Professional IT Services that Andromeda Provides for Riverside, IL Businesses:

Managed IT Services
Riverside,IL

Andromeda offers a range of IT support plans—anything from month-to-month "time & materials"-based assistance to fixed IT service contracts that permit "no-brainer" conformance to an annual budget. Beyond the functions you would expect from a full-service MSP, you'll have a dedicated C‑CATs team that includes an Account Coordinator directing the same field and remote technicians day-to-day, month-to-month, and even year-to-year to manage your IT network needs.
This isn't simply a glorified Virtual CIO offering. Imagine the cost of hiring your own CIO AND tech team for this same level of customized service and knowledge of your particular (and evolving) network setup!

Cloud Services & Migrations

Typically, the biggest issue you'll face when initiating Cloud IT services is not the services themselves, but rather the proper migration of your existing IT services to the Cloud without loss of functionality, downtime, and scores of other details that could undermine the whole process. Andromeda has a long history of expertise in physical on-premises systems. Don't make the mistake of turning all your current systems over to a "Cloud expert"; we'll save you from a lot of heartache and pain with a virtually seamless Cloud migration from your current setup— whatever it is.

Data Backup & Recovery
Riverside,IL

It's a crazy world. Literally thousands of people you don't even know attempt to break or steal from systems like yours every day. Good 24/7 monitoring is a first line of defense, of course. But no matter how great and state-of-the-art your defenses are, you'll almost certainly succomb to a successful attack in time. That's why advanced data backup and data recovery need to be tools that you and your IT partner have at the ready from Day 1. Don't be tempted to "shortcut" this element of your network in the name of expediency or to save a few dollars. Ultimately, you'll lose out on both counts with that thinking. You need a complete and integrated solution that addresses every contingency as well as IT professionals who know how to make that happen.

Cyber Security

Not only do we provide multi-tier approaches to your network security, but Andromeda also provides built-for-you solutions for disaster recovery and business continuity devices. We provide, manage and monitor a variety of devices including physical hardware, Cloud-based and hybrid options. Our team actively monitors over 403 servers and 101 physical backup devices in the field. All with 100% local engineers and technicians.

Onsite/Remote Support
Riverside,IL

Andromeda's team is completely staffed by local technicians near Riverside,IL. No matter the hour, your issue is resolved quickly and professionally. In fact, 68% of incoming calls are connected to a live technician for immediate response. When a technician isn't available, our average response time is less than 30 minutes. And if that isn't impressive enough, emergency after-hours support response times average less than 10 minutes!

IT Network Management

IT networks are our bread-and-butter. We have provided these services to clients since 1994. Some have continued to rely on us for their evolving network needs since the very beginning. We stand behind our work day to day and year to year because we foster relationships with our client-partners that absolutely demand that of us. It's in our DNA and how we prefer to do business.

AndroPedia Tech Library

As part of our service, it is important to keep our client-partners well informed on IT developments, news, and best practices. Here is just a sampling of typical items from our AndroPedia^SM library archive:

Microsoft Teams helps professionals connect and stay productive by bringing all documentation, communication and collaboration into one space. If you are like us, most of your day-to-day communication and activity is somehow tied to Microsoft Teams.  Like many other software as a service programs, Teams users benefit from real-time product updates and feature rollouts. That means that the software responds to user needs and is constantly being updated with new features.  

Here are the awesome new features that have been added to your Teams app that you might not have heard about. 

1 New Meeting and Call Pop-outs – When you join a call/meeting in the desktop app, it will pop out into a secondary window instead of confining your meeting to the main Teams interface. This allows you to have a meeting on one screen and the full Teams app open on another screen etc.   It should be noted though, to use this Teams setting, you must turn it on in your general settings.

2 Book appointments with Bookings. The Bookings app inside Teams is an easy way to schedule virtual appointments. You can manage multiple calendars, as well as communications with internal and external attendees, from a single source. The virtual appointments are then held via Microsoft Teams Meetings.

3 Raise your hand in a meeting. This is especially handy when you have a large gathering and don’t want to interrupt the speaker. You let people know you have something to say with the new raise hand feature in Teams. While in a meeting, select the hand icon in your control bar. This will highlight your hand icon on your video feed to let the rest of the attendees know that you’d like to speak. Once you have been allowed to share, you just click the icon again to lower your hand. 

If your team is ready to start using the full Office 365 suite of products and you need a partner to help implement it at your office, give us a call and we can help manage the process and installation.

The post 3 Teams Updates You Might Have Missed & How To Use Or Access Them appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

For many businesses, the flexibility to work-from-home (WFH) is a great perk for employees. Studies even show that employees that have the option to work remote show higher productivity and job satisfaction.  

There are many benefits to remote workforce but there can also be struggles/challenges for leaders and managers trying to maintain culture, productivity and a team environment.  

We’ve put together a list of our favorite tools to help us get the job done in house or from home. 
 

Our favorite 7 Collaboration Tools to Help Your Remote Team Stay Engaged, Productive and Motivated from Anywhere

1 Microsoft Office 365 for Business

This stack of Software as a Service (SaaS) products allows your team to utilize classic programs like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more in new ways.  

Office 365 also opens the doors for your team to utilize cloud storage/collab tools like OneDrive and SharePoint. Files saved to this software can be accessed at home, on the go, in the office or anywhere with an internet connection.

2 Microsoft Teams

This product is included with Office 365 but deserves its own section because of all the different things it sets your team up to do including:

• Individual and team-based IMs  
• Live collaboration with Microsoft documents inside of the Teams tool  
• Audio & Video calls  
• Screen share  
• Add on apps for even more productivity boosts  

3 Zoom Video & Web Conferencing

Zoom is one of the leading web/video conferencing tools on the market. With free and multiple paid options, it is likely you can find a solution to fit the needs of your organization and your business.  

Some of our favorite features in Zoom include:  

• Personal meeting room to start a meeting any time  
• Outlook integrations for easy schedule  
• Webinar capabilities with panel, hosts, Q&A, chat etc.  
• Video and/or Audio calls  
• Mobile App 
   

4 Slack

Slack is one of the leading direct communication tools for business. You can message teammates directly; create group chats and you can also communicate in channels. With seemingly endless add-ons and extensions, Slack is a leader when it comes to connecting teams.  

Andromeda Technology Solutions recently transitioned from Slack to Microsoft Teams for our own internal communications but some of the features we loved in Slack include:  

• Direct messaging 
• Audio/Video calling  
• Channels for group needs
• Easy integration of apps  
• Custom emojis for fun  

5 Trello

Trello is a neat tool that helps with project management and tracking. You can use it for personal projects or teams to manage workflows, status and many things in between. This is also another tool you can use with a free version to test out and see what works for your team.  

Our favorite Trello features:  

• Easy to user interface with drag & drop ‘cards’ 
• Easy upload multiple types of media – docs, links, photos etc.  
• Individual/Group task assignment  
• Mobile application  
• Labels and tags for organization
   

6 Basecamp

Basecamp is a project and team management tool used by all kinds of organizations and teams globally. This one tool can help you organize, communicate and collaborate on multiple projects while keeping all the info you need in one space. You can even give clients access to Basecamp so that they can communicate and keep up to date on status of your team.  

Our Web Design team uses Basecamp daily to move projects along.  

Some of their favorite features include:  

• To-do Lists 
• Message Boards 
• Scheduling tool  
• Document & File storage  
• Group chat  

7 Zapier

Zapier is one of the industry leaders in connecting web apps for automation. And since you’re team is getting tons done on-the-go, you’ll want to check out all the ways this tool can simplify your workflows and help your team work more efficiently. Zapier connects the apps you use every day and helps cut down busy work.  

Additionally, Zapier knows what it means to work remote, they boast a 100% remote workforce with over 200 teammates working all over the globe.  

A connection from one software to another via Zapier is called a Zap. You can check out 2000+ zaps and the tool here
 

Finding the right mix of tools is as individualized as the job. We hope these suggestions help you to create an environment that is productive and satisfying. If you would like to discuss your unique situation, give us a call at (815) 836-0030 or email our team.

The post Our favorite 7 Collaboration Tools to Help Your Remote Team Stay Engaged, Productive and Motivated from Anywhere appeared first on Andromeda Technology Solutions.

Are you a fan of customizing your Windows experience via themes? If so, you're not alone. While it's true that themes aren't used by a majority of Windows users, they're still highly popular.

If you're creating your own themes, you don't have anything to worry about. The danger lies in downloading theme packs from others, especially if you get them from a source you don't know and trust implicitly.

Clever hackers can now create "poisoned" themes that can be used to steal Windows credentials. Security researcher Jimmy Bayne discovered the new flaw when he stumbled across a poisoned theme capable of tricking unsuspecting users into accessing a remote SMB share that requires authentication.

When the user attempts to access the remote resource that requires a login, Windows responds by automatically trying to log in, using your Windows user name and their hashed password. Naturally, the hacker sets up the attack so that they control the remote resource and thus, is able to harvest the credentials and dehash the password at their leisure.

Microsoft has spent the last few years migrating away from local Windows 10 accounts and is leaning more heavily on the Cloud. This makes the theme-based attack much more likely to succeed.

Even worse, Microsoft has expressed no interest in fixing this particular flaw, because according to a spokesman for the company, it's working exactly as it is supposed to. That puts regular theme users in something of a bind.

Your first best defense against this type of attack is to make any themes you want to use yourself, or if you download a theme pack, be sure you're getting it from a trusted source.

Barring that, your only other viable option is to block or re-associate the .theme, .themepack, or .desktopthemepackfile extensions to a different program. This approach, however, will break the theme functionality, so it can only be used by those who don't need to frequently switch from one theme to another.

It's not a common attack, but it's definitely something to be on guard against.

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