Bowes IT Solutions

06/18/2026

Are the passwords protecting your business as strong as you think they are?

There’s a growing shortcut that looks clever on the surface, and feels efficient, but could weaken your security without you realizing.

If you’re using AI in your business, this is something you need to understand…

06/17/2026

Scan documents anywhere using just your phone and OneDrive…

06/17/2026

When a business invests in new devices or upgrades Windows, the focus is usually on performance and compatibility 🤔

Will it run faster?

Will everything still work?

Those are important questions. But they’re only part of the picture.

With Windows 11 Pro, a lot of the value comes from how it handles everyday risk in the background, without needing people to think about it.

If you look at how work happens, most security issues don’t start with dramatics.

They tend to come from normal situations: A laptop left behind in a taxi. A password reused across multiple systems. A file opened quickly without a second thought.

Occasionally, one of these moment turns into something bigger 😱

That’s where the built-in protections start to matter.

Data on a device can be encrypted so that if the laptop is lost or stolen, the information on it isn’t easily accessible.

Signing in can rely less on passwords and more on methods tied to the device itself, which makes it harder for someone else to use those credentials elsewhere.

There are also checks that happen at the point where risk is most likely.

If something unfamiliar is downloaded, the system can assess whether it looks safe before allowing it to run.

If there’s any doubt about a file, it can be opened in a controlled environment, so it doesn’t affect the rest of the machine.

None of this changes how people work day to day.

And that’s the point 💡

It reduces the chance of a routine action leading to a problem, without adding extra steps or complexity.

For most businesses, the real benefit of technology is what it prevents.

When things are set up well, the absence of problems is easy to overlook.

But that’s often where the biggest value sits.

👉 When you review the technology your business relies on, are you judging it by what it helps you do, or by the issues it helps you avoid?

06/16/2026

Search for information is starting to feel a lot less like searching 🔍

Google has now rolled out a feature called Search Live, and it changes the way people interact with search.

Instead of typing a question, you can point your phone at something and ask about it out loud.

For example, you could point your camera at a piece of equipment and ask what it is, how it works, or how to fix it 🤳

The system then responds with a spoken answer, shows captions on screen, and keeps listening so you can ask follow-up questions naturally.

It feels less like using a search engine, and more like having a conversation.

Under the hood, this is powered by Google’s Gemini AI, but you don’t need to understand any of that to use it. You simply open the Google app, tap “Live”, and start asking.

From a business point of view, this is where it gets interesting.

Search is moving away from keywords and towards intent.

Instead of someone typing “how to reset AC unit X”, they might just point their phone at it and ask the question out loud.

That changes how people find answers, how they interact with information, and potentially how they discover products and services.

It also raises expectations.

People will expect faster answers, clearer explanations, and fewer steps between “I have a problem” and “I know what to do next”.

That said, it’s not perfect.

In testing, the tool sometimes misidentifies objects or misses details, especially when something has been modified or isn’t widely documented online.

That’s because it’s still relying on existing data to make sense of what it sees.

While it’s impressive, it’s not something to blindly trust.

More than a billion people were already using tools like Google Lens to identify objects. Now that capability is becoming conversational, faster, and more accessible.

It’s easy to imagine this becoming a default way people look things up over time.

For you, the implication is simple.

The way people ask questions is changing. And when that changes, the way they find answers changes with it.

🤔 So, if your customers can point their phone at a problem and ask for help, would your business be part of the answer they hear?

06/15/2026

There’s a lot of noise around AI malware at the moment.

It starts to sound like something out of a movie 🤖

But what’s happening is more subtle.

And in some ways, more important to understand.

Attackers haven’t suddenly become geniuses overnight, but they have become faster.

Tools powered by AI are helping them write scripts more quickly, tweak attacks more easily, and produce messages that look far more convincing than they used to.

Things that once took time, effort, and a bit of skill can now be done much more speedily, sometimes by people with far less experience.

That has a knock-on effect.

A phishing email no longer needs to be perfect. It needs to be believable enough, and sent at scale 🎣

If it reaches more inboxes and looks more like normal business communication, the chances of someone engaging with it go up.

Behind the scenes, the same applies to the technical side.

Attackers can test something, adjust it, and try again in a much shorter cycle.

Instead of reusing the same approach until it gets blocked, they can keep changing it just enough to slip through.

That’s why you’re hearing more about AI-generated threats.

It’s not usually a single, fully automated attack running on its own. The people behind the attacks can move faster and try more variations with less effort.

For a business, the impact shows up in timing ⏳

Once someone gets a foothold, the window to spot it and respond can be much shorter than it used to be.

What might once have taken hours can now unfold much more quickly, which puts more pressure on detection and response 🤯

The interesting part is that the fundamentals haven’t really changed.

Most incidents still start with identity. A password is stolen, guessed, or handed over.

From there, attackers move through systems, often unnoticed at first.

That’s why things like multi-factor authentication still matter so much. It adds an extra step that makes a stolen password far less useful.

Visibility also becomes more important.

Tools like Microsoft Defender are designed to spot unusual behavior across devices and accounts, so you’re not relying on someone noticing something feels off.

What’s different now is the pace. If attackers can move faster, the defense needs to keep up.

That means reducing the time between “something looks odd” and “we’ve checked and contained it”.

It also means accepting that not every threat will look obviously malicious. Some will look like normal emails, normal logins, or normal activity, just slightly out of place.

Awareness and good habits still play a big role.

Because even with all the technology in place, many attacks still begin with a small moment. A click, a login, a decision made in a hurry.

💭 If an attack only needs a few minutes to get started, how quickly would your business notice? And what would happen next?

06/15/2026

Ever noticed how it’s the tiny software quirks that cause the most frustration?

If you live in Microsoft Teams meetings, there’s a subtle change rolling out that could make things feel noticeably smoother.

It’s one of those updates everyone will appreciate…

05/31/2026

If your business website runs on WordPress, here’s a quick check for you 🔎

There’s a popular plugin called Quiz and Survey Master (QSM).

It’s used by more than 40,000 websites to create quizzes, surveys and forms without needing any coding.

Unfortunately, versions 10.3.1 and older were recently found to have a serious security flaw.

The issue is what’s known as an SQL injection vulnerability.

SQL is the language used to talk to a website’s database, the part that stores things like user accounts, submissions, and other important data.

An SQL injection flaw means someone can sneak malicious commands into that database.

In this case, any logged-in user, even someone with a basic subscriber account, could potentially inject commands into the system.

That could allow actions like:

🚫 Accessing sensitive data
🚫 Extracting information from the database
🚫 Manipulating content

The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2025-67987, and it was fixed in version 10.3.2.

The latest version available is 10.3.5, which is the safest bet.

Based on WordPress.org data, just over half of websites using QSM are on version 10.3. That means a large number are likely still vulnerable.

That’s potentially tens of thousands of sites.

Right now, there’s no confirmed evidence of this flaw being actively exploited. But once a vulnerability is public, attackers often start scanning the internet looking for unpatched sites.

👉 If your site uses this plugin, the solution is straightforward: Update it immediately 👈

More broadly, this is a reminder of something I say often to business owners: WordPress itself isn’t usually the weak link. It’s the plugins.

Every plugin you install adds functionality but also adds potential risk.

If you’re not actively using a plugin or theme, it shouldn’t just be deactivated. It should be deleted from the server completely.

Websites aren’t a set and forget asset. They’re part of your digital infrastructure.

If they’re vulnerable, they can become an entry point into your wider systems. Especially if admin accounts reuse passwords across services.

❓ When was the last time someone checked which plugins your website is running and whether they’re fully up to date?

05/30/2026

If you’ve ever tried to get an AI tool to understand a whole project instead of just one document, you’ll appreciate this…

Microsoft has introduced something called Copilot Agents in OneDrive.

And this is where AI starts to feel a bit more useful for real-world business work 🤖

Here’s the problem it’s trying to solve.

Normally, if you ask Copilot to summarize or analyze something, you’re doing it one file at a time. One Word document. One spreadsheet. One PowerPoint.

But projects don’t live in one file.

They live across proposals, meeting notes, budgets, timelines, research documents, and email summaries.

With OneDrive Agents, you can now select up to 20 related files and bundle them together into what’s saved as a .agent file.

Instead of asking: “Summarize this file…”

You can ask: “What deadlines are coming up across this whole project?”

“Where are the risks?”

“What did we agree in the last three meetings?”

And it has the context of all the selected files, not just one.

The agent behaves like other AI tools. It can summarize, answer questions, surface key points. But it’s operating with a broader understanding.

Even better, these agents are saved as files inside OneDrive.

That means you can share the .agent file with colleagues. They don’t need to recreate the setup themselves. You’re all working from the same AI “view” of the project.

As projects evolve, you can add or remove documents from the agent or refine the instructions it uses.

It stays aligned with the latest information instead of becoming outdated.

Right now, this feature is available to people with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license accessing OneDrive via the web.

It’s clearly still evolving. Microsoft is asking for feedback, which suggests it’s watching closely to see how businesses use it.

From a business owner’s perspective, the real value is reducing the time spent hunting across folders, trying to piece together context.

If AI can help you understand a whole project in one place instead of ten separate files, that’s meaningful productivity.

🤔 The question is, would you trust an AI agent to interpret multiple important documents at once, or would you still prefer to read everything yourself?

05/26/2026

If you receive a message saying a large Apple Pay payment has been blocked and you need to call a number urgently…

STOP 🚩

There’s a new scam circulating that targets Apple users, and it’s very convincing.

The email or text usually claims that a high-value purchase has been attempted using your Apple Pay details.

It might mention suspicious activity, a blocked transaction, or even a fake case number. The branding looks polished. The formatting feels official.

Really? The phone number in the message connects you directly to scammers.

The tactic is simple.

Create anxiety about losing a significant amount of money, then offer a quick solution 😱

When people believe their account is under threat, they’re more likely to act without double-checking.

Once on the phone, the criminals typically try to gather your Apple ID login details, verification codes sent to your device, or card information.

With that, they can attempt to take control of your account ⚠️

Here are a few important facts:

Apple does not send fraud alerts asking you to call a number included in an email or text message.

It also doesn’t use aggressive language suggesting your account will be locked if you don’t respond immediately.

That kind of urgency is a common phishing technique 🎣

If you ever receive something like this, check the sender’s email address carefully.

It may look genuine at first glance, but small spelling errors or unusual domain names often give it away.

Generic greetings like “Hello {Name}” instead of your actual name are another warning sign.

It’s also worth remembering that if a payment really were suspicious, your bank would normally step in automatically.

Banks tend to block unusual transactions and contact you directly through official channels.

You would approve a legitimate payment, not scramble to stop it via a random phone number in a text.

If you’re unsure, don’t use any contact details from the message 🚫

Instead, go directly to Apple’s official website yourself and use the support options there.

Or check your purchase history on your device: Settings > Tap your name > Media & Purchases > View Account > Purchase History

That will show you whether any genuine transactions have taken place.

Scammers are becoming more sophisticated. They’re using better branding, cleaner layouts, and fewer obvious mistakes.

That makes it even more important to slow down and verify before responding.

❓ If someone in your business received a message like this, would they know to ignore the phone number and check through official channels instead?

05/25/2026

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-Glen

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