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Tag Archives: Business
“5 Smart Tips to Know before Moving Your Data to a Cloud-Based Application”
5 Smart Tips to Know before Moving
Your Data to a Cloud-Based Application
1. Back It Up!
Migrating data to any new location is a mess and anything can (and usually does) go wrong. Therefore, make sure you have good, recent backup copies of everything before you make the move.
2. Maintain an On-site Copy
At first, moving to the cloud can be a bit scary. What can help mitigate the risk (and the fear) is keeping a local, on-site copy of your data and network image on an NAS (network-attached storage) device so that you have a local on-site copy in addition to the working cloud copy.
3. Have a “Plan B” to Access the Internet
One of the biggest questions about moving IT to the cloud is, “What if the Internet goes down?” To mitigate that fail point, have a business-class Internet connection as your initial and main way to connect and then also have a second Internet connection service as a backup. If Windstream is your main connection, you might consider getting a second internet connection from Cox/Charter or a Verizon air card. Additionally you should have a firewall that supports multiple internet connections; so that when the primary connection fails you will still be connected to the internet.
4. Use It as an Opportunity to Do Some Housekeeping
You could just copy and paste your files from your local machines into the cloud, but why not take this as an opportunity to re-evaluate the structure and organization of that data? Here are some ideas:
•Re-evaluate and/or update your file-naming conventions and file organization. A good file-naming policy will make it much easier to find files and information. Also, consider reorganizing all the folders into smarter, more efficient categories.
•Consider who will be using what and what levels of permissions are required to access files. Revisiting your permission levels will help keep sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands.
•Look at old files and consider deleting them or archiving them so they aren’t cluttering up your server and costing you money for storing and backing them up.
5. Phase the Move
Don’t try to migrate everything all at once. Create a transition plan and implement it. Make sure you move your files in bite-size pieces so that the changes are easy to digest for your clients, employees, partners and everyone else involved. This also gives you the opportunity to test the water before taking the plunge, and it allows you to put out one fire at a time instead of having all systems down or broken.
I hope you will find this post informative and useful. I am looking forward to hearing your comments. That’s all I have for today, until next time make it a great day!
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“How To Keep Your Kids Safe Online”
How To Keep Your Kids Safe Online
Now that school is out, thousands of children will be surfing the Internet in their free time.
Although the Internet provides a tremendous learning tool for children, left unchecked it can also expose them to inappropriate material and unscrupulous individuals looking to exploit innocent children.
The statistics of online abuse towards children are alarming. According to a new survey conducted by NetAlert, nearly one child in every five using the Internet has been approached online by a stranger, and 47 per cent of children have been exposed to material that is pornographic, sexually explicit, violent, hateful, or that encourages them to participate in dangerous or illegal activities.
According to Highlights of the Youth Internet Safety Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, one in five children received unwanted sexual solicitations online, and there are a growing number of cases of pedophiles using the Internet to gain a child’s confidence and arrange a face-to-face meetings (also known as ‘online grooming’).
These cyber criminals are using everything from spam e-mails to online messaging, children’s chat rooms, and misleading domain names to trap children. If your child is using the Internet, you must take measures to educate and protect them from these dangers. I’ve outlined 3 things you should be doing now to keep your kids safe online:
1. Install web and e-mail filtering software to prevent your children from viewing inappropriate material. A good, inexpensive software is offered on www.bsecure.com. Not only will this keep the trash off your computer screen, but it will also stop inappropriate spam from reaching your children.
2. Talk to your kids about online safety and proper Internet usage. Set limits and guidelines about when they can go online, what they can do, and how long they are allowed to be online. Explain why it is dangerous for them to “chat” with strangers online or download suspicious looking files.
3. Give your children specific online guidelines or rules to follow when using the Internet. It’s not enough to warn them about potential risks; pedophiles know how to cloak their identity and gain a child’s confidence to arrange face-to-face meetings.
Below is list of rules for kids to follow online:
• I will not give out personal information such as my address, telephone number, parents’ work address or telephone number to anyone online.
• I will not give out the name and location of the school I attend to anyone online.
• I will tell my parents right away if I see a web site, e-mail, or message that makes me feel uncomfortable.
• I will never send my picture to anyone online, or upload my picture to any web site without my parents knowledge and permission.
• I will never agree to meet someone face-to-face that I met online without my parents knowledge and permission.
• I will not respond to any messages that are mean or that make me feel uncomfortable in any way. If I get a message like that, I will tell my parents right away so that they can contact the online service.
• I will never give my parent’s financial information out to anyone, especially their credit card information, bank account information, or social security number.
If you want more information on how to keep your children safe online or to report illegal, violent, or explicit acts towards children, go to www.cybertipline.com. This site is run by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and is a great resource for parents, teachers, and guardians.
I hope you will find this post informative and useful. I am looking forward to hearing your comments. That’s all I have for today, until next time make it a great day!
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Tagged "kids safe online", "online safety", "secure online", "Tech Tips", Business, Computer, Computer Support, Ener Systems, J. Michele Miller, Online, Security, Technology Tips
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“9 Warning Signs Your Computer Is Infected With Spyware”
9 Warning Signs Your Computer Is Infected With Spyware
Spyware is Internet jargon for hidden programs that advertisers install on your PC without your permission to spy on you, gather information, and report this information about you and your online activities to a third party.
Spyware is NOT harmless; it can be responsible for delivering a boatload of spam, altering your web browser, slowing down your PC, and serving up a bounty of pop-up ads. In some of the more extreme cases, spyware can also steal your identity, passwords, e-mail address book, and even use your PC for illegal activities.
Most spyware finds its way onto your computer via file downloads including free programs, music files, and screen savers found everywhere on the Internet. These nasty programs piggyback the download and run undetected on your computer collecting information about you and sending it out to a third party until they are removed. Although spyware has malicious components, it is not illegal, and it is not considered a virus because it doesn’t replicate itself or destroy data.
If you are experiencing one or more of these warning signs, chances are your computer is infected and you will need to seek professional help in getting the spyware removed.
#1. Your browser has been hijacked. If you open your Internet browser and a strange-looking homepage pops up and won’t go away, chances are you have a spyware program installed on your computer. You may also discover that you cannot modify your browser settings and that your favorites folder has been modified.
#2. You conduct a search but another (unauthorized) browser completes it for you. For example, you type a search term into Microsoft IE but another browser pops up and lists various websites tied to your search term. This is a surefire sign of a spyware infection. You’ll also notice that if you try and remove this program, it comes right back.
#3. Your computer is unstable, sluggish, locks up, or crashes frequently. Spyware programs run in the background taking up disk space and processor speed which will cause serious performance problems.
#4. You constantly get pop-up ads displayed on your screen, even if you aren’t browsing the Internet. Some of the ads may even be personalized with your name.
#5. You receive expensive phone bills for calls to 900 numbers that you didn’t make. Some spyware programs can use your computer to make calls on both a broadband and dial-up line.
#6. The send and receive lights on your modem blink actively as though you are surfing the Internet or downloading files online, even though you aren’t. More than likely this is due to spyware programs sending and receiving information via your computer without your permission or acknowledgement.
#7. Mysterious files suddenly start appearing on your computer, your files are moved or deleted, or the icons on your desktop and toolbars are blank or missing.
#8. Your CD drawer starts opening and closing by itself.
#9. You find e-mails in your “Sent Items” folder that you didn’t send.
I hope you will find this post informative and useful. I am looking forward to hearing your comments. That’s all I have for today, until next time make it a great day!
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“Learning from your peers is better than learning from your own mistakes”
Learning from your peers is better than learning from your own mistakes.
I am a firm believer in peer groups. I always suggest that business owners look for peer groups in their industries. These groups can be invaluable. They can push you to get the impossible done. Your peers can also help you when you need it, because they have been there too.
Peer groups can allow you and your business to build a nationwide network.
I have found that is it much cheaper and easier to learn from your peers than to learn from your own mistakes.
For me and my business, peer groups have been invaluable.
So get out there and start looking for a group in your industry. You will be surprised at what you will find.
I hope you will find this post informative and useful. I am looking forward to hearing your comments. That’s all I have for today, until next time make it a great day!
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“5 Ways To Keep Your Laptop Running – Without Plugging It In”
5 Ways To Keep Your Laptop Running – Without Plugging It In
On the road, in the airport, at a client’s site, or simply at home on the couch … these are places you can’t or don’t want to – plug in your laptop. Want to keep your laptop running as long as possible without searching for an outlet? Here are five tips to help:
1) Keep your screen dim. A laptop’s backlight requires a lot of power. Reducing the brightness conserves battery life.
2) Turn off unused hardware. Your Bluetooth and your Wi-Fi receiver can both be turned off if not in use. Unplug your external mouse or other device. Mute the PC’s sound system. Not only will these steps save power, they will avoid annoying everyone else around you.
3) Don’t multitask. Run as few programs as you can get away with. Stick to one application (word processor, browser, or whatever) if possible. (If online keep your antivirus and firewall on in the background.)
4) Avoid multimedia. Save your photo editing and video watching for when you have AC power. These tasks use immense battery life. To listen to music, use your iPod (or similar device).
5) Sleep, standby or hibernate. Sleep mode (a/k/a “standby” in XP) keeps your PC on. It still uses power, just less than normal. Hibernate uses no power initially, but a lot of battery life to start back up.
I hope you will find this post informative and useful. I am looking forward to hearing your comments. That’s all I have for today, until next time make it a great day!
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“What is your Centerpoint? Meet Blue Angels Pilot, John Foley”
What is your Centerpoint? Meet Blue Angels Pilot, John Foley
Recently while in Dallas at an industry conference for Tigerpaw Software, I had the great pleasure of hearing John Foley speak in person. He is Amazing and the focus that the Blue Angels have is Amazing. When the Blue Angels fly in formation, they start with the planes at 36 inches apart and get the planes as close as 18 inches apart. It must take incredible focus to achieve such precision. John explains that for every show, the Blue Angels have a centerpoint that everyone remains focused on. This centerpoint allows all of the pilots to focus on one thing and achieve unbelievable accuracy. Just imagine what you could do with that kind of focus. What is your centerpoint? What are you going to focus on that will make you achieve unbelievable goals?
I hope you will find this post informative and useful. I am looking forward to hearing your comments. That’s all I have for today, until next time make it a great day!
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“A simple way to increase productivity”
A simple way to increase productivity
According to a University of Utah study, you can increase your efficiency (or your employees’ efficiency) by 25% just by adding a second monitor. With multiple monitors, you can get more done since you aren’t minimizing and maximizing all day long. Therefore, adding monitors can be a money maker for your company.
The study documentation states that 108 university and non-university personnel participated in a comparison of single monitor, multi-monitor and multi-monitor with Hydravision display configurations. Respondents edited slide shows, spreadsheets and text documents in a simulation of office work using each of the display arrays. Performance measures—including task time, editing time, number of edits completed and number of errors made, as well as usability measures evaluating effectiveness, comfort, learning ease, time to productivity, quickness of recovery from mistakes, ease of task tracking, ability to maintain task focus and ease of movement among sources—were combined into an overall evaluation of productivity. Multi-screens scored significantly higher on every measure. Respondents got on task quicker, did the work faster and got more of the work done with fewer errors in multi-screen configurations than with a single screen.
Consider trying this in your office. Add a monitor or two to your desk and to those of your employees. See what kind of feedback you get and how much more efficient and productive you become when you have the ability to move quicker, use multiple applications at once and no longer have to constantly minimize windows
I hope you will find this post informative and useful. I am looking forward to hearing your comments. That’s all I have for today, until next time make it a great day!
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“10 Easy Ways To Eliminate E-mail Overload”
10 Easy Ways To Eliminate E-mail Overload
E-mail driving you crazy? Every time you delete one, do five more show up? Are you finding it impossible to answer every e-mail you receive? If this is you, then here are 10 tips to reduce e-mail overload.
1- Get a good spam filter. Even if it saves you just 10 minutes a day, that adds up to over 59 hours a year.
2- Cancel subscriptions to unwanted mailing lists. Also, make sure you are careful to check the “unsubscribe” or “opt-out” box when purchasing items online.
3- Ask your friends to remove you from joke groups or chain messages.
4- Don’t post or publish your e-mail on websites.
5- Don’t respond to every e-mail you receive. Yes, it’s okay NOT to respond to some e-mails.
6- Be succinct. Restrict your messages to a few sentences. If you can’t, pick up the phone or talk in person.
7- Take advantage of subject lines. If possible, put your question in the subject line of your message. Here’s another tip: create a set of codes with your co-workers and place them in the subject line to help them process and prioritize messages. For example, use “FYI” for informational messages. Use “AR” for action required and “URG” for urgent messages.
8- Block time to answer your e-mail and fight the temptation to check your e-mail every few minutes.
9- Respond to messages when you open them so you only read them once.
10- Set time aside in the morning and the evening to process your inbox. Shoot for a completely empty inbox. File messages you need to keep and set reminders for messages that require you to follow up.
I hope you will find this post informative and useful. I am looking forward to hearing your comments. That’s all I have for today, until next time make it a great day!
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