Free MS Small Business Newsletter

Small Business Tech Notes

Today I received a pineapple in the mail from Microsoft. It's a nice ripe one too. Smells great! Imagine my surprise.

In the box with the pineapple was an advertisement for a new newsletter called the Small Business Newsletter. It's free. So since the newsletter is free and since they sent me a pineapple, I've decided that I can indeed let you know about it.

It has some nice business tips in it and links to special events for small businesses taking place in the area.

If you'd like to view a sample of the newsletter you can do so here:
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/events/NL_sample.htm

If you are interested you can sign up at
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusinessnewsletter

Microsoft Wants to Visit You

Small Business Tech Notes

Microsoft will be in town for a big Partner Training event on March 23rd. While the big wigs are in town they'd like to visit with companies that are using Small Business Server. They don't often get out of Redmond and into the real world so this is our chance to show them how these networks are performing in the real world. This is a rare opportunity for us to tell Microsoft face to face what we like about the product and what things we'd like changed about it. They are particularily interested in your feedback, whether you are a new SBS user or a company that has been using SBS for a long time. It's also a great opportunity for you to show off your computer network. They are looking to visit with any size and a variety of industries.

They'll just be discussing functionality and ease of use and not looking a licensing so there is nothing to worry about. They won't actually be looking at the server itself but just checking out our network configuration, talking to you about how it integrates with your other servers, printers and applications and in general gathering feedback from you.

I'd like to submit several of you for this opportunity but I'm looking for volunteers. So if you wouldn't mind having Microsoft come and visit your office let me know and I'll submit the information to them.

Dell Notebook Recall - Fire Hazard

Small Business Tech Notes

Dell has issued a recall on the AC adapter for many notebooks. The AC adapters run the risk of overheating and causing fire or electrical shock. Please take a look at the list of notebooks below to determine if you need to take action.

Latitude: CP, CPi, CPiA, CPtC, CPiR, CPxH, CPtV, CS, CSx, CPxJ, CPtS, C500, C510, C600, C800, C810, V700, C-Dock, C-Port
Inspiron: 2500, 2600, 3500, 3700, 3800, 4000, 4100, 4150, 5000, 5000e, 7500, 7550, 8000, 8100, Advanced Port Relicator, Docking Station
Precision: M40

Additionally, adaptors sold separately between September 1998 and February 2002 with the Words Dell and either P.N 9364U, P/N 7832D or P/N 4983D printed on the back of the adaptors are included in the recall.

Not all adaptors are effected for these computer models. To determine if yours is and to get a replacement please visit http://www.delladapterprogram.com or call 800-418-8590 (M-F 10:00am - 7:00pm)

Microsoft Acquire Anti-Virus Gateway Company

Microsoft has announced that it has acquired Sybari. Sybari makes gateway anti-virus products. A gateway anti-virus product is something currently not within reach of most small businesses. A gateway anti-virus product typically sits on it's own server and monitors traffic coming in and out of the email server. They are very effective, but also very expensive. The Sybari product is a little different in that it fully integrates with Exchange and can be installed directly onto the Exchange server. In the near future we'll see Sybari become part of the standard Exchange installation process. This is great news for small businesses. Expect to see the anti-virus gateway protection built into the next version of Exchange and therefore the next version of SBS.

Microsoft Anti-Spyware Free

Small Business Tech Notes

This just in...in a webcase Bill Gates just said that the Microsoft Anti-Spyware will be free. Good news for all! Let the deployment begin.

http://www.microsoft.com/security

Announcing the HelpDesk

We are pleased to announce beta testing of our first online helpdesk. The purpose of the helpdesk is to provide you a place to enter service requests and track the progress toward a resolution. The helpdesk will also provide us with issue tracking and will over time build a knowledgebase of problem resolutions that can be referred back to.

We are still in the testing stage but would like to have you start using the system right away so we can start tweaking it where necessary.

The helpdesk is web based and resides on our new server at our office. The URL is http://helpdesk.harborcomputerservices.net please add it to your favorites for easy reference.

To get started please send amy@harborcomputerservices.net an email naming one person and their email address that will be responsible for entering new helpdesk items into the system.