Web surfing is no longer a solo affair. Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks have quickly become an integral part of the online culture, and with them comes a whole new array of potential security threats. In this article, I'll identify some of the key dangers of social networking and offer a few easy steps that you can take to stay safe online.
Social networking is built on the idea of sharing information openly and fostering a sense of community. Unfortunately, an online network of individuals actively sharing their experiences and seeking connections with other like-minded people can be easy prey for hackers bent on social-engineering and phishing attacks. It's important to be aware of the threats, and to maintain a healthy skepticism in your online interactions.
Be Careful What You Share
For starters, even in an open community of sharing, you should observe some boundaries. As President Obama warned students in his address to schools earlier this month, "be careful what you post on Facebook. Whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life."
The core truth of that statement can be applied to any social networking site, and possibly even to the Internet as a whole. As a general rule, refrain from posting things online that you will regret later. Odds are good that someone, someday, will stumble across it, and it may come back to haunt you -- especially if you are planning to run for public office. Sending a message like this is sure to end up in disaster for someone -- probably you.
Aside from simply abstaining from posting embarrassing or inflammatory comments online, take two fundamentals to heart: Remember who your friends are, and know that a friend of a friend can be an enemy.
Remember Who Your Friends Are
When you write a Twitter tweet or post a Facebook status update, you have to keep your audience in mind. More and more these days, we hear stories of people who have forgotten that their boss is part of their network and have said things online that have gotten them reprimanded, even fired.
The consequences of inappropriate online comments have become so common that they have earned an entry in the Urban Dictionary: Facebook fired. Saying something as obvious and seemingly innocent as "I'm bored" in a status update during work hours can have dire consequences if the wrong people see it.
With services like Twitter, or the recent changes to Facebook that allow anyone to view and search updates, you really have no way to hide.
Friends of Friends May See Your Post
So, you've thought it through. You want to shout to the world what you really think about your boss's forcing you to work overtime and making you come in on the weekend. You've checked and double-checked, and you've determined that your boss is not in your network, so you let loose on the keyboard and speak your mind.
Unfortunately, you're not out of the woods just yet. Being outside of your network, your boss can't see your post directly, but if one of your Facebook friends who are connected with your boss comments on your status update--even just to say "I sympathize"--your boss may be able to click on the link through the common friend and see your post anyway.
Go ahead, be social -- share your trials and tribulations with your growing network of adoring followers. To be safe, however, do so with one rule in mind: Don't ever post anything online that you aren't comfortable with everyone seeing, because eventually they probably will.
Define 'Privacy'
Marrying privacy and social networking may seem unintuitive. How can you be social and open, yet protect your privacy? Well, just because you are choosing to share some information with a select group of people does not necessarily mean that you want to share all of your information, or that you want the information you share to be visible to all.
Facebook in particular has suffered from a number of issues related to privacy concerns. If you have used Facebook for a while, you may have noticed ads with your friends' names or photos associated with them.
Facebook provides separate privacy controls for Facebook ads and third-party applications and ads. Facebook does provide privacy controls for you to customize what types of information should be available to third-party applications. If you look at the Facebook Ads tab of the privacy controls, though, you'll notice that it offers no way for you to opt out of the internal Facebook Ads. It merely states that "Facebook strives to create relevant and interesting advertisements to you and your friends."
What Do Quizzes Reveal About You?
For many users, one of the primary attractions of Facebook is the virtually endless selection of games and quizzes. Part of the lure of the games and quizzes is the social aspect. In the games, friends can compete against one another; through the quizzes, you can learn more about your friends while being briefly entertained.
The ACLU exposed problems with how much information these quizzes and games share, though. When a Facebook user initiates a game or quiz, typically a notice pops up to declare that interacting with the application requires opening access to information; the notice also provides the user the opportunity to opt out and cancel, or to allow the access to continue.
Facebook quizzes warn users that continuing will open access to information from your profile -- as well as to that of your friends. The permission page clearly tells the user up front that allowing "access will let [the application] pull your profile information, photos, your friends' info, and other content that it requires to work." One might wonder, as the ACLU has, why any game or quiz application would "require" access to your friends' information in order to work.
Canada Says 'No Way'
Facebook's privacy, or lack thereof, has also run afoul of the Canadian government. The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has determined that Facebook's privacy policies and practices violate Canadian privacy regulations, and has recommended a variety of changes that Facebook should make to be compliant.
One of the major concerns involves the permanence of accounts and account data. Facebook offers a way to disable or deactivate an account, but it doesn't seem to have a method for completely deleting an account. Photos and status updates might be available long after a user has shut down a Facebook profile. And like the ACLU, the Canadian government is concerned about the amount of information shared with third-party application providers.
Control What You Can
While the concerns of the ACLU and the Canadian government run a little deeper, Facebook does in fact offer privacy controls that restrict or deny access to information. Since Facebook is a social networking site designed for sharing information, many of the settings are open by default. It is up to you to access the Privacy Settings and configure the options as you see fit.
Facebook's Privacy Settings allow you to determine who can access or view your information. For each of the available settings, you can choose to share information with Everyone, My Networks and Friends, Friends of Friends, or Only Friends; if you prefer, you can customize the settings to fine-tune access further.
Hijacking and Phishing
Social networking, by its very nature, is about socializing, which means users are letting their guard down and sharing information. They're expanding their professional networks, connecting with old friends, and communicating in real time with pals and peers. And for bad guys who favor social-engineering and phishing attacks, taking advantage is like shooting fish in a barrel.
Beware Friends Seeking Money
Most people know enough to not respond to e-mail requests from exiled Nigerian royalty promising millions of dollars if only you will help them smuggle the money out of the country. Anybody who doesn't know better probably shouldn't be on the Internet; such people are a danger to themselves and others.
But what if your good friend from high school whom you haven't seen in 18 years sends you a message on Facebook explaining how their wallet was stolen and their car broke down, and asks you to wire money to help them get home? You might not be as apprehensive--but you should be.
Attackers have figured out that family and friends are easy prey for such sob stories. Using other attacks or methods, they gain access to a Facebook account and hijack it. They change the password so that the legitimate owner can't get back in, and then they proceed to reach out to the friends of the hijacked account and attempt to extort money from those friends through social engineering.
How do you resist such techniques? Assume that a relative or friend close enough to ask you for money would probably have your phone number, and that Facebook or e-mail would not be the first choice for contacting you in an emergency. If you get such a Facebook message or e-mail plea, and you aren't sure, pick up the phone and call the person directly to confirm.
What's Behind That Tiny URL?
Another threat that has emerged as a result of social networking is the tiny-URL attack. Some URLs are very long and don't work well in e-mail or in blog posts, which created a need for URL-shortening services. Twitter, with its 140-character limit, has made the use of URL-shortening services like Bit.ly a necessity.
Unfortunately, attackers can easily exploit a shortened URL to lure users into accessing malicious Web sites. Because the shortened URL is a random collection of characters that has nothing to do with the actual URL, users cannot easily determine whether it is legitimate.
Tweetdeck can show a preview with details about the URL behind the shortened URL. Tweetdeck, a popular application for Twitter, provides a 'Show preview information for short URLs' option, which offers some protection. The preview window shows details about the shortened URL, including the actual long URL it leads to.
If you aren't using Tweetdeck for Twitter, or if you need to deal with shortened URLs on other sites and services, maintain a healthy dose of skepticism and remain vigilant about what might lie behind that obfuscated address.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
FREE Microsoft Security Essentials: Does it have a Place in the Business World?
Microsoft recently released Security Essentials, a free anti-virus and anti-malware ”pack” for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. The software was created with consumers in mind, but, in a tight economy some businesses will undoubtedly be tempted to use it for PCs on their company networks. Is it a good idea? What are the drawbacks? This article takes a look at this replacement for Windows Live OneCare and helps you decide whether deploying it in your business is a great way to save money, an invitation to disaster, or something in between.
For those businesses with an international presence, MSE is available for many different languages and locales. It can be installed on Windows XP (32 bit only), Vista (32 or 64 bit) and Windows 7 (32 or 64 bit). The installer file is 4.28 MB. It runs a validation test to ensure that you are running a properly licensed copy of Windows before proceeding with the installation. If you are, validation is quick and simple.
You should remove other antivirus and antispyware software before installing MSE, and you will be reminded of this at the beginning of the installation. The actual installation took less than a minute on my test machine and after you click Finish, the program will start and check for the latest definitions.
The interface is simple – perhaps a bit too simple for most business users. However, if your business is a small one with no centralized control over the network and users must manage their own AV programs, MSE will be easy enough even for those who are not at all technically savvy. As shown in Figure 2, there are three scan options: quick scan, full scan, and custom scan. You can schedule scans (by default MSE runs a quick scan once a week, on Sunday at 2:00 a.m.) and choose the type. Updates are downloaded automatically, or you can manually update your definitions at any time.
The History tab allows for some limited filtering. You can select to display all detected items, quarantined items that were disabled and prevented from running (but not removed) or allowed items.
On the settings tab, you can configure the following:
Scheduled scan
Default actions
Real-time protection
Excluded files and locations
Excluded file types
Excluded processes
Advanced settings
Microsoft SpyNet
Your scheduling options are limited. You can choose the type of scan to run (Quick or Full) and set it to run any one day of the week or daily at a specified time. You cannot, however, schedule a scan on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only. Nor can you schedule a quick scan daily and a full scan on the weekend (for example). You can, however, have the scheduled scan start only when the computer is not in use and force a check for the latest definitions before each scan.
Default actions are based on the alert level. MSE recognizes four alert levels: low, medium, high and severe. For each level, you can specify whether to allow, quarantine, remove, or accept MSE’s recommended action.
Real-time protection, which alerts you when a program identified as malware attempts to install or run, can be turned on or off. If it’s turned on, you can further specify whether to monitor file and program activity and/or scan all downloaded files and attachments.
You can specify files and locations to be excluded when you run a scan, thus speeding up the scan but potentially leaving the computer less protected. You can also exclude specified file types from the scan, if you are sure that a particular file type is safe. For example, you might want to excluded graphics such as .jpg or .tif files. You can further exclude specified processes (executables). It is easy to add these exclusions and just as easy to remove them.
In the Advanced Settings, you have several options that can be enabled or disabled by checking a box.
You can specify whether to scan for malware in archived files such as .zip and .cab files
You can specify whether to scan removable drives, such as USB flash drives
You can specify to create a system restore point before doing any cleanup, so that if something is inadvertently removed that should not have been, you can easily roll back to the previous state
You can select whether all users are allowed to view the full History results (including users who are not administrators)
Finally, you can select your membership level in Microsoft SpyNet. You can choose basic membership, whereby Microsoft will receive basic information about malware that is detected and what actions are applied, or you can choose advanced membership, whereby more information is sent, including the location of the malware on your disk, files names and how the malware affects your computer. The default is basic membership. Note that unlike with some anti-malware programs, you cannot opt out of SpyNet completely. Also note the warning that “in some instances, personal information might unintentionally be sent to Microsoft. However, Microsoft will not use this information to identify you or contact you.”
What are the advantages for business?
For small businesses, MSE provides basic anti-virus and anti-spyware protection all in one package at no cost. It is easy to install and set up and easy to run. In my experience and according to testing reported by various web sources, it does a decent job of catching malware. PC Advisor’s tests showed that it came in with a 97.8 detection rate and did particularly well with proactive tests that measure detection of new, unknown malware.
Another advantage is that it runs very transparently. Unlike some anti-malware solutions, it is not constantly popping up messages. It is easy for individual users to manage on their own computers.
What are the disadvantages for business?
MSE is designed for home users and consequently does not have many of the features that all but the smallest businesses want and need. Its lack of flexibility in setting scanning schedules can be a real drawback, particularly the inability to set separate schedules for daily and full scans. It is often desirable to run a quick scan on a daily basis and a full scan less often. Of course, you can always set it up to run a daily scan and then manually run full scans, but requires a bit more interaction on the part of the user.
The biggest drawback for businesses is that MSE cannot be centrally managed. That means each user will have to set it up or IT personnel will have to set it up on each computer individually, creating a great deal of administrative overhead.
Most anti-malware programs allow you to enable or disable email protection. MSE does not have such an option, and it is unclear whether email files are scanned as part of real-time protection, or only attachments are scanned.
There have been some reports of MSE failing to detect malware in .zip files, even though the option to scan archived files is enabled.
Some companies may also be uncomfortable with the inability to turn off SpyNet, forcing you to allow information to be sent to Microsoft.
Conclusion
Microsoft Security Essentials was designed as a consumer anti-malware solution and is a viable alternative to other freeware AV products like AVG Free. Some small businesses may find that it provides adequate protection for their computers. However, for mid-size and large companies, the lack of centralized management and inflexibility of some of the features make it a less than ideal choice. Microsoft clearly intends Forefront Client Security to be its AV presence in the business world. If your business can’t afford or doesn’t want to use Forefront, a mid-priced third party commercial AV solution aimed at business may be your best bet.
For those businesses with an international presence, MSE is available for many different languages and locales. It can be installed on Windows XP (32 bit only), Vista (32 or 64 bit) and Windows 7 (32 or 64 bit). The installer file is 4.28 MB. It runs a validation test to ensure that you are running a properly licensed copy of Windows before proceeding with the installation. If you are, validation is quick and simple.
You should remove other antivirus and antispyware software before installing MSE, and you will be reminded of this at the beginning of the installation. The actual installation took less than a minute on my test machine and after you click Finish, the program will start and check for the latest definitions.
The interface is simple – perhaps a bit too simple for most business users. However, if your business is a small one with no centralized control over the network and users must manage their own AV programs, MSE will be easy enough even for those who are not at all technically savvy. As shown in Figure 2, there are three scan options: quick scan, full scan, and custom scan. You can schedule scans (by default MSE runs a quick scan once a week, on Sunday at 2:00 a.m.) and choose the type. Updates are downloaded automatically, or you can manually update your definitions at any time.
The History tab allows for some limited filtering. You can select to display all detected items, quarantined items that were disabled and prevented from running (but not removed) or allowed items.
On the settings tab, you can configure the following:
Scheduled scan
Default actions
Real-time protection
Excluded files and locations
Excluded file types
Excluded processes
Advanced settings
Microsoft SpyNet
Your scheduling options are limited. You can choose the type of scan to run (Quick or Full) and set it to run any one day of the week or daily at a specified time. You cannot, however, schedule a scan on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only. Nor can you schedule a quick scan daily and a full scan on the weekend (for example). You can, however, have the scheduled scan start only when the computer is not in use and force a check for the latest definitions before each scan.
Default actions are based on the alert level. MSE recognizes four alert levels: low, medium, high and severe. For each level, you can specify whether to allow, quarantine, remove, or accept MSE’s recommended action.
Real-time protection, which alerts you when a program identified as malware attempts to install or run, can be turned on or off. If it’s turned on, you can further specify whether to monitor file and program activity and/or scan all downloaded files and attachments.
You can specify files and locations to be excluded when you run a scan, thus speeding up the scan but potentially leaving the computer less protected. You can also exclude specified file types from the scan, if you are sure that a particular file type is safe. For example, you might want to excluded graphics such as .jpg or .tif files. You can further exclude specified processes (executables). It is easy to add these exclusions and just as easy to remove them.
In the Advanced Settings, you have several options that can be enabled or disabled by checking a box.
You can specify whether to scan for malware in archived files such as .zip and .cab files
You can specify whether to scan removable drives, such as USB flash drives
You can specify to create a system restore point before doing any cleanup, so that if something is inadvertently removed that should not have been, you can easily roll back to the previous state
You can select whether all users are allowed to view the full History results (including users who are not administrators)
Finally, you can select your membership level in Microsoft SpyNet. You can choose basic membership, whereby Microsoft will receive basic information about malware that is detected and what actions are applied, or you can choose advanced membership, whereby more information is sent, including the location of the malware on your disk, files names and how the malware affects your computer. The default is basic membership. Note that unlike with some anti-malware programs, you cannot opt out of SpyNet completely. Also note the warning that “in some instances, personal information might unintentionally be sent to Microsoft. However, Microsoft will not use this information to identify you or contact you.”
What are the advantages for business?
For small businesses, MSE provides basic anti-virus and anti-spyware protection all in one package at no cost. It is easy to install and set up and easy to run. In my experience and according to testing reported by various web sources, it does a decent job of catching malware. PC Advisor’s tests showed that it came in with a 97.8 detection rate and did particularly well with proactive tests that measure detection of new, unknown malware.
Another advantage is that it runs very transparently. Unlike some anti-malware solutions, it is not constantly popping up messages. It is easy for individual users to manage on their own computers.
What are the disadvantages for business?
MSE is designed for home users and consequently does not have many of the features that all but the smallest businesses want and need. Its lack of flexibility in setting scanning schedules can be a real drawback, particularly the inability to set separate schedules for daily and full scans. It is often desirable to run a quick scan on a daily basis and a full scan less often. Of course, you can always set it up to run a daily scan and then manually run full scans, but requires a bit more interaction on the part of the user.
The biggest drawback for businesses is that MSE cannot be centrally managed. That means each user will have to set it up or IT personnel will have to set it up on each computer individually, creating a great deal of administrative overhead.
Most anti-malware programs allow you to enable or disable email protection. MSE does not have such an option, and it is unclear whether email files are scanned as part of real-time protection, or only attachments are scanned.
There have been some reports of MSE failing to detect malware in .zip files, even though the option to scan archived files is enabled.
Some companies may also be uncomfortable with the inability to turn off SpyNet, forcing you to allow information to be sent to Microsoft.
Conclusion
Microsoft Security Essentials was designed as a consumer anti-malware solution and is a viable alternative to other freeware AV products like AVG Free. Some small businesses may find that it provides adequate protection for their computers. However, for mid-size and large companies, the lack of centralized management and inflexibility of some of the features make it a less than ideal choice. Microsoft clearly intends Forefront Client Security to be its AV presence in the business world. If your business can’t afford or doesn’t want to use Forefront, a mid-priced third party commercial AV solution aimed at business may be your best bet.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Save Time and Boost Accuracy with computer based accounting software
QuickBooks can be a very helpful piece of software when it comes to your regular accounting processes, such as payroll, but be careful not to overlook features that are added to the software on a regular basis.
In many small businesses, having your payroll processed by an accountant or outside payroll company is a costly monthly expense. With QuickBooks' payroll module, payroll processing is simple and can be done in house.
QuickBooks is continuously adding features to its software that can save time and allow for more accurate processing. To help ensure you haven't missed some new feature that could be valuable to your business, consider visiting an online forum.
The forums can be helpful and visiting one should be one of the first steps you take when you encounter a problem. Chances are someone else has had the problem before and you can correspond with other QuickBooks users who are trying to use a function that may be of assistance to you.
To access the online forums, open your QuickBooks program, click on Help/QuickBooks Online/User to User Forums.
The forums are divided into specific areas of QuickBooks, so look for the area that is giving you a problem and search through the postings.
You can also login and post a question and you should get replies within a few days.
For immediate assistance, you can contact our firm and we may be able to assist you, or call QuickBooks Tech Support or a Certified ProAdvisor near you.
The business owner can provide employees with access to the software and limit that access to time entry. This way, employees will access the time entry portion of QuickBooks daily to enter their hours worked and allocate it to appropriate customers if required.
When you are processing payroll, you simply select the dates for the pay period and QuickBooks will pull together the hours worked. As an added bonus, when you prepare invoices, you can select to bill customers for the employee's time by selecting Time/Costs on your invoice screen.
If you don't want to provide employees with access to QuickBooks, there is a timer that can be set on employees' desktops that can be used to track time entries. The data can then be imported into your QuickBooks file. This feature is only available in QuickBooks Premier -- Accountants and Bookkeepers Edition.
When your company has more than one division, QuickBooks has a category of classes that are very easy to use. Using them involves entering the class of your income or expense when posting entries. You can then view reports that will display the details of each division and their respective incomes or losses.
There are also industry specific versions of QuickBooks for Accountants, Contractors and Non-Profit industries.
The Contractors version, for example, enables a construction company to:
Issue progressive invoices based on estimates given to the client.
Compare estimates to actual invoices,
Compare profit and loss by job, and
Set up a vendor as a subcontractor therefore allowing for ease when filing the Canada Revenue Agency required Form T5018.
Talk to your accountant about how the special features of QuickBooks can help you work smarter not harder.
In many small businesses, having your payroll processed by an accountant or outside payroll company is a costly monthly expense. With QuickBooks' payroll module, payroll processing is simple and can be done in house.
QuickBooks is continuously adding features to its software that can save time and allow for more accurate processing. To help ensure you haven't missed some new feature that could be valuable to your business, consider visiting an online forum.
The forums can be helpful and visiting one should be one of the first steps you take when you encounter a problem. Chances are someone else has had the problem before and you can correspond with other QuickBooks users who are trying to use a function that may be of assistance to you.
To access the online forums, open your QuickBooks program, click on Help/QuickBooks Online/User to User Forums.
The forums are divided into specific areas of QuickBooks, so look for the area that is giving you a problem and search through the postings.
You can also login and post a question and you should get replies within a few days.
For immediate assistance, you can contact our firm and we may be able to assist you, or call QuickBooks Tech Support or a Certified ProAdvisor near you.
The business owner can provide employees with access to the software and limit that access to time entry. This way, employees will access the time entry portion of QuickBooks daily to enter their hours worked and allocate it to appropriate customers if required.
When you are processing payroll, you simply select the dates for the pay period and QuickBooks will pull together the hours worked. As an added bonus, when you prepare invoices, you can select to bill customers for the employee's time by selecting Time/Costs on your invoice screen.
If you don't want to provide employees with access to QuickBooks, there is a timer that can be set on employees' desktops that can be used to track time entries. The data can then be imported into your QuickBooks file. This feature is only available in QuickBooks Premier -- Accountants and Bookkeepers Edition.
When your company has more than one division, QuickBooks has a category of classes that are very easy to use. Using them involves entering the class of your income or expense when posting entries. You can then view reports that will display the details of each division and their respective incomes or losses.
There are also industry specific versions of QuickBooks for Accountants, Contractors and Non-Profit industries.
The Contractors version, for example, enables a construction company to:
Issue progressive invoices based on estimates given to the client.
Compare estimates to actual invoices,
Compare profit and loss by job, and
Set up a vendor as a subcontractor therefore allowing for ease when filing the Canada Revenue Agency required Form T5018.
Talk to your accountant about how the special features of QuickBooks can help you work smarter not harder.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Microsoft Unveils Office 2010 & Public Beta Details [Including Adware Starter Edition]
Microsoft Office 2010 will be released to general public and retail markets shortly. If you are gearing up to buy Office 2010, a recent post on Microsoft TechNet has details of things you should know about Office 2010.
Microsoft has released some information about their “Office 2010 adware version” and the public beta for trying out Office 2010.
Many comsumer grade PC's and laptops come preloaded with a "home edition" of Office software. You can try out and use Microsoft office for a period of 60 days, after which it will work with reduced functionality and disable editing features. (it becomes a viewer only)
If you are satisfied with the performance, you can go ahead and buy a copy and activate the version you already have installed.
However, starting with Office 2010, Microsoft is introducing a new way of selling Office software in the form of Product Key cards. The Product Key Card is a single license card that can be used to unlock pre-loaded Office 2010 versions.
The Office 2010 Product key card can be used to unlock, Microsoft Office – Office Home & Student 2010, Office Home & Business 2010, or Office Professional 2010.
Microsoft has released some information about their “Office 2010 adware version” and the public beta for trying out Office 2010.
Many comsumer grade PC's and laptops come preloaded with a "home edition" of Office software. You can try out and use Microsoft office for a period of 60 days, after which it will work with reduced functionality and disable editing features. (it becomes a viewer only)
If you are satisfied with the performance, you can go ahead and buy a copy and activate the version you already have installed.
However, starting with Office 2010, Microsoft is introducing a new way of selling Office software in the form of Product Key cards. The Product Key Card is a single license card that can be used to unlock pre-loaded Office 2010 versions.
The Office 2010 Product key card can be used to unlock, Microsoft Office – Office Home & Student 2010, Office Home & Business 2010, or Office Professional 2010.
Ad-Supported Office Starter 2010 Edition
Microsoft is completely doing away with Microsoft Works, which often gets preloaded on new laptops and PCs. Microsoft Works allowed users to view and open Office documents on their PC but didn't offer the same advanced functionality that Microsoft Office did.
However, once Office 2010 is launched, all new consumer grade laptops and PCs will be preloaded with Microsoft Office Starter 2010 Edition.
However, this edition will be act like a “adware software”. Along with some reduced functionality, you will also see advertisements popping up every now and then.
The idea behind ad-supported software isn't new, it's how the google search engine, facebook and even Linked-in websites are run, however Microsoft Office will be the first large scale test of this concept in an insatlled (rather than web based) application.
Microsoft is completely doing away with Microsoft Works, which often gets preloaded on new laptops and PCs. Microsoft Works allowed users to view and open Office documents on their PC but didn't offer the same advanced functionality that Microsoft Office did.
However, once Office 2010 is launched, all new consumer grade laptops and PCs will be preloaded with Microsoft Office Starter 2010 Edition.
However, this edition will be act like a “adware software”. Along with some reduced functionality, you will also see advertisements popping up every now and then.
The idea behind ad-supported software isn't new, it's how the google search engine, facebook and even Linked-in websites are run, however Microsoft Office will be the first large scale test of this concept in an insatlled (rather than web based) application.
Which key functions will help small business in office 2010 and which version of office 2010 is best suited for small business (Pro or Home & Businesss) still remains to be seen, but keep on eye on our blog for more breaking news on the next version of Microsoft Office!
Save Your Small Business Cash and Get Better Connected by Using Google Apps
If you haven't yet looked at using Google apps in your business and you're seeking places to conserve cash, now is the time to take a look.
Ideal for small business with 2 to 25 employees and wtih resources spread across the room or across the world.
Not only does Google have an enterprise level mail application, but it also offers application services similar to what is available in the Microsoft Office suite (Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
For as little as $50 per user per year you'll get:
Google Mail 25GB Mailbox storage, 99.9% uptime and Enhanced email security and spam filtering.
Shared online Google calendars for team colaberations.
Google Docs, Documents, Spreadsheets and presentations. Work online without attachments, share files or entire folders with coworkers seamlessly while maintaining a Microsoft Office document standard.
Google Sites Secure, coding-free websites for internal sharing and team data management.
See how Google Apps has worked for others:
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Donate your used computer and cell phone to help the people and the planet
For years clients have been asking, what do I do with my old comptuers? electronics? used equipment? I've heard rumour, that community organizations existed that recycled computers for needy families but never was able to get in touch with anyone. Recently a colleague introduced me to the Community Environment Alliance, not only do they take old computers for recycling and reuse, they also dispose of older or non-functional equipment in an environmentally way all while ensuring your private data is destroyed!
Donated equipments are refurbished to provide less privileged families with access to computers and information technology through our award winning Share-IT program.
The mandate of Share-IT program is to collect obsolete/discarded/unused computers and peripherals from household and business storages to distribute the reusable equipments to newcomers and low-income families. Unusable equipments and components are recycled in an environmentally safe way ensuring 100% diversion from landfills. By making one’s waste another’s resource, the Share-IT program aims to strengthen resource conservation and community sustainability.
As its broader goal, the program intends to bridge the digital divide between the information rich and information poor in our society, and allow all sectors of our community to have equal access to the benefits of the Information Age.
Non reusable equipments are recycled in an environmentally safe way through the Ontario Electronic Stewardship (OES) program. Community Environment Alliance is an OES approved Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) collector.
We are in critical need of the following items to help the community.
If you have any of the following used equipments please consider donating them to the Share-IT program to help us serve those in need.
Donated equipments are refurbished to provide less privileged families with access to computers and information technology through our award winning Share-IT program.
The mandate of Share-IT program is to collect obsolete/discarded/unused computers and peripherals from household and business storages to distribute the reusable equipments to newcomers and low-income families. Unusable equipments and components are recycled in an environmentally safe way ensuring 100% diversion from landfills. By making one’s waste another’s resource, the Share-IT program aims to strengthen resource conservation and community sustainability.
As its broader goal, the program intends to bridge the digital divide between the information rich and information poor in our society, and allow all sectors of our community to have equal access to the benefits of the Information Age.
Non reusable equipments are recycled in an environmentally safe way through the Ontario Electronic Stewardship (OES) program. Community Environment Alliance is an OES approved Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) collector.
We are in critical need of the following items to help the community.
If you have any of the following used equipments please consider donating them to the Share-IT program to help us serve those in need.
- 17 inch monitors
- Hard Drives
- Keyboards & Mice
- Working laptops
Related Downloads
Share-IT Brochure (PDF)
E-waste Information Brochure (PDF)
Contact the Community Environment Alliance at...
Community Environment Alliance (CEA)
7-222 Advance Blvd.
Brampton ON L6T4Y7
T: 905 463 9941
www.communityenvironment.org
CEA is committed to building a safe, healthy and sustainable future by improving the quality of community life and protecting the environment.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Virus warning comes by Courier
I've seen a number of versions of this email floating around lately, and it seems to be getting worse not better, if you get an email from UPS Delivery Problem NR.????? and the following message...
Hello!
We failed to deliver the postal package which was sent on the 26th of June in time because the recipient’s address is erroneous.
Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our department.
United Parcel Service.
Delete it, immediatley and don't open the attachment. As you may remember from previous posts, you CAN'T get a virus from an email, ONLY from it's attachments, so when in doubt, delete unsolicited emails with attachments you don't recognize.
Hello!
We failed to deliver the postal package which was sent on the 26th of June in time because the recipient’s address is erroneous.
Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our department.
United Parcel Service.
Delete it, immediatley and don't open the attachment. As you may remember from previous posts, you CAN'T get a virus from an email, ONLY from it's attachments, so when in doubt, delete unsolicited emails with attachments you don't recognize.
Speedup your windows PC by reducing the startup programs
Yesterdays short article on cleaning your tempfiles to speed up your computer prompted SO much interest I've decided to expand on it by mentioned the #2 FREE thing you can do to improve performance on your computer, clean up that pesky windows startup programs list.
With so many programs and applications running in your Windows background, you can no
longer be sure of what is necesary and what's just in the way. With so many of these programs running as soon as you start your computer they not only add to your startup time, they also hog valuable system resources slowing down your PC.
Startup Lite is a great little program that lets you identify and manage the programs in your Windows startup. quickly identifying the unnecesary startup programs and allowing you to erase them without providing the level of control that could potentially be harmful (by allowing you to remove critical windows components)
Did I mention it was FREE?
http://www.malwarebytes.org/startuplite.php
If tuning up your own computer either isn't in your time budget OR you're not getting the performance out of the PC you hoped even after these short tips, pick up the phone and call, and remember...
For a Proactive Approach, Call The Technology Coach!
With so many programs and applications running in your Windows background, you can no
longer be sure of what is necesary and what's just in the way. With so many of these programs running as soon as you start your computer they not only add to your startup time, they also hog valuable system resources slowing down your PC.
Startup Lite is a great little program that lets you identify and manage the programs in your Windows startup. quickly identifying the unnecesary startup programs and allowing you to erase them without providing the level of control that could potentially be harmful (by allowing you to remove critical windows components)
Did I mention it was FREE?
http://www.malwarebytes.org/startuplite.php
If tuning up your own computer either isn't in your time budget OR you're not getting the performance out of the PC you hoped even after these short tips, pick up the phone and call, and remember...
For a Proactive Approach, Call The Technology Coach!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Bell Canada and Telus will begin selling Apple's iPhone in November, breaking Rogers's lock on the wildly popular device, according to a report.
The two phone companies Bell and Telus - Canada's second- and third-biggest cellphone providers respectively after market leader Rogers - will launch the iPhone on their new, jointly constructed network next month, the Globe and Mail reported on Monday.
Rogers has had a de facto exclusive on the device since last summer, because it had the only compatible cellphone network. Bell and Telus announced last year they were building a $1 billion next-generation network to take advantage of hot devices such as the iPhone and Google's Android phones.
Rogers had been using the GSM and HSPA standard, while Bell and Telus were on the CDMA standard.
Bell, Telus and Apple did not confirm the move, which the newspaper attributed to unnamed sources.
Bell announced on Monday that its portion of the joint network was launching months ahead of plan. The new network will offer mobile internet speeds up to 21 megabits per second with more than 20,000 towns and cities covered, the company said.
Rogers has already begun rollout of a network that offers the same speeds. Currently, virtually no existing phones - including the iPhone 3G S - can handle these speeds, though new ones are expected to.
http://www.canada.com/technology/Bell+Telus+land+iPhone/2069088/story.html
Rogers has had a de facto exclusive on the device since last summer, because it had the only compatible cellphone network. Bell and Telus announced last year they were building a $1 billion next-generation network to take advantage of hot devices such as the iPhone and Google's Android phones.
Rogers had been using the GSM and HSPA standard, while Bell and Telus were on the CDMA standard.
Bell, Telus and Apple did not confirm the move, which the newspaper attributed to unnamed sources.
Bell announced on Monday that its portion of the joint network was launching months ahead of plan. The new network will offer mobile internet speeds up to 21 megabits per second with more than 20,000 towns and cities covered, the company said.
Rogers has already begun rollout of a network that offers the same speeds. Currently, virtually no existing phones - including the iPhone 3G S - can handle these speeds, though new ones are expected to.
http://www.canada.com/technology/Bell+Telus+land+iPhone/2069088/story.html
Windows XP – Secure your Computer from Internet Attacks
We're all a little anxious about people hacking into our computers and gaining access to our confidential data Right?
Well once you've put in place all of the standard Anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware, anti-phishing, anti-trojan and anti-root kit tools there's one more controversial tweak that tightens up the security just that little bit more!
To avoid unauthorized access, you may have set a password on your windows XP user account that you can remember easily. Even with a password set, hackers on the internet can break into your account and get access to your files. So, what do you have to do now? You better set a blank password or use no password at all right? Wait... What?
Yes! Using a blank password (or no password at all) can make your computer more secure. Huh?
Accounts on Windows XP that are not secured by a password, cannot be accessed remotely over the network or the Internet, good for stand alone PC's, but don't try this in a small office or a home with more than one computer that you intend to share files or printers too. (see note below)
The official guide from Microsoft on Password Practices suggests using blank passwords on Windows XP machines ONLY when the following criteria are met:
Well once you've put in place all of the standard Anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware, anti-phishing, anti-trojan and anti-root kit tools there's one more controversial tweak that tightens up the security just that little bit more!
To avoid unauthorized access, you may have set a password on your windows XP user account that you can remember easily. Even with a password set, hackers on the internet can break into your account and get access to your files. So, what do you have to do now? You better set a blank password or use no password at all right? Wait... What?
Yes! Using a blank password (or no password at all) can make your computer more secure. Huh?
Accounts on Windows XP that are not secured by a password, cannot be accessed remotely over the network or the Internet, good for stand alone PC's, but don't try this in a small office or a home with more than one computer that you intend to share files or printers too. (see note below)
The official guide from Microsoft on Password Practices suggests using blank passwords on Windows XP machines ONLY when the following criteria are met:
- You only have one computer or you have several computers but you do not need to access information on one computer from another one.
- The computer is physically secure (you trust everyone who has physical access to the computer – like your family members)
However, using blank password (or no password at all) is not always a good idea particularly when a computer is not in a secure location. For instance, your laptop is not physically secure so, setting up a strong password is a good deterent to most would be theives (although with the right tools a windows XP password can be disabled in less than 60 seconds)
So what if the environment is secure (you trust everyone in your office) and you want to add this additional level of security (blank the password) BUT you need access to files and printers on that computer from other computers?
There is a work around... Running the command gpedit.msc in the Run box (click start, Run) and disabling the setting “Limit local account use of blank passwords to console login only” available under Local Policies will allow you to access Windows XP Professional computers over the network after the password is blanked out or removed.
To remove the password, go into Control Panel, users and Select the user, then click remove password.
If you're not sure you're already doing everything you can to keep your computers safe on the internet or in the office, pickup the phone and call The Technology Coach.
Because... For a Proactive Approach, You should call The Technology Coach!
AVG 9.0 Free Coming mid-October: Faster and Meaner than Before
And in this case Meaner is Better! Because it's mean to the Viruses, not the Users, I promise!!!
AVG the popular free Antivirus software has been has been a long time personal favourite of mine because of it's unobtrusive nature, it protects you without having to "pop-up" constantly like many other free and not-free anti-virus applications. And things are about to get even better! Starting with AVG 9.0 you will see a lot of improvements in both speed and stability while still maintaining that "out of the way" style I've come to appreciate so much!
While AVG the free edition in the past hasn't been a "whole solution" as it didn't address many spyware and malware issues, when coupled with Microsofts free Windows Defender they make a great, free, reliable and stable security package.
With AVG 9.0, AVG is going back to basics and focusing on performance, protection, and the user experience. For example, the installation has been shortened by 50%, the user interface has been refined, scan times have been reduced by up to 50%, and boot time and memory usage have been improved by 10% to 15%.
Additionally, AVG 9.0 delivers improved anti-phishing detection through enhancements to its LinkScanner offering, which can now more quickly and accurately determine whether or not a web page is hosting a phishing attack.
This is accomplished by allowing the software to apply more than 100 different potential threat indicators to a page. If the result is inconclusive, LinkScanner then makes a call to the cloud to check a multitude of phishing feeds plugged into the AVG research network to make a final determination regarding threat potential.
AVG 9.0 Free should be available for downloads somewhere in Mid-October. If you have been using earlier versions of AVG, AVG 9.0 is a recommended update as definitely improves on several aspects.
AVG the popular free Antivirus software has been has been a long time personal favourite of mine because of it's unobtrusive nature, it protects you without having to "pop-up" constantly like many other free and not-free anti-virus applications. And things are about to get even better! Starting with AVG 9.0 you will see a lot of improvements in both speed and stability while still maintaining that "out of the way" style I've come to appreciate so much!
While AVG the free edition in the past hasn't been a "whole solution" as it didn't address many spyware and malware issues, when coupled with Microsofts free Windows Defender they make a great, free, reliable and stable security package.
With AVG 9.0, AVG is going back to basics and focusing on performance, protection, and the user experience. For example, the installation has been shortened by 50%, the user interface has been refined, scan times have been reduced by up to 50%, and boot time and memory usage have been improved by 10% to 15%.
Additionally, AVG 9.0 delivers improved anti-phishing detection through enhancements to its LinkScanner offering, which can now more quickly and accurately determine whether or not a web page is hosting a phishing attack.
This is accomplished by allowing the software to apply more than 100 different potential threat indicators to a page. If the result is inconclusive, LinkScanner then makes a call to the cloud to check a multitude of phishing feeds plugged into the AVG research network to make a final determination regarding threat potential.
AVG 9.0 Free should be available for downloads somewhere in Mid-October. If you have been using earlier versions of AVG, AVG 9.0 is a recommended update as definitely improves on several aspects.
Social Media, here to stay?
This 4 minute and 22 second video will open your eyes to the marvel that is Social Media!
With base thumping `get the juices’ flowing techno, the video recites some incredible statistics about the lightening fast growth of social media to the refrain “right here, right now.”
With base thumping `get the juices’ flowing techno, the video recites some incredible statistics about the lightening fast growth of social media to the refrain “right here, right now.”
Free windows system performance tweak!
Every year billions of dollars are spent by folks just trying to improve the performance of their computers. Over the last couple years there’s been a big market for “Registry Cleaners” even though there has been little evidence having a “tidy”, smaller registry makes any difference to system performance or reliability Truth is, a few simple, free tweaks can be done which can drastically improve the speed of your computers.
A surprising number of computer issues, espesically internet related ones can be resolved by just cleaning up the Windows Temporary Internet Files Folder.
I haven’t read much from Microsoft about cluttered Temp Folders but my years of experience tell me if this file gets too large all kind of seemingly unrelated problems can result.
You might be saying “I don’t use Internet Explorer so why do I care about it’s Temp Internet Folder” option. Trust me, if you’re using Windows XP, Vista or even Windows 7, you care.
The original purpose of the Temp Internet Folder was to save time accessing web pages by storing images and other objects that don’t change on your system. This was a good idea when we were all on slow dial-up connections but today these features are no longer relevant.
Anecdotal evidence shows the Temp Internet Folder is used for more than just browsing the Internet.
So how do we fix it?
Go ahead and open Internet Explorer, Click on the “Tools” menu and select “Internet Options”. Go ahead and clicking on the Delete button on the first screen, Nothing will be deleted until the 2nd screen. Internet Explorer 8 provides more options and control over which items you’ll want to remove. It's a great reason to upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 if you haven't already, in addition to the security and performance improvements. You can get IE8 through your windows updates or direclty from Microsoft here. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/
Click on the Settings button and you can tell Windows how much space to allocate for Temporary files. I recommend selecting the lowest amount recommended, usually 50MB.
If you’re looking for even more performance there are some standard changes you can make that all the experts agree on.
Adding memory will always be a big improvement. It may not be free but memory prices are very low these days.
If you’re getting a new computer and need to choose between a faster processor and more memory, go for the more memory every time.
The other tweak where you can’t go wrong is by cleaning up the list of programs which are loaded at startup.
The other tweak which many recommend is to defrag your hard drive.
Remember to dip back in every few weeks and Delete your Temporary files again, or when problems arise, and of course if you're using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox follow similar steps for those as well.
Keeping your technology running smoothly so you can focus on running your business is our business so don't hesitate to call or email with any questions.
And remember... For a Proactive Approach... Call The Technology Coach!
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