McDonalds Phishing SiteBeware!! There is a very realistic email "survey" going around purporting to be from McDonalds. Be careful, its a CON! Lets take a closer look ... Introducing VDIOver the last couple of years, VDI has emerged as a relevant technology for concentrating PCs into a single server. So what s it exactly? A simple introduction to VDI ... Products of Interest - WPC 2010Every year, vendors from all around the globe use Microsoft's Worldwide Conference to showcase their products to a technical audience. Like all expos, some products catch your eye, and many don't. Windows Mobile 7Phones continue to evolve into pocket computers. We will see the next generation of Windows phone shortly and it looks really cool! Microsoft WPC 2010 WashingtonWith 12,000 people including 9,500 partners from 130 countries, this year's WorldWide Microsoft Conference holds great promise for us to learn more about what we can do to help our clients Microsoft NZ Awards 2010Great news for Kinetics today. We have again been honoured by Microsoft NZ as a finalist in the Small Business Category in 2010. We've been fortunate to be a finalist year after year. It's incredibly rewarding to be able to reflect on the great things that our clients do everyday, and to play our small part in your success. Google Pacman 'Virus'Symptom – start web browser, after a few seconds, a weird 80’s tune starts playing. No matter what web page you browse to, the music plays on. Sounds like a virus! But, virus software is up-to-date, and one careful user. Office2010 NZ LaunchAt last, Office 2010 launches this week. We’ve been out talking about it, at client meetings, seminars, in our newsletter and in our twitter feeds. So you’ll know we’re excited by it. Here's TEN great reasons Kinetics at BizzoneWe would like to invite you to be our guest at this year’s Bizzone Business Expo. RIP : Floppy DisksNews today that 3.5 diskettes are on the way out. Crikey, it's not that long ago that they were new! Highlighting Office 2010We’ve all been using Office2010 at Kinetics for some time. It’s been in ‘beta’ for some months. In fact, our experience with Office 2010 has been so good that we’ve rolled it out to all our staff. And now we’ve collated their favourite experiences. Office 2010 PreviewOffice 2010 launches on May 13th. It's a huge step forward - come and see what the fuss is all about - register now Facebook overtakes GoogleStatistics released this week show that Facebook has overtaken Google as the most visited site on the 'net in the US - a significant evolution of web usage SPAM BlacklistsRight now, we’ve become aware of a range of IP addresses belonging to Vodafone NZ subscribers being blacklisted by the ‘UCEprotect’ site, located in Germany. Even worse, the particular site may be a scam, allegedly demanding money from Vodafone before they’ll correct their list. Stop SPAMWe picked up a useful article in ‘stuff’ this week. It seems that the anti-SPAM laws are now going to be more vigorously enforced. Despite the law change back in 2007, there has still been a small number of persistent rogues. Security Warning - Phone SystemsWe’re hearing stories about phone systems being hacked. Stories out of Christchurch talk about massive thousand dollar toll bills occurring over just 2-3 days. As the stories go, the hackers are apparently out of Somalia. It seems they are using the stolen services to sell cheap toll cards to their customer base. Google IE SupportJust days after a security vulnerability in IE6 caused problems for Google in China, we are now advised that IE6 and older are no longer supported Internet Explorer Security UpdateAs happens from time to time, new security threats emerge for common software. Hackers are always looking for new ways to vandalise the internet. Recently some attacks have happened in China, apparently targeting Google. It seems the hackers have found a way of using a vulnerability in Internet Explorer. First impressions of Office2010Microsoft Office is the one program that most of use each day. Whether it's for Word, Excel or something else, Office is key to our daily productivity. So with a major new release due in the middle of this year, Kinetics staff are busy getting familiar with the beta release. Mobile Internet GrowsThis week, Google announced their latest smartphone, the Nexus One, unfortunately not available here in New Zealand. The pricing is incredible, the equivalent of just NZ $243 with a two year contract, or NZ $718 without a contract. Devices like this are changing the internet, and the shape of PCs. Christmas HoursWith the Christmas holiday season upon us, you can go on vacation knowing that Kinetics will be here to look after your IT Windows 7 Coaching EventSusan Carlow recently delivered Windows 7 coaching seminars to NZ Institute of Chartered Accountants in Remuera. The event was a success, and attendees took away a comprehensive user guide, packed with hints and tips to get the best out of Windows 7. Windows 7 overtakes Mac OSXThe latest news reveals that Windows 7 is now on more desktops that the current Mac OS - after just one month. SharePoint 2010 First ImpressionsWe think SharePoint is the most exciting Microsoft technology available today. We’ve helped many clients get get their intranets underway, using the technology that in many cases they already own. More and more of our clients use the document management features to share documents, track updates and access them over the internet. They use workflows to manage business processes ranging for staff leave through to accounts payable and job orders, and that’s just scratching the surface. The most important key not on the keyboard?Some time back, we posted a comment on our 'Handy Hints' page about the most useless key - scroll lock.
It's prompted a loyal reader to ask why the '@' key, one of the most useful keys, is still relatively inaccesible. Mobile PCsOne of the “lighter” sessions at TechEd 09 was based around the changes and future of mobile PCs. The session covered the past, present and future of mobile computing – the definition of mobile computing here being anything capable of running a desktop operating system (i.e. not a phone or PDA). Exchange 2010 - Storage and ArchiveOne of the most significant new features in Exchange 2010 is the storage capacity archiving. Mailstore size has often been an issue for our clients, and that's going to be history - find out why ... Designing your webpageWe're regularly asked for advice on building websites. It's not something we're particularly expert in, but this morning, on one of the 'must-read' blogs, we saw some great pointers that we'd like to share eDay 2009What happens to old computers? It's not like you can compost them! Kinetics helped out at our local eDay collection centre. Coming Soon - Google MonopolySome may think Google pretty much is a monopoly - but that's not what this is about. We've just become aware of the popular game going online Kinetics Office Power PlugsHaving the latest software is one thing, but knowing how to get the most from it is vital. Kinetics offers a 'Power Plug' session to help you get some quick wins from Office 2007 Is cloud computing the right choice?Over the last few months, a new force has emerged. It’s called “cloud computing”. Like many innovations, it’s not actually new. So, cloud computing is a proven idea, tested over the ages. So why’s it back in vogue? e-Day 2009Clean up New Zealand’s e-waste.
Recycling electronic waste (e-waste) enables the recovery and reuse of valuable materials and ensures toxic materials are not buried in our landfills - so it's better for our environment. Product Review - HP Mediasmart Server EX485 with Windows Home ServerLike many people, we’ve now got more than one PC at home. The kids have one, there’s a shared machine in the office, and my laptop spends a fair amount of time there too. And like a lot of home machines, backups aren’t what they could be. Likewise, we seem to download the digital camera to whichever PC is closest at the time, resulting in a real shambles. I’ve been meaning to sort it out for a while now. Microsoft NZ 2009 AwardsMicrosoft NZ's Partner Awards for 2009 are coming up. Kinetics has won the Small Business category for the last couple of years, and we are a finalist again this year. Exchange 2010One of the product highlights from Microsoft's Partner Conference was the unveiling of Exchange 2010. We summarise the key new features ... Office 2010Microsoft Office is the most commonly used business software on the planet. So the chance to see what's new in 2010 at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference was high on Kinetics' CEO Andrew Hunt's list. Report from Microsoft Partner Conference 2009Lessons for success in a downturn - Microsoft started their Worldwide Partner Conference with their advice to partners. Kinetics CEO Andrew Hunt was there, and thinking about what it means on a day to day basis ... How to NOT save moneyTimes are tough. We know that everyone needs to trim their costs - frankly businesses are always trimming costs in good times or bad - but some apparent savings can be very expensive. Fake Microsoft Update EmailThere's another email doing the rounds, purporting to come from Microsoft with an attached 'fix'. Do NOT believe it! Google User PhotosGoogle Maps gets better and better. User pictures are now appearing in Street View RSS Feeds on MobileOne of the cool applications on iPhones are RSS viewers. Weirdly, RSS viewers aren't included in Windows Mobile. So we went looking for a free one Swine FluBombarded day and night on the news, its becoming obvious that swine flu is going to have an impact. What is Kinetics doing to maintain service? Windows Vista and Server 2008 Service Pack2 ReleasedMicrosoft has released one download that applies Service Pack 2 to both Windows Vista and Server 2008. The download is available in both 32 and 64 bit versions. The Service pack includes all previously released updates, patches and enhancements. It also includes new features to add value to your Vista or 2008. Windows 7 - Launching Early!October 22nd sees the general release of Windows 7. With widespread anticipation and positive reviews, this is great news! What is Bing?Google is verb. It has become part of our language. Even the most computer illiterate know that ‘googling’ means searching the internet. I understand that Google commands over 60% of all internet searches, which is truly incredible. And now we have Bing. Kinetics CEO Andrew Hunt takes a look. Cebit Australia 2009Last week, Kinetics CEO Andrew Hunt took a trip to Sydney to look around Cebit and see what's new Windows 7 is ComingHow far away is it from hitting a computer near you, and why does it matter to your business? Kinetics takes a closer look at Windows 7 RC1 Social Media (Part Two)Following last month's article, this month Susan Carlow reviews the most popular social media sites Office 2007 SP228 April sees the release of SP2 for Office 2007. What's going to be in the pack? Social Media (Part One)Kinetics Coach Susan Carlow explores the online world of social media. Is it relevant to business? What is Computer Coaching?Everyone gets frustrated at their computer from time to time. "How do I", "Why did that happen" ... so what can you do about it? People - ChangesEvolving forward to meet the challenges of 2009 means some changes in faces at Kinetics Urgent Security AlertWe've just become aware of a security vulnerability with Adobe Acrobat. But there is a simple answer .. Security SeminarMarshall your defences. Learn how to protect your email and web traffic with the latest tools from Marshall Software Cutting our own phone billDeciphering the cryptic phone accounts is a challenge for most of us. So Kinetics asked our friends at Teleconsultants for help, and were surprised with the results ... First Impressions : Windows 7As previously covered, Windows 7 is now in 'beta'. So we thought we'd fire it up and take a look. Kinetics Group CEO Andrew Hunt went as far as using it on his everyday work machine. Statistics NZWebsite of the month : Kinetics CEO Andrew Hunt finds the answers to his questions at www.statistics.govt.nz Annoying Windows PopupFrom tomorrow, February 3rd, your computer will start checking to see if it is "genuine" Worming your computerIt's been a while since there has been a major virus outbreak, but, with 9 million machines so far infected, be warned of a new and nasty worm virus coming our way New trick used by the NastiesKinetics Group has spotted two new tricks used to get access to your system. Legitimate looking Pop ups that look to be coming up from your task bar. Telecom Legacy DNS ChangesTelecomXtra are turning off some old DNS servers. This may effect Xtra clients with longstanding connections ... Help us to help youA plea for help when you need help ... the best way to get an engineer urgently isn't to ring them Trim your phone billMore than ever businesses need to control costs, and make sure every 'spend' is a quality 'spend'. With our friends at Teleconsultants, let us help you get those complex phone bills tamed. New!! Kinetics CoachingStop Press! Kinetics launches a new service to help customers get more from less. In these tightening times, you need even more value from your current systems. We've found the way ... Urgent Security WarningBreaking News ... a major security alert for your computers in in force. The good news is that it's easily fixed ... A backdoor for infectionsKinetics Group recommends disabling auto preview and the reading pane to limit malicious application infection. Backup Exec 12.5Backups are more important than ever. But tape features less and less ... SBS2008At last, SBS2008, the latest version of Microsoft Small Business Server is on its way. Kinetics Group CEO Andrew Hunt explains why we are so excited. Hosted Email ExchangeGetting the benefits of Exchange, without needing a server - shared address books, calendars, tasks and email ... Google Maps "My Maps"Personalising Maps - the modern equivalent of putting drawing pins on a wall map ... 2008 TechEd ObservationsLove them or loathe them, it is good to see Microsoft listening and making changes for the market. TechEd 2008 Mobile NewsOne of the complaints of Windows mobile devices in the past has been how fat and clunky (there’s no polite way to say it!) the devices themselves are, especially when compared to the likes of Blackberry’s or Nokia phones. One of the things I was impressed with at Microsoft TechEd 08 was the new mobile devices running Windows Mobile 6.1 that are, in the most part, sleek and sexy. NZ Microsoft Awards 2008Last night, Microsoft held their 2008 partner awards celebrating excellence. How did Kinetics fare? Mobile NewsBookmark these sites on your PDA. Internet browsing on your smart phone is getting easier ... |