Shield Edge Technologies LLC

04/05/2026

AI has never been the problem. Humans inability to adjust fast enough to a new technology to keep themselves from abusing the technology and using it wisely instead, is. AI should be used with caution... like discovering fire. It changed the world, but they didn't burn down all of humanity to do it.

03/11/2026

Minimum Password Hygiene:
Your Bank, Your Financial Websites, Your Shopping Sites, and your Email should ALL have unique (and different) passwords.
This isn't - BankPassword26, ShoppingPassword26, BirthDay!, FirstChild-TheirBirthday, etc.
I know... It's hard.
To make it easier, use AT LEAST an address book with unique passwords or passphrases. If you want to make your life easier by having software fill in your passwords for you, use a Password Manager. That can be any number of password managers, from your Google Account (with a hard-to-guess, unique password) to RoboForm for the family. I use Keeper Password Security for my clients.

If one site with a password that you have re-used gets hacked, they WILL try it on other sites.
If more than one site is breached, it exposes multiple passwords; things like password26!, Password25$, etc. will show a pattern. Avoid patterns.

Password managers will generate random hard-to-guess passwords, and they are resilient because most are synced to multiple devices.

Secure your passwords, and breathe a little easier.

Stay safe out there.

03/06/2026

03/06/2026

N-Able just released the 2025 Annual Threat Report:

03/04/2026

How to Identify and Handle a Fake [ Google ] Security Check:

*** Do not click links *** : Avoid clicking any links in the suspicious message or notification. Legitimate security alerts from Google will direct you to check your account activity directly on your official Google Account settings page, not through a link in an email.

*** Check the sender's address ***: Scammers often use email addresses that look similar to official ones, but contain subtle misspellings or use a non-Google domain.

*** Google will not ask for sensitive information *** : Google will never ask for your password, credit card number, or other sensitive personal information in an unsolicited email or phone call.
Check account activity directly: If you are worried, go directly to your Google Account and review your recent security activity there.

Legitimate alerts are informative, not demanding: Real alerts inform you of actions taken or provide a warning to check your account, without demanding immediate action through a provided link. Whether it is from Google, Amazon, the USPS, FedEx, Your Bank, etc. If they are using fear to motivate you and a link to make an easy nudge to do what they want... It's definitely a scam.

02/19/2026

From a scale of 1 to 10, what's your IT Happiness Level?

02/14/2026

This week has been full of design work, surprises and the occasional bewilderment. It's a good life, helping people.

02/11/2026

AI GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out:
AI is a tool to help enhance your processes, helping you by allowing you to bounce ideas off the general collective against which it was trained. A collective of humans... people doing the work you are trying to do. That's what makes it valuable. "What should I ask in order to really consider this process deeply?" or "If I were an expert in Thing A, and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything, what would I consider that we haven't already discussed?" would be examples that could be used to make decent prompts. "Make a thing for me." is a bad prompt.
Learning to use AI is more about learning to think deeply about what it is that you are really trying to accomplish. Any other use is likely to make you less good at your job... not better.

01/14/2026

Your next computer will be significantly more expensive.
PC RAM is currently a problem due to Datacenters insatiable appetite.
Crucial, a company that was my go-to for after market RAM allowing my clients to buy systems with minimal RAM to keep their costs down from OEMs (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.), has decided to stop selling RAM directly to us and only through OEMs.
That avenue of reducing pricing for our clients is gone. The only avenue left is reducing specs to buy lower performing machines... this is not a great long term strategy as it means computers will need to be replaced more often to maintain user productivity gains.
To be fair, computer reliability gains have allowed us to keep pcs longer than we used to, and prices have remained very similar or cheaper over the years creating an effective downward pressure on keeping computers effectively cheaper every year. This era, at least for the next year or so, is over.

12/17/2025

12/17/2025

What's the difference between boogers and broccoli?....
..kids won't eat broccoli