MS Windows 8 & MYOB
Interested in updating your systems to the latest version of Microsoft, but also use the accounting software MYOB? Don’t go past this month’s Tech Tips.
As many of you would know, the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system, Windows 8 has just been released. There are some excellent enhancements and features in this version.
Today the MYOB development team have made AccountRight 19.8 available for download. Clients with a MYOB maintenance contract and using AccountRight will now be able upgrade to Windows 8.
If you are planning or wanting to upgrade your Windows program please speak with one of our technicians first – if you are a MYOB user it is paramount to seek our advice to ensure your systems safety and continued operations.
Call us on 1300 130 412 to learn more.
Hard Disk vs SSD
Now is the time to change.
Now Is the Time To Change
- higher capacities
- faster transfer rates
- longer life spans, and
- lower cost of ownership
Since the personal computer came on the scene about 30 years ago, we've seen radical improvements in processor technology, graphics formats, and memory architectures, but one thing has remained constant: We still save our work on mechanical hard drives. Of course, the hard drives we use today are smaller, lighter, and hold a lot more data than their primitive counterparts. They now cache their data and this speeds up performance, but they are still mechanical devices that must spin and therefore are slow, prone to failure, and not very tolerant of abuse.
Enter the modern Intel Solid-State Drive (SSD) that is, in essence, a drive that is completely made of memory chips. In the past few years, SSDs have become more visible but hardly common-place. This is in the process of changing.
Full article here… http://h30458.www3.hp.com/au/en/smb/1230373.html?jumpid=em_taw_AU_aug12_psg-wk_1862352_hpgl_gb_1230373_0&DIMID=1093269968&DICID=null&mrm=1-4BVUP
Techno Phobia’s system builds all now include a Solid-State Drive. Check out our systems brochure here.
One of Techno Phobia’s Co-Founders recently dropped his new HP Ultrabook. It also has a SSD and suffered no data loss which would have been virtually guaranteed with a traditional drive.
These neat little units are our Inbox Special for the month. HP Folio 13 Ultrabook
HP Folio 13 Ultrabook
The Ultrabook built for business. Incredibly thin. Super light. With zero sacrifice on battery life. The HP Folio 13 gives you up to 9 hours, so you can power through your workday without recharging.
RRP $1299
Inbox Special $1199*
The Ultrabook built for business. Incredibly thin. Super light. With zero sacrifice on battery life. The HP Folio 13 gives you up to 9 hours, so you can power through your workday without recharging.
Intel Core Processor i5-2467M
128 GB Solid State Drive
4096 MB DDR3 SDRAM
13.3" diagonal LED-backlit HD Display
Starting at 1.5 kg
MS Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
*While stocks last
Jun Tantiado
The pioneer of techno asia, celebrating his 1st anniversary in techno phobia
- Jun, how have you found your first year as part of the Techno Phobia Team and was it what you expected it would be?
I appreciated the preparation that was given to me that has allowed me to be more than just a technician.
Time was taken to teach me the Techno Phobia process first before taking on the technician role - What has been the highlight of working with Techno Phobia?
It was when they placed me in charge of the Server Assurance Program.
This I think became my stepping stone, as management team may have seen that I can handle responsibility and deliver the task expected of me. - What has surprised you most about working with the team?
How technically good the Techno Phobia team is. They have the best technical team I have seen compared with the other companies I have worked for.
Apart from that, they are very easy to talk with, always willing to share their ideas and especially the warm welcome they gave me when I started more than a year ago. - When your friends/family find out about the work you do, what do they say or ask?
They are always surprised when they learn that I’m doing the same thing as what other technicians are doing in Melbourne.
- What does Jun do outside of helping clients?
My free time is always with my family. Just playing and goofing around with my kids and my lovely wife always brings me joy. I used to play basketball regularly and even play in big tournaments here. Since I'm not getting younger and now feeling the aches and pains brought by the sport, I'm giving a thought to shift to playing chess.
- What's your personal philosophy?
To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.
- Who is your favourite Boss, Peter or Darren?
Both Peter and Darren guided me through my stay with the company. They're the type of boss who recognize the strengths in their employees and utilize them to their fullest extent. Of course, Peter Hammon, who made sure I'm in the right direction and taught me how to deal with different types of people and understand that almost everyone, has something positive to offer.
Monthly Product Special
Euro Open Straight Rectangular Desk - $69 *Pick up only & Limited Stock*
Euro Open Straight Rectangular Desk - $69 *Pick up only & Limited Stock*
Recommended Retail Price (RRP) - $235
- Colour: Maple/Ironstone
- Constructed with 25mm tops over 18mm slap ends
- Material: melamine for long lasting durability
- Cammed construction for easy assembly
- Hard wearing rigid 2mm PVC edge
- Product application for commercial or home office use
- Product Dimensions (mm): 1800w x 900d x 730h
- Box Dimensions (mm): 1865 x 980 x 100
- Weight: 60kg
- Please note: Assembly required (instructions in packaging)
Pick up:
Techno Phobia Head Office,
504 Racecourse Road,
Flemington,
3031
Call us on 1300 130 412 to secure one today as stock is limited.
Asia - one year on!
How time flies - this week we celebrate Techno Phobia’s first birthday – 1 year in Asia.
1 year in Asia.
Congratulations to Peter Hammon and the team in Manila. This week we reach a major milestone with our Philippines office being open for 12 months.
Initially our Philippines office was established to support one of our long time Australian customers who had expanded and setup a presence in Manila.
We are now currently supporting several Australian companies and some local ones as well, with many more exciting opportunities in the pipeline.
A special shout out goes to Jun who has been with us from Day 1.
We are sure many of you have spoken to him on the phone over the last 12 months
Our Pilipino team are now fully integrated into our Techno family, even joining in on our staff meetings. (Manila staff generally have to be up at 4.30am to join us for a 8am meeting as Manila is 2 hours behind Melbourne time.)
By utilising the products and services we showcased at our communication and cloud breakfast last year, we are able to seamlessly join our two offices - 8000 kms apart as one. (These solutions include, but are not limited to PBX Phone systems, VOIP phone calls, CRM Live Presence, Video Conferencing and our Private Cloud.)
Want to learn more, please feel free to call Peter in Melbourne on 1300 130 412
Andrew Morison
This month Andrew Morison one of our Senior Engineer celebrates 10 years with Techno Phobia. In a brief interview, Andrew shares with us some of his thoughts about his journey so far.
Andrew Morison, IT Group Manager
Andrew, As you approach 10 years with the Techno Phobia, we would like to ask you some questions:
Can you remember your first job with Techno?
Yes. I would arrive at the Bell Family home and my first task was to turn off the answering machine, make two coffee’s and then proceed to try and wake Peter and Darren (generally without success).
My first job was to pick up a brand new IBM Aptiva 286 PC from Harvey Norman and deliver it to a customers' house. I then proceeded to take it out of its box and plug it in. This was then followed by a quick tutorial on how to turn it on, use the mouse and how to make Microsoft Encarta start.
Looking back though, my first real job that involved some technical expertise would have to be a couple of the Ray White Real Estate offices that wanted to create a link between their stores. This was an ambitious project for its time, with the technology that was available. The distance and some other technical issues, proved too great, and yet today we can do this without blinking an eyelid.
An interesting start to my tenure at TP.
What was your most “interesting” job you had to do?
Cleaning out an old PC. Now while that doesn’t sound that interesting, you had to be there when I realised that there was a Rat living inside the case.
Most challenging moment?
Spending an entire weekend (literally) rebuilding a customer’s aging servers after they had failed and the customer had no working backup solution (after our repeated requests to upgrade their equipment and install a working backup solution)
Strangest customer request?
Customers don’t make strange requests. All of their requests are valid requests made with best intentions. A lot of the time, they just don’t understand how to turn their business problems into IT Solutions.
Complete this sentence – if there were 8 days in a week I would….
Spend the extra day playing golf with my mobile phone turned off.
Live Chat
Our new Live Chat service provides you with interactive, instant and informed support.
Live Chat
Next time you are on the web, check out our new Live Chat service which is now available on both our Techno Phobia and Techno Hosting websites.
If you have a quick question, the free live chat service can offer you another option of contacting us. Our team are live and interactive, ready to assist you - whether it be of a technical, sales or accounts nature or just some random IT query that’s been bugging you.
This is yet another way Techno Phobia is actively attempting to deliver timely, modern and responsive support to you our clients.
If you think this feature might be useful for your own business – Why not have a chat with one of our web consultants and ask how we can enable this service on your own company’s website.
To find out more please call 1300 130 412 and ask for Peter or Ashley from the sales team.
11 tips for social networking safety
Social networking websites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and Windows Live Spaces are services people can use to connect with others to share information like photos, videos, and personal messages.
Social networking websites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and Windows Live Spaces are services people can use to connect with others to share information like photos, videos, and personal messages.
As the popularity of these social sites grows, so do the risks of using them. Hackers, spammers, virus writers, identity thieves, and other criminals follow the traffic.
Read these tips to help protect yourself when you use social networks.
- Use caution when you click links that you receive in messages from your friends on your social website. Treat links in messages on these sites as you would links in email messages.
- Know what you've posted about yourself. A common way that hackers break into financial or other accounts is by clicking the "Forgot your password?" link on the account login page. To break into your account, they search for the answers to your security questions, such as your birthday, home town, high school class, or mother's middle name. If the site allows, make up your own password questions, and don't draw them from material anyone could find with a quick search.
- Don't trust that a message is really from who it says it's from. Hackers can break into accounts and send messages that look like they're from your friends, but aren't. If you suspect that a message is fraudulent, use an alternate method to contact your friend to find out. This includes invitations to join new social networks.
- To avoid giving away email addresses of your friends, do not allow social networking services to scan your email address book. When you join a new social network, you might receive an offer to enter your email address and password to find out if your contacts are on the network. The site might use this information to send email messages to everyone in your contact list or even everyone you've ever sent an email message to with that email address. Social networking sites should explain that they're going to do this, but some do not.
- Type the address of your social networking site directly into your browser or use your personal bookmarks. If you click a link to your site through email or another website, you might be entering your account name and password into a fake site where your personal information could be stolen.
- Be selective about who you accept as a friend on a social network. Identity thieves might create fake profiles in order to get information from you.
- Choose your social network carefully. Evaluate the site that you plan to use and make sure you understand the privacy policy. Find out if the site monitors content that people post. You will be providing personal information to this website, so use the same criteria that you would to select a site where you enter your credit card.
- Assume that everything you put on a social networking site is permanent. Even if you can delete your account, anyone on the Internet can easily print photos or text or save images and videos to a computer.
- Be careful about installing extras on your site. Many social networking sites allow you to download third-party applications that let you do more with your personal page. Criminals sometimes use these applications to steal your personal information. To download and use third-party applications safely, take the same safety precautions that you take with any other program or file you download from the web.
- Think twice before you use social networking sites at work.
- Talk to your kids about social networking.
If you would like to discuss the above functions or require assistance implementing them for your families safety please contact us for more information
Please call 1300 130 412
Reference – Microsoft Safety & Security Centre.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-au/security/default.aspx
