Remember this promise: "Computers will eliminate paper in the office!"

Well, that certainly has not happened, and in fact we seem to print more than ever. Our offices now run in a "print on demand" mode. It is so easy to get a high quality print out today, we often click that print button before we think about it.

The result is printing costs have risen.  We are all concerned with printing costs, even with small documents, paper, ink, toner all add up. Often the supplies are more expensive than the printer or copier itself!

This is first in a series of articles that can help you print smarter.

So let's look before we leap with Print Preview:

Class Schedule:

Class #1 - October 13th, 9:30 a.m., - "Using First-Call - Learn how to access First-Call and how to use the new support/help desk system" -instructors Aimee Sandifeer and Weldon Floyd

Class #2 - November 10th, 9:30 a.m., - "Learning how to use Adobe LiveCycle - How to create interactive PDF forms using Adobe LiveCycle" - instructors Jim Segers and Jeffrey SoRelle

Class #3 - December 8th, 9:30 a.m., - "Collaboration via GroupWise 7 - Learn how to collaborated with others via GroupWise and discover the real power" - instructors Aimee Sandifeer and Greg Thomas

Class #4 - February 9th, 9:30 a.m., - "Computer Tune Up! - Learn how to use basic free tools to tune up your PC for better performance" - instructors Weldon Floyd and Aimee Sandifeer

Class #5 - March 9th, 9:30 a.m., - "Collaboration via Social Networking  - Learn how to collaborate with others around the world using tools like Google Docs, Face book, and Twitter" - instructors Jim Segers and Greg Thomas

Class #6 - April 13th, 9:30 a.m., - "Learn to how to use Word 07 to create Labels and Envelopes- you must have Word 07" - instructors Steve Paz and Jeffrey SoRelle

To sign up for any session please visit IT Tuesdays

You can add a great customer service feature to your Extension website with just a little bit of know how. This article is focus on County Extension Offices using TECO as their website tool, but Ask an Expert can be used on any website.

What if a visitor to your website has a question?  They get the phone number and call or they could pick out the email address and email.  How about asking online!

The Ask an Expert "widget" can adds a small dialog to your website for your customers to submit a question. Easy as pie. The cool part is you can answer the question, or you can lean on other extension experts nationwide.  Here's how to get started:

No matter what your area of expertise managing in todays tough economy concerns all Extension audiences.  A cooperative project hosted by eXtension named MiTTNet  has assymbled resources to help Extension educators prepare relavent programming.

Here's the link: http://mittnet.extension.org/

MiTTNet has more than 900 educational resources that can be viewed and downloaded for use in local programming by Extension faculty and staff. Unlike www.extension.org, this is NOT a resource for the public, but a directory of educational materials and resources available to Cooperative Extension faculty and staff to use as they help to meet the challenges their clientele are facing in today's economic environment.  The directory is but one part of the Managing in Tough Times initiative.  It will be supplemented by other resources including targeted webinars on relevant subjects as well as alerts about new additions and contributions to the MiTTNet directory.

So the natural question is:  how can we use Twitter to reach our customers in Extension?

Let's assume you want to offer Twitter as way for your customers to keep up with Extension in your county.

All software is licensed in some fashion.  Some is "freeware" but many like Microsoft office, Adobe Acrobat, WordPerfect, and Symantec require a specific license to be purchased.  Remember it is illegal to install licensed software on more computers than you have licenses.  Your license for Symantec Anti-virus is renewed for every AgriLife computer on a yearly basis (no charge to users currently).  AgriLife Information Technology tracks licenses.

AgriLife IT provides copies of licenses, serial numbers and installation key codes for software purchased with Cost-Share Program computers offered to Extension County staff only.  It is important for counties to store this information in the central filing system.  AgriLife IT provides software included with the Cost-Share Program (as of October 2008):

Microsoft Office 2007 Professional

Corel WordPerfect X4

Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional

Symantec End Point 11 Anti-virus

If you would like to purchase this software for a computer that is not a Cost-Share Computer or does not have these current versions, you can contact SHI using the included instructions.

Quick solution - Disable the Dell Control Point Feature!

Let's start at the beginning. Conficker is a network worm. That means it uses the network, both inside and outside of your office, to spread from computer to computer. There is always a lot of background chatter between networked computers that we never see. Worms use these back-channel communications to spread exponentially across networks. They can do so at an alarmingly fast rate. Conficker has infected more computers than any network virus ever has - doing so very quietly. And, unlike most viruses, Conficker caused no initial malicious activity but rather lies in waiting for its signal to start the attack. This is a sneaky little piece of code.

How do you know if your computer is infected with Conficker?

Although it may seem like printing over a wireless network is magic, it's really no different than printing with a regular wired network. It doesn't matter if you connect your notebook computer to the network router or with a network cable. If one of the computers on the network has a printer attached, all of the computers on the network should be able to access it, as long as your printer is designated as "shared>

File describe a process for taking e-mail addresses from received e-mails and transforming them into groups in Groupwise. Agents and support staff may find this really useful for keeping up with club leaders/members and producer groups.

Creating a new Group-II.pdf