And We Do it for Less!

Connections Information Systems is an exclusive provider of high quality on-site business computer network support and repair services in the greater Amarillo area for 15 years. We provide comprehensive data center consulting and outsourcing solutions for Small to Medium Businesses (SMB) in a variety of industries. Our services include:

• Outsourced IT Services – Computer, and Networking service support and repair.
• Web Services - Web Design, and Ecommerce.

We offer fully-managed and monitored technology solutions so many times we know about problems with your systems before you do! Our highly trained, consultants are customer dedicated so that you always deal with the same people. You have one number to call and one person to talk to about all of your computer and Internet needs.

Our team specializes in the details. We get to know our customer’s needs, your areas for potential growth, and trends affecting your business. In today’s market this is very important to keep up with technology trends. We specialize in these areas so that so you don’t have to worry about this with your growing business. To grow and stay successful in the rapidly changing market, call Kenneth Jackson, today at (877) 704-2323 or (806) 374-2323. He can tell you about our unique ability to help you achieve a faster success in your business technology and Internet needs.

Posted via web from Connections Information Systems

Buy a Mac

This is mega kick ass hardware and highly dependable software. The only reason not to buy a Mac is cost. I have not found a single Windows app I can’t run on my Mac with a little help from VM-Ware. Is a Mac perfect? No but is a lot closer to computing nirvana than any PC I have ever used.

If you can’t buy a Mac buy a PC With

• Processor: Intel multi-core 64 bit processor
• Memory: At least 4 Gb of RAM
• Hard Disk: at least 300 Gb or as much as you can afford.
• DVD: DVD-RW drive
• Monitor: At least 19” with DVI connections.

Operating System

Windows XP or Windows 7 – 64 Bit

Best Practices

Security – What You Need

1. Our current basic security software recommendation is Norton Anti-Virus. Don’t buy Norton System Works or Internet security suites because they have a LOT of stuff you don’t need. These unnecessary programs only rob you of valuable system resources.

2. Windows XP Service Pack III and all current security updates. http://update.microsoft.com

3. If your computer is connected to the internet though a cable or DSL modem, you need to have a software firewall. The good news is that a firewall with minimal security is included in Windows XP and is ok for most situations.

What Will Kill You!

Anything that says it is free will ruin your life! There is no such thing as free software you may not give them money, but you just gave away your computer and it contents.

Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• Anything that says it will optimize your internet connection, remove adware, or increase your PC’s performance in any way.
• Weather Bug – a good rule of thumb is to never install anything with the word bug in it on your computer.
• Precision Time
• Internet file sharing applications such as Limewire. I recommend the new Windows Media Player or iTunes. These are pay sites but they are inexpensive and well worth the money.
• Free Screen Savers
• Create a Monster (Hello!)
• My Daily Horoscope
• Anything that asks if your computer is running slow
• Anything that says free that does not come from a name you know
• Anything that says it will pay you to surf or offers rebates or coupons for anything such as Bargain Buddy
• With a few exceptions (FireFox), any alternate web browsers or E-mail programs. (contact your systems administrator)
• Do not download any toolbars or search assistants except for Google, Yahoo, or Bing. All of these have a built in pop-up blocker and some of them have a anti-spyware program that does no harm.

Safer Searching

Google — is now presenting people with a warning before they visit websites that have been reported to StopBadware.org as sites that distribute badware. These warnings currently link to a general page on StopBadware.org, but as sites are researched they will replace the general page with an individual website reports (see an example here ). Hopefully this next step will bring us that much closer to fulfilling the mission of providing people with reliable, objective information about downloadable applications in order to help them make better choices.

What you can do:

• Listed in the If you want to play games, chat or other things go to Yahoo first. Yahoo Instant messenger their chat services and other services are all-good and have no bad habits (yet).
• If you have a question about any software contact your systems administrator before you install it.
• Desktop search utilities from Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are an excellent way to keep track of documents on YOUR computer. I highly recommend them.

1. Disconnect Computer from the Internet
2. Turn off Windows System Restore
3. Uninstall all unnecessary software using the “Add Remove Programs” feature in the Windows “Control Panel”
4. Delete all files in the user Temp directories
5. Delete Temporary Internet Files
6. Remove Old Anti-Virus and Ant-Spyware programs
7. Empty the “Recycle Bin”
8. Reboot Computer
9. Reconnect the computer
10. Download and install Malware Bytes
11. Download the newest updates
12. Disconnect Computer from the Internet
13. Run Quick Scan
14. Install Anti-Virus software
15. Reconnect the computer to the internet just long enough to register anti-virus software and to download the newest updates
16. Disconnect computer from the internet
17. Restart the computer.
18. After computer restarts close all unnecessary programs.
19. Start anti-virus program
20. Run a full scan from the anti-virus software menu.
21. Delete all threats possible
22. Quarantine all remaining threats possible
23. Note any viruses and adware not repaired
24. Re-start the computer in safe mode
25. Turn off all running programs except virus protection.
26. Run AV product and let it remove all pests that it can. Note: Not all anti-virus software can be run in safe mode
27. Manualy remove any remaining threats
28. Reboot computer.
29. Run AV product again to check.
30. Remove any remaining pests.
31. Reboot computer.
32. Plug Internet back into your computer.
33. Run scan until you get two clean scans!
34. Launch Internet Explorer
35. Check IE Search button

1. Open QuickBooks.
2. Press the F2 key.

   You may need to minimize the Help window before pressing F2.

3. In the top left corner of the Product Information window, note the number of licenses listed under User Licenses.
4. Repeat for each installation of QuickBooks.

Add users to my QuickBooks license .

Is Your Neighbor Stealing Your Wi-Fi?

If loading a web page or downloading an MP3 and suddenly your network is moving at a glacial pace, your next door neighbor may be using up your bandwidth. To be sure, you can check your router’s logs (accessible through your router’s Wi-Fi manager software) to see what other computers are linked up to your network.

The most popular to prevent intruders from accessing your network is to enable WEP encryption on your network. However this is not a secure technology anymore. Hackers can eaisily break a WEP key in just a few minutes!

The best way or WPA encryption on your network basicly setting up a password using your router’s software. Don’t lose this password, as you’ll need it to connect any additional computers or devices you want on your Wi-Fi network.

We have been having a lot of issues installing and removing Symantec anti-virus products. Before you install new virus software you have to uninstall any previously installed anti-virus software. Symantec provides the Norton Removal Tool to remove Symantec software and I suggest you use it before installing any other security software.

Problem: Error message when you try to run the Wireless Network Setup Wizard after you update to Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

If your computer or your wireless network adapter did not come with its own wireless network software, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type ncpa.cpl, and then click OK.
2. Click Network Connections.
3. In Network Connections, click to select your wireless connection, and then click Change settings of this connection.
4. On the Wireless Networks tab, click to select the Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings check box.

To start the Wireless Zero Configuration service, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type %SystemRoot%\system32\services.msc /s, and then click OK.
2. Double-click Wireless Zero Configuration.
3. In the Startup type list, click Automatic, and then click Apply.
4. In the Service status area, click Start, and then click OK.

Copy the contents of the following directories to the corresponding directory onto an external hard drive.

1. My Documents
2. Favorites
3. Desktop Items
4. Copy Outlook and Outlook Express Data to new computer
   1. Navigate to “Local Settings – Application Data – Identities – Microsoft -Outlook”
   2. Copy Anything that looks relevant
5. Copy the directories from the thumb drive into the corosponding user directory under c:\Documents and Settings\”user”
6. Importing Outlook Data and E-mail
   1. Open Microsoft Outlook
   2. Click on “File”
   3. Choose “Import and Export”
   4. Choose “Import form another program or file”
   5. Click “Next”
   6. Choose “Personal Folder File (.pst)”
   7. Click on “Browse” Choose old Outlook file.
   8. Click on “Open”
   9. Follow instructions.
7. Setup any new peripheral devices.

1. Go to command prompt
2. Use the command line utility called winpop.exe
3. To set a new password for hermon@radio.local:

winpop changepwd hermon@homesite.local mynewpassword