TECH TIP! Top 25 Worst Passwords

The following tech tip is provided by Kevin McCarthy, VP of Operations at Afinety.     

 

SplashData, which makes password management applications, releases an annual "Worst Passwords" list compiled from common passwords that are posted by hackers.  The top three -- "password," "12345678," and "123456," -- have not changed since last year.  New ones include "jesus," "ninja," "mustang," "password1," and "welcome." Other passwords have moved up and down on the list, which suggests that changing people's habits isn't easy.

 

Time Tech suggests you should have different passwords for all of your accounts. To make it easier to remember them, think about passwords as "passphrases."  For instance, use a phrase like "dog eats bone" and add underscores, dashes, hyphens, and other punctuation marks to satisfy the special character requirement: "dog_eats_bone!"*

 

Ready for the list of the worst? 

 

Here it is:

1. password
2. 123456
3. 12345678
4. abc123
5. qwerty 
6. monkey
7. letmein
8. dragon
9. 111111
10. baseball
11. iloveyou
12. trustno1
13. 1234567
14. sunshine
15. master
16. 123123
17. welcome
18. shadow
19. ashley
20. football
21. jesus
22. michael
23. ninja
24. mustang
25. password1

Questions?  Call Afinety's great support staff at 877.423.4638. 

Outstanding Client of the Quarter: Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho

Every quarter, Afinety selects a client to name as the "Outstanding Client of the Quarter."  This quarter we would like to recognize Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho (GBDH).  The firm will receive a catered lunch delivered to their Oakland office, along with our thanks and admiration. 

All of our clients are special to us and the relationships we form with them are very much a partnership.  The Outstanding Client of the Quarter is selected for their professionalism as well as the benefits they receive from Afinety's unique standardization and planned refresh approach.  A professional firm like GBDH requires a professional computer system and this becomes part of their own clients' perception of the firm. 

 

We sat down with the firm's Controller, May Rafanan, who has been with the firm for over 4 years. 

 

May was first introduced to Angie Moskalenko of Afinety at a ProLaw Conference in Las Vegas.  The firm was utilizing ProLaw and was in need of some consultation and assistance with their network in general.

  

"The initial Network Health Assessment was scheduled and I was impressed by the detailed report and analysis of our system's current state," explained May.  The firm was experiencing some downtime and wanted a solid solution with a blueprint plan for the future. 

Did you know?

Our Network Operations Center in Pittsburgh, PA is constantly working behind the scenes to make sure that our clients are fully protected.  

 

We recently upgraded Reserve offsite backup services, including the offsite vault and ALL clients machines so that it fully supports MS Exchange 2013. 

 

We're looking at another upgrade in early 2014 to include MS Server 2012 R2.  

Office 365 - Microsoft Cloud Services

by Doug Hafford, VP of Consulting Services

 

More and more businesses are looking to the cloud for solutions to their IT needs.  The cloud offers significant features for any business, but also includes challenges - especially for law firms.  Microsoft offers a hybrid solution (both local and cloud) that can solve a number of common issues law firms face, while also eliminating many of the problems the cloud creates.

The challenge for law firms in the cloud is integration.  Most true cloud based systems do not integrate with local or other cloud based software and features.  Law firms use a wide variety of software, often specific to certain users or practice areas which means that even full cloud based firms have significant local software installs - and thus IT challenges.

TECH TIP: Email Best Practices - LinkedIn “Invitation to Connect” Malware

The following tech tip is provided by Patrick Cabral, Systems Engineer at Afinety.  Patrick is also one of our trainers.

Virus-laden attachments and links to malware infected sites have been a long standing risk for email users.  For those who use LinkedIn, fake emails can be sent with a Connect request.  When the recipient clicks on the ‘Connect’ link, they are redirected to another site and malware is installed onto the computer.

The best practice for dealing with LinkedIn requests delete the email request that you received and log into your LinkedIn account to accept the Connect requests.

For further information concerning fraudulent email and LinkedIn, please refer to the LinkedIn Help Center:

http://linkd.in/1do2Kzs

Email Attachments/Links Best Practices Reminder:

Never open attachments or click on links in emails from people that you do not know.

Be suspicious of attachments or links from people that you do know if you weren’t expecting the attachment or link.

If you are suspicious of any email, contact your administrator who can escalate your question to Afinety.

Afinety Team Member Spotlight: Tara Todd, Service Coordinator

We are pleased to introduce you to one of the new additions to the Afinety team, Tara Todd, Service Coordinator.  Tara joined the Afinety team about 6 months ago.

Tara moved to Chatsworth from Orange County and lives with her loving husband, Kaipo and puppy, Kyler.  Her relationship with computers and technology initially stemmed from her husband's expertise, as well as her desire to learn.

Prior to Afinety, Tara worked as an executive assistant for an interior design corporation.  She was drawn to Afinety's technology driven business.

In her spare time, Tara is an artist by hobby and also enjoys an ice cold Mai Thai on a hot day.   She also loves a good book, diving into the pool, studying art and working on her many projects.

Tara's role at Afinety includes providing day to day interaction with clients to help resolve issues, and answering questions in a timely fashion. Among other tasks, she also coordinates with the sales team for the purchase of hardware, software, licenses, installation, and scheduling.

Tara mentioned that her main focus is to ensure great customer service for all Afinety clients! 

Welcome Tara!  

Outstanding Client of the Quarter: Lanak & Hanna, PC

Fall, 2013

Every quarter, Afinety selects a client to name as the “Outstanding Client of the Quarter.”  This quarter we would like to recognize Lanak & Hanna.  The firm will receive a catered lunch delivered to their Orange office, along with our thanks and admiration. 

All of our clients are special to us and the relationships we form with them are very much a partnership.  The Outstanding Client of the Quarter is selected for their professionalism as well as the benefits they receive from Afinety’s unique standardization and planned refresh approach.  A professional firm like Lanak & Hanna requires a professional computer system and this becomes part of their own clients’ perception of the firm. 

We caught up with Chief Administrative Officer, Lauren Carrier, who has been with the firm for over five years. 

Afinety Gets Social! Check Out Our Facebook Page & Twitter Feed!

Check out Afinety's new Facebook page and Twitter Feed!  Stay in touch with what's going on with Afinety and get the inside track on IT trends, technology news, upcoming events, support alerts, and other key information and news you can really use - and enjoy! 

• See what's trending and follow us @Afinety on Twitter. 
• And "Like" us on Facebook!

See you online!  Coming in July:  a whole new website with great new features and online resources!  Stay tuned! 

So start planning for the future.  You may find that your new system costs so much less to maintain than your old one that you end up saving money overall by upgrading.  

Outstanding Client of the Quarter: Lewitt Hackman Shapiro Marshall & Harlan, A Law Corporation - Summer 2013

Each quarter, Afinety selects a firm to name as the “Outstanding Client of the Quarter.”  This quarter we would like to recognize Lewitt Hackman Shapiro Marshall & Harlan.  The firm will receive a catered lunch delivered to its Encino office, along with our thanks and admiration. 

All of our clients are special to us and the relationships we form with them are very much a partnership.  The Outstanding Client of the Quarter is selected for its professionalism as well as the benefits it receives from Afinety’s unique standardization and planned refresh approach.  A law firm like Lewitt Hackman requires a professional-grade computer system and this becomes part of its clients’ perception of the firm.

We sat down with Firm Administrator, Darlene Heller, who has been with the firm for 25 years.

“Afinety has been our saving grace for many years,” explained Darlene.  “Everyone is terrific and I enjoy working with the entire team.”

Afinety Team Member Spotlight: Shawn O'Connor, Consulting Engineer

We are pleased to introduce you to one of the new additions to the Afinety team,  Shawn O'Connor, Consulting Engineer.  Shawn joined the Afinety team about 7 months ago.

Prior to Afinety, he worked as an IT Manager for a large corporation and provided support for their national team of sales reps in addition to maintaining the firm's network.  Shawn mentioned that this experience was a good stepping stone in his career path.

Shawn lives in Pacoima with his wife, 2-year old son, his in-laws and 3 dogs.  In his free time, Shawn enjoys fishing, working on cars, and programming.  He is a movie fanatic, and also loves to watch marathons of shows, like "Breaking Bad" and "Arrested Development," to name a few.

Being the techie that he is, Shawn is big on gadgets and enjoys keeping up with the latest products and improvements.

Shawn's role at Afinety includes providing network health assessments.  He also works in conjunction with the engineering and sales teams to provide recommendations for various solutions for our clients.

Welcome Shawn!

Windows XP Pro – Going to a Retirement Home Soon!

By Doug Hafford

Many of you have probably read or heard that the venerable Windows XP operating system is being retired next year.  We are in fact less than one year away from that event.  Considered revolutionary in its time, XP was released worldwide for retail sale on October 25, 2001.   It’s hard to imagine ANY technology lasting for over 13 years in today’s fast changing environment but XP will have done that and more before its final bell is rung.

What does retirement mean to you?  It means that Windows XP Pro will no longer receive any sort of updates or support from Microsoft.  Those crazy folks out there who create malware to vex the rest of us honest business people will have a field day.   If you have ever examined the list of patches on a Windows XP computer it is nothing short of massive.  This is because of the far different environment we live in today vs. 2001 when this version of Windows was created.  Microsoft has been hard pressed to close all the holes in this operating system as it ages and when they stop, the result will be quick and possibly brutal.

ALERT! Format Pleadings - Changes to Local Rule Amendments

Please note that General Order 625 contains the latest Local Rule amendments effective February 8, 2013.

Among the changes are revisions to Civil LR 5.1.a, Format of Pleadings, which now requires the use of 14 point standard font for printed text produced on a word processor or computer; revisions to the Patent Local Rules; and changes to Criminal LR 57.2.1, Related Cases.

For more information, please visit www.casd.uscourts.gov to view General Order 625 for a complete summary of all the rule changes for Southern District Court.

If you'd like any assistance with existing or new macros, please contact us.

TECH TIP: MS Word - Remove Metadata with Built-In Document Inspector

The following tech tip is provided by Patrick Cabral, Systems Engineer at Afinety.  Patrick is also one of our trainers.

During our onsite training classes, our clients often ask about hidden data in documents and how to remove it.  When you share an electronic copy of a Microsoft Word document with clients or colleagues, it is a good idea to review the document for hidden data or personal information that might be stored in the document itself or in the document properties.  This hidden information, or metadata, can reveal details about your organization or about the document itself that you might not want to share publicly. 

You can remove this this hidden information with a built in feature in Word 2007 and newer versions (2010 and 2013) called Document Inspector.

Click on the Office Button  >  Prepare >  Inspect Document.

For more information on how this feature works, click on the below link:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/remove-hidden-data-and-personal-information-by-inspecting-documents-HA010354329.aspx?CTT=1.


For more information about scheduling a training class at your firm or via webinar, please contact us at sales@afinety.com

Partner Corner: CAPROS

Afinety regularly joins forces with other professionals in the legal industry to help deliver the best possible IT services to our clients. The company we keep - our partners - help to make that happen.

 

One partner we're honored to work with is CAPROS. Consisting of the combined chapters of the SoCalPROS and NorCalPROS, CAPROS is a group of professionals representing highly respected service and product providers. Their outstanding reputations, level of commitment to their clients, and diversified expertise make them a unique professional organization and a respected resource center for businesses throughout the state. Afinety is a proud member of both SoCalPROS and NorCalPROS. This provides us with a deep referral base for the finest professional services that California has to offer.

 

We realize that efficiency is the highest priority for any business. CAPROS provide experts who reduce the administrative costs for our clients' firms while increasing productivity at the same time.

 

To learn more about CAPROS or how they can help you to reduce costs while tapping into one of the most respected resource centers for business in California, contact Angie Moskalenko at 877.423.4638, or visit www.gocapros.com.

TECH TIP: How to Recover Text from Any File

The following tech tip is from the MS Knowledge Base and provided by Patrick Cabral, Systems Engineer at Afinety.  Patrick is also one of our trainers.  This is a very useful tool if your document is corrupt.

The MS Word "Recover Text from Any File" converter allows you to extract the text from any file, whether it’s a Word or non-Word document.

The "Recover Text from Any File" converter has its limitations. Document formatting is lost, along with anything that is not formatted as text. Graphics, fields, drawing objects, and so on are not converted. However, headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, and field text are retained as simple text.  You are able to recover the information even if your document is damaged.  Please see the following instructions:

Client of the Quarter: Gorelick & Uslaner, CPAs

Winter/Spring 2013

 

Each quarter, Afinety selects a firm to name as the "Outstanding Client of the Quarter." This quarter we would like to recognize Gorelick & Uslaner, CPAs. The firm will receive a catered lunch delivered to its Los Angeles office, along with our thanks and admiration.

 

All of our clients are special to us and the relationships we form with them are very much a partnership. The Outstanding Client of the Quarter is selected for its professionalism as well as the benefits it receives from Afinety's unique standardization and planned refresh approach. A CPA firm like Gorelick & Uslaner requires a professional-grade computer system and this becomes part of its clients' perception of the firm.

 

We caught up with owner and shareholder, Bill Osborn, who has been with the firm for 19 years. "I have been with Afinety from the ground up as the firm's accountant," explained Bill. "When our network needed an upgrade, it was only natural that we speak to Afinety." The firm is currently on their third generation of Afinety networks.  “We have been very happy with the stability of our system and will likely move onto generation 4 sometime in 2013 or 2014.”

IT Decisions: What NOT to do

By Doug Hafford

A lot of the articles published in this space deal with various new technologies, law firm specific IT needs and in general, individual solutions.  This is almost always very good information for an administrator, however, it does not cover the other side of the equation – What not to do.  Our firm provides network assessments every week for Southern California law firms and we see the same common mistakes over and over.  This article is devoted to how to avoid common mistakes, why you should avoid them and some suggestions for better solutions.

Before we dive into some of the scenarios below, we should start with a very basic premise.  There are only two factors of importance in a law firm computer system.  The first is your users.  A successful computer system allows the user to work all day, every day, without interruption at the full speed they are able to work.  The second is software applications.  A proper IT solution provides all of the applications needed by the users and allows them to produce high quality work in a fraction of the time spent by less efficient firms.  All IT decisions should be driven by these two simple concepts.

Misconception #1:  Any PC will do

It is not unusual to see law firms with 30 desktops of which there are 8 different models and sometimes 3 or more different operating systems.  This makes a huge difference in the key areas of any law firm’s IT solution.

Law Firm Automation – in 1972

By Doug Hafford – VP Consulting Services, Afinety, Inc.

In 1972 I was a sophomore at Grossmont High in La Mesa, California.  Most of my interests at that time had little do to with the legal industry and more to do with sun, surf, sand and my basketball career.  I was only able to grow to 5’10” and the NBA was standoffish so I eventually found my way to IT consulting.  Looking back, it is hard to imagine how a staff person in a law firm in 1972 could see into the future but the seeds were indeed there.  So let’s look back and see what exciting technology was available.

The IBM Typewriter

When I formally started in the business, a lot of what we did was to replace IBM typewriters with Personal Computers.  The IBM "Selectric" II Typewriter introduced in 1971 (ten years after the original Selectric), featured a number of additions to typing technology. Its unique "dual-pitch" mechanism enabled the typists to switch from ten-pitch (ten characters per inch), commonly used for routine correspondence, to twelve pitch (twelve characters per inch), for use in typing business forms.  By merely switching a lever, a change in pitch can be made in a matter of seconds, and all on the same typewriter!

Another feature of the IBM "Selectric" II Typewriter was the IBM Tech III Ribbon. Enclosed in a snap-in/snap-out cartridge, the mylar ribbon only had to be changed five times yearly as compared to the 64 changes necessary with the previously used carbon ribbon.  Revolutionary! 

Outstanding Client of the Quarter: Madory, Zell, Pleiss & McGrath APC

Fall 2012

Every quarter, Afinety selects a firm to name as the “Outstanding Client of the Quarter.”  This quarter we would like to recognize Madory, Zell, Pleiss & McGrath APC.  The firm will receive a catered lunch delivered to their Tustin office, along with our thanks and admiration. 

All of our clients are special to us and the relationships we form with them are very much a partnership.  The Outstanding Client of the Quarter is selected for their professionalism as well as the benefits they receive from Afinety’s unique standardization and planned refresh approach.  A professional firm like Madory, Zell, Pleiss & McGrath APC requires a professional computer system and this becomes part of their own clients’ perception of the firm. 

We caught up with firm’s legal administrator, Marilyn Hodges, who started with the firm in 1962, as well as attorney / network administrator, Patricia Scidmore, who has been with the firm since 1992.

Leasing for the 21st Century Law Firm

by Christina Lord, First American Legal Finance and Kendra Edson, City National Bank

Technology can be a strategic asset – or a drain on resources.

Traditionally, law firms treat technology as a capital asset, similar to office furniture and office space.  Purchases are analyzed each year against the merits of other capital expenditure requests. 
Lately, there has been a shift to treating “technology as a utility,” as it can be a far more efficient approach. Firms that treat technology as a utility choose not to directly own the technology.  Instead, a third party owns the technology and the firm adopts a “pay-as-you-go” approach, much as it does for electricity, or any other utility.

Here today. Gone tomorrow.

The core philosophy of the technology as a utility approach is that technology is not like traditional capital assets.  Unlike office furniture, technology changes overnight; the equipment you purchase today may be obsolete by tomorrow. 

The critical nature of IT infrastructure demands that law firms view it as an ongoing operational commitment (an operating expense) and not a sunken capital expense (capital expenditure).  It is important for firms to assess the financial and formal implications of adopting a lease-based technology program – including, but not limited to creating a smooth, predictable budget and diversifying their funding sources.