January 2008

Welcome to 2008! 

The January Network Update is brought to you by ANOTHER FRIGGIN’ COLD FRONT!  Okay, after calls from Phoenix, Cabo, and Isla Mujeres it’s time for a perspective check.  There are things you can control and things that are outside of your control.  And while you may not believe it right now, your IT infrastructure can be something within your control.  

Sometimes it’s healthy to consider areas of waste, of neglect, or distraction which are keeping your business from doing the best that it can do.  The most common theme among our successful clients this year seems to be one of focus.  You’re looking to focus on your core strengths, do what you’re really great at, and eliminate or outsource the rest.  When it comes to IT, we’ve got your back.  You run your business; we’re your IT department.  And we've got it under control.

• Windows Tips & Tricks, Get the most out of your system.
• The Power of Empowerment  Getting your vision into focus.
• Attention QuickBooks Users! It may not be the time to upgrade.

Windows Tips & Tricks
Get the most out of your operating system
Windows Vista Help and How-To

The Windows Vista Sidebar can keep information and tools readily available for you to use. For example, you can display news headlines right next to your open programs. This way, if you want to keep track of what's happening in the news while you work, you don't have to stop what you're doing to switch to a news website.

To open Sidebar: Open Windows Sidebar by clicking the Start button , clicking All Programs, clicking Accessories, and then clicking Windows Sidebar.

To keep Sidebar visible at all times, you must set it so that other windows won't cover it. The Sidebar width is a fixed size.

To keep windows from covering Sidebar: Because of the space Sidebar requires, this option works best if you're using a large or wide-screen monitor or multiple monitors.

1. Open Windows Sidebar properties by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Windows Sidebar Properties.
2. Select the Sidebar is always on top of other windows check box.
3. Click OK.

Getting started with gadgets:  Windows comes with a small collection of gadgets, but only some of them appear on Sidebar by default. To understand how to use gadgets, let's explore three gadgets that you'll see on Sidebar when you first start Windows: the Clock, Slide Show, and Feed Headlines.

How does the Clock work? When you point to the Clock gadget, two buttons will appear near its upper-right corner: the Close button—which is the top button—and the Options button.

Clicking the Close button removes the Clock from Sidebar. The button below the close button displays options for naming the clock, changing its time zone, and showing its second hand.

Note:  Not all gadgets have an Options button. Gadgets without an Options button don't have settings that can be changed.

How does Slide Show work? Next try resting the pointer on the Slide Show gadget, which displays a continuous slide show of pictures on your computer.

When you point to Slide Show, the Close and Options buttons will appear near the upper-right corner of the gadget.

Clicking the Options button allows you to choose which pictures appear in your slide show, control the speed at which your slide show plays, and change the transition effect between pictures.

To change the slide show pictures:  By default, Slide Show displays items in the Sample Pictures folder.

1. Point to Slide Show, and when the Options button appears, click it.
2. In the Folder box, select the location of the pictures you want to display.
3. Click OK.

To set the slide show speed and transition effect

1. Point to Slide Show, and when the Options button appears, click it.
2. In the Show each picture list, select the number of seconds to show each picture.
3. In the Transition between pictures list, select the transition you want.
4. Click OK.

How does Feed Headlines work? Feed Headlines can display frequently updated headlines from a website that supplies feeds, also known as RSS feeds, XML feeds, syndicated content, or web feeds. Websites often use feeds to distribute news and blogs. To receive feeds, you need an Internet connection. By default, Feed Headlines won't display any headlines. To start displaying a small set of preselected headlines, click View headlines.

When you point to Feed Headlines, the Close and Options buttons will appear near the upper-right corner of the gadget. Clicking the Options button allows you to choose from a list of available feeds. You can add to the list by choosing your own feeds from the web.

To choose a feed from the web with Internet Explorer:  Internet Explorer, a web browser included with Windows, looks for feeds on every webpage you visit.

1. Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Internet Explorer.
2. Browse to a webpage that has feeds. (When Internet Explorer finds available feeds, the Feeds button , located on the Internet Explorer toolbar, will change from gray to orange.)
3. Click the arrow next to the Feeds button, and then, in the list that appears, click the feed you want.
4. On the webpage that appears, click Subscribe to this feed.
5. In the dialog box that appears, click Subscribe.

The feed should now be available to Feed Headlines. To display the feed in Feed Headlines, see the procedure below.

1. Point to Feed Headlines, and then click the Options button.
2. In the Display this feed list, click the feed you want to display.
3. Click OK.

Which Gadgets do I have?  Before a gadget can be added to Sidebar, it must be installed on your computer. To see which gadgets are installed on your computer:

1. At the top of Sidebar, click the plus sign (+) to open the Gadget Gallery.
2. Click the scroll buttons to see all the gadgets.
3. Click a gadget, and then click Show details to see information about it at the bottom of the dialog box.

The Gadget Gallery: You can download additional gadgets from the web. To find gadgets online, go to the Microsoft Gadgets website.

Adding and removing gadgets: You can add any installed gadget to Sidebar. If you want, you can add multiple instances of a gadget. For example, if you are keeping track of time in two time zones, you can add two instances of the Clock gadget and set the time of each accordingly.

To add: At the top of Sidebar, click the plus sign (+) to open the Gadget Gallery.  Double-click a gadget to add it to Sidebar.

To remove a gadget from Sidebar:  Right-click the gadget, and then click Close Gadget.

To close Sidebar:  Right-click Sidebar, and then click Close Sidebar. To open Sidebar again, right-click the Sidebar icon in the notification area of the taskbar, and then click Open.

Attention QuickBooks Users!
Now May Not Be the Time to Upgrade
Derrald Farnsworth-Livingston, Vice President of Systems, OurTech Solutions

Now that we have entered tax season, and it is the close of another year, financials are being reviewed and updated more often.  QuickBooks becomes more highly utilized and the program receives many more updates from its manufacturer, Intuit.  Recently, we have received an abnormally high amount of calls and ticket requests related to the new version of QuickBooks, QuickBooks 2008.  This version is a major upgrade of this product and it now requires more memory and processing speed in order to run properly.  Due to underpowered or old machines many companies are finding that they cannot run QuickBooks and are forced to upgrade their machines quickly in order to continue working on their financials.  We recommend that if you intend to upgrade to QuickBooks 2008 that you confirm the specs on your machine.  OurTech Solutions recommends that your computer have at least 2 GB of RAM and a 2.0 GHz processor (or 1.66 GHz Dual Core).