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

New :  On-line Data Security Training

Are you compliant with the MA Data Security Law? 

They're new!  They're quick!  We've revamped our on-line training for shorter, more-focused sessions so you can get the info you need and get back to work.  If you missed our first session, you can view recorded highlights on YouTube:   strong passwords and emails that you shouldn't open.

The Massachusetts Data Security Law, HIPAA, and other industry specific guidelines all require on-going employee training as part of the compliance requirements.  To help you meet your training requirements, we're offering free training sessions for you all your employees.  

This month we're covering a summary of all the data security requirements in the MA Data Security Law as a refresher overview. We'll also try to cover any questions you send us in advance, so please get your questions together so we can make this workshop as useful to you as possible. 

When:  Thursday September 25 2014 @ 12:00pm - 12:20pm

Sign up today!

"Patch Tuesday" is the day each month that Microsoft releases their newest security updates, typically the second Tuesday of the month (September 9). This month there were one "critical" and three "important" patches affecting Microsoft Office and Windows. 

For a full breakdown, check out the Microsoft Security Bulletin posted on line.  Note that in the days leading up to Patch Tuesday, there is always an advance notification, which gets replaced by the actual bulletin on the release date. 

A "critical" patch is defined by Microsoft as "a vulnerability whose exploitation could allow the propagation of an Internet worm without user action".  As a general rule, all critical patches should be installed as soon as possible. Also, if you have a managed service support plan with us, all patches are tested before installation, and we are tracking the updates for you

Heads up for Planning - The last day for support for Windows Server 2003 is July 14, 2015.  Any servers running this operating system will be out of compliance for security on that date.

... and another reminder... Sorry to be a broken record on this topic but security is an ongoing process. Remember to reboot your PC at least weekly.  Many security updates a require a reboot to complete, and some updates are sequential (you don't get the second one if you didn't complete the first one).  We get a lot of questions about this, and we also see a lot of monitoring alerts.

If you'd like us to schedule a set time for your site, let us know.  Otherwise, please encourage all users to take care of this on a regular basis.  Please remember to reboot your computer weekly!

This week I attended the EforAll (Entrepeneurship for All) awards night. Gerald Chertavian of YearUp delivered the keynote address and it was an inspiring event.  The mission of EforAll is to accelerate economic and social impact through entrepreneurship in the cities of Lowell & Lawrence, Massachusetts (with expansion to other communities soon!).

If you or someone you know has dreamed of starting a business, there's an upcoming pitch contest for makers and inventors on September 25.  The deadline to submit an application is midnight tonight (September 11).  This is a great organization to check out!

 Daily Small Business Tech News 

 Please "Like" us for tech tips, news, and free training  

 Subscribe to our blog for weekly tech tips

 Connect with us on LinkedIn

 Check out Training Videos on YouTube

 Is your business on social media? - Let us know so we can follow you too!

September:

Back to school, back to business!