Accounting Firm Says Tech Experts’ Service Adds Up
Three Location Regional Accounting Firm Upgrades to Terminal Services
In the highly competitive field of accounting and tax preparation, information management is critical to a firm’s success. Reliability, accuracy and confidentiality are foundations for the trusted relationship between accountants and their clients.
Ball, Shanaman & Tenorio, a full service public accounting, tax preparation and business consulting firm has built its business by providing year-round, personalized service with accurate, effective, money-saving results for its clients.
Company president Fred Tenorio credits the large number of referrals received from satisfied customers as the #1 source of growth for the firm. Headquartered in Monroe, Michigan since 1987, the company has opened two satellite offices – in Farmington Hills, Michigan and just recently in Bonita Springs, Florida – to support its current client base and generate additional business.
However, such expansion caused some challenges in the management of the company’s files and confidential information. If a program or file was located in the Monroe office’s computer system and it was needed in Farmington Hills, it had to be manually copied on disks and transferred between offices, creating confusion and the potential for mistakes as well as causing time management issues.
That is why Ball, Shanaman & Tenorio called upon Tech Experts to install a terminal server in its Monroe headquarters. The server allows staff members in each of the offices to access and work with all of the company’s programs and files stored in one consistent location.
“With the new server, our office staff is able to communicate and work more effectively,” said Mr. Tenorio. “As the 2008 tax season arrives we are looking forward to being a much more organized and efficient company. The server will allow us to reduce the time spent on file transfers and the computer problems that have plagued us in the past so we can spend even more time focusing on our clients’ tax and accounting needs.”
The server recommended and installed by Tech Experts was IBM’s eServer xSeries x3500. Designed for small businesses, it allows for company growth without limiting the distance of the expansion.
Accountant and Office Manager, Stacy Coakley is pleased with the results. “Our new office in Bonita Springs, FL recently opened and our server, with its remote access capabilities allowed us to hook up the computer system in the new office with very little effort. We were able to start work immediately and access the required information from the Monroe-based server without any difficulties.”
Tech Experts also worked with Ball, Shanaman & Tenorio to design additional security measures for the safe-keeping of the company’s information. “As a tax and accounting firm, we take our clients’ privacy very seriously” stated Mr. Tenorio. “The new server is protected with many security features created for us by Tech Experts and we now have a dependable back-up and disaster recovery system in place.”
Ball, Shanaman & Tenorio has been very impressed with the knowledge, professionalism and dependability provided by Tech Experts. “If we need assistance, their staff is only a phone call away and usually we can get same day service, if necessary,” stated Ms. Coakley.
According to Mr. Tenorio, Tech Experts was selected among several potential IT service providers because of its experience and capability of matching the right server solution with the specifi c needs of his company. “When we decided to upgrade our system, we felt confident that Tech Experts could do the job. Not only did they evaluate our computer system, they took the time to better understand the services our firm provides to our clients, resulting in the selection of a server that best met our security, workload and budgetary requirements.”
“We are very pleased with the new server and support provided by Tech Experts. Not only does this equipment allow us to better serve our clients, by selecting Tech Experts we maintain our commitment to doing business with other Monroe County companies whenever possible.”
To learn more about Ball, Shanaman & Tenorio and the services they provide to both individuals and businesses, visit their website at www.ballshan.com, or give them a call at (800) 501-7302.
10 Easy Ways To Eliminate E-Mail Overload
E-mail driving you crazy? Every time you delete one, do fi ve more show up? Are you fi nding it impossible to answer every e-mail you receive? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’re not alone!
Some people are even declaring e-mail bankruptcy — they dump every e-mail in their inbox and start over. If that’s not an option for you, then here are 10 tips to reduce e-mail overload.
1. Get a good spam filter.
- Even if it saves you just 10 minutes a day, that adds up to over 59 hours a year.
2. Cancel subscriptions to unwanted mailing lists, and opt-out of LEGITIMATE e-zines.
- But be careful! Trying to opt-out of spam e-mails will only alert the sender that they have a LIVE address.
- Also, make sure you are careful to check the “unsubscribe” or “opt-out” box when purchasing items online.
3. Ask your friends to remove you from joke groups or chain messages.
- Simply explain your situation and, if they are good friends, they’ll take you out of their message group.
4. Don’t post or publish your e-mail on web sites.
- Spammers will steal it and put it on their lists.
5. Don’t respond to every e-mail you receive.
- Yes, it’s okay NOT to respond to some e-mails. If it’s a group e-mail, don’t respond with “okay” or “:)” — it’s not necessary unless the sender is specifi cally asking you a question or requesting a response.
6. Be succinct.
- Restrict your messages to a few sentences.
- If you can’t, pick up the phone or talk in person. This will avoid the back-and-forth of e-mail conversation.
7. Take advantage of subject lines.
- If possible, put your question in the subject line, or your message.
- If that’s not possible, make your subject line very descriptive so the recipient knows what your message is about.
- Another tip: create a set of codes with your coworkers and place them in the subject line to help them process and prioritize messages. For example, use “FYI” for informational messages. Use “AR” for action required and “URG” for urgent messages.
8. Block time to answer your e-mail and fight the temptation to check your e-mail every few minutes.
- You will save yourself a lot of time and be far more productive.
9. Respond to messages when you open them so you only read them once.
- If the e-mail requires an action step, schedule the action step and delete it from your inbox.
10. Set time aside in the morning and the evening to process your inbox.
- Shoot for a completely empty inbox. File messages you need to keep and set reminders for messages that require you to follow up.
Now, here are some tips to keep from adding to the e-mail overload of others…
- Be courteous when forwarding an e-mail: summarize the thread and why you are sending it at the top of the e-mail.
- Don’t copy someone on a message unless it is necessary. And explain why you’re copying them. Recipients won’t need to guess your intentions. This means less back and forth messages.
Safely Dispose Of Old Computers
Protect The Environment & Your Personal Information
With the new year upon us, many of you may have upgraded your old PCs
for shiny new ones. So what should you do about that old PC
left over?
Whatever you do, don’t just throw it into a dumpster! Not only is it an
environmental hazard you could be fined for, but you also don’t want
complete strangers getting access to your old files, passwords,
financial information, and e-mails.
- First, keep your old PC around for a few months until you are
absolutely certain that you transferred all of the files and programs
you needed to your new PC.
- Next, you need to make sure the hard drive is wiped clean of any
data you had stored on it — and simply deleting the files is not
enough. We recommend you seek professional help in clearing the hard
drive from any old PCs you are disposing of.
- Finally, you may consider donating your old PCs to a charity such
as Youth for Technology (youthfortechnology.org) or Computers With
Causes (www.computerswithcauses.org). Many of these organizations will
clean your hard drive to prevent identity theft, and you can write off
the donation on your taxes!
Almost All Windows Computers Missing Patches
Survey By Security Company Reveals 95% Of Computers Need Updating
Nearly all Windows computers are likely running at least one unpatched
application and about four out of every ten contain 11 or more
vulnerable-to-attack programs, a study by an Internet and network
vulnerability tracking company revealed.
According to Secunia ASP, more than 95% of the PCs
that have downloaded and installed its Personal Software Inspector
(PSI) utility sport one or more application for which security fixes
are available.
Secunia tracked the first PSI scan after its
installation to get an idea of patch status before users start to
update their machines, which can also be done through the utility.
Out of about 20,00 machines; 95>46% of them have an unpatched
application on their hard drive. "There is a newer version available
form the vendor that corrects one or more vulnerabilities," said JakobBalle, Secunia's development manager. "But the users have yet to install the secure version."
Some of the other statics cited by Balle
were just as damning: 41.94% of the machines scanned by PSI have 11 or
more vulnerable applications; and more than two-thirds, or 67.63%, of
the PCs have 6 or moreunpatched programs.
"Close to all computers are running with several insecure application installed," Balle pointed out.
And
the picture is probably even darker than the one he painted. "These
results should be considered 'best case' scenarios; The real numbers
are likely to be worse," he said, citing the self-selected group that
the data represents.
"The users of the Secunia PSI are most likely more vigilant and security minded/conscious than your 'average' user."
Secunia
released the free patch detection utility a year ago, but shifted it to
Release Candidate 1 (RC1) stage earlier this month. The Copenhagen
based company claims nearly 191,000 users have downloaded and run the
program.
PSI runs on Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and Server 2003, and can be downloaded from the Secunia site, at https://psi.secunia.com/.
AOL Finally Kills Netscape Navigator
R.I.P.
AOL LLC has finally pulled the plug on Netscape Navigator, the Web
browser that once owned the lion's share of the market and that was the
focus of a landmark federal antitrust case against Microsoft Corp.
In an announcement posted to AOL's website, the company said it ending
development and would cease issuing security updates as of Feb. 1,
2008. AOL said all support would end in just over a month and urged
current Netscape users to migrate to Mozilla's Firefox.
Helpful Microsoft Office Keyboard Shortcuts
These Quick Key Combination Make Office Work Harder For You
Ctrl Z is the magic undo combo. It simply undoes your last
action, say, the paragraph you accidentally erased (it works in other
applications, too). Programs vary in the number of times you can undo
something, but some will let you Ctrl Z all the way back to the
beginning. (And, yes, there is a redo command, just hit Ctrl Y.)
Ctrl B, Ctrl I, or Ctrl U apply bold, italics, or underline to highlighted text, respectively.
Ctrl P prints whatever is in an active window.
Ctrl Backspace erases an entire word at a time, instead of a letter.
Ctrl up or down arrows let you scroll an entire paragraph at a time, instead of one line, and Ctrl Shift up or down arrow will select an entire paragraph.
Ctrl Enter inserts a page break in Word.
Alt Ctrl C inserts the copyright symbol (Alt Ctrl R inserts the registered trademark symbol, and Alt Ctrl T makes the trademark symbol).
In Outlook, you can jump to the section you want: Ctrl 1 switches to the Mail window, Ctrl 2 switches to the Calender, Ctrl 3 to Contacts, Ctrl 4 to Tasks, and Ctrl 5 to Notes.
Ctrl Shift M starts a new message in Outlook. (Use Ctrl Shift C for a new contact.)
In Outlook e-mail, hit Ctrl N to compose a new message, Ctrl R to reply to a message.
In Microsoft Excel, you can select the entire column by pressing CTRL SPACEBAR, and select the entire row with SHIFT SPACEBAR.