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A high performing football team typically has a lot of talent, but they also have the best equipment to facilitate their achievements. In the same way, talented folks in organizations perform at their highest when provided with the right equipment and tools.

This month’s SPAM Blocker Tip is:
Disguise your email address on public pages

If you have to list your email account on public pages, try to cheat SPAM spiders. Instead of writing your address as "[email protected]", write it as "john_at_domain_dot_com". People will understand how to read it, but robots will not.

You’ve done ALL the things you need to do to prepare your business for winter weather:

Gotten rid of the leaves on the property and the roof
Cleared all drains to reduce possibilities of leaks
Arranged for snow plowing services for parking areas
Secured a snow thrower or shovels and a cache of ice melt to clear the sidewalks
Shut off all the outdoor faucets so no pipes freeze
Ensured that your fire system anti-freeze loops are serviced
Placed tall identifying markers adjacent to fire hydrants
Adjusted light timers inside and out to account for shorter daylight hours

BUT…have you done these things?

Planned for how staff will operate if access to the building is unavailable or if the power is out
Tested your remote access to your servers, data and email in advance
Made sure your servers are off the floor and secure
Ensured you have quality surge protectors with uninterruptible power supply batteries in place
Backed up all your data and made it available for your use remotely
Prepared a disaster recovery and/or business continuity plan and shared the appropriate pieces of the plan with your staff?

If you need help in any of these areas, give us a call.

Got a computer problem?  Before reaching out to Tech Support, try these simple self-help tips:

Is the problem resolved by rebooting your computer? Rebooting computers restarts a lot of hidden services which your computer relies on.

Sony, Home Depot, Target.    All are big companies with huge market value, large customer databases, strong brand names and plenty of budget to spend on data security.  The same cannot be said for organizations in the small business community.   But are there lessons from these breaches that can provide learning to the owner or manager of a small business?  Yes, there certainly are.

This month’s SPAM Blocker Tip is:
Get yourself at least 2 email accounts

Use one email account for public communications (i.e., forums, communities, business cards, etc.) and keep the other one only for trusted contacts.

Congratulations to our winner, Lori Dring of Polygon Data Products, the lucky recipient of an Amazon gift card.

QUESTION:  What was the first SMS text?

(ANSWER:  Merry Christmas)

How do Spammers grab addresses? Basically, spammers will start sending you junk email as soon as:

You list your email address on a public web page (your website, forums, etc.)
You subscribe to various newsletters and you confirm to their agreement without closely reading it (e.g., you do not uncheck the box to receive promotional emails)
You receive an email from someone who you don't know and you open the message.