I like to consider myself a man of efficiency. I usually get right to the point and try not to waste time, whether it’s mine or someone else’s. One of the things that always got under my skin was watching people take their hands off of their keyboard to use the mouse for something that was easier (and usually faster) to do with a keyboard. For example, when logging on to a computer, there is no need to move the mouse from the Username to the Password field and then to the OK button. Rather, simply press the TAB key on your keyboard to jump from field to field. And hey, if you go past the field you were trying to get to, simply press SHIFT-TAB.
The spirit of this article is not to make you feel dumb, but rather to help you gain some efficiencies when working with your computer. There are far too many keyboard shortcuts to explain in one article, but I have outlined some of the more popular ones here and how you can use them.
Let’s start with the basics keyboard shortcuts…
CTRL + C - This is used when you want to copy text. You’re probably now asking yourself, but in order to copy text, I need to highlight something and that requires a mouse. Try moving the cursor in a block of text next to the words or phrase that you want to copy and then hold the Shift key down while moving the arrow keys over the text. That will select it for you, and then you simply need to hit CTRL + C.
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You’ve got documents everywhere. You’ve got a document on how to reset the alarm when it starts blaring for no reason, and you’ve got one that tells you how billing works for your top 5 clients. Some are stored in your home folder and another is located at P:\Company\Data\Tommy’s Folder\Building Maintenance\Snow Removal\.
Let’s be honest, it’s insanity.
A lot of people would say that you need a document management system. While a DM system would be great, they are very difficult to implement. You can take the first step in the right direction with the help of a wiki. In a small business, a wiki is going to help you collect some of the tribal knowledge that you know exists.
So how do you start?
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Choosing the right smartphone for both business and pleasure can be a daunting task. There are many choices these days that make the decision making process quite difficult when shopping for a new device.
Historically, BlackBerry has been the go-to device for business professionals. The iPhone has MS Exchange integration and loads of useful applications which makes it worthy of consideration as well. Finally, there is the most recent favorite, a group of smartphones running the Google Android operating system.
For the past three years, I have used a BlackBerry. My first Blackberry ever was the 8830 World Edition. I loved this phone and used it for a full year until the trackball stopped working properly. I immediately moved to the fresh new (at the time) “iPhone killer”, the Storm. With its sleek touch screen and BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) integration, this phone served me well. About 1 month ago, I was ready for a new phone. I have to admit, with the growing popularity of the Android OS and the huge selection of phones available, I knew I was it was only time before I switched over. I settled with the Motorola Droid X in August 2010.
My Droid X is the ultimate device. It serves my business needs (email, calendaring, organizing) and certainly serves the inner-geek in me with such apps as “Paper Toss”. It comes bundled with a 4.3-inch 854×480 screen, 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 24GB storage, 8-megapixel stills, 720p HD video, HDMI Micro out, three microphones for noise cancellation and wireless N with 3G hotspot powers. I have discovered a plethora of cool apps in the short time I have had the device.
If you are currently shopping for a replacement smartphone, here are a few worthwhile Android apps geared towards fulfilling your business needs.
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While CDP is becoming increasingly popular with SMBs, weigh its advantages and disadvantages with your clients’ specific business needs in mind.
By some estimates, more than half of U.S. businesses do not fully back up, or successfully recover, their data in the event of a failure. For SMBs, this can be devastating. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that more than 40 percent of businesses that close down following a disaster never reopen. Of the remaining companies, at least 25 percent will close within two years.
Because of limited resources, some SMBs are using less-than-optimal backup and recovery methods, and some are even dodging the issue altogether. In the event of an IT failure, the consequences can be devastating. According to a recent national survey of small business owners by Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of Staples Inc., more than 70 percent of respondents say an IT security incident that takes business operations offline for a day would detrimentally impact their companies or put them out of business altogether.
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