1. Storing everything in your smartphone, and then losing it – A big no-no for most business people. If you’re like most of us, you store everything in your smartphone. Losing your phone most likely means losing sensitive information such as credit card info and maybe even bank account numbers or private development plans for your company. How to reverse a big blip like this?  Well, I can’t get you your phone back, but I can tell you about password-protecting programs such as MobileMe for iPhone. Programs like this allow you to erase contacts, notes and more in your iPhone remotely. Talk to your smartphone provider to explore the security options for your phone, before it’s too late.

2. Working directly off of an attachment – Your boss sends you a document to collaborate on via email, so you open it, roll up your sleeves and begin plugging away. Seems so quick and easy, doesn’t it? You could spend hours revising that document, and then save the file and forward the message along with the revised attachment back to him. You’d probably assume you’re all set. But  don’t be surprised if he emails you back, asking where your edits are. Although you can see your edits on your end, that’s not always the case once you send it to someone else. To be safe instead of sorry, don’t just open the attachment, download it to your own computer and/or server, then make your edits and hit save, attach the new file to an email, and then send it back.

3. We’re just not compatible – Working off an older version of Windows? No problem. Just be sure to install the Office Compatibility Pack too, so everyone you do business with can also continue accessing your files. This will help to keep your files viewable/usable for all involved parties. Also, converting your file to a PDF usually does the trick.

4. Trusting batteries that haven’t been recently used – This one is classic. You flew across the country to give an inspirational speech to Girl Scouts in the middle of the woods at an outing, and you haven’t used your laptop since you left home, so you know it’s fully charged. What you forgot to consider was that sometimes electronic devices have a way of turning themselves on. Make sure you test EVERYTHING that uses a battery hours before you need them, preferably while you still have time to do something about it if need be. When possible, reverse batteries in devices where this is an option when traveling to ensure they don’t get used up accidentally. Simply switch them back the right way when it’s time to use them.

5. “I don’t need to buy Antivirus, I am careful online and know what I’m doing” – In this day and age, EVERYONE needs antivirus. Hackers and phishers are criminals who make ruining your life via the internet their number one priority. You can do everything right, avoid all the “wrong” types of websites, and still be a victim. Pay the small price of keeping a current version of a trusted Antivirus software running on all your machines. Trust me, it’s well worth it. To find if you’re currently doing enough to protect yourself online, please contact your IT provider.

SS

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http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=1192&tag=rightCol;topRated

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1. Be careful where you enter your credit card information - Always try to buy directly from the source, if possible. If you want to buy your son a scarf, websites like LLBean are more safe than other, (smaller and less established,) and most importantly, less secure sites.  Never give any personal information out online, such as your social security number. The bottom line: Trust your gut. Would you really need to tell a company your mother’s maiden name when buying a pair of earrings?

2. Get the warranty - Everyone wants to get their kid the “hottest new version” of something for the holidays, and that’s great. However, the latest version of things often comes with some bugs, or at the very least, some quirks that have not quite been worked out yet – especially in the electronic world. Cough up the extra 30 bucks – whatever it is – to ensure that your present holds up long after the tree is out on the curb.

3. Keep coffee, hot cocoa, sparkling beverages … and everything else! away from your keyboard! -  We all know the deal. Mary baked three dozen cookies and Sharon brought in some cinnamon cider… and we’re just talking about Monday here. As people are passing out holiday treats, make sure you keep them away from your computer, printer, laptop, blackberry… catch my drift? A spill like this can make your device unusable, and what’s worst, many warranties don’t cover liquid damage! So enjoy your snacks away from your cube-mate who likes to use lots of hand gestures and always keep your own cup as far away as possible from your keyboard.

Happy Holidays!

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Please consider yourself warned: Viruses and malware have such a huge negative effect on your productivity, and have real costs associated with troubleshooting, rebuilding, or replacing computers.

5 ways you can get viruses, spyware, malware, etc. from visiting the Internet:  How to protect yourself with common sense, and some general tips to tighten up your overall Internet security plan:

1.  Peer to peer networking sites

• Bit torrent, Kazaa, Limewire, and Sharezaa shouldn’t be used.
• Loaded with viruses and misleading content.
• Also, they have very little relevance in the business environment.

2.  Social Networking sites: Facebook and Myspace

• Automated malware attacks hit Facebook and Myspace constantly.
• Don’t blindly trust Facebook and Myspace as they are a great breeding ground for viruses and social engineering hacks.
• Be wary of fake profiles that send you messages asking you to click on them to “view videos” which prompts you to install “special software” to view them.
• There are Facebook applications that contain malware. Especially some that can tell you who has been visiting your profile.
• Unknown links can either download a virus right away or say something like your video player Adobe Flash is out of date and needs to be updated and that’s when the virus downloads.

3.  Web browsing

• Be careful about how far down a path you go, clicking on link after link
• Don’t download “smileys” or special “emoticons”
• A lot of websites have been set up by hackers to try to trick you to download things on your computer when you go to them
• Depending on your browser settings things may get automatically downloaded or it may ask you to install an update or active x control or something like that
• When possible, make sure you have the most updated web browser out there (not always possible when you have specific business software that needs an older browser like IE6 or 7)

4.  IM

• Don’t click on links in an IM from someone you don’t know
• If it is from a friend ask them if it is OK to open or try a different method to send it
• Don’t open attachments unless you know who it’s from and you are expecting it
• Don’t download applets when it asks you to view pictures, etc.

5.  Email

• Don’t click on a link if you don’t know the sender and the email is unsolicited.
• Don’t click on links from services you don’t recognize that want you to update your account info or verify membership or something.
• Don’t click on a link if you know the sender but the message is strange.
• Don’t open attachments unless you know who it’s from and you are expecting it
• Never open .exe or .scr attachments. Typical attachments are doc, xls, pdf, jpg.

General tips and friendly reminders:

• You have a lot of control over the safety and security of your computer
• Most viruses and malware need your help in getting installed
• Remember the “Trojan Horse” story?  That’s why some viruses are referred to as “Trojans.”
• Don’t believe everything you see in pop-up windows, especially offers to:
  • Optimize your computer
  • Protect your computer
  • Your computer is infected and you need Win Anti Spyware to clean it
  • These things will always download malware into your computer that will make it unusable, steal your information, use your computer to send spam, etc.
  • Hitting “cancel” on some popup windows is not enough. Sometimes the way it is worded will install the program if you click cancel.
  • Close it using red X in the top left corner of the window or going to Windows task manager (Ctrl-alt-del and click “Task Manager).

If you are unsure about doing something, call Everon right away. It is better to attempt to stop something before it gets into your computer than to have us try to remove it or have to rebuild your computer. The old saying “It’s better to be safe than sorry,” definitely should apply to computer usage, especially when you’re on the Internet.

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You can have all of your favorite and most commonly used pages open in tabs each time you open a browser very easily.

1. Open Firefox and all of the tabs that you wish to have automatically opened when you open the browser
2. Click “Tools”, then click “Options”
3. Within “Options,” select the main option, next select “Use Current Pages” button.
4. Click “OK”

The next time you open your Firefox browser all of those tabs will be automatically opened for you!

Want a customized home page made just for you?

Use iGoogle! A service from Google that lets users have all reverent information matching their interests on their home page. You can customize this page, setting your account to display, news, weather, your Facebook account and more!

1. Login and open your main Google page. In the top right of the window, you will see an iGoogle link. Click that.
2. Simply custom select the options you’d like, and create your own homepage for your account. Click “Save”

Now each time you log into your google account, your favorite information will be right there at your fingertips without your even having to type a single thing to get there.

SS

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F4 - Repeats your most recent action. Typing, inserting rows and tables – it doesn’t matter what the action was. Simple but popular – a time efficiency favorite.

Ctrl + Shift + C - Copies the formatting of selected text. Then, simply use Ctrl + Shift + V to paste it somewhere else.

Ctrl + drag object or text – This not only allows you to copy an object, but also  control where you drop it.  This trick does require the use your mouse, but will prove extremely helpful for finicky pictures/objects that end up landing where you don’t want them – which can happen a lot when using the basic standard copy and paste functionality. Just be sure to drop the object/text… or whatever you are copying before you release Ctrl. If not you will end up moving the original instead of creating a copy of it.

Ctrl + Q – Removes paragraph formatting that is not a part of the style currently being used

Shift + F3 – Zips through capitalization options. This one can be tricky, as it may try to capitalize prepositions and articles among other things, but can still prove to be a great time saver overall.

Alt + drag your mouse vertically – Believe it or not, you can make a vertical text selection! Just make sure you’re pressing Alt BEFORE you begin pressing the mouse button to drag. Finally, also release the Alt key before releasing your mouse button.

Josh Clifford
Chief Service Officer
Everon Technology Services, LLC

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A user called in to the Everon support line last week, requesting a shared calendar for several employees.

This shared calendar needed to:

• Be separate from the users’ main calendars in Outlook
• Allow all users  to add items
• Allow all users to see others’ updates as well

Unfortunately, the client was using a POP mail system, which presented a challenge. The only solution, without resorting to a third party application, was to share one file containing the shared calendar among multiple people. Only one user could have the file open at a time. This was not ideal.

Everon has had good experiences with Google’s offerings, so it was decided that the easiest way to develop this shared calendar setup was to go with a Google Calendar and a third party connector to sync Outlook. Google Calendar is free, easy to use, and quick to set up. A little research was done, and several options became available for the syncing connector. While Google Calendar Sync is an excellent product, it does not allow you to choose which Outlook calendar you wish to sync with your Google calendar, and was thrown out early in the search. In the end, two options became favorites — Calgoo Connect, and a combination of ScheduleWorld and the Funambol Outlook Plug-In.

I prefer Calgoo Connect. It’s easy to install, configure and use. However, it requires Outlook PST files to be stored locally. One of our end users had his PST stored on the server, though, and Calgoo just didn’t work. In his case, the combination of setting up a ScheduleWorld account with settings configured for the shared Google calendar and the Funambol Outlook plug-in set up to connect to ScheduleWorld worked perfectly. Apparently Funambol doesn’t care where your PST is kept. While there is probably a way to connect Funambol directly to the Google Calendar, it was easier to be given all of the settings and know it was going to work through the ScheduleWorld portal.

A few tests ensued, and the user with the ScheduleWorld/Funambol setup was not getting new meetings from the Calgoo tester. As it turned out, there’s an AutoSync button in the Google Calendar configuration settings on ScheduleWorld that wasn’t automatically checked. A minor detail, and it was the only roadbump encountered in the whole system. The client was pleased, the system worked, and it was all completely free and required about 5 minutes per user to configure.

It may not be the prettiest, and it may not be the cleanest, but sometimes part of the job is figuring out a creative alternative solution. It would have been easier to set up a public calendar in Exchange, but would it have been as fun?

Kristin Mott
Network Engineer Team Lead
Everon Technology Services LLC

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If you’re an Everon client, please be rest assured that we’ve already taken measure to ensure that this threat will not impact your systems.

If you’re unsure if your computer is protected, or simply prefer being 100% certain that it is, visit the Microsoft patch link below and select the appropriate operating system to get the download: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx

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What are the tricks to effortlessly making this happen?

A solid subject line – Think of a subject line to an email as you would a title  to a magazine article. The shared goal of both the magazine article and the email: To be read. Your email must also stand out from the pile. Keep your subject line to a few key, concise words. If you email demands action, don’t be afraid to voice that right here at the beginning.

Get to the point – Avoid saying more than you need to say. The purpose of an email is to communicate things as clearly as possible to your readers. Longer emails are hard on the eyes, and often get skimmed instead of read – some of your important points could get overlooked! If you need to write a lengthy doc to get your point across, simply include an attachment.

Impeccable spelling and grammar – If you want to be taken seriously, avoid typos and misspelled words at all costs. Like it or not, these mistakes tend to make you look lazy and sloppy. Wood you be reding these posts that i put up if i spelt things like this?

Don’t assume – Not all your recipients will always be on the same page. Don’t assume people can read your mind. Make sure you cover your ground by putting all your ‘behind-the-scene-thoughts’ in the text of the email too.

Get your email in the right hands, and only those hands – Take an extra second or two before you hit “send” to avoid messy slip up’s that would give you huge headaches. The “Reply to all button” mistake… we’ve all been there.

Stephanie Spino
Marketing Coordinator
Everon Technology Services

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