Tag: VPN

8 Signs – Time To Ask IT For New Computer

8 signs it’s time to ask IT for a new computer

If your boss hands you a new assignment and tells you, “Take your time”, good chance you were day dreaming. Snap out of it! You are officially part of the 21st century workforce. Emails need to be checked, Word and Excel always ready and Internet browsers should be as fast as a blink of an eye. Today’s work environment is go-go-go all the time, and phrases like “take a break” or “slow down” seem to have been left behind.

So what do you do if you’re stuck in this 21st century work environment with a PC that’s slow and uncooperative? It’s time to talk to IT about getting a new one.

If you’re not sure if you should be having this conversation, see if any of the below apply to you.

1. Your computer is a single-tasker

Your computer is a single-tasker

At home, you have five windows open, you’re streaming music and reading an online story all at once. But at work, it’s one window at a time and the thought of leaving a document open while you check email makes you shudder. If your backup plan involves your smartphone, then it’s time for a new computer. Today’s PCs that run on the latest generation of Intel processors offer twice the performance of 4-year-old models, giving you the chance to experience that new-fangled, multi-tasking thing everyone’s talking about.

2. Your PC is officially out to lunch

Your PC is officially out to lunch

Few things are more frustrating than watching your screen go black right in the middle of a big project or minutes before an urgent deadline, especially when you haven’t hit the save button. If your computer is prone to taking a hiatus or two, place it on permanent break time.

3. You can type a Russian novel before the first word appears on the screen

You can type a Russian novel before the first word appears on the screen

No one’s calling on you to turn into a court reporter, but it would be nice if you could read at least some of that email before you’re ready to click send. A new PC will work at your speed and you won’t have to wait for it to catch up. Can you picture it? Probably not yet.

4. Your PC crashes more often than Evel Knievel

Your PC crashes more often than Evel Knievel

When Evel crashed, you saw fire, explosions and excitement. When your old computer crashes, there’s certainly no excitement. Also, your desire to remain employed prevents the fire and explosions.

5. Moving your PC could be the next big Cross Fit-like exercise craze

Moving your PC could be the next big Cross Fit-like exercise craze

If you need to brace yourself before you move your PC, it’s time for a newer model. Today the average laptop weighs 6 pounds or less, and new PCs are 50 percent thinner than those made a few years ago. So save the heavy lifting for the gym and leave your weight belt at home.

6. People mistake your computer for a vintage toy

People mistake your computer for a vintage toy

That’s silly of course. At least vintage toys have value. But, if younger co-workers aren’t even sure how to turn your PC on, it’s time for an upgrade.

7. The thought of unplugging your PC, even for a moment, terrifies you

The thought of unplugging your PC, even for a moment, terrifies you

Your cubicle shouldn’t feel like an emergency room. New PCs offer three times the battery life over older models, so tell IT you want to pull the plug on your old PC permanently.

Today’s computers are smaller, lighter, have more memory and boot up in 6 seconds or less. If you’re tired of your PC being the punchline of office jokes, tell IT it’s time for a new PC.

8. The End has come for XP

windows-xp-the-endWindows XP… The End. Time to upgrade. Even I had problems letting go. But trust me, you can do it. The 21st century awaits you.

 

Lord-Griffin-IT-SolutionsLord & Griffin IT Solutions can help you design, implement, optimize, manage and run your network infrastructure, regardless of its complexity and of your organization’s size.  Lord & Griffin IT Solutions IT Systems Management Services are services designed with small and mid-size businesses in mind. Our certified technicians provide fast, affordable business computer service and technical computer help – offering same day, weekend and evening appointments. Let us be your IT department for a fraction of the cost! Lord & Griffin IT Solutions can help you save time and money by lending your business our technical expertise.  See IT Systems and Network Services

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RESOURCES

Dell Computers – http://www.dell.com

Compaq Computers – http://www.compaq.com

Debunking Common Computer Security Myths

Debunking common computer security myths

All businesses can be susceptible to threats like hackers and computer viruses. Making matters worse is the great deal of misinformation floating around regarding cyber security. The Internet attracts urban legends and computer security isn’t immune from this trend. Many alleged security “facts” are, at best, inaccurate. Some of these myths are recent developments, while others have been around for years.

Clearing up some common misconceptions about computer security, Staples and Norton have teamed up help separate fact from fiction.

Myth 1: Companies that sell antivirus and security solutions create viruses

The idea that the online security companies develop and release computer viruses to maintain sales is false. While it’s true that one variety of malware (malicious software) called “ransomware” infects computers and then sells its victims a “solution” to the problem, these rogue programs are not affiliated with legitimate antivirus programs, like Norton. In fact, legitimate antivirus programs are the first line of defense against devious hackers.

Myth 2: A small business’s main security threat is the Internet

A security policy that only considers Internet-based threats is woefully incomplete. Yes, hackers can breach your network security. Yes, malware can infect your network through unsafe websites. However, the biggest risks to your security are often those who work for you.

Many security breaches originate with employees. A small number of employees are simply dishonest. More often, however, security breaches are caused by simple human error. An employee loses a laptop, for instance, or incorrectly disposes of printed or digital information.

“Now more than ever, small business owners should be taking all precautions to ensure their businesses are secure,” says Conor Kearney, vice president of technology merchandise for Staples. “While antivirus programs are a great first line of defense against cyber threats, it is important to make sure you educate your employees on what constitutes good cyber security and have safeguards in place to prevent a minor incident, like a stolen computer, from turning into a full out data breach.”

Myth 3: Apple’s operating system is safer than Microsoft’s Windows

For years, Apple users held up the relative lack of malware on Mac computers as evidence that the Apple operating system had fewer security flaws than Microsoft’s Windows operating systems. Actually, Mac users were safer because they represented a relatively small percentage of all computer users. Malware writers prefer to target the largest possible audience. As so, because many people use Windows, the hackers focused their attention on Windows and, for the most part, ignored Apple.

But now, people use Apple devices in sufficient numbers to attract malware. For example, in 2012, the Flashback Trojan affected 600,000 Macs. And a year later, Apple computer users were hit by a virus that targeted iPhone developers via the Java programming language. Recently the Shellshock/Bash vulnerability was identified as putting Mac users at risk.

Myth 4: Hackers only target “big business”

Some small businesses take false comfort in their size. The assumption is that hackers and data thieves only target big companies, major financial institutions and government agencies. However, small businesses can also be targets for data breaches and hacks.

Small businesses need to have a defense plan in place. Often, small-business owners recognize the importance of cyber security, but are unable to manage the complexity of this issue themselves. Consequently, the cyber security of small businesses tends to be neglected. “Protecting customer and business data from cybercriminals is a matter of life and death for most small businesses. Because small-business owners are insanely busy, they need a multi-layer security solution that’s easy to install and manage,” says Brian Burch, VP product marketing, Norton Business Unit, Symantec, a leading provider of award-winning products and services that deliver online protection. Easy, quick setup antivirus solutions are most preferred by small businesses. For example, Norton Small Business is a single solution to securing computers and mobile devices within a small business’ network.

A false sense of security

Today’s computer security myths all have one thing in common – they can lull you into a false sense of security. Keep your office free from viruses by always employing a critical eye and lots of common sense. Similar to your annual doctor visit, be sure to give your small business a cyber-security check, reassessing its network security and ensuring you have the proper tools in place to protect it from a cyber-attack.

See more – Internet Security

Heartbleed – Open SSL

Network System Services

Professional Customized Web Design and Hosting Solutions – #WebDesign #WebHosting

Lord & Griffin IT Solutions is a company providing professional-level customized Web Design and Hosting solutions, Web applications development, Desktop APPs , full-featured online shopping stores, Software development, Client server technology. We design, manage, build and maintain high quality solutions for a wide range of businesses and individuals. We have built our business by working with clients to ensure the solutions we develop are profitable for them.

Services
OpenSource CMS : Joomla, Mambo, PHPNuke, Drupal, Dolphi, Concrete5, Insite creations
Ecommerce: OsCommerce, ZenCart, X-cart, Magento, Open Cart,CreLoaded OScommerce
Blogs : WordPress, Express engine
Design : XHTML , CSS, W3c Compatible, SEO Friendly Design, Mobile Web And App
Site Promotion: SEO, SMO, Link Building, PPC, Email Marketing

We specialize in developing small sites of 4-15 pages in quick time to client satisfaction.
Our hourly charge is very competitive considering the quality of work we deliver.
We accept payments through PayPal , which ensures a simple and secure payment service.

Why Us?

At Lord & Griffin IT Solutions (Web Division) , our aim is to offer innovative web hosting solutions. Our website hosting services come with abundant hard drive space and data traffic allotments, domain registration & transfer options, advanced Domain and Email Managers, multi-website hosting possibilities, as well as free-of-charge extras, such as a single-click PHP scripts installer and a site builder. All accounts can be easily administered through our multi-language Control Panel. A 24/7/365 customer support service is available too.

 

Hepsia – A point ‘n’ click hosting Control Panel

With your web hosting package, you will get our cutting edge,  in-house created web hosting Hepsia CP, which will make administering your web presence a breeze. With one click of the mouse, you will be able to upload a file, to register a domain or to set up a new email account. It’s just that easy! You will also have access to comprehensive real-time traffic statistics.

Manage multiple websites

With us, you will be able to administer multiple sites and mailbox accounts from one single place – our in-house built hosting Hepsia CP. You will be able to register, transfer and renew multiple domains at the same time, and to manage their settings through an easy-to-handle tool.

An all-in-one mail management solution

Our all-encompassing Email Manager allows you to create multiple e-mail accounts and to exert total authority over their settings. You can redirect electronic mails, set up autoresponders and mailing lists and much more. Your e-mailbox accounts will be protected against spam messages and viruses. You can administer your e-mailboxes through webmail as well.

A cloud web hosting platform

We have concocted a well-balanced web hosting platform whereby the load is being distributed across multiple servers. Thus, you never face the risk of going offline because of server overload issues and your web sites will be running with 99.9 percent network uptime guarantee. even if there is a problem with any of the hosting servers.

A charge-free PHP scripts installation tool

We have included a PHP scripts installer offering a one-click installation of over fifty PHP apps. Using it, you can create online journals, photo albums, Content Management System-powered sites, community portals, shopping portals, etc. Just choose the web application that you want, specify your domain and press the ‘Install’ button. Your new web site will be online within a couple of seconds. Also, we offer an array of free-of-cost website templates.

A 24x7x365 tech support service

We are here 24×7 to answer your questions and to offer timely support whenever you need it. You can reach us via telephone or via live chat for any pre-sale or general inquiries, or via e-mail or through the Control Panel-incorporated trouble ticket system for any technical issues. Never hesitate to touch base with us at any time.

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Integrating Newsletter Functionality Into WordPress

Integrating Newsletter Functionality Into Your WordPress Website

Integrating WordPress with MailChimpDespite the exploding popularity of social media as a trust-building marketing channel, email campaigns do remain a key method for turning one-time visitors into returning customers and for prompting conversions.

If you are using WordPress as a technological basis for your web hosting store, you could take advantage of one of the many newsletter plugins available.

To help you with your choice, we recommend that you go with the MailChimp email campaign application in particular.

Why choose the MailChimp email campaign application?

MailChimp offers a simple interface for designing and sharing email campaigns, for managing subscriber lists and for tracking results, even if you’ve never done this before.

They have a free plan, which allows you to send 12,000 emails per month to a list of up to 2,000 subscribers. This is a great way to jump into email marketing at no cost, while offering your customers an up-to-all-standards, responsive and eye-pleasing email experience.

Here are some of the features included in the MailChimp free plan:

  • A/B testing
  • reports
  • email beamer
  • email designer
  • email templates
  • multi-user accounts
  • geolocation
  • RSS to email
  • custom forms
  • segmentation and groups
  • social sharing

If you want to make use of some extra email campaign features (like auto-responders and anti-spam diagnostics) and remove the MailChimp badge from your campaign footer, you can always upgrade to one of their paid plans starting from 10 USD/month.

How to get started with MailChimp?

First, you will need to set up an account with MailChimp. After you go through the signup process, you will be asked to fill in some extra details for compliance with international spam policies. When done, you’ll be directed to your account dashboard from where you can quickly start configuring your MailChimp.

From here, you will have to create your first mailing list (from the Lists menu on the left and then click on the Create List button on the top right), selecting a name of the list, a “from” email address, and a Sender’s name, so that they will know that the email is from you. You may also explain why your subscribers are receiving the email in the description box, to avoid any potential opt-outs from suspicious users.

Next, you will have to create your API key that will help you integrate MailChimp into your WordPress store later on.

From the Account Settings menu, select Extras and click on API keys in the drop-down menu. Then scroll down and click on the Create A Key button – your API key will be generated for you automatically.

How to setup MailChimp on your WordPress store?

With the help of the MailChimp plugin for WordPress, you can integrate your mailing list setup into your store very quickly.

Now simply add the MailChimp plugin for WordPress to your store and activate it.

MailChimp for WordPress plugin

In the MailChimp for WP area in your WordPress menu, enter the API Key that you have created in your MailChimp account and click the Save button:

MailChimp - API key generation

Finally, go to the Forms submenu of the MailChimp for WP area and copy the Shortcode for the newsletter subscription form.

MailChimp - signup form code

Here is an example of how a newsletter subscription popup for a hosting store looks like:

Newsletter subscription form

How to create and manage your email campaigns?

MailChimp have a great set of video tutorials on how to create and manage your email campaigns using the application. Through the Campaign Builder, you can select a campaign type, add recipients, choose a template design, and add your custom content, with a click of the mouse.

On the site you can find a great step-by-step video tutorial on how to create your first email campaign, using a custom theme of your choice:

How to create an email campaign with MailChimp

If you haven’t yet set up your WordPress-based hosting store, take a look at the fully-customizable free reseller hosting themes that we have designed for you:

Free reseller hosting WordPress themes by ResellersPanel

Lord & Griffin IT Solutions’ Free Web Hosting Reseller Program, offered by ResellersPanel can be managed via our easy-to-use Reseller Control Panel, which will allow you to quickly customize your reseller store template, modify the product pricing, review statistics, boost your reseller anonymity, etc.

Are you ready for a loyal and easy-going business relationship with Lord & Griffin IT Solutions’ Free Web Hosting Reseller Program, offered by ResellersPanel?  Join forces with Lord & Griffin IT Solutions’ Free Web Hosting Reseller Program, right away – you can gain money from home and be your own boss! All for FREE, with Lord & Griffin IT Solutions’ Free Web Hosting Reseller Program, offered by ResellersPanel!

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Data Center Facility Options – @LordGriffinITS #DataCenters #BigData

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Cutting Edge Hepsia Web Hosting

With our cutting edge Hepsia Web Hosting CP and Customer Service intensely concentrated on customer satisfaction, Lord & Griffin Web Solutions provides web hosting, complemented by VPS packages, semi-dedicated hosting plans and dedicated hosting server plans. Our shared hosting plans feature unmetered data storage space, unmetered monthly bandwidth, a Free domain name registration and a myriad of cost-free extras. Every web hosting plan includes our in-house built Hepsia web hosting Control Panel tool, which will astonish you with its user-friendliness, and our script installation tool offering a 1-click installation of over 50 PHP scripts. Also, the shared web hosting packages offer optional PоstgreSQL, InnoDB and NodeJS support. The Memcached distributed memory caching system and the Varnish Cache web application accelerator are available too.

3 Data Centers Facilities – US / UK /AU

The web hosting service and the customer service we offer are superb. The web hosting packages include plenty of bonuses and the prices are extremely affordable. But what makes us recommend them even more heartily is the circumstance that all shared web hosting clients can pick between 4 leading-edge data centers located on several continents – Pulsant in London, UK; Steadfast in Chicago, United States; and SiS Group in Sydney, Australia. So, you can pick the datacenter facility, which is closest to your physical whereabouts or to your target audience so as to achieve faster website loading speeds.

Data Center in US

 

  • Top-level Cisco routers and switches
  • Large public and private peering
  • Backup UPS and diesel generators
  • First-rate climate control
  • Security card access and DVR cameras
  • 24×7 monitoring and support service

 

We work with a top-notch datacenter facility situated in the heart of Chicago, IL, which offers excellent conditions for hosting sites whose visitors reside in the States, Canada or Latin America. It will guarantee you the fastest web site loading speed feasible. You can select the Chicago-based data center from the pull-down list on our signup form. This option is available with all services offered on our web site – shared hosting plans, Virtuozzo and OpenVZ-based VPSs, semi-dedicated servers and dedicated hosting servers.

Data Center in UK

We work with one of the most famous data centers in England – Pulsant, which is situated a couple of kilometers north-west of London and which offers ideal conditions for hosting websites whose visitors come from the UK and Continental Europe. This first-class data center located a few miles north-west of London, which has the highest level of security for you site and will guarantee you a fast web site loading speed conceivable. The UK data center option is available with all shared web hosting plans, as well as with all Virtuozzo and OpenVZ-powered Virtual Private Servers. Select the hosting service that you want on the order form and then select the UK datacenter from the drop-down list.

Data Center in Australia

The SISGroup datacenter facility offers superb website load speeds and a extensive peering network. With us, you can host your Australian-oriented web site in a top-of-the-line datacenter located in the Sydney central business district. The SISGroup data center facility offers excellent connectivity. By hosting your web site there, you ensure that your visitors from Australia, New Zealand and Oceania will enjoy much faster website load speeds. You can host your website in the Sydney data center facility if you pick any of our shared hosting plans or OpenVZ-driven Virtual Private Server hosting plans. Just pick your plan and then select the Sydney data center from the pull-down menu on the signup form.