In-House IT vs Outsourced MSP
Thinking of hiring an in-house IT person? In-House IT is costly to maintain and the results will be sub-par. Here’s why.
New Computer Setup Tips
Five things that we do at SNAP Forward to minimize end-user frustration in the new computer setup process.
Five Wireless Network Best Practices for Business
A wireless network can be a significant security hole. Here are five best practices that we utilize to ensure our clients’ data stays safe.
Five Scary IT Disasters
A lot of scary risks are lurking around your IT infrastructure. Here are our top five scary IT disasters that you need to address and avoid.
How to Find the Right IT Management Company
No two computer support companies are the same. The level of service that you receive can be very different from one to the next, even when they describe their services in the same manner.
Five Apps that Help Us Be More Productive
Five Apps that Help Us Be More Productive Productivity is big at SNAP Forward. Finding ways to more effectively use our time is key to scaling a small business. These five applications help us make the most of our time and keep us moving forward. Slack We have...
A Split Second Decision Can Destroy Your Data
Think About That Link A split second decision could destroy all your company's data. It just happened to a client of ours. They lost just about everything on their network. Every document, spreadsheet, everything gone. Encrypted, with no way to access the information....
Snap Forward Named a Leading Managed Service Provider
Snap Forward Named a Leading Managed Service Provider (MSP) Snap Forward has just been named to the MSPMentor 501 list, which is the IT channel’s largest and most comprehensive list of leading managed service provider (MSP) organizations worldwide. Based on a...
The American Dental Association Sent Out Infected Flash Drives
The American Dental Association sent out virus infected flash drives to dentist offices recently. While well intended, it poses a real risk to patient data security. It also underscores the need for dental offices to take it upon themselves to properly secure their...
Petya Ransomware Attacks Your Entire Hard Drive
What is the Petya Virus? Petya is a virus going old school by attacking the master boot record of a PC. While MBR viruses are not new, they have not been very common recently. However, ransomware has been very common in recent years. Petya takes ransomware to a new...
Weird Trick Adds Space to iPhones.
Need more iPhone storage space? Check out this article. It seems that if you are low on storage space you can follow a procedure that will allow you to increase it significantly. It involves trying to but not downloading an iTunes movie to your iPhone. Suddenly, you...
World Backup Day and What You Should Do Now
What is World Backup Day? World Backup Day was created to draw awareness for the need to backup your data. A significant portion of the public does not backup at all. While the World Backup Day website addresses the need for backup for everyone, at Snap Forward, our...
Apple Mac Tips
More Apple products are making their way into offices these days. This article, "Master your Mac with these tricks and shortcuts you didn't know you needed" on Mashable is a handy resource to increase your productivity.
Slack – A Cool App We Love
We started using the Slack messaging app at SNAP Forward some time last fall and love it. It enables fast communication and collaboration in an office where we have hundreds of tasks to accomplish at any given time. While we're not going to call it an email killer...
Apple iPhone Encryption Debate – John Oliver’s Take
John Oliver recently took to his show with a funny but well thought out approach to the Apple iPhone encryption debate. As he says, if you have an opinion about it, that may change by the time you are done watching this 18 minute rant. The best point of all is the...
CryptoLocker is Back with a Vengeance
In the past 24 hours, we have seen a drastic and potentially devastating virus being delivered via email. The Cryptolocker attack seems to be very widespread and so far, defending against it has been hit or miss unless a well planned security approach is in place....
Spam From Friends
SPAM FROM FRIENDS A few days ago, you may have received a warning from us about a very prolific email virus spreading this week. We have now seen an increased number of issues across the internet and want to ensure that you are aware of the new email examples....
The Rombertik Virus Could Bring Down Your Business
A virus has recently been identified that will spy on a user's keystrokes. When found, the virus will destroy the PC that it has infected. This type of "wiper" virus is particularly scary. With other types of infection, even individuals that did not have the proper...
Don’t Get an ETD!
We keep writing about it and it keeps getting worse. ETD’s, or electronically transmitted diseases, are real and they infect millions of Americans’ computers and networks each year. Prevention is the key to keeping your business data protected. Use Protection Use a...
Virus Warning – New VirRansom Encryption Virus
The New “VirRansom” Virus Could Prove Costly For Business A new virus has been discovered that silently appends itself to all of a user’s files and spreads silently as the files are shared. When the virus activates, it locks the files and displays a ransom demand....
Nick Boris named Top MSP Executive by MSPmentor
Christmas came early this year. We just received notification that the owner of Pittsburgh Technology Management, Nick Boris, has been named to the2014 MSP Mentor 250! The seventh-annual MSPmentor 250 list honors the world’s top managed services provider (MSP)...
Improve Your IT Outsourcing Experience
Managed Services Can Significantly Improve Your IT Outsourcing Experience Your business’s technology touches all aspects of your daily operations. It is the nervous system of just about any business. It can be an asset that runs efficiently or be a hindrance to your...
What is “Managed Services”?
Managed services is a broad term for outsourcing many functions in business. Typically, business owners hear the term the first time they investigate IT outsourcing. Managed services is also the favorite term for IT support companies looking to generate a recurring...
Process and Technology Can Protect Your Business
In the recent article Ebola Shows It Is Process–Not Technology–That Will Protect Us on wired.com, Jeanne Roue-Taylor discusses how the disease will be best controlled by mundane process. That idea rings true with us at Snap Forward in regard to network management....
Technology or Process: At What Cost to Your Business?
Over on my blog, I wrote about how process breakdowns impacted the recent Ebola cases in the US and how when proper process is followed, risks and overall costs go down. Technology can be used as a tool but cannot be utilized as the sole solution in any scenario. ...
What is the Right Backup Software?
What is the Right Backup Software and Recovery Solution? If you read my last blog entry, you probably know my answer. If not, here it is… It doesn't matter. As long as you are aware of the realistic benefits and limitations of your backup process and are comfortable...
What Brand Do We Recommend? It’s the Results that Matter.
What Brand Do We Recommend? It's the Results that Matter. A question that we get a lot is, “what brand do you recommend?” This is most always a loaded question because the prospect has had a good experience with one brand and has had or knows someone that has had a...
Sometimes, To Provide Great IT Service, We Just Need to Move IT!
Sometimes, To Provide Great IT Service, We Just Need to Move IT! At Snap Forward, going above and beyond what other local IT companies would consider acceptable. It is just the way we do things to deliver great IT service. We make grand statements and back it up with...
Avoidable Business Risk Should Not Be Acceptable
Effectively Assess and Mitigate Business Risk Every business has risk. There are small business risks like running out of paper in the middle of a workday or the risk of an employee calling off with a cold and being shorthanded. There are large risks like natural...
Should You Move From Windows XP?
Should I upgrade from Windows XP? It is a question that I have been hearing often in the past few months. It is a question that business and individuals have to ask themselves while balancing the potential cost of upgrading. I have written about the cost to...