Dave Lathrop acknowledged members with birthdays and anniversaries this month.

Board News
Today we acknowledged Chris Curran for his time served on the board.

New positions...

President - Dave Lathrop
Speaker Coordinator - Erin La Grassa
Treasurer - Andy Jensen
Social Coordinator - Steve Chilton
Membership - Charles Hultstrand
Vice President - Dave Crissman

We will be transitioning.  The last Friday of every month will be lead by another board member.

Dave will take result of the survey and use it to guide him and the board during the next 6 months.

If you have not taken the survey, please take a moment to do so.  It is anonymous and only takes a few minutes to complete.  Link to Survey

Training Event
The training event is coming up.  Dave Lathrop can collect your checks.  There is room for many people so invite friends.
More information on this event can be found on the Member's Only Home Page.

Guest Event
We have had several people respond to the invite.  We have several people that have not.  You may get a reminder.  If you have already invited guests, please follow-up with them.  If you would like to provide a door prize that would be completely appropriate.  Let Dave Lathrop know and he will get that set up.  The first part of the meeting will be introductions followed by 5-minute speeches to give guests a cross-section of members in MABE.

MABE Branching Out
We are now members of the Tempe Chamber of Commerce.  Each member of MABE is entitled to attend their functions.  There were some concerns voiced and several members commented on the pros and cons of MABE participating in the Chamber and other things such as LinkedIn.  The decisions to join these groups/forums are for business reasons only (no political intentions).   Decisions being made are for the purpose of helping members and their business market and grow. 

On a lighter note....

Auto Recall
Sandro Menasci brought up a recent news item on the auto recall involving gas peddles getting stuck.  He gave advice on how to handle this situation if it occurs.

Mark Menasci finished up his speech from last week.  His business has grown.  Sometimes he doesn't have time to eat or take a weekend off, and he considers hiring help.  But he doesn't like the idea of hiring somebody to help.  He would already has to manage his business, he doesn't want to have to manage an employee.  But he realizes that he will eventually have to take that step.   Mike Whalen mentioned a conversation he had with someone about having a customer limit.  They can only service 100 clients.  If another client comes along, they hand off the bottom customer to someone they trust.  He thinks this scenario would work well for a small business such as Mark's.

Free Stuff...

Microsoft has a free download, Security Essentials, that he recommends to help fight viruses.  He has tested it and it works well and it doesn't use a lot of resources.  The one thing he doesn't like about McAfee and Norton is that they do use a lot of resources.   You should only run one antivirus program at a time.  There is no one program that will leave you completely protected.  You still have to be careful when you get online.

He recommends purchasing a $50 router.  The firewall in a router will filter about 80% of the viruses.  You computer software can help catch the rest.  AVG is a free antivirus program and it works well.  So many people, downloaded it that they were able to sell a professional version with no advertising.  That is why there are "free" programs out there.  You get comfortable with the product, trust it, and buy the upgrade.

Mark also recommends Carbonite as an online backup option.  For only $50 per year you have unlimited space to backup your files to.

www.Logmein.com allows you to go to any computer in the world.  You login and get a screen that shows you your computers.  They have to be on.   

Free Advice...

Mark is constantly asked "Should I leave my computer on or off.  He leaves his on because he is on it all the time.  Also there is a lot of wear and tear when you boot a system.  Its OK to leave it on.  Just make sure it is password protected.