Frequently Asked Questions

You protect your systems 24/7 with continuous protective monitoring software that watches your network around the clock and responds to attacks as they happen, rather than relying on a human noticing a problem during office hours; Fresh Mango Technologies deploys Borderpoint cyber monitoring for this purpose.

Patching means installing the updates that Microsoft, Apple and other software vendors regularly issue for operating systems and applications; it matters because those updates close security vulnerabilities and fix bugs that would otherwise leave computers, servers, phones and tablets exposed.

Your server and network need regular checks and updates — recommended at least monthly — for the same reason a car needs servicing: hardware and software degrade or fall out of date over time, and because your equipment is connected to the internet, regular checks also keep it current with the latest security patches, not just running efficiently.

You don't have administrator credentials on your work computer because it is standard IT policy for any professionally managed network to restrict administrator rights to IT staff only, which prevents accidental or malicious changes, unauthorised software installation, and a major route by which malware gains full control of a device.

No — Fresh Mango Technologies recommends leaving business PCs switched on rather than turning them off at the end of each day, because it allows overnight patching, backups and security updates to run on schedule, without depending on the device being manually restarted the next time it is needed.

The recommended way to access your business systems from home is through a VPN (Virtual Private Network), which creates a secure, encrypted connection between your home device and the office network, giving you the same access as if you were physically in the office without exposing systems to the open internet.

A VPN keeps disconnecting most often because it is running over an unstable wifi network rather than a wired connection — wifi appears continuous but briefly drops out for a split second regularly, and that is enough to break a VPN session even though it goes unnoticed during ordinary browsing.

A VPN connection drops out on wifi because home wifi connections briefly lose signal far more often than people notice, and while a momentary drop is invisible during normal email or browsing, a VPN connection cannot tolerate even a split-second interruption, so it disconnects when wifi has a brief, otherwise imperceptible blip.

Yes — Fresh Mango Technologies documents and maintains standard operating procedures for every environment it manages, covering onboarding, offboarding, backup verification, device provisioning and incident response.

An SOP, or standard operating procedure, is a written instruction that sets out the exact steps for carrying out a specific task so the result is the same every time, whoever performs it.

Fresh Mango Technologies recommends Dell or HP for servers, a minimum specification of an Intel i5 processor, 8GB memory and a 2TB hard drive for everyday business PCs, Fortinet for routers, dual monitors as standard, an appropriately sized Synology NAS for shared storage, and Eaton for uninterruptible power supplies.

The ideal computer setup for a business user pairs an appropriately specified PC or laptop with dual monitors, ergonomic peripherals, and a stable, wired network connection where possible, tailored to the specific tasks the person performs rather than a single one-size-fits-all specification.

The right home PC depends primarily on budget and intended use: a simple PC with around 4GB of memory and a 256GB drive is enough for browsing, email and everyday Microsoft 365 documents, while gaming, creative work, or heavy multitasking requires a significantly higher specification.

Whether to buy a server or a NAS box depends on what you need to run: a server is more powerful and lets you install and run third-party business applications directly, while a NAS is simpler, requires less ongoing management, but limits you to the applications available for its own operating system.

An operating system described as 'out of support' means Microsoft (or another vendor) has stopped issuing updates for it because newer versions have replaced it; this matters because an out-of-support system no longer receives security patches, leaving it highly vulnerable to newly discovered cyber attacks.

There is no need to rush a Windows 11 upgrade immediately — Fresh Mango Technologies recommends planning the move on a considered timeline that accounts for hardware compatibility and software testing, rather than upgrading purely because the new version is available.

The ideal IT systems setup for a business combines reliable server or cloud infrastructure, a secured and properly configured network, consistent backup across local and cloud layers, and centrally managed security and patching, sized to the business rather than copied from a generic template.

A Microsoft 365 business subscription combines business email through Exchange Online, the Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint), Microsoft Teams for meetings and chat, SharePoint and OneDrive for file storage and sharing, and the security and device management tools that protect all of it. Plans differ mainly in the security, compliance and device management features included, which is why the right plan depends on how regulated your business is and how staff work.

Most BVI businesses no longer need an on-premises file server once SharePoint and OneDrive are set up properly, because files are stored in Microsoft's data centres, versioned automatically and reachable from any location. A local server can still make sense where very large design or video files are edited daily, or where an application requires one. The decision should follow a review of your file structures, permissions and internet resilience rather than a straight lift-and-shift.

Microsoft protects its own infrastructure, but it does not provide a long-term backup of your mailboxes, SharePoint sites and OneDrive files in the way a backup product does. Retention periods are limited, and items deleted or encrypted by ransomware can be permanently lost once those windows expire. A dedicated cloud-to-cloud backup gives you independent copies with a retention period you choose.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI assistant built into the Microsoft 365 applications. It drafts and rewrites documents in Word, summarises long email threads in Outlook, analyses data and builds formulas in Excel, produces meeting notes and action points in Teams, and answers questions about the files your organisation already holds. It works from the content you have permission to see, so its usefulness depends directly on how well your files and permissions are organised.

Tidy your data and permissions first. Copilot surfaces anything a user can already open, so over-shared SharePoint sites or an unstructured file store will produce results that expose information to the wrong people. We recommend reviewing sharing links and site permissions, agreeing an acceptable-use position with staff, piloting with a small group, and training people on effective prompts before a wider rollout.

Business-grade AI services such as Microsoft 365 Copilot keep your prompts and data inside your tenant and do not use them to train public models. Consumer AI tools generally do not offer that assurance, so staff pasting client information into a free chatbot is a genuine data-protection risk. The practical answer is a short written AI policy, an approved business-grade tool, and training so people know which is which.

Getting a cloud server means provisioning a virtual machine on a platform such as Microsoft Azure instead of buying physical hardware, so a business pays for computing capacity as a service rather than owning and maintaining a server on-site.

The main difference between a physical server and a cloud server is ownership and location: a physical server is hardware a business owns and houses itself, while a cloud server is a virtual machine running on infrastructure such as Microsoft Azure that the business rents by consumption.

No — Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive and similar services provide cloud storage, not cloud backup; storage simply holds a copy of files without protecting them against deletion, corruption or ransomware unless a separate backup arrangement has been added on top.

The best way to back up business systems is a combined local-and-cloud approach: a local backup protects against internet outages, while a cloud backup protects against hardware failure or a local disaster, and together they cover the two failure modes a single method cannot.

The best way to back up data is a 'belt and braces' combination of local backup — a copy stored on another disc or a separate server on-site — and cloud backup, which protects against disaster and provides secure, recoverable offsite copies; using only one method leaves a gap the other is specifically designed to close.

Best practice for backing up data is a documented policy covering six areas: a combined local-and-cloud backup, using true cloud backup rather than cloud storage, consistent IT and security policies for every user regardless of location, professional (paid) anti-virus and anti-spam software, control of mobile devices holding personal data, and full-disk encryption on laptops.

Yes — spending on backups is worth it, because the likelihood of a computer or server eventually failing is effectively 100%, not a remote possibility; it is man-made equipment and will fail at some point, making backup an inevitable cost of doing business rather than an optional extra.

Yes — small businesses are a primary target for cyber criminals, not an unlikely one, because they typically hold valuable client and financial data while running weaker defences than large enterprises, making them a comparatively easy and profitable target.

The most dangerous cyber threats to a business are not any single technology but four everyday sources acting together: careless or untrained users, unsecured USB devices, external hackers, and malicious or spoofed emails — each is exploited because the others are left unguarded.

Hackers hack primarily for financial gain — through ransomware payments, stolen data resale, or fraud — and most attacks are automated and opportunistic rather than personally targeted, meaning a business is usually caught because a vulnerability was found, not because it was singled out.

Email spoofing is the practice of forging an email's header information so the message appears to come from someone or somewhere other than its actual source, most commonly used in phishing and spam campaigns to make a malicious email look like it was sent by someone the recipient knows and trusts.

You can prevent most spam email reaching your inbox by deploying professional, paid anti-spam software at the email server or Microsoft 365 tenant level, which filters unwanted and malicious messages before they reach staff and meaningfully reduces the volume of phishing attempts an inbox receives.

You can check whether your email address has appeared in a known data breach using the free website Have I Been Pwned, which searches public breach records and reports instantly whether your address has been exposed.

The single most effective protection against the impact of data breaches is never reusing the same password across different accounts, because breached emails and passwords are routinely traded or published, and password reuse is what turns one breached, unrelated service into access to your other accounts.

Yes — default passwords shipped on home wifi routers are vulnerable, because manufacturers publish the same default credentials in their public user guides, so anyone who identifies the router model can look up the password rather than guess it.

Public wifi is not inherently safe, because it is a shared network on which anyone else connected can potentially monitor or intercept your traffic; Fresh Mango Technologies recommends using a phone's mobile data connection instead whenever it is available, since it is encrypted and private in a way open public wifi is not.

Yes — Macs need antivirus software, because a Mac is a computer like any other and is susceptible to viruses, ransomware and other cyber attacks; the belief that macOS is inherently immune is a persistent industry myth rather than a technical fact.

To safely complete an online form, verify the website address is genuine before entering any data, confirm the connection is secure by checking for the padlock icon in the browser, and consider using your browser's incognito or private mode so the session does not persist stored details.

If you think you have been telephone scammed, contact your IT provider immediately so a security scan can be run, and remember that no one apart from you and your IT provider should ever have access to your computer — legitimate organisations do not create urgent panic to get remote access or information over the phone.

The key considerations for a new website are treating it as a continuous work-in-progress rather than a one-off project, ensuring it is quick and easy to update yourself, building it to be findable through search engine optimisation, and tracking its performance with analytics so it keeps adapting to your business and market.

You can maintain your own website without repeated developer bills if it is built on an easy-to-use content management system from the outset, which lets you update text, images and video directly; every website Fresh Mango Technologies builds includes this and a bespoke manual so your team can make routine changes independently.

You connect a website to office management systems — such as CRM, accountancy platforms and other business databases — through custom integration built into the website's design and development, so data entered on the website (bookings, enquiries, orders) flows directly into the systems your team already uses.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the set of techniques applied to a website, its pages and its content that maximise the chance of ranking highly in organic (unpaid) search results on engines such as Google and Bing; you should do it because it is how potential clients find your business without you paying for every visit.

The software a business needs depends on its size, sector and how it works, but every business should decide across the same six categories: productivity, accounting, sector-specific applications, document management, AI assistants and security, choosing one tool per category to avoid overlapping subscriptions.

Standard business software is the baseline set of applications every company desktop or laptop should run in 2026: productivity apps, endpoint protection, a managed browser and password manager, backup and sync, and remote support tooling, kept current under proper licensing.

Start from business outcomes rather than products: the tasks that take too long, the risks that would hurt most, and the growth you are planning for. We map current systems against those priorities, identify what is end-of-life or unsupported, and produce a costed roadmap covering the next twelve to twenty-four months. That way spending is sequenced by impact instead of reacting to failures.

Yes. We deliver office moves and fit-outs, server and cloud migrations, Microsoft 365 rollouts, network and wifi installations, structured cabling, CCTV and access systems, and website projects. Each project runs with a defined scope, a single point of contact, and documented handover so the systems can be supported afterwards.

You can contact Fresh Mango Technologies by raising a support ticket online 24/7, by phone, or by email, and existing clients should always use the support ticket system first so requests are logged, prioritised and tracked.

Fresh Mango Technologies has been based in Tortola, British Virgin Islands since 2008, supporting clients across the BVI and the wider Caribbean, with a sister company in the United Kingdom. On-island work is delivered by our local engineers; remote support, monitoring and cloud services are delivered from both the Caribbean and the UK, which gives our clients extended coverage.

The support desk is open Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm, excluding public holidays. Support requests can be logged at any time and are picked up in priority order; monitored systems are watched around the clock so many issues are handled before anyone reports them.

No. We work with businesses on managed support agreements, project work and ad-hoc assistance, and we are happy to start with a single piece of work so you can judge us on results. The free 30-minute consultation is a straightforward way to get independent advice before committing to anything.