To Unsubscribe or Not, That is the Question!

Unsubscribing From Spam Emails

In the past we have always recommended never to unsubscribe from spam emails because a majority of companies would use the unsubscribe feature to simply gather additional information…and they still wouldn’t remove you from their list!  My how times have changed!  Due to successful legislation put in place over recent years, this kind of contemptible information gathering technique is becoming increasingly uncommon.  Using good user discretion you can now safely and effectively qualify as well as limit the number of email communications you receive as spam.

In today’s age of technology you use your email address more and more as an identifiable piece of information much like your phone number.  You probably receive dozens of valid emails from companies legitimately reaching out to you simply because you became a customer at some point.  Our recommendation today is to review each email and decide if you truly need that communication.  At the bottom of each email you will see the unsubscribe information.  By clicking on this link you can safely and successfully unsubscribe or in some instances choose or change the types of communication you wish to receive from the company.  By doing this regularly you can easily clean up your inbox within a couple of months. 

Be aware that many emails from companies include helpful information such as related or industry news, discounts on food and travel, coupons for product purchases, etc. so examine your emails closely.  Use discretion and make an informed decision as to whether you are receiving a benefit from keeping them. 

Oh and keep in mind that beneficial information always comes from OrLANtech so no need to unsubscribe from us!

Create Stronger Passwords

Do you use the same or similar password on a variety of sites?  If you answered “yes,” keep reading.  If you don’t, keep reading—you’ll probably still learn a thing or two.

Don’t Make a Hacker’s Job Easy

Two of the easiest ways for a hacker to compromise your accounts are by 1) guessing your simple or obvious password, e.g., date of birth, favorite sports team, child’s name, etc., and 2) by hacking into your e-mail account and finding passwords you’ve e-mailed to yourself.

Turn Easy into Complex

We echo the advice we’ve read from a variety of sources from Microsoft to Symantec … make your password random and use a mnemonic device.  For example, choose an easy-to-remember saying or phrase:  “My first dog was a German Shepherd named Sadie who liked to play catch” and then turn that phrase into an acronym using the first letter of each word … “My first dog was a German Shepherd named Sadie who liked to play catch” or MfdwaGSnSwltpc.  Now you have a completely random password with a mix of lowercase and capital letters.  Since many websites require a symbol or number, avoid using a “1” – the most common number – and consider adding a symbol in the middle of your password instead of at the end.  In this case, we’ll replace the “a” in our password for “@” Mfdw@GSnSwltpc.

Check Yourself

Use Microsoft’s FREE password checker to test the strength of your password.  Here are the results from our example:

The Results are In

First we would like to thank all of you who participated in our Big 15 Quiz.  With your participation, more than $600.00 was raised for our charity of choice:  Jarrett’s Joy Cart.  After reviewing all of the answers submitted, we thought it would be nice to send out the correct answers along with some interesting trivia: How many 3.5” floppy disks did Office 95 come with? The answer is:  24 floppies.  This question can be a little misleading because Office 95 was offered on CDs as well.  However, it was an available option to get it on floppy disks.  We do remember visiting some customers that had these floppy disks.  We did a quick calculation, and do you realize that if Windows 7 came on floppy disk that it would take more than 2,000 disks? What was the name of the very annoying ‘Office Assistant’ shaped like a paperclip in the early versions of Office? The answer is:  Mr. Clippit.  However, he also had the nickname of “Clippy.”  This feature had to be one of the most annoying things that Microsoft ever added to their Office applications.  How many of you actually changed him to be the dog, cat, dot, or other icon because you got tired of the paperclip? Who was the most popular Internet Service Provider in 1995? The answer is:  AOL (America On Line).  AOL was by far the most popular ISP at the time.  It is a testament to AOL that they are still as popular as they are.  At one time they had more than 30 million users.  They have been dropping ever since and are currently at just over 4 million users today. What was the most common service and bandwidth speed back in 1995? The answer is:  Dial-up service at 56Kbps.  Could manufacturers possibly have made a more annoying sound than that of a dial-up connection?  Why couldn’t they make it a whistle sound to the tune of “Don’t Worry Be Happy”?  Hopefully there is no one reading this that still is using a dial-up Internet connection.  If so, PLEASE call us! What was the first musical video (MPEG) that came with Windows 95. The answer is:  “Buddy Holly” by Weezer.  This video featured “The Fonze” from the popular TV show “Happy Days.”  As a technician, this music video was how we would always check your video, sound and media player.  Here is a link to the video if you have never seen it. What was the song that Microsoft used to promote the release of Windows 95? The answer is:  “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones.  Here is the explanation of it by Wikipedia:  Microsoft Windows 95 was released with great fanfare, including a commercial featuring the Rolling Stones‘ 1981 single “Start Me Up” (a reference to the Start button)[7].  It was widely reported that Microsoft paid the Rolling Stones between $8 million and $14 million for the use of the song in the 1995 advertising campaign.  According to sources at Microsoft, however, this was just a rumor spread by the Stones to increase their market value, and Microsoft actually paid a fraction of that amount [8].  A 30-minute promotional video, labeled a “cyber sitcom,” featuring Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry, was also released to showcase the features of Windows 95.  Microsoft’s $300 million advertising campaign featured stories of people waiting in line outside stores to get a copy. Once again, we would like to express our gratitude to everyone for making OrLANtech the number one IT service provider in Central Florida for the past 15 years, and thank you for your participation with our Big 15 Quiz.  We hope you enjoyed your trip down memory lane.

The Big 15!

We hope you’re having fun taking our Big 15! Quiz to celebrate our 15th Anniversary!

Your Clue for the Bonus Question is: Mick Jagger is the lead singer of the band whose song was featured.

Do I Really Need All of These Pictures?

As digital cameras become more and more advanced, the size of each picture continues to grow as well. Not only are these getting larger, but now with the popularity of digital video (Flip, etc.) your hard drive needs are growing exponentially. Here are some recommendations for your digital photos and videos:

Adjust the DPI Resolution
A typical DPI (Dots per Inch) resolution will make each picture 1MB or greater. Dropping the resolution could decrease the size by 50 percent and most people wouldn’t even notice the clarity difference.

Don’t Upload Every Photo
Do you really need 448 pictures of your son’s baseball game? So many people are getting accustomed to taking dozens of pictures and never deleting blurry or duplicate pictures. Take as many pictures as you want, but when you transfer back to your PC, copy only the ones that you truly want and delete the rest.

Organize Your Pictures
Storing all of your pictures and videos under one ‘root’ folder will make it easy to sort.  One recommended method is organizing them by date.

For instance, C:\ Pictures \

\2009

\2010

\January

\February

Then, you can create sub folders in the month to better label the event, such as (C: \Pictures\2010\June\Disney Trip).  This allows you to store by date, but also allows you to search your drive in the future, if needed.

Shrink Pictures all at Once
A great FREE product for shrinking a group of photos at one time is PhotoRazor.  It’s a great utility which allows you to keep your large picture files, but also shrink some to use on Facebook or e-mail to family and friends.

If It Looks Too Good To Be True …

You know the rest of that saying, right?

Over the past several months, we’ve had a few customers tell us that they could purchase Microsoft, Symantec and Adobe software at 70% less than what our prices are.

We researched some of the products for them, and some of the websites looked legitimate and didn’t have many complaints against them.  Even though we couldn’t point immediately to why the software was so heavily discounted, we knew it was too good to be true.  Still, the choice was theirs to make.

The customer received the software, installed it, and it turned out to be the International version.  Once installed, the software would not register or update because it recognized the IP address of the company as being in the United States.  Consequently, the software wouldn’t work, couldn’t be returned and can never be updated, which makes it vulnerable to attack.  Even worse … we ultimately discovered the software vendor had recently been indicted by Microsoft.

Tips:

• Comparison shop.  If software is discounted more than 5-10 %, proceed with caution.
• Check out Microsoft’s Anti-Piracy Website or the Business Software Alliance (BSA) for ways to protect yourself from piracy.

The Bottom Line: Saving a few hundred dollars is not worth it if you end up purchasing illegal or pirated software.  Get legal and stay legal.  Have your IT Company produce a yearly license audit report.

15 Years in Business and 5 Lessons I’ve Learned

Keith Coker, president and co-founder of OrLANtech, reflects on 15 years in business with 5 important lessons:

1. Hiring for Culture is as Important as Hiring for Talent

Hire fun people.  Replace toxic employees who constantly complain or are never happy – your employees will thank you.  And, do fun things for your employees … go bowling, have a game night, organize a scavenger hunt … ‘busy’ will always be an excuse, so just schedule it and have some fun.  Have fun with your customers, too.

2. Be Honest, Moral and Trustworthy at ALL Times

No ifs, ands or buts about it.

3. Profit isn’t a Dirty Word

It’s okay to set out to make a profit on every job.  Bill and collect quickly.  Spend less than you make.  You and your employees deserve it.

4. Stay Organized

Your inbox should never be more than 2 pages long (approx. 50 items).  Act on items immediately.  Make a decision and move on.  Respond to everyone quickly.  Eat that Frog!

5. Give Back and Get Involved in the Community

There’s no better feeling than helping others.  Encourage your employees to participate, create committees for them to join (e.g., Pay it Forward, Feed the Homeless, Cancer Fundraising, etc.).  Keep family as a No. 1 priority – Give employees flex time.

Hurricane Prep and Disaster Recovery

When was the last time you had a three-day warning there would be a fire in your business?  How about a long-range forecast for theft, vandalism or a malicious employee?  Those things are about as rare as a hurricane season without a storm.  Hurricanes do come with warnings, though, and we’ve developed a list of tips to help you prepare your business in the event of such disaster.

Your plans may vary depending on the level of storm you’re preparing for, but take time now to develop a plan.  A solid disaster recovery plan will save you valuable time and money if a disaster occurs.

Download our Hurricane Tip Sheet.

Other helpful resources:

• National Hurricane Center
• American Red Cross – Mid-Florida Region
• OrLANtech Contact Info
• WESH Channel 2 Hurricane Information
• WFTV Channel 9 Hurricane Information
• CFN Channel 13 Hurricane Information

OrLANtech and Barracuda Join for Security Trends Lunch

Yesterday we paired up with Barracuda Networks to present an educational “Security Trends” lunch & learn featuring several of Barracuda’s most powerful security and network appliances.

The room was full of network administrators, CIOs and IT enthusiasts who learned the intricacies of some of Barracuda’s most popular appliances including their Web Filter, Spam and Virus Firewall, Backup System and Messaging Archiver … many of which have been implemented throughout Central Florida by our team of skilled network engineers.  Here is an overview of the appliances and solutions that were discussed at the luncheon:

Web Content Filter:  A Web content filter that can monitor and limit Internet usage by employees.  The Barracuda Web Filter is an integrated content filtering, application blocking and malware protection solution that is powerful, easy-to-use, and affordable for businesses of all sizes.  It helps increase employee efficiency and productivity while minimizing computer repair and even legal risk to your company.

Spam & Virus Firewall: It’s always a good idea to implement a comprehensive A/V solution.  The Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall is an integrated hardware and software solution designed to protect your e-mail server from spam, virus, spoofing, phishing and spyware attacks.  The Barracuda Spam & Virus Firewall is compatible with all e-mail servers and can fit into nearly any corporate or small business environment.

Storage Solution: You should never underestimate the power of a great backup solution.  The Barracuda Backup Service is an affordable data backup solution, providing a full local data backup that is combined with a storage subscription to replicate data offsite.  This approach provides the best of both worlds—onsite backups for fast restore times and secure, offsite storage for disaster recovery.

Message Archiver: An e-mail archive solution can be especially helpful for companies that are legally bound to archive e-mail messages for regulatory compliance.  The Barracuda Message Archiver stores and indexes all e-mail for easy search and retrieval by both regular users and third-party auditors.

For product information or to be included in the next lunch & learn, contact OrLANtech.

Secondary E-Mail Service

Does your business use an Exchange Server?

If so, have you ever wondered what would happen to your e-mail if your server suddenly crashed?

That’s where a Secondary E-mail Service comes in.

When Exchange has issues – or if your Internet is down – a secondary e-mail solution re-routes e-mail from its primary location (your inbox) to a secondary location temporarily. Once the server issue is resolved, e-mail then gets routed back to your inbox.

Secondary E-mail Services also have a Web interface, which enables users to access their mail from a secondary location online … users can compose and reply to e-mails with a fully functional Web interface until the primary location becomes available.

This solution is very affordable, and can be a lifesaver for businesses that are highly dependent on electronic communication.