iOS | Small Business Tech Tips

1. Don’t Panic.

As our favorite galactic traveler’s companion reminds us (ref. Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy), It’s important to keep problems in perspective. The Heartbleed Bug incited widespread panic for what turned out to be limited reasons. This new security bug is reported to be even bigger than Heartbleed, but it, too, has a relatively limited reach. It only affects Unix-based systems that use Bash. The best way to address it is to keep updated on the patches which are sent out. Some routers are also affected, and so updates will be pushed out to handle those as well.

2. What is the BashBug?

Bash is one of the central programs to the modern Unix operating system. It’s used to issue commands to the kernel of the OS. It is a little like the Windows command line. Mac’s desktop operating systems are built on Unix, and that’s why people are concerned. The BashBug is an exploitable nuance of the Bash shell that someone could use to observe and possibly modify an unknowing computer’s information. Basically, it’s like leaving your car window down.

3. I have an iPhone, should I be worried?

No. The iOS is a different operating system from the Desktop OS of MAC, known as OS X.

4. What if someone w/ a Mac emails me? Will my company be at risk? Can I “catch” the Bug this way?

No. The vulnerability is specific to Unix-based OSes. It can’t be transferred between operating systems. Windows has a fundamentally different underlying program, and it does not include Bash, which is the host for this bug.

5. What’s this thing about routers?

Some routers run on a variation of Linux. Manufacturers will also be pushing out updates to resolve this. Please contact your system administrator (which might be us) to resolve it if you have concerns. We can be reached at 888-244-1748.

September 18, 2014 Dawn

How I broke my phone, got it fixed, and why I might stick with Windows OS the next time I phone-shop

Standard

For about a month Spotify hadn’t been working properly on my Samsung Focus. I couldn’t “search” for songs via my phone; I had to wait until I got onto my home computer. So last Saturday I finally decided to take matters into my own hands. Big mistake.

Uninstall? Click-click. Done: Spotify uninstalled. Easy-peasy.

Reinstall? Go to Spotify on the Web. Click “Download.” Easy—. Wait.

There was an error message saying that Spotify wasn’t compatible with my phone and that I needed an update. I went to my phone’s settings, but there were no new updates. I tried to login to my Spotify account manually, but it said my username and/or password were wrong, and that I needed to login via Facebook. So I went to FB and was told that it wasn’t compatible with the iE browser on my phone (which is weird, because I already have a FB app on my phone), so I tried to download Chrome, which stalled out and hung…!

I repeated this vicious cycle of attempting anything and everything I could think of to try to get Spotify back on my phone. (Because without tunes, how was I going to do my workout? Amiright?) I wished I could call one of my tech colleagues from Everon, but it was the weekend; I hated the idea of bugging them with work. By Saturday night I was dreading the thought of tackling a 35-minute powerwalk without Iggy Azalea telling me to “Work!”

A sick feeling began to develop in the pit of my stomach. I knew I was going to have to visit a phone store. Maybe the pros could fix what was wrong. Or maybe my 3 year-old Samsung Focus was just too old, too antiquated. Maybe I’d have to crack and change. I was facing the possibility of having to readjust my life to a new phone. Probably an Android.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4

The hot trend that stormed the market this month is the phablet—like Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 (which pioneered phablets four years ago; Android), Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus (iOS), and Motorola’s Moto X (also Android). I’m not sure how I feel about handling the oversized devices or whether they would fit into my purse-pockets, but the idea of being able to write and text more easily is starting to grow on me.

However, I’m used to Windows, and I’m not a heavy-duty app user. I can organize my schedule and sync it with Outlook. I can take notes and upload my photos to OneDrive. I recently learned how to utilize the GPS-thingy so I can navigate to new places in Boulder. And I absolutely love my Spotify. But all of Microsoft’s latest bells and whistles, like Cortana (Microsoft’s Siri), and its forthcoming, universal Windows OS, are getting ready to be overhauled into the new Lumia (Microsoft is dropping the Nokia brand name) sometime in 2015. So I’d like to put off a purchase for as long as possible.

Sunday morning, shortly after the mall opened, I put on my game-face, strode past Old Navy, H&M, and even White House Black Market—without wavering—all the way to the AT&T store. (Yup: I didn’t stop. Didn’t even look at the storefronts. Music is that important.) Fortunately, my exposure to the funny, friendly techs here at Everon has rendered me uber-comfortable dealing with techs. It was pretty easy for me to hand my phone to the guy behind the counter, Alex, and explain the problem. Alex frowned, going through the same vicious cycle of error messages I’d been through earlier.

One of the friendly techs, and fellow bloggers, here at Everon: Tony Cooper.

One of the friendly techs, and a fellow blogger, here at Everon: Tony Cooper.

“Sorry this is taking me a while,” he apologized. “We don’t get a lot of Windows phones in here.” Yeah, I figured. I’m in a minority of cell phone owners. I’m sure my game-face morphed into reluctant resignation as I began glancing at the displays along the wall, wondering which one would be hard-sale-forced upon me.

Alex went to confer with a colleague. I wandered over to the wall and cradled the weird, curved shape of the LG Flex with its Android OS, the giant Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (the Note 4 won’t hit stores until October), and the Windows-based Nokia Lumia 1020, with a near-professional-grade camera and a hefty price tag. They all felt foreign in my palm. Alex came back; I returned to the counter.

“I know it’s really old,” I sighed, gesturing at my Focus. “I probably just need a new one.”

“But does this one work for you?” Alex asked.

“Well, aside from now, yes,” I shrugged.

“Well, then, that’s all that matters,” he said. “Let’s see if we can fix it.”

Wait—what?

I blinked. Yes, he’d just said that. He wasn’t going to hard-sell me on something I didn’t need; he was genuinely going to try to help me. Come to think of it, it’s the same attitude my guys maintain at work. Heck, it’s our motto: “People first, technology second.” Hope rose in my chest.

Alex proceeded to go to the Windows Marketplace on my phone and download Spotify from there. It worked, without error messages. From there, we had a bit of trouble trying to correctly login (for some reason it wanted my old username), but suddenly—voila—music!

He handed me back my phone. I gushed thank yous at him as he smiled, nodded, and turned to the next customer. It wasn’t until I’d practically danced out the door of the shop that I realized not only had I not had to buy a new phone, but I’d just had my phone fixed… for free… just because I have a monthly plan with AT&T.

Now I know what our Everon customers feel like when they rave about “dealing with true professionals” who fixed their machines. Ah, happy endings!

More friendly Everon techs: L2 Engineer Tim Woodworth and L1 Engineer Jay McGuire.

June 10, 2014 Dawn

Will Ransomware Cell Phone Attacks Reach the U.S.? (And what to do if you get infected)

Standard

Two weeks ago they hit iPhone users in Australia and New Zealand. This week the reports came in that they’d hit Android users in Eastern Europe, specifically Ukraine. We’re watching, waiting to see if-and-when one of them will hit Western Europe and the U.S. — Oleg Pliss and his kin, Simplocker. They’re not people; they are a new round of cell phone viruses, and the difference is that they’re ransomware. Pay them money, or they threaten to hold your contacts, pictures, or even your whole cell phone hostage.

Sound familiar?

No, viruses for cell phones aren’t new. In fact, there’s a whole slew of mobile device virus protection software (Lookout, AVG, Avast, etc.). Trouble is, ransomware is notorious for getting around anti-virus protection.

Early reports indicate that, at least in the case of Ukraine’s Android virus, Simplocker, the level of encryption isn’t as complex as Cryptolocker. That doesn’t make it any less annoying, though. And according to some reports it does no good to try to pay Oleg’s ransom because the payment is linked to a PayPal account that doesn’t exist.

So, being a bit freaked out about this (even though my phone is a Windows platform, which hasn’t yet been affected), I asked my guys, the techs here at Everon, what I should do if my phone were hit by ransomware.

“The best thing you can do is to just wipe your phone,” Jeff Woods, one of our experienced L2s, said.

“And then reload all of your info from your backup,” Frank Lindsey, the L1 Supervisor added.

Um, okaaaay…? I felt like a kindergartener in college. Wipe my phone? And… is it automatically backed up? How do I do that if it’s not?

“Well,” Frank said, “if your cell phone is registered with us, at Everon, you could call and we can do a factory wipe for you. Or most cell phone providers can also do that, if you just call Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, or whomever.”

“Alternately,” James Schaffer, another of our L2s, said, “you could perform your own wipe in your phone’s settings.”

I checked my phone’s settings and couldn’t find where to do this. James told me to go to “Settings” -> “About,” and then click the button that says “Reset Your Phone.” (Of course, this only works if your phone isn’t locked by a virus.)

As far as doing backups, it turns out most phones do have automatic backup features. But iPhones, for instance, have to be plugged into your computer to perform their backups – something many iPhone users never do (they only charge the battery). And then there are the settings on the backup. If you’ve only told it to back up your contacts, you run the risk of losing any pictures you haven’t manually saved. (Or already posted to Facebook.)

There are programs you can use to do your auto-backups, too. Google Drive will automatically backup your mobile data. Dropbox, Picassa, Facebook, and Google+ are other sites that will also perform auto-backups on your data and/or photos if you adjust their settings correctly. (Ah, more settings. Good thing I have tech support here!)

So if your mobile data is all backed up, and you do get infected with something evil that needs last-resort measures, like ransomware, all you have to do is wipe and restore. (One site I found estimated this process would take no more than an hour.) Easy-peasy. If you’ve backed up your data.

Sometimes the best defense is just the ability to recover.

March 20, 2014 Wah Lee

Android vs iOS vs Windows vs Blackberry! Who will reign supreme?

Standard

Let’s compare size: you know that size sometimes does matter.

According to a Gartner, a leading information technology research company, Android OS phoned finished 2013 with a 78.4% market share, Apple’s iOS accounted for 15.6 %, Microsoft Windows phones were at 3.2%, Blackberry at 1.9 %, and other operating systems came in at just .9 %. So if size matters, then Android is the way to go. Check out the pretty chart:

So here is my take on the whole situation:

Android:

I have an Android phone, currently Samsung Galaxy s3. Aside from the fact I like the virility of the operating system, I really like the phone hardware. I will be upgrading to a Galaxy s5 when it comes out later this year.
Majority of the apps are free, and Android has the second largest app market, behind Apple (but you have to pretty much pay for everything on Apple).
Good advantages for remote management and has very good integration with Google Cloud and other cloud products.
Overall I find the Android OS to be the most well-rounded for both personal and business uses.
Android is a really cool name.

Apple IOS:

My wife has an iPhone 4 or 5 ( not really sure).
If you own various Apple products you’ll have easy integration with them.
It has the largest app market, but you pretty much have to pay to play anything good (in my opinion).
If you are looking for some bells and whistles but still want grandma to be cool, this is it.
I am biased on Apple products. While I think they are great, they can be challenging for integration as well as management in a business environment.
It seems all the kids on the playground (and their grandparents) have iPhones nowadays.

Windows Phone:

I am going to buy my parents a Windows phone, due to some very low cost of entry on certain models. Also the fact the tile screen icons are huge and easy on the eyes.
I do not think this is ready for business, it really gears towards multimedia and connecting to the web. If you are in the social media space I would really recommend to check it out.
Great integration with Office 365, Skype, Facebook and other mainstream cloud products.
Small app market, but there are huge pushes already in progress to close the gap.
I am a fan of the hardware on some of the phones but I get really annoyed by the Tiling feature of the OS. Think Windows 8, but on a mini-screen.

Blackberry:

I have some old relics and I plan to keep them. When I did have the old Blackberries I loved them: they were fast, light, had a great battery, and the keyboard was just great. I could respond to an email on the phone at the same speed it would take me on my laptop keyboard.
It has the best security and integration if you have a Blackberry Enterprise Server.
Fastest handle time from when an email gets sent to its delivery on any phone I have seen.
Some of the phones that have recently been introduced are not really that great.
Blackberry’s app market is not really good. I was on it one time, and I just gave up.
Right now there is just no reason to go with them unless you are in banking, government, or really need specific security requirements.

Keep in mind that these are just my personal thoughts. The best way to decide for yourself is to play with the operating system to see what your personal preference is and go from there.

March 18, 2014 Dawn

How to Shop for A New Cell Phone: Advice I got from the techsperts

Standard

“We’re sorry. Your mobile device does not appear to be supported by our website.”

I like my three year-old (ancient!) Windows-based Samsung Focus. But the increasing frequency with which I get surf-blocked by those words, now that I’m trying to do more with my cell phone – like banking – makes me think it’s time for a new one. And since I know less about technology than my 12 year-old (who I made sure was there when the Comcast guy came), I decided to get advice from some real pros: the techs here at work.

Which platform is the best: iOS, Android, or Windows?

Most of the guys preferred the Android platform for its sheer volume of free apps and its flexibility of customization. But, many of them cautioned, they’re techs. They know their way around Gadgetland. As Alex Straffin, Everon’s Technical Services Manager put it, “Android for nerds, iOS for noobs.” However, while most of them agreed that Windows and iOS are easier to use, both of those platforms are somewhat restricted to their own Windows or Apple universes. Principal Project Manager Wah Lee noted, “If you want well-rounded everything, Android is the best.”

Why kind of phone do you have now? Do you like it? If you bought a new phone tomorrow, what would you get, and why?

Jeremy Bienemann, our L2 Supervisor has an iPhone that he said worked well. “My wife is not very tech savvy, so I have to use one that is easy for her to use. I also want to keep my phone compatible with hers.” Daryl Patino, an L2 Tech, has an HTC One that he likes (“for reasons most consumers would never care for”), and Simon Tolstopyatenko, an Everon Field Engineer, loves his Sony Xperia Z Ultra, which, he claims, is “the biggest, thinnest, most powerful phone you can buy.”

But the repeated answer that came up from the rest of my respondents was the Samsung Galaxy, either the s3 or s4, and they all liked it. In fact, the only thing that would stop them from purchasing the same phone again, if the need arose, would be whether or not the s5 had come out yet. (Hmm… I already have a Samsung that’s served me well….)

Josh Hansen, our Client Technology Advisor added that in addition to your preferred platform there are four key things to look for in a new phone: “Battery life, reception quality, RAM, and how many processor cores it has .” Processor cores? “More is better,” he explained. “A 1Ghz duo core is better than a 2Ghz mono core.”

Thanks, guys. I’m a bit more comfortable about all of this. Think I feel a shopping spree coming on….