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New to Windows 7? Tips to Make You More Productive

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:10:00 +0000

Windows 7 represents a substantial improvement over past Windows operating systems. However, if you don’t understand how to use this most recent version of Windows properly, you might miss out on a host of goodies that’ll allow you to work more proficiently.

By mastering a few simple tricks, you can get the most out of Windows 7.

If you wish to move images to outside disks, you can now achieve this effortlessly with Windows 7. The operating system allows you to burn ISO images onto CDs or DVDs. To do this, you merely have to double-click on the ISO image, tell Windows 7 the drive that holds your blank disc, and then click the “burn” option. Windows 7 will do the rest.

Effortlessly find and repair problems. If your operating system is acting oddly, simply click the “Control Panel” option. After that, you can simply click “troubleshooting” to access a number of wizards which will remedy common operating problems. Including cleaning up systems that are slowed by a lot of adware and other clutter.

Do younger people in your household install troublesome software that slows down your computer? This can be easily prevented using the Windows 7 AppLocker feature. This feature only allows your pc to run and install programs which have your pre-approval. You can tell AppLocker to only run programs from respectable companies, so if someone is attempting to run a program from an unknown publisher AppLocker will prevent it.

Windows 7 includes its own power efficiency service. This enables you to obtain tons of information regarding how much power your laptop is consuming. This may be important if you are working from a remote location and are not near a charging source.

7 Things to Know About WordPress

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:01:49 +0000

Once used chiefly as a blogging platform, WordPress is now just about the most popular website publishing and content management tools on the web. According to Tech Crunch, about 22 out of every 100 new active domains in the U.S. run WordPress. What’s more, one of the most popular publishers in the world uses WordPress.

Here are 7 things you should know about WordPress:

With WordPress it is not necessary to rebuild your pages whenever you want to update your site. Updating your content is quick and simple, as WordPress has dynamic page generation.
You can get a free website at WordPress.com with subdomains. This can be a good way to reduce costs if you don’t mind .wordpress.org at the end of your domain.
WordPress also offers what they call their ‘famous 5-minute install’, which makes it uncomplicated to install WordPress if you currently have a domain and a hosting service. What’s more, no coding skills necessary.
Are there minimum requirements? Yes, if you are hosting your own website outside of WordPress, there are a few requirements to consider. To get the appropriate support down the road, you will have to make sure you have the correct MySQL and PHP versions on your server.
There are numerous great looking templates (known as “themes”) available from different sources on the Internet. Many are free, some are not. Either way, determing the best design for your website is fast and simple.
WordPress offers centralized management for all of your pages, posts, multimedia assets, and reader comments. It’s also really easy to manage users and user profiles.
WordPress encourages e-commerce. There’s an abundance of plugins that have already been designed that allow you to accept payments, advertise, and more on your website. The easy plugin search keeps all of these options at your fingertips.

Not everything is an iPad: Gadgets That Never Caught On

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:50:23 +0000

Smartphones, iPads, iPods, and notebook computers remain examples of the must-have products of the last five years. However, for each iPad there’s an Apple TV—a tech failure. Companies take a risk when they send a new piece of technology into the market. There’s no guarantee that no matter how cool or practical a gadget is that it’ll catch on with the buying public. Understanding that, here is a quick look at some of the most commonly known technology failures of the last 10 years.

Famous tech failures

Apple TV: This product gives users the power to purchase entertainment from iTunes then stream it to the device of their choice. Good idea? Most likely, if it wasn’t so limited to iTunes.

Sony Mylo: The Mylo came and went quickly so you may not recall it. It was aimed toward the 18 to 20 something crowd and was a Wi-Fi-enabled mobile device. It allowed people to play games, connect to the Internet, and also had Skype preinstalled on it. Sadly, the existence of the iPhone and its substantial app store overshadowed it.

The Segway peters out

Segway PT: The Segway PT scooter hasn’t exactly been a flop. However, it never caught on in the way its manufacturers predicted. This two-wheeled transportation machine was meant to be a must-have for commuters traveling to work and for family members taking short trips to their local grocery store. Unfortunately, the scooter makes people look kind of silly when they are riding it. Maybe this is the reason the device hasn’t develop into a mainstream alternative to cars.

The CueCat doesn’t purr

CueCat: The CueCat was a digital barcode reader manufactured by Digital Convergence Corporation. Shaped like a cat, this device allowed the consumer to scan a bar code and be quickly guided to a company’s website. This didn’t go over well, but it may have paved the way for the now widespread QR code.

Data Security and Your Small Business: What You Need To Know

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:30:00 +0000

When looking at data security, many people think they have a good amount of systems and precautions in position to keep their data protected. Sure, you may have antivirus software and you may even update it frequently. You may even feel that you’re too small of a company to be a target of a hacking attempt. Only big firms that have thousands of clients need to be concerned about cyber criminals, right? Wrong. Hackers and cyber criminals have actually escalated their focus on small businesses. We want to help you understand the dangers your small business might be facing.

Small firms: low-hanging fruit

The facts are, hackers have realized that small businesses are easier targets, and are increasingly preying upon them. They can infiltrate their systems at a much faster rate, and with a better percentage of success as well. This means a cyber criminal can assault multiple targets in the time it would take them to lay siege to a better-guarded system with a higher level of data security. How can it be worth their while to steal from a mom and pop operation? In today’s modern world, practically every business makes use of digital payment processing methods. Whenever your customers pay using a credit card, this data must run through your system to be validated. This represents a goldmine of data for hackers, as they can lift this data without being noticed. With your customers’ credit card numbers, addresses and names, they can make fraudulent charges on their accounts.

How hackers gain access to your data

Hackers usually take a multiple-point-of-entry approach when attempting to breach your company. Don’t be fooled that email is the sole method a hacker will attempt to infiltrate you. While harmful email attachments are the most popular tactics that hackers use to mine data from a company, they also use low-tech methods as well. Direct phone calls to lower level employees or possibly a in-office visit posing as system administrator are some of the low-tech ways criminals may target your enterprise. You may believe your employees are impervious to these seemingly apparent ploys, but it only takes one mistake to open your company up to an attack.

The buck stops with you

You may think that maintaining your data security isn’t that crucial, as the credit card companies are responsible for any bogus charges that occur. While this is true for the consumer, as a business owner you may experience a very different consequence. Often if your systems have been compromised, they’ll hold you accountable for finding the breach. This can cost thousands of dollars and can ruin your profit margin for the whole year. In truth, some small businesses have been bankrupted by cyber attacks, closing their doors because of just one single incident.

An ounce of prevention…

So, when it comes to your data security, taking extra precautions is a prudent move. Not only should you update your programs whenever you can, look at strengthening your passwords as well. Don’t use obvious phrases, and never leave the default password in place. Also, advise your staff not to share their login information or open attachments from unfamiliar senders when checking their email. You may also hire an outside consultant to guarantee the security of your customers’ data. Taking these kinds of measures can provide you with piece of mind, knowing that your systems are safe from attack.

Improve Your Company Culture: Part 2

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:06:24 +0000

Our last blog post explored the reasons why developing a healthy business culture is crucial for your brand. The positive effects of a healthy culture are many, while the consequence of letting the culture of your company diminish can be very detrimental indeed. In our previous post, we touched on ways to measure the cultural health of your business, but how do you strengthen that culture when necessary?

If you have determined that the culture of your company could use some adjusting or refreshing, there are several questions you should contemplate first:

How do you want your company to feel? Fun, creative, open, accepting, respectful, etc?
What are the major values or focus of your company? How do you make that prominent in the culture?
How is information presently distributed in the company and just how does this affect the culture?
Do you reward employees and how?
Does the organization give everyone a “voice?” Are employees asked to communicate their ideas and views?

These can result in more questions. To discover answers try brainstorming with your colleagues. Here are some ideas to get the ball rolling:

Suggestion/Thought box – Allowing people to anonymously share their feelings or opinions concerning the day to day in the office can lead to a more open feeling in the company. These concerns can be mentioned in company meetings if they pertain to everyone.

Empower employees – Treat employees like peers; let them have ownership over their jobs. Don’t micromanage! Transparency can encourage empowerment as well. Don’t just tell your employees when there are successes, tell them when things aren’t going so well too. Their support may help you overcome the hard times.

Flexible hours – Trusting your employees to get their work done is key. Don’t constantly hang over or micro-manage them. Trusting your employees to get their jobs done will give you less stress, as well as result in the general company culture more respectful.

Dress code – These days it is unusual that people have to wear suits and ties on a regular basis. Allowing employees freedom to express themselves with their clothing is an easy strategy to make them feel accepted for who they are. To take this one step further, think about themed days: silly hat day, bright clothing day, 80’s day, etc. It’s amazing how beneficial self-expression can be.

Celebrate – A company is comprised of the people in it, so celebrate together. A monthly movie day, a catered lunch, or lunchtime board game days are only a few ways you can get your staff together to celebrate.

Here are a few things companies have done to give their culture a playful edge:

Spontaneous Nerf gun wars
Painting inspirational quotes on the walls
Hitting a loud gong when there is a success to let the whole company know
Foosball tournaments
Lunchtime Yoga
Lunchtime Crafting Club
Monday Mad Libs, whoever wishes to contribute, does, and then the completed Mad Lib is emailed to the company

Is The Culture of your Company Healthy? Part 1

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:11:33 +0000

Often, in business, concentrating on the strategy of the company is the main focus.
Is that because it’s the most important aspect to focus on? Many businesses think so, but exclusively focusing on strategy can lead a company into stagnation. People make up a company and they collectively make the culture of the company. Culture does not just impact the employees in your office, it influences your brand, marketing, and how the public in general views your business. Without a healthy prospering culture a brand has little chance of long-term success. When we look at brands like Apple, Google, or Starbucks we not only recognize the logo, but we associate a variety of feelings and thoughts about these businesses. This is mostly due to the culture of these companies.

Why Culture is so Important

Giving your employees a sense of ownership over their jobs ensures that they feel empowered, and empowerment fosters innovative thinking. This all starts with a healthy workplace culture. If people feel invisible or stifled in their work place, they will do the minimum expected of them. It’s human nature to want to feel like we are part of something and that we have some control over our lives. Don’t forget that your brand is comprised of the individuals in your company. So nurturing a positive company culture isn’t just the responsibility of the HR department, but of everyone, from the CEO to the janitor.

Below are just a few of the advantages of fostering a healthy culture.

Focus – The old adage holds true; two heads are better then one. When all the people in a company are dedicated to the same goal, everything runs more efficiently. This sort of focus comes with a healthy culture; your employees will care about the collective goal because they feel like they are a part of it. When people do not feel like they are part of the team, they don’t value the goal, and this can lead to cynicism.

Cohesion – For a team to have cohesion they need to have strong communication. Companies with a healthy culture find that the communication of both success and failure happens more often and more quickly.

Motivation – It may seem obvious that a enthusiastic workforce gets things done, but companies that are not aware of the health of their culture might be suffering when it comes to efficiency.

Measuring the Cultural Health of Your Company

You should assess your company’s culture a few times a year. How can you do this? First, consider how your employees are managed. It is true that a few people may never be happy but, in general, if the consensus is unfavorable begin thinking about modifications to improve the culture to help your business. Tune in soon for a few tips on making your company culture better.

Online Invoicing Made Simple

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:04:18 +0000

Did you start your business because you love paperwork? Not likely, unless you’re a cpa of course. Most likely, you started your business because you love the job, product, or service you sell. As a business owner, however, you can’t neglect the paperwork that comes along with owning your own business. The fiscal side of a business is essential and the proper invoicing of your clients means cash in the bank and satisfied clients.

Invoicing help online

Online invoicing services abound nowadays that make the financial side of business far more manageable. Online services make the laborious task of paperwork much quicker. Depending on the service you employ, the communication to the client can even be automatic! Let’s check out some of the most respected online invoicing services available:

A free but powerful invoicing service

Sometimes the word “free” is synonymous with “not very good.” Thankfully, that isn’t the case with the free system, BillingBoss. Suitable for most small businesses that need to automatically invoice customers monthly and occasional once-off invoicing, BillingBoss packs a huge punch without cost!

A power tool

AcceptPay isn’t free. It costs $30 a month, but it’s a robust program. Offered by American Express, AcceptPay works with QuickBooks, will accept online payments, and of course, gives you a wide range of options with regards to sending out invoices and collecting payments. The $30 expense is a small price to pay for such a impressive online invoicing tool.

Invoicing for the tech-savvy

If you’d like more control over your online invoicing, you might think about downloading BambooInvoice. This is another free service. What sets it apart, though, is that small business owners host it on their own servers, not in the cloud. Because it is an open source program, tech-savvy entrepreneurs can personalize it to fit their business’s specific needs.

We haven’t even told you the best part yet. These three services are only a drop in the very full bucket of accessible online invoicing services. Many are free or extremely low cost, but can greatly enhance your workflow and ease the pain of that annoying stack of paperwork.

Microsoft introduces real-time threat feed

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:12:52 +0000

Cyber crimes happen everyday, and everyday IT security companies track and record information around these attacks. Microsoft is upping its game and launching a real-time threat feed to ensure that its fellow partners can study current threats it finds and discover the best steps to proactively take against them.

With Microsoft’s success in tackling botnets, they have been able to acquire a lot of information around the specific threats these botnets pose. By allowing the botnets to infect highly monitored environments, Microsoft had been able to identify and remove the harmful bots and also discover how they work.

Microsoft is now able to collect threat information and share it with ISPs, government agencies, private organizations, and CERTs. The result of such a move by Microsoft can be significant. Analysts say that while a real-time threat feed won’t lower the amount of attacks, it will help information security professionals respond to these threats faster. This could limit the amount of damage brought on by these attacks.

Another great impact a real-time threat feed could have is an increase in overall information sharing between IT security companies. For too long IT companies have been hesitant to share threat information for the fear that it could fuel more attacks. Most experts say this an unsupported fear. The cyber criminal “community” has already been sharing and gaining knowledge from each other. It is only logical therefore that IT security professional share as much information as possible to combat the seemingly endless barrage of new cyber threats.

Let’s hope that security professionals soon discover that sharing information is more valuable than secrecy. And let’s hope that Microsoft’s move is a first step in this change of attitude.

How Secure is the Cloud? Part 2

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:57:25 +0000

The cloud can be a blessing for small business owners battling through tough economic times. Instead of purchasing costly enterprise software, business owners can save their dollars by accessing powerful computing programs in the cloud, from high-end word processors and project-management tools to spreadsheets and Photoshop alternatives. But, the cloud isn’t perfect, particularly when it comes to security issues. Business owners need to be aware that their documents, presentations, and marketing materials can be damaged when they are stored in the cloud.

Password issues

One of the biggest security issues when dealing with the cloud is password protection. This is also one of the biggest security issues outside of the cloud.

You should always carefully select passwords to your projects stored in the cloud. The more complicated your passwords are the more challenging they are to guess. A great way to achieve this is to use a mixture of numbers and letters in your passwords. Also, you shouldn’t share these passwords with many people.

Hacker alert

A few serious issues that will not soon disappear for anybody who uses a computer are hackers, malware, and spyware. As business owners have little control over how secure the cloud is this part of security can be very alarming indeed. Companies like Microsoft and Google must create their own security measures to safeguard the data stored in the cloud.

Common sense protection

There are a couple common-sense practices that will help protect small business owners who choose to keep information in the cloud.

First, owners should consider what kind of information they are storing in the cloud. The most sensitive data, data that could damage a business if it is lost or stolen, may not be appropriate for cloud storage. Instead, this data may be better stored on a business owner’s individual computing system and reliably backed up.

Secondly, business owners must stay cautious about who they grant access to their cloud-stored data, documents, and reports. Owners are careful about whom they allow to access the files on their desktops and laptops and they should be equally careful when it comes to granting others access to their cloud-hosted information.

Cloud Security: Whose Responsibility Is It? Part 1

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:55:22 +0000

There are lots of advantages to cloud computing. Backing up important data makes it easily accessible to everyone in your company and frees up space on your servers. You probably have several questions about cloud security and might be wondering if cloud security will protect your client’s data and adhere to HIPAA, PCI or Sarbanes-Oxley regulations.

Is your cloud storage solution following these requirements? If they don’t specify it in their privacy policies, it’s not easy to tell. Let’s explore this further below.

Compliance

More and more companies are turning to the cloud for storage. For obvious reasons, it is a very economical approach to take. However, improper handling of your client’s information can harm your reputation and lead to a loss of business for your company. If your company necessitates that client data be handled in a regulated way, you must first learn how secure the cloud service is and what regulations does the cloud service providers comply with. If a company has not specifically said they comply with certain regulations, it’s safe to assume they do not.

Who is responsible

Cloud security is vital when handling your sensitive data, but whose responsibility is it? Should you assume that if it is not explained in the privacy policy, that a service provider doesn’t adhere to these regulations? While this is clearly the safest option, it may leave you unable to use cloud computing at all. Many services don’t provide detailed information in their privacy rules, possibly to lessen their liability. The hope is that with time cloud storage and sharing will become better self-regulated and corporations will decide to disclose their individual practices to the businesses they serve. While such self-regulation is not required at the moment, many businesses think it is their duty to display clear warnings, detailing what they don’t provide or guarantee.

Ultimately, as there is no current law that states that companies must reveal how tight their security is, the responsibility is in your hands. You must weigh the pros and cons of cloud storage to decide if it’s suitable for your business.