|
Q & A for Windows 7. What does it mean for you?
Microsoft is preparing to introduce Windows 7 as the successor to Vista in the fall of 2009 or early 2010. What does that mean for you at home and work? While Windows 7 has the look and feel of Vista, several informal benchmark tests show it to be a superior performer to Vista and XP in boot and shut down time, file management and loading documents.
What about upgrade paths?
From XP, there is no direct upgrade path to Windows 7, it requires a clean install and there is no indication that compatibility issues with XP drivers or software are to be addressed.
From Vista, an upgrade path is planned, but details are sketchy. The preferred method if you are already running Vista is a clean install, and if you are going from 32 bit to 64 bit, a clean install is required.
What if I buy a new Vista Machine now?
Several months before final release of Windows 7, Microsoft will make a decision to provide free upgrade coupons from Vista to Windows 7, as they did during the transition from XP to Vista. Until then when you buy, understand you will have to purchase an upgrade to get Windows 7.
What does this mean for my business?
It means planning ahead for the change over, because at some point Microsoft will stop selling XP. We anticipated this 18 months ago and all of our systems sold to customers since that date have been Vista compatible, even though the machines came with XP. If you have legacy machines running XP, then we will need to work closely with you when transition time arrives.
Watch this newsletter. We will keep you updated on Windows 7.
Email questions to jeff@ezsolution.com
Does Your Website Need "Spring Cleaning"?
Want more sales, leads, or customer inquiries from your website? Keep your site fresh and inviting by changing the content often, removing outdated pages, and updating the look of your site every year or two.
Your website is a work in progress. You need to continually update the content so that it stays fresh. If you haven't updated your content for a while it may be time to do some sprucing up.
Here are some helpful hints to avoid a stale and stagnant site:
- Post specials, news, events or some other constantly changing content on your home page, so it always looks new.
- Add a Blog
- Add Video
- Add or update a FREE Offer or Discount
- Remove expired or dated pages immediately.
You don't want to look old-fashioned next to your competitors. So surf the web often and look at how competitors' sites and other popular sites on the net are designed.
Keeping the content and look of your site fresh is just one more way to improve your website's bottom line and make your website work for you! If you want to talk about "spring house cleaning" your web site contact Tom at 291-4689 or tom@ezsolution.com
Hedging their bets, area landscape firm Tomlinson Bomberger gives EZSolution an A+ for support!
"Jeff Weaver and his team were the chosen vendor for IT support when I arrived at Tomlinson Bomberger 10 years ago. As technology changed, they have always kept us up to date with an honest and affordable approach."
"What impressed me most was how technology was never pushed at us. Jeff understood how our business functions and as we grew, he looked at different ideas  down the road to make it easier for us to do more with less."
"Our latest project is installing two new servers running MS Enterprise Server 2008 and MS SQL 2008 in a virtual environment, providing 100% failover. EZSolution was able to get it up and running without interrupting our regular business hours or causing any inconvenience to our co-workers or clients."
- Bob Leabhart, Tomlinson Bomberger
Giving Back
EZSolution employees are busy people, in addition to being available to work with our clients on a daily basis; many are significantly involved in their community.
Rich Crockett, our service manager, spent a week in December 2008 as a volunteer painting a house for Dave and Vicki Conner and children in Cameron, LA. Their house was destroyed by Hurricane Rita in 2005. Here are two excerpts from his journal.
"When Dave said we would have to drive, leaving Sunday afternoon at 5PM, because we needed to take some paint, (30 gallons to be exact), not to mention the sprayer, ladders, brushes and 10 pieces of siding that just didn't want to fit the minivan. I said no sweat. "...two afternoons, 43 hours and 1400 miles later we pulled into Cameron...so much for no sweat!"
MDS (Mennonite Disaster Service) partnered with Akron Mennonite Church in Akron, PA to build a house for the Conners. The house was constructed on the parking lot of the church and shipped in parts to the site.
"I was surprised to see when we arrived a ranch house suspended 13 feet off the ground on concrete reinforced piers…made carrying the 90 pound buckets of paint up the stairs a snap! Seems like we painted and painted…well, we did, for a 48 hours span we prepped, slept, ate and painted. The work was hard, but Vicki and Dave were there to encourage us and keep the rest of the crew out of our way…and that Creole sausage, potato and rice dish she brought for our lunch was out of this world….We finished, said goodbye and retraced our 43 hour journey home…"
More pictures and text of the project can be seen at www.ezsolution.com/cameron.
Meet Your Neighbors - Our New Website Clients
IT Challenge
When Lancaster goes furniture shopping, INTERIORS on Columbia Avenue, is the preferred destination. A family owned business since 1967, Interiors meets the design needs of 1000's of shoppers in the Lancaster area. Shoppers are drawn because the quality brand names available and the outstanding customer service they receive.
The Challenge
Recently, INTERIORS needed to add additional distribution space. The solution turned out to be a warehouse facility about ½ miles away from their main store. While delighted to have the space, the distance and created a need for an inexpensive way to get phone and data service to the facility.
The EZSolution
After a complete analysis of the needs of the warehouse and the main store, EZSolution came up with an innovative and creative way to link the two locations. In October of 2008, Cisco Wireless Access points were installed in both the main store and the distribution center. Each access point was coupled to a high gain antenna. This wireless link provides secure transmission of voice and data from the main store to the distribution center.
The Results
Savings for the first year of operation were approximately $14,000. This was in addition to the savings on staff and support time. The payback on this project was in the range of 14 months. The new link handles hundreds of phone calls a day, extensive Microsoft Exchange traffic and 8 Remote Desktop Protocol connections at the same time.
The Gold Star
Since installation in October, 2008 there has been no recorded downtime. EZSolution is pleased to help one of Lancaster's premier home furnishings retailers meet their goals and improve their delivery of seamless customer service. Call us today to put our creative minds to work on you current IT challenge.
"I highly recommend EZSolution's networking division as a partner for IT/Computer networking to any company that requires cost-effective computer networking solutions, complete dedication to the computer system producing the desired results, and flexibility to quickly respond to customer needs."
-Tom Williams, INTERIORS
Referral Program
We will pay you $25 for any one that you refer to us that we get an appointment with.
When your referral becomes a client (and has spent $1000 or more) then we will pay you $50 more. And, we will give your referral $100 off their purchase.
Would You Like to Submit an Article, Story or Tip for The EZSolution?
Do you have a funny story or resource to share with other subscribers? Send it to me! We are always looking for new and useful content to add to our newsletter, including partners who want to submit articles. Submit to rich@ezsolution.com
|
