Month: March 2019

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IT Support Dallas 100% Guaranteed Service

IT Support Dallas:  Business Tech Services With A Touch Of Magic

You need an IT support company in Dallas who will be there when you need help.  Data Magic Computer Services provides exceptional service and high value for Dallas businesses…large and small.

In modern business, regardless of your industry, you need the best IT services to thrive. From productivity to security, to communication, to innovative new ways to get work done – information technology is at the heart of it all. Data Magic Inc. offers services and solutions that are designed to improve your operations and maximize your IT investment.

With reliable services and an expert team of technicians on your side, there’s no limit to what your business will achieve. The right IT helps you to start meeting and exceeding goals, ensuring you’re always functioning at your absolute best.

IT Services with a Touch of Magic

  • Managed Services – We understand that no two businesses are alike. That’s why we offer a wide range of packages to provide the exact level of care and services you need. Our team helps you plan strategically for your future, to ensure you’re always working with the best solutions to improve your workflow.
  • Co-Managed Services – Do you already have in-house IT, but they’re just not cutting it? We offer co-managed services to work alongside your existing technology department, providing added expertise and support.
  • IT Consulting – Business is demanding, and you need to be able to provide your full attention to the work you’re doing. Our IT consulting services give you expert guidance and ensure you’re always making the best investments and decisions to guarantee a long and successful future for your operations.
  • Computer Repair –We know that you rely on your devices to get work done; without your computer, you’re stuck. That’s why we provide computer repair to ensure your desktops and laptops are given the highest level of care and attention possible, so you’re able to get back to work quickly and without any lost data or resources.
  • Apple Support – Apple is at the forefront of technology, providing devices designed with convenience and connectivity in mind. We provide support to ensure your Apple products are always properly implemented and maintained, guaranteeing that you’re always productive and protected.
  • Software Development – Our team of reliable experts work their magic to give you unique, innovative software that’s designed for your specific needs. We work with you to develop applications that help you overcome obstacles and streamline tasks.
  • Database Development – Knowledge is power. Our database development services give you greater insight into the efficiencies of your processes, allowing you to ensure your workforce is always operating at its best and most effective.
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What Exactly Does A Managed IT Services Company Provide?

Managed IT Services Company

Running a business requires a great deal of focused attention. Unfortunately, when your technology team is spending a great deal of time dealing with login problems, software licensing, cybersecurity, and more, it doesn’t leave a lot of time for growth activities and strategic thinking. As businesses grow, many organizations find that it makes sense to work with an IT-managed services company to maintain a high level of security and staff productivity that would be nearly impossible using only internal assets. These technology partners provide best-in-class tools and support that can scale your business as you expand. Here’s an overview of the type of services that many of these technology partners provide.

Day-to-Day Operations

Technology teams often refer to “death by a thousand cuts” — which is what happens when you have dozens of people relying on you to provide technical support for your organization. Everything from computers that refuse to reboot to conference rooms where the projection isn’t working all come to your help desk. This can overwhelm the individuals in IT and also cause a productivity loss for the staff members who are waiting on a response or support. IT-managed services providers are able to step into this gap and solve a variety of simple challenges, including:

  • Retrieving lost files or folders
  • Resetting passwords
  • Issuing software licenses (based on pre-set business parameters)
  • Troubleshooting network connectivity
  • Rebooting servers

These are only a few of the “Help me now!” requests that technology professionals receive on a daily basis, and all of these options can be resolved remotely by a friendly technician from your IT-managed services provider.

Creating or Refining Cybersecurity

Ensuring that your business information stays safe is a primary directive for today’s organizations. With many companies storing personal financial and health information for clients or staff, cybercriminals are enjoying access to data from organizations of all sizes — especially those businesses without a robust security posture. Staying current with the latest threats takes time and attention, and can be challenging for technology staff members to juggle with other priorities. When you work with a managed services provider, you have easy and immediate access to cybersecurity professionals who are able to review your current processes, make recommendations for improvement and then even help with the implementation of those suggestions.

Long-Term Technology Strategies and Budgeting

Even things that you might think of as integral to your business can be supported through a trusted IT-managed services provider. A good technology partner may have access to dozens of business models and be able to make recommendations for your business based on a broader scope of understanding. Your external IT team can help with research on new vendor partners, negotiating better pricing on software due to shared buying power, and even help create budgets based on the unique needs of your business.

Advanced Backup and Disaster Recovery

Should the unthinkable happen, it definitely pays to be prepared. There are any number of reasons you might have to restore operations from a backup, but without a proactive backup and disaster recovery process in place, this can be a big challenge for businesses. Massive fires, flooding, or other natural disasters claim thousands of businesses every year, as those businesses are unable to restart operations after a disaster. Cyber threats or data loss could also spell doom for your business, especially if the loss leads to an extended period of time without access to your business data. With an IT-managed services partner, you’re gaining access to advanced backup and disaster recovery software and protocols that will help protect your business in the event of an emergency — and help you restart operations quickly. More than 96% of businesses with a disaster recovery solution in place continue operations, but the same cannot be said of those without the forethought to create a comprehensive plan.

There are hundreds of scenarios where an IT-managed services provider can help support your business. The bottom line is that you are gaining access to a deep bench of qualified professionals who are solely focused on helping make your business successful. Whether you need immediate assistance with help desk support or longer-term strategic advice, IT-managed services providers serve a vital role in today’s business world.

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5 Things You Need To Know About the End of Windows 7 Support

Windows 7

Windows 7 has had a great run, but Microsoft has decided that it’s finally time to retire the platform. Windows 7 isn’t being deprecated by customers as quickly as Windows would like, with more than 38% of all PCs still running the aging OS. It seems that businesses like to hang onto an operating system once it becomes stable, because even Windows XP still owns 3.3% of the market share after support ended in April 2014. Windows 10 is still the top operating system for PCs, but it’s only a few basis points above the much older Windows 7.

As Microsoft enters the final stretch for offering support for Windows 7, there are 5 things you need to know to keep your PCs stable and operating in peak condition.

1. Windows 10 Offers Better Security

Cybersecurity is one of the topics on everyone’s mind in the technology field, and Windows 10 offers additional security measures you won’t find in the older OS. Ransomware, in particular, is being targeted to computers running older operating systems such as Windows 7, because there’s the perception that updates and patches may not be put into place. Windows 10 has a significantly more advanced end-to-end defense stack than you’ll find on Windows 7.

2. Get Ready for Windows as a Service

Another key benefit of migrating to Windows 10 is the speed of releases. While Windows 7 and previous operating systems from Microsoft had an extended release schedule, the team behind Windows 10 will be pushing out updates approximately every 6 months. What’s more, the updates each have a limited lifespan of support, a move to encourage businesses to shift to a more frequent schedule of updates. This requirement can be a burden on an overtaxed technology department, especially when Microsoft is expecting the updates to be completed at least every 18 months.

3. Are Your Business Applications Compatible?

Organizations that put off an upgrade to the newest in Microsoft’s operating system lineup may be doing so due to a concern about lack of compatibility with current business applications. Turns out, this is definitely a consideration, as some organizations are having to roll back their Windows 10 upgrade due to interoperability issues with line-of-business applications. Application compatibility is an important consideration any time operating systems are upgraded, so Microsoft is providing free assistance with app compatibility as part of their upgrade program.

4. You May Need to Refresh Your Hardware

You may find that older PCs are not hardy enough to handle the requirements of a newer operating system. While it will make your upgrade journey more complex, it’s best to ensure that you’ve got the best possible start with computers that will handle the additional computational load that Windows 10 requires. This is one of the steps where it is helpful to get a second opinion from a trusted service provider, as upgrading and then determining that your legacy equipment won’t handle the new business apps and systems could require labor-intensive and expensive rework. The load from Windows 10 is not extremely heavy, but it could burden older systems.

5. Need Extra Time to Upgrade?

Of course, there’s always the option that you can pay your way into a few more years of Microsoft support for Windows 7. While Microsoft isn’t recommending this option, it could be viable for an organization that is deeply rooted in the Windows 7 ecosystem — at least for the short term. The need to upgrade eventually is inevitable, but this extension on the January 2020 deadline may allow businesses to have a more orderly migration than rushing to get in under the wire. If you’re ready to upgrade the majority of your hardware and have a legacy application or two that is incompatible with Windows 10, there’s always the option of running a virtual machine with Windows 7 until you’re able to patch or rebuild your incompatible software.

Whether you’re going to stick it out or ready to make an upgrade, you’ll need to keep in mind the age of your current fleet of PCs as you carefully weigh the costs and benefits of taking this step. What is most important is that your team has the support that you need to make decisions as well as the technical support in the event of any bumps along the road.

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What’s A Good Accounting Software For Construction Companies?

Peachtree Premium Accounting For Construction Can Help You Get More Done Each Day

There’s so much competition in the construction industry in Texas. How can you compete with large construction companies that have virtually unlimited budgets? – By using the right accounting software so your staff can work smarter, not harder. Let Peachtree Premium Accounting For Construction help you tackle your finances.

With so many software programs available, you can spend lots of time checking out the features in each one. That’s why we’re providing information on Peachtree – to do the homework for you. We’ve listed some of the ways using Peachtree can benefit your construction company.

What Is Peachtree Premium Accounting For Construction?

If you run a small construction company, Sage’s Peachtree Premium Accounting is an excellent product to consider. It’s affordable, functional and incorporates an industry-backed feature for contractors.

It brings all the elements in Peachtree Premium Accounting, plus robust job-costing, progress-billing, and industry-specific reports. It’s designed to save time, increase accuracy and help you determine a job’s profitability.

With Peachtree Premium Accounting, you can track revenue and costs down to the most minute detail. Your staff will spend less time on their accounting tasks and more time growing your business.

How Will Peachtree Premium Accounting Benefit Our Construction Business?

It’s easy to use. You’ll have a sample company pre-built for construction to get going. It comes with a toolbar with a chart of accounts that’s construction-specific, and easily customizable. Its uncluttered data entry screens provide lookup options throughout the program to help you along the way.

Peachtree uses centers for easy system navigation. Its setup wizards will help you get it running quickly. The centers are arranged according to their functions. Illustrations are designed to match the way you work. Navigation Aids help you understand how transactions are processed. This makes it easy to find all the features you need.

You’ll Benefit From:

  • An affordable and scalable solution with robust job-costing capability, construction-specific features and analysis tools. You’ll benefit from a powerful core accounting solution with retainage tracking. It has capabilities to apply labor burden, and progress billing makes your accounting tasks much more manageable. You can utilize a default chart of accounts that can be easily customized. Peachtree’s GL functionality includes an excellent banking function, making it easy to reconcile all of your accounts. You can also integrate it with other Sage and CRM products.
  • The ability to track subcontractor insurance expiration and job-in-progress analysis to reduce your liability risk. There’s also a Subcontractor Insurance Report where you can view insurance expiration dates, company name, policy limit and number. You can keep insurance expiration dates within the software, so it warns you when you try to pay or enter a transaction for a subcontractor whose insurance has expired.
  • Payroll features with helpful customer and vendor-management reports. Whether you outsource your payroll or manage it in-house, you’ll have access to cost-effective, time-saving options such as:
    • Full-Service Payroll with Peachtree Payroll Service where professionals at Sage Software do the work for you.
    • In-House Payroll with Peachtree Payroll Tax Update Service.
    • Peachtree Direct Deposit where you can make payday easier for everyone in your company.
  • Data Security where you can choose who has access to your accounting and at what level. Plus, it will record and report on any changes made to your transactions. When used along with Peachtree software’s password security, you can monitor each employee’s activity on the platform and know who made changes and where.
  • The Business Status page that displays eight distinct views of company data, including Aged AP, Aged AR and Account Balances. The Accounts Payable (AP) functions help you process standard vendor payments, along with a Vendor Management Center, where you can manage all levels of vendor information. It provides electronic payment options and a series of analysis tools that provide access to current company status. Peachtree’s Accounts Receivable (AR) functionality includes processes for handling customer quotes along with standard posting payments received. It automatically calculates retainage on any invoices or credit memos. And, you’ll like the Management Center where you can manage all levels of vendor information.
  • The MyDashboard feature that comes with Inventory Adjustments, Purchases Received and Item Purchase History. The Business Status Page and the My Dashboard are both customizable.
  • The Inventory function that uses LIFO, FIFO and Special Unit Valuation for any inventory products. You can also track your inventory with user-defined codes. An inventory adjustment feature allows you to make adjustments to inventory levels. You can also use serialized inventory if you wish.
  • Sage Peachtree Business Intelligence, an add-on application that helps you create custom reports in Excel that contain superior drill-down capabilities, and the ability to combine several reports into one.
  • An Estimates History that provides detailed information on all previous estimates entered since the original estimate was processed. You can estimate costs for each job or job phase as needed.
  • A Help & Support function that’s accessible from anywhere in the platform. Support documents like the Getting Started Guide help new users as will numerous tutorials. There are also links to a customer support center, as well as email and telephone support.

The list of positives and great reviews for Peachtree Premium Accounting For Construction goes on and on. As a trusted IT consultant for construction companies in Dallas/Ft. Worth, we can help you find the IT solutions that work best for you. Check back for more information about Peachtree and other software. Data Magic Computer Services is here to answer any questions you may have.

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New Whaling Schemes: CEO Fraud Continues to Grow

CEO Fraud

In previous years, the first clue that your corporate email has been compromised would be a poorly-spelled and grammatically incorrect email message asking you to send thousands of dollars overseas. While annoying, it was pretty easy to train staff members to see these as fraud and report the emails. Today’s cybercriminals are much more tech-savvy and sophisticated in their messaging, sending emails that purport to be from top executives in your organization, making a seemingly-reasonable request for you to transfer funds to them as they travel. It’s much more likely that well-meaning financial managers will bite at this phishing scheme, making CEO and CFO fraud one of the fastest-growing ways for cybercriminals to defraud organizations of thousands of dollars at a time. Here’s how to spot these so-called whaling schemes that target the “big fish” at an organization using social engineering and other advanced targeting mechanisms.

What Are Whaling Attacks?

Phishing emails are often a bit more basic, in that they may be targeted to any individual in the organization and ask for a limited amount of funds. Whaling emails, on the other hand, are definitely going for the big haul, as they attempt to spoof the email address of the sender and aim pointed attacks based on information gathered from LinkedIn, corporate websites and social media. This more sophisticated type of attack is more likely to trick people into wiring funds or passing along PII (Personally Identifiable Information) that can then be sold on the black market. Few industries are safe from this type of cyberattack, while larger and geographically dispersed organizations are more likely to become easy targets.

The Dangers of Whaling Emails

What is particularly troubling about this type of email is that they show an intimate knowledge of your organization and your operating principles. This could include everything from targeting exactly the individual who is most likely to respond to a financial request from their CEO to compromising the legitimate email accounts of your organization. You may think that a reasonably alert finance or accounting manager would be able to see through this type of request, but the level of sophistication involved in these emails continues to grow. Scammers include insider information to make the emails look even more realistic, especially for globe-trotting CEOs who regularly need an infusion of cash from the home office. According to Kaspersky, no one is really safe from these attacks — even the famed toy maker Mattel fell to the tactics of a fraudster to the tune of $3 million. The Snapchat human resources department also fell prey to scammers, only they were after personal information on current and past employees.

How Do You Protect Your Organization From Advanced Phishing Attacks?

The primary method of protection is ongoing education of staff at all levels of the organization. Some phishing or whaling attacks are easier to interpret than others and could include simple cues that something isn’t quite right. Here are some ways that you can potentially avoid phishing attacks:

  • Train staff to be on the lookout for fake (spoofed) email addresses or names. Show individuals how to hover over the email address and look closely to ensure that the domain name is spelled correctly.
  • Encourage individuals in a position of leadership to limit their social media presence and avoid sharing personal information online such as anniversaries, birthdays, promotions and relationships — all information that can be leveraged to add sophistication to an attack.
  • Deploy anti-phishing software that includes options such as link validation and URL screening.
  • Create internal best practices that include a secondary level of validation when large sums of money or sensitive information is requested. This can be as simple as a phone call to a company-owned phone to validate that the request is legitimate.
  • Request that your technology department or managed services provider add a flag to all emails that come from outside your corporate domain. That way, users can be trained to be wary of anything that appears to be internal to the organization, yet has that “external” flag.

There are no hard and fast rules that guarantee your organization will not be the victim of a phishing attack. However, ongoing education and strict security processes and procedures are two of the best ways to help keep your company’s finances — and personal information — safe from cyberattack.

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Why Is ITSM Important For Local Business?

ITSM

With today’s businesses moving a large portion of their information technology operations to the cloud, having holistic IT services management is more important than ever before. Making this shift provides organizations with an unprecedented level of flexibility, and cloud solutions are generally more affordable. However, you may find that you’re introducing a greater level of complexity as you bring on additional integrations and cloud-based solutions. Having a trusted IT services management partner allows you to focus on the core growth of your business while shifting the bulk of responsibility for IT operations to your services management team. See how making this move helps local businesses thrive.

What is ITSM?

Information Technology Services Management (ITSM) goes by a variety of different titles. You may hear this referred to as managed services, IT outsourcing, IT consulting and more — but it all boils down to finding a partner with the technical expertise to support your organization’s IT operations. Internal IT teams often retain responsibility for setting strategy and oversight, while the more tedious daily processes and larger integrations are moved offsite to your partner’s teams. This allows you access to a broader team of professionals with expertise in a variety of different platforms, infrastructure setups and methodologies.

How Does ITSM Help My Local Business?

As businesses grow, their technical challenges become increasingly complex and are often more than one or two IT professionals can handle internally. Working with an IT services management organization allows you to reduce inefficiencies in your business and reduce the workload on key technical staff. You’ll find enhanced operational efficiency and reduced operating costs, along with a vastly improved customer experience for your internal users and customers. With an external review of your software implementations, you are likely to enjoy enhanced access control and governance of your crucial business systems. Your IT services management professionals are also able to help bring consistency to your process and automate them whenever possible. You’ll find that your teams are able to collaborate more fluidly — both internally and with your customers or vendors.

What Types of Services Does an ITSM Offer?

The wide scope of the landscape — where there are thousands of solutions for each IT project — simply requires knowledge that is too broad for a single, small team. ITSM helps your local business by helping weed through some less-than-ideal solutions to find exactly the options that are right for your business.

This could include providing a range of platforms and services:

  • Cloud-based storage
  • Backup and disaster recovery procedures
  • Antivirus and anti-malware solutions
  • Office 365 and productivity software licensing and implementation
  • Active monitoring of your network for data breaches
  • Remediation and resolution management
  • Help Desk support
  • Software Integrations
  • Universal control dashboards
  • Threat assessments and staff training
  • WiFi and endpoint management

These are only a few of the solutions that a full-service ITSM partner can provide for your organization.

Will an ITSM Team Understand My Business?

Sure, it might take your technology professionals a bit to get up to speed on your specific core competencies and the challenges that your organization offers, but these individuals are accustomed to working with a variety of organizations and will quickly learn what makes your business unique. Plus, they’re able to leverage all of their knowledge of past engagements to help see what works, what doesn’t — and how to make the most out of the teams that are available. Your IT services management team will look across the organization at people, processes and technology in order to help visualize your work and understand where changes can be made to wasteful processes.

If your organization is embarking on a digital transformation project — or even if you’re simply trying to get your technology team out of the weeds with daily help desk requests — ITSM offers some true benefits for your business. You can increase the agility and responsiveness of your business while ensuring that daily business processes are interrupted as little as possible. See how ITSM concepts can help provide the cement that you need between your business and technology teams to lead your organization into the future.

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[Video] Browser Tags

Bookmarking frequently visited websites is a popular means of easily accessing the site you need without having to remember the exact web address. But there is a way to make this even easier and quicker – tags.

Check out this week’s Tech Tip to learn how browser tags work, and why using them is a great way to keep your important bookmarks organized.

If you have questions, give me a call at (469) 635-5500 or email me at datamagic@datamagicinc.com.

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Review Your Calendar Monthly For Better Perspective

 

Life is extremely busy with people scheduling every moment of their day while still looking back and wondering where their month has gone. It’s all too easy to find yourself reviewing a 6-month plan only to find that you are seriously off-course. Focusing one day at a time can cause you to be short-sighted when it comes to achieving your long-term goals. A quick review of your monthly calendar helps ensure that you’re well on the way to meeting business — and personal — objectives.

Leverage Project Management Strategies

Most project managers realize the importance of scheduling regular project reviews where you focus not on the daily tasks, but on the distance, you have moved from the overall project perspective. You can leverage this same methodology when it comes to tackling your calendar! Looking at your calendar on a daily or even weekly basis gives you an idea of what you have to get through, but it doesn’t provide you with a holistic view of your month and your year. Breaking deliverables and goals down into monthly chunks lets you see results more quickly and provides ongoing motivation to stay the path.

Using the Right Tools for the Job

Keeping your calendar updated with all of your various home, family, personal and work obligations can be a chore, especially when you’re splitting childcare or after-school activity duties with your spouse, parents or friends. Outlook and your Google Calendar may be great for scheduling work items, but is your work calendar getting bogged down with non-work related tasks? This can make it extremely difficult for others to schedule meetings with you and to maintain visibility for crucial work projects and tasks.

Thinking Strategically

Do you have a 1-year, 5-year and 10-year plan? Breaking these plans down into bi-annual and quarterly chunks allows you to more accurately track where you are according to your plan. This also keeps you from getting to the end of a busy year and wondering what happened to all of your time! Bringing this type of strategic thinking into your calendar on a monthly basis assures that you’re setting aside a time that is just for you. Even if you only spend 15 minutes reviewing the next month on a Sunday afternoon, you will find that it was time well spent.

Don’t let yourself get tied down to the daily hassles of life that can keep you from meeting your long-term goals and objectives. You can even use your calendar to help schedule time for your monthly calendar review! Your future self thanks you.

Monthly Calendar Review

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What Accounting Software Should I Use For My Construction Company?

Whether building a big shopping center or a new home, construction work isn’t just about having the right physical tools anymore. By using the best accounting software for your company, your staff can work smarter, not harder. Let QuickBooks Contractor Edition help you tackle your finances.

QuickBooks Contractor Edition helps you juggle bids, estimates, customers, vendors, and employees for seamless construction accounting. It has all the functionality of QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions with construction-industry-specific reports and features.

What Are The Benefits Of Using QuickBooks?

It’s an end-to-end construction accounting software that can grow with your company. You’ll have all the accounting tools to organize your finances, manage inventory, track sales, and execute payroll functions. QuickBooks Contractor helps you manage costs throughout each project and track your bottom line.

Customizable Reports Stay apprised of job costs and your cash flow to ensure you stay profitable throughout a project. Advanced Reporting lets you locate the right report fast. Reports are bundled for the construction industry, so you can save time by using templates to auto-fill with your company’s information. QuickBooks Contractor also has a robust Help Portal when you have questions.

Job Costing Reports

As you pay bills, your employees and subs, you can see how your company is doing along the way with special construction reports, such as:

  • Job Costs by Job
  • Job Status
  • Cost-to-Complete
  • Unpaid Bills for each Job
  • Expenses Not Assigned to Jobs
  • Billed/Unbilled Hours by Person and Job
  • Open Purchase Orders by Vendor

Benefit from accurate job costing estimates. Unless you can accurately record job costs, you can end up quoting the wrong price. Use QuickBooks from the initial estimate on a job to the final quote.

Need To Manage Large Amounts of Data? Contractor can handle large data files, so you can work with two company files at the same time.

User Capacity You can have between 1 and 30 users working on QuickBooks Contractor at the same time. If you use their hosting service, users can access files from anywhere at any time. This makes working in the field with QuickBooks easy, and your employees can stay connected wherever they are.

What Other Features Are Included In QuickBooks For Contractors?

Data Conversion: You can convert your data from most any other accounting solution such as Sage/Peachtree, Timberlane, Oracle, Master Builder, Xero, NetSuite, Intacct, AccPac and more.

Job Costing For Contractors: From one view you can get all the information you need on a job such as your profitability, percentage complete, unpaid invoices and realized costs.

Cost To Complete: You can quickly view the cost to complete a job which is essential for any contractor. And you can see unpaid bills by job to get a handle on your finances. With QuickBooks Contractor Edition you can send out invoice reminders to get paid fast.

Estimating: You can view estimates versus actuals, and you convert your estimates into billing-by-service items, percent complete or dollars.

Change Orders: These are easy to make, and you can track and highlight changes to estimates and view all change orders by each job.

Specific Features For The Construction Industry Include:

  • E-Invoicing
  • Industry-Specific Report Bundles
  • Payments Search Screen
  • Disallow Negative Inventory Quantities
  • Total Columns on Purchases and Sales
  • A Job Costing Center and Advanced Job Costing Tools
  • Change Order Features
  • Flexible Billing Rates
  • Customize Your Chart of Accounts
  • Scheduling
  • Work Orders
  • Estimating

How Do We Get Started With QuickBooks Contractor Edition?

QuickBooks experts agree that it’s easy to use, but not so easy to set up properly. Setting up QuickBooks correctly, in the beginning, will save you a lot of problems later. If it’s not set up and used properly, your accounting won’t be accurate.

Most contractors don’t realize this. Keep in mind that QuickBooks Contractor is designed to meet the needs of every type of contractor – from a handyman to the bridge builder. So, you must customize it to your unique requirements.

These are some common mistakes that contractors make when setting up QuickBooks. Make sure you do these things:

  • Input payments correctly
  • Don’t make a new file for each project.
  • Apply Vendor Credits to Bills correctly.
  • Don’t outsource payroll.
  • Set up a unique Chart of Accounts and Items List according to your needs.
  • Don’t enter job costs using the Expenses and/or Accounts Tab.
  • Set up Items to track both Income and Expenses.
  • Use the built-in Estimate function or use an estimating program that integrates with QuickBooks Contractor Edition.
  • Reconcile your Bank and Credit Card accounts.
  • Use the “Ask My Accountant Chart of Accounts” feature for expenses that are difficult to categorize.

The first thing to do is to ask your IT service provider to help you set up QuickBooks. They know your business and can help with the setup. Once this is done, you will be able to take over from there.

As a trusted IT consultant for construction companies in Dallas/Ft. Worth, we can help you set up QuickBooks Contractor Edition. The team at Data Magic Computer Services is here to answer any questions you may have.

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New Threat Advisory: TrickBot (Warnings/Recommendations)

TrickBot is up to its tricks again. Once cyber experts get a handle on it, TrickBot releases new modules that advance its capabilities. Here’s what you need to know to protect your organization from TrickBot.

Trickbot

Don’t Get Tricked By TrickBot

TrickBot is up to its tricks again. Once cyber experts get a handle on it, TrickBot releases new modules that advance its capabilities. Here’s what you need to know to protect your organization from TrickBot.

What Is TrickBot?

The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) recently released a security primer on TrickBot. Originally developed in 2016 as a Windows-based banking Trojan, TrickBot has recently advanced its capabilities.

TrickBot is a modular banking trojan that targets user financial information and acts as a vehicle for other malware. It uses Man-in-the-Browser attacks to steal financial information such as login credentials for online banking sessions. (The majority of financial institutions consider Man In The Browser attacks as the greatest threat to online banking.)

Malware developers are continuously releasing new modules and versions of TrickBot— And they’ve done this once again.

How Is TrickBot Distributed?

TrickBot is disseminated via malspam campaigns. Malspam is a combination of malware and spam. It’s usually delivered through phishing or spear-phishing emails. Its goal is to exploit computers for financial gain.

These malspam campaigns send unsolicited emails that direct users to download malware from malicious websites or trick the user into opening malware through an attachment.

TrickBot is also dropped as a secondary payload by other malware such as Emotet. Some of TrickBot’s modules abuse the Server Message Block (SMB) Protocol to spread the malware laterally across a network. (SMB is an application-layer network protocol that facilitates network communication while providing shared access to client files, printers and serial ports.)

The developers behind TrickBot have continue to add more features via modules to this potent trojan virus. It can download new modules that allow it to evolve if left unchecked.

How Does The TrickBot Malspam Campaign Work?

The malspam campaigns that deliver TrickBot use third-party branding looks familiar to you and your staff such as invoices from accounting and financial firms. The emails typically include an attachment, such as a Microsoft Word or Excel document. If you open the attachment, it will execute and run a script to download the TrickBot malware.

And, TrickBot is really tricky. It runs checks to ensure that it isn’t put in a sandboxed (quarantined) environment. Then it attempts to disable your antivirus programs like Microsoft’s Windows Defender.

And even worse, TrickBot redeploys itself in the “%AppData%” folder and creates a scheduled task that provides persistence. Persistence is the continuance of the effect after its cause is removed. So, even after you remove TrickBot, it can still create problems.

What Happens If Your Network Gets Infected With TrickBot?

TrickBot’s modules steal banking information, perform system/network reconnaissance, harvest credentials and can propagate throughout your network.

TrickBot:

  • Will harvest your system information so that the attacker knows what’s running on your network.
  • Compares all files on your disk against a list of file extensions.
  • Collects more system information and maps out your network.
  • Harvests browser data such as cookies and browser configurations.
  • Steals credentials and configuration data from domain controllers.
  • Auto fills data, history, and other information from browsers as well as software applications.
  • Accesses saved Microsoft Outlook credentials by querying several registry keys.
  • Force-enables authentication and scrapes credentials.
  • Uses these credentials to spread TrickBot laterally across your networks.

What’s New With TrickBot?

In November 2018, a module was developed and added that gave TrickBot the ability to steal credentials from popular applications such as Filezilla, Microsoft Outlook, and WinSCP.

In January 2019, three new applications were targeted for credential grabbing: VNC, Putty, and RDP.

In addition, it can also steal credentials and artifacts from multiple web browsers (Google Chrome/Mozilla Firefox/Internet Explorer/Microsoft Edge) including your browsing history, cookies, autofills, and HTTP Posts.

How Can You Protect Your Organization From TrickBot?

We recommend that you contact us and arrange for the following to protect against the TrickBot malware:

  • Implement filters at the email gateway to filter out emails with known malspam indicators such as known malicious subject lines, and block suspicious IP addresses at the firewall.
  • Use managed antivirus programs on clients and servers, with automatic updates of signatures and software. Off-the-shelf antivirus isn’t enough.
  • Arrange for vulnerability scans to detect TrickBot or other malware threats that are hiding in your IT systems.
  • Apply appropriate patches and updates immediately after they are released.
  • Provide Security Awareness Training for your users. Regular training will ensure that they can recognize social engineering/phishing attempts, and refrain from opening attachments from unverified senders.
  • Help you employ a Password Management solution so your usernames and passwords aren’t disclosed to unsolicited requests.
  • Deploy a managed Anti-Spam/Malware Solution with the latest signature and detection rules.
  • Review security logs for indicators of TrickBot. If any are found, we can isolate the host and begin investigation and remediation procedures.
  • Make sure you adhere to the principle of least privilege, ensuring that users have the minimum level of access required to accomplish their duties. We’ll also limit administrative credentials to designated administrators.
  • Implement Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC). This is a validation system that minimizes spam emails by detecting email spoofing using Domain Name System (DNS) records and digital signatures.
  • If you don’t have a policy regarding suspicious emails, we can help you create one and specify that all suspicious emails should be reported to security and/or IT departments.
  • And more…

Don’t let TrickBot use its tricks to steal your confidential data. Contact us for comprehensive IT Security Analysis and Remediation to keep TrickBot out of your network.

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