Exciting Upcoming Changes from PAconnect!

Over the last six months we have will been working very hard in creating better integration of all our administrative systems. If you have received a recent bill from us you'll see that it has changed from a tool system listing to a single system listing so that you are being billed just from our service management product.

The next part of her integration provides automated reporting of all the services that you currently have with us so that with a much quicker turnaround time on audit control of those services being billed to you. By integrating these two parts of our systems reporting, we are insuring a more accurate report to you on what you have been receiving as a service from us.

Another change that you will see is that your service billings will be billed separately from your discounted service contract. These are going to be two separate processes and will come to you as separate invoices. If you have quarterly or annual billings those also come under separate invoices as well. This should provide a much simpler method for you to track what services you are being billed for and when to expect the billings to occur.

We look forward to answering any questions that you might have discussing these changes.  will

Important Sophos Security Advisory for Sophos Mobile and Sophos Mobile Control

Technical Alert

Important Sophos Security Advisory for Sophos Mobile and Sophos Mobile Control Date issued: 2018-03-26 Sophos has released a security update to Sophos Mobile and Sophos Mobile Control installed on premises. Customers running Sophos Mobile managed in Sophos Central or the hosted Sophos Mobile as a Service are not affected by this issue. This update fixes a security bypass bug that could allow an unauthenticated user to access the administration console or the self-service portal. This vulnerability was responsibly disclosed to Sophos on 2018-03-21. We are not aware of any attempts to exploit this bug in the wild. We have assessed this update as critical and therefore advise you to install the update as soon as possible. • If you have Sophos Mobile or Sophos Mobile Control version 6.0 or later, please login to the Sophos License Portal, download the security patch for your version and apply immediately. • If you have Sophos Mobile Control 5.1 or earlier, you need to upgrade to the current version. For more information please read the article https://community.sophos.com/kb/128031. For more information, please read this knowledge base article on our support site: https://community.sophos.com/kb/131867.

Note: We would like to make you aware of a vulnerability affecting Sophos Mobile customers running the product installed on premises. Customers running Sophos Mobile managed in Sophos Central or the hosted Sophos Mobile as a Service are not affected by this issue. We will send the following email to all affected customers indicating any required actions. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your account or support representative if you have additional questions.

PR: Sophos Mobile 8 Launch Update

Timeline:

• January 17, 2018 – Sophos Mobile as a server (SMaaS) upgrade to version 8 • January 17, 2018 – Sophos Mobile 8 for installation on premises generally available to download • February 13, 2018 – Sophos Mobile 8 available in Sophos Central • February 26, 2018 – Announcement and public launch at Mobile World Congress 2018

Happy Holidays from Sophos

Lenovo Deal that you should take advantage of…

I just picked up the 8 inch Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 8 . It is selling right now on Lenovo’s site they are selling for $139.39 and I can’t imagine them being around for long at this price. While is isn’t running the most current version of Android, it does have a lot of features that make it quite desirable. While I wish the screen was larger the 8 inch is bright and the unit feels good in your hand when you hold it especially when you have it in portrait mode.

It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8009 processor, comes with android 5.1 installed, the speaker is quite loud so there isn’t a problem hearing it. The battery life is quite impressive up to 20 hours of usage time. It has a SD Card slot that allows you to expand it up to 128GB’s. There is an 8MP integrated camera, only has  80d.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0.

The unit is very comparable to Amazon Tablets in size and so far as I have seen is working well with of the apps that I have thrown at it. I basically purchased it to replace the TV that I have under the counter in the kitchen, I am thinking that it is going to fail sometime in the near feature and this will be a good replacement for that unit as well as being able to carry it around as desired.

So, I have it all set up with my wife’s favorite apps and I hope that she will enjoy it.

Need to check the calendar? Here’s a quick method of doing so in Windows 10.

IF you don’t have Outlook open and you don’t want to wait for it to open up then here is a quick and easy method of gaining access to your calendar information.

Windows 10 has added a easy method of checking what you have on your calendar by clicking on the date/time on your task bar. Look on the left had side of the taskbar and you will see something that should like the image below.

If you click with the left mouse button on the date/time you will see a pop-up calendar highlighting today’s date with your current appointments listed. See image to the left.

When you click on different dates, that date’s appointments will appear in the list at the bottom of the screen. You can use the up and down arrows to change the month.

To jump quickly to another month or year click on the Month/Year heading and a pop-up will be displayed for quickly moving to the year and month you want to work in. That displays a list of months for the current year. Use the up and down arrows to change years or click the year heading to jump to a list of all years in the current decade.

To quickly jump back to the current date click on the date line above the calendar and below the time display and you will instantly move back to the current date.

(Windows tip of the Week idea from Ed Bott of Microsoft Weekly)

Quick demo showing how you can initially setup your account that has been created with auto change password and how to install your Office Suite Desktop Software.

Sorry if you missed the Sophos Rise Over Ransomeware event yesterday

There was a good turnout yesterday at the Cranberry/Pittsburgh event. Sophos presented a lot of good information to everyone that attended about the state of the Sophos products and the story behind the Synchronized Security Solution.

Sophos Launches New XG Firewall Version, Adds New Application Visibility And Deployment Options

This is a great article from CRN on the new release of the version 17 SFOS operating system. One of Sophos PAC members had quote in it which is sums up the positive direction that Sophos is taking towards their Synchronized Security capabilities for your network. Good job SAM! It is good to get the word out about one of the best good news stories in the security industry and the major reason for looking at Sophos then any other solution.

If you are not aware of the Sophos Synchronized Security Story you may want to take a look at the video below. Each new version of SFOS and the Sophos Central Products bring your network more security with each new component that you add to it.

See a quick video below to get a better view of what I am talking about:

Rocketbook by Everlast

Ok, I bit, but I love it! There are quite a few options out there for digitizing your handwritten notes but this seems to be very functional in how I use it. So here is the concept. The ring bound notebook contains pages that have a slick surface that allows you write on it with a gel pen (Pilot Frixion) and gives you the ability to erase the ink by using the rubber tip on the top of the pen or taking a wet paper towel and wiping the page clean. This of course makes the pages reusable. Now the how do you digitize it?

There is a Rocketbook App available that you program to process the page by taking a picture of the page. Wait, before you take that picture you need to have programmed your App to how you want it to work with the image. There are six icons on the bottom of each page. Place an X over the icon or icons that you want to choose. These icons represent your workflow for storing your captured page to different cloud locations like:

You set up the icons in the app with the pointer to the cloud applications/locations that you want your digitized pages to go. For example:

I use OneNote a lot so you can see that I have mine programmed to post pages to different OneNote notebook locations. Remember that once the images are there, you can move them very easily if you need to. The App currently support Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, iCloud, OneNote, Slack, and email. The program supports both PNG and PDF formats.

While OneNote has the ability to convert “Ink” to text it does not have the ability to convert these digitized images. This would really be a neat feature if it were available.

The app even gives you the ability to bundle scans into one PDF if you would like. You can do this if you the following criteria are met:

• Send as PDF is ON
• Auto-send is OFF
• The scanned pages are adjacent to each other and have the same symbol marked. For example, you can bundle pages 1 to 5 with the Diamond symbol marked.

I just like the thought of the number of trees I will be saving by not using paper anymore for capturing my handwritten notes. I get to keep using my writing skills and extend my ability to capture my thoughts into the applications that I can access from any device. Let me know what you think!

SnagIt 2018 is now available

Overview Video:

Upgrade Video:

What’s new in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

This Week on Windows is all about the brand new Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, including interviews for the new Photos experience, the Mixed Reality Viewer, Mixed Reality head-mounted-displays, a rundown of new gaming features, and much, much more. Check out more about the Windows 10 Fall Creators update at https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexpe...

LinkedIn Learning

So… Microsoft is now using LinkedIn for creating a method of delivering training on their products. I just went through looking at some of the new features in Outlook that were just released and though their notification link it with  a tab to access one month of free access to LinkedIn Learning. According to the site they have over 4000 training videos on various subjects (see image below). This is probably a direct off-shoot of LinkedIn’s purchase of Lynda.com. The courses that are available on Lynda are also available on LinkedIn Learning so from that standpoint they are the same. However, the main difference is the platform that the courses are delivered on – LinkedIn Learning is built on the LinkedIn platform which provides the learner with additional value in the form of recommendations that are personalized for you based on your profile, your professional network, the company you work for, etc.

There is also better integration on the platform with the content itself so when you learn new skills from taking a course, you have the option to easily add those skills to your profile.

LinkedIn Learning Subscription

LinkedIn Learning is available as a Premium subscription and costs $29.99 a month for a monthly subscription, plus taxes. Annual subscriptions cost $299.88 per year, plus taxes.

Learn more about the benefits of a LinkedIn Learning subscription and payment plans.

Note: If you have signed up for the one month free trial, your billed subscription will begin automatically at the end of the trial period. Learn more about LinkedIn Premium account free trials.

Get the Windows 10–Fall Creators Update

Download the Windows 10—Fall Creators Update SDK today. Want to learn more about what’s in it? Get the overview by watching the Windows Developer Day keynote and dive deeper with over 18 sessions on Windows 10 features and capabilities here.

And don’t forget to enter an epic sweepstakes with amazing prizes. When you submit or update a Windows Store app targeting Windows 10—Fall Creators Update (build 16299), you’ll have a chance to win one of five prize packages—each valued at over $8,000 USD.* You’ll receive one entry for each app or game you create or update that meets the criteria.

*No Purchase Necessary. Open only to Universal Windows Apps developers 18+. Sweepstakes ends November 17, 2017. For details, see Official Rules.

Microsoft announces the Surface Book 2

What to look for in the Surface Book 2 USB C, 17 hour video playback on battery, both a 13.5 and 15 inch version, lots of memory, lots of CPU, lots of storage. Watch this video that will walk you through the design and reasons for the design by Jeff Stewart, Senior Director and Product Line Manager at Microsoft.

How to Protect from Ransomware with Acronis Active Protection: A Real-Time Training Demo

Microsoft extends free Windows 10 S upgrade offer through March 2018

We like the word “FREE” don’t we. Microsoft has extended the Windows 10 S to 10 Pro upgrade offer until March 31, 2018. Microsoft originally intended to end this offer in December but we welcome the extension they are now offering.

Windows 10 S is being positioned for the education market as a more secure version of Windows 10 because it only allows apps from the Windows Store to be installed. It also happens to come as the default operating system on the Surface Laptop. If find you need to install an app that is only available outside of the Windows Store, the ability to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro at any time is handy to have, particularly through the free promotion. Once the promotion ends in March, however, Microsoft is expected to charge upwards of $49 to upgrade.

Switch to previously installed Windows 10 editions

If Windows 10 S is not right for you, you can switch to the Windows 10 edition previously installed on your device(s).+

• Education customers can switch devices to Windows 10 Pro Education using the Microsoft Store for Education. For more information, see Switch to Windows 10 Pro Education from Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 S.
• If you try Windows 10 S and decide to switch back to the previously installed edition within 10 days, you can go back to the previously installed edition using the Windows Recovery option in Settings. For more info, see Go back to your previous edition of Windows 10.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/education/windows/switch-to-pro-education#switch-using-microsoft-store-for-education

Microsoft Surface Products are now available through PAconnect

It has been a pet peeve of mine that Microsoft had held back regular channel partners from selling their Surface Series Products. We are now authorized so if you are in the market let us know so that we can get you over some pricing information.

Surface Laptop in Graphite Gold, Burgundy & Cobalt Blue are (finally!) coming to distribution.

Surface Laptop Colors are launching in distribution on November 1, 2017.

The Yoga 920 Limited Edition Product Tour

Yoga 920 is boldly individual. Now with pen compatibility, it’s our most versatile Yoga 9 series to date. We’ve kept our iconic watchband hinge, upgraded our processor to the latest 8th gen Intel Core i7 U, and introduced 360 degree immersive sound with Dolby Atmos. And we’ve wrapped all of this in a sleek redesign: get yours in bronze, copper, platinum, or limited edition Vibes design with Gorilla Glass (subject to availability). Learn more here: https://www.lenovo.com

Its great that they added the thunderbolt USB3c connectors to it.

Lenovo has released the Miix 520

Pretty impressed with the updates.

Type. Touch. Draw. Speak. Go. The Miix 520 detachable flexes to meet your every need. Grab the Lenovo Active Pen 2 and unleash your creativity. Or leave handwritten edits on a Word document. Scan your surroundings in 3D to help you with your latest home redesign. Stay connected with optional LTE. Miix 520 was built to help you explore new levels of productivity, and deliver an enhanced entertainment experience. Don’t know where to begin? Just ask Cortana. Thanks to our far field mics, she can now respond to you from across the room. Learn more here: https://www.lenovo.com