you will love these tools

here are a couple great tools to use: roboform and goodsync

they're very easy to use and they will definitely simplify your life. best of all, they're FREE.

roboform: password management tool that has won several awards. you never have to remember another password for all the sites you have registered with. all your passwords will be encrypted and automatically entered when you browse to a site.



goodsync: this is an easy-to-use file synchronization and backup tool. backup your business documents, emails, contacts, photos, MP3s, and other important files. goodSync synchronizes files between desktops, laptops, and external drives, and works over a network or the internet.

bad press for best buy's geek squad

this is old news, of course, but consumers should be advised...

Best Buy Sued For $54 Million Over Missing Laptop

this all took place at dc's tenleytown best buy store in march 2007. you can see raeyln campbell's entire blog for details of what happened.

quite interesting...

what's the lesson to be learned?
trust who you work with for computer repairs... you've got confidential data on your computers whether it's financial data, important documents, and even just personal pictures. don't necessarily go with the cheapest option... it just may cause undue heartaches.

Outlook Email looks double-spaced to Recipient

Ever wonder why email messages that you send using Outlook looks double-spaced to the recipient? This is usually caused by the HTML coding that Outlook uses and will look double-spaced if the recipient is using web-based clients such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail. This happens because of the way Outlook creates line breaks in HTML and how browsers (like Internet Explorer and Firefox) or other clients interpret them. In some cases, the message is correctly spaced when received and only double spaced when replied to. Kinda annoying, huh?!

Cause
When you press Enter while creating HTML email, Outlook inserts a paragraph tag (< p >), so two Enters (for white space between the paragraphs) inserts two < p > tags, which shows up as double spaced when rendered in a browser.

Quick Fix
If you use Shift+Enter twice, which creates the line break tag (< br >), the message will not look double spaced in a browser.

Solutions
Here are your options:

1. Use plain text for messages. Plain text will render correctly in any and every email client available. (This option is not feasible for formatting your emails with various fonts, color, or emphasis. Nor will it give your email the pretty factor.)
2. Press Enter once, not twice, when composing HTML formatted email. (Of course, this will not look great as the sender, and may look awkward to other Outlook recipients.)
3. Press Shift+Enter twice at the end of a paragraph, rather than pressing Enter twice. (The optimal choice!)
4. Just ignore it as an inconstancy in the way various applications handle HTML. (Who cares. Let your recipients deal with it.)

woo-hoo! free internet =)

Q. i can usually pick up a number of wi-fi signals on my pc at home, especially since i live right in the heart of georgetown (washington, dc). i usually use my neighbor's wi-fi signal since it's the strongest. i mentioned it to my neighbor, who doesn't really care, but he suggested that we could share the costs of the monthly internet subscription. this would save us both some money, but is it really ethical?

A. first, kudos to you for being honest about it and asking your neighbor if you could ride his connection. there are a lot of people out there that don't ask.

now, in terms of sharing the subscription charges... your neighbor is technically renting the bandwidth from his internet service provider, and technically you wouldn't be - which would result in zero revenue for the isp if you just "shared" the costs. this is essentially the same as tapping into a cable-tv line or illegally copying music cd's or dvd's.

it would probably be in your best interest to subscribe to your own internet connection and invest in a wireless router. and this is why - data encryption, increased security while you're connected to the internet, and better throughput. be advised that hackers are out there and they do have the capability to intercept wi-fi signals to steal credit-card numbers, passwords, and other confidential information.

Press "1" For New Phone Systems

Technology is transforming the way we do business. Now more then ever, business technology is becoming more powerful – and more affordable. Solutions that were previously too costly for small and medium-sized businesses are now available that fit most any budget, and that makes this a great time to evaluate some of your current office technology.

One technology that small and medium-sized businesses and home office users often forget about is their phone system. In this age of email, websites, virtual customer service and online order fulfillment, it’s easy to forget how important our phone systems are for communicating with our customers.

Is your current phone system meeting your needs? Here are a few things to consider:

Can your phone system route calls to individual extensions in your organization? It’s great to have a receptionist that can field all calls and direct them to the appropriate employee, but that’s not always possible. A phone system can do that quickly and efficiently. Instead of getting passed around from person to person, a caller can listen to a menu and in a matter of seconds, be transferred to the person they need to speak with. Menu options can also include services. Callers who need to place an order can press “1,” others needing to track an order can press “2,” those needing store operating hours can press “3,” etc. This saves you time, and saves your caller lots of frustration.

Does your current phone system have voice mail? You would be surprised at the number of businesses that don’t allow customers to leave messages during off hours, or when there is no employee available to assist the caller. A customer can’t always call during business hours, so it’s important to provide that service. Today’s sophisticated phone systems can even offer the caller options. If all employees are busy, the caller can choose to leave a message, or wait on the line until the person they need to speak with becomes available.

Does your business have employees or contractors who work from home or from another location? There are affordable phone systems on the market that will allow you to pass calls seamlessly to that remote worker, as if they were in the office right next to you. The customer gets to the right person with one transfer, the employee gets the call immediately, and everyone wins. If you have employees with wireless phones, you can have their calls follow them, as well, making sure that you never lose an important call.

First impressions count for a lot. If you walk into a retail establishment for the first time, chances are you will have formulated an opinion about the business in the first minute of being there. Now, have you considered the impression that your customers get when they call you? A professional phone system can make a huge impact. You might be a small office with just a handful of employees, or you may be in a home office by yourself, but a sophisticated phone system can streamline your operation, and give you a polished, professional appearance. Those first few moments can be crucial when it comes to building long-term relationships with your customers.

Think managing all of these features seems difficult? Not so. A phone system with a computer-based interface can allow you to manage voice mail settings, messages, call routing, even hold music – quickly and easily, with just a few clicks of your mouse.

While these features might seem like things that are outside of the average budget of many small and medium-sized businesses, there are definitely affordable solutions out there for every budget. If you haven’t evaluated your current phone system, take the time to do that today, and take advantage of the new technology that’s out there. Your business depends on it!

i wish i had backed up my data!!! =(

"Why didn't i backup my data before my hard drive crashed?!?" "All my pictures and music were on that drive." "I just never got around to backing up." or "My laptop was stolen and it contained all my important documents."

Source: Aha! Jokes, http://www.AhaJokes.com/

These are just some of the many familiar things we hear from people in a panic because their computer failed or something terrible happened to their laptop or external storage device. Time and time again, we advise our clients to keep their data backed up continuously. Yet time and time again, we hear those excuses.

These days, there are several ways to backup data. One way is to manually back data up onto a CD or DVD or USB Stick. Of course, CD's and DVD's are limited in space and burning a CD or DVD each time you backup would be cumbersome and would eventually lead to a large library of CDs and DVDs. USB Drives come in various GB sizes and are much easier to write over and carry around. However, these drives can also eventually fail or get lost.

Another method is to use an external portable hard drive. These drives are usually the size of a small book and can easily store hundreds of GBs of data. Plus, they are portable and easy to configure for regular backups.

With today's hi-speed connections, we always recommend the offsite data backup option. This kind of computer backup is no longer an option just for big corporations. Small businesses, home offices, and individuals can now take advantage of backing up their data to a remote data center at affordable rates.

So what are the advantages to subscribing to an offsite data backup service?

Whether you're a small business or home user, all types of data are stored on computers. Financial data, student projects and homework, logos, media files, vacation photos, email, movies, etc. The list goes on and on.

Imagine spilling a drink on your laptop. Imagine opening an email that unsuspectingly had a virus. Imagine an unfamiliar clicking noise coming from your computer, then it suddenly dies.
According to Time Magazine, 1600 laptops are stolen daily in the U.S. Imagine if that was your laptop. Of course, there are also tragic events that can occur such as flooding or fires.

The point is this - offsite data backup is a viable solution for all computer users and is highly recommended. Your data would be securely located offsite, so if a major event were to occur at your location, a copy of your data is located elsewhere. Most offsite data services encrypt your data, so your data would be secure.

Don't put it off. However you decide to backup your data, just do it. It only takes a few minutes to configure once and would definitely be worth your while. You don't want to be quoting one of those statements at the beginning of this post later on.

Thanks for checking us out! =)

As the #1 Computer Services and Technology Solutions provider in the Washington, DC area, we want to provide a source for individuals and businesses to learn about technology - what they are, how they work, and what everyone should know.

In our world today, we all use technology... whether it's a computer, or writing an email, or even using a wireless device such as a cellphone. Technology is everywhere! And technology makes our life easier. But in many ways, it also complicates our lives.

What happens when your computer suddenly crashes? What do you do? How do you protect yourself from the evils of identity theft or viruses? What do you need to know about wireless security? What can you do to minimize downtime and risk?

Our blog is here to help and provide the Washington DC area some easy-to-understand computer tips and information. If there is something specific you'd like to know, give us a ring! We are happy to answer any questions or provide a free asssessment.

Concerto Networks of Washington, D.C.