How are your New Year’s resolutions going? Three weeks in to 2018 means you’re probably still strong on your game. Is it exercising more, eating better, kicking a nasty habit, spending more time with family?

Whilst these are some of the more common New Year’s resolutions, we wonder if anyone has ever really thought about some key IT New Year’s resolutions.

Whilst on the surface this may not be as important to your personal life as some of the others, they’re certainly key to keeping your personal and business data safe and secure, and less open to vulnerability – definitely something that could cause you huge personal issues if not addressed.

Here are our top New Year’s IT resolutions:

1. Revisit your passwords – when was the last time your changed key passwords on your devices? The new year should bring a new promise of regularly changing your passwords, and making the combinations strong. Kick off the year right and be sure to follow through for 2018 as it’s the best way to avoid being susceptible to hackers. Read more on password security.
2. Avoid saving work-related documents to desktops – saving your valuable work-related documents to your desktop, rather than your hard drive, is the easy, quick and convenient option. But just like takeaway food is easy and convenient, but isn’t good for your waistline or those diet resolutions, saving files to your desktop is also a 2018 no-no. It’s a good idea to kick this habit to the curb as saving files to your desktop slows down your computer’s overall performance, makes your documents vulnerable to data loss without proper backup, and physically clutters your desktop – a nightmare if you’re trying to quickly locate a document.
3. Use mobile devices safely – whilst you may be really great at prioritising safety and security of your data on your desktop, you need to also ensure you cover all bases on your mobile devices – laptops, tablets and phones. Start the year right by enabling passwords or pins if you haven’t already done so, and like your passwords, be sure to change these regularly too.
4. Restrict access to your devices – you wouldn’t leave an important document out on your front doorstep for anyone to find, access or steal right? Be sure to prioritise restricted access of all devices storing important information. Leaving them unattended and logged in leaves them open to prying eyes, vulnerable to change or total data loss. Make sure only you, and the relevant and trusted staff within your business, have access to your devices.

Whether its New Year’s IT Resolutions, or year-round IT solutions, we have you covered so get in touch with us today to kick off 2018 right.