DPS Tech News
27
Oct
2024
If you’ve ever tried to tweak a setting in Microsoft Edge and found yourself lost in all the options, this one’s for you.
Microsoft is cleaning up the Settings page, so you’ll no longer need to dig around in endless menus to find the setting you need.
What’s changing?
You’ll see a new quick access panel under the main Settings menu, giving you shortcuts to the features you’re likely to use the most.
Settings will also be split into smaller submenus, like “System and Performance” and “Appearance”, making it easier to find exactly what you want.
Better yet? The submenus will have their own quick access shortcuts too.
The improvements will give Google Chrome (which has been praised for its well-organised settings) a run for its money. So if your team doesn’t already use Edge as their default browser, it’s a great time to give it another try.
Microsoft is currently testing the update, and it should start rolling out soon. Once it does, you can expect much smoother navigation.
If you need help making the most of the new features in your business, we can help. Get in touch.
20
Oct
2024
Losing access to your business’s data – even temporarily – is a nightmare worthy of a horror movie.
Data backup tools create copies of your data and store them in a safe place. If something goes wrong, recovery tools will use these copies to restore your lost files.
So, if your business already uses backup and recovery tools, you’d think your data is safe… but this isn’t necessarily true.
A new report shows that some backup tools aren’t always as reliable as they should be. In fact, a third of all data losses are caused by backup-related issues. When people try to recover data, they discover it’s been lost or corrupted.
It’s not just corrupted backups that you should be aware of.
One of the biggest threats to businesses right now is ransomware. This is a type of malicious software (or "malware") that locks you out of your files unless you pay a ransom to regain access.
The report found that half of businesses using backup tools still ended up paying ransoms to retrieve their files, because it was faster than trying to use their own recovery tools. Even worse? Only a small number of businesses that paid ransoms were able to fully recover their data.
Backup tools are supposed to keep your data safe, so why are they unreliable for so many businesses?
Often, it’s because they haven’t been set up properly. And even when they are, they still need to be verified regularly to make sure they are still backing up your files.
Also, older backup and recovery tools can’t always keep up with today’s sophisticated cyber attacks.
Setting up and maintaining a reliable backup system can be complicated. IT experts (like us) can make sure your tools are running correctly every day.
We can also put in place extra safeguards such as continuous data protection (CDP). This constantly saves changes to your files, allowing you to go back in time and restore your data as it was just before an attack or loss.
This is something we do for businesses like yours every day. If you’d like us to help you too, get in touch.
13
Oct
2024
You might think of the Windows Photos app as a basic tool for viewing and managing images. But with an upcoming update to Windows 11, there’s a new feature that could be very useful for your business: Visual Search with Bing.
With the update, you’ll be able to do a reverse image search straight from the app, showing you similar images and related information.
How can this benefit your business?
Let’s say you’re looking at a photo and you want to know more about a product, place or person in the image. Reverse image search is a faster way to get the information you need.
It’s a great tool for eCommerce store owners – you can use it to find out who else is selling a product, compare pricing, or track down new suppliers.
Marketing teams can also use it to easily find similar visuals to use in campaigns, or to make sure images aren’t being used elsewhere. It also helps you check the origin of an image to make sure you have permission to use it.
If your business is in property or research, you can save time by using reverse image search to quickly identify the locations or objects you see in photos.
Microsoft has also made it easier to flick through your photos and edit images by improving navigation and introducing a quick access editing tool right in the app.
Another big bonus: You’ll now be able to sync Photos with iCloud – great for teams that use Apple devices alongside their Windows PCs.
These features should be rolling out soon in a future Windows 11 update.
If you haven’t already upgraded your business to Windows 11, it’s time to start thinking about it. We can help make it easy - get in touch.
