Archive for category Simplicity
Questions to Ask Before Leaving Your Computer for Repair or Service
Posted by admin in Company & Product Profiles, Computer Repair, Computer Service, Email, File and Data Sharing, Free Stuff, Security, Simplicity, Technology & Gadgets, Tricks & Hacks, home, how to, productivity, tips on August 4, 2010
Leaving your computer and its data with a service or repair center can be a little nerve-racking. Your data – email, pictures, music, documents, spreadsheets, presentations – are all contained on this computer and you don’t want it to be vulnerable.
Some service centers will wipe a hard drive clean without thinking twice. When your computer returns to you, it has returned completely to factory settings. A side note – there are some good services available for home and office data backup. They do cost on the front end, but save a ton of time, trouble, and possibly money in the event you need your data restored.
In other cases, the customer may arrive to pickup the computer, only to find exorbitant fees are due for the service. It would have been better to replace the laptop than pay the fees for repair.
To prevent situations like this, there are some key questions you should ask before leaving your computer for repair.
- Will you backup my data before doing work that could compromise it?
- What is the fee for doing a backup for me?
- Will I receive a copy of my data if you wipe the hard drive clean?
- What are the estimated charges for this repair? Can I get that in writing?
- If the charges are significantly more than you estimate, will you let me know before doing the work?
This set of questions is a good place to start when getting service on a laptop or desktop computer. Depending on your service request, you may want to ask more questions.
For good data backup solutions, look at Dropbox, Cobian Backup, ElephantDrive, JungleDisk, Carbonite, and Mozy.
For good computer repair and service, look no further than Allyte Technology Solutions.
iOS4 How To and Guided Tour
Posted by admin in Company & Product Profiles, Downloads, Email, File and Data Sharing, Free Stuff, Instruction, Internet, Security, Simplicity, Technology & Gadgets, Timesavers, Tools, Tricks & Hacks, Web, blogs, home, how to, news, productivity, tips on June 21, 2010
Today the new iOS4 is released for Apples iPhone and iPad. This is a free upgrade. I love free stuff. There are some great new features you should know about in this update.
Here are just a few:
- Multitasking
- Folders
- Improved Email
- iBooks
If you’re ready to update to iOS4, be sure to use iTunes to backup your iPhone/iPod/iPad first. Then check for updates. When the update is available, iTunes will let you know and walk you through the process. I was able to upgrade a little early, thanks to these instructions from Jason Powell.
An excellent walkthrough of the features of iOS4 is in the video below.
Why You Shouldn’t Use LimeWire
Posted by admin in Downloads, File and Data Sharing, Free Stuff, Instruction, Internet, Security, Simplicity, Spam, Technology & Gadgets, Timesavers, Tools, Tricks & Hacks, Web, Web Applications, how to, news, productivity, tips on March 5, 2010
I have seen far too many computers infected with spyware, viruses, trojans, malware, etc. There are numerous ways to end up with the problems caused by malicious software. Unsafe browsing practices, such as visiting untrusted websites and downloading software from untrusted sources are just two of the ways to acquire malicious and damaging software.
On many of the computers I have seen with malicious software, one common piece of software I find is LimeWire. LimeWire is a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) software that allows users to share files. It is a haven for malicious software, pirated music and illegal videos.
Mark Stone has written an excellent piece about LimeWire here.
If you have this software on your computer, do yourself a favor and uninstall it now. It’s not worth the trouble.
Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofit Organizations Can Use Social Media to Power Social Networks for Change
Posted by admin in Company & Product Profiles, Free Stuff, Instruction, Internet, Simplicity, Technology & Gadgets, Web, church, college, environment, news on February 24, 2010
Beth’s Blog is one of the more popular resources for non-profits and socially-conscious organizations. The blog offers practical information and real-life stories about using social media for social change Beth Kanter, the author of the blog, is the CEO of Zoetica, a communication organization intent on “Connecting Organizations with their Networks”.
If you’re responsible for social media in a non-profit or socially-conscious organization, Beth’s Blog is worth adding to your feed reader or checking in on a regular basis.
DimDim Creates a Totally Free Meeting Space Online
Posted by admin in Company & Product Profiles, File and Data Sharing, Free Stuff, Instruction, Internet, Simplicity, Technology & Gadgets, Timesavers, Tools, Tricks & Hacks, Web, Web Applications, how to, images, tips on February 24, 2010
If you’re looking for some space online to meet, look no further than DimDim. This free web service with a funny name offers a comprehensive package for meeting online.
Here are a few highlights:
- No software installation necessary – DimDim runs completely in your browser
- Desktop Sharing
- Use your webcams and microphones for video and conversation
- Record and embed meetings
- Social media integration
A complete run-down of the feature set is available here.
As mentioned above, a free version is available that allows up to 20 users and 1 webcam. Premium, paid packages are available, too. Here is a full-comparison of the packages.
DialMyCalls Makes Automated Phone Calls For You
Posted by admin in Company & Product Profiles, File and Data Sharing, Free Stuff, Instruction, Internet, Simplicity, Technology & Gadgets, Timesavers, Tools, Tricks & Hacks, Web, Web Applications, how to, news, productivity, tips on February 23, 2010
Need to get a message out to a group of people through a phone message? You could spend several hours making the calls yourself. You could pay someone to do it for you. Or you could use DialMyCalls.com.
DialMyCalls offers a free subscription that will make 1 call per day to a maximum of 25 people. The message is limited to 30 seconds or less in length and will be branded with a DialMyCalls message. A premium subscription is available with fewer restrictions and no branding.
It’s an easy service to use, with only 3 steps required to make a phone call:
- Create a new message
- Setup your list of people to call (an address book feature is available too)
- Select your call options and schedule it to call.
That’s all it takes to make automated phone calls to the people you need to contact. Give DialMyCalls.com a try the next time you need to call a group of people.
Zapproved Helps Your Group Make Better Decisions
Posted by admin in Company & Product Profiles, Email, File and Data Sharing, Free Stuff, Instruction, Internet, Simplicity, Technology & Gadgets, Timesavers, Tools, Tricks & Hacks, Web, Web Applications, how to, productivity, tips on February 23, 2010
Does your decision-making process look like the one on the left or the one on the right?
Image from Zapproved.com
The decision-making process quickly and easily becomes complicated and convoluted with dozens of e-mails flying in and out of mailboxes. Zapproved.com helps your group streamline the decision-making process and keep the feedback all in one place.
To use Zapproved, you can begin by simply creating a proposal, or by signing up for a free account. The free account allows users to send 5 proposals/month; each proposal is kept for 30 days. Paid accounts start at $12/month for unlimited proposals and storage retention.
Those who serve on committees or work with groups often to make decisions will find Zapproved a simple and user-friendly tool to facilitate discussion and decision-making.
DirSync Pro Synchronizes Files and Folders
Posted by admin in Downloads, File and Data Sharing, Free Stuff, Instruction, Security, Simplicity, Technology & Gadgets, Timesavers, Tools, Tricks & Hacks, Web, how to, productivity, tips on February 12, 2010
Here’s another Lifehacker recommended download. It’s called DirSync Pro and it allows you to backup information on a local computer to a mapped network drive or other location on the same computer. Here’s a description from the author’s website:
Using DirSync Pro you can make incremental backups. In this way you’ll spare lots of time because you don’t have to copy all the files each time you want to update your backup; only new/modified/larger files would be copied.
Use DirSync Pro to easily synchronize files from your desktop PC to your USB-stick (PDA, Notebook, …). Use this USB-stick (PDA, Notebook, …) to synchronize files to another desktop PC.
DirSync Pro is free, open source software, available for download here. It’s a Java application, so it’s supported on any system with the Java Runtime Environment, including Windows, Mac and Linux.
Make a Font from Your Own Handwriting with YourFonts.com
Posted by admin in Internet, Simplicity, Technology & Gadgets, Timesavers, Tools, Tricks & Hacks, Uncategorized, Web, Web Applications, how to, images, productivity, tips on February 10, 2010
There is no shortage of good fonts out there, but what if you need a custom-made font, based on your own handwriting? Well, YourFonts.com fills that need.
YourFonts.com is a web service that allows you to print a template that can be filled out, then sent back to them. Then they create a font based on your handwriting.
Here’s the font set I created!
My handwriting font
It does cost $9.95 to actually download the font, but it’s a custom font set that you’ll get to keep and use forever.
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