Finally a president that get's technology.

Obama has finally hooked me. Not because of his political party, his background, his policies, or anything that draws many people to support a particular political figure. He has hooked me because he gets technology and how to use it. He carries a Blackberry to stay in touch with his family and close advisors. He has a linked in page (I certainly would like to be in his network. He posts his videos to YouTube. He even has a blog (see the attached rss feed).

http://feeds.feedburner.com/obama08blog?format=xml

Obama is finally working to add transparency to government. He is implementing methods to communicate with me as an American in a way that I want. Whether you agree with how he plans to handle the economic struggles, foreign policy, taxes, education, name the issue the divides red/blue America, he is taking a new and refreshing approach. Al Gore may have invented the internet, but Obama is showing everyone how to use it.

He has already broken historical barriers. From the looks at what he has done so far with technology in government, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. I can’t wait to see what happens next. This may be a challenging time for so many of us, but it is also an exciting one and I am enjoying the ride. Hope on, there is plenty of room.

Phone Issue in our office this morning

It appears there are issues with our phone provider this morning in the office.  As of this now, no one can call in or out.  Please use the helpdesk@dogtailsolutions.com email to reach us.  If you can’t email, and get a fast busy when you call, you can try my cell phone at 703-346-4041.  We expect the problem to be resolved shortly, but do not have an exact time frame from the phone company.

 

Our apologies for any inconvenience.

 

Matt Dillard

Dogtail Technology Solutions

Check out the Watch Dog or follow me on Twitter

(703) 934-4655

 

Inauguration speech

For those who could not get a stream of the inauguration speech, here is a link to the content of the address.

 

http://tinyurl.com/a559gb

 

By the way, I got this from a Twitter feed.  More info on Twitter to come.

 

The inauguration impact on your office internet

As we all prepare for this historical event, it is important to remember the impact this can have on your office.  Employees who watch live streams of the inauguration by video or radio will cause a significant hit to your internet bandwidth.  So if the internet and email communication in your office comes to a screeching halt, start with MBWA (Management By Walking Around).  If folks are watching the festivities on their computers, shut them down, and your internet will probably start moving a lot faster…

 

This is also something to be aware of everyday.  Employees that listen to the radio over the computer can put a noticeable drain on your internet bandwidth…

New Malware disguised as Barack Obama website

Panda Labs is reporting a new malware botnet disguised as Barack Obama’s website.  Knowing many of our client’s are politically involved, this could be one that catches you if you are not looking.  Definitely watch out for any email’s or link’s related to Obama.

How to use RSS feeds to subscribe to a blog in Outlook

One of my goals for 2009 is to increase and improve communication with our clients and prospective clients. Blogs are a great way to get information out to a large audience quickly. We can let existing clients know about new issues, patch updates, security warnings, etc.. It also let’s prospective clients get some insight into the type of company they will be dealing with. Since a blog is more informal, it lets prospective clients into your personality a bit. The challenge is making sure people get the information you are trying to share. If people don’t read the blog, then you are just talking to yourself in cyberspace.

The good news is that with Outlook it is possible to get updates delivered right to your inbox. It's as easy as checking unread mail. Using the RSS feed feature of Outlook, you can subscribe to blogs so they are delivered right to mailbox. No need to check another website every day. Get new information updates delivered right to you. Although I could teach you how to incorporate this, Microsoft has already done that work for me. Check out these links:

Introduction to RSS

Reading RSS

Adding an RSS Feed into Outlook

Sharing an RSS Feed

You can also get more information on RSS Feeds and subscriptions in Outlook 2007. Just open your mail folders, and select the folder RSS Feeds.

It's all right there.

Now go subscribe to the Daily Watch Dog to keep up with technology news you need.

Daily Watch Dog RSS Feed

POP3 Web mail issues

Although we have no official response that the issue is closed, it appears the OWN web mail servers are back online.  We are now able to access web mail accounts.  Please be aware that until we have an official closure, there may continue to be intermittent issues.  For additional details, go to http://www.ownwebnow.com/noc/

New ways to get infected by malware

Malware infections continue to be some of the most frequent requests for support over the past few months, and they are becoming more destructive. In the past, we found most issues to be in the annoying variety, generating extra popups and slowing down a users system. Now we see more destructive infections that cause users to lose connectivity, refuse Antivirus updates, and make a system virtually unusable. In the past, the primary infection source was e-mail. Links and attachments in the emails tricked users to sites that installed the bad stuff. As users got more savvy, we began to see these infections less frequently.

The recent rise in Social Networking sites like Linkedin and Facebook is giving these dregs of society a new avenue to spew their sludge to unsuspecting users. Check out this link on the latest infections using Linkedin:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2358

 
 

Recently I myself almost fell for one of these crooks. I got a message on Facebook that a friend from High School had posted a new video. Immediately it took me to a site saying I needed to download a new flash player. Luckily I happened to be surfing on my Mac, so I did not get bombed. Don't get me wrong, Macs are not immune to viruses, I just got lucky.

 
 

The bottom line is don't trust links unless you are ABSOLUTELY positive you know where they go (Run your mouse over the link to see the true site you are going to). Don't open email you don't expect and make sure your antivirus definitions are up to date. It's not safe for any of us out there anymore.