The KA Data Group application, MyHome now includes support for the Windows Vista Operating System.  Release version 0.91 is now Vista compatible and works better than ever!  MyHome allows direct editing of website components by the website owner without the need to involve KA Data Group personnel, and without any additional maintenance fees.  The application runs directly on a PC computer with a WYSISYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface.  The user Does their own design work and when finished, just presses one button to publish the results to their website.  

MyHome is another example of KA Data Group's web-enabled application interfaces that allow PCs to harness the power of the Internet with little technical expertise from the user.

KA Data Group is happy to announce the launch of a new website for Midwest Feeder in Belvidere. Midwest Feeder builds custom feeders, screw feeders, inlines, parts elevators, and many more automated feeding devices used in the manufacturing industry. The website has photos of many of their standard products and custom made items. They offer online quote requests and contact forms directly from the website.  The website address is www.midwestfeeder.com. Stop by and visit them soon!

Would you rather not have to log on after your computer starts? If you’re the only person who uses your computer, you can make life a little easier by skipping the Welcome screen completely and having Microsoft Windows XP take you straight to your desktop.

This article, from Microsoft's Tips & Tricks site can tell you how.

To automatically log on to Windows XP upon startup

1.	Click Start, and then click Run. Note: Remember your user name at the top of the Start menu, because you’ll need it later.
2.	In the Open box, type control userpasswords2 and click OK.
3.	Clear the Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer check box. Click OK.
4.	Click the User name box, type the user name that was displayed on the Start menu in step 1. If you normally type a password to log on, type your password in both the Password and Confirm Password boxes. Otherwise, leave these boxes blank. Click OK.

Auto logon now allows anyone to start and use your computer without typing a password.

Note: Keep in mind that you should not enable auto logon if you need privacy for any files on your computer. If you need to maintain privacy, create separate user accounts for everyone in your home, and protect your account with a password.

Screen savers were originally intended to prevent monitor burn-in, which could occur if a single image was displayed most of the time. Over time, that image would essentially become etched into the display, making the monitor harder to use. Monitor technology has improved over the years, and screen savers have become more a form of entertainment than a way to avoid burn-in.

Read more to find out how to turn on a screen saver immediately, whenever you want...

Screen savers can be used to display your favorite photos or other images you'd like to see. Sometimes you might want to immediately start your screen saver like you would any other program, without waiting several minutes for it to start automatically.

To add a shortcut to your desktop that you can double-click to instantly start your screen saver

1.	Click the Start button, and then click Search.
2.	In the Search Results window, click All files and folders.
3.	In the All or part of the file name box, type *.scr. Then, click Search.
4.	You will see a list of screen savers in the search results. Pick the screen saver you want. You can preview it by double-clicking it. To add a shortcut to your desktop, right-click the file, click Send To, and then click Desktop.

Now you can instantly start your screen saver by double-clicking the icon on your desktop.

(Reprinted from Microsoft's Web Site)

In an effort to avoid fraud and identity theft, a number of states are making or have made it illegal for employers to disclose employee social security numbers on paychecks or other employment-related documents.

Arizona, California, Maryland, Michigan and Oklahoma have already enacted laws, and Texas is currently exploring methods of implementation.

QuickBooks allows employers to select the appropriate display option to comply with your state rules for displaying employee social security numbers on paychecks and pay stubs using the following procedure:

1. In QuickBooks, go to the Edit menu and click Preferences.

2. Click the Payroll & Employees category in the list on the left.

3. Click the Company Preferences tab. (Note: Only the QuickBooks Administrator can change company-wide preferences).

4. Click Pay Stub & Voucher Printing (QuickBooks 2008 and 2007) or Printing Preferences (QuickBooks 2006 and 2005).

5. In the On Paycheck Vouchers and Paystubs, print section, choose the following options to select your printing preference:

• To mask/hide the entire social security number, clear the Employee Social Security number checkbox.

• To display only the last four digits of the employee's social security number, mark the Employee Social Security Number checkbox and mark the Select Only the last four digits of SSNs and bank accounts checkbox.

• To display the entire social security number, mark on the Employee Social Security Number checkbox.

6. Click OK to save your changes and close the Preferences window.

NOTE: If you choose to send your pay stubs by email, the stubs are sent as .pdf files that are NOT password protected. Anyone intercepting your email can view the information on your employee's pay stubs. With the Payroll Updates for QuickBooks 2008 and 2007 being released in mid-December, the .pdf files will automatically be password protected.

For more information about recent state legislation regarding the display of social security numbers on employee documents like paychecks, visit your state's website or click here.

An interesting article reprinted from Reuters...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc (GOOG.O) is preparing a service that would enable users to store data from their personal hard drives on its computers, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday in its online edition.

Users would be able to house files they would normally store on personal computers -- such as word-processing documents, digital music, video clips and images -- on Google's computers, the Journal said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

According to the Journal, the service could let users access their files through the Internet from different computers and mobile devices when they sign on using a password.

The service could be released as soon as a few months from now, the Journal said, citing a source.

The newspaper also said Google plans to provide some free storage, with additional storage allotments available for a fee.

Planned pricing isn't known, the Journal added.

Representatives of Google could not immediately be reached for comment.

According to the Journal, a Google spokeswoman declined to comment on any specific online storage plans beyond what it already offers as part of its email and other services.

(Reporting by Justin Grant; Editing by Quentin Bryar)

One of your best ways of protecting your LAN isn't to protect the network itself - it's to protect the individual PCs on it. If an intruder makes his way onto your network, but then can't touch any of your PCs, the only damage he'll be able to do is steal your bandwidth. So use a firewall on each of your PCs.

At a minimum, turn on XP's firewall, which is turned on by default. But the XP firewall won't block outbound connections. So get a better firewall. The free version of ZoneAlarm, available from ZoneLabs, provides excellent protection. You can also buy any of the many for-pay firewalls and security suites as well.

Symantec's Internet Security is widely popular and available everywhere.  Don't confuse firewalls with anti-virus software, although many companies will package suites with both (or more) capabilities.  In computer networks with 5 or more PCs, we would recommend a second level of firewall protection or proxy to help secure your network.  KA Data Group will gladly meet to discuss your LAN requirements specific to your environment.  Call us today!

This is the final part of a six part series on securing your wireless network.

See part one here.

See part two here.

See part three here.

See part four here.

See part five here.

Many common Internet searches can be performed quickly using the "go" shortcut. For example, if you open Search in Internet Explorer and type go yellow pages, the page will jump to a form where you can lookup a business phone number. Likewise, typing go email automatically brings up a form for searching for a person's email.

You can even type go yellow pages Acme Corp to automatically search for the phone number of a company called Acme Corp. And you can type go amzn to look up the value of a stock quote (in this case Amazon's).

Tip source: Softpile.com

Part five of our six steps in securing your wireless network is very straight forward.  If you've taken every possible step to keep out wireless intruders, there's still a chance that someone can get onto your network. So you should regularly check to see whether someone's where he shouldn't be - on your network.

If ever you find someone that shouldn't be on your network, kick them off IMMEDIATELY! One way to do this is to get a program, which will keep an eye out for wireless intruders.  When it finds any, it notifies you that they're on your network, show you their activity, and even send them alerts telling them that you know they're using your network. It's called "AirSnare" and you can get it for free here.

This is part five of our six steps to securing your wireless network.

See part one here.

See part two here.

See part three here.

See part four here.

Normally, when your computer connects to your network, your router gives it an IP address. Every computer connected to the Internet needs an IP address in order to browse the Web.

Most times, your router just hands out these IP addresses without question to all network clients, so any time a nearby wireless PC asks for an IP address, the router hands one over with no questions asked.

To help control your security, you can tell your router to only give out a certain number of IP addresses—one for each computer on your network. How does this help you? If the computers on your network use all the available IP addresses, it prevents your router from assigning an IP address to an intruder trying to connect to your network.

This setup varies somewhat from router to router. In the Linksys WRT54GX4, log in as an administrator and go to the Setup screen. In the box next to "Maximum Number of DHCP Users:" type the number of computers that will use your network, (both wired and wireless), and click Save Settings. That's all it takes. Now intruders won't be able to get IP addresses to get onto your network. If you add another computer to your network, make sure you go back to the Setup screen and increase the number of DHCP users by one.

This is part four of a six part series about securing your wireless network.

See part one here.

See part two here.

See part three here.