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Celebrating the preview launch of Microsoft’s flagship products System Center 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2014, Firebrand Training decided to pay homage to the Tech giant by creating a guide for their existing enterprise technology portfolio.

Check out the graphic below, for a full size version head to Firebrand’s site.

A guide to Microsoft’s Enterprise Technology

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So as we get to grips with the latest batch of Microsoft Technology Products, why not take a look back at the soon to be 40 year History of Microsoft. From humble beginnings of the Windows 1.0 OS, Microsoft has come a long way launching a wide range of innovative enterprise products. Lync Server allows businesses to effectively communicate internally, whilst SharePoint facilitates project collaboration through shared documents.

Of course, not every product has been success, highlighted by the fact a certain Windows OS may not have made it into the timeline. Can you spot it?

Sarah Morgan writes for Firebrand Training on a number of IT related topics. Sarah has 11 years of experience in the IT industry writing on  exams, training, certification trends, and careers advice for the range of Microsoft technology courses delivered by Firebrand.

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Email Delivery

Email platforms are plentiful, but a few stand out from the crowd.

Exchange

Businesses use Exchange and by some accounts need to. However, instead of wasting time and resources on managing an Exchange server, small businesses should move towards a more simpler approach through Google Apps or Office 365. There is simply no need for an Exchange environment in an office size of under 10 users. With today’s full featured cloud options, Exchange can easily be replaced in a small office environment.

If your company uses proprietary software that relies on Exchange, then find a more flexible alternative. You’ll find that your business becomes less reliant on specialized software and it sends a message to the software company that they need to produce more flexible options or join the dinosaurs.

Gmail/Google Apps

Gmail is easily the most robust web based email solution available, but these same principles apply to other top email providers.

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• Use filters! For the love of all holy email, if you want to get out from under that pile of email, then use filters. Start NOW!
• Gmail has a convenient priority label to manage urgent and important messages you expect to receive. However, with a quick filter setup, priority labels can be used with other services as well.
• Star messages with the dozen or so star options to organize your priorities. After some time you’ll become accustomed to using them and even organize them around your workflow.
• For gmail specifically, users can even create a ‘Snooze‘ function to delay messages from reaching their inbox. You can set your own up by following this tutorial.

Outlook

While I’m not a fan of Outlook, it is the predominant email program. It too has filtering capabilities and if you don’t bother to use them or take time to understand how they work, then you deserve all the spam and missed emails you get.

Learn what you’re doing and continue to revise to suit your needs. Stop complaining that it’s not working the way you “want” it to. You need to teach Outlook how to handle your messages. Remember, Outlook is software not a mind-reading artificial intelligence.

Messages

Spam

For the last time – spam cannot be blocked 100% by any software or service, period. Can you manage it? Yes, but results will never be foolproof and will take time to be fully applied.

Also keep in mind that sending rapid, repeated emails to recipients can cause your own outgoing email to be flagged as potential spam on the recipient’s end. By definition, flooding someone’s inbox with emails (whether you consider them legitimate or not) is considered spamming them.

Overstuffed Inboxes

This has to be the most egregious of all email offenses and elicits some of the biggest complaints. I’ve personally seen inboxes with more than 3,000 emails and recently read a story where a user had 40,000 emails in their inbox. 40,000! That is absurd. Not because of the amount, but because those users let them get that way. There’s no excuse for that much inbox email and the blame falls squarely on the user’s shoulders.

If you’re currently in such a situation, then here’s what you do:

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• Delete all email in your inbox to start from scratch. [info]Note: If you have that many emails, there is zero chance you will actually read through all of them. Just delete them and if any of it was crucial or important, you’ll hear about it again.[/info]
• Create folders for email from senders you expect and want.
• Monitor your email closely for the next week. Create filters for everything you want to save and label junk you don’t.
• Continue that process until you no longer receive dozens of messages in your inbox. Remember, even the unwanted email should be filtered. You can mark the unwanted as junk or modify a filter later, after the inbox is cleaned up.

Tools

Addins & Plugins

These items can be incredibly handy or outrageously limiting. If a plugin requires specific integration or lacks open versatility between apps or email services, then get rid of it. That might be easier to say than do, but if you’re chained to one of those types of plugins, then you’re limiting your email freedom and hindering mobile productivity.

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Java

In truth, Java should be on your watch list every week. However, over the weekend Oracle released an emergency patch addressing 50 or so vulnerabilities in Java.

Security vulnerabilities are a long standing problem for Java, but have recently been brought to the forefront with some rather public admonishments from the government as well as being blacklisted by Apple. Apple is again blacklisting Java after this most recent patch, so vulnerabilities are still present.

The important thing for users is to make sure Java is updated on your system. As you start your work week, be sure to pay attention to that little Java update notification or download the most recent release. Users can download the latest update from the Java product page.

Apple

A strange bug has cropped up in OS X. The snippet “File:///” will crash any Mac app instantly. The bug is likely to be addressed by Apple in the next OS X update, but for now avoid that little gem unless you like crashing your system.

Android

Malware writers are, if nothing else, diligent in their cause towards creating havoc for users. A new variant has been discovered which disguises itself as a helpful cleanup type app for your Android phone. Of course the app is useless and instead downloads 3 files to your device which lay in wait until you connect your phone to a PC. The files then infect the PC where it activates the system’s microphone and records audio. The audio is sent back to the malware creators.

During this time, the devious app is collecting data from your phone as well which means it could wind up attacking you from two sides, PC and phone.

As always we recommend caution when downloading apps, but more to the point avoid apps which claim to boost, enhance or clean your Android device. If you need advice on apps, contact us or ask the community on our Facebook page – don’t go it alone.

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Make Your Website Part Of The Nifty Collection

Dispatch

How do you collaborate with others? If you’re not collaborating in the cloud, then you’re missing out on an incredible opportunity to be more productive and develop ideas more effectively. Just launched cloud collaboration tool Dispatch is making the entire process easier with integrated cloud resources and a dead simple interface. Continue..Read more about Dispatch.

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Marklet

One of the most common practices in a browser is saving bookmarks and with so much information floating around the web, saving can get out of hand quickly. One way to organize and store your bookmarks in one place is Marklet, a cloud based app for storing all your favorites. Continue..Read more about Marklet.

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Wild Mood Swings

Discovering new websites is something many users enjoy. One of the best ways to discover new online sources and cloud tools, other than our Nifty Websites Collection that is, is through web discovery services. Wild Mood Swings is a web discovery service that sends users to websites based on their mood. Continue..Read more about Wild Mood Swings.

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Make Your Website Part Of The Nifty Collection

One of the most common practices in a browser is saving bookmarks and with so much information floating around the web, saving can get out of hand quickly. One way to organize and store your bookmarks in one place is Marklet, a cloud based app for storing all your favorites.

Modern Bookmarking

One of the great advantages of cloud computing is that users can access the information saved to the cloud from anywhere at anytime and from any device. That pure constant is what makes Marklet such an attractive way to save and store bookmarks

Through Marklet, users can save favorites much as they would through a browser then access those bookmarks from a mobile device, work computer or wherever they have access to the web. Marklet works through any browser which means it’s accessible from any phone and doesn’t require an app to use.

How It Works

Marklet has several options for saving favorites. Since most of us already have bookmarks saved in browsers, an import feature is available to quickly upload bookmarks from all major browsers. Additionally, Marklet allows for upload of bookmarks from other cloud services such as Delicious.

To make saving favorites quicker, Marklet offers extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers. The browser extension adds a quick add button to the browser so users can simply click the button to add a favorite to their marklet dashboard. Users of other browsers will need to login to Marklet, then save the favorite.

Those who like to organize their bookmarks will find that Marklet is quite convenient with its categories and drag and drop reordering system.

Dashboard Interface

We’re genuinely pleased with the interface. The soft colors make viewing the page easy on the eyes and the proportions for items are appropriately scaled. The interface can be customized to have a varying number of popular favorites, displayed with color logo. The larger blocked marklets are convenient for keeping frequently visited websites a single click away.

The remaining Dashboard information revolves around categories and the favorites associated with them. For example, a Shopping category may have Amazon, Newegg, Target and others. Categories can be minimized to save screen real estate and new categories are created with a quick click of a button.

One very notable Dashboard feature involves video. Marklets of video favorites play directing from the Dashboard so that users never have to leave their Marklet page. The video integration means a lot less clicking around for users and the dimmed background effect during playback makes viewing enjoyable.

Limitations

Marklet has just about everything a user needs to move from traditional browser bookmarks to cloud marklets. However, every service has its limitations and Marklet is no different. Marklet does allow importing of bookmarks, but is too limited for anyone who already has an established library containing 1000’s of organized favorites. However, that amount of favorites is not the norm which means most users shouldn’t have a problem.

The other noticeable limitation is the omission of tags. Again, this goes to sorting and searching a large database of favorites. Without tags to find favorites it may be difficult using Marklet as the only bookmarking service.

Summary

Marklet is visually appealing, free, polished and provided without advertisements of any kind. The interface is fast and responsive and Marklet continues to offer convenient ways to bookmark with their service as well as improve on their platform.

We’ve already touched on what we’d like to see from Marklet which includes a greater import limit if not abolish the limit entirely as well as a tagging option to make bookmark retrieval easier. Another feature that could be useful is the option to rearrange the dashboard to make it more personal for users. The interface is adequate as it is, but the ability to customize the dashboard could make Marklet more appealing to a larger audience.  We’d also like to see utilization of sub-folders or sub-categories to organize favorites to an even greater extent.

Finally, Marklet has all the right base parts in place to be a top notch cloud bookmarking service. The service, which was launched in April 2012, doesn’t have limitations severe enough to turn users away and the service continues to mature to meet users needs. We recommend giving Marklet a test drive to see if it’s the cloud bookmarking service for you.

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Make Your Website Part Of The Nifty Collection

Do you run a business or service that requires appointment scheduling? If so, then you’re already fully aware of what’s involved. A lot of time is wasted between email and phone call scheduling not to mention the appointment reminders. Evergreen is appointment scheduling software developed to save time and automate the tasks involved with scheduling.

Easy Scheduling

For most, a website is an integral part of their business and in some ways an extension for their products and services. With Evergreen companies can incorporate appointment scheduling directly into their website. Customers can schedule online from anywhere and save both parties time.

The scheduling information can display employee schedules and availability as well as block time out so that scheduling isn’t an option. Through traditional operating hours and manipulation of schedules, companies can guide customers towards openings and encourage them to schedule immediately while they’re on the website.

Evergreen Benefits

Obviously time is a huge benefit to using Evergreen. Initially, users will need to setup the Evergreen system with basic company information and afterwards scheduling is, for the most part, automated.

Convenience is another big advantage to using Evergreen with your business. Customers want easy, immediate, accurate service. It doesn’t get much more convenient than scheduling an appointment online at a time of your own choosing. Customers will likely embrace the online scheduling option and be more inclined to make an appointment with the option in front of them.

A huge time waster is reminding customers of an upcoming appointment. Evergreen handles that with automated reminders via email along with appointment notifications via text message and email to staff.

Features

We’ve touched on a few features already, such as the automated reminders and integration with existing website. Other features worth noting include SSL encryption to keep data safe, widgets and buttons for call to action purposes, customer database and profiles along with a host of other features that expand on the service.

Summary

Evergreen could be a truly beneficial service and application for those who set appointments regularly. Some freelancers may have trouble relying on Evergreen since appointments are more fluid by nature than say, a massage parlor for example.

Evergreen is versatile and developed to provide as wide an availability as possible with additional integration directly from Facebook pages via a widget. Solo users can start using Evergreen right away for $24/month while larger organizations have additional account options.

The Evergreen software service is a utility that many small businesses can benefit from and should be using to save manpower and labor costs as well as draw in potential clients who prefer using the web to schedule and make appointments.

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Make Your Website Part Of The Nifty Collection

Make Your Website Part Of The Nifty Collection

Pelotonics

Collaborating on projects can be productive for all parties, but can also be a huge hassle in terms of coordinating tasks, events and updates. That’s where Pelotonics can help. Continue..Read more about Pelotonics.

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Stay Invisible

If you’re at all conscious of the personal data transmitted across the internet, then it’s likely you’ve wondered what information of your own is visible. Stay invisible shows you what types of personal information are being shared when you browse the web. Continue..Read more about Stay Invisible.

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Ribbet

Launched in June 2012, Ribbet is what could be considered the next best thing to Picnik which was closed down by Google in April 2012. Fans of Picnik have been searching for an adequate replacement and Ribbet might just be the answer. Continue..Read more about Ribbet.

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Make Your Website Part Of The Nifty Collection

If you’re at all conscious of the personal data transmitted across the internet, then it’s likely you’ve wondered what information of your own is visible. Stay invisible shows you what types of personal information are being shared when you browse the web.

The Data

Stay Invisible may sound like a tool to keep you anonymous on the web, but in fact it doesn’t. Instead, it tests your existing connection and determines which parts of your browsing session are visible to the outside world.

The data returned is presented by Stay Invisible as a means to provide users with information about the data being shared, what that information represents and how unique each individual session is.

The Results

Results of the test indicate typical data such as IP address, location, language and browser. Extra data includes cookie types, cache data, session storage, plug-ins, java version, screen size and resolution along with a host of other bits of information.

Summary

Stay Invisible is designed to expose your privacy holes through a browser interface. There is a large amount of data returned from the scan and is thorough in definition. The scan is informational only and it is up to each user to decide how to better prevent the information from being transmitted across the web.

Some of the data is inevitable. For instance, javascript is a requirement to run the scan so any javascript information is going to be picked up by Stay Invisible. Other items, such as font types are a way to uniquely identify your system, but as security threats go, their exposure is of minimal concern.

Use Stay Invisible to determine your unique fingerprint across the web and not as a security guide, which it is not.

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Make Your Website Part Of The Nifty Collection