Like most businesses, your company probably has a website and email, but does your company own your domain name? Domain names are the names of the site. For example, www.mtitechsolutions.com or google.com are both examples of domain names.
Companies may either own their domain name or rent it from a 3rd party source. It is important for a company to keep track of who owns their domain name and when it expires. Letting a domain name renewal lapse can cost your company use of the web address pointed to your site indefinitely.
Finding Info about Your Domain:
Visit any hosting site like go daddy or network solutions and lookup your domain name. It will provide information on who owns the domain name (unless the owner has selected to keep this information private.) If you have a certain domain name in mind that is not currently available, check periodically to see if it becomes available and purchase it when it does.
Thinking about a future company or branch of your company or just want to change your domain? Start researching available domains and purchase ones you like now, they may not be available tomorrow.
Need help purchasing or obtaining information about your domain? Contact an MTI representative today.
Trying to keep unwanted emails at bay is a significant problem that most companies face daily and is still one of the biggest problems on the Internet today.
MTI Tech Solutions would like to share some helpful tips that will help keep email SPAM out of your inbox.
1). Utilize a third party Spam filtering service:
The complexity of spam is a never-ending and an up-hill battle. Many companies try to handle Spam issues themselves often wasting valuable time and money doing so. MTI Tech Solutions recommends outsourcing this function to a company who offers an independent solution to focus solely on spam filtering.
2).Consider creating a general company mailbox for all inquires to go to for all your current & prospective clients and vendors: i.e sales@companyxyz.com or orders@companyxyz.com Use this email box as the general email for the main mailbox on your website or for ordering products. Not only will this decrease junk email to all boxes it will provide a unified mailbox for general inquiries
3). Implement a company policy that prohibits users from entering their work email into third party sites not affiliated with work related activity.
Many sites request your email address, to inundate it with spam & sales solicitations. Require all employees to use personal email addresses for items that are not business related.
4). Delete old email accounts that are no longer in use or no longer necessary. Have you let an employee go? Do you still need their mailbox functional for new mail? If not, we recommend deactivating their email account. Any emails that you may need from your account can easily be backed up for later retrieval of old messages.
Need help with cleaning up Spam? Contact MTI today.
Beware of any suspicious emails with attachments
A malicious spam campaign is using a fake Microsoft Update notice to trick victims into installing a Trojan. The e-mail is spoofed to look like an actual email sent from Microsoft Support alerting users to keep their PC’s up-to-date.
If you do not closely follow patch Tuesdays you might not know that Microsoft does not send out updates or patches as email attachments. Opening the attachment in this spoof email will install the Bredolab Trojan, it will also download a rogue antivirus program called Security Tool.
MTI Tech Solutions recommends installing an anti-virus and anti-spam program on your systems. Need help determining which program will work best for your company? Contact MTI today.
Windows recently released 5 critical updates on February 9th, 2010. A system restart will be required for the Windows patches; which will mean downtime for users and servers.In all, five updates are listed critical, seven are listed as important and one is listed as moderate.
If you would like to have MTI install your updates during company lunch breaks, after hours or weekend to avoid downtime, please contact an MTI representative today to schedule your on-site visit.
Having computer problems? Calling in a technician to help rectify the issue?
Here are a few helpful tips to ensure the process runs smoothly:
1). Explain the issue at hand to the technician to the best of your ability.
2). Discuss your budget and time constraints for the project at hand prior to the technician starting. Be involved in the whole process of your PC repair.
3). Ensure that your data is backed up. Often times, certain steps used by technicians to fix your PC problem can compromise the integrity of your data. In fact, implement a backup system within your business today.
4). Be realistic. Computer issues are not a one quick fix fits all process. Some PC problems take longer to rectify more so than others. Do not expect results immediately.
5). Technical support is not free. Expect to pay for the services you receive.
6). Some Pc problems like viruses, worms, or Trojans can/will come back periodically. Expect this to happen, but also ask your technician for way you can help prevent and minimize future infections.
Microsoft has no plans to offer “upgrade” editions which are the discounted versions for users who already have an earlier edition on their PCs. The price will increase for users who want to migrate from older editions of the popular suite.
If you are planning to upgrade, budget it into your IT expenses now.
What’s all the hype about android? Android is the new open source, fully customizable, operating system produced by Google. Many cell phone makers i.e. Google, Motorola, HTC & T-mobile have already released new phones that run the droid operating system.
Already have a droid phone or interested in purchasing one? Here are some features, helpful tips and tricks that will maximize the efficiency of your phone
1). Optimize your home screen, by creating folders and shortcuts. All you do is long-press on a blank space on your screen and select Folders, shortcuts or widgets to create a new one. You can then drag and drop frequently used contacts, apps, or other shortcuts into it to cut down on clutter. To rename a folder, press and hold the folder’s title bar while it’s open.
2). Sync your Outlook calendar with your phone without the hassle. Install Google Calendar Sync and let it do the work for you. You can find this application in the market.
3). You can load files onto your Android phone, plug the handset into your PC via the USB and pull down the notification panel. Tap the USB connected box, and then tap Mount when the confirmation dialog box appears. Then simply drag and drop files as you wish.
4). Add Essential Apps. If you handle a lot of Office files, the Documents To Go application gives you the ability to view Word and Excel files. The full paid version adds editing capabilities, along with PDF and PowerPoint viewing options. For on-the-go photo editing, Adobe’s Photoshop.com Mobile app works great and it’s free.
5). Prefer seeing Web pages in landscape mode? You can tell Android to always display sites that way. Select the Landscape-only display checkbox in the browser’s Settings menu.
6). Download Mobile Defense. The app allows you to use a PC to track your phone via GPS, remotely lock it, and then back up and wipe all of your data
7). If you purchase an Android app and decide that you don’t like it, return it. The Market will give you a full refund for up to 24 hours after any purchase, if you haven’t tried to return the same app before.
Need more help with an Android phone? Contact MTI today!
Office 2010 will be released in June of this year with a new look and feel versus Office 2007. Four versions will be available: Student, Office Home, and Office Business and Office Professional.
What are the major differences?
The office Button: If you utilize Office 2007, then you are familiar with the big round button that took the place of the file tab. In office 2010, the button has changed, but so have the features of utilizing the ribbon. The button has been added to all the Office programs, including Outlook and OneNote.
In office 2010, you now have control over your Ribbon and what items appear on its tabs. You can even add tabs of your own and put your favorite commands on it.
Outlook Improvements
The Ignore Button: Allows you to get rid of conversation threads that you aren’t interested in. Not only will it delete all messages in your Inbox that belong to the thread, but it will automatically delete any messages pertaining to that thread that come in later.
Right click on an individual message and select from a number of different options to manage your conversations.
In addition, the new version of outlook includes as social networking feed that allows you to track your contacts activities.
Word Improvements:
You can now make additional photo edits within word itself. In addition a new screenshot button has been added which makes copying and pasting a breeze.
PowerPoint 2010: A key feature in the new version of PowerPoint is the ability to broadcast your PowerPoint presentations to other laptops/pc via the PowerPoint broadcast service.
The service uploads your presentation to Microsoft’s free service and creates a link for distribution to your audience. Click the link and your presentation is available to other via their internet browser.
Stay tuned for more information about Office 2010 in our upcoming newsletters.
Develop a company policy to help combat the spread of harmful PC viruses and worms
Does your company have a policy in place to help protect your systems from a virus infection? If not, MTI recommends implementing one.
Nowadays, employees plug their cameras, cell phones, ipods, flash drives, etc into their PC’s which increases the likelihood of transferring viruses and worms from PC to PC and even onto your network.
Similarly, social networking sites such as Facebook & Myspace and online game sites have become havens for the spread/infection of viruses and worms.
How can you prevent this:
- Create a simple company policy plan outlining items that may not be connected to a computer (flash-drives, ipods, cameras, phones etc).
- Restrict access to certain websites and review browsing history regularly to ensure that harmful sites are not being visited.
- Ensure all Pc’s have virus, spyware, & malware protection on them and are up-to-date.
Need help creating a company policy? Contact MTI today for assistance.
A few Helpful Outlook Tips:
Beware of auto complete
When you start to type an email address into the “To” field, your email program will bring up its best guess regarding what it thinks you’re going to type. It has proven to be a very handy feature ,saves a lot of time and often saves you when you barely remember an address that you need. But, this feature can be your enemy. Make sure it’s bringing up the correct address before you send off your email.
Similarly, when upgrading from outlook 2003 to 2007 remember the email function doesn’t carry through, make sure you have you contacts stored in outlook contacts section or you remember the email address.
Outlook add-ins:
How many times have we all sent an e-mail message, only to re-send it a few minutes later with an apology for forgetting the attachment?
There are a number of different plug-ins for Outlook that remind you (when you hit the Send button) to attach a file if it detects words in your note such as “attached,” “attachment,” “file,” or whatever other words you specify in advance.
Beware of the ‘Reply All’ Feature: Self-explanatory. If you want to respond to only one recipient, don’t click the reply to all button.