Managed Services Monthly
Stay informed about new products and services, customer case studies, and helpful user tips with Managed Services Monthly — Appia’s monthly newsletter.
Five Key Steps to Protecting Your Network
The threats to your network are many and growing. If they go unchecked, they can reduce productivity, compromise secure information, and affect your bottom line. Here are the five most important steps you can take.
Maintain PCs and servers properly
Make sure that anti-virus and spyware applications are kept up to date, and that OS patches are installed. Ignoring these tasks can affect hardware performance, limit productivity, and leave devices and networks vulnerable.
Control email, chat and Web access
One estimate sets the total loss of productivity from inappropriate Internet use (personal email, surfing, shopping, gaming, etc.) at $200 million annually.
Manage spam
An estimated 85% of email is spam. Spam saps employee productivity and wastes valuable bandwidth and sever capacity.
Protect against unauthorized and/or infected devices on the network
Even the most secure networks can be damaged or disabled if users are allowed to connect unauthorized devices. Personal laptops, thumb drives, or other similar devices can introduce viruses, trojans, worms, and other network threats.
Stop intrusions and attacks from unauthorized users
Not surprisingly, hackers, spammers, and phishers have developed a multitude of new ways to gain access to corporate networks. Unsuspecting users can enable outside intrusions by simply opening an email or visiting a malicious Website.
So how can you protect your network from these threats?
Appia has three products in our suite of managed services that enable you to protect your network, while saving money, improving hardware performance, and enhancing employee productivity. Click on the links below to learn more.
For many years, IP networks have been protected by software and/or hardware solutions that are installed to protect points of vulnerability.
It's time to rethink network security. AppiaSecure is a comprehensive, patent-pending solution that enables you to manage user access both inside and outside the network.
Appia's SpamManager allows you to take control of what makes it to your inbox. Through an easy-to-use Web-based interface, you can block malicious messages; create white lists of approved email addresses, and more.
LANCare takes the day-to-day maintenance of company desktops and servers out of the hands of in-house IT staff, enabling them to focus on more important tasks. The service is deployed by installing an agent on each desktop or server on your network. Software updates, system checks, and other tasks are then completed automatically according to a predetermined schedule. LANCare also provides intrusion protection.
Appia User Tip: Uploading Presentations to WebHuddle
Prior to hosting an online meeting with WebHuddle, you can upload slides from PowerPoint, or similar application, onto the WebHuddle server for easy sharing with your meeting participants.
With WebHuddle, you can upload slides from any source, provided that you can save in either .jpeg or .gif format. This takes a little effort, but it is effective if you need to share slides and scripts. The following example uses PowerPoint, but other applications would follow the same procedure.
Export as Images
1. Create a PowerPoint slide deck
2. Click ‘File’ then ‘Save As’
3. In the ‘Save As Type’ box, choose ‘JPEG’ or ‘GIF’
4. Pick a file folder you will remember
5. Click ‘Save’
6. Click the ‘Every Slide’ button
Create a Zip File
1. Open Windows Explorer (NOT Internet Explorer)
2. Go to the folder that contains your exported JPEGs
3. You should see files Slide1.jpg, Slide2.jpg, etc.
4. Select them all by pressing Ctrl-A
5. Right-click on one of the files for the pop-up menu
6. Choose ‘Send To’ then ‘Compressed Folder’
7. Rename ‘SlideX.zip’
Upload Your Zip File
1. Log in
2. Click ‘Upload’
3. Pick a name
4. ‘Browse’ to your .zip file & select it
5. Click ‘Submit’
Use Pictures as Scripts
1. In WebHuddle, click ‘Scripts’
2. Select the name you just gave your .zip file
3. Re-order the slides in number order, or any other order you wish
4. Captions can be added to the ‘Description’ field for each slide if desired
5. Click ‘Save’ then ‘Done’
Script a Meeting
1. When starting or scheduling a meeting, choose your script in the “Meeting Script”
drop-down box
2. The slides will be made available in the upper right-hand corner of the control panel
3. You must be moderator to change slides
Appia Regional Managers
To learn more about Appia’s products and services, and how they can benefit your organization, please contact the Appia Regional Manager for your area:
Michigan and Northern Indiana
Dan Swain
574-707-7788
dan(at)appiaservices.com
Illinois and Wisconsin
Andy Ulrich
877-277-4297, extension 146
andy(at)appiaservices.com
Central Indiana and Ohio
Steve Battiato
317-806-2170
steve(at)appiaservices.com
New York and California
Jason Ulm
317-715-9507
jason(at)appiaservices.com
If there’s a topic you’d like us to address in future newsletters, please let us know by emailing nick(at)appiaservices.com.
