Category: Tips and Tricks

Wired or Wireless??

Our industry continues to move toward wireless connections to the network, to the internet.  And who wouldn’t like to get rid of that cable jungle under their desk?

Historically of course things have needed a cable to connect them.  And we like wireless ‘cuz it’s like being free of a tether to any certain location.  But still today many applications run better over a wired network, and faster.  The prime example is a database app which might be CRM (Customer Relationship Management like we talked about last week), or maybe video editing apps, some cloud apps.  Many are not very tolerant of even a short blip of connection drop.  You wouldn’t notice this so much just browsing the internet or checking email.  But think about an app that needs to have uninterrupted connection to its sharepoint (i.e. a server) and it’s trying to go over a wireless connection similar to your cell phone.  Oops, under a bridge, dropped call.  App crash.  If you’ve ever sat and watched wireless signals (what we do with our Friday nights) you’d see they fluctuate up and down, grow and fade.

And wireless is getting faster, but still no match for a wired connection.  More speed and more stability.  And then we see fiber optics coming at us fast, wired at the speed of light.  So if you’re in your office and you don’t need to move from room to room, get a wired connection and increase your productivity.

Use wireless when you’re on the move.

Happy computing!

 

Cloud Computing – is it for you?

Odds are good you already have “jumped in”.

From Wikipedia:  The “cloud” is the use of computing resources (hardware and software) that are delivered as a service over a network (typically the Internet).

[The name comes from the common use of a cloud-shaped symbol as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it contains in system diagrams. Cloud computing entrusts remote services with a user's data, software and computation.]

So if you use gMail, Hotmail, Dropbox, online backups, google apps, sharing pics online, etc., you’re there.  The question is, do you want some or all of your business data and information be up there too?

Pros:

Accessibility – Data can be accessed from many different computing devices and locations.

Scalability – Additional server space or capacity can be added or reduced relatively easily.

Startup Cost – Setup costs are generally low so not a lot of capital needs to be invested at new business startup or expansion.

IT Staff – Server management is outsourced to cloud provider.

Cons:

Availability – Internet goes down or cloud provider goes down.  Neither of which you can control.

Security – Your information is going through a third-party which carries with it some risks.

Performance – Speed is dependent on your internet connection, number of users, and what apps are being used.

Cost – Depending on actual use, long term cost is often greater than keeping information in-house.

Cloud providers would have you think it’s a must-have.  Naysayers might say stay away at all costs.

Here’s our take:   Cloud computing is one of many tools available to businesses and is best used when appropriate.   Computer Wrangler utilizes cloud resources for some network functions and in-house resources for others.  We optimize IT performance tailored to our individual clients.

Happy computing~ cloud or otherwise!

 

Make Windows 8 look like Windows 7

Since Windows 8 is being pushed over much of the retail and online offerings, a new market has arisen and developers have rushed to fill the void.  That being a way to make Windows 8 look and feel more like Windows 7.

Enter Start8 by Stardock, and there are some others.  www.stardock.com

Basically what it does is get rid of the cellphone-like main screen of Windows 8 and give you back the Start Menu you’ve known for a decade or more.

At $4.99 it’ll pay for itself in about 5-10 minutes of your wasted time.  You can then explore the new features at your leisure and avoid the frustration when you’re trying to get business done.

Windows 8 does have some nice performance enhancements and it’s a move into the future of computing (along with the introduction of solid state drives), but for small and medium businesses, that a topic for a later time.

Happy computing!