In This Issue
Factoid Cake Quiz
Tech Tips! Win 7 Calculator
Partner Corner: Mimecast
Refer Afinety + Receive an iPad!
"Is There a Santa, Daddy"
Client of the Quarter
Seminar: Email in the Cloud
XP Turns 10
Afinety: Out & About
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Factoid Cake Quiz

 
Every issue of Afinety+ will feature a "Factoid Cake Quiz."  Answer this question right, and be eligible for a drawing to have a delicious cake of your choice delivered directly to your office!
 
Last issue's question:  

What global IT phenomenon turned 20 on August 6th? 
 
Answer:  The World Wide Web
 
Congratulations to Mae Chauvin of Higgins, Marcus & Lovett
 
THIS MONTH'S QUESTION:

 

Which of these digital shortcuts is an acronym for laughter?

 

   a. LOL

   b. ROFL

   c. LMAO

   d. All of the above. 

 

THINK YOU KNOW??

 

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TECH TIP!
The following tips are courtesy of Andy Reed, Sales Engineer, Afinety:

 

Afinety Support Alert
Windows 7 offers a more powerful calculator!
 

At first glance the Windows 7 calculator looks just like Vista's version, but explore the Mode menu and you'll see powerful new Statistics and Programmer views. And if you're clueless about bitwise manipulation, then try the Options menu instead. This offers many different unit conversions (length, weight, volume and more), date calculations (how many days between two dates?), and spreadsheet-type templates to help you calculate vehicle mileage, mortgage rates and more.

 

Questions?  Call Afinety's great support staff at (818) 708-8455 x1

 

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partnerPartner Corner!

At Mimecast, they take the pain out of handling your most important data: the information that passes through your email systems.

When they started ten years ago, they saw what others didn't - that while corporate email was increasingly being used as the primary store for critical business information, it was also becoming more complex; fragmented, less reliable and ever more costly. What had started out as a simple business tool was becoming hard to manage - and creating risk for businesses.

Making email work again

The Mimecast solution was to cut through the complexity of corporate email. They built a platform from scratch that uses cloud computing to deliver email management - slashing on-premise storage requirements and ensuring complete continuity, security and compliance with an eye on ease of use and implementation. And most important, designing it to provide services to help companies get more from business email.

As a result, their approach takes only days to implement, delivers everything through one interface and gives organizations the choice of where to deploy Exchange - on-premise and under immediate control, or hosted by a third party. In simple terms, they put businesses back in control of their email and got their information working for them again.

To learn how Mimecast has helped businesses improve their email management, visit their website  contact them at (800) 660-1194 or email at [email protected].

topGreetings! 

 

Happy Holidays to our valued clients, business partners and readers!   Thank you for your business and support.  We hope you enjoy our year-end issue.  We will continue to keep you updated on the latest IT trends associated with law firms and small businesses.  Please keep those suggestions and comments coming our way!   

 

We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming educational seminars and events in 2012.

 

Best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

Angie's Signature

Angie Moskalenko
Afinety, Inc.

 

surveyRefer Afinety and Receive an Apple iPad!

  

Afinety Support AlertReferred business from our satisfied clients is a key to our success.   Because of this, we'll be kicking off the New Year with a fresh Referral and Rewards Program!  Here's how it works:
  1. Refer a firm to us and you'll receive your choice of an Afinety Buck, which is redeemable for 1 hour of any Afinety services or a Visa Gift card worth $50.00!
  2. If your referral hires Afinety as their IT service provider and we install a Standardized network, you will receive an Apple iPad with our deepest appreciation. 
Thank you to all of our clients.  You are the foundation from which our business grows!  For more information on our new Referral and Rewards Program, please click here.   

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Is There a Santa, Daddy?
by Doug Hafford
 
Some years ago, my wife called me into our room and told me we had to talk.  It seemed that very afternoon, our now almost 8 year old had asked the first of many hard questions.  Up until that Christmas, Santa Claus had always visited our house.  His writing on the packages was always carefully disguised and his wrapping different than anything wrapped in our children's presence.  He ate the cookies carefully left out for him and there was always just a tiny bit of milk left in his glass in the morning. The gifts he brought were always left near the fireplace, and not under the tree like the others.  All in all, his visits were a source of great joy and excitement for our two sons for whom he was as real as sunshine and breakfast cereal.  Until that day.

"He wants to ask you if there is really a Santa Claus.  He's a little upset and I told him he'd have to talk to you."  She paused, "So?"

"So?" I answered, looking directly at her.

"What are you going to tell him?"

I held her eyes with mine; "I'm going to tell him that there absolutely, without a doubt, is a Santa Claus."

She stared at me for a moment, and then smiled.  After twenty years, she already knew the answer to her question.  "Okay," she said, "Just be careful what you say, alright?"

While she went in the other room to get him, I began to think about what she'd said.   Depending on what and even how I answered him, there might be effects beyond our home...   READ THE FULL STORY
Client of the Quarter: Doll, Amir & Eleycappello & noel, LLP

Every quarter, Afinety selects a firm to name as the "Outstanding Client of the Quarter."  This quarter we would like to recognize Doll Amir & Eley.  The firm will receive a catered lunch delivered to their Century City office, along with our thanks and admiration. 

All of our clients are special to us and the relationships we form with them are very much a partnership.  The Outstanding Client of the Quarter is selected for their professionalism as well as the benefits they receive from Afinety's unique standardization and planned refresh approach.  A professional firm like Doll Amir & Eley requires a professional computer system and this becomes part of their own clients' perception of the firm. 

We caught up with the firm's Director of Administration, Jeannine Hamill, who has been with the firm for 6 years.   Jeannine is also an active member of the Greater Los Angeles Association of Legal Administrators and is a former board member of this organization.

When asked how the firm first heard of Afinety, Jeannine mentioned that she had been invited to attend one of our quarterly educational seminars in Century City and was impressed by Afinety's proactive approach towards IT.  "Afinety really understands their core clients.  They reach out with such innovative marketing methods, such as educational seminars and the online magazine so that administrators can stay on top of the latest trends in law firm technology..."   READ MORE  

 

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Afinety Seminar Series Presents: "Email in the Cloud"
Featuring Microsoft Office 365 and Mimecast, January 18 - 24, 2012
cappello & noel
 
As cloud based solutions mature, more and more firms are looking at hosted solutions for email management.  During our seminar, you'll learn first-hand about some viable options for secure cloud based business solutions. 

  • What are some reliable cloud-based email and office solutions today?
  • Feel confident that you will chose the best cloud solution for your firm
  • See a live demonstration of Microsoft's Office 365, including email, calendaring and collaboration from anywhere!
  • Learn why Mimecast's email management and archival solution is sweeping the market
Downtown Los Angeles, Wednesday, January 18th
Omni Los Angeles Hotel, Breakfast Seminar 8:30 - 10:30am
Afinety Event Registration Downtown Los Angeles
  Orange County, Thursday, January 19th
Hyatt Regency Irvine, Lunch Seminar 11:30am - 1:30pm
Afinety Event Registration Orange County 
  West Los Angeles, Tuesday, January 24th
Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Lunch Seminar 11:30am - 1:30pm
Afinety Event Registration West LA
 
Seminar qualifies for 1.0 MCLE credit   |   Download the seminar flyer

Microsoft's Windows XP Turns 10 Years Old

Microsoft wants customers to switch from it to Windows 7 and, eventually, Windows 8.   

 

Microsoft's Windows XP is 10 years old.Afinety Support Alert
 

In human terms, 10 years is nothing; a child that age is regarded as little more than a tadpole. In software terms, 10 years makes Windows XP the operating system equivalent of Lee Marvin: grizzled, wrinkled and (thanks to countless patches and updates) tougher than a stick of stale beef jerky. Unlike Lee Marvin, Windows XP is still alive, something that Microsoft desperately wants to change.


Windows XP arrived on shelves in October 2001. Within a few years, it operated on a dominating share of PCs. Its successor, Windows Vista, failed to eclipse that market position. Windows 7, the successor to Vista, seems on track to take Windows XP's place as the most-used operating system, but the transition is taking some time...

 

Click here to read more about what comes next.

Afinety: Out & About


Afinety is "Out & About" throughout California.  We hope to see you at future events

  • Afinety's 25th Anniversary Celebration, September 16, 2011:  Thank you to all who attended our special event in Century City!  We had a blast celebrating 25 years and hope you did too!  Even the Integrators made a suprise appearance.  Click here to see video and pictures of the party!
    The Integrators 
         
  • NorCalPROS Networking Event:  Afinety and the NorCalPROS group hosted Chocolate and Wine Pairing event in San Francisco on November 9th.  Our event included a chocolate fountain, handmade chocolates, along with perfectly paired wines and a special chocolate martini! 

           Afinety Support Alert  

  • We look forward to seeing our ALA friends at the following events:
     
    • GLA ALA Employment Law Forum:  Afinety will be attending this upcoming annual event on January 28, 2012 at the Los Angeles Marriott. 
       
    • OC-ALA Annual Chapter Education Summit (ACES):  Afinety will also be participating in this popular event as an exhibitor on Friday, February 3, 2012 at the Hilton Hotel in Irvine.
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