|
|
| |
Dear SBCA Reader:
SPAM, viruses, phishing -- illegal and dangerous emails are finding their way into your network every day. Businesses are struggling to solve this always-growing problem, and trying to avoid hours of lost productivity, increased security risks, higher demand on bandwidth and storage systems, and legal liability stemming from the content of unwanted email messages.
To help our customers combat this growing problem, All Covered has joined forces with industry leader Postini to offer All Covered Email Protection Service. This "best of class" solution for spam, virus and other email-transmitted threats offers All Covered's clients the best combination of protection and price available today. For more about EPS, including some real world examples, read on.
As always, we're eager to hear what you think about this issue and what topics you'd like to see covered in future issues. Please send an email to Newsletter Comments.
Thank You,
All Covered
Is Your Anti-spam Product Doing the Best Job?
Stop Spam Before it Reaches Your Network
Is your company still battling spam, directory harvest attacks, and other unwanted attacks on your email server? If so, you might want to switch to a service that stops the spam before it ever reaches your network or your email server.
Read more…
Macintosh Corner
Integrating Macs into Active Directory
Do you have Macintosh users that are not connected to your network services like file sharing, printing and email collaboration?
Read more…
Customer Spotlight
Similasan Corporation
Similasan, specialists in over-the-counter products for eyes, ears and nose, uses All Covered to manage their desktop and LAN environment and views the relationship as a true partnership.
Read more…
Partner and Client Referrals
Share the Best with the Best
All Covered is establishing a local network of partners. Have a great vendor you can recommend? Know a company that could use All Covered's help?
Read more…
Tech Tip
Outlook Web Access 2003 Shortcuts
This tech tip shows you some of the most popular keyboard shortcuts for OWA 2003 that may increase your productivity.
Read more…
Quick Tip
Real World Maps
Want an online map service that not only gives you the standard text directions but also a satellite view?
Read more…
Is Your Anti-spam Product Doing the Best Job?
Stop Spam Before it Reaches Your Network
The CAN SPAM law has done little to deter spammers from clogging email boxes. Mass mailings of special offers from someone you don't know can take up storage space, drain network resources and, most importantly, waste everyone's time managing and deleting unwanted spam. Viruses continue to be propagated via email, and "phishing" attacks trying to steal our passwords and identity can personally affect us all. Therefore, it is critical that companies have an effective way to combat spam, virus, phishing and other malicious email attacks such as Denial of Service (DoS) or Directory Harvest (DHA).
All Covered now offers Email Protection Service (EPS), which protects networks from malicious email attacks and unwanted probes, and dramatically reduces spam and email-borne viruses. In addition, the service includes real-time monitoring and reporting, and protects messages from being lost in the event of an unexpected mail server or network outage.
The service processes incoming email in real time and uses very sophisticated logic to separate spam and viruses from legitimate email. Valid email is passed through to the recipient, and questionable email is sent to a user-specific quarantine, where it can be viewed. Users can look through the quarantine and determine whether or not to forward the suspicious email to their inbox.
Users have the ability to customize their spam settings, Message Center notifications and Approved Sender and Blocked Sender lists. By customizing the settings, a user can "teach" EPS to be even more effective so, over time, users won't have to visit the Message Center to check for valid messages. Everything in the Message Center will either be spam, a virus-laden message, or a phishing message.
Powered by Postini's award-winning, patented technology, Email Protection Service includes the following:
Postini is WebTrust-certified and SAS70 Type II compliant so clients, even in the most regulated industries, can be assured of security and confidentiality. Valid emails are not viewable by anyone but the recipient.
Our clients who have implemented Email Protection Service have seen immediate benefits:
In July 2005, an average client using All Covered's Email Protection Service processed 51,680 messages, quarantined 6,733 spam messages, and stopped 180 viruses from reaching their mail servers and ultimately their user's email boxes!p>
According to Pam Chase of All Covered client California Grocers, "When our annual renewal was due for our previous anti-spam product, our consultant suggested we try Email Protection Service. All Covered set up EPS and had everything working in a matter of days. Now the results speak for themselves: when our CFO is out of the office for a few days, he normally deals with around 600 spam emails. This morning when he came in, he only had one! That's really great! We're so thankful that you hooked us up with Email Protection Service. Everyone seems to be getting along well with it!"
If your company is not seeing the same dramatic results as California Grocers, you might want to change your anti-spam solution. To learn more about or implement All Covered's Email Protection Service, please contact your consultant or your All Covered office, or call us toll free at 877-224-8911.
Macintosh Corner
Integrating Macs into Active Directory
If your organization is primarily Microsoft Windows-based and you need to integrate Macs into your environment, it can be a little perplexing if you haven't done it before. Before plunging into that integration, you need to make some decisions.
What do your employees and your organization stand to gain by this integration?
Here are some benefits from integrating Macs into Active Directory:
EmployeesFirst, you must determine how you will support your Macintosh users. Do they collaborate with other employees on Windows computers? This usually means that you'll need to support file sharing and collaborative email. If you need to support file sharing, you should plan on using Windows File Sharing (you need not change anything on your Windows server) for storing files on the network. Mac OS X can connect to Windows Servers with no third party software required!
If you use Exchange for email, you have the choice of using Microsoft Entourage, an included application in Microsoft Office 2004 Standard and Professional editions, or using Apple's bundled Mail application, both of which can connect easily to Exchange Servers. (Note that All Covered recommends integrating Macintoshes into an Exchange Server 2000 or higher environment). You simply need to make sure you enable WebDAV and Outlook Web Access (OWA) on your Exchange server, as these programs require it.
Second, you determine the versions of Macintosh operating system you will support. You have probably heard a lot of banter around the Design Department watercooler about "Panther" or "Tiger". These are the ever-popular marketing code-names for Mac OS X 10.3 and 10.4, respectively. If your Macintosh computers were purchased any time in 2004 or 2005, they are running an Active Directory-aware operating system. If your Macintosh is running a previous version of OS X, we do not recommend integrating the user/machine into Active Directory. You should consider upgrading everyone to Mac OS X 10.3 or higher before doing the implementation.
Finally, tell your employees what they can expect with this new integration. Long-time Mac users may be apprehensive about system administrators who may have ignored them in the past, when it comes to email policies and file sharing capabilities. Make sure they understand the password and security policies you have in place, which will now have an effect on their workstations. Plan on monitoring the software needs of this new network citizen, and making sure your users continue to feel supported.
As an aside, although Apple has native support for Active Directory built in to the Mac OS, if you need even better integration, Thursby Software's AdmitMac is an enhanced Active Directory Client for Mac OS X, which offers support for many of Windows 2003 Server's advanced security options.
We hope that we have provided some background to weigh the pros and cons of integrating Macs into your Active Directory environment. For the most part, the user and administrative benefits outweigh the additional software you might need to purchase. Empowering your Macintosh users and giving them access to the same shared services that Windows users have will make them feel less isolated.
An All Covered consultant is ready to help you plan and implement this functionality, just contact us at 877-224-8911.
Customer Spotlight
Similasan Corporation
Similasan specializes in over-the-counter (OTC) products for the eyes, ears and nose. Founded in 1987 Similasan Corporation, located near Denver, Colorado, serves as the North American importer and distributor of Similasan brand products, which are manufactured by the parent company, located in Switzerland.
In June 2004, Similasan, after careful consideration, decided to focus on its core competencies and not on managing its information technology. Originally, they managed their IT in-house – from email to file servers to backup systems. As the North American arm of a large European company, the nimble team of twelve needed experts they could rely on to effectively run their back office, so they could focus on marketing, growing sales and keeping customers happy. They hired a consultant to look at outsourcing in general, as Similasan had never done this before. The consultant helped identify, analyze and select best-of-breed partners to manage their entire IT infrastructure: hosted email, servers, website, custom applications and desktop environment.
After evaluating several companies, Similasan selected All Covered to manage the desktop environment and LAN. They outsourced email, file servers, website, and application development to other companies and consultants. One of the first projects at Similasan was to migrate from Macs to PCs. According to Liesl Schmid, Office Manager, "All Covered made it a nearly flawless transition."
Early in the relationship, an issue with a bad hard drive and data recovery gave All Covered a chance to prove their commitment to customer service. According to Liesl, "All Covered really partnered with us, responded to our root cause analysis and did everything in their power to resolve a difficult situation. The consultants were wonderful and the Client Operations Representative was instrumental in helping resolve the situation. Frankly, this incident helped cement our relationship with All Covered. When things are running smoothly, any company can look good – how an organization handles difficult situations is what sets them apart."
Today, Similasan sees All Covered as a true business partner and trusted advisor. They are All Covered Care clients and utilize Remote Monitoring, All Covered Backup, Client Support Center (remote support to travelers in Switzerland!) and Email Protection Service. In addition, All Covered has assisted with Disaster Recovery Planning and helps maintain a wireless network. Similasan appreciates the collaborative effort with other vendors on projects and day-to-day tasks.
"In every capacity they've proven to Similasan their professionalism, communication skills and most importantly their interest in our business success. We feel like All Covered is a stakeholder in our business. They make the IT component of desktop management seamless," adds Liesl. "Again, the word that comes to mind with All Covered, they're not just a vendor, they're a valued PARTNER."
Information about Similasan and their products can be found at www.healthyrelief.com.
Partner and Client Referrals
Share the Best with the Best
Do you (or anyone in your circle such as friends, family, business acquaintances, vendors, association members) know of companies or organizations that are in need of a great IT services company? Have you heard a friend or colleague complain about difficulties at work because the network is constantly down or that they're getting too much spam or they couldn't work on their computer because it was overloaded with spyware?
If so, we want to talk to them! We know that we can assist them and have them benefit from our comprehensive IT services. Just call us or provide your consultant with the company name, contact, and phone number. We will ensure that they get the same outstanding service that you receive from All Covered.
We look forward to having more clients just like you! Thank you for your continued support of and partnership with All Covered.
All Covered is establishing a local resource network of companies that provide complementary business services to our IT services. Example partners might include a business advisory firm, accounting software consultant, web site design firm, software development, moving company or cable/wiring installation and too many more to name. Whatever their specialty is, the common thread is a vendor you love working with and who helps you achieve your business goals. You might need the services of these companies one day and we would like to introduce these best-of-class providers to you as the need arises.
Do you have a favorite vendor that you think would be great for the partnership network? If so, refer a vendor and we'll enter your name into a contest* to win an iPod Mini! For each qualified vendor referral, we'll enter your name into our drawing for a 4GB iPod Mini - you pick the color! The more entries you supply, the better your chance of winning.
Please provide the company name, contact and phone number to submit a vendor referral. We'll check your referral against our database (ensure it's not a duplicate) and include your entry in the drawing. Good luck!
*The contest is valid from August 17 - September 30, 2005. All entries must be received by 9/30/05 to be eligible. A random winner will be selected among all qualified entries submitted. All Covered's decision is final.
Tech Tip
Outlook Web Access 2003 Shortcuts
If you use the latest version of Outlook Web Access (2003), there are a slew of keyboard shortcuts available to help you speed through emails, create appointments, add contacts, spell check and more. Here are some favorites:
| Shortcut key(s) | Functionality |
|---|---|
| ENTER | Open the selected message, contact, appointment etc. depending on the current folder |
| Ctrl+N | Open/create a new message, appointment, contact etc. depending on the current folder |
| Ctrl+R | Reply to the selected message |
| Ctrl+U | Mark selected message as unread |
| Ctrl+Q | Mark the selected message as read |
| Ctrl+K or Alt+K | Resolve the names in the address boxes |
| Ctrl+Shift+R | "Reply all" to the selected message |
| Ctrl+Shift+F | Forward the selected message |
| Del | Delete the selected message |
| Shift+Del | Permanently delete the selected message |
| F7 | Check the spelling in a message |
In addition, take a look at the Accessibility section of the Help file for information on any of the Outlook Web Access 2003 keyboard shortcuts available.
To open the Help section, just select the ? Icon in the toolbar.
Quick Tip
Real World Maps
Many people are not fortunate enough to have navigation systems in their cars to help them get to their unknown destinations. So, instead of getting the local 4'x4' map from your local automobile club, most people will go to an online map service such as Yahoo! Maps or Mapquest and enter the address to get driving directions. With these services, you'll see text directions and also a colored, two-dimension map.
Some people may opt for software packages versus the online solution, such as Microsoft Streets & Trips. Their newest version even has the ability to make your PC a GPS receiver!
If you haven't tried it yet, Google has started a new map service (maps.google.com) that provides the same kind of information such as Yahoo! or Mapquest. However, Google's service allows you to get a satellite view of your destination - a very handy feature because you can spot landmarks that can help you find your target location much quicker.
If you select the Hybrid link, then you'll see key streets overlaid on the satellite photos – now that's cool!
Keep in mind that service is still in beta, but this online mapping service seems to beat the others.
If you want to try something fun, go to moon.google.com and zoom in as close as you can... happy searching!
© 2005 All Covered, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
All Covered is a registered trademark of All Covered, Inc.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.