You all work hard to run a good business, but there is an increasing problem with crooks who want to take your earnings away.  PLEASE be very cautious with any email or phone call that says you are in need of help with your tech devices.  It will ALWAYS be from someone seeking to do you harm.

You likely heard recently of Ransomware.  People get on to your computer, encrypt all the files, and then blackmail you to pay to have them cleared.  The problem is so prevalent that the government will tell you to pay the ransom because they simply can’t get to these people.  We are talking a very lucrative business for crooks.  The big operations go after large companies, but the technology is available to almost anyone, and so even the small operators will be working to steal from you.

Step One:  Only go to websites you know and if you encounter a message that says your computer has problems, with an instruction to call a number, exit the browser immediately.  DO NOT CALL THAT NUMBER.  Then get a known technician to help you get that link out of your system.

Step Two:  Check every single email you receive carefully, and never click on a link.  Even if you know the person, be sure they sent the email link before opening it.  It’s very easy for the crooks to gain access to your email contacts ( especially if you use gmail ), and they will often send fake emails from your “friends”.   Also, look for grammatical mistakes.  Thats a very quick indicator the email is fake.

Step Three:  Financial institutions will NOT send you emails with links.  They might send an email that says you should sign into your account for an important message, but you need to go there on your own.  NEVER TRUST A LINK in an email from any organization.  It will take you to a copy of a site, and when you sign in, you just gave away everything because they now have your login.

Step Four:  NEVER believe someone who calls to say they are from Microsoft, or the store you bought your computer from, and they need to connect to fix a problem.  Instead of fixing it, they will put on software that allows them to steal everything from your computer, and which now includes ransomware.  Don’t try to talk with them.  Simply end the call.  The ONLY time you will receive a call from a company like Microsoft is if you have an ACTIVE support case pending, and they are responding to your call for help.  Usually you will receive an email first with the case number and full identifying information.  They will NEVER reach out to you to start a process, only to work on a case you have already activated.

Step Five:  And this is the most important one -  HAVE EXTERNAL BACKUPS every day.  Auto Shop Writer does a daily backup of all your data.  By default it is in a folder on the server, or you can direct the system to make the backup to an external USB drive.  These are saved in compressed files.  They are named ASWxxxxxx.ZIP where the x’s are the date, ie. 050117.  They are in the servers ASW folder in a subfolder AswBkUp, or on another drive if you set one up.  You should also keep the most recent 10 files in the “cloud”.  If you are running Windows 10, you have a free copy of OneDrive with your Microsoft Account.  Simply copy and paste those files to the One Drive folder on your computer, and they will sync to the cloud.  Need help with this ?  Call in.

Step Six:  Make it incredibly clear to all your staff this computer system is responsible for their paychecks.  If they go anywhere that is not specifically authorized by your business, they risk losing their income.  In most cases, an employee brings an infection to the shop by browsing the web, and the costs can be thousands of dollars.  People can use their smartphones to conduct all personal business and communications …

This is a very real issue, and shop owners are being hit by crooks all of the time.  Never pay the ransom.  There is no safe way to do so.  The ransom is only the first wave, and they will get info from you to get far more money.  You will need to completely reformat your computer to get it clean, and then restore all of your data.  If you have backups, you can be back up and running within a day.  Also, if you do get hit, you need to go to all your accounts and change the login information.  Complicated passwords are tough, but necessary to protect what you’ve worked so hard to earn.

First, a diversion.  We are receiving calls from people asking about features salespeople are promoting in some other software package, and they wonder if they can be added to Auto Shop Writer., In almost all cases, they already exist in ASW 10.  In addition, there are so many other features we offer that no one else has, and it is all integrated in one package, with no hidden charges.  Feel free to email your questions for a personalized, non-scripted, answer.

Built with the latest Microsoft technology

ASW 10, build 9.72.10 was built using Microsoft’s Visual C++ 2017 compiler, which optimizes the code for Windows 10, Creators Update.  Thus, we have access to the very latest, and best, the world’s leading software company has to offer.

New Feature: Analysis for Workorders

When you open a workorder, you will see a new Analysis button.  After entering the odometer reading, click on the icon and ASW will open a new window that shows you client, and vehicle, information.  It then shows you any pending recommendations, a list of PM’s and the days until the service is due, and any areas of concern from your inspection checklist at the last service.

This is a floating window, so you can keep it open and on the side while you enter other data, parts, and labor. 

Enhancement: Checklist on Service Histories

The Inspection checklist is a great opportunity to communicate to your clients about the condition of their vehicle when you complete the service.  You create the checklist yourself, or you can call and we can install one for you which you can then modify.  The checklist attaches to a workorder ( if you want one ), and you can always review it by opening a closed ticket.  However, now we have added the checklist to each service history if one was created.  When you highlight a service in history, scroll down past parts, labor, and recommendations, and you will see the checklist items from that service. 

Are you using the new PM Scheduler ?

The new PM scheduler has been fully implemented in ASW 10, and it allows you to track an unlimited number of services for each vehicle.  You can also set independent intervals ( days and miles ) for that vehicle, and even enter a current odometer and get an immediate projection for when those services will be due based on the average miles per day since the last service.

It doesn’t take any real effort to create one of these.  On an open workorder, simply highlight a labor performed and select the Add To PM button.  You will be asked to specify the interval days and miles between services you desire for this vehicle, and it’s now complete. 

New Feature: Customer Marketing Analysis

The topic of the new Marketing features will be described in a coming bulletin.  However, it is included in this update.  Some of the tools involve mapping.  To use this, we need to lookup mapping coordinates for each client address.  There is a utility that performs this task.  If you open the Client screen, go to Tools, you will see a Location entry.  If you click on that, it will look up the locations for each of your clients and save it on their record.

This lookup involves a Google utility and it may limit the number of searches it will perform in a 24 hour period.  We recommend that you run this at the end of the day when your work is complete, or from an seldom used workstation.  You may need to run it several times for it to go through your entire customer list.  This will only be necessary in the beginning because when you add a client it will automatically retrieve the data.

New Feature:  Appointment Emails

When creating an appointment, you now have an Email button.  This will automatically send an appointment confirmation email when pressed, and setup a email to be automatically generated to remind the customer when their appointment is 2 days out.

And more …

There is so much more in this update but right now you have probably read enough.  We’ll provide more info in a few days.  In summary, these features are all designed to save you time, increase your earnings, and reduce your expenses.  AND … they all work well  !