McLean Data Solutions LLC » News

Windows 10 is history on October 14, 2025

MDS Editor — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 20:48:20 +0000

Microsoft Windows 10 will be end of life on October 14, 2025. Businesses should inventory all existing equipment pronto, individuals also need to verify their operating system. If you navigate to Windows Update and check for latest updates and your machine supports upgrading to Windows 11 – do it now, if the machine does not support upgrading to Windows 11 you need to upgrade your hardware which means a new machine and that will come with Windows 11 preinstalled.

Transferring everything to a new machine successfully can be challenging, be careful to itemize the data that you need to copy/move to your new machine.

Be aware that “programs” can’t be moved, they need to be reinstalled so prior to making the move you should make a list of all programs currently in use and verify you can download and install on the new Microsoft machine.

Watch for another post soon as to McLean Data Solutions preferred method of setup for new Microsoft Windows Machines, whether it be Mac or Microsoft the initial setup is an important step and just clicking “next / agree / next / etc” and accepting the default choices is often not the best option.

You as a user are not a “default” and these initial choices should be tailored to you for long term safety and satisfaction.

2 factor authentication NOW

MDS Editor — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 19:18:43 +0000

Now that we are all many days in to the shutdown from COVID-19 and many are working from home there has been a huge increase in support requests from clients existing and new that have had accounts compromised. Email and cloud storage accounts alike are victims of hacking and most of the time that is due to weak passwords or machines that have been infected through download of malicious items and/or clicking on links that go to malicious sites. McLean Data has assisted multiple people recently that have had their email password compromised however the hacker does not change the password or do anything that would alert the average user for a while as they read your emails and apply “filters” to divert email or “forward a copy” of all future emails to the hacker.

*Create strong passwords and don’t use them in multiple places!

*Use 2-factor authentication anywhere it is available, this cannot be stressed enough, if you can enter your mobile number as a second factor of authentication required before any changes to your password or other information can be made……do it.

*Keep your machine secure with up to date antivirus, home machines and work machines alike must be secured.

Be vigilant about opening email!

MDS Editor — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 15:25:18 +0000

The following incident occurred to the city of Riveria Beach, Florida very recently after one of it’s employees opened a suspicious email that contained ransomware.
It cost them $600,000 and then some.
See Here

It is of paramount importance that when receiving / opening email you perform due diligence before clicking to open the email or opening attachments, take a look at the “from” address, if the email address doesn’t match the content of the email you are receiving it should be an immediate red flag. Look for broken English and poorly constructed sentence structure or faulty logic that would seem out of character for the expected sender. People can spoof email account addresses and construct email to look legit, you as a user have to take every action you can to verify before you open, you CAN NOT just say “oh there’s antivirus” or “oh it’ll be fine I don’t have to worry about it”…..your a/v may be out of date or it may be a brand new variant of a virus that the major a/v manufacturers have not yet classified for protection.

The first line of defense for you as an individual or at your workplace is you. These ransomware attacks that encrypt data and charge for it’s release are dramatically increasing, the article referenced in this post depicts many other victims and there are many others that do not report.

If you or anyone you know uses WhatsApp you need to read this.

MDS Editor — Tue, 14 May 2019 15:55:17 +0000

See this article for a critical issue if you have the App “WhatsApp” installed on your phone, this was just announced May 13, 2019 so it’s worth double checking.
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2019/05/14/update-whatsapp-now-one-call-could-give-spies-access-to-your-phone/

It’s a scary read and the long and short of it is you need to update the app immediately if it’s not the current most up to date version.
While Apps are convenient and sometimes integral to the use of your mobile device, McLean Data recommends:

*Install only the Apps you need.
*Uninstall unnecessary Apps.
*Set Apps to automatically update to the most current version.
*Be aware of their security risks.

The number 1 reason not to use the same password everywhere.

MDS Editor — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 15:46:43 +0000

Recently Facebook had yet another security issue wherein a huge amount of passwords for it’s users may have been exposed, see here ……McLean Data recommends you NEVER use the same password for multiple accounts although many people in practice do just that, once any of the sites are compromised that contain one of your “favorite” passwords there is a real chance many of your other accounts are at risk also. It is a pain to keep track of all the different credentials but to operate safely in the technical world we live in it is mandatory, please act accordingly.

iPhone users running ios 12

MDS Editor — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 12:05:14 +0000

For those of your running iPhones as your daily driver mobile device make sure – if your device can be upgraded to the most recent operating system ios 12 – that you do so, new perks include better battery life and faster smoother processing speeds, faster open camera action for those shots you don’t want to miss, there’s a laundry list of improvements that you can find on the web but most surprising to McLean Data Solutions LLC is “Screen Time” after installing ios 12 and using your phone for a week Screen Time gives you a detailed view of not just how much time you spend staring into your phone but exactly what you’re spending your time on, you’ll be taken aback at not just the amount of time you’re using your phone but whether or not that time is productive, what apps are occupying the majority of your time? Are you being efficient and “using your phone” or is “your phone using you” ? Quite frankly you’re enticed by a myriad of needs to stare into the screen and out of necessity & recreation we all do but are we giving something away needlessly and without thinking, something they’re not making any more of, something we need treat as currency with a finite limit……TIME. Looking at the results of your screen time should make you pause and re-evaluate, we don’t know how much time we have so be wise in your usage.

Don’t dismiss the latest warning from FBI

MDS Editor — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 18:55:24 +0000

Recently an alert went out issued by the FBI referencing a large number of WiFi Routers that may be compromised and unsafe to use, see original statement HERE.
Many articles state that you should be “rebooting” / restarting your WiFi routers, others say you may need to update firmware on your devices to the latest version in order to be more secure, there are multiple brands/models known to be targeted, out of respect to WiFi Router manufacturers we’ll refrain from listing them here without concrete verification but the Brands/Models can be found on the web with a little research. McLean Data has assisted with remove/replace of some of these devices at current clients – at the very least re-start your WiFi Router, potentially upgrade the firmware and for maximum security if you have one of the specific models/brands on the list….throw it away and replace it.

iPhone X News

MDS Editor — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 12:27:38 +0000

Some clients I’ve spoken with lately have heard me bemoan the lack of a couple specific apps on my Microsoft 950 XL which I dearly love and as a result at least entertaining the idea of a move to Apple for at least one of the devices used by McLean Data Solutions LLC…..Microsoft has been dragging their feet for way too long on introducing more apps and/or introducing a long awaited handset. I can add the Microsoft items I use to a different device, aside from apps the most important thing to any user should be security and as such McLean Data considers Apple to be more secure than Android. All that being said the iPhone X that could have tempted me to switch may now be delayed well into 2018 .. see here: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/apples-new-iphone-x-has-a-nasty-surprise/ar-AAt8Phz?li=AA4Zoy&ocid=spartandhp Who knows maybe Microsoft will announce their rumored device before then.

McLean Data Solutions – Happy 2017 – Increase your productivity.

MDS Editor — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 14:46:36 +0000

Happy New Year 2017 !!! from McLean Data Solutions LLC….Moving forward this year at a fast and furious rate, here’s an example of technological evolution applied to our lives.

The cable on the left is outdated and slow media for transferring data inside computers even though it can have as many as 80 wires in it and transfer data in parallel….it is SLOWER.

The cable on the right is used in today’s computers, has only 7 wires and is exponentially faster, the reason is simple, it transfers data 1 piece at a time (at a very fast rate) unlike the old style cables that tried to transfer multiple pieces of data at once which created noise, interference and waiting time to send the next bunch of data.

No need to go into detailed explanation of tech stuff here, the point is this correlates directly to our lives and how we accomplish tasks, to be more productive don’t try to do multiple things at once, grab hold of the task at hand and do that “one” task quickly and efficiently without the noise or interruption of 5 million other things you have waiting and when complete move to the next task.

It’s simple: single tasking beats multitasking every time. multitasking ensures you will accomplish multiple things at a slower rate and a lower rate of quality.

Concentrating on applying this to your daily routines across the board will make you a more successful individual or team, do one thing at a time as fast as you can and to the best of your ability…..Happy 2017 from R. Mark McLean @ McLean Data.

Windows 10 free upgrade deadline fast approaching.

MDS Editor — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 11:57:24 +0000

McLean Data Solutions LLC urges you to take full advantage of Microsoft Windows 10 free upgrade option before the deadline arrives, the end of the free upgrade is July 29, 2016 which is right around the corner. If you have a Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 operating system you should take advantage of this offer as the cost of waiting can be as much as $200.00 when you need to upgrade your operating system moving forward. Windows 10 is now active on over 300 Million devices, make sure to upgrade before time runs out, call or contact McLean Data Solutions LLC to receive technical assistance in expediting this process, remote assistance of the installation/upgrade to Windows 10 is available.