Happy 1st Birthday, Windows 10!

My latest article is now live at ministrytech.com.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in the Windows 10 era for a year now. It seems like just yesterday we were anxiously awaiting the final release, after two years of testing and development. (Of course, technology years are like dog years with things moving so fast.)

Microsoft’s goal for Windows 10 was to have 1 billion devices running this version within the first three years. They have admitted recently that after this first year they probably aren’t going to hit that goal, mostly due to the failing Windows 10 phone market. If you don’t know what this means, ask how many of your friends have a Windows phone and you’ll soon understand.

Even after a year, though, the question remains as to whether or not you should upgrade. Microsoft allowed users to upgrade for free through the first year. Since the free upgrade has expired, is there any real rush to upgrade, especially now that you have to pay for the upgrade and the fact that Windows 7 is supported through 2020?

If you did not take advantage of the free upgrade, then you probably aren’t going to pay to upgrade your existing device. You might wait and get Windows 10 when you purchase a new device. There will undoubtedly be a plethora of new Windows 10-based devices available as we inch closer to the holiday shopping season.

The release of Windows 10 Anniversary Edition is momentous for several reasons. First, Microsoft kept its promise in terms of the new Windows paradigm shift. No longer is Windows a product that you upgrade once every few years to a new version. Now Windows is in a perpetual state of evolution, constantly changing with feature updates and changes included with security patches. Many doubted whether Microsoft could upgrade Windows several times per year, and so far they have proven they can.

The Anniversary Edition release also shows us that once a device is running Windows we won’t have to upgrade the operating system every few years. Every organization dedicates significant IT resources to operating system upgrades. Once your device is running Windows 10 it will upgrade itself—there won’t be the need for organizations to dedicate time and money to imaging machines when the next version of Windows comes out. As an IT person who has done countless Windows migrations and upgrades, this is what I’m most excited about.

Windows 10 Anniversary Edition also contains a ton of features additions and security improvements. Here are just a few of the highlights …

• One of the coolest features of Windows 10 running on a Surface is the Windows Hello authentication process. This allows you to unlock your PC just by looking at your device. The Windows Hello camera logs you in based on your face. I love this feature, and in the Anniversary Edition you can now use Windows Hello to login to websites and apps. Instead of remembering your password you just have to remember to keep your head on your shoulders. This may be problematic for those who say they would forget their head if it wasn’t attached.


• There have also been a ton of other under-the-hood security improvements, including an updated Windows Defender and an enterprise version called Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection. It remains to be seen if these built-in security features will have any impact on the third-party security/malware/anti-virus markets.


• For touch screen users Windows Ink has also been built into the update. Windows Ink allows you to write on your screen and convert handwriting to text. It also provides for greater interaction using a pen or stylus with Microsoft Office and other apps that have the Ink functionality built into them.


• The new browser in Windows 10, Microsoft Edge, is also starting to gain some maturity. Edge was released with Windows 10 but it too is undergoing an evolutionary process. With the Anniversary Edition, Microsoft Edge now supports extensions and many more web standards, including HTML5. It has also had significant under-the-hood improvements. Translation— you can start using Edge on many of the sites that didn’t work on it before. Only time will tell whether or not this will convince you to switch to Edge as your browser of choice.


• My favorite improvement is the ability to pin apps to virtual desktops. Windows 10 first brought virtual desktops to Windows users (better late than never). Virtual desktops allow you to have different applications running on different desktops so you don’t have to open everything in a single place. One desktop could be running Word, Excel, and Outlook, while another desktop could be running all of your open browser windows. You could then have all of your games running on a third desktop, then when the boss walks by . . .


• With Windows 10 Anniversary Edition you can now send a single app to all your desktops, so if you want to be able to view your email across all your virtual desktops you can now open it once and have it appear on all desktops as opposed to having to open your email individually on every desktop.


• Other improvements include more functionality for Cortana, better gaming integration with Xbox, additional desktop themes, more control over the action center and notifications, and better management tools for education and classroom environments. 

Windows 10 is here to stay. While there may be a learning curve for some users, it is hopefully a learning curve you will only have to experience once.

Should Churches and Ministries Embrace the Cloud?

My latest article is now live at ministrytech.com.

To embrace the cloud, or not to embrace the cloud, that is the question. Pardon the Shakespearean paraphrase, but there are a lot of questions swirling around churches and ministries as they consider using cloud services for everything from email and file services to Active Directory. There is also a disconnect between what the IT team says is best for the ministry and what church leadership thinks in terms of utilizing cloud-based services.

Cloud-based services offer many benefits over hosting your own services, but you’ll want to make sure you are using a reputable vender. It is important to look at the SLA, or Service Level Agreement, to ensure that your provider will keep their services running so your ministry effectiveness isn’t impacted. When you host your own email and/or file servers you have much more control over downtime because you probably have physical access to the server and the people running those servers. When you host in the cloud you may not have direct access to the servers so you are dependent on your provider to resolve any issues that create downtime.

Using a reputable host like Microsoft or Google will ensure reliability, but there are other companies that provide cloud based services for just about everything, and you want to make sure a provider’s reliability won’t negatively impact your ministry.

One of the biggest benefits of using cloud-based services is that they take a huge support load off the IT team. No longer are they responsible for maintaining and patching servers. If the servers are on your site then you may also have cooling, power or data issues to consider as well. What happens when the cooling units fail? Do you have sufficient battery backup or a generator for power outages? What happens when your Internet connectivity goes down? Moving to the cloud avoids all these issues as cloud-based services are hosted in large, commercial data centers where power, air conditioning, and data reliability are taken care of for you.

Cloud services can also play a huge role in your disaster recovery and backup strategies. Remember that disaster recovery and backups are not the same thing. Backups are for recovering data, while disaster recovery refers to how much time is necessary to get your services (like email, files, ChMS, etc.) back into operation after a disaster. By placing these services in the cloud you can enhance these strategies. If a natural disaster wipes out your on-site datacenter what would you do? In the church world think of what happens if a significant tornado or hurricane or earthquake (hopefully not all three at once!) hits your area on a Saturday night. Do you have a way to notify your congregation about your plans for Sunday morning? How fast can you get your email and ChMS back up and running?

By placing services like your email and ChMS in the cloud, the responsibility of keeping things running falls to your provider. A cloud-based provider will more than likely have your data spread out across servers and datacenters in multiple geographic locations. The same is true for your backups: they are no longer located on your site and you no longer have to relocate backup tapes to ensure your backups are spread out geographically. Most cloud vendors can also provide more backup space then many churches or ministries would be able to afford on their own. This means when the natural disaster hits your area, your services continue to operate. How many churches or ministries are able to provide geographic and hardware redundancy on their own? And if they are able, is it good stewardship of those funds?

By now you may be thinking to yourself that the cloud sounds too good to be true. “You mean I can place my data, my email, my files, my ChMS, my whatever in the cloud and not have to worry about natural disasters, power outages, cooling equipment failures and maintenance, internet outages, security patches, backups and disaster recovery all while saving the IT team a lot of time, effort, and money? Sign me up!” Hold on, not so fast.

Whether to move your ministry to the cloud may not be so obvious. While there are obvious benefits, there are also a few challenges. Many in the IT profession believe it is their job to protect the data and ensure it is kept safe. This is why I do not believe this is an IT decision, but rather a church leadership decision. The IT team should make recommendations based on their knowledge and experience, but the data belongs to the church, and the church leadership should decide how to keep that data safe, including how and where it is stored. For some that may mean moving to the cloud, for others, they may feel more comfortable keeping their data on-site and managing it locally.

There is also the challenge of the IT team. IT folks don’t like to give up control, and moving data and services to the cloud means they will be giving up some control. I strongly believe the benefits to embracing the cloud far outweigh any negatives, including any control IT might lose. For some IT professionals, especially those who have come out of the corporate world, this can be particularly difficult, but it’s one of the many ways ministry IT varies from corporate IT.

As an IT staff member in a ministry I view my primary objective to be constantly working myself out of a job. My goal is to equip and empower those I support for greater ministry effectiveness. I have no desire to attempt self-preservation by keeping data or services tightly locked up in my control to ensure the long-term security of my job. That level of selfishness only benefits the IT person, not the ministry. Most ministries run lean, so there is always plenty for the IT team to do. The more I empower others and work myself out of some jobs, the more I can focus my time on other areas that may require a specific technology skillset.

Every ministry has to decide where to spend their money. I would much rather use technology— including embracing the cloud—to save money so they can hire additional ministry staff as opposed to hiring additional technology staff to manage technology that could be moved to the cloud. Again, these are leadership decisions, but this is often where the IT team and church leadership may not see eye-to-eye.

So, should your church or ministry embrace the cloud? I think so—provided the IT team and church leadership have worked together to understand the issues and implement the cloud in a way that empowers the ministry for greater effectiveness.

How Tech & Accounting Can Live Happily Ever After

My latest article is now live at ministrytech.com.

Preparing an Information Technology (I.T.) budget can often be a dreaded task. Tech people seem to always want to spend more money and accounting people want to make sure funds are spent wisely. Both parties are striving to be good stewards of God’s resources, but there’s a critical disconnect between the dollar signs associated with a request and an understanding why the technology is needed.

When the accounting department sees a request or PO for toilet paper they don’t often ask many questions. Everyone knows what toilet paper is for and why it is needed. However, when Accounting sees a PO for a virtual server host they tend to ask a lot of questions. (Granted, one virtual server host costs as much as a year’s worth of toilet paper for most ministries.) This challenge is further compounded when normal ministry politics are involved.

Budgeting for IT, Audio Visual, or any other aspect of technology in ministry doesn’t have to be a bottleneck. Both technology and accounting folks need to work at making sure technology purchases like virtual server hosts are as easy to accomplish as purchasing toilet paper. But it takes teamwork. Technology is complicated. So is accounting.

Accountants learn as much about technology in school as tech folks learn about accounting. Tech folks often think accounting is just math and the accounting folks might think that technology is just browsing the Internet. It’s vital that the communication lines remain open. Technology folks should have nothing to hide. Here are a few guidelines to smooth the process of IT budgeting:

Spell It Out: 
While it’s easy for us to spout acronyms, we shouldn’t. Our requests for funding or explanations of how we are going to accomplish a project should be easy to understand. It is far better to invest the time to communicate than to attempt to snow someone in an effort to save time. Investing the time in communicating builds trust.

Trust One Another: 
Trust is vital to all aspects of ministry. Without trust, giving decreases; without giving there won’t be any money to buy toilet paper or virtual hosts. Trust is sometimes compromised unintentionally as good people try to work towards a common goal. To maintain trust you must not try to hide anything. No question should be ignored and no request for additional data should be put off—whether reasonable or not. Building trust leads to cooperation.

Play Nice Together: 
Cooperation is the sweet spot when the accounting team and the technology team are working together at maximum efficiency. As projects and requests come up both teams are able to quickly process information and produce results without unnecessary drama and without any additional drain on resources. And maybe, just maybe, through this cooperation the tech folks will learn a little about accounting and the accounting folks will learn what a virtual server host is (and why it’s needed). Accounting is able to be accountable while Tech is able to be productive.

Productivity is the ultimate goal—being productive to maximize effectiveness for the Kingdom. The technology team is a trusted resource that communicates effectively and the accounting team is valued for ensuring proper tracking of all funds and stewardship.

These foundations are critical to managing technology projects and budgeting. Technology expenditures should be planned, and not surprises. Equipment wears out: planning hardware replacement cycles is the duty of every technology manager. When you buy a server you know it won’t last forever, just like toilet paper. These plans can be done numerous ways and it’s important for the technology team to work with the accounting team and church leadership to determine the best way to save for and handle these ongoing expenses.

Special Needs: 
There is also the matter of special projects and new construction. It is easy to let the tech costs reach towards the heavens on new construction, but tech budget requests should be prepared and presented knowing that if there isn’t enough money to build the building then there won’t be any need for the technology. Trust can be built when the tech folks show they understand the fiscal realities of a project and don’t attempt to sneak in things just because it is a new building and a much larger overall budget.

The technology staff should also be looking ahead. At any moment the tech team should be able to enumerate their top three projects, whether those projects are for software, infrastructure, hardware, or employees doesn’t matter. They should also communicate as items age and need to be replaced. Not that every request will get approved, but at least if something important does fail you have communicated in advance—and not in crisis mode.

This is also why a member of the tech team should have a seat at the leadership table. Not because technology is the driving force but so that when ideas and projects and budgets are discussed the tech team is available to provide input and answer questions. Technology should be positioned as a valued resource that improves effectiveness, not a necessary evil. Too many times the people behind the technology cause the technology to be improperly positioned.

There is a great deal of comfort and security that comes when the technology and accounting teams work together as part of the King’s community. Surprises are limited. There is security in knowing what you can and can’t afford. Ministry impact increases. Besides, who wants to be part of a community without toilet paper?

Keeping Your Family Safe this Summer

My latest article is now live at ministrytech.com.

Who doesn’t love summer time?  The sunshine and warmer temperatures, the family vacations, the lack of school homework, and of course, an evening on the porch sipping a refreshing iced beverage.  You’d think we would find ourselves outdoors more enjoying creation.  Often times though the opposite is true and we end up spending more time looking at our screens during the summer than we do the rest of the year.

Summer time can also be a cruel welcome to reality.  As kids we look forward to summer time because school is out and we get to play.  As adults we realize that summer time is no different from any other time of the year – we still have to work and life goes on as normal.  That makes it easy to use screens to keep our kids entertained during those long summer days.

Fortunately, the good folks at Microsoft have built some pretty cool tools into the Windows operating system to make it easy for families to manage their screen time.  While other software vendors also have family safety built into their products, Microsoft does it in a unique way that allows for native, remote control over your family’s computers without having to install or manage any additional software.

Windows Family Safety is a fantastic tool built right into all versions of Windows.  Windows 10 has the most features available but Family Safety is still available all the way back to Windows 7.  Using Windows Family Safety, you can set filters and block lists, control access time windows and set curfews, track device location, and even get a detailed report emailed to you about all activity taking place with the computer.

Not only is Windows Family Safety a powerful tool, it is also easy to use and Microsoft has done a great job providing helpful documentation.  All it takes is a few clicks and you will soon be monitoring all of the Windows devices in your family.

One feature that sets Windows Family Safety apart from other filtering or block services that are built into some operating systems is that you can remote control the settings.  Once setup on the computer, the parent can change settings remotely without having to touch the kid’s device.  This allows mom and dad to control the device from anywhere.  It also allows the child to request additional privileges and mom and dad to approve the request via email.

The content rating and restriction tools are most effective.  If you already have content filtering setup on your home network, Windows Family Safety works right along with it.  Then when the child takes their device to a friend’s house or other location where the internet might not be filtered Windows Family Safety keeps doing its thing so you know wherever the device is the content is filtered and your time limits and curfews will still be enforced.

You can also set it up to send you a weekly activity report of each child’s activity.  The report shows you which devices the child used, what they searched for on the internet, how long they used each app, the total amount of time they spent on the device, and any content that they attempted to access and was blocked.  This is a tremendous accountability tool – especially when you see what they are searching for online.

If the device is lost or stolen, you can also use Windows Family Safety to track the last known location of the device and disable it to protect your child’s personal information.

The goal here is not to be oppressive but to use this tool to help teach them to live a godly life, both online and offline.  As the child grows and matures you can use Windows Family Safety to provide additional online privileges – Windows Family Safety works from the youngest of kids to the oldest of adults.  It can even be used for adult accountability.

All you need to get started is a Microsoft account, which you probably already have if you are a Windows user.  Teaching responsibility with technology and providing accountability is made easier with Windows Family Safety.  Visit https://account.microsoft.com/family/about to learn more and get started and see if Windows Family Safety can help your family.

Protecting the Soft Underbelly of the Church

My latest article is now live at ministrytech.com.

Last month we talked about the cyber challenges churches face.  This month we will look at some simple ways the church can protect itself from those bad actors using wise policies and procedures.  This assumes you have a firewall and a proper network design.  How do we provide maximum Kingdom impact while also being good stewards of the data God has entrusted to us?

First, let’s look at your Church Management System or ChMS.  Do you rely solely on the ChMS vendor to keep your data secure?  Do you test the security of your ChMS or do you just take the vendors word for it?

Do you have security audits with your financial audits?  I assume you have financial audits.  Even then the security questions in a financial audit can be useless.  A church IT friend of mine answered the security audit question, “How do you keep your data secure?” with, “12 flying monkeys.”  He never heard back from the auditor regarding that answer.  He should have.  Use a security company for a dedicated security audit or ask your ChMS vendor for a copy of the security audit they have done on their product.

Remember the Anthem hack of early 2015?  The hackers were after data that is similar in nature to the data we store in our ChMS software: names, addresses, phone numbers, and SSNs.

Second, what is your password policy like?  Is it written down?  How do you enforce it?  Does it make sense?  Research has shown that longer, more complicated passphrases are more secure than shorter, complicated passwords that users have to change frequently.  Forcing users to change their passwords, whether to their computer, ChMS, or any other system on a regular basis leads to the passwords being written down on the bottom side of the keyboard – where some of those bad actors know to look.

I suggest using long passphrases.  15 characters or more, with a capital, lowercase, number, and special character all required.  Using a phrase from your favorite song or Bible verse works.  “InthebeginningGod1!” as an example – but don’t use anything obvious or inscribed on a plaque hanging on your wall.  A passphrase like this will never need to be changed unless it is compromised.

Your password policy should also include the ability to enforce preventing users from sharing their passwords, even with volunteers.  It is far better to invest the time and issue a volunteer a login then to share staff access.  The same is true for your ChMS.  Does your password policy also apply to other sites and services that require your users to login?

If you find that a user has shared or compromised their password I suggest setting it to something like, “Isharedmypasswordsonowittakesme5minutestoentermypassword?!” and forcing them to use that for a week.

Third, do you have any data access policies?  Who gets access to your data?  What level of access?  Does everyone see everything or do users only see what they need to see?  What criteria do you use to determine who sees what?  Do you allow people to snoop around your database?  Who can view giving data?  How do you determine who sees what?

Volunteers are great and we use them all the time but do they need ChMS access at home?  While doing visitor data entry should they see SSNs and giving information?  It may take a little more work to set users up so they only see what is necessary but it is better – especially when you consider the amount of turnover volunteers have.

Fourth, physical access should also be addressed, that’s physical access to the hardware storing the data.  How do you protect your server room or is it just a closet everyone can get into?  I’m convinced I could walk into most churches, steal a server, and walk it out to my car and drive off with it if I just pretend that I own it.

Finally, our people or personnel policies also have to be reviewed.  Having the right people in the right positions is often times half the battle.  What happens when folks are dismissed or fired and access must be removed?  While we would like to say that doesn’t happen in the church world we all know it happens far too frequently.  Are you hiring people you can trust with your data?

People are the biggest security risk any organization has.  They fall prey to phishing scams and because they want to help they click on things they shouldn’t trying to help people they shouldn’t trust.  This leads to data loss.  Do you provide training for your users to teach them how to avoid such threats?

It is vital that security and cyber threat protection decisions not be made by tech people – they are leadership decisions and hopefully the tech folks have a representative at the leadership table.  I’ve written about this before and the importance of IT being in submission to the church leadership.  Contrary to popular belief tech people aren’t wired to say no.  But we are trained to keep things safe.  Leadership needs to get input and make wise, informed decisions about how to keep data safe, how much money to invest, and policies and procedures.

Again, the nature of our business makes this a challenge.  We use volunteers.  But decisions made in the light of day with the involvement of the necessary parties is a huge step towards avoiding disaster.

The Soft Underbelly of the Church

My latest article is now live at ministrytech.com.

If I was to someday turn to the dark side, and for the sake of argument let’s say I haven’t yet, I’m convinced that I could retire hacking churches.  Churches are treasure troves of data that has a relatively high black market resale value.  Churches also aren’t as obsessed with security as the corporate world is.  Of course, if you are a hacker, my intent here is not to encourage you to go after churches but rather to encourage churches to be vigilant when it comes to their cyber security.

Everyone is getting hacked.  It doesn’t take much to see that your data isn’t really safe anywhere.  But that doesn’t mean we go hide under a rock.  It seems that hacking is in the news daily.  Remember Target, The Home Depot and a small outfit you may have heard of called the United States government? 

When a corporation is hacked their profits and shareholders may suffer but what happens when a church is hacked?  Our message is much more important than selling goods and our reputations and balance sheets often aren’t strong enough to weather a hacking storm.

While cyber-attacks are a threat we have to manage it is no different than the threat of someone slipping on the ice in your parking lot and suing you.  At some point if you are doing ministry effectively you will be sued.  You will be hacked. 

Churches are sitting ducks.  So then why aren’t churches targeted more?  Mostly because the hackers don’t think we are big enough to warrant any attention.  I think that is their mistake, mega churches are plenty big and contain just as much key black market data as the big box stores.  Hackers are after demographic info like name, address, phone number because they can sell those records to bad actors conducting phishing schemes and other online criminals.

The value of that information goes up tenfold if you have a social security number tied to that record and even more if you can connect a credit card to it.  The bad guys don’t realize how churches work and that we are sitting on tons of that very information.  Nor do they realize that we don’t protect it very well. 

Their ignorance -- for now may be our bliss but at some point they are going to figure it out or someone from inside church ministry is going to go rogue and open their eyes.

Churches are sitting ducks by the very nature of our business.  Our business it to be open and welcoming.  We don’t want to shut anyone out and we preach a message of salvation and forgiveness.  Our goal is to draw people in not push them away.  Our business is based on people voluntarily giving us their money.  What is the great commission?  That makes us a target, or at least it should.

We also lack the deep pockets of corporate America.  How much did the Target hack cost them?  They have deep pockets so a $160+ million hit due to hackers can be weathered.  They also have the additional millions to pour into fixing the problem, hiring security specialists, etc.  We don’t.

Churches are sitting ducks by the very nature of our people.  We have all levels of economic status in our churches and we strive to reach out to those who have nothing.  We teach our people to be kind and loving and forgiving and to be trusting.  We teach them to evangelize and influence others with our message and not to let pride or shyness get in the way.  Our people are our biggest asset, and also our biggest liability. 

We also use volunteers.  Go into your local bank, set up an account to become a member, and then volunteer to help them and see if they give you access to their database.  Churches do this all the time – and we should as our survival depends on it.

In my opinion our data is pure gold.  As I mentioned, I think we are getting by for now because the hackers don’t know much about what we store. 

Churches are sitting ducks by the very nature of our beliefs.  What does Jesus teach?  Lock it all down and throw away the key? 

While we are taught to love people and minister to them we are also taught about stewardship.  Stewardship is what really kicks in here in terms of data management and security.  Remember the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30?  Think of the talents as our data. 

We need to provide access to the data so we can accomplish our mission but we also have to be a good steward of the data so it isn’t stolen.  We tend to do the former and not the latter as it is difficult for church leaders to take a step back and evaluate data access policies.

Stewardship is difficult – which is why we struggle with it.  Pastors aren’t taught about cyber security in seminary.  They want to use technology to connect with people and they don’t want to hear about any security hurdles.  How did the malware get into Target’s system?  Through an unpatched server.  Pastors and church administrators don’t like to hear technology and data management requires an investment in security but if you believe in accountability before the Creator then you may want to think twice about that.

I admit this is a difficult balance to strike but we have to do better because we are sitting ducks.

Next month’s article, entitled Protecting the Soft Underbelly of the Church will address ways we can help protect our data while still maintaining maximum efficiency and Kingdom impact.

The Apple and the Fall

My latest article is now live at ministrytech.com.

The recent developments with the FBI demanding that Apple help them gain access to the iPhone of a terrorist has really got a lot of people thinking.  Terrorists are deplorable and we should do all we can to capture them and prevent acts of terrorism from occurring.  But what does it mean to do all we can to prevent all acts of terrorism from occurring?  While everyone agrees terrorists must be stopped there is great debate over how we stop them.  Do the ends justify the means?

I see both sides of this issue.  On the one hand Apple (and other tech companies) have done their best as of late to convince their customers that their data is safe – thank you Mr. Snowden.  They have worked hard to make sure when we use their devices that our personal information, our private communications, and everything else that makes up our data is secure and only accessible to the owner of the data.  In the analog world this would be the safety deposit box in a steel vault at the bank.  It is designed to keep everyone out except those who have access privileges.

On the other hand, the government is charged with keeping the people safe and wants to do everything possible to prosecute acts of terrorism and prevent future acts from occurring.  To do that they have the ability to obtain warrants and gain access to personal property and information to help solve and prevent crime.  In the analog days this would be getting a warrant and forcing the bank to open the steel vault and then open the safety deposit box.

But what happens when all of this becomes digital?  What happens when the steel vault is an encryption algorithm and the safety deposit box is an iPhone and the individual holding the key is deceased after committing a horrible crime impacting many innocent lives?

In the analog world, we could easily figure out a way to get into the vault and safety deposit box.  It might take a while but it can be done – as evidenced by several recent high profile thefts from thieves breaking into super secure vaults to steal money and jewelry.  In the digital world though it isn’t as easy.  We can’t just drill through yards of concrete or blow the door off.  There is no concrete and there is no door.

Because of the divide between the digital world and analog world the government is now asking, through the FBI, that Apple provide a way into the phone.  Apple is refusing.  The government needs Apple because the tools of the analog world won’t work here.  They need the creator of the device to help them access it.

If this situation has done nothing else, it has pointed out how out –of-date our laws and legal system are to handle these situations.  The law the government is using as their reason why Apple should help them is the All Writs Act from 1789, signed into law by George Washington.  While this law was amended in 1948 and 1949 (still well before the digital age) there is a great deal of question as to its application based on a Supreme Court case in 1977 where the government wanted help tracing phone calls.

The amount of misinformation and misunderstanding about this event is amazing.  While on the surface the request may appear simple enough, the consequences are tremendous.  Should Apple, or any tech company for that matter, have to create and then secure a backdoor into their software?  I know many are debating the semantics of the request but the bottom line is they are asking for something that doesn’t exists and would have to be destroyed or protected after it was created.

This reminds me of another time in our history when the US government needed technology and science to help them bring a World War to an end.  The Manhattan Project ran from 1942-1946 and was tasked with creating a super weapon to help end World War II.  The weapon did not exist but was possible in theory.  If they succeeded the consequences would change the path of the planet but success came with a price.  Yes, the war was brought to a quick conclusion without having to invade Japan, simultaneously saving thousands of lives and putting millions more in jeopardy.  As a result, the US and its allies have spent every day since trying to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the wrong hands.  The world would also come to the brink of nuclear destruction as a result of the Cold War that followed.

Apple is being asked to create special access to bypass the security on an iPhone that doesn’t exist today.  If they create it, and it leaks out then what?  Those “bad actors” would certainly get in line to get access to the ability to gain access to phones around the world.  Just like the Manhattan Project the results of creating such a tool could change the course of the planet.

But what does all of this mean to us?  The nation is clearly divided on this issue and I find myself agreeing with people I rarely agree with and on the opposite side from those with which I would typically align.

First, the solution to terrorism is not hacking an iPhone, the solution is Jesus Christ.  Only by believing and trusting in Him can people change and “bad actors” can become citizens of heaven.  Second, Romans 13:1-7 provides a view of how Christians should relate to their government.  Does that mean if this case reaches the Supreme Court and a ruling is rendered that we must abide by it?  Third, God calls all of us to participate in our government and to be good citizens.  That includes voting, paying taxes, and taking part in discussions with our government officials – including discussions about balancing our security with our privacy.

Ben Franklin said, "Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."  While this quote has been ripped out of context I think the principle he is referring to applies to what we are facing now.  Each one of us has to decide.  I know many who would happily give up some privacy in order to be more secure.  I know many who abhor that idea.  Whatever you believe, I hope that you will take this opportunity to get involved.  Our government is going to have to figure this out and they will need our help to do it.  Politicians are not software engineers and encryption specialists and engineers and encryption specialists are not politicians.  Pray for our elected officials and participate in the privilege that is our democracy.  

Don't Go It Alone this Year

My latest article is now live at ministrytech.com.



Can I ask you a question? How many of your new year’s resolutions have you already broken? Some of them are probably career oriented—things like network more, learn more, be more efficient, be less busy and more effective, etc. If you work in ministry technology as a career, or if you volunteer, let me encourage you to actually do something about networking this year and not to attempt going it alone.

The cliché is silos vs. synergy.  I started in ministry technology as a volunteer in the mid-1990’s.  That turned into a full time career in 2001.  When I started there weren’t many technology resources for ministries and I felt like a silo trying to solve the worlds technology problems on my own.  Google didn’t show up until 1998 and wasn’t very helpful during those early formative years.  

In 2007 I was introduced to a group of folks who worked in church IT that existed to provide synergy.  I attended my first meeting in Chicago and realized I wasn’t alone, my problems weren’t unique, and there were lots of people with more experience than I had who were willing to share and help me get better.  What amazed me is that this wasn’t an organization trying to sell something or with some other agenda.  They don’t even charge membership dues.  It was simply a group of church geeks trying to help advance the cause of the Kingdom.

I was also impressed that theological differences didn’t get in the way.  They weren’t out to solve the questions of the ages but rather to simply help each other apply technology to ministry.  Technology in churches and non-profits is different from technology in the corporate world and this group got that.  Everyone was willing to share and help everyone else out.  No one was trying to protect any trademark secrets.  There was no competition.

It was also encouraging to see IT folks socializing.  As a group we can be rather introverted and awkward.  Put a bunch of those type folks together in the same room who are all struggling to solve the same technological problems and all of a sudden relationships start to form.  Then when we leave that room those relationships continue thanks to our understanding of social media and communication through technology.

If you work full time in ministry technology, volunteer in ministry technology, or manage ministry technology staff and/or volunteers then consider joining this group or encouraging those you lead to join this group.  Did I mention it’s a free group of peers all learning from each other for greater ministry effectiveness?

What is this group you ask?  I’m speaking of The Church IT Network.  Their website says, “If you are passionate about serving the body of Christ through technology, the Chruch IT Network is for you.”  Whether you work or volunteer in help desk, IT management, audio/visual, web development, ChMS, DBA, and more you will find a place in the Church IT Network.  

The biggest hurdle most church tech folks have to being a part of a group like this is time.  We are all busy, we are all being asked to do more with less, and we all have more to do then we could possibly get done in one lifetime.  Instead of using busyness as an excuse let me encourage you to use it as a motivation.  There is a big difference between being busy and being effective.  Often it is best to stop and make time to make sure you and those you lead are being effective.  

Being a part of a group like The Church IT Network doesn’t take much time.  They are there if you need them but don’t require that you participate in required membership meetings.  Did I mention it’s free?  There are no annual dues.  It is simply a group of IT professionals all working towards the same common goal.

I have found that being a part of the various online communities and discussion has actually saved me money.  I’ve posted questions online and received answers within minutes that have saved the ministry I support thousands of dollars.  

The Church IT Network is also a great place to learn about IT in ministry.  Pastors, CFO’s, etc. are all welcome to join and learn more about church IT ministry.  Volunteers are also welcome and encouraged to participate.  Church tech uses volunteers more than any other technology organization in the world and we should want our volunteers to be well equipped.

There are 2 meeting options each year that are available to those who want to gather together.  A regional event in the spring and a national event in the fall.  While there are travel costs associated with these events and some minor event registration fees (the last national event was $75 for 3 days, including meals) they are both well worth it.  We learn together, worship together, and enjoy great food and fellowship.

Proverbs 11:25 says, “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” (NIV).  My involvement in The Church IT Network has made me a better IT pro, a better employee, and a better servant of the King.  Take this opportunity at the beginning of the new year to consider growing in your generosity and taking the opportunity to refresh others and be refreshed.  

For more information on The Church IT Network please visit churchitnetwork.com, follow on Twitter @CITRT and join the conversation using the hashtag #CITRT.

Stress in IT

My latest article is now live at ministrytech.com.

As I travel around the country talking with IT professionals who work for churches, ministries and non-profits, I’ve noticed that many of us are struggling with similar challenges.  While challenges are good and help us grow in our faith and in our profession I’m concerned that good IT folks are burning out quickly and turnover rates among tech staff’s in churches is going to rise.  I think there are several issues at play here.

First, many of us are highly dedicated.  In the church world, many IT folks grew up in the churches where they are currently serving on staff.  Some may even be the second or third generation of their family to have been part of the ministry.  Decades of involvement builds loyalty and a sense of pride and ownership.  Because of the investment of time, talent, and treasure, you don’t want to see the ministry fail and you desire to see it grow and thrive.

Second, we get the eternal impact.  While church IT and technical folks may be often misunderstood, I find that many have the same goal as the pastors and other staff.  They work hard to provide an eternal impact on the Kingdom.  We understand that those 1’s and 0’s we are working with are much more than just 1’s and 0’s.  Their impact is on a much higher calling and our passion is to see the Kingdom impacted every day we dive into our geeky craft.

Third, we know our stuff.  We stay up all night reading the latest articles online about the newest features and software releases.  We monitor popular culture and trending media so we know how to advise people on what to use.  We work hard to not be surprised by the latest security threat and are proactive to keep threats out of our networks and our data secure.

Fourth, we struggle to communicate.  Because of our knowledge, we can come across arrogant and unwilling to compromise.  We often don’t do a great job of explaining options and costs.  As a result, we create a gap between the decision makers and ourselves.  Remember, we both have the same goal but we are coming at it from opposite, often misunderstood directions.

As a result, frustration can mount.  We all have the same spiritual goal but we can’t get the budget we need to accomplish the objective.  Or we are trying to ensure security but we are told to keep opening things up to more and more folks.  Friction builds when IT focuses on security while the ministry focuses on people.  What happens when the Executive Pastor says everyone is going to switch to a Mac or that the ministry is going to use a ChMS that you know isn’t secure?

Burnout tends to set in.  We don’t believe we are being listened to or that our opinion matters.  We tend to kill good ideas because we can’t implement them the way we want to.  IT and technology isn’t a respected asset but a dreaded necessary evil.  So what can we do?

First, we have to humble ourselves (Luke 14:11).  As hard as it may be to admit IT and tech folks don’t know everything.  Technology changes fast and we can’t realistically be experts at everything and we need to communicate that.  Reading one article doesn’t make you an expert.  We have to be willing to listen to those in authority and even if we disagree, humble ourselves to do what we are asked (Philippians 2:3-4).

Second, in addition to humility we need to have a healthy respect for authority (1 Peter 2:18).  Often our passion is what gets in our way.  We want the objective to succeed and we don’t want anything to be a hindrance.  As a result, we struggle with what we believe are inferior options and often want things done our way.  Maybe out of pride, but often out of zeal to see the Kingdom affected.  It is important for us to remember who is in charge.  Who is going to be held accountable (Hebrews 13:17)?  What is my responsibility?  When we stand before God who is going to be accountable for the decision?  We may not be accountable for the decision but we are accountable for how we respond to it, whether we like it or not.

Third, we have to learn to communicate (James 1:19, Ephesians 4:29).  It is ok to disagree and it is ok to provide options but we have to learn to do that in a way that is respectful and not prideful.  We have to understand that it is not our objective to get our way.  It is our goal to communicate what we think is best and then to submit and do what we’re told.  When we don’t get our way we have to work hard at not saying, “I told you so” or constantly pointing out that this isn’t the way we wanted to do it.

When we stand before God, we want to hear that we did our job well, even if we didn’t agree with what we were doing.  I have found that submission makes life easier.  Often times the ax is no longer over my neck and I’m good with that.  This is difficult when we are doing something we think will fail but unless we sit at the top of our organizations leadership chart then we need to get happy with doing something with which we disagree.

My burden is that IT and tech folks latch on to this.  The Kingdom isn’t helped through turnover but through IT and tech folks who work hard at humbly communicating and then obeying authority with excellence.

Windows 10 USB Selective Suspend

Recently I lost hours of my life due to an odd USB setting in Windows 10.  If you are experiencing or have experienced issues with USB devices and Windows 10 then hopefully you can keep reading and save yourself the hours of frustration and rage inducing failures that I’ve been dealing with since first starting to use Windows 10.

First a bit of background, USB Selective Suspend is not new.  It has been around since USB 2.0 in Windows XP.  Selective Suspend allows the operating system to save power by placing specific USB ports into a suspended mode to save power, similar to how a laptop or tablet can be placed into sleep mode.  What’s cool about it is that it can do USB ports individually without powering down all the USB ports or the entire USB bus.

What’s bad about it is that it really isn’t necessary on a desktop machine that is plugged into power. Powering down USB ports won’t save the grid that much power on a desktop.  Now on a laptop or tablet on battery power it’s a different story.  That’s why Windows allows you to enable or disable USB Selective Suspend based on the computer being plugged in or on battery power.

Another interesting fact here is that previous versions of Windows allows you access to the USB Selective Suspend setting easily in the advanced power profile settings.  Windows 10 hides that setting unless you modify the registry.

One more gotcha here, the driver for the USB device must support Selective Suspend in order for it to work properly.  This has been around since Windows XP and USB 2.0 so you’d think that it is widely supported.  Well…...cue the rage inducing failures.

I started using Windows 10 on a Surface Pro 2 using a Toshiba USB 3.0 dock to connect to my keyboard, mouse, and dual monitors.  I had no issues.  Then I got my Surface Pro 4 and the new Surface Dock and things started to go south in a hurry.  The biggest issue I faced was that my display port monitors would go to sleep and rarely wake up when connected to the dock.  Randomly they would come back on but most of the time in order to use my monitors connected to the Surface Dock I’d have to unplug the Surface Dock Connector from my Surface and then plug it in again.

After spending weeks trying to figure out why the monitors wouldn’t wake up I finally broke down and called Microsoft support.  They told me it was probably a hardware issue with the Surface Dock so they sent me another one.  I hooked the new one up and the same problem.  I had a hunch all along it was either a firmware issue with the Surface Dock or it was a driver issue on the Surface itself.

Without any solution I continued to unplug my new Surface Dock from my Surface multiple times every day to wake up my monitors.  The convenience of the new Surface Dock with its single connection into the Surface that provides communications and power was totally lost.

A few days before Christmas I decided to update my TomTom GPS with the latest map before we did some traveling for the holiday.  I plugged the GPS into one my Surface Dock USB ports and told it to update but it kept dropping its connection.  It would update for a few seconds and then say it wasn’t connected.  I then plugged the GPS USB cable and plugged it directly into the Surface.  Same problem.  So I unplugged the Surface Dock completely and still the GPS would connect and then drop its connection.

Must be a cable problem, right?  I tried 3 different cables and they all had the same issue.  Was the micro USB port on my GPS bad?  Seemed unlikely but I checked it out.  After another hour of testing and messing with it I still had no luck and by this point my GPS map was totally hosed because of the constant connecting and reconnecting.

Time to take a step back and relax.  Sometimes when troubleshooting an issue, you can lose the forest for the tress so I decided it best to take a break.  I did a few other things, took a shower, and then came back to start again.  This time I started researching USB connection issues with my GPS and Windows 10.  After about an hour of reading it appeared based on some user forums that Selective Suspend was to blame because the TomTom MyDrive software and GPS driver were not configured to support Selective Suspend in Windows 10.

That made sense.  Windows 10 kept trying to enable Selective Suspend on the port and that caused the connection to drop because the TomTom driver wasn’t updated to let Windows 10 know it could not enabled suspend on the port while the GPS was connected and trying to update a 6gb map.

To test this, I went to disable Selective Suspend in the advanced power profile settings but found the USB Settings option missing.  Really?  A quick Google revealed that in order to see the advanced power options you had to modify a registry entry.  Part of me understands why Microsoft would hide this, part of me doesn’t.  You can find plenty of articles online with detailed in instructions for how to change a reg key so you can see these settings.  I changed the key, rebooted and sure enough the USB Selective Suspend settings appeared.

The options are enable and disabled for plugged in and on battery.  I disabled mine while plugged in but left it turned on while on battery.  Rarely would I every attempt to update my GPS while on battery power and if it does save me some juice to make my battery life last longer then fine.

Immediately my GPS connected and updated as it should.  My rendered useless GPS became useful once again.  While I took the long way around the barn was I grateful that the issue was fixed.  So I connected my Surface to the dock again and went to bed.

The next morning, I got up expecting to have to unplug my Surface Dock from my Surface to get my monitors to wake up but found that when I moved the mouse the monitors woke right up.  Intrigued I let the monitors go back to sleep again and they again woke up as they should.  Fascinating.  I finished what I was doing and left for the day.  When I got back later that night my monitors again woke up when I moved the mouse or touched the keyboard.  Could it be?  Could the Selective Suspend issue have caused my Surface Dock to not work properly?

While I didn’t find any articles saying that there was a connection for the new Surface Dock, remember it has only been out for just over a month, I found many related to docks using USB.  Since the new Surface Dock doesn’t use USB I didn’t think the issues would be connected but my experience suggests that they are, even if the evidence is circumstantial.

It baffles me that Microsoft’s own hardware isn’t compatible with Selective Suspend.  Why TomTom hasn’t kept their driver current is also a bit of a surprise but Windows 10 is still relatively new.  I don’t see any excuse for Microsoft.

For now, at least it appears that my Surface Dock works as it should and my GPS can be updated anytime I want.  If you are having similar struggles with a dock or USB device, you might want to check out the power saving convenience that is USB Selective Suspend.

Windows 10 November Update

Microsoft has released the first major update to Windows 10.  In the good old day of previous Windows versions this would have been called a Service Pack but under the new Windows 10 paradigm this is just an update to the continual evolution of Windows.

There are a lot of changes to Windows in this update, many of them are under-the-hood improvements to how the operating system works.  One is that boot times are 30% faster.  My testing has revealed this to be true.  This update has also helped Windows 10 mature for mass deployments.  The business case for upgrading large organizations to Windows 10 continues to grow stronger as these updates are released.

Here are some of the top feature additions and changes you need to be aware of.

For mobile users Windows finally has the native ability to track your laptop or tablet.  This feature relies on the users Microsoft account.  When enabled the device will phone home with its current location allowing you to track the device if it is lost or stolen.  Other operating systems have had this for years and it is good that it has finally come to Windows – especially when you consider how many Windows based devices are mobile.

Another interesting feature is that Windows 10 will now automatically set your default printer to be the last printer you printed to.  This feature is enabled by default once you install the November Update.  I disabled this feature on my work computer as I often print to different printers but don’t want each of those printers to become my default.  This feature has its place but I’m not sure why it is enabled by default when you update.

Windows 10 also adds the ability to automatically set your time zone based on your location.  This may be handy for laptop and tablet users that travel a lot but isn’t very useful for desktop users.  Auto time zones is set to on by default – I’m not sure why.  Does this indicate that Microsoft thinks the majority of Windows 10 users are mobile?  Regardless this did not work well on my desktop.

I live in the part of Indiana that up until 2007 did not observe Daylight Saving Time.  Since the auto time zone setting is turned on by default my desktop set my time zone to Indiana East.  Indiana East was the old time zone we used before 2007 as it did not observe DST and left our computers on Eastern time year round.  Now that we observe DST our time zone setting is Eastern but the auto time zone didn’t get that right.  For desktop users is it probably best to turn auto time zone off to avoid a potential calendar nightmare.  (Getting rid of Daylight Saving Time all together is another way to solve this issue but that’s a different topic for a different time.)

Microsoft Edge also receives several additional features. While still not supporting extensions the new browser in Windows 10 now syncs favorites and reading lists through the users Microsoft account.  Edge can now import favorites from other browsers and then keep them in sync across all machines the user logs in to.

Several visual improvements are also included in the November Update.  The right click contexts menus on the Start Menu are much easier to read and navigate.  The Start Menu itself can also handle more shortcuts and now allows for additional shortcuts to be arranged into each section.  Windows also now applies the default windows color to the title bars making windows easier to see.

The Start Menu also gains the ability to show advertisements.  This is turned on by default but can easily be turned off – which I recommend.  I’m not really concerned that Microsoft is starting to insert ads into Windows 10 – so long as the users always have the ability to turn them off.

One feature that is still lacking is the ability to customize the login screen.  The November Update allows you to set a solid background color for the login screen but does not allow you to set a custom image.  There are hacks available for doing this online but hopefully the next Windows 10 update will allow for full login screen customization.

The upgrade process was simple enough but varies based on whether or not your machine is part of a domain.  For a non-domain joined machine the upgrade was seamless.  The November Update appeared in Windows Update on the Surface Pro 2 I tested and the update process took around 15 minutes.  When it was done Windows worked as it did before without any issues relating to the update.

On a domain joined machine I did not have as much luck.  Domain joined machines will not receive the update via Windows Update.  To update a domain machine you have to download and install the November Update ISO from Microsoft.  On the desktop machine I tested the upgrade process took over an hour.  This could have been due in part to the desktop machine not having solid start hard drives.

Once the update completed there were several issues to fix.  Several of my default programs had been changed.  PDF files were changed from Acrobat to Edge and the file associations for OneNote were gone.  These were easy to fix but I’m not sure why this only happened on the domain joined machine.

In addition, all of the server admin tools I had installed were wiped out.  Active Directory Management and Group Policy Administration still had shortcuts but the applications were gone.  I had to download and reinstall the Server Administration Toolkit from Microsoft to get them back.

Despite these issues the Windows 10 November Update is a step in the right direction.  If Microsoft, or any software developer waited until their software was perfect to release it then we wouldn’t have any software at all.  Fortunately, Microsoft is keeping with the new Windows paradigm and continuing to improve Windows 10.

If you are looking to deploy Windows 10 and want to use the latest edition, make sure you download the Windows 10 ISO with the November Update built in.

Technology, Christmas Gifts, and Keeping Kids Safe

My latest article is now live at ministrytech.com.



Christmas is a great time of year for ministries as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.  It can also be a challenging time for parents as kids Christmas lists are full of the latest high tech gadgets and whatchamacallits so they can visit websites you’ve never heard of.  Here are some tips for parents to help keep children safe on Christmas Day and every day.

I am very pro technology but like most things in life you have to earn the privilege to use it and then continue to use it responsibly.  For example, when you learn to drive you don’t get behind the wheel of a race car at Indianapolis right away.  That isn’t saying that race cars in Indy are bad but that you have to earn it and work hard to use it properly.

In the real world we have curfews, why not in the virtual world?  Parents should set boundaries on their kids use of technology and devices.  I don’t agree with the notion that as parents we should let our kids fail first and then pick them up and help them along and allow them to continue making bad decisions so that they can “learn”.  That is how many kids end up viewing porn or participating in online activities that are not appropriate – often times long before mom and dad are aware.  And by the time mom and dad become aware it is too late. (Prov. 22:6 and Ephesians 6:4)

It is also important to encourage Godly relationships.  Positive peer influence is critical as over 80% of kids ages 7-10 years old view pornography online at the encouragement of a friend.  Do your kid’s friends model a Godly example and help them live a life that strives to become more like Christ?  Those peer influences in the physical world also impact actions in the virtual world.

Proverbs has a few things to say about this.  Proverbs 27:17 talks about iron sharpening iron.  Remember that this iron sharpening can happen virtually as well.  Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”  What did it say?  Too many friends can be a bad thing?  Seem to fly in the face of the goal of having as many online friends and connections as possible.

As a parent I expect obedience.  The Bible is pretty clear about the whole children obeying your parents thing (Eph. 6:1) but often the rules seem looser when it comes to online obedience or obeying mom and dad when they don’t understand the technology.  Internet use, cell phone use, tablet use, video console use, etc. is not a right.  It’s a privilege that is earned through responsibility.  It is not an inalienable right.  After all, who is paying for it?

Removing the technology should always be an option that is on the table when it comes to expecting obedience.  Granted, some technology is required for school but there must still be a way for young people to accomplish their education and then not use their devices for anything else.  If there is a sin issue in their life as a result of the technology then it must be removed, whether that sin is something obvious like pornography or something less obvious like gossip.

The story is told of a traveling salesman back in the good ole days before the internet and cell phones who struggled with pornography on hotel room TVs.  Recognizing this challenge in his life he decided that he would not stay at hotels unless they would physically remove the TV from his room, and if the hotel would not remove the TV from his room then he would stay at a different hotel.

What lengths are you willing to go to in order to help your kids stay pure?  It might not be easy but I believe that if we are going to stand before God and give an account for how we raise our children then how easy or convenient it is shouldn’t matter.  (1 Cor. 10:31, Col. 3:23-24)

Finally, we should provide accountability and set a good example.  How are mom and dad using the latest technology and gadgets?  Who helps hold mom and dad accountable?  What’s better, for mom and dad to learn about the latest technology, gadgets, and social media and teach their children, or for the kids to learn about it from someone else?

A recent study of 13 year olds by CNN found that parental involvement and accountability “effectively erased the negative effects” of their kid’s online interactions, whether through social media, games, chats, etc.  When a secular study says that it seems that, we as Christian parents should take notice and provide accountability.

Here are some accountability suggestions:

1. Spend time with your children online and learn from them.  Ask them to show you what they like to do online and their favorite sites.  Ask them to teach you how to use the latest gadgets.
2. Check up on their logs and history, across all devices.
3. Use other software for filtering and internet tracking.  The goal is not to remove independence but provide accountability to help the children grow and mature spiritually.
4. Find out about other points of access.  Where else can your kids get online and use other devices?  School?  Friend’s house?

I believe we are all accountable for our actions.  I think we tend to forget what “ALL” means and who it applies to.  We are accountable for our actions both in the real world and in the online world.  We are accountable for our children, and our kids are accountable for themselves before God.  God is still God, even in the virtual world filled with high tech gadgets and toys.

If you’d like to learn more about keeping kids safe and technology, visit http://faithlafayette.org/parenttech.

Will Apple Watch Save Wearable Technology?

I admit that I’m an early adopter for technology.  I like to get the new stuff and play with it right away.  I know that the next version will probably be better, have less bugs, and look cooler but I can’t wait for version 2.  Then I’d feel behind the curve and have to catch up. 

That’s one of the reasons I bought an Apple Watch.  I have been watching wearable technology evolve and while excited by it I was not impressed with what it could do.  I know some corporations are buying the Apple Watch for their executives but I’m curious what impact if any the Apple Watch and wearable tech.

Before the Apple Watch, wearable tech was relegated to health and fitness applications with a secondary focus on telling time.  Have you tried to change the time on some of the fitness-based devices?  It is almost as if they forgot that while being worn on the wrist to monitor your heartbeat it could also double as a watch.

Smart watches have also been around for a while but nothing as integrated as the Apple Watch promised.  Big companies have been working on these devices for years but nothing had really taken off.  There wasn’t an “Ah-ha!” moment where everyone realized that they couldn’t live without a wearable technology device.

I bought my Apple Watch the day they were released but I didn’t order it at midnight, I waited until after I had a try on appointment.  I wanted to touch and feel the bands and compare the sizes of the watch.  While some wearable technology devices are relatively inexpensive and the same price as normal watches the Apple Watch is not.  It is an investment – and an investment with a ton of choices and options.  Not only do you have to decide if wearable tech is right for you but once you do decide you have another round of decisions regarding features, construction, and style.

I’m glad I stopped to try one on.  I was able to pick the band I like and determine the size that worked best for me.  I ended up with a 42mm stainless steel watch with a black sports band.  I picked the 42mm size, as it was comparable to the size watch I was already wearing.  I chose the sports band because of its leather like feel and its multipurpose applications.  It works well if you are working out and very active but it also works well if you want to dress it up.  Granted I would like to have a Milanese loop or even a link band but at Apple’s prices, I figured multi purposing the sports band was a much better use of money.

I admit that I struggled between the aluminum Sport version and the stainless steel Watch version.  Not only is the case made out of different material but the glass surface of the watch is different.  The Sport version uses Ion glass while the Watch version uses the Sapphire glass.  For me the decision was easy, I needed the Sapphire glass.  I’m left handed and I wear my watch on my left wrist.  As such whatever device I wear is prone to a lot of abuse as 99% of what I do is done with my left hand.  The Ion glass is more subject to scratching then the Sapphire glass and I needed as much scratch resistance as possible.  Remember though that the Ion glass is more shatter resistant than the Sapphire glass.  That’s why it is on the Sports version of the watch as you may scratch it up but if you fall down running; your watch should survive whereas the Sapphire glass is more prone to shatter.  For me I needed the scratch resistance over shatter proof so I went with the Watch edition.  Let’s just say I don’t do that much running.  In addition, I like that stainless steel shine vs the dullness of the aluminum Sport watch.

Now that I decided what type of watch to get, I had to order it and wait for it.  It took Apple 5 weeks to deliver my watch.  It is hard to tell if that is because they were selling so many or if that is because they had so few.  No sales numbers have been officially released but my guess is they had too few.

As an early adopter, I’m often asked about my Watch.  The novelty has definitely worn off when people say I’m the first person they’ve seen board an airplane using my watch as my boarding pass, or buy groceries or gas and use my watch to pay.  I’m often asked if others should get one.  That is difficult to answer because wearable tech and the Apple Watch are lacking universal appeal.  The “Ah-ha!” moment I mentioned earlier.

One easy way to tell if you need an Apple Watch is to look at your wrist now.  Go ahead; I’ll wait, look at your wrist.  Are you wearing a watch?  Do you wear a watch?  Do you wear it all the time?  Many times I’m asked if I think someone should buy a watch and when I inquire why they don’t have a watch on they tell me they don’t wear a watch.  The Apple Watch is far too expensive not to wear.  I wear mine all the time but if you don’t like have a watch on or don’t wear one a lot save yourself some money and don’t’ buy an Apple Watch, or any other wearable tech for that matter.

Otherwise, whether or not to buy an Apple Watch really depends on how you live your life.  While the Apple Watch is great for me, I don’t think it is great for everyone, yet.  I’m not sure what corporate America is using it for.  Right now it is just too immature and lacking necessary applications.

For me the Apple Watch could not come soon enough.  I don’t care that much about the health statistics or being able to tell how far I’ve walked in a day or how fast my heart is beating.  I care a lot about having an accurate timepiece – I travel a lot and love how the Apple Watch helps me manage time zones.  I also care about easier connectivity.  I get a ton of texts and other communications.  Getting all of that on my wrist is a huge time saver for me.  I no longer have to pull my iPhone 6 out of my pocket several hundred times a day, now I can just glance at my wrist.

As I mentioned the Apple Watch is great for traveling. Not only does it manage time zones well but I also keep a hand free.  To board the plane now I just scan my watch, keeping one hand free while the other hand pulls my carry-on.  If my flight is delayed or the gate changes I know by looking at my wrist after the Watch taps me without having to dig out my phone.  The Apple Watch functions as an easier to access extension of my iPhone screen.

I also really like the complications.  Complications doesn’t refer to how difficult the watch is to operate but rather is a traditional watchmaker’s term.  Complications refer to the other functions of a watch beyond telling time.  Things like showing you the phases of the moon or the date are watch complications as they complicate the mechanism necessary to tell time.  The Apple Watch provides several great complications that provide data when you glance at the watch.  I had several complications on my previous watch and enjoy having them digitally on my Apple Watch.

Again, this works great for me but it may not be worth the expense for everyone until there is more universal appeal.  Wearable technology in general is still in its infancy.  As it matures, the appeal will become great and the Apple Watch will become more than a heartbeat monitor that is an extension of your iPhone screen.  It will be able to do more and more independently making its appeal boarder.  

The next version of the Apple Watch software, Watch OS 2 was a great improvement but also brought about a few bugs.  Many good things are happening there but I think we are several more hardware and software versions away from the “Ah-ha!” moment where everyone says they need some sort of wearable device to better their everyday life.

For me, the Apple Watch has already become a valuable tool.  Whether or not the Apple Watch or any other wearable technology is a needed and valuable tool for you for now depends on how you live your life.

Upgrading Windows Versions for the Last Time

This has certainly been a momentous occasion as this is the last time we will be upgrading Windows from one version to the next.  From this point forward the updates will come in periodically, no more waiting for a big upgrade install every 2-3 years. I’m very excited about that.

Being such a momentous occasion there are a few things I thought I’d share to help make your upgrade process more momentous.

I’ve upgraded several machines to Windows 10 using several different methods.  Overall, I’m very pleased the last time I have to do this is going to smooth.  Granted, I’ve heard of issues, mostly with driver compatibility, but for the most part Microsoft seems to have gotten this one right – since you know, it’s the last time.

My first upgrade was my Surface Pro 2.  Yes, I still have a 2.  I’m holding out for the Pro 4 that comes with Windows 10.  This upgrade was done via the upgrade notification icon that appeared on the taskbar.  Windows downloaded the necessary files in the background and I just clicked Next a few times and bam, Windows 10.  It took less than 30 minutes and was seamless.  I don’t see any need to wipe out and start over again with a clean install as the in-place upgrade worked perfectly.  I know the purists will say otherwise.

The one thing to note here is to uncheck the box that says you will share your Wi-Fi connection with your contacts.  While the Wi-Fi sharing feature is kinda cool it has been known to disable some network adapters that don’t fully support it so to be safe just turn that off.  You will need to click Customize and not accept the default settings as you click into Windows 10.

My second upgrade as on my desktop at work.  This is a Dell Precision line computer with 2 normal spinning hard drives running in a Raid 1 configuration.  No SSD like with the Surface.  This upgrade was done using the Windows 10 Enterprise ISO downloaded through a VLSC account.  This upgrade was easy as well but it took a lot longer.  The upgrade process itself took an hour and a half followed by 3 hours of 100% disk I/O.  I can only theorize that the traditional hard disks, the RAID configuration, and the fact that my work machine has a lot more apps on it caused the upgrade to take longer.  I found that it was best to just let the disks run at 100% until Windows finished what it was doing as setting anything else up took excessively long.

Once it finished the disk, activity went back to normal and Windows 10 works great.  Another in-place upgrade that saved me a ton of time, as I didn’t have to re-install everything and re-configure everything.  Again, the purists would have done a clean install but I don’t have their kind of time.
In all these upgrades, I haven’t experienced any driver issues or had to manually install any missing drivers.  I also haven’t had any features not function properly requiring me to roll back to Windows 8.1.  I know others have had issues and had to roll back on a variety of different hardware but I don’t have enough data to know what was to blame in those situations.

One setting I did change was the Windows Update setting.  With Windows 10, either you get the updates automatically and Windows just reboots and does it for you or you can set it to prompt you to reboot.  I often leave my machines locked doing various things overnight so I set mine to prompt me.  I did leave it to Automatically Update for a while but found it was closing Outlook and all my apps and rebooting in the middle of the night on its own and I didn’t care for that.

It is great having the same OS on my desktop and my Surface.  I love the new Start Menu and enjoy that many of the features and configs sync between the 2 devices.

It is also exciting know that Windows 10 is a product that is evolving.  Unlike previous version where development stopped until the next version comes out Windows 10 is already showing its flexibility as the OS is updated with new things all the time.  This is Windows as it should be.  I also like that they are still accepting feedback via a built in app in the OS.  Anytime I stumble across something I don’t like I check to see if anyone else has already submitted the issue and if not I submit the suggestion.  I find I’m often late to the submission party, as so far all of my ideas have already been submitted by people much smarter than me.

Is Windows 10 Really Free?

My latest article is now live at ministrytech.com.

Microsoft made headlines when they announced that Windows 10 would be a free upgrade to all users of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1.  They even said that pirated and unlicensed versions would also be eligible for the free upgrade.  Really?  While it is an ambitious goal to get the world to upgrade to Windows 10 how is it that it can be free to everyone, even those running the software illegally?  Granted many other operating systems are free but this is Microsoft.  Is this one of those situations where if it sounds too good to be true it probably is?

In a word, yes.  Microsoft has several times had to clarify what they actually meant.  In other words, they didn’t mention all the catches to the announcement that Windows 10 would be a free upgrade to all users of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1.  Knowing the complexity of Microsoft licensing, including educational and charity options, I was surprised that Microsoft would make the upgrade process harder by not clearly communicating how you get the free upgrade.

So how do you get your free upgrade if you are running Windows 7, 8, or 8.1?  In order to answer that we have to know how you got the copy of Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 you are running now.  Let’s start with an easy one.  You bought a computer from a big box store or online and it came with a copy of Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 on it and you activated that.  Congratulation!  You quality for the free upgrade and you should have already received a notice via Windows Update that your computer is ready to upgrade on or after July 29.  Microsoft got this one right.  Pushing Windows 10 out via Windows Update and notifying users in advance is brilliant and the way it should be done.  It also shows the future as Windows 10 is the final version of Windows and will be further updated via Windows Update.

But what if you are running Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 and you didn’t get the update notification from Windows Update?  This is where things get complicated.  There can be several reasons for this.  One is that your copy of Windows is non-genuine.  That means the activation code you used to activate Windows is no longer valid or was never valid.  Microsoft said originally that all non-genuine copies would be upgraded but later clarified that only certain types of non-genuine software would be upgraded.  You can avoid this issue completely if you make sure your copy of Windows is genuine and running with a valid, genuine, single-use activation key.

Another reason you may not have received the update notification is if you are running Windows under a licensing agreement.  Microsoft has numerous licensing agreements for school, charities, and enterprises that are essentially software leasing programs.  This allows the organization to lease the software as opposed to purchasing each installation individually.  For organizations with hundreds of computers, this can save a lot of money over an operating system’s life cycle.  Leased software will not automatically upgrade but rather must be upgraded when the organization renews their lease.  Since the organization doesn’t actually own the software, it won’t upgrade unless the lease is kept current.

As opposed to a computer you purchased at home, you own the software outright and qualify for the free upgrade because you paid full price for Windows with your computer hardware purchase.  An organization leasing Windows didn’t do that and as such must pay for another lease term before they can upgrade.  For an organization on some sort of agreement, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.  It isn’t as if the organization is not going to renew their Windows lease when it comes up.  It just means they will have to push out the upgrade to Windows 10, as users using leased software won’t receive an upgrade notification.

Organizations using this type of licensing will receive a new activation key to use when upgrading and activating Windows 10.  This gives organizations control over the upgrade process and avoids an IT nightmare of users upgrading their computers on their own and potentially breaking links to applications within the organization.

Admittedly Microsoft licensing isn’t’ all that clear to begin with and Microsoft didn’t do themselves any favors with the way they announced and then continued to re-explain that Windows 10 was free for everyone.  If you are an individual user using Windows, on a computer you bought and activated then you should have received your upgrade announcement by now.  If you didn’t, then check to see what kind of Windows activation key you have.  If you are a user on a machine with a copy of Windows that is owned by an organization then check with your organization’s IT department to see if you can upgrade.  The sooner you start checking the better.  Windows 10 will be worth it.