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Restrict Users of Your Computer from Accessing Folder Options in Windows

If you share your computer with other users or manage the computers in your home or office, there are times when you may want to restrict users from changing folder options, such as making Windows system files visible which are invisible by default or showing file extensions. To do this, go to the Windows Start Menu and click on Run . Type “regedit” to launch the windows system registry tool. Next, go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Microsoft / Windows / Curre ntVersion / Policies / Explorer. It may be a good idea to backup your registry at this point . After creating a back-up, double-click on NoFolderOptions and set its value to 1 . After doing so, users will no longer be able to edit Folder Options.   To reverse, set the value back to 0 .

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Why Go Paperless?

Businesses are constantly looking for ways to maximize productivity and minimize costs without compromising the quality of their output. One of the simplest ways you can go about this is through creating a paperless office. As companies are not only being more conscious of the environmental impact of how they do business but also of how they can create a much more efficient and productive system for operations, one trend that has emerged over the years is the move towards making offices use less paper. While this may seem like a small issue, it actually impacts your business more than you might think. Just calculate the cost of buying paper for your entire business over the course of a whole year. A transition to a paperless office can not only save money, but can also affect operations by making things much more convenient and efficient. Here are some advantages of going paperless: 1.  Cost effectiveness Going paperless significantly reduces costs spent on buying not only paper, but also costly printer consumables such as toner and inks. You also lessen the overall usage of your printers, reducing maintenance and repair costs and increasing the lifetime of your printer. 2.  Neater and greener One of the most obvious advantages of going paperless is that it makes everything much neater. Remember those messy IN and OUT trays you couldn’t make heads or tails of? All gone. And with less paper to throw away, there’s also less waste. Plus, it’s much more environmentally friendly – using less paper, disposable printer consumables, and electricity means you’re doing your part to have a green office. 3.  Save space Storing paper requires file cabinets, and file cabinets take up space. In one example, a company converted the massive documentation they were required to archive to digital copies, and eliminated an entire room of file cabinets. They were then able to use that valuable square footage as office space for a new salesperson. 3.  Better security A paperless operation also enables you to better secure the data that you store. For example, you can set limits on the kind of data and information that is available to employees and workers based on their position and job description. Unlike file cabinets that can be broken into easily, causing possible theft or lost, storing data and information electronically not only makes it much more difficult to obtain that data, but online backups also give you a contingency in case of unforeseen circumstances or natural disasters that can compromise your data. 4.  Better productivity Electronic storage and data management allow authorized employees to have access to information faster and more efficiently. A simple query or search term allows employees to find what they need in a jiffy, allowing them to get their assigned tasks done faster. With well organized file sharing and other document collaboration options, your people can get the documents they need in real time. 5.  Telecommuting and remote working Enabling your team to work from home and while on the road is a key to productivity and keeping your company nimble. However, when you’re out of the office nothing is more frustrating than not having access to a document you need to act on. When your documents are in digital format, you and your employees have the information and documents they need at their fingertips to keep moving forward. Different businesses need different systems and approaches to going paperless. If you’re interested in a paperless office, please contact us and we’ll be happy to present a solution that best meets your unique requirements.

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Using Outlook to Access your Gmail Account

Do you have a Gmail account but prefer using Outlook to access your email? You can configure your Gmail to behave like a normal mailbox so that you can download it using your favorite desktop or mobile client such as Outlook. You can then access your mail offline, and use tools you already use with Outlook, such as Outlook’s mail formatting features and MS Office integration. Here’s how: 1.       First set up your Gmail account for POP or IMAP . If you use other Outlook features such as Tasks and Notes, consider using Google App Sync for Outlook instead. 2.       In Outlook, add a new email account.  Remember to use your email address when setting up your account (including ‘@gmail.com’ or ‘@your_domain.com’). For the exact steps, follow the instructions here . 3.       Are you using a mail client other than Outlook? Check out instructions from Google here .

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If the Internet Had a Superwoman, it would be Dawn Song

With hackers and electronic thieves constantly on the lookout for the latest exploits and security breaches they can take advantage of, it is comforting to know that there are also people behind bold initiatives to make our web experiences much safer. If you think hackers are the only ones doing their research to release newer and scarier viruses and malware on the web, think again. It is comforting to know that there are also very capable people doing what they can to make the internet a safer place – like Professor Dawn Song, associate professor at the University of California at Berkeley and MacArthur Foundation fellow. In a nutshell, Professor Song has been looking at different ways to make the internet experience more secure. Her two initiatives – WebBlaze and BitBlaze – are aimed toward developers who want to create better and much more secure programs and applications. WebBlaze is a compilation of different strategies from Song and other like minds who tackle different problems and solutions in all sorts of platforms, and BitBlaze is an analysis tool for malicious software. While we won’t go into too much detail (it involves very complicated math), the gist is that Song and her colleagues are drawing up some very solid solutions to constantly evolving security issues on the web. It’s exciting to see developments like these in the security industry. As threats continue to evolve, so does the means through which they are fought. The more we use the internet and the more the online experience becomes integral to the day-to-day operations of businesses big and small, the more important securing your data and information becomes. And because of efforts such as Professor Song’s, we can expect security programs to be much more effective and efficient as time passes. Know more about BitBlaze and WebBlaze Learn more about Dawn Song here If you are looking to assess and beef up your security systems, we’d be happy to sit down with you and take a look at improvements that can make your business and your data much more secure.

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Add the Recycle Bin to List of Places in My Computer

Adding a shortcut to the Recycle Bin is easy if you know how to edit your system registry. Here’s how: First go to the Windows Start Menu and click on Run . Type “regedit” to launch the windows registry tool. Next, go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerMyComputerNameSpace. It may be a good idea to backup your registry at this point . After creating a back-up, create a new key named {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} under the NameSpace section. Go back to your My Computer window and the Recycle Bin should be there.

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Twitter Turns 5 and Continues as a Powerful Social Networking Tool

Twitter is now five years old, and the social networking website famous for its 140-character “tweets” continues to make waves as both a powerful social networking and social marketing tool. Social networking and “microblogging” site Twitter turned five years old recently, a testament to how effective this kind of approach to social networking is. And in those five short years, the number of users has ballooned to up to 200 million, sending around 140 million tweets a day around the world – and the number continues to grow. March 21, 2006 marked the day Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent the first ever tweet that read, “just setting up my twttr.” Since then, people have used the service to broadcast all sorts of things, provided they stay within the 140-character limit – from what they ate that day to updates about news and current affairs. Much more relevant to businesses, though, is how Twitter has become an integral part of internet and social media marketing. Twitter offers a plethora of advantages that enable businesses to share information on the web much faster than traditional means. And it’s not only for small businesses. Big organizations such as ESPN (@espn, 1,098,906 followers), Dell (@DellOutlet, 1,581,201 followers), and Amazon (@amazondeals, 204,838 folowers) use Twitter’s wide reach and large audience to update about promotions, events, and other information. Twitter enables businesses to get in touch with audiences and gain feedback almost instantly. It’s a win-win deal – clients get to say what they want in a short, brief 140-character tweet, and businesses can respond and make the necessary improvements very efficiently. Twitter also helps direct more traffic and visitors to websites and gives the impression of a hands-on, responsive service (provided website updates are timely and relevant). The platform on which Twitter operates makes for a fast-paced exchange of information that, with the right marketing strategies, can be very advantageous for businesses. If you want to know more about how to harness this very effective medium to beef up your internet marketing efforts, give us a call and we’ll be happy to sit down with you and create strategies that meet your needs.

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Battling Stubborn Bandwidth Hogs

Major sporting events can be a cause for concern for business owners and managers as employees shift their attention from work to keeping themselves updated through video streaming or engaging in online gambling. It’s important that you have the right tools at your disposal to keep things in check. One of the many challenges businesses face is managing bandwidth and keeping productivity at a maximum. These challenges are especially apparent during major sporting events when hundreds of hours of productivity are lost to non-work activities. During these times, many sports fanatics do their best to stay updated with the latest news in sporting events. And while there is nothing wrong with being a fan, there is a problem when office hours – not to mention precious bandwidth – are wasted on these unproductive activities. Besides video streaming live telecasts or replays of matches and games, there are also those who engage in online betting and gambling, especially during the final legs of a tournament or competition. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for some employees to spend the majority of their time at the office on these pursuits, with little to zero accomplishments for the day. The problem is truly a serious one, with studies showing millions of dollars in productivity lost during popular sporting events. That’s beside the bandwidth wasted on what is, from a professional standpoint, useless and irrelevant activities. Naturally, the value of losses in productivity and bandwidth vary from company to company, but any loss is a loss that affects your bottom line. The good news is that these kinds of situations can be prevented. With the right software, you can be immediately alerted when a particular workstation is consuming an unusual amount of bandwidth. This will not only help you cut off the bandwidth usage, but also help you identify employees who are wasting company resources. You can even use this software to catch people who might be illegally downloading content from the web through torrent or peer-to-peer programs, which also pose security threats to your system. If you’d like to learn more about solutions to better manage your bandwidth and productivity, please don’t hesitate to give us a call and we’ll be more than happy to sit down with you to discuss a customized approach for your organization.

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Customize the Windows 7 Logon Screen

Would you like to customize the Windows 7 Logon Screen and use your own wallpaper image? There are actually several ways to do this. The first method involves editing the registry and creating a folder containing your own custom images. However, if you are uncomfortable doing this, or if it seems like too much work, there is a free application that can do it for you called Windows 7 Logon Background Changer . The download is a zip file, and once you unzip it, just run the installer. After installation, the program will allow you to choose from images already on your drive and view a preview of how it will look. Find out more by downloading the program .

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Outsourcing Your Wi-Fi Hotspot

More and more people are demanding that business establishments they visit provide free Wi-Fi. Setting up the hotspot network yourself might seem to be a good idea, but you’re probably missing a lot of fundamental security protocols that leave your network open to abuse. Many businesses have seen the demand for free Wi-Fi at their establishments jump drastically, as more and more people feel the need to be online as often as possible for personal and business purposes. In response to this demand, one of the most common solutions is to allow clients and customers to use the business’s existing internal network. Some companies provide a password, while others simply leave the connection open to all. However, a better solution is to have an outsourced service or company provide the Wi-Fi hotspot you allow others to use for free. Why? One of the most important benefits is security. Companies trying to handle their own Wi-Fi hotspots – especially small businesses without in-house IT resources – are likely to make fundamental mistakes that leave their networks vulnerable and exposed to abuse and infiltration. Outsourced Wi-Fi providers are experts in giving you a secure system that protects your own network and by extension, your business. Another benefit of using an outsourced Wi-Fi hotspot provider is that you also have greater control over the network, allowing you to impose rules such as bandwidth and website limits. You can also determine whether you want to require the people who’ll be using the hotspot to log in with a password (which you provide), or simply enjoy an open connection. Another important point is the marketing that comes with the free Wi-Fi service – while you are providing your clients with a free internet connection, your primary goal is to promote your business. If you want to know more about outsourced Wi-Fi, feel free to contact us so we can discuss a custom blueprint for a Wi-Fi hotspot for your business.

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