Windows 7 - Lookin' Good!
Reviews and initial feedback for Windows 7 are very good. About ½ of our team is already on Windows 7 and we like it a lot. Many people have asked us if they should upgrade from XP to Windows 7. We typically don't recommend updating an operating system on an existing system. If you're running Windows XP on an older system and you like it, probably the best strategy is to wait for the next time you update your hardware to go with the new operating system. However, if you are thinking of new hardware, after years of taking a pass on Vista, we now recommend going with Windows 7. Keep in mind that if you use any third-party applications, it's very important to make sure they will run on Windows 7 and that the vendor will support it. Contact us if you have questions.

Working From Home in Bad Weather
It's New England and we can expect some major snow to get in our way at least a few times in the next few months. If you intend to work remotely, NOW is a good time to check all your connections. If you're a managed service customer with Ekaru, you have LogMeIn bundled into your service, so with a quick few minutes of training you'll be able to securely remote into your office system on a snow day (remember, the system needs to be "on"!). Whatever your connection method (VPN, GoToMyPC, etc), the important thing is to get comfortable with connecting BEFORE there is a crisis.

eMail - "Out of Office" Reply
If you're headed away for a holiday vacation, you may want to set up an automatic "out of office" message for your email. If you're on Ekaru hosted email, we have a short video on our web site that shows how to do this: "Out of Office" Instruction Video.

If you have a Microsoft Exchange Server, you can set up an Out of Office reply using the Out of Office Assistant in the "Tools" menu: How to Use the Out of Office Assistant in Outlook: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290846

You can actually do this in Outlook without Exchange, but we don't recommend it because the instructions are pretty complicated, and you have to leave your computer on the whole time you are gone. Just in case you still want to try it, here is the knowledgebase article form Microsoft: How to Emulate the Out of Office Assistant in Microsoft Outlook: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311107.

Keep in mind that the Out of Office reply goes out to any sender, so if you don't have a spam filter, you will be sending responses to spammers which could generate more spam (we highly recommend that ALL business clients use a spam filter that filters BEFORE it gets to your mailbox). Any questions, let us know!

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  Happy Holidays!

Thank you for your business, friendship, and support over the past year!

Sincerely,
Team Ekaru

Introductory Technology Assessment Over 400 local small businesses have chosen Ekaru to manage their computers and networks. We offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation to get started. We'll visit your office, review your network, and make recommendations. Call us at 978-692-4200 or email us to schedule a no-obligation assessment. If you know someone who could benefit from this offer, simply forward this email to them. Thank You!

           
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