SECOND THOUGHTS
August 2008, or Thereabouts
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SECOND THOUGHTS August 2008, or Thereabouts |
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It's half way through hurricane season and so far so good. The recession we are not having is still here, but businesses still must function. It's time for me entertain you with techie tips and my next occasional newsletter! I present myself as the "Computer Wizard." I am the technical person with social skills who brings productivity improvement to your 2 to 25 computers, servers, software, hardware, and Internet applications in your office network. ====== Remote Access is an increasingly popular way to do client support. Install LogMeIn.Com on your desktop and you can offer access to your favorite Techie. Of course, if you have Windows Small Business Server, it already does remote access. Remote access cuts down the onsite visits and lets your Techie do routine maintenance from his office. This keeps costs down for everyone. ====== An External Backup is a hard drive in a box. The drive can be as big as you need and hold all your valuable data. Such boxes have ON/OFF buttons. If someone turns it off, or if the power fails, it will stay off. You get no more current backups. It's good to check these things. ====== Vista for everyone! That is the Microsoft business plan. But maybe you have a big investment in custom software that won't run on Vista? Buy Vista Business and you can downgrade your license to XP Pro. You get a new Key from Microsoft, find a Windows XP Pro disk and then install it. Be sure there are XP drivers available for the PC you buy. Some new hardware has drivers only for Vista. ====== Divide & Conquer? That's how I troubleshoot a technical problem. Is the problem on the Server or the Workstation? Is it local or on the Internet? I chop it into smaller and smaller pieces until I corner it. Then I can either fix the problem or throw it away. Simple! ====== Death by Dust Bunny. Dust, lint, cat hair, and rug scraping can all collect inside your computers. Such crud can clog cooling the vents, the screen inside on the power supply, the fins on your CPU, or the grill on some hard drives. Then, something overheats and you have a failure. Buy some canned air, open your PC and blow it out. Do let your PC dry out before you turn it back on. Or just let your Techie do all this cleaning for you. ====== Snarketing! That's sneaky marketing. The free version of a program is difficult to find on a website. Unwanted add-ons are pushed while you try to make a purchase. Products are offered with similar sounding names and inferior performance. Contracts that automatically renew for life. Phony customer reviews are posted to public websites. These are all examples of snarketing. Me, I avoid companies that practice such sneaky marketing. ====== Now is the time to learn one thing new in technology. Now is the time to delegate the other computing puzzles to someone who actually finds them interesting: your Techie. Now is a good time to check your backups and to refer the people who serve you well. Now is a great time to make a referral too. ====== © 2008 Barkley Enterprises, Inc. Useful Websites: Remote Access to Your PC: http://LogMeIn.Com Got Junk? http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-get-rid-of-your-junk Worried about Your Savings? http://www.fdic.gov/ Kip's Internet Techie Tips: http://kipbarkley.com/techie.html Microsoft Help: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;incidentsubmit Everything Microsoft Forgot to Mention: http://windowssecrets.com/ Fuel Economy: http://fueleconomy.gov/ To learn more, phone Kip Barkley at 954.784.8307 or better yet email to KipBarkley@aol.com. Barkley Enterprises, Inc. Return to Front Page | See Previous Newsletter | See Next Newsletter |