Text ModeSometimes it?s difficult to browse the Internet with the plethora of images, videos, and other distractions across every web page you visit. This is especially true when you need to use it for work purposes, like researching a particular topic in your industry. This is where the text-only mode in the Text Mode extension for Google Chrome comes into play. It blocks out pictures and images so all you see is the text on the page, making it a valuable tool when you need to concentrate. In fact, you?ll notice that the page loads faster than ever before thanks to it not needing to load images and all of that other stuff that could bog down the page. AdBlockHave you ever been frustrated with online ads? These get in the way of browsing videos on YouTube, and can even pop up when you least expect it while navigating a news site. AdBlock does exactly what its name implies, removing ads from both web pages and YouTube videos. This allows for seamless productivity without ads knocking on your door every given second. LightshotDid you know that your Windows PC has the ability to take screenshots by using the PrtScn key? Lightshot takes it a step further by allowing you to crop the area of the screen which you want to take a screenshot of. Furthermore, you can write text on it, draw lines or shapes, and even point at specific parts of the selection with ease. Once your screenshot looks to your liking, you can either upload it to the Internet, or you can save it locally on your PC. This makes troubleshooting PC troubles much easier, since you can provide a visual representation of what?s going on to your IT support team. Google CastIf you haven?t heard of Google?s Chromecast in the past, it?s a device that plugs into your television?s HDMi port and allows you to send content from your browser to the device. This effectively allows you to share content to your TV screen, be it the office conference room or your home?s living room. Google Cast is an application which easily allows you to broadcast your browser screen to your television screen. It works with several entertainment applications like YouTube and Netflix, as well as Google Docs, making it an ideal tool for both collaboration and fun. What are some of your favorite Google Chrome extensions? Let us know in the comments.

There are some things that need to be let go, and according to Microsoft, one of those is unsupported operating systems. As ZDNet reports, the US Navy is spending an estimated $9 million this year on getting custom support from Microsoft for Windows XP. $9 million. To emphasize how much cash that is, it has six – count ?em, SIX – zeros. $9,000,000. The deal is said to run for a maximum of three years, and offers critical security patches and updates for Windows XP, Office 2003, and Windows Server 2003, which is slated for expiration this July. The navy takes advantage of several legacy applications that aren?t compatible with more recent operating systems, which is making it difficult for them to upgrade. In the meantime, they?re doing what they can to improve operations, while shelling out the big bucks for continued support. The deal is expected to run until July 2016, but just in case, they have plans to continue until 2017. You don?t need us to tell you that it?s a huge expense that could have been avoided. We realize we?re beating a dead horse by continuously nagging about upgrading away from Windows XP; and honestly, if you haven?t upgraded yet, you?ve already taken serious risks with your business?s continuity. In general, you always, always want to be using a supported operating system. Of course, this story about the navy emphasizes the consequences of running unsupported software, but it also presents a unique foresight into why some users might be reluctant to upgrade right away; namely, compatibility with legacy applications. Some software is simply so outdated that it doesn?t work on newer technology. Sometimes these applications are absolutely mission-critical, and imperative to the success of your business. When this happens, you?re stuck in a conundrum; either upgrade and replace the solution, or run an unsupported operating system that?s vulnerable to the many threats that are found on the Internet. Such an agonizing choice can be avoided with proper consultation and foresight, like that which White Mountain IT Services offers. With the end of Windows Server 2003?s support on July 14th, you can avoid a similar debacle by contacting White Mountain IT Services for a free IT consultation. We can examine your legacy applications and hardware to ensure that it?s compatible with a more recent server operating system. If it?s not, we?ll outline your choices and help you decide on a plan of action. Give us a call at (603) 889-0800 to learn more.

Security using facial-recognition technology isn?t a new thing – in 2000, the Passface system used a similar concept, where it replaced passwords with a series of pictures based on your friends and family. This was somewhat effective, but those who could figure out the pattern were able to get into the system fairly easily. Facelock is a new concept of facial-recognition technology. Instead of concentrating on technology that lets you define pictures in a specific pattern, it concentrates on whether or not you can identify familiar faces. In other words, the faces you know can help you keep your system safe from intruders, rather than just being another code for a hacker to crack. Unless a hacker can tap into your memory, they probably can?t crack your Facelock password. How Does It Work?Facelock presents the user with various face arrays. It is the user?s job to identify the familiar face amongst the unfamiliar ones. These arrays can be shown in different orders with faces scattered in different positions. What makes this any different than Passface is the human mind?s ability to detect familiar faces, regardless of appearance, in different images. Even if a hacker is able to identify which picture you guessed, they are unlikely to identify the image in a different picture. What a Face-full!This technology backs up its bark with its bite. A study was done on over 400 participants, which included account holders, stranger attackers, and familiar attackers. These tests were conducted over the course of one-week and one-year increments. Account holders were asked to choose the faces of several lesser-known celebrities in a narrow field; this mitigates the chance that threats will be able to access the system. Results showed that after just one week of using this technology, 97.5 percent of users could authenticate their accounts, while stranger hackers succeeded less than one percent of the time. This number jumped to 6.6 percent for attackers that knew the victims personally. And, after a full year of working with the software, 86 percent of all users were able to authenticate. The test also examined whether attackers could authenticate with different photos of the same people. Unless the photos were of distinctive people with very prominent features, such as a bald head or round glasses, hackers were unable to identify pictures of the same people. Keep in mind, as great as this technology is, it isn?t really a good fit for business devices that may need support and troubleshooting. If your help desk technicians aren?t in your circle of friends, they won?t be able to log into your device to help you solve your problem. It?s a fairly simple concept – passwords don?t work for humans, and the existence of a ?Forgot password?? prompt reinforces this. But, does facial recognition take this a bit too far? Is two-factor authentication enough for you? Let us know in the comments.

TechRepublic lists several of these misconceptions surrounding the smartphone battery. You might even be guilty of believing these yourself. Batteries Can?t Be ?Trained? to Perform BetterSome folks believe that you can train your battery to perform better, given enough time and conditioning. This simply isn?t true. There is no way to train your battery to perform better at a certain percentage. Therefore, if your charger is only at a meager 80 percent, there?s no reason not to top it off if you?re going on a business trip. Still, despite this fact, letting it go uncharged for a night might be of some benefit to your battery. Some people believe that leaving your phone plugged in overnight can damage the battery, so if you?re truly unsure about this, just leave it somewhere between 40 to 80 percent overnight. Off-Brand Chargers Can?t Damage Your BatteryMany people believe that an off-brand charger that you bought from your local big-box store can actually cause irreparable damage to your battery. This isn?t necessarily true. Just because the quality of the charge suffers, doesn?t mean that your battery is damaged. Since chargers aren?t made specifically for your device, it?s only natural that your phone will receive a better charge from the charger that came with it. While a $5 charger might be useful in a pinch, you get what you pay for with off-brand chargers. Using Your Phone While It?s Charging is FineWhen you use your device, it drains some of the battery power. This is why some people believe that using a phone while it?s charging will decrease the quality of the charge. According to TechRepublic, this only happens if you?re using the worst of the off-brand chargers. Instead, you should be fine using your phone while it charges. It might charge more slowly, but the quality of the charge should be around the same as if you weren?t using it. Besides, even when you aren?t using your phone, there are processes that continue running in the background, eating away at your battery. Why not use a little more and be productive at the same time? Give Your Phone a Break and Turn It OffLike any other device that takes advantage of a lithium-ion battery, it?s a good idea to turn off your phone once in a while. If you think about it, there?s nothing bad that can come from giving your battery a break; the reason people might feel this way is because the battery drains while it?s off, but that?s only natural for batteries. In fact, turning off your device is good for its battery, not harmful. Are you guilty of believing any of these misconceptions? Let us know in the comments.

Despite this commonsense approach to technology, many business owners hesitate to drop extra money on quality equipment. Here are three reasons why. Sticker ShockFact: New technology is expensive. We totally understand this pain point. After all, we?ve been working with technology for all of these years and we still wince at major tech purchases. Pro tip: The way to overcome sticker shock is to think long-term. Once the seemingly-high price is compared to how much money you?ll save in the long run, the initial shock will wear off and you?ll have no problem swiping that card. Trying to Squeeze as Much Out of Their Old Tech as PossibleSome business owners might treat their technology like an old-yet-reliable car. For a high-mileage vehicle, it makes fiscal sense to pony up and pay for a repair every once in a while, instead of leasing a new car and making monthly payments. While this is solid logic for a car (after all, an expensive car and an ugly car both get you from point A to point B), approaching business technology in this manner will fail to generate savings. In fact, by using old and outdated equipment, productivity will actually be hindered and money will be lost. Not Enough in the Budget to Purchase New TechnologyIn all honesty, you might be in a place with your budget where you just can?t afford to purchase new technology. This is a tough place to be in, but you shouldn?t let shortcomings in your budget prevent your staff from accessing the technology they need to do their job. After all, if you continue to allow your company to stay in this rut, your workers will never be equipped to perform to their fullest potential, which is what it takes to get you out of said rut. When funds are tight, you can actually free up resources with some creative budgeting. As counterintuitive as it sounds, you can actually make the right technology purchases in order to free up funds so you can make the technology purchases your employees need. This is commonly done by taking computer equipment that?s normally paid for using capital expenditures, and replacing it with IT services (like cloud computing). The newly acquired IT service can now be categorized as an operating expense, which frees up money in the capital column that can now be used to replace that busted workstation your staff is always griping about. Bottom line, reliable technology is worth the extra expense. Providing your staff with inferior equipment won?t save you any money. In fact, it actually ends up costing you more than you would think. Consider the following: If your team has to tolerate outdated equipment, they will miss out on the latest solutions designed to improve efficiency. To make matters worse, a competitor using the latest technologies will have an advantage over you. Downtime adds up faster than you realize. Older equipment is prone to freezing, taking extra long to load programs, and slow performance in general. A worker that loses a few minutes here and there due to sluggish technology will end up losing a total of many work days at the end of the year. Maintaining a sane work environment is difficult to do when dealing with unreliable technology. Nothing frustrates and demoralizes a productive […]