March issue of OC3 Computers

OC 3 C OMPUT E R S www.oc3computers.com

"Frankfort's first monthly informative Information Technology magazine" March 2011

A OC3 LLC. publication.

IN S ID E : Your employees:

Do you know where they take your network online?

VOIP -vs- Analog phones.

Between a rock and a hardwire connection.

Active duty military familes get free tech support.

FREE

A little about OC3 : OC3 was formed under a General Partnership in 2005 and now has an entity in not only Kentucky, but Michigan and New Hampshire as well. OC3 llc. holds many Microsoft and Cisco certifications along with their many years of experience.

We are located in the prestigious McClure building on West Main street in Frankfort, Kentucky. The magazine is always available in our lobby.

The McClure building on West main St. Frankfort, KY

Our contributors: Robert Greenly is the CEO of OC3 LLC and the lead writer for OC3 Computers magazine, He is also a graduate of the US Army Computer Science School in FT. Gordon, Georgia.

After graduating with honors he served in Hawaii and N. Carolina. He was deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom to maintain communication between US forces and their allies.

Harleena Singh is a professional freelance writer with keen interest in computer and technology related fields. She pens down impressive articles covering numerous genres. Logon to her website http://www.freelancewriter.co/ to view her writings and more articles.

Doug Fraser has worked as a short fiction judge for Best of the Net and is currently teaching computer programs to those unversed in Microsoft Office 2007. Do not pity him-- he's given free coffee and the expired packets of M&Ms from the vending machine.

If you would like to advertise in the next issue please call our media department at (502) 871-4481 (option 5) or e-mail our media department at media_department@oc3computers.com.

What's inside this issue:

VOIP -Vs- Ananlog phone.....................................................................1 Between an rock and a hardwire connection.........................................2 Where are your employess taking your company..................................3 Free tech support for families of active duty personnel twice a month.4

VoIP vs Analog Phones We know that the analog phones operate through electric circuits, over telephone lines and restrictive wireless networks. This dependency and limitation of the analog telephony technology turns out to be disadvantageous, as it results in lack of flexible maneuverability. In recent years, digital telephony has evolved to eliminate these limiting factors.

The new VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol technology has revolutionized the way we communicate by offering universal portability, enhanced features, more clarity, increased productivity, and better economy. Internet telephony, which works by converting voice into data packets, is a boon for businesses due to its global reach. VoIP phones allow the user to choose any area code, thus facilitating in connecting locally to people of the particular area, even if the user calls from any far off city or country. One can make calls from any area in the world where there is an Internet connection, and even enjoy certain features for free like Call Waiting, Call Block, and Call Forwarding among many others.

VoIP solves all audio, data, and video communication needs at high bandwidths, less time, and lower costs.

With further development of the Internet and wireless technology, the future seems bright and clear for the VoIP telephony to offer more quality and cost effectiveness.

Harleena Singh About the author: Harleena Singh is a professional freelance writer with keen interest in computer and technology related fields. She pens down impressive articles covering numerous genres. Logon to her website http://www.freelancewriter.co/ to view her writings and more articles.

OC3COMPUTERS A Frankfort computer magazine Issue #2, Page 1

Between a Rock and a Hard-Wired Connection

by Doug Fraser

It seems wireless internet is everywhere. Go into your local coffee shop and the odds are they offer free WI-FI. Even fast food restaurants like McDonald’s and Krystal have jumped on this bandwagon in hopes of attracting customers.

And of course, there’s cell phones.

So where does this leave the hard-wired surfers?

Will they soon need to do as Pinocchio and shed their “strings”?

It would seem not, considering the biggest issue with wireless internet is safety.

The New York Times ran an article this past week about an app called Firesheep that allows you to access other computers’ private information via an insecure Wi-Fi hotspot (coffee shops, fast food, etc.).

This scare also rings true on wireless internet you may have at your home, where the signal can be picked up by anyone with a Wi-Fi device.

So it’s no surprise that companies, such as financial institutions, stray away from wireless connections.

And unless wireless safety outshines hard-wired, that’s not going to change.

Let’s not forget those in rural areas who can only access dial-up connections (yes, they still do exist).

It would seem that hard-wired connections still have their place in the world. But technology is a swift river that is always moving forward, and what works well today may wake up tomorrow to find itself useless.

OC3COMPUTERS A Frankfort computer magazine Issue #2, Page 2

Where are your employees taking your company?

Every time you or your employees type in a web address in the internet browser they themselves are not just going to a certain website, but in fact they are taking your entire company to that website.

Without the proper security you could be in for trouble.

Most companies have strict rules on offensive website viewing on their network, but people still view such websites. These select few either do not know that they could be harming the company or they just don’t care. All it takes is 30 seconds on the wrong website and all the information on all the computers will have been compromised; All client data, finance data, user ID’s and passwords.

There is a simple way to check to see if your employees have been to the dark edges of the internet. Log in as that user on the computer in question and check the temporary internet files located within the browser. If using Internet Explorer you can go to “Internet tools”, “General” tab, and click on “Browsing history settings”.

This will bring you to an area where you can “View Files”.

If the employee has access to this area and is knowledgeable you can bet it will always be clean as a whistle. This is where you would purchase software that would copy this folder’s contents every few seconds and send it to you via e-mail once a day.

Most small businesses say they trust their employees not to go to these types of sites, but it is not a matter of trust, it is a matter of security. All it takes is one website link within an E-mail and “Poof!” all of your information is now compromised.

To prevent this you can lock down the Internet Explorer browser by going the Internet options and selecting the “Content tab”, “Enable content advisor”, “Approved sites”. First find out where your employee needs to go on the internet to do their job, and then add in all the respectable news sites you can think of, along with the .gov, .edu, and what ever website you want allowed. It goes without saying You should also password protect these settings, to do this you would go under the “General tab”.

OC3COMPUTERS A Frankfort computer magazine Issue #2, Page 3

Active duty families get free tech support.

Imagine your loved one has just deployed to some area around the world or to another state. With this age of communication you’re not worried. You can communicate over the internet via E-mail, Instant messaging, Skype, Yahoo, or some other communication program that is hosted on the internet right?

But wait, computers don't fix themselves and do breakdown aside from what that stores and manufactures may say or promise. They will have problems at some point and stop working or will slow down affecting your precious time with your deployed loved one.

This is big problem for families of deployed military. A broken computer is not an option to them. Time is precious and tech support is just so expensive that they are almost afraid to do anything for fear it might get a virus or crash on them.

That fear is over now; they can start using the computer again. A new computer company based out of Frankfort Kentucky now offers free tech support to all deployed active duty families. Who is this computer repair company you ask, it's OC3 of course. They understand communication is vital when it comes to your loved ones when they are deployed around the world.

OC3 offers to troubleshoot, and get your computer back on track FREE! If they do need a replacement part or some new type of software, they will hunt it down for the lowest price with speed and accuracy and let you know where and how much it will cost.

Once the family member has purchased the hardware or software from the store or via the web OC3 will either comeback or connect remotely to install it for free.

Yes, there is a catch, for hardware installation families can't live more than 30 minutes from Frankfort, KY and they only offer this service the first and third Saturday each month by appointment only.

To help out families that live further away OC3 offers to use their remote tools to help install the software you want, or troubleshoot problems over the internet.

You will need a broadband internet connection for this service though.

With support from the community they do plan to expand to other towns so that they can physically come to the home. Their goal is to help out every deployed service member's family for free.

OC3COMPUTERS A Frankfort computer magazine Issue #2, Page 4

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Phone: (502) 871-4481 (Option 5) E-mail: media_department@oc3computers.com