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When free Windows 10 becomes Expensive. You Must Know this!!

Is Microsoft really going to charge $100 to $200 to users who want the Pro edition or who don’t qualify for the free upgrade? Lets take a look at some alternative pricing ideas.

In Last week’s article, qw showed you how to reserve your free copy of Windows 10 upgrade from your Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 System. As you may know, the free upgrade will move you to the same edition of Windows that you’re currently running.

 

Windows 10 cost

“When you upgrade, you’ll stay on like-to-like editions of Windows. For example, Windows 7 Home Premium will upgrade to Windows 10 Home.”

However, what if you get Windows 10 Home and then decide that you would like Windows 10 Pro? How much will it cost to upgrade? What if you are running Windows Vista or XP? Or, what if you are planning on building your own system and want to install Windows 10 from scratch? How much will you have to pay for Windows 10? Let’s take a closer look.

The free upgrade chart

Along with the like-to-like editions description, Microsoft presented an upgrade chart (Figure A).

Figure A

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As you can see, this is how Microsoft will be doling out the free editions of Windows 10. For those getting the Pro edition of Windows 10, this will be perfect. And for most folks getting the Home edition of Windows 10, this will be a fine deal. However, what if you’re really a Pro type of user who just happened to end up with a Home edition of Windows 7/8? Will you be satisfied with the Home edition of Windows 10?

For example, my main system is running Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center. However, my laptop is running the standard Windows 8.1, because that’s what was preinstalled when I purchased it last year from Dell. I’ve always wished that it had the Pro edition, as there are certain features that I’ve grown accustomed to on the Pro edition that I sorely miss, such as being able to configure my laptop as a Remote Desktop host.

I know that I won’t be satisfied with the Home edition of Windows 10 on my laptop.

The Windows 10 Pro Pack

Microsoft has released statements to various technology media sites, such as CNET, confirming the existence of an upgrade package called the Windows 10 Pro Pack that will allow you to move up from the Windows 10 Home edition to Pro edition. The Windows 10 Pro Pack will cost $99 (USD).

While that might not sound like a lot, when compared to FREE, it seems kind of unfair.

I understand that I’m getting a like-to-like edition upgrade, but I was hoping for some kind of break. After all, I’ve been a loyal Microsoft customer for years.

How about selling the Windows 10 Pro Pack for $39.99 for a limited time? Say, 90 days after launch? That would be more than acceptable to me–and it’s not unprecedented.

As you may remember, back when Windows 8 was first launched in October of 2012, upgrades to the Pro edition were priced at just $39.99 for anyone using an existing product. That offer ran until January 31, 2013. After that, the price of Windows 8 went up to the regular price point.

Retail packages

Microsoft has also released the MSRP for copies of the new operating system. Windows 10 Home will sell for $119 and Windows 10 Pro will sell for $199. Again, this seems to be a pretty stiff deal when compared to FREE.

This is the price that anyone using Windows XP or Windows Vista on a system that’s capable of running Windows 10 will have to pay for the full install of the new operating system. This also applies to users who are planning on building their own systems.

If the goal is to really get everyone off of old operating systems and onto Windows 10, Microsoft should offer these folks a special price for a limited time.

Again, such a deal is not unprecedented. When Windows 8 first came out, the retail package of the Pro edition cost $69.99.

If Windows XP/Vista users and system builders could get Windows 10 Pro for $69.99 for the first 90 days after launch, I think that a lot more people would go for it than if they have to pay $199.

What’s your take?

If you get a free Windows 10 Home upgrade, will you be satisfied–or will you want to move up to Windows 10 Pro? If so, would you be willing to pay $39 for the upgrade? If you don’t qualify for the free upgrade, would you be willing to pay $69 for Windows 10? Let us know

Have questions?

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Watch out, Chrome, there’s new browser in town!

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With the latest release of Windows 10 and the Edge browser, Microsoft looks increasingly ready to tackle Chrome’s performance lead.

Over the years Microsoft has fallen behind its competitors in the battle to provide the best performing browser.

Google’s focus on making Chrome feel fast and responsive has won the browser millions of users at the expense of the more sluggish-feeling Internet Explorer (IE).

With the release of Windows 10, Microsoft is hoping to change the status quo and offer the fastest on-ramp to the web.

To this end it has been reworking how its new Edge browser handles JavaScript (JS), the default scripting language of the web.

JavaScript is at the core of the modern web, with heavy pages loading in tens of scripts that in turn fetch more JavaScript. If your browser is slow at JavaScript, it’s slow full-stop.

At the heart of every browser is a JavaScript engine that parses the JS, interprets its commands and compiles its instructions into machine code.

Like IE 11 before it, the Edge browser uses the Chakra JS engine, and Microsoft has been tweaking Chakra to give Edge a boost on Windows 10.

This fine tuning has allowed the Edge browser to outgun not only IE, but also the latest experimental builds of Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, according to benchmarks run by Microsoft.

The Octane and JetStream benchmarks measure JavaScript performance and importantly are not produced by Microsoft but by their rivals, Octane by Google and JetStream by Apple.

The tests found Edge to be 2.25 times faster than IE in the Octane 2.0 benchmark and 1.6 times faster in the JetStream benchmark.

“The key is that Microsoft Edge has already come a long way from IE11 in terms of improved JavaScript performance on both, benchmarks and real world web as it exists today,” said Gaurav Seth, principal PM lead for Chakra at Microsoft in blog post.

“As mentioned in the beginning, performance is a never-ending pursuit. We will continue pushing the performance boundaries for JavaScript in Microsoft Edge.”

Edge’s relative performance in Octane is a step above its showing when TechRepublic ran the benchmark earlier this year, which saw Edge achieving an 8.8 percent worse score than IE.

To check this latest performance win, we replicated the benchmark run by Microsoft using the same browsers under build 10122 of a 64-bit version of the Windows 10 Technical Preview.

Tests were run on a Toshiba Portege laptop. The machine has an 2.1GHz Intel Core i7 4600U processor, with 8GB of memory and a 256GB SSD.

Although Edge didn’t come out on top in our tests it did put in a good showing, bettering IE’s score by an impressive 44 percent and Firefox Nightly by five percent in the Octane test. Edge still lagged behind Chrome Canary by just under six percent in Octane, but came within spitting distance of Chrome in JetStream, racking up a benchmark just three percent shy of Google’s browser.While our benchmarks found Edge failing to match Microsoft’s claims, it does appear to be a noticeable step forward, leaving IE in the dust and edging closer to the performance of Chrome.

Edge doesn’t appear to have snatched the performance crown as of yet but with work continuing to improve the browser, Microsoft finally seems to have produced a contender in the browser wars.

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Windows Server 2003: Dangerous to use but still surprisingly popular

One in 10 web-facing computers is still running Microsoft Windows Server 2003, according to a report – despite the OS no longer being patched by Microsoft.

Windows 10

Hundreds of thousands of computers are still using the Windows Server 2003 operating system – despite it no longer being patched against hacks.

Internet services found more than 600,000 web-facing computers, together hosting millions of websites, still running the OS that Microsoft ceased supporting in July this year.

The end of support means the OS no longer receives patches against viruses, spyware and other malware that might seek to exploit the system. The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team warns that those running Windows Server 2003 risk “loss of confidentiality, integrity, and or availability of data, system resources and business assets”.

Despite these risks, 175 million websites – what it terms “one-fifth of the internet” – are hosted on machines running Windows Server 2003. The OS also appears to be in use on computers sitting behind web servers for a further 1.7 million sites.

Together accounting for 55 percent, the US and China are home to the bulk of the machines running Windows Server 2003, with 166,000 in the US and 169,000 in China.

The unsupported nature of Windows Server 2003 makes it a tempting target for attackers – which is why it is important for firms to switch away from the OS as soon as possible.

“As time goes by, there will be some vulnerabilities that affect Windows Server 2003 and if those allow things like remote code execution and so on, we’re likely to see a massive number of web-facing computers and a much larger number of websites getting hacked. These could then go on to distribute malware and even be made into botnets to enable other attacks.

“Of course, because Windows Server 2003 is now unsupported, those people who try to find vulnerabilities might even now be particularly focusing on this platform because they know it won’t be fixed.”

Windows Server 2012 R2 is the most recent version of Microsoft’s server-targeted operating system – with a variety of options for licensing. In part, the cost of moving to a more recent Microsoft OS for the proportion of machines still running Windows Server 2003.

“[That proportion] is over 10 percent of all web-facing computers, and shows the true potential cost of migration,” the report states.

Moving a server to a Linux-based OS can be difficult for organisations that have traditionally used Windows Server, Mutton said, particularly if they rely heavily on scripts written for ASP.NET, Microsoft’s server-side web application framework.

The report lists several major firms and banks still running Windows Server 2003 machines, including UK bank NatWest, part of the larger publicly-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

However, while Microsoft is no longer supporting the OS for most users, it will offer fixes for the OS to organisations willing to pay for a custom-support deal.

Such a deal was recently struck by the US Navy, which agreed to pay at least $9m to Microsoft to provide ongoing support for Windows XP, Office 2003, Exchange 2003 and Server 2003. A spokesman for RBS said NatWest is also covered by a custom support deal with Microsoft that began in March this year.

Firms without such a custom support deal in place that use Windows Server 2003 to serve sites that handle financial information could be in breach of data security standards, which carries out security testing and assessments for companies.

The requirement under Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) 6.2 that “all system components and software to be protected from known vulnerabilities by installing vendor-supplied

“Many merchants still using Windows Server 2003 are likely to be noncompliant and could face fines, increased transaction fees, reputational damage, or other potentially disastrous penalties such as cancelled accounts.”

Microsoft advises several options for machines still running Windows Server 2003 – including switching to Windows Server 2012 R2 or its cloud platform Microsoft Azure. It provides an interactive Windows Server 2003 Migration Planning Assistant.

Have questions?

Get help from IT Experts/Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner
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Spring has Sprung at South Jersey Techies

At South Jersey Techies, LLC we are loving this beautiful weather – and so are the tulips! Drive by to see the beautiful flowers we planted this Spring.
With the change in season, now is a great time to focus on refreshing and optimizing your digital devices and data. This includes offloading unused apps, files and messages, managing your digital accounts, and ensuring your devices are up-to-date with the latest software and security patches.
Reach out to us if you need any help protecting your network or assets. We’d love to hear from you! #sjtechies #tulipseason #managedservices

Have questions?

 

Our team is here to help. Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net.

 

South Jersey Techies, LLC is a full Managed Web and IT Services Company located in Marlton, NJ providing IT Services, Managed IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, IT Consulting, VoIP Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact Us Today.

Red Cross Statement on Oklahoma Tornado

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The American Red Cross issued the following statement following the tornado in Oklahoma:

WASHINGTON, Monday, May 20, 2013 – Our thoughts and concerns go to everyone in Oklahoma following this horrific tornado.

The American Red Cross has one shelter open in Moore and is working on locating others; we continue to operate three shelters that were opened Sunday in the Oklahoma City area following the storms on Sunday.

Red Cross volunteers are out tonight with food and supplies supporting first responders.

More than 25 emergency response vehicles are positioned to move at first light Tuesday, and we expect that the number will increase. The Red Cross is also sending in kitchen support trailers to support the upcoming operation to provide meals to those forced out of their homes.

People in Oklahoma near the tornado area are encouraged to connect with one another and let loved ones know that they are safe. This can be done through the I’m Safe feature of the free Red Cross tornado app. In addition, if you have access to a computer, go to redcross.org/safeandwell to list yourself as safe. If not, you can text loved ones or call a family member and ask them to register you on the site.

This has been a major disaster, and the Red Cross will be there for the people in this state and this community. People who wish to make a donation to support the Red Cross response can visit redcross.org, dial 1-800-REDCROSS or text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Contact: Public Affairs Desk, Telephone: (202) 303-5551, FOR MEDIA ONLY

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About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or join our blog at http://blog.redcross.org.

IRS launches iPhone, Android apps for taxpayers

Everyone’s favorite government agency, the Internal Revenue Service, has launched its own mobile application.

Released last week to iPhone and Android users, the free IRS2Go provides a few tidbits of information that could make April 15 a bit less stressful.

Those of us fortunate enough to qualify for a refund can find out exactly when Uncle Sam will be sending out that check. Entering your Social Security number (which the IRS says is masked and encrypted), filing status, and expected refund amount delivers the due date for your payment.

People who file their federal taxes electronically can check their refund status about 72 hours after they get an e-mail from the IRS acknowledging the receipt of their tax return. Those still doing things the old-fashioned way–on paper–will have to wait around three or four weeks after filing before they can learn when their refund check will arrive.

According to the agency, around 70 percent of the 142 million individual tax returns filed last year were done electronically.

Beyond providing the refund status, the app lets you subscribe to tax tips and updates sent each day during tax season and less frequently the rest of the year. IRS2Go also points you to the agency’s own Twitter feed where you can learn even more about filing your taxes.

“This new smart phone app reflects our commitment to modernizing the agency and engaging taxpayers where they want when they want it,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said in a statement. “As technology evolves and younger taxpayers get their information in new ways, we will keep innovating to make it easy for all taxpayers to access helpful information.”

The IRS has increasingly been moving taxpayers toward e-filing and encouraging them to access more information electronically as a way to cut costs. Last year, the agency announced that it would no longer mail paper income tax packages to individuals and businesses since all of that information is freely available online or through libraries and post offices. The IRS is also looking for other ways to take advantage of technology, especially the move toward mobile.

This phone app is a first step for us,” Shulman said. “We will look for additional ways to expand and refine our use of smartphones and other new technologies to help meet the needs of taxpayers.”

To view the original article in it’s entirety, Click Here

South Jersey Techies

Shark Tank host, Barbara Corcoran loses $388,700 in phishing scam

Barbara Corcoran of ABC’s “Shark Tank” has lost nearly $400,000 in a phishing scam this week. Corcoran told “People” that she was tricked as a result of an email scheme sent to her team.

The high-powered businesswoman told People that she received a scam invoice approving a real estate renovation, but she didn’t think twice about verifying it because she invests in real estate. It was only until her bookkeeper caught Corcoran’s assistant’s email was misspelled by 1 letter and it was later found to be the address used by the scammer.

“I was upset at first, but then remembered it was only money,” Corcoran told the magazine.

Corcoran’s assistant Emily Burke told CNN Business that the “Shark Tank” star wouldn’t provide any additional comment “at the advisement of her attorneys until the authorities are done investigating.”

However, Corcoran tweeted: “Lesson learned: Be careful when you wire money!” with a link to a TMZ story.

In addition to being an investor and a judge on the hit ABC show, Corcoran formerly owned the global real estate agency that shares her name. She sold it for $66 million in 2001.

Corcoran fell for a phishing scam. It’s common, too: Nearly 30,000 people reported being a victim of that type of scam last year. Together they reported nearly $50 million in losses, according to the FBI’s 2018 Internet Crime Report.

Phishing attacks are common methods of stealing usernames, passwords and money. Hackers pretend to be a trustworthy source to convince you to share personal data. To be safe, it’s important to make sure the sender is authentic before clicking on a link. Google has rolled out security protections that warns people of potential unsafe emails.

If you or your team have any questions or concerns please contact support at (856) 745-9990.



Microsoft Office 365

Office when and where you need it

Work anywhere, anytime, on any device. Office 365 is ready when you are.

Your go-to Office—anywhere

Whether you’re working in your office or on the go, you get a familiar, top-of-the-line set of productivity tools. Office applications—always the latest versions—let you create, edit, and share from your PC/Mac or your iOS, Android™, or Windows device with anyone in real time.

Tools for the professional

Brand your business-class email address with your company name to build name recognition, and market your business with customized marketing materials that are easy to create. Connect better with customers and colleagues with a range of communication tools, fromemail and IM to social networking and video conferencing.

Tools for teamwork

With 1 TB of storage per user, you’ll have plenty of space for all your files. Plus, because your files are stored online, you can share with people in or outside your company, from wherever you’re working, whenever you need to. And with multi-party HD video, content sharing, and shared calendars, you’ll always be in sync with your team.

Easy setup and management

With step-by-step guidance, you can set up users easily and start using the services fast. You can access the easy-to-use admin center from anywhere to manage all your services. And Office 365 takes care of IT for you, so your services are always up and running and up to date.

Have questions?

Our small business team is here to help.
Call us at: 856-745-9990

South Jersey Techies, LLC is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

To read this article in its entirety click here.

Verizon reaches deal with 36,000 striking workers, ending 6-week strike

Verizon and its striking labor unions reached a tentative deal on Friday, potentially ending a six-week labor dispute involving 36,000 workers.

U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez announced that Verizon and the unions have reached an “agreement in principle” on a four-year contract. He said he expects Verizon’s (VZ, Tech30) striking workers to be “back on the job next week.”

Verizon and its unions confirmed the deal but did not release specific details. However, the Communications Workers of America said Verizon has agreed to add “good union jobs” on the East Coast as part of the agreement. The CWA also said the agreement will improve the living standards of working families, and paves the way for the first contract for wireless retail store workers.

“This proves that when we stand together we can raise up working families, improve our communities and protect the American middle class.” Chris Shelton, president of the CWA, said in a statement.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said it plans to share details on the agreement with its members in the coming days.

The deal was reached after 13 days of talks at the Department of Labor aimed at ending the impasse. Perez said the parties are working to get the deal in writing, and will then submit it to union members for ratification.

“This tentative resolution is a testament to the power of collective bargaining,” Perez said in a statement.

After working without a contract since August, Verizon union workers walked off the job on April 13. The main sticking points were complaints about poor working conditions, pensions being capped at 30 years of service and jobs getting shipped overseas.

The strike, which is the biggest in the U.S. since a 2011 Verizon dispute, mostly involved workers who service the company’s landline phone business and FiOS broadband services.

VerizonStrike

The labor dispute has taken a toll on Verizon’s business. Lowell McAdam, Verizon’s CEO, said earlier this week it’s been harder for the company to sign up as many new customers as before the strike began.

Verizon stock has also lagged behind the broader market as well as peers AT&T (T, Tech30) andComcast (CMCSA). News of an agreement helped send Verizon stock 1% higher on Friday.

Two weeks after the strike began, Verizon said it was investigating 57 instances of network sabotage and suggested striking workers were to blame.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

To read this article in its entirety click here.

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