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According to a new study released by Softchoice, less than 1% of business machines have upgraded to Windows 10, opting instead for Windows 7.
Windows 10 has been one of the more controversial OS releases of recent memory, bringing privacy concerns, bugs that disable certain hardware, and other nasty surprises. And the enterprise, it seems, is avoiding it altogether.
According to a recent study by IT services firm Softchoice, less than 1% of Windows machines were actually running Windows 10. That means that, one year after the release of the latest Microsoft OS, more than 99% of machines haven’t yet made the switch.
The study was performed as part of a TechCheck analysis by Softchoice, which looked at more than 402,814 Windows devices operating among 169 organizations. So, what were these firms choosing instead of Windows 10? Overwhelmingly, they were running Windows 7.
“It appears businesses are hesitant to take advantage of the various Windows 10 upgrades and, at least for now, are satisfied with Windows 7,” Softchoice’s David Brisbois wrote in a press release. “Historically, OS upgrades have been viewed as major time and resource-consuming undertakings, and this may be influencing the decision today to hold off on Windows 10.”
The Softchoice looked at these Windows machines in both US and Canadian firms from January 1, 2016 through May 31, 2016. At the time, only 2,999 devices were running Windows 10, which accounted for a grand total of 0.75% of the whole.
In terms of business break down, 42 of the 169 businesses (25%) had no trace of Windows 10 in their environment. Additionally, 73 of the 169 (43%) had fewer than 10 devices running Windows 10 present in their environment.
In contrast, 91% of the machines were operating with Windows 7, which marked an 18% increase over the same period of time in 2015. The next largest group were the Windows XP holdouts, which counted for 5% of the devices. Devices running Windows 8 were at 4%, which is double from the 2% measured the year prior.
“It seems businesses don’t see an urgent need to move operating systems, so long as their cloud-based applications are still running fine on Windows 7,” Softchoice’s Microsoft director Craig McQueen wrote in a press release. “In addition to the security benefits, I think once organizations grasp the user benefits—such as touch and Cortana—we will start to see a boost in adoption.”
Although, some of those features may not be enough to sway some users. Cortana, for example, has proven very difficult to get rid of, and other updates have led to frozen machines. The most recent Windows 10 Anniversary Update actually broke some third-party webcams, without a workaround or fix until September. That’s bad news for a business that relies heavily on video conferencing.
Still, there are a host of new features and tools that could make it easier to get work done.
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The Galaxy S8 might be the best phone of 2017, but the year’s not over until the next iPhone makes its debut. Here’s how Apple can take the crown back from Samsung.
If there wasn’t already a mountain of pressure on Apple to deliver something spectacular with this year’s iPhone update, there surely is now. If you haven’t noticed, Samsung has released the Galaxy S8 and S8+, and they’re pretty remarkable. As a former iPhone 7 Plus user, the S8+ might very well be the best phone I’ve ever used, with a stunning screen, speedy processor, and, yes, a gorgeous design.
But what makes the S8 so amazing is how unique it is. For the first time in a while, Samsung is standing alone on the cutting edge with a phone that needs to be seen to be believed. From its barely there bezels to its brilliant wraparound screen, the Galaxy S8 truly gives Apple a run for its money. No joke, it actually makes the iPhone 7 look pretty stale.
But there’s still a lot of time between now and the release of the next iPhone. According to rumors, the lineup this year will consist of the usual S models along with a fantabulous iPhone 8, which looks to adopt a similar aesthetic to the Galaxy S8, with an edge-to-edge OLED display and the removal of the physical home button. But just because it might look similar doesn’t mean it can’t still be better. Here’s how Apple can still steal the crown from Samsung:
The Galaxy S phones has always had a camera on par with the iPhone, so it was a little surprising that Samsung didn’t upgrade the S8’s all that much. The iPhone 7 Plus is already a step ahead here, with 2X optical zoom and the sublime Portrait Mode, but the iPhone 8 could really separate itself from the S8 by taking it even further. Along with a megapixel bump, Apple could add optical image stabilization to the second lens, which will go a long way toward increasing photo and zoom quality. But what would really set it apart would be a larger sensor and greater ISO range to make it a low-light leader.
While Samsung is going all-in on virtual reality with the Galaxy Gear and the S8, rumors suggest that Apple is more interested in augmented reality. And that could be one of the features that sets the iPhone 8 apart. Smartphones have been slow to incorporate AR into the interface, but if Pokémon Go has taught us anything, it’s that people are way more interested in seeing the world through their screens than strapping a headset to their faces. An AR-fueled iPhone 8 could connect us to the world in fun new ways without separating us from reality.
While the Galaxy S8 is one of the best smartphones ever made, one tragic flaw prevented it from being perfect: the placement of the fingerprint sensor. For some god-awful reason, Samsung put it right next to the camera, all but ensuring your finger will not only miss it, but also repeatedly smudge the lens. If the rumors are correct that Apple will also be removing the home button in the iPhone 8, it has two options: under the screen or on the back. A first-of-its-kind in-panel sensor would be revolutionary, but if it’s on the back, Apple needs to learn from Samsung’s mistake and put it lower, like on the Pixel.
When Samsung unveiled the S8, a major part of the presentation was spent introducing its new AI assistant, Bixby. However, the new service wasn’t just a competitor to Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. Samsung integrated Bixby deep into the interface to let it access apps, fetch information, and cut down on how often we need to touch our phones. It’s a cool idea, except the only problem is it doesn’t really work. If Apple could do something similar with Siri and expand its reach to work inside apps while we’re using them, it could beat Bixby at its own game.
One of the biggest gripes people have had about Samsung’s phones has always been its TouchWiz interface. But that’s changed with the S8, as Samsung has crafted an intuitive, refined system that takes full advantage of its superb hardware. If Apple is going to release a radically redesigned iPhone with curved edges and a wraparound screen, the same old iOS isn’t going to do it justice. It might be time to rethink iOS for modern times and give it more than new features and a fresh coat of pixels.
While Samsung has had wireless charging in the Galaxy S since the S6, Apple has been slow to adopt it for the iPhone. All signs indicate that’s going to change for the iPhone 8, but if Apple wants to top the Galaxy S8 and not just keep pace, it’s going to need something a little more exciting than a pretty charging pad. One of the rumors we’ve read suggests that Apple could adopt true long-range wireless charging for the next iPhone, which would power up the battery whenever you’re within range of the charger, even if it’s in your pocket. That alone would be an S8 killer.
Samsung didn’t just resist the trend to ditch the headphone jack on S8, it embraced the 3.5mm jack in a big way. Inside the S8 box is a pair of premium AKG-tuned earbuds that are a few steps above the usual build and sound quality you get for free—certainly better than what Apple gives us. But if Apple really wants to embrace the wireless future of the iPhone, it needs to stop including a wired set of EarPods, even if they are Lightning. A pair of AirPods in the box (or a cheaper Beats alternative) would really set it apart from the 3.5mm S8 and make a strong statement.
Samsung has had its share of battery issues, but the S8 looks to put them in the past with a long-lasting battery that hopefully won’t blow up. But while it can get through the whole day for the most part, the S8 didn’t deliver the the real breakthrough we were hoping for. We’re still waiting for a phone that lets us completely forget about the battery until our day is over, and we’d love to see the iPhone 8 deliver something in the range of 12 hours and truly change the game.
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If you spend most of your workday with Google’s browser, you’ll want to put these Chrome tips to work so you can get more done in less time.
You probably live most of your computing day inside Google’s browser. Despite its tendency to be a resource hog, it’s still the most capable browser for its speed and optimization on the web’s most important sites.
But there’s always room to improve, especially given Chrome’s flexibility and strong feature set. This collection of tips will help you start the day off with just the sites you want, work quicker with keyboard commands, and ensure you can save the stuff you need for later use.
Pinning tabs that you use throughout the day saves you screen real estate and keeps you from having to reopen tabs several times over. Right-click on a tab and select Pin tab to minimize it to the left side of the browser. It’ll be identifiable by the page’s favicon.
Keep in mind, when you close the browser, those tabs will reopen as pinned tabs when you relaunch Chrome. So if you don’t want to start your next session with 10 pinned tabs, you’ll need to unpin them by right-clicking and then selecting Unpin tab before closing the browser.
There’s one, specific hotkey command that saves my bacon about 25 times a day: Control-Shift-T, which reopens the last tab closed. When you’ve got 70 or so different tabs open, you’re bound to close the wrong one from time to time.
That’s why it behooves you to memorize this command. Better yet, take a few moments to learn some of the other hotkeys shown here that will help you zip through your tabs, close them all, or quit Chrome altogether. Just as hotkeys help you work faster in Windows, the same level of convenience applies to Chrome.
It’s very likely that your favorite desktop software has an accompanying Chrome extension that let’s you perform related tasks within the browser. If so, grab it. After all, the web touches a lot of aspects of the work you do. For example, Microsoft’s OneNote offers a useful Chrome extension for grabbing articles and other bits of the internet for later retrieval. Same goes for Evernote, another popular note-taking solution. And there’s a Chrome extension that notifies you of Skype alerts. Head to the Chrome Web Store to find the extensions you need.
Google Cloud Print may still have that annoying beta tag, but it’s vastly improved since the service’s early days. It’s now reliable, and the fastest way to print a document without needing to futz with the Windows print menu.
Most printers can be added quite easily, so head to the Cloud Print site to enroll yours. Another great feature is that you can also save files right to Google Drive, helping you keep track of tax-payment confirmations or other key documents.
Macs and iOS devices talk together very well through a feature called Handoff. Open a browser tab on the iPhone, and you can pull it up right away on your Mac.
Chrome has created something that’s not quite as seamless, but gets the job done for those of us who live outside of Fortress Apple. Control-H pulls up a list of your most recent tabs from all your devices. Next, touch Tabs from other devices to choose the site you want to check out. You can select what you were just looking at or something from a while back.
Save your eyes from strain. You can expand the text on a browser page in a couple of different ways. Hit Control+ to zoom in, and Control- to zoom out. Alternatively, pinching-and-zooming on a PC with a touchscreen will do the trick and gives you a more direct feel for what you want to see.
Control 0 will return you to the normal page size once you’re done with the close inspection.
You can get right to work more quickly if you launch your browsing session with the sites you use most often. Go to Settings > On Startup and choose Open a specific page or set of pages.
Then, you can add your favorite pages by typing in the URLs or clicking the button for Use current pages. This’ll ensure that next time you launch Chrome, you can get right to work with the pages you need.
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A new Wi-Fi standard known as 802.11ac Wave 2 was recently certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Here are the six details you need to know.
The Wi-Fi Alliance, a global nonprofit association of companies that determine the interoperability of Wi-Fi technology, recently certified the 802.11ac Wave 2 standard. The new standard brings a host of updates that could eventually affect the daily connectivity of consumers and businesses alike
Here are six performance changes that we will see with 802.11ac Wave 2.
With all the hype around products like Google Fiber, AT&T GigaPower, and Verizon Fios, it’s safe to say that gigabit internet is hot right now. However, it’s mostly constrained to a hardline connection. Using the Wave 1 standard, gigabit speeds have been achieved in lab settings, but not commonly in the real world.
The Wave 2 standard could open the door for gigabit Wi-Fi, though. The PHY (physical) rate, which in turn affects the throughput rate of data transfer, is much higher in Wave 2. Wave 1 PHY rate maxes out at 1.3 Gbps, while Wave 2 can be 2.34 Gbps. Even if the throughput was 50% lower than the theoretical PHY rate for Wave 2, in theory it would still be above 1 Gbps.
Wave 2 offers offers greater density than Wave 1in that it supports multiuser multiple input, multiple output (MU-MIMO). This means that the spectrum is used more efficiently for multiple connected devices, and devices can more easily get on and off of the network.
Gartner research vice president Tim Zimmerman said it is: “The ability for the access point to communicate simultaneously with multiple mobile devices in a single coverage area.” The access point will be able to talk to up to four, single stream devices at one time going downstream.
The support of MU-MIMO is important for consumer users, as most people tend to have multiple connected devices in their home or on their person, but it’s also good new for businesses. The growing number of mobile devices and IoT-connected devices have created some frustrations for network admins, and the addition of MU-MIMO support could help alleviate some of those headaches.
In addition to the stronger PHY rate, it also adds the option for 160 MHz channel width. Previously, in Wave 1, the only options were 20, 40, and 80 MHz. In theory this will make it easier to access and transfer large files.
The Wave 2 standard also adds a fourth spatial stream, up from the three streams offered in Wave 1. According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, “Device speeds are proportional to the number of spatial streams.” So, more streams should mean better overall performance.
One of the biggest updates that comes with 802.11ac Wave 2 is that it supports additional 5 GHz channels. If these channels are designated for Wi-Fi use, it could help support more users and devices overall. Most devices (65% according to the Wi-Fi Alliance) now are dual-band, meaning they can operate in both the 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies.
With the certification of 802.11ac Wave 2, the Wi-Fi Alliance listed five products that it has certified for interoperability:
Wi-Fi.org lists 24 products that have compatibility with 802.11ac Wave 2 features. However, not many of them are hardware-related. As with most new technologies, it will take some time for adoption to ramp up and for supporting products to be released. We will likely see more Wave 2-enabled hardware hit the market by the end of the year.
“You’ll see them in the devices in a near time frame, but the roll into the end-user, whether it be in the consumer or whether it be in the enterprise, it’s going to be a little bit slower,” Zimmerman said.
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Each of the four nationwide cell phone carriers, as well as smartphone chipmakers and the major network equipment companies are working on developing 5G network technology for their customers.
There are many significant hurdles that all the industry players have to clear before you’ll see a little 5G symbol next to the signal bars on your smartphone screen. For example, it has yet to be determined what 5G even means, let alone what it will look like and when it will get here.
But as consumers use up rapidly growing amounts of 4G bandwidth watching streaming videos on their phones, 5G will soon become a necessity. As telecom engineers work furiously to develop 5G technology, we’re getting a clearer picture of the who, what, where, when and why of 5G.
The “G” in 3G, 4G and 5G stands for “generation.” So 5G will be the fifth generation of wireless network technology.
The standards for 5G have not yet been set. According to Bill Smith, president of AT&T’s (T, Tech30)network operations, 5G will likely be defined in 2018, and the standards for 5G will codified sometime in 2019 by the standards-setting International Telecommunication Union, a branch of the United Nations. The standards will determine which wireless technologies can be called “5G,” as well as what its characteristics must include, such as how fast it will be.
Still, it’s possible to make a very educated guess about what 5G will look like based on the emerging 5G technologies that the wireless industry is experimenting with.
Here’s the elevator pitch: 5G will be faster, smarter and less power-hungry than 4G, enabling a slew of new wireless gadgets. 5G will let us have faster smartphones, more smart-home devices and longer-lasting wearable gizmos.
5G has the potential to offer speeds up to 40 times faster than 4G — fast enough to stream “8K” video in 3-D or download a 3-D movie in about 6 seconds (on 4G, it would take 6 minutes).
Unfortunately for consumers, there’s a difference between lab experiments and reality. Peak speeds are fun to dream about, but in the real world, actual speeds are much slower than promised.
Nokia (NOK), one of the biggest 5G players, believes that its 5G technology will allow for real-world speeds of about 100 Megabits per second when the network is most congested — that’s about four times faster than 4G’s top speed.
Another characteristic of 5G is that it will have ultra-low latency, meaning that it could drastically reduce the amount of time it takes for the network to respond to your commands. That could give the appearance of much faster loading websites, apps, videos and messages.
A lot of the wireless companies’ 5G experimentation is taking place in super-high frequencies — as high as 73,000 MHz. Today’s cell phone networks broadcast signal in a range of 700 MHz to 3,500 MHz.
The advantage of high-frequency signals is that they’re capable of providing significantly faster data speeds. The disadvantage is that they travel much shorter distances and they can’t easily penetrate walls. That means thousands — perhaps even millions — of mini cell towers, or “small cells” would need to be placed on top of every lamp post, every building, inside every home and potentially every room.
That presents a host of problems. How can cell phone companies possibly process all that data? There are companies, such as Google’s recently acquired Alpental, that are working on those “backhaul” issues. But they’re not so close to a solution, according to Akshay Sharma, wireless infrastructure analyst at Gartner.
That’s why 5G might complement 4G, rather than outright replace it. In buildings and in crowded areas, 5G might provide a speed boost. But when you’re driving down the highway, 4G could be your only option — at least for a while.
None of these questions are going to be answered any time soon. The industry’s consensus is that it will run 5G experiments in South Korea during the 2018 Winter Olympics, with mass deployments beginning sometime in 2020.
Yet Verizon (VZ, Tech30) has said that it is working on 5G technology with the aim of bringing it to market much sooner — as early as 2017.
With all the questions surrounding 5G and all the wrinkles that need to be ironed out, it’s exceedingly unlikely that anything Verizon does will be widely deployed. For example, the smartphone makers will need to develop chips that are capable of sending and receiving 5G signal without driving costs significantly higher.
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Hurricane season is from June 1 through November 30. On October 29, 2012 the East Coast was hit with Hurricane Sandy. Many businesses are still recovering and rebuilding from the largest Atlantic Hurricane on record. Power outages, high winds and flooding affected many areas in New Jersey and New York.
The Small Business Administration and Agility Recovery hosted “Protect Your Business This Season” webinar.
Below are five steps to protect your business before a disaster like Hurricane Sandy:
All types of risks exist such as environmental disasters, organized disruption, loss of service, equipment failure and many more. Assess your company building for risks (inside and outside). Also, assess business losses during and after a disaster strikes.
Calculating for “post-disaster” consists of many different scenarios. Creating a plan for up to six months of interruptions for your company. Another major concern is to design a backup plan with secondary vendors in case all primary vendors cannot provide their specific services.
Consult with your agent and an insurance expert when buying insurance for your business. Insurance policies vary, it is important to design a policy that best fits your needs.
Gather primary and secondary e-mail addresses for all employees, contractors, vendors and customers to put an e-mail alert system in place. Businesses could also use Social Media to alert public before and after a disaster.
If a disaster strikes, employees may not have the ability to travel to the office. Setting up a Telework Policy will grant employees access to work from home. This policy can be for all employees or specific employees.
There’s plenty of free, effective anti-malware protection available. Just don’t let it push your browser around.
Although malware was once predicted to become extinct, it remains a constant threat. Thankfully, countless tools are available to help protect your PC against such security threats—including the popular (and free) anti-malware products on this list.
AVG AntiVirus Free (Figure A) provides protection for your computer, your browser, and your mail client. Like many other free products, AVG AntiVirus Free tries to sell you a paid license, which includes an enhanced firewall, anti-spam protection, and a few other features.
Although AVG AntiVirus Free seems to do a good job protecting systems against viruses, you have to be careful about the options you choose when installing and configuring this product. Otherwise, AVG will attempt to “hijack” your browser by installing AVG Web TuneUp, changing your search page, changing your new tab pages, and changing your home page.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free (Figure B) offers basic protection against malware. There are two main things I like about this app. First, unlike some of the other free anti-malware products, it doesn’t try to change your browser settings or install unwanted toolbars. Second, it has a clean and intuitive interface that doesn’t leave you guessing about what to do.
The disadvantage to using Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free is that unlike the premium version, it does not support real-time protection. You can scan your PC for malware at any time, but you won’t be alerted to infections in real time unless you upgrade to the paid version.
Avast Free Antivirus 2016 (Figure C) is probably the most comprehensive antivirus tool on this list. It offers 12 components, including Rescue Disk, Browser Cleaner, Web Shield, and File Shield. The installer lets you choose which components to install.
During the hour or so that I used Avast Free Antivirus, it did not attempt to take over my browser or engage in any other obnoxious behavior. The software does, however, prominently display a warning message during the installation process telling you in no uncertain terms that Avast Free Antivirus 2016 collects personal information. At least it gives you a way to opt out of this data collection.
Panda Free Antivirus (Figure D) is another free anti-malware solution that requires a bit of caution during the installation process—otherwise, Panda will install a browser toolbar and change your home page and your default search provider.
The free version of Panda Antivirus offers real-time protection against malware, but it does try to get you to upgrade to the paid version. That version, which Panda refers to as the Pro Edition, adds a firewall, Wi-Fi protection, and VIP support.
YAC (Figure E) stands for Yet Another Cleaner and—you guessed it—it’s yet another free tool for blocking threats and removing malware from an infected system. It offers a simple, easy-to-follow interface, and it doesn’t try to hijack your browser (which is a personal pet peeve, in case you hadn’t noticed). In fact, the software gives you a way to lock your browser settings so that your preferred home page, default browser, and default search engine can’t be changed without your consent.
In addition to its basic anti-malware capabilities, YAC includes some nice extras, such as a tool for speeding up your computer, an uninstaller, and an ad blocker. The primary disadvantage to using YAC is that you have to upgrade to the paid version if you want to receive real-time protection. Otherwise, you’ll have to initiate anti-malware scans manually.
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Takeaway: Five useful tools that are satisfactory for Disaster Recovery.
Quick Disaster Recovery can restrict applications from opening at Startup and re-enabling Windows Administrator tools such as Task Manager and Registry Editor. (Free)
Clonezilla is compatible with Windows, Mac OS and Linux. Clonezilla has the capability to perform disk imaging/cloning.
There are two versions available:
Macrium Reflect is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8. Macrium Reflect has the capability to perform disk imaging/cloning, schedule backups, supports RAID and GPT and has a Linux Rescue CD.
There are three versions available:
DriveImageXML has the capability to perform disk imaging/cloning, browse and restore images. Browsing images allows you to restore files, folders or the entire disk image.
There are three options available:
System Rescue CD is a Linux rescue disk compatible with Linux and Windows. This rescue disk can recover data, manage partitions and edit configuration files.
The System Rescue CD can be modified to your specific needs by adding specific tools or scripts. (Free)
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