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Tips For Buying A New Laptop Computer

Purchasing a brand new laptop computer can be something of a challenge given the amount of options and choices which are available.

For many people the process of buying a new laptop computer can actually turn out to be quite overwhelming. Fortunately there are some simple tips which can be followed to make the purchasing process much simpler.

One tip is to try and narrow down some of the key choices and options.

Identify and focus on the requirements and features which are the most important and this will help you to narrow it down to the best laptop computer which you can buy for your budget and needs.

The first thing to determine is what you will use the laptop computer for, as this helps to clear up your needs in terms of battery life, performance, size, storage capacity and weight.

If you need to use the laptop outside of your home or office, then this makes the weight of the system and the size of the screen important.

A non-glare screen might come in handy if you will use it outdoors or in bright rooms.

If there are a large number of files you wish to store, then a bigger hard disk drive will also be needed.  Asking these questions can make the whole process much less intimidating.

Springtime Brings Seasonal Storms – Protect Your Network!

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

It’s a topic I touch on every year around this time – the criticality of power protection and backups for your network. The sad fact of the matter is, no matter how often I preach about it, too many of our clients still aren’t adequately protecting their systems.

Adequate power protection entails three things: Prevention, protection, and testing.

Prevention
During thunderstorms, many people leave their computers unprotected. Simply turning a computer off during a thunderstorm does nothing whatsoever to protect the computer.

Nearby lightning strikes can cause surges through the power lines or phone lines into your house or office, and these often damage your equipment.

The easiest way to prevent problems caused by lightning and power surges is to unplug your computer during a storm. Don’t forget to unplug your phone line or cable Internet from the computer too. These are the second most likely way for surges to get into your computer.

Protection
Having a good, quality surge protector is great for the day-to-day power surges that happen mostly unseen in the background. Don’t skimp on your power protection.

The $9 “surge strip” you can pick up at a hardware store simply gives you more outlets to use – it doesn’t provide protection against power problems.

A good surge protector should run you around $50 – a small investment when you consider the cost of the computer and the value of your data.

Servers and critical workstations should be protected by a battery backup system. We prefer APC because they offer an equipment insurance policy, but any good, well known brand will protect your network.

Testing
Power protection devices, whether a surge protector or battery backup, are designed to fail. They absorb the power fluctuations that could damage your server or workstation.

Your battery backup unit should be tested at least twice per year to ensure it’s functioning properly. The test can be as simple as plugging in a lamp, and disconnecting the unit from utility power. The lamp should stay lit. If it doesn’t, it’s time to replace the batteries in the UPS.

In general, surge protectors and battery backup units should be replaced every three years. This ensures your network, servers and computers are protected by the latest technology in surge supression.

 

Windows 8, A Diamond in the Rough?

Feature article by Tech Experts
So should you be planning to upgrade to Windows 7 or hold off for Windows 8?

If you’re still running Windows XP, Microsoft is saying to not bother waiting for Windows 8 and jump into Windows 7. That being said, from a business point of view should you wait for Windows 8 or go for Windows 7?

Windows 8 was initially released as a developer preview on September 13th of 2011 and since has been pushed very hard by Microsoft and the media alike to many IT professionals.

After Microsoft boasted over the drastic rethinking of Windows 8 and how it has revolutionized Windows as a whole, IT pros everywhere picked every aspect of Windows 8 apart.

Is Change A Good Thing?
Many feel it is not going to make a very good business operating system for end users. The reason for this? Change. Windows 8 brings a vast amount of change to the table, some good, some not so good…

After the release of the Developer preview and several months of time for Microsoft to further polish their new Operating System, they released the current version Windows 8 Consumer Preview build 8250 on February 29th 2012.

Microsoft again touted the newly improved OS citing it has made over 100,000 code changes since its previously released Developer version.

So, just what is Windows 8? Well Windows 8 is Microsoft’s attempt at making an operating system to bridge the hardware gaps between mobile platforms and the widely used PC.

Complete Overhaul
Windows 8 has been completely overhauled to give end users a similar user experience whether they are sitting at their desktop computer, using it on a tablet, or (as some experts believe) using a new Windows phone.

While Microsoft has not officially stated that this OS is going to be released on the Windows phone platform yet, it surely would not take them much to do so and would allow them to have their devices all synced.

Synced? That’s right! The new OS relies heavily on the cloud. The way this operating system has been developed it will allow users to login on any computer (provided they have an internet connection) and have the same application access they had on their computer at home.

With further integration of cloud services users will also have access to all of their documents, pictures, and videos via cloud based storage.

Many of Windows 8 features have a long way to go still before they are developed enough for everyday public use.

Metro Interface
One of the most notable features of Windows 8 is its new “Metro” style interface pictured above

This screen is your start menu now. Yes, Microsoft removed the start button that has been in Windows for more than 20 years… This new way of accessing your icons and applications allows you to click on (or touch if you have a touchscreen monitor or tablet) an icon and instantly be using it.

Load times for applications are very low, at least with the applications that have been released via their app store at this point.

Applications opened from this screen also do not need to be closed according to Microsoft (Again very similar to many mobile operating systems today).

The only problem with not actually closing the applications is for those people that never turn their computer off, everything you ever open will stay open and if you don’t force close the programs they will continue to run and use system resources which over time will make your computer run slow.

Even though Microsoft has removed the start menu they have kept the desktop..somewhat. The desktop is still able to be accessed via the Metro application menu but again is not meant to be used unless you need access to files and folders.

One other new feature Microsoft has added to Windows 8 is the ability to have “Picture Passwords”. A Picture Password allows you to select a picture you want to use as your password, and then draw three gestures on the picture to allow access to the computer or tablet.

This new feature is meant to increase security as it will make it more difficult for hackers to gain access to a user’s computer (At least via a keylogger).

One of the big reasons to steer clear of Windows 8, at least at this point, is numerous bugs within the OS and the apps it uses. Bugs range from minor issues such as lack of support for common email protocols such as IMAP and POP, to more major issues related to hardware not functioning inside Windows 8 due to conflicts.

At this point with Windows 8 still being in Beta it is perfectly normal to have the issues they are having with the operating system but, if the issues continue into the retail release of the software they will have another Windows Vista on their hands.

If Microsoft turns this operating system into a winner, it could mean big things for Microsoft.

One major point is if Windows 8 becomes popular, Windows will make a break into the tablet market which is predominately Android and iOS based. This would also give Windows an edge on other mobile operating systems as they would be able to operate across multiple platforms without any lapse in functionality.

So, is Windows 8 worth waiting for? At this point it makes more sense to go with Windows 7. If you are the kind of person that is into change…a lot of change…then hold off for Windows 8, but at this point Windows 8 is looking rough.

 

Why You Should Avoid Using A Debit Card When Shopping Online

If you shop online (and these days, who doesn’t?),  you’ll want to make sure you use a credit card instead of a debit card to protect yourself from online scams and rip offs.
The biggest advantage credit cards offer is a buffer for payment. By law, your maximum loss if your credit card number is stolen is $50, and most credit card companies and banks will cover the entire cost.
When you use a debit card, the funds come directly out of your bank account, which means you might have trouble disputing the charge if you get scammed or if you are not happy with the product or service you purchased.
Here are some other tips to make shopping online safer:

Research your merchant before buying. The Federal Trade Commission maintains a web site (www.consumer.gov) that provides many buyer’s guides, lists of tips, and links to helpful resources.

Make sure you are on a secure web site before you give your name, address or credit card details. Look for a padlock or a key symbol in the bottom corner of your screen.
Never send your credit card number in an e-mail because it can easily be stolen.
Frequently check your credit card statements for suspicious entries. If you spot anything strange, contact your credit card company immediately to question the charge.
Call the company before placing an order. See if a real person answers the phone and how difficult it is to get someone live. Ask for their return policy for damaged or inadequate goods, expected delivery dates, shipping and handling fees, and after-purchase support.
Think before you buy. If the online advertisement or junk e-mail offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
If you have any reason to be suspicious, you are better to err on the side of NOT buying.
Watch for hidden extras added on at checkout such as postage and packing costs, and handling fees.
VAT and customs charges for goods from overseas can add greatly to the final cost, so double check your order before you hit the final submit button.
Read the company’s privacy policy carefully. Make sure you uncheck any boxes giving the vendor permission to sell or share your information with other vendors, especially your email address.

Time To Wake Up? Here’s How To Get Off To An Early Start

For many of us, the “early to rise” part of Benjamin Franklin’s famous advice is the hardest. But if you want to be healthy, wealthy, and wise, you can’t lie under the covers all day.

To get an early start on a productive day, try these strategies:

• Give yourself a good reason to get up. Choose something important to do first thing in the morning—something you enjoy and feel passionate about. Think about this as you go to sleep, and you’ll be more eager to get up the next morning.

• Practice good sleep habits. Avoid caffeine or alcohol, both of which can disturb your sleep patterns. Getting enough sleep is key to waking up on time.

• Don’t just hit snooze. Set multiple alarm clocks, and place them across the room so you have to get up and get moving in order to shut them off.

• Have a buddy system. Schedule an early-morning activity with a friend (like a walk), or just a phone call to ensure you get up on time.

• Develop a consistent habit. Get up at the same time every day, regardless of what you’re doing. Your body will adjust to a fixed routine.

• Drink some water. A glass of cold water first thing in the morning will revive and refresh you.

• Keep track of your success. Motivate yourself with a diary of what time you get up every morning. After a while, your desire to sleep will be outweighed by the knowledge that you’ll have to log a later waking time.

Making Use Of Google To Help Your Day Run Smoother

The Internet is a very big place. Anyone who wishes to use the Internet in an effective manner needs to be familiar with search engines.

Google has become the primary choice for millions of users, although there are some others.

One of the main reasons for Google’s popularity and general reputation as being the best of the search engines is that they keep on coming up with new methods for surfing the Internet.

For instance, if you wish to look up a news story or current event, then http://news.google.com allows you to instantly have access to news stories that are literally just a couple of minutes old.

Anyone who is looking for a picture of just about anything is almost sure to find it at http://images.google.com, which is quite possibly the largest image search engine in the whole world.

If you’re looking for map or address information, check out http://maps.google.com – hundreds of thousands of addresses now have street view, showing you the actual view from a car in front of the building you’re looking for.

Google also has specific search engines for books, videos and even stock market developments.

Are Discount-Promoting Sites Right For Your Business?

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

“You’ve undoubtedly heard about Groupon, the Internet company that sells discount coupons for everything from spa visits to cosmetic surgery. Their IPO last November was the largest since Google, and raised about $700 million.

You might wonder if adding a Groupon or Groupon-like promotion to your marketing mix makes sense.

There are dozens of companies that provide these types of promotions (Groupon isn’t the only game in town), including our local newspaper – see http://dailydeals.monroenews.com (offered as illustration only, and not endorsement).

Personally, I’m skeptical of both the marketing value and the business model. Don’t get me wrong! As a small business owner, I’m not really a fan of discounting, but I understand that it can be a powerfully effective marketing tool. I do, however, question its viability when used on a mass scale for new customer acquisition.

The Groupon model
Groupon’s model, in particular, has some quirks that make me skeptical.

After a deal goes out and coupon buyers pay for the deal upfront, Groupon doesn’t pay out the merchant’s portion immediately.

Instead, it pays out in three equal installments over a period of up to 60 days.

In contrast, Living Social and Amazon’s Local service pay out 100% to merchants within 15 days. Google’s service, Google Offers, pays 80% within four days and the rest within 90 days.

Smaller businesses that are always concerned about cash flow can really get into a bind, since they have to honor the coupons immediately and then wait to collect their portion from Groupon.

The whole “I take your money now, and I’ll give you your cut later” thing strikes me as a bit Ponzi-like, especially since almost two months go by before the merchant is paid.

Mass discounting
It makes sense to take a step back and examine discounting and coupon in the larger context of a small business marketing plan.

The first consideration, of course, is targeting. Small companies don’t have the budgets or luxuries afforded to large companies. Food manufacturers, for example, are very effective at using coupons, the Sunday paper being a perfect example.

The reasons they’re effective are mass distribution – they print hundreds of thousands of coupons, offering untold amounts of cash discounts – and mass appeal. Their target market is essentially anyone that goes to the grocery store or buys food.

Small business promotion
Discount promotions like Groupon are quite a bit different when used by a small company. You don’t have the option to target your audience, and targeting is the most important part of a promotion when budgets are low and risks are high. I don’t think you’d argue that a 50% discount is a potentially high risk marketing expense.

Groupon’s emails go out to everyone in a specific geographic area, and you have no ability to target your reach.

The concern, particularly for smaller, locally-based businesses, is that you attract not only customers that really aren’t right for your business, but the type of consumer that is only motivated by price slashing.

The Bottom Line
Be very careful about using daily deal mass discounting to acquire new customers.

Think about how it can downgrade the image of your company to your current clients, damage your brand, and attract a group of clients whose only interest is in a “deal.”

You can quite likely do much better with laser targeted promotions to your ideal type of customer. Easy and cheap marketing is rarely the profitable marketing.

Why Make The Move To Managed Services?

If you are one of our clients, chances are you’ve heard us talk about “managed services.” However, you might not know what the term means.

In a nutshell, a managed services plan provides you with unlimited, comprehensive technical support and network management for a low, fixed monthly fee.

It gets the most out of the IT services you pay for, and eliminates the “Oh my gosh, we’re down” problems and costs for a small business.

A managed services plan lets you get a handle on your IT costs, usually at a fixed monthly fee, and also provides you with a much more comprehensive and up-to-date IT system.

Managed services delivers a network and computer system that’s dependable, stable and allows you to comply with regulatory compliances.

Control costs
In any business, it’s important to be as cost-effective as possible. IT costs are especially important, since poorly managed systems cost way more than they’re worth.

It’s essential to have a system that works with your budget, but doesn’t compromise on quality.

Managed services is the most feasible and practical way to accomplish that, especially in the long term.

Manage complexity
The constant evolution of hardware and software used in your business can really impact your bottom line. Companies with limited resources may very well find themselves left behind as technology moves ahead.

With Managed Services, you are able to enjoy the advantages of the latest IT solutions at a fraction of the cost – enabling you to provide the best possible service to your clients.

More dependable infrastructure
For a small business, maintaining an in house IT system can be tedius and time consuming.

With limited staff, the business owner or owners typically get stuck being the “computer guy” for the company – robbing the business of the owner’s talents for sales, marketing and customer service.

Companies run the risk of stretching resources too thinly, which can compromise the quality of your service or products.

Managed services provides you with a stable and dependable computing infratructure that’s dedicated to meeting your specific needs in a cost-effective manner.

Maintaining compliance
With the marketplace becoming more and more competitive, meeting different regulatory compliances has become a fundamental need.

From Sarbanes-Oxley to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), smaller companies can often find themselves lost. It’s managed services that helps these companies not only fully understand the requirements of these regulations, but also comply with them.

Small companies typically don’t have the resources to research what their requirements are for email archiving, for example. Under a managed services plan, services such as email filtering and archiving are included in the monthly cost.

If you want to know more about how managed services can directly benefit your day to day operations, please do not hesitate to give us a call – we’d be happy to sit down and discuss a custom solution that works for you.
Feature article by: Tech Experts

Six Ways To Ensure Your Email Gets Read

If you’re like a lot of us, you get so much email every day that you might spend as little as 15 seconds scanning a message to determine how it applies to you.

Now, imagine that other people are reading your email the same way. If they can’t quickly identify the purpose of your message, they’ll probably delete it or leave it in the Inbox for “later” – if later ever comes.

Here are some tips to ensure that your email messages are read and get the attention they deserve.

Have a clear purpose
When recipients receive your email message, they should be able to see at a quick glance how the message relates to them and why it’s important.

They may be looking at a preview of your message in Microsoft Outlook or on a smart phone. Or they may see only subject lines in their inbox. If your subject line is confusing and irrelevant, your email will surely get deleted in a hurry.

Here are some things you can include in subject lines to make sure the reader opens your mail:

A standard subject heading such as “Action Requested,” “Response Requested,” “FYI,” or “Read Only.”

The meaningful objective or supporting project that the message relates to, for example, “FY ‘05 budget forecasting.”

The required action if applicable, for example, “Consolidate departmental budget spreadsheets.” The due date if applicable, for example, “Due by July 7.”

An example of an effective Subject line is “Action Requested—Consolidate all department spreadsheets for FY ‘06 budget and return to me by June 15th.”

Tell them what to do
Be completely clear about the actions you want the recipients to take.

Be specific and put all the material that is related to an action in one place. To get even faster responses, talk about how the action relates to the recipient’s objectives, and always give due dates.

It’s also important to clarify what you want the recipient to do. There are basically four types of actions you could request:

Action: The recipient needs to perform an action. For example, “Provide a proposal for a 5% reduction in travel expenses.”

Respond: The recipient needs to respond to your message with specific information. For example, “Let me know if you can attend the staff meeting at 9am Friday.”

Read only: The recipient needs to read your message, and no response is necessary. For example, “Please read the attached sales plan before the staff meeting on August 12th.”

FYI only: The recipient should file your message for future reference. In fact, even reading the message is optional. For example, “Enclosed for your records are your completed expense reports.”

Give them all of the data
Make sure you give recipients all of the information they need to complete an action or respond successfully to your request.

Your co-workers shouldn’t have to come back to you asking for information, whether it is a supporting document or a link to a file on a shared website.

You can include supporting information in the body of the message, in an attached file, or in an attached email.

Send only to necessary people
Target your message to the appropriate audience. Only people who have to complete an action on the Subject line should receive your message. Be thoughtful and respectful when you enter names on the To line. People observe your thoughtfulness and the results are more effective.

No forwards!
While everyone appreciates a little humor and a sanity break at the office, save the funny forwards, jokes, and cute pictures for personal email.

Work/Life Balance: The Issue Of Technology

Technology and easy Internet access can be both a blessing and a curse, giving us remote access to email, smartphones, Skype and other tools.

In theory at least, this gives us the ability to be able to work from home and achieve a better work/life balance, and yet in some cases all it has actually done is increase the number of hours that we spend working.

One way to win back some work/life balance is to negotiate the time spent working from home.

Not only does working from home save a lot of time you would otherwise spend commuting back and forth to work, it also means you save money on both transportation and food, and it gives you more time to develop an exercise routine. There can be problems with working from home, however, such as lack of discipline and motivation as well as overwork.

The solution is to make certain that your work stays within the time period of a normal working day and does not add further hours to that workload.

Some time-management techniques include creating to-do lists, managing your expectations, prioritizing your workload, learning to delegate, and making sure that you have regular meetings and catch-up sessions with colleagues.

It is also important to set boundaries with colleagues to respect your personal time. Set an expectation that you’re “not available” during non-work hours. Switching off your cell phone and not checking emails during non-working hours is also a good idea.