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G et More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.cmitsolutions.com/denver “How The CMIT Network Health Check ’Exorcised’ The Ghost Hiding In This Insurance CEO’s ComputerA‘ With Halloween right around the corner, you might think the hair standing up on the back of your neck is a ghost — but for this insurance CEO, it was something much scarier... Wes Wenk is the Vice President of Wenk Insurance, a 3 rd generation family insurance agency that is a one - stop - shop for a client needing coverage for aircraft operations to the more mundane home, life, medical and auto insura nce. “We have S rd generation customers today that started doing business with my Grandfather when he started the business in 1YSR,‘ says Wes. “We aren’t a jumbo operation that cranks out millions of policies, but that’s by design. We prefer to stay sm aller because it gives us the ability to be versatile for our clients and give them the personalized, high - touch service that large agencies just can’t – or won’t – offer.‘ The Stakes Were Getting Higher As with any modern business, Wenk Insurance was becoming more and more reliant on their computer network, e - mail, Internet access, and database systems to run their business. “I wouldn’t say we’re technology dinosaurs, but we are a bit old fashioned in the way we do business. I guess that’s partially du e to the fact that before hiring CMIT, we weren’t 100E confident in the security and reliability of our computer network. As a matter of fact, we still keep a few manual typewriters aroundA‘ laughed Wes. “But I did realize that we were becoming more r eliant on our computer systems, and as we continued to grow, the stakes were getting higher if we did run into computer problems or lost data,‘ said Wes. “We didn’t have a full time person on staff to support our network, and that gap started to become more and more apparent as we grew. I was being forced to take time out of my day to deal with computer problems when they came up, and it seemed as though there was always something going wrong or breaking down.‘ A Deadly Unforeseen Problem Is Found Lurk ing! Fortunately, Wes met Jerry Karson from CMIT at a business networking event. “When I first contacted CMIT, I didn’t have any immediate problems with our network, but I had a sneaking suspicion that there was a ticking ’time bomb’ lurking in our sys tem, waiting to go off,‘ says Wes. (continued on page 2) —As a business owner, I know you don’t have time to waste on technical and operational issues. That’s where we shine ! Call us and put an end to your IT problems finally and fore verA“ - Debi Bush, CMIT Solutions of Denver Volume IV , Issue X October , 2010 Denver, Colorado Inside This Issue… How The CMIT Network Health Check ‘Exorcised’ The Ghost Hiding In This Insurance CEO’s Computer …………………… . . .....Page 1 Phil ’s In The Corner : My First Column …… …. …… ... … . ..Page 2 Four Rules To Banish Digital Clutter ………………………......Page S Techie Terms Made Simple: What Is Cloud Computing……………….Page 4 Should You Really Trust Every App You Install On Your Phone…….Page 4 Security Alert: Fake Anti - Virus And Anti - Spyware Advertisers Are Multiplying……………….. …... . . Page 5 Where’s That File? Save Money and Energy and Go Green…………..Page U Business Owner Beware About Employees Using Cell Phones While Driving…………………………...Page 6 Writing For The Compu ter Screen…………………………….Page W Five Metrics To Track On On Your Blog……………………Page 8 G et More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.cmitsolutions.com/denver “That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to have CMIT come on - site and conduct a free assessment of our network. They came in, evaluated our system, showed u s where we were weak, and provided solid recommendations for securing our data and making our network more secure and reliable. The good news was that there was nothing about to explode, but our backups were not working 100% of the time and we had no relia ble way to recover the data if there was a storm, fire or if our server crashed.‘ But that wasn’t the only problem. Wes had one of the employees take the tape backups home to provide some level of an off - site backup, but no one ever checked to see if the tapes were any good, or if the data could be recovered . Plus, the tapes were piling up in this employee’s home and it was a major headache to remember to swap out the tapes. “The thought of losing our data was very scary - that’s why we brought CM IT in. Had something happened, it would have definitely affected our business and the financial losses would have stacked up fast,‘ Wes said. “We knew we were taking a major chance if we didn’t address this situation. It could have destroyed our company an d put us down for days, possibly weeks.‘ After reviewing their situation, CMIT set up a backup system that automatically copies their data to a remote location every night. They also monitor those backups carefully to make sure nothing goes wrong. “ Now, we have a good off - site backup of our data. If disaster strikes, I know we can access our data from anywhere. I can’t tell you how much of a relief it is to know that CMIT is keeping close watch over our data 24/7. After all, our clients trust us to b e available and ready to help them when they need it. We can’t tell them we can’t help them because we’re down or having problems with our network.‘ The Sneaky Time - Vampire That was Sucking the Life Out of Wenk Insurance Another major problem CMIT di scovered was the amount of spam Wenk Insurance was receiving on a daily basis. “I was getting as many as SU0 – 400 e - mails a day and about 90% were spam. It was taking me over an hour a day to sort through the e - mails because I had to sift through all the s pam to find client e - mails. Then, no matter how careful I was, I would accidentally delete important e - mails from clients or prospects which gave them the impression I wasn’t responsive to their requests. It was a huge problem,‘ said Wes. But the probl em didn’t end there. Wenk Insurance employs 1W people and each one of those employees was spending at least 10 minutes a day sorting through and deleting spam e - mails. That works out to 170 minutes a day or 830 hours a year wasted on spam. “When I looked a t the amount of time our office was wasting on spam, I was shocked,‘ exclaimed Wes. “ It equated to 20 weeks of work a year when you added up the time invested by all the employeesA‘ “ That’s good math and not an inflated number,‘ said Wes, “Spam is sn eaky. It only arrives in small amounts so you have to add it up over time to see the impact.‘ (continued on page 3 – tips from Wes on how not to be scared to come to work) Phil’s In The Corner This is a new enhancement to our monthly newsletter where our firm’s President, Phil Bush, will discuss a different business topic that ties in with technology for the small and mid - s ized business owner and decision - maker. My First Column  I have been a small business owner for just over six, hard to believe it , years. It has been a steep learning curve for me and my wife/business partner, Debi. Neither of us had ever owned a busi ness where we have employ - ees and all of that. I worked for Bell Labs and Lucent for 18 years doing software development and integration. I discovered that I was bored with what I was doing a lot of the time – even though I was really good at it. I don’t w ant my team to get bored – I want them to grow and be challenged. I am reminded in one way or another – mostly by Debi – that there is always more to be learned from others whether it be a team member, a CMIT colleague , an expert in a particular field or to pic or even lessons learned from my parents . And, I will learn from writing these monthly columns and being out of my comfort zone. Have a great October! Page 2 G et More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.cmitsolutions.com/denver Wes has One Piece of Advice for His Fellow Entrepreneurs… “I strongly reco mmend that any business owner take advantage of the free Security and Vulnerability Audit offered by CMIT. If you are like most business owners, you’re probably really busy running the business, taking care of clients, and responding in a million direction s which means you are not paying attention to your computer network and the security of your data.‘ “Therefore, there’s a good chance you have problems brewing that you never dreamed of. Of course, things might be better than you thought, but the free audit is a good way to find out about the health and security of your network without any obligation or risk. I believe that CMIT will give you an honest count on what they find. If everything is good, they would tell you. If nothing else, their audit wil l give you peace of mind knowing where you stand and give you one less thing to worry about,‘ says Wes. That’s why we recommend outsourcing the care and maintenance of your computer network to a professional. Not only will they do a better job, but over time a well maintained computer network will significantly reduce your overall IT costs AND allow you to focus on more important issues like sales, profits, management , and customer service. Call Us For A FREE Network Health Exam Call us on or be fore October 31st and , at no cost or obligation, we’ll come to your office and run a series of diagnostic tests to find hidden problems, viruses , and other computer maladies causing your PCs to run slow, freeze up , and cause problems. At no cost, we will:  Run a virus, spyware , and malware scan  Check the integrity and reliability of your data backup  Check critical firewall and security settings  Look for fragmented data, corrupted registry files , and unnecessary programs that slow down performance  Check secu rity updates and patches To claim your FREE Network Health Check so you don’t get a n unexpected fright , call us at 303 - 756 - 2648 or email us at Denver@cmitsolutions.com . 4 Rules to Banish Digital Clut ter Keeping extra files on your hard drive can make it difficult to get to the information you want, leading to lost or duplicated files and a lot of wasted time. Here are a few simple ways you can keep your files in order. 1. Delete, delete, delete. If you haven’t opened something in a year, you’re probably safe throwing it out. 2. Use shortcuts instead of making duplicate files. That way you don’t have to worry about versioning problems. 3. Use descriptive file names. Put enough identifying detail in th e file name that you’ll be able to discern the contents at a glance. 4. Don’t save what you don’t need. If you’ve been sent something for a quick review, don’t archive it. Shiny New Gadget Of The Month : Pico Solar Charger Do you like to camp, hike , and spend time outdoors but can’t live without your iPod or cell phone? We’ve got the solutionA Pico Freeloader Solar Charger is a compact and lightweight solar powered charger that can give you 35 hours on mobile phone, 14 hours on iPod, or 1.5 hours on GPS , a ll on a single ten hour charge. The crystalline solar cells will soak in the s un's rays by day , and when night falls, you can plug your phone or GPS in and ch arge it up in just a half hour! Now when you trek through the wilderness, you can do it with peace of mind knowing your vital devices will stay charged in case of emergency . What's particularly nice about the Pico is that you can recharge its internal lithium ion via USB in the event of a cloudy day or in the middle of winter. Oh, did we mention it' s only $39 ? Maybe this is the new Christmas gift you get for everyone! Page 3 G et More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.cmitsolutions.com/denver Techie Terms Made Simple: What Is Cloud Computing? —Cloud computing“ is simply a term used to describe internet - based applications that are stored and accessed via a web browser instead of a server or computer at your location. Over the last couple of years there has been a HUGE movement towards companies using —cloud - based“ applica tions because lost data is more easily recovered and remote workers can conveniently access information. As a result, costs for hardware and support are drastically lowered. One —cloud“ application we encourage some of our clients to consider is Hosted Exc hange. Not only does this give you a tremendous amount of flexibility in accessing your e - mail, but it also lowers the costs of hardware, software, installation, and support D RASTICALLY. While there are still some fears around hosting critical apps and dat a offsite, those fears will become a thing of the past as business owners see the bottom - line cost savings of cloud - based computing. Should You Really Trust Every App You Install On Your Phone? Nope – some of them are plundering your personal informati on and b eaming it to potential bad guys. (Do hackers ever sleep?) Two researchers revealed that they'd researched one seemingly benign wallpaper app and found that it was sending phone numbers and subscriber information (like names and addresses) to a remo te computer. The app in question came from Jackey Wallpaper, and it was uploaded to the Android Market, where users can download it and use it to decorate their phones that run the Google Android operating system. It includes bran ded wallpapers from My Li ttle Pony to Star Wars . Essentially, these apps collect your phone number, subscriber identification, and ev en your voicemail phone number as long as they are programmed automatically into your phone. It sends the data to a web site, www.imnet.us. That sit e is evidently owned by someone in Shenzhen, China. The app has been downloaded anywhere from 1.1 million to 4.6 million times. — Apps that seem good but are really stealing your personal information are a big risk at a time when mobile apps are exploding o n smartphones, “ said John Hering, chief executive, and Kevin MaHaffey, chief technology officer at Lookout, in their talk at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas . — Even good apps can be modified to turn bad after a lot of people download it .“ The Lighter Side… The Shredder A young executive is working late one evening. As he comes out of his office about 8 p.m., he sees the big boss standing b y the shredder in the hallwa y with a piece of paper in his hand. “ Do you know how to work t his thing?‘ the CEO asks. “ My secretary's gone home and I donGt know how to run it.‘ The young executive, excited about this opportunity to shine says, “Yes, sirA‘ He promptly turns on the machine, takes the paper from the CEO and feeds it in. “ OK! ‘ says the boss, “I just need the one copy.‘ You Know You’re In Trouble When…  Your accountant's letter of resignation is postmarked Zurich.  You see the captain running toward the railing wearin g a life jacket.  A black cat crosses your path and drops dead.  Your secretary tells you the FBI is on line 1, the District Attorney is on line 2, and CBS is on line 3.  They pay your wages out of petty cash.  The pest control guy crawls under your ho use and never comes out.  Your pacemaker has only a thirty - day guarantee. Pa ge 4 G et More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.cmitsolutions.com/denver Security Alert! Ads For Fake Anti - Virus And Anti - Spyware Programs Are Multiplying Not long ago one of our clients was browsing the web when a warning popped up on his computer screen, alerting him that his PC had been infected with a virus. Althoug h the alert looked real, he was skeptical and closed the alert by clicking on the —X“ in the upper right hand corner of the notice. Can you guess what happened next? His browser was hijacked, pop up ads started sprouting up everywhere , and he couldn ’t get any of his programs to work even though he rebooted his machine. Although this is an extreme example, the number of fake anti - virus software scams has increased tenfold in the first quarter of this year. Court records reveal one instance of why this has become a hot new trend with hackers: One company (Innovative Marketing) took in more than $160 billion worldwide last year —selling“ fake anti - virus programs. Here’s How The y Nail You : Online scammers simply create and place fake ads under the name of well - known anti - virus corporations without their permission, and without the knowledge of the site selling the ads. But instead of install ing a legitimate anti - virus program, it installs a virus that either instantly infects the PC or creates a war ning that then sells the user a fake clean - up program. How To Avoid Getting Tricked 1. Use Firefox as your browser rather than Internet Explorer. 2. Keep your computer updated with the latest anti - virus and anti - spyware software, and be sure to use a good f irewall. 3. Never open an email attachment unless you are POSITIVE about the source. 4. Do NOT click on any pop - up that advertises anti - virus or anti - spyware software. If a virus alert appears on your screen, DON'T click on it, even to —close“ it . Instead, h it control + alt + delete to bring up the Task Manager . From there, d elete the "rogue" from the list of running programs, and call us immediately: 303 - 756 - 2648. 5. Do not download freeware or shareware unless you know it's from a reputable source. Many freew are and shareware programs come bundled with spyware, adware , or fake anti - virus programs. Where’s That File? Save Money and Energy and Go Green I have grown to like the color GREEN since my two sons have been p laying football for the Eagles. Also, when I see my nigh tly To Do reminder to —Process Papers on my Desk“, I am once again reminded of all the paper that has to be managed and cared for on a daily basis. Have you ever put pencil to paper and calculated how much your firm spends on paper, folders, hanging files , file labels, paper clips, monstrous and heavy filing cabinets, square footage in your office for those monstrous filing cabinets ? A nd the list goes on . Hurts to just think about it. I need an aspirin! Well, here are some solutions to your paper over load challenges : 1. File, Act & Toss (FAT): This is widely - used for controlling your papers . 2. Electronic Document Management : control access to documents, send securely to others, and save space, money and energy. Call CMIT at 303 - 756 - 2648 to inquire about ou r recommended solution. Page 5 G et More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.cmitsolutions.com/denver Business Owner Beware: You Can Now Be Held Liable For Accidents Caused By Employees Who Are Talking On Their Cell Phone s Or Texting While Driving Over the pa st several years, States have been instituting laws to limit the use of cell phones while driving – so, how does this affect companies who have employees using company vehicles? Quite a bit, actually. Several lawsuits have cropped up in which a company wa s sued for an employee causing an accident while talking on a cell phone. In Virginia, an attor - ney driving home from work ran over a teenage girl, killing her. The family of the girl files a $30 million lawsuit against the employer because the attorney wa s talking to a client when the tragic incident happened. In the State of Arkansas, a jury found a lumber companyt liable after one of their employees struck another car, gravely injuring the passenger. At the time of the accident, the employee driving the vehicle was using a cell phone for a sales call. That particular case ended up being settled for $16 million. Many States have defined hands - free laws and produced legislation that bans cell - phone use completely. Althought employer responsibility isn’t s pecficially defined in the cell phone legislation, there have been an increasing number of lawsuits relating to employer responsibility regarding mobile cell - phone use for employees. Hands - free laws have done little to protect employers from liability, and as the trend of cell - phone legislation increases, employers should be pre - pared to address their mobile workforce and advise them of the cellular phone laws that are in effect in your State or locality. We recommen d that you talk to your attorney about i mple - menting a mobile phone and vehicle use policy that all employees must sign. While this may not completely remove your risk of being held responsible for accidents or injuries caused by employees driving a company - owned vehicle, it does show some foret hought and responsibilty on your behalf. Watch It… Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. ~ Frank Outlaw, founder of Bi - Lo Supermarkets in South Carolina Just For Giggles Pa ge 6 G et More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.cmitsolutions.com/denver Writing For The Computer Screen With so many people reading documents online, a new challenge has presented itself for anyone trying to use electronic communications: making your documents reader - friendly for SCREEN reading. Reading material on a computer screen is much different than reading from a book, magazine or other printed material. Instead of reading physical matter, we are reading light when looking at a computer screen. That means you blin k less and are unable to easily adjust text size by moving a document closer to, or further away from, your eyes. These factors contribute to an online reader scanning a page, and searching for phrases and words to match what they are looking for. Because of this, writers need to capture a reader’s attention immediately, increasing the need for headlines on pages and subheads to break up longer paragraphs. Here are some other tips for making your web pages more reader - friendly.  Use Arial or Verdana fonts be cause they are the easiest to read.  Make sure you use 12 point text or larger; smaller text makes a page very unfriendly to a user.  Use black text on a white background if you want people to read your document. Many designers like to use light grey fonts w hich prevent users from easily reading your document.  Don’t put graphics behind text; again, this makes it difficult for users to read your information and will cause them to skip over your page.  Don’t clutter your page up with lots of flash or graphics. T hese distract the reader from the text. Good News For Early Adopters… It's good news for business travelers and vacationers alike. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says the iPad won't have to be rem oved from carry - on baggage at security checkpoints. It's just half - an - inch thick and has no parts that can block images when the machines go through the screening machine. Electronics that are smaller than the standard laptop, such as the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader , and small notebook computers, can also stay in the bag. But it's not an actual rule. Screeners still have the discretion to ask that the devices be removed in order to further inspect them or the cases they are in. The TSA recommends chec kpoint - friendly bags that have a separate laptop flap that can be unfo lded flat on the machine belt. Page 7 G et More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At: www.cmitsolutions.com/denver Five Metrics To Track On Your Blog Want to turn your ho - hum blog into a true marketing magnet for your business? The n you have to give it a little TLC and attention. With so much content online, the “build it and they will come” strategy is the worst you can use. Since you can’t improve what you don’t measure, here are 5 key things to track on your blog: 1. New vs. retu rning visitors: If you are getting a lot of new visitors but no one is returning, you might need to improve your content. Other tips would be changing the placement of your RSS/email subscription buttons and adding a subscribe button at the bottom of each post. 2. Referring sites: Knowing where you are getting most of your visitors from helps you focus more on those areas. Are they coming from Twitter? Then Tweet more frequently. Facebook? Then put more focus on your pages and content there. Pretty obvious, but are you doing it? 3. Keywords: If you know what keywords or key phrases you want to rank high on, make sure you use them in your headlines and content . Google’s Ad Keyword tool can help you determine different variations or synonyms for your main keyw ords; and Google Analytics can alert you to what keywords people are typing in to find you. 4. Commenting: The more people comment on your blog the better it is for interaction and ranking. Encourage folks to post their thoughts by writing about controvers ial topics and asking for visitors to weigh in with their opinion. You can also ask questions such as, “What’s YOUR biggest computer pet peeve?” or similar. 5. Top content: Keep track of what topics are most read and commented on by your visitors. The goal is to find common threads and exploit them in future posts . W ho Else Wants To Save Time And Energy? If you don’t think spam is costing you money, think again. Remember Wes Wenk’s story?! Even just minutes a day sifting through spam can translate to thou sands of dollars a year in lost time and productivity. Let us show you how our anti - spam tool works. Try it out for 7 days and enjoy a spam - free Inbox. If you’re happy, we can set you up with a permanent spam - filtering account for a very low monthly amou nt. And, if you aren’t thrilled, we’ll discontinue the service at no cost or risk to you. That means no questions, no hassles, and no payment. www.cmitsolutions.com/denver/spam Call me right now to take advantage of this offer ! 303 - 756 - 2648 925 S. Niagara St., Suite 220 Denver, CO 80224 Phone: 303 - 756 - 2648 Fax: 303 - 484 - 7314 Web: www.cmitsolutions.com/denver Blog: cmitdenver.wordpress.com Email: dbush@cmitsolutions.com E - Newsletter Articles: c mitdenvernews.wordpress.com Pa ge 8