5 Easy Ways To Spring Clean Your Computer For Maximum Performance

With Spring in the air, now is a good time to do an annual clean up of the computers, servers and electronic equipment in your office, both inside and out. Failure to thoroughly clean your computers and servers at least once or twice a year will result in decreased performance and possibly even system failures.

Here’s why:

Dust clogs the computer’s cooling system causing it to heat up, damaging sensitive electronic equipment. Dust can also cause fan noise and (believe it or not) slow performance!

Crumbs and dirt in your keyboard can cause keys to stick and crunchy sounds when typing. Plus, it’s just gross and unhealthy; do you know there are more germs on your computer keyboard than the average public toilet? Even dust, fingerprints and dirt build-up will make your computer monitor dim and fuzzy.

But the physical “dirt” is only the beginning…

Here are 5 quick steps you can take today to clean up your systems and improve performance. **CLIENTS: Check with us if you have any questions. We regularly run these clean-ups for most of you already!**

1. Use Disk Cleanup to delete temporary files, unused programs and any other file taking up space and slowing things down. (Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup)
2. Defrag your hard drive to speed up access to your data. (Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools > Defragment your hard drive)
3. Update your spyware and antivirus software with the newest definitions. The internet changes fast. Having outdated security can slow you down dramatically.
4. Make sure you have the latest security patches and updates installed and configured properly.
5. Check your backups and conduct an emergency “restore” of the data. Remember, the best time to check your backups is when you DON’T desperately need to recover your data!

www.myersnetsol.com

5 Smart Tips For Mobile Devices

If you’re planning on heading out of town – or simply to the coffee shop to work – here are a few tips to keep in mind.

1. Protect your devices from thieves. All mobile devices should be passcode-protected and loaded with apps that will help you track and find them in case they get lost or stolen. For iPads and iPhones, there’s the free “Find My iPhone.” Android users can try “Lookout Mobile Security.” These apps allow you to remotely wipe the device if it falls into the wrong hands; you definitely don’t want to expose yourself to identity theft or allow someone access to your company’s network and client data. Also, never leave your device anywhere you wouldn’t leave your wallet.

2. Backup. Mobile devices get lost and destroyed more often than desktop computers because you’re dragging them around from place to place and exposing them to non-gadget-friendly environments; therefore, make sure you are backing up all the data to the cloud. All it takes is a spilled cup of coffee to erase those precious family photos and videos; and most people don’t think about backing up their phone.

3. Take caution when connecting to free public Wi-Fi. Hackers with routers and readily available software set up rogue hot spots for spying and serving you fake websites. They often name these hot spots something generic such as “Coffee Shop” or “Linksys” to fool you into thinking they are safe. You think you’re connecting to the coffee shop’s Wi-Fi, but you’re actually accessing the web through their portal. If you are going to use public Wi-Fi, simply use it for general web surfing, not shopping, banking or accessing critical data.

4. Turn off sharing. If you use a laptop, you might have it set to share files and folders with other computers at work or home. However, you don’t want those settings “on” when connecting to a public network. When connecting to a public hotspot for the first time, Windows will ask you for a location type; choose “public” and it will automatically reset your settings to turn off sharing.

5. Carry your own connection. If you’re going to access your bank account, go shopping online or, retrieve critical data when traveling, invest in your own personal Mi-Fi connection. We recommend any of the latest Mobile Hotspot devices from Verizon or AT&T that have 4G capability. If you don’t have one and you need to make an emergency balance transfer or an immediate purchase to save a significant amount of money, it’s safer to use your cell phone. When banking, use your bank’s official app and sign up for any extra security they offer. For example, Bank of America’s SafePass program sends a text message with a 6-digit code to authorize a transaction. The code expires as soon as you use it.

To read more, please visit www.myersnetsol.com

Are You Inviting Criminals To Rob You?

The next time you think about “Checking In” with Facebook or Tweeting about your vacation, don’t. Burglars are now using social media sites to target homes when people are away on vacation, business, or just out at dinner.

One such website, PleaseRobMe.com, swears they never intended to encourage burglars; however, this site pulls information from social networking sites like Twitter, Foursquare, and Google Buzz to expose how much information criminals can easily learn about you online.

The Dutch developers, Barry Borsboom, Boy van Amstel and Frank Groeneveld say they like social networking, but that their goal is to shine a giant spotlight on the dangerous side effects of location sharing. Regardless of their intention, our recommendation is to keep your location private.

Team Myers  www.myersnetsol.com

How To Get Your E-mail Broadcasts Opened, Delivered, And Responded To

Despite all the spam, e-mail is still the workhorse of online marketing. As a business owner, the lure of fast, cheap and easy communication to hundreds if not thousands of customers is too hard to resist. But e-mail is certainly not a “perfect” media. Response percentages are low to non-existent and you can quickly make a lot of people angry if you don’t use it properly.

First and foremost, get your customers to give you their permission to e-mail them. Sounds obvious, but many salespeople are using LinkedIn or other sneaky ways to garner e-mails online for prospects they’ve never met or talked to. If you don’t mind making a handful of people REALLY angry with you, this might be an okay strategy. However, if you want to build a good relationship with the people you are trying to sell your services to, then work hard to EARN their attention, not steal it.

So how do you do that? By offering some type of valuable information or entertaining content to them in exchange for their e-mail address. This could be a “how to” webinar, white paper, eBook, or buyers’ guide. For example, a realtor could offer a monthly newsletter on home sales and home values for their neighborhood. A vet could offer a free report on “How To Solve The Top 3 Misbehaviors In Dogs,” or “How To Choose The Perfect Cat.” A restaurant could offer coupons and specials exclusively for their newsletter subscribers along with recipes and invitations to VIP client events. This type of information should be offered on what’s called an “opt-in” page.

Once you have their e-mail address, don’t abuse it by sending boring, off-target spam. That means you’ll have to work hard to consistently come up with good, valuable and interesting content or subscribers will ignore, delete and opt out of your list fast. And finally, make sure you have clear opt-out instructions on every e-mail you send along with your full contact information; the law requires this and it’s just good online etiquette.