Desktop Pro is $170 for a perpetual license, we recommend upgrading every three years. Using VPN technology, we configure your QuickBooks Desktop...

COVID-19 Changes

We are implementing a few changes in response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. We rely on the Department of Homeland Security for guidance for these and other policies related to security. As an essential service, we will remain active in our office where we...

Showing your Google Calendar in Outlook

With your Google calendar secret address in iCal format (“iCal url”), you, your family and colleagues can view your calendar in Outlook, to get the iCal url needed by Outlook. To get the iCal url: Go to your Google calendar, login if necessary Select the...

Clear your web browser’s cache, cookies, and history

Clearing your web browser’s cache, cookies, and history may remove data such as the following: Saved passwords Address bar predictions Shopping cart contents, etc. While you should clear your web browser’s cache, cookies, and history periodically in order...

Word as a secure container

When transmitting your tax documents this tax season, ask your tax professional to use their secure portal to transfer your documents. We like and use CrushFTP. If your tax professional doesn’t have a portal (probably because they aren’t on KatyCare), you...

Multiple networks, one adapter

When configuring a new network device, manufacturers will set the device to a static IP address – usually 192.168.1.1, or 192.168.5.1. To program this device we change the IP settings on one of our workstations, program the device to work within our...

System Hygiene

KatyCare maintained systems are fast, reliable and secure due in large part to the policies and procedures we implement by proprietary scripting. From time to time, manual intervention is required to update and optimize our systems. Everything needed is found in the...

ESET Security and Protection

Every computer system needs comprehensive protection against viruses, malware, and phishing attempts. At Katy Computer, we’ve found a winning combination of light impact on protected systems, and sturdy defenses with ESET. ESET offers multi-layered defenses against...

QuickBooks Utilities

Utilities developed for QuickBooks add considerable value to a fully featured, well supported tool. Our favorite utility developers: QSalesData QuickBooks Link for Act! ProperSoft conversion tools to get from CSV/PDF/QFX/OFX/QIF to QBO or IIF format MoneyThumb convert...

Sending email in a world of tighter security

When we sent our first marketing communication via email, it was 1994 and the world was a simpler place, I collected a few hundred emails and proceeded to tell everyone at the University of Missouri that we had a contract to provide workstations and would welcome...

Southwest Air Auto-Check Script

We have standardized on Google Chrome to take advantage of the many well written Chrome extensions. Tampermonkey is a userscript manager, it enables you to install scripts that make on-the-fly changes to web page content. Using Tampermonkey and Chrome, you can use...

Facebook Security – How to change your password

If you’re logged in to Facebook and know your password: Click  in the top right corner of any Facebook page and select Settings. Click Security and Login. Click Edit next to Change Password. Click Save Changes. If you’re logged in to Facebook and you...

Office 365 Shared Mailboxes

A member of your team was provided with a dedicated user mailbox and therefore an Office 365 License. Now the team member has separated from your organization or is on an extended leave, the License can be released. In order to keep the email for future reference and/...

Looking for a Computer

We are frequently asked to help our clients source products. Some clients say “order me something”, we have been working with them and generally know if that means get me something for $500 or $1,500. The Internet provides a tool for research. We had a...

Browse in private

There are many reasons to use the Incognito or Private mode of Google Chrome including:- You want to login to Microsoft or Google using a personal email address- Your web application provider is asking you to clear your cookies- The adblocker is restricting your web...

Audacity to create a Podcast

Our computers are useful for creating and editing multi-media files. If you’re looking to record a podcast, conversation, music or webinar; or if you just need a tool to assemble and convert some audio samples, it’s tough to go wrong with Audacity....

Client Data Collection

QuickBooks has a useful feature in the Accountant’s Edition of QuickBooks. You can use a spreadsheet to enter transactions, then simply copy and paste the transactions into QuickBooks. If you provide bookkeeping services for a hundred clients, the obvious...

Password Management for Businesses

Every organization has the same problem, you have dozens, if not hundreds of websites that require (and we demand) secure credentials to access their services. Some websites, such as the IRS complicate matters by requiring an id, PIN and other identifier. So you need...

How to turn off uBlock ad-blocker

To keep your computer productive and secure, we install uBlock Origin ad-blocker on KatyCare computers. uBlock Origin is a lightweight ad blocker for Google Chrome. We recommend you run it to protect your computer from malware infected advertisements and to enhance...

Setting Your Vacation Message (Office 365)

If you are on our Office365 platform, you can set your vacation or “Out of Office” message using Outlook: 1. Click File | Automatic Replies (Out of Office)   2. Complete the dialog box and enjoy your time out of the office:  ...

Faxing from your desktop

KatyCare clients can use our fax server to send scanned and other office documents via email. Send an email addressed to:   ###-###-####@katyfax.com (###-###-#### is the recipient’s fax number) Attach the file you need faxed, this file should be a PDF, TIF or...

Focused Inbox for Outlook

Microsoft Outlook 2016 introduced the concept of the focused Inbox to help you manage your emails. Focused Inbox separates your inbox into two tabs—Focused and Other. Your most important emails are on the Focused tab while the rest remain on the Other tab. To turn...

Office 365 on your Android Device

When we transition your email account from our Fastnet1 server to Office365, you gain quite a few Exchange related features: Shared Calendars, Contacts, Notes and message searching capabilities. To take advantage of these features on your Android based device, you...

Office 365 on your iPhone

When we transition your email account from our Fastnet1 server to Office365, you gain quite a few Exchange related features: Shared Calendars, Contacts, Notes and message searching capabilities. To take advantage of these features on your Apple IOS based iPhone, you...

Modify your hosts file

Modifying your hosts file enables you to override the DNS for a domain, on that particular machine. This is useful when you want to test your site prior to going live and for other DNS-related reasons. Modifying your hosts file causes your local machine to look...

What is IMAP?

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is one of the core methods of retrieving and storing email. Unlike POP, IMAP stores your email on the server, allowing access from multiple devices. Post Office Protocol (POP) stores messages on the server until deleted, usually...

8 Steps To Building A Successful Blog

Step 1: Register a domain. A domain is the address of your website, like “microsoft.com” or “freemoney.biz”. Registering an appropriate and snappy domain name gives you a good way to make it easier to find your blog. Registration gives you the...

Display Images in Microsoft Outlook

Outlook 2016 To unblock picture downloads for all messages in Outlook 2016: Click File. Click Options. Click Trust Center. Under Microsoft Outlook Trust Center, click Trust Center Settings. Uncheck the Don’t download pictures automatically in HTML e-mail...

QuickBooks Read Only User Instructions

One of QuickBooks’ most powerful and frequently used features is the ability to run multiple user accounts. Often different people need different levels of access, or the organization needs a solid audit trail for determining who made changes. To start, log in to your...

TLS Encryption

It is important for organizations that require a greater level of security for inbound and outbound email traffic to understand the benefits of using Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. What is TLS Encryption? Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its predecessor,...

Lessons From Equifax

Equifax, a major US credit bureau, has experienced a massive data breach. While analysis of the exact causes and the fallout from this breach are still under scrutiny, there are some suppositions and guesses that are, if not definitive on the Equifax side, at least...

Boarding Passes and Information Security

Recently, Brian Krebs posted a story about the information shown on airline boarding passes. It’s interesting to see exactly how much secret/secure information is printed on a disposable piece of paperwork; much of it is secured only by format; barcodes are difficult...

Act! Customer Relationship Manager

Sales-oriented businesses will be familiar with the idea of a CRM – Customer Relationship Management – program. Act! is the CRM software we support at Katy – it’s a powerful program, capable of being remotely accessible, and includes powerful tools for scheduling and...

Centralizing Your Data Storage

In any organization, different members will need different information and managing who has access to that information can quickly become a serious headache. This is one area where a few good computers and a few good policies can dramatically simplify that overhead. A...

Leaks and Security Practices

With large security breaches becoming a more consistent phenomenon, many companies are looking for ways to keep from being the next victim. One of the most intense concerns has been unethical employees – a person in a position of trust can do a lot of damage. The...

Bundled Software

Even perfectly useful software can sometimes hide unexpected packages. While it’s more common among free and repackaged software bundles, even such common and vaunted software as Windows is sometimes packaged with unnecessary programs. The common industry term for...

Data Backups

Data loss is a strange beast- it’s an easy trap to fall into, and a hard one to climb out of. There are criminals who would hold your information hostage, mechanical failures that can ruin your day, and plenty of ways for small mistakes to snowball into costly...

Online Account Security

With the rise in fraud, many retailers online are taking extra precautions- as they should. There are some ways you can build on this higher baseline to help keep your money in your own hands in a busy day-to-day. Turn on Multi Factor Authentication: Multi Factor...

Social Engineering

As information security measures become more complex and powerful, many criminals and hackers are taking advantage of other kinds of vulnerabilities in what are known as “social engineering” attacks. If you’ve heard about the rising epidemic of tax fraud, then you’ve...

Growing Inventory Management

For a small startup business, taking inventory is usually simple and quick- look around, see what’s there, see what’s missing. But as the business grows, and the stuff starts to pile up, using an automated system becomes more advisable and, eventually necessary. If...

Spearphishing Attacks

Some of the most effective recent hacking attacks have used very straightforward programs- ones that come to the front door and ask permission before taking over a computer. These attacks have cost enormous amounts of money, time and endless headaches for security...

Cloud Computing Basics

A lot has been made recently of cloud computing- having the computational “heavy lifting” done by servers across the internet, rather than by the machine the user is seated at. There are some tremendous advantages that can be had in the cloud, but it can be expensive...

“Legacy” Systems

Businesses don’t like changing their processes- it’s expensive, time consuming, and can put a (hopefully temporary) strain on daily operations. But there are a lot of risks associated with old or outdated technology, and being proactive about updating and replacing...

Windows 10 – Upgrading and Costs

We’ve been getting some questions about the specifics in upgrading to Windows 10, especially regarding costs and compatibility. So here is a rundown of what to expect: Windows Vista and any previous versions are not being offered a free upgrade. There are concerns-...

Encryption

Encryption is becoming more and more necessary as more of our devices become connected to the internet- whenever sensitive information touches public data lines, it’s vulnerable- to hackers, to data collectors, even to occasional data line misfires. The best way to...

BYOD

There is an ongoing push lately for BYOD options- “Bring Your Own Device”, where an employee can set up their personal smart phone or tablet computer to work on job-related information. These options can be a great savings for any company in costs, both for hardware...

Windows 10 and Software as a Service

The arrival of Windows 10 is a bit of a sea change for business software. While no one is being required to switch over by Microsoft, there is a clear push for it to replace all previous Windows platforms. And while this will likely prove to be a serious benefit for...

Remote Monitoring and Maintenance, Part 2

Remote maintenance includes more than just update management. Using a remote access program, your IT provider can drastically cut the time and cost requirements for small repairs and minor changes. But there’s more to it than that, even: being able to quickly...

QuickBooks Bank Feeds

Recently, a small business owner reached out to us about the amount of time they spent reconciling credit card statements. They felt like they were between a rock and a hard place- too small to justify a staff accountant, but too large for working through things by...
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