TechnologyUPDATE We’ve done a lot, and we are pushing for more As I sit here and begin to write this month's newsletter, I can't help but think about how much 2008 allowed us to accomplish. What a year!
In this issue: We’ve done a lot, and we are pushing for more . . . . . . . .1 We almost got it!... . . . . . .2 The 3 Most Important Things you MUST Do to Prevent a Network Disaster . . . . . . .3 Are You Ready to Hit Your Computer With A Hammer? . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 How to manage the compatibility issues of Office 2007to earlier office versions?. . . .4
Early in 2008 we started Giving Connections, a monthly networking event whose main purpose was to provide a professional networking opportunity for friends and clients while we supported a different non-profit organization every month. The events became a sought after opportunity for many and was always well attended, with great business connections being made and tremendous feedback from attendees.
Important News . . . . . . . .4
Altronics Communications, Inc. 13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298 Germantown, MD 20874 Phone/Fax 1-888-890-7770
Dear Patricia and Martin: It was great to see the pictures of the event you sponsored for us. I had lots of fun and really enjoyed meeting everyone. I can't believe how easy you made it all for us. This idea is a winner. I thank you so much and wish you all the best as you keep making these wonderful connections! Enid Gonzalez Aleman Development Coordinator Identity
Montgomery County, but also in Washington DC (first event is January 22nd), Northern Virginia and Frederick County. We have started the search for venues to host our events and we have added a new section to the website where non-profits can apply to become the sponsored organization at any one event. If you have not been to this site yet, please go to www.giving-connections.com and check it out. If you are not receiving invitations to participate, please join our mailing list so we can inform you about upcoming events. I also had the tremendous opportunity to help form a local Rotary Club in Germantown and wore the President's hat until Charter Night. Rotary does a superb job for those in need, and this chapter was born to fill a huge gap in Upper Montgomery County. To learn more about Germantown's Rotary, please visit it's website at www.uppermontgomeryrotary.org
Of course, I continue to be involved with the GaithersburgGermantown Chamber of Commerce as Vice Chairman of Marketing and PR, Member of the Board and part of the Executive Ambica’s Bhavesh Naik and ChiCenter’s Sandra Burgess exchange cards and enjoy Giving Connections at Normandie Farm in Potomac in August 2008. Check out all Committee. I plan to continue past event’s pictures at www.giving-connections.com working with the Chamber in 2009 as we work our way through The idea of supporting a charity was well the Chamber's 60th Anniversary, looking after received and made our events stand out from our membership needs and helping all member other opportunities available to local business achieve their goals. We believe the Chamber people. So well perceived, we were approached takes a more meaningful role in economic trouby many friends encouraging us to expand the bled times and I would like to invite you to join network and produce events in different areas us, if you are not already a member, so we can beside Montgomery County. work together on building a better business community. Visit their website at www.ggchamIn 2009, we plan to host events not only in ber.org or call John Schlegel at 301-840-1400x17
What would you like to know about the computers and programs you use? Complete the attached feedback form with the topics you would like to learn and enter to win a 4 GB thumbdrive!
FIRST TRAINING SESSION IS SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 31ST. 13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298, Germantown, MD 20874 toll free: 888.890.7770 - www.altronicscom.com
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TechnologyUPDATE and tell them I invited you to join. I promise you will not regret being a part of our organization. On top of all this, we continued to grow our company and got involved in several great projects, including the new site for Think Business Magazine in Virginia (www.sbimag.com). Dan Manoff joined Altronics in November as VP of Business Development. Dan has 25+ years of experience in Sales and Business Development and we are happy to have him as part of our team. As the year folds, we want to welcome our latest client, Paul Yanoshik with RE/MAX, to whom we are providing computer support and security services. Paul was the winner of our "2 FREE Hours of Computer Support" certificate during the Chamber's Annual Dinner. Thank you Paul for bidding on the silent auction and trusting Altronics with your systems! If you have not met Paul yet, please visit his website at www.yanomax.com. So, that was 2008, what's in the oven for 2009? This coming year we are revamping our ContinuITSM products to include new services and benefits for our clients. We now provide ContinuITSM for workstations and servers as a standalone product that even the smallest company or even consumers can afford as well as four different business plans.
Perhaps the most valuable new feature is that our clients will enjoy FREE online training on a monthly basis. Every month we will deliver a 1 hour training session on topics like Microsoft Office, SharePoint Technologies, Customer Relations Management, Collaboration, Windows Vista and XP, etc. all of them designed to increase productivity in the workplace. Our training will also be available to our friends at an affordable rate. We are also redesigning our website to provide more services. We began by upgrading our support site where you can register and submit service requests, buy services and products or browse our knowledge base. We have provided a tool to check domain availability, a downloads section and soon, you will have access to live support with our technicians through real-time chat and access to our affiliate program where you can earn money just by adding simple links to your website, email signature, etc.
improved our software so that it is now easier to manage your lists and create and send email campaigns. We provide free ready-to-use templates and we can custom design a template for you. A big difference between our system and most other providers is that we DO NOT advertise our company in your emails. Your users will believe that they are receiving the email from you directly and, if you personalize the messages, that the message was sent specifically to them. They will never know we are on the back end delivering and tracking the emails. Our online advertising delivery and tracking system is another great tool that will allow you to
sell advertising on your site and provide your clients with statistics about click through, impressions, etc. And if you want to advertise on other sites, we can track your campaign results and give you in-depth statistics of display ads and click-throughs. I can't wait to tell you more about the many exciting projects and new services. Give me a call and let's get together. Coffee is on me! Enjoy this issue of "Technology Update" and please fill in the attached questionnaire about topics that you would like to learn about as part of our monthly technology training sessions and enter to win a 4GB memory drive.
We almost got it! Kathy Thompson of Follow Your Heart Yoga of Germantown (www.followyourheartyoga.com) presents to Martin Posse a certificate of recognition from the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce as “Small Business of the Year� Finalist during the Annual Celebration Dinner, last December in Gaithersburg. The award went to Germantown Copy Center.
I will continue to publish our Technology Update with great information about products, services, tips and tricks and news about the industry and our company. Of course, we will be sending out great coupons for your own use or to send to friends and colleagues. We have also improved a couple of products that you might not be aware that we offer. Our email marketing server allows you to create, send and track email campaigns. We have
13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298, Germantown, MD 20874 toll free: 888.890.7770 - www.altronicscom.com
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TechnologyUPDATE The 3 Most Important Things you MUST Do to Prevent a Network Disaster While there are over 27 critical checks and maintenance tasks that need to be performed on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, I'm going to share with you the 3 that are most important for protecting your company. 1. Keep An Offsite Copy Of Your Backups. What happens if a fire or flood destroys your server AND the backup tapes or drive? This is how hurricane Katrina devastated many businesses that have now been forced into bankruptcy. What happens if your office gets robbed and they take EVERYTHING? Having an offsite backup is simply a smart way to make sure you can get your business back up and running in a relatively short period of time.
2. Make Sure Your Virus Protection Is ALWAYS On AND Up-To-Date. You would have to be living under a rock to not know how devastating a virus can be to your network. With virus attacks coming from spam, downloaded data and music files, instant messages, web sites, and e-mails from friends and clients, you cannot afford to be without up-to-date virus protection. 3. Set Up A Firewall. Small business owners tend to think that because they are "just a small business", no one would waste time trying to hack in to their network, when nothing could be further from the truth. I've conducted experiments where I con-
nected a single computer to the Internet with no firewall. Within hours, over 13 gigabytes of space was taken over by malicious code and files that I could not delete. The simple fact is that there are thousands of unscrupulous individuals out there who think it's fun to disable your computer just because they can. These individuals strike randomly by searching the Internet for open, unprotected ports. As soon as they find one, they will delete files or download huge files that cannot be deleted, shutting down your hard drive. They can also use your computer as a zombie for storing pirated software or sending spam, which
will cause your ISP to shut YOU down and prevent you from accessing the Internet or sending and receiving e-mail. If the malicious programs can't be deleted, you'll have to re-format the entire hard drive causing you to lose every piece of information you've ever owned UNLESS you were backing up your files properly. As I said before, there are many more things that you need to do to prevent a computer network disaster. I have published a longer and more detailed report that is available for download from www.altronicscom.com/freereport. Get your copy today!
Present this coupon to your technician upon arrival
“
I am a user of Altronics Communications’ Backup Service. I have been using them for more than a year
and the service has been reliable. They are constantly monitoring my system to make sure my backup is run periodically and that I don’t lose any data. Altronics also provides me with monitoring and support for my computer. A while ago I had to leave town for more than a week and forgot to mention it to them. When I came back I had a number of messages on my machine asking me to contact them because my backups were
not running and my computer was offline. The computer had been off during my absence and that was the reason it was not running the backup. But receiving these calls gave me the confidence that I was being protected in a professional manner. I am also a user of their ContinuITSM program and I’m delighted to have said good-bye to frantic calls for help to rectify my computer problems, thanks to Altronics! I highly recommend Altronics’ services; there is no other company as reliable as they are.”
13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298, Germantown, MD 20874 toll free: 888.890.7770 - www.altronicscom.com
Are You Ready to Hit Your Computer With A Hammer? We want to make it easy on you! Call us before February 28th to troubleshoot any computer problem and get 25% discount. We will also review your computer for hidden problems and tell you if you are at risk of virus attacks or loosing data.
Call 1-888-890-7770 x 4 Expires: 2/28/2009
Cannot be combined with any other offer. No cash value. New Customers only.
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TechnologyUPDATE How to manage the compatibility issues of Office 2007 to earlier office versions? By default all Microsoft Office 2007 applications use different file extensions than the earlier versions. All earlier Office applications used the file extensions as .doc, .xls and .ppt for Word, Excel and PowerPoint respectively, but now Office 2007 applications uses the .docx, xlsx and .pptx file extensions for Word, Excel and PowerPoint respectively. These all new file extensions are not compatible with all pre-
You can use the “Save As” function, but there is better option in Office 2007 applications to change the default saving file format to the older format. The following steps will show you how to set up Word 2007’s default file format to be compatible with previous versions of Word. The steps for Excell and Power Poing are very similar, so you will not have a problem setting these programs to be compatible as well. 1. With Word 2007 open, click on File menu in the top left corner, then click on the Word Options button to change the default word options. 2. In the left side panel, click on the Save option, and then in "Customize how documents are saved" screen will appear in the right side panel.
The “Customize how documents are saved” window showing the “Save files in this format:” drop-down menu open and the right option selected to enable for backward compatibility.
vious versions of Office applications, and that is why Office 2002 and Office 2003 applications cannot open and read the .docx, xlsx and .pptx file extensions. You have an option in Office 2007 to save the files with older file extensions, but if you are frequently using the older versions of the file and also if the files created by you are to be shared on other computers which have earlier versions of Office, you may want to save all your new documents in the older format.
3. Here you will find the "Save File in this format" option; click on the drop down box to select the different format, and select the Word 97-2003 Document (*doc) option. 4. Now click on Ok button to save the settings and all new Word files you create will be compatible with Word 2003 and previous versions.
13017 Wisteria Dr. Suite 298, Germantown, MD 20874 toll free: 888.890.7770 - www.altronicscom.com
Important News Monthly Trainning Session. Every month we will hold a webinar to provide training on such tools as Microsoft Office, Internet, Collaboration tools, Customer Relation Management tools (CRM) etc.
assessment and no-obligation quote on our incredible network management and support service!
The training is FREE to current ContinuIT clients on levels Small Biz and over, and carries an small fee ($39/month) for all other interested people.
Giving Connections January Schedule. We will host 2 events this month. January 22nd in Washington DC (cohosted with Roshan Lounghani of Arete Wealth Management www.aretewealth.com) and January 29 in Bethesda to support A Wider Circle.
ContinuIT clients on the Corporateplan and higher will have access to an online repository of past training sessions for on-demand training. Small Biz clients can add this service to their plan for just $29 a month. Customers that contracted ContinuIT BEFORE January 2009 were assigned to the Personal Plan but will have access to the training sessions at no extra charge. If you are not a ContinuIT client, you are missing a big benefit. Training access is allowed to ALL employees in your company for the same small monthly fee! Contact us today for a FREE network
You can email us at info@altronicscom.com or give us a call at 888-8907770 x 4
Giving Connections is a Monthly Professional Networking Event where not only we exchange cards and make great contacts, but also support a worthy charitable organization. Your registration fee is directly donated to that month’s supported non profit and may be Tax Deductible (ask your accountant) To learn more about Giving Connections and to register for upcoming events, go to www.givingconnections.com
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GET FREE TRAINING AND ENTER TO WIN A 4 GB THUMBDRIVE! Altronics Communications is launching a new series of training sessions for all its clients and friends and we would like to hear what you want to learn about your business tools! Enter your contact information, complete the questionnaire bellow and fax it back to 888-890-7770 and we will plan out training sessions to deliver the information you want! Name
Company
Address Phone Business Tools __ Microsoft Excel __ Microsoft Word __ Microsoft Power Point __ Collaboration (Intranet) __ Communications (Email - Microsoft Exchange) __ Customer Relation Management (CRM) __ Windows Vista __ Other
Email Questions: Here are some of the things I would like to know:
We Want To Give You Up To $500 In Cash or $1,000 In Services! Your Name: Your Company: Dear Client, I hope that you are more than thrilled with our services. If there is any reason you are not, please call me immediately at 888-890-7770 x101. If you are happy with our services, I would like to ask you for a small favor. As you probably know, advertising is very expensive. Plus, most of our clients are referred to us by other happy clients. That’s why I’d like to offer you a reward for referring 4 or 5 people to us. You see, I’d rather write a check to you than the Yellow Pages sales guy. For every referral you give us that becomes a client, I’ll give you $100 in cash OR $200 in free services – the choice is yours. All of the people you refer will be offered a free network tune-up worth $499 (no strings attached and no heavy sales pressure). This free tune-up will give them valuable information on how to make their network more secure, reliable, and faster. Obviously they will be under no obligation to buy anything or to ever use our services again. All you have to do is provide us the name, company, and phone number of the people you are referring below (feel free to add their address as well if you know it). We’ll take care of the rest!
Referral 1:
Referral 2:
Referral 3:
Referral 4:
Referral 5:
Thank You!