Merry Christmas to all!

We’re on the down-hill slope now to Christmas, and with not many days to go we’re sure there are a lot of you that haven’t even thought about Christmas presents let alone bought anything!..

This month saw Microsoft release the first Windows 10 major update (1511), which has included many ‘visual updates’ and bug fixes.

Microsoft has also released a message for business saying that “If you are following the traditional policy of waiting for the first Service Pack or Major update to Windows before deploying it, then this is it; time to take the plunge.”

The update though is about 3Gb to download, so bear this in mind if you are planning to do a mass upgrade of multiple PC’s!

If you haven’t upgraded to Windows 10 yet, and you’re currently running full versions of either Windows 7 or Windows 8, remember you have until 29^th July 2016 to take up the ‘free Windows 10 upgrade offer”. (Remember it’s also a 3gb download too). But even if you haven’t decided to do it by then, rest assured you can still purchase Windows 10 (approx. $160 per PC) after this date.

In other Microsoft news, Office 2016 is now being rolled out and the older Office 2013 is being made ‘End of Life’. Office 2016 is bringing with it a myriad of ‘challenges’ as well, including the requirement to create an individual Microsoft .live email address in order to activate the product. As well as this Microsoft are no longer providing any DVD media for installations, so yet another massive download. (Hope your internet plans have big download limits!).

If you want to remain on Office 2013 though, and think you may need more machines or copies of Office 2013 (so that you remain consistent throughout your organisation), you’d better buy them up quickly, as Microsoft has already stopped supplying distributors with Office 2013, and once current stock runs out, there will be no more and you’ll be forced to move to Office 2016.

In more positive tech news, all our Trend Micro subscription clients will be pleased to hear of the major update that was done at the start of November to prevent Cryptolocker infections from occurring.

Last month we had a user who received a fraudulent email from the ATO – Tax refund, and even though they tried to open it 4 x times! Trend successfully prevented their network from being infected and losing their data! . Piece of mind for only $5.50 a month per PC!

In good news for everyone, EtherTech will only be closed on the main public holidays over the Christmas/ New Year period! and we’re always available on our 1300-ETHERTECH number.

From everyone at EtherTech we wish you all a Merry Christmas, and a Safe and Happy New Year!  Bring on 2016!!

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