Gray hair, extra weight around my mid section, new body aches and poor eyesight aren’t the only thing that have changed in the past 20 or so years. The way I conduct business and work with technology has evolved quite a bit. With every hurdle I’ve had to adjust and reinvent the business, adapting to dynamics that are so out of my control.

Most people don’t know I listen to podcasts throughout my day. I usually mute them when one of you guys comes through the door. Today was different; I reread old articles I wrote going back to 2009. I got caught up in how technology changed over the years. Moreover, I was enveloped with how I dealt with changes then.

I think it was a 2015 article I talked about cloud storage and how software developers were using the cloud more. I predicted the cloud was a passing phase and people would wake up and start storing data locally. I’ll admit I was wrong. Everything is shifting to the cloud and we have the ability to access our data from any device. At least it can be turned off, but Apple and Microsoft have made it the default setting on their devices.

In 2017 I created a set of password rules that included 10 characters, a couple numbers, capitals and characters. I mentioned the challenge questions and gave a few ways to use them. Luckily the industry did away with challenge questions and moved to two factor authentication. Had I written the article today it would have mentioned using two factor for every account.

Around 2014 I became sick of scammers and how the banking industry handled compromised customers. At that time accounts were “monitored” and customers were simply sent home with no mention of their computers. I purposefully invited scammers to take control of my computer and watched how they installed two or three backdoor utilities. After getting nowhere with local banks I wrote a report and used it as one of my syndicated pieces. It was one of the few articles I duplicated for my print and online publishers.

I’m willing to fall on my sword for the stellar review I gave Windows 8 in 2012. I called it the best interface I’ve seen. My inbox filled up with hate mail. A customer came to one of my stores and berated me for my poor choice. Of course, Windows 8 went on to be the most hated operating systems and Microsoft quickly rebranded it Windows 8.1. Rebranding in the first few years is never a good sign.

In a presentation I gave around 2014 I was given permission to exploit the host’s phone system. Basically that meant tapping into the bandwidth their phone system used. I had my laptop connected to the company wide PA system per the request of the host. Everyone was actively listening when someone in the building decided to start a spicy conversation with their partner. It clearly made my point about VoIP insecurities.

Each of those articles is a little time capsule of what was happening at different stages of my little business. One day I’m incorrectly predicting the future. Another day I’m rushing to disconnect my laptop from the overhead speakers to save the employee from being embarrassed. To me, each of the articles I read represents little changes and adaptations to my business.

For more of these articles please visit my Blog page at https://www.localcomputerwiz.com