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Did you know that almost all our Engineers came to us by way of one of you? Our clients know that we look for integrity, good work ethic and a technology bent. We love to help young men get started in their careers, offering to train them from the ground up. No experience is necessary to work for Quo Vadis.

As we grow, the need is greater for quality candidates. Do you know a young man that would like to work in IT? Have him visit our website and send us his resumé.

We are excited to share with you that Alec Mangum, who has been with Quo Vadis for two years, has accepted a position to manage all digital communications for a local startup. Alec was great fun to work with and he will be missed by all of us. We wish him all the best with his new venture.

The admin emailed her boss again, just to be absolutely sure he wanted to send this $100,000 wire transfer to a Vietnam supplier. “Yes, make sure it is sent today” was the response. Money transferred.

Unfortunately, this true story happened last week. The owner’s email account had been compromised several days, if not weeks, earlier. His password was “guessed” by the hacker. Using the information found in the owner’s mailbox, the hacker was able to contrive a request for funds and convince the admin to send the money. Whenever she questioned the transfer, he would respond quickly, and delete her emailed questions, along with his replies.

When the owner returned from his trip, the admin asked about the transfer. The owner turned pale and began to shake, as the reality of the stolen $100k took hold.

The money was recovered, fortunately, but not without more drama. Moral of the story: Use two-factor authentication for email! If a hacker guesses your password, they cannot get into your mailbox without you physically opening the door by clicking “Allow” on your mobile device.

I cannot stress enough the need for two-factor authentication with email and remote access!

They are not lying – they are just seriously deceived – and compensated to remain ignorant.

That’s my current view of all these purveyors of “fiber” – which is now available in your building… or your block. Not unlike the stock broker who calls with a quiet tip to get your retirement fund back on track by morning, the pleasant sales person calls to let you in on the ground floor. Fiber is in your building and they are willing to waive the installation fee. Just say “yes!” But don’t take the time to call your IT support…

We might give you a different perspective, and the guy selling fiber doesn’t much appreciate it. One of our clients was recently offered the great privilege of moving from their current 50 x 5 cable connection to smokin’ fast 25 x 25 fiber connection. Fabulous sounding phrases like, “no shared bandwidth” and “dedicated fiber circuit” are used to give you the impression that this is the greatest technology update since Apple’s iPhone.

Here is some simple math (and wisdom) from a simple man looking to make a simple decision.

1. Your Internet pipe is a pipe. The medium (copper pairs, coaxial cable, fiber) is largely irrelevant if we are comparing quality circuits.
2. It is absolutely not true that fiber is faster than cable. Fiber circuits can most definitely provide higher speeds than cable can, but it costs a small fortune. Scratch that. It costs a large fortune.
3. If you change your Internet speed from 50-down via cable to 25-down via fiber, you can spin it any way you like, but you have HALVED the download speed. It’s simple math.
4. Fiber is synchronous. Cable is asynchronous. Right. Lowering the download speed (which everyone uses) and making it sound like the greater upload speed will “make up for it” is hogwash.

A pipe is a pipe. Call us. We often can call your current Internet provider and get you double the speed for half the price. We just did that. The client was paying $260/month for 50×5 cable. He was offered 25×25 fiber for $400/month. Mary got him 100×10 cable for $135/month! You read that right. She got him double the speed for half the price – instead of half the speed for double the price.

Your mileage may vary. Call us, that’s always a free call. 🙂

The workstations for which we care are now so complex! There are often intricate software installs and settings to keep track of. We found ourselves with stacks of notes and pages of instructions to follow. A normal WinInit (new computer) which used to be a simple task of removing all the “bloat-ware” preinstalled by DELL and installing Office from a CD has become a tedious, time-consuming effort.

We have begun cloning workstations at each client site to make the WinInit and Wipe’n’Types (existing computer) a snap. We make the clone from a well setup computer in your office. You store the USB drive in your desk until it’s needed. In under an hour all the software is installed properly and configured correctly – from the clone.

Work smarter, not harder!

In some industries, most users want and many users must send encrypted email. What does this mean?

The message must be delivered securely. This is accomplished if the message itself is encrypted, then sent normally, OR, the connection is encrypted and the email sent without encryption. I have been saying for over a year, “Within a very short time there will no longer be options for sending encrypted email – because all mail will be encrypted by default.”

Did you know that all iMessages sent from an iOS device are encrypted? And it’s no burden at all. (That’s why an SMS message on an iOS device shows up green instead of blue. The green ones are not encrypted.)

THREE CHOICES:

The most common option for our clients to send encrypted email is with CipherPost Pro. It provides an add-on to Outlook so you get a Send Secure button next to your Send button. You can also use their website to send/receive secure mail. This is sold on an individual user basis.

An easier albeit more expensive option is Echoworks. All email is sent through their smart host. Their mail server determines if a connection to the recipient’s server can be made securely. If so, the message is sent normally. If not, the recipient receives a link to a secure URL to read the message. Very, very easy. No extra steps. Every email is sent securely unless you put {noencrypt} in the Subject line. This is sold on a domain basis, not by user.

The newest player in this space is Microsoft with their Azure Rights Management offering. It’s inexpensive, works like Echoworx, and is sold on a user basis. Interested? Give us a call to learn about Microsoft Azure Rights Management or just to chat about email encryption.

The Microsoft Outlook app on Android and iOS is awesome. I actually use it on my iPhone and iPad, instead of the built-in Apple mail app. It looks and feels just like Outlook, and puts my calendar into the same app as my email, which is very handy.

If you haven’t tried Outlook Mobile, I highly recommend it, even for just a test day or two. Here’s the latest feature additions.

• Sync shared calendars
• Manage delegated calendars
• Meetup support
• Event management (see co-workers availability, RSVP and recurrences)
• Add a message to an invite, set events as private, mark events Busy, Free, etc.

For administrative assistants, these new features make it a breeze to stay informed and maintain the office calendar.

To get the Outlook Mobile app, open the App Store on your iOS device or the Google Play Store on your Android device. Setup is a cinch. Just give it your email address and password after choosing “Exchange” as your mail service type. As always, if you need help, give us a call!

Hello, my name is Clayton Pajot.

I’m one of the Quo Vadis techs up here in Canada. I live in a small town called Walkerton, Ontario. I’ve been with Quo Vadis for about 6 months now, and it’s been a great experience so far! I grew up in rural towns surrounding the greater Ottawa area, where everyone has the most stereotypical Canadian accent you can think of.

Life moved my family around quite a bit. My Dad owned several businesses in the reclaimed wood industry; he would find old barns and negotiate with the owner to tear it down, bring the wood back to his Wood Yard. Once he cleaned the wood up, he could sell it to those looking to improve their houses or cottages with a rustic look. The business did well for over a decade and allowed my dad to see most of North America driving the wood from place to place.

After leaving high school in 2007, I went up north to a city called North Bay. It’s really not that far north in Canadian terms, but that’s the name. I went there to attend Nipissing University for a Bachelor of Business Administration, thinking I would go into Investing or some such industry. I found out over the course of three years there that I wasn’t enjoying it. I changed majors and minors and tried new courses, and ended up graduating with a Bachelors in Commerce. I was pretty discouraged by my university education. I felt that, though I had the degree, I didn’t want or feel prepared for any job it may help me get.

University did bring me something that I will always be grateful for though; my beautiful and long-suffering wife Priscilla. We met through our church in North Bay, and eventually helped lead our Christian group on campus together. We have been married for over two years now, and have just celebrated the first birthday of our son Arlo. My wife worked in a hospital for almost a year, while I was trying to find steady work to support my family. Discouraged, we wondered what God had in store for us. At church one day, a woman mentioned that an IT company in Teeswater, Ontario was hiring. This seemed odd to me as Teeswater is basically 35 people and a dairy creamery surrounded by 100 kilometers of fields, but it intrigued me, and I felt like it was something I could do.

I went to meet David McDonald and see the Quo Vadis office. We talked for almost an hour about everything Quo Vadis was, and how I could contribute to this company. They said they would train me in-house, show me the ropes of IT, and imbue me with real-life skills that would be useful no matter where I end up. I got the job over 6 months ago and since then I’ve learned a lot, met great people on both sides of the border, and get to work a job I actually enjoy! I hope this gave you a chance to learn a little more about me.

Sincerely,
Clayton