Lenovo ThinkPad Twist Tour

Lenovo ThinkPad Twist 1- The 12.5" Convertible Ultrabook   The Twist transforms into a laptop when you need to type, a tablet when you're on the go, and a stand when you want to share presentations. When you're ready to browse, bend it backward into a tent for a close-up view.

It Bends. It Folds.It Spins. It Twists.

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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Meet Windows 8

Windows 8 is the biggest change to Windows since the original Windows 95. It uses touch technology, an app based start screen, a file hosting service called SkyDrive and more ...

The first thing you'll notice when firing up your new Windows 8 PC is the lack of a Start button. For those that find they miss the familiar start menu, there is a utility called Start8 that brings back the familiar start button to make your transition to Windows 8 a little bit easier.

During setup you are asked whether you prefer the original Windows 7 style Start menu or the Windows 8 style. From then on, everything is optional and customizable. You can change the Start menu behaviors, font, icon sizes, color, style, and which shortcuts you want Start8 to display. Documents, Music, and Pictures folders are back to where they belong (pre-Windows 8) and so is the search bar.

The free trial gives you 30 days to play, tweak, and set everything up just the way you like it before asking you to purchase the full version for $4.99. PC Users without a touch screen (which the Start screen was designed for) or who rely on the Start Button to navigate through their programs and files will appreciate Start8 bringing the familiar features and functionality back to the latest Windows operating system.

Click here to go to Stardocks website for the Start8 utility.

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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Budgeting Your IT Costs

Traditionally, IT support has worked a lot like a plumber – you call when something is broken. Then someone is sent to look at the problem, they troubleshoot the problem and send you a bill afterwards for the time spent resolving the issue. The emphasis is on reacting to problems that have already occurred and by the time you are aware of a problem, it’s already too late. You’ve also incurred an unexpected and unbudgeted expense – both for the repair and for the downtime experienced. This is known as the break-fix model.

Managed IT Services

This model is different from break-fix in that computers are managed pro-actively, to check for potential warning signs before they can cause problems.

Unlike the old “break-fix” IT Support model, Managed Services align both the interests of the IT provider with those of the client – namely you. Both parties desire for the client’s network to be absolutely stable – because there are costs incurred to both parties when anything goes wrong. In the event of downtime, you lose productivity, while we lose our most precious resource – technical support time. As a result of this alignment, we are incentivized to work harder and smarter to ensure that your network remains as stable as possible.

Our IT Manager program gives you all the benefits of not just one IT person, but a team of specialized and certified technicians who monitor and maintain your network for a fraction of the cost of a single dedicated IT person on your staff.

Advantages of the Managed IT services:

·         You pay a fixed monthly fee for us to keep your network up and running, no matter what.

·         We are incentivized to keep your network as stable as possible!

·         We do all of the proactive maintenance we can to achieve optimal network stability.

·         In order to achieve that, we’ve made significant investment in the latest network management systems.

·         You enjoy the benefits of enterprise-level automation and monitoring systems.

·         Our response times are backed by a comprehensive SLA.

Block Time

For those small businesses that may not benefit from a managed service level agreement, there is the option of block time. Block time is purchased in advance of requiring technical services. By purchasing in advance, the customer is offered a discount off the regular rates.

Labour that is performed is put against a service contract and at the beginning of each month a report is generated that gives you a summary of your service work for the month, thus reducing the amount of invoices that are generated.

Break-Fix Support

Break-fix is pretty straightforward; something breaks, and then someone fixes it. This has been the traditional approach taken by many small businesses. It has worked for many firms for a long time. However, in the traditional break-fix IT support model costs cannot be planned, downtime is incurred, data may be lost and productivity is lost.

If you happen to be lucky enough to have a couple different computers, and if you use a mostly cloud-based model, then break-fix may be easier for you. If one computer breaks, you can just switch to the other one, and carry on working while the first computer is fixed.

Disadvantages of the break-fix model:

·         There is no incentive to make your network as stable as possible.

·         You are charged every time you have a problem.

·         There isn’t an investment in network management tools because there is no incentive for them to do so.

·         It’s often a “best effort” service – response times are variable and guarantees are seldom made.

·         If they attend to the same problem more than once, you might be double-billed for it.

·         Your IT disasters are unexpected and can be extremely costly.

A reactive approach, where you bring someone in to fix hardware or software whenever something fails is costly, erratic and difficult to plan for and budget and emergency or after hours service can add to the expense. Also, every failure costs your business downtime. Inevitably, the total cost to a company is much, much larger than a monthly retainer.

Managed Services provides a predictable and regular cost structure that can be reliably planned into your budget. In a sense you are paying a small monthly premium to keep your business up and running rather than paying through the nose when something goes wrong. In addition, we tailor the cost of the program to the size and complexity of your business. Rather than take a “one size fits all” approach, we assess your network and IT infrastructure first so that we can tailor a solution that best fits your business objectives, operational needs, existing technical investment and your budget.

Whether your business is small with a server and a few workstations, or large with multiple locations and many workstations and servers, we have the IT solution tailored to your exact business needs.

Would you like to see how your business could achieve more, save more and grow more with managed services? Call us at 250-762-7753 or email us and take control of IT costs.


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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Choosing a strong password

 

Password regulations on some sites are getting better these days – requesting more complex passwords in order to ensure confidentiality. So what constitutes a strong password?

 

A complex password should have the following characteristics:

• Minimum of 10 characters
• Minimum of 1 alpha character
• Minimum of 1 upper case character
• Minimum of 1 digit
• Minimum of 1 special character (!@ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + | - = \ ‘ { } [ ] : ” ; ’ < > ? , . / )

Passwords should not:

• Be less than 6 characters long
• Be a word in any language, slang or jargon
• Use predictable information such as your birthday, address or phone number
• Be a word or number patterns such as aaabbb, zyxwvut, 123321, etc.
• Be an obscenity
• Be based on personal information, names of family, pets, friends, co-workers, fantasy characters, etc.

Examples of what constitutes as a complex password (think of using pass phrases as opposed to passwords):

          1L0veh0ckey!    Myd0giSwh1te  Gre@tne55!

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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Maintain Your Favorite Bookmarks – Online

These days, more and more data is being stored in the Cloud which allows you to access to your data from anywhere. The cloud also allows you to synchronize your data across all your devices (computers, laptops, tablets, smart phones, etc). You can also maintain and synchronize your bookmarks online with your web browser's (ie Firefox, Safari, etc) features if you sign up for them.

 There are also third party services like XMarks that provide bookmark syncronization as well. These handy services are great for providing the same experience across all of your devices, and your bookmarks are also backed up online. So why not use the services that are freely available to us? It definitely makes life a whole lot easier.

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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