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

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How To Stop The Number One Cause Of Computer Slow Downs And Crashes!

Wouldn’t it be nice if your computer still ran like it did back when you first bought it? Before you go and buy a new computer try this key maintenance step you can use to put life back into the computer you already have.

Imagine that you start up your PC just to find yourself staring at a blue screen with white writing, termed “the blue screen of death” by those of us who work a lot with Microsoft software. So, you power it down – and when it starts back up, the computer is even slower. Within a few minutes it locks up again.

This happened to a friend of mine. When she asked me what she could do, I asked her if she had ever defragmented her computer. She got that “deer in the headlights” look, so I knew she hadn’t. Defragmenting her PC, after three years of never doing so, took about 14 hours to complete.

One of the main reasons that computers slow down is poor maintenance practices like this. Unfortunately, when you buy a new computer you don’t usually get any instruction on how to maintain it. Poor or no maintenance allows your hard drive to become more and more fragmented which will slow it down over time.

To best explain hard drive fragmentation think of your hard drive as a file cabinet. In this cabinet there are folders with documents (files) in them.

When you need to work on something you open the folder containing the necessary file, pull out what you need and put the folder back. The files go on your desk so you can work on them.

Over time certain files don’t get put back, or they get put back in different places. When this happens on the hard drive it leads to fragmentation. Think of defragmenting as going through the files on your desk, and in the cabinet, and putting them back in order in the correct folders.

Just as staying this disorganized would lead to a significant loss in your own productivity, the same thing happens to your computer. Eventually it causes a crash because of how scattered all of the information gets.

Disk fragmentation can even shorten the lifespan of your computer because your hard drive works so hard that it wears out faster.

So the one step solution for this part of computer maintenance, run the defragmenting tool that comes with Windows at least once every couple of weeks.

Do this by clicking Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, then click Disk Defragmenter. Choose the disk you want to defragment and click the defragment button. You can also schedule this maintenance inside the Disk Defragmenter application, so you don’t have to remember to run it.

Take care of your hard disk maintenance and you will continue to enjoy the speed you experienced when you first made that investment!

Optimize Your Online Time With Keyboard Shortcuts

Save precious time and effort by optimizing your computer usage skills. Here are a few keyboard shortcuts that will save you time online:

Pressing and holding down your control key, and then the “F” key, will bring up the `find` function. This is really useful when you’re searching for some text on a web page, or trying to find a particular e-mail. This shortcut also works in Word documents.

Control plus “N” will open up a new window. Excellent when reading e-mails and you need to visit some other link without exiting your e-mail program. Or you need to open two e-mails in the same account at the same time, or compose a reply with the e-mail open in front of you.

Pressing shift while you click on a link will open that link in a new window. This is good when you need to visit another site but don’t want to leave the current site.

Pressing your ALT key plus the left arrow key lets you to move to the last page you visited on the web. ALT plus your right arrow key lets you to move forward through websites you’ve visited.

Slow Down And Save Your Software Media

My how times have changed. Nothing seems to change as fast as they do in the computing world. In particular the way they package and distribute software.

When I first started in this business many years ago, computers had no hard drives and came with two 5-1/4” floppy drives. One drive was what you used to load the operating system into memory and load the program. The other drive was for storing your data.

Then came hard drives, with operating systems permanently loaded on the drive. If you wanted to load additional programs, you would go to the store and buy the program. It typically came with a large number of 3-1/2” floppy disks. You could
spend an hour or more loading a new application onto your system.

Then as things evolved, programs started shipping on CDROMS. This media was much more durable than floppy disks. With the dawn of the Internet and the variety of places to purchase software, most companies now allow you to buy and download the software immediately.

This is no doubt due to the availability (and popularity) of high speed Internet access. You can purchase a copy of Microsoft’s Office Basic 2007 and download and install the program all in less than an hour.

We’re starting to see a problem though, with the easy availability of software applications – users who don’t create any backup  disks or restore disks during the initial setup of their new computer, or when they download a new program. I am sure the anxiousness of having a new computer means they want to enjoy their new computer as soon as possible.

Please, take the time to make these disks! I’ve found that hours of time and numerous service dollars can be saved if the disks are readily available for the technician to use.

I had a business client recently who needed to have Microsoft Office reinstalled on a station. I said “Sure where are your disks?” He said that a co-worker had borrowed them and he needed to get them back.

A few days later he called and said he had the disks. I drove to the client’s office, only to discover he had the disk for re-installing his operating system, not Office Basic.

I was able to go online and download his software, because he did have his install code. Unfortunately, the download takes quite awhile.

This just illustrates the need for keeping copies of all your software that is installed or may need to be re-installed. If you’d like assistance with this cataloging your software library, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.

Should Your Small Business Have A Blog?

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

By now, everyone is familiar with socal networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Businesses and business owners are flocking to these sites to promote their companies and their brands. And with socal networking all the rage, blogging has become the forgotten stepchild of web marketing for small business. But this doesn’t make sense.

Blogging can be one of the most effective marketing tools for the small business owner because it’s easy to start, it’s easy to maintain, and it’s easy to leverage in enhancing your marketing mix. Here are some reasons why you should consider a blog for your company.

Improve Search Engine Rankings
Google, Yahoo and Bing LOVE blogs. They’re indexed almost overnight, and usually rank high in the search engine results. This helps you drive more qualified traffic to your website.

Engage with Prospective Customers
Blogging presents a unique opportunity to engage in dialog with your prospective customers on a continual basis. Anytime a new prospect visits your blog, you immediately leverage the vast arsenal of posts, comments and writing to help sell your products or services.

Dig Deeper
The pace of business is fast. Blogging is an opportunity to dig into a particular subject a little deeper without slowing down. You can write an extended blog post, or you can break up your thoughts into a dozen posts related to a particular topic.

Improve Your Writing Skills
One of the biggest benefits to blogging is the opportunity to improve your writing skills. Ideally, you’re going to post several times a week – frequent writing and editing means your writing skills will improve – which helps the rest of your marketing efforts, too.

Be Unique
Let’s face it – most business marketing materials like company brochures are incredibly boring. Blogging lets you put a little personality into your marketing. Customers and prospects get to see the real you, and your uniqueness could be the difference between you winning the business, and your competitor winning.

Listen and Learn
Read all the blog comments and email you receive, and read the comments on other blogs about your writings. Learn what your customers and prospects are thinking.

Test Ideas
Innovation is the engine that drives business growth. A blog is an excellent platform to test thoughts and ideas in a risk-free environment.

Become An Expert
Prove your expertise to new prospective customers with your knowledge and insights.

Supplement Your Other Marketing
Support your other marketing investments by leveraging your blog for promotion, marketing and feedback.

Get Subscribers
Many readers who like what you write will subscribe to your blog, providing you with a direct, ongoing communications channel with your target audience.

Uncover New Opportunities
The more you blog, the more opportunities will present themselves to you. You’ll gain a reputation as an expert in your field, which means clients and prospects are already sold on your ability to deliver results.

Tech Experts maintains two blog sites for our clients. The first, www.ExpertsGuys.com, is a blog written and maintained by our technical staff. It offers interesting ideas and timely technical advice based on our daily service work.

My blog at www.ExpertTechTips.com offers some of my insights on small business computing with an eye toward growing your company.

We offer a blog hosting package, that will work alongside your existing website. For example, if your website was at www.MyTechExperts.com, we could set up a blog site for you at blog.MyTechExperts.com (or at any domain name you’d like).

If you’re interested in learning more about blogging, or would like to set up a blog site for your business, please give us a call at (734) 457-5000.

What Should You Blog About?

What is going on in your industry right now? Look for interviews given by industry leaders, tips, opinion pieces, research, news, and posts from other bloggers. Find out who are the main bloggers in your field, and then determine what new or alternative context you can provide.

These all can give you ideas for your posts. While you might not be unconvering big news, you should concentrate on generating thought leadership by stating your own view of that’s going on in your industry.

Be Alert: Actively monitor your industry with Google Alerts, Technorati, and Blogpulse.

Get a Nose for News: Keep on top of big issues with news aggregators like Google News, Techmeme, and Topix.

Then, go beyond the news and try to describe your own experiences, interests, expertise, case studies, etc. Personal stories can often resonate with your readers.

Cautionary Tale About A PC And A Child’s Imagination

Let’s face it – computers can be downright aggravating at times. There is an old saying that they’re “dumb boxes” that only do what they’re told and not what you want them to  do. But some of the aggravations can be prevented.

I had a client a few years ago bring his system in because it was occasionally making strange noises. I started the computer up numerous times and it always sounded fine.

As a troubleshooting measure, I opened up the case to check inside for any obvious signs of trouble. What I found was obviously the problem. The inside of the case was  absolutely filled with CDROM disks. It was stuffed full!

I removed the 20 or so music and video game disks and returned them to the client when he picked his station up. Was he surprised!

“There are all the CDs I have been missing.”

My curiosity got the best of me and I asked him how they got in there. He had no idea at the time. When he asked his 2 year old son that was with him, “Have you been putting  disks in the computer?” the boy demonstrated how he put the disk in the little slot between the CDROM player and the case cover. This sent the CD right into the case. His father explained his old computer had a slot you would slide the disks in and the boy thought this computer worked the same way.

Although this may seem like the strangest thing that could happen with kids and computers, my favorite happened shortly after this episode. It has been said the kid’s say the  darndest things, but they can also do the strangest things.

This client brought in her station because the CD player wouldn’t open. I created the service ticket and placed it on the service bench. When the time came to repair the problem, I started the computer up and pushed the eject button on the player. The door tried to open but just wouldn’t go all the way. I tried to manually open the door and it felt like something was stuck in the player and perhaps preventing the door from properly operating.

This can commonly be caused by a disk becoming dislodged and jamming in the tray. I removed the player and shook it upside down to try and reseat the disk. Nothing that I tried  seemed to help.

I then pressed the manual release and pried the door open and the tray came out – along with a whole bunch of animal crackers. It seems her little one had a new game he was playing.

He would open the CD, lay an animal cracker in the tray and press the close button and send the animal for a ride. After having done this to the point of filling the player, his
game was over, the tray was stuck. Needless to say she was not thrilled with having to buy another player, and I’m afraid her son may have gotten into some hot water.

If you’re having any computer problems bring it to Tech Experts where our certified techs can get you back up and running quickly.

Do You Keep Critical Passwords On A Sticky Note Next To Your PC?

We constantly struggle to get our clients to stop writing down their passwords on sticky notes by the computers. Obviously this is a security risk. Another bad habit is choosing  really easy-toremember passwords such as “password.”

But admittedly, it CAN be hard remembering all of those passwords that are always changing. To solve this little dilemma, we’re suggesting to our clients to stop using passwords and use “pass-phrases.”

What is a “pass-phrase” you ask? They are letters and numbers put together in an easy-toremember phrase such as “!YEAHGoBlue!”

These are MUCH easier to remember than a random cluster of letters and numbers, which means you won’t have to write them down on a post-it note anymore! Plus, they’re much more secure than using a birthday or child’s name.

Pass-phrases can be built from anything, such as favorite quotes, lines from movies, sports team names, a favorite athlete’s name and jersey number, kids’ names and birthdates, pets, and so on.

Here’s some other examples that would be easy for you to remember, but hard for a hacker or criminal to guess:

ILike!ceTea

T&lkingOnTh3Phone

d3tro1tHockey

goneWithth3w!nd

Git-r-don3!!

Detroit-R3D-Wings

All you need to do is be a little creative to get numbers, letters and punctuation into the phrase. All of the normal suggestions remain the same – don’t make a password  exclusively a birthday or child’s name, and always include special letters and punctuation.

Since introducing this to our clients, we’ve found (believe it or not) they actually have fun doing this, and at the same time, are making their networks more secure!

Bing, Bing, Bing! Microsoft’s Search Engine A Hit!

If you haven’t heard, Microsoft has released their own search engine in an effort to compete with Google in the search engine market. Originally the search engine that was going to be called “Kumo” has been released and the name is “Bing.”

Microsoft is off to a pretty good start according to the marketing research company that provides marketing data and services to many of the Internet’s largest businesses,comScore Inc. Microsoft has improved their search market share by 1.7 points to 15.5% in the week following the release of Bing.

So what is causing all these improvements, and catching the eyes of the public? What does Bing have to offer that Google hasn’t already thought of? Here are a few of the features Bing has integrated into the search engine. Interface features, multimedia features, instant answers, product search, webmaster services, mobile services, toolbars, gadgets, advertising, and many more.

So let’s talk about some of these features and what they mean to us – the end user.

The interface feature is one of my favorites, probably because it’s so appealing to the eye, and got my attention right from the  very first visit to Bing. The background image changes each and every day, taking you to the most remarkable places in the world, with vivid colors, and great angles.

You can even view the information about the subject of the image by hovering over the image.

Video previewing has never been so cool. By hovering over a video thumbnail, the video actually will automatically start playing, and give you a taste of what the site offers, before you actually click on the result.

The image search is very impressive as well, allowing image searching with continuous scrolling images, with adjustable settings for size, layout, color, and style.

In addition to its tool(s) for searching WebPages, Bing also provides search offerings for health, images, local, maps, news, shopping, translator, travel, videos, and xRank. Most of those are pretty self explanatory, but what about xRank?

XRank is a feature that actually allows users to search for celebrities, musicians, politicians, and bloggers. You can read short biographies and news about them, and track  their own personal trends and/or popularity rankings.

All in all, it sounds like a pretty good engine Microsoft has put together, but will it be enough to compete with the market dominator Google?

Google is the king of search, of course, but the problem with Google’s results is that they’re based soley on mathematical calcualtions, whereas Bing employs some artificial intelligence. Only time will tell. In the meantime, go check Bing out first hand via http://www.bing.com/ and decide for yourself.

Hassett Title Counts On Tech Experts To Keep Their Network Problem-Free

For  Bill, Dan and Doug Hassett, the principals of Hassett Title Company Inc., downtime is a “killer.” Their title and real estate closing company relies on their computer network to be up and running.

“Every aspect of our business is computerized,” explained Doug Hassett. “We use our network to examine the register of deeds records online. Our computers are vital in preparing title and closing documents, and let us complete every transaction with ease and confidence.”

Hassett Title Company is a family-owned and operated full service title and escrow agent, founded by Bill Hassett in 1988. The company has offices in the heart of downtown Monroe at 33 East Front Street. Hassett Title is an agent for Stewart Title Guaranty Company.

“We have a responsibility to provide not only the fastest, but the most accurate and complete title and closing service to our clients,” said Doug. “Our clients deserve the best.”

Tech Experts recently upgraded the computers at Hassett Title to include several new Lenovo workstation computers, and assisted in the integration of a new multi-function copier/printer/scanner into the company’s network. Hassett Title also hosts it’s e-mail and web site services with Tech Experts.

“One of the biggest business benefits we’ve realized in working with Tech Experts is near constant uptime,” Doug continued. “Any time we have a repair or upgrade, the technicians make sure we stay up and running. Tech Experts understands we can’t have downtime.”

Hassett Title takes advantage of Tech Experts’ monthly systems check service. Every month, a Tech Experts engineer visits Hassett Title’s offices to make sure the computers, server and network are functioning properly, that all antivirus software is updated, all Windows updates are current, and handle any issues any of the staff are having with their computers

“Freeing us from the worry and maintenance of our network lets us focus on the needs of our clients,” explained Doug. “Tom Fox and Bob Saylors have been working with us for years. They know what we need and understand our needs when we express ourselves in a non-tech savvy way.”

For more information about Hassett Title’s services, contact them at (734) 242-9393, or visit their website: www.HassettTitle.com.

New Phishing Schemes You Should Know About

I know growing up as a child, I loved to go fishing. I never caught very many fish, but just being out on the water “drowning worms” was good enough for me. As the years have passed, though, a new kind of “phishing” has emerged.

The term phishing refers to luring techniques used by identity thieves to fish for personal information in a lake of unsuspecting Internet users.

Their purpose is to take this information and use it for criminal objectives such as identity theft and fraud.

Phishing is a general term for the creation and use by criminals of emails and websites – designed to look like they come from well-known, legitimate and trusted businesses, financial institutions and government agencies – in an attempt to gather personal, financial and sensitive information.

These criminals deceive Internet users into disclosing their bank and financial account information or other personal data such as usernames and passwords.

Today a new form of phishing appears to be spreading through social websites such as Facebook. This new scam works like this.

As soon as you login to the site, it will steal your email and password and then log you into Facebook. Within a short period of time the system will automatically switch your password and block you from the site. It then begins to send the same URL to all of your Facebook friend’s inboxes.

As this spreads, the criminals gather thousands of email addresses and passwords before Facebook can stop all references to the website.

The scammers have developed a method to duplicate the scam immediately and the next thing you know they have four or five phishing scams going on at the same time all over Facebook. This allows them to gather hundreds of thousands of victims very quickly.

It is not known yet what these people intend to do with all these addresses, but you can almost guarantee that they will result in a malicious worm at some point. The potential to access a user’s financial information and accounts could result in the loss of millions of dollars.

Another form of phishing is called “in session” phishing. This form does not use email nor does it rely on the user having to be tricked into clicking on a link.

It works like this. Let’s say you go to your banking website that is secure. You login and take care of your business, then leaving that browser window open you innocently go to another website that has been compromised. All of a sudden a pop-up asks you to validate your login to continue your banking session.

Remember two things must happen in order for this scam to work. First, a website must be compromised and infected—the higher traffic the better, obviously.

Second, the downloaded malware must be able to identify whether or not the unknowing user is logged into a relevant website.

Most banking institutions have taken steps to prevent this. One step is having a rapid disconnect of an idle session.

But in order to be safe we would recommend closing all browser windows after you have visited a secure banking website.

In addition it is very important to keep your system free of all spyware, malware and viruses.

Tech Experts has certified technicians that clean these types of infections and malware from computers every day. We urge you to take advantage of our system checkup and cleaning service to keep your identity to yourself.