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Recent global research from Avaya found 81% of businesses with customer management software in place have seen significant profit increases in the past year

As they grow from start-up to SME and beyond many organisations need to upgrade their IT systems and move to business software rather than the free consumer apps they may have been using before. Often this goes hand in hand with new policies. As humans we are naturally resistant to change. For many employees and even business owners, this shift can go against the grain. They may even have set-up or joined a small business in order to avoid corporate policies.

However, upgrades to IT systems and the deployment of new software that provides increased functionality are vital as businesses grow and must be implemented if companies are to flourish.

If these upgrades are poorly executed or poorly explained, for employees used to previous systems, ways of working and even winging it,' these changes can have a serious impact on productivity. It is not uncommon to see employees resist the change and try to continue to use old apps and former versions of software simply because they dont understand the advantages a change can deliver.

> See also: What the new era in software licensing could look like

Recent global research from Avaya found 81% of businesses with customer management software in place have seen significant profit increases in the past year, so it seems obvious that every company should want to jump on this opportunity.

However the same research also showed that 81% of organisations have seen their customer management initiatives fail over the past three years, with one of the main reasons cited as the lack of internal communications and collaboration. Sometimes entire teams resist change they feel that is imposed upon them, rendering the planning and investment a waste of time and money.

On the other hand, outside of the workplace most of us have embraced continual technological change via our smartphones and laptops. We are comfortable with the software and anti-virus updates and new OS versions we receive on our devices.

We may even feel we are missing out on some new functionality if we dont receive an update for a few weeks. One way of helping to ensure an IT project is more successful is developing that kind of attitude toward change in all employees. The key to doing that is making sure the upgrades and changes are as easy and undisruptive as possible.

Typically, the planning around an IT project focuses on what the organisation wants to achieve as well as why and how success will be measured. It is advisable also to consider: who will be affected by the new software, how they will react to it, how the change will be communicated to them and how they will be encouraged to use it. Building the answers to these questions into the project management plan can contribute to the successful outcome of the roll-out or upgrade.

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So you've got new software- are you sure your colleagues are really going to use it?

Facebook Password Hacker - Free Software
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By: Epic Tools

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Facebook Password Hacker - Free Software - Video

Protecting your computer from damaging spyware, adware and malware is crucial to make sure your PC runs as quickly as possible whilst at the same time ensuring that your information isn't compromised.

Thankfully there are plenty of diverse programs out there that can protect your PC in varying different ways and the best part about it all is that most come with some sort of free elements included.

Even with a plethora of features behind the paywall, there are a number of excellent programs available and the best five free anti-spyware software programs are outlined here.

When it comes to an extensive solution that gets to the bottom of any malware, adware or spyware on your system, there aren't many that come close to Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

At its heart is an extensive scanning solution that combs through your PCs nooks and crannies in one of two ways. The Threat Scan looks in the places it knows threats hide in order to safeguard your PC whereas the Custom Scan can be adjusted to look for bugs in places specified by the user.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

The scan takes some time as it goes over every file and once it is done presents you with a list of threats and you either deal with them all individually or select the quarantine all option. Users will find a range of other options in the settings menu such as the ability to specify files, and folders that should not be scanned, and the opportunity to change detection and protection options.

You will also notice the sheer number of features that aren't included in the freeware version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware such as advanced website protection, online backups and the chance to schedule scans. The amount of things behind the paywall is one of the only drawbacks of MalwareBytes Anti-Malware that provides a simple way to protect your computer from the ills of the internet.

Many anti-spyware programs come as part of a cover-all-bases anti-virus package and Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ is no different in that sense. After the initial installation, which is an admittedly rather long one, only because it carries out a virus scan on your computer, Ad-Aware can be largely left to run in the background.

Scanning-wise there are three options that include a quick scan of active processes, full scan of everything on your PC, or a custom scan of user defined locations with all three designed to find spyware that you can then choose to quarantine. Protection against spyware goes further than that still through a real-time protection engine that stops viruses before they have a chance to enter your PC.

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Roundup: Best Free Anti-Spyware Software 2015

Forget the idea that a 1040EZ form is the only simple way to file taxes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and participating tax agencies have a virtual smorgasbord of free tools and programs available to help you get your taxes filed in a timely, efficient manner without having to pay hundreds of dollars for a tax professional to do it for you.

Weve compiled a list of eight free resources that can offer you support this tax season.

1. Taxpayer-advocate service

This service is free of charge and offers tips for filing your taxes, making payment plans, interacting with the IRS, amending a return and more. It also provides guidelines to help ensure you dont make a costly mistake. There is at least one Local Taxpayer Advocate in each state, and if you qualify to receive an advocates help, one will assist you with your taxing needs.

2. Free file

If your income was less than $60,000 in 2014, you can file your taxes online for free by using Free File. The free software walks you through each line of a return, helps you find tax breaks and electronically files your federal return. It can be a useful resource for those filing their taxes for the first time. You can still file for free if you earned more than $60,000, but in this case you will be using Free File Fillable Forms instead. It gives you electronic forms to fill out and doesnt walk you through each step like the former program does.

3. Get transcript

If you want to view information regarding the items from your tax return or your tax-account transactions, you can use the Get Transcript feature on the IRS website and receive a transcript via mail or directly online. A Tax Return Transcript will let you see most line items from your tax return, and a Tax Account Transcript gives you details on what type of return you filed, how much in taxes were paid and more.

4. Wheres my refund?

Once you filed your taxes and the IRS received your electronically filed tax return or paper return, you can check the status of your refund by accessing this feature via the IRS website or the mobile app, IRS2Go. For a electronically filed return, check the refund status within 24 hours after the IRS receives it. If you filed a paper tax return, wait about four weeks. The IRS generally issues refunds within 21 days, and the site that tracks your refunds status only updates once every 24 hours.

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8 free IRS tax tools

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Highlights:

Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) today launched the embARC Open Software Platform to help accelerate the development of DesignWare ARC processor-based embedded systems. The new embARC platform gives ARC software developers online access to a comprehensive suite of free and open-source software that eases the development of code for the IoT and other embedded applications. Device drivers, operating systems and middleware ported to and optimized for ARC processors are available for download without cost from the embARC.org website. The website also provides access to software development tools and documentation as well as user forums to facilitate the sharing of information and expertise among the ARC-based design community.

"We are pleased to see that the embARC Open Software Platform supports the use of the popular open-source FreeRTOS," said Andrew Longhurst, business development manager at Wittenstein High Integrity Systems. "We offer OPENRTOS, the only commercially licensed and supported version of FreeRTOS, thus allowing designers using embARC to move to an RTOS with professional support, maintenance and updates, if needed."

Drivers, Operating Systems and MiddlewarePre-ported drivers for the GPIO, UART, SPI, I2C and other peripherals as well as leading real-time operating systems (RTOS), including FreeRTOS and Contiki OS, give developers a choice of industry-standard software environments for their ARC-based systems. FreeRTOS is a scalable, compact and reliable operating system that is popular among embedded software developers. The Contiki OS is specifically designed for networked, memory-constrained systems such as low-power, wireless IoT applications.

The embARC platform provides a choice of middleware components and a robust starting point for the development of IoT-related devices. The components available for use with FreeRTOS include the TCP/IP stack lwIP, file system fatfs, and MQTT and libcoap IoT protocols. The Contiki OS includes a middleware package with an integrated IoT protocol stack including MQTT, a publish/subscribe messaging protocol for lightweight machine-to-machine communications, and the CoAP application layer protocol for resource-constrained IoT applications.

"FreeRTOS is professionally developed, supported and yet completely free for developers to embed in their commercial products without any requirement to expose their proprietary source code," said Richard Barry, director at Real Time Engineers Ltd. "As the leading RTOS for embedded applications, we are really pleased that Synopsys is making FreeRTOS available as part of their new embARC Platform. ARC users now have a simplified path to join the hundreds of thousands of developers worldwide who already benefit from the ease of use and proven reliability of FreeRTOS."

embARC.orgembARC.org is a dedicated website that provides developers centralized access to free and open-source software, drivers, operating systems and middleware supporting the embARC Open Software Platform. The website also provides documentation and a forum-based community where developers can share their resources, expertise and code to help speed deployment of ARC-processor based embedded systems.

Free and Premium Software Development ToolsFree software development tools built on the open-source Eclipse IDE and GNU toolchain are available for use with the embARC Open Software Platform. This gives developers a flexible software environment with an IDE, compiler, debugger and utilities that are familiar to embedded developers. The embARC software is also supported by the commercially-available Synopsys ARC MetaWare Development Toolkit, giving developers the option to use a highly optimized toolchain for maximum code density and performance.

The embARC Open Software Platform has been ported to Synopsys' ARC EM Starter Kit, a low-cost software development board consisting of pre-installed FPGA images of ARC EM Processors with peripherals and a software package. The Starter Kit enables rapid software development, code porting, software debugging and profiling for the EM4, EM6, EM5D and EM7D processor cores.

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Synopsys' embARC Open Software Platform Accelerates Development of ARC-based Embedded Systems for the Internet of Things