Author Archives: thrivewpengine

Efficient IT management is all about being prepared for an emergency situation. It can be achieved by regularly updating your network management software and monitoring the network constantly to prevent dangerous attackers from accessing your network. For successful network management, network security is the most important step towards making your network resistant to attacks.

Improving your Network Vulnerability

A network security suite not only provides protection from internet attacks but also from

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With competition growing at such a high pace, it is important for an organization to keep up with the market. Analyzing market trends has become essential in order to direct your business in the right direction. Making smart business decisions is the biggest factor in achieving success. A la carte IT Services offer outstanding solutions to help your business reach its maximum potential.

Many organizations have found that it is beneficial (more…)

Opening your mailbox only to find it filled with spammed mail can give you a real headache. It is a real nightmare to sort through your valuable mail when you have tens or hundreds of spam messages in the mix. Spam is an unsolicited email, usually used for commercial purposes such as advertisement of a product or a service.

There are several ways to get rid of these nuisances.

Using Internet Security or Anti-Spam Software

One of the best ways to stop spam is to (more…)

Cloud computing is a term used to define products and services delivered through the internet. Since its introduction this IT phenomenon has been growing and evolving towards the right way. Cloud computing has been defined by a leading technology researchers as “a style of computing where massively scalable IT-related capabilities are provided as a service using internet technologies to multiple external customers”. Also known as hosted services, the cloud computing services offering virtualized and web services, along with some other new technologies have turned managed IT systems upside down, (more…)

Most people only regard  bandwidth and latency as the health of a network. They don’t realize the importance of security and loads on servers. Viruses and bugs decrease the quality of your network. High load on servers can lead to high response time or sometimes poor internet speed.

First thing you should analyze is (more…)

Over the years, network hacking has become increasingly painful for users and administrators alike. These hackers are bored, mischievous neighbors, or just people with a lot of time to waste, trying to access your network through the Internet. Once they gain access, they can do anything they want and you cannot do anything about it. The only thing you can do to avoid it is be prepared beforehand.

Safety from an Internet attacker

They best way to protect your network from being hacked is by (more…)

If you’re like me you’ve probably gotten an email or Facebook comment with a subject like “OMG! I can’t believe he did that! http://crazyvdiueo.co.ul.tz” from a good friend or co-worker. Most people quickly realize that their friend’s account has been compromised. There’s no doubt the victim then gets a message from several people stating “Your Facebook account has been hacked.”

I’ll admit this sort of thing scares me. Not only can it be embarrassing depending on the ‘nature’ of the message sent but I start to question what else these hackers did with all the information in those accounts.

I recently enabled Google’s 2-Step Verification on my account. I have to say I certainly feel a lot better after setting it up. In my line of work, I am in a constant battle with security versus convenience. It’s been said that if you really want to protect your computer, then unplug it from the Internet. In our cloudified world, we need to take reasonable steps to keep our data secure. By the way, 2-Step verification, or two-factor authentication, is not a new concept. It’s been in the enterprise for quite some time and you might have run into it at some point.

How does this whole thing work? Let’s start with the Google Account.

Setting Up Two-Factor Authentication with Google

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Are you working in Microsoft Word 2010?  If so, how many times have you tried to jump into a document and start making some changes and nothing happens?  Oh, that’s right….. You forgot to click on that annoying, little, yellow button on the top of the document.  You idiot!

As annoying as it may be, there are valid reasons for this new security feature in Office 2010, which is an improvement over security features in previous versions of Office.  As explained by the Microsoft Office 2010 Engineering Team…

“With any piece of complex software, over time new file parsing exploits against it may be found. The older Office binary file formats had been susceptible to these types of attacks. Over the past years hackers have discovered ways to manipulate Office binary files so that when they are opened and parsed, they cause their own code embedded within the file to run. To address these binary file parsing attacks in Office 2007, several new XML based file formats were introduced.”

If you are generally savvy enough to not open documents from suspicious sources and enjoy an occasional walk on the wild side, well then here is a quick “how-to” on just turning the darn thing off permanently: (more…)

Times they are a-changin’ and they won’t wait for the rest of us to catch up. Technology is in every nook and cranny of my life, which has created a deep-rooted need I never knew I had for instantaneous access to anything and everything.

Nothing makes me more aware of the technological advances over the past few years than my 20-month old son. He wants to play Elmo’s Monster Maker on a smartphone, watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on-demand, and listen to his favorite music online. All of these just-in-time modes of access to media are happening everywhere, not just when it comes to children’s entertainment.

So how do all of these changes in technology impact business, specifically with regard to learning in the workplace? New means of communication and staying connected are enabling people to share information and participate in learning in newer, more collaborative ways. As younger generations enter the workforce, they look for quicker ways to learn, gain access to information, and share their own thoughts and ideas. They look for faster connections to peers and colleagues regardless of geographical separation.

With the changes in how we communicate or even access information happening so radically, training and development must transform along with them. The lines between formal “classroom-style” learning and informal “social” learning such as on-the-job training will be more blurred than ever with the growing adoption of newer technologies in the training and development industry.

Newer Trends in Technology & Training

Here are a few newer training methodologies gaining lots of traction over the past several years that look to be noteworthy trends in 2011 when it comes to professional learning: (more…)

Thrive Networks is proud to have been ranked #23 on MSPmentor’s Top 100 Managed Service Providers List for 2010-11. This is the third straight year that Thrive is being recognized as one of the most progressive Managed Service Providers (MSP) in the world.

Thrive improved on its 2009-2010 MSPmentor ranking by jumping 15 spots. This is one of the largest improvements of all MSPs that appeared on both lists.

The MSPmentor 100

The MSPmentor 100 is an annual research report from MSPmentor and its owner, Nine Lives Media Inc., MSPmentor is widely considered the ultimate guide to managed services and the leading global destination for managed service providers. Nominees were evaluated in a range of industry-specific categories including:

• Annual managed services revenue (2010)
• Annual managed services revenue growth (2010 vs. 2009, in U.S. dollars)
• Annual managed services revenue growth (2010 vs. 2009, percentage growth)
• Percentage of overall revenue from managed services (2010)
• Devices/seats managed (2010)
• Devices/seats managed, annual growth (2010 vs.2009) in raw numbers)
• Devices/seats managed, percentage growth (2010 vs. 2009)
• Recurring revenue per full-time employee (2010)

This methodology ensures small, midsize and large MSPs from around the world are recognized on the MSPmentor 100.

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