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.
Is your desktop cluttered with so many shortcuts and documents that you can’t find anything?
If so, you might be a digital pack rat.
How to Know If You’re a Digital Packrat
Here are a few “symptoms”:
- You feel that you should keep a lot of files “just in case”.
- It takes you entirely too long to find stuff on your PC.
- You have 20 or more folders/subfolders on your hard drive.
- You have an unimportant email from 5 years ago.
- Your hard drive is practically full.
Being a digital packrat can become an issue overtime; it can slow down your PC significantly & cost you valuable time!
How To Rid Yourself of the Digital Packrat Bug:
The most practical solution is to go through a massive purge, clear your desktop. Go folder by folder and delete files, pictures, emails, etc that are not longer necessary Got any duplicates, junk mail, old project information? Get rid of them! This may be time consuming so pace yourself.
Once you have determined what items you are keeping, get organized! Determine how you would like to store your files. Stick to the routine of saving items in their specified folder or location regularly. In addition, make purging a routine, maybe once a month to avoid the piling up of digital clutter all over again!
According to Symantec, they have discovered a file-deleting “Trojan” targeting Mac users.
The Trojan is disguised as a Apple Mac space invaders game that deletes files from the host system’s hard drive as the price of zapping aliens.
Symantec has created a video of the game’s behavior and posted it on YouTube. In the demo, the game is clearly shown to delete files from the Mac user’s home folder, starting with doc files and moving on to preference files. Each alien “killed” in the game destroys a single file.
Don’t fret, getting the file on to a Mac would require a deliberate act as it is not distributed using any subterfuge, yet. IN other words, you have to download it & play it for your Mac to be infected. The author of game actually informs people on his website that the game deletes files, however there’s nothing stopping someone with more malicious intentions from modifying it and passing it on to unsuspecting users.
How To Protect Your Mac:
Please make sure that your MAC is protected with a form of malware/spyware protection. Contact MTI for assistance in locating & installing compatible software.
Virus, Spyware and Malware protection software is a level of Internet security that protects your servers and PC’s from viruses and spyware. With this level of protection, you can create user specified rules to protect your systems from outside threats.
What Is The Difference Between Virus & Spyware Protection?
To understand the difference between virus and spam protection you need to understand the difference between what a virus is and what spyware is.
A virus is a piece of code designed to replicate itself as many times as possible, spreading from your computer to any other computers connected to it . It is designed to infect and cause harm to your computer without your permission or knowledge.
Spyware is a computer program that imbeds itself into your operating systems. The purpose of many spyware programs is to track your internet habits and bombard you with unwanted solicitations and advertisements.
As you can see viruses and spyware are two different woes for PC users each requires a separate software program to combat it.
Firewalls: A firewall is a software program or hardware device that filters the information coming through the Internet connection into your private network or computer system. Firewalls are customizable, you can add and remove filters to limit or block activity from or to certain websites at any time. Firewalls can also extend security to remote networks/offices.
Do I need a hardware firewall if I have a software firewall?
Many PC’s and servers have built in software firewalls; once the attacker hits your software firewall they are already knocking on the door of your PC, a hardware firewall is one step removed (almost like a security screen door and then your front door).
For companies with multiple PC’s and/or servers, a hardware firewall is the best option. It will allow you to set global policies to protect all machines and can be monitored and managed from one centralized location versus monitoring and managing each individual PC/server and firewall in your facility.
Which Brand Should You Pick?
There are several different brands of firewalls the most common are CISCO, Watchguard Sonicwall, & Linksys.
Each brand offers similar protection and has the ability to add service features such monitoring attacks, email alerts and report creation.
If you need assistance with choosing the rightr type of virus and spyware protection for your company, contact MTI today.
Microsoft says it will deliver its largest-ever number of security updates on Tuesday to fix flaws in every version of Windows, as well as Internet Explorer (IE), Office, SQL Server, important developer tools and the Forefront Security client software.
A total of 13 update were released Tuesday, eight of them pegged “critical,” the highest threat ranking in its four-step scoring system.
Of the 13 updates, Microsoft put the patches scheduled for SQL Server, Visual Studio and IE at the top of the list.
Windows 7 also received it’s first official set of patches: Five of the 13 bulletins were marked today by Microsoft as affecting the new operating system. Although Windows 7 won’t reach retail or be available on new PCs until later this month, some customers — primarily enterprises with volume licensing agreements — have been able to obtain the OS thus the updates must be applied.
To ensure that your systems are up-to-date MTI Tech Solutions recommends installing the latest set of patches as soon as possible. Contact MTI today to schedule a service visit!
* Please note, not all machines are equipped for the updates; similarly some software programs like Oracle & QuickBooks can be rendered inoperable. Contact a professional to install the critical patches.