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Should Your Company Be Archiving Your E-Mail?

For companies under the jurisdiction of HIPAA, SEC, SOX, or any of the other alphabet soup regulations, email is considered “work product” and must be retained and protected from misuse or theft.

Even if you’re not under the government’s microscope via one of these regulations, you should still be concerned about e-mail archiving.

E-mail archiving is now mandatory
FRCP – The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are a set of recently revised rules for managing civil suits in all US District courts and in thirty-five state courts that require you to archive your e-mail (with no exceptions for company size, organizational structure or nonprofit status).

The rules are specific, non-negotiable, and apply to e-mail generated and received by the business, its customers and vendors.

If you sue or get sued in civil court, you may win or lose your case based on compliance with the procedures regarding e-mail archiving.

HIPPA – Safeguarding the privacy and security of patient information is not limited to clinics and healthcare providers anymore.

Any organization that sends, receives or stores paper and electronic personal health information (PHI) must comply with this legislation. A recent survey revealed that compliance failure is around 50%.

SOX – The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 states that all public companies and their accounting firms must sercurely retain all business records, including electronic records and messages, for not less than five years. Failure results in fines and imprisonment.

E-mail archiving keeps you up and running
Just a few years ago, the average size of a user’s mail box was 10MB. Today the average size is 50x larger (500MB)! This causes many servers in small businesses to overload, slowing down speed and performance dramatically. While a third of this bloat are messages that should be deleted, the rest need to be retained, searchable and available on demand. Most mail server software has built-in features that move “old” e-mail off the server, but doesn’t allow for easy access to the information.

You can also buy bigger server hard drives every year to prevent a bog-down, but this can be cost prohibitive. More often than not, email archiving is the most effective and economical choice for retaining messages and staying compliant with regulations.

Triple Efficiency And Save Time With Templates

Imagine, a pre-made template created just for your need! You could potentially triple your efficiency with a time-saving template at your fingertips.

Using templates can speed up any job. Visit www.office.microsoft.com/templates to view, search and download hundreds of free templates ranging from inventory sheets, to schedules, and business cards. You can even find newsletter templates just like the one you are reading right now!

Save time
Using a template can save you from those creative blocks that stall progress. Have you ever tried to create a brochure from scratch?

When you have a template handy, you can save countless hours of trying to arrange the graphics to balance the page.

Structure your workload
Creating presentations, invoices, diagrams, agendas, and other forms can become streamlined processes that anyone can help you complete.

With a template saved for each job, you literally have expert level graphic arts and designs incorporated right into your work, creating a more efficient way for you to complete your duties and improve the quality, too.

Get great design ideas for nothing
Imagine if you had to sit down and structure every document for your company. It would take forever! Templates can cut preparation time and costs as well as provide a reliable and consistent format for your business reports, transactions, and other processes.

What about a website
Are you considering a new website or makeover for your current one? While a template site doesn’t compare with a custom designed site, it can save time and money when you need to get your site updated. Take a look at the premade templates available at http://www.templatemonster.com/.

You can search through hundreds of website templates by style or category. You have the option to buy a copy for as little as $62, or buy a “unique” copy for $2,500+.

Plus, you will need a little help from a web designer to post the site on the Internet and make it work, but it is considerably less than an entirely custom website.

What’s the difference? A unique copy removes the template from the company library so no one else can purchase or use that template.

The downside is that if other people have already downloaded the template, they will still get to legally use their copy.

Don’t wait another minute! I am sure in reading this article, you thought of at least three projects or processes in which you could use a template. Get started today!

FBI: Rogue Antivirus Scammers Have Made $150M

They’re the scourge of the Internet right now and the U.S. Federal Bureau of investigation says they’ve also raked in more than $150 million for scammers. Security experts call them rogue antivirus programs.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (ICC) issued a warning over fake antivirus software, saying that Web surfers should be wary of sudden pop-up windows that report security problems on their computers.

This software can appear almost anywhere on the Web. Typically, the scam starts with an aggressive pop-up ad that looks like some sort of virus scan. Of course, the scan turns up problems, and the pop-up says the only way to get rid of them is to pay with a credit card.

This is always a bad idea. At best, the software is subpar. At worst, it could result in viruses, Trojans and/or keyloggers being installed on the computer. Identity thieves often use keyloggers to gain access to credit
card numbers, bank account information, and computer users’ social security numbers.

The tactics of the scareware have caused significant losses to users. The FBI is aware of an estimated loss to victims in excess of $150 million.

The IC3 says that users who see these unexpected antivirus pop-up warnings should shut down their browsers or their computers immediately and then run an antivirus scan to see what’s going on.

Windows 7 – Microsoft Wins With New Operating System

Microsoft has had everybody from family and friends, to clients and colleagues talking about the newly released operating system Windows 7. So what is the big deal, and what is all this hype about?

If you’re one of the many that didn’t make the upgrade from Windows XP to the Windows Vista, then Windows 7 is for you!

I’ve been running Windows 7 Enterprise for a couple months now, and hands down, this has been the best operating system I’ve used, making my entire computer experience more enjoyable. With that said, here are some of the key points and new features that have really got me on the Windows 7 bandwagon.

Overall System Performance
I saw a tremendous increase in overall processing time, running the same hardware as what I was before. Less processes running in taskmanager, more available memory due to programs not requiring as much memory as in XP or Vista, and an increase in my laptops battery life due to less power consumption.

The Shake Down
This is a fun feature. If you have a few different windows open like email, web pages, some pictures, and maybe some music playing, by simply clicking and holding the click anywhere on the title bar, all other windows will minimize, leaving only the window you “shook” up.

Windows XP Mode
If you have a program that is picky, possibly old, or simply works only in Windows XP. You can run that type of program from a virtual machine right inside Windows 7. The only requirement: A free additional download from Microsoft.

Problem Recorder
This application simply records your screen as you perform various steps you take to complete a task. For example, if you need to know how to set up your Outlook for a Yahoo, Gmail, or other free email account you can simply have the tech do it on his machine, with problem recording running, and then send you the file as an MHTML document. This type of document can be opened with any web browser, and will show you a break down with pictures, graphics, text, and even custom messages you can insert to demonstrate a common configuration or setup. This is great for training.

New Taskbar
This caught my eye right away, as I always have numerous applications running. The Aero theme really sets off the task bar, and you can now drag your minimized apps around, and pin your favorite programs to
start up automatically. You can now minimize/maximize all yourapplications with the click of a button located right next to the clock.

Windows Media Center
Again the Aero theme sets off the entire look and feel, but now you can finally play DVD and even Blu-Ray discs without any additional software or applications.You can even read/write with the appropriate hardware.

Personalization
The personalization center now offers over 20 different colors, several new dual screen compatible screen savers, rotating desktop backgrounds, and over a dozen new sound themes. You can even create your own personalized theme, making the system look and feel exactly like you want!

These are just a few of the user friendly additions that I have been found to be my favorite, but there is a laundry list of other features that just continue to amaze me. The manageability additions for IT professionals are quite impressive and extensive as well.

Overall, I would highly recommend Windows 7 to any user who is still running XP looking to finally make that leap, and even to the Vista users’ who might be skeptical. It has totally changed and made my entire computer experience a better, faster, more efficient, and less stressful activity.

At the end of the day, we just want our computers to run smooth, and do what we want, and Microsoft really hit the nail on the head with this one.

Could There Be A Tablet PC In Your Future?

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

So far, 2010 has been the year of the tablet.The recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas featured tablet PCs from HP and Lenovo. The word among Apple-watchers is that the latest must-have product from Steve Jobs will be a National Geographic-sized computer called the ‘iSlate.’

Tablets aren’t new – Bill Gates introduced Microsoft’s first attempt way back in 2000. But could 2010 be the year that this technology finally takes off?

I’m not so sure. With e-readers, smart phones and netbooks already popular, will the tablet find a way onto people’s wish lists? What will it offer that isn’t already available?

After all, many devices on the market today – from the Amazon Kindle to the iPhone – offer portability and easy Internet access.

By replacing the keyboard and trackpad of standard laptops, the tablet is able to shed some bulk and weight – a nice feature for travelers and denizens of coffee shops.

But when it comes to actual typing – the basis of productive computer usage – most touch screens fall short. (Of course, I wouldn’t bet against Apple’s ability to once again revolutionize the touch screen and make entering text a breeze.)

I suspect that the tablet PC will find a niche in the consumer market while not quite breaking into the business world.

The tablet’s allure seems mostly limited to passive engagement – watching videos, scanning Facebook feeds reading e-books, etc. In other words, not exactly productive activities from a business standpoint.

Tips For Setting Up Your New Computer

We know that when a new computer arrives everyone acts like a kid in a candy store. Usually the typical person is in such a hurry to open it and set it up they forgot about the importance of taking care of some important tasks that will help save you tons of time later on.

Plan to set aside about three or four hours to properly set the new computer up.

First you need to figure out where the computer will go. Does the room have enough space to allow you to work comfortly and not have to move things around?

Most people will decide to just use the smallest room in the house and convert it in to a computer room and then others choose to just place the computer in to an existing room like a kitchen or den. The next thing to do is save all paperwork when unboxing your computer. This includes any receipts.

This helps later on when you are in trouble and need to find out if you have a warranty or not. When you have all the paperwork together I would recommend, if you have a scanner, scanning these in to the computer so you have copies.

Also I would recommend to keep the box through the duration of the return policy, since most retailers require the original packaging to return or exchange the computer.

Next, all the disks you get with the computer need to be kept in a CD case or stored away in a file cabinet.

These disks are vital for your computer. Most disks will need to used at least once in the computers lifetime.

Technicians needs these disks if you ever have a problem with your operating system, and have to do a system restore.

Now you need to actually set up the computer and connect all of the cables. Take your time and make sure you hide all cables and make everything is neat.

This will save your time in the long run when you try to add hardware. No need to turn the computer on yet just get everything plugged in to a surge protector or a backup power supply(UPS).

Now is the big moment where you get to turn on the computer.

This part is very vital to setting up the computer. Make sure you complete the setup wizard for the computer so that no issues arise later on.

Normal setups will ask for registration information. Make sure you fill this out to protect your warranty. These are usually just a few questions about you, where the computer was purchased, and how you use the computer.

Next you will be asked to create a username and password. The username will be required, but the password is going to be optional. If you use a password I would suggest using a password hint to help you, in case you forget the password in the future.

After this, the computer is properly setup based on a typical computer setup. From here, you’ll just need to set up the Internet, and run any Windows updates that are needed. Be sure you install an anti-virus program before connecting to the Internet.

Upgrade Your Computer For The New Year!

The question arises every time there is an issue with the typical system.  Should I upgrade the system, or by a new one?”

This question is most easily answered with a little more information.

How old is the system? Typically a system 6 plus years old or so is probably  ot going to worth the expense of upgrading. You would probably get a better bang for your buck replacing the system.

However, if your system is not really that old you can achieve remarkable  performance improvements by upgrading your system.

For instance, upgrading you hard drive increases your “physical memory.” Physical memory is the amount of hard drive space you have for the storage of data.

Many newer systems come with an average of 100-300 Gigabytes of on-board  physical memory. While this may sound like a lot, you might find that your physical memory can fill up fast.

With more and more people storing photos and homemade movies on their PC, without adequate storage space, you could find that you’ve run out of space and you may need to delete old memories for new ones. And no one wants to lose those memories.

Luckily, the cost of physical memory  is getting cheaper every day, without sacrificing any of the storage quality. And now, solid state hard drives arequite expense, and the performance is even better. Best of all, there are no moving parts to fail.

Adding RAM or “in use memory” is one way to increase performance rather inexpensively. RAM determines how much data you can work with at any one time.

If your RAM is low, you may be able to run a limited number of programs simultaneously. The higher amount of RAM your computer uses, the more applications and data you can access at the same time and the more
quickly your CPU can work. The CPU and RAM work nearly hand-in-hand to increase the speed and functionality of your computer.

By increasing your CPU and RAM, you will be able to work with more than one  program at one time and switch between the applications quickly with less lag time.

The CPU is where all the processing of data takes place. The more powerful  your computer’s brain (CPU), the faster your computer can process tasks. For example, if you get a little frustrated waiting for your web browser to load, upgrading your processing speed could help your computer start up faster, and help applicationslaunch more quickly.

We have upgraded my workstation here at the office by adding more RAM, and I cannot believe the difference this has made in the ability of the system to process data quickly. If there is one upgrade I would recommend over any other, it would be to upgrade your computer’s memory.

Even the biggest and best upgrades can’t help a computer that is slowed down because it is thoroughly infected. You have to take care when you are on the Internet and watch for malware that can attack your freshly upgraded computer.

And remember to let the techs at Tech Experts assist you in all your computing needs.

Local Search: Raking In Business From Your Own Backyard

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

So you’re in the mood for a pizza. You turn to Google (because no one uses phone books anymore). Instantly, 10 local pizza shops are displayed in your search results. You order. It’s a win-win. You have your pizza, and the pizza parlor shop has your business.

What made this so easy? Local search – a type of search engine query that’s intended to produce local information, often about nearby businesses, products and services. What it does is help customers in your own town, city and neighborhood find you quickly and easily.

All of the big players – Google, Yahoo and Bing – have local search capabilities. So do the Internet Yellow Pages, various business aggregation sites and review sites, as well as directories created specifically for different cities.

As you can imagine, there are several business directories for Monroe. One of the best is: http://businessfinder.mlive.com/MI-Monroe.

I want my local listing!
How do you get your company listed? There are two ways: Navigate the process of submitting your business information to each of the local search engines yourself or save some time and hassle by hiring professionals to do it for you. Either way, getting listed on local search doesn’t happen automatically.

So many directories, so little time.
It’s not a matter of if you should submit your business information to a local search directory, it’s a matter of choosing which ones. To help you make the best decision, consider:

Location. Be sure to understand which geographic region or regions the directory serves. Some are very specific, while other serve a larger geographic area. Check to see if you’re able to list your company within a radius of your zip code.

Price. Many directories are free, or charge a nominal fee to enhance your listing or include additional information. If it’s free, why not list? If there’s a cost, make sure you understand what extras you’re getting for your dollars.

Relevance. Make sure a relevant category exists for your business. Some directories focus on a single industry, like hotels.

If you own a gourmet restaurant, you don’t want to be listed under fast food. Be thorough. If the specific category doesn’t exist, don’t list there.

Popularity. One characteristic of a good local search directory is the amount of traffic it gets. More traffic potentially means more potential people will find you.

A quick way to determine this is to go to a web traffic metrics site, like Alexa (http://www.alexa.com/). The higher the ranking, the busier the site.

No matter what you’re selling – computers, sandwiches or shoes – local search can help bring local customers to your door.

That is, people who could possibly return again, generating repeat business, and who will tell their friends and family about your company. First, they need to be able to find you. Think about the last time you used a phone book, versus a search engine. Local search is where you need to be.

Legit Or Bogus? How To Spot A Rogue Anti-Virus Program

Have you seen an advertisement or pop-up offering a free PC scan, or telling  you that your computer is infected and at risk? If so, you’ve seen first hand a harmful trojan disguised as an anti-virus program.

These types of rogue anti-virus scams are on the rise. They appear legitimate, and the number one way unsuspecting users get infected is from clicking a malicious link in the pop-up message. Most of these pop-ups have what sound like legitimate virus names, and some even ask you to pay for the  program.

They will almost always have a notice indicating you need to “click here” to install the program to disinfect your PC. Once you click on that link, you’re infected.

To take it a step further, if you actually do enter your credit card information, the hackers have your personal data and can use it at will.

I have anti-virus. Won’t that protect me?

Though the best anti-virus programs will protect you from many threats they can not protect you against all malware, especially the newer infections.

There are millions of different types of infections and hundreds created every day. Even top of the line security companies take days and even weeks to catch the infections.

What can a rogue anti-virus program do?

An infection can do almost anything to a computer, from stealing information  to destroying your valuable data. Some malware will log your password information and use it to try to infect other computers on your network.

Some infections will let your computer be used as a “bot,” which lets attackers use it to share illegal files, attack other systems on the Internet, or spread infections to your friends and family.

How do I protect myself?

Here are some basic tips to keep yourself from being a victim of a rogue anti-virus program.

1. Keep your computer updated with the latest security patches for your operating system and web browser.

2. Never click on a pop-ups that you come across on a website. Even if the  advertisement looks legitimate, chances are it isn’t.

3. Check to make sure your Internet firewall and antivirus are updated every time you use your computer.

4. Turn off any Active-X and scripting from foreign websites. Many of the infections come from these types of scripts. Almost always, your system will ask you if you want to run the script. Always pick “no.”

5. Keep a good backup. Some infections can be so severe that you will need to restore files for your PC to be disinfected and repaired properly.

6. Scan your computer on a regular basis. Most antivirus programs will do this automatically. AVG is a very good program that will scan every day, and can be set to run at night so it doesn’t slow down your work.

Sit Back And Relax. We’ll Do The Driving

Remote support software put a technician at your desk, without ever leaving the office
It goes without saying that nearly everyone has a computer not only in their office, but also in their home. Just about everyone has experienced a problem at one time or another, and many times, the problem can be pretty simple to  resolve once a technician starts working on it.

Larger companies have IT staff that can address and fix most problems in person because they are in the same building as the system with the problem.

Small to medium size businesses, however, generally can’t justify having someone on staff to resolve PC issues when they come up. Home computer users often have to carry their machines in for service.

In the past, clients would call us with a problem, perhaps an error message that pops up when they try to open a document. The technician would try to ask the right questions, and try to visualize what the client was experiencing so we could resolve the problem.

Home users would have to disconnect their system (taking care to remember exactly where the cords plug in) and bring the machine into our office for service. It isn’t very convenient, and trying to remember how everything plugs back together can be a real problem.

Well, all of that has changed now! You can sit back at let us drive your computer using remote control.

We’ve invested in software that lets our technician view and operate your computer remotely, without you ever having to bring it in for service, or have a technician come on site. Nearly everyone has high speed Internet now, so the software runs very quickly and efficiently.

This remote management software makes diagnosing a problem a lot easier and quicker than before. Our remote control software is encrypted for security (your data is never sent over the Internet unprotected) and requires that you give permission in order for it to work. It’s very safe and secure.

Once connected to your computer, the technician can view your desktop and take control of your system. He sees the same screens you do, including any error messages. It is just like having one of our highly trained technicians sitting right there with you.

Our clients have found this remote support software to be one of the most time saving and useful tools in our technology toolbox.

Unfortunately, for problems that are more in-depth, or hardware related, remote control doesn’t work. For simple error messages or software issues, sit back and let our technicians help you remotely.