Category Archives: Small Business
Q&A Monday: To Anti-Virus or Not to Anti-Virus, that is the question!
Question: I will be in the process of renewing my AntiVirus software at the end of this month, I’m currently using Norton, should I stay with them or should I go to another software company for my AntiVirus? Marcela NowickiCanyonville, OR Answer: I love this question, for the fact that no matter how I answer…
Q&A Monday: Security Question Safety?
Question: With all the talk about making a password secure, I noticed that someone with enough knowledge of me would be able to reset my password using the security questions. These questions are similar across almost every site that I visit and a friend or determined enough hacker could easily guess the answers, any idea on…
Q&A Monday: Data Center Tiers
Question: I am a small business owner looking to go with a cloud provider for our IT services. Each of the vendors mentions their data center level, and I’ve tried doing research to figure out what these levels mean, but I can’t find anything describing them in plain English, can you help? Vickie Downs Watertown,…
Please don’t daisy chain switches
There are many times that I would walk into a business to help troubleshoot a problem, to find that someone didn’t take the proper time to do something right, and instead took the easy way. Usually this come in the form of switches (or even worse hubs) that are daisy chained together one after another…and…
Alternatives to Outlook
I’ve been asked about this more times than I can remember, so I figured I’d just do an article about it….What are some alternatives to Microsoft Outlook. To fully disclose I still cling on to my Outlook for my windows machine, but I do use other software for my linux machines. So I’ve…
Removing Crapware
Crapware (or bloatware) is unwanted software alreay installed on a new PC. This software has started to come bundled with other software you may want on your computer. For example most software I install on my computers now, I have to pay close attention to, because it wants to install a browser or…
Q&A Monday: Adobe PDF Printing Alternative
Question: I am currently looking for a more cost-effective solution than adobe for printing PDF files. I am not looking to edit or create forms, just to print existing documents to PDF. While looking around I’ve found a couple products, but they wanted too much money for the full versions, any suggestions? Davina Knight Raft River, ID Answer:…
Conserving Bandwidth Tips
In today’s world, IT budgets all over the place have been cut down to the bone, and maybe you’re users are starting to hog up all the bandwidth and you don’t have the money in the budget to increase the bandwidth, what do you do? Well there are ways that you can squeeze more out…
Q&A Monday: Controlling the IT Budget
Question: I am under great pressure from management to decrease our IT budget for next year, while providing the same level of services. I’ve spent time with my team trying to figure out service contracts or software upgrades to cut, what are some of the ways you’ve cut budgets? Judith R. Eastman Knoxville, TN Answer:…
Q&A Monday: Hold onto spare parts?
Question:
Jim,
I have a boss that constantly wants us to keep computer equipment, even though most of it is trash. He claims that the parts will come in handy if we need them down the line, but we have some computer parts for over 10 years, does it really pay to hold on to technology?