Did you know ?

Tips and Tricks on how to do some neat things
with that computer you use everyday.


July 2009

Computers - Just about everyone uses a computer each day, but do you really use it?

Most of us only scratch the surface of it's abilities. Within each issue of our newsletters, we will show you how to use some of the programs that you possibly already use daily, with tips to your advantage and just maybe make you smile.

Trouble reading this?  Click here

   Product Tip of the Month

Passwords - Address on the Fly - Windows 7



P
@
s
s
w
0
R
D
D
S

Taking
The
Pain
Away

Passwords - Mostly known to most as "pain" however they don't have to be.  With security breaches and law suit happy clients, it pays to be better protected today than in the past.  This also means not writing your password on a sticky note and pasting to your monitor or taping to the bottom of your keyboard.  Doing this is about like putting your house key under the front door mat and yes it's the first place a thief looks.

Ok then you say, what do you do?  Well depending upon what you are logging into, your choice of passwords can be limited, or allow excellent choices.  For example, the password "the fox jumped over the red river" is technically a better password than "X*heT4"?  The "Space" between each word is is technically a character and has been shown to be more difficult to crack.

The most used passwords?  "God, Password, Secret, 1234, birthdates, ssn's and others"

Associate passwords with common things in your life to make it easier to remember like:  "Go Purdue Boilers", "I love Summer", "Il0veIceCre@m". Notice that we associated capitol letters and characters in place of certain letters.

Now some systems have backend engines that will look at the password of your choice and try to decipher them as a "Common word".  This means that sn00py would still read as snoopy as a common word thus not allowing you to use that particular password.  Be creative. 

There are packages available to keep track of your passwords.  A very simple method would be to keep a list on an excel sheet, then password protect that sheet.  Very useful for those passwords that you use once a month. 

Just remember that if you tell your Internet Browser to remember your username and password, you still need to keep track of them as if you need to login somewhere else or heaven forbid your computer dies, your not stuck.  :(


AOTF


A
ddress

On

The

Fly
 
We recently made a provider change for our spam filtering system and one of the new benefits is what is known as "Address on the fly ATOF".  This feature enables email users to spontaneously create a new email address for disclosure on the web or over the telephone, without any software interaction or assistance from us.  Why?  Check this out...

You purchase something from a new vendor but not sure you will continue to do business with them in the future.  Normally your email address is yourname@domain.com but in this situation you give yourname.vendorname@domain.com which when they send an email to you it will automatically be white listed and allowed through the system.

Why is this so awesome?  Of all the vendors and news lists that have your email address, how many of them share or leak your email address to others?  Using AOTF will show you INSTANTLY!

With this new system, at the bottom of each email you will see a control panel with information like this screen shot.  Notice that in this email, Merchant1 shared the users email address with Merchant2.  Now if this upsets you, you can simply click the option you wish to invoke in the noted green area.


If your worried about this control panel being shown if you forward an email, it gets removed on a reply or forward outside of your system.

For more information on this feature and others, the users manual is available on our website under Technical Support.

Not all of our clients are moved to this new system.  If your unsure, give us a call on the helpdesk number.  260-213-4266 or 866-369-1970 Option 1 to find out.


Windows 7

OCTOBER 22, 2009 is the slated release date for this new Windows operating system.  Big deal?  We think so.  We have been beta testing this on our laptops now for a few months and this author is VERYYY impressed e-rele We think so.  We have been beta testing this on our laptops now for a few months and this author is VERYYY impressed with the pre-release.  Never have I had a system so stable and go in and out of sleep mode, hibernation mode, and instantly work!

There are 5 versions being slated for release:
   1. Win7 Professional
   2. Win7 Starter
   3. Win7 Home Premium X64
   4. Win7 Ultimate X64
   5. Win7 Home Basic

There are plans for upgrades if you currently have Vista.  We do not suggest doing an upgrade on any machine that does not have the "Vista Approved" manufactures label.  Vista had a few short comings but the biggest issue we noticed across the country is too many people tried to install Vista on a machine that could barely handle Windows XP.  Without the proper sized engine, memory and video card your looking at a disaster.  Ok, for the Apple hecklers in the back room, yes you haven't had a problem with this because....Apple builds the machines and the software thus each machine is correctly designed in the first place unlike a pc in which the cheapest model is usually picked which ultimately causes issues like this. (Feel like I'm at a comedy bar and I'm being heckled.)

If you just can't wait to learn more, head on over to http://www.microsoft.com/windows7 to learn more now!

   
   Keyboard tip of the month
+

Switching Applications


Ever wanted to quickly switch between programs that you are running?  Hold the ALT key down and touch the TAB key. Now keep touching the TAB key and see it move across each open application.  Release both keys and you are now taken to that open application.

Take our online survey - Tell us what you think!

urveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=V_2fX6_2f_2bVyO6xUwzYMB7SQzQ_3d_3d"> Click Here to take survey


Have a tip you would like to share or maybe a question about a particular product?  Email us at info@preferreditgroup.com and if selected we'll include your name as the contributor.
 

You've received this email because you have purchased from us or subscribed. We respect your privacy online, and will never share your email address.  To unsubscribe just click UNSUBSCRIBE or send a request to info@preferreditgroup.com with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line. To view our privacy policy, please click here.  Preferred IT Group, LLC, 510 N Main Street, PO Box 1012, Columbia City, IN  46725 |  260-213-4266 

 

y> ;

y> html> y> -4266 

 

y> ;

y> html> y>