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SCW has been serving the Spokane Valley area since 1997, providing IT Support such as helpdesk support, computer support, and technical consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

Sam is a network engineer with a broad range of experience spanning more than 35 years. He wrote is first piece of code in 1979 and has been involved with the industry ever since. For the last 20 years, he has worked for SCW Consulting where he has embraced his passion for network technology and security.

Taking a Look Inside Android Oreo

Taking a Look Inside Android Oreo

Ever since its announcement, Android’s latest operating system, 8.0 Oreo, has been making waves in the industry. So far, however, only select devices have the opportunity to use it. This doesn’t mean that you can’t take the opportunity to prepare for it, though. Here are some of the most important things to know about Android 8.0 Oreo, as well as Android 8.1. But first, let’s take a look at how much Android 8.0 is currently being used.

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Intro to Your Tech: Business Intelligence

Intro to Your Tech: Business Intelligence

Any business owner will tell you, the more you know about your business and its relationship with its customers, the better decisions you can make. For years, small and medium-sized businesses have been rolling out solution after solution to try and make their business run as efficiently as possible. Today, we’ll go into the concept of business intelligence, how it works, and why your business needs it.

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What to Do Before Your Phone is Stolen, and After

What to Do Before Your Phone is Stolen, and After

Anyone that has lost their smartphone knows it is a rather traumatic experience. Not only is your entire life on the phone, likely so is your work. With smartphones becoming a major part of doing business, and their use for business purposes, a lost device can cause major headaches. Today, we will go over some strategies you can implement to mitigate the damage if/when you or one of your employees loses a device with sensitive company information on it.

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Lights, Camera, A.I. - Comparing Hollywood to Reality

Lights, Camera, A.I. - Comparing Hollywood to Reality

There is no doubt artificial Intelligence is a growth field. Developers in countless industries are trying to leverage a machine learning program into better profits, but for practical use A.I. is seemingly limited. One place where A.I. has been impressive is in the cinema. A.I. may be just starting to play a big part in business, but it’s been a staple in Hollywood for decades. Today, we will look at A.I.’s portrayal on the silver screen and how the A.I. of today stacks up. 

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New Tech Trends Your Small Business Should Know

New Tech Trends Your Small Business Should Know

The small business owner has to be much more diligent in the way they spend their company’s resources. Technology, and the automation that it often brings, can work to make your business more agile and efficient. The problem with implementing this technology is that it typically comes with large capital outlays and committing to spending big chunks of money can be impossible. We’ll take a look at how other small businesses have been investing in technology to help you determine what you should be prioritizing.

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Intro to Your Tech: Uploads and Downloads

Intro to Your Tech: Uploads and Downloads

Computing is based on data - manipulating it, accumulating it, and transferring it. These transfers have names that most will find familiar: uploads and downloads. In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at these activities, and how they present themselves during regular business use.

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Are Streaming and Social Media Giving You Headaches?

Are Streaming and Social Media Giving You Headaches?

Technology is omnipresent in this day and age. You can’t drive down the street without seeing a tween walking along staring into his/her smartphone, the fitness-minded person running with wireless headphones, or your car telling you that you have a new message. Nowhere is this tech explosion more visible than in your wallet. Today, we will take a look at two relatively new, and widely utilized technologies, and how you can keep them from costing you an arm and a leg.

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How Sports Have Gotten Smarter

How Sports Have Gotten Smarter

Athletics are a time-honored tradition, both for athletes and spectators. As time has passed, these bouts of physical skill and prowess have gradually adopted some technological aspects to improve the experience of the game for all. Now, smart technology has a key position on almost any playing field. Let’s review some of the ways that sports have improved through the adoption of technology.

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Tip of the Week: How to Simplify Your Inventory Management

Tip of the Week: How to Simplify Your Inventory Management

It doesn’t matter how large your company is, or how much information technology that you have to maintain and collect, keeping it organized can be challenging. With any company with a lot of different and important operations, it’s crucial that you have processes put into place that documents where and how each of your moving parts is being used. To this end, having a way to inventory your technology can be helpful for keeping track of where your devices, and more importantly, your data is.

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Tip of the Week: How to Use PowerPoint More Efficiently

Tip of the Week: How to Use PowerPoint More Efficiently

When there is a need to create a presentation, one solution is common enough that its name has become synonymous with the presentation itself: PowerPoint. Not only does this Microsoft Office staple have plenty of features for a user to leverage, it also provides a considerable amount of shortcuts and time-saving tricks. This week’s tip will dive into some of these tricks.

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The Tangled History of Wireless Charging

The Tangled History of Wireless Charging

Wireless charging is a true conundrum. Sure, it’s a brilliant idea. On the surface, there are no drawbacks. No more charging cords or adapters, unless you count the one that will always be plugged into the wall. Today we take a look at wireless charging, why it hasn’t taken over yet, and future options that will let us really charge our devices wirelessly. 

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Are Your Printing Expenses Secretly Out of Control?

Are Your Printing Expenses Secretly Out of Control?

How often have you thought about how much money your printer is eating? Today’s blog will help your organization save as much money as possible on printing costs so that you can cut down on the waste your business suffers from. It all starts with calculating the individual cost of each of your pages.

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There’s a New Internet Explorer Zero-Day Threat in Town

There’s a New Internet Explorer Zero-Day Threat in Town

Have you ever heard the phrase zero-day threat? Basically, they are the scariest threats out there, because they are unaddressed and unresolved by the software developer, all while being actively exploited in the wild. This effectively gives the developer zero days to address the issue before it becomes a problem. Today, one of the most dangerous threats of the zero-day variety takes advantage of a weakness in Internet Explorer - but there is now a patch for it.

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Keep Security in Mind on Social Media

Keep Security in Mind on Social Media

Social media was created with the intent of staying in touch with others, but it comes with nasty repercussions. It comes at significant risk to both your personal and professional security. How can you make sure that your social media usage isn’t putting your organization at risk of compromisation or worse? The first thing that you want to take into account is awareness.

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Tip of the Week: Working with Your Router for Better Connections

Tip of the Week: Working with Your Router for Better Connections

One of the biggest benefits to professional work in recent years has to be the Wi-Fi signal. This simple concept - what if we could connect to a network without a wire - has changed how and where work can be done… assuming, of course, that the connection works. For today’s tip, we’ll go over how to optimize your Wi-Fi signals.

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Tech Term of the Week: Hard Drives

Tech Term of the Week: Hard Drives

If there’s one piece of computer hardware that almost everyone knows about, it would have to be the hard drive. However, it is not so easy to say that everyone knows what it does, how it works, or even the differences between the two types. That’s why we’re exploring hard drives for this week’s Tech Term!

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Building a Better Data Backup

Building a Better Data Backup

Your data is valuable, and therefore, it has to be protected. One of the best ways to protect your data from any type of threat is by implementing a strong backup program. But how do you go about putting in a backup platform that makes sense for your business. Today, we will talk about enterprise data backup and how to take reliable backups.

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How to Avoid Becoming the Next Data Security Cautionary Tale

How to Avoid Becoming the Next Data Security Cautionary Tale

Data security isn’t a matter to be taken lightly, as too many businesses have found out the hard way. Unfortunately, there are far too many simple ways to correct common security issues - enough that it’s foolish not to do so. We’ll review a few ways to fix security issues, after discussing one of, if not the, most egregious security failings in modern history.

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Three Signs that Your Security Policies Need to be Refreshed

Three Signs that Your Security Policies Need to be Refreshed

It makes sense that your organization would want the best security possible and to mitigate the risks that it faces, whether they are physical or virtual. However, there is no definition for “perfect” security, as there isn’t one solution that can completely meet all of your business’ specific needs. As a result, you want to set realistic goals for yourself so that security doesn’t become difficult to gauge.

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Defining “Cyberterrorism” is Easier Than It Sounds

Defining “Cyberterrorism” is Easier Than It Sounds

The world is unfortunately familiar with the concept of terrorism, the use of fear and menace to intimidate those opposed to your views, beliefs, or goals. However, others may not be as familiar with the concept of cyberterrorism, beyond seeing it on television. For today’s blog, we’ll examine cyberterrorism to gain a better understanding of its methods, and how to protect yourself from it.

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