We highly recommend this product for ease of setup and cost.
The GNS wireless bridge solution is perfect to connect LAN's between buildings that are line of sight. Dedicated 54Mbs link.
Our implementation was up and running 15 minutes after the antennas were mounted.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
SPAM VACUUM
How much time per week does your company deal with spam-related issues? Post comments below.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Phones vs. Computers
Here's a question to consider:
What's more valuable to your business; phone service or Internet access? How long could you endure an outage for either?
Post your comments below.
What's more valuable to your business; phone service or Internet access? How long could you endure an outage for either?
Post your comments below.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The 30-minute, 10-point plan to a faster computer
Remove all unnecessary programs.
Go to Start>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs. Scan the list for programs that you don't use anymore and remove. Be careful not to remove Windows Components.
Delete your "temp files" AND cookies once a week. (Disk Cleanup)
Go to My Computer and right-click on the C:\ drive. Choose Properties, then Disk Cleanup. Check the boxes of the files you wish to delete.
Run defrag every three months.
Go to My Computer, right-click on the C:\ drive and choose Properties. Choose Tools, then Defrag.
Run full HD scan every 6 months.
Go to My Computer and right-click on the C:\ drive and choose Properties. Choose Tools, then Check Disk. Check both boxes. It will do the full scan and fix HD erros on the next bootup.
Stop unnecessary services.
Windows runs a bunch of "services" in the background that may not be necessary for you. Go to Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services and stop the following services. Alerter, Clipbook, Distributed Link Tracking, Error Reporting Service, HID Input Service, Remote Registry, Telnet and Telephony (if you are not running Skype or something like that).
Check your error log once per month.
Clues to bigger problems may be found in the error logs. Go to Start>Control Panel>Administrator Tools>Event Viewer and look at the logs. Sort by 'Type' and look for anything with a Red Error label. Make note of these errors and either search them or call a technician.
Minimize the configuration on your virus scanner.
Many virus scanning programs are setup by default to protect everything. You can probably turn some scanning off, like the firewall if you are using the Windows firewall. You can also turn off email scanning if you email provider is scanning mail.
Turn off network and folder autosearching.
This little tip can improve the performance of Windows Explorer. Open My Computer and then choose Tools>Folder Options from the menu. Then choose the View tab and uncheck "Automatically search for network folders and printers"
Reduce the amount of programs auto-staring on bootup.
If you have a ton of icons showing up in the bottom right of your start bar, you can reduce those and speed up boot time. Be careful with this setting! Go Start>Run then type msconfig. Go to the Startup Tab and uncheck the boxes that show Applications that you know you don't need to auto-start.
Clean the registry.
Cleaning the registry and make vast improvements on your bootup and processing speed. However, the only way to safely accomplish this is with a cleaner program. We recommend RegCure.
Go to Start>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs. Scan the list for programs that you don't use anymore and remove. Be careful not to remove Windows Components.
Delete your "temp files" AND cookies once a week. (Disk Cleanup)
Go to My Computer and right-click on the C:\ drive. Choose Properties, then Disk Cleanup. Check the boxes of the files you wish to delete.
Run defrag every three months.
Go to My Computer, right-click on the C:\ drive and choose Properties. Choose Tools, then Defrag.
Run full HD scan every 6 months.
Go to My Computer and right-click on the C:\ drive and choose Properties. Choose Tools, then Check Disk. Check both boxes. It will do the full scan and fix HD erros on the next bootup.
Stop unnecessary services.
Windows runs a bunch of "services" in the background that may not be necessary for you. Go to Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services and stop the following services. Alerter, Clipbook, Distributed Link Tracking, Error Reporting Service, HID Input Service, Remote Registry, Telnet and Telephony (if you are not running Skype or something like that).
Check your error log once per month.
Clues to bigger problems may be found in the error logs. Go to Start>Control Panel>Administrator Tools>Event Viewer and look at the logs. Sort by 'Type' and look for anything with a Red Error label. Make note of these errors and either search them or call a technician.
Minimize the configuration on your virus scanner.
Many virus scanning programs are setup by default to protect everything. You can probably turn some scanning off, like the firewall if you are using the Windows firewall. You can also turn off email scanning if you email provider is scanning mail.
Turn off network and folder autosearching.
This little tip can improve the performance of Windows Explorer. Open My Computer and then choose Tools>Folder Options from the menu. Then choose the View tab and uncheck "Automatically search for network folders and printers"
Reduce the amount of programs auto-staring on bootup.
If you have a ton of icons showing up in the bottom right of your start bar, you can reduce those and speed up boot time. Be careful with this setting! Go Start>Run then type msconfig. Go to the Startup Tab and uncheck the boxes that show Applications that you know you don't need to auto-start.
Clean the registry.
Cleaning the registry and make vast improvements on your bootup and processing speed. However, the only way to safely accomplish this is with a cleaner program. We recommend RegCure.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Outsourced Help Desks
For many companies, hiring permanent IT help is cost prohibitive. Even IT consultants can be a bit pricey. Below is a list of IT help-desk providers.
This kind of service allows a tech in a remote location to connect to your computer or network and troubleshoot problems. Growth for these kinds of services has exploded over the past year.
iYogi.net
PlumChoice.com
Support.com
Greenstar.com
This kind of service allows a tech in a remote location to connect to your computer or network and troubleshoot problems. Growth for these kinds of services has exploded over the past year.
iYogi.net
PlumChoice.com
Support.com
Greenstar.com
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Stay On Top With Google Alerts
Have you ever wondered if anyone is saying anything (good or bad) about your company on the Internet? Or, what are your competitors up to? Google Alerts will send you that information - automagically, and as often as you like.
Yet another free service by Google, their "alerts" are basically memorized searches that will email you the results. Let's say you are insanely interested in Madonna. You can add her name as an alert entry for 'news' and you will get an email (daily, weekly or as it happens) that will contain all news-related items by Madonna. Better yet, the email will be formatted like a search result, so you can easily scan and click only the headlines that interest you.
Since there are potentially unlimited topics to configure as an alert, it's easy to get carried away. But that's ok! Add and remove topics at will. You can also go back and change the frequency of email notifications. Additionally, you can setup the alerts to be sent to a RSS feed reader, like Google Reader.
I have found Google Alerts to be a great tool for filtering the information that I find interesting so I can be more efficient online.
Yet another free service by Google, their "alerts" are basically memorized searches that will email you the results. Let's say you are insanely interested in Madonna. You can add her name as an alert entry for 'news' and you will get an email (daily, weekly or as it happens) that will contain all news-related items by Madonna. Better yet, the email will be formatted like a search result, so you can easily scan and click only the headlines that interest you.
Since there are potentially unlimited topics to configure as an alert, it's easy to get carried away. But that's ok! Add and remove topics at will. You can also go back and change the frequency of email notifications. Additionally, you can setup the alerts to be sent to a RSS feed reader, like Google Reader.
I have found Google Alerts to be a great tool for filtering the information that I find interesting so I can be more efficient online.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Negotiating with Vendors (Part I)
Here's one area where business owners can fall into a costly trap. Vendors making big promises in the pre-sales process only to underdeliver after the check is cashed. There are a few ways this can be avoided.
Get the Demo
If it's software that you are buying, get the demo version up and running for about 30 days (10 days at least). This will give you time to make sure it's easy to deploy and you can see it in action for a few days. Talk to the vendor about customizing the software to conform with your process. Most software these days should be easily customizable without costly consulting charges.
Testimonials
Any vendor worth dealing with should have a complete set of testimonials. These may be found on their website or in their product literature. Get the names of large and small current customers and talk to them about their experience. Ask about the vendor's post-sales support. Ask about their implementation. Was it on time? What kinds of problems arose? How were they handled?
Are there free options?
Within the last 8 years, hundreds of websites have popped up providing valuable tools and resources. If you are looking to implement a software solution, try searching for "open-source" software. Open source refers to the fact that the source code for the software is openly available at no cost. A group of developers join in on maintaining the software and adding functionality.
Get the Demo
If it's software that you are buying, get the demo version up and running for about 30 days (10 days at least). This will give you time to make sure it's easy to deploy and you can see it in action for a few days. Talk to the vendor about customizing the software to conform with your process. Most software these days should be easily customizable without costly consulting charges.
Testimonials
Any vendor worth dealing with should have a complete set of testimonials. These may be found on their website or in their product literature. Get the names of large and small current customers and talk to them about their experience. Ask about the vendor's post-sales support. Ask about their implementation. Was it on time? What kinds of problems arose? How were they handled?
Are there free options?
Within the last 8 years, hundreds of websites have popped up providing valuable tools and resources. If you are looking to implement a software solution, try searching for "open-source" software. Open source refers to the fact that the source code for the software is openly available at no cost. A group of developers join in on maintaining the software and adding functionality.
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