Author: Fergus O'Sullivan

Feed: Cloudwards. Author: Fergus O'Sullivan; If you’re a fan of the Agile philosophy of project management, you need to use the best scrum software to match. To help you get started, we’ve gone through our roundup of the best project management software and picked six options that offer solid scrum tools.  Key Takeaways: Jira is our favorite scrum tool by far as it’s tailored to the Agile approach. However, there are plenty of other options too.All our picks can easily be made to accommodate Agile teams and cater to regular teams at the same time, perfect for companies where not ... Read More

Feed: Cloudwards. Author: Fergus O'Sullivan; If you’re looking for the best project management software for Mac, you’re in luck; Almost all the major players in the industry have desktop apps that run natively on Apple’s ecosystem. Some, though, do a little better than others, which is why we’ve gone through our roundup of the best project management software and picked five programs that do particularly well. Key Takeaways: Unlike with some other types of software, Mac users have it good with project management software. Almost all programs can be run either via the web or a Mac appOur overall favorite ... Read More

Feed: Cloudwards. Author: Fergus O'Sullivan; Despite modern technology, much of our workday is still made up of humdrum, repetitive tasks that eat up time and, more importantly, our energy. In many cases, automation technology offers a way to speed up — if not eliminate — the most monotonous and boring aspects of these tasks. In this article, we’ll offer some workflow automation examples to get you started. Key Takeaways: Setting up simple automations takes almost no skill and you can learn how to do it in minutesNo matter if you’re trying to speed up traditional accounting processes or just remove ... Read More

Feed: Cloudwards. Author: Fergus O'Sullivan; Computers are supposed to be labor-saving devices, but it seems moving our lives in a digital direction only makes it harder to keep track of what we want and need to do. Thankfully, plenty of apps have sprung up to help you refocus on what you need to do. In this article, we’ll go over what we think are the best organization apps. Key Takeaways: Getting organized involves a lot of moving parts. As such, there’s no one app that will help you with everythingTo keep track of what you need to do in a ... Read More

Feed: Cloudwards. Author: Fergus O'Sullivan; Office 365 is a fully integrated suite of Microsoft workplace products like Word and Excel, as well as more exotic tools like Yammer and Visio. Microsoft’s OneDrive (read our OneDrive review) is included, but it may not be the answer to all your needs. As such, this guide will show you how to add Dropbox to Office 365. Key Takeaways: OneDrive no longer lets you add Dropbox as a place to store files, so all your files will be in OneDrive by default.There are workarounds that will let you use Dropbox as a backup instead.You ... Read More

Feed: Cloudwards. Author: Fergus O'Sullivan; As you can read in our full Trello review, there’s a lot to like about this excellent kanban app. It has a great free plan, is easy to use and it’s highly customizable. However, to make the most of its flexibility, you need to use add-ons — called “power-ups” by Trello. In this article, we go over some of the best Trello power-ups that will help you make the most of your project management. Key Takeaways: Trello may be a great kanban board, but that’s all it is; power-ups let you add some more diverse ... Read More

Feed: Cloudwards. Author: Fergus O'Sullivan; If you’re looking into the many ways you can secure your digital devices, you may have come across the idea of an air-gapped computer, one that’s not connected to the internet at all. In this guide, we’ll go over how an air gap works, how to set one up and why you should — or shouldn’t — bother. Key Takeaways: Air-gapping is a great way to make sure files are kept safe from interference, though the cost for this security is they’re usually harder to access.Because of the inconvenience, air-gapping is usually reserved for extremely ... Read More

Feed: Cloudwards. Author: Fergus O'Sullivan; For many people, the biggest risk when using any of our best cloud storage and backup services is security: how do you know that your files will be safe? What happens when the authorities show up to your service’s offices with a warrant? Though these questions may not be a priority for everyone, Cloudwards.net does have a simple answer: use a zero-knowledge cloud service. Zero-knowledge in this case means that no one besides you has the keys to your data, not even the service you’re storing your files with. Also known as private encryption, it ... Read More

Feed: Cloudwards. Author: Fergus O'Sullivan; Microsoft Teams is a free piece of software that lets you communicate with coworkers. It features some pretty interesting features and is integrated with the rest of Microsoft’s software, making it an attractive messaging option for people who work a lot within OneDrive or SharePoint. In this article, we’ll go over what Microsoft Teams is and how it works. Key Takeaways: Microsoft Teams clearly takes a lot of cues from Slack, though it isn’t a clone by any stretch. Overall we think Slack does chat better, while Teams is better with video calls.The free plan ... Read More

Feed: Cloudwards. Author: Fergus O'Sullivan; Chances are that if you’re reading this you have some kind of messaging app on your phone: WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram — they have all become household names. They’re free to use and have thus become ubiquitous. However, the security protocols that keep your messaging private are a thorn in the flesh of security services who want so-called encryption backdoors installed. In short, an encryption backdoor is a way for an authorized person to bypass the security protocols of a system — any system. They’re used in all manner of software, but they’re usually named in ... Read More