#1 Monthly Client Issue - Easy Computer Care - Vista Update- Office 2007 Update
Passwords to avoid - Community Events

Use the best person for the job

You are the best you can be at YOUR profession. Why waste time and get frustrated with items that are not your strength? We can help you with any technology needs as well as names of professionals for Insurance, Payroll, Accounting, Copiers, Home Mortgages, Attorneys, Commercial & Residential plumbing, electrical, and painting.

These are people we trust with our reputation, so we know they are the best at what THEY do.

One of the reasons our newsletter is later than normal has been because of a recent spike in data recovery services we have been performing. Over the last six weeks, we have recovered and rebuilt 6 computers and 2 servers.  Failures have ranged from hard drive failures, corrupted operating systems, to virus/spyware issues.

The great news is that NO DATA WAS LOST!

Backup solutions in place at each client prevented these failures from being anything more than a minor annoyance.   We have several types of backup alternatives (automatic, unattended, remote, DVD, etc) to help make sure that your data is as safe as these clients.  Please contacts us to find out more.

Summer is upon us and we need talk about one of your office inhabitants... your computer.  There are two things you can do to prolong the life of your computer:

1. Keep the A/C on.  You can set it to 75 degrees for when you are not there, but computers can easily overheat and shut down above 80 degrees and high humidity.
2. We have already seen power fluctuation at a few clients.  Invest in a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply - aka battery backup.)  When the power dips, your computer can crash and data can get corrupted.  If the power spikes, well then you will have a large paperweight for your office (the components can get fried).

While summer is almost here, a useable version of Vista is not.  We continue to see MAJOR functional issues with Vista.  Issues range from having to enter the "Super" administrator password every few minutes, to software not functioning as it did before.

In the good news department, Dell has been giving you the choice of Vista or Windows XP for a while now.  Stick with XP Pro for now.

Our next update regarding with Vista will be towards the end of the summer.

Office 2007 is intuitive - very different, but fairly easy to use.

If you have never used Word, Excel, or Outlook, then you will find this new Office Suite very easy to use.  If you are familiar with the last version (Office 2003), then you need to look at the screen a little differently - close that is.  Many of the function and features that used to be buried in Office 2003, are right there in front of your eyes.  From, which font you want to use, or which style or attribute - they are on the new "Ribbon" at the top of each page.

While this is not worth the expense to upgrade, it is worthwhile for when you get your new computer with Windows XP Pro.

Security does not have to be difficult, but it should not be too easy either. Here are some tips on passwords that are too easy to guess:

1. password
2. passwd
3. your first name
4. your last name
5. name of your company
6. 1234 (...567890)
7. blank
8. your username
9. your username123
10. 1 (or any single digit)

A good password which is hard to guess, is a combination of alphanumeric and number characters.  Pick something that is familiar to you, and add your favorite number.  This combination will pass as "Fair" to "Strong" with most password strength testers.

Feel free to send us comments or requests for future topics.  You may also forward this email or link to someone else who may appreciate the information.  The link for our newsletters is: www.swiftecit.com/news