Top 10 ways to secure your stored data

Multiple layers of defense can isolate and protect data

Securing stored data involves preventing unauthorized people from accessing it as well as preventing accidental or intentional destruction, infection or corruption of information. While data encryption is a popular topic, it is just one of many techniques and technologies that can be used to implement a tiered data-security strategy. Steps to secure data involve understanding applicable threats, aligning appropriate layers of defense and continual monitoring of activity logs taking action as needed.

Figure 1 below shows common areas of focus pertaining to securing stored data while at rest (being stored) and while in flight (being moved or accessed). Data movement is required for authorized general access, business continuance (BC) and disaster recovery (DR), general data protection as well as archiving for data preservation and compliance. In no particular order, here are 10 items to consider as part of securing your stored data in addition to those in Figure 1.

Figure 1

(Click image to see larger view)

Implement a tiered data protection and security model including multiple perimeter rings of defense to counter applicable threats. Multiple layers of defense can isolate and protect data should one of the defense perimeters be compromised from internal or external threats.Include both logical (authorization, authentication, encryption and passwords) and physical (restricted access and locks on server, storage and networking cabinets) security. Hopefully, the closets in your facility for cleaning personal and their tools are separate from where you keep your storage and networking cabling and tools. Physical security includes maintaining a low profile. For example, if yours is the only building with lights on during a heat-wave-induced electrical power blackout, at least turn your outside lights off as well as other lights that can be seen from the outside so as to not draw unwanted attention.Logical security includes securing your networks with firewalls, running antispyware and virus-detection programs on servers and network-addressed storage systems. No storage security strategy would be complete without making sure that applications, databases, file systems and server operating systems are secure to prevent unauthorized or disruptive access to your stored data. Implement storage system based volume or logical unit number mapping and masking as a last line of defense for your stored data.

• Speaking of physical security and access controls, change your key-code or door-lock combinations regularly, informing only those who need access. You might be surprised who stops by to ask for the access for the combination or password for something that you did know that they had access to in the first place.
• Some storage and networking tools will encourage you to change management passwords at initial installation. I hope that this sounds like common sense, however, due diligence is to say the obvious -- change default passwords at installation and on an ongoing basis. Likewise, restrict access to management tools to those who need it.
• Know who has physical access to fixed and removable data-storage media and devices. Leverage access logs as well as perform background checks of contractor and third-party personnel who will be handling your data and media. Identify where weak links are in your data-movement processes and correct those deficiencies. Data-discovery tools can be used to identify sensitive data that may not be adequately protected.
• If you are currently moving data electronically to avoid losing tapes or are planning to, then make sure data being transmitted over a public or private network is safe and secure. Some techniqes to protect data while in-flight include encryption, virtual private networks and the IPSec protocol.
• Data encryption is a topic people in the industry like to talk about, however, like other technologies, wide-scale mass adoption has been elusive. However, as a trend, encryption -- in some shape or form -- is here to stay and most likely is in your future. There is plenty of debate as to when (at rest, in flight), where (storage, network, appliance, servers) and how (hardware, software) to implement encryption. For now, consider what the level or depth of encryption you need to counter your applicable threats. Also, consider how key management will be performed for your environment. In addition, consider the potential effect on performance and interoperability for your environment when looking at data-encryption technologies.
• Avoid letting data security become a bottleneck to productivity, because that is a sure way to compromise a security initiative. The more transparent the security is to those who are authorized to use the data, the less likely those users will try to circumvent your efforts.
• Do you know if your data is safe, and do you know where your data is? See that backups and archives are secure, including the process of performing backups and recovery, along with where and how the data is stored. Consider how you will handle key management in a DR situation as well as for long-term retention. Have an understanding of how you will be able to unlock your data for regulatory compliance and archived data.
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Security Architecture

Definition - What does Security Architecture mean?

Security architecture is a unified security design that addresses the necessities and potential risks involved in a certain scenario or environment. It also specifies when and where to apply security controls. The design process is generally reproducible.

In security architecture, the design principles are reported clearly, and in-depth security control specifications are generally documented in independent documents. System architecture can be considered a design that includes a structure and addresses the connection between the components of that structure.

Techopedia explains Security Architecture

The key attributes of security architecture are as follows:

Relationships and Dependencies: Signifies the relationship between the various components inside IT architecture and the way in which they depend on each other.

Benefits: The main advantage of security architecture is its standardization, which makes it affordable. Security architecture is cost-effective due to the re-use of controls described in the architecture.

Form: Security architecture is associated with IT architecture; however, it may take a variety of forms. It generally includes a catalog of conventional controls in addition to relationship diagrams, principles, and so on.

Drivers: Security controls are determined based on four factors:

Risk managementBenchmarking and good practiceFinancialLegal and regulatory

The key phases in the security architecture process are as follows:

Architecture Risk Assessment: Evaluates the business influence of vital business assets, and the odds and effects of vulnerabilities and security threats.

Security Architecture and Design: The design and architecture of security services, which facilitate business risk exposure objectives.Implementation: Security services and processes are implemented, operated and controlled. Assurance services are designed to ensure that the security policy and standards, security architecture decisions, and risk management are mirrored in the real runtime implementation.

Operations and Monitoring: Day-to-day processes, such as threat and vulnerability management and threat management. Here, measures are taken to supervise and handle the operational state in addition to the depth and breadth of the systems security.

Decryption

Definition - What does Decryptionmean?

Decryption is the process of transforming data that has been rendered unreadable through encryption back to its unencrypted form. In decryption, the system extracts and converts the garbled data and transforms it to texts and images that are easily understandable not only by the reader but also by the system. Decryption may be accomplished manually or automatically. It may also be performed with a set of keys or passwords.

Techopedia explains Decryption

One of the foremost reasons for implementing an encryption-decryption system is privacy. As information travels over the World Wide Web, it becomes subject to scrutiny and access from unauthorized individuals or organizations. As a result, data is encrypted to reduce data loss and theft. Some of the common items that are encrypted include email messages, text files, images, user data and directories. The person in charge of decryption receives a prompt or window in which a password may be entered to access encrypted information. 

Encryption

Definition - What does Encryptionmean?

Encryption is the process of using an algorithm to transform information to make it unreadable for unauthorized users. This cryptographic method protects sensitive data such as credit card numbers by encoding and transforming information into unreadable cipher text. This encoded data may only be decrypted or made readable with a key. Symmetric-key and asymmetric-key are the two primary types of encryption. 

Encryption is essential for ensured and trusted delivery of sensitive information.

Techopedia explains Encryption

Symmetric-key encryption uses two secret, often identical keys or codes for computers involved in message transmission. Each secret key's data packet is self-encrypted. The first symmetric encryption algorithm is the Data Encryption Standard (DES), which uses a 56-bit key and is not considered attack-proof. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is considered more reliable because it uses a 128-bit, a 192-bit or a 256-bit key.

Asymmetric-key encryption, also known as public-key encryption, uses private and public keys in tandem. The public key is shared with computers attempting to communicate securely with the user’s computer. This key handles encryption, rendering the message indecipherable in transit. The private matching key remains private on the user’s computer. It decrypts the message and makes it readable. Pretty good privacy (PGP) is a commonly used public-key encryption system.

Public Key Cryptography (PKC)

Definition - What does Public Key Cryptography (PKC) mean?

Public key cryptography (PKC) is an encryption technique that uses a paired public and private key (or asymmetric key) algorithm for secure data communication. A message sender uses a recipient's public key to encrypt a message. To decrypt the sender's message, only the recipient's private key may be used. 

The two types of PKC algorithms are RSA, which is an acronym related to this algorithm's inventors: Rivest, Shamir and Adelman and Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA). PKC encryption evolved to meet the growing secure communication demands of multiple sectors and industries, such as the military. 

PKC is also known as public key encyrption, asymmetric encryption, and asymmetric key encryption.

Techopedia explains Public Key Cryptography (PKC)

PKC is a cryptographic algorithm and cryptosystem component implemented by a variety of Internet standards, including Transport Layer Security (TLS), Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), GNU Privacy Guard (GPG), Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) websites. 

PKC facilitates secure communication through an insecure channel, which allows a message to be read by the intended recipient only. For example, A uses B's public key to encrypt a message to B, which can be decrypted using B's unique private key. 

PKC maintains email privacy and ensures communication security while messages are in transit or stored on mail servers. PKC is also a DSA component used to authenticate a private key verifiable by anyone with authorized public key access, which validates message origin and sender. Thus, PKC facilitates confidentiality, data integrity, authentication and nonrepudiation, which form key Information Assurance (IA) parameters.

PKC is slower than secret key cryptography (or symmetric cryptography) methods, due to high computational requirements. Unlike symmetric cryptography, PKC uses a fixed buffer size, depending on particular and small data amounts, which may only be encrypted and not chained in streams. Because a broad range of possible encryption keys are used, PKC is more robust and less suscreptible to third party security breach attempts.

Cryptography

Definition - What does Cryptographymean?

Cryptography involves creating written or generated codes that allows information to be kept secret. Cryptography converts data into a format that is unreadable for an unauthorized user, allowing it to be transmitted without anyone decoding it back into a readable format, thus compromising the data.

Information security uses cryptography on several levels. The information cannot be read without a key to decrypt it. The information maintains its integrity during transit and while being stored. Cryptography also aids in non-repudiation. This means that neither the creator nor the receiver of the information may claim they did not create or receive it.

Cryptography is also known as cryptology.

Techopedia explains Cryptography

Cryptography also allows senders and receivers to authenticate each other through the use of key pairs. There are various types of algorithms for encryption, some common algorithms include:

Secret Key Cryptography (SKC) - Here only one key is used for both encryption and decryption. This type of encryption is also referred to as symmetric encryption.Public Key Cryptography (PKC): Here two keys are used. This type of encryption is also called asymmetric encryption. One key is the public key and anyone can have access to it. The other key is the private key, and only the owner can access it. The sender encrypts the information using the receiver’s public key. The receiver decrypts the message using his/her private key. For non-repudiation, the sender encrypts plain text using a private key, while the receiver uses the sender’s public key to decrypt it. Thus, the receiver knows who sent it.Hash Functions: These are different from SKC and PKC. They have no key at all and are also called one-way encryption. Hash functions are mainly used to ensure that a file has remained unchanged.

Information Security (IS)

Definition - What does Information Security (IS) mean?

Information security (IS) is designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer system data from those with malicious intentions. Confidentiality, integrity and availability are sometimes referred to as the CIA Triad of information security. This triad has evolved into what is commonly termed the Parkerian hexad, which includes confidentiality, possession (or control), integrity, authenticity, availability and utility.

Techopedia explains Information Security (IS)

Information security handles risk management. Anything can act as a risk or a threat to the CIA triad or Parkerian hexad. Sensitive information must be kept - it cannot be changed, altered or transferred without permission. For example, a message could be modified during transmission by someone intercepting it before it reaches the intended recipient. Good cryptography tools can help mitigate this security threat.

Digital signatures can improve information security by enhancing authenticity processes and prompting individuals to prove their identity before they can gain access to computer data.

Data Security

Definition - What does Data Securitymean?

Data security refers to protective digital privacy measures that are applied to prevent unauthorized access to computers, databases and websites. Data security also protects data from corruption. Data security is the main priority for organizations of every size and genre.

Data security is also known as information security (IS) or computer security.

Techopedia explains Data Security

Examples of data security technologies include software/hardware disk encryption, backups, data masking and data erasure.

A key data security technology measure is scrambling, where digital data, software/hardware, and hard drives are scrambled and rendered unreadable to unauthorized users and hackers.

Data security is also very important for health care records, so health advocates and medical practitioners in the U.S. and other countries are working toward implementing electronic medical records (EMR) privacy by creating awareness about patient rights related to the release of data to laboratories, physicians, hospitals and other medical facilities.

Align the Business with the Right Security Technology

Matching the needs of your business with the right security technologies is the first step to launching a network security project.

Use the following list of considerations to get you started:

Your current security level

Take an inventory of the security features your network already has. This list will help identify gaps in your current protection methods.

Does it offer firewalls, a virtual private network, intrusion prevention, virus protection, a secured wireless network, anomaly detection, and identity management and compliance validation?Do these features communicate with one another?

Your assets

Make a "laundry list" of your assets to determine how many levels, or layers, of protection your system needs.

Within your particular business, what assets are the most critical to your success?Is protecting your internal information most important; your customers' information; or both?How much are these assets worth?Where do these assets reside within you system?

Information transfer

Assess how information is shared inside and outside of your company.

Do your employees need quick access to internal information in order to do their jobs?Do you share data outside the four walls of your business?How do you control who has access to this information?Do you provide varying levels of access to different network users?

Plans for growth

Is your company planning on adding advanced features to your system? How adaptable and flexible will your system need to be? Your security solution should be able to accommodate increased network traffic or advanced applications without disrupting service.

Risk assessment

Determine if the consequences of a security breach extend beyond lost productivity or an interruption in service.

How regulated is your business environment?What are the risks of non-compliance?How much downtime can your business tolerate before financial or reputation losses accrue?

Ease of use

The best security technology will do you no good if it can't easily be installed or used. Make sure you have the resources to manage the system you install.

How Security Pays Off

Network security has become a requirement for businesses, especially those that rely on the Internet. Your customers, vendors and business partners probably expect you to protect any information they share with you.

While network security has almost become a prerequisite to running a business, it also pays off in multiple ways. Here are some of the benefits businesses gain from a secured network:

Customer trust

Privacy is assuredCollaboration is encouraged

A strong security stance assures customers that sensitive information, such as credit card numbers or confidential business details, will not be accessed and exploited. Your business partners will feel more confident sharing data such as sales forecasts or pre-release product plans. In addition, the same technologies that keep intruders out can give your partners secure access to information on your network, helping you collaborate and work together more effectively.

Mobility

Secure access on the roadPromotes productivity while out of the office

Strong network security lets your employees safely access your network from the road or from home without introducing viruses or other threats. Secure, convenient network access means that employees can use critical information when they need it, making them more productive when they are away from their desks.

Improved productivity

Less time wasted on spamBetter employee morale and collaboration

An effective network security program can boost productivity across your organization. Employees spend less time on non-productive tasks such as sifting through spam or dealing with viruses. Your network and your Internet connection remain safe, ensuring you and your employees have regular access to the Internet and e-mail.

Reduced costs

Service disruption is avoidedAdvanced services safely evolve

Network downtime is costly to all types of businesses. By ensuring your network and your Internet connection are safely up and running, you can be sure that customers can reach you when they need you. Effective security allows your business to add new services and applications without disrupting the performance of your network. Taking a proactive approach to safeguarding your data ensures your business remains up and running when it needs to be.

As your company grows, its networking needs will change. Establishing a strong, secure network today will allow your company to add advanced features such as secured wireless networking [LINK TO: wireless networking � Wireless primer or a small office phone system [LINK TO: small office phone system � Voice and Conferencing primer

Network Security!!!

What is network security? How does it protect you? How does network security work? What are the business benefits of network security?

You may think you know the answers to basic questions like, What is network security? Still, it's a good idea to ask them of your trusted IT partner. Why? Because small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) often lack the IT resources of large companies. That means your network security may not be sufficient to protect your business from today's sophisticated Internet threats.

What Is Network Security?

In answering the question What is network security?, your IT partner should explain that network security refers to any activities designed to protect your network. Specifically, these activities protect the usability, reliability, integrity, and safety of your network and data. Effective network security targets a variety of threats and stops them from entering or spreading on your network.

What Is Network Security and How Does It Protect You?

After asking What is network security?, you should ask, What are the threats to my network?

Many network security threats today are spread over the Internet. The most common include:

Viruses, worms, and Trojan horsesSpyware and adwareZero-day attacks, also called zero-hour attacksHacker attacksDenial of service attacksData interception and theftIdentity theft

How Does Network Security Work?

To understand What is network security?, it helps to understand that no single solution protects you from a variety of threats. You need multiple layers of security. If one fails, others still stand.

Network security is accomplished through hardware and software. The software must be constantly updated and managed to protect you from emerging threats.

A network security system usually consists of many components. Ideally, all components work together, which minimizes maintenance and improves security.

Network security components often include:

Anti-virus and anti-spywareFirewall, to block unauthorized access to your networkIntrusion prevention systems (IPS), to identify fast-spreading threats, such as zero-day or zero-hour attacksVirtual Private Networks (VPNs), to provide secure remote access

What are the Business Benefits of Network Security?

With network security in place, your company will experience many business benefits. Your company is protected against business disruption, which helps keep employees productive. Network security helps your company meet mandatory regulatory compliance. Because network security helps protect your customers' data, it reduces the risk of legal action from data theft.

Ultimately, network security helps protect a business's reputation, which is one of its most important assets.

Learn how you can secure your business

Dealing with a problematic Chromebook: Part 2

Last time, I wrote about a Chromebook used by a single person that was experiencing multiple problems. The problems were specific to the Google useron that Chromebook, when they used a different Chromebook, all was well. And, when the problematic Chromebook was used in Guest mode things were fine too.

My solution was to powerwash the Chromebook, a process that removes all traces of Google users from the machine. This worked at first, but after a few days the problems re-appeared.

The most conspicuous problem was the message that "Your profile could not be opened correctly". Most annoying to the user, was that pictures attached to email messages could not be displayed. In EarthLink webmail, clicking on the link to display an attached picture, opened a new, blank tab. Even worse, the system would sometimes freeze.

Is it a hardware or software problem? Is there one underlying problem or many?

I usually make an image backup before giving away a computer, as protection against just this sort of thing, but there are no image backups of Chrome OS devices.

My first reaction was to install bug fixes. The problems started under Chrome OS version 49, but by this time, version 50 had been released. Updating the OS made no difference.

Then, I removed a couple extensions I was fairly sure the Chromebook owner didn't use, but that didn't help either. 

This is partially why people stick with their favorite operating system; on a new OS, you have to start from scratch when it comes to debugging tools. I suspected there was an I/O error and would haveloved to see the SMART data from the hard drive, but I don't know how on Chrome OS.

The Chrome browser has lots of internal-use-only URLs. I blogged about one that can update Flash (chrome://components)just last month. To see a full list, enter chrome://chrome-urls  in the address bar.

The list varies based on the operating system and Chrome OS includes one that Windows does not,  chrome://drive-internals. 

Drive Internals on a Chromebook

Sadly, it was Greek to me and there were no SMART statistics.

Next, I poked around the  chrome://system  output and found multiple log files: eventlog, syslog, chrome_system_log, bios_log and chrome_user_log. The Chrome system log had lots of errors, but none that I could understand. And, apparently errors are normal, there were quite a few on a well-behaved Chromebook too.

Chrome OS storage info

There was also a storage_info section of the system report that seems to have hard drive information (above), but again, I could not interpret the data. 

Clearly, I am in over my head, this was getting me nowhere.

Sometimes, however, working around a problem is good enough. Not every problem needs to be fully understood, explained and fixed.

HAPPY ENDING

My hunch, again, was that the underlying problem was a hard drive read/write error. The system also felt sluggish, which couldbe hard drive related. If I'm right, the current Google account on the Chromebook is occupying the hard drive space with the problem. So, another Google account on the same machine might be just fine.

It was. And, that's our happy ending.

I created a brand new Google account on the Chromebook and, after verifying that it worked flawlessly, started turning it into a duplicate of the first account. For starters, it used the same password.

The Chromebook owner uses EarthLink webmail, so all I had to do there was bookmark the site and tell Chrome to save their password. Had they been a Gmail user, I can think of three ways to handle the transition, there are probably even more.

Fortunately, there weren't any other saved website passwords as those would have to be re-created manually.

There were only a few bookmarks to migrate, so I just re-created them manually. Had there been hundreds, the bookmarks could have been exported from the old account to an HTML file using Bookmark Manager and then imported into the new one.

On Chrome OS, one user can never see another users files, so I manually copied over the locally stored files using a USB flash drive. As I wrote last time, there were just over 200 megabytes worth.

I left the problematic Google userid in place, again, on the theory that it was occupying the bad disk space. It has been a couple weeks and, so far, so good.

WORST CASE SCENARIO

But, what if this second Google account has problems in the future?

In that case, the biggest hammer in the software toolbox is a total refresh of the Chromebook, wiping out, not just the Google accounts, but the operating system as well, before replacing it. 

This is done by downloading a copy of Chrome OS to a USB flash drive or SD card, then booting the Chromebook in a special "recovery mode". The fresh copy of Chrome OS (referred to as the "recovery image") is created using the Chrome browser on a computer running either Windows, OS X, Linux or Chrome OS.

First you need to install the Chromebook Recovery Utility, then you point it at either a USB flash drive or an SD card. The recovery image needs 4GB of space and the Recover Utility over-writes everythingon the flash drive/SD card.

For instructions on booting the Chromebook in "recovery mode" seeRecover your Chromebook.

Any problems that persist after a total Chromebook refresh are, almost definitely, hardware related. That's half the battle right there.

Dealing with a problematic Chromebook: Part 1

I am a big fan of Chromebooks. While recognizing their limitations (no Word or Skype), they are cheap, fast, secure, reliable and simple to use.

Chromebooks are so reliable, they go a long way towards putting consultants, like myself, out of business. That's progress. Never needing help from a techie is also great Defensive Computing.

But even Chromebooks have problems, as I recently found out.

Towards the end of 2013, I dealt with a non-techie whose ancient Windows XP laptop was acting up. His computing needs were very basic and, in the end, he bought a Chromebook. Other than an occasional "thank you" for suggesting a Chromebook, that was that.

Until recently, when the Chromebook started having problems.

This error was displayed after every login

The most noticeable issue was the error message above, "Your profile could not be opened correctly. Some features may be unavailable. Please check that the profile exists and you have permission to read and write its contents"  which appeared every time the user logged on to the Chromebook.

Sometimes, the Chrome browser complained

Along with this, the Chrome browser sometimes started out with a yellow stripe warning that it had not shut down correctly (shown above).

Despite these errors, the computerseemed to work, but with a big exception.

The main thing the Chromebook was used for was EarthLink webmail, and, it too, was having a problem. Images attached to email messages were no longer displaying. Instead, clicking on the image link opened a blank tab, with some internal EarthLink email URL.

Yet another problem

When I started poking around, I noticed another problem. In the Chrome Settings, there was a warning (above) that Sync had stopped working. In addition, the "Advanced sync settings" button was disabled.

DEBUGGING

The first thing I tried was updating the operating system, but the Chromebook was running Chrome OS version 49 which was, at the time, the latest and greatest.

Then I tried a different Chromebook.

Interestingly, logging in to the second Chromebook, with the same Google ID and password, worked fine, as did EarthLink webmail. The users bookmarks were all there, as was their desktop background and saved EarthLink password. Clearly, the problem was not with Google or EarthLink, it was the Chromebook itself.

But, was it a hardware or software problem? How to even tell? I know of nothing like CheckDisk for Chrome OS and SpinRite won't run on a Chromebook.

I tried tweaking the system settings.

Some suggestions for dealing with profile problems involved other users. In this case, however, the "Manage other users" button showed just one user on the Chromebook.

A settings option called "Verified access" was enabled. I tried to understand what it is, but the documentation was useless. With nothing to lose, I turned it off. Didn't help.

Yet another problem presented itself while I was trying to debug the first few. A couple times, after a cold boot and entering the Google password, the system hung. Fortunately, as with many other computers, pressing the power button for an extended period forced the system off.

Clearly something was wrong with thisGoogle user on this particular Chromebook. If the problem was the Chromebook itself, that would be a big deal. So, I gambled that the problem was limited to the Google user account and opted to wipe it out.

POWERWASHING

Chromebooks include a feature calledPowerwash, that many articles say does a factory reset. It does not. An actual factory reset would restore the version of the operating system the Chromebook shipped with. Powerwashing leaves the operating system untouched, instead, it removes all traces of Google users.

WHAT READERS LIKE

Powerwashing is great if you are selling or giving away a Chromebook. In this case, Google specifically suggests Powerwashing for "problems with your user profile." Bingo, I thought.

The Powerwash is limited to the Chromebook itself. Files stored on the machine are removed, but those residing on Google Drive are not.

The problematic Chromebook had 560 local files (i.e. in the "Downloads" folder), totaling 216 megabytes. I copied them all to a USB Flash drive without incident, but copying them to Google Drive was annoying.

I had, at first, copied a few of the files to Google Drive, then I decided to copy all of them. After copying about 320 or so, there was an error that a file already existed and the copying stopped. At this point, its up to me to play Sherlock Holmes and figure out which files were not copied.

As error handling goes, this is sub-optimal. Rather than give up mid-stream, Chrome OS should have an option to continue copying all the other files.

And, while the copy operation was running, the display said something like "copying 99 items," which is not true. The number in the display constantly decreased, which means that what it should say is that there are 99 files left to copy. No mention is made of how many files are being copied in total or how many have been copied so far.

Chrome OS reports available free space for local files

Another annoyance with Chrome OS is that it does not report the total space used by local files. Sure, the Files app displays the size of individual files, and clicking on the vertical dots in the upper right corner shows the amount of available space (shown above), but there is nothing about the currently used space. I only learned that there were 216MB worth of files afterhaving copied them to a USB Flash drive.

In retrospect, since the total size of the files was so small, I should have created a new folder on Google Drive, copied all 520 files there, and then deleted the 320 from the partial copy. Instead, I made a backup of the 520 files on the USB Flash drive.

The Powerwashing process is simple.

Click on "Settings," then "Show advanced settings" and finally the Powerwash button. The system reboots, after which the actual washing took maybe six seconds. You then go through the initial setup, specifying your language, keyboard information and Wi-Fi password.

I logged back in, to the newly washed Chromebook, as its owner, and all was well. There were no more errors about profiles that couldn't be opened and EarthLink webmail images displayed properly.

The 520 files were copied from the USB Flash drive back to the Downloads folder and the Chromebook returned to its owner. All was well ... for a few days.

To be continued

8 essential tips every iPad user needs

Are you using all these iPad features?

Apple’s iPads may be the future of computing, but they already offer an array of tricks to make them even more effective Post PC replacements.

Folders

Most iOS users know how to gather apps inside specific folders because doing so makes it much easier to manage large collections. However, some iPad users may not have realized that they can have up to six apps included in the grey pervasive app strip at the bottom of the page – and even fewer will know that you can also include folders full of apps in this place, making them much easier to find. To put a folder containing apps (Work apps, for example), just tap and hold its icon on the Home screen until all the apps begin to shake, then drag & drop it to the strip. Now you’ll be able to get to that collection of apps really easily.

Search the page

You can search for a mention on the contents of a Web page using this tip. When on a page in the search bar type the mention you are looking for but don’t hit Go, instead scroll down the contextual search suggestions window that appears and look for the On This Page section, under which you’ll find the term you seek. Select this and every mention will be highlighted on the page and you’ll be able to navigate through them using a new menu that appears at the bottom of the screen.

Switch between apps fast

You don’t need to return to the Home screen and then find an app you’ve been using. It is so much easier to place four fingers on your display and simply swipe left or right to navigate through all the active apps on your tablet, or swipe up (again with four fingers) get to the App Switcher view (or double click the Home Button) where your iPad will show you all your currently active apps in a carousel view, just flick through to the one you need (or close an app by swiping its window up). #Tip: Or ask Siri to open the app you want to use.

More multitasking

Split screen view and the capacity to run multiple apps sets modern iPads apart.

While using one app you can open another in a sidebar at the edge of the screen by swiping in from the right until the list of compatible apps appear and selecting one of these. Now the app is running you can drag its window leftwards to give it more space, or tap the grey strip at the top of that app’s window to scroll through other active apps. You can also pinch four fingers together (slowly is fun) to close the active app and return to the homescreen

Virtual touchpad

Have you ever been working in a text app and wished you had a cursor on your iPad? You have, but it’s a virtual one and is available to you whenever you have a visible keyboard in an app. When you do simply place two fingers on the on-screen keyboard and the keyboard section of the screen will become blank. Once it does you’ll be able to move that cursor round the text on the screen.

Perhaps the best (and least used) additional feature in this is selection mode, which you get to by placing your two fingers on the on-screen keyboard and keeping them still for a second or two – look at the screen and you’ll see two circles appear top and bottom of the on-screen cursor. Now you can select text with that cursor.

To be honest the process is a little trickier than that – you need to place your cursor at the beginning or end of text you wish to select before entering selection mode, after which you can select the text you want). Once you’ve selected some text you can tap it in the usual way to access edit functions.

Undo

Made an error in text entry? You can shake your iPad to undo the mistake, or tap the strange square and left-turning arrow at the left of the auto-correct suggestions bar to get rid of your error.

PiP

When you are watching a movie or using FaceTime you can minimize the video window by pressing the home button so you can use apps effectively on screen.

Lost and found

If you use your iPad in a busy home or a crowded office then you should already be using this tip, which lets you get your iPad to make a sound if you happen to bury it under a pile of magazines or papers or something. You achieve this using a function offered by Find My iPhone, which you enable in Settings>iCloud, Toggle Find My iPhone to On (green). You will need to enter your Apple ID and password. Now when you can’t find your iPad you just need to log into iCloud from any computer or device, choose the Find iPhone command, select your device from the drop-down menu at the top of the screen and choose the Play Sound command from the options at the right.

[May 2016] Best Internet data plan for Android, iOS and PC

Welcome to the month of May, and today I’ll be revealing the best internet data package, bundle plans along with their subscription codes recommended for all internet enabled devices which includes Java phones, Symbian, Android, iOS devices and personal computers.

We’re fully aware about the competition going on among our internet service providers, as they rival with each other, introduction to cheaper internet plans are being made available. Sometimes, there’s improvement in their data offers.

This content would be re-modified on the long run as I’ll keep you guys updated if there are any changes made on any of the internet data package, so I would advise you always keep in touch.

Recently, most of our internet service providers introduced some new internet data packages; some others improved their previous offers while some others had to put an end to their cool internet offer.

Anyway, don’t worry yourself much as at the end of this content, you’ll get the most affordable choice of plan to go for.

Best Internet data plan for Android, iOS and PC

1.       For Airtel users, the 4GB for N1,500 plan seems to be one of the best  internet plan that rivals every other internet service provider in Nigeria. This package gives users not just 4GB at the rate of N1,500, but also rewards user with a N2,600 extra bonus Airtime for Airtel to Airtel calls. The downside of this offer is that it’s only made available for new airtel sims, so if you’re an old Airtel user, it’s advisable you stick with the normal3GB for N1,000 airtel plan. Don't forget about the Airtel Unlimited night plans and also their 1GB for N100 weekend plan.

2.       For Etisalat users, it’s best you go for the Etisalat 2GB for N2,000 package. I’ve used this plan several times and I’m very satisfied with it. It’s not like Airtel network that zaps data quickly. If you’re good at minimizing your data usage, then the Etisalat 2GB for N2,000 internet plan is highly recommendable. To opt-in for this plan simply dial *299*2*8#. If you’re not satisfied with the plan, you can make use of etisalat smart pak tweakwhich gives you unlimited access to the internet. Another alternative plan is the Etisalat 4.5GB for N3500, to subscribe for the plan simply dial *229*2*9.

3.       For GLO users, the best internet data package was supposed to be the GLO 6GB for N1,500 data plan, but unfortunately, GLO 3GB for N1,000 has been capped to 2GB while GLO 3GB is now For N1,400, GLO 3GB for N500 weekend plan. So I would advise you to go for the GLO 7GB data plan for N3500.

4.       Finally,for MTN users, the best internet data plan to make use of is the MTN smartphone plan that gives user 4.5GB for N2,500. This has been the best option for MTN users since last year until recently MTN introduced a 3.75GB data plan for N2000. So you're advised to go for the N2,000 plan as it's the best option for MTN users. If you're the type that browse most at nights, then the 500MB for N25 MTN night plan is highly recommendable.

The above internet data plans highlighted works on all devices. For Blackberry and BB10 users, it’s advisable you stick to your normal internet plans as they’re also affordable. If you got any suggestion regarding to any better internet package for this month, please do let me know via comment section.

OS X 10.11.4 update causing Macs to freeze up

Is your Mac freezing up? The latest OS X 10.11.4 update could be the culprit.

MacBook Pros appear to be the most affected.

If your Mac has been freezing up since you applied the OS X 10.11.4 update to El Capitan, then take comfort in the fact that you're not alone.

There are widespread reports of systems freezing up following the updates. The majority of these freezing system - although not all - appear to be 13-inch Retina MacBook Pros (Early 2015) and 15-inch MacBook Pro (Mid 2015).

The freeze-ups are also being reported by users who have installed the Safari Technology Preview Version 1 and OS X 10.11.5 Public Beta 1.

Here's a video of what happens:

https://youtu.be/X2A5WaTWxMM

The freeze-ups appear to be random, and they require the system to be hard rebooted to bring it back to life. Unfortunately, this is only a short-term fix, and some users have been forced to either rollback their systems to 10.11.3 using a Time Machine backup, or reinstalling OS X from scratch (both of which are time-consuming activities).

If you haven't yet updated to OS X 10.11.4, then you might want to hold off upgrading until this issue is addressed

Your Smartphone Is Not Quite Smarter Than You (Yet)

Can smartphones surpass human intelligence? Probably not, according to touch-screen technology pioneer James Tagg.

It's a trick question, though, because few can agree on a definition of what "intelligence" actually is (and don't get any scientist started on the thorny issue of "consciousness").

"Intuition and creativity cannot be replicated by computers," Tagg said at a Heroes of Mobile event in Los Angeles this week. "But a computationally powerful A.I. can definitely augment human endeavors."

Tagg, an author and co-founder of international SIM card maker Truphone, told those assembled that he is keen to use artificial intelligence in a pragmatic collaboration with people, to fill in the gaps where we are sadly lacking.

"As I see it, the job of A.I. is to fix all the things that are broken in humans. Such as our inability to remember long strings of numbers or often blanking when putting names to faces. If humans concentrate on creative endeavors, we can leave the intellectual grunt work to A.I. to help us go further."

To this end, Tagg incorporated A.I. into the next generation of Truphone. He pointed to those who dial into a conference call from their mobile but need to be on the move, and get dropped from the session as soon as they enter an elevator. Remembering the string to get back in, and the PIN required to re-join the call, is not something at which humans excel. But with A.I., Truphone can reconnect without human involvement using voiceprinting for automatic authentication.

"All this will come to the fore as we're not necessarily connecting people to each other now...but machine to machine within the IoT," he said. "We're moving from a stage where it's not just people traveling and needing international call solutions, but things. All IoT devices have SIMs inside them, and they need A.I. embedded to help manage them."

Putting on a Good Show
The UK-based Heroes of Mobile, meanwhile, is the brainchild of Helen Keegan (aka technokitten).

"I had the idea of creating Heroes of Mobile back in 2010 because I like to bring different parts of the mobile ecosystem together, showcase what's happening, and see what emerges when different disciplines collide - it always leads to much more interesting products and collaborations," she told PCMag before the most recent event. "Also there was a lot of nonsense being talked about in the early 2000s at some really boring mobile conferences and I wanted to put on a better show."

The show's US tour has also taken in New York, San Francisco, and Mountain View.

"Each event had its own unique mixture of people, it's true, and it's always fascinating to see who shows up," Keegan said. "San Francisco's evening was held in a speakeasy and was more of a 'meet up,' seeing old acquaintances in mobile and making new contacts. In contrast, at Mountain View, the audience was highly engaged in debating James's view on the limits of artificial intelligence, and discussing what and what's not possible in that realm. It was a much more intense, and technical night."

What's next for Heroes of Mobile? Keegan is not traveling for a while because her new tech venture, Hacklands, a family-friendly technology and creativity fest, is scheduled for Aug. 19-21 on a Tagg's English farm. And while the English countryside is not known for great connectivity, Keegan is not worried.

"It's...where [Tagg] started Truphone, so the whole place is wired and a very tech-heaven," she confirmed.

Manage Windows 10 Storage

Windows 10 has some great options for managing your storage.  Not only can you see how much space you’re using on the hard drive, but you can also see what’s taking up space. Let’s take a look at the options. First, select Settingsfrom the Start Menu.

Then choose System.

Choose Storage.

A screen will open showing how much space you’re using.

This is also where you can see the default save locations for different types of files on your PC.

Click or tap on “This PC” and you’ll see a much more detailed view of storage. You can tell how much space items like Apps, Documents, and Pictures take up on your device.

You can also manage your files from here. If I tap or click onPictures, the option to View pictures will appear. Click on that and file explorer will open, allowing you to see, arrange, move or delete images.

If I choose Apps & games, I’ll see a list of installed apps.

Tap or click on an app and you’ll see the option to move or uninstall the app. (That’s not available for all apps. Some are built into Windows 10 and can’t be changed.)

Tap System & Reserved and you’ll get a closer look at System files and Virtual memory.

This feature is great for helping you get a quick overview of your storage. Check it out.

Computer Support @Flexures Concepts.

IT Support from Flexures Concepts  provides you with more reliable performance and more predictable expenses. That means you get more value from the technology you've already invested in, while actually reducing the total costs of IT problems and the resulting downtime.

Computer Support

Stop worrying and keep working
When something goes wrong with your IT, everything grinds to a halt. With IT Support from Flexures Concepts , you won't have to worry about what happens when there's a problem with your technology, because we'll be on call to ensure things are always running smoothly. That means you can minimize downtime and better predict your IT expenses.With IT Support from Flexures Concepts you can expect:

Peace of mind - knowing your technology team is always ready to assist you
Less downtime - we identify and fix issues before they affect your business
Fewer disruptions - we provide services quickly to get you back on track
Predictable budgeting - from one company you can trust

Always a perfect plan from Flexures Concepts.

Companies all have different requirements when it comes to their IT and computers. Some may just use their IT for administrative tasks and just want a reliable system that is simple to update. Other organizations my run several hundred machines and use them for all their communications, scheduling and appointments. But whatever your needs, Flexures Concepts can tailor you a perfect solution. To make things easier for you,
we offer three separate plans depending on what your company does and what levels of IT management you require.

Flexures Concepts  Basic Plan (Block Hour Contract)

Flexures Concepts Preferred Plan

This is the most popular contract that we provide as they offer great peace of mind. Our preferred customer contracts will fully cover you – in terms of IT management, security monitoring. These are provided in six-month, one-year, and two-year increments.

Contract Benefits:

4 hour service response time
24 hour, 7 days a week service
Live Help Desk
Semi-Annual Security and Backup Audits
24/7 Monitoring and Onsite Support
Plus a Direction
We set up goals and timelines for project completions so you always know you are moving forward.

Included Costs:

Antivirus Fee’s
Malware Protection Software Fee’s
Security Audit Fee’s
Secured Offsite Backup
LogMeIn Pro
Reduced billing rates

Services Provided:

Antivirus and AntiSpyware
Antivirus Management with Anti-Virus updates every 4 hours.
Includes Antivirus licensing fee’s for servers and workstations.
Includes Malwareware Bytes Pro Licensing fee’s for workstations.

Secured Offsite Backup

System Updates

Third-Party Updates – Adobe Reader, Acrobat, Flash, AIR, Shockwave, Java, Apple QuickTime, iTunes and Mozilla Firefox are all kept up to date for you.

Proactive Monitoring

24/7/365 Remote Network Monitoring with Automated Alerts
Daily monitoring of desktops and servers for hardware failure, software conflicts, hardware diagnostics.
Preventive Weekly Hardware and Software Audits on Performance, Patches, and Updates.

System Maintenance

PC Performance Tuning is included. Each maintenance task is performed utilizing the most expedient and unobtrusive method available, including automatic/remote, manual/remote, and manual/on-site.

Security

Periodic security checks on your Antivirus, Spyware, Firewall and Server.
Includes Network Security Assessments Licensing / Use fee’s
Compliancy and Policy Management on All PC’s

Remote Support

Allows our technicians to support you from our office.

LogMeIn Pro

End User Remote Access and Printing to any PC’s that are being monitored 24/7
Includes LogMeIn Pro Licensing fee’s

Online Customer Portal

Tracking system with client access to all open and closed tickets, invoices, and reporting.
Client Communicator with Self Help on all Desktops
Submit service requests online via the portal or email and view the status of each request at any time.

Live Help Desk

Live answer Help Desk 9:00am-5:00pm, Monday-Friday

Project Consultation

Flexures Concepts will be available to answer any of your IT or office integration questions

Let us answer any questions you have about our managed IT services. We’ll show you the simplest and most affordable way to keep your IT network in top form.

There are questions that could appeal to every age (some may need a bit of creative adaptation).

There are questions that could appeal to every age (some may need a bit of creative adaptation).

Self-esteem is
Self-worth is
Self -confidence is
When do you feel your highest self-esteem? Describe the place, situation, etc.
What is it about other people that "invites" your self-esteem?
How do act when you have good self-esteem?
How would an observer describe you when your self-esteem is high?
Can you remember a painful/negative experience you had which involved self- esteem? What made it painful/negative?
Have you ever observed another person having a painful/negative experience with self-esteem? What made it painful/negative?
What is your favorite way of esteeming others? What do you like about it?
What one word do you most associate with "self"?
What one word do you most associate with "worth"?
How do your ideas about self-esteem reflect your lifestyle?
Where do you get your self-esteem?
Among the people you know, who has the best self-esteem? What makes it so good?
How are self-esteem and family dysfunction related?
How do your ideas about self-esteem reflect your personality?
How do your ideas about self-esteem reflect your life experiences?
How do your ideas about self-esteem reflect your values?
Self-esteem, either you have it or your don't. True or False, and Why?
Once you have high self-esteem it doesn't change. True or False, and Why?
High self-esteem is conceited or egotistical. True or False, and Why?
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to develop their self- esteem?
What blocks or gets in the way of you having better self-esteem?
Can you recall a childhood memory related to self-esteem?
How are self-esteem and happiness related?
How are self-esteem and being perfect related?
What thoughts do you have about the differences between the way men and women view self-esteem?
What thoughts do you have about how self-esteem helps you meet the challenges of life?
What are the "key ingredients" to good self-esteem?

Here are nine ways to use these questions:

Ice-breakers
To increase self-awareness
To de-bunk myths about self-esteem
As a classroom exercise in values clarification
As part of human relations training
As part of individual, group or family counseling
To help parents and children understand each other better
Add them to your existing self-esteem class exercises
Gather the group's responses and post them for all to see
What other ways can you think of to use these questions? What other questions can you think of? Let me know and we can share your ideas with our readers in a future issue of Self-Esteem Today.

Cloud, Collaboration and Today’s Workforce

Businesses are looking to digitally transform their companies. IDC predicts that by the end of 2017, two-thirds of Global 2000 companies will have digital transformation at the center of their corporate strategy. No matter the industry, businesses of all sizes are prioritizing having modern infrastructure, easy-to-use tools and programs for their workers, best-in-class devices and making things easy for their customers. A truly digital businesses share a common trait: they collaborate differently.

In my perspective, there are two main ways that the nature of collaboration has changed:

Sharing access – The era of email attachments is coming to a close. In the cloud era, instead of passing a document back and forth, documents are co-authored – edits are made live and in real-time.
Crossing distances – The cloud allows team members to collaborate and communicate from anywhere. So the “office” of a contemporary company is wherever its workers happen to be at the moment.

For those of us who have been in the workforce awhile, these advancements are phenomenal, because the paradigm used to be so different. But those newer in the workforce have difference expectations.

To them, sharing access and crossing vast distances don’t really feel like advancements. Having grown up alongside these technologies, collaboration is just a part of work. In fact, that is the only conceivable way to work. Any business seeking to transform to be more cloud-ready and digital has to take this into account to bring in the best new talent to their teams.

Everyone knows that technologies like social media have completely changed the dynamics of corporate recruitment and hiring. But technology has also become a consideration for workers as they weigh their job options.

Modern workers spend the majority of their day interfacing with technology, so antiquated tools can be detrimental to their job satisfaction. In fact, a recent survey we conducted, showed thatmillennials in the workforce demand adequate technology to do their jobs. More than 90 percent of respondents said the latest technology was important in choosing an employer.

To appeal to these workers, business leaders have to recognize how they prefer to get their work done.

Shared access — How are files shared and edited at your company? Do you ever lose track of where something is or which team member “owns” it? These are hindrances that today’s workers will find it hard to tolerate. And collaborating via the cloud all but makes them obsolete.
Crossing distances — How do you organize your teams? Based on where people are located, or on who has the right skills and experience for a project? The best employee for the task may not be right down the hall from you. And the best new hire for your company may not be in the same city as you.

One great example of this modern way of working is an SMB out of the U.K., Bounce Foods. The company is the creator of Bounce Energy Balls, a healthy choice for people snacking on-the-go. Bounce Foods, like many high-growth companies, was faced with effectively managing a growing customer base, while rolling out new products and working to expand into new stores. Making the right technology decisions was a key to their success and ability to scale.

In order to keep up with their accelerated growth, Bounce Foods needed to choose tools to better collaborate internally and engage with customers externally and also keep track of processes, resources and information. As their business became more complex they decided to move to Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Azure, Dynamics CRM and Office 365 with Power BI. These solutions helped them to scale their business.

Now, they are able to quickly respond to demand and instantly collaborate on what needs to get done. Their employees are more efficient and are able to deliver better customer service, retailer’s questions are quickly answered by the right people in the company, they can appropriately manage their stock and the overall company is better informed and better connected. Bounce Foods has scaled from 200,000 Bounce Balls per month to 600,000 in just two years. And today their product is sold in major supermarkets, gyms and retail stores.

It’s this level of technology and collaboration capabilities that employees now expect from their employers. The flexibility of the cloud is massively appealing for fast-growing companies. The functionality that it provides can in turn help ensure that companies are appealing to the right type of employee.

Every business and every business leader has to prioritize not only the needs to digitize their company but also how to enable the collaboration that workers today expect.

Using the cloud to expand your concept of collaboration doesn’t just introduce new efficiencies for your organization, it can help make your company more attractive to the best and brightest in today’s workforce.

Making Science Fiction Reality Through Digital Transformation

It’s time to fundamentally rethink your business. If you’re in the auto industry, for instance, are you predominantly manufacturer, or are you really in the business of getting people from Point A to Point B—and if so, what are all the myriad ways you can accomplish that goal?

That’s the sort of question you start to ask yourself when you sit down with Marc Wilkinson, chief technologist at Hewlett Packard. In talking to Wilkinson, you can’t quite help but see yourself at the precipice between traditional business and a digital future that not everyone is prepared for. Here’s some of what we gleaned from our own chat with Wilkinson during Microsoft Envision 2016.

Emerging digital business models allow for many different solutions to traditional needs, even those that were once considered fantastical. If you don’t push yourself to reinvent, you might find your business disrupted in ways you never considered possible.

“We’ve got to sow the seeds. Science Fiction has been written for… decades, and has been sewing the seed [of digital transformation] in the minds of the younger generations that come up. But I think that organizations, particularly big ones, have to understand the multiple ways of engaging with people… you can’t just do one size fits all.” – Wilkinson

But not all risk comes from inaction. All too often Wilkinson has seen companies go a step too far, losing sight of their core principles as they navigate their way toward an uncertain future.

“Boiling the ocean is the first, you know, stab people go to, and usually the first failure.” – Wilkinson

Instead of boiling the ocean, Mark encourages us to distill it—to question every approach, finding those solutions that truly do the job best. You may often find that you’re already doing things right, but don’t be surprised when you find new options in arenas you thought you knew inside and out.

Why “Business Needs” Are Passé

Business technology has long been based on needs. Software, devices and programs have to live up to the expectations of users so they can get their jobs done.

But shouldn’t we expect more by now? Can’t technology make things better and not just good enough? With powerful mobility and visual interaction available today, thinking about what a business needs is thinking too small. Technology should also push your organization further.

Your teams will probably always need certain software, certain processes and certain data to do their jobs. But now, technology also makes it easy to raise the bar and give them access to tools beyond their needs so they can be more effective than they ever thought possible. Innovation and strategic thinking suddenly become possible at all levels.

In today’s consumer-obsessed world, we’re all out to delight the customer. But, shouldn’t we start by delighting our employees, our businesses and ourselves? Here are the two things your business technology should achieve to move your company beyond needs and into a powerhouse space of productivity and innovation:

1. Visual interaction

Visuals matter in today’s business environment. And when internal teams and customers can interact with visuals, the capacity of seeing their work in action matters even more. Creativity doesn’t wait until you’re back at your desk. With the right tools, innovation and development can happen in real time.

For some time, we have been able to create cool graphics and other visuals that keep people engaged in presentations and collaborative meetings. But now, we can interact with a presentation’s visuals or a creative design in real time. We can show clients an actual 3D model rather than just a picture of it, and make an in-the-moment adjustment. The visual apps and software available on powerful lightweight devices make meetings more than just a one-way interaction.

Drawing or making handwritten notes right on a document and not having to deal with complicated software editing tools or, worse, printing and scanning—that’s productivity. And, seeing charts, images and videos on screen rather than on paper, allows you to update, change,zoom and interact with these graphics with the touch of a finger. The result? Projects get done faster.

And what about metrics? Having the latest data immediately available is important, but visualizing that data moves the question of “what do we do with this information?” to a much earlier stage in the conversation, making it easier to project what’s next.

2. Power mobility

Interactive visuals are amazing for enabling better collaboration—whether internal or client-facing. Another enabler of collaborative success? Power mobility.

Mobility is nothing new for most businesses with employees constantly on the go and accessing work remotely. Working during the commute, working from home, hosting virtual international meetings—these are all commonplace. But being in touch is not enough to drive a more productive business.

Outside the office, users need their portable device to do exactly what their in-office device can. “Lite” versions of in-house software just won’t move the needle for on-the-ground engineers or product development teams working offsite with a customer. They need complete access to powerful tools, so calculations can happen in the field, reports can be generated during a last minute off-site meeting, and models can be designed wherever inspiration strikes.

Powerful mobility utilizes the computing power of a desktop on a lightweight, portable device. Advanced software, intense spreadsheets and calculations, 3D modeling, video editing—all of these critical business processes and more should be available to your mobile workforce.

Today, power, mobility and visual collaboration are driving business. Isn’t it high time we move beyond basic needs and start doing business better?

How to manage free Hyper-V Server and Windows Server Core

Microsoft released Windows Server 2016 TP4, making lots of exciting new features available to the public. How to access all the different versions of free Hyper-V Server and Windows Server Core if you need to maintain older versions on site? Managing everything from a command line is very time-consuming.

The easiest way to manage multiple versions of Hyper-V is to use vtUtilities.

vtUtilities support multiple versions of Windows Server which means you can run WinServ 2016 TP3, WinServ 2008/2008R2, WinServ 2012/2012R2 side by side.

One of the greatest  advantages of vtUtilities is that you can manage Windows Server 2008R2/2012R2 as well as Windows Server 2016 (now available as Technical Preview) from Windows 10 as well as from Windows 7 and Windows 8. Please note, what Windows Server 2016 is still under development and thus technical support is not available for this version of Windows.

Here are configurations supported by vtUtilities :

Hypervisor version                          Windows version

WinServ 8R2                                    Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1
WinServ 2012                                   Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10
WinServ 2012R2                              Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10
WinServ 2016TP4                            Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10

vtUtilities present a number of capabilities what go far beyond the basic maintenance tasks such as creating or removing virtual machines and managing them locally and/or remotely. 

The tool offers a unified  GUI console that provides centralized administration of Hyper-V hosts, virtual networks & clusters and can replace such tools as Hyper-V Manager, Failover Cluster Manager, PowerShell and RSAT.

vtUtilities can be installed locally on Hyper-V host allowing to troubleshoot and fix network connections and related problems what cannot be resolved via remote management.

vtUtilities designed to  provide the GUI for 

Replication, including support for extended replicaGuest migrationVHDXVirtual Fibre Channel AdaptersVirtual Network Management ( including the management of virtual connections and bindings)Advanced Virtual Switch Management (including port-level access control)File system views and operationsGuest configuration management (including support for Gen 2 virtual machines)Server manager viewNew virtual machine wizard, Import virtual machine wizardHyper-V settings managementDiagnostic and troubleshooting (including real-time performance monitoring of host and guesta, access to Hyper-V event log and asynchronous Hyper-V tasks history)Failover Clustering for high availability 

The latest version of vtUtilities features a GUI with integrated Cluster Management. 

Hyper-V clustering is supported on Widows and Hyper-V Servers 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2 and features support for cluster summery information (including failover clustering events) and
cluster nodes management.

You can connect to the existing clusters by using vtUtilities 'Select View' dialogue:

Discover all Hyper-V clusters in AD:

Overview cluster summery information and get easy access to the selected Windows failover cluster events
View and manage status of cluster nodes
View and fully manage cluster roles

Virtual Machines result view in vtUtilities Cluster Manager displays a list of all VMs configured for high availability with a possibility to start/stop a corresponding cluster node, move VM or its storage to a different cluster node, configure (add) another VM from any cluster node as highly available or remove cluster role for highly available VM.

Hyper-V Replica Broker

Installation of vtUtilities

The product requires a 64-bit versions of Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1 or Windows 10 and any version of Windows Server you're intending to use: Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2 and the latest Windows Server 2016 TP3.
vtUtilities also can be used on 64-bit versions of Windows what don't support Hyper-V role.
Other prerequisites include x64-based processors and .NET 3.51 or later.
See our getting started guide for instructions.

Pricing 

One-time fee $120 for a permanent license.

Trial

A 7-day free trial for registered customers can be downloaded here  vtUtilities Free Trial