Viruses and Malware Coming In Interesting Packages

There has been a rash of very interesting viruses and general bad stuff coming through email lately. The most recent is an email that appears to come from UPS and says they are unable to deliver a package and instructs the user to open the enclosed attachment for the package details. The attachment contains a virus. Another is an email that indicates your firewall needs to be updated and directs the user to click on a link that points to a website that will infect the computer.

These types of messages are not new. But they are getting very sophisticated. The messages look authentic and sent to the right person are very tempting to open. If you ship UPS packages all day or you just happen to be waiting on a UPS delivery and your receive the very official looking UPS message you may be inclined to open the message.

The solution is the same as it has been. Make sure you have good antivirus software with the latest updates, make sure you have good spyware software with the latest updates and make sure you stay on your toes. Unfortunately, EVERY email is suspect at this time. This is a good time to do a little refresher course for your email users on the dangers of email. It's too bad that some much time has to be spent on this but unfortunately that's the way it is.

Blogging From Word 2007

I was reading a few Blogs this morning and came across one that reminded me that Microsoft added a Blogging feature to Word 2007. This feature allows you to Blog directly from Word 2007. This is nice because I can take advantage of spell check and other tools built into Word. It's also nice because I can create Blog articles off line and post them later. This Blog Entry was created in Word 2007.

I also use Windows Live Writer which is another off-line Microsoft tool created for Bloggers. I will toggle between the two of them over the next few Blog articles to see which one I like the best. It's getting easier and easier to Blog. And it's a great way to keep in touch with your stakeholders. Do you have a Blog? Let me know if you would like some help getting one started.

Spam and Viruses On the Upswing

We have been seeing a fairly high increase in Client machines that are infected with various types of malware. It's not just us. The industry as a whole is seeing the same thing. It looks like for the moment the bad guys are winning. Current spam and virus detection tools are just not keeping up. This article confirms what we have been seeing.

Of course you still want to make sure that you have current anti-spam and anti-virus programs on all your computers. And make sure that users have a good understanding of how and where malware can come from. And let's hope that the good guys can get ahead of the game sometime soon.

Office 2007 SP1 Released

Microsoft released the SP1 update for Office 2007 a couple of weeks ago. We have installed the update on several machines and have had no problems.

SP1 addresses issues in all the Office modules. One of the most significant is a fix for an Excel issue that was causing erroneous calculations.

If you are using Office 2007, I would suggest you install this update. You can download the update here.

Our New Phone System

About a week ago we installed our new Microsoft ResponsePoint VOIP (voice over IP) phone system. Actually the phone system is manufactured by Syspine and the software running it is made by Microsoft. ResponsePoint is a phone system that is designed for small businesses. Although the marketing people say it can handle up to 50 phones (technically it can), right now it really fits the 5 to 15 phone scenarios fairly well. I believe that with upcoming software updates it will handle to needs of companies with 15 to 50 phones but not yet.

So what's cool about this system? Several things actually. First, our regular analog phone lines plug right into the system. Currently, it supports up to 8 lines right out of the box. Unlike traditional phone systems, the handsets plug in to a network connection. We just unplugged the network wire going in to our computer, plugged it in to the phone and then plugged another network wire from the phone back to the computer. This network connection allows us to do a bunch of things including connecting to Outlook.

The phone system is fully voice activated. On the inside, if I want to call someone I pick up the phone, push the ResponsePoint button and say "Call Gayle at Mobile". The system then dials Gayle's cell phone. If I say "Call Gayle at Work" it will call her at work. The system works the same on incoming calls. When the automated attendant answers callers can simply say "Ed" or "Ed Davis" and they will be transferred directly to my extension. Say "Operator" and you will be transferred to Ray. You can also ask for "Directory" which will list off all the people you can ask for. Want to know our fax number? Say "What is your fax number?" Of course you can also simply press zero for the operator or type in our extension number (mine is 101), but that's not as cool!

It took me less than an hour to set up the whole system with 7 phones and that includes taking everything out of the boxes! We are still playing around with the various operating options on the system to make sure it works the way we want.

So far we are pleased with the system. There are a few things we miss from our old system but one thing I don't miss is the cost of setting up a new phone when we hire or want to make a change. I can do that myself now and usually in 5 minutes or less!

I'll post more about the system as we become more familiar with it. Actually, we are the local authorized reseller of the system so if you would like to check it out, call the office number and say "Ed"