Windows 11

The Facts (and What They Mean for Your MSP)

Windows 11 is coming for all to enjoy! Well, for some of us to enjoy. Specifically, those of us with PCs that are equipped with a TPM 2.0 … or is it a TPM 1.2? And just which PCs are those, exactly? Also, when’s the release date? What about the free upgrade? When’s that coming? If you’re an SMB owner, should you hop right on the upgrade, or bide your time and milk the continued support of Windows 2010 for all it’s worth?

There’s a swarm of questions surrounding the imminent release of Microsoft’s brand new operating system, and like any good swarm, it’s creating quite a buzz. At times like this, it can be edifying to step away from the fray and take inventory of the facts at hand. So, what do we know about Windows 11—and what are we still waiting to find out? And how should owners of IT service providers be feeling about all of this? More importantly, what should they be doing?

What We Know (and Don’t Know) about Windows 11

Release Date

Microsoft announced that its new operating system will be here by “the holidays.” Most agree that it will happen sometime between October and December, although a growing chorus online is converging on a much more specific release date: October 20.

And just how did they come up with that? Well, they noticed a clock—the one in the snapshots featured on Microsoft’s announcement blog post for Windows 11. The snapshots show off various aspects of the company’s snazzy new UI. And it just so happens that the time shown in every single one of them is 11:11 a.m. The date’s also the same in all of them: October 20, 2021.

Coincidence? Or is Microsoft showing us instead of telling us that Windows 11 is dropping on October 20?

Honestly, no one knows—except for maybe a few select people over at Microsoft. We’ll just have to wait and see. We’ll also have to wait and see when exactly the free upgrade will be available (the “by the holidays” refers to new machines that come with Windows 11); at this point, all Microsoft has told us is to expect the free upgrade by early next year.

System Requirements

This is where things get messy. Microsoft didn’t exactly set a reassuring tone at the outset; with unclear documentation, evasive public statements, and a PC Health Checker app that just didn’t work, the company almost seemed intent on stirring up confusion and frustration. No such thing as bad press, right?

But clarifications have been made, specifications drawn up, documentation altered. Here’s what we now know—and what we don’t:

The following system requirements might not be set in stone, but they don’t seem to be up in the air, either. So, until notified to the contrary, we can assume that PCs will need to tick all the following boxes to be able to run Windows 11:

Processor: 2 or more cores running at 1+ GHz
Storage: 64+ GB
4+ GB of RAM
Security requirements: Secure Boot, TPM 2.0
Screen: At least 9 inches with 720p resolution or higher
Graphics card: compatible with DirectX 12 (or later) and WDDM 2.x.
Internet connectivity and a Microsoft account

Some of these aren’t surprising, or difficult to fulfill. Others, such as UEFI Secure Boot and the TPM 2.0, pose more of a challenge. To say the least, the above requirements are more stringent than many were expecting, and they shut out a lot of PCs from the Windows 11 party, including Microsoft’s own Surface Studio 2, which came out just a few years ago and costs a pretty penny ($3,499.99).

But just how many of the 1.2 billion machines currently running Windows 10 will be able to run Windows 11, and how many will be left out in the cold? And which ones?

If there were solid answers to these questions, we’d give them to you. But as things stand, there’s a good amount that we still don’t know.

For instance, we know that 8th generation Intel and AMD Zen 2 CPUs will be Windows 11 compatible, but what about 7th gen and Zen 1? Microsoft is looking into it. As for the TPM 2.0 requirement, just how absolute is it? Are there workarounds? Might a machine with a TPM 1.2 and the right tweaks slip through the Great Filter of Obsolescence?

Again, we’ll have to wait and see.

Windows 11 and Your Business

Not knowing what the system requirements are, finding out your brand-new, expensive PC doesn’t meet them—there’s no shortage of reasons to feel some frustration and anxiety about the imminent release of Windows 11.

Businesses and business owners face a particularly tough decision, especially those whose current PCs are among the millions of hapless machines that will be left out in the cold. The question will not be whether to upgrade, but when. Timing is everything and a careful consideration of the ROIs involved in different courses of action could be the difference between harnessing an upgrade for profit and letting it knock your business off track.

Support for Windows 10 will continue through October 14, 2025. So, if you’re a business facing a potentially expensive upgrade experience, just know you have a little time to make your plans.

Do What You Can Now

At this point, it’s a good idea to take some definitive steps in the right direction. For instance, you can check your systems for a TPM 2.0. Here’s how :

1) Right-click the Windows start button

2) Select “Device Manager”

3) Click the little arrow next to “Security devices”

If it says “Trusted Platform Module 2.0,” you’re good to go—on that requirement, at least. Figuring out whether your systems have Secure Boot implemented is a bit more complicated, and it can be a good idea to just contact your PC manufacturer for information on that.

Taking concrete action is always better than sitting around and worrying, catastrophizing, and complaining. If you want to be a successful business owner, it starts with you: your attitude, your tone, your habits. Be positive in the face of challenges and your employees will take your lead.

But being positive isn’t enough. You have to also be prepared. What is your upgrade strategy? Can you afford to upgrade to Windows 11 right away if doing so means purchasing a bunch of new machines? Can you afford not to?

Remember: Security is an Investment

The cost of not upgrading might seem abstract, but when it comes to security, this cost could become all too real. There’s a reason why Microsoft is demanding that PCs have Secure Boot and a TPM 2.0 in order to run Windows 11. That reason is security. The company is tired of being the target of hackers. Tired of being mauled by malware. So, with their stringent Windows 11 hardware requirements, they’re doing something about it.

Regardless of how you feel about the TPM 2.0 requirement, know this: As reported in this post, Microsoft was able to reduce malware instances by 60% in test devices using TPM-enabled security features such as Windows Hello and Secure Boot.

When making upgrade plans for your business, don’t let the inconvenience and up-front costs of an upgrade be the reason for a much, much larger inconvenience of a security breach down the road. There’s such thing as rushing the transition, but waiting too long is a very real danger.

We Can Help

The 20 is an exclusive group of MSPs who utilize shared resources, expertise, and tools to outpace the competition. When it comes to navigating the business side of your MSP, we’re your “Easy Button.” And when your MSP faces a challenging period of transition, we can help you make the necessary adjustments to keep your business on track, on a path to greater and greater growth.

Learn more about The 20’s unique all-in-one model for MSP success, and check out our latest security offering, ID 20/20, a multi-factor authentication solution that employs zero trust security principles to keep your end users—and your company—safe. We focus on keeping your data protected, so you can focus on growing your MSP.

What Happens When Support for Windows 7 Ends?

We’ve already had ample warning that Windows 7 and derivatives are reaching the end of life, but what is actually going to happen on January 15th? Previously, Microsoft was content to just let the devices fall off on their own, but devices with XP hung on for years past what anyone expected. Many of us still deal with the odd Server 2003 machine. Microsoft has also been receiving a bit of ire for their forced upgrades on Windows 10, so it should come as no surprise that they’re going to do the same with Windows 7.

Upgrade Popups

Microsoft has stated that the December 10th rollup KB4530734 will show a full screen popup telling users that Windows 7 has reached the end of life and there will be no further updates without purchasing extended support. The popup will require user interaction. The good news is that Microsoft has stated that this will not affect machines in kiosk mode or machines joined to a domain. This patch also applies to Windows Server 2008 R2.

Compliance Risk

Since Windows 7 and Server 2008 (R2) are all going out of support, they will also be going out of compliance (e.g. PCI compliance). Most compliance specifications have something touching on updated software or operating systems. To make it even worse, usually just a single agent at the site is enough to blow the compliance status of the entire site.

PCI compliance, HIPAA compliance, ISO 27001, etc. all require operating systems to be supported and up to date. Out of date OSes create massive issues and can be a huge security vulnerability. The compliance headache of a violation alone should be enough to move most businesses, but unfortunately it’s not unless it’s explained correctly. Your clients should know that a compliance violation can be grounds for a fine or lawsuit if they don’t act.

Security Risks

Windows 7 and Server 2008 (R2) going out of support are one of the many security concerns for 2020. It’s also one of the easiest to stop at least, but many organizations want to hold out like they did for XP. The popup won’t be showing up for domain joined machines though, so the people who need it the most probably won’t see it.

There are some serious security risks to consider with Windows 7 and derivatives. First of all, there aren’t going to be anymore updates. That means the next Spectre or SWAPGS are probably going to be there to stay. Microsoft may have relented with XP, but the nagware and push towards Windows 10 and its inability to avoid patching is a direct action to force upgrades the time around.

Microsoft isn’t the only one planning to drop support for Windows 7, it gives third-party software developers a reason to drop it as well. From advanced security software to basic accounting software, all of them will drop support sooner than later. It only makes sense to drop a platform without vendor support since it means less testing and less support for something which should be gone already.

Holding Out For Windows 7

Microsoft doesn’t have to worry about too many holdouts. Windows 7 will have been supported for almost a decade, and they stopped selling licenses in 2016. Modern hardware doesn’t support it, and come January 15, 2020, new hardware will begin to work less and less with Windows 7.

The machines from early in Windows 7 life cycle have ancient dual core processors and some even have 2GB or 4GB, which is almost unusable with the modern internet. They’re littered with old spinning rust drives which have long passed the 3 year reliability mark, and early generation SSDs, some of which didn’t even have TRIM. Microsoft is just going to let attrition take out the few holdouts where they can. After all, how long are these machines going to be usable?

Avoid Security Ramifications of Windows 7

Microsoft has “forgotten” to close a loophole which can be used to upgrade from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10 for free. Upgrading is the easiest way to avoid security issues. This method also wholesale avoids the compliance issue if you can do this at the entire organization.

Obviously, upgrading everything isn’t always possible. Some legacy programs require Windows 7 or older, and there can be other compelling reasons a client doesn’t want to upgrade. Even though they may have good enough reasons, their decision or limitation is still going to present security issues.

We previously went over how to circumvent some of these limitations. Air-gap the environment with legacy bits as much as possible and use virtualization where possible. This won’t necessarily solve your compliance woes entirely, but it does reduce them. If you’re an MSP, this is a great chance for an upsell.

Capitalizing on the End of Windows 7 and Server 2008 (R2)

You can bet hardware manufacturers and technical companies are going to take the chance to cash in on the end of Windows 7 and Server 2008 (R2). If you’re running an MSP, this is a great chance to use any vendor discounts to get systems and sell them for a markup which reduces your workload and the client’s frustration with the move to Windows 10.

A new computer shouldn’t have issues with Windows 10, but that Windows 7 machine may just plain not be compatible. How old is it by the way? Can you get parts if it dies? How business essential is that machine? You may not sell the organization on all new computers, but you can sell the right group on upgrades and format the old ones to be used elsewhere splitting the difference in work.

If they decide to keep some Windows 7 or Server 2008 (R2) servers, you need to have the uncomfortable talk about security. It’s not going to be supported, so who ends up supporting it? You do. This can be an opportunity to upsell security services and network services though. The networks with legacy OSes need to be schismed off as much as possible and made as secure as possible for both your sake and the client’s. This can require new networking equipment if the old stuff just doesn’t cut it.

Countless service, software, and hardware companies are all looking to cash in on the mass exodus from Windows 7. Make both your client’s life and yours easier, and make your wallet fatter by selling them on what helps them and helps you. Sort out the trash for them and provide them with a value worth buying. Get them secure and compliant again without wasting their time or yours. Learn more about how to leverage these opportunities for your business and your client’s with our MSP Sales Academy.

Moving Forward

KB4530734 probably won’t affect your enterprise clients, but it shows what Microsoft is planning. They learned from the inertia against moving away from Windows XP. The same tricks forcing people between upgrades of Windows 10 are going to be used against Windows 7 holdouts.

Don’t expect KB4530734 to be the last move to push people from Windows 7. Expect more nagware and inconvenience to force upgrades to either extended support or Windows 10. Even though this is a huge pain, it is also a golden opportunity to help sell the client on new hardware and services to bring them back to compliance and keep them secure.

The popup is going to be the least of your worries if you don’t act now. With modern security threats and the growing interconnectness of every device, you need to be on top of security or risk having your business pulled under. Your client’s business is on the line if you don’t act, and Microsoft has no qualms pushing harder than they ever have to ensure upgrades. Move now or risk compliance and security issues.

by Sage Driskell

The end of life for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 is coming January 15, 2020. This means that support, is coming to an end. On this date, these OS’s no longer check certain compliance checkboxes for safe usage.

The biggest impact is going to be on security for the OS itself, but this impacts the whole site. Once these reach end of life, there will be no support whatsoever for critical bugs or massive security holes. That newest zero-day? There’s nothing that can be done about it most likely.

What Should You Do?

You need to be ready so your clients can stay safe. You and your client are sitting on a ticking time bomb if you haven’t started preparing to move already, but at least you have plenty of time to research and get ready, but only if you start as soon as possible. Moving from Windows 7 and Server 2008 (R2) can be difficult, but not with a little bit of planning.

Workstations are easy to get away from for most cases, but servers are a bit harder. This is a great opportunity to also sell the client on newer hardware if you can to get out of the predicament and to outpace the natural inflation of hardware requirements for software. Naturally, this isn’t always possible depending on the client and depending on how new the hardware they’re running is. If the machines have been sitting around since much earlier in the support cycle for Windows 7, your users will probably welcome an upgrade.

What’s Involved?

Licensing and software compatibility are two factors to look into heavily for migrating. A great server from a few years ago can be a huge expense to license a newer version of Windows Server on, but an okay server with a cheaper license (OEM discount, fewer cores, etc.) can even end up cheaper than what you get back selling the old server. SQL Server and Exchange can further convolute the licensing situation however.

Software compatibility is another huge factor in the migration process. Some specialty software just plain doesn’t run on newer OS versions. There are complex ecosystems which are centered on a specific OS version and require an almost complete repurchase of every piece of the ecosystem to upgrade to a new OS in the first place.

These limitations can impact budgets pretty heavily depending on the size and scope of upgrades required. This is something which should be planned from day one of deploying a server (specifically, how to plan a budget around the next jump and when it should be), but is often overlooked. Computers, despite their relative upgradability, are not one time purchases.

Making a Plan

If you or your clients care about security. You will move or at least limit the damage an older box can do. If you haven’t built upgrade cycle budgets into hardware budgets, you need to start as soon as possible. A server or workstation should have a planned lifespan, and the money should be allocated for the replacement as soon as it hits end of life. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” doesn’t quite cut it for security or future-proofing.

Staging upgrades in over the next few months can also help your clients. This can reduce the perceived cost and make upgrades a bit more predictable. It also gives the clients time to get used to the change. Staging the upgrades in with the most technical or least impactful employees (e.g. interns) at the company to the least technical or most impactful (e.g. C-suite) can help build inertia for deployment and help the company adjust without as much impact.

Overcoming the Limitations

There are machines which cannot sanely be upgraded. There are several methods to overcome the limitations of the upgrade cycle. The two most common tactics are virtualization or partial air-gapping (or getting as close as possible) for the affected machines. These are not completely isolated tactics however and are best combined if possible.

Virtualization

This is the most common tactic to get around upgrades and the safest. There are still many Windows XP VM’s floating around. From old accounting software to legacy industrial systems, there are plenty of reasons to keep XP around. The more specialized the environment, the harder it is to move away from it or even upgrade it depending on the upstream vendor or cost.

For software which just won’t work outside of Windows 7 or Server 2008, most of which actually predates Windows 7 or Server 2008, virtualization is an easy step with modern Windows and decently modern hardware. A P2V migration may be a good idea for these scenarios. For workstations, this is pretty straightforward, especially when the machine is being upgraded because it’s usually too old for Windows 10 to be practical, but it can get a little harder with servers.

For servers, you want to make sure you have a suitable host, and you want to strip the server of as many roles as possible. The less access and privilege this server has on your network, the better. Even if it is less than ideal, it is also a good idea to try and avoid consolidating these servers too much. The more specialized they are, the more exact privileges they can have which limits security holes when intelligently applied.

Partial Air-gapping (Or Getting As Close As Possible)

Air-gapping is the practice of separating a machine entirely from the outside world. While complete air-gapping probably isn’t going to be too practical in most cases, the general principle should be followed as much as possible to partially air-gap a machine. A box which is inaccessible is not going to be practical to compromise. Every layer of convenience is a face to the attack surface for these weak-points.

Block as much traffic as possible to the given machine. If it was on a domain, take it off. If it has to be on a domain, spin up a secondary domain specifically for it. This limits the attack surface substantially and reduces what a successful attack can do.

If you need file shares, use a clean machine as an intermediary. Have multiple shares and use the intermediary as a jump box of sorts for transfers. Have a limited share between the intermediary and the old agent, and a share between the intermediary and the rest of the network. This adds a layer of complexity, but helps with safety.

How Many Are Out There?

Windows 7 usage sits at about 30%. A subset of our environment (just over 27,000 Windows agents for this example) shows that Windows 7 and all Server 2008 derivatives are sitting at around 30% as well. The general trend seems to remain the same for both business and overall usage. The overall number is in free fall, but still has a ways to go. Enterprise is a bit harder to peg down exactly what is going on.

Obstacles to Upgrades

The only thing which is really holding the numbers back is the lack of a viable alternative to most users. Windows 10 tries to be Windows 7, but misses the mark with both IT professionals and users. The majority of shifts happened during the free upgrade period, and newer shifts to Windows 10 are from machines dying rather than planned upgrades. Some clients even lament the loss of their Windows 7 machines. Some businesses were even buying old keys from salvage machines up until a few months ago. The Windows Update and upgrade system is maddening without moving to Windows 10 Enterprise.

From a server perspective, it doesn’t really offer enough to compel upgrading perfectly functional servers either. The licensing nightmare that is Windows Server further exacerbates the problem. Hopefully, Microsoft thinks to implement a smoother, more transparent plan to move servers (besides their push to Azure). I personally doubt they will as a power play, since they know many business’s hands are tied due to compliance.

Moving Forward

Ultimately, servers may hang on due to licensing, but the vast majority of workstations are going to have to be upgraded for both security purposes as well as pragmatic purposes. Newer software updates will begin shunning Windows 7 and Server 2008 the same as Windows XP back in 2014. It won’t start all at once, but within a year or two, the vast majority of applications which work on Windows 7 will work by lack of change rather than support.

It can be pricey and painful, but it is ultimately necessary. Try to amortize it out where possible and be ready to keep key infrastructure pieces secure which cannot be upgraded. If a client refuses to upgrade, they open themselves up to more and more security compromises which can bring down their business which hurts both them and you. There really isn’t much of a choice but to upgrade, or try to continue supporting a device past the point of obsolescence which weakens their business and yours.

Our very own Sage Driskell is a Core Services Engineer at The 20. Interested in working for us? We’re hiring!

by Joseph Landes

Managed service providers (MSPs) in The 20 play a very important role in the adoption of cloud IT environments and the evolution of technology for the small and medium-size businesses they serve. This is particularly true with a powerful, yet complex, cloud environment like Microsoft Azure. SMBs look to MSPs in The 20 to expertly optimize itto fit their needs. But MSPs should also be on the lookout for how Azure can improve their own business needs—namely decreased costs and higher gross profit margins.

Here are five tips from Nerdio for The 20 members to optimize Azure costs and infrastructure to increase margins and make more money offering and reselling Azure.

1. Become a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) Reseller

Becoming a CSP reseller makes it easier for MSPs to transact Azure. In addition, CSP resellers receive a discount off Azure list prices via a CSP distributor—typically large providers—and thereby increase margins. CSP resellers are also eligible for various incentives that Microsoft makes available to its CSPs based on growth objectives. These incentives are incremental to the discount received on Azure consumption and can be in the 10% range or more when added up. Reach out to an IT distributor and ask how to become a CSP reseller or visit Microsoft’s website for more detailed information.

2. Leverage Azure Reserved Instances

The cost of virtual machines (VMs) in Azure is the single most expensive component of a typical MSP’s IT environment. Reserved instances (RIs) are reservations of a specific type of compute capacity (i.e., VM family/series) in a specific geographic location (i.e., Azure region) for a predefined period of time (12 or 36 months). Depending on the above specifics, using RIs and reserving compute capacity ahead of time can save you from 20% to 57% relative to the list pay-as-you-go price. They do require some advance planning, budgeting, and structuring of your Azure account the right way, but can significantly increase the profitability of your Azure practice.

3. Capitalize on Azure Hybrid Usage

Microsoft has created a special entitlement called Azure Hybrid Usage (AHU) that allows MSPs to pay for Windows Server via another licensing program and not through Azure. Essentially, you can bring the Windows Server licenses you already paid for to the cloud for free. As a result, the Windows Server OS meter stops spinning. AHU is a benefit unique to Azure; you can’t bring your own Windows server license to other major cloud providers. Combining RIs with AHU and CSP software subscriptions can reduce the cost of VMs by up to 80%. It goes without saying that the margin impact to an MSP from such significant cost reductions cannot be overlooked.

4. Auto-scaling for Cost Optimization

The value proposition of Azure as a public cloud is its utility-like consumption billing model: Pay only for what you use. To do this, MSPs need a mechanism to know what compute is needed and when, and a system that automatically resizes workloads to fit the demand at any given time. This means that if a VM doesn’t need to be on, a system

needs to be in place to know it and act on it by shutting down the VM at the appropriate time and then turning it back on when it’s needed again.

Azure automation platforms do exactly this, as MSPs can set business hours for each VM and tell the system what to do with the VM outside of those hours: leave it alone, shut it down, or change it to something smaller. The system will then automatically execute these instructions, resizing the VM after the end of business hours and then prior to the start of the next business day.

5. Burstable VM Instances

B-series Azure VMs are known as “burstable” VMs. They are used for non-CPU-intensive workloads (for example, domain controllers and file servers) and cost about 50% of an equivalently sized D-series VM. Burstable VMs are cheaper because Azure imposes a quota on how much of the total CPU cores can be used. Every second that the VM is using less than its quota it is “banking credits” that can be used to burst up to the total available CPUs when needed. While bursting, the VM is consuming its banked credits. Once the credits run out, the VM’s CPU utilization is throttled down to a lower utilization quota.

As you can see, these tips provide multiple ways for MSPs in The 20 to optimize their Azure consumption and increase their profitability. Understanding these tips will help you reconfigure their Azure architecture, determine how much margin they can achieve, and recognize how to build a successful and profitable cloud practice in Azure. Nerdio’s automation platform allows the members of The 20 to achieve all of this and much more. Check us out at the upcoming VISION event or on our website at www.getnerdio.com.

Interested in learning more? Don’t miss Nerdio at The 20’s upcoming VISION Conference!

Joseph Landes is the Chief Revenue Officer at Nerdio—a cloud company whose mission is to enable MSPs to build successful cloud practices in Microsoft Azure. He previous worked at Microsoft for 23 years leading high performing international sales and marketing teams. When not visiting MSPs you can find him trying to visit every country in the world or reading great literary fiction.

by Patrick Sullivan, Contributor

By understanding what Workspace as a Service (WaaS) has to offer your End Customer, you can ensure that you’re reaching the customers who will benefit the most from the cloud. WaaS has so much to offer to so many. But, who is the ideal prospect?

So often we are asked, “What’s the best vertical for your solutions?” and, “What industries do you typically target?” or, “What type of companies can WaaS help?”

WaaS has practical applications across every vertical and just about every size business. This widespread versatility gives our partners the flexibility to develop their solution and messaging for the verticals they are already targeting, or to focus their marketing and sales as broadly as they want.

Using the Core-4 to Find the Ideal WaaS Customer.

When evaluating a prospective WaaS customer, look for the Core-4, which will help you zero in on the ideal cloud workspace customer. If the prospect answers “yes” to any of these four questions, then you have a winner:

1. Will you require a server refresh or other large IT project within the next 12 months?

Especially this year as Microsoft will sunset Windows 7 and Windows Server 2001/2008 R2 next January, so many companies are going to have to decide: expensive fork-lift upgrade, or easy and inexpensive transition into the cloud. End Customers hate IT projects, and with the cloud, you can eliminate the majority of them, saving them money and resources, and building your cloud business in the process.

2. Do you have employees who work remotely? Or does your business have multiple locations?

In today’s global business environment, companies are turning more and more to hiring remote staff, often outside their geographic footprint. Consider a company who hires Susan whose sole responsibility is to meet with customers; any time she spends in the office is just wasted time. Or, what about a business who needs Grant’s specific expertise, but he lives in Seattle, hundreds of miles away. In both cases, the staffers need the same accessibility as anyone working from the office. In both cases, the company’s IT needs to have control over their technology. Cloud Workspace simplifies both of these, making them an easy reality.

3. Do you have extensive security needs?

Think about a small bank, finance company or insurance agent. These are small companies, but they store and share sensitive client information. Security is paramount for them. At CloudJumper, we work incredibly hard to ensure our solutions are inherently secure. Additionally, we have a number of optional security add-ons that help your End Customers who need even more.

4. Is your company’s IT function larger than your IT team can support?

This can come out in a number of ways. Of course, if they have big security needs, but maybe, they also have numerous software apps to manage and maintain. They might have tight IT requirements for maintaining certifications or franchise agreements. Maybe they have a mix of OS and devices that all need to connect. The list here is endless, and no doubt your prospects will share items they simply would love to off-load to the cloud.

Always Has Been, and Still It Remains, it’s the Core-4

These are the four prospect characteristics that so easily translate into a sale, and they always have in the 20 years we have been providing a WaaS solution. You will find them in businesses across every industry, every vertical, every part of the world. Understand them, recognize them, and the sale is yours! It’s just a natural fit.

By understanding the ideal WaaS customer, you will more easily grow your business in the cloud, and boost your sales, profits and the stickiness of your customer base. Especially as you are just starting to build your cloud business, start with the Core-4. Soon, you’ll find yourself supporting your customers in ways no on-prem server farm can handle.

Patrick Sullivan is the Channel Sales Manager for CloudJumper who uses his cloud expertise and business acumen to guide MSPs as they create and grow their companies in the cloud. His support helps them build an IT cloud solution that saves their end customers money, time and hassle. Patrick has been with CloudJumper since June 2015 and has been very successful working helping his partners build their businesses in the cloud. Prior to joining CloudJumper, he honed his business development skills working in the equipment finance industry for more than 8 years. In 2005, Patrick graduated from New Hampshire University with Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

I think we’ve all seen those virus alerts to some degree or another that pop-up on our desktops telling us that we’ve been infected. They’ll typically pretend to be from legitimate companies like Symantec or Microsoft (in some cases, even using a fake Microsoft logo to establish credibility), and they always want you to call a fake number — which leads to paying money for a fake service.

I’d like to believe that anyone reading this blog is someone who can detect this kind of scam, but regardless, whether you’ve fallen for this in the past or not, new information on the source of this costly annoyance appears to have come to light.

And it takes us all the way to India, thanks to The New York Times.

The article begins by telling us that 1 out of 5 people who receive such alerts tend to contact the fake tech support centers, while 6% of users in general actually pay for the fake services – which is crazy in and of itself.

Nothing about those alerts look legitimate, but hey, there are A LOT of people on this planet…

The meat of the piece points to Microsoft and how they helped police trace who was behind these large-scale operations. Apparently, these scammers have their roots in New Delhi, the capital of India, which is also the epicenter of call centers in general.

According to the software giant, more than 11,000 calls per month about fake security warnings were being received. And many people as a result, lost significant sums of money to the fraud.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, police from two New Delhi suburbs raided 16 fake call centers and arrested more than 50 in connection with the scam.

The Scam

Fixing the non-existent virus could involve calling a tech support center, where an operator would talk a victim through a fake fix and then charge them for the work. In other cases, the bogus tech support team would call their targets themselves and pretend to be a Microsoft employee, bringing to their attention a virus or false claim that his or her system could have been hacked. Eventually, they ask for anywhere from $99 to $1,000 to fix the problem that doesn’t exist in reality.

Courtney Gregoire, an assistant general counsel in Microsoft’s digital crimes unit, perhaps said it best when she was quoted as saying, “This is an organized crime.”

No doubt.

The scam is incredibly lucrative according to researchers at Stony Brook University. They published a detailed study of fake tech support services last year that estimated just a single pop-up campaign, spread over 142 web domains, could bring in nearly $10 million in just 2 months.

Microsoft said it was working with other tech industry leaders such as Apple and Google, as well as law enforcement, to fight the digital epidemic, which is migrating beyond the English-speaking world to target other users in their local languages.

Microsoft has also published advice about ways to spot the fake calls and avoid becoming a victim.

Microsoft re-released its Windows 10 October 2018 Update yesterday, following the company pulling it offline due to data deletion issues over the weekend.

Partner of The 20, and CEO of Cole Informatics, LLC out of Parsons, Tennessee, Terry Cole, made note of these issues on his late last week.

The software giant says there were only a few reports of data loss, at a rate of one one-hundredth of one percent. “We have fully investigated all reports of data loss, identified and fixed all known issues in the update, and conducted internal validation,” says Microsoft’s John Cable, Director of Program Management for Windows Servicing and Delivery.

Microsoft is now re-releasing the Windows 10 October 2018 Update to Windows Insiders, before rolling it out more broadly to consumers. “We will carefully study the results, feedback, and diagnostic data from our Insiders before taking additional steps towards re-releasing more broadly,” explains Cable.

It appears the bug that caused file deletion was related to Windows 10 users who had enabled Known Folder Redirection to redirect folders like desktop, documents, pictures, and screenshots from the default location. Microsoft introduced code in its latest update to delete the empty and duplicate known folders, but it appears they weren’t always empty. Microsoft has developed fixes to address a variety of problems related to these folder moves, and these fixes are now being tested with Windows Insiders.

Speaking of Windows Insiders, Microsoft’s testing community did flag some of these issues ahead of the release. Microsoft appears to acknowledge this as the company is making some changes to the feedback tool for Windows 10 to ensure testers can flag the severity of bug reports. “We have added an ability for users to also provide an indication of impact and severity when filing User Initiated Feedback,” explains Cable. “We expect this will allow us to better monitor the most impactful issues even when feedback volume is low.”

Microsoft will now monitor feedback related to this re-released build of Windows 10 October 2018 Update and will officially launch it to consumers once the company is confident “that there is no further impact” to Windows 10 users. “We are committed to learning from this experience and improving our processes and notification systems to help ensure our customers have a positive experience with our update process,” says Cable.

While we all hope this re-release is a positive one, Microsoft has certain come under fire with its frequent update process. I made note of this in a blog last month that discussed IT admins who are campaigning hard for Microsoft to slow their roll when it comes to their Windows 10 upgrade schedule.

It would appear that IT administrators are campaigning hard for Microsoft to slow their roll when it comes to their Windows 10 upgrade schedule.

Approximately 78% of more than 1,100 business professionals charged with servicing Windows for their firms said that Windows 10’s feature upgrades — now released twice annually — should be issued no more than once a year. The 78% was split almost evenly, with 39.2% arguing for one upgrade per year while 39.3% picked one every two years from a questionnaire on Windows patching, updating and upgrading.

Only 11% agreed that the current twice-a-year release is their preference, and a very small 1% wanted an even quicker tempo than that.

The questionnaire, created by Susan Bradley, who moderates the PatchManagement.org mailing list, asked administrators about whether feature upgrades are useful to their businesses and if Windows 10 has met company needs. Bradley used the responses to support her plea that Microsoft’s top executives address what she and her colleagues believe is an ongoing deterioration in the quality of Microsoft’s monthly patch updates.

But she also raised the issue of the Windows 10 feature upgrades’ release calendar. “If Microsoft is not realizing that [their] enterprise customers are having issues with the timing of the feature updates, then Microsoft is not listening to their enterprise customers.”

And questionnaire commentary by IT administrators vividly paint the frustration felt from the feature upgrades’ frequency.

“Most feature updates introduce so many bugs and problems,” said one respondent. “With the current pace of releases of new feature updates, the entire IT department is busy constantly dealing with all the problems that follow, instead of spending time on activities that actually create value for users.”

“At twice per year, you’ve barely got over one before you need to do it all again, leading to the temptation to skip every other update,” asserted another.

“This may come as a shock to Microsoft management, but our bonuses aren’t geared to the matrices that their bonuses are geared to,” said another participant. “We have better things to do with our time than run on the treadmill that is their business cycle.”

Windows 10’s upgrade tempo has gone through several iterations since mid-2015, when the OS debuted. Initially, Microsoft envisioned four upgrades annually. In 2015, it released the first upgrade, labeled 1511 using the company’s now standard yymm format, about three and a half months after the original 1507. But then Microsoft issued just one upgrade in 2016, the mid-year 1607.

Shortly after that, Microsoft announced that it was formalizing a two-times-each-year schedule, with March and September as release targets. Since then, it’s delivered 1703 (April 2017), 1709 (October 2017) and 1803 (April 2018); it appears to be on track to release 1809 next month.

To complicate matters, for a time Microsoft extended support from the usual 18 months to 24 months for Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education. Microsoft justified the extension – which ended with version 1803 – as necessary because “some customers” asked for more time to migrate from one feature upgrade to another.

With 24 months of support, it was feasible for IT to skip one feature upgrade in any given year. But with the return of 18 months of support, it will again be tough for companies to move all PCs to a supported version before the one currently powering the machines stops receiving patches. That was one reason Gartner Research urged enterprises to pressure Microsoft into making permanent the 24-month support period.

Gartner has assumed that Microsoft will not retreat from its two-times-a-year cadence but that it will be pressured, likely by or before the end of 2020, into making the 24 months of support permanent. While that won’t change the release frequency, it will, Gartner has said, allow adopting just one upgrade each year.

We’ll see what happens.

I’ll end with what Michael Wayland, Managing Director of Byte-Werx in Houston (Elite member of The 20) told me:

With the major releases there are often several unforeseen issues that can crop up. This can cause several hours of downtime for endpoints and cost small businesses money. It’s one reason you want a managed IT department to follow the releases, the issues, and release in a methodical and planned way after lab testing. They’re also available to quickly backstop, remediate, or walk through end-users for issues that arise.