Washington Works Blog

People leave their jobs for all types of reasons. Sometimes they move on to different opportunities, sometimes they retire, and sometimes, the change is initiated by you. Regardless of the reason for their departure, they’re gone, and you have some loose ends to tie up before you can begin the process of finding their replacement. Let’s look at five things you need to do immediately when someone leaves your organization.

Happy Valentine’s Day! While this holiday is all about love, it just so happens to fall smack in the middle of tax season in the United States. So, while you’re hoping to get a sweet message from that special someone, there’s a chance you might also receive a text or an email from the Internal Revenue Service… or is there?

As it turns out, you won’t… but that’s a fact that scammers are hoping you won’t know.

After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, terrorism became a topic everyone heard about daily. The "War on Terror" lasted over a decade, toppling governments and sending a clear message that terrorists would be hunted down relentlessly. While major terrorist attacks have happened since then, the battleground has shifted. Today, one of the biggest threats comes from cyberspace. Let's take a closer look at the rise of cyberterrorism.

Accessibility is a huge talking point in the world of IT. With modern technology solutions, accessible options are much easier to use and more inclusive, allowing workers to get their work done despite the circumstances. Today, we want to look at what the Windows operating system offers in terms of accessibility features.

In business, you generally know better than to make promises to your clients or customers. After all, what happens when you can’t keep them? Well, today, we want to highlight a couple of promises that managed IT can make—with confidence—for your business.

Cybercrime is a real problem for businesses and individuals alike. Today, there are more threats than ever and even if you are careful, data theft can affect you. In our blog today, we thought we would go through the ways that data theft can affect you, even if it isn’t stolen directly from you. 

Net neutrality has been a hot topic for years. The rules around it keep changing depending on who’s in charge of the government. Recently, things took a major step backward when the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) newest net neutrality rules.

What happens to all the data that gets stolen by hackers during their despicable campaigns? Sometimes it gets destroyed, but more often than not, it ends up on the Dark Web, where it’s put to other nefarious purposes. Today, we want to discuss the Dark Web and why it’s so important you monitor it for your business’ data.

Good communication is essential for any business. It can be as basic as having a phone line or as advanced as using tools that help your business grow. For small businesses, communication can be challenging. Limited budgets, growing teams, and the need to stay flexible often make traditional systems too expensive or outdated. That’s where cloud-hosted communications come in as a modern and better option.

Have you ever thought about whether a hacker could secretly read your emails with your clients and coworkers? If you handle your own email system, it's really important to know about email encryption. Encryption helps keep your emails safe and private so you can focus on running your business without worrying about hackers.

Here are three big problems you could face if you don’t encrypt your emails:

Imagine this: a factory floor is silent, machines are turned off, and workers stand around with nothing to do. Or think of an office where employees sit idle because the computer system is down. This is downtime—a period when a business’ operations drag to a halt. While it might not seem like a big deal initially, downtime is one of the most significant drains on a company’s resources. In this month’s newsletter, let’s take a look at why this is.

Water cooling is a common method of keeping computing hardware at reasonable temperatures, particularly for gaming PCs, data centers, and similar high-demand applications. What if, however, a business used a similar method to keep their entire building climate-controlled?

Microsoft intends to do so in some new data centers, as many residences have begun implementing a version of this system.

Keeping your smartphone safe for work is something that we all need to do. Not only do you have all of your personal data, if you use it for work, it probably has access to work emails, files, and other sensitive information, making it a target for hackers. To make sure it stays secure, here are some simple tips anyone can follow.

While most browsers offer a bookmark feature, allowing a user to save certain web pages for repeated viewing, Google Chrome adds to this with an added functionality: Google Saved.

Previously known as Google Collections, Google Saved gives users a convenient place to keep track of things they want to return to later… similar to a bookmark, but more so.

The official end-of-support date for Windows 10—October 14, 2025—will be here before you know it. This means you must prepare to transition to Windows 11 as soon as possible, assuming you haven’t already done so.

Here are a few tips and best practices to keep in mind to help make this transition as smooth and painless as possible.

As an information technology provider, we are tasked with helping your business make the best decisions possible related to your IT infrastructure. In this role, we offer a gentle recommendation that you purchase hardware you expect to need over the next year as soon as possible. If you don’t, you might be left high and dry without any good options to choose from.

Got a new computer for the holidays? That’s awesome! But before you get too excited, let’s talk about your old device. You can’t just toss it out—there’s a right way to get rid of it that keeps your personal info safe and the environment happy. In today’s blog, we discuss what to do with your old computer.

Securing your network is essential in this age of near-constant cyberthreats. One of the best ways individuals and businesses have to secure their accounts is through two-factor authentication. How do you make the most out of it? Let’s discuss the best practices to ensure your 2FA setup keeps your digital life safe.

Your Android device can do a lot, but you also need to ensure that the devices you use aren’t putting data or privacy at risk. Today, we want to show you how to take simple steps to control your privacy and security. Anyone with a smartphone can use these tips, too, so have at it!

Do you have any technology-related projects that require hardware acquisition? It’s a great time to consider it now, especially considering the expected increase of computing hardware costs. Working with a project management team like Washington Works can take out some of the risk, responsibility, and financial burden you might have for any new hardware acquisition during the project management cycle.