In a world of spyware scanners, registry cleaners, phishing filters and virus scanners, we recommend keeping it simple. Simple means using just one security software suite from a developer you trust. For home use, there are free products provided by your ISP while businesses with more than a few users should choose a centrally managed solution that shows the security status of the entire organization.

Finally, never purchase security software that you didn't seek out yourself. If you are concerned, Sterry IT can do a full audit of your anti-virus and firewall protection.

Every computer or organization that is on the Internet has a public-facing IP address. The address is used by this website to send the text and images you're viewing now. The public-facing IP address also makes your computer is reachable by an endless stream of infected zombies, rooted servers, and the financially-motivated crackers behind them.

The technology that protects against such attacks is called a firewall. A good firewall looks at the traffic passing through it to eliminate suspicious data and activity. Your computer's firewall should be set depending on where you are and what resources you need to share. In the case of a home or office network, there should also be a firewall between that network and the Internet.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to speed up your computer is by adding RAM. Short for Random Access Memory, RAM is the short term memory of your computer and is more than 1,000 times faster than accessing your hard drive. If your computer doesn't have enough it can start swapping whereby it writes data back to the hard drive. This also increases wear and tear on your computer.

We recommend at least 1.5gb of RAM for desktops and at least 3gb for servers. How much and what type of RAM will help your system? Use the Crucial Memory Advisor Tool to find and purchase RAM. Then when you get your RAM, give us a call for help installing it.

For every threat to your data, there is a backup technology to protect against that threat. For example, to guard against fire or natural disaster, you'll want offsite backup. A good offsite-backup system will help you store all your important data in one or more secure locations with automatic synchronization at the times you want.

If you value your time in addition to your data, you may want to consider image-based backup. Image-based backup can restore your entire system to a previous point in time. This is very handy in the case of a virus attack or hard drive failure. What is typically required is a network drive or external hard drive and image-based backup software.

The final recovery scenario is when you need to roll back unintended changes or deletions. This can be accomplished with a backup solution that retains previous versions. This can be setup with the image-based backup software mentioned above or a simple script we can create for you. Call or email us today to learn how we can help you protect your data.