Posted on: February 27th, 2012 by DPhayre
If you work in a PC-based business, you probably use Microsoft Outlook to handle your email and your calendar. You probably also take this very dynamic program for granted. Although Microsoft Outlook has been around for years it has many unknown features that can help you save time and work more efficiently. Let’s take a look at just a few of those capabilities.
Eliminate the Clutter
Using Outlook’s “Conversation View” can help keep your email conversations neatly in one thread rather of being spread out over days of email backlog. The disadvantage to Conversation View is that commonly these emails are cluttered with duplicate material from old emails. To swiftly eradicate this annoyance, just right-click the conversation and pick the “Clean Up Conversation” option. Now all of the repeated quoted material will be removed from the conversation.
Say it in a Picture
Using screenshots in your emails is always a great way to successfully help express your message, particularly for IT support issues. Inserting a screenshot into your email is very easy with Outlook. All you have to do is click the “Insert” tab and then select the “Screenshot” option. From here, Outlook will produce images of all the windows open on your desktop. Choose the correct one and it will be inserted into your email.
Take Out the Trash
It’s not abnormal to leave our email trash folders filled with old and undesired messages. The fact is that, this trash takes up space. To address this, Outlook allows you to easily empty this trash without thinking about it every time you leave the program. Telling Outlook to do this is easy. Click Outlook’s “File” menu. Click the “Options” tab and then click “Advanced.” Once here, locate the Outlook “Start” and “Exit” options. Add a check next to the “Empty Deleted Items” folder when exiting Outlook option. In this way, your trashed email messages will go away every time you leave Outlook.
Posted on: February 22nd, 2012 by DPhayre
When it comes to data security, many people think they have plenty of systems and precautions in position to keep their data secure. Sure, you may have antivirus software and you may even update it regularly. You may also believe that you’re too small of a company to be a target of a hacking attempt. Only big firms that have tens of thousands of clients need to worry about cyber criminals, right? Wrong. Hackers and cyber criminals have in fact escalated their focus on small businesses. We want to help you understand the dangers your small business might be facing.
Small firms: low-hanging fruit
Sadly, small businesses make easy targets, so hackers are starting to focus on them. Small firms are quick hacks and the criminals can make more hacks at a quicker rate. With increased chances, their likelihood of stealing beneficial information goes up substantially. As a small business, you may not think you have any valuable data, but in today’s world even the most basic information can be used to do harm to someone else. Credit card purchases are the most common targets of cyber criminals. Each time your system runs a transaction, it must validate the cardholder’s information. This information can contain card numbers, addresses, names, and more. Your clients don’t want this information stolen!
How hackers gain access to your data
How can they get this delicate data? Though you may very well be protected by software meant to firewall your systems, hackers still have numerous points of entry. Email attachments are a major offender, and opening just one piece of malware can leave you exposed. The fact is, in the first quarter of this year alone, industry experts have found over six million unique malware programs. Attackers don’t need to be sophisticated to be harmful: when trying to breach your data security, some hackers have a low-tech procedure instead. They could contact your employees directly, and pretending to be a network administrator, ask for their password to boost security. This is known as “phishing.” While you may believe your workers know better than to fall for such an obvious tact, it takes merely one lapse in judgment to leave your systems open to attack.
The buck stops with you
You may believe that preserving your data security isn’t that important, as the credit card companies are liable for any fraudulent charges that occur. While this is true for the consumer, as a business owner you might experience a very different consequence.
Often if your systems have been jeopardized, they’ll hold you accountable for finding the breach. This can cost thousands of dollars and can ruin your profit margin for the entire year. In truth, some small businesses have been bankrupted by cyber attacks, closing their doors as a result of just one incident.
An ounce of prevention…
Taking extra precautions when it comes to your business’ data security is a very wise move. Continue to update your programs and passwords on a regular basis. Teach your employees good security practices like setting up strong passwords and instructing them to never give out login information or open suspicious emails. Hiring an outside consultant is another great way to ensure your clients’ information. These measures not only give you peace of mind, they tell your clients that you care about keeping them safe.
Posted on: February 6th, 2012 by DPhayre
Many small business owners have found significant savings by moving their company’s data to the cloud in these challenging economic times. Business owners can save money on hardware, such as workstations and servers, as well as software licensing by utilizing hosted cloud computing. Nonetheless, the cloud can seem be a bit questionable when it comes to security. However, data stored on the cloud may be even more secure than if it were stored on a machine located in the office. Protecting yourself and your data can be as simple as applying some common sense practices.
Password issues
Password protection is an important issue when dealing with the cloud as well as personal computers. Passwords can often be easily guessed or they are shared too freely.
Carefully select passwords to your projects stored in the cloud. The more complex your passwords are the more challenging they are to guess. A good way to achieve this is to use a combination of numbers and letters in your passwords. Also, you shouldn’t share these passwords anyone.
Hacker alert
Hackers, malware, and spyware are issues for everyone who owns a computer. Similarly, they are serious issues for cloud environments. As a user of a third party cloud storage service, you do not have control over the security of the cloud which could be very distressing for business owners. Data centers utilize high-end enterprise-class equipment that provides your business with a far superior level of security than you can affordably achieve with computer equipment stored at your premises.
Common sense protection
Business owners must remain cautious about who they allow access to their cloud-stored data, documents, and reports. Owners are mindful about whom they allow to access the files on their desktops and laptops and they should be equally careful when it comes to granting others access to their cloud-hosted information.
