Are your eyes constantly glued on your email inbox during the workday? It’s not bad to keep up with what’s going on in the office, but a recent study has linked constant email-checking to higher stress levels. This probably isn’t surprising to some, but some folks, like the researchers at the University of British Columbia, claim that there’s a maximum number of times to check your email throughout the day to minimize stress in the workplace.
You always hear about IT professionals discussing the importance of data backup. Why? Because it’s one of the single most-important processes you can integrate into your business continuity plan. While all managed services present a value to your business, only the Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solution is capable of restoring data that has been lost thanks to unexpected hardware failures or natural disasters.
How bad would it have been if we instead entitled this article, “Don’t Let Poor Grammar Effect Your Business?” Even though it would’ve been a clever way to make a point about the perils of using poor grammar in business, there would still be a lot of folks who would spot the mistake and write off our company as incompetent. Herein lies the power of using proper grammar.
We see a lot of password-bashing these days, and some people have lost faith in them as a security measure. But, unfortunately, a lot of the blame for this lies in human memory. We just don’t pick passwords that are strong enough. In fact, a mind-numbing one in 20 people still use “password” to keep their information safe.
Technology is getting more powerful, but have you considered where all of that power comes from? Not many people actually take the time to understand how much energy their PC or workstation is using, but this could potentially be increasing your operating costs higher than they need to. Try taking the time to calculate your PC’s energy usage to get a feel for what your workstation is costing your business and the environment.
A business owner knows better than anyone how difficult it can be to manage their time and get the most out of their workday. However, you can use your morning and afternoon commutes to eliminate certain mundane tasks from your day-to-day schedule. By using this time to your advantage, you can reduce the stress you’re put under on a daily basis and free your schedule for more important tasks.
Most search engines are pretty good at keeping malicious websites out of your search results, but just like any other piece of software on your computer, some search engines do a better job of keeping these threats out of your immediate access. According to TV-Test, a German independent testing lab, there’s a huge difference between the security of the world’s top search engines, like Bing and Google.
Business owners primarily concentrate more on the digital effects of hacking rather than the physical side of it. After all, hacking some code through a network can’t harm you or anybody else in the real world, right? Wrong. As shown by a recent hack in Germany, ignoring network security can be a dangerous gambit.
Public computers are like public restrooms. You really don’t want to use them unless you absolutely have to. Coincidentally, the reason to avoid each public service is the same; viruses--both of the biological and the digital variety. Thankfully, there’s a way to sanitize your data so that you can safely use a public PC.
Much of the time, malware is disguised as downloads or other less-obvious entities. Normally, you wouldn’t have any way of knowing it is malicious until it’s too late, but new features in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari might change the way we protect ourselves from online threats.
While email offers several great benefits to those willing to deal with it, the most popular method of communicating in the office has its flaws. One of the most crippling is spam, which can ruin your inbox and your productivity. The unfortunate truth is that even the most diligent workers get hit with spam, but that doesn’t mean that your business’s productivity needs to suffer from it.
How are you coming on those New Year’s resolutions? If you’re already putting off doing them due to a case of getting bit by the procrastination bug, then you might be feeling down on yourself and thinking about giving up. But, did you know that doing something a little later might actually be a better way to get something done?
It’s a good feeling to have your workstation’s web browser set up exactly how you like it. With all of your favorite websites bookmarked and your most-visited sites quickly appearing in a drop down menu as soon as you type in a letter or two, you’re able to efficiently navigate the Internet and quickly find exactly what you’re looking for. But what happens to your bookmarks when your hard drive crashes?
Despite the fact that 255 million people use Twitter, some businesses want nothing to do with it. They see it as little more than a waste of time. However, these anti-Twitter activists fail to realize that the social media outlet has an unmistakably large influence in the marketing industry. Unlike Facebook, Twitter gives you the opportunity to customize your audience to suit the precise needs of your business, and the best part of this is that it’s completely free.
American healthcare organizations must store and exchange patient data in ways that comply with the HIPAA law, or else face hefty fines. One mental health service in Alaska recently learned this lesson the hard way after being hit with a $150,000 fine. Is your healthcare organization’s IT infrastructure 100 percent HIPAA compliant?
It’s 2015, and if you have made any New Year’s resolutions, there’s a good chance that “getting more exercise” is on your list. Can’t find time to exercise because you’re stuck in an office all day? Don’t let that stop you. Here are some tips to help you exercise, even while you’re at work.
Have you ever found yourself neck deep in a major business project and nothing seemed to be working? In times like these you may have thrown up your hands and said, “There must be a better way to do this!” Often times there is, and it’s in the form of new technology. Is your current IT provider familiar with the latest technologies that can make operations easier for your business?
A technology-based parody of the classic Christmas story, “A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens.
Once upon a time, in a land not much different from this one, there lived a business owner. His name was Scrooge. He wasn’t an unlikable fellow; jolly and cheerful at any glance, his smile could light up the darkness in anyone’s life. Yet, when the winter months arrived, and a chilled wind blew across the land, so too did a fell gust freeze his heart. It was time to figure out why his systems were hacked (again), and he knew it would be an expensive endeavor. How he hated managing his IT.
In the past, we’ve been known to go into detail about threats, vulnerabilities, and how to protect your business while online. Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks aren’t new in the technology world, but notorious hacking group Lizard Squad has somehow managed to take out Internet service for much of Sweden with a faulty DDoS attack; an unprecedented feat, especially for a ragtag group of irate gamers.
For those with weak stomachs, it’s not recommended to go back and read an email that was just sent. In doing so, a spelling or grammar error is likely to be found, which will cause one’s stomach to turn and fill with regret. If only there was a do-over button. Thanks to the new app called Pluto Mail, there is one.
