All tricks computer and internet

So you've bought your computer and want to get online? It's not as simple as connect the wire and off you go these day's. The internet is a weird and wonderful place as long as you can control what you do.

That's why you need to protect yourself. These can be done in a number of very simple steps. This article will get you started but you should always try to be smart when your surfing the net!



Step 1: Anti-Virus Scanner

Whether you're connecting to the internet or not, you need an Anti-Virus scanner. Your computer can become infected with "viruses". These are little files or codes that have been written to ruin your computer! That's why they must be stopped!

There are many programs out there that can help, but it's best to trust only the mainstream programs as these are used widely and updated regularly.

Recommendations:
AVG Anti-Virus Free
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Avast antivirus
http://www.avast.com/

Step 2: Firewall

Ok so your thinking what is a "firewall" sounds scary right? Well it's not really. It is again another line of defence against the number of ways your computer can be attacked. In simple terms it blocks other computers and programs from connecting to you and playing with your stuff. Think of it as an internet wall of fire, where you allow what can pass through.

Software - Again there are many programs available to protect you, Recent Microsoft Windows machines come with Windows Firewall, which can be described as basic at best. We do recommend you go for mainstream again.

Hardware - A firewall can also be included as part of your hardware, like an internet router "that's the box that sits between your pc and the internet line". This is the best and recommended way to have a firewall. As it blocks intruders before it gets to your pc.

Recommendations:
Zone Alarm
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp




Step 3: Be AWARE!!

Simply put watch what you download and accept to save to your PC, sometimes people can send you files in e-mails. They look ok but when you run them they will install something onto your PC and leave you upset and distraught. Always scan something that has been downloaded before opening it and never open/run programs that have been sent in an e-mail from unknown sources.
Step 4: Go for it

That's pretty much it to get you going. If you think something doesn't look right, it probably isn't. Hopefully this will get you going to start with, wait till you find out about spy ware and Trojan's!! Good Luck and Safe Surfing

The absence of a direct 2 way communication between the user and developer has in most cases established user analytic's as a prime mode of understanding user behavior. As the app development industry continues to feel the pressures of the competitive environment, user analytic's services become increasingly significant.

Let us take a quick look into the three major types of analytic's tools commonly used by app developers.

Google Analytics:

Google Mobile App Analytics

One of the most widely used analytics tools, Google Analytics is considered to be the most powerful and robust of its kind. Starting off with web analytics, it gradually extended its support to mobile apps -
Google Mobile App Analytics.

Google Mobile App Analytics is ahead of others when it comes to in-depth analysis of e-commerce and revenue. It can help you track your transaction data I.e in-app payment and recognize areas that drive the maximum sales.

Other than recording user behavior data, Mobile App Analytics has an advanced sense of user demographics, giving it an edge over the rest. Offering its own set of categories, the advanced segment also allows developers to benefit more out of it by using their own custom segments, thereby, letting them customize reports related to their business area.

Although it supports both Android and iOS platforms, there is more Android related information than iOS.

Pros

Has an excellent e-commerce reporting ability.
Has an acute sense of user demographics.
Integration with Google Play for conversion tracking.
Comes as a free service

Cons

Lacks the retention analysis ability of Mixpanel.
Does not offer an easy way for mobile a/b testing.
Only for Android and iOS

Flurry

An exclusive analytics tool built for mobile apps, Flurry Analytics is another commonly used alternative for tracking mobile conversions. Flurry Analytics supports for almost every major mobile platforms like iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry and Java ME.

Although Flurry may tend to appear a little complex than Google mobile app analytics, the fact that its complex structure leads to deeper data access has made it a popular alternative to many others.

For every app you monitor here, you can either use the Flurry Classic dashboard or build up to ten custom dashboards. The data accumulated through dashboard functions is more detailed, for instance, it gives a better vision of the traffic acquisition scenario across various marketing channels like mobile ad networks, mobile web and email campaigns.

Apart from monitoring the 'user types' and user behavior based upon the apps used, Flurry Analytics, it will also track the devices types, operating systems, etc.

Pros

Not just restricted to iOS and Android.
Free service for mobile apps.
Offers multiple dashboards.

Cons

Does not have retention/cohort analysis ability.
Unlike Google Analytics, it does not identify crashes easily.
Strictly restricted to the mobile apps.

Mixpanel

Mixpanel is another popular analytics tool used to calculate user engagement for both mobile and web. Compared to Google Mobile App Analytics and Flurry Analytics, Mixpanel has the easiest user interface.

Mixpanel's SDK has segmentation tools that are capable of analyzing vital and complex questions. It enables you to ask more of your data, for eg. how your app's users invite friends, which Ad words campaign is giving you the highest number of paying users, etc. Mixpanel's funnel analysis can track where the user drops out during each event.

Mixpanel has a unique retention or cohort analysis ability that gives it an edge over the rest. Through this you will be able to track when and how often your customers return and engage with an app.

Its targeting system can also group a client's users into similar profiles and display their activity feed.

The only disadvantage this tool has is its limitation of 25,000 data interactions for the free service, thereby, requiring users to purchase the Premium service for greater visibility.

Pros

-The data segmentation can answer complicated questions.
- Can track the retention in user engagement.
-More focused towards measuring user engagement.
- Caters to both the mediums of mobile and web.

Cons

-Paid service. It is priced monthly based on how many data points and profiles have been used.

'Mobile Device Management', aka MDM, is an essential corporate tool, which is used extensively in diverse business fields, facilitating significantly overall security provisions and management operations. In other words, at first, it is excellent for data-loss-mitigation cases, in order to notably reduce any unfortunate data breach or network security failure consequences. MDM is also quite fitting for custom productivity improvement, for it makes IT capable of sufficiently supervising mobile devices functions, with a view to assisting employees in defining and carrying out selected tasks and activities.

A more comprehensive look into the Mobile Device Management market data is possible through in-depth analysis of the market. The research has been conducted from a well known analyst company active in the field and it featured inputs from MDM industry experts. It is based on separate results from Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, as well as North America countries.


Several key vendors and their overall performance regarding 'Mobile Device Management' solutions were taken under consideration. More specifically, this research focuses mainly on MDM products and services of Citrix Systems, Good Technology, MobileIron and VMware (AirWatch), while FeedHenry, Kaseya International, Microsoft, SAP, Sophos, SOTI, Symantec and Zenprise cases are also included. The research does not only target key and other prominent MDM vendors in the particular market space, but also deals with the most important market opportunities and threats faced by these vendors, as well as their specific strengths and weaknesses, always in relation to the up-and-coming MDM market.

The report addresses a number of important issues regarding the 'Mobile Device Management' market, which is expected to grow considerably, at a CAGR of 25.40% over the period 2015-2019. In order to get proper estimations regarding future MDM market size, as well as a precise growth rate of the global 'Mobile Device Management' market for the period 2015-2019, the report examines all revenue generated from software licenses, technical support and maintenance costs, coming from both the on-premises and cloud deployment models.

The report segments the MDM market according to two major product types, i.e. products and services, and in regard to the end-users of the Communication, Financial services, Healthcare and Manufacturing industries. In a more and more BYOD environment, the increased adoption of BYOD policies is considered a significant MDM market driver. At the same time, as the BYOD trend drives the MDM market, data security concerns and loss of mobile devices consequences rise as the major challenges to market growth. What is more, as illustrated by this report, development of CRM mobile applications for the MDM market is valued as the major market trend.

The unquestionably stunning numbers of the Global MDM Market Research are relatively straightforward and in any case well received, for these accurately correspond to the apparent growth of the mobile market. As Mobile Device Management promises an all-inclusive amelioration of a dedicated, digital working environment, and supports not only all mobile devices (including smartphones, laptops, tablets and phablets), but also desktop devices, it is obviously here to stay.

An explosion of converging technologies and super trends in medical electronic products have roiled together over the past 2 years and shaped a disruptive combination for the medical industry call Mobile Health (mHealth). There is an old aerospace motto prevalent in that industries' push to improve time-to-market and increase competitiveness "Faster, Better, Cheaper." mHealth steps it up by adding "Connected" and "Convenient" to this trio making an extraordinarily challenging environment for the healthcare industry that is now thoroughly intertwined with the Mobile Application, AppCessory, Analytics and Wireless industries. Much like aerospace the healthcare industry and its myriad devices and processes was for decades moving at its own pace.


Today, the proliferation of medical devices and their applications (often controlled by mobile devices) are everywhere; in hospitals and clinics, in patients homes, on their phones and tablets and on their bodies as they work and play, making treating and diagnosing more expedient and stretching security of information systems to the limit. Some fields seemed immune to this influx, certain disciplines such as spinal surgeries, implantable devices, but in a short time it has become clear that this is not the case. Wireless communications and the Big Data Analytics performed on supercomputing cloud platforms have brought tremendous breakthroughs even here.

Medical Device Connectivity via wireless devices, sophisticated analytics and information security features are employed by an ever increasing number of medical devices. Studies indicate that 50% of people say this will improve health care, while 86% of physicians believe that these inter-connected devices and applications will become essential to physicians for management of health care over the next 5 years. As a matter of fact, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is scheduled to review a record number of mHealth apps in 2015 as companies answer to demand for more sophisticated mHealth devices.

Mobile technology is, as with so many other fields, defining the future of healthcare. Recent trends show decisively, that patients do not want to pay for this extra convenience. Therefore, companies that focus on reimbursement strategies of connecting the patient to the healthcare ecosystems will be creating these applications with a dual purpose, by providing the analytics and outcomes that are needed for caregivers to get paid. Companies who are on board early are aware that it is this type of innovation that allows them to stay in the game and they will take market share from those who lag behind in adopting it.

In 2015 privacy will yield to accessibility as patients embrace the myriad of digital devices and their services emerging on the market. Gamification, and do-it-yourself tools will be what keeps them motivated and engaged; improving one dull and typically less controllable point in health care programs, patient compliance. Reimbursement models based upon the health information that these systems collect and analyze will begin to provide quantifiable data to support outcomes-based results. This will drive change as it begins to remove the physician from the feedback loop thereby driving change in this culture. As real, meaningful, useful and real-time data becomes available caregivers will relinquish control of certain aspect of care, but gain tremendous insight and decision-supporting information.

Connected and intuitive electronic devices prescribed by clinicians can accomplish so much when acting in concert to satisfy the public's yearning for convenience that Qualcomm has created an X Prize competition of its own to usher this era in. The 10 million dollar "Tricorder" prize will undergo consumer testing, in 2015 and final judging in early 2016.

The devices are expected to accurately diagnose 16 health conditions - 13 required core conditions and a choice of three elective conditions - in addition to capturing five real-time health vital signs, independent of a health care worker or facility, and in a way that provides a compelling consumer experience."

The next audacious dare will be not only seamless, streaming secure and HIPAA-compliant data from these colossally capable devices, but genuine interactive systems. Once systems are truly interactive a more complete well-rounded suite of care models that address core issues affecting outcomes and management of chronic health can be developed to better manage high-expense conditions in much lower-cost locations.

Finally, in just 15 years Millennials, the generation shaped by the internet revolution will make up 75% of the work force. Millennials value technologies that deliver personalized experiences, real-time feedback, flexibility, and convenience. They are using mobile technologies to create communities of personalized support, to socialize and interact with the world. Their impact is driving companies to reconsider how to accomplish these advances in the New Health Economy.

Knowledge is power - this is indeed true, most especially with today's competitive market arena. Enterprises that know more about its market along with its customers will certainly have an advantage over its competitors. But the main question is that how can certain companies secure revenue-generating information?

With today's advancement in technology, such goal can actually be achieved through Customer Relationship Management or CRM software. This covers a very wide range of applications as well as software that will enable companies to obtain business information, to automate marketing, sales & marketing support, to manage customer data & interaction, and to manage supplier & partner relationships and employees. Certainly this tool will greatly help you with your business operations. It will ensure excellent customer relations, and most importantly, help you achieve the success of your business.

Things To Consider When Choosing The Best Solution



Today, it is quite difficult to distinguish the best software from an inferior solution. But experts say that there are indeed tips you can employ so you can get the best.

A solution that will work seamlessly even if your business evolves will indeed allow you to boost customer services, lessen costs, and increase profits. Experts highly emphasized that the best CRM will not just be very scalable but likewise customizable. As your business grows, your customer support & data, sales and marketing requirements will definitely expand. In fact, you might even need to implement changes as your business discovers valuable data. Be reminded that if you choose the wrong software, you might end up spending a lot. Of course, you would not want this to happen.

Apart from that, the best solution will also be manageable. This further means that your staff will find it very easy to use. An application that will necessitate only the expertise of a programmer is indeed not a wise choice. When you staff cannot use it or perhaps refuse to use it since it is very complex, then it won't deliver great value to your venture. Though you can ask them to attend training, this will require sufficient time and money. Thus, it is advisable that you opt for a CRM solution that is very easy to use. And for you to determine its usability, consider asking your supplier for a trial. Allow your employees to it and get their feedback.

Another factor to consider when choosing the best solution is deployment. You must purchase the software only from a reliable provider and run it on-site or perhaps access it through cloud service. You must be aware that solutions that will offer multiple options for deployment will provide you flexibility. It is also highly advised that you obtain such solution from a leading source of IT solutions. With reliable and trustworthy providers, you are guaranteed that your investment is worthwhile. More information mentioned here.

There are two types of Oracle applications training - system training and process training.

System training covers the basic functionality of the application, what I can form and function. A user will get introduced to the different screens they will encounter and the basic functionality provided by the application. The training topics tend to be general and built around the functionality available. System training is OK is you just want to get a feel for an application, but really doesn't convey how the applications is used in the business environment.



Process training requires the instructor to cover and use Oracle applications functionality as it is encountered during the business process. Another words, the process drives the direction of training.

You can tell when you are in system training because the topics and agenda have a top down approach according to the menu driven application. Many instructors start with the layout of the screen, then the main menu options starting with File, Save, Print, etc. and finally creating and editing information. But there is no connectivity between the steps. It's as though you are learning a bunch of disconnected unrelated topics. Users with a strong applications background can connect the dots easier than typical end users. System training can be great for technical users. This type of training design generally requires more data seeding as the exercises do not feed off one another.


With process training, the topics are tied sequentially to each other. For example, with Oracle Purchasing training, you would first cover the topic "Creating a Requisition" before you covered the topic "Creating a Purchase Order from an approved Requisition". By following the standard business process during training, the tasks are now related to each other instead of being disconnected tasks. Process training is usually accomplished by staging the tasks sequentially in the order they would happen during the normal business cycle.

This type of training design generally requires less data seeding as each exercise is built on using the data from a previous exercise. If planned correctly, the Purchasing exercises can be built on to the iProcurement exercises and the Payables exercises can be built on to the Purchasing exercises.



In addition to less work setting up the training environment, by connecting the exercises around a business process, students easily apply the tasks they are learning to their real world daily activities. Process training is the simplest way to communicate day in the life of training.

With developing technology, our expectations from technology-aided learning have also been rising. With the advent of modern Learning Management Software (LMS) we can now create learning platforms which cater to all the learning needs of a learner and helps him or her to perform better. With increasing investments and positive ROI, various types of LMS are being adopted more and more to ensure enterprise-wide e-learning.




LMS enables learning and development managers within an organization to achieve a lot. Some of the basic features of a learning platform ensure that the entire process of learning management is automated. A basic entry-level learning platform has the following capabilities:

• Course catalogues
• Scheduling of all training events - e-learning and otherwise
• Built-in report structures and Automated Reporting
• Inbuilt assessments - CYUs, quizzes or question banks
• Automated notification emails


But with increased needs, L&D managers often choose to implement Learning Management Software which provides not only the rudimentary needs, but enhanced features which can be utilized to suit changing and evolving learning objectives. These features are best suited for organizations that are open to exploring newer modes for training and believe that their trainees will benefit from them. The modern features include:

• Social learning: Through collaborative platforms like wikis, discussion boards and blogs built within the learning platform, learners can collaborate closely with each other and learn better.
• Mobile Learning: Learners can access courses through mobile devices and their progress is synched automatically within the main system.
• In-built video player: Access to instructional videos, 3D simulations or webinars within the confines of the LMS.
• Automatic notification through SMS

In addition, most organizations that have successfully implemented learning platforms take suitable steps to ensure that the Learning Management Software is adopted by all. It is wise to create a specific workflow and decide who is authorized to assign trainings, who will approve the attendees, who will monitor reports and so on. If this workflow is worked out and every stakeholder knows his or her role well, the learning initiative will be successful. The benefits of training should be clear to the learners, instructors, managers, administrators as well as technical support staff. They should also be well-versed with the working of the LMS. Finally, it is a great boost if the benefits of e-learning and learning management systems are sold well to the end users. There should be a well-defined campaign within the organization, led by the people managers as well as function managers who can educate the learners on how the system will help them perform better.

After implementation of the Learning Management Software it is prudent to keep a close eye on reports and assessments to understand how much have the learners gained out of the e-learning initiative. Feedback from learners should also be gathered from time to time to assess the impact of the learning solution and how much it helps them perform better.




Learning Management Software is evolving -- keeping itself in perfect match with developing technology and the changing needs of the modern learner. It is being utilized by organizations with varying training needs and this proves LMS as a ubiquitous solution that is truly aligned to corporate training.

Gireesh is an e-learning enthusiast and an avid follower of leading industry blogs related to topics related to online training software like Rapid Authoring, game based learning, learning management system elearning outsourcing, online learning courses, Mobile Learning, etc. and like to discuss leading trends of new-age corporate learning.

For every software product development company, software testing is an inevitable part for without testing, there is no assurance of quality. It can never be possible to release a successful product without efficient testing. The testing phase is as important as the development phase and once development is completed, repeated testing is required to ensure the quality of the product is the best in class and make it fit for release. You need to approach one of the best product testing companies to achieve the desired quality and given today's zero tolerance for bugs, you have to invest in the best to stay on top of business.

The process of software testing helps to ensure the completeness, correctness, security, and the quality of the product. The test cases are executed and run several times to find all the bugs and ensure a high quality product. To get the most efficient testers to work for you, going for software testing consulting is the best idea. There are many companies that specialize in testing, and take up projects that involve many variants of testing. The testing part comes after the code is completely implemented by the developer. By identifying all the defects in the early stages is helpful for avoiding a lot of rework. This saves time and increases productivity.


The SDLC process

A software product undergoes several stages. Its lifecycle starts from the initial concept to requirement analysis, functional design, internal design, document planning, test planning, coding, document preparation, and integration, to the stages of testing, maintenance, updates, retesting, and others. The testing process is something that continues till an error free product is achieved. The testing team gives a list of all bugs, which are fixed by the developer. It is then sent for testing again. The cycle continues till the desired targets are all achieved. Errors and bugs can be caused due to different reasons such as mistakes in understanding the document, technical lapses, functional gaps, carelessness, regression and so on. The product needs to be tested at all angles to find out all the bugs and report them. Software testing consulting ensures that the right amount of effort is put into this process and your end product serves to add value to the company.




Get in touch with the best product testing companies to get your work done. A bit of research to find out the credibility of the company will be really useful. Choose a trusted team of professionals who will carry out your work as efficiently as possible. This will help you achieve all your desired goals.

If you are a regular user of the Internet, there is a fair chance that you will have seen advertisements in various sites for something like a "Free Online PC Software Check".




Sometimes these will invite you to click on a link that will claim to be able to scan your PC's hard disk with a view to both removing viruses and malware or sometimes in order to speed your PC up. A slight variation on the theme is sometimes seen where the advertisement offers to check just how fast your Internet connection is.

It should be noted that some of these so-called services may be legitimate but numbers of them are not and they would be highly dangerous to progress further with.

Frustrations with your PC

One of the commonest experiences around for technical computer support staff is users of technology complaining that their PC or network is running slowly.


In fact, that can easily happen and it could arise through any one of a number of causes. It is also true that in an increasingly security-conscious age, people are becoming ever more aware of the dangers of viruses etc. and are keen to try and make sure that their systems are clean.

So, the attractions of such apparently free deals on the net are obvious but the dangers rather less so.

What are the dangers?

In order to thoroughly check your PC for viruses or its performance, you need to allow a piece of software to look quite deep into its internals. As a result, as the software is going into the very deepest components of your machine, it also potentially has the opportunity to wreak havoc.

Numbers of free online checks are unfortunately simply malicious pieces of software that, under the guise of trying to help you, may well be placing viruses and other undesirable software (e.g. advertisements) into the very core of your system.

The basic solution here is very simple - don't assign access or control of your PC to an external piece of software unless you are absolutely sure you know who it is from and what they are doing.

For example, allowing an external technical computer support specialist that you know to be from a reliable company and who you are paying for their services to run software across your system to check for problems is one thing. Giving such permissions and access to somebody on the Internet you have never heard of is quite another.

Don't believe the label

Try to keep in mind that many crooks using such apparent free offers to gain access to your system, may well have littered their advertisement or website with impressive-looking names such as Microsoft or Apple etc.

That doesn't mean anything and should not be interpreted as indicating that their services being provided by such household-name companies or that the organisation offering the check has been approved by them.




If you are having problems with your system, be prepared to spend a relatively modest sum of money on a professional and verifiable computer support company who will be able to offer you assistance. Don't trust free offers on the net to do it for you because the chances are, they may be too good to be true!

Every business owner or manager knows just how important it is to backup essential data and when a business relies on technology to contact clients and providers, intermediate communication and store files, then almost all data is essential for business, which makes backup services critical. Cloud backup refers to protecting data by storing it on a remote, online storage space, called broadly a cloud. A recent study has shown that a high percentage of small and medium sized businesses still experience data loss because they use direct attached storage, instead of cloud services. Data loss may be crucial to a business and many small companies never recover after such an event, reason for which it is important to research one's options when it comes to storage and data backup and find the many benefits that come with cloud computing and backup, as there are quite many of them.


First of all, cloud backup services offer you improved protection for your data, ensuring that all data is recoverable. This is possible due to advanced encryption and security technologies that lay at the basis of cloud based data backup. As small or even medium sized businesses don't have a rich IT budget, affordability is important to them and cloud services provide very low total cost of ownership. Cloud storage and backup is highly affordable and subscription prices are usually for full year lengths, which means expense predictability, another important advantage for small to medium size companies. Another important benefit of cloud services is represented by ease of use, as such services offer anytime, anywhere type of access. Furthermore, with cloud based data, you will be able to enjoy user friendly interfaces and easy to use web based management systems. Minimal maintenance is necessary for those devices that are used for data synchronization to the cloud. Due to this great convenience, cloud based solutions are fast to implement, which is yet another important advantage. In a matter of minutes, business can enjoy deployment of data and simple setup and configuration. Ongoing management is not the only aspect that offers such a convenience, as the restoration process is also very simple.

The most important benefit of cloud backup is perhaps its high level of flexibility. As businesses grow or experience decreases, their IT needs change, but cloud based storages are highly scalable and can increase or decrease their capacity fast and easy, depending on your exact needs. If you resort to cloud services, you will also be able to save money on energy, as you won't require large server rooms and power consumption. Clouds are perfect for businesses with green IT initiatives. The bottom line is that cloud based backup services are automatic, simple and cheap, presenting increased protection for business data, all the advantages that any company would want from a backup service. It is definitely an alternative worth considering for small to medium sized companies.

For years the industry standard in creative design software has been Adobe and their Creative Suite products. Just over a year ago Adobe released their Creative Cloud. As I talk to many design professionals in the industry, there seems to be either a complete lack of understanding, or some misconceptions about the product and program. Having sold hundreds of copies of the Creative Cloud, I talk about the product on a regular basis.


Here are a few things you might not know about the Adobe Creative Cloud.

1) Traditional Licensing is Ending 
If you've purchased any Adobe creative products over the last ten years, you're familiar with their licensing program. You call your reseller, or go on Adobe's website, tell them which products you want, pay a one-time fee, and the software is yours to use. This traditional licensing program is ending. For corporate accounts, Adobe will stop selling traditional licensing April 2014. For non-profit/education customers, it will happen sometime before the end of 2014.

This is significant, because if you don't want to move to the Adobe Creative Cloud yet, you will want to load up on licenses before the traditional program ends. Once that cutoff date happens, your only choice will be to purchase on the Creative Cloud.

2) Non-Creative Products Can Still Be Licensed 
One big misconception we see is that people think all Adobe products are now only available through the subscription model. This is not true. Any product that is considered non-creative, such as Acrobat and EchoSign, are still available to be licensed. These products are included in Creative Cloud, but don't have to purchased through the subscription model.

3) Teams Versus Single Apps 
In the traditional licensing program, you had a lot of options. You could purchase the Master Collection, Design & Web Premium, Production Premium, Design Standard, or any individual item you want. This is no longer the case for the Creative Cloud. As of right now, you have two choices: Creative Cloud for Teams or Single Apps. The Creative Cloud for Teams is a one size fits all type solution. It includes every creative product that Adobe has to offer and a few products that are only available through the CC (TypeKit, Kuler, Story CC Plus, ProSite, etc).

If this plan is too expensive for you, or it's a bit overkill for what you need, you can purchase a number of items as a Single App. Here's a list of Single Apps available: Acrobat Pro, After Effects, Audition, Dreamweaver, Flash Pro, Illustrator, InCopy, InDesign, Muse, Photoshop, Prelude, Premiere Pro, SpeedGrade, and Story CC Plus.

4) The VIP Program 
How you purchase CC now is completely different. You can't just call up your reseller and purchase the license. If you want to subscribe to CC, you have to apply to the VIP program through your reseller and get a VIP ID. You will receive a link from Adobe asking you to accept their Terms & Conditions to complete the process. This ID needs to be referenced on every purchase you make.

I caution you, be careful who your initial purchase is made through. Once that reseller applies for your VIP ID, that ID is attached to that reseller. If you need to make a subsequent purchase, you will either need to go through the same reseller, or ask them to help get it switched to another. Good luck with that.

5) Subscriptions Are Pro-Rated 
Once you receive your VIP ID, you establish the base-line for your renewal month. Any subsequent purchase you make will be pro-rated to the initial purchase month. Please note: this only applies when purchasing an annual subscription.

6) Installation Media is No Longer Available 
If you've depended on installation media kits before, you will no longer be able to purchase them. Adobe has done this to reduce the amount of illegal copies being created and sold online. You can now only download the products through the licensing website.

7) Free Updates 
This is one of the reasons why Adobe switched to a subscription based model. If you are using a CC product, any updates that Adobe releases for the product will now be included. This will eliminate the issue of compatibility for any organization with multiple users.

Under the traditional licensing program, upgrades were an option that you could purchase either upfront on the maintenance plan, or when you were ready to upgrade. This created several problems. What if the contact at company changed, and the new contact didn't know there was a maintenance plan? They would turn around and purchase new licenses when they were entitled to the upgrades for free. Also, some resellers weren't giving a company the discounted upgrade price at the time of purchase, they were charging them the full price for the product. Both of these meant the customer was spending money they didn't need to spend.

8) The Only Thing Cloud About CC is the Storage 
This is the biggest misconception I see about the Adobe Creative Cloud. I will say this very clearly. Your software is still installed on your computer. You do not need to be connected to the internet to use the software. Your software is not somehow "streamed" online through a web browser.

The only thing cloud about CC is the storage. You have the option to store your files in Adobe's data centers... if you want to. I've seen a huge concern from users as to the security about cloud based storage. Listen, if you don't feel comfortable putting your files in the cloud, you don't have to use it. You can still save the files on a server or external hard drive. Administrators can disable the cloud storage. The downside is you miss out on some of the collaboration tools Adobe offers, but you can keep your peace of mind.

9) Buyer Beware- The Lure of Promotional Pricing 

I have heard a number of times people say, "Well, I can get it for such and such price on Adobe's website". Beware of the promo pricing you see, whether on Adobe's site, or through a reseller. Adobe has lured many users in with promo pricing from time to time, only to jack the pricing up after a year. Also, resellers have offered promo pricing only to hi-jack your VIP ID and make it impossible to switch to a different partner, and charging you significantly more on subsequent orders.

The point here is DO YOUR HOMEWORK before purchasing. Make sure that you are comparing apples to apples when reviewing different offers. Ask your reseller their process for transferring the VIP ID if you want to purchase the next order through somebody else.

10) Adobe CCT Support Calls 
This is possibly one of the biggest upsides that people don't know about with the Creative Cloud for Teams. Any time you purchase a Creative Cloud for Teams subscription, every year Adobe will give your company two one-on-one phone calls with an Adobe expert. This will allow your team to ask questions, learn cool tricks, find new ways of doing things, learn a more in depth understanding of products they're not familiar with, and so much more. As long as you renew your subscription, you can continue receiving these support calls every year. Note, this only applies to CCT, it does not apply to any Single Apps or other purchase plans.

What about you? What has your experience with the Creative Cloud been like? What bits of information have you learned that others can benefit by knowing?