Best Practices Archives - Page 11 of 12

Tip of the Week: Two File Storage Solutions That Work for Personal Use, Too!

We generally cover tips that help business owners get the most out of their technology, but even the best business owner has a personal life, as well as technology that helps them stay connected with those they love.

How can you share files with people you are close to without leaving them wide open to attack? We’ll discuss some possibilities for personal file sharing.

As it stands, there are a lot of solutions out there that are leveraged by businesses that work just as well for the average user. The majority of them take advantage of cloud storage to make them more accessible for collaboration or sharing. We’ll go over some of the more popular storage systems at a consumer level.

Google Drive

Google Drive is quite a useful cloud service in its own right, but it’s even better for sharing files. All you have to do is select a user from your contacts or enter in their email address and you can share a document, image, video, or other file with them. You can even control what people can and can’t do with the files. For example, you can create a text document in Google Drive, share it with users, and determine who can and can’t edit the file. It’s great for collaboration or simply sharing a file.

Google Drive is free for the average user up to a certain storage point, but you can purchase additional space for a modest fee.

Microsoft OneDrive

Much like Google Drive, Microsoft’s flagship cloud storage system OneDrive provides access to both Microsoft Office applications and OneDrive cloud storage at a whim. The cool thing about this is that Microsoft OneDrive can also sync up with Microsoft Office to create a solution that keeps everything up-to-date. Like Drive, OneDrive can be a great collaboration tool for a business in need. Microsoft OneDrive has plenty of plans available.

Ultimately, it’s up to you which solution you would want to go with. How do you store and share files in your personal life? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe for more details on the latest technology tips and tricks.

Tip of the Week: How to Add a Watermark in Microsoft Word

Adding a watermark to a document is a great way to very visibly share a message about the contents of a document. Microsoft Word makes it pretty easy to do it yourself and leverage the associated benefits. Below, we explain how.

Why They Work

Watermarks are effective for a lot of the same reasons that a billboard often is: it’s a concise and clear message, printed in a very in-your-face-way. The big difference is that sometimes, a watermarked document can almost literally be in someone’s face. This works to your advantage.

A watermark is really difficult not to see, so if you need someone to know that a document is confidential, having it display how CONFIDENTIAL it is will likely catch their eye and respect the need for discretion. Oftentimes, legal requirements or security obligations make the addition of a watermark on certain documents a necessity.

In short, a watermark is a quick and easy way to share the nature of the information in a document, whether it is just a DRAFT or if it happens to be an INVOICE that requires immediate attention. Essentially any message you need to convey can be incorporated into a watermark.

Creating a Watermark in Word

Microsoft has made it fairly easy to set a watermark into your documents. If you’re using Word
2016:

Open the document that you need to add the watermark to, whether it is completed or still needs to be edited.
Access the Design tab and select Watermark.
You now have the option to either select from Word’s collection or add a custom piece of text or image to use. If using one of Word’s, simply make your selection from their menu.
If adding a custom watermark, instead select Custom Watermark.
Select either Picture or Text, and then insert the text or the image file that you want to use. Word allows you to tweak it further from there as well.

Whatever your purpose, whether it’s sharing a message or customizing your official company materials, a watermark does the trick. What other tips would you like us to go over?

Leave your suggestions in the comments!

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Tip of the Week: How to Cut Back on Your Mobile Data Use

One of the biggest benefits of mobile data is how useful it is to business users for networking and productivity while they’re on-the-go.

However, one of the biggest drawbacks to mobile data is how easy it is to use up while networking and being productive, and how expensive this can be. Fortunately, there are some ways to reduce the amount of data an Android device uses, as we’ll discuss in this tip.

Diagnosing Data Usage

The first step to using less data is to know where your data is being used. Therefore, it only makes sense to identify where your data is going. Accessing the System Settings and navigating to Network & Internet will give you the option to check your Mobile data usage. This screen will show you which applications used what amount of data, and going into each listed application, if that data was used in the background or through the user’s actual activity.

Capping Apps

Once you know where your data is going, you can put some stops in place to keep it from all funneling out. There are quite a few ways to do this:

Limit Updates

There are many applications that are notorious for refreshing themselves regularly – which means that they burn through mobile data at a pretty consistent basis. Social media applications are prime examples of such apps. There are two methods to cutting back how often these applications update their information.

First, go into each app’s settings and try to find an option that will reduce the amount of data that an app consumes in the background. If that doesn’t work, return to your system settings and access that particular application’s settings from there to deactivate background data. Of course, this isn’t the best idea with some apps, like messaging apps, that need to refresh in the background to function properly.

Deactivate Some Features

Many apps also have baked-in features that tend to chew up more data than necessary, like auto-play and high-quality streaming. Again, by accessing each app’s settings, you should find the option to limit the amount of mobile data that is used. Activating these options will greatly reduce the data that these applications leech out during your use of them.

Prepare in Advance

Whenever possible, downloading the content you want to view ahead of time also helps reduce your mobile data consumption. By utilizing WiFi, you avoid chewing through your allotted mobile data and will then have it stored for later viewing at your leisure.

You can even do this with Google Maps – by searching for the area in which you’ll need to navigate, you can download that area’s information to access it later in the Offline Maps section.

Clearly, there is no shortage of ways that you can trim back your mobile data usage – and you should encourage your employees to do the same.

Check back here for more IT tips.

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Stress is a Killer – Especially to Your Business’ Operations

There are situations that happen every day that can be extraordinarily stressful for people. Some people are better under duress, while some people fold like origami, but no matter what type of person you are, the workplace is one of the biggest stressors for human beings. Today, we’ll review some sources of stress and how people react to it.

What is Stress?

Stress is a physical response from the body during adverse or challenging situations. While it is credited of saving humanity, it’s also can be a complete detriment to a worker’s well-being. When stressed, humans typically go into flight or fight mode. If the danger is too great to fight, stress-based fear will tell you that you should flee. Nowadays, a third response is recognized by experts. Some people, despite the hereditary response to stress being what it is, will freeze. Mental health professionals call this dysregulation.

Stress is a Big Problem for Today’s Workers

Stress comes with expectations. When expectations get unrealistic, workers get stressed out. There are several stressors that the modern worker has to deal with. They include:

Physical Stressors

Stressors that create stress on the body. They typically take the form of situations in the workplace like excessive noise, unpleasant smells, or physical discomfort.

Social Stressors

Stressors that cause tension among contemporaries. These could come from relationships you’ve forged, or ones that were forced on you.

Career Stressors

A lot of people find their careers to be stressful. Not getting advancement opportunities, a lack of job security, or the frustration of being overqualified for a position can cause a great deal of stress. There are other kinds of stressors that are closely related. They include:

Task Stressors

People’s jobs often brings with them tasks that are unenviable. Tasks that are highly complex or mind-numbingly monotonous can be stressful, but most task-based stressors will be from being asked to complete difficult work quickly.

Role Stressors

If you are pulled between departments, with no real definitive role, it can cause a lot of stress. Moreover, it can cause stress if your work role interferes with your home life.

Schedule Stressors

If you don’t have a consistent schedule or are expected to work for long stretches of time, it can result in built-up stress.

Organizational Change Stressors

For people, change is often rough. When situations like mergers, corporate downsizing, or new technology implementations are present, it’s easy to get stressed out.

Traumatic Stressors

Probably the most obvious. When situations happen that make you question your idea of self, stress is almost always prevalent.

For the business owner, it has to be a consideration that most of your staff is susceptible to work-related stress. Some workers are better at hiding it than others, but if you consider a situation stressful, imagine what your subordinates, who are often taking the brunt of the organization’s stress on themselves, are feeling.

Reducing Stress

Fortunately for most workers and business owners, stress can be managed. Little things you can do are getting your staff up and moving as exercise is known to significantly reduce stress. Another suggestion is to try to stay positive in your communications with your subordinates. Ranting and raving and blaming people for a lack of perceived productivity is not a good way to deal with a stressed-out workforce.

For the worker, the best way to avoid workplace stress is to get a good night’s sleep and prioritize your mental and physical health over the business that you work for. If you are constantly suffering from stress-related malaise, it may be time to think more positively, or to move on from the job that you have.

For the business owner or manager who presides over a high-stress environment, you may want to consider cutting down your meetings so that your staff can stay productive without interruptions bogging down operations and causing even more stress.

Studies have shown that nowadays, changing technology is considered a very stressful situation, so having a plan in place that will include training, while trying to keep workers from being stressed out, is extremely advantageous for the modern entrepreneur.

At WheelHouse IT our consultants know how to keep your business running efficiently.

Call us at (877) 771-2384 today.

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Tech Terminology: Processor

The word “computer” actually originated in the 1600s, when it was used to describe a person who carries out calculations and the requisite processes. Today, those processes are carried out mechanically. Let’s examine the piece of the computer that allows it to do so, the CPU.

What a CPU Does

The CPU (or central processing unit) is contained in the motherboard of your computer. Its job is to decode the instructions sent by the RAM (Random Access Memory) and forward them to the right piece of the system. No matter what you’re doing with your computer, your CPU is a necessary, even crucial component.

Many people mistakenly take this information and jump to the conclusion that a better CPU means improved performance, which does stand to reason. However, improved performance requires other components to be improved and upgraded as well. A better CPU will make your system, including your applications and other programs, function more quickly.

How It Does It

Despite the improvements made in computing, the fundamental functionality of a CPU has not changed since the component was first developed. There are three correlating jobs that the processor is responsible for: fetch, decode, and execute.

Fetch

The RAM sends the CPU coded instructions, which are bits and pieces of a larger operation the computer is undergoing. These instructions are stored in the Instruction Register.

Decode

After the instruction is safely stored, a specialized circuit called the instruction decoder gets to work. This circuit translates the coded instruction into signals that the other parts of the CPU can put into action.

Execute

Finally, these signals are sent to those other parts of the CPU, and the process is completed. This final instruction is also added to the CPU register’s memory, making it simpler and faster to access the next time.

Selecting A CPU

Switching out your CPU can be a simple way of upgrading your system to improve its performance. As you pick one out, keep in mind that the more cores a CPU has, the better it will be. The first CPUs had one, most today have anywhere from two to four, and the top-of-the-line ones have as many as eighteen (or even more than that).

You should also keep other things in mind as well. Different CPUs can handle different amounts of data at once, as annotated by the terms “32-bit” and “64-bit.” Some processors are also faster than others, as determined by their frequency. This means that some dual-cores can potentially “beat” a quad-core. Plus, you need to keep in mind what your motherboard can support. The best CPU won’t do you any good if it doesn’t work with your computer.

Need Help?

WheelHouse IT is here to offer you any assistance you may need with your IT solutions. For more information, reach out to us at (877) 771-2384.

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