CES 2012

Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 has been going on all of this week and I will be going through all my feed grabs of products that struck me as interesting and discussing them over the next week or so. Some of the themes I am seeing from what is being reported incudes Android Tablets, Windows 8 Tablets and questions on what Apple will be updating on its iPad product in the next few months. I am seeing a lot of IOS accessories surrounding charging, wireless speakers (Bluetooth), wireless Airplay speakers, and printing. There are a few Home Control products that look interesting, some mobile road warrior accessories, All-In-Ones that have come down in price and have some special characteristics.

The Macbook Air has made everyone building laptops coming up with their own version of a Windows super-thin and powerful “Ultrabook”. These are coming in 13, 14 and 15 inch models and are all showing off sexy lines, super light and thin. All this comes at a premium though so if you are looking for a deal your not going to find it here.

A couple of new apps are surfacing that look interesting and I will post the ones that I find most useful to me.

So keep looking back and I will be posting all of this over the next few days.

Hello Raleigh, NC!

I am at the Allscripts/MyWay training center in Raleigh, NC for the next two weeks so I am mainly available via email and voicemail primarily. I am monitoring what is coming in so don’t be shy sending stuff over to me either by email of fax. I will be back in the office on 25th. See you then. I will be free most evening so I’ll still be posting things up to this site as well. Stay tuned for any information that I thing is pertinent on installation and training of the MyWay Product as I will be posting what I think you might be interested in.

Astaro Acquisition by Sophos Completed

We received an email detailing primarily that there will be little change in the overall function that we have with Astaro and the products that we work with from them. What we will see is a different email format for our contacts, a new logo and updated marketing material but for the most part it will be business as usual.

We look forward to the expanded product line and adding the long list of Sophos products to our arsenal. As we become more familiar with these products look for more information in this blog as we explore these new products.

Astaro Version 7

From the Astaro Blog:

Astaro will continue to support the release V7 of ASG, AMG and AWG for 18 months after that date, until it’s End-of-Life on December 31st, 2012. Support includes bug and security fixes (System Up2Dates) and Pattern Up2Dates and technical support (via web form and phone).

If a customer decides to renew for longer than a year now, we should plan on upgrading them to V8.  The process takes approximately 1 hr, if everything goes smoothly.

1. Clone existing Astaro to new hard-drive.

2. Load version 8.

3. Restore config file.

Comcast introduces a new malware detection service

I received a new service announcement from Comcast discussing a new detection service to look for “bots” that may have infected your system. These bots can create bottlenecks on their system if present and this is probably the reason that they are instituting this new service. It will be interesting to see how effective this service will be.

Dear Valued Customer, We know that protecting your identity and using the internet safely are both very important concerns for you. The most prevalent threat to your personal information on the internet today is a Bot! A Bot, also referred to as malicious software or malware, is used to gain control of your computer, typically without your knowledge. Online criminals can use Bots to collect your Social Security numbers, bank account information, and/or credit card numbers by monitoring your keystrokes. Constant Guard is a service provided to you at no additional charge as part of your Comcast High Speed Internet subscription. As a new feature of the Constant Guard™ service, if we believe one or more of your computers may be infected with a Bot, we may present to you in your browser a Comcast Service Notice (see example below). The notice will encourage you to take immediate action by visiting https://constantguard.comcast.net for self help instructions or professional assistance.

Protect your personal information with the Constant Guard Protection Suite, Click Here. Need to remove a Bot or malware? Visit the Constant Guard Center Need the latest information and tips on security issues? Visit the Security Website Need to contact Comcast Security? Get Help

Don't be fooled by faked virus alerts, along with the Comcast Service Notice, we will also send a Bot Notification email alert to your Comcast primary email address. This alert will be marked with the Comcast brand below (see below). The brand symbol indicates the email is "verified" to be safe by Comcast. Ensuring your online safety and security is our top priority. While we hope you do not encounter a BOT on your computer, we want you to be rest assured that we will help you detect and remove it. For more information on the Constant Guard program, and how Comcast is protecting you online, please visit http://xfinity.com/constantguard. Sincerely, Comcast Customer Security Assurance

Are you interested in the MyWay EHR Solution?

Allscripts has provided videos that will provide more information that is pertinent to you practice. View these videos at your convenience. There is a good mix of practice types to choose from. It is probably a good idea to look at each one to see if there are some features that are highlighted that would be of use to you. For more information don’t hesitate contacting us at sales@paconnect.com to schedule your free office survey. We look forward to hearing from you.

View on-demand.

See the solution in action by viewing a recorded demonstration at your convenience.

Dr. Peter Foreman discusses how his practice, Delmar Family Medicine, is impacted by Allscripts MyWay.

Dr. Peter Foreman discusses how his pratice, Delmar Family Medicine, is impacted by Allscripts MyWay.

Nicole Sheffield, Solo Pediatrician at Sheffield Pediatrics talks about her experience with Allscripts MyWay (integrated EHR and Practice Management System).

Nicole Sheffield, Solo Pediatrician at Sheffield Pediatrics talks about her experience with Allscripts MyWay

Dr. and Debra Hoffen discuss how their practice, Florida Neuro Health, benefits from Allscripts MyWay.

Dr. and Debra Hoffen discuss how their practice, Florida Neuro Health, benefits from Allscripts MyWay.

Computer Connections is now a MyWay/Allscripts Certified Sales Partner

Computer Connections has long been known for providing Best of Breed Products to its clients. With all of the government initiatives providing a path for our physician clients to upgrade their office computer system infrastructure through monetary incentives we wanted to have a product that would meet all of the requirements that the government needs from you to obtain these incentives. So we did our research, spoke with our vendor and manufacturing partners and decided to align ourselves with Allscripts. We feel this product brings the best solution to a 1-5 physician office and will allow your office to take advantage of the years of experience that Allscripts has in eprescribing, practice management and the most important for the incentives available now, electronic medical record management.

Take advantage of this unparalleled opportunity.

The HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act provides financial incentives to physicians and other healthcare stakeholders to adopt Electronic Health Records. It presents an unparalleled opportunity for the healthcare industry to modernize itself for greater efficiency, quality and cost containment.

A core requirement of the Act is to demonstrate “Meaningful Use.” This means that understanding the criteria and process is critical, as is selecting the right technology partner.  Allscripts – with our products, services and educational efforts – is that partner.

Computer Connections is a great source for you to find out more about this opportunity. We can provide the whole solution from start to finish. Be sure to contact us to obtain your FREE office survey to help you begin the process of determining what you will need to do to best take advantage of this opportunity.

POINTDEV Partner

Computer Connections is now listed as a Reseller for POINTDEV’s Windows Administrative Tools Products.

POINTDEV’s Products include:

• IDEAL Administrator - simplifies the administration of your Windows NT, XP, 2000, 2003 and 2008 network by providing in a single tool all the necessary features for managing domains, servers, and users. Your administration can be done through a local network, via a Wan, a VPN, or Internet.
• IDEAL Alerter - Manages the monitoring of defined events and applies a set of associated actions on network servers and client workstations. Using IDEAL Alerter, you can easily and remotely monitor the execution and stop of processes, monitor service status changes, monitor registry database writings, monitor event logs, monitor changes on files and directories, monitor user session events, manage disk space, detect installation or uninstallation of programs ... on all the servers and client workstations in your network... For each event to monitor, you can define some actions to automatically execute, like running a command or script, killing a specific process, uninstalling a program, turning off a computer or locking a session, starting or stopping a service, sending an email
• IDEAL Remote - IDEAL Remote is a “light” version of the IDEAL Administration flagship software. IDEAL Remote lets you take control remotely of your Windows NT, 2000, XP, 2003, 7 and Vista workstations. In addition to taking control remotely, you have access to the properties of remote computers, events, printers, processes, sessions, open files, WMI properties and, finally, to the information systems. Your administration can be done through a local network, via a Wan, a VPN, or Internet.
• IDEAL Migration - automates your Windows NT and Active Directory domain consolidation and migration.

You are able to migrate all the server objects (OU, groups, users, files, ACL, etc.) from and to any Windows NT and Active Directory server, but also too automatically change the domain client PCs without intervention. Its whole features and its compatibility with Active Directory make it one of the strongest on the market.  Once your migration or consolidation plan is established, IDEAL Migration manages the transfer of required objects for the good execution of your mission.

• IDEAL Dispatch - provides remote installing and uninstalling of software, remote running of scripts and programs, and remote actions (view, copy, rename).
  With the help of IDEAL Dispatch, you can remotely install Windows patches, run scripts and msi files, uninstall programs, or update software on all the servers and client workstations on your network.
• IDEAL Secure - manages the optimization of network servers and client PCs through the application of predefined actions. These settings are classified by theme: Windows, Hardware, Network and Software. So, with IDEAL Secure, you can remotely optimize, secure and parameterize Windows NT, 2000, 2003, 7, XP and Vista operating systems in a few clicks and without agents. You can easily enable or disable a set of actions on a selection of computers in a single step.

Dual Screens on 55TC Motherboard without a Video Card Addition

It is possible to have a duel screen system running with the Intel 55TC board. The system offers DVI-D, VGA and HDMI inputs. These 3 inputs can be used in a duel nature fashion, So for duel screens you can either you in the inputs in this combination:

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Signed On with NUUO Surveillance Solutions

Computer Connections has completed training and testing with NUUO a company that is dedicated to providing a stable and high-performance digital surveillance systems. Three key functions of any security surveillance solution are to provide setting and searching, guarding, and warning. NUUO's successful record of 13800 installation points in 60 countries, as well as its use by industries ranging from mass transit to education, as well as government projects, banks, hospitals, hotels, casinos, and enterprises all prove that NUUO solutions can make all three functions easy for end-users.

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Security Cameras and Network Imaging Servers

This is just a quick note to let you know that I will be concentrating in August on discussing our Security Camera, DVR and IP MegaPixel Camera solutions. There are a lot of things you need to consider while designing a system and I’ll be presenting some of the solutions that we have come up with and providing you with some talking points with our staff to help you develop the right plan for you. I plan on having Jude and Nick who have so much work on these projects of the past two years to share some of their ideas and insights to this exploding market. With the increased need for security of your homes and businesses, protecting your employees and loved ones and tracking employee work habits and other problems these products will help you save money and give you peace of mind. We are also working with our new Gemini Imaging Server system. This is a breakthrough product that is a godsend to any IT department that has to maintain groups of systems and repurpose them every so often. We developed this system in house to solve a need for cloning a workstation image for our K-12 clients where we would need anywhere from 10 to 1000 machines imaged with the same configuration or slight variations. Our Gemini Server does this and much more. This product is perfect for schools, medical facilities, manufacturing and large corporate entities that buy systems in bulk and need to get them in place. It is also useful for small and large disaster recovery situations as well. This any many more ideas will be delved into so be sure to subscribe to this site so you don’t miss out on any of this information as we post it.

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VIPRE antivirus product line joins the GFI family

We have been a partner with both GFI and Sunbelt Technologies for quite a while and have found all of their products of highly professional quality and perform well for what they do. Today’s announcement of the acquisition of Sunbelt Software’s VIPRE product suite adds to GFI’s extensive product list.

GFI Software announced today that it has acquired Sunbelt Software and specifically its VIPRE^® product suite. The acquisition will allow GFI to merge VIPRE technology into GFI’s email security and web security solutions group, and will provide GFI with new security products consisting of world-class and innovative technology.

The VIPRE Enterprise product line provides seamless, tightly-integrated endpoint security that delivers antivirus and antispyware protection, desktop firewall, and malicious website filtering technologies to protect against the ever-changing and sophisticated wave of malware in a comprehensive, highly efficient manner.The VIPRE Enterprise product line is only available in English.

Tech Toys

It is such a sad thing to open my desk drawer and see all of the my tech toys of the past just lying there with their sad faces staring back at me, no longer seeing the light of day. no longer being touched with loving fingers, no longer being recharged to provide the enjoyment that they once did. I do love my toys. I love trying to find new uses for them

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No, I haven’t fallen off the edge of the world!

Sorry about my distraction and my not picking up the keyboard to write about my new toy, but I have been distracted the past couple of weeks playing with my new toy and seeing how I can incorporate it into my business life.

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News Alert! Windows XP w/SP2 Support is coming to an end July 13

Microsoft has announced for quite awhile now that they were ending support for Windows XP SP2 next month. Not to worry though, Windows XP SP3 is still going to be supported until 2014 and it has been recommended for a long time that you upgrade to this service pack if only for the security updates that it supplies.

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Intel Video-Why SSD's are a smart upgrade

This is a great video describing why Intel’s SSD’s are a great replacement to your workstation and notebook drives. Speed, increased battery life and drive reliability are the some of the main reasons to change out your laptop’s drives. Increased productivity because of quicker data access on your desktop is the primary reason I would suggest an upgrade on your desktop.

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How To - Word 2010 Inserting Screen Clippings

In a continuation of some of the attributes of Windows 7’s utility Snipping Tool which gives you the ability to grab portions of your screen and save them as images and/or store them into your clipboard to be pasted in a document of your choice. In Word 2010 you now have this same capability of inserting a window or a portion of the screen as a function from within the Word application off of the Insert Ribbon.

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Hard Drive Recovery is hit and miss at best

Here is an interview from Tekzilla that will give you a quick overview of drive recovery methods and what to do to try to attempt data recovery. Very interesting interview with Scott Moulton from Tekzilla’s - Which Hard Drives Fail The Least? Sleek Cell Phone Booster, Hard Drive Recovery Tools, Adobe Reader Alternatives, Space Pictures! – Tekzilla Episode.

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Clean Up Weekend!

I have made some major changes in this website this weekend and this posting describes most of what I did and what to go and see. There have been some major changes and additions to make available the video productions that I have put together over the past two years. You will also notice a much cleaner look with the main blog page as well. Let me know how you like it by choosing through the contact page (another new addition) your favorite way of communicating.

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Outlook 2010 - Quick Step Overview

One of the new features of the Outlook client in Office 2010 is the ability to create workflow functions called Quick Steps that can be used over and over again to help you become more productive. This post contains both step by step text help and a video that shows you the steps on using this amazing new feature.

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