Connected Systems

Running a vet practice leaves very little room for anything to go wrong.

By the time the phones start ringing, the day is already moving quickly. Consultations, procedures, worried pet owners… it doesn’t slow down.

In that environment, technology tends to sit in the background.

But when a system won’t load, records aren’t where they should be, or something suddenly stops working, the impact is immediate.

It affects your team, your schedule, and in some cases, the care you’re able to provide.

Our latest guide takes a step back from the day-to-day and looks at how technology supports a veterinary practice. It highlights the risks that often go unnoticed, the questions you should ask, and the small improvements that can make everything run more smoothly.

Download your free copy now.

Search for information is starting to feel a lot less like searching 🔍

Google has now rolled out a feature called Search Live, and it changes the way people interact with search.

Instead of typing a question, you can point your phone at something and ask about it out loud.

For example, you could point your camera at a piece of equipment and ask what it is, how it works, or how to fix it 🤳

The system then responds with a spoken answer, shows captions on screen, and keeps listening so you can ask follow-up questions naturally.

It feels less like using a search engine, and more like having a conversation.

Under the hood, this is powered by Google’s Gemini AI, but you don’t need to understand any of that to use it. You simply open the Google app, tap “Live”, and start asking.

From a business point of view, this is where it gets interesting.

Search is moving away from keywords and towards intent.

Instead of someone typing “how to reset boiler model X”, they might just point their phone at it and ask the question out loud.

That changes how people find answers, how they interact with information, and potentially how they discover products and services.

It also raises expectations.

People will expect faster answers, clearer explanations, and fewer steps between “I have a problem” and “I know what to do next”.

That said, it’s not perfect.

In testing, the tool sometimes misidentifies objects or misses details, especially when something has been modified or isn’t widely

You know that moment when your phone buzzes and you see a message like… “Unusual login detected on your account” 😬

It’s enough to make anyone stop what they’re doing.

The problem is, that moment of panic is exactly what attackers are relying on.

We’ve been trained to take security alerts seriously. Messages from Google, Microsoft, your bank, or Amazon are meant to protect you.

But that same sense of urgency can be used against you.

Some of the most convincing phishing emails now are built around these warnings.

They’ll tell you there’s been suspicious activity, that your account might be locked, or that you need to confirm something urgently.

The email looks right, the branding is familiar, the wording feels official.

And if you react quickly, you can end up handing over your details yourself.

What’s important to understand is that not every warning is bad news.

Sometimes a “suspicious login blocked” message means the system has done its job. It spotted something unusual and stopped it.

That’s a good outcome.

Other alerts might be more serious, but even then, they’re there to give you time to act, not to rush you into clicking.

That’s where a small change in habit makes a big difference 👀

Instead of interacting with the email, step away from it.

Open your browser, go directly to the service you use, and check your account there.

If there’s a real issue, you’ll see it inside your account. If there isn’t, the email has told you everything you need to kno

You can tell a lot about a product by the things people complain about most 😡

And with Windows 11, one of those things has been surprisingly consistent… the taskbar.

It doesn’t quite behave the way people expect.

If you’ve ever used a smaller laptop, you’ll know what I mean 😒

The taskbar can feel a bit oversized, taking up more space than it needs to.

You can shrink the icons, but the bar itself stays the same height, which isn’t quite what people are trying to achieve.

That’s starting to change.

Microsoft has hinted that it’s bringing back a more compact taskbar option, like many people were used to in Windows 10.

You’ll be able to reduce the overall size of the taskbar, not just the icons inside it.

It sounds like a small tweak, but it’s one of those changes that can make a device feel more comfortable to use, especially on laptops where screen space matters.

There’s also talk of bringing back the ability to move the taskbar around the screen.

That used to be a standard feature, letting people position it at the top or side instead of being fixed at the bottom.

It disappeared in Windows 11, and a lot of users have been asking for it ever since 🥺

Microsoft seems to be shifting towards more frequent, smaller updates, rather than holding everything back for big releases.

That means changes like this can arrive sooner, and user feedback has a better chance of shaping what comes next 🙌

There are other improvements in the pipeline too, from performance twe

Ever tried to find the right person in Outlook and ended up clicking around for longer than you’d like?

This one’s for you 😅

For something so central to how businesses run, contact search has always been a bit clunky.

That’s why this latest update from Microsoft caught my attention 👀

They’ve introduced a new “People” experience in Outlook.

It’s aimed at fixing a very real, everyday problem: Finding the right person quickly without digging through layers of organisation charts and folders.

The biggest change is how search works.

As soon as you start typing, results begin to appear straight away.

Not just names either. It can pull in job titles, departments, and other details, so you’re not relying on remembering someone’s exact name.

It also learns from how you work, so people you interact with regularly are more likely to show up first 🥇

That might sound like a small improvement, but when email and communication sit at the centre of your day, those small annoyances add up.

What’s also useful is that everything is brought together in one place.

Your company directory, your personal contacts, even linked accounts all feed into the same search.

Once you’ve found the person, you can message, email, or call them straight away, without jumping between apps or opening multiple windows.

There are a few other quality-of-life tweaks in there too 🌟

You can view contacts in a clearer table layout, act on several contacts at once, and organise people into categories

If you or your employees use large or multiple monitors, you are probably wasting time organizing your screen.

Every day, people spend an annoying amount of time dragging, resizing, and overlapping windows just to get their email, web browser, and company chat visible at the same time.

The default Windows snapping feature is okay, but it only splits your screen into basic halves or quarters.

There is a much better way to handle this.

You can download a free, official Microsoft app called PowerToys.

Inside PowerToys, there is a specific tool called FancyZones.

It lets you draw a custom, invisible grid on your monitors. You can make the zones any exact size or shape you want.

Once your grid is set up, you just hold the Shift key and drag a program into one of your zones. It instantly snaps to the exact position you created.

You can build a layout with your calendar tucked in a small corner, your main work software dead center, and your chat app on the far right.

Give it a try if you need an extra boost in productivity 😉

When did you last check that your backups could be restored, who still has access to your systems, or whether all your devices are properly up to date?

These are the kinds of things that drift over time. But they only tend to get attention when something goes wrong…

Software companies are changing their terms of service to train their AI on your internal company data.

If you use tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, QuickBooks, or Asana, you need to run a privacy audit this week.

The idea that your data will be leaked to the public is a bit overstated. Most of these platforms anonymise the information…

However, they are still feeding your real business data into their external AI models.

Getting them to stop is not always a simple toggle switch in your account settings.

Many of these platforms force you to submit a formal support ticket or email request to opt out.

And even when you do, it does not retroactively remove the historical data they already grabbed.

To protect your information, prioritise enterprise software plans that include a strict "Do Not Train" clause in the contract.

You can also use automated privacy tools to enforce these rules across your entire software stack instead of doing it manually.

Don’t treat Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive as a guaranteed backup.

Many people assume that if their network gets hit by ransomware, they can just log into their cloud account and restore an older version of their files.

The problem is that modern ransomware can sync encrypted files to your cloud account, overwriting clean versions and potentially targeting version history or recycle bin contents before you even realize you have been attacked.

When malicious software reaches a synced laptop, the damage does not stay on that single device.

Because your cloud drive is designed to sync changes instantly, the system automatically uploads those locked, encrypted files straight into your company cloud.

It directly overwrites your clean data.

Cloud storage connects your data, without isolating it.

To have a higher level of security, you need a separate backup system that is completely offline or locked down.

You need an isolated copy of your files that a compromised network account cannot reach, alter, or delete.

When someone leaves your business, their access should leave with them.

But often, accounts are missed.

An old login here, a forgotten app there… suddenly someone who no longer works for you could still get into your systems.

If you’re not completely sure that every account has been removed, it’s time to check…