You Need I.T.

"IT TIPS AND TRICKS"

8 EMAIL PRODUCTIVITY PRACTICES:

1. Send all cc:’s to their own folder.
If you’re not important enough to be the primary recipient of an email, chances are reading it can wait. Send these to a folder called “CC” and bulk process them twice a week.

2. Bring back the art of filing.
Remember filing, with manila folders and labels? If you never filed anything, your desk would be piled high with paper. The same is true for your Inbox: If you don’t file messages, you’ll never know where they are. File and archive regularly.

3. Forward, delegate, and move on.
Not every email request needs to be accomplished by you. Forward tasks to coworkers or assistants, write a few words about how you’d like the task accomplished, file or archive the original email, and move on with your day.

4. Defer.
Create folders with specific action dates, like “Week of July 14” or “End of Q3,” and move emails that require your action on those dates to these folders.

5. Master the short reply.
If you know someone well enough, don’t be afraid to reply with as few words as possible. The average person gets over 100 emails daily. Those you work closely with will appreciate a brief response.

6. Thanks, but no thanks.
The “Thanks” email adds to inbox clutter. Break yourself of this habit, and others may follow. At the very least, make “thank you” your subject line so the recipient knows no further action is required.

7. Edit the subject line.
If you are responding in a thread and the subject has changed, or if you want your response to get noticed, change the subject line of the email to reflect what you’re talking about.

8. Email is your to-do list, not everyone else’s.
Would you let others add to your to-do list? Keep your Inbox free of requests and others’ priorities. Focus on your work.

"IT TIPS AND TRICKS"

BACKING UP YOUR DATA ONLINE

Remote backup services remove some of the risk associated with local backups — like external hard drives, network drives or removable media. If your office falls victim to a disaster such as a fire, flood, theft, or even a virus on your network, your backup storage could be lost along with your primary one. And remote backup doesn't have to be expensive -- online options like MozyPro, Carbonite, or Jungle Disk are within the reach of even small nonprofits

"IT TIPS AND TRICKS"

THE IMPORTANT THINGS YOU SHOULD DO WHEN YOU GET A NEW COMPUTER

You've just gotten a new computer. Nice! You're probably excited to tear open the box and set it up, but there are a few boring-but-important tasks that will save you disappointment and even heartbreak (not to mention money) later. Here are a few things you should do whenever you buy a new PC.

SAVE YOUR SERIAL NUMBER:

Your computer probably has a serial number on the bottom or the back, and you'll probably need this one day. They can often wear off over time, especially on a laptop—plus sometimes they're just not easy to access when you're using the PC. While you're unboxing, take a picture of that serial number and toss it into Evernote or your favorite cloud storage service. This number is probably on the box and much easier to read than the number of the device. If it's a Windows PC, you may also want to grab a snapshot of your Windows license key, too, in case you ever need to re-install.

CREATE A RECOVERY DISK OR DRIVE:

Speaking of re-installing, there may come a time where something goes wrong and you need to start from scratch. Some computers may come with recovery CD's or drives, but many these days don't. Ordering CD's from places like Dell, HP and Lenovo takes both time and money, so if your computer didn't come with recovery media, make your own now. Mac users can create a USB stick of your operating system, and Windows users can make a recovery CD or USB drive.

CHECK YOUR SURGE PROTECTOR:

Depending on how often you have power surges, your surge protector can actually lose effectiveness over time. That flashing amber light on there isn't there for special effects and probably shouldn't be flashing. If it's flashing, now's a good time to get a new one. Heck, if you don't know when you bought it and how much surge you are protected against, now could be a good time to get a better one. The higher the Joule counts the better.

ADD IT TO YOUR HOMEOWNER'S OR RENTER'S INSURANCE:

Speaking of protection, you may want some insurance for your new device, especially if it's more valuable than the average PC. If you already have homeowner's or renter's insurance, most insurance companies will allow you to schedule a computer so you've got additional protection independent of your main policy. Scheduling an item will often cover mishaps not covered under the main policy and often has an independent cheaper deductible.

SET A REMINDER FOR YOUR WARRANTY EXPIRATION:

Don't you just hate it when your computer has a problem and you find out it's just barely out of warranty? Put a reminder in your calendar now for a few days before your warranty expires. That way, you won't get caught in the "I'm too busy and now it's too late" trap. I put it as a birthday for my computer in my contacts along with its serial number for quick access.

Of course, these are just some of the more hardware-oriented things you should be doing. You should also make sure you've audited all your passwords, set up some good antivirus, and prepared your computer for heavy use—but hopefully you'll remember these boring-but-important things as well.

"IT TIPS AND TRICKS"

HOW OFTEN SHOULD I CHARGE MY GADGET'S BATTERY TO PROLONG ITS LIFESPAN?

• Perform shallow discharges. Instead of discharging to 0% all the time, lithium-ion batteries do best when you discharge them for a little bit, then charge them for a little bit.
• Don't leave it fully charged. Similarly, lithium-ion batteries don't need to be charged all the way to 100%. In fact, they'd prefer not to be—so the 40%-80% rule you heard is a good guideline. When possible, keep it in that range to prolong its life as long as you can. And, if you do charge it to 100%, don't leave it plugged in. This is something most of us do, but it's another thing that will degrade your battery's health. If you need to charge it overnight, use something like the Belkin Conserve Socket to stop it from charging after its full.
• Fully discharge it once a month. This may seem contradictory, but hear me out. While lithium-ion batteries shouldn't be discharged regularly, most modern batteries are what's known as "smart batteries", which means that they can tell you how long you have until your battery dies (e.g. "2 hours, 15 minutes remaining"). This feature can get miscalibrated after a lot of shallow discharges. So, manufacturers recommend fully discharging your battery once a month to make sure this stays accurate.
• Keep it cool. Most people overlook this one. Excess heat is not only bad for your processor (and your lap), but your battery as well. A hot battery will degrade in health much quicker than a cool one. As such, we highly recommend using a laptop stand. When it comes to your phone:
- Turn off battery-draining apps
- Watch out for runaway processes
- Don't stifle your phone (take it out of your pocket to give it some air)
- Take it out of the case
- Don't overclock your phone

Keep these things in mind and your battery will last longer.

"IT TIPS AND TRICKS"

HOW TO KEEP YOUR COMPUTER DUST-FREE - Dust bunnies are real and they seem to reproduce as fast as their namesakes. But you can banish that dust from your PC and get back to work or play. Here are the computer-dusting procedures:

Open and dust your PC at least once a year.
Consider it a birthday present for your computer. Unscrew or unlatch your PC’s case and use a can of compressed air to blow any accumulated dust from the motherboard, adapter cards, and cables. If allowed to accumulate, that dust can act as a heat-retaining blanket over your PC’s circuitry, and overheated components have a significantly shorter lifespan.

Remove dust that’s settled on the fan blades.
Speaking of fans, use your compressed air to get rid of any additional dust on fan blades and within air intake holes. To properly ventilate and cool your PC, these openings need to be free of dust bunnies.

Wipe down your PC’s case and your monitor with a clean, dry cloth every few months.
You should never use any household solvents to clean your PC’s case, but anti static cleaning solutions and cloths are made just for cleaning computer hardware.

"IT TIPS AND TRICKS"

SOME CARE & MAINTENANCE TIPS FOR YOUR COMPUTER MONITOR:

1. Try to not eat or drink near it. Monitors don't react well to liquids or cookie crumbs.
2. Don’t poke the screen, especially if it's one of the new flat panels. It’s not glass, just plastic and you can damage it. The screens on the older CRT monitors is glass so you probably won't damage it but you will leave an annoying smudge.
3. Keep magnets away from your monitor. As a matter of fact, keep magnets away from all your computers and electronics equipment!
4. If your monitor is dirty wipe it off with a damp paper towel or tissue. Try to avoid getting it all wet with cleaners.
5. If you do have problems with your monitor (it goes blank) start by checking the cables, they get loose sometimes.
6. Finally, don't forget to adjust it to meet your needs.