Time to Upgrade

Yes, it’s that time again. Microsoft is quickly killing off support for Server 2003. The operating system is currently in “Extended Support” status. In short this means that support is very limited and is quickly running out, here is an overview of what “Extended Support” offers.

• Microsoft will continue to provide paid support (i.e. Premier and Essential support, per-incident telephone/web support, etc.) at the supported service pack level

• Customers will continue to have access to all security updates and Self-help Online Support options (i.e. Knowledge Base articles, online product information, FAQs, etc.) at no additional cost

• Non-security hotfixes developed in the Extended Support phase would be provided only to customers who sign-up for an Extended Hotfix Support (EHS) agreement.

Security updates will continue of course but no warranty issues or feature requests will be honored. This will continue until July of 2015. When this date comes all updates and support will end.

In reality let’s examine this. Above and beyond the software question of age, consider the age of your hardware. At minimum, the hardware is six years old judging from the availability of 2003 after 2008 made its debut. Parts degrade over time, Hard Drives in particular. Power supplies go bad, memory and a range of other parts. This is something to consider when your vital information is being stored there. All the backups in the world will not stop any hardware related downtime. Remember that with machines this age it’s not as simple as heading to Fry’s to pick up a part. Sometimes that works but other times parts such as a RAID card can be special order which is usually a 48 hour turnaround.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact the NSD Helpdesk and we will be glad to take a look into your setup.

Allons-y!

Jason Voyles

Why Managed Services?

You are not a computer technician, nor can I reasonably assume you started your business to become one either. I.T. problems equate into wasted man-hours which equals a loss of money. The business world today relies on computers more than could even be imagined a decade ago and this will only continue. Let me use this analogy, twenty years ago most companies did not have a dedicated Human Resources Department. These days, the evolution of business has created the HR department as it fills a vital need within a business. It protects you from legal issues concerning employees in addition to managing retirement and health accounts for said employees. A decade or so later the eureka moment of the PC in the workplace has created another department within many businesses, the I.T. department.

The trouble is, there isn’t always a computer related disaster or even minor nuisance. So in turn I.T. employees are being paid to watch online videos or play games! So why pay for the wasted man hours? A Managed Services Provider or MSP for short offers you the benefit of an I.T. team with the flexibility to work within your budget. MSP’s can remotely monitor critical issues such as disk space, processor usage and even monitor machines for viruses silently in the background. Microsoft updates along with software updates commonly called Patch Management can also be managed and scheduled during off hours further decreasing periods of inactivity for your employees due to I.T. related issues.

The real plus for customers is the fact MSP’s can remote right into your computer to resolve any issues you may be having. No more waiting for a Tech to arrive onsite, most issues can be resolved remotely via the internet through secure connections. The benefits of contracting an MSP in today’s business place are vast and it only makes sense. For more information please contact our NSD sales team.

Allons-y!

Jason Voyles

MakerBot Replicator

The Maker Bot Replicator was introduced at the CES 2012 (Consumer Electronics Show) this year. Simply put, it’s a 3-D printer. The digital controls allow you to create items only limited by your imagination. Running at just shy of $1,800.00 it’s an expensive toy, not counting the ABS plastic that your dreams are molded into. Head over to www.markerbot.com for a look at the Replicator, other models, supplies and even project plans. The fact that it’s manufactured & designed in Brooklyn, NY is a nice bonus as well. Good old fashioned American innovation. This is too cool to not notice!

Allons-y!

Jason Voyles

Not all Anti-Virus software suites are necessarily equal

While enterprise class businesses still have the market share of IT related attacks, attacks on small business is on the rise in the U.S. These numbers have sharply increased since 2011. While most small business owners believe they are protected from attack, often they are wrong. While it is not necessarily needed to break the IT budget of your business when purchasing a protection suite, it is important to remember that the Anti-Virus often pre-installed or made free during the purchase usually will not get the job done.

Software patches are often pushed out to close security holes that have been identified by security teams trained to do so. The issue with this is that in addition to security patches, these teams are often working on updates to operating systems, features and so on. Meaning it could take an extended period of time for the actual fix to come through while all this time your network has a security risk.

This can be circumvented by running a security suite that will auto-update when flaws are exposed. Teams for Anti-Virus manufacturers are not burdened by all of the other updates as mentioned above. All they are monitoring for are newly discovered security flaws, thus shortening the amount of time from discovery to solution. This creates an up-to-date line of defense for your network.

Not all security suites are created the same either. One thing to consider when shopping for network Anti-Virus is to consider purchase an End Point Anti-Virus solution. End point solution suites offer a single pane of glass solution for managing all licensed copies of the Anti-Virus in your network. In short, you will have more time to run your business rather than spending valuable time being a software administrator.

Contact NSD for recommended solutions or any questions you may have about network security.

Allons-y!

Jason Voyles

NSD recently partnered with one of the top EMR/EHR software solutions

With this new partnership, NSD now offers a complete one-stop-shop solution for our clients in the medical industry from Electronic Medical Records (EMR), to network security, to fully integrated disaster recovery (DR) plan.

And yes, our software works on your iPad!

Our solution provides the most cost effective, easy-to-use, fully integrated and complete physician practice management system available today. From document imaging to electronic medical records, from appointments to prescriptions, from individual claims to payee management, and provides a robust functionality fully configurable and scalable to work for the solo practitioner as well as health care systems.

Affordable Health Care Technology – Quality Guaranteed

Our new EMR + PM is a “different kind of EMR”, a fully integrated system that reduces data entry time while providing physicians more time to interact with their patients. With its powerful and innovative design your practice can be up and running in the shortest amount of time. We have uniquely designed this system to ensure that the patient’s visit data entry is divided between the patients, clinical staff and the physician – again, providing everyone’s time to what is most important to you i.e. Patient Care and Your Business Growth. The patient’s visit is fully documented through work-flows, reminders, Inter-Office Communication and business intelligence.

Build for “All” – Robust features and its completely configurable design allows practices of all types, shapes and sizes to utilize the productivity, flexibility and paperless environments. It’s your practice and your EMR/EHR should work the way you want – not the other way round!

So next time you are at your doctor’s office, see if they are still carving out your prescriptions on a stone tablet and let them know you have an “IT Nerd” that can help them catch up with technology. Or better yet, if they already have an EMR, ask them how secure your medical records are and hope they don’t say “not sure”.

Until next time,

Jeff Foxhoven VP, Sales & Marketing, Net Sales Direct (NSD)

Finally and app for amateur musicians like me

If you’re an air guitar nerd like me, you’ll love this next idea by instru-Magic. Soon to be released iPhone/iPad apps in August, this next app called “Songful” allows anyone to play the guitar with a click of a button and strum of the fingers.

The technology is based on instruMagic’s award-winning “ZAP Guitar” technology, Songful creates a guitar-playing experience that is sure to entertain both guitar wannabe’s, beginners and enthusiasts alike.

They also partnered with Ultimate Guitar (the world’s largest online community of guitar enthusiasts and information), Songfull will allow fans to play thousands of songs from Ultimate-Guitar.com with the click of the download. No experience necessary. We’ll ok, maybe you need to know how to operate and iPhone or iPad, at least a little.

Here’s wishing you the best in your air guitar abilities.

Your “Tech Guy,”

Jeff Foxhoven, VP, Sales & Marketing, Net Sales Direct (NSD)

How’s this for future technology? Upload Your Mind!

Tell me what you think?

LIFENAUT.com provides an online service allowing people to upload and store their personality, mind and overall life journey for future generations. [Isn't this what Facebook is for? Just kidding! ].

Once you begin uploading your personality and experiences, you can then interact (and allow others to interact) with your very own personal computer-based avatar that will respond with your attitude, mannerisms, beliefs and values you’ve programmed.

The jury’s still out for me on this idea, but I wanted to share the latest in technology and see what your thoughts were. Eventually if given enough data and future technology… it’s possible that your personality might end up in a robot copy of you. It could happen!

Let me know if you decide to sign up for a free account. Share it with me and I’ll see if it matches up with your personality.

Hope this was helpful in updating your Geek status in the office.

Until next time,

Jeff Foxhoven
VP, Sales & Marketing, Net Sales Direct (NSD)

Virtualization Now Available in New TVs

This year’s crop of large screen televisions are slipping from the ideas that were once science fiction and making strides toward virtual intelligence.

LG added one of the largest formats to its theater size sets, but also the elements of voice and gesture recognition.

Those attending the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show were able to don head and limb gear to communicate and apply interactive commands, garnering responses with the games on their 3D televisions.

Samsung, which leads the industry in television sets by number of shipments, is also shipping 3D models with voice commands and gesture control. In both cases, the sensory accessory devices are attached to the user’s head, arms and legs and equipped with microphones.

It may not be the kind of equipment that will put one of the interactive sets in every home, but it will certainly find a market with affluent gamers.

Technically, the buzz term for the new systems is collectively known as a Motion Sensory System or MSS. It allows for the programming of pre-defined real world actions through sensors that contain magnetometers, accelerometers and gyroscopes.

If all of this doesn’t smack of science fiction, human brain waves are being studied and tapped to direct on-screen actions through mind commands alone.

One group located at the University of Minnesota, is working on this advanced form of gaming. It has demonstrated players directing a helicopter through random hoops using only brain waves.

Some experiments in the past used only two-dimensional matrixes, but the third level of dimension has now been added to the recent updates. While the participant must wear a crazy skull cap tethered to the television, can a wireless version be far behind? Stay tuned!

Your “Tech Guy,”
Jeff Foxhoven, VP, Sales & Marketing, Net Sales Direct (NSD)

What to Do When Your Computer Crashes

Computer crashes can be very devastating for people who have spent hours preparing valuable data or documents. I’ve seen some people start hitting or shaking their computer to try to fix the problem. Of course, we all know tapping or hitting your computer will just make it worse. So don’t use this kind of physical force to try to fix the problem.

Since computer crashes typically occur without any prior warning, it is wise to backup important documents, photos and other information on regular basis.

Determining the cause of the crash is usually difficult because there are so many reasons why a computer might crash. However, technology advancements have created several ways through which crashes can be resolved without the need for an expert computer technician.

Some simple ways to try to recover your computer are:

~ First, try to identify the reason for the crash. Computer crashes could occur due to something as simple as overheating. However, if your computer shuts down completely, then it might be difficult to identify the reason. Most often, computers start to freeze before shutting down. So, when you encounter any sort of freezing problem you should reboot the computer immediately to identify whether it’s an overheating problem or not.

Computers will also shut down temporarily due to overheating and re-boot again after the system has cooled. But, be very careful if it’s due to overheating because overheating will cause hardware damage. To avoid overheating, always keep the computer in a room with proper ventilation.

~ If rebooting goes smoothly then it might be due to a registry problem (which is the database where a computer stores information about the computer’s configurations). To fix a registry problem, re-boot in the “safe” mode and use a registry cleaner to clean the system.

~ If you still encounter sudden freezing, reboot the system again in the safe mode and then use the system restore option to restore the computer to a time when the computer was working properly.

~ New software installation can also cause crashes. If you experience such problems right after installing new software, re-boot the system in “safe” mode and uninstall the software. You can also use the system restore option in this situation, too.

~ Of course, viruses are known to cause computer freezing and crashes. If you continue to encounter such problems, at this point, it would be wise to get assistance from an expert computer technician.

These are just some of the simpler ways you should be able to fix the problem if your computer crashes. Thankfully, nowadays you can find a wide range of advanced disaster recovery solutions to fix your computer quickly and before it’s too late.

To your computing enjoyment!

Jeff Foxhoven VP, Sales & Marketing, Net Sales Direct (NSD)

NSD Wire

Helping achieve success by keeping networks running seamlessly.

Time to Upgrade

Why Managed Services?

MakerBot Replicator

Not all Anti-Virus software suites are necessarily equal

NSD recently partnered with one of the top EMR/EHR software solutions

Finally and app for amateur musicians like me

How’s this for future technology? Upload Your Mind!

Virtualization Now Available in New TVs

What to Do When Your Computer Crashes