With worldwide spam volumes doubling from last year and unsolicited junk mail now representing more than 9 of every 10 e-mail messages sent over the Internet, spam now accounts for nearly half of all mail server traffic. Billions of unwanted spam messages clog up the Internet, disrupt email delivery, reduce productivity and irritate users.  More importantly, it can severely damage your network infrastructure – resulting in a negative financial impact on your company.

This alarming issue has network administrators in constant fear of a virus attack on their IT systems.  Bandwidth consumed by the spread of a virus or worm slows network speed to a crawl or shuts the entire network down at once, and infected workstations frequently lock up due to the processing power consumed by the virus.  Virus attacks not only cripple a company for days but the lasting damage and financial impact resulting from a virus infection extends long after the actual attack. 

How do you know if it’s spam?  Any message that doesn't meet the following criteria is defined as spam:

• Consent – the message must be sent with your consent
• Identify – the message must contain accurate information about the person or organization that authorized the sending of the message
• Unsubscribe– the message must contain a functional 'unsubscribe' facility to allow you to opt out of receiving messages from that source

There are a number of simple steps you can take to reduce spam and protect yourself from spammers:

• Delete suspicious emails without opening or replying to them
• Be sure to check the terms and conditions of anything you sign up for online
• Use spam filtering software
• Boost your Internet security to ensure spammer can’t send spam to your computer via zombie spam and spoofing

Understanding the risks posed by spam is only the beginning of your battle against it.  Have the proper network security parameters and anti-spam software in place to stop corruptive e-mail spam before it stops you and your company’s productivity.

The new “Santa Rosa” upgrade of Intel’s Centrino notebook platform is now available for PCs from several major manufacturers. This version claims longer battery life and faster computing.  It also has a new graphics controller providing better video capability.  The business version (called Centrino Pro) allows corporate system administrators to repair and protect notebooks remotely.  This new upgrade promises better and faster computing and allows businesses to keep the data and the programs used on a notebook updated, safe and fully functional without bringing them back to the office for updates. 

 

We encourage you to read more about this new notebook platform and to review the list of notebooks that will incorporate it by clicking this link for the complete article in PC World magazine:  http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,131692-c,notebooks/article.html

 

November Special Offers from INS: 
10% OFF Workstations and Laptops

November is the perfect time to think about and purchase new workstations and laptops for your company. Your time to spend the current year’s hardware budget is probably running out. And, with everyone thinking seriously about the systems needed to support their new strategic plans, you will probably want to try to have those systems in place for the beginning of the New Year.  Because we love our customers, we want to make those purchasing decisions a little bit easier for you with this November special offer. 

 

Ready to make a purchase?  Give us a call at 408.260.1601.

INS Preferred Vendors  

 

A world apart in the center of everything Garden Court Hotel is an elegant retreat in the heart of downtown Palo Alto offering the ideal location and environment for destination travelers to Silicon Valley, Stanford University, the Peninsula and the greater San Francisco Bay Area.  For more information and to make reservations, please visit us online at http://www.gardencourt.com or call Toll Free: 800-824-9028;Locally: 650-322-9000.