These devices carry a wealth of information, personal and otherwise, making our smartphones a prime target for criminals.  In a world of phishing, hacking, and spam we need a set of tools to restrict access to these devices.  Here are a few quick tips for securing Android devices.

Secure Your Settings

Password Protection – Lock your screen with a pin code, pattern lock or password.

Bluetooth – turn off Bluetooth when it is not in use.

GPS – turn off the GPS locator when it is not in use.

Droid Wall – OLD–a firewall for Android

For users that don’t have truly unlimited data plans, which only Sprint still offers, this app is a must.  Droid Wall allows apps unrestricted WiFi access, however it blocks all access over the cellular network unless you add the application to the white list.  Droid Wall can be found in the Android App store or by following this link https://market.android.com/details?id=com.googlecode.droidwall&feature=related_apps

Note:  the new Droid Wall is for rooted devices.

Safe Browsing

Email and web browsing on a smartphone present the same threats as they do on a computer, including phishing attacks, malicious websites, infected attachments, and scams. If you receive an e-mail that looks suspicious or sounds too good to be true, do not respond to it or click on embedded links.  When browsing the internet, limit your browsing to well-known, trusted websites and use SSL encryption whenever possible (https://).

Orweb + Orbot

Orweb is a privacy enhanced web browser that uses the Tor network (a system intended to enable online anonymity).  When used with the Orbot (Tor on Android) app, this web browser provides enhanced privacy features.  Through the use of Tor Orweb allows you to conceal your location and usage from someone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis.  Using Tor makes tracing Internet activity, including visits to Web sites, online posts, instant messages and other communication forms, to the user more difficult.  Oorweb browser and Orbot can be downloaded from the Android market or by following the links below.

https://market.android.com/details?id=info.guardianproject.browser&feature=search_result

https://market.android.com/details?id=org.torproject.android&feature=related_apps

Organizing your Message Folder

The first step to setting up your Blackberry is organizing your email message folder. One of the best ways to do this is to limit your message folder to only incoming messages.  By default, the Blackberry message folder includes both incoming and sent messages. While this helps you remember quickly whether or not you replied to a certain message, it also adds clutter to your message folder and can easily be accomplished by other means.

To limit your message folder to only incoming mail, do the following: while in the message folder, press the Blackberry menu key (the button immediately to the left of the trackpad), go down to “Options,” and then choose “Message Display and Actions.” From here, just scroll down and check “Hide Sent Messages”.

To see messages that you’ve sent so that you can confirm if you replied to an email, simply press the “Alt” button and then the “O” button (for “Outgoing”). This will list all of your sent emails. To go back to your inbox, simply press the back/escape button (directly to the right of the trackpad).

Searching your Messages

It often becomes necessary to search through your messages. While the Blackberry search functionality isn’t up to par with Outlook, it is still very useful for finding recent messages. The main limitation of the Blackberry message search is that you’re limited to a certain number of days in the past, usually 30, which is not encountered when using Outlook.

To search both incoming and outgoing emails, simply press the menu key and choose “Search.” From there you can search by subject, recipient, or sender. If you need to use the more advanced options in your search, press the menu key, scroll to “Search By,” and choose “Advanced.” The Advanced search allows you search by both name and subject at the same time; choose which folders to search; choose whether to search sent messages, received messages, or both; and it allows you to specify the type of message you’re looking for (i.e., a flagged message).

Flagging your Messages

A functionality that I find handy is the ability to flag messages. It works in the same way as flagging a message in Outlook and the flag status will automatically synchronize with Outlook so that messages flagged on your Blackberry will be flagged in Outlook. While you can press the menu key and choose “Flag for Followup,” the keyboard shortcut is a lot quicker. To flag a message, simply press the “W” key. To then mark a flagged message as complete, press the “W” key again. If you end up accidentally flagging a message, you can clear the flag by pressing the menu key and choosing “Clear Flag.”

While the ability to flag messages combined with the automatic synchronization with Outlook would be great by itself, you can also easily view all of your flagged messages on your Blackberry using a keyboard shortcut. To view your flagged messages, press the “Alt” key and then the “F” key (for “Flagged”). This will bring up all of your flagged messages, both pending and complete.

Using the Blackberry Memopad

Another useful tool is the Blackberry Memopad. The title of this app is pretty self explanatory; the Memopad allows you to write down important notes and reminders. What makes this a great app is that it automatically syncs with Outlook Notes giving you an easy way to always have your notes with you. Regardless of whether you make the notes in Outlook or on the Blackberry, they will appear on both.

Using Keyboard Shortcuts

* These are not typos, these shortcuts were not mapped correctly in the new Blackberry operating systems. Older Blackberries have the correct mapping where N skips to the next day and P goes back to the previous day.

How it works: The ABC Amber converter is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a converter that takes all the items in your Blackberry and puts them in an excel format that outlook will recognize. This way when you import the spreadsheet of your contacts it will import everything on your Blackberry instead of missing a few items here and there.

1. First make a back up of your Blackberry using the Blackberry desktop manager. Save the backup to a folder you can find easily – we recommend the desktop.

2. Once the backup is created, open ABC Amber Converter and open the back up file by choosing File -> Open -> browse to the desktop and choose the file.

3. ABC Amber Converter will take a few minutes to open the file and then you will be able to see  all your contacts in the contacts tab.  (You will notice that there are many other items you can browse from the backup file also, but that’s for another time).  Select all the contacts in the contacts tab and then choose the “Export (destination)” and choose “XLS (MS Excel)” and click on “Save as”.  A dialogue box will prompt you to choose a location and, once again, save it somewhere easy to find.

4. Now you just need to import them into Outlook.  To do that, go to File -> Import and Export -> import from another program or file -> choose “Comma separated values(DOS)” -> Click Browse and choose the file we created with ABC Amber Converter and then choose “Replace duplicated items” -> choose “Next” and then “Import”.  Outlook will take a couple of minutes to go through and add the contacts in and, once it is done, your Blackberry and Outlook will have the same contact lists.

Of course we don’t expect you to do this yourself, but you never can tell when this information may come in handy for a personal Blackberry you may have.  If you are having issues with your Blackbery, just talk to your HouseCall Systems Administrator and we’ll take care of all the heavy lifting for you and get it back into shape!

The U.S. House of Representatives migrated to Exchange 2007 last year.  With this migration came several important changes to your email system. The change this post will focus on is the Exchange Extended Mailbox.  Exchange Extended Mailbox (EEM), also called Symantec Enterprise Vault (EV), is the software the House uses to automatically move older emails to secondary storage.

How it works: When your mailbox reaches the trigger point of 375,000 kb, EEM will kick in the following night and move mail messages older than 30 days to secondary storage until your mailbox is back under the limit.  This process is called moving to the vault or vaulting.  If you are at a PC, using Outlook or Outlook Web Access, vaulted messages appear in your Inbox (or whichever sub-folder you left them in) just like regular messages, with the exception of having a different icon.

If emails are vaulted automatically, why are you still receiving “your mailbox is almost full” messages? Because your mailbox size surpassed the ‘trigger point’ during business hours and EEM’s automatic vaulting process only occurs overnight.

How do you solve this? Manual Vaulting

Manually Vaulting emails in Outlook 2007

1.  Open Outlook and arrange the emails in your inbox by size.  Click the View menu, click Arrange By and select Size

2.  Select the largest emails in your inbox and click the Store in Vault button on the Symantec Outlook Add-In Toolbar.

3.  Click OK to move the selected emails into the Enterprise Vault.

4.  The message icon for vaulted emails will change to indicate that they have been moved into the Enterprise Vault.

Messages that have been vaulted no longer count against your mailbox size limit.

Limitations to Vaulted Messages

There are just a few limitations to messages which have been vaulted:

1. You may have to wait an extra second for the message to open, though it is normally VERY quick.
2. You will only able to see the first 4000 characters of vaulted messages on your Blackberry or on an Apple mail client.  You will notice this most commonly with message attachments not being viewable, but it will also apply to the text of very long emails. Anything over 4000 characters can be viewed by unvaulting the message or by clicking on the link included in the message – this will open the entire message in a web browser.
3. Messages cannot be manually vaulted between 7:00 AM – 9:30 AM.
4. Vaulted messages should not be moved to PST files (archive/personal folders) or exported via Outlook’s import/export wizard.  If you need to export vaulted messages to a file, to take with you to a new job or for backup purposes, please contact your HouseCall Systems Administrator assistance with the process.

These limitations can all be quickly overcome by unvaulting messages, saving all that time you previously spent archiving emails in PST (personal/archive folders) files.  

EEM is not a replacement for keeping a tidy inbox – you should continue to maintain an organized structure of inbox sub-folders and delete any unnecessary emails.  EEM is a valuable tool that will help keep you organized by allowing you to keep all of your messages in your inbox eliminating the need for those pesky PST files.  Note: Outlook does limit the number of emails that can be stored in a single folder so it is important to create inbox sub-folders.

The CAO’s full guide to EEM services can be found on HouseNet under: Technology/ How-To Library/Exchange Extended Mailbox Service Features Guide.

1.  Draw up a directory tree – This is helpful in visualizing the architecture and hierarchy of your folders and files. It also gives you a chance to minimize folder location paths within the tree by eliminating unnecessary files or folders, which can be a tremendous timesaver.

Example of a directory tree

2.  Be consistent – It is important to develop a naming scheme that will help you quickly locate folders and retrieve files.

• Try using abbreviations when dealing with long words. Also, try to keep the character count under 25.
• Try to select a meaningful name that will provide context to the computer user.
• When dealing with files that require similar names, try adding the date and time for added distinction (MMDDYY_HHMMSS).
• Do not use spaces in your file names. If necessary, use an underscore (_).

Whatever you may choose to follow as a scheme, it is most important to be consistent.  Once your system is committed to memory, you will be surprised how quickly you can navigate through your files and folders.

3.  Keep it small – It is ideal to maintain a folder structure that does not require you to do a great deal of down scrolling.  With each window you open, you will want to be able to see its entire contents without the need for scrolling.  To do this, try separating your folders by year or broad subject matter, e.g. Fiscal Year 2010, Proposals, Invoices, etc. Doing this could create a lengthy file structure, however, the benefit of knowing where your files are should outweigh the drawback of extra folder clicking.

4.  Save in one root location only – This will save you a lot of search time when you know all of your documents are saved within a folder structure in “drive A” as opposed to some being saved in “drive A, drive B and drive C”.  This can make using the windows search tool easier and time saving.  In addition, most office network infrastructures provide network drive locations for each user to save documents to. It is good practice to utilize the network drive as the primary location for saving documents and folders as the drive will more than likely be backed up on a regular basis, thus, minimizing the risk for data loss.

5.  Save often – When creating or dealing with a document, you should immediately save it in its proper location and frequently save your changes. It can save you time in selecting the location after you finish.  Also, should the application prematurely shutdown and an auto recovery backup isn’t an option, this can save you the time of retyping the document.

6.  Clean up – Be sure to delete obsolete files.  It helps to keep your folder structure from being cluttered with unnecessary documents and folders. It also helps to free up necessary drive space for new files and folders to be added.

By following these guidelines, you will save yourself several future headaches. Not only that, you will notice an uptick in your productivity and a decrease in your stress levels!

One of the efficiency features you can use in Outlook 2010 is called Quick Steps. Quick Steps will allow you to program a multi-step task so that you can repeat it with a simple click of your mouse.  You are also able to customize Quick Steps or add new icons to the taskbar that will allow you to keep the actions you need to perform readily available.

The first time you click on an icon in the Quick Steps are, Outlook will ask you a few questions that will allow you to customize the icons.  For instance, the “Move to :?” icon will allow you to move an email to a folder of your choosing in one step.

When clicking on the icon it will allow you to choose the folder you wish to use and what actions you would like to have happen at the same time.   After configuring the icon it will be in the Quick Steps section for the next time you want to move an email to that folder.

If you would like to create another Quick Step, click on the Create New icon option.

Create a name for the Quick Step, choose an action for the icon, and then complete the steps for that action.  There are many, many available actions that can help speed up your daily, repetitive Outlook tasks.

One particularly helpful Quick Step is the “Team Email” icon which  allows you to create a email group for all of your team members or office group.  Another is the “Done” icon which can be setup to move emails to a folder and have the email marked as read. It can also be set up to move the emails to the deleted items folder if you would so desire.

You can also manage you Quick Steps by clicking on the little drop down arrow in the bottom right of the Quick Step tray. This will bring up two choices New Quick Step and Manage Quick Steps. Manage Quick Steps will allow you to edit, delete, and change the order of the icons in your Quick Step tray.

The following are some keyboard shortcuts for tasks that you might use frequently.

• To create an e-mail message – CTRL+N
• To send an e-mail message – CTRL+S
• To reply to an e-mail message – CTRL+R
• To reply all to an e-mail message –
• To forward an e-mail message – CTRL+F
• To mark an e-mail message as read – CTRL+Q
• To print an e-mail message – CTRL+P

With Windows 7 becoming the go to choice for new PC’s on the hill, many staffers may find themselves asking whats new with this version, or wondering how they can be more efficient with certain tasks. Below we’ll outline some tips and tricks to save you time while working and help make it easier to access the things most important to your daily duties.

Use Keyboard Shortcuts:

Keyboard shortcuts are probably the most underused part of any version of Windows and have been expanded in version 7. I’m sure most of you have seen the commercials advertising the “snap” feature, where you can dock one window to one side of your screen and another to the other side, but what they don’t tell you is this can be done with a series of keys as well. Below are some of the more helpful shortcuts for the everyday user.
• Win+Left Arrow and Win+Right Arrow dock the window to the left and right side of the screen
• Win+Up Arrow and Win+Down Arrow maximize and restore/minimize
• Win+M minimizes everything
• Alt+Up, Alt+Left Arrow, Alt+Right Arrow navigate to parent folder, or browse Back and Forward through folders in Explorer
• Win+Home minimizes/restores all open windows except the active window
• Middle mouse click a task bar icon while not a keyboard shortcut, this will open a new window of whatever the application you click on is, for example opening a new word document, email, or web browser page.

Quick access to Taskbar Icons

A lot of people are used to putting shortcuts to their most frequently used programs on their taskbar. What most don’t realize is you can access these with the keyboard as well. You can rearrange icons on the taskbar as you wish and start new, or switch to running programs of the first ten taskbar programs using Win+1, Win+2, and so on.

Create Keyboard Shortcuts for Programs

You can create keyboard shortcuts for any program in Windows 7. Right-click the program icon and select Properties. Then select the Shortcut tab, click in the Shortcut key box, and then enter the keyboard shortcut you would like for that programa.

Pin Frequently Used Folders to the Taskbar

Right-click, drag, and pin your favorite folders to Windows Explorer on the taskbar. They will now show up in the Jump List when you right click on Explorer giving you quick access to your favorite folders.

Adjust Screen Text with Clear Type

Often we will see users with nice monitors, that aren’t using them at the proper resolutions or have other features out of focus, making them look grainy and distorted. Use Clear Type Tuner for the best look on your LCD monitor or laptop screen. Type ‘cttune’ in the Start Menu search box, or go to the Control Panel Display applet, and select Adjust ClearType Text from the left.

Customize the Power Button

If you restart your computer more often than you shut it down, change the default Shutdown power button to Restart. Right-click on Start, select Properties, and choose the Power button action that you use the most.

Add Videos to Start Menu

Windows 7 does not place a link to your videos on the Start Menu by default. To add a link to your videos on the Start Menu, right-click Start, select Properties, click on Customize. In the Videos section at the bottom, choose Display as a link

View Expanded ‘Send To’ Menu

To get a more comprehensive menu when right clicking on a folder/file your trying to modify hold down Shift while right-clicking on the file or folder.

Some of these tips may not be helpful to you, but if even a few of them peaked your interest, then they will likely help increase your productivity and optimize your windows 7 experience.