Blue Ridge Technology

In late September 2024, life changed for many of us in Western North Carolina. Our team was fortunate to make it through the storm safely, with relatively little damage or disruption (at least compared to many in communities near us). We usually use this blog to share tech tips and IT advice, but this blog post is going to be a little different. First, we want to let clients and readers know that we’re open for business . We’re already supporting our clients around the region, helping them resume normal operations and recover any data or infrastructure that was lost to Helene. Second, we want to pause and think of the hundreds of thousands of individuals and organizations impacted by the storm. Communities around us have been devastated. None of us have ever seen anything like this, and who would have thought that our mountain communities needed to prepare for a hurricane? Full recovery will be months, maybe years, in the making. Observations on Serving as an MSP Post-Helene Our organi...

You’re ready for the upgrade… what’s holding you back? Is your business still running on Windows 10? If so, it’s time to start making plans to switch. Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 in October 2025. That means the end of security updates, the end of customer service, and the end of fixes to broken functionality. In other words: Windows 10 will gradually get less stable, more vulnerable, and harder to troubleshoot. Why Some Businesses Delayed Making the Switch When Microsoft released Windows 11, they included some relatively stringent hardware requirements. These were intended to increase overall security of Windows 11, which they did. But the reality was that at the time some older hardware wasn’t capable of upgrading. Businesses that still relied on that kind of hardware didn’t have a choice: they simply couldn’t upgrade. Other businesses were worried about legacy applications, including some applications where the software maker no longer exists. There was no hope of upda...

That dreaded Blue Screen of Death. Ah, the Blue Screen of Death: It’s been a staple of Microsoft Windows going back decades — way back to 1993’s Windows NT 3.1. Usually a last-ditch response, the BSOD indicates that your Windows PC has crashed — and nothing’s coming back until you restart. What’s so frustrating about the dreaded blue screen is that it seemingly comes out of nowhere. No warning, and no recourse whatsoever. Once it hits, your computer’s unresponsive until you restart, and whatever you were working on might be lost for good. The Real Cost of the Blue Screen of Death Sure, BSODs are annoying, but the real cost is more than your sanity (and that of your employees or team members). Whenever a PC goes down, your work stops — maybe just for a minute or two, maybe for five. But we all know that a five-minute interruption is more than a five-minute impact. Your entire train of thought gets derailed, and any state of flow or high performance is disrupted. Plus there’s the not-so-...

Don’t sleep on this simple, effective security booster Microsoft is making waves once again with some of its customers with a security change. We think it’s a good one — in fact, we think every business should implement this change anywhere they can. Here’s what you need to know, both about the specific change in requirements for some Microsoft users and for why your business should make the switch regardless of whether you’re technically required. What’s Changing: Azure Accounts Must Switch to MFA Microsoft is changing the way Azure users will log into their accounts . Eventually every Azure product will require all accounts to log in using multi-factor authentication, or MFA. MFA is a more secure method of authenticating, or logging into an account. Instead of providing just a username and password combination, logging in using MFA requires an additional factor (method) of authentication (establishing that you are who you claim to be and that you are authorized to use the account you...

Microsoft takes the pain out of updates If you’ve been a Windows user for a few upgrade cycles, you may know that Microsoft has made quite a few changes to the way it issues updates to its operating system. Many of us remember the bad old days when the dreaded Windows Update meant no more work was happening for hours — and that’s assuming the update was installed successfully! When one failed, well— it wasn’t good. Around a decade ago, Microsoft started working on fixing the problems that contributed to “Windows Update dread,” making updates less bulky and time-consuming. Now the company is changing the way it updates Windows once more, and this time it’s good news. Still, any change to the way your business’s computers operate is a big deal. Here’s what you need to know. The (Old) Problem with Windows Updates Back in the day, those massive Windows Updates were problematic in all sorts of ways. Because they were so big, they took forever to download (and even longer to actually install...

Lost for words? Draft with Copilot can help Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft’s business version of those generative AI tools (think ChatGPT and DALL-E and the like) that can seemingly create something out of nothing — or close to it. Now, the next big Copilot feature is here. It’s called Draft with Copilot, and it has the potential to help some users save time and even improve their writing in ways that go beyond what we’ve seen before. Here’s what you need to know about this new feature — what it is, where to access it, and what it can (and can’t) do. Draft with Copilot Is Part of Microsoft Edge (or Is Coming Soon) Let’s start with where to find this new capability: it’s right there in your browser. (Probably.) First, you have to be using Microsoft Edge to benefit from this one. Sorry, Chrome aficionados! Second, it’s a question of timing and permissions. Depending on when you’re reading this and how up to date your browser and OS is, you may already have access to Draft with Copilot. I...

Heads up: You need to update Windows 11 by this deadline If your business is running on Windows 11, there’s a critically important deadline coming up in just a few weeks. Here’s what you need to know and the steps you need to take. PSA: Update All Workstations Running Windows 11 by October 8 By October 8, 2024, every PC in your organization running Windows 11 must be updated to the latest major version (called 23H2). Why? Because that’s the last day Microsoft will support their previous two releases (21H2 and 22H2). To be clear, your out-of-date Windows will continue to run. It’s not like Microsoft is flipping a switch and rendering those older versions nonfunctional. The problem is that Microsoft won’t be supporting them anymore post-10/8. If you stick with those older versions, you could be opening yourself up to countless security vulnerabilities in the months and years to come. What Is Windows 11 23H2? Windows 11 23H2 is the mainstream update to Windows 11 that released in the seco...