Vol 10-1  January 2010

Ekaru
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Welcome to this month's issue! The Technology Advisor provides technology advice, strategy, tips and trends to help you manage and grow your business!

Happy New Year!

Windows 7 is leaving the Microsoft Help Desk Quiet
One of the measures of success of Windows 7 is that call volume to Microsoft's help desk is down. According to Barbara Gordon, Vice President of Customer Support for Microsoft: "Overall we are finding our call center volume is down significantly more than we expected." Most Microsoft watchers would say this is because Windows 7 is a big improvement over Vista (definitely true!), but Microsoft also points out that two new support channels (worth checking out!) are also making a difference: Microsoft Answers and MicrosoftHelps on Twitter.

With Microsoft Answers, users can submit questions to the help community, and Microsoft employees validate answers. So far, Microsoft has validated about 60,000 inquiries.

The Microsoft Twitter help site went live in October. Users can post a tweet with "@microsofthelps" in the message and Microsoft will respond. Seven employees work full time on creating responses by either providing a simple answer (hard to do in 140 characters!) or pointing to a place where people can get a more detailed answer. The goal is to answer a question that 1000s of users may have with one response. "It's really like a customer megaphone," Gordon said.

Chrome market share growing
Google's Chrome browser has gained momentum and has now passed Apple's Safari browser's market share. Chrome is now the third most popular browser after Mozilla's Firefox and Internet Explorer. It's still a small share (just 4.63%), but its growing. After all these years, the browser wars continue - stay tuned!

Two monitors are better than one!
You've heard the expression "two heads are better than one". Well, now Microsoft has conducted research measuring productivity improvements gained by using two monitors instead of just one. Considering how inexpensive flat panel monitors have become, maybe now is the time to think about two monitors. Basically, it's like working on a bigger desk - you can keep two or more documents open and just move the curser across the screens.

The research study asked users to complete several different tasks, switch between tasks, and remember data. The first study showed a productivity increase of 9%, but further studies showed increases of up to 50% for tasks such as cutting and pasting.

Many of our accounting clients are already on two monitors, which is a big help with tax season ramping up. If you want help moving to two monitors, let us know.

Countdown to March 1, 2010
After a number of extensions, the new MA Data Protection Law goes into effect March 1, 2009. Are you prepared to help your organization get into compliance with the new data security regulations? Massachusetts has enacted one of the most onerous data protection laws in the country. The regulations apply to every individual or entity, including those outside Massachusetts, that maintain personal information regarding Massachusetts residents, and regardless of whether the information is stored in paper or electronic form. To be in compliance, covered entities must ensure that such data is maintained securely, and develop Comprehensive Written Information Security Policies (CWISPs).

New! Take our quick poll and see how your business readiness compares to others.

If you're planning to have us perform a network security audit for you, please call soon to schedule since time is running out!

Was this newsletter helpful to you? If so, forward it to a friend or colleague! Do you have suggestions for future newsletter topics or a particular question you'd like to see answered? Send us an email!. We want to write about what's important to you! Click here to read past issues.

Happy New Year!  Happy New Year!

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!

           Microsoft Small Business Specialist
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