Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - Is your PC ready for Windows 7?

Windows 7! It continues to soar. If you are wondering whether your current technology can support this newest Microsoft release, click here.
Windows 7 Description: Everything you need for work and home. With Windows 7 Professional, fewer walls stand between you and your success. You can run many Windows XP productivity programs in Windows XP Mode and recover data easily with automatic backups to your home or business network. You can also connect to company networks effortlessly and more securely with Domain Join. With all the exciting entertainment features of Windows Home Premium, it's a great choice for home and for business. Ask CMIT Solutions if Windows 7 makes sense.
Share Office 2007 documents with users of previous versions of Microsoft Office If you have friends or colleagues with pre-2007 versions of Microsoft Office, they can download the Compatibility Pack and easily open, edit, and save Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 documents.

Create great-looking signatures for your e-mail Want to give your Outlook 2007 e-mail messages polish and pizzazz? Take this free online training to learn how to create custom e-mail signatures and automatically insert them. Get your calculations done automatically Want to ditch that calculator? This online training shows you how to use simple formulas in Excel 2007 worksheets and let Excel do the calculating for you!
Video: Create drop-down lists in Excel 2007 To make data entry easier, you can create a drop-down list in your worksheet. Watch this video to see how to use Excel 2007 to create a drop-down list from a range of cells.

Alert: Fraudulent Email Is Not From Intuit

A number of fraudulent emails have gone out recently purporting to be from Intuit. The latest one claims to be from the QuickBooks Update Center and contains the subject line "Intuit Secure Update. This email is not legitimate. Ignore it and delete it.

For reference, the text of the fraudulent email is as follows:

From: QuickBooks Update Center [mailto:software@quickbooks.intuit.com]

Subject: Intuit Secure Update

As is the case with many companies that maintain large databases of information, Intuit is the target of fraudulent attempts to get access and extract information from its database. We recently watch our database was illegally accessed and certain contact and account information were taken, including QuickBooks email addresses, names, phone numbers. The data accessed does not include banking information.

Immediately upon learning about this, Intuit started an investigation and took corrective steps. It is important to know the company continually monitors for any illicit use of information in our database, and so far, we have not detected the misuse of this information.

In order to help assure the security of your information, we have developed a special plug-in for browser and Windows® - QuickBooks Update. This software will protect yours private information from any kinds of spyware or malware.

System requirements :

* Windows XP, Vista, 2000, 2003

* Internet Explorer 6.x, 7.x, 8.x

ATTENTION: You will not be able to use our service without update from 17 of November 2009

Download :

* Windows® QuickBooks Update

* Internet Explorer plug-in

If you are not Microsoft Windows® user you can use our services as usual

Intuit has confirmed that this is a fraudulent email (for more details, see the Intuit security blog at http://security.intuit.com/alerts/alert.php?a=8). But even without their confirmation, it's pretty easy to tell. Here's how:

1. You can often spot a phishing attempt because it contains misspellings or poor grammar. In the above example, a phrase like "We recently watch our database was illegally accessed" is a big red flag that the email was probably written by a scammer whose first language isn't English.

2. Any email that requests personal information or asks you to download something is probably a phishing attempt. Legitimate companies do not ask their clients to re-supply information the company already possesses. Nor do they ask their clients to download plug-ins by clicking on an email link.

If you receive a phishing email, do not click on any of the links or consent to download anything. Forward a copy of the email to your IT administrator so that they're aware of the problem and can alert other users. Then delete the email from your inbox and trash bin.

Give Your Documents a Uniform Look with Themes

A nice feature of Office 2007 is that you can make documents from several different programs Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook all have the same look and feel. Whereas in the past you'd have to alter the color and style of every table, chart, and shape in every document separately, you can now just select a theme that takes care of all those details automatically.

For example, here's a simple chart using the theme called Office:

Here’s that same chart using the theme called Perspective:

As you can see, the theme affects the font, color, shading, and shadow effects. And because it's available in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, your chart will look the same no matter what program it appears in and all the other charts you use will have a similar look.

The Themes gallery is accessible from the Formatting Palette. To create your own custom theme, you can open up a given theme and then alter the font, colors, and effects, and then save as a new theme. Just use the customization settings to the right of the thumbnailed themes, visible in the screen shot below.

2009 Long Island Tax Practitioner Symposium

Co-Sponsored by:
The Educational Foundation
of the Nassau/Suffolk Chapter of the
National Conference of CPA Practitioners (Nccpap).

SYMPOSIUM BENEFITS
• 80+ Key Tax-Related Sessions
• Updates on State and Federal Tax Laws
• Meet with Key IRS Officials
• IRS Problems Resolution Meetings
• Connect with Key Suppliers
• Resolution of QuickBooks Problems
• Network with Fellow Practicing Tax Professionals
• MP3 CDs of Available Sessions
• Exhibit Area with 40+ Key Vendors

Come join CMIT Solutions of South Nassau November 18th, 19th and 20th at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, NY!

What's a Netbook ... And Why Would You Need One?

In the hardware world, there's a pretty lively discussion going on about the difference between laptops, notebooks, and netbooks.

Opinion seems to be converging around the idea that laptops and notebooks are virtually the same: small, portable, but powerful computers that can function as a more travel-worthy substitute for a stationary desktop model.

Netbooks, on the other hand, are a relatively new innovation just a couple of years old, which might make them ancient in some technology circles, but it means that some folks are still figuring out what the term means.

Way back in the beginning of netbooks, these ultra-small, ultra-light computers offered pared-down capabilities that could satisfy most of the needs of a user on the go. You could access a Web browser and email, and if you used cloud-based applications like Google Docs you could even do some word processing and basic spreadsheet operations. But your average netbook, lacking an optical drive and equipped with a slower processer, wasn't going to be terribly fast or powerful or great at running really resource-intensive applications. And the tiny keyboard made prolonged use a bit of a pain.

But then a funny thing happened: the year 2008. And as the economy took a dive, more and more users started looking at netbooks and deciding they made a very good, affordable alternative to regular laptops. By Q1 of 2009, netbook sales were seven times larger than they were in the first quarter of 2008. (http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/tech/0EF7F828A4FAC9A9CC2575AB007165B4)

Not surprisingly, manufacturers noticed a huge new market that was growing like gangbusters in the middle of a downturn. New entrants joined the game, and in order to differentiate themselves, started adding features and enhancements to the stripped-down netbook. Screen sizes and keyboards are now getting larger. Graphics are getting better. Some folks argue that, at least among certain brands, there's virtually no difference at all between a netbook and an ultralight laptop. (http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10312430-1.html)

Still, as a general rule of thumb, if you're looking for a very cheap and light machine that you wouldn't be heartbroken to lose or see destroyed in other words, if you're a student who needs a note-taking device, or a frequent traveler who has robust offsite storage and just needs an on-the-road Internet access device a netbook could be the perfect thing.