As we’re well into Financial Quarter 4 (Q4), you might be evaluating costs and expenditures for your small-to-mid-size Texas business. You may be looking for some year-end tax deductions by investing in new office equipment or supplies, or you may be looking to reduce costs in order to increase profits for the year.

Whatever your goals, it’s a good time to have your IT staff evaluate your anti-virus software, firewalls, and spyware. Typically, virus software packages need to be updated annually. Since this is the time of year when many businesses (and individuals, for that matter) invest in new computers, your anti-virus software could be nearing the end of its useful life.

Why Do You Need Up To Date Software?

It’s important for you or your IT staff to check for new virus threats online each time you run a scan of your computer. When your annual anti-virus software subscription runs out, scans may still detect viruses, cookies, spyware and other threats, but it may not detect every danger to your PC. That’s why it’s important to keep your software up to date. Otherwise, you may face a worst-case scenario, where you think you’re protected, but you’re not.

Anti-virus and spyware software is an important investment in your company’s security — and your company’s future. As you make your end-of-the-year to-do list, check with your IT staff to make sure the mission critical data on each individual computer and on your RAID server is safe, that way you can start the new year with peace-of-mind.

Too Late? 24 Hour Data Is Here to Help

For even greater peace of mind, keep the phone number for 24 Hour Data in a safe place in your IT department. This is just as important as up-to-date security measures to keep your business running the way it should.