Digital Samurai

Time for Acrobat

Now is the time to get Adobe Acrobat if you don’t already have a copy or to upgrade to version 9 Professional if you have an older copy. Recently, we’ve seen a bunch of vendors selling Adobe’s Acrobat 9 Professional for as little as $86 a copy. That’s a great deal and even cheaper than the $159 upgrade price from Adobe. Where do you get these incredible deals? Google is your friend. Just search for ‘Acrobat 9 Pro’ and you’ll see several choices on the first page in the $86 to $120 range.

-John and Mike

(703)359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

Microsoft Discloses Critical Vulnerability Found In Driver Used By Aero Theme

For Microsoft, everything has been rosy to date with the release and continued popularity of the Windows 7 Operating System.  Like any previous Microsoft Operating System, vulnerabilities will be discovered and security patches and Windows Updates will need to be applied to in order to keep your computer secure.

This is a good time to make the recommendation that your computer should be set up to automatically download and install Windows Updates as they’re released. Servers and other critical devices should be configured differently.

Microsoft has announced a critical vulnerability in a device driver used by the Aero theme display affecting Windows 7 64-bit, Server 2008 R2 64-bit and Server 2008 R2 for Itanium systems. A patch will be forthcoming during the next round of updates available on June 8. Until then, users can disable the Aero theme if they have it installed. For those systems that don’t have the Aero theme installed or enabled, your computer isn’t affected by this flaw.

- John and Mike
(703)359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

Top 10 Reasons to Upgrade to Office 2010

Mary Jo Foley just listed her top ten reasons to upgrade to Office 2010. There’s a lot of collaboration and presentation stuff in the next version and we’ll probably jump over so that we know what our clients are dealing with. Here are the Top 10 reasons for End Users to try Microsoft Office 2010.

1. Edit and enhance photos in Word or PowerPoint 2010.
2. Put your presentation message in motion with PowerPoint 2010.
3. Access, edit, and share from virtually anywhere with Office Web Apps on Windows Live SkyDrive.
4. Organize all of your information in a single place in OneNote 2010.
5. Make presentations from virtually anywhere in PowerPoint 2010.
6. Take control of email conversations with Outlook 2010.
7. Analyze finances easily at home and at work with Excel 2010.
8. Stay connected to your network with Outlook 2010.
9. Find the features you need fast and personalize your Ribbon.
10. Discover all the tools you need to work with your documents with the new Backstage view.

It looks like we’ll have to upgrade just to experience the new PowerPoint features.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

Internet Explorer Use On The Decline

Microsoft has recently basked in the success and popularity of the Windows 7 Operating System but one of their other mainstay applications hasn't been so fortunate.

For the first time ever, Microsoft's Internet Explorer web-browser market share has fallen below 60 percent, while the popularity of alternative browsers such as Mozilla FireFox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari continue to rise. Mozilla FireFox's market share is approximately 25 percent according to the most recent estimates.

So why the decline? Security vulnerabilities combined with slower browsing speeds might explain things. Or users are just looking for an alternative, rather than use what Redmond has to offer.

We made the switch to Mozilla FireFox from Internet Explorer about 3 years ago and haven't looked back since.

- John and Mike

(703)359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com