It’s not as it appears. Sure looks real, though, doesn’t it? Optical illusions are cool. I really like it when they paint an ugly building or wall with an illusion. It fools the eye. The French call it a Trompe D’oeil (pronounced Trowmp Duh-ee).

What is not cool is the illusion of your computer data being backed up when it isn’t. It is astounding how many businesses we find that think their stuff is being backed up, but it isn’t. It is an illusion.

One company was assured by their IT guy that they were being regularly backed up. Problem was, nobody bothered to verify that it was doing what it said it was doing. It was fooling them, Duh-ee!

Has anyone run a “reality check” on your computer data backups lately? Do you think it would be a good idea? If your backups failed you could be in a real crevasse, couldn’t you?

Of course, we can help – but, preferably before you suffer a crash and you need that computer backup! If you’re in Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Capitola, Soquel, Aptos, Watsonville, Salinas, or the Monterey Bay area, call us today for a FREE Systems Analysis. We guarantee you’ll even sleep better. No fooling!

Call Us!  831-685-2500

The post It Is Just An Illusion appeared first on Business Computing Solutions.

I (Warren Frush) used to live in Colorado Springs, CO.  Last summer, I was reviewing coverage of the horrible fire burning there, I was jolted when I looked at a map of the fire and saw that it was burning within about five blocks of my former, very suburban home there.

Watching the video images of people hastily packing some belongings and scrambling to get away from the approaching fires, I was reminded about the advice to have a “go bag” – ie, a collection of the stuff you want to be able to grab in a very big hurry if you have to evacuate.  There’s a challenge in the concept, though, since many of the items you’ll absolutely want are in everyday, constant use.   Some are obvious, but some aren’t.   For instance, in addition to irreplaceable photos and albums, you’d want your wallet, purse, cellphone. You’d also want your passport, if it is in the house. I’d also need my charger for the cellphone, or I won’t be using it all that long.  Laptop? Same thing, although that charger is in my laptop carry case.

But what you definitely won’t have time to do is back up your computer files. If you’re reading this from a personal point of view, then get one of the “backup my PC to the cloud” kind of products like Carbonite or Mozy.  They’re services that can either backup your whole computer or your user documents folders. That means, in particular, those pictures and videos that are on your hard disk.  You remember them? The ones you could never replace if you lost them?  It doesn’t even take a calamitous fire – just a hard disk failure.  I’ve got ten years of digital images on my disk. I also have ten years worth of images saved offsite, so a hard disk problem won’t cause me to lose the pictures of my kids growing up.

If you’re reading this from a business point-of-view, then contact us! Or contact a competitor, but, whatever, get your key business files backed up offsite.  This is do-as-I-say, do-as-I-do advice. At least if I had to leave the office in a hurry, or if I was not here to gather anything, I won’t have to worry about my business files.  They get backed up to offsite locations every night, whether I remember to think about it or not.  I can get to them even if I don’t have my computer with me– I can use a different computer and still get to “my stuff.”

Here’s my short-list of what I should take with me if I have to leave the house in a hurry. Your list may look different! It also may look different depending on how much time you have to leave.  Note that there will typically be a list for each family member and pet.

• My kit – with prescription drugs, prescription glasses, contacts, and that sort of thing. Also my toothbrush, toothpaste, some soap, nail clipper,  etc. Your list might include dentures, orthotics, hearing aids, or other intensely personal gear.
• My wallet.  Hopefully with some cash in it. But with driver’s license, health cards, pictures of family and pets.
• My cellphone, and its charger.
• If I have time, my laptop bag, with the laptop computer in it.
• The family passports.
• If I have time, the family photo albums (pre-digital).
• If I have time, a change of clothes.
• Then I’ll append on the many great suggestions on the various “Be Prepared!”

There’s many sites on the web to help you plan your go-bag.  Here’s a few:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Go-Bag
http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit
http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/tips/10-must-haves-storm-survival-kit.htm

There are many, many more.  Spend some time and plan ahead.

The post Is your computer data backup offsite? appeared first on Business Computing Solutions.

Productivity Tips: Conditional Formatting in Excel

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Want to avoid the most common and expensive computer problems most business owners experience? Then read on! We’ve compiled a list of 5 things you should be doing to save yourself a lot of time and money, by avoiding a big, ugly computer disaster.

1. Have an automated off-site back-up system in place. I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Having an off-site back-up of your data will be the equivalent of wearing a seatbelt in a major accident. You don’t think much about it until you need it, and then, you will thank your lucky stars you had it in place.
2. Centralize your data on your server. At one time, servers only made sense for large organizations because of their high cost and complexity. But today, there are very affordable and easy-to-implement server systems designed specifically for any size small business. Depending on your business needs, your server can be in your office or hosted in the cloud. A server will not only speed up your network, but it will also make backups easier, allow secure remote access to allow you and your employees to work from home or on the road, and make it much easier to share documents, databases, and printers.
3. Keep your anti-virus software up-to-date, and perform weekly spyware scans. Almost everyone understands the importance of anti-virus software, but many businesses still do not perform weekly spyware sweeps. Spyware can cause a host of problems that include slowing down your systems, pop-up ads, and even identity theft.
4. Create an acceptable use policy and enforce it! One of the biggest threats to your network are your employees! Although that sounds harsh, it is true. Employees can accidentally introduce viruses and spyware through innocent activities online such as checking their Gmail account, downloading photos, or visiting phishing websites set up by online criminals. There are several great programs available for monitoring employee activity online. If you would like a recommendation for your specific situation, call our office.
5. Perform regular maintenance. Just like your car, a computer network needs regular maintenance. This includes monitoring of critical components, performance, security patches, and your back-up system. Regular maintenance can dramatically improve the speed and reliability of your network, as well as the security of your data. If you cannot afford to lose data or be down for days, you must perform regular maintenance on your network!

The post Avoiding 5 Major Computer Disasters appeared first on Business Computing Solutions.

The article lists the first step as Recognition of the problem; the second step as Action (and apology).  Click on the link above and spend a couple of minutes with the article.

The post What to do when you’ve made a mistake in social media. appeared first on Business Computing Solutions.

We call it rogue-ware because it is software that pretends to be anti-virus or anti-malware software, but is actually a bad program itself.  It looks very authentic, but is actually an example of the problem.

Here’s a bit of good news.  The FBI and Department of Justice have cracked an international ring behind one of these infections. 22-year-old Peteris Sahurovs and 23-year-old Marina Maslobojeva were arrested in Latvia on charges made in court in Minnesota. They created a malware infection that is estimated to have infected almost a million computers and netted them about $72 million.   People ask me why people create virus and malware software, and the answer is, these days, “They do it for the money.” It certainly was for the money in this case.

You can read an article about the case at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/23/fbi_scareware_arrests/

The short answer of how it worked is this: they bought banner ads to be placed on respected websites.  Then they changed the content of the banner ad to be the malware-installer.  When people saw the ad in their browser, they could get infected if their anti-virus protection software was not successful at stopping the installation.

Its good that these guys are arrested; but the problem isn’t going away just because these guys are out of commission for a while. There’s lots of others that are behind other infections.  News that they made $72 million is sure to inspire others, as well.

It can be very difficult to tell these fake warnings from real warnings, because the authors typically do a very good job of emulating the look and feel of real programs.  It remains important to have a good AV program installed and to keep it up-to-date.

The post Feds crack multi-million scareware ring appeared first on Business Computing Solutions.

Read the complete story at:
http://lastwatchdog.com/unstoppable-phishing-attacks-blanket-facebook-twitter/

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/8297237.stm

The gist is this – Iceland has more electricity than it can use, and its produced from geothermal, so there’s no carbon produced by making it.  Plus, the cool temperatures can help keep all those servers cool with no air-conditioning costs.  Iceland is busy laying fibre optic cables to North America and Europe so they can house big server farms and bring those jobs to the island.  Seems like a good idea to us!

The post How to lower my carbon footprint – move all the servers to Iceland. appeared first on Business Computing Solutions.

First, what is a business blog? It’s a type of web site. It presents writing, pictures, videos, links to other websites, and eMail accounts in a conversational approach.  The true power of a business blog is actually in the software running your website…

We’ve all driven down Highway 1 or 101 and seen the billboards.  Those billboards work just like many current websites.  They are static marketing elements you must pass by in order to see.

On the internet, we all use search engine to find things we are interested.  Pew Internet & American Research Project concludes 82% of American Adult Internet Users go to search engines to find information on products or services.  The search engines, wanting to keep searchers, scourer the internet looking for information to present (i.e. index).

Going back to our billboard analogy, the search engines must drive by your billboard (i.e. visit your website) on a regular basis and “read it” to know of any changes.  The true power of the business blog site resides in the technology that “notifies” the search engines of changes to your website.

Changing your website over to WordPress, like I recently did for Computer Studios,  is inexpensive. In the long run, will help your business gain more consumers of your knowledge.  Expanding your perceived level of expertise is the primary effort of business blogging.

Happy Blogging

Ed Bejarana
Computer Studios

The post What Is Business Blogging and Why Should I Care??? appeared first on Business Computing Solutions.

If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their infamous sketch,

“Who’s on first?” might have turned out something like this:

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO: Thanks. I’m setting up an office in my den and I’m thinking about buying a computer.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: No, the name’s Lou.

ABBOTT: Your computer?

COSTELLO: I don’t own a computer. I want to buy one.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: I told you, my name’s Lou.

ABBOTT: What about Windows?

COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?

ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?

COSTELLO: I don’t know. What will I see when I look at the windows?

ABBOTT: Wallpaper.

COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.

ABBOTT: Software for Windows?

COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?

ABBOTT: I just did.

COSTELLO: You just did what?

ABBOTT: Recommend something.

COSTELLO: You recommended something?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: For my office?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!

ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows.

COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, let’s just say I’m sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need?

ABBOTT: Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: Word in Office.

COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?

ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue “W”.

COSTELLO: I’m going to click your blue “W” if you don’t start with some straight answers. OK, forget that. Can I watch movies on the Internet?

ABBOTT: Yes, you want Real One.

COSTELLO: Maybe a real one, maybe a cartoon. What I watch is none of your business. Just tell me what I need!

ABBOTT: Real One.

COSTELLO: If it’s a long movie, I also want to watch reels 2, 3 and 4. Can I watch them?

ABBOTT: Of course.

COSTELLO: Great! With what?

ABBOTT: Real One.

COSTELLO: OK, I’m at my computer and I want to watch a movie. What do I do?

ABBOTT: You click the blue “1″.

COSTELLO: I click the blue one what?

ABBOTT: The blue “1″.

COSTELLO: Is that different from the blue “W”?

ABBOTT: The blue “1″ is Real One and the blue “W” is Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: But there are three words in “office for windows”!

ABBOTT: No, just one. But it’s the most popular Word in the world.

COSTELLO: It is?

ABBOTT: Yes, but to be fair, there aren’t many other Words left. It pretty much wiped out all the other Words out there.

COSTELLO: And that word is real one?

ABBOTT: Real One has nothing to do with Word. Real One isn’t even part of Office.

COSTELLO: STOP! Don’t start that again. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: That’s right. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?

ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer.

COSTELLO: What’s bundled with my computer?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?

ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.

COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?

ABBOTT: One copy.

COSTELLO: Isn’t it illegal to copy money?

ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.

COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?

ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!

(A few days later)

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?

ABBOTT: Click on “START

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