Best Practices - Let’s talk Software!

In the last post I asked you to take a look at how you used your computer. Software, of course, is a crucial component in how you function. Obviously, without your software you can’t do anything on your computer.

What operating system do you use? What’s an operating system? I have answered that question more than a few times. The operating system is the software loaded on your computer that allows you do take advantage of the hardware that makes up your computer. Windows XP (Home, Professional or Media Server) are the current operating generation of operating systems from Microsoft. Linux is another popular OS. Without an OS all you have are a few pieces of electronics.

On top of your operating system, you have to install programs to get your computer to do the things you think that it should do for you. As an example, if you want to create documents you need a word processor. If you want to analyze data or add more than a few numbers together, you need a spreadsheet. If you want to access the internet, you need a web browser.

We need to know what software we have purchased and installed on our computers. Most software packages we purchase have a serial number or in the case of Microsoft, as COA – certificate of authenticity. We usually have to register our products with the manufacturer in order for it to work.

One of the biggest problems I run into when I help people either set up a new computer system, or recover from a problem, is finding the original software package. Most of my clients don’t know where the disks to their software are, or where the serial numbers for that software is.

Here is your next step:

Make a list of all the software installed on your computer system.

What OS are you using and where is the COA or serial number for it?
What software have you purchased and installed on your system?
Where are the disks and the serial numbers?

This should give you plenty to do.

Let me know what you think!

Marc

Best Practices – Why IT does matter

As the first anniversary of Katrina and Rita approach recently, I began to think about how my clients have learned from these disasters and I have come to the conclusion that most of them haven’t given much thought to what would happen if a catastrophe hit our area.

Living in Utah, we miss out on Hurricanes and in the almost 30 years that I have lived here, we have only had one tornado. We do live on or near an earthquake fault, though again, only one 6.0 quake in 30 years.

I try to educate my clients on how to protect themselves from data loss. Unfortunately, most of them are either too busy to think about it, or really don’t think that they would be adversely effected by a loss of data. I disagree, but it is like banging your head against a brick wall, after a while it starts to hurt and I just stop trying to get them to understand.

I did a few Google searches and found a lot of data showing that businesses that lose their computer data have trouble recovering. The statistics show that many of them never recover.

Over the next few weeks I am going to post my thoughts and suggestions on what I believe a small business or home based business ought to do to protect themselves for a disaster. Technically this would be call “disaster planning” though I have found that most people don’t like to thing in terms of a “disaster” happening to them, so I will be using the term “best practices”. Same concepts just easier to handle!

Best Practices – Where do I start?

Your computer system, whether you have just one computer or you have a network with 5, 10, 50 or more workstations, is a conglomeration of hardware, software, peripherals, and online services that all have to work together on a regular basis. If any one part of the systems has a problem, the entire system can be shut down.

Where do I start when I help a client learn the Best Practices? I start by learning about the business. What does the business do, and how does the computer system help the business. OR, hinder the business for that matter.

I try to get a feel for the comfort level that the owner or managers have with their computer system. I ask questions about the software that they use and if they feel like it is doing what they think it should do. This lets me understand how the management perceives the value of their computer system.

I try to learn a bit about the infrastructure of the system. How many computers do they have, how old are they, who maintains them? I also try to learn where the pain is. What types of problems are they having and how much pain does that cause them.

I used to ask people if the had a Technology Plan? After about 20 blank stares, I stopped asking. I used to as people if they had a Backup Plan, same results!

Let’s take a look at your “Best Practices”.

Answer these questions:

What do I use my computer for?
What could I not do if I didn’t have my computer?
What could I not do if I didn’t have my data?
Could my business survive with my data?


This will give us a great place to start.

Let me know what you think,

Marc

Why I Love Google or is that To Google III! -

As I have said before, I spend a lot of time out of my office and on computers that I shouldn’t save things to. My clients probably wouldn’t mind if I stored something on their computer, though, I would never be able to find it again.

On occasion, I have to create either a document or a spreadsheet quickly. I usually want to be able to save this for later use or review. Previously, I would create the document with whatever program the client had, and then email it to myself, or save it as a draft in Gmail. I would then delete the document from the client’s system.

More than a few times, I have lost the document. Chalk it up to user error.

Not any more! Google, through Gmail, now has online document and spreadsheet programs. After I log into my Gmail account, I can access these programs and create the document or spreadsheet that I need.

These programs have come in quite handy over the past few days. Let me share with you how I have used them.

A client has asked me to upgrade his computer system and would like me to create an estimate of the costs, a guide to how the upgrade will go, what happens when and who will be inconvenienced, and for how long.

In addition, he wants it now and in writing. I hate when that happens.

I sat down at one of his computers and logged into Gmail and created a spreadsheet. I figured out what equipment I needed and guessed at how long it would take me to do the project. I called my vendors and got price quotes on the equipment.

I needed to figure out what to charge the client, so I used the spreadsheet to do the math. Imagine if I had created this with Excel and accidentally left a copy on his computer. All my prices and profits would be available to anyone who used the computer.

I then use the document program to write up the estimate and create a check list of the steps I would take to complete the project. Google actually will let me share this document online with anyone who has an account with Gmail. Instead of printing it out, I just gave the client access to the document.

As the project progresses, I can use the check list that I created to keep the client informed of the progress.

Thanks Google, You’ve saved the day again.

Let me know what you think!

Marc

Access to My Programs – From Anywhere

Greetings,

I have been getting a lot of use from my laptop on the “road” the past few days. I wish that I had become a “road warrior” a long time ago.

I now want to expand my capabilities beyond just being able to access “My Documents”. I have found that I could get more accomplished if I had access to the programs on my desktop as well as the data.

Windows XP Pro has a remote desktop function that allows us to access everything on our desktop machine from a remote computer. With a few clicks of your mouse in the right places, you can configure your computer to allow you to login remotely. You will also have to open a port in your router to allow the outside connection to get to your computer.

Remote access programs have been around for a long time. PC-Anywhere is one of the oldest and most stable remote access programs. I have also used NetOP from CrossTec. I have had clients who have successfully used GoToMyPC, though I believe there is a charge associated with it. There are also open source and free programs available such as VNC.

These programs all work about the same. Each requires a Host and a Guest to be configured. Once you have these configured you need to configure your router to open a specific port and then forward any traffic to that port to your computer. It sounds more complicated than it really is.

Let me know if you think remote access is something you need to know more about.

Marc

Short Cut Keys – Easier than the clicking.

I used to be a power user! In the old days of Lotus 123 and WordPerfect 5.1 and DOS 6.22, I could do just about anything with blazing speed. I knew all the Lotus commands by heart and WordPerfect’s F keys were second nature.

Then I got lazy. Windows came, as did Excel and Word and the mouse became my crutch. I didn’t need to know what the commands were, because they were always available with the click of a mouse.

I am no longer a power user. I am like the two finger hunt and peck typist when it comes to performing most functions. I can click with the best of them, though. I have even mastered the touch pad on my laptop.

I have lost a lot of productivity since my power user days. It seems that it takes me a lot longer to create and edit a document. Taking my fingers off the keyboard and moving the mouse is not really very effective.

I met a woman the other day who had just finished up her degree in graphic design at a local college. We chatted a bit about the programs she used and about some of the courses she took. The one comment that stuck with me was about using the short cut keys built into every program.

She talked about one of her instructors who taught the class to ignore the mouse and use the keyboard for just about everything. I hadn’t given it much thought, though I did think about the pre Windows days when we didn’t have a mouse.

When I started writing these blog entries, I decided to see if I could return to my power user glory days. Could I get by without the mouse?

In the beginning, I couldn’t work without the mouse. I had to use the mouse to drop down the command menus to see what the keystrokes were. In addition only a few of the basic functions in Word have keystrokes attached to them. It is possible though to create your own keystrokes for just about any function.

The keystrokes I have learned to use are:

Ctrl-O to open a new document
Ctrl-S to save the document
Ctrl-A to select the entire document
Ctrl-C to copy the selection I just made

I create these posts in Word, with the spelling and grammar checkers running. I copy and paste them into the blog program. I use Ctrl-V to paste the selection I copied from Word.

Try some keystrokes from one of your favorite program and see if you can save yourself some time.

Let me know what you think,

Marc

Google to the Rescue – Again

I am my own worst nightmare. Do as I say, not as I do.

I have more than a few files on my computer. Maybe I have 80,000 or more. I really have never counted them.

Recently, I was looking for a document that I had downloaded from the web. I liked the format that the author had used for one part of the document. I wanted to model one of my documents after his format. It was important to me that I only modeled it, and that I didn’t copy it.
I had printed out the page that I like and now I was interested in how the rest of the document looked. The problem was, of course, I didn’t have a clue as to where the document was on my hard drive or, what the name of it was.

Google rescued me. I had downloaded Google Desktop a while back. I never installed it though. Now I thought might be a good time to see what it could do for me.

I installed the Google desktop program and it prompted me to allow it to index my documents on my hard drive. I decided to let it do it’s magic and left my computer running the indexing portion of the program.

I returned a few hours later, and the indexing was complete. I took a phrase for the printed sample I had and entered it into the search bar. I found the source document in about 2 seconds. I was able to review the document and then create my own document by modeling the format, without copying.

Google saved the day – again!


Let me know what you think,


Marc