December 2009 Newsletter

Less is still more as we head into the big Holiday Season. As we all re-calibrate, we realize what’s most important in our lives ... values like family, time for sharing, love and friendship. The gift of time is what many people say they need most in their lives. What could you do with an extra hour per week? That’s more than a full week per year in time savings.

Computer Magic Training is well known for saving people lots of valuable time.

• Our Excel Macros students have saved as much as 5-10 hours per week by automating time-consuming repetitive tasks.
• Our expert PowerPoint students can make major changes to entire presentations in just a few clicks – saving them hours of manual changes to each slide.
• Our advanced Word students can instantly change the format of their long documents by applying changes to Styles, instead of spending hours changing text on every page.
• Our Outlook PowerUser students can increase their daily productivity by as much as 30% by applying time-management advanced Outlook techniques to their daily work schedules.

If time is of the essence to you, or to your employees, let us give you the gift of time … with our outstanding Computer Training Classes! Always hands-on, always led by one of our fantastic senior-level instructors, and always satisfaction guaranteed. With Free Repeat classes for 2 years afterwards!

Happy Holidays from all of us at Computer Magic Training & Business Magic Training! (and keep reading for fabulous discounts … because less is still more!)

December, January & February Special Newsletter Discounts

Public Enrollment Classes:

• 35% off all Office 2007 Classes thru February 2010
• 20% off all Adobe Classes thru February 2010

Corporate Group Classes:

• 40% or more off all Corporate Group Classes thru February 2010

Details & enrollment information

Life After Layoff Program

• Yes there IS Life After Layoff!
• Take any computer class for only $75.00 per day.

Details & enrollment information

Windows 7 Is Here!

By Ed Correia, CEO, Sagacent Technologies (the fantastic IT support team for Computer Magic Training)

It has only been a little over a month since the big market release of Windows 7 last October 22nd. And what a release this has been – with glowing media reviews and positive post-upgrade statements from users! In truth, Windows 7 is proving to be everything that Windows Vista should have been. Keep in mind, that the pressure for Microsoft was huge - this is the first major operating system release from Microsoft (excluding the failed release of Windows Vista) since November of 2001 when Windows XP was introduced. I think this is going to be quite an exciting release for computer users and I expect that we will see a lot of companies upgrading to the new operating system.

We have now been testing Windows 7 in our offices for the last several months. We upgraded most of the computers here at Sagacent and I personally was so impressed that within the first 30 days of our getting the release candidates shipped to us, I began upgrading even my own home machines and laptops. I now run Windows 7 on four of my five home computers (definitely the ones I use most frequently) and I can honestly say that I love it!

Here is some info that I think you should know about to help you make the decision of whether or not Windows 7 will be for you.

Why Upgrade to Windows 7?

• Stability – Windows 7 is the most stable operating system I have seen from Microsoft and very rarely needs to be rebooted.
• Security – it is much more secure than Windows XP and dramatically more so than in Windows 2000.
• Tighter integration with Small Business Server.
• Faster – a true 64-bit operating system means faster startup and shut down. And copying of files to and from the network seems about twice as fast as XP or Vista.
• Windows XP is now nearly 9 years old (released Nov 2001) and it is showing its age - particularly vs. the newer malware attacks.
• UAC (User Access Control) is much less annoying than in Vista - I have not been bothered by it at all on any of the computers that I upgraded.
• Better power management - laptops can get between 30% to 50% longer battery life when configured correctly. Desktop computers almost never need rebooting. You simply put it into sleep mode and when you return, touch any key on the keyboard and the computer is ready to rock in about 3 seconds!
• Legacy hardware support is much better than with Windows Vista. This is really amazing. Everything I own accepted and works with Vista except a very old (8 year old) laptop.
• The upcoming Office 2010 and Windows 7 work together seamlessly – and very fast!

Why Not Windows 7?

• No clear upgrade on top of Windows XP. Truthfully, it is really best that the old computer be backed-up, hard drives formatted and a clean install be performed.
• Economic conditions – some business will not be able to afford it for a while.
• XP still works pretty well.
• Virtualization requires special processor, motherboard and BIOS compatibility.
• 4-bit is not for everyone yet - some computers may not be able to handle a 64-bit operating system. Two of our older computers in our office and my new Netbook couldn’t handle 64-bit and we were forced to install the 32-bit version of Windows 7. Regardless, they still ran just as fast as Windows XP did, plus we had all the new Windows 7 features.

If you'd like to know more or have questions, please feel free to contact Ed Correia at Sagacent Technologies.

Let us empower you and your employees to achieve success in your professional goals and increase your productivity with individual or group classes of the highest quality! Please call us at (408) 261-2600 or email us at info@ComputerMagicTraining.com. Or visit us at www.ComputerMagicTraining.com and www.BusinessMagicTraining.com for more information & on-line registration!