The cloud has rocketed from obscure idea to mainstream must-have in under a decade. According to a recent article on Forbes, more than 53% of businesses with 50 or fewer employees use some form of cloud solution. This number will continue to grow, likely exponentially for the foreseeable future. Chances are, you are aware of the concept of cloud but do you know the differences between the three main types of cloud?

Below is a brief overview of the three major types of cloud, sometimes referred to as 'deployments' providers offer.

Public A public cloud is a service that uses the general Internet (what everyone has access to) to offer cloud solutions. These services can range from free to pay-per-use and can be used by anyone. For the most part, public clouds are inexpensive and provide users an easy way to access online storage and software. The major downside of this type of platform is that you don't have full control over the security of the system.

Some popular public cloud services include: Google Apps, DropBox, Amazon AWS and Microsoft SkyDrive.

Private A private cloud uses a private network which restricts access to only those who can connect to it. Most private clouds are hosted by either a service provider, or in the organization directly. For the most part, they offer the same functionality as public clouds. Where they differ is these clouds give users full control over their data, security and compliance.

These systems are ideal if you operate in environments that require you to securely store data, or meet strict regulatory requirements - normally healthcare, legal or financial industries.

Hybrid A Hybrid cloud system takes elements of both private and public clouds and combines them together. These solutions are usually a partnership where a vendor will have a private cloud platform which is usually specialized, and works with a public cloud provider to create one cloud.

An example of this is a vendor who offers virtualized storage solutions that are hosted at the company, e.g., active sales or customers records, while archives of these records are stored on a public cloud.

What is best for my business? When it comes to which type of cloud you should be using in your company, the answer really depends on what you need. If you work in a highly regulated industry, it would be better to use a private or hybrid cloud. If you are just looking to store basic files or simple software, then a public cloud is likely the better choice.

We highly recommend that you contact us. As your IT partner, we can work with you to help pick a solution that works for your business and budget. So, if you are looking to move your systems to the cloud, contact us today to see how we can help.

The security of a business’s technology systems is a hot topic these days. Companies go to great lengths to ensure that their systems are secure from external attacks. What some don’t realize is that many security breaches happen from inside the company. If you haven’t set a password to your Mac, you are essentially inviting people to steal your data.

Here are three ways you can make it harder for people to physically access your Mac.

1. Set a password to log in
If you have more than one user on your Mac, or would like a bit of added security, it would be a good idea to establish that a password is needed to log in to different user accounts. You can set this up by:

1. Clicking on the Apple icon at the top-left of your screen.
2. Selecting System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
3. Clicking on Security followed by General in the window that opens.
4. Ticking the box that says Disable automatic login.
5. Setting the time period from the drop-down box.

You will now need to go back to the System Preferences main screen (press the black back arrow below the red button at the top of the window) and click on Accounts. Look for the account you log in with, click on it and press Change Password…

You may not be able to make changes to both of these windows because they are locked. If this is the case, look for the lock icon in the bottom-left of the window, and press it if it is locked. You should then be able to make changes. When you’re done with the changes, it would be a good idea to click on this lock again to ensure no more changes can be made without entering your password.

2. Set up the need for a password to turn off the screen saver or wake the computer up
You can also set up your Mac so that you need to enter your user password to be able to stop the screen saver or wake the computer up. You can do this by:

1. Clicking on the Apple icon at the top-left of your screen.
2. Selecting System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
3. Clicking on Security followed by General in the window that opens.
4. Ticking the box that says Require password after sleep or screen saver begins.
5. Setting the time period from the drop-down box.

You can also tick the box that says Log out after XX minutes of inactivity. Set the number, and after that time the computer will log you out. When you next try to access it, you will be taken to the main login screen.

3. Turn off your computer at the end of the day
This may sound a little silly, but it is always a good idea to turn your computer off when you go home. This will often deter most criminals, especially if you have an older Mac that takes a while to boot up. If your company works with an IT partner who looks after updates and virus scans, it would be a good idea to talk to them about whether you should turn your computer off or leave it on when you leave the office.

By simply having a password protected system, you can significantly minimize the chance of stolen data, or at least reduce the possibility of prying eyes seeing important files. If you are looking for more ways to ensure the security of your systems, please contact us today to see how we can help.

An interesting tech trend of the past couple of years is the increasingly diverse services offered by large companies. Take Microsoft for instance: You have email, Office, cloud storage, Xbox, Windows Phone, etc. These services are about as different as they come, but are all linked by your Microsoft Account. But having all of your eggs in one basket could pose a security threat, especially if your account has a weak password. This is why Microsoft recently introduced a two-step verification to make it harder for hackers to gain access to your Account.

Below is an overview of the two-step verification system Microsoft has recently implemented.

What is it? If you use any of Microsoft's products, you likely have a Microsoft Account. This account is what you use to access SkyDrive, Outlook, Skype, Office or even the Xbox. The whole idea of this is that you have one account for all of Microsoft's products and services.

While this is great (you only have to remember one username and password), it can be a security issue. If a hacker gets into your account, they could have access to all of your personal information. Microsoft realizes this and has recently introduced two-step verification, a new Microsoft Account feature that beefs up your account's security.

Two-step verification is a feature that will ask you additional questions when you try to log in to your Microsoft Account. For example, you may be asked to enter a PIN or phrase that is sent to your phone. If you have used your credit card at the Microsoft Store, or on an Xbox in the past year, you have likely seen this feature in action. Now, Microsoft has extended it to your account.

This new feature is not mandatory for your Microsoft Account, so you have to sign up for it. But It is a good idea to consider enabling this function on your account, especially if you have sensitive information stored online. While this won't make your account 100% hack proof, it will drastically cut down the chance of a hacker gaining access.

How to set up two-step verification Microsoft has made it really easy to enable this security measure. You can do so by:

1. Going to https://account.live.com/proofs/Manage and logging into your Microsoft Account.
2. Selecting your phone number and Text from the drop down menu and pressing Next on the window that opens to receive a text message with a code. If you don't see this option, you should be taken directly to they account management screen
3. Entering the code you get on your mobile device and pressing Submit.
4. Clicking on Security Info under Overview.
5. Selecting Set up two-step verification followed by Next.
6. Picking from how you would like to receive verification codes (Authenticator app, Phone, or another email account). We recommend the app, which you can download onto your mobile device.
7. Following the instructions on the screen and entering the code that is sent your the option you selected above, and pressing Next.

Your account should now have two-step verification. The next time you log in, you will be asked to verify the login using the option your selected. For example, if you selected a text message, you will receive a text on your phone with a code.

If you would like to learn more about your Microsoft Account and security measures you can take to, please contact us today.

Sit and watch any Apple OS X user for more than a few minutes and you'll notice that their hands don't leave the keyboard anywhere near as much as Windows users. The reason for this is because Apple has built in a number of super useful keyboard shortcuts that help make switching between programs and managing open ones as easy as pressing two keys.

Here's four keyboard shortcuts for OS X that will help make it easier to manage programs where you have multiple windows open e.g., Internet browsers or word processors.

Hide the current program If you are working with two or more different programs, it can be quite distracting. Imagine having your browser with three windows, a word processor, iTunes and Photoshop open all at once. It's a lot of clutter isn't it?

When not using the program, you can hide it by pressing Command + H. Hiding a program won't close it, rather it will just make the windows you have open invisible. This is similar to Minimize on Windows systems. When you click on the program's icon in the system tray (bottom of the screen), your windows will reopen. You can also hide programs by pressing Option (alt on some keyboards) and clicking on the icon at the bottom of the screen.

Hide all other open applications If you need to focus, you're not going to be able to do so with numerous programs and windows open, as it's too distracting. You also don't want to lose the content in these open windows. So why not hide them? Yes, you could click on each one and manually hide it, but this takes time. Instead, go to the program you want to keep open and press Command+Option(alt on some keyboards)+H. This will hide all other open applications and windows. They can be opened again by clicking on the icon at the bottom of the screen.

Cycle between windows in same application Look at your current browser. Chances are high that you have more than one window open and are normally switching between them on a regular basis. It can be time consuming and annoying to have to move your mouse and click on another window. To save time, press Command+` (located above Tab, it's often labeled with ~). This will cycle through open windows within the same program.

Shift to another application If you have hidden other programs, or want to quickly move from one program to another without having to close open ones, you can press Command + Tab. This will move you to the next open program (usually organized alphabetically, with the current open program first). If you keep Command pressed, and hit Tab you will see a window pop-up with open programs. You can press Tab to cycle between programs. You'll notice a box around an icon, and when you let Command go it will switch to that application.

These four shortcuts are just a few that can help make navigation and program management more convenient. If you would like to learn more OS X shortcuts, or about how OS X can make your life easier, please contact us today.

Apple is a progressive company; always changing the way they do things. One of the bigger changes is the decision to move OS distribution to a download-only affair. If you want that shiny new OS you have to download it. This is a good idea in that it makes it easier to get the OS, but if you need to reinstall the OS you are kind of stuck. The workaround for this is to create a bootable install DVD or USB.

A bootable install dish is a DVD or USB drive that contains a copy of the operating system, usually for backup purposes. If your computer crashes you can reinstall the OS by simply putting the DVD or USB into the related drive and following the prompts. This is also useful if you have other Macs in the home or office and don't want to download new versions of the OS on every computer. Note: There seems to be a trend with some Apple products to not have a DVD drive, so it may be a good idea to do this on a USB stick.

Starting from OS X 10.8, Apple has said that any new OS will be available only as a digital download. The way this works is that you download the OS file on each system you want to install it on. Once you download the update and install it the original download file is deleted. If you need to install again you have to re-download the OS again. Therefore, it's a good idea to create a bootable drive.

Before you create a bootable disk you need a few things:

For a bootable DVD

1. A computer with a DVD burner.
2. A blank DVD with 4.7GB of storage space.
3. A downloaded copy of the latest Mac OS (In this case: OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion). You can download this from the Apple Mac Store.

Note: The link is to the US version of the store, if you aren't in the US, you will need to go to your country's Apple Store.

For a bootable USB

1. A blank USB stick with at least 8GB of space.

Note: The drive needs to have nothing on it, so buying a new one is the preferred method.

1. A downloaded copy of the latest Mac OS (In this case: OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion). You can download it from the Apple Mac Store.

Note: The link is to the US version of the store, if you aren't in the US, you will need to go to your country's Apple Store.

How to create a bootable install After you have downloaded the OS it's important that you DON'T open it and start installing the update. In other words: You need to create the bootable drive before you install.

Here's how to create your bootable install drive:

1. Navigate to where you downloaded the OS. It is usually in your Downloads or Applications folder and should be labeled Install OS X Mountain Lion (If you downloaded Mountain Lion).
2. Right click on the file and select Show Package Contents.
3. Navigate to Contents followed by Shared Support. You should see a file called InstallESD.dmg.
4. Open the Applications folder and select the Utilities folder. Open the Disk Utility app.
5. Drag the InstallESD.dmg file into the empty space of the white box in the right-hand side of the Disk Utility app.
6. Insert the blank DVD or USB device. If you are using a USB device, it must be blank and formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). It should show up in the list of drives located above the white box in Disk Utilities.
7. Drag the USB or DVD icon into the Destination bar in the central part of the window. Note: The Source bar should read: InstallESD.dmg.
8. Click Restore - located in the bottom of the central part of the Disk Utility - if you are using a USB drive. Click Burn if you are using a DVD.

It will take a few minutes to burn or copy the files to the DVD or USB. When this is finished you should have a bootable install drive. You now have a few options.

• If you would like to do a 'fresh install' - delete everything on your system - you can put the disk in the drive, turn off your computer, turn it on again and hold the Option key to open the installer. Be warned though, this will delete everything on your Mac's hard drive.
• If you would like to upgrade, but keep all of your settings and files, you can open the installer from the disk, and follow the instructions.

Creating a bootable install drive is a good idea and should be a part of any company's backup and disaster recovery plans. If you have any questions about the process, or would like to learn more, please contact us.

OS X's latest version - 10.8 Mountain Lion - has been roaring for almost 10 months and until recently, there wasn't a 'new' OS to compare it with. Now that Windows 8 is out, businesses have the ability to compare both and businesses are increasingly starting to lean more towards OS X, mainly due to ease of use. There are certainly many other advantages to Apple's platform.

If you're still on the fence about OS X, here are five advantages of 10.8.

• Centralized notifications - Windows 8 uses tiles and while they look great, they take up a lot of room and can make you miss important notifications. With OS X, all your notifications are in one place - the Notification Center. With Notification Center you can customize what apps will show notifications and even the order of importance. Need to get some work done? Quickly and simply turn off all notifications. When you're done, turn these back on, and all notifications will pop up.
• AirPlay mirroring - Do you give lots of presentations? If so then you no doubt carry a laptop around with a whole mess of cords. OS X has a feature called AirPlay mirroring which allows you to beam your display on to any HDMI TV, that's connected to an Apple TV unit. This could be useful if you're planning to go to an all Mac environment. No messing with cables, just bring the laptop, press a button and away you go.
• iCloud for easy sync - If you use any of Apple's other devices, you can sync information and files across all Apple devices using iCloud. This is a great feature as you won't have to worry about which device has what file. If it's on iCloud, it can be accessed by any Apple device that is compatible with iCloud - pretty much any modern Apple product.
• Don't type it, speak it - If you have your hands full, and need to take notes, or even draft a letter you can use your voice. In any place you can type, hitting the Function key twice will bring up the Speak to Type option. From there, speak and the words will show up, normally with correct punctuation.
• Integrated Messaging - One of the more popular categories of apps on smartphones are those related to chat. iMessages for the iPhone is great, you can send texts for free to any user. It's not great when you are at work and your phone keeps buzzing, annoying colleagues. Messages is an app for OS X that takes all the popular chat programs like iMessages, Google Talk, Yahoo!, etc. and combines them into one app. The cool thing about this is that you can text people on their iPhones, and vice-versa. This makes chatting more convenient.

These are just a few of the great features Mountain Lion offers that users will find make the OS a completely different, and arguably better, experience over Windows. If you're interested in switching over to Apple, please let us know, we may have a solution for you.

OS X is an operating system that is often touted as user friendly, and as such, the user base has been growing at a steady pace. There are many apps and programs that make OS X user friendly, however, most users only use a small handful of these. This is a shame, as there are a number of great programs out there that can make OS X even easier to use.

One lesser known Mac OS X program is Automator - an OS X program that was designed to help automate everyday tasks. Automator has many uses, and upon first glance it seems a little complicated. The truth is: it’s only as complicated as you make it. Here’s a brief overview of Automator and how to make your first automated application.

Automator in brief Automator is found in your Applications folder, and is the app with the robot holding a grey pipe. When you open Automator, the Choose a template for your workflow window pops up with different options. The three most popular items are:

• Workflow: This is used to create a workflow that's run in the Automator. For example, if you import a bunch of photos onto your computer and want them to be automatically resized into a more web-friendly format, you can set up a workflow and have Automator take care of that
• Application: Is similar to Workflow, only it creates an application that you can drag and drop files onto to execute a workflow. Our example lower in the post will use this option.
• Folder action: Allows you to create a workflow and attach it to a folder. When items are added into the folder, the workflow will run.

After selecting a workflow type, you’re taken to the main Automator screen. It’s comprised of three main parts:

1. The Library: Located in the left side of the window, the Library contains a list of the Automator options installed on your computer.
2. The Action column: Located beside the Library panel, the Action column displays a list of all actions you can execute with the related Library item. Clicking Library at the top of the Library panel will show a list of all actions.
3. The Workflow pane: Located beside the Action column, the Workflow pane is the space where you combine actions to make a workflow. You can drag-and-drop actions into this space. When creating multi-step actions, the action on the top is run first, followed by subsequent actions. To re-arrange the order, just click and drag the action you'd like to move earlier or later in the operation.

There are also four buttons on the top right of the window. These are used for recording specific steps in the workflow, and if you have chosen to create a simple workflow, these will allow you to execute it.

Create your first automated workflow Here’s how you can use Automator to create an application that pulls text from a PDF document.

1. Open Automator, select Application and press Choose.
2. Select PDFs from the Library panel.
3. Click and drag Extract PDF Text from the Action column to the Workflow pane.
4. Choose your Output. Rich Text will take text and document formatting while Plain Text will take just the text.
5. Pick where you want the output - in this case, the text file - to be saved by selecting the box beside: Save Output to.
6. Press Command + S and select where you want to save the application.

To see if the application works, pick a PDF file and drag it onto the application you’ve just created. You should see a new document with the same name as the PDF, but with .txt in the name. All the text from the PDF should be in this document. This is just one of the many things you can do with Automator. You can make more complex workflows by dragging other actions into the Workflow pane. Want to get your calendar to remind you it’s the weekend and play Kenny Loggins' Highway to the Danger Zone every Friday afternoon at 5:00 pm? With Automator, it’s possible.

If you have any questions about Automator, or any other Mac feature, give us a shout, we can help.

One of the biggest computer related issues of the past year has been security. There have been a number of high profile security breaches and malware attacks that have had users and companies wondering just how safe their data is online. Usually, Mac users have been able to scoff at the fact that their systems are safe. Events during the summer however, showed that Macs may not be as secure as users think.

While Apple’s OS, OS X, has never been ‘free’ from viruses and other malware, past infections pretty much had to be purposefully introduced into the computers. This past summer changed that perception with a number of events that brought the security of Apple’s platform into question.

Should we worry? If you use OS X in your company, or even at home, security should be among the issues that are at the top of your mind. While many of the recent malware attacks geared towards OS X users weren’t massive - roughly 600,000 Macs were infected by the Flashback attack in April - it’s the sophistication of these recent attacks that has security experts alarmed.

Traditional malware was usually created to do one thing, be it crashing a computer or stealing information. Many of these new attacks have multiple aims, such as install backdoors, keyloggers and rootkits to hide all of the above from the user. This then allows the criminal access to your system whenever they want, and the ability to track every keystroke made, which in turn means they could steal your information. Apply this at the company level and you could have a serious issue that could be nearly impossible to recover from.

Is there anything we can do? As with nearly any problem, potential or otherwise, there is always something you can do. One of the first things you should do is to establish an ‘Allowed Programs’ list with programs that employees are allowed to download. If it’s not on the list, it shouldn’t be downloaded.

If you work with a Managed Service Provider (MSP), it’s best to not let your employees install updates by themselves, instead contact the Provider to get them to do a system-wide update. That way, you can be sure that the update is vetted and that every user can benefit from it.

Many Mac users don’t take basic security steps like installing a virus scanner, keeping it updated and running regular scans. You should have, at the very least, virus scanners installed on all systems. Popular name brands like Norton and Kaspersky are available for Macs.

For an easy solution, you could work with an MSP who looks after your systems for you. This serves two purposes, the first being that you don’t have to worry about the security of your systems and the second being that if there is a problem, your MSP will know how to fix it.

If you’re worried about the security of your OS X systems, please contact us, we may have a solution that meets your needs.

Tab, Tab, Shift-Tab. Hotel receptionists and Airline ticket agents know this combination of keys intimately, it’s how they navigate the reservation and property management systems in front of them. Watch them for a few minutes and you will notice they hardly use the mouse at all, mainly because it takes time to lift your hand off the keyboard, grab the mouse and click. If you have a Mac, you can easily navigate without using the mouse.

Here’s how you can utilize the keyboard to navigate your Mac.

Jump to Finder The Finder on your Mac is the desktop and what allows you to access and view files on the computer’s hard drive. If you’re working in a program and need to open another one, or view your desktop, you can do a number of things.

• Hit Command + H. This is the shortcut to hide the open program. If you only have one program open, you will automatically navigate to the finder. If you want to go to your desktop after hiding a program, but have a file window open, you can hit Command + W to close the window.
• Hold Command and press Tab. By doing this, you’ll get a box in the middle of your screen with all open programs. The white bordered box is the program you will navigate to when you let the two keys go. Simply keep Command pressed down and tap Tab until the white box is over Finder (the two man happy face).

To figure out if you have navigated to Finder, look at the top left of the screen, it should say Finder beside the Apple icon.

Open and navigate a folder Once you are in Finder, you can press Command + N to open a new Finder window. The window that opens will be the user’s file (typically represented by the Home icon). If you have more than one Finder window open, pressing Command + Tilde (~) will cycle through Finder windows.

When you open a new window, you will notice that the first file in the window is highlighted. If it isn’t, simply press the right arrow. To navigate within this folder, pressing up will go up one folder row, left goes one folder to the left, right foes one folder to the right and down will go down one folder row. Hitting Command + Down arrow will open the folder you have selected. Hitting Command + Up arrow will exit the folder. For example, if you have Applications selected and hit Command + Down arrow, the Applications folder will open. In Applications, hitting Command + Up, will go to the previous folder.

If you open a folder with lots of files/application in it, quickly type the first three letters of the name of the file/application to be taken to the closest relative file. For example, if you are looking for Google Chrome in the application folder, quickly typing GOO will take you to the first file in the folder named GOO.

To carry on with the Google Chrome example from above, you can hit Command + o to open the program. This also works for files. If you need to open a menu from the menu bar (usually located at the top of the screen) hit Shift + Command + ?. This will open the Help menu, and pressing the arrow keys left or right will allow you to navigate to the menu options beside it. Pressing down will allow you to navigate down the selected menu to the different options. Hitting Enter/return will execute the command you have highlighted.

By using these commands, you keep your hands on the keyboard, and if you know what you’re looking for, it could make you more efficient. If you would like to learn more about using Macs efficiently, please contact us.

In the animal kingdom cats all share the same family, Felidae. All cats have similar characteristics and are recognizable as felines. It may be for this reason that Apple has taken to applying code names from the Felidae family to different versions of their popular operating system OS X. Whatever the reason, the latest version is here with some interesting new features.

OS X 10.8, or Mountain Lion as it’s commonly known, was released into the wild on July 25, 2012 and will come standard on all new Macs purchased thereafter, or can be bought and downloaded from the Apple store for USD$19.99. Six features of Mountain Lion that you and your employees will definitely find really useful are:.

• AirPlay Mirroring. Want to project your Mac’s screen onto a TV or larger screen? If you have an Apple TV you can mirror your display and audio to a TV or projector screen in HD. If your office uses Apple computers this could be a great way to give presentations, by simply setting up an HD projector to an Apple TV. Employees can then give presentations from their Macs at the press of a button, no wires required.
• Power Nap. This is a great feature that allows newer Macs (models released after mid 2011) to receive emails, download and install updates while the computer is ‘asleep’. This should help IT install updates during non-business hours. It will also allow employees to start their day right away, with no waiting for the computer and programs to start up.
• Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper gives the administrators of the new OS the chance to set which apps can be downloaded and installed. This should make management of systems easier, as IT departments can control what’s installed, and it should minimize malware and viruses.
• Notification Center. Taking a page from iOS - Apple’s mobile OS - Mountain Lion now includes notifications. Available updates, upcoming calendar events, and messages, etc., will show up as a notice in the top right of the desktop and slide away in five seconds. They can be viewed again by hitting the Notification button on the top right of the screen.
• iCloud. iCloud was introduced a few months before the release of Mountain Lion and is Apple’s answer to integrating all their different devices. With the update, documents stored on iCloud can now be accessed and modified by all devices, with changes showing up in the docs. stored on your Mac.
• Reminders. If your employees are involved in one or more projects, or need a way to manage their tasks, Reminders can help. Essentially a to-do list that is integrated across all Apple devices that will pop up when a scheduled task needs to be done, or provide a reminder about meetings or whatever.

There are a number of other features that users may find useful, and we encourage you to explore the new OS. What’s your favourite new feature of Mountain Lion? Let us know below.