{"id":532,"date":"2023-02-17T14:19:19","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T19:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/?p=532"},"modified":"2023-02-17T14:21:15","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T19:21:15","slug":"computer-usage-care-101-in-jamaica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2023\/02\/computer-usage-care-101-in-jamaica\/","title":{"rendered":"Computer Usage &#038; Care 101 &#8211; In Jamaica"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This is a direct branch off from my last post. I realized something with most small to medium businesses in Jamaica &#8211; there&#8217;s very little thought given to IT. Whether internal or external IT suggestions &#8211; most of it is glossed over until something happens. We&#8217;re more reactive than proactive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To reduce the risks associated with owning tech in Jamaica &#8211; here&#8217;s some info to get things going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2023\/02\/computer-usage-care-101-in-jamaica\/#POWER_%E2%80%93_UPS_%E2%80%93_SURGE_STRIP\" >POWER &#8211; UPS &#8211; SURGE STRIP<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2023\/02\/computer-usage-care-101-in-jamaica\/#BACKUP\" >BACKUP<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2023\/02\/computer-usage-care-101-in-jamaica\/#MAINTENANCE\" >MAINTENANCE<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2023\/02\/computer-usage-care-101-in-jamaica\/#SECURITY\" >SECURITY<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2023\/02\/computer-usage-care-101-in-jamaica\/#IN_CLOSING\" >IN CLOSING<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2023\/02\/computer-usage-care-101-in-jamaica\/#LINKS\" >LINKS<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"POWER_%E2%80%93_UPS_%E2%80%93_SURGE_STRIP\"><\/span>POWER &#8211; UPS &#8211; SURGE STRIP<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless of you being a home user or a business &#8211; you NEED power protection. JPS is not the most reliable power company, and they cannot guarantee clean power to you just by virtue of how things are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A great example that was given to me by a friend was this &#8211; imagine that you&#8217;ve built a new home on a newly commissioned area that JPS has put in a brand new transformer. You&#8217;re getting the best and cleanest power off the grid in your area. But&#8230;5-10 miles down the road &#8211; nowhere near you &#8211; someone is running a business that does welding. The electrical noise generated on the line will affect your supply &#8211; believe it or not. Now imagine being a business and there are dozens of other buildings nearby with varying power requirements. How can JPS guarantee that <strong>YOU<\/strong> will get clean power?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While an ONLINE UPS would be best &#8211; the cost is very heavy per unit. The cheapest single unit costs around JMD$80,000 &#8211; meaning that&#8217;s what it would be for ONE PC. Quite expensive if you should outfit all your devices with an ONLINE UPS. So the next best thing is the LINE INTERACTIVE UPS &#8211; or SWITCHING UPS. These are the more common ones that make a &#8220;click&#8221; when they switch from JPS to battery and back. They provide good enough protection for your equipment &#8211; but as with most things, there are some brands that work better than others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FORZA has become very popular in Jamaica &#8211; but it&#8217;s not a brand that I&#8217;d recommend for their UPSes at current. Their surge strips and other devices seem fine, but brands I&#8217;d recommend include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>APC<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Liebert<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>PowerWare<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you can&#8217;t afford a UPS &#8211; at the very least &#8211; get a surge strip. And not one of the cheap ones from the supermarket &#8211; a good surge strip from APC &#8211; or even a Forza one. The surge strip will at least protect the system in the event of a high voltage surge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re in a place that has lots of outages &#8211; maybe a fridge guard would do better. At least those stay off until power has returned to a constant supply for 5 minutes &#8211; I think the timer varies with different models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"BACKUP\"><\/span>BACKUP<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is something that &#8211; surprisingly &#8211; isn&#8217;t taken as seriously as it should be. If you&#8217;ve followed the news, you&#8217;ll realize that lots of business locally have fallen victim to ransomware and other cyber attacks. Without even considering the darker side of computing, there&#8217;s the fact that devices may fail due to age or factory faults. With no proper backups available, a failed drive could grind business to a halt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speak with your IT personnel to discuss local and cloud backup solutions. You can do one or both depending on your needs and budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"MAINTENANCE\"><\/span>MAINTENANCE<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is another sore point for most places. If the systems are working &#8211; &#8220;just keep swimming&#8221; as the statement goes (Finding Nemo reference). Excessive dirt buildup over time can lead to part failure. Static buildup due to the dirt, or having the dirt become &#8220;caked&#8221; into the circuitry may then cause breaks and failures &#8211; or cause failures after cleaning is done. That last one is funny &#8211; imagine dirt literally becoming a part of the circuitry and holding the pathways together &#8211; then you get it cleaned &#8211; then it fails because the circuit is now broken. Things like this actually happen &#8211; and it&#8217;s not the fault of the technician &#8211; unless THEY didn&#8217;t schedule your servicing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each environment is different, and some systems require more maintenance than others as a result. Typically, home and office systems should be good with 1-4 times per year. This depends on the environment primarily, as a system elevated (on a desk) will have less dirt than one on the ground &#8211; typically. And a system in an AC environment will have less than one that&#8217;s not in an AC room &#8211; typically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Laptops will usually require less maintenance &#8211; again &#8211; based on the environment. One that is used by a person that has it on a bed, couch and any kind of fabric surface will find that it&#8217;s more dirty than one that&#8217;s always kept on a desk, table or flat surface. Even if it&#8217;s used in a bed or couch, a laptop that&#8217;s kept on a book or cooling pad will have less dirt than one placed directly on the fabric surface. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With laptops &#8211; again &#8211; there are variables. Some have intake from the back, the bottom (typically) or the top &#8211; right through the keyboard keys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"SECURITY\"><\/span>SECURITY<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is another topic that I can&#8217;t get into much right now. It will depend on the business\/home and how the staff\/users utilize the resources. There are always best practices that should be followed, and each person should take the time to review their surroundings &#8211; work or home &#8211; and do their best to not place the equipment at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s give some examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Don&#8217;t click on links in emails that seem suspicious.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Don&#8217;t go to illegal websites.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Don&#8217;t click on pop-ups.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Even if you know the sender &#8211; should the email seem suspicious, call and validate the information with the sender. Their account could be compromised.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"IN_CLOSING\"><\/span>IN CLOSING<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Check with your IT person\/s to verify what needs to be done. Have security reviewed by your IT person\/s and take steps to secure your systems. Use password managers. Don&#8217;t randomly click yes\/allow unless you&#8217;re SURE about what&#8217;s being run. Do what&#8217;s needed to stay safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"LINKS\"><\/span>LINKS<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The link below was found as one of the first Google results from a search I did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/intellipaat.com\/blog\/cyber-security-tips-best-practices\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/intellipaat.com\/blog\/cyber-security-tips-best-practices\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s a link from Norton &#8211; a well known antivirus vendor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/us.norton.com\/blog\/how-to\/cyber-security-best-practices-for-employees#\">https:\/\/us.norton.com\/blog\/how-to\/cyber-security-best-practices-for-employees#<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can check for other similar links from the results below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=free+it+security+best+practices&amp;rlz=1C1ASUM_enJM1036JM1036&amp;oq=free+it+security+best+pra&amp;aqs=chrome.1.69i57j33i160j33i22i29i30i625j33i22i29i30j33i22i29i30i625l6.4703j0j7&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google &#8211; Free IT Security Best Practices<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a direct branch off from my last post. I realized something with most small to medium businesses in Jamaica &#8211; there&#8217;s very little thought given to IT. Whether internal or external IT suggestions &#8211; most of it is glossed over until something happens. We&#8217;re more reactive than proactive. To reduce the risks associated &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2023\/02\/computer-usage-care-101-in-jamaica\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Computer Usage &#038; Care 101 &#8211; In Jamaica<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_eb_attr":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-info"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4XHmQ-8A","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":535,"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}