Windows Server 2012 Editions–Licensing Overview

Cut right from Microsoft’s site:

Licensing Overview

Windows Server 2012 delivers a dramatically simplified licensing experience. Shaped by feedback from customers and partners, the new Windows Server licensing approach will help make choosing the right Windows Server easier while delivering the following benefits.

Simple

It’s easier than ever to determine the right Windows Server edition for you. Choose from just four editions of Windows Server 2012, based on the size of your organization and your requirements for virtualization and cloud computing.

Economical

All editions of Windows Server 2012 deliver excellent economics and ROI for your business. For example, Datacenter edition with unlimited virtualization rights provides the benefits of cloud-level scale with predictable, lower costs. Standard edition now offers all of the same enterprise-class features as Datacenter and is differentiated only by virtualization rights.

Cloud-optimized

Businesses today are rapidly adopting a hybrid approach across private and public cloud computing. Windows Server 2012 offers the right edition for you, no matter where you are on your path to the cloud; Datacenter edition for highly virtualized cloud environments, Standard edition for lightly virtualized environments progressing toward cloud, or Essentials edition for an ideal cloud-connected first server.

New Microsoft Logo conforming to Metro Style Look

Microsoft is changing its corporate logo for the first time in 25 years. Microsoft is making many changes to incorporate the new Windows 9 Style in all of its product logos.

For the first time in its history, Microsoft has a graphical symbol as part of its logo. Four colored squares sit to the left of the company name written in its Segoe typeface. Segoe is the font family of choice for Metro applications.

The new logo is extremely simple. The old logo had some nuance, with the way the 's' takes a notch out of the 'o'. This is now gone, though the connection between the 'f' and 't' is retained.

The design of the newest logo, or specifically its symbol part, is more than a little surprising. Earlier in the year, Microsoft revealed a new Windows logo. Office 2013 also has a new logo. Both of these logos share some design cues, in particular, the use of a perspective effect on their symbols.

                 

The difference in styles between the Windows 8 and Office logos and the new Corporate logos jumps right out at me. Though both are rather simplistic the Corporate logo has more color and doesn’t position the graphic in same show of depth that the other two logos do. Also strange is the use of colors. The company says that the squares are intended to express the company's diverse portfolio of products. The new logo is already being used on the microsoft.com site and three of the company's stores. It will be rolled out more widely over the coming months.

Bitcoin-funded debit/credit cards are on their way, expect them in 6-8 weeks

Honestly, I haven’t run into Bitcoin except to clear it off of servers as a form of Malware. According to TweakTown, Charlie Shrem, BitInstant co-founder revealed in an IRC chat that his company is 6 to 8 weeks away from launching a Bitcoin-funded international debit/credit card. Stating that it will be issued by two unnamed major banks, one international and the other domestic.

The Bitcoin-funded card will act like any normal debit or credit card account, and should be accepted wherever MasterCard is accepted, which is virtually anywhere. The first 1,000 Bitcoin debit/credit cards will be issued for free, but after the first 1,000, the cards will set you back around $10 per card.

Shrem also revealed that each card will sport a QR code on the front that can be scanned to complete transactions that are under $1,000 and a printed address on the rear featuring the user's Bitcoin Address. Future Bitcoin-funded card owners should expect to pay a 1% fee to fund the card, and a $1.50 ATM withdrawal fee.

Amazon launches Glacier archiving service

An interesting choice for a name for this product it takes on a couple of the characteristics of a Glacier. This new Amazon service is meant to provide an inexpensive method for archive storage of your data. Priced at $0.01 per GB / month, you are also charged for both upload and retrieval requests. “Glacier is designed with the expectation that retrievals are infrequent and unusual, and data will be stored for extended periods of time. You can retrieve up to 5% of your average monthly storage (pro-rated daily) for free each month. If you choose to retrieve more than this amount of data in a month, you are charged a retrieval fee starting at $0.01 per gigabyte. Learn more. In addition, there is a pro-rated charge of $0.03 per gigabyte for items deleted prior to 90 days. Learn more.”

There doesn’t seem to be a cost for transferring data into your data store or for the first GB that you transfer out. However, look at the table below for rates for greater than 1GB out bound.

Take a look at the Amazon Glacier FAQs page here.

Pros: Cheap storage for lots of data

Cons: Slow retrieval rates

Don’t consider this service for anything but long term archival storage. I don’t think this is cost effective for home users but for off site archival storage for commercial entities this could be a great solution.

Logitech Washable Keyboard K310

This is a new Logitech K310 keyboard that should be hitting distribution shortly. Priced at $39.99 it is  geared towards being able to be cleaned using soap and water. It is great for use in highly dirty situations. It can handle a light dusting or be soaked in up to 12 inches of water. It has drainage holes in the back for faster drying. From Logitech’s Features Page:

More than tough enough

Laser printing and a UV coating ensures this keyboard can take a washing as well as a pounding. The durable keys, robust tilt legs and increased resistance to surface scratches makes the Washable Keyboard one of the toughest on the market.

Functional and good-looking

Comfortable typing is a given, thanks to a familiar layout with F-keys and number pad. And it all comes in a unique, contemporary design that will complement your computer, as well as your work space.

Plug and play simplicity

Thankfully, the Washable Keyboard works right out of the box. There’s no software to install, so you can simply plug it in and start typing. Talk about a clean setup.

Take a shortcut and save time

Gain instant access to popular applications like the Internet, email, volume controls, and more—with 12 hot keys. Hit F1 to go home, F2 to launch your email, F3 to start a search, and F4 to crunch some numbers on the calculator. Want to bring up your media player and play your favorite music? Simply hit F5 to launch, F6 for the previous track, F7 to play or pause the track, and F8 to skip tracks. For volume controls, you can hit F9 to mute, or F10 and F11 to lower or raise the volume (respectively). And when you’re finished using your computer, put your PC to sleep by hitting F12. It’s that easy.

Look at this brief video from Logitech:

Specification Page

Nexus7 Update - Audio Bluetooth Streaming

I just want to make a quick comment on and update that must have happened on my Nexus 7 recently. I decided to try to Bluetooth streaming audio again in my car when wonder of wonders, it worked perfectly.

I no longer have the problem streaming from my audible book collection. What was the issue was that if I paused or stopped the Audible book from playing, when I tried to access it again later it would not connect. In fact, I was denied access to the book until I closed and restarted the Audible application. Now that is no longer in a problem. I'm so glad that finally started working again.

Registration for $15 Windows 8 Upgrade Offer Opens

From Redmond Channel Partner news comes the announcement that the $14.99 Windows 8 upgrade offer became available on Monday.

From Redmond Blog Post:

The upgrade offer provides a discount to buyers of new Windows 7-based PCs who want to upgrade in the future to the Windows 8 Pro edition. The offer applies only to those moving to Windows 8 Pro on x86/x64 machines. Windows RT, the operating system that runs on ARM-based hardware, will only be sold preinstalled on machines; it isn't possible to download it or buy boxed copies.

The offer to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $14.99 is good only for owners of Windows 7 PCs that were purchased between June 2, 2012 and Jan. 31, 2013, according to Microsoft's announcement. An announcement made last month seemed to suggest that the offer was available with Windows XP and Vista machines too, but that's not exactly correct. The main problem is that people can't buy new PCs running those operating systems, and the offer is only extended to new PC buyers. However, the upgrade offer is still available to those people who bought a new Windows 7 PC who then downgraded that OS to Windows XP or Vista. Such downgrades do not affect the upgrade offer, or even the process of upgrading to Windows 8, according to Microsoft's FAQ.

There are some limitations that you need to know about. If you bought retail outlet or boxed copies of Windows 7 that weren’t installed on PCs or if you purchased a refurbished PC with Windows 7 preinstalled you will not qualify because your system is not new. Also, the offer is just for consumers and not businesses. An individual can only take advantage of the offer on five upgrades. Windows 7 Starter Edition also doesn’t qualify.

Redmond goes on to discuss the process:

The offer is a multistep process. The new Windows 7 PC has to be purchased within the dates of the offer. Next, those wanting to upgrade to Windows 8 have to register, and that's now open via this page. Lastly, the upgrade itself is only available when Windows 8 is released as a final product on October 26, so those signing up can't upgrade right away. Finally, the offer has a time-out clause, even for those who signed up -- that is, the Windows 8 download has to take place before Feb. 28, 2013 or the deal is null.

The upgrade happens over an Internet connection by means of a "Windows upgrade assistant" service. It can take "30 to 90 minutes" to download Windows 8, which is a 2 GB file. Of course it's not possible to upgrade a 32-bit Windows 7 PC with a 64-bit edition of Windows 8. Microsoft will provide Windows 8 on installation media for an additional charge, or upgraders can burn their own installation disks on a DVD disk or a USB drive.

If you don’t qualify for the cheap upgrade, you will be able to upgrade after the Windows 8 release for 39.95. Your requirement is to have either XP, Vista or Windows 7 installed on you machine. You will also get the Media Player as part of the package as well.  I’ll post more info on this as it comes available.

How do you use a tablet?

Many people have different use for tablet technology. Whether you are a professional or you are just using the device in a home environment, your perspective on how you are using a tablet will probably be quite different. From my perspective, most of the people that mix their use of tablet between work and home are using in their business lives to check and send email, do research and review documents that they have created on their PC’s. Some take it a step further and use the tablet as a device to remotely access their notebooks and desktop computers or to help them maintain their servers. I usually have a tablet somewhere near me and I use it at home primarily as an entertainment device, a resource to scan email, RSS Feeds, and other documents, reading text books or novels, listen to audio books, and listen/watch podcasts that are mainly computer industry related. Netflix, Hulu, Xfinity and HBOgo are my favorite video applications, Kindle is my favorite ebook reader, Skype for many of personal calls, Audible for my audiobooks, Amazon MP3 and Spotify for music. I am not storing many pictures anymore on these devices but I have access to SmugMug as my gallery on the internet. I don’t use Facebook or Twitter much directly, however, all my blog posts are automatically posted to both of these to help promote my pages. Data access is a very important requirement to any device that I use. It is important to me that no matter what device I pick up that I can get at the data I need to keep working. Dropbox has been a big part of this for me because of its auto-synchronization between devices and access from any device that has internet access. SkyDrive is starting to become my second choice for document storage and for music I use Amazon. SmugMug is my choice for Photos and YouTube is my choice for my video content that I want to share. With my mobile hotspot and of the devices that I have I have access with every WiFi device I own when I have 3G/4G access. I don’t write much other than email replies on any of the tablets. I find myself needing multiple screens and other software tools that help me to capture images that I use in my posts. I find most of the research I want to do is better served for me by a dual monitor environment which I am not going to get with a tablet. So when it comes to the creative side of using a device I find myself going back to a desktop more than to a notebook or tablet unit. But when I hit the road it is the tablet that I always have with me not the notebook to connect to my world. I wonder when the Microsoft Surface Pro finally makes it to t he real world whether I will be able to use that as my primary mobile creation device or not. The keyboard is going to be a make or break part of the equipment. Being able to run Microsoft applications is going to a big thing as well. It will be interesting to see how it fits into my life.

Knomia-an online video platform directed at education

Knomia allows you to create and share lessons as a teacher, view lessons as a student, and as a parent to choose lessons that you think would be good for your students. They have several tools posted for teachers to create content with more coming. Use the iPad app to create lesson plans or link to video that you have produced on iTunes and Vimeo. Currently advertising over 7,000 video lessons available at this time, all published by teachers. They have 3 different accounts that you can sign up for. You may register as a student, teacher or parent. You will be asked to setup using an email and to put in personal information about yourself. As a teacher you can create video in QuickTime, MPEG4 or H.264 formats or point to YouTube or Vimeo posts in your accounts. Use the iTunes lessons creation tool that is a free lesson planning and recording tool for teachers.

It helps you create short video lessons on any subject and publish them on knowmia.com so your students and the public can find them. Knowmia Teach makes it easy to bring in visual aids from multiple sources, organize them in steps (like slides in a presentation) and use your own voice and fingers to bring your lesson to life. You can design each step in the lesson, record illustrations as you draw them, and create sophisticated animation sequences with a simple stroke of a finger. We give you the ability to describe your lesson with details that make it simple for any student who is interested in the subject to find it.
Main features include:

• Build your lesson out of smaller steps (like slides) so it's easy to manage and organize your lesson
• Create each step of your lesson on a separate whiteboard so you can seamlessly introduce new concepts
• Record everything that you do on the whiteboard as well as your voice to create the lesson step-by-step
• Use the shape tool to quickly draw common shapes
• Type text with any font/size directly on the whiteboard
• Import graphics from the iPad's media library and built-in camera - or paste in any image of your own
• Draw freely with multiple pen widths and a highlighter mode
• Use the pointer tool to attract attention to anything on the whiteboard while recording it
• Publish the complete lesson to Knowmia.com with a touch of a button

It is great to start seeing new products coming out that will enhance the teacher’s lesson plans and parents ability to help direct their children’s education.

Lexmark Printer Tip–Prevent Paper Jams

Here are some techniques on how to help prevent paper jams in you Lexmark printers.

While your competitors are parked on the phone with tech support trying to clear a paper jam, you can zoom right past them on the road to success. To avert paper jams before they happen, try these easy tips:

· Fan the paper like you do with playing cards and then align the edges.
Quickly prepare the paper. Watch video »

· Make sure the paper lies flat in the tray.

· Don't remove trays while the printer is printing.

· Don't load trays or feeders while the printer is printing. Load them prior to printing, or wait for a prompt to load them.

· Don't load too much paper. Make sure the stack height does not exceed the indicated maximum height. Best way to load paper. Watch video »

· Make sure the guides in the paper trays and feeders are properly positioned so they are not pressing too tightly against the paper or envelopes.

· Push all trays in firmly after loading paper.

Paper tray recommendations

• Make sure the paper lies flat in the tray.

• Do not remove trays while the printer is printing.

• Do not load trays, the multipurpose feeder, or the envelope feeder while the printer is printing. Load them prior to printing, or wait for a prompt to load them.

• Do not load too much paper. Make sure the stack height does not exceed the indicated maximum height.

• Make sure the guides in the paper trays, multipurpose feeder, or envelope feeder are properly positioned and are not pressing too tightly against the paper or envelopes.

• Push all trays in firmly after loading paper.

Paper recommendations

• Use only recommended paper or specialty media.

• Do not load wrinkled, creased, damp, bent, or curled paper.

• Flex, fan, and straighten paper before loading it.

• Do not use paper that has been cut or trimmed by hand.

• Do not mix paper sizes, weights, or types in the same stack.

• Make sure all sizes and types are set correctly in the printer control panel menus.

• Store paper per the manufacturer's recommendations.

Envelope recommendations

• To reduce wrinkling, use the Envelope Enhance menu in the Paper menu.

• Do not feed envelopes that:

  • Have excessive curl or twist.

  • Have windows, holes, perforations, cutouts, or embossing.

  • Have metal clasps, string ties, or folding bars.

  • Have an interlocking design.

  • Have postage stamps attached.

  • Have any exposed adhesive when the flap is in the sealed or closed position.

  • Have bent corners.

  • Have rough, wrinkled, or laid finishes.

  • Are stuck together or damaged in any way.

Following all these recommendations and still getting paper jams? If you've been getting a lot of mileage out of your Lexmark printer, it may be time for a new maintenance kit or pick rollers. Contact Lexmark to help with printer troubleshooting before taking any more action.

Amazon launches ‘Send to Kindle’ feature for Google Chrome

Amazon has created an extension for Chrome that allows web content to be sent to any device that has the Kindle App installed. It provides a single click process that will send blog posts, stories and other Google Chrome displayed pages to be sent to your favorite e-reader device. Amazon’s Whispersync technology synchronizes between devices so that you can start reading the content on one reader and seamlessly pick up where you left off on another device.

The extension, "Send to Kindle for Google Chrome," allows users to send the entire webpage or just selected text to the device.

To get the extension for yourself, head on over to Amazon's Send To Kindle download page. Confirm the download on the Google Chrome Web store and sign in with your Amazon account. When you click the button, the content is formatted for the Kindle and then sent to your device a few minutes later. Amazon has said FireFox and Safari will get support "soon" but there was no mention of Internet Explorer.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 has finally reached distribution and it seems to a very interesting choice of functions. The tablet is available in both 16GB $499 and 32GB $549 versions. It is using Samsung’s S-Pen stylus for input and is available in WiFi only. It is shipping with Android 4.0 (ICS Ice Cream Sandwich) but Samsung is promising an upgrade to Jellybean (4.1) before the end of the year. It is also shipping with Samsung’s Touchwiz interface that allows for easy multitasking and customizable home screens.

It's powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core and 2GB of RAM. The screen seems a bit low-res coming in at only 1280×800 on a TFT display. The rear camera also seems a bit underwhelming, coming in at a mere 5MP with autofocus and a LED flash. It has a regular size SD slot that supports up to 32GB SD cards. There is a a disappointing US 2.0 connection but it is supporting Bluetooth 4.0.

The software apps that are loaded on the system include: Google Play™ Store, Books, Movies, and Music Preloaded: Contacts, Alarm/Clock, S Planner, Camera, Gallery, Google Talk™, Dropbox, Netflix, Gmail™, YouTube™, Web Browser, My Files, Email, Google Search, Latitude, Video Player, Media Hub, Game Hub, Calculator, Music Player, Smart Remote, Settings, ChatON, Samsung Apps, Polaris Office, S Suggest, Google Maps, Google +, Google + Messenger, Music Hub, Navigation, Places, Video Maker, World Clock, Nook, AllShare Play S Pen Optimized Apps: Crayon Physics, S Note™, Adobe® Photoshop® Touch, Kno™

Audio Support
Music: MP3, AAC/AAC+/EAAC+, WMA, OGG (vorbis), FLAC, AC-3 Sound: AMR-NB/WB, WAV, MID, XMF, iMelody, SP-MIDI, RTTTL/RTX, OTA

Video Support
Video: 1080p Playback Full HD in 1280 x 800 screen @ 30 fps Video Codec: Mpeg4, H.264, H.263, VC-1, Divx, VP8, WMV7/8, Sorenson Spark Format: 3gp(mp4), wmv(asf), avi(divx), mkv, flv, webm

Image Support
GIF, AGIF, JPEG, PNG, WBMP, WEBP

Supported Document Types
Word File: .doc .docx .txt .hwp .rtf Excel File: .xls .xlsx .csv PowerPoint: .ppt .pptx .pps PDF: .pdf

Messaging Options
Email (POP3/IMAP/SMTP/SSL/TLS); Exhange ActiveSync Email

Great Windows 8 Review

Windows 8 Review: Incredibly Innovative, Incredibly Important, Not Quite Incredible

Kyle Wagner of Gizmodo wrote a great article providing an interesting look at the pros and cons of Windows 8. While in  most enterprise environments I thing we will see a slow adoption, in the home and mobile environment it will be interesting to see what the adoption rate will be. There is going to be a learning curve no matter what but even with a slow adoption I think we will see come together. Always optimistic I guess.

Have you signed up for Outlook.com account yet?

Microsoft is making another attempt to draw users into their Cloud Solutions by integrating their new email account with their other online services. Of course this is an Ad-based service but the ads are quite unobtrusive as you can see on the image to the right. As you work around the screen you will see that it has been given the Windows 8 start screen look and feel (what was know as Metro Style a few short days ago).

From this menu option that you can get into by clicking on the Outlook object at the top left of the screen you have access to your mail, contacts, calendar and documents that are located out on SkyDrive. With a new account you will be allocated 7gb’s of storage on your associated SkyDrive and of course have free access to web-based versions of  Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.

All of the web based applications have been updated so they show the ribbon interface but they are still limited as compared to the full desktop versions of Office. However, I can’t but admit that for most of our uses, these versions are more than adequate for day in and day out usage. I downloaded the OneNote app onto my Nexus 7 but it crashes instantly. Must be something to do with either the screen size or the version of Android.

You can pull contacts in from several different sources including Gmail, Outlook desktop, Facebook and Hotmail. You have the ability to connect any ICS based calendar system to your calendar display as well. You can use a modified calendar entry to create ToDo lists for the calendar as well. One complaint that I have is that your ToDo List doesn’t' show up on the Agenda Tab. For the way that I would use it, I would like some tab to consolidate all the date/time oriented entries.

Email is setup using one of two grouping functions.You can view your email from folders that you create. Shown in the image to the right, notice that I have multiple levels of folders in the Test Folder. To create a new folder on the top level, Right mouse click on the Folders menu option. You will be given the option of creating a folder or in creating rules for incoming mail. You can create rules based on who has sent it, the sender’s address, the To and CC lines, the message subject line and whether the message has attachments. Quite a bit of control here. You can move the message to a new location, automatically delete the message, apply a category to the message, remove a category from the message, flag the message or forward it to another user/email.

Right mouse click on any folder and you can create a new subfolder, rename the folder, delete the folder, mark all mail as read, or empty the contents of the folder. Right mouse click on an email message you will first see that a check mark will appear in the box to the left of the message. You then have the ability to Reply, Reply All, Forward, Mark as Read/Unread, Delete, Mark as Junk, View the message source and also set up functions for the sender of the message.

If you want to do something to a group of messages click in the box to the left of the header message line for all the messages that you want to process and you will see at the top of the screen the ability mark the messages as junk, move them to a folder and to categorize the messages using categories that you can setup. The categories are Quick Views that you can see in bottom grouping on the image to the right. This allows you to quickly pull messages from multiple folders that have been categorized for these views.

To create a new message just click on the New hyperlink at the top of the screen. You will be taken to a dialog box that you see below:

As you move through the beta of this product you will see the inconsistencies of the screens. Microsoft is still in the middle of the transition between Hotmail, Live Spaces and this new Outlook.com site. It will be very nice once they have made the final programming ports to provide the same look and feel all the way through. This is a pretty nice start for now.

Sophos (Astaro) UTM H/W refresh program is here!

Upgrading to the new UTM9 version software may not be available if you have older Astaro hardware. See table below:

The previous table provides on overview about ASG/UTM hardware models and revisions supported by UTM 9, where each revision belongs to one of the following categories:
“Not Supported”
 UTM 9 will not install
“Not Recommended but Supported”
 UTM 9 will install
 Warning at install time about possible performance issues
“Fully Supported”
 UTM 9 will install
 No warnings

The program is available beginning July 16th, 2012 and ending March 31st, 2013. Delivery of the replacement units will begin September 12st, 2012. Every ASG appliance is eligible for participation in the program – in advance registration of serial number is required.

There is a one-time discount that will be given directly to you the customer. This depends on the model that your are replacing. See table below for what would be your discount:

Contact us for the proper procedure to follow to take advantage of this discount. 1-800-640-7506.

Cloud meets FedEx?

Ok. I know we don't all have printers strapped to our hips but what the heck?

I was on the road for many years and I probably would have wanted this capability back then when I was so busy documenting procedures and presenting them back to my clients (1978-1983), but the proliferation of printing functions that are available to us at this time are so prevalent I cant imaging the scenario that would require me presenting paper when I can present a digital image that you can carry any where with you on any device that you decide to have it available on.

Has anyone heard of print of PDF? The story this week of Dropbox now connecting to FedEx Office Retail Stores to be able to provide printing functions is really foreign to me as a positive new capability. This is supposedly a self-serve function, that you can send a job to the local FedEx Office and pick it up later in the day.This is not something that jumps in front of me says I need this capability.

SkyDrive has gone Metro or Windows 8 Style…

Microsoft has just revamped the SkyDrive site to give it the same look and fell that Outlook.com received with the new Windows 8 Style interface. The rest of the site which includes Outlook, People, Calendar and SkyDrive are all on the drop menu and all have been converted to the new Windows 8 Style look except for Calendar which still is falling back to the old Windows Live Style. It even comes up with Windows Live and Hotmail (Outlook), Messenger, SkyDrive and MSN in the menu groupings.

You can get to SkyDrive directly by typing in skydrive.com. Microsoft states that the sight now defaults to a tile-based layout and boasts new features like instant search and a contextual toolbar. As the company notes, it's also designed with tablets in mind, in addition to desktop web browser. What's more, Microsoft has also rolled out updated SkyDrive apps for Windows and OS X, which promise faster uploads and other performance improvements, and it says it'll finally have an Android app in "just a few weeks."

See link below for a quick video on the changes. Click here if you want to access the skydrivevideos’s channel on YouTube.

What you need to consider when setting up your home wireless network…

Security

Securing your WI-Fi connections is an important element of securing your personal data. You want your equipment and your data that is stored on that equipment to be protected from outside sources. Consider when you are setting up your network to purchase equipment that is able to use WPA2^tm which provides both security (controlling who connects to your network)  and prvacy (the transmissions cannot be read by others) for communications that move across the network. Remember, the security level or a network is determined by the least capable device. So if you have older wireless equipment consider updating your equipment with devices that are capable of WPA2^tm.

Most Wi-Fi equipment is shipped with security disabled to make in easier to set up or connect to your network, Most new routers/wireless access points will walk you though your initial security setup and you have to force it not to do this to shut it off. It is very simple to set up and always pick the best overall protection that is suggested by the manufacturer. Change your SSID to a different name to differentiate from all the default units that are out there clogging up the airways. Make sure that you change the default administrative credentials as well (login and password). Though they make my job easier coming in to help you as a service person, it also makes it extremely easy for anyone to connect and make changes if you leave them with the defaults. Be sure to document what you did because otherwise you will have to reset everything back to factory defaults to and reset the connections if you forget.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has produced a short video (below), that provides a humorous and informative reasoning for setting up your network securely using WPA2^tm. It is so important to lock things down so be sure that you are providing a secure safe access for your family in your home. (Download White Papers from WI=Fi Alliance)

Location

The performance of a Wi-Fi home network greatly depends on signal strength of the wireless router or wireless access point (base station).

If a given wireless client falls out of range of the base station signal, obviously that network connection will fail or "drop." Clients situated near the edge of the network range will likely experience intermittent dropped connections. But even when a wireless client stays within range consistently, its network performance can still be adversely affected by distance,obstructions, or interference.

To position your wireless equipment for optimal network performance, follow these guidelines:

• First and foremost, don't settle prematurely on a location for the wireless access point or router. Experiment; try placing the device in several different promising locations. While trial-and-error may not be the most scientific way to find a good spot for your equipment, it is often the only practical way to assure the best possible Wi-Fi performance.
• Strive to install the wireless access point or router in a central location. If you have only one wireless client, installing the base station near this client is best. For WLANs with multiple wireless clients, find a good compromise position. Clients too far away from the base station will manage only 10% - 50% the bandwidth of clients nearby to it. You might need to sacrifice the network performance of one client for the good of the others.
• Next, avoid physical obstructions whenever possible. Any barriers along the "line of sight" between client and base station will degrade a Wi-Fi radio signal. Plaster or brick walls tend to have the most negative impact, but really any obstruction including cabinets or furniture will weaken the signal to some degree. Obstructions tend to reside closer to floor level; therefore, some folks prefer to install their wireless access point / router on or near the ceiling.
  Avoid reflective surfaces whenever possible. Some Wi-Fi signals literally bounce off of windows, mirrors, metal file cabinets and stainless steel countertops, lessening both network range and performance.
• Install the wireless access point or router at least 1 m (3 feet) away from other home appliances that send wireless signals in the same frequency range. Such appliances include some microwave ovens, cordless telephones, baby monitors, and home automation equipment like X-10 devices. Any appliance that transmits in the same general range as802.11b or 802.11g (2.4 GHz) can generate interference.
• Likewise, install the unit away from electrical equipment that also generates interference. Avoid electric fans, other motors, and fluorescent lighting.
• If the best location you find is only marginally acceptable, consider adjusting the base station antennas to improve performance. Antennas on wireless access points and routers can usually be rotated or otherwise re-pointed to "fine tune" Wi-Fi signaling. Follow the specific manufacturer's recommendations for best results.

If using these guidelines you still cannot find a suitable location for your wireless gear, there are alternatives. You can, for example, replace and upgrade the base station antenna. You can also install a Wi-Fi repeater (often called a "range extender" or "signal booster.") Finally, in extreme cases, you may need to configure a second base station to extend the range of your WLAN.

eg. My home is one of the worst situations that I could have put myself in to create a strong environment. My first problem is that I live in a multi-level home that has a lot of brick  on its outer walls and cement block surrounding the lover levels. I have a slate floor in the kitchen (this is a problem that I will explain later) and in the summer I need WiFi access in a greater than 150 foot area when I include the outdoor areas that we spend a lot of time in. My home office is in a wonderful little sunroom that sticks out away from the house so because the modem/router is located in this area I am feeding all my network and wireless access starting from this area. I ended up placing a second access point in a location that covers the second level bedrooms, mid-level living room and kitchen. The office unit covers the screened in porch and about half of the pool area outside. It is almost perfect but I could almost use a repeater to fully cover the pool area to bring it completely back into the network with speed and coverage. This took awhile to setup where I am now and you will find that you will want to work things out based on how you plan to use wireless access in your environment.

Let us know if you have any questions, I will be very happy to discuss your needs with your as any or our technicians can.

Lexmark Printer Tip – Lost Printer CD

Want to connect your trusty Lexmark printer to a new computer, but can't find your printer CD? Don't put work on hold while you search every nook and cranny of your office. You can quickly download the most current drivers for your Lexmark printer right from our support site—and speed ahead like the pro you are. Here's how:

1. Go to support.lexmark.com

2. Choose one of the following steps:

a. If you're a visual person, select your product type from the images and then select your printer model.

b. If you want a shortcut, enter your printer model in the product box above the images and then click on the printer model.

3. Click Support & Downloads on the left side of the page.

4. At the bottom, select your operating system and version to see all options for your printer.

You can now download current printer drivers and check out other tools to keep your device running smoothly, like firmware updates.

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 is official

Unlike Acer Lenovo doesn’t seem to be afraid of the new Microsoft’s Surface Product.

Lenovo has officially announce their upcoming ThinkPad Tablet 2 and has listed pretty muck the same specs that have been rumored earlier. They still haven’t disclosed the price as of yet. The device is a 10-inch slate powered by Windows 8 and an Intel Atom processor. The screen is a 1366x768 IPS display, which should help with color reproduction and viewing angles. It reportedly gets 10 hours of battery life, comes with optional 3G/4G connectivity, and a micro-HDMI video output port. It sports two cameras, 2MP and 8MP. The cellular connection will mainly be HSPA+, however, the tablet will be compatible with AT&T's LTE network as well. More incredible is the thickness: 9.8mm. Inside that slim package, Lenovo has packed NFC connectivity, a fingerprint reader, and a stylus, which can be stored inside the tablet.

Windows 8 is going to be tightly integrated with Microsoft’s Cloud products and this may be a big draw for a lot of people to go this direction instead of Android and Apple especially in business environments. I would much rather have Windows running on my tablet because it would be linked more tightly with the way that I use a computer and would like a tablet to work as well. The big question is going to be price. We are still waiting to find out what Microsoft is doing and I am sure a lot of the PC Manufacturers are waiting as well.

The ThinkPad 2 Tablet will integrate tightly with Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Outlook, Active Directory and other corporate business applications, and it also offers a pen stylus, said Lenovo VP Dilip Bhatia. “Ladies and gentleman, this is the tablet the industry has been waiting for,” said Bhatia during an announcement Aug. 8 in New York.

“It’s designed for professionals and it’s designed life,” said Bhatia, speaking at a Lenovo event honoring the ThinkPad’s 20th anniversary. Among his key points:

• First, it will provide a “great mobile experience” — weighing less than 600 grams, 10 hours of battery life, with 3G and 4G wireless capabilities.
• A full-size USB port, HDMI capabilities
• Multi-user login for doctors, sales reps and lawyers
• A real pen stylus allows students to write formulas and real graphs
• It will be available in October when Windows 8 is available

Engadget also had a hands on video as well: