Computers are complex machines. If you’ve ever looked inside one you know it’s a confusing mess of wires and components. Like all machines, over time they will start to slow down and run slower than before. When this happens it can be troublesome for your productivity, and you may not be able to afford to purchase a new machine. Luckily, there are steps you can take to keep your machine running smoothly.

Below are four things you can do to keep your PC running smoothly.

1. Shutdown properly
If you turn your computer off at the end of the day, or it freezes, it may be tempting to flick the off switch on the power bar, or press the power button until it turns off. This isn’t ideal for your computer’s health because when a computer is unexpectedly shut down, there could be damage to the operating system.

You may notice that when your computer crashes, it takes longer to reboot. This is because Windows is actually searching for, or trying to repair any damage that may have been done. There is a chance that powering down improperly could cause files to become corrupted which may make the system inoperable.

Therefore, you should follow proper shutdown procedures. If you need to shut down quickly, try pressing Control+Alt+Delete and selecting Shut Down from there.

2. Close unnecessary programs running in the background
Some programs are written to be always running in the background. If you look in the bottom right of your screen, you should see programs running beside the clock. In truth, most of these likely don’t need to be open. You should be able to right click on the icon and close them. This will save computing resources and make your computer run smoother.

A word of warning: It’s best not to shut down the antivirus or security software as this will leave your computer open to attack. Also, don’t shut down anything from NVIDIA or AMD as this is your video card software. Closing programs like this could cause your computer to crash.

3. Utilize Add/Remove on a regular basis
Chances are high that you have installed a fairly high number of programs on your computer, some of which you may not use anymore. Those you don’t use just take up valuable hard drive space, and should be removed on a regular basis. You can do this by:

1. Clicking on Start or the Windows Orb.
2. Selecting Settings followed by Control Panel.
3. Opening Add/Remove Programs.

It may take a few minutes to scan your system for programs, but a window will open with all the programs you have installed. Click on those you don’t use anymore and remove them. We strongly recommend that you do not go into different files and delete programs, this could damage your system.

4. Use a malware scanner and antivirus program
This may sound like a no-brainer, but it is still worth mentioning that having an antivirus program and malware scanner is a good idea. Many viruses and other malware often hijack system resources causing the computer to run slower, or crash. A regular scan can go a long way in minimizing this, which means your computer will likely run better for longer.

If you are looking for ways to keep your older systems running at their optimal levels, please contact us today to see how we can help you.

Posted with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source

In most companies, multiple applications support different functions and departments. Your sales team is using CRM, while the finance team uses ERP or an accounting system. The operation teams probably use line of business (LOB) applications that are specific to your industry. Each one of those applications comes with canned reports written for the “average” user.

The “average” user
Reports generally allow you to specify ranges of dates, products, document numbers or some other parameter and then generate the report in a standard format. Data to populate the report is pulled directly from the application tables which were defined when the report was designed. The format, including columns and rows, are predetermined based on the expected needs of that “average” user.
But what if you need more than average information? There is undoubtedly information in your systems that is important to your business and that the canned reports don’t reflect.

Above average information
A true Business Intelligence (BI) solution will consolidate data from all the applications across your organization. While a BI solution can still deliver “reports” to users, it also empowers the user to look deeper—past the high level information to find causes and solutions. With deeper information, every decision maker in your organization can look at data from new angles to make above average decisions.
In practical terms, BI allows the user to:

• access, build and save views of information that are more meaningful to the user,
• drill down from high level reports, dashboards or cubes to the transactional detail behind the numbers,
• create and distribute charts and graphs that provide information that team members and management can quickly comprehend,
• see only the information that is appropriate to his/her role.

Dashboards, charts and views can be manipulated to look at any combination of data points to provide new insights into causes, effects and solutions. All in real-time, enabling immediate response with more informed decisions.

The applications that you use to run your business, house information that will help you serve customers better. By replacing reports with business intelligence, you can tap that information to respond faster and stay ahead of the competition.

Let’s talk about how you can get above average results with better information from your business management solutions.

Posted with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source

The Internet, still in its early phases, is seeing a dramatic increase in the number of users. Unfortunately, this growth has also seen an increase in the number of cyber criminals and attacks against websites. The latest major attack was perpetrated against LivingSocial. If you have an account with this website, you may want to pay attention.

LivingSocial is a daily deals website that focuses on bringing bargains and original deals to users based on their geographical location. In late April, news broke that the website had suffered a massive cyber attack with 50 million accounts being compromised.

From the reports we have seen, the attack targeted accounts world-wide with only account holders in Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and the Philippines being unaffected. An email sent out by Tim O’Shaughnessy, LivingSocial’s CEO shortly after the incident said, “We recently experienced a cyber-attack on our computer systems that resulted in unauthorized access to some customer data from our servers. We are actively working with law enforcement to investigate this issue.”

The company assured users that their credit card data had not been compromised, as they are kept in another database. Account passwords were also encrypted, which means they are harder to crack but not impossible.

What should you do?
If you have a LivingSocial account, we recommend that you go and change your password immediately. This can be done by:

1. Going to LivingSocial’s forgot your password page.
2. Entering the email address you used to sign up for the account with.
3. Pressing Reset Password.
4. Checking your email for an email from LivingSocial and following the instructions in the email.

It is advisable to pick a new password, one that is as different as possible from your old password and, as always, the longer, the better.

Is there anything I can to do protect my company? 
If you are a business owner who has websites that encourage customers to sign up for updates, accounts, etc. you may be wondering how you can keep your user’s information secure from cyber attack.
In truth, you can’t keep your important information 100% secure, if a hacker is committed enough, they will be able to get the information they need or wreak the havoc they want to. But what you can do is to make it as hard as possible for cybercriminals to get your information. This could be as simple as using multiple databases to store different bits of information, or as complex as using the latest encryption methods and systems.

Each business is unique, and the best way to ensure your valuable data is secure is to work with an IT partner who takes the time to get to know your security needs and develop a solution that is as near to 100% secure as possible.

If you are worried about the security of your systems, contact us today. We may have the perfect solution that will meet your needs and budget.

Posted with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source

It’s safe to say that Google is one of the most well known Internet companies out there. When many of us look for something on the Internet, we don’t ‘search for it’, we ‘Google it’. Google Search is the most popular search engine, and one of the reasons for this is that it’s constantly evolving into something better and more efficient. Google recently introduced a small change to the search results page that business owners should know about.

This change, while not a major overhaul, did move some features around, making the overall results look cleaner.

With any search results that show a website, you will notice the site name in blue (clicking on it will take you to the website). Below the main result, you can see the URL (website address) in green. Beside the green URL there is now a downward facing green arrow. If you press this you should get a drop-down with up to three options:

• Cached - Clicking on this will show a snapshot of the page from a previous date – the link is from when Google last visited the page. According to Google, the cache is a backup of the page in case the current page is not available. While not generally important to many viewers, Google actually uses websites in their cache to determine if your site is relevant to various search terms.
• Similar - Will search for sites similar to that result. This is a great way to find similar content to what is shown on that specific page.
• Share - Allows you to quickly share the site on your Google+ page. This means that you don’t have to open your Google+ page to share content, just press Share and a pop-up window will open where you can add a comment and pick which friends/circles to share it with. This option is great for all Google+ users, as it makes sharing quicker and easier.

While certainly not the biggest change Google has made to the search results page, this could prove to be helpful, especially if you share content, or need to find similar content on a regular basis. If you would like to learn more about how Google fits into your business, please contact us today.

Posted with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source

The cloud is arguably one of the most popular and influential tech trends of the past half decade, and will likely continue to be so for the foreseeable future. While the number of services that utilize the cloud seem to be growing exponentially, some business owners are still unsure over what type of cloud they can benefit from.

Below is a brief overview of the three major types of cloud, sometimes referred to as ‘deployments’ providers offer.

Public
A public cloud is a service that uses the general Internet (what everyone has access to) to offer cloud solutions. These services can range from free to pay-per-use and can be used by anyone. For the most part, public clouds are inexpensive and provide users an easy way to access online storage and software. The major downside of this type of platform is that you don’t have full control over the security of the system.

Some popular public cloud services include: Google Apps, DropBox, Amazon AWS and Microsoft SkyDrive.

Private
A private cloud uses a private network which restricts access to only those who can connect to it. Most private clouds are hosted by either a service provider, or in the organization directly. For the most part, they offer the same functionality as public clouds. Where they differ is these clouds give users full control over their data, security and compliance.

These systems are ideal if you operate in environments that require you to securely store data, or meet strict regulatory requirements – normally healthcare, legal or financial industries.

Hybrid
A Hybrid cloud system takes elements of both private and public clouds and combines them together. These solutions are usually a partnership where a vendor will have a private cloud platform which is usually specialized, and works with a public cloud provider to create one cloud.

An example of this is a vendor who offers virtualized storage solutions that are hosted at the company, e.g., active sales or customers records, while archives of these records are stored on a public cloud.

What is best for my business?
When it comes to which type of cloud you should be using in your company, the answer really depends on what you need. If you work in a highly regulated industry, it would be better to use a private or hybrid cloud. If you are just looking to store basic files or simple software, then a public cloud is likely the better choice.

We highly recommend that you contact us. As your IT partner, we can work with you to help pick a solution that works for your business and budget. So, if you are looking to move your systems to the cloud, contact us today to see how we can help.

Posted with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source

Among the biggest technological trends of this past year are devices that are always connected to the Internet. Thanks to their convenience, these ‘always on’ devices look set to increase in popularity. The downside to this is that your accounts could be at risk of increased security threats. In an effort to curb this, tech giants have been introducing two-step verification. Microsoft is the most recent company to announce this, so it’s early days and you may be wondering what exactly it is.

Below is an overview of the two-step verification system Microsoft has recently implemented.

What is it?
If you use any of Microsoft’s products, you likely have a Microsoft Account. This account is what you use to access SkyDrive, Outlook, Skype, Office or even the Xbox. The whole idea of this is that you have one account for all of Microsoft’s products and services.

While this is great (you only have to remember one username and password), it can be a security issue. If a hacker gets into your account, they could have access to all of your personal information. Microsoft realizes this and has recently introduced two-step verification, a new Microsoft Account feature that beefs up your account’s security.

Two-step verification is a feature that will ask you additional questions when you try to log in to your Microsoft Account. For example, you may be asked to enter a PIN or phrase that is sent to your phone. If you have used your credit card at the Microsoft Store, or on an Xbox in the past year, you have likely seen this feature in action. Now, Microsoft has extended it to your account.

This new feature is not mandatory for your Microsoft Account, so you have to sign up for it. But It is a good idea to consider enabling this function on your account, especially if you have sensitive information stored online. While this won’t make your account 100% hack proof, it will drastically cut down the chance of a hacker gaining access.

How to set up two-step verification
Microsoft has made it really easy to enable this security measure. You can do so by:

1. Going to https://account.live.com/proofs/Manage and logging into your Microsoft Account.
2. Selecting your phone number and Text from the drop down menu and pressing Next on the window that opens to receive a text message with a code. If you don’t see this option, you should be taken directly to they account management screen
3. Entering the code you get on your mobile device and pressing Submit.
4. Clicking on Security Info under Overview.
5. Selecting Set up two-step verification followed by Next.
6. Picking from how you would like to receive verification codes (Authenticator app, Phone, or another email account). We recommend the app, which you can download onto your mobile device.
7. Following the instructions on the screen and entering the code that is sent your the option you selected above, and pressing Next.

Your account should now have two-step verification. The next time you log in, you will be asked to verify the login using the option your selected. For example, if you selected a text message, you will receive a text on your phone with a code.

If you would like to learn more about your Microsoft Account and security measures you can take to, please contact us today.

Posted with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source

One of the major parts of business is ensuring that you are being paid for services rendered. This can be a painful process; some clients just don’t seem to want to pay. There are numerous things you can do to ensure revenue comes in, one essential process to employ is revenue cycle management. While this may sound complicated, the idea is simple: Taking steps to assure that you get paid in a timely fashion.

As you likely know, the revenue cycle starts long before you see a patient. It actually begins when the patient calls to make an appointment, at which time you must capture crucial information, including the patient’s name, contact information and, insurance number or policy information. The cycle continues throughout the appointment and doesn’t end until the balance on the patient’s account is zero; they have paid their bill.

As you might have guessed data gathering is essential to successful revenue cycle management. In many countries, the largest part of this cycle, and the most important data needed revolves around a patient’s insurance. This information needs to be gathered and verified before his or her appointment.

You may feel you simply don’t have the time to spend making phone calls, faxes or even emails to verify insurance before the patient arrives. This is really a crucial step that can’t be skipped, if you do miss this step, you have to verify insurance when the patient checks in, and that’s inefficient because it adds to the amount of time a patient is in the office, therefore decreasing the number of patients you can see. Any snafu will put the whole office’s schedule behind for the day.

If you verifying the patient’s insurance before his or her appointment, however, you can easily correct any problems before the appointment—rescheduling the patient, for example, or getting correct coverage information. With the correct information, you can better manage a large percentage of your revenue cycle, and may even reduce the time it takes for you to earn revenue.

One of the better ways to manage the revenue cycle is through the use of a fully integrated practice management solution like gloCare from gloStream. If you are looking for a better way to not only manage your revenue but your whole practice, please contact us today to see how we can help.

Posted with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source

Security is an important issue for many business owners and managers. Many work with their IT department or an IT partner to ensure their network and systems are secure from threats. But what about your email, social media and bank accounts? The weakest link of these online accounts is your password, hackers know this and that’s what they target. Do you take steps to ensure that you have a strong password?

If you want to minimize the chances of your password being hacked, here are five things you should NOT do.

1. Don’t pick short passwords

While short passwords are easier to remember, they are also easier and quicker to hack. The most common way to hack passwords is by using brute force: Developing a list of every possible password, then trying this list with a username.

Using a mid-range computer like the one many have on their desk, with a normal Internet connection, you can develop a list of all potential passwords astonishingly quickly. For example it would take 11.9 seconds to generate a list of all possible passwords using five lowercase characters (a,b,c,d,etc.) only. It will take about 2.15 hours to develop a list of all possible passwords using five of any computer character. Once a hacker has the list, they just have to try every potential password with your user name.

On the other hand, a list of all 8 character passwords with at least one special character (!,@,%,etc.) and one capital letter would take this computer 2.14 centuries to develop. In other words, the longer the password, the harder it will be to hack. That being said, longer passwords aren’t impossible to hack, they just take more time. So, most hackers will usually go after the shorter passwords first.

2. Don’t use the same password

The way most hackers work is that they assume users have the same password for different accounts. If they can get one password, it’s as simple as looking through that account’s information for any related accounts and trying the original password with the other accounts. If one of these happens to be your email where you have kept bank information, you will likely see your bank account drained.

It’s therefore important to use a different password for every online account. They key here is to try and use a password that’s as different as possible. Don’t just add a number or character onto the end of a word. If you have trouble remembering all of your passwords, try using a password manager like LastPass.

3. Don’t use words from the dictionary or all numbers

This article published last year on ZDnet highlights the 25 most popular passwords. Notice that more than 15 contain words from the dictionary, and most of the rest are strings of common numbers. To have a secure password, most security experts agree that you should not use words from the dictionary or number combinations that are beside each other (e.g., 1234).

4. Don’t use standard number substitutions

Some users have passwords where they replace letters with a number that looks similar, for example: h31lo (hello). Most new password hacking tools actually have combinations like this built in and will try a normal word, followed by replacing letters with similar numbers. It’s best to avoid this.

5. Don’t use available information as a password

What we mean by this is using information that can be easily found on the Internet. For example, doing a quick search for your name will likely return your email address and social media profiles. If you have pictures of your kids, spouse, pets, family, their dates of birth, etc. on your Facebook profile and have put their names in captions, it’s possible for a hacker to see this (assuming the pictures are shared with the public).

You can bet that they will try these names as your password. You would be surprised with the amount of personal information on the web. We suggest searching for yourself using your email address(s), social media profile names, etc. and seeing what information can be found. If your passwords are close to what you find, it would be a good idea to change them immediately.

There are numerous things you can do to minimize the chance that your passwords are stolen and accounts hacked. For more information, contact us.

Posted with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source

 One of the most important computer programs, aside from the operating system, is the productivity suite, or more specifically: Microsoft Office or Office 365. Of the Office programs, Word is likely the most popular. While it is useful, it’s not perfect, especially when formatting documents. Have you ever struggled to get a numbered list to start over, or continue from a previous list?

Below is an overview of how you can set up ordered lists to either continue numbered lists from where you last left off, or start at #1 with new lists.

Set up numbering for all future lists

1. Open a new Word document.
2. Go to the Home tab (Press Home at the top of the window)
3. Press the downward-facing arrow beside the numbered list button in the Paragraph group. (it’s located on the right of the bullet point button)
4. Select Set Numbered Value… from the drop-down menu.
5. Click the numbering option you want from the pop-up window.
6. Press Ok.

When setting numbered values, you have three options to choose from:

• Start new list – If you select this option, new lists will automatically start at one.
• Continue from previous list - Selecting this option will continue numbering from previous lists in the same document. For example: If you have a paragraph and then a numbered list with three points, and type another paragraph then enter a new list, the list will start from four.
• Set value to: – Lets you set what number lists will start at.

Change the number value of individual lists
If you have a document with numbered lists already in it, and want to change the number values of one list, you can do so by right-clicking on the first number of a list and selecting either Restart at 1 or Continue numbering.

Note that if you have a document with a continuous list that is separated by paragraphs and choose to reset one list to start at one, all subsequent lists will be changed to reflect the new ordering.

Posted with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source

Stories about ERP implementations that take months and even years are enough to make any business owner avoid even thinking about a change. But in today’s competitive world, most businesses can’t meet customer expectations with a starter accounting system. An ERP system is a requirement to grow.

With smart planning, an ERP implementation doesn’t have to disrupt your business or take months to complete. Especially with cloud and hosting options, ERP can be up and running quickly to provide returns on your investment almost immediately.

Implement in phases

To set the stage for ERP project success, decide on the most important issues and tackle those first. In most systems, you don’t have to implement all the ERP modules at one time. If billing and collections are causing cash flow issues, make Invoicing and Accounts Receivables the first module you bring online. Phase in the rest of the modules as you are ready.

You probably have multiple systems, including Line of Business applications that keep your business running. You don’t have to replace all those systems with an ERP. There are many data integration options that you can investigate with an experienced technology partner. Either as a temporary or permanent solution, there is no reason you can’t design a system that suits you perfectly.

Change management

Make sure your team is ready for the change before you get started. Training and user adoption are usually the most time intensive parts of an ERP implementation. Help employees buy into the change so they won’t avoid training and slow down the project.

Plan to use your own data during training. Employees will understand the new system better if they see familiar terms and names that they can put in context.

Keep employees informed every step of the way. With open communication, you will help employees overcome resistance to change.

The right vendor selection

With clear priorities and change management processes in place, you can find the vendor that best matches your needs. Service partners should propose solutions that directly support your requirements and objectives.

Your customers expect a lot these days. Deliver on the promise with a modern ERP system. You can reap the benefits of an ERP system without disrupting your business.  Let’s talk about your priorities and get started.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.