News from Networks Plus

January 2009

Have you missed some of our past newsletters and now you are worried that you also missed some valuable information? Visit our home page to see past newsletters by clicking HERE

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For Your convenience Networks Plus takes credit card payments. To pay your bill with a credit card call April @ 856-786-3500

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As the New Year begins, Networks Plus would like to make a few resolutions and we hope you will join us in making a few of your own so that we can enjoy a prosperous and productive 2009.

Number One: We resolve to get this newsletter out on time! (my fault, April has been bugging me)

2. Provide the highest quality support available in the industry

3. Provide the highest quality web design available in the industry

4. Be more attentive to the needs of our customers

5. Find new ways to bring the right technology to our clients, not necessarily the latest

6. Leverage technology to improve he bottom line of our customers and allow them to do more with less

7. Improve our clients' visibility on the web so their businesses can grow as fast as they have made ours grow

8. Continue to give back to the community through our pro bono services including reduced rates for non-profits and PalmyraFreePc.com program

9. Develop new opportunities for Networks Plus in our core fields, because a stronger Networks Plus is a more productive Networks Plus

10. Develop new opportunities for Networks Plus in areas beyond our core because diversification increases our competency

I would ask our clients and everyone who subscribes to this newsletter to make the following resolutions:

1. Keep our feet to the fire. Your due diligence makes us do our due diligence

2. Be more attentive to issues involving your network/computer. If something appears "not quite right", it probably isn't

3. Keep your website fresh. Review it often for items that you would like to see updated

4. Be VERY aware of your "informational" surroundings. Don't be a victim of phishing, spyware, viruses, etc.. KNOW WHERE YOU CLICK!!

5. Try not to take your computer problems too seriously. It's not good for your complexion.

Have a Safe, Prosperous and Productive 2009!!

- Jerry Caruso

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Notice: Software Patch Updates This Month

If you are a Networks Plus customer under contract, you can expect a visit this month from your friends at Networks Plus. Our techs will be updating all of your patches to keep your computer functioning smoothly with the latest technology available. If you are not a contract customer, we will call you this month to confirm that you would like this highly recommended update. If you would like to schedule an update, please call April at 856-786-3500 or email astavely@networksplusco.com.

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PALMYRA FREE PC

Networks Plus announces a computer distribution program for disadvantaged youths. This program is the brainchild of Officer Omar Kendall of the Palmyra Police Department.

In an effort to assist school-aged children in the area to gain access to a PC at home, Officer Kendall has approached several businesses and community leaders for donations of their gently used late model PCs. To coordinate this effort, Networks Plus has agreed to evaluate, upgrade and recycle these PCs on behalf of the Palmyra Police Department, at no charge. We have established a website at www.PalmyraFreePc.com for the purpose of soliciting donors and recipients for the program.

At Networks Plus, we feel it is vital to provide everyone access to information that should be available to anyone. Only then is everyone on equal footing. Access to computer technology in the home is vital to the continued development of the future generation of leaders in this country. As I write this on January 15, the birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., I am reminded of his service to community and the role each of us can play in that service.

In addition to the direct community service, this program has the indirect result of recycling PCs which may otherwise been landfilled. So Go Green, Go PalmyraFreePc.com

If you are interested in donating your Pentium III machine (or better) or know of someone in need of a machine, please visit PalmyraFreePc.com and complete the online form.

Announcing: The Networks Plus Geek Tip Contest

Do you have any tips for computers that you find yourself using all the time? Care to share them with the techs at Networks Plus? It could be the simplest keystroke in the world, but if it saves you time and you can't live without it - we'd love to hear about it. Send your best Geek Tips to: tips@networksplusco.com.
We will select the geekiest and most useful tip and award a Networks Plus mug or hat (your choice) to that customer. The best tips will be published in our newsletter so that all of our customers can benefit from them.

Deciphering the Technological Jargon

A Bit of Tech Insight from April Stavely

BOOTING (booting up) is a bootstrapping process that starts operating systems when the user turns on a computer system. The term was inspired by the story of Baron Munchhausen in which he pulls himself out of a swamp by the straps of his boots.

YAHOO! is an internet portal and web directory. It is an acronym for '"Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle". The word "Yahoo" was originally invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book Gulliver's Travels. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! founders Jerry Yang and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos. They certainly did well considering their low self-esteem!

NERD is a colloquial term for a computer person, especially an obsessive, singularly- focused one. Earlier spelling of the term is "Knurd," but the pronunciation has remained the same. The term originated at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the late 1940s. Students who partied and rarely studied were called "drunks," while the opposite - students who never partied and always studied- were called "knurds" (drunks spelled backwards). It was not long before this word caught on in popular culture, with a simpler spelling.

Nerd

ZIP is a file format now also used as a verb to mean compress. The file format was created by Phil Katz. The compression tool Phil Katz created was called PKZIP. Zip means "speed", and he wanted to imply that his product would be faster than ARC and other compression formats of the time.

Mind Teaser::: A rich sheikh tells his two sons to race their camels to a distant city to see who will inherit his fortune. The one whose camel is slower will win. The brothers, after wandering aimlessly for days, ask a wise man for advice. After hearing the advice they jump on the camels and race as fast as they can to the city. What advice did the wise man give?

Look for the answer in next month's newsletter.

The answer to last month's mind teaser ( Prediction, your number will be 18. Think of a number, add 7 to it, subtract 2, subtract your original number, multiply by 4, subtract 2. How did we know it would be 18?). Answer: This riddle is no more than a mathematical equation, sure to come out at 18: n + 7 - 2 - n * 4 - 2 = 18.