The U. S. Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed both the starting and ending dates of Daylight Saving Time, effective with calendar year 2007. Below are the changes that will be starting in March of this year:

Change in daylight saving time:

Previously DST Started on the First Sunday of April
With the new law DST will Start on the Second Sunday of March

Previous DST Ended on the Last Sunday of October
With the new law DST will End on the First Sunday of November

     It’s official: end users are the weakest link in the IT security chain. You can set up a firewall, encryption, anti-virus software, and password protection up to your ears, but it won’t save you from the employee who posts his access information to a public web site.
     Most security breaches, viruses, spyware, and other network problems are a result of human error—an end user unknowingly downloading an infected file, e-mailing confidential information, or disabling their anti-virus, to name a few.
     So what is a company to do? While there is no surefire way to keep end users from making mistakes, you can dramatically reduce the number of problems by creating an acceptable use policy (AUP) and training your employees on what is and what is NOT acceptable behavior.
     But if you want your employees to actually adhere to your security policies, here are a few tips:

Keep it simple. A long, confusing policy that looks like a legal document is about as easy to read as the instruction manual for your digital camera. Make the policies clear and easy to read. Give examples and include screen shots where necessary.
Provide group training. Many companies make the mistake of distributing their AUP by e-mail and telling employees they must read it on their own. This gives the employees the option of NOT reading and simply signing and submitting. You don’t need hours of classroom training but a simple 15 or 20- minute session will force even the most reluctant users to learn a thing or two.
Keep employees updated. To add to the above tip, make sure you update employees on a regular basis to keep the policies fresh in their minds and to educate them about new threats.
Explain the consequences of not following the policy. This is both explaining the negative effects to the business as well as disciplinary actions that will be taken if they refuse to follow policy. Occasional violators should be warned, and habitual violators should be disciplined.
Monitor their behavior. The best policy in the world won’t work if it’s not enforced. There are many tools on the market that can do this for you automatically.

Need Help In Creating An Acceptable Use Policy and Training Your Staff?

     Not only can we help you create a customized acceptable use policy for your staff, but we can also provide training on the topic and even install network monitoring software to make sure it is enforced. Call us at service@pcm edevac.com or visit us online at www.pcmedevac.c om for more info!

You Won’t After Reading This!

     Tape backup users beware: The average failure rate of disk and tape drives is 100%! ALL tape drives fail at some point. But what’s really dangerous is that most companies don’t realize it happened until it’s too late.
     That’s why thousands of businesses lose millions of dollars worth of data to disasters like fires, power outages, theft, equipment failure, and even simple human mistake. In almost every case, these businesses had some type of backup system in place, but were horrified to find out it wasn’t working when they needed it most.

You’ve Probably Experienced These Problems With Your Tape Drive Already      In addition to the fact that they are unreliable and are guaranteed to fail at some point, tape drives require a user to swap out the tapes on a daily basis. If someone forgets, goes on vacation, or leaves the company, the plan falls through.
     Tape backups also need constant monitoring to make sure they are working. If you’ve ever tried to recover data from your tape drive, you may have discovered how difficult it was, or that the data you thought was being backed up in fact - wasn’t.
     Finally, (God forbid) if your office gets flooded because of a storm, incurs water damage from a sprinkler system or faulty pipe, hit by a tornado, burned to the ground by a fire, or burglarized, your tape backup will be damaged along with everything else and will be completely worthless!

How To Quickly and Easily Eliminate the Risk and Hassles of Tape Backups Finally and Forever!

     If you want to truly protect your data from loss AND eliminate the daily hassles of tape backups, you’ll want to know about our new . This service automatically uploads your financial records, client data, and files right over the Internet every night to a secure, offsite data center.

This means:

• Your files are automatically backed up every night right over the Internet. No more rotating and storing tapes – one more important item off your to-do list!
• Your data is safe from fire, floods, storms, viruses, hackers, hardware malfunctions, and human error!
• You can back up ALL of your data and not be limited to the size of your tape drive.

The folks at Forbes magazine have been spending their time making a list that was difficult to create. Was it the wealthiest people of the year? Not exactly. Here is their list of the wealthiest fictional characters of 2006:

• Santa Clause
• Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks
• Richie Rich
• Lex Luthor
• C. Montgomery Burns
• Scrooge McDuck
• Jed Clampett
• Bruce Wayne
• Thurston Howell III
• Willy Wonka
• Arthur Back
• Ebenezer Scrooge
• Lara Croft
• Cruella De Ville

On loving your enemy:
“Love your enemies. It makes them so damned mad.” - P.D. East

On the road less traveled:
“Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.” - Jerry Seinfeld

On failing:
“I didn’t fail the test, I successfully found 100 ways to do it wrong.” - Benjamin Franklin

On fashion:
“I base most of my fashion taste on what doesn’t itch.” -Gilda Radner

On speaking the truth:
“Speak the truth, but leave immediately after.”- Slovenian proverb

On convenience:
“Death, taxes, and childbirth: There’s never any convenient time for any of them.” - Margaret Mitchell

On men and women:
“Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.” - Katherine Hepburn

Calling In Sick...Again?

According to an annual survey by CareerBuilder, 32% of workers called in sick with phony excuses in the last year. One in three admitted to lying about being sick to their bosses once a year, and one in ten admitted to doing so three times or more a year.
Why are so many calling in sick when they aren’t? Almost half (48%) said they wanted to relax, 24% said they needed to catch up on sleep, 20% wanted to run personal errands, 16% wanted to spend time with friends and family and, oddly enough, 16% said they used the time to clean their house!
But employees beware! While most managers don’t question their employees’ excuses, 27% of managers have fired an employee for calling in sick without a good reason.

Business owners tend to be driven, both financially and philosophically, to make cold calls, pursue new contacts, and acquire new customers. But often, little thought is given to nurturing relationships with the customers they already have. Given that acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing one, this can be a costly approach.

Customers who are continuously courted, interacted with, and reminded of your company's presence are less likely to go racing off when competitors come calling. Making those customers feel recognized, known and appreciated can go a long way toward locking up their loyalty. And, it's also a great way to get them referring others.

Go to our website for a free demonstration of Send Out Cards or contact me to try it out with a free account and find out how to launch your customer retention program into OUTERSPACE.