Tips & Tricks: Avoid Identity Theft

The holidays are fast approaching, and for many of us, that means online shopping. Having said that, we've all heard the stories of how your identity can be stolen and the countless hours of time that it takes to clear up the mess (not to mention the cost). So, how can you protect yourselft against identity theft? Here's a few suggestions:

• NEVER respond to emails requesting personal or financial information.
  

• DO NOT make online purchases from unsolicited emails or suspicious websites.
  

• SECURE your computer environment at home as well as at work
  
• Install/update antivirus software
• Install/update anti-spyware/anti-adware software
• Install firewall(s)
• Keep operating system up-to-date
• Monitor and control access
• Avoiding identity theft...

DRI launches
Windows 7 Resource Center

Microsoft has released Windows 7 to the general public, and it's the "next step" for just about every PC user or organization. Most users did not choose to upgrade to Windows Vista, and mainstream support for Windows XP ended in April 2009. So expectations are high that most Windows users WILL upgrade to Windows 7 in the coming months. Will you? Are you ready? Will it run on your hardware? Will your applications work?

As part of our effort to help you deal with the issues and make the right decision for you and your organization, DRI is proud to announce that we have created an online "Windows 7 Resource Center" to help you get started. The Windows 7 Resource Center pulls together information from Microsoft, third parties, and DRI engineering to help you get up to speed quickly with Windows 7.

You can find the DRI Windows 7 Resource Center at:

www.DesktopResources.com/Windows7

Do you know?...

...what year was Amazon.com founded?

Contact Info:

Desktop Resources, Inc.
8004 Castleway Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46250
317-596-3650

www.DesktopResources.com

Newsletter@DesktopResources.com

Welcome!

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback on the DRI newsletter! As we move towards the end of the year, this month's newsletter discusses how to keep both you and your business safe during the holiday season and the cold months to follow.

First off, our "Tips & Tricks" section gives you suggestions on how to prevent your identity from being stolen while you're doing your online shopping. Secondly, our featured whitepaper this month discusses some common-sense actions that you can take today to help your business cope with an outbreak of H1N1 or similar issue at your organization.

If you find this newsletter useful and would like to pass it along, feel free to forward it. If you have suggestions or comments, please share your thoughts with us at www.DesktopResources.com/Suggest.
If you would rather not receive these in the future, you can unsubscribe from the list at the bottom of this note.

Thanks to all who attended the Windows 7 event!

Thanks to everyone who attended our Windows 7 event on October 29th! We had a great discussion that day, and did a live demo of the latest capabilities that are built into Windows 7. (See related article in this newsletter about our new "Windows 7 Resource Center".) If you attended the event but did not get a chance to fill out an online survey, please take a moment to give us your feedback at www.DesktopResource.com/EventSurvey

Common Sense Actions to Prepare for H1N1
Planning for today's #1 Public Health Issue for Business

Think that it's too late to prepare for any impact that H1N1 (also known as "swine flu") may have on your business? Think again. No, H1N1 is not the "end of the world", but it CAN impact your business, and there's still time to act. Download our whitepaper to learn about common sense recommendations that you should consider.

See www.DesktopResources.com/WP to download the entire whitepaper.

Offsite Database Backup
An offsite copy of your critical business data can save your business

Think about what applications are most important to your business. In most cases, there is a database-driven application that runs on your server, and if that application was not available, you would really struggle to get everything done. You might even go out of business or have to lay people off if that application was not available. For most small-to-medium sized organizations, that database application is running Microsoft's SQL Server database software. So it's important that you protect that application.

Desktop Resources now provides a Remote Backup Service which automatically backs up your SQL Server database over the internet to safeguard this important data. See our website or contact Sally Esbaum for more details.