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Take Advantage Of These Microsoft Incentives

As your local Gold Certified Microsoft Partner, and a Microsoft Small Business Specialist, Tech Experts has access to special promotion and incentives direct from Microsoft.

Microsoft Financing 6/50 Promotion, Ends: July 31, 2007

Use Microsoft Financing for any IT solution including Microsoft software and we will finance not only the hardware portion, but also the software and your services as part of the total solution.

You pay only $50 per month for six months, followed by 36 regular monthly payments. When you use Microsoft Financing, you conserve your capital, preserve your corporate credit lines, and own the hardware you purchase outright. Plus, you can add IT solutions to your contract at any time during the term of the loan.

Windows Server Partner Subsidy Program, Ends: June 29, 2007

Your business is growing, and Windows Server® 2003 R2 provides a winning platform for small and medium businesses. Now until June 29, 2007, Microsoft is offering partner subsidy dollars worth up to $10,000 to customers purchasing between three and twenty-five Windows Server® 2003 R2 Open licenses that include Software Assurance. That adds up to great growth investment!

Participate In Microsoft’s Business and Technology Assessment Program (Ongoing Promotion)

Spend 30 to 45 minutes working with a Tech Experts professional completing your small business technology assessment, and be entered in a monthly drawing for a $100 cash prize.

The assessment program consists of a series of questions designed to get an overall picture of how you use IT in your day to day business operations.

 

Michigan Man Fined For Using Free Wi-Fi

A Michigan man has been fined $400 and must work 40 hours of community service for using a local café’s Wi-Fi connection from his parked car to check his e-mail and surf the Web.

He got off easy, according to the local TV station that reported the case: under Michigan computer access law, using a Wi-Fi connection without authorization is a felony, punishable by as much a $10,000 fine and five years in prison.

But the story raises more questions than it answers, including whether the café’s Wi-Fi connection was a fee-based service, which would imply authorization was required, or a free service that, without any security restrictions, could be accessed by anyone within range, including someone outside the restaurant.

The story also doesn’t say whether the defendant, Sam Peterson II, of Sparta, Michigan was convicted of the crime or pled to the charge.

Peterson routinely drove to Sparta’s Re-Union Street Caf, to check his e-mail but never went into the coffee shop.

His regular routine drew the attention of Sparta Police Chief Andrew Milanowski, who asked Peterson what he was doing. Peterson told him.

After checking the Michigan statutes, the chief swore out a complaint of fraudulent computer access, and Peterson was charged.

Should You Be Concerned About Internet Cookies That Give Advertisers Unauthorized Access To Your Computer?

With the endless number of online hoaxes, viruses, phishing scams, and other threats, many people are suspicious of any online program that shares their personal information with the rest of the world – and rightfully so.

However, cookies aren’t always the menacing tools of surveillance many people believe them to be, and in most cases, they do more good than evil.

Unlike viruses and spyware, cookies are not programs that allow unauthorized access to your computer. Rather, they are simple text files that, on their own, can’t do much of anything.

Most cookies are designed to enhance web browsing. On a shopping site, for example, they can store a list of items you’ve selected to buy as you browse through an online catalog. They can also remember your web browsing preferences whenever you visit a particular site.

Most web browsers allow cookies to be read only by the web site to which they belong. This prevents other sites from tracking your online activities. However, some advertisers will put cookies on your computer as a way to recognize your computer at other web sites associated with that advertiser. These are called “third-party-cookies” and they allow advertisers to track your online activities across multiple and different sites.

These are the type of cookies that are good to block. Fortunately, blocking third-party cookies is easy. In Internet Explorer, click the “Tools” menu, and then choose “Internet Options.”

Then click the “Privacy” tab and then the “Advanced” button. Make sure the checkbox “Override automatic cookie handling” is checked. You’ll see options for first-party and third-party cookies. In the third-party cookie options, click “Block.” Then, click “Ok.”

Of course, you should always use a firewall, an up-to-date anti-virus program, and anti-spyware software to protect yourself from real online threats.

This Isn’t Really Related To Computers, But Please Read It Anyway

An article a few months ago in Business 2.0 Magazine talked about how Wal-Mart was really pushing compact fluorescent (CF) light bulbs as a way to save energy.

If you’re not familiar with CF bulbs, you’ve probably seen them – they’re  funny looking, spiraled light bulbs.

Now, we’re automatically dubious of anything Wal-Mart might be promoting, but we went ahead and tried a few of these bulbs.

They take a little getting used to. For example, there’s sometimes a slight (1-2 second) delay when you flick the switch, as compared to regular bulbs, which start instantly.

If CF bulbs are cold, they may initially be dimmer than normal, and brighten up over 60 to 90 seconds.

The bulbs cost as much as five times the cost of a regular bulb. But, the electrical cost savings are pretty dramatic – they use about 80% less electricity than regular bulbs. Plus, they last almost 10 times as long as regular bulb. In the long run, they’re quite a money saver.

At home, we’ve replaced most of our regular light bulbs with CF bulbs, and have a notable, demonstrated drop of almost $25 per month on our electric bill.

Take a few minutes to Google “compact fluorescent” and check them out for yourself. You’ll be happy with the cost savings.

Speed Up Your PC By Limiting Startup Programs

Most versions of Windows use a utility called msconfig, which gives you the ability to control what programs automatically startup each time you boot your machine.

Some programs, like your software firewall and your antivirus, are essential startup programs because they protect your PC.  However, there are other programs that do not need to load, and preventing them from loading will speed up your boot time and save memory.

Aside from the msconfig utility, there are a couple of other ways to remove these startup programs.

If you look down by your system clock, you will likely see several  icons belonging to auto-run programs.

Try right-clicking some of them, and in their preferences menu you may find a way to disable them from loading at startup.  You can also check the startup folder, which is located by navigating through your Start menu, then Programs, then Startup.  Some of the programs here can simply be removed by deleting them. Deleting them will not delete the program itself.

You will need to make the decision what to remove using the techniques above.  If you are unsure, then leave it.  But minimizing the programs that hog system resources at boot  is a quick way to improve system performance.

This Website Can “Name That Tune”

Do you ever find yourself humming a song whose title, to your frustration, you don’t know or can’t remember? New search website Midomi (www.midomi.com) is designed to actually identify that song for you in as little as 10 seconds.

Midomi allows people to search for a song by singing, humming or whistling a bit of the tune. The site then offers search results that include commercially recorded tracks or versions of the song recorded by others who have used the site. The technology also lets people listen to the exact section of each of the results that matched their voice sample.

People also can type in a song title or artist to get results. The system recognizes misspelled words.

Melodis, the company behind the site, has licensed 2 million digital tracks that can be purchased and has accumulated about 12,000 more from users. Users, who range from aspiring American Idol contestants to professionals, can create profiles and rate one other’s performances on the ad-supported site.

The underlying speech- and sound-recognition technology, dubbed Multimodal Adaptive Recognition System, or MARS, differs from similar technologies in that it looks at a variety of factors for recognizing samples, including pitch, tempo variation, speech content and location of pauses, said Chief Executive Keyvan Mohajer, who has a Ph.D. in sound- and speech-recognition from Stanford University.

Experimental Xerox Paper Erases Itself

Xerox Corporation scientists have invented a way to make prints whose images last only a day, so that the paper can be used again and again. The technology, which is still in a preliminary state, blurs the line between paper documents and digital displays and could ultimately lead to a significant reduction in paper use.

The experimental printing technology, a collaboration between the Xerox Research Centre of Canada and PARC (Palo Alto Research Center Inc.), could someday replace printed pages that are used for just a brief time before being discarded. Xerox estimates that as many as two out of every five pages printed in the office are for what it calls “daily” use, like e-mails, Web pages and reference materials that have been printed for a single viewing.

Alphabetizing your Start Menu

If you’re like most Windows users, you’ve probably installed many programs…. So many, in fact, that you can have trouble finding the program you’re trying to use in the Start Menu list. New programs are loaded at the end of the list. Here’s how to alphabetize your Start Menu list of programs:

  1. First click on the Start button.
  2. Move your mouse to “All Programs.”
  3. Move your mouse to any of the folders there.
  4. Right click.
  5. A box will open up. Scroll to “Sort By Names” and click.

All of the folders and programs will be alphabetized. This is one of those simple but useful tips that will help you organize your computer.

Windows XP On Screen Keyboard

This might seem like a silly tip or even a silly function, but we’ve already found a use for it once. Windows XP comes with a built in on screen keyboard. Basically a graphic of a keyboard comes up and acts like your keyboard, you can use your mouse to hunt and peck around.

What uses does this have? Well, it’s good for people with disabilities, where it would be easier to use a mouse than trying to type or it’s great to use if your keyboard goes crazy.

Here is how you launch it:

  1. Go to start
  2. Go to run and type OSK, then press ENTER

Then the keyboard comes on. It’s just that simple! It’s best to make a desktop icon for it or a shortcut, because if your keyboard should malfunction, it would be handy to have it.

All you do to create the shortcut is to:

  1. Right click on the desktop
  2. Click the new shortcut button
  3. Type osk, click next twice

Think Twice Before Posting Any Information Online

Whether it’s a chat group, forum, or even an email, take caution when giving out personal information or expressing your opinion about someone or something online.

Internet information is growing larger and more impossible to control every day. It’s not uncommon for people to lose their jobs because of what they wrote about their boss or their company, not realizing that it would remain as a permanent online record for the entire world.

One 22-year-old answered an Internet inquiry about whether anyone had ever had a bad drug trip. His reply was so interesting and colorful that years later it still ranks number seven out of a total of 92,600 Google hits that come up when you type in his name!

That’s why you should be very careful about what you post. Your boss or your future boss and head hunters can research your name online and pull up more information than you want them to have. They can also do continuous background checks on you, no disclosure required.

They not only can see what you’ve posted, they might be able to see your age, marital status, the value of your house, things you wrote as a teenager, liens, bankruptcies, and political affiliations.

Without the full story, a post or a question could be misinterpreted. For example, let’s suppose you are doing research for a friend or relative with a drug problem. If you post a question asking how to help someone beat a drug habit, others may assume the person with the habit is you.

To protect yourself, Business Week magazine gave the following recommendations:

  • Register with an online profile manager such as Ziggs or LinkedIn. They’re free.
  • If you must use MySpace, refrain from posting the risqué. Consider cloaking or using an avatar.
  • Order a background check from Zabasearch or Argali. Contact vendors if you find incorrect information.
  • Think before you blog. Anything personal that you post may come back to haunt you for years in the future.
  • Don’t send anything in an e-mail you would not want the world, and especially your mother, to read

As always, use common sense with the Internet. It is a very public place with a very long memory. It is fair to assume, Google never forgets anything.