“Insider Tips To Make Your Business Run Faster,

Easier, And More Profitably”

The S urce

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At My Web Site: www.dev-source.com

“As a business owner, you don’t have

time to waste on technical and

operational issues. That’s where we

shine! Call us and put an end to your IT

problems finally and forever!”

-Mike Hopkins, DEVsource President

December 2011

Merry Christmas!

Inside This Issue...

What Every Business Owner Must Know To Protect Against Online Identity Theft PG 1 Employee Spotlight PG 2 Skype-It’s Much More Than Video Chatting PG 2 DEVsource Receives Chamber Lagniappe Award PG 2 10 Easy Ways To Keep Your Computer Safe PG 4 15 Most Important Rules of E-mail Etiquette PG 4 What Happened in 2011 In Pictures PG 5 Saving Money On 2011 Taxes And Computer Hardware PG 6

What Every Business Owner MUST

Know To Protect Against Online

Identity Theft

All it takes is one innocent security slip by you or one of your employees to instantly give online criminals the information they need to access your network and steal your identity. In no time at all, they can gain enough information to max out your credit cards, wipe out your bank accounts, and completely obliterate your business and personal credit. They can even use your identity to commit further crimes such as forgery, stealing from other businesses, or online scams. This nightmare can take months - sometimes years - to clean up and can destroy your credit and good name. That’s why for a limited time I’m giving away FREE copies of my new eBook, “What Every Business Owner MUST Know To Protect Themselves Against Online Identity Theft” (a $19.97 Value, FREE during December). This critical eBook will reveal: The three most effective tricks online identity thieves use to gain access to

your business and personal information - and how to avoid them. Sneaky e-mails you should delete IMMEDIATELY upon receiving them

(you’ll want to share this list with your friends, family and staff). One super-easy, sure-fire way to make your computer network impervi-

ous to online identity thieves. How to protect yourself against NEW scams being spread through social

media sites like Facebook or Twitter. How to keep your employees from accidentally giving away passwords

and other “keys to the kingdom” to Internet criminals. To download your free copy, go to the web site below. Copies of this eBook will be made available for FREE until December 31, 2011.

www.dev-source.com/ebook If you have questions about how we can assess your network to verify you have all of the best identity theft protection in place, give us a call at 270-753-8708.

Don’t Forget! Client Appreciation Lunch

December 15, 2011 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Free Food

Door Prizes

Networking

Entertainment

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Employee

Spotlight

Courtney Ferry

Marketing Director

Hometown: Hopkinsville, KY

What do you do at

DEVsource? I am involved in

any marketing activity including

newsletters, emails, campaigns,

event planning.

Favorite part of working at

DEVsource? I get paid to do

something I actually enjoy

doing! It excites me when clients

respond because of something I

have done. Also, I enjoy that we

have a very “family” like work

atmosphere. Everyone is close

enough to laugh and joke with

each other.

Favorite activities when not

working: I enjoy spending time

with my family. I enjoy doing

Zumba (or attempting to without

the room laughing at me). I enjoy

writing on my personal blog and

learning more about social

media. Also, I stay busy with

planning my wedding that is next

June.

Favorite quote: “If you don’t

see yourself as a winner, then

you cannot perform as a

winner.”-Zig Ziglar

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services at: www.dev-source.com

Skype– It’s Much More Than Video

Chatting

When most people think of Skype, they think of video chat-

ting. The truth is, Skype is much more. Skype works on your com-

puter, regular phone, or cell phone and runs off your Internet con-

nection so you can talk, IM, send pictures, videos and conduct

live video conferences for free with anyone else in the world that

also has Skype. It even works on various game consoles.

You can also use Skype to make calls, texts, and video confer-

ences to phone numbers that do not have Skype. Because of its

versatility, ease of use, and low-cost, many businesses are adopt-

ing the technology to help them communicate with their mobile

workers and with vendors from around the world.

To set up Skype on your computer, simply go to

www.skype.com and click on the “Download” tab. To install on

your mobile phone, open up your phone’s web browser and go to

skype.com/m.

Murray-Calloway County Chamber of Commerce’s

Lagniappe Award

DEVsource was awarded the first Lagniappe Award by the Murray

Chamber of Commerce on November 14! The award is a new program

that was started to recognize local businesses “who go above and

beyond” for customer service!

A special thanks to Pizza Pro & The Murray Chamber for providing us

with lunch.

Page 3

10 Easy Ways To Keep

Your Computers Safe

1) Be sure you have a good anti-

virus program installed that

includes anti-spyware.

2) Make sure all of your security

programs have real-time updates

and scans to check for viruses on a

continuous basis.

3) Check regularly to be sure your

virus scan programs are up-to-date

and the most recent versions.

4) Have a firewall installed and

make sure it is properly configured.

5) Make sure your browsers have

the latest security patches installed.

6) Avoid downloading applications

from the Internet. Free games and

applications often contain unwanted

spyware and malware.

7) Be careful when you open e-mail

attachments. Even if you know the

person sending it to you, scan the e-

mail before you open it.

8) Install a spam filter or delete

spam e-mail as soon as it arrives in

your inbox. Do not be tempted to

open spam as such messages can

often contain links that lead to

phishing sites or viruses.

9) Beware of virus hoaxes. If you

receive an e-mail that says certain

files on your computer need to be

deleted because they have been

infected with a virus then search the

web for sites that write about

hoaxes to see if the message is

genuine or not.

10) Always choose secure

passwords. Do not use names of

relatives, birth dates or anything

else that can be easily guessed.

The 15 Most Important Rules

Of E-mail Etiquette More than 80 years have passed since Emily Post wrote her first book on etiquette. Back then, the rules had more to do with how to properly introduce someone and which fork to use at a dinner party. But with the introduction of new communication tools comes new rules of engagement. Here are 15 quick tips and rules for what is—and isn’t—acceptable behavior when using e-mail.

1) Be concise and to the point. Read your e-mail to make sure it makes sense before sending to avoid e-mail “ping-pong.”

2) Use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation. This is still a communication and a representation of YOU. Sloppy spelling and punctuation looks unprofessional.

3) Don’t use e-mail to deliver bad or personal news. If you need to discuss a serious matter with someone, only use e-mail to request a face to face meeting or phone call, not to deliver the news.

4) Do not attach unnecessary files, especially large ones. Sending big files can cause someone’s e-mail system to clog, shut down or crash. Instead, use www.yousendit.com for large documents.

5) Do not overuse the high priority option. Use it only when something is truly critical and time sensitive.

6) Do not write in CAPITALS—it’s the equivalent of shouting. 7) Don't leave out the message thread. 8) Give your recipients an easy way to opt-out or remove

themselves from your list. 9) Do not overuse “Reply to All.” If you have a message for the

sender that is not relevant to everyone else, make sure you only send it to that person.

10) Do not “CC” everyone when sending a broadcast to multiple people. Instead, use the bcc (blind carbon copy) to keep everyone’s e-mail private.

11) Don’t overuse abbreviations and emoticons. 12) Don’t use neon colors, hard to read fancy fonts and

background images. They make it difficult—if not impossible—to read your message.

13) Only use rich text and HTML messages when you are certain the recipient can receive that type of message. Many people can only open text messages, and most rich text and HTML messages don’t convert well.

14) Do not forward a message that was sent to you without permission from the original sender.

15) Do not use email to discuss confidential information. If you don’t want the entire world to see it, then don’t put it in an e- mail.

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services at: www.dev-source.com

Page 4

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services at: www.dev-source.com

We would like to thank you for your confidence and loyalty in choosing

DEVsource to service your technology needs for 2011. It has been a great year

for our team and we have truly enjoyed getting to work with each of you. We

wish you a Merry Christmas and a very prosperous New Year!

1.DEVsource celebrated our 10th Anniversary

since it was founded in 2001 by Mike Hopkins and

Brad Young.

2. Our team presented “How To Use Microsoft

Excel and Outlook” to Chamber members at the

Murray Small Business Academy.

3. Casey Springer won an Amazon Kindle in our

“Social Media Blitz” contest in August.

4. DEVsource was awarded the first ever Murray

Chamber Lagniappe Award for providing “above

and beyond customer service.”

5. DEVsource employees showed up on

Halloween in costumes (Effie as a go-go girl, Mike

as a zombie, Jeremy as “Jax” from Sons of Anarchy

and Jessica as a chef)

6. Mike presented “Cloud Computing” to regional

POINT (Professionals in Information and

Network Technology) meetings in Murray,

Paducah, Madisonville and Hopkinsville.

7. DEVsource donated their managed technology

service plan, DEVcare, to local non-profit

organization, Life House Care Center.

8. Mike finally had his dreams come true as his

face was printed on money. The new referral pro-

gram launched that allows people who refer other

businesses to DEVsource to receive cash.

Page 5

“I Have A Perfectly Legal Way For You To Save A Bundle Of Money

On Taxes, Computer Hardware, And Support,

BUT YOU HAVE TO ACT FAST…” A few weeks ago you should have received an email from us about the various benefits of upgrading your technology equipment between now and December 31, 2011. As you may know, the mission of DEVsource is to reduce the cost and risk of Information Technology to our client. With that said, I wanted to remind you of these two money-saving opportunities that will ensure you have new equipment at a fraction of the cost for the new year!

Thanks to a recently updated tax deduction titled “Section 179 Election”, the Federal Government now allows you to buy up to $500,000 in machinery, computers, software, office furniture, vehicles, or other tangible goods and thereby REDUCING your taxable income on your current year’s tax return. Due to the extension of Section 179 under the ‘HIRE Act of 2010’-the enhanced limits under the ‘Jobs Acts of 2010’- and the recently enacted 100% Bonus Depreciation under the ‘Tax Relief Act of 2010’- you can basically write-off 100% of all the equipment and software your business needs to buy or finance this year. But to get the deduction for tax year 2011, you have to act now, as once the clock strikes midnight on 12/31/2011 Section 179 can’t help you anymore.

Through a limited-time offer from Microsoft called "The Big Easy Offer 7", every qualifying product you purchase before December 31, 2011 can earn you partner subsidy funds for additional purchases of hardware, software, or services of your choice. All you have to do is purchase or upgrade your Microsoft products through us and Microsoft will send you a check to help pay for the installation or for future services. For more information about the Big Easy, give us a call and we'll be happy to help you with the program details. You can also visit Microsoft's website at www.microsoftincentive.com/bigeasy. In the spirit of saving you money, I’ve decided to “sweeten the pot” and make the following offer to anyone who hires us to upgrade their network BEFORE December 9, 2011. We will give away 1 FREE month of our DEVcare absolutely free. Anyone who upgrades their network with us before December 9, 2011 will receive one month FREE of our managed services plan. All computer networks need regular ongoing maintenance to keep them running problem-free, and with our DEVcare, you'll not only enjoy faster and more reliable service from your computer network, but you'll gain incredible peace of mind knowing that your network and the data it holds is safe from loss, corruption, downtime, viruses, hackers, spyware, and a host of other problems.

We'll allow you to continue the DEVcare at a special discounted rate that will easily save you thousands in IT support. After the free month is up, you can continue to receive regular maintenance, critical updates and security patches, fast, remote support, and 24-7 watch over your network and data at a special discounted rate. Of course, you are under no obligation to continue this maintenance, but I'm certain you are going to want to continue after you see how we keep things running. After all, no one wants to hand over one penny more to the government than is absolutely necessary and no one wants to pay MORE for services and products than they have to. We all work way too hard for that! Call Trent today at 270-753-8708 so he can schedule a time to discuss what you need for 2012!

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services at: www.dev-source.com

CHECK US OUT ON THE WEB! Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DEVsourceMurrayKY

Twitter: http://twitter.com/devsource

Blog: http://www.dev-source.com/blog

“We Manage Your Technology While You Manage Your Business”

632 North 12th Street

Murray, KY 42071

Page 6

Get More Free Tips, Tools, and Services At My Web Site: www.dev-source.com

We Want To Give You $75 and an iPad2 for FREE!

We consider you a friend and we want to know your friends but to do that we must meet them. The person who refers the most qualified businesses (5+ computers)

between now and December 15 will win an iPad2!

Call us (270-753-8708) or email (sales@dev-source.com) us with your referral information

We will call to schedule an appointment with your friend

We will send you a check for $25 if we are able to set up an appointment with them

If your friend becomes a client we will send you an additional $50 check

We will also give your friend a $100 discount off our services (minimum $1,000 purchase)

On December 15 we will give the person with the most referrals an iPad2!