PC MIRACLES, INC.

July 2009

Issue 30
PC Miracles Connection
Do You Know What Your Employees Are Doing Online?

If You Don’t, You’re At Risk!

The Internet and e-mail have become office. However, many don’t realize

What’s indispensible tools for business, but

many companies are finding employees
that this is a violation of
because IM is not a secure
HIPAA
way to
transmit information about a patient
Inside are using these tools as much or more
for personal activities than job-related or their health conditions.
tasks. In fact, many business owners ♦ A restriction on sharing confidential
have recognized that unrestricted use of information about the company, its
the Internet by employees has the clients or the people working there.
potential to drain, rather than enhance With social media as popular as it is,
Wave productivity and, at worst, can even you don’t want an employee writing
have dire legal consequences. all about the latest company scandal
Technology
To reduce the risk and minimize non- on their MySpace page; it’s just not
good for business!
Strips Airport
productive activities, business owners
Patrons Naked are utilizing a two pronged approach: ♦ Prohibition against visiting web sites
See Page 2 (1) Implementing an Internet that contain pornography, racism,
Acceptable Use Policy (IAUP) and (2) sexism, gambling, or e-mail with any
installing a monitoring system to restrict such content sent from your
15 Years of and police employees’ online activities. business. Remember, even
Thanks! An AUP is nothing more than “innocent” jokes with racist
a written agreement that sets content can leave a huge black
Meet our client out the permissible mark on your company’s
workplace uses of the reputation.
who has given us
Internet and e-mail. In ♦ Absolutely no downloading
the most addition to describing of music files or other
referrals. permissible uses, an AUP programs that are not
Story On Page 2 should specifically set out approved by management.
prohibited uses, rules of “Innocent” screen saver
Take Back online behavior, and access privileges programs and jokes often contain
with penalties for violations of the policy nasty viruses that could bring down
Control Of Your spelled out, including security violations your entire system or invite a hacker
Inbox and vandalism of the system. into your network.
See Page 3 Some common rules that should be Not only does an IAUP reduce wasted
included with most AUPs are: hours on the net, it can reduce
♦ All sensitive or confidential data bandwidth and equipment needs, as
must be encrypted before sending well as shield you, the business owner,
across the web. For example, many from possible sexual harassment and
d o c t o r s ’ o f f i c e s u s e i n s t a n t other lawsuits arising from your
messaging (IM) to communicate employee’s inappropriate use of the
from the front desk to the back web.
(Continued on page 2)
Page 2 PC Miracles Connection

of their privacy, rest assured that nothing could

Continued From Page 1
be further from the truth. It’s not only legal but
good business. After all, they are using your
Unfortunately, not everyone follows policies, and
company assets and if employees are focused on
some accidentally will violate your AUP. To
productive work and minimize personal use of
ensure company policies are being followed,
the Internet, you’re likely to never need to
businesses are choosing to monitor all Internet
address their Internet usage. Just be sure to
activity initiated by their employees using web
include a clause about Internet monitoring in
content filtering software.
your AUP and have your employees sign the
Tools available today make monitoring of agreement.
employee Internet usage simple and easy. Most
If you’d like a FREE comprehensive Internet
companies choose to regularly monitor summary
Acceptable Use Policy template or would like
level activity like hours connected to the web,
to discuss the simple options available to
number of sites visited, and illegal or banned
monitor your employee’s Internet usage, contact
sites visited by the company while leaving
me today via phone at 248-620-2201 or via email
detailed transaction reviews as necessary on a
at info@pcmiracles.com. Don’t wait until it’s
case-by-case basis.
too late to put the tools in place!
And if someone complains that this is a violation

Our 15 Years of Thanks continues. Meet the client who has given us
the most referrals: The Clarkston Area Chamber of Commerce!
Here at PC Miracles, we feel the Clarkston Chamber is the ‘gold standard’ that all chambers
should strive to achieve. Executive Director Penny Shanks, along with her professional and
friendly staff, have mastered the art of networking. We have found our Chamber membership
to be an investment that has paid us back many times over. About PC Miracles, Penny says,
"At the Chamber, our data and information
files are our most valuable assets. Having PC Miracles
on our side is our insurance policy to make sure we
never lose data or suffer from an unrecoverable
network crash. Thank you PC Miracles!"
Penny & Staff mark a member achievement

Wave Technology Strips

Airport Patrons Naked
The TSA is testing new passive millimeter wave technology that scans people
in airport terminals outside the boarding security zone. Similar to the whole-body imaging
machines slated to replace metal detectors at checkpoints, this portable tripod- mounted
device can detect explosives, guns and other objects that alter the energy signature
emitted by your body. While not as sensitive as the walk-through checkpoint model that
displays the belly mole your mother thought was so cute, these rapid deployment versions
were successfully tested at airports during last summer’s Democratic and Republican
national conventions. Unfortunately, the TSA refuses to define the term “success”. So think
pleasant thoughts and radiate positive energy the next time your flight is delayed. Giving
off negative vibes may not only bring bad Karma, but get you noticed by the TSA!
 PC Miracles Connection Page 3

Amazon’s Kindle 2
Take Back Control Of Your Inbox Trumps Sony’s
5 Simple Ways To Tame The Reader
Outlook Email Monster The new Kindle 2 reader from
Amazon leapfrogged the Sony
reader, allowing people to
1.) Put Junk Mail In Its Place With The Junk E-Mail Fil- download and read books,
ter magazines and newspapers
From Outlook’s main screen, click on Actions / Junk E-mail /
from the Internet without a
Junk E-mail Options… From this window you can enable/
computer.
disable the junk filter, set its sensitivity and designate spe-
cific email addresses as safe or blocked (aka white & black This second generation reader
listing). Email identified as Junk Mail is automatically deliv- allows you to view illustrations
ered to the Junk E-mail box keeping your inbox clear of clut- and uses less power than the
ter. Sony.
2.) Create Rules Amazon claims there are more
Rules automatically process e-mail as it is received. There than 285,000 books available
are more than 20 things you can do with a message including for the Kin-
auto-forward, delete, reply and move mail to a different dle plus all
mailbox based on the sender, subject and more. Create a the major
rule by clicking on Tools / Rules and Alerts… newspapers,
3.) Quickly Create Emails Sent To A List Of Addresses magazines
If you frequently send emails to the same list of addresses, and blogs.
create a shortcut on your desktop that opens a blank email Most books,
automatically addressed to your list. Right click on an open including
area of your Windows Desktop, point to New then click 109 from the
Shortcut. In the “location of the item” box type the word New York Times Best Seller
mailto: followed by each email address separated by a List can be downloaded for
comma leaving no spaces. Click the Next> button to name $9.99 each.
your shortcut then click Finish. Test by double clicking on
the shortcut. A new blank e-mail message should open with The Kindle 2 will set you back
the list of addresses in the To: field. between $350 and $490 de-
pending on memory and op-
4.) Clean Up Your Mailbox
tions like text-to-speech...but
Click on Tools / Mailbox Cleanup… From this window you
just think of all the space you’ll
can check the size of your Outlook file, find items to move or
delete, empty the deleted items folder and archive old items save on those bookshelves!
to the Outlook archive file. Outlook slows down dramatically
when its data file is 1GB or larger.
5.) Read Email Without Having To Open It “Yesterday is not ours
Click on View / Reading Pane and choose to automatically to recover, but
view emails to the right or bottom of the mail box summary
list. tomorrow is ours to
Want more help with your email? Call us at 248-620-2201 or win or to lose.”
send an email to info@pcmiracles.com. Lyndon B. Johnson
 Services We Offer:

• Effort-Free IT Managed Services

PC Miracles, Inc.
• Authorized DellTM Partner
9207 Andersonville Rd.
Clarkston, MI 48346 • General Network Repair & Troubleshooting
Network Design & Implementation
www.pcmiracles.com
info@pcmiracles.com •
• Disaster Recovery

Phone: 248-620-2201 • Virus Protection & Removal

Fax: 248-484-7128 • Network Security
• E-mail & Internet Solutions
Supporting Business Systems • Wireless Networking
Spam Filtering
Since 1994
•
• Storage Solutions

Answer Our Trivia Contest & I’d Love To Hear

Win A $20 Starbucks Gift Card! From YOU!
Congratulations to Val Henderson of the Clarkston Area Is there an article you would like to comment
on? Is there a topic you want me to research?
Chamber of Commerce (missing from the picture on page Have a funny story or a resource you want to
2), winner of last month’s contest! This month we are share with the other subscribers? Send it to
giving away a $20 Starbucks Gift Card to the first person me! We are always looking for new and
useful content to add to the Connection.
who submits the right answers to the trivia questions
below. To enter, respond by email to Dan Izydorek
info@pcmiracles.com. Call: 248-620-2201
Go Online: www.pcmiracles.com
Hold Still E-mail Dan: info@pcmiracles.com
1. Which U.S. President's dying words were "Thomas
Jefferson still survives"? a-John Adams, b-John
Quincy Adams, c-James Monroe, d-George
Washington.
2. Stillwater was the name of the fictional rock band
in which movie? a-Almost Famous, b-Rock Star, c-
The School of Rock, d-The Phantom of the
Paradise.
3. The painting "Still Life with Apples" fetched a
record $28.6 million in 1993 for a work by which
artist? a-Edgar Degas, b-Vincent Van Gogh, c-
Mary Cassatt, d-Paul Cezanne.
4. Which actress played Mark Addy's mother on the
sitcom Still Standing? a-Sally Struthers, b-Bonnie
Franklin, c-Loretta Swit, d-Raquel Welch.
May’s Contest Answers: 1a, 2b, 3d, 4b