CIO Solutions
January 2013- Issue 34      
Find It Fast
Check with the Tech: Adding Holidays to Outlook Calendar
CIO 3rd Annual Bake Off Results
Windows 8 Review
CIO In the News: Tri-County Cloud Giveway
App of the Month: iDisplay
Employee Spotlight: Nicho Loza
Quicklinks
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Birthdays

 

Julie Mendoza - 1/25

 

 

 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Monday, January 21st

 

   


Please Note: CIO Solutions will be closed on 

Monday, January 21st 

  To receive emergency support please call 805-692-6709 and select option 3 - holiday rates will apply    

 

New Year, Different Resolution

Dear ,  

 

Instead of the ubiquitous (and let's face it, for most of us, meaningless) New Year's Resolutions, we have decided to focus on what we would like to Stop, Start and Keep doing this year.

 

It was a fun exercise to go through and the results were surprisingly insightful.

 

Here are couple of examples of things that our staff came up with:

Stop: watching so much TV, eating sugar, being busy for busy sake, living by 'shoulds'
Start: reading, getting up earlier, take up a creative hobby, walking everyday
Keep Doing: saying yes to experiences, making an effort to reach out to old friends, making homemade meals and eating as a family

Here is to everyone sticking with these!

 

Cheers,
John Petote
CEO, CIO Solutions

 

Check with the Tech: Adding Holidays to Outlook
Check with the Tech
Q: How can I automatically add 2013 holidays to my Outlook calendar? I currently use Outlook 2010.



A:
This is a relatively simple thing to do but the option to add holidays is somewhat hidden in Outlook 2010.

Here are step by step instructions: 

1) Go to File - Options 
2) Go to Calendar and find the Add Holidays button to add US National Holidays

 

holiday calendar 1

   holiday calendar 2

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

3) Add the US Holidays as needed, also you can choose from Islamic, Jewish and Christian holidays to be added as well.  

 

Mike Shinn - New
Mike Shinn - Central Support Supervisor
CIO 3rd Annual Bake Off Competition - Results  

CIO held its 3rd Annual Bake-Off Competition over the holidays.




                                                  And the 2012 Winners are:

                       1st Place - Sean and Donna  - Apple Brandy Cheesecake
                                 2nd Place - Celi and Burt - Chocolate Bombs
                                                    3rd Place (Triple Tie) -
                                     Chase - Holiday Cookie Cheesecake
                                      Eric and Jen - Spiced Caramel Cake
                            Hannah - Mint Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pie Pops

                                                    Congrats to everyone!

Here are the winners from the previous years:

2010
1st Place - Jen and Eric - Praline Cheesecake Bites
2nd Place - Hannah - Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake
3rd Place - Celi and Burt - Yule Log


2011

1st Place - Celi and Burt - Almond/Raspberry Trifle
2nd Place - Richard and Tanda - Mocha Cheesecake
3rd Place - Chase and Beth - Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies


Windows 8 Review: Bjoern Freiherr 
What's the deal with

 windows 8 - 2

 

You might have heard about Microsoft's new Operating System Windows 8 and now you are wondering if you should upgrade?

 

Microsoft has made substantial changes to their product compared to previous versions. The most noticeable thing for every user is the user interface and that part was completely redesigned. With Windows 8, Microsoft is starting to move away from the old way where the desktop is your main screen and your start menu is your navigation. The new interface which is based on the "Metro" codenamed design is almost entirely built and optimized for touchscreen devices.

 

The new Windows 8 Start Screen:

 

windows 8  

The Windows desktop is not (yet) gone, but it is missing the well acquainted Start Menu. Applications can either run on the desktop or inside the Metro Screen, two completely separate things. Installed applications place their shortcuts that used to be in the start menu under a program specific folder on the Metro screen. Your Start Screen can and will get cluttered quickly. Searching is easy, just start typing when on the Metro screen, but if you are looking for files or settings and not a program name, the right category needs to be selected. Windows 8 uses so-called hot corners. All corners are used to access certain menus, just move the cursor there and options will populate. Unfortunately this is not very intuitive at first. These are some noticeable facts about the new user interface but there is a lot more to learn, love, or, in some cases, hate.

 

Some nice characteristics of Windows 8 should not be left out. It installs very easily and boot or shuts down super quick. For optimal performance, you should have a minimum of 2GB of memory and 20GB of disk space on your computer to install Windows 8. Hardware resources are used very sparingly during operation which explains the better performance compared to older versions of Windows. Windows Defender now completely includes Security Essentials (Microsoft's free anti-virus program) into the system and provides a solid out of the box security level. The Task Manager and Windows Explorer have also been improved and provide more information and options for the end user. If you like to use a Microsoft Live (Hotmail) account, you can now synchronize settings, bookmarks, passwords and more with it and use those on other PCs when you login. Lastly, Microsoft has made it easier to restore the system or completely reset it to its original installation state.

 

Before you buy a new computer with Windows 8 or consider upgrading your current system it is advisable that you read or watch a few reviews or better get your hands on a system with Windows 8 and try it out.

 

The following videos will provide a few more details about Windows 8 and give some visual impressions about the new operating system:

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0fsyb-ttcw 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh5JjErbXE8 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4boTbv9_nU 

 

 Let us know what you think about Windows 8 - leave a comment on our website under this article.

 

CIO In the News

 

Read All About It!  

LOCAL TRI-COUNTY NON-PROFIT TO WIN THREE YEARS OF PRIVATE CLOUD SERVICES AND IT SUPPORT WITH COMMUNITIES' HELP

 

CIO Solutions is giving away $200,000 in IT services to a local non-profit during their Tri-County Cloud Give Away Contest.    

   

Santa Barbara, CA, January 2, 2013 - CIO Solutions, one of the Tri-Counties' largest and most successful IT companies, is asking Tri-County communities to nominate and then vote for one deserving charity in their area to win three years of free Private Cloud and IT Support.

 

"2013 is upon us, charities are still experiencing tremendous financial strain due to reduced government grant and individual donor support during these challenging economic times, and this is one way we can give back to the communities that have helped our company to become successful," CIO Solutions President Eric Egolf said.

 

CIO Solutions' free private cloud services will be a combination of the following - whatever is best suited for the winner: Hosted Exchange, Hosted Desktops, Dedicated Private Cloud Servers, and/or On-Premise IT Management."It is a combination of services that we regularly provide to local businesses and non-profits at an average cost of up to $200,000 dollars over three years! So this offer is nothing to sneeze at," Mr. Egolf explained.  

 

Mr Egolf continued saying, "We could easily choose a deserving non-profit that our staff personally likes or knows about, but that doesn't seem fair as it limits the pool of possibilities. By having communities nominate and vote for their own favorites, we gain a deeper awareness of who might best deserve and benefit from this giveaway."

 

CIO Solutions has set up an online nominating and voting process that can be accessed by going to their website at www.ciosolutions.com. Nominate, Vote, Winners and FAQs pages have been created to support what is being called The CIO Solutions Tri-County Private Cloud Giveaway Contest.  

 

The nomination phase of the contest will end January 31, 2013.When the nomination phase is finished, CIO Solutions will narrow the list to two non-profits from each county - Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo - and then ask communities to vote for one personal favorite. Voting will begin in early February and end February 28th.

 

When the voting is complete at the end of February, CIO Solutions will tally the votes and select a winner. The winner will be announced in March.

 

For more information, visit the www.ciosolutions.com website and/or call 805.692.6700. The company has also created a "test drive" page at http://testdrive.ciosolutions.com so that people can see what their Private Cloud provides.

 

According to Inc Magazine, CIO Solutions is one of the fastest growing companies in the US. The company has been providing IT management and design services to the Tri-County area since 1986, helping businesses and non-profits strategically set up and/or manage their IT departments, and consulting on Private Cloud Services, Enterprise Storage, Virtualization, VoIP Phone Systems and other business technology solutions.

 

 

Marketing Contact:

Hannah Rich

CIO Solutions

[email protected]

805-692-6700 ext. 105

 

App of the Month:  iDisplay

 

idisplay
Turn your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch into additional display for your Mac or Windows computer. Increase your personal productivity by extending your computer screen! Perfect tool for multitaskers, iDisplay lets you use your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch as interactive wireless display to give you more screen real estate or mirror your main display.

 

 

 

iPhone/iPad: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/idisplay/id363500805?mt=8  

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.idisplay.virtualscreen    

 

Employee Spotlight: Nicho Loza, Remote Engineer 

  

Full name:  Nicholas Anthony Loza Nicho

 

Family Info: Parents are Richard and Jennifer Loza, Brother Gabe (18) and sister Karlise (12) 

  

Where did you grow up: Santa Barbara   


What you like best about SB: I love how compact it is and that it has both the beach and the mountains. 

 

When did you start working at CIO: I started interning at CIO in June. After I graduated in December I started working full time at the beginning of January.     

 

What you like best about working at CIO: I love the people and the fun and productive working environment. 

 

Dreams/aspirations: I aspire to eventually be an onsite engineer at CIO and I hope to have a family and kids some day.    

 

What would you do if you won the lottery:  First I would pay off my college loans, then I would buy a large plot of land in Santa Barbara and build houses for my family members.

 

Favorite color: Blue 

 

Favorite food:  Steak

 

Favorite book/movie:  Catcher in the Rye, and Star Wars 

 

Motto/quote: "I'm Batman" - Batman

 

Interesting Facts: I love playing guitar, singing, and recording music with my friends.  

 
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