Tag: Computer

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Best Practices

Tip of the Week: 5 Windows Tricks

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The Windows 10 operating system is the most common operating system for business use, which is what makes it surprising that so few know how to adjust its appearance to suit their preferences. For this week’s tip, we’ll go over a few ways to adjust what you’re seeing and/or looking at for maximum productivity.

Quicker Settings
Your settings are your greatest tool to control your Windows 10 preferences. If you need to change a setting on the fly, you can pull up the menu by pressing CTRL + I or Windows Key + I.

Zoom In/Out
Whether it’s a graphic you want a closer look at or text that’s just a smidge too small (or the opposite cases) the ability to zoom in or out on the entire screen can quickly become a handy trick to know. You have options here: you can either press CTRL + (+) or CTRL + (-) to zoom in or out, or press CTRL + Scroll Wheel to accomplish the same. Pressing CTRL + 0 will reset the screen to normal.

Changing Active Applications
If you’ve really got a good groove flowing as you work, pausing to switch windows with your mouse can really trip you up. With some practice, you can use a keyboard shortcut instead, eliminating this inconvenience. Holding Alt as you press Tab will bring up smaller versions of your active windows, and using the directional keys (while still holding Alt) will allow you to select a different one to work in.

Switching Monitors
Workplaces are seeing more and more multi-monitor setups in use. A shortcut makes it easy to move application windows around and across screens. To move a window to the other monitor, press Windows Key + Shift + Left/Right. Whether you choose left or right depends on which way you want your window to move.

You can use a simpler version of this shortcut to dock an application or browser window to the side of its current monitor, too. All you press for this one is Windows Key + Left/Right.

Shortcuts like these can turn you into a Windows power user in no time at all, with a little practice. Do you have a shortcut that you use frequently enough to make it second nature? Share it with us in the comments!

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Casserly Consulting Blog

Tip of the Week: 5 Tricks to Using Windows

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There’s a lot more to the Windows operating system than first meets the eye, especially where handy shortcuts are concerned. Today, we’ll cover five of the shortcuts baked into Windows that may be beneficial to your productivity.

Rename File
Every so often, you will discover that the name of a document isn’t entirely accurate anymore. Naturally, this file name should be changed to accurately reflect its contents. While you could right-click and select ‘rename’ for each one you have to change, it is much faster to simply select the file (or files) that needs a name change, and press F2. If you change the name of multiple files to the same thing, it will even automatically add the number to the end to differentiate them.

Active Window Screenshot
Screenshots can be very useful, but they can also be a pain to capture. Fortunately, there’s a way to easily take a screenshot of just the active window. By pressing Alt + Print Screen, the active window will be captured cleanly.

Problem Steps Recorder
Every so often, you may need to record your steps exactly, whether you’re replicating an issue for IT to check out or outlining a procedure for training purposes. Windows offers the Problem Steps Recorder, which is an easy-to-use action recording program that outlines and illustrates each step you take while the program is observing you. It then generates a step-by-step report to be reviewed. Creating one is especially simple – the hardest part is typing “psr” into the Windows search bar to pull up the program.

Easy Open Applications
The taskbar is extremely useful for storing your most-used programs and files for easy access. Windows has incorporated a shortcut that makes accessing them even easier. First, figure out which number your desired application is in sequence, then press the Windows key + the sequence number to open that application. This also works to maximize and minimize these windows.

Minimize/Maximize
Another way to quickly minimize and maximize your open windows is a little silly, but effective. If you want to minimize all but one of your windows, simply click and hold the window and shake it. All the rest will minimize. The same action will also reverse this, maximizing all of your windows again.

What other neat Windows tricks and shortcuts do you know about? Share them in the comments!

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Casserly Consulting Blog

Tip of the Week: Your Guide to Using Multiple Displays

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Depending on the task you’re trying to work on, it can sometimes seem like there just isn’t enough space on your computer monitor. One of the best solutions is to add another monitor. However, this sometimes requires more that just plugging another display into your system. For this week’s tip, we’ll review the steps to connecting multiple displays to your workstation.

Preparation
Connecting multiple monitors is a process, so before you begin, you should make sure you have all your ducks in a row. First, you need to make sure that your computer is capable of supporting multiple monitors in the first place.

To do so, you need to make sure you have sufficient graphics ports to connect these multiple monitors to. Look at the back of your computer and check for graphics ports, or ones labeled DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, or VGA. Depending on what you see, your computer may or may not have a discrete graphics card, which dictates whether or not you can most likely use more than two monitors. If you only have a motherboard, two displays are generally your cap, while three or more – in addition to the first two – suggest that you have the separate graphics card.

However, even this doesn’t always mean that you can use more than two displays. Checking for the make and model of your graphics card and running it through a quick Google search with the amount of monitors you’d want to use should tell you if your card can support them.

If not, there is always the possibility of adding an additional graphics card, as long as you have the real estate and a sufficient power supply in your computer to support it. If you do, you will want to be sure that you use the same brand of card as your system currently uses. This will improve your performance and cause much less trouble for you in the long run. In addition to this, you will also need to be sure that you have the appropriate connector cables, and that they will connect properly between your tower and your display.

From there, all you have to do is obtain the additional monitors you want to use, which will be dictated by your budget, your needs and intended use, and your available real estate.

Setup and Configuration
Unfortunately, you still aren’t quite ready to dive back in – you need to tell your computer itself to play nice with all these monitors, too. Fortunately, the Windows operating system makes this fairly simple.

Press Windows + P to pull up a simple menu of your display modes. These modes are as follows:

  • PC screen only – Your primary monitor will be the only one utilized.
  • Duplicate – All monitors will show the same desktop.
  • Extend – The monitors work collaboratively to provide a single, expanded desktop.
  • Second screen only – Your secondary monitor will be the only one utilized.

Generally speaking, you will most likely want to utilize the ‘Extend’ setting.

Once you have done all this, you will want to right-click anywhere on your desktop to pull up your Display settings. Using the diagram provided, mimic the way your screens are set up, each numbered box representing one of them. Clicking Identify will have the screens identify themselves by number. You can also adjust whether your taskbar is displayed on all screens and change up your desktop customization for each.

It doesn’t take much to help boost your productivity at work, which means even the smallest changes can make a big difference. How many monitors do you prefer to use? Tell us in the comments!

Categories
Best Practices

Tip of the Week: Cover Your Assets By Properly Disposing of Your Old Computers

b2ap3_thumbnail_dispose_of_computers_400.jpg It can be difficult to think about replacing expensive hardware like desktops and servers without breaking your budget, much less having to deal with your old data. Thankfully, there are certain steps that you can take to make the transition to a new PC or server much easier, and it all starts with properly getting rid of your old technology.

Before we get started, though, we want to emphasize the importance of taking preventative measures. These keep you from getting into a situation where you don’t have the technology you need. In other words, if your desktop is outdated, then you shouldn’t wait until it completely breaks down before you replace it. This makes it imperative that you identify warning signs for your ailing technology before it suddenly stops working.

Warning Signs
To get started thinking about what to do when your computer breaks down, look for the following warning signs.

  • General PC slowdown
  • Freezing or even operating system crashes
  • Corrupted files or data loss
  • Random shutdowns
  • Startup errors

Keep in mind that these symptoms could be signs of other PC issues as well.

Understand When You Need to Replace Technology
Nothing your business utilizes can last forever, including technology like workstations and servers. If you suspect that your PC is reaching its limit, it’s crucial that you implement a strategy to properly replace it and dispose of the old one. If there’s no such policy to adhere to, you could be putting your business at risk of a data breach, and putting yourself at odds when the investigators look into whether it was your fault for failing to follow best practices. Gartner explains, “Best-practice PC disposal processes provide an audit trail documenting the serial-numbered inventory of disposed PCs, certification that proprietary and personal data has been removed and made unrecoverable, and transfer/reuse of software licenses, where applicable.”

Does your business have old technology that’s holding you back from moving forward? If so, contact COMPANYNAME right away. Our technicians can help your business completely wipe the data off of your old technology’s hard drives, or transfer it to your new, more recent hardware. Plus, we can recycle your business’s old devices so they won’t cause harm to the environment.

Our goal is to help your business make a smooth transition to new hardware solutions without putting your sensitive data at risk. To learn more about what we can do for your organization, reach out to us at PHONENUMBER.

Categories
Best Practices

Tip of the Week: How to Clean Your PC Like an IT Pro

b2ap3_thumbnail_cleaning_your_computer_400.jpg Just as anything else will, a computing device will need some TLC to keep it physically clean and in tip-top shape. In order to clean your system safely, you will need proper tools, and the know how to properly clean your PC.

For a basic cleaning, a can or two of compressed air, and lint-free wipes should suffice. For jobs that will require a little more elbow grease, you will need to add a few more items to this list–a small screwdriver, cotton swabs, and isopropyl alcohol (make sure it’s isopropyl, and not ethyl-based).

Cleaning Out the Desktop
Before you get started, keep in mind that you’ll be dealing with some pretty sensitive hardware. We highly recommend having an experienced technician handle this for you.

First and foremost, you’ll want to completely power-down your system. This includes not only powering down the machine but also killing power to the surge protector it is plugged into and removing the power supply cord from your system. Wipe down the case exterior using a static-free dust cloth and get rid of dust that has been caught in the external vents, preferably by using your compressed air once the case has been opened. For dust bunnies of above-average size and other assorted crumbs, carefully go through and wipe them away with cotton swabs before using the compressed air to rid the system of the remaining dust.

As you use the compressed air, be sure not to sustain the stream for too long, as it could damage some of the more sensitive components of your system. You should also be very careful of what you touch in the system and avoid any bare or soldered wire to avoid serious electric shock. As you will almost certainly be generating static, make sure that you touch the metal and plastic frameworks frequently enough to keep you fairly equalized.

Once you’ve finished with that, close the case back up and go over it again with your dust cloth.

While it may be tempting to just take a vacuum to the buildup of dust in your system, don’t. The bristles on the vacuum are notorious for generating static, which can easily damage the delicate internal parts that your system relies on to function.

Making Your Screen Spic and Span
There is little more annoying than fingerprints and smudges streaking up your screen, especially when you are trying to focus on your work. Fortunately, cleaning the screen of your display is fairly similar to cleaning a window, with a few special considerations.

If you utilize an LCD display, applying a half and half mixture of distilled water and white vinegar to a microfiber cloth and gently wiping the screen works wonders to rid it of debris. If you still operate a CRT monitor, an ammonia-free glass cleaner will do just fine while preserving the screen’s coating. Make sure that you don’t spray the device with whatever liquid you use in either case. Instead, apply the cleanser directly to the cloth and wipe down the screen that way.

Keeping the Keyboard and Mouse Clean
Of all of your computer’s components, the keyboard and mouse will be the ones that are exposed to the most debris and bacteria as they are handled almost constantly during computer use. To do a basic cleaning, unplug your keyboard from the rest of the system and turn it upside-down, gently shaking it to dislodge any crumbs and other particles that are trapped between the keys. Another option is to use a can of compressed air, spraying between the keys at a 45-degree angle. Once you’re confident that most of the accumulated mess is cleared away, gently flip it over and shake it out again before carefully wiping it with an antibacterial wipe and drying it with a microfiber cloth.

If your keyboard is a membrane type keyboard, it is possible to remove the keys to get a good, comprehensive clean. Before you do so, be sure to create a record of the keyboard’s layout so your keys may be replaced properly.

To remove the keycaps, use the small screwdriver to gently pry them from their housing. However, because they can be difficult to put back on, leave larger keys (like the space bar, shift, and enter) on the keyboard as it is being cleaned. Use compressed air, cotton swabs, and isopropyl alcohol to clean out the grime that was hiding under the keys. Once you’re satisfied, snap the keycaps back in place and test thoroughly.

As far as the mouse goes, the overwhelmingly more common LED-sensor models will only need to be wiped down with a lint-free cloth and a few quick swabs of rubbing alcohol.

A Clean Workstation is a Happy Workstation
Keeping your computer clean can provide many benefits beyond just the aesthetic value. Equipment will likely run better, last longer, and be less apt to make you sick through exposure to simmering bacteria and germs. For more ways to optimize your technology experiences, make sure you keep checking back to our blog.

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Security

Without Protection, Your USB Ports Could Become RIP Ports

b2ap3_thumbnail_usbad_idea_400.jpg It seems like everything available today can function with a USB connection, be it a thumb drive, device charger, or a desktop device–there are even USB-powered mini fridges meant for a single soda can. Unfortunately, “everything” includes malicious devices and malware.

If a USB drive is infected by malware, you can put your computer and data at risk by merely plugging it in, and there are some malicious USB devices out there that pose some pretty serious threats.

USB Kill 2.0 
Despite being powered by electricity, computers don’t mix well with too much charge, as USBKill.com has capitalized on. Creating a dongle that is capable of siphoning power off of the device it is plugged into, USBKill.com’s proprietary device then releases the energy back into the system as a power surge attack.

Intended for hardware developers to test their devices’ resistances against ‘juice jacking’ (a form of data theft that extracts data as a device is charging), the USB Kill 2.0 permanently damaged–if not destroyed–95% of all devices it was tested with without the company’s proprietary USB protection shield. This shield is what allows the USB Kill 2.0 to be safely used for its intended purpose–to test electrical attack resistance.

What’s more, in some cases when used without the shield, the USB Kill 2.0 wipes data from the device. While this is not what the USB Kill 2.0 is intended to do, this occurs simply because the charge is enough to damage the device’s drive controllers.

Needless to say, a business saboteur could find great use in the $56 USB Kill 2.0 as a method of attack, and there aren’t many effective protections a workplace can implement, besides educating employees to resist the temptation of plugging in any USB device they find.

USB-to-Ethernet Theft
Best practices for workstation security dictate that a system be locked whenever its user steps away, no matter how briefly. However, a security researcher recently discovered a method of extracting data from a locked computer using, you guessed it, a USB-connected device. By disguising itself in a particular way, the target computer adopts the device as the preferred network interface, allowing the hacker to extract data to a rogue computer attached to the cable’s other end in about 13 seconds. The best defense, according to the researcher who uncovered this flaw: don’t leave your workstation logged in and unattended, even with the screen locked.

What a Business Can Do to Protect Itself
Of course, not all USBs are evil carriers of the worst malwares and threats, but by no means should they be used after being found on the street willy-nilly, especially in a workplace setting. In order to protect business workstations and data from threats, simply enforce a requirement to have any USBs fully checked by your IT department before in-office use. Alternatively, consider utilizing a cloud solution as a much safer option to meet your mobile storage needs.

To protect your business from possible saboteurs introducing their USB-based malware, it is also wise to secure exposed ports with locking devices.

While USB devices seem to be the pinnacle of affordable convenience in data storage, they are far more trouble than they are worth, at least in terms of security. There are much safer solutions to implement that feature equal, if not greater mobility than even a flash drive. A cloud solution, for instance, can be accessed from anywhere there is an Internet connection, kept safe in a well-protected, offsite location. New and improved solutions like these make risk-laden devices, such as USB dongles, unnecessary.

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