CEO Tech Blog

Going, Going Gigabit

2012-01-27T12:34:00.000-08:00

As the economy improves, we have been receiving many requests from businesses to update their outdated computer networks to gigabit speed. The good news for businesses is that the cost of a high-speed gigabit network has dropped dramatically in the last few years. These are common questions I receive about upgrading to a gigabit network which will significantly speed up your network.

What is a gigabit network?
If your network is more than 4 years old, your networking equipment may be the slower 100 megabits per second (Mbps) speed. New network equipment runs at gigabit speed, or 1,000 Mbps. That would be similar to upgrading the freeways and cars from running at 70 Mph to 700 Mph. Imagine how much more you can get done at that faster speed!

Do I need a gigabit network?
A gigabit network allows your data to move 10 times faster on your local network. It virtually removes all network bottlenecks. Businesses will reap major benefits if they engage in any type of video conferencing, video streaming, voice over IP (VoIP), CAD design, graphic design, web development, video production, any type of database (i.e., inventory, accounting), virtualization, cloud computing, and other types of data intensive networking.

What do I need for a gigabit network?
Your desktop or laptop PC will need a gigabit network adapter. Plus your network switches will need to be gigabit capable. Finally, your network cabling will be required to be Cat-5E or Cat-6. This includes not only the premise wiring inside the wall but also the patch cables between the PC-to-wall jack and patch panel-to-gigabit switch. Old Cat-5 cabling is unable to achieve 1000 Mbps (gigabit) speed. Therefore upgrading to gigabit may require upgrading the network cabling inside the walls. Your wiring/cabling vendor can test your existing cabling to determine if it is gigabit-capable.

I upgraded to a gigabit network but my Internet is still slow. What gives?
Gigabit speed is limited to your local area network (i.e., LAN, inside your office). The connection speed to the outside world is a separate network and limited by the speed provided by your Internet service provider. Internet speeds will always be slower than the network speed inside your office. For instance, your LAN speed may be gigabit (1,000 Mbps) but a T1 Internet connection is limited to 1.54 Mbps. That means that your Internet will be 0.15% the speed of your LAN. High-speed Internet options include fiber optic/Verizon FiOS (25 Mbps) , Ethernet (20 Mbps), bonded T1 (6 Mbps), and DS3 (45Mbps).

Can I just use any gigabit switch?

The network switch is the core of a gigabit network and selection should be considered carefully. When selecting a switch, you need to know:

how many ports you will need now and in the future? Switches typically come in 8, 16, 24 and 48-port sizes.
do you need power over Ethernet (PoE)? PoE may be required if you have PoE devices like VoIP phones, wireless access points, IP cameras, etc.
are managed switch features required for creating VLAN segments, quality of service managment, bandwidth shaping, and connection security?
do you require redundant power supplies or high-availability fail-over?
is a high level of technical support and expertise required from the manufacturer or your networking partner?
if you have multiple switches then stackable switches make for ease of management.
do you need a layer-2, layer-3 lite or layer-3 switch?
is low power consumption and low heat important to reduce energy bills and be Earth-friendly?

Wikipedia Goes Offline to Protest Anti-Piracy Bill

2012-01-17T13:56:00.000-08:00

This morning I went to look up something on Wikipedia and got a lump in my throat when I remembered that they were taking themselves offline to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). But luckily for me Wikipedia's blackout protest is on Wednesday, January 18, not today.

SOPA's aim is to stop music and movie piracy by blocking website via the domain name server (DNS) system which controls how you get to every web server on the Internet. The intent is to be block piracy web sites by removing their DNS entry to make it difficult, but hardly impossible, to access them.

On the face this sounds like a very noble gesture to protect the art and creative content of artists and movie studios. But by interfering with the DNS system, which allows free access to websites, we are going down a path which we would soon realize that don't want to go down. SOPA would set a precedent of allowing law makers to control of the DNS system to block ideas which some may find offensive or disagreeable.

I strongly oppose people stealing music or movies. Artists, actors, writers, musicians and film makers should be fairly compensated for their creative products. Piracy is wrong and criminal.

But there are many other ways to fight piracy and protect artists. Government censorship of the DNS system shouldn't be one of them.

How Cyber-Criminals Hack Your Password

2012-01-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

Cyber-criminals all know that your password is the weakest link in your online, network and computer security. Once they get your password, they can access your email, cloud services, online storage and bank accounts. So like a intelligent warrior, they are going to try to exploit your password weakness. Here's how they do it:

Guessing Your Password
The simplest way to hack a password is to guess common passwords like "1234" or "password" or names of friends/spouses/children/pets such as "Claire" or "Fluffers". Defense: avoid using any names. Read Strong Passwords That Are Easy to Remember, Hard to Crack for password security tips.

Dictionary Hack
Hackers can use common dictionary text files with an automated tool which tries each dictionary word. Dictionary hack tools now try adding numbers or special characters to the end of the word such as "kitten123". Defense: avoid dictionary words and use a passphrase (e.g, My-kitten-is-black).

Dictionary Plus Leet Hack
If you've ever used number for letters in your password, then you've used leet. Common leet substitutions are, 1 for i, 4 for a, etc. So "Jim" with leet would be "J1m." A Dictionary Plus Leet hack uses a dictionary and employs leet substitutions so to hack the password "admin" it would try: admin, adm1n, 4dm1n. Defense: Use a complex passphrase (e.g., Optimus*Prime*rules)

Brute Force Hack
This is a more computationally intensive technique where random characters and numbers are used to crack a password. This technique may take a long time because it will try every conceivable combination of letters, numbers and special characters. Defense: use a long, complex password or passphrase of 12-characters or more.

Rainbow Tables
This is a newer and more sophisticated technique which requires a hacker to infiltrate your network and steal the password hashes generated by your operating system. The technique requires a lot of memory, storage and CPU power but can crack any complex 14 character password in minutes. Defense: high network security (firewall/VPN), physical security (locked doors/restricted access) and long 20+ character complex password or passphrase.

Keylogger
A hacker can easily plant a keylogger on your PC if your antivirus expires and is not renewed, if you get a zero-day virus (a virus which is unknown to your antivirus program) or if you have a weak firewall. Then they can easily steal your password no matter how long and complex it is. Defense: gateway/firewall antivirus and intrusion prevention plus desktop antivirus/anti-spyware.

Password Reset
Don't think that hackers aren't interested in your email or that your inbox doesn't have anything interesting to a hacker. If a hacker compromises your email (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail), then they can easily find messages from your bank which tells them which bank you use then they can request a password reset from your bank to gain access to your account. Defense: make your email password as strong as your bank password and use a complex passphrase.

Phishing
You've most likely received email (spam) requesting that you click on a link to login to your bank account or else your account will be deactivated. That is a cyber-criminal using a phishing technique to get you to give up your password and other information. Defense: use a good anti-spam service or program; be suspicious of email asking for your personal information even if it comes from someone you know and trust.

Defensive Measures Summary
This sounds very scary but there are key actions you can take to protect yourself from a determined hacker:

Use a complex passpharase (e.g., An*ounce*of*prevention*451).
Use a good antivirus program and keep the subscription always active. Never let it lapse. Recommendations: AVG, Trend Micro, Eset, Avast!, or Symantec
Run a virus and spyware scan each day: use a support service that offers automated daily maintenance.
Use a good firewall with intrusion prevention. Recommendation: Sonicwall with Comprehensive Gateway Security Suite
Configure security policies to lockout user accounts after 10 failed attempts.
Keep servers and sensitive PCs and notebooks behind locked doors.
Limit physical access to servers to only those personnel who require access.
Consider encrypting hard drive especially in notebooks with sensitive data. Use a complex passphrase for the encryption key for maximum security.
Use a good anti-spam service or program to protect against phishing scams.

Strong Passwords That are Easy to Remember, Hard to Crack

2011-12-22T17:40:00.000-08:00

Passwords are easily the weakest link your security. When you use cloud computing, passwords may be the ONLY security you have. If you make your passwords too short and easy, then they are easy to guess and hack. If you make them too long and difficult, they will be hard to hack but hard for you to remember, too.

An easy way to make a strong password is to use a passphrase instead.

For example, the password "kitten" can be cracked almost instantly because it is a common dictionary word. But the password "Kitten3921" will take about 10 days to hack which is better but feasible for a determined hacker with automated resources.

But the passphrase "My-black-kitten" will take 311 billion years to hack because it is hard to guess, is long (18-characters) and uses complex characters (capitals and special characters). But it has the advantage of being easy to remember. You can use your own custom variation like spaces, asterisks, ampersands, numbers, etc. as a spacers between words.

The key to an password protection is making your password so difficult that the hacker would have to expend extraordinary resources to crack it. If the hacker needs to spend too much money, computing power he is most likely to move on to an easier target.

First Tech Support Visit

2011-09-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Technology is ever changing and so we must always be learning the new technology. So tech support must have always existed, right?

Apple's iPad2 Fires a Shot in the Tablet Wars

2011-03-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

Apple catapulted into tablet computing with the introduction of the iPad in April 2010. The iPad has since been one of the faster selling devices in history and has positioned tablets as the future of computing.

Yesterday, Apple unveiled their 2nd generation tablet, the iPad2, in San Francisco. Ailing Apple chief Steve Jobs was on-hand to unveil the new device which is lighter and thinner. Here's a run down on the iPad 2 features:

iPad2 available from Apple, Verizon and AT&T on March 11, 2011.
15% lighter weighing only 1.35 lbs
33% thinner at 0.34 inches
Same 10-hour battery life as the original iPad
Includes a thin Smart Cover to protect the display - a variety colors are available
Powered by the Apple 1GHz dual-core A5 processor - it's twice as fast but same low-power consumption
Graphics is now 9 times faster
Display: 1024x768 pixel, 9.7-inch display, fingerprint-resistant coating
Front facing camera for Facetime video chat
Rear camera records 720p HD video; 5x digital zoom for still photos
Two color choices: black and white
Supports 3G on Verizon and AT&T networks
Internal storage options: 16GB, 32GB and 64GB
New apps bundled with the iPad2 include Photo Booth and Facetime
From the App Store: GarageBand and iMovie HD movie editor
Features AirPrint wireless printing and AirPlay video, music and photo streaming
HDMI output to an HDTV or projector available with optional adapter cable

As for what the iPad2 lacks, there is no provision for 4G support, no Retina display like the iPhone4, no super durable Gorilla Glass on the display, no SD Card slot, and no ability for the iPad2 to be used as wi-fi hotspot. But with the release of the new iOS 4.3 on March 11, 2011, which was also announced by Apple, the iPhone4 will have wi-fi hotspot capability. And there is still no Flash support for the iPad2 as to be expected.

The new iPad2 has a lot of great new features and really raises the bar for other tablet computers. It makes a power contender against Motorola's Xoom, HP/Palm TouchPad or Blackberry Playbook.

Apple Readies iPad2 for Release

2011-02-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

Apple is readying their 2nd generation iPad tablet, the iPad2, for production according to a report published by the Wall Street Journal. If Apple sticks to the tradition of releasing the updates on their one-year anniversary, we can expect the iPad2 to be launched in the first week of April 2011.

UPDATE: There is some speculation that the iPad2 release date may be announced towards the end of February.

Apple's first version of the iPad was released in April 2010 and is one of the best selling products in history.The iPad has revolutionized the way we use computing by unleashed us from the constraints of the desktop computer. Here are some new features that are rumored to be on the iPad2.

New, Improved iPad2 Features

Front-facing camera for Facetime video conferencing
Rear-facing camera for taking digital photos
CDMA version for Verizon's 3G network
UMTS version for AT&T's 3G network
Lighter and thinner
Higher resolution Retina Display

Click here for a comprehensive list of rumored iPad2 features courtesy of Mashable.

Impact to your Business

The iPad has been readily embraced by the business world. The iPad and other tablets, such as the Motorola Xoom, leverage the power of Cloud and rely on an Internet connection to access web applications, email, and storage. Tablet computers are not direct replacements for desktop computers because tablets have limited computing and graphical power for applications such as video editing, CAD design, graphic design.

But tablets can be the ideal device for executives and sales staff who need a portable computer to keep in touch with the corporate email and calendaring system and provide product presentations or video to customers.

Saving Power: Hibernate vs. Standby

2011-01-27T12:46:00.000-08:00

What is the difference between hibernate and standby mode? Standby mode is a low power mode where your PC is still running but there is just enough power to your memory (RAM) to keep your desktop session active. It takes less then 30 seconds resume from Standby Mode. Standby Mode uses about 3 Watts of power. A standard light bulb uses about 60 Watts.

Hibernate Mode is an zero power mode where your desktop session is saved to the hard drive first then your computer is powered off. Resuming from Hibernate Mode takes a few minutes, longer then Standby Mode, because your desktop session needs to be retrieved from the hard drive and loaded back into RAM.

My recommendation is to use Hibernate Mode because you will save more energy and resuming doesn't take very long.

How to Enable Hibernate Mode

First enable Hibernate Mode on your PC. Go to Start - Control Panel - Display - Screen Saver (tab) - Power (button) - Hibernate (tab). Check the box to "Enable Hibernation".
Configuring automatic hibernation mode: Click on the Power Schemes tab. If you are using a desktop PC, you can use the Home/Office Desk scheme and change the Hibernation setting to something like 45 minutes. If you use a notebook PC, select the Portable/Laptop scheme and the default settings should work fine for most people. Click OK to save your settings.
Manual hibernation: When you want to Hibernate your PC, go to the shutdown window (Start - Turn Off Computer). Hold the Shift key down and Standby will turn to Hibernate then just click it.

Facebook Privacy - Revisited

2011-01-18T17:15:00.000-08:00

Facebook has always been criticized for their privacy settings or "lack of privacy" settings. It seems that when they routinely perform updates to their website, that your privacy settings get reset or randomly changed.

And it's been unclear on exactly what people can and cannot see on your profile. But recent changes allow you to see your privacy setting more clearly and you can even preview your profile as it appears publicly. Here are some suggestions to keep your privacy the way you want on Facebook.

Check your privacy settings every month - Go to Facebook and log in. Select Account (upper right) then Privacy Settings.
On the Privacy Settings, you can select a pre-configured setting such as Everyone (no privacy), Friends of Friends (less privacy), or Friends Only (more privacy). There is also a Recommended setting but I wouldn't recommend it. I prefer the Friends Only pre-configured setting.
There is a check box to "Share a tagged post with friends of the friend I tagged" which you can select or not. If you tag your friend Suzy, Suzy's friends will be notified that you tagged her.
You can also customize your privacy settings by clicking Customize Settings link toward the bottom of the page.
Next, click on the Connecting on Facebook - View Settings link in the middle of the page. There are more privacy settings there. Note that regardless of the preconfigured settings, the privacy settings here need to be adjusted.
Change the Search For You on Facebook setting to Friends Only to avoid being found by friends from high school or former boyfriends or girlfriends or ex-spouses. Or leave it as Everyone so you can found by ... well, everyone.
On the Customize Settings page, click on the Preview My Profile to see how your profile appears to the public. Remember to look at this preview page through the eyes of a stranger or the person you least want looking at your Facebook profile such as an angry ex-spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend, debt collector, the creepy guy down the street, a competitor's attorney, your boss, etc.

By monitoring and changing these settings, you will be keep your privacy the way you want it and avoid having your Facebook profile opened to the world. Tip: put a reminder in your calendar to preview your profile at least monthly.

Online Organization Tools

2010-09-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

When you need to keep your business and/or your life in order whether it's at the office, at home, or while on the road, there are programs available for you to do so. Here are a few. For calendaring, Google calendar offers a rich array of calendaring options. You can set up calendars for your particular work groups or company-wide with Google calendars. And, you can also synch Google Apps with Outlook. For keeping notes, there is Microsoft One Note, One Note Web Apps and Evernote.com. For keeping track of a To Do list, there is Outlook, Remember the Milk and Toodledo. Many of the cloud programs also have mobile apps. With Microsoft Office 2010, Word, Excel, Power Point and One Note now come with web apps and collaborative features. With hosted Exchange, you can get Outlook online as well. There's great stuff out there--give it a try!

Google Calendar below:

Plugging Money Leaks in Your Business

2010-06-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

Everyday, your business is leaking money due to your technology. The biggest leak of money in your business is not a service call but the loss in productivity from workers idled when their computer system doesn't work properly. For most of us, "no computer" means "no work."

For overhead employees such as administrative staff, receptionists, clerks, etc., the cost when computers are down is their wage plus taxes and benefits (fully burdened). A cost of an employee earning $20/hr is about $25/hr fully burdened (add 25% for taxes and benefits).

For professional services businesses, the cost when computers are down is rate at which you bill your customers for your employees' time. For instance, a CPA might bill out an analyst at $125/hr. When they can't conduct research or access spreadsheets because the server or their PC is down, the loss in productivity cost is equal to their billable rate, or $125/hr.

Technology leaks range from of slow computers or Internet (5% to 50% productivity loss) to complete workstation, server or Internet outage (50% to 100% productivity loss).

I have found that successful business owners work hard to minimize those leaks. Struggling business owners falsely think they are "saving" money by not replacing old equipment, living with slow Internet and overall not properly investing in the technology. Here are some areas where you may be leaking money in your business technology:

Slow Internet - If your bandwidth is too low and users are waiting too long to get information off the Internet, then you are leaking money. A DSL connection may be suitable for a small office, but businesses with more than 5 users should definitely be looking at T1 or cable Internet. The increased speed means that users are being more productive.
Old computers - Just the other day Janet, who does payroll for one of our clients, told me that it took her computer about 20 minutes to boot up. That's 4% of her work week of zero productivity. She also complained that she had to wait for applications to open and for web pages to load. A faster computer would give her a 5% to 10% productivity boost. If her fully burdened rate is $40,000 per year, her slow PC is costing the owner $3,600 to $5,600 per year. Economically, a new $1,000 computer would pay for itself in about two months in increased productivity alone.
IT Service Agreement - Derrick owns a successful tax accountancy and calls AXICOM occasionally to fix various issues. I was talking to him about our AxiGuard proactive service and support plans but when he saw the price, he exclaimed, "that's the lease payment for my wife's BMW!" Derrick employs 7 people of which 4 are billable at $175/hr. So when their server is down about 2 hours per month due to spyware infection, virus problem, and other issues, it's costing him over $1000 per month in lost productivity. Having our maintenance agreement would eliminate or reduce server outages and save him over $500 per month, or enough for another BMW! A managed service agreement with monitoring and automated maintenance can save business owners 30% to 60% over traditional break/fix service.
Review Your Bills - I was looking over my mobile phone bill and found a $15 charge on one of the phone lines for roadside assistance. I never signed up for this service since I've had Auto Club since I first learned to drive. So I called the phone carrier who quickly reversed these false charges. I also found that my Internet service was out of contract and was able to get them to reduce my Internet bill by $40 per month. These are small amounts but having a "leak detector" mentality can save you $1000s per year.
Color Printing - The savvy business owner knows not to get lured in by cheap color inkjet printers that are "free" with a new computer. But some photo inkjet printers are better at reproducing photos compared to color laser printers. But for general color printing of graphics, reports, brochures or sales presentations over 1,000 pages per month, a color laser printer will save you about 50% per page vs. an inkjet printer over the lifetime of the printer.

Is Flash Sunsetting?

2010-06-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

Flash technology has become a wedge between one-time BFFs Apple and Adobe. Flash is a proprietary technology developed by Adobe and used by to make cool web graphics, animations, videos and games.

But Steve Jobs and Apple have decided that Flash isn't all that and have opted to not support Flash in the iPad, iPod and iPhone. What's that mean to you and me? Well, iPads and iPhone are one of the fastest selling Internet devices in history. If the trend continues and iPhone OS devices and become the preferred choice of most people for accessing the Internet, then web developers will have to dump Flash in favor of open-standard technologies like HTML5 to reach the legions of iPad/iPhone users.

HTML5 is which is also heavily promoted by Google. With heavy-weights like Apple and Google against it, things don't look good for Adobe's Flash.

What Happened to Windows Movie Maker?

2010-06-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

Windows Movie Maker is a wonderful program for creating DVDs or YouTube-ready videos. It meets all my criteria for a great program: it's easy to use, doesn't consume a lot of resources, it's stable and it's free. Movie Maker allows you to:

trim the beginning or end of videos
add sound tracks like music or narration
add scene transitions like wipes
insert titles, credits and captions
add still photos or graphics
create video effects (e.g., black & white, old time graininess)

Movie Maker has easy-to-use wizards to guide the novice through the movie-making steps but also has enough customization tools to make it a good tool for semi-pros.

I was very dismayed to find that Microsoft removed Movie Maker in their release of Windows 7. Microsoft offered a solution was to download Windows Live Essentials which includes Live Movie Maker. But Live Movie Maker is a weak impostor of the Windows Movie Maker that came with Windows XP.

But I have found that you can download Movie Maker 2.6 for Vista and it will run perfectly fine on Windows 7. We recently hosted an Excel webinar and we took a minute and a half segment of the recorded webinar on how to add a Command Button to the Ribbon and added Title and End Credits using Windows Movie Maker. Movie Maker divides your recordings into segments which is what appears in the graphic below from the Excel webinar.

Go here to watch the segment and see how this basic format can give you something to easily add to your website. After editing the clip, we uploaded it to YouTube and Voila!

Google Apps Standard vs. Premium

2010-03-10T16:00:00.000-08:00

Google Apps has made a recent splash as a cost-effective, cloud computing apps for email and messaging, document storage and collaboration, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations. Google Apps come in two flavors for businesses: Standard and Premium.

The Standard edition is free, ad-supported with basic features and a 7GB email storage limit. The Premium edition costs $50/user per year and has many more features like smartphone support, live tech support and a 99.9% uptime SLA.

Regardless of which edition you choose, you can run your entire organization on Google Apps and keep your domain name (i.e., yourdomain.com). Here's what you what you get with each edition.

Standard	Premium
Free, ad-supported	$50/yr per user
no Outlook Sync	Syncs with Outlook calendar, email, contacts
7.3GB email storage	25GB email storage
no SLA	99.9% uptime SLA
no SmartPhone support	SmartPhone support
no archiving	email archiving up to 10 years (Postini)
50 user limit	no limit
no tools	Email migration tools
no routing or email gateway support	Email routing and email gateway support
online self service support only	phone and email support from Google

Other Google Apps Premium extras include Google Groups and Videos (similar to YouTube), forced SSL encryption, custom password strength requirements, and other features.

AXICOM is a Google Apps Reseller and we provide setup, migration and on-going support services. For more information or to learn how your organization can benefit with Google Apps, contact us at (818) 865-9865 or info@axicom.net.

Google Android Phones Gain in Popularity

2010-03-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

According to a recent report from comScore, Google's Android is the fastest growing smartphone platform and made up 7.1% of the smartphone market in January 2010.

RIM's Blackberry smartphone maintains a significant lead over Apple's iPhone with 43% and 25.1% market share, respectively.

iPhones growth continues but at a much slower pace, increasing only 0.3 points in the last quarter.

Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform slipped 4 points but still holds 15.7% of the market. Palm smartphones, which appear to be dying a slow death, fell 2.1 points to 5.7%.

	Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
	Oct-09	Jan-10	Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%	N/A
RIM	41.3%	43.0%	1.7
Apple	24.8%	25.1%	0.3
Microsoft	19.7%	15.7%	-4.0
Google	2.8%	7.1%	4.3
Palm	7.8%	5.7%	-2.1

Source: comScore: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/3/comScore_Reports_January_2010_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share

Google Mail: Put Your Signature In It's Place

2010-03-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

If you use Google Mail or Gmail, one annoyance is that when you reply to an email that your signature doesn't appear directly after your text but at the BOTTOM of message after the quoted text.

If you would like your signature to appear BEFORE the quoted text and directly after your reply message, follow these steps.

1. Go to your Google Mail inbox (http://gmail.com or http://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com).

2. Click on Settings in the top-right corner.

3. Click on the Labs tab.

4. Scroll down the page until you see "Signature Tweaks."

5. Enable "Signature Tweaks" by check the "enable" box.

(Hint: Check out other lab gadgets because there are a few handy ones on that list.)

After you save your settings, your inbox will reload. The next time you reply to an email, your signature will appear directly after your message instead of after the quoted text. You will also notice that the two "--" hash marks no longer appear.

Windows 7 Webinar on Tuesday, February 23 at 11 AM

2010-02-19T12:51:00.000-08:00

So, we're giving our first webinar this next Tuesday at 11 AM. We'll be discussing Windows 7. I hope you'll be able to join us!

Since it's our first webinar, I imagine we might have a few technical glitches BUT I feel pretty confident that as a techno-geek, I'll be able to get through it. But, I want to make sure that I don't misuse my time and only cover half of what I want to. But, I have a way to make sure I don't miss any of the critical points. How? There's a great feature in PowerPoint 2007 called the Slide Timing Feature. When I rehearse, I can use this feature to record the amount of time I need for each slide and then use the recorded times to advance the slides automatically, if I want. Cool, huh?

Free Electronics Recycling - This Saturday (1/9/10)

2010-01-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

There is a free electronics recycling event this Saturday, January 9, 2010, from 9am-1pm at the Methodist Church in Westlake Village.

http://sites.google.com/a/axicom.net/electronics-waste-recycling/

It’s a great opportunity to remove old clutter from your home: old monitors, fax machines, cell phones, computers, printers, battery backup units, etc.

Recycling your electronics not only diverts waste for our landfills but also keeps dangerous chemicals like lead, mercury and cadmium from polluting our drinking water. And it's part of AXICOM's Good Earth policy.

This event benefits the Cub Scouts.

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How to Securely Erase Your Hard Drive

If you are concerned that your hard drive has sensitive and private data on it, it's important to securely erase it with a proper program. Formatting or deleting does not securely erase the data as it can be easily recovered with readily available applications. A secure erase or format will write random data 3 or more times over the entire disk rendering it unreadable.

Follow these steps to ensure a secure erase on your hard disk. This method works on PCs, Macs, Linux computers.

Download Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) - This program will securely erase your hard disk so make sure that the data you want is copied because it will be irretrievable.
Insert a USB thumb drive or floppy disk in your computer. DBAN will copy file to the disk and make it bootable.
Run the file you just downloaded (dban-1.0.7_i386.exe). Select the external drive that you want to install DBAN.
Go to the computer you want to erase and boot it with your DBAN floppy or USB Drive.
Select the option to run Boot and Nuke. WARNING: the data on ALL the drives of the computer will be erased and the data irretrievable even by professional data recovery services. So be sure you want to permanently erase your data.

Depending on the size of the hard drive and speed of the computer, it may take 20 minutes to 2 hours to complete. If you need more information, you can visit the DBAN website or read their FAQ.

Google Chrome Operating System Video

2009-11-20T13:04:00.000-08:00

This short video (3:21) by Google discribes why their operating system is different than Windows or Mac OS. Check it out.

Facebook Annoyances: Blocking Farmville and Mafia Wars

2009-11-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

I like Facebook just as much as the next guy. But do I really need to know that you fertilized your friend's farm in Farmville or that you iced Tony Thumbs in Mafia Wars? I'm sure I'm not alone in being annoyed by the Farmville and Mafia Wars status updates in my news feed. Luckily there is an easy way to block them:

Log on to Facebook and you should see your News Feed or Live News Feed. If not, click on "News Feed" on the left-side navigation bar.
Scroll down to look for a status update about your friend finding a scared turkey in Farmville or some Mafia Wars news.
Put your mouse in the area of the status update and click the "Hide" button that appears in the upper right corner of the update. That's it!

This works on any Facebook application that annoys you: Farmville, Mafia Wars, MindJolt Games, Kidnap!, Pieces of Flair, etc. (Please keep in mind that your friends aren't being annoying, it's all the Farmville/Mafia Wars status updates which they have no control over that are annoying.)

Ahhh, that's much better. Now I can have an uncluttered view about what you had for breakfast.

Balancing Security and Convenience

2009-11-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

Last night I met with a group of fellow tech guys at a local restaurant. One of them told us a story about the time he worked for Hughes Aircraft in Canoga Park in the late 1980s. When he needed to dial into the system remotely, he would call the security guard who walk across the campus to the server room, flip a switch to enable the remote connection. When he finished his task, he would call the security guard who walked back to the server room and switched off the access. Now that's good security. Inconvenient, but secure.

There is an inverse relationship between convenience and security:

Putting on your car's seat belt may be somewhat inconvenient, but it increases your safety significantly.
Locking the door to your house slows down your access in and out but protects your belongings.
Entering a password for your PC may be a pain but will keep it from getting infected with spyware and locks out unauthorized users.

When you do your online banking, it's inconvenient to go through multiple screens, have three security questions, etc. But you should expect these precautions because this level of security will protect you against identity theft or having your money stolen.

I don't like it any more than you do when I call my phone company and getting the third degree before I can even tell them what I want. But I need to keep in mind that it's going to be even more of an inconvenience if someone hijacks my account and runs up a huge phone bill.

So keep in mind that although proper security may be a pain, it's well worth the price. For your investment in inconvenience, you are yielding a good return in security.

Upgrading Your PC to Windows 7

2009-11-07T09:48:00.000-08:00

So you like all the things you are hearing about Windows 7 and feel like you want to give it a spin. Well, it's not as easy as installing an application like Microsoft Office. Upgrading your PC to Windows 7 takes planning, a block of free time, and courage. If you are brave enough to do it on your own, here are the steps:

Step 1 - Check the minimum requirements
You need to verify that your PC hardware has enough ability to power Windows 7. You will want to up your RAM to at least 2Gb and install a more powerful video card. If you want to record TV shows using the digital video recorder function (DVR), then you will need a TV tuner like Hauppauge. Click here are the Win7 requirements.

XP Mode Requirements: If you have legacy applications that are incompatible with Windows 7, you may be able to run the application in XP Mode. XP Mode requires a newer CPU that supports hardware-assisted virtualization. Check here for more information about running XP Mode.

Step 2 - Backup your data
For best results, you will need to erase your hard drive and install a fresh version of Windows 7. So before you get started, backup all your data. The best route is to create an image of your existing system with Acronis True Image or Symantec Norton Ghost. Then if you find that you want to return to your old system, you can just restore the image. Acronis and Ghost will also give you the flexibility to access your data files during the restore step.

Step 3 - Install Windows 7
Take some time to compare the various editions of Windows 7. Once you get the right edition (hint: AXICOM sells it), run the Windows 7 CD from your old operating system. The wizard will take you through the step-by-step process of upgrading your system to Windows 7. If you have Vista, you have a choice to upgrade to Windows 7 and preserve your application and data, or do a fresh installation which formats (erases) your hard drive first (recommended).

If you are running Windows XP, there is no option to upgrade and preserve your applications and data. The Windows 7 installation process will erase your data and install a fresh version of the Windows 7 operating system.

After completing the installation of Windows 7, which will take between 30 minutes and 2 hours, you will want to download and install any available Windows updates.

Step 4 - Install your applications
You will now need to install your applications. Don't forget antivirus: I recommend that you install AVG antivirus which is free for home users or at an affordable cost for business users (hint: AXICOM is an AVG reseller).

If any of your applications are incompatible with Windows 7, then you will have to buy a new version or run the application in XP Mode. Installing XP Mode has it's own set of requirements and additional steps as we will see in Step 5.

Step 5 - Install XP Mode (optional)

XP Mode is a great new feature of Windows 7 that allows you to run your old software that you were able to run on Windows XP but is incompatible with Windows 7. This is done by allowing your applications to run in a virtual Windows XP environment.

XP Mode requires a minimum of 2GB of RAM, 15GB of hard disk space per virtual environment, and a CPU that supports hardware-assisted virtulization. XP Mode is only available on Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate Editions. XP Mode is not available on Windows 7 Home or Home Premium.

To install XP Mode, go here for the tools and instructions.

Step 6 - Restore your data

Now the only thing left to do is to restore your data. You will first need to install your backup program that you used to create your backup (e.g., Acronis or Ghost).

Congratulations

Your Windows 7 upgrade is now complete. You can now enjoy all the cool new features of Windows 7. If you run into difficulties with your upgrade, or would like to hire a professional to perform the upgrade for you, or perhaps buy a new PC with Windows 7 preinstalled, you can contact AXICOM at www.axicom.net.

Los Angeles: City in the Google Cloud

2009-10-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, the City of Los Angeles city council voted unanimously in favor of a $7.25 million contract to outsource its email and document application system to Google. This is a HUGE milestone for cloud computing and a giant coup for Google.

Acknowledging that Google's email system is not yet proven on a scale of the the City of LA, the city council decided to move forward because of the crash-prone nature of their existing Novell GroupWise email system and concerns about communications during a major disaster. Google's security also was felt to be better than that which the City could currently provide.

I see City's decision being significant because it indicates the direction that technology is trending: toward cloud computing and away from self-hosted applications running on numerous servers that require a large maintenance and administration cost. Self-hosted servers also have large power, air conditioning, and disaster recovery requirements.

I expect that other municipalities and large institutions will soon follow suit now that the City of Los Angeles has taken the plunge into cloud computing.

The $7.25 billion contract will be implemented over 5 years beginning June 2010. The contract will provide Google Apps which include email, spreadsheets, word processing, presentation, and document storage to the City's 30,000 employees.

Cloud Computing by AXICOM
My company, AXICOM, offers a variety of cloud computing solutions and we are a Google Apps partner. We provide consulting, integration, migration and training services for businesses interested in using Google Apps or other cloud solutions.

Call AXICOM at (818) 865-9865 to learn more about AXICOM's cloud computing solutions.

New Facebook for Blackberry v1.7 Released

2009-10-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

Blackberry (RIM) has released a new version 1.7 of Facebook for Blackberry (FFB). This is a free download from the Facebook website. The new version features include:

pages now load much faster
main page supports news feed, not just status updates
filtering option to show news feed or status updates, photos and links only
upload a new profile picture from the photo album view
ability to "like" a status updates, news feed items, photos or links

How to Get Facebook for Blackberry v1.7
If you already have Facebook for Blackberry, start it on your BB device. It should ask you if you want to install the latest version and just follow the wizard. If you don't get an update prompt, press the BB key, select "Options", scroll down and select "Check for Upgrade Now." Follow the wizard to complete the installation.

If you don't have Facebook for Blackberry installed on your BB device, start your BB browser, go to www.facebook.com, scroll down the page, select "Download Facebook for your Blackberry." Follow the wizard to complete the installation.

Windows 7 Edition Comparison

2009-10-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 is finally here. Windows 7 has proven to be significant improvement over Windows Vista. Windows 7 is faster, uses RAM more efficiently, and will run your older programs with XP Mode (available on Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate only). Here is a summary of the various editions to help you in deciding which is best for you.

Windows 7 Home Premium Edition ($119.99)

Improved Desktop Navigation: Shake, Peek and Snap
Redesigned taskbar is smarter and removes clutter
More wallpapers and improved desktop gadgets
Programs start faster and more efficient memory usage
Enhanced Windows Search for finding documents faster
Windows Media Center for recording TV shows (requires additional hardware)
Watch movies or listen to music through remote streaming
Create home network to share files and printers with HomeGroup

Windows 7 Professional Edition ($199.99)

All the features of Windows 7 Home Premium, plus,
Compatible with older program with Windows XP Mode
Domain Join for secure networking in company networks
Backup your data over your network

Windows 7 Ultimate Edition ($219.99)

All the features of Windows 7 Professional and Home Premium, plus,
BitLocker technology protects your desktop, notebook and portable device data against theft or loss
Choose to work in any of 35 supported languages

Recommendations
We recommend that most users in the business environment choose Windows 7 Professional. You probably want the Windows Ultimate Edition for the BitLocker feature if you are highly mobile with your notebook or USB storage devices.

If you want to upgrade to Windows 7 and your current PC is over 3 years old, then your best options is to buy a new PC with Windows 7 preinstalled. AXICOM recommends HP desktop PCs, notebooks, and servers.

If your PC is newer, you may want to choose to purchase Windows 7 software and upgrade your PC rather than buy a new PC. But this requires that you verify that your PC meets the hardware requirements for Windows 7. The upgrade process requires that you backup all your data, erase your hard drive, install Windows 7, install all your applications, and restore your data. It's hardly an easy procedure.

Conclusion
Which ever edition you choose or the upgrade path you take, Windows 7 is a sound business decision. Contact AXICOM for assistance in purchasing a new PC or upgrading your existing PC.

We be offering a seminar "Windows 7:Find out what the Fuss is All About!" on November 12 at our office in Westlake Village, California. Visit AXICOM Events for details and registration.

Google Voice Security Concerns

2009-10-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

There was some interesting buzz this week about Google Voice voicemail security. Some voicemail transcriptions were indexed by Googles Search engine and potentially private voicemail messages were accessible to the public.

Google has quickly responded to this security issue with an explanation and a fix. There is an option to share the Google voicemail transcript via hard-to-guess web link URL. A small number of voicemail transcriptions were shared via an URL and the Google search engine indexed them as it would any data.

Google has since changed their indexing procedure to exclude Google Voice voicemail transcriptions. The indexed transcriptions have since been purged as well.

Hackers See Small Businesses as Easy Targets

2009-10-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

This is an excellent article at ClarkHoward.com that should be required reading for all small business owners . http://bit.ly/2HRIY8

Hackers like to target small businesses because they don't have an IT department to watch over them. Most small business owners only call their computer guy after their network has been infected with trojans and have been compromised.

My company, AXICOM, has a low-cost service to monitor a company's security and so they don't get hacked. We are that someone to watch over small businesses.

Go to http://www.axicom.net/axiguard for more info.

5 Steps to a Problem Free PC

2009-10-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

Below are five basics security steps that everyone should be following to protect their PCs.

1. Keep Your Antivirus Updated - There are two components to an antivirus system: the engine and the virus signature database. The engine needs to be updated every year so that it recognizes new methods of virus attack. The virus signature database similarly needs to be updated whenever new viruses or variants are discovered which is typically daily. Basically you need to buy antivirus each year or at least purchase maintenance support. The antivirus systems AXICOM recommends is Trend Micro or AVG (which is bundled with our AxiGuard PC maintenance and monitoring service).

2. Install a Firewall - The best protection against any kind of attack is a firewall. A proper firewall will block viruses, spyware, hackers, trojans, keyloggers and other malicious programs from the Internet. A router (Linksys, Netgear, or your DSL router) is NOT a firewall and offer little to no protection. We recommend SonicWall firewalls: prices range in price from $295 for SOHO or home office to over $9995 for large corporate office or school.

For mobile users, you should use the Windows firewall built into the operating system. The Windows firewall offers minimal protection (i.e., doesn't block viruses, spyware or hacker programs) but is better than nothing. Make sure that it's enabled when you are using public wi-fi networks.

3. Install Microsoft security patches - Security patches released by Microsoft typically on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. You can enable the Windows Automatic Update on your PC but it's prudent to check that it's working properly by running a weekly manual Windows Update. Often the automatic updates stop for one reason or another.

(Our AxiGuard service offers white-listed patch deployment which means we test and research the patches before installation to ensure they won't damage your PC. Plus we get alerted if your patches ever get out of date.)

4. Perform Weekly PC Maintenance - Although you may have automated systems that are supposed to update your antivirus and security patches, never rely on them. When a virus infects a PC, the first things it does is disable the antivirus, disable Windows updates, and turn off the firewall. So all these items need to be checked at least on a weekly basis.

Verify that your antivirus definitions are up to date.
Run a Windows Update to verify that it's working properly.
Check that your firewall is enabled (Windows firewall) or updating properly (hardware firewall)
Scan your PC for viruses, spyware and other malware.
Backup your data to an external hard drive or check that your backup service is working properly.
Delete your temp files and Internet cache then defrag your hard drive to increase performance.

(Our AxiGuard product continuously monitors your antivirus and Windows updates, scans for spyware and alerts our techs if your security is tampered with. Plus our AxiVault backup service will backup your data and our techs will monitor it for any failure.)

5. Be Careful Where you Browse - Just like you wouldn't wonder about in a bad part of town after dark, you should be very careful where you go on the Internet. Most adult websites, software piracy websites, and file and music sharing websites will infect your PC with malcious programs. It's best to stay on the well beaten path and avoid any website you aren't familiar with. This also means that you need to know where your kids are going on the Internet.

Did You Know 4.0 Video

2009-09-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

It's simply amazing the speed at which the world changes.

Dangerous Browser Passwords

2009-09-02T05:44:00.000-07:00

It can be maddening trying to track passwords for all the websites you visit. And your web browser will gladly store these passwords for you. But did you know that you (or anyone) can readily view these passwords stored in your PC's web browser?

Anyone who shares your PC can see your passwords including your children, spouse, partner, friends and roommates.
If your notebook or PC is stolen, the thief can easily access all your passwords.

Here's how to view your passwords:

Mozilla Firefox Go to Tools - Options - Security - Saved Passwords. You will see all the websites you visit including the usernames you use to login. Now click "Show Passwords" and presto, your passwords are available for all to see. But, on the Security tab, you can check the tab "Use a Master Password" then you will be required to enter a master password before viewing the website password list. Even this Master Password can be hacked with an easily obtained tool so it's not completely secure.

Google Chrome Click on the wrench icon in the upper right corner, select Options - Minor Tweaks - Show Saved Passwords. You will see your website list with the associated usernames. Select a username then click on the "Show Password" button and your password will be displayed. There is currently no provision to protect these passwords.

Internet Explorer Internet Explorer is only slightly safer because, although it stores passwords, it doesn't allow you to readily view them. But are applications available to allow you to view your passwords. Also, there is a snippet of readily available code that you can enter into your address window which will allow you to view the obscured password (******) at any website. This Java script works with all browsers.

What to do? There are ways to properly protect yourself but it requires discipline and knowledge. These are my recommendations:

Don't store your passwords in your web browser. The setting to disable password caching can be found in the same location as to view your passwords. Also clear out the cached information.
Create strong passwords. Use at least 8 characters/numbers and always use a mix of capital letters, lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.
Use unique passwords. In other words, don't use the same password to login to your webmail and your bank account. That way if someone hacks one account, they won't automatically have access to all your accounts.
Don't share your high security passwords with anyone. If necessary, create a special shared password, for example, if your staff all use a single login to access a vendor website.
Don't write your passwords on a sticky note and paste it on your monitor or under your keyboard.
Install Roboform to securely save website passwords. Roboform is free, easy to use and passwords are stored in an encrypted format. Roboform Pro is available for under $30 if you need more features. Roboform is not currently compatible with Google Chrome.

The Power of Screenshots

2009-06-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If this is true then pictures can save you a lot of typing. Adding graphics captured from your screen is a powerful way to make your point in your blog, sales presentation, newsletter, email message or any form of comminucation. One of the tools I use frequently is the screenshot capture application PrintScreen by Gadwin Systems. It allows me to capture part or all of my computer screen to:

capture a shot of a flash video frame, graphic or photo
save a screenshot of a website or part of a website
save and send a screenshot of an error message to send to tech support
capture tables and graphs from a presentations
save a screen shot of important email messages

You can use these captured screenshots in a great many ways:

show your web designer a website, graphic, font or design style that you like
send a screenshot of something funny or interesting to a friend or colleague
add a graphic or example to your newsletter, blog, or promotional material
show a friend of colleague how to find or do something on their computer
enhance presentations with graphics, photos, graphs, charts, table, etc.

The installation of PrintScreen is very straightforward. There are two default settings that I normally change after installing PrintScreen. You access the PrintScreen settings by right-clicking on its system tray icon and selecting "Properties...":

Go to "Image" and change the type of image to "JPEG"
Go to "Source" and change the captured area to "Rectagular Area." This will allow you to select the area that you want to capture.

PrintScreen is a very important tool for my day-to-day work. It's easy to use and free! You may want to opt for the PrintScreen Pro application ($24.95) which has a built-in image editor and annotation utility. Personally I use Paint.net or GIMP image editors to make edits or annotations on images that I capture using PrintScreen.

Just a bit of warning, be careful that you don't violate any copyright laws when reusing images captured on the Internet. Make the proper attributions as necessary or pay for the proper copyright use.

15 Ways To Use Twitter for Business

2009-06-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

As Twitter matures and more business people use it, it's becoming a powerful, effective tool for your business. Here are some ways that you can use Twitter for business. Let us know other ways you are using Twitter for business.

Customer service: give your customers another channel to reach you.
Give you customers a voice. And listen to what they say and use the information to better your business.
Announce events.
Promote your company brand or personal brand.
Keep customers informed about new products, new releases and expanded service offerings.
Attract prospects and customers to your website.
Drive traffic to your blog.
Keep in front of your customers. Remember, out of sight, out of mind.
Stay in touch with vendors and partners.
Establish new partnerships and referral relationships.
Connect with other people for collaboration.
Monitor what others in your industry are doing.
Educate yourself about __________.
Motivate yourself by following people like @TonyRobbins.
Connect with your followers followers through retweets.

Chris Brogan, social media guru, has some additional ideas on using Twitter for business which is worth reading.

Weekly Twitter Roundup

2009-06-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try this new feature with my blog to see how it takes. Although Twitter is growing at something like 35,142% per day (or it just feels like that), may people still don't know what it is or how to use it to their benefit. So I will list some tweets (or Twitter posts) that I find fun and interesting. Hopefully you will get a taste for what's happening in the Twittersphere.

mashable: If you're wondering what Google Wave is about, check out "Google Wave: A Complete Guide" - http://bit.ly/XJRWi

JerryBroughton: Pain is temporary....quitting is forever!-Lance Armstrong

mashable: Reminder: AVOID the "Best Videos" scam on Twitter today. Explanation here: http://bit.ly/nR26E

JakeNonnemaker: Checking out Twibble, a Twitter client for the Blackberry. Feature packed; some lock-ups. B+ overall. http://bit.ly/5HYFD

JerryBroughton: Pain is temporary....quitting is forever!-Lance Armstrong

TomZiglar: If my wife ever leaves me, I am going with her! Zig Ziglar

JakeNonnemaker: Two clients in two days demolished their Blackberrys. We were able to restore everything onto new BBs in about 15 minutes.

JakeNonnemaker: I enjoyed talking to the ING group on social networking today at lunch. http://bit.ly/tnua1

Get Facebook on Your Blackberry

2009-05-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

With all the social networking going on, I rarely have time to consistently update or check on all my favorite websites. But when waiting in line at the grocery or having lunch at the Habit, I'm thankful that I can check on my Facebook using my Blackberry.

Facebook for Blackberry version 1.5 was released in March 2009 and is a marked improvement over the previous version 1.2. With Facebook for Blackberry, you can:

view/send/reply to messages
view/post a status update
upload photos from your Blackberry
check recent update of friends
view/add friends
write on the wall of friends

The interface of Facebook for Blackberry is simple and easy to navigate. You can even match your friends in Facebook to their corresponding contact in your Blackberry address book which is a nice feature. There is also Blackberry calendar integration for Facebook birthdays and such.

I recommend Facebook for Blackberry v1.5 especially if you are using the older v1.2. Facebook for Blackberry requires a data plan (Internet connection) on your Blackberry from your wireless service provider. You can download it by browsing to facebook.com from your Blackberry.

7 Twitter Myths Dispelled

2009-05-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

Twitter is a pretty hot topic lately thanks to Oprah and Ashton Kutcher. Twitter use is growing meteorically and businesses need to get onboard. But there are many myths surrounding Twitter most of which I will attempt to dispel:

Myth #1: Most Twitter posts are pure drivel. Fact: There is a lot of poor quality content on the Internet. But when you visit websites, YouTube and blogs, you choose what you want to view. The same is with Twitter: follow the Twitterers who are providing high-quality, compelling content. Dumping the banal, ridiculous people you follow is as easy as changing your radio station.

Myth #2: I don't have anything to say on Twitter. Fact: You don't need to say anything. You can follow people on Twitter to keep up with news, learn about stuff, stay motivated, laugh at jokes and make friends. There is no "law" that you have to tweet to use Twitter. It's OK to just read the message. I'm surprised what I learn everyday on Twitter. Search out quality micro-bloggers and follow them.

Myth #3: I don't understand the Twitter lingo. Fact: All new technologies come with their own vocabulary and Twitter is no different. Fortunately there are only a few terms you need to know.

Twitter - the application or website
Twitterer - someone who posts messages on Twitter
Tweet - a message posted by a Twitter user
Retweet - reposting a message you receive to your followers so they can read it
Reply or @reply - publicly replying to the sender of message you received
Followers - people who subscribe to you so they can read your posts
Following - people who you subscribe to so you can read their posts

Myth #4: I can't use Twitter because I don't know how to text message. Fact: You don't need to know how to text message or even need a mobile phone to use Twitter. Although Twitter was originally created for use with mobile phones, you can use Twitter via Twitter.com or with a desktop application such as TweetDeck or Seesmic.

Myth #5: I don't want to run up my text messaging bill. Fact: See Myth #4.

Myth #6: Twitter is not a business application. Fact: Twitter is an excellent application for providing your customers with added value and service, demonstrating your expertise with prospects, staying in touch with vendors, and keeping employees in sync. Twitter gives you a web presence and extend your brand. Check out this article about using Twitter for customer service.

Myth #7: I heard Twitter is addicting. Fact: It's very addicting.

Separate Folder Windows in Outlook

2009-05-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

I use Outlook all day, every day. I'm continuously moving between Contacts, Calendar, Inbox, and Tasks folders. Here's an easy way to open each folder in its own separate window which saves me a lot of back and forth. It's like have four instances of Outlook open at once.

Here's how you do it. Open Outlook and go to the all folder view. Right-click on the folder you want to open in a separate window and select "Open in New Window." Yes, it's that easy.

Or play this short demo video:

Get on Deck with TweetDeck

2009-05-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was telling a friend about Twitter. He was very resistant because keeping up with LinkedIn, Facebook and everything else was a bit overwhelming and he didn't want add one more layer.

Fortunately there is TweetDeck, an application that you install on your PC, Mac or Linux computer.

TweetDeck allows you to see and manage not only your Twitter account but Facebook as well. It is signifcantly better and easier to use than the Twitter.com website. Here are some of the cool features:

View Facebook status updates
Post status updates simultaneously to Twitter and Facebook
bit.ly URL shortener built-in to the status update bar
Upload pictures with an easy-to-use TwitPic button
One-click buttons to send replies, retweets, or direct messages.
Email tweets to Twitter-shy friends
TweetShrink button will shrink long updates to the 140 character limit
Translate button with convert your update to another language
Put your friends and colleagues in groups to organize their updates
View Twitscoop and StockTwits
... many other features.

I highly recommend downloading Tweetdeck to manage your Facebook and Twitter. It is easy to use and best of all it's free. You can download the latest version of TweetDeck here.

Now if I can only convince my friend to install and learn one more program.

What's Your Story?

2009-05-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

I just returned from jaunt to Sea World in San Diego with my family. I love looking at other businesses when traveling and there are few businesses more interesting than amusement parks when it comes to branding, marketing, cross-selling, and providing value.

First we went to the dolphin show and watched the dolphins and pilot whales jump, perform, and soak people to the bone. It was cute; we stayed dry and had a fun time.

Later we went to the recently revamped Shamu "Believe" show. The show started with a video of a boy carving a wooden whale tale necklace. Hearing killer whales swimming in the bay outside, the boy rowed out in his kayak and gazed in awe at the breaching whales. Then on the stage, a trainer appears wearing a wooden whale tale necklace: the boy has grown to be a man. He selected a young girl from the audience, asks her what is her dream and she replies that she wants to be a nurse. He tells her that she can be whatever she wants if she just believes, just as his dream came true.

The Shamu show was much more remarkable and memorable because it had a story which touches you on an emotional level. The dolphin show was fun and exciting but it just plain vanilla entertainment.

To have a great business, you need to have a compelling story or some unique selling proposition.

Blake Mycoskie started Tom's Shoes with the promise that with every pair of shoes purchased, he would donate an identical pair of shoes to people in impoverished countries. So if you buy a pair to Tom's shoes, you get three things: a nice pair of shoes, a warm fuzzy that you are making a difference globally, and a cool story to tell your friends about your shoes and poverty. Now that is added value!

So what's your story? We all have a story inside about our company or product. Take time to think about what that story is. Write it down and make it compelling and interesting. Then when you talk with prospects, you can tell them your story. You may touch them on an emotional level and they may become a customer. Or maybe not. But at least they will remember you and your story.

Disabling Facebook Chat

2009-04-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

The other day I mentioned to a friend that I haven't seen him on Facebook lately. He said that whenever he goes on Facebook, he gets at least eight people trying to chat with him. He doesn't want to offend anyone by ignoring their chat requests so it's easier just not to use Facebook.

Luckily there is a way to turn off chat. Here's how:

In the lower right corner of the FB page there is a little man icon with a green dot which controls chat. Click on the icon then just select Go Offline.

Now you will appear offline and your friends won't bug you.

Firing a Customer

2009-04-22T07:48:00.001-07:00

Ugh. I had to fire a customer this week. This is never easy but it's inevitable if you want to be a successful business.

This particular customer has been with us for less a year. The owner has a strong personality and is overly demanding. He treats any problem as the most urgent problem in the world; when the bass on his speakers was too low, he would demand that a tech be dispatched immediately to his home office to fix it even though we could fix it remotely. Then he started paying his monthly pre-paid service 30-days late. We were spending about twice the amount of time on his account than a typical customer his size.

The final straw came when the customer demanded that we dispatch a tech at 8pm on a Saturday night "because it was our job, not his" to press a single key on his keyboard to complete a server reboot. I gave him the option to press the key himself or wait until Monday when one of his staff could do it. Instead, he called a former employee of ours to come out. I fired the customer that Monday.

There are several reasons for having to fire a customer.

the customer consumes too much of your time and energy
the customer is not profitable
the customer doesn't measure up to your core values
personality conflicts between you and the customer
the customer's expectations don't match your expectations
the customer is a jerk

The decision to fire a customer is typically due to several reasons and rarely a single reason. Even if the customer is a jerk, we usually tolerate them if they are profitable.

But firing a bad customer does have it advantages:

reduces your personal stress
reduces your staffs' stress
frees up your time to provide better service to existing customers
creates a vacuum for new and better customers
refocuses you on defining who your ideal customer is

So don't be afraid to fire a bad customer. You will feel much better because you will have less stress and more time to focus on other customers or projects. The negative energy will be gone and inevitably the void will be filled with a much better customer.

25 Things I Hate About Facebook - Video

2009-04-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

People seem to have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I thought this video summoned it up nicely.

Facebook Security and Privacy

2009-03-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

There is no denying Facebook is exploding in popularity with 175 million users as of March 2009. It's not only for fun as many professionals are using Facebook as a legitimate business tool to keep in touch with vendors, customers, and prospects. Because people tend to do business with those they like, Facebook allows people to know each other more intimately and have more frequent communication.

But there are some legitimate security and privacy concerns. Basic privacy levels include only you, friends, friends of friends, your network, or everyone.

- Create a strong password. Use a mix of letter, capitals and lowercase, numbers and special characters. Don't use anything easily guessed like '1234' or 'abc123'.

- Check your Facebook Privacy Settings. To get there, log onto Facebook, go to Settings - Privacy Settings. Set your privacy settings when you first create a Facebook account then check back regularly to verify that your settings haven't changed (I check my privacy settings monthly). If you like you can set your privacy options so only your Friends can view your profile, wall postings and write to your wall.

- Ease Up on Facebook Applications. Facebook has a lot of applications and they are growing each day. It's easy to get caught up in adding applications like sending pieces of flair, snowballs or green beer. You must explicitly add applications but doing so allows the application to "pull your profile information, photos, your friends' info, and other content that it requires to work."

- Be judicious in accepting friend requests. You don't have to accept every friend request you receive. Some do as to not offend the requester but Facebook is very discrete in this regard. If you "ignore" a friend request, the sender will not be notified and probably won't even notice. Periodically pruning your friend list won't trigger any notifications either.

- Set your photo and video tag privacy settings. Friends can tag you in photos and videos they post but they can also tag a photo of a geranium as you. Lucky you can use the "remove" feature to delete the tags but you need to be vigilant. You can set the photo and video tag privacy option by going to Settings - Privacy Settings - Profile - Photos (or Videos) Tagged of You.

- Set your FaceBook search options. Go to Settings - Privacy Settings - Profile - Search. If you don't want to be found, you can remove yourself from the Facebook search, by changing the Search Discovery setting. By changing the setting from Everyone, old friends, school mates, and family won't be able to find you (you would have to send them a friend request to add them).

- Set your Google search options. Go to Settings - Privacy Settings - Search. Unchecking the Public Search Listing option will keep your Facebook profile from being indexed by Google and other search engines.

- Turn down the noise. The more friends you get, the more updates that will appear in your news feed. You can adjust these settings by going to Settings - Privacy Settings - News Feed and Wall.

- Turn down a chatty friend. I'm sure you have one or more friends who appear to do nothing but spend their days posting updates on Facebook. You can block these chatty Cathies by mousing over their update and selecting Hide from the right side. You can always unhide people later.

- Blocking people. If a relationship turns sour or you develop a stocker, then you can block that person by going to Settings - Privacy Settings. by blocking a person, they won't be able to view your profile, find you in Facebook search and your relationships will be severed.

- Avoid Getting Spoofed. Unless you have no enemies or friends who like to play pranks, you should create a Facebook profile even if you never plan to update it or participate in Facebook. Creating your own profile will reduce the chances that someone else will make one for you. And you don't want to take that chance because it will be nearly impossible to remove a Facebook profile someone else created about you.

Click here for more information on Facebook security. Be sure to check the Threats and Tips tabs.

Outlook Business Card

2009-03-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

Why You Need an Outlook Business Card

A large part of business involves making it easy for other people to do business with you. Having an Outlook Business Card to send to people makes it easy for them to collect and save your contact information. The recipient only has to open your attached business card and save it. It's that easy.

How to Create an Outlook Business Card
1. First you need to complete an Outlook contact for yourself. Open Outlook, select File|New|Contact. Fill in your information.

2. Add your photo. Adding a photo to your Outlook business card allows people create an instant connection to you. This is especially important if there are people who rarely or never see you. People are generally visual and seeing your image creates a powerful connection.

3. Customize Your business card appearance. Right-click on the business card and select "Edit Business Card." In the fields section you can add or remove elements. For example, you may want to remove your home phone number from the business card you sent to people.

You can also add any custom text such as your company tag line by adding a field called "User Field 1" and entering the tag line text in the Edit section to the right. Other custom fields may include your blog URL, Twitter name, and Facebook/LinkedIn link.

4. Now add your business card to your signature.
Save/close your business card then go to Tools|Options|Mail Format|Signatures. Click the "New" button and name your signature. You can add your closing such as "Best regards, Jake" then click on "Business Card" button. Find your business card, click OK and it will be added to your signature. (You can also create different signatures for your work or personal email as well as for different email accounts.)

Now when you send an email, it will include your signature plus your business card.

When you receive an Outlook Business Card

Occassionally you will receive an email with a VCF file attached. This is an Outlook business card. To save it to your Outlook contacts, open the VCF file attached to the email then click "Save & Close". That's all there is to it.

Facebook for Business and Parents

2009-03-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

You probably receive several invitations per week from people on Facebook asking to be your "friend." This shouldn't be too surprising since Facebook: there are over 175 million users which include President Barack Obama, Lance Armstrong, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Governor Sarah Palin. The fastest growing demographic is those 30 years and older. Worldwide over 3 billion minutes are spent on Facebook.

So what can it do for you? It's an amazing communication tool which gives you messaging, blogging, your own web page, and texting in one neat little package. You can use Facebook to post or find a job, keep in touch with friends, relatives, business associates, post photos and videos, develop your company's web presence and more. It's ever evolving and new uses are coming online weekly.

I am using Facebook not only to keep in touch but also let people know who I really am and what's really important in my life. I believe that it is a unique technology which allows me to become closer to those in my life. For example, my niece Katie-Jane is a "friend" on Facebook and I can keep in touch with her on a daily basis (or at least see what's going on in her life) instead of every other month. It also gives me deeper insight into the lives of those who I see more frequently which makes for a richer friendship.

If you have children over 9, there is a good possibility that they have a Facebook page because that is what they use to express themselves and communicate with their friends. Here's a good primer on how parents need to do if their children are on Facebook. Also keep in mind your kid's may have a Facebook page for their parents and a separate one for their friends.

So I encourage you, if you aren't already on Facebook to sign up (it's free), explore it and give it a chance.

Season of Hope

2008-12-22T09:37:00.001-08:00

After dinner last night Christa and I piled the boys into the mini-van to go look at the Christmas lights in the neighborhood. We drove around town with our favorite Christmas songs on CD playing. The dark cold night was broken by the bright colorful lights of the homes. We could see colorful trees covered with lights and ornaments in the windows. The houses exuded warmth and comfort. We sang about letting it snow and roasting chestnuts.

It reminded me that hope and light are what the holidays are all about. December 20 is the shortest day of the year; the time of greatest darkness. Yet light and hope break through that darkness. The darkness yields to the light of Jesus, the light of menorah candles, and the warmth of families coming together in celebration.

2008 is coming to a close and 2009 brings renewed hope. A new president will take office who promises change and I'm hopeful that our leaders will figure out how to fix the economy. We have some bold new plans that will grow our business. I'm very excited and hopeful for this coming year.

Book Review: The Go-Giver

2008-12-21T10:45:00.000-08:00

The Go-Giver
by Bob Burg and John David Mann
Hardcover, 132 pages, $19.95 New
Rate: 5 stars (out of 5)

The Go-Giver is a business parable about Joe, a typical hard charging go-getter, who learns the true secret of success through unselfish giving. It's the end of the quarter and Joe needs to close the big deal. Joe seeks out Pindar for his influence and connections. Instead, Pindar offers to teach Joe the five laws which are the Secret of Stratospheric Success. In return, Joe must employ each law that day or Pindar will stop teaching him. Over the next five days, Pindar introduces Joe to an individual who each embodies an element of the Secret of Stratospheric Success:

The Law of Value: your worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment. "Exceed peoples expectations and they'll pay you even more."

The Law of Compensation: your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them. "Your compensation is directly proportional to how many lives you touch."

The Law of Influence: your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first. Win-win or 50/50 are losing propositions: you are only being a scorekeeper or creditor.

The Law of Authenticity: the most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself. Be honest and open with yourself and to others around you.

The Law of Receptivity: the key to effective giving is to be open to receiving. "The secret to getting is giving. And the secret to giving is making yourself open to receiving."

Key Take-Aways

Givers are magnetic. They attract people.
"If you want more success, find a way to serve more people."

Stop keeping score with referrals.

"Sometimes you feel foolish, even look foolish, but you do the thing anyway."

Develop a network of people who know you, like you, and trust you. These people will be your personal walking ambassadors who will send you "referrals faster than you can handle them." This network is not necessarily your customers or clients or people with whom you directly do business.

Receiving is the natural result of giving. By not receiving you are denying someone else the opportunity to give.

Analysis

The Go-Giver is a fun, easy, light, fast business book to read but it has some excellent wisdom. I really liked the "fresh perspective" of giving to receive and to stop keeping score with referrals. I thought back to times where I sent referrals to people only because I wanted their business or access to their clients. And how frustrated I was that they never reciprocated. One the other side, I felt equally frustrated when someone sent me a referral and I've been unable to reciprocate.

This book also has touched me because I've been doing a lot of serious contemplation and praying about serving others (i.e., giving). When I first started my company providing computer support to small businesses, I wanted to be their champion, to help them and give them the best technology. But nowadays, the business feels like I'm just trying to make money to meet payroll, pay the rent and have enough money left over for my mortgage, to put food on the table and to cloth my family. This is a great reminder of why I started my business years ago which was to serve others. I've comitted myself a few months ago to get back to those basic principles.

Yes, on the surface the Go-Giver may appear to be one of those cheesy, mass-appeal, "the Secret" type of books but inside it has a true wealth of wisdom. But I read it and I shared it anyways. "Sometimes you feel foolish, even look foolish, but you do the thing anyway."