The key concept here is that smartphones primarily give you an advantage when you’re mobile. By definition. The second key concept is that we’ve all been trained by experience to be cautious about doing things differently. Let’s let go of that for just a brief moment.

With a smartphone, and this list is not exhaustive, you can read email, send email, see your calendar, create documents/notes/spreadsheets/presentations, update facebook, linkedin, make presentations, print out contracts, track employees in the field, tweet, text, create estimates and quotes, remote to your desktop in the office, grab a file from the company server, look up pricing, schedule, buy, sell, and finally yes, make a slightly warmed croissant with nutella filling.

What we’d like to do is to get you thinking about adopting a new technology that is moving you and/or your business into the future.  So our challenge is twofold: If you don’t have a smartphone, get one. If you do have a smartphone, choose a primary function you need access to when mobile. That’s not so hard so choose also a second ability which “would be nice”. Look for apps that do it and TRY THEM OUT. If you need help, we’re there for you. It’s what we do.

I’m gonna go try out that warmed croissant with nutella app…

Happy computing!

Now laptops are striking back. Yes, the MacBook Air has been around awhile, but now the PC world is catching up. Laptops less than an inch in height, superlight, superfast, and with long battery life.

One of the main complaints against iPads and Tablets has been lack of a real keyboard. Something currently needed to really get things done, that onscreen touch keyboard is just too slow. The new lines of Ultrabooks in the PC world have answered the challenge and voila! A laptop that is highly portable, instant on, and doesn’t sacrifice power for lightness and use-ability.

The only hitch is in storage capacity. To achieve lightness and speed, these Ultrabooks use flash memory to store your data. Pictures, documents, music, etc.  Very similar to that USB flash drive or iPod that you may already own. The technology currently is size/price-limited to a portion of what a normal hard drive can hold. This will change. And it’s already there for most business uses since music and pictures aren’t the predominant data needing to be stored. We should also mention that the DVD drive might be going the way of the dinosaur, Ultrabooks (and the iPad, Tablets) usually don’t come with one.

So Ultrabooks are worth a look, by mid-summer or early fall it’ll be the go-to choice for many business users.

Happy Computing!

We’ve just gotten past the latest plague of malicious software infections. Started about mid-December, tapered about mid-January. If you didn’t get hit, consider yourself lucky because a lot of victims were NOT sloppy internet users or people who open every email they’re sent. You got lucky.

A couple pieces of advice:

1)      STOP using Internet Explorer! It is the number 1 target of every hacker out there.

Use Firefox, Chrome, Opera or Safari as your primary browser. Internet Explorer might be needed for some sites you visit but use it for only that.

2)      GET a PAID antivirus on your PC. We recommend NOD32 available at www.eset.com . Although we’ve seen this last infiltration get past every AV out there, the infections appear milder with the paid antivirus solutions. The cost of prevention is less than $50 each year. The cost of cure can be 4-5 times that. And that doesn’t count your lost productivity.

Stay safe out there, and happy computing!

We’ll probably see the effects today.

The most major concern is GPS systems which are often satellite-based, but also some communication systems. Aircraft are being rerouted to avoid interference.

Why should you care? Even as our technology races forward, it’s always susceptible to Mama Nature.  Most of us don’t connect the idea of our laptop with the greater concepts of physics and environment. But since our businesses rely on IT continuity, if you have mission-critical servers or can’t function without computers, plan ahead for disruptions. Many businesses don’t but they lose revenue in the lack of foresight.

So it’s always wise to have a well thought out plan of what to do when your systems go down. Do you have one?

Give us a call if you don’t – we can help you out.

Happy computing!

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/English_Wikipedia_anti-SOPA_blackout

Many people will yawn and say “so what?”. Maybe you never use Wikipedia. Well, it’s estimated that 25 million people do every day so imagine you’re a college student with a major paper due the next day.

What if Google, Facebook, YouTube, etc. decided to do the same thing… what if they were forced to do to stringent legislation?

Happy computing!

First: Shutdown.

Second: Unplug.

Third: Remove battery.

Fourth: Open it as wide as possible and turn it upside down.

Fifth: Direct a fan onto the laptop.

Sixth: Call us!

We will disassemble the laptop completely, remove any traces of liquid, and replace any parts that can’t be saved.  Oftentimes the keyboard is toast but the rest can be saved and you’ll be back up and running.

I guess a handy 7th tip would be – keep children and their drinks away from laptops!!

Happy computing!

Some news from the front line.  We’ve received a very high number of calls from clients that have been infected by the latest malicious software villain.  It’s called some form of Windows Security Alert.  It’s a fake.  And it’s trying to extort computer users to pay money.

The big deal about this one is that it’s a bit tough to remove and it appears to be mutating frequently.  It’s gotten past every single antivirus program out there.  As example:  It will flash a screen telling you anything like your hard drive is about to go belly up, you’re unprotected, you’re in danger of getting cancer from eating Cheetos.  And it wants money.  Don’t bite.  It’s a fishing expedition from essentially an organized crime syndicate.

Also, don’t freak out.

What can you do?  Often we’ll give tips to remove things like this by yourself.  Not this time.  It seems to have Microsoft and all the Antivirus companies on their heels.  Just turn your computer off.  This rogue appears to infect more deeply the more you try to get rid of it. Get someone experienced, like Computer Wrangler, to take care of it for you.

Hopefully the AntiVirus companies and Microsoft will patch this soon but until then, it’s a war zone.  We’re on your side.

Happy and SAFE Computing!

Cost of a hard drive crash?  $240 to, wait for it, $2,000 or more just to get your data back.  Even then there’s never a guarantee it can be recovered.  Add to that the cost of downtime while the drive is being processed.

If you’re not 100% sure your backups are good, give us a call.  Within a short window we can confirm your peace of mind.

Happy computing – and Happy Holidays!

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) are bills that seek to deter online piracy of Intellectual Property and is supported by big names such as The Motion Picture Association of America, The Directors Guild, Recording Industry of America, and Viacom, to name but a few.  The legislation is opposed by other big names such as Google, Yahoo!, Electronic Frontier Foundation, numerous Internet “entrepreneurs” such as those who founded Twitter, LinkedIn, and others, to name but a few.

On the one hand yes, reasonable protection to copyright is, well, reasonable.  On the other hand, posting on Facebook or YouTube a video of your niece singing along to Lady Gaga’s latest creation ought not land you in jail.

This legislation as written will lead to censorship and even forcible shut down of some very popular and culturally important websites.  The oft-repeated comparison to censorship in China may not be that implausible.

Perhaps the creative minds (of these creative industries) can come up with better ways to protect their profits.  Instead of putting big road blocks in front of everyone, maybe try… what’s the word…, oh yeah: innovation!

Here is a link if you are interested in signing a petition or contacting your legislators.

http://dontcensorthenet.com/

Happy (uncensored!) computing!

We covered the basic specs a number of weeks ago but the sales are on, and they’ll look impossible to pass up, let’s review.  You need to get:

1)      An i5 processor

2)      6GB of RAM memory

3)      500GB hard drive

4)      Windows 7 Professional

Have a great holiday season – and happy computing!