Content Library

Are You Being Manipulated by Social Engineering?
By Samantha Shah - 05/25/11

Even the savviest users like Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, can fall victim to hackers as headlined last January. The majority of malicious links ask for permission to access your account and post comments on your network’s walls, distributing the same malicious links in an effort to infect your entire network. It is estimated that there are over 1.5 million compromised Facebook accounts.

With social engineering scams on the rise, both Facebook and Twitter have recently made headlines with malicious attacks spreading at a viral pace. Frequency levels are of social engineering are reaching exponential proportions as hackers steal personal information for identity theft, stored credit card information for shopping sprees and spread malware.

Facebook allows you to see your friends’ posts, but the sophisticated scams are tapping into your trusted relationships. Two of the latest scams include hijacking friends’ comments with links using social engineering that redirect users to counterfeit Facebook login pages (visible in the URL address bar) or share common conversation containing malicious Iinks in disguise that automatically download malware.

Despite its increasing vulnerabilities, Facebook still offers businesses a way to increase visibility, engage a broad audience and build an online community. As long as you follow safe social networking practices and implement a stringent layered security approach, you too can reap the benefits while providing peace of mind for you, your computer and your confidential information.

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Protect My Computer
by Ryan Majeau - 05/24/11

You wouldn’t leave your front door wide open when you leave for work, so why leave your home network open? Just as you lock your door every day you need to lock your network.  Protecting your home computer starts simply by creating a password.

Armed with the assumptions that ‘it will never happen to me’, many opt to leave the default settings when you create your home wireless network. Whether you believe you are invincible or not, default settings are a giant bulls-eye for hackers.

Use a password to protect your network, but not “123456”, “password” or the always cute “iloveyou”. While easy to remember, these are not safe. Everyone else uses them too. Would you buy a lock for your front door if you knew thousands of other people could buy the exact same lock and key set? I didn't think so.

Pick a password that only you would know to protect your home computer. Scratch off obvious elements like your birthday, your address, your mom’s maiden name and what you call the family dog. Anyone can find out that information. Pick an easy to remember phrase, utilize both upper and lower case letters, then substitute in numbers and special characters for some of them. It’s that easy for you to do, rather 3@$y4U2dO.

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Faronics First Annual North American Partner Summit – Que Viva Las Vegas!
Channel Partner Weekly – by Cesar Bohorquez- 05/24/11

Faronics is hosting the first annual North American Partner Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada taking place from June 15 – 17 to strengthen the sales and customer service network in North America.

Faronics Corporation is putting a big emphasis on our network of channel partners to better compliment what is already a fast growing software business – with over 8 million Deep freeze licenses sold worldwide we are extending our new product line starting with Faronics Layered Security Suite which includes Faronics Anti-Virus, Anti-Executable and the ever popular Deep Freeze.

The event will host two keynote speakers:

Ian Selbie, VP of Sales – North America , who will be offering his insights on Consultative Sales in his presentation Seven Deadly Sins in Selling; Ian has trained over 15,000 around the globe so far and was recognized by Apple Computer Inc. as their "Top Sales Person In The World".

Nicole Donnelly, CEO of Salty Waffle, who will be offering insight on how to best leverage Social Media to increase awareness, sales and web traffic in her speech Socially Speaking. Nicole is the best-selling author of Ride Like a Penguin. She is also the successful entrepreneur behind the worldwide baby clothing distribution network BabyLegs. Today, Nicole is revered as one of the foremost experts on Social Media Strategies for business growth.

The Faronics Partner Summit will offer partners the opportunity to convene and network with successful industry professionals in an environment geared for knowledge sharing and thought-provoking dialogue.

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Green Technology: Three Impacts of your PC Lifecycle
by Braden Cave – 05/24/11

When purchasing a new laptop, I failed to consider things like: was this laptop made from non-toxic materials? How much energy does it use? When and how was I going to dispose of my new device once it became obsolete?

When most people think about making a positive environmental choice they think about driving less or composting. I did not realize that considerations regarding new green technology purchases would impact the environment in three distinct areas:

1. Technology acquisition: Buy technology with a longer lifespan to reduce unnecessary waste. Hardware vendors have made significant strides in their production practices. Many industry leading products are now recognized by ENERGY STAR or EPEAT to ensure consumers can make a responsible (green) choice.
2. Technology use: All electronics use energy, but you can dramatically reduce the amount of energy wasted by inactive devices by powering them down when they are not in use. Laptops and desktops are a perfect example of technology often left on 24/7. You can take advantage of dedicated PC power management software that will allow you to deploy and manage power saving settings across an entire network. Implementing an intelligent green technology solution can deliver savings of $50 per computer per year.
3. Technology disposal: Technology advances so quickly we often look to replace equipment with the latest and greatest. With a little research the equipment that might otherwise be ‘junked’ can be reused by schools or charity organizations. If this is not an option, look to dispose with a certified green technology disposal service.

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Four Tips to Implementing a Successful Energy Management System
by Kelly Batke – 05/20/11

A PC power management system is a cost-effective way to reduce your school district’s power bill and energy consumption. A successful PC power management software solution can deliver a full ROI in as little as four months — even less if you qualify for a government rebate. Districts can save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Schools are being mandated to adopt a green IT approach. Educational facilities have a serious responsibility to set an example and help create a greener, cleaner future. Poor PC energy management is not just a waste of energy, but it’s a waste of money.

1. Determine Your Current PC Energy Consumption
   Verify how many computers you have and when they are on. This will provide a baseline measure of the energy consumed, which makes it easy to determine your potential savings. 
2. Understand the Myths Behind PC Power Management
   Responsible computer energy consumption doesn’t require purchasing new hardware. Today’s power management solutions deliver better energy conservation results than those gained through new machines alone. 
3. Look Beyond Group Policy Options
   Many traditional methods, such as Group Policy, aren’t granular enough and don’t include reporting features. Consider a solution with a centralized management console to provide an at-a-glance update of your progress, energy savings and investment payback.
4. Inquire About Local Rebates
   Power companies across North America are offering significant rebates to organizations and individuals that implement recognized software solutions to reduce power consumption. Ask your local utility provider for more information on Power Save rebates available in your area.

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Classroom Management Software Comes of Age
by Kelly Batke – 05/20/11

If you graduated from school over 15 years ago like I did, you would probably be shocked at how classroom management software has transformed education.

The final version of 2010 National Education Technology Plan was released last winter and its objective is to teach students vital skills for the 21st Century. The goal is to “dramatically improve teaching and learning, personalize instruction and ensure that the educational environments we offer to all students keep pace with the 21st century.” The plan calls for “embedded assessment technologies” like classroom management software to engage and motivate users.

Dedicated classroom management software allows teachers to share their screen with students, control student access to applications and websites, and monitor classroom screens to ensure students are participating effectively.

Technology is creating multiple ways to actively engage students in their own learning, while teaching valuable skills for the real world. Now even the shy kids in the corner can join a discussion or talk to the teacher without being limited by fears of public speaking.

Classroom management software effectively takes students beyond four walls into a world with unlimited opportunities. I wonder what the next 15 years will hold.

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Malware Hacks Pentagon Federal Credit Union
by Samantha Shah – 05/20/11

On Dec. 12, 2010 PenFed discovered a major security breach caused by a laptop infected with malware. The malware permitted unauthorized access to the customer database exposing both personal and financial information for credit union members, joint owners, former members, employees and beneficiaries.

Released information included names, addresses, social security numbers, account numbers, credit card numbers and debit card numbers. The full extent of the security breach remains unknown and PenFed refused to comment. With over $15B in assets and nearly 1M members across the US, it is difficult to determine the total number of individuals who were compromised.

Security attacks are on the rise, especially among Credit Unions because their smaller size often means smaller budgets and less robust security measures. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, data breaches have increased by 33% in 2010 alone compared to 2009. In an era where many professionals use portable and mobile devices to complete business activities, hackers have increasing opportunities to invade customer security.

Financial organizations must protect their computers with layered security to avoid costly lawsuits, damaged reputation, customer turnover and penalties from regulatory bodies.

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Zero-day Virus Shuts Down City
by Bim Parmar – 05/20/11

Up until March 15th, 2011, Nanaimo – a small city of 76,000 people in Western Canada, was mostly known for a decadent dessert bar and its annual bathtub race across Georgia Straight. However, on March 16th they became the first known victims of a zero-day virus strain called “qakbot”.  The malware was first detected on March 15th and by the next day it infected over 440 computers at Nanaimo City Hall, forcing many city services offline and effectively shutting down operations.

The city shut down its Internet connection immediately as the virus spread almost instantly from workstation to workstation. According to the city’s Internet security providers, Nanaimo is using the best anti-virus programs possible to identify the new strain. Unfortunately, this version of the virus has a completely new signature that wasn't recognized by their defenses.

City staff worked almost around the clock after the zero-day virus  was discovered Wednesday and a dozen people worked overtime all day Saturday and Sunday in order to remediate the infected computers and get services back online. In addition to the remediation cost, the City had to purchase additional laptop computers in order to provide temporary services to citizens and businesses.  The total cost to recover from this incident is expected to be in the tens of thousands.

Anti-virus alone is no longer enough. A layered security approach would have kept Nanaimo up and running.

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Geeks In A Flash!®
by Cesar Bohorquez  – 05/20/11

Geeks In A Flash!®  a VAR that pride themselves on having superior customer service and the highest level of technical know how. They employ the most qualified, technical professionals trained to solve your IT problems quickly and cost effectively.

“Faronics has significantly increased our opportunities into the Public Sector with products such as Power Save and Deep Freeze. It used to be so difficult just to get a foot in the door when dealing with Public Sector groups as their Value Proposition these days have to be very hard dollars. Faronics has the same goals that Geeks in A Flash!® has had from day 1 about 9 years ago, that is to Reduce IT related costs, increase overall employee productivity, and keep systems up and healthy. Faronics is the perfect software company match for us bar none,” said Manny Lloyd, CEO and founder of Geeks In A Flash!®.

In addition to many years of real world experience, their technicians also maintain vendor certifications including Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, 3Com, HP, IBM, Apple, Citrix to name a few. Technicians have over 5 years of field experience working on hundreds of computer networks, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. To date they maintain a stellar reputation servicing over 100 companies in Wilmington and other cities across North Carolina and South Carolina.

Learn more about this IT VAR’s superior customer service, check out their 10 Geekimandments™ and the 3 Have You Been Geeked™ Rules at www.geeksinaflash.com.

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Home Computer Virus Protection
by Ryan Majeau - 05/05/11

Every other day a news story breaks about some major security breach at a large company. What you don’t hear about is when a computer virus attacks home computers. Home computer virus attacks do happen—a lot—and can easily happen to you.

Your home computer is full of information that hackers would love to get their hands on. Online banking passwords or the credit card information you used for that online shopping spree last week are the obvious targets.  The information in your emails, your chat history or even your family photos are equally as vulnerable and valuable to hackers.

Protect yourself now. Like most home users, you have an anti-virus program installed, and like most you probably think that’s all you need. Unfortunately, it’s not enough.

Computer virus protection goes far beyond using anti-virus alone. Anti-virus is only capable of stopping the threats it knows about. There are 60,000 new computer threats released each and every day so you need something more. You need a layered security approach.

In addition to anti-virus, whitelisting software only allows the programs that you put on your whitelist to run. If it’s not on your list, it doesn’t run. Simple as that.

Protect your computer from viruses with layered security.

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Computer Lockdown by the LAPD
by Dmitry Shesterin - 04/15/11

The second largest Police Department in the nation turns to Faronics for its mobile computer lockdown.

New operating systems are susceptible to external threats such as spyware, viruses, and other malware, and the department was looking for a solution to prevent any damage that might be caused by these threats.

The LAPD decided to implement Faronics’ mobile computer lockdown technology to prevent reimaging of damaged machines and to dedicate fewer resources to fixing machines in a data sensitive environment. Anti-Executable’s application whitelisting technology was seen as a good complement to Deep Freeze’s reboot-to-restore solution.

“Deep Freeze and Anti-Executable are crucial to preserving an image determined for mission critical law enforcement systems used 24x7 to ensure reliability and security with minimal downtime and with the least reliance on IT personnel,” said Chief Tim Riley, CIO and Bureau Chief of the LAPD’s Information and Communication Services Bureau.

Before Deep Freeze and Anti-Executable, LAPD had to reimage infected patrol car mobile computers. Computer lockdown has resulted in fewer support requests, increased uptime and productivity, and ultimately safer streets.

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Granite School District blocks unwanted programs with application control
by Dmitry Shesterin - 04/15/11

The second largest school district in Utah deployed Faronics Anti-Executable to block programs that are unwanted or unauthorized. Faronics Anti-Executable provides the district with piece of mind through reliable application whitelisting.

Many students of the Granite School District were routinely using usb keys, CDs and portable drives to bring unauthorized programs into the classroom. Such unwanted programs caused student distraction and deterioration of computer configurations, also known as configuration drift.

The district was impressed with the application whitelisting capabilities of Faronics Anti-Executable, which blocks programs and only allows approved applications to run on a computer. This as exactly what the district needed to control applications that are used in a classroom.

Before Faronics Anti-Executable was installed on districts computers, a class of extremely tech-savvy students were challenged to hack or cripple Faronics Anti-Executable. After a week of unsuccessful attempts, the students have voted Faronics AntiExecutable to be bulletproof.

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New Netbooks for Students Creates New Challenges in Managing Student Laptops
by Maryam Mahjoub - 04/16/11

Haywood Engineering College's recent acquisition of  190 new netbooks offered an excellent learning opportunity but also created a series of challenges in managing student laptops.

Students are able to access the e-learning portal outside of the classroom, offering greater  flexibility but the continuous mobility and large user base of the netbooks would accelerate the rate at which the system drifts away from its optimal configuration.

"A school network is an extremely challenging and dynamic environment," says Andy Tudor Nash, Network Manager for HEC. "Laptops, Netbooks, PCs, and thin client machines are used by different users on a day-to-day basis and these users can make critical changes to the system—both intentionally and unintentionally."

According to Mr. Tudor Nash, diagnosing and repairing a fault on a netbook can take up to two hours. He also commented that the logistics of scheduling repairs are difficult since the machines are constantly on the go. To solve these problems, Andy wanted  a solution to help in managing the student laptops without restricting user access.

Haywood Engineering College’  invested in Faronics Deep Freeze to ensure the netbooks were completely resilient to user changes, software damage, and system slowdowns. Once HEC installed Deep Freeze on a netbook, any changes that a student made to the computer were eradicated upon restart.

HEC is very pleased with the results that Deep Freeze has provided, and the fact that Deep Freeze enables them to do more with less. Managing student laptops has never been so simple.

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Faronics Helps Mobile County Public School System Reduce IT Support Significantly
by Maryam Mahjoub - 04/16/11

Mobile County Public School System is a K-12 school district located in Mobile, Alabama. District wide there are 20,000 student, teacher and administrator workstations that run Windows XP. There are also 500 file servers that serve the district. To manage all this computing infrastructure, Mobile County Public School System has sixteen IT personnel, which compared to other education institutions of the same size, is about 80% smaller in IT support personnel.

Mobile County Public School System faced day-to-day IT problems typical of any multi-user computing environment. Workstations were wide open to viruses, spyware, malware and accidental or malicious software changes. Malicious software changes were a big problem in the high, middle, and elementary school computers and computer labs, causing Mobile County’s work order program to be inundated with service calls. They were looking to help reduce IT support calls and alleviate the strain on IT personnel, and turned to Faronics Deep Freeze as their solution.

Having IT personnel fix the issues while trying to keep up with new computer installs, projects, and managing the other 100 plus service calls that come into the work order program daily is an enormous, if not impossible, task with a staff of only sixteen. The team needed to reduce IT support so they could focus on the bigger tasks at hand.

Simple to install, Faronics Deep Freeze offers 100% workstation recovery on restart without restricting user access. This helped reduce IT support calls significantly, and ensured workstations were always available for students free of spyware, malware, and viruses.

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RTP Federal Credit Union Benefits from Whitelisting
by Braden Cave - 04/17/11

RTP Federal Credit Union trusts Faronics’ whitelisting solution after receiving a recommendation from the First Carolina Corporate Credit Union about Faronics Anti-Executable.

Denis Graham, Information Systems Manager for RTP Federal Credit Union was searching for a solution to tighten security on employee workstations. Because RTP Federal Credit Union handles thousands of financial transactions, data security and protection is of utmost importance.

Denis was also concerned with potential malware threats that his current anti-virus solution was unable to battle. Traditional anti-virus solutions are often ineffective at battling threats such as zero-day executable worms and rootkits. With the increasing speed and sophistication of emerging malware, Denis knew that a sole anti-virus solution was no longer sufficient to prevent modern security threats.

Finally, Denis was searching for a way to enforce compliance with written policies prohibiting employees from downloading unauthorized applications. RTP Federal Credit Union currently undergoes two IT audits a year and needs to satisfy various requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act 404 directive.

“This concerns our member’s financial assets, our reputation, and the level of assurance we provide to members about security of their assets,” said Denis.

After evaluations of several other competitors’ offerings, RTP Federal Credit Union determined that Faronics Anti-Executable’s whitelisting technology offered a simple, easy-to-use solution with an intuitive management console at a better price. Denis’ favorite feature is the ability to check a box within Anti-Executable to trigger a PC scan and the creation of a whitelist automatically.

Thanks to whitelisting technology, RTP Federal Credit Union now enjoys consistent regulatory and software compliance, tighter endpoint security, plus greater user productivity and peace of mind.

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Power Save & Couer D'alene
by Braden Cave - 04/18/11

Chaffey Joint Union High School District deploys Faronics’ computer power management software for a quick return on investment.

Chaffey Joint Union High School District (CJUHSD) located in San Bernardino County, California is a rapidly growing district with over 2,000 employees and 25,000 students operating on over 5,000 workstations in an all-Windows environment.

With no existing computer power management strategy in place, the district’s workstations were often left powered on overnight, wasting a colossal amount of energy and money. The school district was searching for ways to save money and knew that a dedicated computer power management strategy offered a quick return on investment.

The district initially tested Faronics Power Save in Audit Mode on approximately 4,000 workstations. Power Save’s Audit Mode feature enables organizations to determine the quantity of energy consumed as well as the potential for savings without actually starting to manage power.

Within one month CJUHSD saw a significant difference in their electric bills. The district reduced their computer energy consumption by over $350,000 in a year, which translated to over $70 per workstation.

“I am extremely impressed by the evolution of Power Save. The latest version(s) include even more savings reports and features that offered even more configuration flexibility from when we first installed it,” said CJUHSD Network Specialist David Patzold.

By implementing a dedicated computer power management solution, CJUHSD is demonstrating a strong commitment to environmental and fiscal responsibility.

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Deep Freeze and Freedom First Credit union – Keyword: Endpoint Protection
by Braden Cave - 04/18/11

Freedom First Credit Union turns to the total endpoint protection of Faronics Deep Freeze.

With assets of $275 million, the Roanoke-based credit union provides low-cost, high-value, personal financial services to approximately 36,000 members throughout Virginia. Freedom First’s IT department was searching for ways to minimize the lost IT and employee productivity that occurred when their endpoint computers were compromised.

They had no way to determine that a machine was compromised until after the problem occurred and required troubleshooting. PCs that did require a rebuild were often unavailable for several hours and required reimaging.

The IT team tested Deep Freeze’s endpoint protection thoroughly going to extremes such as bringing their test workstations to a blue screen, which usually means the workstation is corrupted beyond repair. “Deep Freeze passed the tests with flying colors and upon reboot, our test PCs returned to their initial state. We tried to break the product and see its limitations, but it was indestructible and we loved it,” says Jeff Morehart, Network Technician for Freedom First Credit Union.

Deep Freeze protects endpoint configurations by restoring the computer settings to their original condition with a simple reboot. Also, because Deep Freeze removes any unwanted software with each reboot, it is another tool to help the credit union in their compliance and data protection efforts.

“It has really simplified our lives. Now, there are two choices for each malfunctioning workstation: it’s a hardware problem, or we simply need to reboot,” said Morehart. Since Deep Freeze was implemented, IT simply reboots the workstations every evening to eradicate any possible issues.

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Modern financial organization adopts PC Power Management
by Dmitry Shesterin - 04/18/11

Caixa Manlleu has been in financial business for over 100 years and maintains a strong focus on environmental responsibility and its operational sustainability principles. Executing on the objective to reduce its environmental impact, Caixa Manlleu has deployed Faronics PC power management solution Power Save on all of its computers.

Power Save’s ability to provide flexible configuration options allows this financial organization to benefit from active PC power management on all its computers regardless of their individual usage patterns.

Power Save takes PC power management beyond inactivity of the keyboard and mouse, it unlocks significant value in its ability to manage PC power consumption based on disk, CPU, and network activity.

Caixa Manlleu takes advantage of PC power management in an optimized fashion, it saves electricity whenever possible, and allows dedicated critical applications to have priority over PC power management policies to ensure flawless IT operations.

Initial Return on Investment estimates based on Power Save’s audit reports projected a break-even within six months. After Power Save has been fully deployed, Faronics’ PC power management solution started to generate 17.71 € per computer per year in energy savings, delivering full Return on Investment within two months.

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Endpoint Security Gives You Piece of Mind at City Inn
by Ryan Majeau - 04/18/11

Do you ever get that sinking feeling that you’ve forgot something in your room once you’ve checked out of a hotel? It could be something as innocent as a shirt in the closet, or your toothbrush in the washroom. But what if it was something on the room’s computer? Maybe a spreadsheet or some important documents, perhaps some photos? Yes, that sinking feeling. Well if you stayed at City Inn, you can kiss that feeling goodbye thanks to an endpoint security solution that has your privacy in mind.

Always known for elite service, the UK based hotel chain also prides itself for offering its guests with an environment equipped with the latest in IT innovations. City Inn recently raised the bar on industry standards with the introduction of iMacs into every room of each of their hotels. With this move they knew they needed an endpoint security solution that not only protected their assets but protected yours.

“Our guests’ privacy and personal file security is paramount,” said Richard Pemberton, Head of Information Technology. With clientele often including high profile guests such as politicians the need for security and confidentiality couldn’t be more important.

Faronics Deep Freeze’s reboot-to-restore technology ensures that any changes made during a user session are erased with each restart. Your personal info, your documents, your history of use—everything. erased.

“Faronics Deep Freeze was recommended strongly by Apple, and since it is hard to find a solution like this for a Mac, we quickly jumped on the opportunity to purchase it,” said Pemberton.

Deep Freeze is easy to use and the value it delivers all City Inn guests is piece of mind with each and every stay. So checkout worry free! Just don’t forget your toothbrush.

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Faronics Deep Freeze Gives Ballston Spa Central School District an Alternative to Computer Imaging
by Ryan Majeau - 04/18/11

If you had 4,200 students and over 1,700 workstations in your school district, you can only imagine the daily wear and tear to your IT infrastructure. System errors, blue screens of death and busted DVD drives. And those are only from the students using them! With the threat of malware growing each day, keeping up with it is a full time job itself. This was the story all too familiar to the tech staff in the Ballston Spa Central School District.

Staff would rebuild and reimage computers weekly and their anti-virus efforts came with a price to network and system performance. If the computers weren’t updated they were even more vulnerable to malware threats. They needed an alternative to computer imaging that worked seamlessly with a network-efficient anti-virus solution. They needed Faronics.

With solutions that are easy to use and deliver significant value, Faronics gave the tech staff an alternative to computer imaging that ensured full system uptime. Faronics Deep Freeze restores original workstation configurations with a simple reboot and works seamlessly with Faronics Anti-Virus.

“Not only is Faronics Anti-Virus the only solution which is fully compatible with Deep Freeze, but it is also faster, more network efficient and more effective against malware,” says Brian Merchant, Coordinator of Technical Support Services for BSCSD.

Thanks to Faronics the district sees a reduced number of support calls. Their IT professionals can now focus on strategic objectives instead of boring and mundane technical support issues.

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Leading Technology University Deploys Energy Management Software
by Dmitry Shesterin - 04/18/11

King Mongkut’s University of Technology of North Bangkok is now saving about $25,- per computer per year thanks to Faronics Power Save, an energy management software that dramatically reduces operating costs by eliminating unnecessary computer energy consumption.

Power Save keeps computers running at this University when users truly need them, and powers them down when workstation become inactive.

Faronics’ energy management software provides a rapid Return-on-Investment that can be verified through a cohort of energy savings reports.

King Mongkut’s University of Technology achieved full Return on Investment in its energy management software within six months.

Power Save takes computer energy management to the next level by analyzing not only keyboard and mouse inactivity, but by also looking at the CPU, disk, network, and application status before taking any energy management actions.

With the help of Power Save’s energy management policies, King Mongkut’s University of Technology customizes different levels of computer energy management for specific days of the week, and for different times of the day.

Before Power Save, many university computers were unintentionally left on overnight or even during the weekend. With Power Save, the University has found a flexible computer energy management software solution that reliably powers down computers during periods of inactivity, saving a significant amount of energy, translating into tangible financial savings.

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Power Save & Oklahoma City University energy management software
by Kelly Batke - 04/18/11

Because there was no dedicated PC power management strategy in place, computers at Oklahoma City University (OCU) were shut down manually only when the staff chose to turn them off. Some systems even remained on and active for as long as four months.

The intelligent energy management software, Faronics Power Save was exactly what the university needed. Power Save has a unique feature that no other energy management software has—the ability to initiate energy conservation policies based on CPU, disk, network, and application activity.

Power Save has now been configured at OCU to shut down after 90 minutes of inactivity, assuming that disk and CPU usage is below 20%. The university has also scheduled the system to power on at midnight every Wednesday to receive updates.

The energy managements software’s ability to lower the university’s computer energy costs in a manner that is non-disruptive to organizations, users, and IT processes has been a big success. And thanks to the specialized enterprise reporting, OCU can also now verify their savings.

Faronics Power Save is providing OCU with $27,000 in savings on their electrical bill over the next three years, and the university couldn’t be happier.

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Energy Management Solution Saves California School District $90,000
by Kelly Batke - 04/18/11

When the IT staff at Redlands Unified School District attended a Southern California Edison presentation on energy management, they had no idea how much they would learn.

For schools and other organizations facing shrinking budgets, a dedicated IT energy management solution is an immediate and cost effective way to reduce computer energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Recognizing the opportunity to save money with a dedicated energy management solution, The school quickly invested in Faronics Power Save. Faronics Power Save keeps computers running when users need them, powers them down when they are inactive, and can prove its rapid return-on-investment through energy savings reports.

The district has now managed to save over $90,000 in energy costs in a year for their 5,500 computers, and the school district couldn’t be happier. “Faronics is a great partner for the district. The support we’ve received from Faronics has been excellent. They’ve tirelessly worked with us to help us deploy the product to our needs,” said  Dave Massaro, Technology Services Coordinator.  

And thanks to the rebate offered by Southern California Edison, the entire cost of the purchase is covered.

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Faronics’ IT Solutions Simply Workstation Management at Garden City Public Schools
by Kelly Batke - 04/18/11

Michigan based Garden City Public Schools were constantly experiencing problems related to students tampering and changing the proxy settings in Internet Explorer. Students were also frequently right-clicking in certain task bars or menu bars, which was difficult for administrators to control or restrict.

The school needed to invest in an IT solution to gain control over the schools workstations, and was excited to learn about Faronics WINSelect. WINSelect makes it easy to manage the functionality of computers in public access, kiosk, library, educational, and corporate environments, and empowers IT administrators with enterprise control over a workstation’s system settings. The school was also familiar with another one of Faronics’ IT solutions- Deep Freeze, a powerful system restore solution.

The two IT solutions together have returned control back to the IT staff. “WINSelect has completely taken away the day-to-day problems,” said Tim Klan, Technology Supervisor at Garden City Schools. “Partnered with Deep Freeze, it (WINSelect) relieves my tech department from having to touch the machines for anything other than hardware issues. We spend little if no time on the machines that we have this installed on.”

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Newburgh Enlarged School District Turns to Faronics for Windows Program Management
by Kelly Batke - 04/18/11

Limiting a computer’s functions and ensuring Windows program management is an important part of protecting a computer’s purpose at New York based Newburgh Enlarged School District.

Fully-functional computers placed in environments where only limited-functionality is required carries the possibility of computers being used by students in a distractive or inappropriate way. Without a windows program management solution, computers are put at risk from unwanted application and web browsing activity.

The district invested in Faronics WINSelect, a Windows program management solution that makes it easy to manage the functionality of computers in public access, kiosk, library, educational, and corporate environments, and empowers IT administrators with enterprise control over a workstation’s system settings.

WINSelect has provided the district powerful yet easy Windows program management tool.

Teachers can now focus on their core responsibility — providing instruction, instead of having to resolve complex security issues and getting swamped by desktop troubleshooting.

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Industry Analyst Study Reveals Indisputable Economic Benefits of IT Power Management
by Kelly Batke - 04/18/11

The benefits are an IT power management program may seem obvious to some, but just what is the Total Economic Impact?

In a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Faronics titled "The Total Economic Impact™ Of Faronics Power Save" Faronics was able to determine that organizations who reduce their computer energy waste via an IT power management solution, like Faronics Power Save, can achieve a substantial and rapid return on investment (ROI).

The study is based on the deployment of Power Save on over 8000 computers at BC Hydro Power Authority, a Canadian electric utility giant. They were able to realize a risk–adjusted ROI of 35%, with a payback period of 20 months. Over the next three years they will save an estimated three million kilowatt hours (kWh), valued at over $240,000.

"When an organization as large as BC Hydro can achieve a solid ROI even after implementing their own internal PC power management strategy, I feel confident that organizations everywhere can benefit significantly from the cost and energy savings of Power Save,” said Farid Ali, President & CEO of Faronics.

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Study Reveals Deep Freeze Substantially Lowers IT Support
by Kelly Batke - 04/18/11

Lowering IT support costs and providing a solid ROI for IT projects are crucial challenges for IT executives. System restore solutions, like Faronics Deep Freeze are a powerful tool to aid in the reduction of IT support costs. But just how verifiable is the proof?

Through an internal study of close to 25,000 Deep Freeze customers, Faronics has determined that their system restore software lowers IT support tickets by 63%.  Furthermore, Organizations using Deep Freeze support 12% more computers with the same staff compared to organizations not using Deep Freeze.

Organizations must always be conscious of the bottom line, but they must also balance restrictions with productivity. Excessive restrictions reduce personnel efficiency, relaxed policies result in additional costs associated with support. Deep Freeze provides that needed balance.

Deep Freeze’s patented technology makes computers immune to any software related issues, and assures IT that any changes are only temporary and will have no lasting effects on the protected computers. Thanks to Deep Freeze, organizations are able to lower their IT support costs while concurrently gaining efficiency for allocating their IT resources to other priorities.

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Power Save & School District of the Chatham Reaps Rewards of PC Power Management
by Kelly Batke - 04/18/11

Because energy usage by computers is not itemized individually, many school districts, like the School District of the Chathams are unaware of the extensive amount of electricity used by their PCs.

John Abdelmalak, Director of Technology for the school district, knew that reducing PC energy consumption the school district could save a significant amount of energy, and more importantly, money. The district turned to Faronics Power Save to power down their workstations during periods of inactivity.

“All of the projects including Power Save have had a significant impact on our green efforts,” said Abdelmalak.

Any hesitation experienced from staff was quickly dismissed when they learned the benefits of PC power management. Not only has the district increased their energy efficiency, but they have prevented unnecessary spending on utilities that would otherwise be cut from other programs.

By employing green projects, like the adoption of a dedicated PC power management solution, the district is not only helping the environment, but they are sending a strong message to future generations of students.

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Faronics Helps BC Hydro Reduce IT Costs
by Ryan Majeau - 04/18/11

You may know leaving computers on results in a substantial waste of electricity, but did you realize it also creates higher-than-necessary operating costs?

When School Districts 37 and 39 in Delta and Vancouver were both looking for ways to reduce IT costs, they contacted BC Hydro for assistance. What did they discover? There was potential to save energy and money just by reducing unnecessary computer use. Simple as that.

Well it sounds simple, but it was easier said than done. One of the most difficult problems involved in operating computer labs is getting everyone to turn off the machines at the end of the day. No matter how many times you tell them they always forget.

Faronics Deep Freeze provided a workstation security solution that helped the districts in their goal to reduce IT costs.  With Deep Freeze, workstations can easily be shutdown based on a user-defined schedule or a customized idle time configuration.

“Installing computer power management software is not only saving on energy costs, but is also dramatically reducing computer support costs by minimizing the time needed to visit each computer for manual shutdown and software maintenance.” Says Steven Robson, Technical Support Supervisor in Vancouver School District 39.

Deep Freeze eliminates workstation downtime by restoring the computer’s settings to their original condition with a simple reboot.

Thanks to Faronics, both districts have seen significant annual energy savings totalling a combined $180,000!

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Augusta County Eliminates IT Problems with Layered Security
by Kelly Batke - 04/18/11

Imagine spending over 60% of your IT day cleaning up malware infections? That’s how the IT technicians spent the majority of their time at Virginia based Augusta County Public schools.  They suffered extensively from a host of IT problems, caused primarily by malware attacks.

The IT problems also posed significant risks to the variety of confidential data, like student, medical, and financial records. The importance of keeping the data safe was critical since the district is required to meet compliance mandates under both Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The district turned to the complete layered security protection from Faronics. Faronics Anti-Virus ensures that any known malware threats are contained, Anti-Executable’s application whitelisting protection tackles all threats that evade anti-virus solutions, and finally, Deep Freeze protects workstations by restoring computers to their original state with a simple reboot.

The layered security strategy has helped the district combat their chief IT problems. IT support requests are now reduced by over 60%; their system availability has increased; endpoints are secure; and finally they have fulfilled required compliance regulations.

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Anti Malware Software from Faronics a No-Brainer for Glenpool Public Schools
by Ryan Majeau - 04/19/11

“Warning! You are at risk of infection from malware!”

Perhaps you have seen this warning before when browsing the internet. The wording might be different but the message is the same. Along with the warning there is usually a solution offered, simply purchase an anti-virus program by link provided. To an unsuspecting victim this may sound like great news. Unfortunately for them, they don’t realize that they are actually installing the malware they were warned about, and the purchase also stole their credit card and personal information. Oops.

Malware is becoming more and more advanced every day, enlisting tactics—like with these rogue anti-virus programs or maybe PDFs link to infected websites—to trick you into installing it. The threat comes from everywhere too—the web, email, even USB flash drives. Regardless of where it comes from the goal is always the same. Corrupt your operating system, steal your information and in some cases to actually use your computer to distribute more malware!

At Glenpool Public Schools, malware was incessant, primarily as a result of online research and downloads conducted by teachers.  IT staff spent almost all of their time troubleshooting computers.

“90% of our IT support tickets revolved around viruses or anomalies with software and system performance,” says Greg Atkins, Director of Technology.

When looking for an anti malware software solution, Glenpool Public Schoos turned to a layered security approach, using Faronics Anti-Virus and Faronics Deep Freeze.

Faronics Anti-Virus thwarts all the incoming malware threats throughout the day and Deep Freeze ensures complete system consistency by returning computers back to their original state with a simple reboot.

“Layered security is a no-brainer with the number of threats looming around,” says Atkins.

After installing anti malware software, support tickets dropped by 90%. IT staff are now able to focus on other critical IT projects without worrying about what malware tricks the teachers will fall for next.

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Faronics Deep Freeze Helps 1st Pacific Credit Union Reduce IT Support
by Ryan Majeau - 04/19/11

How many IT staff members does it take to repair a corrupted computer? At 1st Pacific Credit Union the answer was sometimes as many as three. Sounds like a problem doesn’t it? It was.

User complaints ranged from non-functioning applications to sudden and random computer shutdowns. User productivity was becoming significantly impacted and the resource drain on IT staff was overwhelming. It didn’t help that most of the workstations were custom-built and made up of old computer parts from various machines. Surprise, surprise—the machines were constantly breaking down. Calls to software vendors to help troubleshoot were going nowhere as the response times were always quite high.

“We’d still spend hours figuring out what’s wrong with the workstation while waiting for the vendor to respond,” said Michael Anders, Network Security Administrator for 1st Pacific Credit Union.

The tedious and frequent troubleshooting requests were also preventing the IT team from tending to more critical matters. Staff definitely needed to reduce IT support and Faronics Deep Freeze, an instant system restore solution, allowed them to do just that.

“Deep Freeze is a no-brainer. You install and forget it. All workstations return to their initial trouble-free state upon a reboot,” said Anders, “It made life a lot easier once it was deployed and I wasn’t coming to work in the morning to find my voicemail full of user complaints.”

So now at 1st Pacific Credit Union how many IT staff members does it take to repair a corrupted computer? Zero. Corrupted computers are a thing of the past!

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A New York College Combines Application Whitelisting With Instant System Restore in a Layered Security Approach for Reliable Endpoint Protection
by Dmitry Shesterin - 04/20/11

The North Country Community College in northeast New York state struggled with keeping staff computers always available and in perfect shape.

Frequent malware infections and uncontrollably installed programs caused frequent computer downtime and configuration drift. The College was already using Faronics' instant system restore solution Deep Freeze to lock down student computers. The endpoint protection solution for the staff computers was also provided by Faronics in form of a layered security approach. Faronics Anti-Executable ensures complete endpoint protection by  scanning a computer's hard drive and creating an application whitelist of all approved programs, thereby preventing unwanted or unauthorized code from ever executing or installing.

Deep Freeze' instant system restore represents the ultimate safety net of the layered security approach the College has pursued for complete endpoint protection. Any computer configuration changes are reset by Deep Freeze on restart.

The layered security approach delivers superior endpoint protection through an integrated application whitelisting and instant system restore solutions working together. Both layered security solutions are deployed and managed through Faronics' desktop management solution Faronics Core, which is available for free and provides deployment, management and reporting capabilities for all Faronics products.

The endpoint protection from Faronics now saves the College IT staff approximately 15 to 20 hours a month, creating significant value and tangible Return on Investment.

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Public Access Computer Security an Ever Increasing Challenge for School Districts
by Maryam Mahjoub - 04/20/11

With over 45,000 students over 74 sites  the San Juan Unified K-12 school district was constantly inundated with support calls and troubleshooting errors on their 4000 Windows machines. Public access computer security soon became top of mind for San Juan Unified’ IT team.

“Our biggest problems occurred in minimally supervised areas,” said Chuck Taylor, a Microcomputer Specialist at San Juan Unified. “For example, students were often left unsupervised on library computers and kids would purposely trash the operating systems. Other kids, who meant no harm, caused damage by going to their favorite web sites and unintentionally inviting spyware, malware, worms, and other harmful programs into the system.

It was at a CETPA tradeshow that Mr. Taylor first heard about a product from Faronics Technologies called Deep Freeze. Deep Freeze, a reboot to restore software, is the perfect solution in increasing public access computer security. With a simple restart computers are brought to their original state, free of malware, spyware, and configuration drift.

“We noticed the difference overnight,” said Mr. Taylor. “Nothing—not the Google Toolbar, Spybot, Pest Patrol, or even Norton AntiVirus—made a faster difference than Deep Freeze. The compliments from these once frustrated sites and users still come in all the time.” Best of all, no user has managed to breach public access computer security since Deep Freeze has been implemented.

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Student Workstations Keeping You Up At Night? They Don’t Have To....
by Maryam Mahjoub - 04/20/11

Paul Glenn, Student Lab System Administrator at University of Kentucky, faced numerous problems in his day-to-day  operations. Student workstations were constantly going down due to user activity—both innocent and malicious. “Our students love to tinker with computers, especially our computer science students,” says Mr. Glenn. “In addition to having to repair corrupted computers, we were getting reports of computers being infected with keyloggers.”

Paul recalls that because so many machines would regularly  become unusable, IT was not able to repair all the student workstations immediately.  

“I first heard about Deep Freeze from a security officer on campus,” says Mr. Glenn. “I immediately downloaded and tested Deep Freeze, and loved it.” Faronics Deep Freeze helps eliminate workstation damage and downtime by making computer configurations indestructible, even when users have full access to system software and settings. Once Deep Freeze was installed on the student workstations, any changes  made to the computer—regardless of whether they are accidental or malicious— were never permanent.

“Ever since we installed Deep Freeze, our trouble calls  have dropped by 90%,” says Paul.

Paul and his team can finally rest assured that their student workstations are always up, running, and available for use.

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Palmdale High School Finds Success with Teacher Control Software
by David Anderson - 04/20/11

Palmdale High School in California was faced with a common issue: while classroom computers provide great learning opportunities for students, they also provide tempting distractions. The answer was a teacher control software solution that provides their teachers will full control over the classroom computers.

Leonard Moreno, an Information Technology Instructor at Palmdale, recognized that when used properly technology could significantly boost teacher effectiveness and student learning. But he also saw the need for a solution that would allow him to stop classroom distractions from taking place right at the source – student workstations.

After testing a number of teacher control software solutions which did not work as planned, Leonard learned about Faronics Insight. Insight offered a wide variety of classroom management and collaboration features (like application and web limiting, testing, messaging and screen sharing) in a teacher-friendly manner, but did not impact network bandwidth.

“I evaluated Faronics Insight and immediately purchased it after my attempts to bypass it failed. When I saw that students could not figure a way around it, I knew I had a solution that truly put me in control.”

Faronics Insight is now deployed on all of Palmdale’s desktop and laptop computers and continues to demonstrate the benefits of well-designed teacher control software.

“Solutions such as Faronics Insight give teachers the control they need in their labs to teach more effectively and quickly. Today’s classroom needs to be innovative and use the technology students grew up with as part of the learning curriculum.”

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Classroom Collaboration Software Connects Teachers and Students at Oklahoma City University
by David Anderson - 04/20/11

Oklahoma City University recognized the the immense benefits in ensuring that their 4,000 students and staff had access to the latest computer technology. But how could these tools which help students connect with the outside world also allow them to connect with each other and their instructors?

Merely placing a computer in front of a student does not necessarily lead to an enhanced and more effective learning environment, so Ernesto Chávez, Manager of Instructional Technologies and Media Services, and his staff started looking for a more effective method. They found their solution was classroom collaboration software, and from previous experience with Faronics and Deep Freeze, they evaluated Faronics Insight.

“Myself and two IT instructors evaluated the software, and we were hooked. We purchased it immediately and deployed it into our computer labs without hesitation.”

Faronics Insight allows instructors to educate, assist, monitor, and communicate with an entire class from one central computer and, as a result, many classroom distractions became a thing of the past.

Insight’s classroom collaboration options are just as powerful as its classroom control features and the software has opened new opportunities for teaching in the classroom and both faculty and students are taking full advantage of it.

“Faronics Insight has made a significant impact to our institution’s education. The software has opened new opportunities for teaching in the classroom and both our faculty and students are taking full advantage of it. All the features are great, but the simplicity of the product is what got me sold.”

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Classroom Management Software Provides Total Control for Bangor Township Teachers
by David Anderson - 04/20/11

Computers in schools have the power to enhance the classroom experience for both students and teachers, but the benefits can easily be lost to to inherent distractions. To solve this problem, Bangor Township Schools in Bay City, Michigan, employs classroom management software, and in particular, Faronics Insight.

Bangor Township administrators believe that having the best technology available will better prepare their students for today’s world. Josh Kolka, Technology Administrator, agrees but this also meant that he had to help teachers battle distractive elements, like web surfing, social networks, and gaming, that technology can bring.

“(Technology) is great when it comes to fostering collaboration and teamwork between students, but it does make it very difficult for a teacher to monitor what students are doing at all times.”

As a result, Josh was receiving requests to implement a classroom management software solution that enabled teachers to view and control student workstations from their own workstation. When renewing his Deep Freeze licensing, he discovered Faronics Insight. He found Faronics Insight easy to use and implement, and immediately made the decision to purchase it.

According to Josh, the Insight feature that is most popular with the teachers of Bangor Township is the remote control option. The teachers are able to monitor student activity via the Insight Console, and if a student visits a website or opens an application that is off topic, the teacher remotes into the student’s workstation and closes it.

The successes attributed to classroom management software continue as Faronics Insight provides Bangor Township teachers with total control over classroom computers and student activity.

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Server Restore Solution Saves Time and Money for Medical Clinic
by David Anderson - 04/20/11

All medical institutions must comply with HIPAA standards and this includes all technological equipment relating to medical care. For The Center - Orthopedic & Neurosurgical Care & Research, a for-profit medical clinic, this meant that having workstations compromised by invasive malware like spyware and illegal downloads was unacceptable. A server restore solution was the treatment they required.

The Center clinic employs around 300 people, all of whom have access to desktop computers. With all user data stored on a separate server, a recurring problem of infected workstations being meant that Jen Blackledge, The Center’s IT Manager, was continually taking servers offline for maintenance – generally from 2-10 hours per week. This process was both time consuming as well as an expensive way to maintain her servers.

Ms. Blackledge saw Deep Freeze in action at a school district, who gave her advice as to how to best administer the software. Though she evaluated other server restore solutions, she found them all to be cumbersome and difficult to use, set up, and maintain. Deep Freeze was the simplest and most effective.

After The Center installed Deep Freeze on its servers, all past problems disappeared and the clinic staff have clean, working computers every day. With this sever restore solution in place, maintenance time is minimal and this represents significant monetary savings for The Center.

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Power Management Software Saves Money and Energy for ADT Fire & Security
by David Anderson - 04/20/11

How do you reach key strategic objectives of carbon footprint reduction and saving energy - while also saving money? This was the challenge that ADT, the world’s largest electronic security and alarm monitoring company, was faced with. Recognizing that IT infrastructure was drawing a significant amount of power, a lightbulb went on and they looked to power management software to help them reach their goals.

Like most organizations with large computer deployment, ADT found that many workstations sat idle as employees were working on other projects, in meetings, or on conference calls. The company realized that if they could power the computers down during these periods of inactivity, they would stand to save a significant amount of money, and more importantly, energy.

Initially the company relied on individual users for their power management plan, but found this ineffective as some users found it disruptive to their workday or simply ignored requests to power down their computers.

Roger Bunting, Computer Services Manager for ADT UK, had heard that power management software existed that could provide centralized control of a workstation’s power management settings. During a thorough investigation of contenders, Roger came across Faronics Power Save and selected it for a pilot deployment. During this evaluation, energy savings and cost benefits were recognized early, and this proved to ADT that this power management software had a rapid and quantifiable return-on-investment.

ADT UK has saved a significant amount of both energy and power costs, and has further demonstrated the company’s commitment to protecting the environment.

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A Scenic New York Library No Longer Has To Remove Malware
by Dmitry Shesterin - 04/21/11

Pittsford Community Library was concerned about its patron privacy. Library computers oftentimes were plagued with malware and spyware, rendering library computers non-functioning.

Existing anti-virus solution was fighting off known viruses, trojans and worms, and blocking malware that is widely known, but could not remove zero-day viruses, mutating viruses or any other type of yet unknown malware or spyware.

Another challenge the Library needed to overcome was continuous degradation of computer performance and configuration drift. Computer users frequently brought in and installed programs that were not approved for the library computers, causing computers to perform poorly as the load of unsolicited applications grew.

The IT team had to manually fix computer configurations, one by one, often resorting to re-imaging, because the damage was so great.

This is when the Library was first introduced to the concept of integrated layered security by Faronics in general and Faronics' application whitelisting solution Anti-Executable in particular.

Faronics Anti-Executable only allows approved programs to run on a computer or a server, anything that is not on Anti-Executable's whitelist will never run, it is that simple. The Application whitelisting protection allows the IT staff to concentrate on strategic objectives without spending valuable time on mundane technical support tasks, such as to remove malware or to re-image computers.

The implementation of Anti-Executable's application whitelisting has completely eliminated the need for the IT staff to remove malware, because all patron computers are now reliably protected and only approved programs can run.

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Computer Lab Management Software Becomes Teachers’ Pet at Illinois Community College
by David Anderson - 04/21/11

When student distractions due to classroom technology was disrupting learning at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Illinois, instructors turned to their IT staff for help. The solution that was implemented has had instructors smiling ever since – computer lab management software.

As with most educational institutions, computer-based learning is integrated into the curriculum and is critical to the success of the College’s students. With all the benefits that this technology bring, it also creates new problems. How do instructors properly manage the lab computers? How do they eliminate distractions like internet surfing or social media? How can one teacher effectively monitor, communicate, and collaborate with a classroom of plugged-in students?

As a Deep Freeze user, Denise Erwin, Computer Support Specialist, was introduced to Faronics’ computer lab management software, Insight. After reviewing Faronics Insight, she knew she had discovered the solution to the problems the technology instructors were battling.

Faronics Insight enables the instructors to share their screen, provide remote assistance to students, and monitor classroom screens to ensure students are on task. Students also appreciate the benefits of Insight as they can request and receive help directly in their workstation session.

“I’m glad that our instructors find Insight extremely easy and intuitive to use.”

Now that Lewis and Clark Community College have computer lab management software in place, classroom instruction is less likely to be disrupted and the learning experience is enhanced.

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HIPAA Compliance Made Simple with Faronics Deep Freeze
by Maryam Mahjoub - 04/25/11

The State of Franklin Healthcare Associates required a solution to help manage the 250 workstations spread out amongst the organization’s eight physical locations, including six clinics, one lab, and one administration office. Spyware can compromise a healthcare organization’s ability to ensure HIPAA compliance, because of the security risk it represents.

The IT department at State of Franklin Healthcare Associates consists of two people;  William Spooner, the IT manager, and his assistant. The IT department used several anti-spyware and adware removal solutions, but found the workstations were not getting completely cleaned. This was not only a tedious 3 hour task to rebuild, it also meant machines were at risk of breaching HIPAA compliance.

Deep Freeze was recommended to Mr. Spooner by his assistant, who had recently worked at a local university where Deep Freeze was being used.Once Faronics Deep Freeze was installed, a simple reboot would remove any traces of malware remaining.

“Deep Freeze is our last line of defense,” says Mr. Spooner. It is used in combination with an up-todate version of an anti-spyware solution, but Deep Freeze is relied on to restore the computers every  single time with a reboot. Except for hardware problems, the IT department has not touched a single computer that has Deep Freeze installed on it, nor have they had to worry about maintaining HIPAA compliance and integrity... exactly what the doctor ordered.

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La Mesa-Spring Valley School District Looks to Deep Freeze Mac to Control OS X
by Maryam Mahjoub - 04/25/11

La Mesa-Spring Valley School District is a K-8 district located in the East County of San Diego. At the time that La Mesa-Spring Valley was transitioning to Mac OS X, the Information Systems (IS) staff realized that, though the operating system offered an environment that was more “kid-proof”, there were still general worries with regard students “explorations” and general OS integrity. They needed to find a solution that would control OS X far beyond their existing tools.

“Middle-schoolers are notoriously mischievous when it comes to computers,” said Richard Ribley, a Support Technician at La Mesa-Spring Valley. “They like to change things just because they can, whether that means taking items off the Dock, moving files to different locations or changing the toolbar in an application like Word. This would, of course, screw up the machine for the next person or even for the same person coming back to that machine later.”

The school district came across Deep Freeze Mac and decided to evaluate the software. for two months. Ribley immediately liked what he saw. There was an ongoing interest by the IS Department in any product that could provide a solution to better control OS X.

“I sold the concept to the rest of the department, for both our Macs and our PCs,” said Mr. Ribley. “Once I was able to show how Deep Freeze could easily save us time and IS hours at a relatively low cost, it didn’t take long for management to see the program’s value. We had a desperate need for system integrity and Deep Freeze satisfied that need. ”

“It’s great that I am now able to say ‘Just restart it!’ to a teacher having difficulties with a Mac,” said Mr. Ribley. “We’ll continue to use Deep Freeze for as long as we can.”

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Coeur D’Alene District Strengthens Their PC Power Management Policy With Faronics Power Save
by Braden Cave - 04/25/11

Coeur D’Alene District’s Director of Technology, Jean Bengfort, agreed that a PC power management policy that relied on user action was not practical or effective.

“It became evident that we had computers that were being left on during the night when we would go past a school in the evening and see the glow of monitors in a computer lab or classroom,” says Jean. “Not only was this a waste of energy, it was a waste of the district’s money.”

Looking to implement a PC power management solution Ethan Haberman, Coeur D’Alene District’s Network Supervisor, turned to the ENERGY STAR website, where in addition to energy efficient hardware listings and best practices, he discovered a software-based PC power management solution that supports both the Windows and Mac platforms—Faronics Power Save.

Power Save’s ability to accurately determine when computers were truly inactive so they could be powered down, and its ability to generate energy and dollar savings reports were a hit with the district’s network supervisor. “We did review a number of competing solutions,” says Ethan. “When we did an RFP for the software, Faronics Power Save came in on top of all the competitors with a great set of features, within our budget, and the best bang for the buck.”

Coeur D’Alene School District expects to save as much as $300,000 over the course of three years as a result of deploying PC power management software. Having centralized control over workstation power states has also proven to be a huge time saver for Coeur D’Alene District, making IT staff more efficient at their roles.

In addition to using Power Save, Coeur D’Alene School District has also committed to ensuring all future computer and monitor purchases meet ENERGY STAR requirements. According to ENERGY STAR Program Manager Steve Ryan, the district will save approximately 2,193,581 kilowatt hours annually—equivalent to more than $100,000 in annual electricity costs.

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Howard Community College Saves $50,000 Per Year By Reducing Computer Energy Waste
by Braden Cave - 04/25/11

Rising energy costs and the growing desire to be environmentally-responsible led Howard Community College on a mission to green their campus with power management software.

Recognizing that there was room for savings in their computing technology, HCC needed a power management software solution that allowed them to maximise energy savings while computers were not in use, while still allowing users to quickly wake computers up when they were needed.

“Initially, we installed Power Save on two computers and then evaluated it for over a month,” says Sung Lee, Director of Student Computer Support for Howard Community College. “In September of 2007, we deployed Power Save campus-wide on all student workstations.” HCC did evaluate alternative energy management solutions, but found Power Save to be the best balance between staff, student, and IT needs.

Howard Community College discovered the benefits of Faronics Power Save—a power management software solution that ensures workstations are available when system resources are required, while conserving power during productivity downtimes. Power Save provides organizations with real financial and energy savings on every computer deployed, as well as centralized workstation power status control.

Now, Howard Community College is helping to reduce their carbon footprint and their energy bill by using an effective power management solution. Among its many awards, HCC has been recognized as a Top-Tech Savvy Community College by the Center for Digital Education and the American Association of Community Colleges.

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Newport Independent School District Opts for Faronics Power Save’s Intelligent Energy Management
by Braden Cave - 04/25/11

When Newport Independent decided to implement a formal district-wide energy management policy, Rusty Adams knew he had his work cut out for him.

Newport Independent provides preschool services to children from birth through age five, and GED course work for adults through its Alternative Learning Center. As the district’s Lead Technician, it was his responsibility to ensure that the district’s computers were in compliance with the new energy management policy. Rusty also knew that the current practice of leaving the computers on during weekdays and only turning them off during weekends was going to have to change.

Newport Independent’s past experiences with the basic power saving settings provided with the operating system were less than positive; the energy management settings offered little flexibility, and often the computers would stop responding. As a result, the district disabled the computer energy management settings and relied on shutting computers down manually at the end of a school week.

After searching for a solution on the Internet, Rusty found Power Save to be the best fit for their needs. “It has freed up the time and resources of IT because we trust Power Save to shut down the labs for us in order to satisfy our district’s energy management policy requirements,” says Rusty Adams.

Power Save’s energy management features were able to bring the district’s computers in line with Newport Independent’s energy policy. The benefits are not only financial, but environmental too. The less energy that the computers use, the smaller the carbon footprint they create.

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Computer Threat Protection That’s Close To Home
by Ryan Majeau - 05/05/11

It seems just about every other day a news story breaks about some major security breach at a large company where thousands of people’s personal information has been stolen by some hacker, a virus, a zero-day attack, a click-jacking scheme, or a few dozen other phrases many still can’t spell or even pronounce. But what you don’t hear about is when these sorts of computer threats breach a home computer. Just because you don’t hear about this doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. It happens a lot and can easily happen to you—sometimes right under your nose!

Your home computer is full of information that hackers would love to get their hands on. Sure things like your online banking passwords or the credit card information you used for that online shopping spree last week are the obvious targets, but the information in your emails, your chat history or even your family photos are equally as valuable to a hacker—and vulnerable.

You can protect yourself though. Like most home users, you probably have an anti-virus program installed. And like most you probably think that’s all you need. Unfortunately this is the wrong answer.

Nowadays, computer threat protection goes far beyond just using anti-virus. Anti-virus is a blacklist solution that is only capable of stopping the threats it knows about. With 60,000 new computer threats released each and every day, you can imagine keeping this list up to date is not an easy task. New undiscovered malware can easily bypass your anti-virus before your vendor can update its virus definitions. So what can you do? You can turn to a layered security approach.

In addition to anti-virus, application whitelisting software provides an additional complementary layer of protection to combat computer threats. Instead of keeping a long list of programs that need to be blocked, with whitelisting only the programs on your list are allowed to execute. If it’s not on your list, it doesn’t run. Simple as that. If something gets past your anti-virus, your application whitelisting software will make sure it doesn’t make it any further. Together the two solutions give you full computer threat protection.

So protect yourself, your investment and your family by adopting a layered security approach.

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In the IT World, Channel is the New Black
by Maryam Mahjoub - 05/06/11

The shortest distance from A to B is a straight line - but not always within the IT industry. Top tiered organizations within the industry, including Dell, Apple and Red Hat are changing their primary sales strategy from direct to a channel based indirect sales approach.

Faronics, the world’s most trusted security software provider, has also adopted the channel strategy, with aggressive plans to have 80% of revenue coming through channel by 2015.

So why the shift?

Channel programs offer lucrative benefits for both vendors and the Value Added Resellers (VAR) they work with. Solutions providers can exponentially broaden their reach with minimal overhead. A channel program also reduces the strains and problems so many large conglomerates and multinational organizations face.

VAR can broaden their scope of services to local customers and provide the local touch a large organization may not be able to offer. VAR have the ability to customize their product offerings to best suit their customers through selecting a range of vendors, or to become uniquely specialized in a key number of products. Adapting to your environment is always a strength when working in the technology market.

By leveraging each others’ strengths, knowledge and opportunities both partners have the potential to exponentially grow their market share. Ultimately, this means more revenue for both.

So maybe Channel Sales isn’t the new black... but really, the new green.

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Revenge of the Geeks
by Cesar Bohorquez - 05/06/11

Every week Faronics reflects on the outstanding effort partners make to become a true extension of Faronics sales and services organizations by taking a proactive role in generating demand and delivering Faronics solutions to the market. Last month Faronics was voted by CRN as a top ten vendor with one of the most robust partner programs.  The annual list recognizes vendors who offer solution providers the best possible partnering elements for channel success.

“This coincides with Faronics’ announcement of a strengthened, ramped up partner program,” said Luke Aulin, Manager of North American Channel. “Faronics has established itself through a mix of direct and indirect sales channels and will now scale that success through their channel as its primary go to market strategy.”

It’s more than just managing the distribution system for resellers, it’s important to establish good communication with key customers to continue adding value even beyond the sale.  In other words vendors need to look at organizations that not only offer an exceptional internal and external sales structure to support the push and pull strategy, but also look at the after sale aspect of the business where resellers can serve as their “go-to overall systems integrator” – to deliver not only recommended software solutions but hardware and services to ease a customer’s IT pains.

This week Faronics takes a close look at one of their elite VAR (Value Added Reseller) partner, Geeks In A Flash!®

Geeks In A Flash!®  a VAR that pride themselves on having superior customer service and the highest level of technical know how and why not, they house one of the largest seasoned, qualified, technical professionals who are highly trained to solve problems fast and cost effectively.

"Faronics has significantly increased our opportunities into the Public Sector with products such as Power Save and Deep Freeze. It used to be so difficult just to get a foot in the door when dealing with Public Sector groups as their Value Proposition these days have to be very hard dollars. Faronics has the same goals that Geeks in A Flash!® has had from day 1 about 9 years ago, that is to Reduce IT related costs, Increase overall employee productivity, and keep systems up and healthy. Faronics is the perfect software company match for us bar none,” said Manny Lloyd, CEO and founder of Geeks In A Flash!®.

In addition to many years of real world experience, their technicians also maintain vendor certifications including Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, 3Com, HP, IBM, Apple, Citrix and many others and have over 5 years of field experience working on hundreds of computer networks –24 hours a day 7 days a week . To date, they service over 100 companies in Wilmington and other cities across North Carolina and South Carolina while keeping a stellar reputation.

This philosophy is indicative of how they operate, just ask their CEO. Geeks In A Flash!®, CEO and founder of Geeks In A Flash!® Manny Lloyd aka “Papa Geek” has developed the 10 Geekimandments™ (www.geeksinaflash.com)  and the 3 Have You Been Geeked™ Rules to keep the message and promise transparent.

Rule #1: If you call them with a problem that needs urgent attention, they guarantee to return your call within 60 minutes or less to help you resolve it. If they don’t, the service is free.

Rule #2: They will give you a fixed quote for every job you need done and will guarantee that price in writing. That way you don’t have to worry about a technician taking 2 or 3 times as long on a job and billing you for it.

Rule #3: If you are not happy with the work they’ve done in any way, just call their office within 2 weeks of the service call and they will come back out on site and make it right at no charge to you. Or, if you’re just not happy, they’ll issue you a complete refund.

Wow, now that’s what you call superior customer service! It’s safe to say that gone are the days of geeks being the uncool underdogs on campus, in this case the IT market place.

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Zero-day Malware Shuts Down City
by Bim Parmar- 05/08/11

Up until March 15th, 2011, Nanaimo – a small city of 76,000 people in Western Canada, was mostly known for a decadent dessert bar and it’s annual bathtub race across Georgia Straight. However, on March 16th they became the first known victims of a zero-day virus strain called “qakbot”.  The malware was first detected on March 15th and the following day it infected over 440 computers at Nanaimo City Hall, forcing many city services offline and effectively shutting down operations.

The city shut down its Internet connection immediately as the virus spread almost instantly from workstation to workstation. According to the city’s Internet security providers, Nanaimo is using the best anti-virus programs possible to identify the new strain. Unfortunately, this version of the virus has a completely new signature that wasn't recognized by their defenses.

City staff worked almost around the clock after the zero-day virus  was discovered Wednesday and a dozen people worked overtime all day Saturday and Sunday in order to remediate the infected computers and get services back online. In addition to the remediation cost, the City had to purchase additional laptop computers in order to provide temporary services to citizens and businesses.  The total cost to recover from this incident is expected to be in the tens of thousands.

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Malware Hacks PenFed Credit Union’s Customer Database
by Samantha Shah- 05/09/11

The Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) serves active-duty military personnel and others connected to the Pentagon. On Dec.12, 2010 PenFed discovered a major security breach caused by a laptop infected with malware. The malware permitted unauthorized access to the customer database exposing both personal and financial information for credit union members, joint owners, former members, employees and beneficiaries.

Released information included names, addresses, social security numbers, account numbers, credit card numbers and debit card numbers. In total, 514 New Hampshire residents were affected, according to a letter issued to the State’s Attorney General’s Office, which is a requirement for reporting security breaches in the state of New Hampshire.

The full extent of the security breach remains unknown and PenFed refused to comment. With over $15B in assets and nearly $1M members across the US, it is difficult to determine the total number of individuals who were compromised. Roderick Mitchell, PenFed’s EVP of Operations, provided reassurance stating there is no evidence that the exposed information was misused and no PINs or passwords were accessed.

In an effort to resolve this situation, PenFed contacted affected customers by mail and replaced all exposed credit and debit cards. Additionally, PenFed offered impacted individuals a 2-year subscription to an Identity Theft Protection Service provided by Kroll and also advised them to review credit reports and credit card statements monthly.

Security attacks are on the rise, especially among Credit Unions because their smaller size often means smaller budgets and less robust security measures. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, data breaches have increased by 33% in 2010 alone compared to 2009. In an era where many professionals use portable and mobile devices to complete business activities, hackers have increasing opportunities to invade customer security.  Therefore, financial organizations need to protect their endpoints with several layers of security to discourage fraudsters in accessing and stealing sensitive data, thus avoiding costly lawsuits, damaged reputation, customer turnover and penalties from regulatory bodies.

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Classroom Technology
by Kelly Batke- 05/09/11

If you graduated from school over 15 years ago like I did, you would probably be shocked at how technology has transformed education. In our digital age, technology literacy is a key component of modern society that will only become increasingly critical as time presses forward.

When Education Secretary Arne Duncan released the final version of 2010 National Education Technology Plan last winter, the objective was to teach students vital skills for the 21st Century. The goal is to “dramatically improve teaching and learning, personalize instruction and ensure that the educational environments we offer to all students keep pace with the 21st century.”

Not too surprisingly, modern competencies were listed as critical thinking, complex problem solving, collaboration, and multimedia communication. The plan calls for “embedded assessment technologies” to engage and motivate users, such as simulations and collaboration environments.

Dedicated classroom management software empowers teachers with the ability to share their screen with students, control student access to applications and websites, and monitor classroom screens to ensure students are participating effectively. Teachers are also able to share their screen with students, or with their supervision allow users to share their screen with others.

Communication efficiency is increased with the ability to send and collect files, chat with users, broadcast messages, and hold classroom votes and student testing. Technology is creating multiple ways to actively engage students in their own learning, while teaching valuable skills for the real world. Now even the shy kids in the corner can join a discussion or talk to the teacher without being limited by fears of public speaking.

Transforming the classroom environment with widespread computer use effectively takes students beyond the typical four walls into a global world with unlimited opportunities. Education has taken a real-life approach by arming students with the skills they will need to survive in the real world. I just can’t help but wonder what the next 15 years will hold.

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Save Money by Being Green
by Kelly Batke- 05/09/11

When budgets are always too tight and resources are often a little too scarce, schools are constantly looking for ways to do more with less. Saving on energy costs is a great way to generate operational savings that can be transferred to other parts of the budget that need it most. Wasting precious resources seems like a foolish idea, so why is wasting energy any different?

A PC power management system is a cost-effective way to reduce your school district’s power bill and energy consumption, while creating a reputation for being environmentally responsible. A successful PC power management software solution can deliver a full ROI in as little as four months — even less if you qualify for a government rebate. Depending on the number of PCs in operation, districts can save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

As regulations slowly increase, more and more schools will be mandated to adopt a green IT approach. Educational facilities have a serious responsibility to set an example and help create a greener, cleaner future. Poor PC energy management is not just a waste of energy, but it’s a waste of money.

Here are a few tips to implement a successful energy management system:

Determine Your Current PC Energy Consumption
Verify how many computers you have and when they are on. This will provide a baseline measure of the energy consumed, which makes it easy to determine your potential savings.

Understand the Myths Behind PC Power Management
Responsible computer energy consumption doesn’t necessarily require purchasing new hardware. Today’s power management solutions actually deliver better energy conservation results than those gained through new machines alone. Modern solutions are also non-disruptive and allow for patch management and maintenance.

Look Beyond Group Policy Options
Many traditional methods, such as Group Policy, aren’t granular enough and don’t include reporting features. Consider a solution with a centralized management console to provide an at-a-glance update of your progress, energy savings and investment payback.

Enquire About Local Rebates
Power companies across North America are offering significant rebates to organizations and individuals that implement recognized software solutions to reduce power consumption. Ask your local utility provider for more information on Power Save rebates available in your area.

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Carbon Neutral…Again!
by Kelly Batke- 05/09/11

Faronics, a global leader in PC system control and energy management software solutions, is proud to announce that it has been certified as Carbon Neutral, for the second consecutive year. This award demonstrates Faronics’ continued commitment to social and environmental sustainability by proactively managing the impact of its business activities on the global climate.

The accreditation, awarded by Offsetters, a Vancouver-based carbon management company, recognizes businesses that achieve zero Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHG).

Faronics has taken environmental stewardship one step further by not only measuring and reducing GHG emissions, but offsetting to successfully achieve a zero carbon footprint.

Committed to sustainability, Faronics surpassed its original goal of decreasing its carbon footprint by 5% for the previous year, by achieving a 17% reduction. To accomplish this feat, a four-part GHG management plan was created to include a GHG Inventory Quality Management System, an internal reduction plan, target setting, and investing in GHG offsets.

"As a manufacturer of world class PC energy management software, achieving Carbon Neutral status allows us to walk the talk of sustainability,” says Dmitry Shesterin, VP of Marketing and Carbon Neutrality Taskforce Coordinator at Faronics. “As a member of the global community, we recognize our opportunity to operate a socially responsible business that contributes to making the world a better place.”

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Honored to Win Three Awards
by Kelly Batke- 05/09/11

Winning awards is a big accomplishment, so when we found out we had won three awards for the second year in a row from Technology & Learning, we couldn’t wait to tell everyone all about it.

Faronics is proud to announce that three of its products have been chosen as winners of Annual Awards of Excellence. Winning software solutions include: Faronics Power Save, Faronics Deep Freeze, and Faronics Insight. Winners were selected in the Best Upgraded Products Category, which honors products that have made significant enhancements to previous versions evolving to meet the changing needs of technology.

Faronics winning product solutions were among 78 education technology products selected in the prestigious 28-year-old program by Technology & Learning, a leading resource for K-12 leaders. “We are proud to be recognized as a key industry player by Technology & Learning,” said Vik Khanna, COO of Faronics. “Product innovation is instrumental to our continued commitment to meeting our customers’ needs and providing them with even better solutions to meet the needs of tomorrow.”

Winners were selected by a judging panel comprised of more than 30 educators who were challenged to evaluate over 140 entries. A detailed description and judges’ comments is featured in the magazine’s December 2010 Awards Issue.

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We Made It! Faronics Achieves West Coast Labs’ Checkmark Certification
by Kelly Batke- 05/09/11

West Coast Certification
Faronics Anti-Virus has achieved West Coast Labs' Checkmark Certification. Checkmark is the world's fastest growing certification system for information security products and services. It is a highly regarded accreditation program, recognized globally by vendors, end users and by government agencies for providing end users with effective confirmation of the effectiveness of a product or service in an ever-changing threat landscape.

Faronics met the rigorous testing program by successfully detecting a series of spyware samples from a West Coast Labs collection without any false positives including Remote Access Trojans (RATs), password stealers, keyloggers, and crackers among other malware. Launched just five months ago, Faronics Anti-Virus provides high-performance, proactive endpoint malware protection without the common complaints of sluggish performance and resource drain that plague traditional anti-virus solutions.

“Receiving the prestigious Checkmark Certification by West Coast labs reinforces our commitment to product innovation and validates our newly launched Faronics Anti-Virus solution, a powerful anti-malware product,” says Faronics CEO Farid Ali. “This certification represents a major third-party endorsement of the quality of our anti-virus solution.”

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Reasons to Reduce Your PC Energy Consumption
by Kelly Batke- 05/09/11

I hate clichés…but even more so when they are right. If you are looking for “low hanging fruit” you best to consider a PC power management solution.

PC power management can reduce costs, cheaply and effectively, while at the same time help justify more strategic IT investments and improve your green credentials. –But that is only a peak at the benefits.

The top motivation for pursuing greener IT is to “reduce the energy-related operating expenses of IT.” And PC power management can do this very effectively. Take Chaffey Joint Union High School as a real-world example; by powering down their 5000 PCs during non-working hours, they are saving more than $350000 per year.

While the primary motivation for Green IT is financial, the second most popular driver is to “doing the right thing for the environment.” And curbing the energy consumption of your PC environment in turn cuts emissions related to global climate change. To quote the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, the average desktop PC wastes half of the energy it consumes and by turning on energy-saving features you can reduce your CO2 emissions by nearly half a ton.

PC power management should be on every IT professional’s checklist of “low-hanging fruit” to reduce costs — regardless of whether or not IT owns the electricity bill. As a first step, define your approach to PC power management to estimate potential savings, then determine if your client management suite can offer power management functionality.

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Faronics Supports Jeans Day!
By Kelly Batke - 05/09/11

Community involvement is a key philosophy of many businesses. – And Faronics couldn’t agree more.

Over $2200 was raised by Faronics at the 20th annual Jeans Day in support of the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation. The Vancouver based software company raised the money from employees through the sale of Jeans Day buttons and pins, and was able to match its employee contributions dollar for dollar.

Faronics proudly presented the cheque to the foundation on May 16th, during the 12th annual A World of Smiles Telethon. Faronics has been a strong supporter of the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation for many years.

Charitable donations are one way that companies, owners and employees give back while fundraising brings workers together in support of a common cause and helps raise a company’s community profile. Knowing what motivates people and businesses to make monetary donations helps you set your policy for charitable giving for the year.

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Fish For Information, Don’t Let It Phish You.
by Ryan Majeau - 05/09/11

Want to see who is viewing your Facebook profile? Maybe you’d like to find out what some guy did to his girlfriend (you’ll never believe it!)? Perhaps you just want to take a peek of some horrific scenes from an amusement park accident? ‘Curiosity killed the cat’, and in this case your curiosity in any of these subjects just got your Facebook account phished.

Phishing scams are defined as someone who imitates a trustworthy source with the criminal intent of stealing sensitive information. The likely payloads are of course credit card and banking info or usernames and passwords, but when it comes to Facebook the valuables these scams are after are your contact info, your friends list, and even your photos. Chances are you’ve seen at least one of these phishing scams litter your Facebook newsfeed in recent months, and chances are just as likely that you fell for at least one of them too.

Phishing scams rely on your curious nature and your need to know the latest information out there, so they utilize subject matter of horrific scenes or breaking news stories to entice you to click. The recent aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s death saw a sharp rise in phishing scams claiming photos and videos of the deceased were viewable online with just one click. Once clicked the scam infects your account and posts itself to everyone on your friend’s list’s wall, and does so looking like it was you personally who put it there. This just helps spread the scam as any unsuspecting friends you have would more likely trust a link sent from someone as honest as you and click too.

Not to say every post in your newsfeed is a phishing scam that one of your friends already fell victim to, but nowadays you just need to think before you click. You don’t need to swear off clicking (I’d like to see you try though), so if you’re not sure about a post just take a quick trip to Goolge, Bing or whatever your favourite search engine is to do a search for the topic you’re curious about. The results you find there will be legitimate sources of information and could save you from inadvertently littering dozens of people’s Facebook walls.

So what’s the moral of the story? Fish for information yourself, don’t let it phish you.

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The Kids are Not Alright
by Kelly Batke - 05/09/11

If kids aren't in school, they can't learn – so it's time to take attendance seriously.

Schools everywhere are struggling to ensure student attendance is monitored. Aside from the importance of students’ needing to learn, educational facilities also require on high student attendance to increase funding.

So how can we ensure students are present in the classroom?

Involve parents in truancy prevention activities. Many truancy programs provide intensive monitoring, counseling and other family strengthening services. Schools should encourage constant contact between teachers and parents before attendance because a concern.
Involve local law enforcement in truancy reduction efforts. School officials should seek the assistance of local police, probation officers and juvenile and family court officials to support truancy policies.

Invest in classroom management software. If your educational facility is seeking increased funding software that assists in student success, classroom management software can help.

By monitoring student attendance you can boost not only your academic achievement, but also receive much needed funding. Student attendance monitoring can ultimately boost your enrollment and student achievement rates.

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