TechTidBit - Tips and advice for small business computing - Tech Experts™ - Monroe Michigan

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Why Are Windows And Software Updates Important?

by Jeremy Miller, Technician
Everyone who owns a computer running Microsoft Windows has seen that pop-up alerting you that you have updates to install or that they have been installed. Updates are fixes for a known issue.

Microsoft uses an application called Windows Update Service to look for new updates, and then it categorizes the various updates by how critical they are.

There are security updates which patch vulnerabilities that can compromise your system.

Critical updates fix major issues found with Microsoft products that can cause errors or unusual behavior. Software updates are non-critical issues such as more features and minor bug fixes.

Service packs contain all updates and patches prior to the service pack. You can install a service pack to apply a large amount of updates at once. Also service packs can determine which software you can run.

It is important to update your computer to keep your computing environment stable. If you allow your computer to get too out of date such as not installing a service pack, you may not be able to run a lot of software.
Even worse if you do not install security updates you will have a larger “known” attack surface for exploits.

Windows is not the only software that updates. You have probably seen Adobe Reader, Flash Player, or Java letting you know that there are updates available for install in your system tray. They update for the same reason that Microsoft updates Windows.

Updates are important to keep your system secure and relatively issue free. Updates can also cause issues sometimes. It is better to install the update on a computer to see if there will be an issue before deploying it to the entire network.

A good example of this is if Internet Explorer 10 has just been installed on your computer and now all of a sudden you cannot print a report, the latest update may be the issue. You should first attempt to work with the new update.

Internet Explorer 10 has compatibility mode to work with older websites, if that does not work you may have to uninstall the update and use Internet Explorer 9. This happens because the company you are printing the report from is not compatible with the new Internet Explorer 10 browser.

You will have to wait until either the company updates their server to be compliant with Internet Explorer 10 or you will have to wait until Internet Explorer 10’s compatibility will work with the site.

Keeping your software up to date is an important part of secure computing. Threats and security holes are discovered every day; it is critical you apply any updates the manufacturer releases.

Not all updates apply to every environment, which means that not everyone will get the same updates; it is based on the software you have installed and when you installed it.

The only software that you should always update would be any anti-virus software. This software usually updates automatically several times a day. The moment your anti-virus gets out of date you are not protected with the latest anti-virus definitions.

If you are having trouble with updates and patching or if you have any questions give us a call. We can make sure your computers are up to date and keep you worry free.

Advertising Via Social Media Sites

For all the hype that surrounds the use of social media when it comes to small businesses, many owners have learned the hard way that a Facebook or Twitter account alone is not going to drive up sales.

Successful social media campaigns need forethought, planning and skill and using a few tips can assist you to give more traction to your social media campaigns.

Advertisers often see Facebook as the social media site of choice but other social networks might actually be more effective for your particular brand.

LinkedIn for instance offers a wide array of users from the world of business while B2B clients might find Slideshare the ideal vehicle.

Advertising a niche product in a magazine aimed at the mass market is an obvious ‘no-no’ and the same applies to social networks.

Profile pages offer an amazing amount of data about users and this can be used very effectively to target the audience that best fits the demographic that you are targeting with your product or services.

Make use of video marketing
Seventy two percent of business executives watch videos that are related to business on business websites a minimum of once a week, according to Forbes. This means that you are seriously missing out on what may be one of the greatest lead generation techniques ever devised.

The bottom line is that creating an informative and compelling video is an excellent method of attracting attention from other businesses and indeed today video marketing is almost essential as a lead generation technique.

The main thing when it comes to using video marketing is to have a plan.

Think about the audience that you are attempting to reach with this video, as there are likely to be different approaches and language used when trying to reach executives as opposed to average people.

You also need to think about the benefits that targeted viewers can glean from the video as without benefits there will be not much in the way of follow-up!

Keep things short, make sure the sound quality is good and include the logo of your company at both the start and end of the video.

Content publishing tips
Having a good hold on content generates a lot of opportunities before you have even started promoting your business due to the fact that you can create and edit and then even publish that content by yourself.

When you have become efficient enough to be able to cope with B2B content you will then be able to help the online reputation of your business grow. Publishing content leads to increased exposure over the internet and results in more and more potential clients paying a visit to your website, so making sure that there is a good representation of that business is obviously going to help you generate and keep a good reputation.

The website’s content should be free from errors and feature appropriate and accurate material. The accomplishment of the website, and by extension your business, is dependent on the content being of the absolute highest quality possible, which means there should be no comprises made of any kind.

There are a number of different techniques, both classic and decidedly offbeat, that can be used to help turn customers into subscribers and even passionate advocates for your business and brand.

One tried and trusted method is to give special treatment to your subscribers. This can take the form of office perks, offering services to subscribers (plus their networks) or one-day specials on products via your social media channels, providing online recognition by asking your followers to post their own stories about your services and products.

Client Retention Tips For Small Businesses

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

You make a sale and get a new customer – that’s good, right?

But do you know what is even better? It is when they come back the second, third and fourth time around to do business with you again.

There is an art to getting your clients to continue with your service – and this is why you need to ramp up your client retention techniques.

As a small business owner, there are many things that you can do to improve client retention and have them return to you again and again and again. Here are a few ideas you can put to use right away:

Admit mistakes and address issues immediately. A study shows that 84% of customers will tell their friends (and even blog about) a negative experience with a certain business.

Imagine how many potential customers you can lose if this happens to you. The key is to admit the mistake and address the complaint as soon as possible – and your client will most likely remain loyal and tell their friends about the service.

Keep your customer service top notch. Did you know that more than half of all consumers are willing to pay more money for better customer service?

True, customer service will always make or break your business. Always seek to provide stellar service because this will benefit you in the long run and will encourage your clients to choose you over cheaper alternatives.

Remember your clients and they will remember you. Customers are just regular people, too. They are human beings who want to feel valued and appreciated.

Show your loyal clients that you remember them by sending personalized greeting cards. Christmas is a good time to send cards but if December seems too far away, you can always start a customer appreciation mailing program anytime.

Learn about your client’s needs. One of the main reasons why clients stop availing of certain services is because they no longer need them.

People’s needs evolve over time, so you may also want to improve your products or services to cater to their new needs.

Keep them in the loop. It is also good to keep your clients informed about new things going on in your business.

Do you have new services? Have you updated your products? Do you have a new branch that is somehow closer to them?

You can keep them informed through in-store presentations, brochures, regular e-mails or even print newsletters (like this one, going strong every month since October, 2006!).

As a small business owner, you do not have to spend thousands of dollars to retain customers. These are simple things that you can do (most of them for free) to keep your customers happy and coming back to you.

The Benefits Of Proper Networking For Your Business

By Tech Experts Staff
Many times a company’s network tends to be a difficult part of their infrastructure to decide what they really need.

There are many different ways of configuring a network depending on the company’s needs.

A network can be as simple as having your Internet Service Provider’s modem connected directly to a workstation or as complex as having thousands of workstations and servers connected to a company’s network around the world.

Deciding on what is needed for your network is completely dependent on the intended uses of it. Many factors contribute to this; security, size of network, locations, speed necessary, etc.

For most small companies, they can usually get by with a simple router that has a built-in firewall solution.

While the simple routers take care of giving access to users hardwired to the local network, and in some cases via a wireless connection, they don’t offer the features that a higher end router would.

Many companies have multiple sites that they want to have access to all the same files. One solution is purchasing cloud storage to accomplish this.

While that would be a great idea if you needed access when you are not on your companies network, a much more economical solution is to have a virtual private connection (VPN) setup between sites.

If a VPN is setup between sites the traffic is encrypted with a shared key between the routers which allows the two of them to pass traffic to each other without anyone being able to see what it is.

This allows you to safely send confidential information to members at a different site.

The biggest advantage of a VPN between sites is the ability to have one server at a centralized location and allow all of your sites to have access to it.

This alone can save thousands of dollars when it comes to the network build, you only need one server.

When it comes to having a server, if properly configured they can provide a significant amount of security on the network.

Servers improve security by offering centralized management and providing a means to allow or deny access to files on the network.

For instance, you may have accounting files on a network that you only want certain employees to have access to, with a server you can assign specific users access to these files.

Some routers also have the ability to manage bandwidth. This provides companies the ability to manage the amount of data users can use for different applications.

Many large companies need the ability to control how much bandwidth is being used and what is using it. With higher end routers you have the ability to do this.

On the business class firewalls we generally install at businesses they offer a large package of security tools to help protect your network.

Our business class firewalls offer all of the routing capabilities of the simple, home user routers but also offer antivirus, web filtering, antispam, intrusion prevention system (IPS), and vulnerability management.

The business class firewalls drastically improve a business’s security as well as offers many of the features listed above.

If your business is in need of network improvements to increase security and employee productivity, give us a call and we can offer you a network diagnosis to determine what your company’ needs are and where your networks weak points are.

Office 365 Or Office 2013: Which Is Right For You?

by Jeremy Miller, Technician
You’ve probably heard a lot of things in the news about Microsoft’s Office 365.

Let’s explain the difference between Office 365, and the traditional version of Microsoft Office you’re used to using on your computer.

Standard versions of Office 2013 are licensed or boxed product. You can purchase a license to this product from any local or online retailer.

Office 365 is a subscription based product. You purchase this license either monthly or annually. You can also use this product on more than one computer and it is transferrable to other computers. This license is not transferrable to another user.

You should know right away both versions of Office will not run on any Windows Operating system prior to Windows 7.

The Office 2013 license is very straight forward: You simply install Office like you always have. However, unlike previous Office versions, you cannot remove it and install it on another computer.

The Office 365 license is much more malleable, and is licensed and sold by version. Office 365 comes in four versions: Home Premium, Small Business, Midsize Business, and Enterprise. Office 365 is licensed per user.

Office 365 Home Premium comes with Word, Excel, Power Point, One Note, Outlook, Publisher, Access, 20 GB of Skydrive cloud storage, and 60 minutes of calling if you have a Skype account. This version is not available to businesses.

Office 365 Small Business includes everything Home Premium has plus Microsoft Lync and business email which will offer 25 GB per month, and many other features.

Office 365 Midsize Business requires an annual commitment. This version will allow you to have up to 300 users. This has everything Small Business has plus Microsoft InfoPath.

Office 365 Enterprise also requires an annual commitment, but there are no limits as to the number of users you can have.

This version has everything that Midsize Business has plus Unified Discovery, Data Loss Prevention, and Role-based access.

Unified Discovery will allow you to search across Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync.

With Role-Based access you can control access and assign it to different groups.

You can create data loss prevention polices and templates for protecting sensitive information. These features will aid in keeping your business compliant with various regulatory requirements.

Choosing your version of Office is pretty straightforward. If you’re a light Office user, or only use a few features of Office then Office 2013 is best for you. You can choose which version you need based on the Office tools that you use.

If your company uses many features of Office, and you want to avoid large upfront software costs, then Office 365 is your best bet.

You will still be able to use Office 365 with no Internet connection. It does require an Internet connection to install and sync, however, and of course for email access.

You can access Office from anywhere using Office on Demand, which is not full-featured, but will allow you to read and edit documents.

Office 365 is the best bet for small and growing companies. You can add and remove new users and computers.

When you upgrade computers you will be able to remove Office from the old computer to install on a new computer.

You will also get more features like business email and calendars, a public website, team sites, web conferencing, and instant messaging.

If your company needs any help making a decision about which version of Office would best suit you, or if you would like help installing and configuring Office, please give us a call. We’d be happy to help.

Social Media: Authenticity And Perseverance

Social media is the current zeitgeist and the way of the future, or so we are told. This makes it all the more important to make sure that we are conducting our social media behavior in the correct manner.

Two of the most important things in the way we conduct ourselves in the world of social media are transparency and authenticity. In other words, do not try to pretend to be anyone or anything but what you are and be honest in all your interactions.

That said, perseverance and a thick skin can also come in handy. You cannot worry over what anyone else thinks about you 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the world of social media any more than you can in the real world.

Build and work your plan and just get out there. Make sure that you manage your brand, your image and your reputation. Take any legitimate criticism onboard, but do not be beholden to it.

Optimizing social strategy in emails
Senior management often tells B2B marketers to be more social when it comes to their B2B marketing efforts, but how exactly are you supposed to go about doing that?

The more familiar channel of email sees B2B marketers pushing their brand, solutions and messaging onto a targeted list of leads who are quite likely to either ignore it or even list them as spam.

One good tip when it comes to using email marketing for social media is to share rather than tell. It is not sufficient to leverage social media by just adding your social media links onto the bottom of an email. Provide links in emails in order to let leads share the content.

You also need to remember that at the end of the day it is all about the content. Sending the right content to the right person in the social sphere will have the result of amplifying the effect of that content, so take note of who your space’s loudest social media users are and try to get them to join in with your communications in order to leverage their long reach.

How to grow your market
There are a number of innovative methods with which you can attempt to connect and ultimately grow your market.

One good method is to actually invent a whole new market segment. B2B marketing is all about making sure that your service or product is put in the position of being at your category’s “logical extreme.”

For example, B2B companies that create disruptive technologies tend to be heavily funded when it comes to R&D, but the winners will be those companies that have positioned themselves to be the first in people’s minds.

Another good method is to swap your sales funnel for a sales network. These days there are innumerable ways to get out of the B2B sales funnel, with the market of today making it very expensive to find new prospects.

The trick is to create services and products that are so amazing that your existing customer base will not be able to stop talking about them to their friends and colleagues.

Does Videoconferencing Make Sense For Your Company?

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

Science-fiction fans have long wished for life-sized communication devices that create a real-time image of the person you’re talking with.

Recently, holographic video technology has begun to surface, although at present the price means it’s restricted to only the wealthiest companies.

More realistic options when you want a face-to-face with clients across town are video conferencing and telepresence setups, like HP’s Halo solutions.

Soaring fuel prices, and the growing awareness of our carbon footprint, are encouraging the fast adoption of video conferencing among big and small companies alike.

Some businesses have even taken the line that if a video conference is possible, they won’t travel long distances for a meeting.

The advantages of video conferencing are obvious. As the old saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

By being able to see each other, participants benefit from improved understanding and communication. Productivity goes up, travel costs are removed, and the time spent driving or flying to meetings is slashed dramatically.

The next stage
The benefits offered by video conferencing are soon to be taken to a new level by technologies like motion tracking, facial recognition and simulation, intelligent audio technologies, handheld and full-scale holographic devices, 3D monitors, stereographic camera setups, and entire-room display technologies.

Recent months have already seen the introduction of digital projectors into mobile phones.

While many of these technologies sound quite far-fetched, a lot of them will be available for regular business use in the near future.

And like most technological breakthroughs, with time many of them will also find their way into our homes. Friends and family living overseas could virtually walk in and talk with you – or share their living rooms in full detail.

Enhancing collaboration today
While holograms and other such technologies are still out of reach for most, video conferencing systems like Halo are helping organizations hold more engaging long-distance meetings that lift productivity while reducing costs.

The top-end products can include life-sized screens, crisp pictures, surround sound and even operating technicians.

A far more attractively priced option are PCs and notebooks equipped with web cameras. With free services like Skype and Webex, you can quickly and easily set up time-saving face-to-face meetings.

Collaboration and communication can be improved effortlessly, travel costs removed in an instant.

New technologies will soon revolutionize the way we communicate, but in the meantime, video conferencing can offer your business a great advantage.

Malware: What Does It Look Like And How To Prevent it

By Tech Experts Staff
The most common issue among users for both home and businesses alike are malware infections.

While malware is a generic term for malicious software, the fact is all malware slows your computer down and brings potential security risks along with it.

Malware can be anything from viruses, trojans, and spyware to “PC Optimization” programs that really do your computer more harm than good.

While some are more serious issues than others they all have negative effects on a workstation or a server so they all need to be taken seriously.

What does malware look like? In most cases an unusual window will open up, something you do not recognize.

Many times malware looks like the speed up your pc programs or could even be designed to look as if it’s antivirus software. It is very common to see software like this requesting credit card information to purchase the software and remove the so called infections.

Do not ever give credit card information out on your computer unless you’re absolutely certain it is a program you’ve downloaded and setup.

One example is your antivirus software will sometimes let you extend a subscription that is expiring via credit card.

“How can I even get a virus, I have antivirus software installed?” This is the single most common question we have from clients that come in for virus infections on their computers.

It is a common misconception that antivirus software means you cannot get a virus. The fact is antivirus software is strictly preventative.

The way antivirus software works is the antivirus vendor makes a virus definition based off of a virus. This definition is what allows the antivirus software to find and stop viruses from infecting a computer. That being said, someone has to get infected before the antivirus companies have an example virus to make a definition for.

Due to this everyone, whether they have antivirus software or not, are susceptible to viruses.

The difference between someone with antivirus software installed and someone that does not is that the person with it installed is not susceptible to infections after a definition has been made, while the other is.

“If antivirus does not completely protect me then how do I keep from getting viruses?” This is the follow up question we always get. For starters, safe browsing habits help to greatly reduce the chances of getting a virus infection.

Do not click on ads. The most common place for someone to get a virus is the ads on websites like Facebook that are very appealing and tend to catch users eyes.

Another thing that can be done to reduce the chance of infection or at least the severity of it is to use a standard user account. Society as a whole has a bad habit of always using the administrator account on a computer for everything they do.

The problem with this is that if a user does download a virus, the virus is now working on an account that has full privileges to the entire computer versus an account that only has permissions on a very small part of it.

Aside from having good browsing habits the best thing you can have on a workstation or a server is a high quality antivirus. Paid antiviruses tend to offer other features to help further protect your computer. We sell a Managed Vipre Antivirus that has very high detection rates and is business grade software. It is very light weight and does not slow down computers.

If you are interested in looking into our antivirus solution to help protect your business or residential computers let us know.

Backup And Disaster Recovery For Small Businesses

by Jeremy Miller, Technician
It is that time of year again; “Storm Season”, and computers and other electronics can be damaged.

We see at least a few computers each year come in from damage caused by a storm. This can vary from a failed power supply to computers that cannot be repaired due to the damage done by the storm.

This is one reason why it is important to have a disaster recovery plan. A good disaster recovery plan starts with backing up vital information regularly.

It is best to have at least two forms of backups as well. You need on-site and off-site backups.

On-site backups are stored on some media like a hard drive or a flash drive that is not permanently attached to the computer. This is a removable storage device that can be transferred to a different computer, or even a network resource like a server.

We can also offer a device that will take a complete system image of your computer at regular intervals. If your computer or server fails, this device can actually boot up as a temporary copy of your computer or server, within minutes. This will keep your downtime to a minimum in the event of a disaster.

Off-site backups are the most important. There are instances of when the on-site backups become unusable. This can happen in the event of natural disasters like fires, floods, and electrical damage from lightning, or even something simple such as a system failure or even a virus.

It is a good idea to have your data backed up securely over the Internet to a different location that has many redundancies in place.

You need to decide what the best options will be for you and make sure that they are cost-effective. Backup and disaster recovery is something we take very seriously here. We have had clients accidently delete their entire QuickBooks databases, they called us, and we were able to restore the databases in minutes.

This client was proactive and worked with us to setup the best backup solution for them and it paid off. Being proactive and setting up a disaster recovery plan is the only way to help prevent data loss.

The most important part of backing up your data is testing your backups.

You have to test your backups to make sure everything will be able to be restored in the event of an emergency.

You do not want to spend a lot of money on backup software only to have your data become corrupt and unusable. Our backups are regularly tested to verify integrity.

We have helped many people implement backup and disaster recovery solutions. The backups that we setup off-site are tested regularly. We have had 100% success rate in restoring backups that we have setup and monitored.

If you are interested in having your current backup solution audited, or would like consulting on a new backup solution we will be happy to help. Please contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

Take Charge Of Your Time To Manage Your Job Better

Time is money, or so the saying goes. People who manage their time effectively get more done and go further in their careers.

Make the most of every minute with these useful ideas:

Act on email promptly. Don’t leave emails in your inbox, whether you’ve read them or not. Spend a few minutes on a regular schedule responding, saving, or deleting messages so important emails don’t get lost in the electronic clutter.

Do your most important tasks first. Identify your priorities (and those of your boss) so you know what’s critical and what’s trivial. Then take care of your top priorities first thing in the morning instead of putting them off or waiting until you’re “ready.” The rest of your day will flow more easily once you’ve got the important stuff under control.

Identify quick tasks. Make a list of everyday jobs you can do in five minutes or less. Tackle these when you’ve got a little spare time—between meetings, or waiting for a long document to print. That way they won’t distract you when you need to concentrate, or waste your time when you should be working on more important things.

Take good notes. Don’t try to remember everything. When you’ve got an idea, or realize you need to do something later, write it down. Review your notes regularly so nothing slips away.

Just say no. Avoid tasks and projects that don’t directly contribute to your primary objectives. Use your list of priorities to identify work that you need to do. Turn down (politely) requests to take on irrelevant work, or negotiate for a deadline that allows you to focus on your key tasks.

While managing your time better, it’s also a good idea to improve your relationship with your boss.

Impressing your boss isn’t about insincere flattery or hogging the spotlight. The best way to get attention and credit is to do your job as well as you can – and follow these tips:

Take notes. Carry a notebook to any meeting with your boss, and use it to record his or her instructions. This shows that you place a premium on detail and accuracy.

Save money. Look for ways to cut expenses in your organization. Most managers are under constant pressure to keep costs down, and yours will be grateful if you can help.

Arrive early, stay late. Don’t be a clock-watcher. Your willingness to put in extra time will show your dedication to the boss’s objectives and your organization’s success.

Dress well. Even in a casual-dress atmosphere, pay attention to your appearance. A professional wardrobe will stand out.

Keep the boss informed. Don’t be a gossip, but do give your manager a heads-up on anything happening in the workplace that could affect his or her goals.

Do a little extra. Seek out the small tasks that other people forget, or the big ones that everyone avoids. Going the extra mile will make a lasting impression.

Be organized. Keep your work area clean, and have the information your boss needs ready at any time. You don’t want to waste your manager’s time while you search for documents under piles of disorganized memos.

Double-check your work. Don’t be in such a hurry that you don’t have time to proofread your email or confirm the facts in a report. Small errors can undermine your credibility and reputation.