Pennyrile Technologies

When thinking about keeping your computer secure from threats like Viruses, Malware, or Ransomware, the first thing you might think of is a good anti-virus software. While anti-virus is important, one of the most important steps in protecting your Windows 10 PC is keeping Windows and and the software on your PC patched and up-to-date. These updates help protect your computer from falling victim to exploits hackers can use to access your system. Why It is Important to Update Windows 10 Patches, updates, and hot-fixes are essential for keeping your computer and network secure. The threat of hackers obtaining your personal information has been ever more apparent lately and you need to be vigilant. Most Microsoft updates or hot-fixes are centered around security and/or threat vulnerability. A hacker only has to penetrate your computer’s defenses once, and they can get any information they want. Malware can enter a system by an exploit, whether by a user or program. The exploit can then be used to gain access to your computer or information. Patches, updates, and hot-fixes are sent out to fix those exploits or make them more challenging to access. Not all of the patches are to fix exploits however. Patches can be released that add new features, increase stability, or make the software faster for example. Some computer manufacturers provide programs to help assist users with updates with minimal intervention. Some good examples of programs that assist with updating your system and checking overall computer health are Dell SupportAssist, HP Assistant, and Lenovo System Update. These are just a few examples of the many manufacturer’s programs that can assist you with updates. How to Update Windows 10 To manually update Windows 10, you can follow the instructions below: Go to search on the taskbar and type in check for updates, then click on the first result. On the next screen, click on Check for Updates. When it is done scanning, it will automatically start installing Windows updates. Below the check for updates button, you might see View Optional Updates. Optional updates is where you can get feature updates, monthly non-security updates (also called preview updates), and driver updates. Alternatively, you can click on Start  > Settings > Update & Security  > Windows Update > Check for updates. How to Uninstall a Windows 10 Update With Windows Update, you don’t always have control over which updates are installed. Sometimes bad updates are released that can cause your computer or a software to act unexpectedly. The updates could cause programs to crash, lose some functionality, or cause the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. In a business or production environment, we recommended testing the updates on a small number of computers before fully deploying them. If your computer is having issues after a recent update, you can try uninstalling it as well. Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to view and uninstall recent Windows 10 updates. If a patch for windows 10 has gone bad, it may be time to remove it. To view or uninstall a recent update, follow these steps: Go to search on the taskbar and type in check for updates, then click on the first result. On the next screen, click on View Update History. Next, click on Uninstall Updates. From here you can view the name of the update, the program and version, name of the publisher, and the date the update was installed. Click on the update you wish to remove and click on Uninstall. Windows will begin uninstalling the update and you may be prompted to restart your computer once it finishes.   How to Update Drivers in Windows 10 Updating drivers has become a lot easier with Windows 10, especially compared to previous operating systems from Microsoft. Drivers can now be installed automatically through Windows Update when you check for updates. If you would like to manually install a driver though, you can follow these steps. Manually Update Device Driver In the search box on the taskbar, enter device manager, then select Device Manager. Select a category to see names of devices, then right-click (or press and hold) the one you’d like to update. Select Search automatically for updated driver software. Select Update Driver. If Windows doesn’t find a new driver, you can try looking for one on the device manufacturer’s website and follow their instructions. If you are having an issue with a connected device and would like to try reinstalling the driver, you can also follow the steps below. Manually Reinstall a Device Driver In the search box on the taskbar, enter device manager, then select Device Manager. Right-click (or press and hold) the name of the device, and select Uninstall. Restart your PC. Windows will attempt to reinstall the driver. Keeping Your Business’s Computers Updated Manually updating your computers can take a lot of time and effort. Pennyrile Technologies can help automate this process and ensure your computers are always kept updated with the latest patches and fixes. We know updates can happen at inconvenient moments. You can’t always control when your computer decides to update itself and sometimes it happens when you’re in the middle of something. Right when you need your computer most, it can be busy installing an update and you won’t be able to use it. With our IT Support Services, we proactively manage and maintain your technology environment so all your devices are always health and updated consistently and reliably. Save yourself time and effort so you can run your business not having to  worry about keeping your computers up-to-date.

Looking to start a new website or on the search for a new web hosting provider? You probably aren’t alone! It’s estimated there are 1.2 billion websites on the Internet as of January, 2021. Trying to search for the best web hosting provider will return hundreds of choices from the search engines and trying to determine what information is valuable or actually helpful can be daunting. With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of five steps for choosing the best web hosting provider for your business or upcoming project. We hope this will make your search just a little bit easier! Table of Contents Determine Your Needs Defining A Budget Support Needs Server Speeds Extra Features Determine Your Needs One of the first things we recommend doing is sitting down and writing a list of all your needs and a general plan for your website. Will your website only be a few pages and static (rarely updated) or will you be updating the site constantly and adding new content, or hosting lots of pictures and video? If the website is small with only a few pages then you can usually choose a web hosting plan with a small amount of storage. Typically 5GB of storage or less works for most small to medium-sized web sites. What about bandwidth? Unless you own an extremely high traffic site, then this probably won’t factor into your decision. The average website uses less than 20GB of bandwidth a month so unless you are getting 20,000 + visits a day and have lots of content on your site, a smaller plan should be fine. If you receiving that many visits a day, you should be able to log into your current host’s control panel for a breakdown of your monthly traffic. Using that information will be helpful if moving to another host. Defining A Budget For Web Hosting You probably know the old saying, “you get what you pay for”. Like many things, this is relevant to web hosting too. There are countless hosting companies out there with cheap hosting plans and minimal services. Shared hosting plans will typically start around $4.99/mo from the budget providers and go up to $24.99/mo or more if you are needing large amounts of storage and bandwidth or looking at a premium hosting. When signing up for services, also be careful to look at the fine print on renewals. Some providers may lure you in with a cheap price, but then increase your bill by 50% or more once the renewal comes! Lastly, you may be able to save money on your hosting by paying in advance for a year or more. You may want to try month-to-month at first to see if you are happy with the service they provide though. Support Needs for Web Hosting What happens when you need support from your web host? Make sure the web hosting provider you choose has good support. Many of the cheapest web hosting plans have to skimp on the services somewhere and support is usually where it’s happening. Can you call the provider and speak with a support technician in a timely manner or do you have to wait on the phone for 30 minutes to an hour or more? Some providers may only offer email-based support or chat-based support as well. What about resolution times to issues raised? If you have an issue, does it get resolved in 10-15 minutes or does it take days? Some providers may even charge extra for “premium” support where that would be considered regular support by others. Web Hosting Server Speeds Finding a web host with fast servers is important when having an online presence. It’s estimated the average user will only wait 3 seconds for a page to load before they leave a site, so choosing a host with good hardware can be very beneficial. When looking at Shared Hosting Packages, note that your website will be hosted on a server alongside other websites. Some providers may use cheaper hardware or overload their servers with too many websites to save money. Alternatively, you could look at VPS Hosting or Dedicated hosting which would grant you more dedicated resources, added security, and increased scalability. Pricing is much higher than Shared Hosting however, with VPS Hosting usually running anywhere from $20 to $100 a month. Dedicated hosting is even more expensive and typically ranges in price from $80 to as much as $500 a month. Extra Features to Look For Another thing to look for are extra features the web hosting provider offers. While some providers may include these as default in their hosting plans, others may charge extra for them which can add up rather quickly. Here are some of our favorite extra features to look for when searching for a web host provider. Free SSL Certificates – This varies a lot across providers. Some include them for free while others may charge anywhere from $5/year to more than $100/yr. If you have a website, we highly recommend installing an SSL certificate for your site. It helps secure the site for your visitors and is also a ranking factor for appearing in Google search results. Uptime Guarantee – What kind of uptime guarantee does the provider offer? An uptime guarantee of 99.9% allows for 8 hours, 45 minutes, and 56 seconds of downtime a year while a 99.99% uptime guarantee allows for only 52 minutes and 35 seconds of downtime a year. 30 Day Money-Back Guarantee – Does the provider backup their service with a 30 day money-back guarantee? If so, they are probably confident in their abilities and services they offer to their clients. Free Domain – This isn’t as common as some of the other features we look for, but it can add to additional savings. Domain renewal pricing varies wildly across registrars and hosts and usually depends on extension (.com, .net, etc.). The savings from a free domain can by anywhere from $5/yr to $20/yr or

Cell phones have become a necessity in these trying times. They are our main form of communication for work, contacting family, or watching videos. Many people often do not have an excellent connection to the cell network. It is a common problem even if you have a well-known carrier as your cell provider. The issue usually involves: Not being close enough to a tower. Being in a building that blocks a lot of the cell signal. Having multiple towers around you that cause interference. Suppose you live or work in an area where it is hard to get a good signal for your phone. You might go about your daily activities just dealing with this connection issue, including dropped calls or reduced voice quality. A cell phone booster is an excellent way of fixing these connection issues. They take the existing signal and boost it while transmitting the signal out in key places so your phone can have a better connection. Before You Begin Before getting a cell phone booster, consider some of the following questions: Do I have no signal where I need my cell phone? Do I often need my cell phone to complete tasks? Do most of my cell phone interactions get interrupted because of signal loss? Do I have a better signal outside than I do inside? Is it possible that the building blocks the cell signal from reaching my phone? Is the distance to the closest cell tower possibly what causes my signal loss? Chances are, if you say yes to some or all of these questions, then you could benefit from a cell phone booster. Before you start, you must have at least 1 bar of usable signal outside or on the roof of the building you are installing the booster on. What do we mean by usable? You need to be able to place a call and use data reliably. When running a speed test, you should have decent upload and download speeds. Cell boosters bring signals inside from the outdoors. If the signal outside your building is not usable, the booster will not help. Choosing Your Indoor Cell Phone Booster Antenna When you purchase a cell booster, you will need to decide which types of antennas you will need for both inside and outside the premises. The most common types of indoor antenna are dome (omni-directional) and panel (directional) antennas. The dome antenna will broadcast the signal in all directions, while the panel antenna will broadcast in only one direction. Panel antennas will typically have a stronger signal because they broadcast in one direction. Because of their directionality they are better at penetrating internal walls and floors. They are typically mounted on walls and are good for spot locations. Dome antennas will broadcast the signal 360 degrees and may cover a larger area, but with a weaker signal due to their omni-directional broadcast. They are typically mounted on ceilings, but if you have very high ceilings (20 feet or higher) the signal may be reduced. Depending on the building and the area you are trying to increase your cell reception will determine which antenna you use. You may even wish to use a combination of the two. Choosing Your Outdoor Cell Phone Booster Antenna Much like the indoor antennas, you will need to choose an omni-directional antenna or directional antenna for your outdoor antenna. This antenna is responsible for receiving the signal outside the building and sending to your amplifier. An omni-directional antenna will receive cellular signals in a 360-degree window. They are great for accessing nearby cell towers and if you need to boost the signal of multiple different cell phone carriers. The directional antenna will only receive cellular signals from the general direction it is pointed. Their advantage is boosting signals from far off cellular towers or when you are dealing with weaker signals. Please note if you are using an omni-directional antenna, the antenna could become overburdened, especially within bustling urban areas. Because these antennas can pick up multiple cellular carriers, you may receive interference from multiple towers or have issues locking onto the signal of a specific tower causing dropped calls. A directional antenna is harder to set up, but they have an easier time locking onto a specific tower. On the down-side, they usually support 1 to 2 cellular providers and are limited by their angle of field due to their directional signal. Beginning Your Cell Phone Booster Installation After you have decided to purchase a cell phone booster, you will receive your booster, and then it is time for the install. The install will take some time and maybe a little more hands-on than you may like. You might decide to have someone install it for you. Then again, if you have the time and patience, you may want to install it yourself. Let us begin with the inventory of your equipment. When you receive your booster, you will typically be given: Cables Antenna Amplifier Grounding Cable Adapters Transmitters Installation Instructions The instructions included with the equipment should have a list of all the items that are in your installation package. This would also be an excellent time to read over the instructions and verify all parts are included. Pay close attention to the instructions on where to place the outdoor antenna. The outdoor antenna will receive the signal and send it to the amplifier. Before installing your booster, plan out where to place the inside antennas. Please pay close attention to how far apart they will be positioned and how much material is between them. If the antenna is too close, then there will be interference. There will not be as much coverage if they are too far apart either. If thick walls block the signal, the antenna range might not reach the surrounding rooms. This will also cause issues with coverage. Once you plan the layout for your inside antennas, we can begin finding the best position for your outside antenna. The process