Do you …
Use the same password?
Many of us create one password and use it everywhere. Once the password is discovered by a scammer/hacker then it can be used.

Have personal information as part of your password?
Many of us use our children or pet names or other personal information as part of the password. A hacker can and will be able to discover this information and use it to decode the password.

Use a real word?
There are software programs that can go through every word in the dictionary until the the right password is discovered.

Write the password down and keep it close to the computer?
Yes, it’s not a good idea, but we all seem to do it.

Password Best Practices
Since many places allow passwords that are case sensitive, use both upper and lower case letters in the password. such as: PaSSworD – Note never use password, or common sequence of letters (abcdef) or numbers (12345) as a password. Those are the most common ones.

Have special characters and/or numbers as part of the password.

Use initials of a phrase that is easy to remember.

Use different passwords for everything.

Google Voice offers a single phone number that can ring on all of a user’s phones, either all of the time or by a schedule that can be applied to each number. The service also has a voice mail box which can transcribe the message to text and send it to an email address or as SMS to a cell phone.

To use the service all you need is an Google account. Currently users will have to select a number supplied by Google Voice. Although this could change in the future.

To put it bluntly, as safe as you want to be. In some ways you could compare the Internet to walking the streets in a big city. Most of the time, nothing will happen, but when it does, it could be murder.

If you walk the main streets of the Internet, usually no harm will befall you. But just like walking a big city streets when you venture into the dark alleys and the more dangerous sections, you are obviously going to be in more danger.

There are ways to help to be safe while using the Internet. One of the best ways is to be aware of what you are doing and think before reacting. If something appears too good to be true, it probably is. There aren’t really any ways to get rich by doing nothing.

Be prepared.

It can help by keeping the software on your computer up-to-date. Sometimes a newer version may need to be purchased, but often all that is needed is to make certain that the ones you are using have all of the security patches installed.

There are many malicious programs cruising the Internet. Some of those are just out there knocking on doors to see who answers. Others may be hiding in the shadows of attachments to emails messages that appear to be from friends.

To keep these malicious programs from infecting your computers, the computer needs to protected. Use Anti-virus programs and Anti-spyware. Anti-virus programs can be set up to scan the computer from time to time as well as to check email messages for hidden viruses. Anti-spyware can keep programs such as Adware (programs that sits your computer and feed ads to you) from taking roost on your computer

You will want to fun a firewall on your computer as well. A firewall hides the computer from automated attackers.

Just as walking the streets in a big city there are things to follow to keep you safe.

• Do Not Open Spam.
• Before opening an attachment, check and double check that it is not a malicious program. It’s easy to steal and fake someone email address so even attachments from someone you know may not safe, check.
• If while on the Internet an Ad pops up, such as one saying you have a virus on your computer, you may wonder how do they know. They don’t. They are just trying to sell you a product and lead you to their site.
• Purchase products from locations that you are familiar.
• If the site looks like it leads to a dangerous path, leave and don’t go back.

Email:
Use Reply All when intending only to reply to the sender.

Send a list of email address embedded within the body of the message to someone who may be collecting addresses. Or send a private email address to a person that the address owner would rather not have it known.

Send an email referencing an attachment, without adding the attachment.

Be reminded that the attachment was not attached by a person who you are trying to impress.

Telephone:
Think that the telephone is muted and say something you don’t want the other party to hear. Or say something inappropriate.

Accidentally conference two parties together.

Erase a voice mail message that holds important information, more than likely contact information.

Start leaving a voice mail message to someone only to discover you are talking with the person.

Leave a message or adding to the message on someone’s voice mail believing that you have disconnected.

Energy:
Turn the lights on in the supply room, forget to turn it off only to find that it was left on for the entire weekend. Worst a long weekend.

Wonder why the office is cold, use a space heater only to find that the thermostat was blocked from getting room air.

Cellphone
Forget to turn the ringer off on the cellphone before entering an important meeting and then have the phone ring. Worst case heading a meeting and requesting that everyone silent theirs only to have yours ring.

Forget where you are while talking on the phone and talk about important or private information where others can hear.

Stop in mid conversation with someone to answer your cellphone without an apology.

Have a person respond to something you said while talking to the cellphone. Or respond to another person who is on their phone.

While there’s not a way to completely eliminate any of these things from occurring, by taking a second to think and not rushing can help.

SLA – Service Level Agreement
An agreement between a supplier (usually a telecommunications carrier, but also could be a maintenance provider) and the customer (the SMB), which details the service provided with an outline of measurements (quality of service) that need to be reached.

SLA – Software License Agreement
Terms that the user agrees (usually upon purchase) on the ways the software can be used or what the software provider agrees to deliver. This could also include the End-User License Agreement (EULA)

SLA – Service Listed Address
The address where the telecommunication service is delivered. Many times this is used within the E-911 system and used when the billing address is not the same as the service address.

Header
The header has information about the sender. Some of the information is kept hidden to the reader by the email software (either web-based services such as GMail or software readers such as those by MicroSoft and others). To the reader most readers will see the sender, those that the email was sent to and/or CCed, date and time of the message and the Subject Line. The hidden portion contains information about the routing and usually is only important to those technical type who are troubleshooting a problem.

The Body
The text of the email

Signature Line
This line is used by the sender to give the recipient information about the sender. Many email programs can be set to entered this line automatically on all emails sent.

More on the Subject Line, Body and Signature Line will appear in future articles.

There are things that can be done to help prevent problems. Using the following as a guideline will greatly assist in keeping the tool in good shape.

1) Have the right software installed. Every computer will come with the operating system installed. The first ones to install now would be Anti-virus, firewall and one that will protect you from ad-ware and spy-ware. After those it’s time to determine what other software you need to do your work.

2) Keep the operating system software and prevention software updated. Just as important as having these packages installed on your system you need to be sure that they are up-to-date and are regularity updated. Most will allow you to set a time to update. It should probably be done once a day and at a time that you know that the computer will be connected to the Internet.

3) Think before adding new software or upgrades. It’s always best to consider all factors before adding new software or updates. Is the computer powerful enough to run the updated software? Will the software impact any other installed software? Will it require system resources that may slow the system to an unusable level? These are just a couple of the questions that should be raised when looking at new and upgraded software.

4) Clean and organize your Hard Drive. Even though computer data storage devices are getting bigger, so in many cases are the files being stored on them. Software packages can take up a lot of space, as can music and video files. It’s a good idea to occasionally check your drive to remove outdated and unwanted software and other files. Email is another source of storage hogs. There may be multiple message with the same attachment or just old messages that have attachments. The Hard Drive is nearly always working and it does have mechanical parts that can fail. You will want to back up critical files routinely for quick restore in case of a failure.

5) Keep the area and air vents clean. One of the biggest dangers to the computer is heat. And the inter working of a modern machine generates a lot of it. It’s important to keep the air vents clean and free from dust, dirt and other air flow inhibitors such as paper and sticky notes. You don’t want to have the computer in a cabinet that has little to no air flow and keep it away from the heating source of the room.

6) Know where important documentation is located. In the case that the computer does decide to break it’s important to have the contact and/or warranty information easy to find. If you have a maintenance plan that allow for checkup and cleaning, have it done at the recommended times and if possible just before the warranty expires. Also know where the system restore and other software disk are located. And have current backups available.

© 2007-2008 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved

******
Steven G. Atkinson is the author of the book Technology Tips for Small Business. The book offers over 55 informational tips to assist the small business owner or office manager better understand the technology they use every day.

To put it bluntly, as safe as you want to be. In some ways you could compare the Internet to walking the streets in a big city. Most of the time, nothing will happen, but when it does, it could be murder.

If you walk the main streets of the Internet, usually no harm befall you. But just like walking a big city streets when you venture into the dark alleys and the more dangerous sections, you are obviously going to be in more danger.

There are ways to help to be safe while using the Internet. One of the best ways is to be aware of what you are doing and think before reacting. If something appears too good to be true, it probably is. There aren’t really any ways to get rich by doing nothing.

Be prepared.

It can help by keeping the software on your computer up-to-date. Sometimes a newer version may be needed to be purchased, but often all that is needed is to make certain that the ones you are using have all of the security patches installed.

There are many malicious programs cruising the Internet. Some of those are just out there knocking on doors to see who answers. Others may be hiding in the shadows of attachments to emails messages that appear to be from friends.

To keep these malicious programs from infecting your computers, the computer needs to protected. Use Anti-virus programs and Anti-spyware. Anti-virus programs can be set up to scan the computer from time to time as well as to check email messages for hidden viruses. Anti-spyware can keep programs such as Adware (programs that sits your computer and feed ads to you) from taking roost on your computer

You will want to fun a firewall on your computer as well. A firewall hides the computer from automated attackers.

Just as walking the streets in a big city there are things to follow to keep you safe.

• Do Not Open Spam.
• Before opening an attachment, check and double check that it is not a malicious program. It’s easy to steal and fake someone email address so even attachments from someone you know may not safe, check.
• If while on the Internet an Ad pops up, such as one saying you have a virus on your computer, you may wonder how they know. They don’t. They are just trying to sell you a product and lead you to their site.
• Purchase products from locations that you are familiar.
• If the site looks like it leads to a dangerous path, leave and don’t go back.

© 2006-2007 Steven G. Atkinson – All rights reserved

*****
Steven G. Atkinson is the author of the book – Technology Tips for Small Business. For more information on the book visit the site for for book – Technology Tips for Small Business.

Do you know what software reside on your computer?  If you don’t know it’s probably time to find out.

Software companies just like any business they are in business make money.  They don’t want their valuable commodity being used by companies who don’t have the legal rights to use it.  So you really want to have the software on your computer to be in compliance.

There are many reasons that some of the software on the computers at your company may be out of compliance.  Some software companies may sell their software for use for a limited amount of time.  If that time has lapsed and you are still using the software it is out of compliance.

It’s possible that your company may have purchased the original software, but not the upgrade that one of your employees installed simply because they had it.

There are also cases where the software on your machine was purchased out of compliance for its use. Some software publishers will offer discounts for personal use. These versions, while identical to the full version, in the purchase agreement states they can’t be used for business purposes. This would make the software out of compliance.

You may not even be aware that the software is not in compliance, but if you happen to fall under an Audit it could cause a lot of trouble. Just the audit itself is troublesome; time is spent researching purchasing records, license agreement and other documents. After the audit you may find yourself in compliance, but most may also find themselves out of compliance with little leverage in negotiations.

Here are some things to assist you with your software inventory.

• Have a computer policy. It should state how the computer should be used, lists who may install software and document that unauthorized software can not be installed. Unauthorized software would be everything whether it’s free off of the Internet or purchased.
• Have one person or a small team being the authorizing point. You may also want to be part of that team.
• Document all software installed on each computer. Be certain that each copy has it’s own license and document such. One purchased copy put on the three machines is not valid unless the license agreement gives that right.
• Perform your own computer audit once a year.  One way to accomplish this is in conjunction with an employee performance review.  If the computer is found in compliance, than the employee did their job to maintain it as such.

If an audit is now performed, give the auditor the documented software list for each machine and you can feel confident that the audit will go smooth and, for you, successful.

© 2006-2007 Steven G. Atkinson – All rights reserved – tt4sb.com

Apple recommends that you delay upgrading until their next release of iTunes. They haven’t given a date of that release, but believe it to be available within the next few weeks.

Some of the compatibility problems are;
• iTunes store purchases may not play when upgrading from Windows 2000 or XP.
• iPod models with the “Enable Disk Use” option turned off may be unable to update or restore iPod software, make changes to iPod settings or may require being ejected and reconnected to resync.
• Ejecting an iPod from the system tray and not iTunes could cause corruption on the iPod.
• Contacts and calendars will not sync with iPod.

Apple recommends following these steps if you do plan on upgrading before the next release of iTunes.
1. Deauthorize all iTunes Store accounts.
2. Enable Disk Use on all iPod models.
3. Uninstall iTunes.
4. Perform a clean install of Windows Vista (Highly recommended but not required).
5. Reinstall the latest version of iTunes.
6. Open iTunes.
7. Choose Authorize Computer from the Store menu in iTunes.

The full text of Apple’s warning can be found;http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305042