Northern Computer Kelowna and the IBM Partnership

Northern Computer, established in 1981, is a 100% locally owned and operated full service technology solutions provider. We provide computer solutions ranging from basic home office systems to high-end IBM networked solutions. We are dedicated to providing fast and professional services to Businesses, Professionals, Non-Profits and Individuals. We build relationships and partnerships with our vendors such as IBM to make sure that your technology performs properly to increase your productivity, improve your business processes and help improve your profitability.

Business is changing. Technology is changing. Complexity is the only constant. Today, solutions are no longer a singular path, but a multi-faceted plan upon which future prosperity depends. Your most valuable resources during this time is a partner that has the experience, reputation, integrity and ability to guide you towards the best solution for you and your company. At Northern Computer, our business is making this connection a reality. We bring together manufacturers, the primary one being IBM, and our services to help you meet and exceed your business process needs. With Northern Computer you have a partner that not only knows where the future is headed, but that can proactively connect you to it.

Most of our clients are in the beautiful Okanagan area including Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton. We also service clients throughout various parts of BC and are able to provide remote support. We have a strong reputation for being customer oriented and professional and enjoy a very high level of repeat and referral business.

Northern Computer - Your Trusted Partner
#1 - 495 Banks Road Kelowna, BC V1X 6A2
Phone: 250.762.7753 Fax: 250.861.1861 Toll-Free: 1.877.257.2896
Email: sales@northerncomputer.ca or service@northerncomputer.ca
Web: http://www.northerncomputer.ca

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Northern Computer Kelowna And IBM Green Technology

Green and Beyond: Getting Smarter about the environment.

For every dollar spent on hardware, another 50 cents is spent on energy. So it's crucial for today's companies to monitor and reduce energy consumption. IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager measures, monitors and manages energy usage of your IT systems, giving you a more complete view of your server room.

Northern Computer - Your Trusted Partner
#1 - 495 Banks Road Kelowna, BC V1X 6A2
Phone: 250.762.7753 Fax: 250.861.1861 Toll-Free: 1.877.257.2896
Email: sales@northerncomputer.ca or service@northerncomputer.ca
Web: http://www.northerncomputer.ca

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Spam - More than Annoyance

Spam is more than an annoyance, it can negatively affect your business. It is critical to business owners, particularly online business owners, to invest in controlling spam. Before you can make an informed decision as to your best defense against spam, it is useful to first define what spam is and understand how spam happens.

What is spam and how does it happen?

Spam is the telemarketing of the electronic age. Like it or not, your personal information is out there for anyone willing to spend a little money and/or expend a little effort to get it. Many spammers use a program that scans websites, chat rooms and message boards for e-mail addresses. The most popular method that spammers use is a chain email where the recipient is encouraged to forward the e-mail to a number of other individuals by being told that he/she would receive something good (e.g., good luck, health, money) or avoid something bad (e.g., illness, injury, death). Chain letters are also used to promote illegal pyramid schemes. Electric pyramid schemes are no different than their paper-based predecessors and all chain letters pose a serious risk to your privacy and the privacy of your virtual contacts.

What can you do to control spam?

Northern Computer’s Email Defense System offers effective and reliable protection from spam, viruses and other email threats. Many of our clients in private business, provincial/regional governments, and educational institutions, have opted for this system as it provides enterprise-grade service and performance, without enterprise-level complexity and cost. The Email Defense System works at the network perimeter to identify, quarantine, block and strip suspect email messages before they can enter the messaging infrastructure.

Why is Northern Computer’s Email Defense System your best protection against the dangers of spam?

Unlike appliances and enterprise software solutions that require integration, migration and a significant amount of ongoing maintenance, Email Defense System is effortless and highly effective. The Email Defense System includes:

* Advanced Spam Blocking

* Virus and Worm Scanning
* Content and Attachment Filtering
* Fraud Protection
* Email Attack Protection
* Outbound Message Filtering
* Sophisticated Quarantine Management
* Around-the-clock Monitoring and Protection
* Disaster Recovery Services

In summary, Northern Computer’s Email Defense System solution requires no upfront capital costs or integration, is flexible and easy to administer, and offers rapid activation.

For more information on how to best protect your business from the negative impacts of spam, please contact us at your earliest convenience. Thank you for continuing to select Northern Computer as your IT partner of choice.

Northern Computer - Your Trusted Partner
#1 - 495 Banks Road Kelowna, BC V1X 6A2
Phone: 250.762.7753 Fax: 250.861.1861 d
 1.877.257.2896
Email: sales@northerncomputer.ca or service@northerncomputer.ca
Web: http://www.northerncomputer.ca

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Outlook Express and Windows Mail Backup

Outlook Express has been replaced by Windows Live Mail, an improved e‑mail program with enhancements such as junk e‑mail filtering and protection against phishing messages and it also has the ability to automatically configure itself to work with many popular e‑mail services.

Moving or Backing up Email Files

There are several approaches, naturally, but in a nutshell we'll locate the folders on the old machine, copy them to the new machine, and then import them. And then we'll do something similar for the address book.  For those of you that have Blocked Senders set up or email rules in place, there is a procedure at the bottom of this article on how to backup and restore these settings as well.

Step 1: Copy message files to a backup folder

• Step A: Locate the Store folder

1. Start Outlook Express.
2. Click Tools, and then click Options.
3. On the Maintenance tab, click Store Folder. In the Store Location dialog box, copy the store location.
4. Click Cancel, and then click Cancel again to close the dialog box.

• Step B: Copy the contents of the Store folder

1. Click Start, click Run, paste into the search bar, and then click OK.
2. On the Edit menu, click Select All.
3. On the Edit menu, click Copy, and then close the window.

• Step C: Create a backup folder

1. Right-click any empty area on your desktop, click New, and then click Folder.
2. Type Mail Backup for the folder name, and then press ENTER.

• Step D: Paste the contents of the Store folder into the backup folder

1. Double-click the Mail Backup folder to open it.
2. Right-click inside the Mail Backup folder window, and then click Paste.

Step 2: Export the Address Book to a .csv file

Important: Make sure that you follow this step if you use multiple identities in Outlook Express.

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.x and Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0 use a Windows Address Book (.wab) file to store Address Book data. The individual data for each identity is stored in a folder by user name within the .wab file that is used.

The only way to separate the Address Book data for different identities is to export the data to a .csv file while you are logged in as a specific identity. If the .wab file becomes dissociated from the user identities, the data can be exported only as one total. In this case, the data cannot be exported folder by folder.

There is another reason to export the .wab file to a .csv file. If the .wab file not exported to a .csv file, but the .wab file is shared with Microsoft Outlook, the addresses are stored in the personal folders (.pst) file in Outlook. When you export the file to a .csv file by using the File menu in Outlook Express, the correct contacts are exported. However, if the Address Book is shared with Outlook, you cannot use the File menu option to export from the Address Book. This option is unavailable.

To export the Address Book to a .csv file, follow these steps:

• On the File menu, click Export, and then click Address Book.
• Click Text File (Comma Separated Values), and then click Export.
• Click Browse.
• Select the Mail Backup folder that you created.
• In the File Name box, type address book backup, and then click Save.
• Click Next.
• Click to select the check boxes for the fields that you want to export, and then click Finish.
• Click OK, and then click Close.

Step 3: Export the mail account to a file

• On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
• On the Mail tab, click the mail account that you want to export, and then click Export.
• In the Save In box, select the Mail Backup folder, and then click Save.
• Repeat these steps for each mail account that you want to export.
• Click Close.

Step 4: Export the newsgroup account to a file

• On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
• On the News tab, click the news account that you want to export, and then click Export.
• In the Save In box, select the Mail Backup folder, and then click Save.
• Repeat these steps for each news account that you want to export.
• Click Close.

Restoring Email Files

Note To restore items when you use multiple identities in Outlook Express, you may have to re-create the identities before you follow these steps. Repeat each step as needed for each identity.

Step 1: Import messages from the backup folder

• On the File menu, point to Import, and then click Messages.
• In the Select an e-mail program to import from box, click Microsoft Outlook Express 5 or Microsoft Outlook Express 6, and then click Next.
• Click Import mail from an OE5 store directory or Import mail from an OE6 store directory, and then click OK.
• Click Browse, and then click the Mail Backup folder.
• Click OK, and then click Next.
• Click All folders, click Next, and then click Finish.

Step 2: Import the Address Book file

• On the File menu, click Import, and then click Other Address Book.
• Click Text File (Comma Separated Values), and then click Import.
• Click Browse.
• Select the Mail Backup folder, click the address book backup.csv file, and then click Open.
• Click Next, and then click Finish.
• Click OK, and then click Close.

 Step 3: Import the mail account file 

• On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
• On the Mail tab, click Import.
• In the Look In box, select the Mail Backup folder.
• Click the mail account that you want to import, and then click Open.
• Repeat these steps for each mail account that you want to import.
• Click Close.

Step 4: Import the newsgroup account file

• On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
• On the News tab, click Import.
• In the Look In box, select the Mail Backup folder.
• Click the news account that you want to import, and then click Open.
• Repeat these steps for each news account that you want to import.
• Click Close.
• Backing Up Blocked Senders List and Other Email Rules
• The Blocked Senders List
• Click Start, and then click Run.
• In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
• Locate and click the following registry subkeys (save each key to a different file):
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{Identity Number}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Block Senders
• On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.
• In the Save In box, change the location to your desktop.
• In the File Name box, type blocked senders.reg (for the Block Senders key), and then click Save.
• Other Mail Rules
• Click Start, and then click Run.
• In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
• Locate and click the following registry subkeys (save each key to a different file):
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{Identity Number}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Rules\Mail
• On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.
• In the Save In box, change the location to your desktop.
• In the File Name box, type mail rules.reg (for the mail rules key), and then click Save.
• On the Registry menu, click Exit
• How to Restore the Existing Blocked Senders List and Other Mail Rules to Function on the Newly Installed Operating System
• Open Outlook Express on the new computer, and complete the Internet Connection Wizard to set up your Identity and account information. If you had multiple identities in the previous installation, complete these steps for each Identity. To do this:
• Click Start, and then click Run.
• In the Open box, type notepad.exe.
• Click Open on the File menu, and then locate the Block Senders.reg file that you created.
• In the second line of text, select the text after "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identity\" that includes the braces {}. On the Edit menu, click Copy to copy this text to the Microsoft Windows Clipboard.
• On the Edit menu, click Replace. Click your pointer in the Find what box, and then click Paste on the Edit menu to paste the text into that box. Do not close the Notepad application until you are directed to do so later in this process.
• Start Registry Editor on the new computer (as in step 1 of "The Blocked Senders List" section), and locate the HKEY_Current_User\Identities folder. Double-click the User ID key in the right pane, and then click the Value data.
• Press CTRL+C to copy that value to the Windows Clipboard. Click Cancel to close the Edit String dialog box, and then close Registry Editor.
• In Notepad, click your point in the Replace with box, and press CTRL+V to paste the text. Click Replace All to replace all instances of the text strings.
• Scroll through the entire list to make sure that all registry keys have the new text string, rather than the old string. On the File menu, click Save, and then close Notepad.
• Double-click the Block Senders.reg file, and then click Yes when you are prompted: "Are you sure you want to..." to import the Block Senders list to the registry for the new computer.
• Follow steps 2 through 11 above on the mail rules.reg file to update that file with the new Identity information.

  

Northern Computer - Your Trusted Partner
#1 - 495 Banks Road Kelowna, BC V1X 6A2
Phone: 250.762.7753 Fax: 250.861.1861 Toll-Free: 1.877.257.2896
Email: sales@northerncomputer.ca or service@northerncomputer.ca
Web: http://www.northerncomputer.ca

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Should I Make the Switch to Windows 7?

Windows 7 has now been out for a couple of years and yet there are still people who are hesitant to upgrade to it. For the most part this is due to the horror movie we once called Windows Vista. After that Creature from the Black Lagoon came out many users are happy to stick with the true golden child I like to call Windows XP. But now more programs and hardware are coming out that are only Windows 7 compatible.

Right away I want to say “YES JUST UPGRADE. WINDOWS 7 IS AMAZING,” but at the end of the day the choice is completely up to and if you already haven’t upgraded based on what other people are saying my previous statement will not change your mind. So here is my “7 Reasons to upgrade to 7!”

7)      The Taskbar – Many people are boasting the simplicity and the user friendliness of Macs. Mac users call the bar at the bottom “The Dock” and they say it makes it easy to use your everyday programs and keep clutter off the desktop. Well guess what, Windows 7 does the exact same thing. Now you can “Pin” your programs and applications to the task bar and open it with a single click. Looking for a recently opened document? No problem, just right click the “Pinned” program and a list of recently opened documents appears and allows you to choose from there.

6)      The Start Menu – Nothing, for the most part, has changed here. Like XP and, dare we say Vista, You have the programs you used the most followed by an All Programs option to see what is installed. What they have added is a very handy feature I like to call the Search Bar. At the bottom if the Start Menu is a text box which you can type in the name of ANYTHING on your computer and it will search for it and allow you to open it. I use it all the time for simple things like Notepad or the calculator, but you can browse for that word document or excel sheet as well!

5)      Aero – Sadly you cannot eat Windows 7, but Aero is the new graphic interface that it uses. It is much sleeker and eye catching. It allows for faster load time and uses less resources than the previous graphic interface in Vista and XP. If you already own Windows 7, do me a favour: hold down the Windows key and press tab at the same time. Don’t worry I’ll wait. Pretty neat eh? Want to change your desktop to a project or a second screen? No problem, press Windows + P, go to the option you want and press P again while holding the Windows Key and then hit enter.

4)      Drivers – For the most part end users may not even know what this means. The simplest explanation is that drivers are how the Operating System talks to hardware. Microsoft has included a wide variety of drivers with Windows 7 and has created an online database to make the installation of hardware even easier.

3)      Updates – No more opening up Internet Explorer going under the Tool tab and selecting Windows Updates.  Windows 7 has made keeping your computers security and programs up to date. With the new Windows Update feature you can select which updates to install and see previous update installations. Just browse to the Control Panel and the last option is Windows Updates. Press that and you are there!

2)      Enhanced Security - Instead of making you play watchdog and constantly clicking to approve program access, Windows 7 does away with the vast majority of Windows Vista's nagging pop-ups. Users can now control the relative amount of prompts regarding system security they receive using an intuitive slider bar control, with alert messages minimized to avoid becoming a nuisance. In addition, the Internet Explorer 8 web browser is better-guarded against external threats.

1)      It’s Sexy

Northern Computer - Your Trusted Partner
#1 - 495 Banks Road Kelowna, BC V1X 6A2
Phone: 250.762.7753 Fax: 250.861.1861 Toll-Free: 1.877.257.2896
Email: sales@northerncomputer.ca or service@northerncomputer.ca
Web: http://www.northerncomputer.ca

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Extend Your Wireless Signal

So you have a wireless network, but you can’t seem to sit in the backyard and surf the internet, relocate the kids’ online computer gaming sessions downstairs, or move up into your elaborate office in the attic. All because you can hardly get a wireless signal in those outreach areas. Well fear no more! Here are some tips that you can do (from the basic to the advanced) to help get some boosted signal strength:

Basic tweaks:

1.)    Relocate your current wireless router in your home. One thing to note is that putting the wireless router in a central location will provide you with a more balanced coverage (as opposed to the basement). Of course, you will ultimately be tied to where you can place, because of where your internet comes into your home.

2.)    Wireless signal best operates in open airwaves and less through solid materials. If you remember back to your physics class, you’ll remember that the more solid materials (and types of materials) that your wireless signal has to go through, the weaker it’s going to get. So place your wireless router in a higher location where it won’t interfere or have objects in the way of its wireless signal.

3.)    Other wireless interfering devices can affect the strength and quality of your wireless signal. Keep your router away from things like cordless phones, microwaves, florescent lights, and other wireless culprits.

4.)    Over time, the older model may not be as good as a newer model router. Also, wireless signal standards and breakthroughs occur which allow for better wireless speeds and signal distance. These days, you can get into a decent, new entry-level wireless router for cheap.

5.)    You can purchase a wireless signal range booster or extender. You don’t have to be a computer whiz to work one of these, because these days they make it so easy and straight forward. First you will usually go through a CD setup and then it will have you find a viable “sweet spot” location (usually about 50%-75% of the distance from your wireless router)

Technical tweaks:

1.)    Choosing the right channel makes all the difference. Wireless signals in North America have 11 channels and only 3 of the 11 are non-overlapping channels (1, 6, and 11). When wireless routers first came out, they all defaulted to the middle channel, 6. Most products these days are smart enough to choose the least congested wireless channel during initial setup, but usually the router won’t scan again. Over time, other wireless routers in your area could have shown up and now that initial install channel that your router chose isn’t so ideal. Imagine 11 different rooms and everyone is chatting at once to get in their two cents. It’s going to get pretty noisy and very soon it’s going to be very difficult to understand another person. So what do you do so you can hear that other person? You leave to another quieter room. The same goes for wireless routers. Either have the router choose the least congested channel, or you can scan the airwaves yourself with some tools (netstumbler or inssider) and choose a channel that best suits your area. Usually a safe bet is channel 1 or 11.

2.)    Update the firmware for your router. Newer software usually will come out with performance and signaling tweaks that can help give your old dog new tricks. If you really want to, you can flash your router with third-party firmware that will give you more control and granularity over the settings that you can tweak. Check with the third-party software developer to ensure your router is supported with their software. A good start is DD-WRT. You can search online for other third-party software that will meet your needs.

3.)    The new N standard can operate at both 2.4GHz (20Hz) and 5GHz (40Hz). By far, 2.4GHz wireless signal goes much farther than 5GHz, because of the way the signal wavelength is (more physics anyone?). When N routers first came out, they were set to automatically select which frequency it would operate at. Nowadays they have defaulted back to 2.4GHz (or in most consumer routers it shows up as 20Hz).

4.)    The wireless antenna or software driver/firmware that your laptop has will also make a difference on how well you pick up wireless signals. If you have an older laptop, it will be cheaper to just go buy a USB wireless stick. If you are about to buy a laptop, best to research it a bit. If you are really picky, choose a laptop with a better antenna diversity as some are better than others. For the most part, newer laptops have decent antennas so it’s not something to overly worry about for daily usages.

5.)    Most routers ship with a standard omni-directional height antenna. The height and gain of the antenna also makes a difference. Check out your local electronics store and find a bigger antenna that will work for your router.

So those are just some of the many avenues you can explore to extend your wireless network range. Remember, the more you spend on the devices you invest in, the better quality, full-featured, and long sustaining use you will get out of it. If you ever have questions or would like to discuss your wireless needs and what can be done to help get more use out of your network, call Northern Computer and a certified technician will be more than happen to assess your wireless needs. Happy networking!

Northern Computer - Your Trusted Partner
#1 - 495 Banks Road Kelowna, BC V1X 6A2
Phone: 250.762.7753 Fax: 250.861.1861 Toll-Free: 1.877.257.2896
Email: sales@northerncomputer.ca or service@northerncomputer.ca
Web: http://www.northerncomputer.ca

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