On November 17, 2009, LexisNexis announced the sale of HotDocs® software to Capsoft UK. Capsoft UK has been distributing and providing HotDocs solutions worldwide since 1996, including HotDocs solutions for large European law firms, The Royal Bank of Scotland, the BBC, and XL Insurance. Both parties anticipate that this sale will allow HotDocs® to garner greater development focus and result in a better product for the end user.  For the immediate future, we anticipate business to continue as usual for our HotDocs® clients while LexisNexis and Capsoft continue to work on the final details of this transition. HMU is actively monitoring the progression of this deal, please continue to check back here for more information or contact John Federico with any questions or concerns.

For more information or to register click here, or call the OSBA Member Service Center at (800) 232-7124 or (614) 487-8585.

Let us help you get the most out of your accounting system!

PCLaw Training Workshop in Columbus, Ohio November 10 & 11, 2009

• Learn from experienced trainers and meet other PCLaw users
• Take home useful course materials and cheat sheets
• Get one-on-one help with those tough software questions

This post is about something a bit different than we normally write about but it is summer, after all.  If you're like a lot of people, you have a ton of music on a home or other computer that you don't have with you all the time.  It takes a lot of tedious work to keep music files synchronized on multiple computers, not to mention playlists and settings in iTunes, Windows Media Player or Winamp.  What if you could stream that music to another computer through the internet?  For free. 

Well, look no further than Simplify Media.  This is a completely free program, compatible with Windows or Mac.  Easy to setup and use.  With the new version they have now, you can also access photos stored on another computer, as well as music.  Give it a try - really cool program.  If you have any questions, send me an email.  Brian Cluxton

We currently have limited time special pricing available on Dragon Naturally Speaking Legal Edition until September 21, 2009.  If you have been considering purchasing Dragon Legal, now is the time.  Contact John Federico at HMU Consulting for details.

Unfortunately, this is an all too common occurrence.  XYZ website company or web design person registers a domain name (smithlawfirm.com, for example) in their name (not the firm’s) and then builds a website for the firm.  Two years later, some changes need to be made to the DNS (domain name service/system) records so that changes can be made to the firm’s website, email or remote access but the company or person that registered the domain is out of business or difficult to reach.  This results in a huge inconvenience and expense to change the domain registration to the firm’s name so the changes can be made.  Please ensure that your firm’s domain name is registered in the name of the firm as a whole or one of the senior partner’s names.  Whenever we register a new domain name for one of our clients, we ask the firm who they would like the registrant to be and it is never us.  If you have any questions or would like assistance, please feel free to contact Brian Cluxton at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Yesterday, I received a strange email from "Microsoft" stating that there was an important update for Outlook.  Now then, I thought this was strange because all updates from microsoft come to my computer automatically through Windows Update.  I had never before received an email from microsoft informing me about an update of any installed product whatsoever. The email sure looked like it came from Microsoft, but hovering over the main link (not clicking it) revealed a link pointing to "update.microsoft.com.k1l1.com".  Guess what?  That isn't microsoft.  I did some research on the web, and sure enough, had I clicked on the link, I would have loaded a trojan that would have gone looking through my computer for bank accounts and credit cards and/or waited for me to go to a banking site, enter my passwords, and then transmit them to the "bad guys".  Details are here.   The bottom line is:  (1) very few software companies will send you an update notice via email, as such, you should always be suspicious, cautious, expect that such emails are sent for nefarious purposes, and NEVER CLICK THE LINKS WITHIN THEM.  (2) No bank will ever send you an email asking for any type of verification of your identity, never respond to such emails or click the links contained therein.

Just because an email looks legitimate, doesn't mean that it is.

Solid State Drives (New Technology) Vs. Hard Disk Drives (Old Technology)

It has been said that solid state disks (SSD – New Technology Hard Drive) are the next big thing for the technology industry. Like their predecessors, the conventional hard disk drives (HDD), are still predominantly being used. They still house all your data and provide the data within a reasonable amount of time. Old hard drive still fit the need for most PC users, but some PC users don’t know what they are missing.

What are the benefits of new hard drive technology over old hard drive technology?

Fail Rate and Reliability

Hard disk failure is a very common occurrence in today’s IT World. Everyone has heard a horror story from a friend or a relative, the hard drive that you depended on to last forever just dies. You now have to go out and replace the drive. Users don’t need to be “tech savvy” to know that disk drives will fail. Some last 5 minutes, others last 5 years. Typically, the old technology hard drives will last approximately 3 years. What sets new technology over the old technology is that there are no moving parts. The normal wear and tear is gone with new technology hard drives.

The new technology hard drives are ultra reliable with the absence of spinning platters and mechanical arms. They can withstand vibration, shock (we all know how this can affect a dropped laptop), cold and heat of -60 degrees C to 95 degrees C. This feature alone will make the new technology very attractive.

Speed and Heat

The new technology hard drives are burning up the old technology hard drives with access speeds of 35 to 100 micro-seconds. Old technology drives have access speeds around 5,000 to 10,000 micro-seconds. This makes the new drives right around 100 times faster than any of the old drives. Speed is very important to Banks, Government/Military, and Insurance companies. New technology drives provide the extra speed that “high speed” businesses needs for today’s “Gotta have it now” demand.

Heat is also a concern with old technology drive because; the creation of heat will be extensive. Laptops, in general have problems dissipating heat away from the processor (brain of the computer). The use of heat pads generally resolves this issue. With the new technology, the creation of heat will be significantly less. Therefore, engineers can create smaller, more mobile laptops that don’t have to use a heat pad to dispel heat.

Costs and Energy Consumption

Costs for the new technology are pricier than the old but, will continue to drop over time.

Current price ranges are:

New Technology Hard Drives
32 GB SSD – 2.5” - Laptop - $105.99
64 GB SSD – 2.5” – Laptop - $199.99
128 GB SSD – 2.5” – Laptop - $326.99
*Note: Prices do vary with different manufacturers

Energy Consumption with the old technology was very minimal. Compared to the new technology drives, the old are energy “Hogs”. The new technology drives will end up using about 100 times less than the older drives. With Laptop users, battery efficiency is a must. Increasing battery efficiency will create longer periods of where a battery charge is not needed.  
 

Gavel & Gown, makers of Amicus Attorney, just announced that beginning July 1, 2009 they will no longer be supporting Amicus Attorney V+. If you are currently running version V+ within your firm this is great news for you. Gavel & Gown is offering you a 40% discount on upgrade pricing from now until June 26, 2009. Even better, if you upgrade to 2009 and enroll in their maintenance plan, you'll receive 75% off the upgrade.

To obtain a free online demo of Amicus Attorney 2009 and pricing, please contact Art Roehrenbeck at 614.340.3444 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Nuance is offering special upgrade pricing for Dragon NaturallySpeaking until June 30, 2009. Upgrades are available from v7-v9 Preferred to Preferred 10.1 ($99); v7-v9 Preferred to Professional 10.1 ($299); v7-v9 Professional to Professional 10.1 ($149.99) and v7-v9 Legal to Legal 10.1 ($149.99).  Since DNS Professional 10.1 retails for $899, the upgrade offers significant savings. Contact John Federico at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.