Google Chrome – Network Prediction Issues

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If like us you are running third-party web filtering such as GoGuardian or Smoothwall Cloud Filter – you may see an uptick in Google Searches being blocked.

In Google Chrome version 134, we are seeing a new feature turned on called Network Prediction;

“Google Chrome’s network prediction feature aims to improve page load speeds by prefetching data for websites you’re likely to visit. This includes DNS prefetching, TCP and SSL preconnection, and prerendering of web pages. While this can speed up browsing, it might also lead to connections to websites you don’t intend to visit.“

An example of this is that you may block Reddit. Then someone might be searching for ‘how to …‘ and one of the top two search results points to Reddit. Network Prediction can pre-fetch Reddit, causing a blocked splash screen or access denied, even though that person hasn’t actively clicked on the Reddit link.

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HP Laptop – Third-Party Battery Block?

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HP Printers have recently blocked non-genuine ink cartridges. We’ve seen an influx of users buying the cheaper generic store-brand cartridges, only to get them home and have HP block them from using it. Now we have seen ways around this, such as rolling back the firmware of the printer, but to your average home user, this isn’t particularly straightforward.

To add to this, a new client has been having an issue with their laptop, this…

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Windows 11 – Encrypt with Bitlocker and PIN

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With many forms of industry standards and cybersecurity guidelines, you will see how important it is to encrypt your data. You may password protect your Windows device, but if it stolen – all it takes is someone to remove the drive, plug it into a HDD caddy, and they will have access to your data. Windows comes with its own version of encryption called BitLocker. Once BitLocker has been enabled, the data on that drive is encrypted.

However, is the standard out-of-the-box version of BitLocker secure enough? I’m going to show you how to encrypt your data with a PIN, meaning you can only get into Windows knowing the BitLocker PIN. Please note that you need to be running a Pro version of Windows to enable this setting.

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M365 – Limit Access on Unmanaged Devices

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In a dream world of IT, every device is managed, protected, encrypted and follows a Configuration Profile. However, we often come across clients, normally on the smaller side, who want their end users to be able to work on their own personal device. You can quite easily stipulate a BYOD Policy, but very often, they are simple and state, the device must have anti-virus, the device must have encryption and they must be up to date – they sign the Policy and no checks on the device itself have been carried out.

Below I’m going to go through the steps, that is put in place to limit access to the Web Apps only and prevent them from downloading files on their device and prevent them from signing into the Desktop Apps too.

Please note, to action these, you need Conditional Access, which is ‘locked’ behind a Microsoft Subscription. Having a Subscription such as Business Premium allows for Conditional Access.

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