We’re happy to welcome Patrick McAllister to the DAS Family!  That’s two Patricks at DAS.  We’ll try…

We're happy to welcome Patrick McAllister to the DAS Family!  That's two Patricks at DAS.  We'll try not to get confused!

Upgrade Your Phones with a Digital Age Solution

Are your phones still connecting to the same old phone systems that restrict your movement, availability, and abilities?  Are you using POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service)?

VOIP PhoneVoice Over I.P., otherwise known as VOIP, has transformed telephone services over the past decade.  Today’s VOIP systems can be integrated with your old phone service or be hosted totally in the cloud.

VOIP phones and phone systems connect over the Internet or over your Intranet to provide voice services.  The phones connect over the same cable as your computers and often allow you to connect your computer to the phone.  That eliminates the need to run new cables.  Some VOIP phones even run over a wireless network.

You can transfer your old phone numbers to a VOIP service provider and move totally to the cloud.

Cloud-based VOIP services allow your employees to work and communicate with customers and each other from anywhere and any device.  They can use their existing cell phone to send and receive calls on their work extension.  Customers never know that they are talking to your staff when they are not at the office.

That is just the beginning of the flexibility.  Some services integrate SMS (texting), faxing, conference calls, video calls, and so much more.  Many systems work with Exchange Server, Outlook, Google, and more.

There are services for home users that start as easy as Skype and Google Voice.  There are full business systems that can accommodate your entire business.

Digital Age Solution provides full service VOIP solutions.  We can install a system at your business or home that integrates your systems or implement a fully cloud-based solution.

Best of all, VOIP systems offer a significant savings to POTS.

Find out VOIP can save you money and provide you with a lot more from a telephone!  Digital Age Solution can help get you started and support you all along the way.

Microsoft Calling?

scamHere’s the scenario: Your phone rings.  You answer the phone and a friendly voice tells you that the call is from Microsoft.  They’ve been getting alerts from your computer letting them know that you have a problem with your computer.    The caller offers to remote into your computer to see what is causing the problem.

Before we continue with this scenario, please know that Microsoft is NOT going to call you about your computer.  They charge an awful lot of money for remote support, and they are not going to call you offering to do this for you.

Scared that your computer may implode, you eagerly allow this “Microsoft” technician to remotely access your computer, install some programs to scan the system, and run some “tests” on your computer.  After a while, the caller tells you that you have driver issues, viruses, malware, trojans, hijacks, and your flux capicitor is no longer fluxing.  Really, they’ll throw out any jargon that will make your eyes glaze over and fear run rampant through your mind.

As the list of problems draws to a close, this “Microsoft technician” offers to fix all of your problems, and may even offer to install their software to provide protection all year long for a low price of $200, $300, $600, or more!  The caller will even offer to protect all of your devices.  You’ll just need to provide remote access to each device.

Before you know it, you have zombie machines.  The computers slow down, fill with malware, pop-ups appear everywhere, and your good friend at Microsoft cannot be found.  The phone number and e-mail address left in a text document on your desktop does not work or no one ever responds.

We’ve had a lot of customers get taken in by this scam.  We’ve been trying to get the word out through social media, e-mail, phone calls, and any other means available.

If this has happened to you, your computers may be infected with malware designed to provide remote access to your system or worse.

Digital Age Solution’s technicians can help you remotely, come to your home or office, or provide support in our store.  You don’t have to rely on a stranger calling from remote locales.  We’re right here in Frederick, and ready to help you fight these terrible frauds!

Live Stream from International Space Station

Live streaming video by Ustream

NASA has teamed up with High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware (HUNCH) on one of the coolest missions with broad appeal to the general public.  The High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) experiment allows everyone to view our home from space in real time!

Astronauts mounted four high-definition cameras outside of the space station.  The experiment allows scientists to see how the equipment stands up to the exposure to radiation in space.  The real goal is not to entertain, but to develop hardware for space exploration.

Giving the rest of us a view from space, though, adds tremendous value to the experiment.  The views are incredible and will inspire us all to dream of what we can do with technology and space exploration.  NASA needs more fans and supporters.  This kind of experiment fosters a fan base just like watching the Apollo astronauts walking and driving on the moon.

If the above live feed is down (really the ISS is on the dark side of the planet), you can watch these “Best of” videos.

Video streaming by Ustream

Video streaming by Ustream

Computers

There's still time to order Mom a new PC from Digital Age Solution!  Order online by Tuesday at 5:00 p.m.!

Guidance for Internet Explorer vulnerability – Security Tips & Talk – Site Home – MSDN Blogs

Microsoft released a patch for the Internet Explorer vulnerability.  It came out this morning at 10:00 and will be available through Automatic Update for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.

The Security Tips and Talk Blog provides informaiton on internet security, which helps protect your computer from computer viruses and other malicious software by assisting in spyware removal and finding antivirus software.