May 2018                      
IT Support          Digital Forensics            Cybersecurity          eDiscovery         CLEs
Closeup of computer keyboard key in red color spelling Backup
Close up of a man using mobile smart phone. Close up hand of businessman in formals typing on smartphone. Detail of businessman holding cellphone while checking emails.
Where is My Email?
Liz Calder
IT Support Specialist

Most of us get a deluge of email everyday. Some of it is essential and if it goes missing, we notice right away. However we all also get mail that we may not immediately notice is missing. So where does it go? Depending on your company's (or personal) mail setup there are several filters in place to protect you. Sometimes legitimate mail gets stuck in these filters.
 
SPAM Service - many companies employ a SPAM service. This service scans mail before it reaches your company's mail server and removes SPAM and virus email before it is ever delivered. If your company employs one, you likely get a Digest Report or Held SPAM Report detailing which email were removed. You are then given an option to release (mark for delivery) any mail you want and to "whitelist" (mark as safe) senders you do not want stuck in the filter.
 
The report usually arrives once per day and my recommendation is that you take a few seconds to be certain you do not have business mail you need to release.
 
Mail Server Antivirus - Some companies use Antivirus/SPAM products on their mail server to protect the company from receiving or sending viruses. If your company employs one, the settings that determine which notifications the sender and/or recipient receive are set up on the server.
 
Clutter - If your mail is through Outlook365, you may have a clutter folder. Clutter is a filter set up by Microsoft that is designed to move "low priority" email (that is not SPAM) out of your inbox. The document here has more information on the clutter folder and how to control it.
 
Junk Mail - If you use Outlook, you may also have a Junk Mail folder. Junk Mail is Outlook's version of a SPAM filter. It is controlled by Outlook on your computer. Meaning if something is suddenly going into your Junk Mail, your IT team did not direct it to do so.
 
It is wise to review your Junk Mail folder once a week at least to make sure you do not have important messages in it.
 
Microsoft updates the filter rules and it is not uncommon for a sender (like your copier for instance) to suddenly get moved into Junk Mail even though you have not had a problem before.
 
If you see an email you need in Junk, do not "move it."  Instead, right click, go to the Junk menu and "Mark as Not Junk" so that Outlook learns not to do it again.
 
For more information on how to control the Junk Mail folder, go here.
 
Computer Antivirus - your antivirus product may also include a SPAM filter. This is more common for home antivirus products and is not likely to be engaged on your work computer. If your antivirus has a SPAM filter, it will be controlled either through an add-on in Outlook or in the Antivirus control console.
 
Personal Email (when not using Outlook ) - Most email uses some form of SPAM filtering. Providers like, Gmail, Yahoo, etc. have a SPAM folder. If you find things in SPAM that should not be there, there is typically a button to indicate they are "not SPAM."
 
Most email employs some form of SPAM filtering. Knowing which filters are in place can help you manage your email more effectively.

Is Your Data Backed Up?
May is World Backup Month
Kara Mueller
IT Support Specialist & Certified Computer Examiner

In the last few decades, digital data has rapidly replaced hard copies of important files, photos, letters, you name it. And unfortunately, digital data is more susceptible to destruction. From hardware failure, theft, or malware, there are many ways that your precious digital data might become corrupted or lost. If backing up your data is not something that has been a priority for you or your business, now is a great time to re-evaluate.

Backup in Three Places
 
"If it doesn't exist in three different places, it isn't backed up!"  This is a great rule of thumb. For example, my personal photos are stored in three places:
  1. My computer
  2. An external USB hard drive
  3. In the cloud (cloud backup service)
If my computer fails, I can recover data from my external USB drive. And if something happens to my home where my computer and external USB hard drive are located, then I can access my data in the cloud. It is very important to maintain a copy of any critical data (and family photos are critical data) in a secure and separate location in case of a real disaster.
 
Test Your Backups
 
Once you have your data backed up in three places, now it is time to make sure you can restore them. External hard drives, and even CDs, can fail over time. It is important to periodically ensure that you can restore a file from a backup source. If you maintain backups in the cloud, do you know how to login to your account and restore a file? Learn and practice doing just that. For businesses, do you know how quickly you  can restore lost data and get back to work?
 
Make it Easy
 
Backing up your data does not have to be complicated, expensive, or require too much time. We all lead busy lives, so make things easy on yourself and automate your backups.
 
Personal cloud backup services for PC, such as Backblaze or Crashplan will automatically backup your data on a schedule of your choosing. No need to remember to move files around. And they are just a few dollars a month.
 
Windows PCs can make use of the built-in Windows Backup to automatically back up important data to an external hard drive. Apple Mac computers come with Time Machine, which works similarly.
 
Do not neglect your smartphones or tablets, either. Apple devices can use iCloud backup. Your first 5 GB are free, but it is a very reasonable $0.99/month for an additional 50 GB per month, which is plenty of space for the majority of iPhone users. Android users have options, too, with the built-in Backup and Sync, or a variety of apps on the Google Play store from which to choose.
 
Backup Everything
 
It might help to make a list of everything that needs to be backed up. Photos. Videos. Documents. Tax forms. What about e-mail? Even some apps may have data that needs to be backed up to maintain or transfer your personal settings.
 
Do you have CDs, USB flash drives, or memory cards hidden away? Make sure these are backed up, as well.
 
It's 2018, and NOW is the time to ensure that your important data is backed up. Disaster, malware, hardware failure or just plain human error can and will strike when you least expect it.

Seltek Tip of the Month

Do not provide historical details about yourself online which can be fodder for cyber criminals. Personal login security questions usually contain the same information.  





Seltek | 804-360-4490 x20 | [email protected]  http://www.seltekinc.com
8814 Fargo Road
Suite 108
Richmond, VA 23229

 

Copyright © 2017. All Rights Reserved.