Acroment would like to offer our sincere congratulations to team member Tony Lofreso on attaining his Microsoft MCTS: Windows 7, Configuration certification!  For those of you not familiar with this particular certification it measures the following skills:

• Installing, upgrading & migrating to Windows 7
• Configuring hardware, applications & network connectivity
• Mobile computing configuration
• Backup & recovery options
• And MUCH more…

Tony worked tirelessly to prepare for this exam and this certification is validation to that hard work.  This achievement counts toward Tony’s MCITP: Enterprise Administrator certification that he’s working on.

Please join us in congratulating Tony on his outstanding accomplishment!

You’ve got password protection on everything from your office computer to your microwave.  Between updating your Facebook status, checking in with your friends, paying bills, texting (hopefully not while driving) and talking, your cell phone has become an extension of your arm.  You make very sure to keep your computer locked down… how about your phone?

I’ve noticed more than a few smart phone users that don’t take the time to lock their cell phone.  While it may seem like a nuisance to enter a 4 digit code before you are able to make a call or check your email, take a minute to think about how your use your phone.  Have you ever REALLY thought about the information stored within? Read the rest of this entry

I recently ran across this article on smallbiztechnology.com and wanted to pass it along:

Microsoft and Google: 3 Misconceptions That Microsoft Wants You To Know About

The article is certainly biased (It’s written by Microsoft Product Manager, Bhavika Thakkar) but I think it highlights some differences that business owners really need to consider when moving ANY of their services to the cloud.

In my experience, no other email server works as well or is as powerful as Microsoft Exchange Server. While you may be using Microsoft Office Outlook to connect to other email servers (POP or IMAP servers for example) there are a lot of back end features of Outlook which are not unlocked unless you have your mailbox on an Exchange Server (as many of our customers do).

The information in this article isn’t news to me.  However, it does help highlight some of the risks you take when evaluating a move to hosted services.

For some additional reading on “The Cloud” see below:

• Can You Rely On The Cloud For Your Business?
• Ease Into “The Cloud” With Dropbox

Are you using Cloud services for your business?

If so which ones and what’s been your experience?

I’m often confronted by other technology professionals about product X being better than product Y. The fact of the matter is that there is no magic bullet for IT. There is no single product available that solves all of the issues around a particular problem. There are always trade offs.

So, it is my pleasure to bring you some of the most common enemy IT is better than your IT arguments and my take on it. Read the rest of this entry