Happy Friday! Here’s what’s on deck this week: how to keep your business calls out of the “Spam Likely” bin, what a power supply actually does, a real story of a hacker hiding behind a legitimate tool, why it might be time for a plan check-up, what Google’s AI is about to start reading, and the conference room camera we use every day.
Thank you for reading. Stay safe out there.
– Brad Otto
Tip of the Week
Are your business calls showing up as “Spam Likely”?
A client told us this week that his customers were seeing his main office number labeled as spam. No person at the phone company decided that. The major mobile carriers use analytics companies (Hiya for AT&T, First Orion for T-Mobile, and TNS for Verizon) that score every phone number in real time based on how it behaves.
Here’s what makes those systems suspicious:
• Big, sudden jumps in how many calls you make
• Lots of very short calls — calls of six seconds or less are a classic robocall signature
• Low answer rates and calling the same number over and over
• Calls placed outside normal business hours
• People tapping “report spam” on their phones
Three habits keep you off the naughty list:
1. Register your numbers — it’s free. Free Caller Registry sends your business info to the spam-protection providers for all three major U.S. carriers from one website. We did this with that client today and will test-call a few cell phones in a week or two.
2. Call like a human. Dialing down a list and hanging up the moment voicemail picks up looks exactly like a robo-dialer. Real people have a conversation, or leave a message when nobody answers. Leave the voicemail and spread your calls out.
3. Register your texting, too. If software sends texts for you (appointment reminders, a CRM, scheduling tools), that number has to be registered for business texting. Since early 2025, the major carriers block unregistered business texts outright.
Registration isn’t a guarantee, but it helps a lot. Already getting labeled? Email support@p3ctech.com and we’ll help clean it up.
IT Vocab of the Week
Power Supply (PSU)
Every desktop computer has a metal box inside, usually in the back corner with a fan and the spot where the power cord plugs in. That’s the power supply, or PSU.
Its job is to take the high-voltage AC power from your wall outlet and turn it into the low-voltage DC power the parts inside actually run on: the motherboard (remember “mobo” from Issue #13?), the processor, the RAM, and the drives. Laptops do the same job with the “brick” on their charging cord.
The power supply is also your computer’s first line of defense, and it takes the beating. Power surges, brownouts (when the lights dim for a second), and flickers all hit the PSU first. A worn-out PSU can cause random restarts, freezes, or a computer that just won’t turn on. In a bad failure, it can take other parts down with it.
This is where the battery backup (UPS) we talked about in Issue #10 earns its keep. A good UPS smooths out the dirty power coming from the wall, steps in during brownouts, and blocks surges before they reach the PSU. When the power goes out completely, it gives you time to save your work and shut down properly. That beats replacing a fried computer.
Cybersecurity News
The antivirus said “all clear.” A stranger had the keys.
This week, a client who had been on antivirus-only, call-us-when-it-breaks support decided that wasn’t enough and moved to a proactive plan. With upgraded security tools on their computer, our hacker breach detection platform raised a critical alert.
Someone had installed a rogue copy of ScreenConnect, a legitimate remote-access tool. It was running with full administrator-level control and phoning home to a known-malicious server, which gave a stranger a back door into that PC. The machine was automatically cut off from the network, and we worked with the security team behind the platform to rip it out, scrub the system, and confirm nothing else was hiding.
The scary part: the antivirus was installed and running the whole time, and it never flagged a thing. Antivirus looks for “bad software.” ScreenConnect is good software being used by bad people, so it sails right past. This trick is one of the most popular attacks out there right now. It’s the same tool behind the shortened-link story in Issue #9.
Antivirus is the lock on the front door. You also need someone watching the cameras.
If anyone asks you to install remote-support software you didn’t request, stop and call us first.
Working With P3C
Are you reactive or proactive? (Be honest.)
In this week’s Cybersecurity News, the antivirus was running the entire time a stranger sat inside that computer. That client didn’t do anything wrong. They had the protection that “call us when it breaks” support gives you. The problem is that the worst threats today don’t break anything. They sit quietly, watch, and wait.
There are two ways to run IT. Reactive means we fix it after something goes wrong. Proactive means we’re watching, patching, backing up, and hunting for trouble before you ever notice it. Reactive feels cheaper right up until the day it isn’t.
Plenty of our clients haven’t looked at their plan since they signed up, and businesses change. You’ve added people, moved to the cloud, gone remote, or started handling more sensitive client data. The plan that fit three years ago may have gaps today.
So here’s my ask: email support@p3ctech.com and request a quick plan review. We’ll walk through what you’re covered for, what you’re not, and where the gaps are. No pressure, no hard sell — just a straight answer so you can decide with your eyes open.
The AI and Automation Minute
Gemini is about to read your to-do list
Google’s “Workspace Intelligence” is the behind-the-scenes layer that feeds Gemini context from your Gmail, Calendar, Chat, and Drive, so you don’t have to paste in background every time you ask it something. Starting November 14, Google Tasks joins that list, and it’s switched on by default.
Ask Gemini “what’s on my plate?” and it can now see your task lists. Is that bad? Not necessarily. Gemini still only sees what that person already has permission to see. But think about what lives in a to-do list: client names, “call the attorney about…”, “follow up on the past-due account.”
Two things are worth knowing. Admins can choose which Workspace services Gemini actively searches, but if someone names a specific source in their prompt, Gemini will still use it. And individual users can turn off Workspace smart features to disable Gemini in Workspace altogether.
The bigger lesson: AI tools quietly expand what they can see, and new data sources usually arrive switched on. Microsoft Copilot works on the same principle. Someone needs to review those settings on purpose, and your team needs a policy for what goes into AI. Grab our free AI Acceptable Use Policy at ai.p3ctech.com.
Product of the Week
Yealink UVC40 E2 4K Conference Room Camera
Not everyone on your team is in the office every day, and meetings shouldn’t suffer for it. This is the camera we use in P3C’s own conference room. It’s mounted at the TV and plugged into a small mini computer tucked behind the screen, ready for Teams or Zoom whenever we walk in.
It’s an all-in-one bar: a 4K camera, a 120° wide-angle lens, a speaker, and an 8-microphone array in one unit that connects over USB. Auto framing fits the whole group in the shot, and speaker tracking zooms in on whoever is talking. One nice privacy touch: the electric lens cap opens when a meeting starts and stays closed otherwise. It even ships with a TV mount bracket.
If your remote folks are tired of staring at the back of someone’s head on a laptop webcam, this fixes it. Want help setting up a room like ours? Email support@p3ctech.com.
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