One of the quintessential tools of the mobile warrior (the new-age road warrior) is the laptop. They are great for the mobile crowd and many businesses are even starting to use them in the office because they take up less space. Despite their comparatively high portability, they do have a bit of a rough side. Most laptops get hotter more quickly than a desktop, which can make them hard to use for extended periods. Luckily, there are a number of ways you can minimize the heat your laptop kicks out.

Here's five tips on how to reduce the heat your laptop generates

Keep it out of the heat and sun - Laptops are designed to operate within a set heat range (usually between 30 and 55 Celsius or 86 to 131 Fahrenheit). If the ambient temperature is high, the laptop's operating temperature will be higher, which will greatly increase component wear and the chances of your device overheating. It's best to keep your laptop in a cooler room and out of the sun. If that's not possible, turn off your computer when it's not in use.

Put your laptop on your desk, not the couch - Those pieces of rubber on the corners of the underside of your laptop are like tiny feet, they are meant to provide enough space for air to circulate under the device and cool it. You'll notice that if you keep your laptop on a fabric surface like a couch or table with a tablecloth, the bottom gets really hot. To avoid this, it's best to keep your laptop on a solid, flat surface.

Don't use your laptop on your lap - Despite the name, laptops don't the best thing to use on your lap. There have been incidents in the past of laptops overheating and burning users. This happens because air can't circulate under the laptop and pull heat away. So best to keep your laptop on a flat surface rather than on your lap.

Invest in a cooling pad or lapdesk - If you find that the bottom of your laptop gets hot even on a desk, you could look for a cooling pad. Your laptop sits on this device, which plugs into your USB port, while fans cool down your machine by circulating air. If you feel comfortable with your laptop on your lap then look for a lapdesk which has a flat surface for it to sit on.

Clear dust out of the machine - Dust is one of your laptop's worst enemies. It often collects in nooks and crannies and over time can cause components to stop working. One place you'll often find a lot of dust is on the cooling fan's blades. If it builds up, your fans will not be able to spin and cool your laptop. To tell if your fans are affected by dust: Put your hand near the fan vents and run a power intensive program, or watch an HD movie. If you can feel a steady stream of hot air coming out, you are ok. If you don't feel anything, it might be time to clean your fan.

With many laptops, you won't be able to access the fan without opening the case. It's important to remember that many manufacturers have a clause that if you open the case, the warranty is voided. If your machine is still under warranty, take it into a vendor to be cleaned. Also, if you're unsure about what you're doing when you open the case, it's best to let professionals clean your computer instead.

It's good to remember that laptops will always be warm to hot when you use them, and more power intensive programs will cause them to heat up even more. If you don't take steps to manage the heat though you could see the life of components and your battery decreasing, and an increase in random shutdowns. If your laptop shuts down, or starts to beep, this is a good indication the components are overheating. You should give your computer at least half an hour to cool down before starting up again.

In general, not taking care of your laptop will mean you will have to replace it earlier, which is an added expense many businesses can't afford in this current economic climate. If you find that your laptop isn't running the way it used to, and seems increasingly hot, don't go out and buy a new one. Instead, give us a call, as we may have a cool solution for you.

The Boy Scouts are famous for their motto, 'Be Prepared'. And many live up to it. In an interview, Robert Baden-Powell, Founder of the Boy Scouts was once asked what they should be prepared for. His answer, "Anything". Companies should take this to heart, and always be prepared for every eventuality. One way this can be done is through Business Continuity - a plan or system that helps businesses get through disasters relatively unscathed. If you're looking to adopt a continuity plan, there's a few things you should prepare beforehand.

Here's four questions you should answer when looking into adopting a Business Continuity plan.

1. What systems need to be recovered first? A good idea is to request each department/role list their essential systems and rank them in the order they need them back online in order to do their jobs. From here, you can compare answers and rank them in priority. For example, If all roles say they need Internet connection back online first, you know that the Internet is the first system that needs to be recovered.

2. What do we need to assure customers of stability? For the majority of businesses, the customer is the lifeblood. However, most customers will only stick around for a limited amount of time before going to a competitor if your business can't meet their needs. To keep customers loyal during a time of disaster, you need to prove you are either stable, or working to get there. Some examples of this could be a backup site with basic functionality that can take the place of your main website if it goes down.

3. What do business partners require? Your business partners are just as important as your customers and are often the link between the two. With partners, you often have set requirements that you need to meet in order to continue order fulfillment and shipment. You need to be aware of what these are and the related systems. After all, how are you going to get your product to your customers?

4. Are there any contractual requirements with vendors? Businesses that work with suppliers or vendors often have contractual obligations such as payment due on a certain date, or a set product order volume to fulfill the contract. As with business partners, you need to be clear on what these obligations are, and how you meet them. For example, if you pay a supplier on the 10th of every month, most will expect payment on the 10th, regardless of if you are operational or not.

Once you have the answers you needed you can take a step back and try to come up with a timeline of how long continuity actions should take and what your priorities are. From here, you can draft an actual plan, or look for vendors that can work with your systems and provide a continuity plan or service that meets your needs.

If you are looking for a business continuity system for your business please give us a call, we may have a solution that fits with your business.

One of the bigger tech trends of 2012 was the cloud. Browse through tech news and it's hard not to see some news piece on some form of cloud technology. While at times the media can be critical there have been lots of positive coverage about the cloud. Companies large and small are starting to realize the benefits. In 2013 you will likely see businesses increasingly migrate some, or all, of their processes to the cloud. Is your company one of these?

Here are five things you should ask cloud service providers when looking to make the move to the cloud.

1. Is your service compatible with my existing systems? As a small or medium business, you likely don't have the funds to do a one-time, full transition into the cloud. This means, that it would be a good idea to ask cloud providers if their systems are compatible with yours and if you will be able to easily migrate your data over. Beyond that, you should also ask if you can get your systems off the cloud.
2. How does your data security work? Security of data in the cloud is always a top issue for all businesses. Before committing, It's a good idea to get a picture of where exactly your data will be stored, who has access to it and the  level of storage security.
3. What is your performance and availability? Numerous outages affecting cloud services happened in 2012. While few lasted more than half a day, this got many questioning just how stable the cloud is. When talking to cloud providers you should ask them what their uptime guarantees are and if their cloud is scalable - if you need more computing resources, are they available?
4. What is your support policy? As you will likely not be hosting a cloud server in your office, you will be at the whim of the provider. It's advisable to suss out their support policy, such as whether they have a dedicated emergency contact and the general response time to issues and enquiries.
5. How does your fee structure work? Finally, ask about the fee structure the provider uses. Most cloud operators offer numerous pricing schemes that companies can take advantage of.

Finding the right cloud service for your company can be a long and often tough task. Asking the right questions, comparing what different providers say and finally comparing the findings against your needs, should help you find the perfect provider. If you're interested in learning more about cloud services and how they can be employed in your business, why not start with us? We may have the perfect solution for you. Give us a call today.

For users of Windows systems the threat of a security breach is an ever-present one that has many security experts constantly worrying. The thing is, many systems are secure enough from outside attacks, and many scammers know this. As a result, scammers have switched tactics and have taken to masquerading as Windows technicians, hoping to get users to give up their credit cards.

These scams have long been a part of the Windows environment. Despite users being fully aware of these attacks, some people still falling into the trap.

These deceptions generally follow the same formula: A person calls you pretending to be from the Windows technical team at Microsoft. The scammer usually tells you that they need to renew their software protection licenses to keep their computer running.

Most of the time, these scammers spread the conversation out over a number of phone calls and emails, the goal being to gain the trust of the user. Once trust is established, or the user seems interested enough, the scammer will offer a seeming sweet deal: They will offer a service that will make your computer run like new, usually for a seemingly reasonable price.

The scammer will then use remote PC support software to show you 'problems' your computer is having. They will usually show you the Windows Event Viewer - a part of the OS that shows errors, usually harmless, that your computer has generated. The scammer will then convince the user that these errors are harmful, and if you have paid, they will make it look like they are cleaning your computer.

If you give them your credit card number, you will likely see ridiculous charges, or even have people trying to access your accounts.

What's being done? Governments are aware of this increasingly common trend, and some organizations, like the FTC, have taken measures to shut down scammers. This article from ars technica gives a good overview of what exactly the FTC is doing, while another article provides a first-hand account of how the scammers operate.

What can we do? While action is being taken, these scams are still continuing. From what we can tell, they likely won't stop in the near future. To ensure you don't fall prey to this trickery, these five tips should help you identify when an attempted scam is at play:

1. Microsoft doesn't call people.
2. Windows Event Manager is a log of errors for ALL programs.
3. Microsoft employees will never ask for your passwords.
4. Most of these scammers operate out of call centers in India, but bill from the US.
5. Microsoft employees won't usually ask you to install software that's not made by Microsoft.

As a rule of thumb: If you get an unsolicited call about your computers and IT security, it's likely not genuine. If these criminals provide you with a website, do a quick Google search to see if there have been any scam reports. You can also join the No-Call Registry if you are in the United States. To learn more about these scams, please contact us.

To many, the entrepreneur is viewed with admiration and jealousy. How come you have to work long hours for a company that doesn't really care about you while the entrepreneur gets to run their own life and have a seemingly perfect work-life? This view, as many business owners know, is often a laughable one as work-life balance can be non-existent. It doesn't have to be this way however and with a little work on your productivity you can actually get something akin to a good balance.

Here are three tips to help small business owners or managers be more productive and from that achieve a more desirable work-life balance.

Learn how you spend your time To be productive, you need to know how you spend your time. The easiest way to do this is to keep a log, or journal, of what you do each day. You should include everything you do in relation to work, including: travel time, Facebook breaks, time spent checking emails, meetings, etc.

The goal here is twofold. Firstly, you get a solid glimpse of how you spend each day; secondly, you can see if there is anything you do that takes up way too much time. Some experts suggest you do this for a week at least. To get the best results though, it would be better to do this for at least two weeks to a month.

There are a number of different ways you can go about journaling your activities. For the old-fashioned among us, go buy a day-timer that has at least one page per each day. For the more technical, your email programs like Outlook or Gmail have powerful calendars that you can record activities on. For the mobile crowd, mobile versions of Outlook, Google Calendar or even your phone's native calendar app will work great.

When you have your day timer/calendar app, it's time to start recording your activities. Record when you start one, and when you finish. From there, clearly label the activity. Over a few weeks, or even days, you will begin to see a clear picture of how you spend your time.

Plan to be more productive After you have figured out where you spend your time, you can begin to schedule around your strengths and weaknesses. The key here is to schedule time that is uninterrupted so you can focus on one task. If you find that you are checking your email every five minutes, it may be a good idea to schedule time in the morning and just after lunch for checking and replying to emails. When you aren't in that time period, you can work in a focused way on something else.

By sticking to a more rigid schedule you will find your productivity starts to rise. If you are having a tough time keeping to a set schedule, try using the pomodoro technique. This is where you set a certain amount of time for one task, and gradually increase the amount of time you focus on that task.

Play off your strengths If you are a small business owner, chances are you wear lots of hats. One minute you're wearing a spiffy salesperson hat while the next you're wearing an HR hat. This constant switching of roles, or doing everything yourself, is not good business practice.

If you are aware that you are constantly spending time on bookkeeping and yet hardly get anything done because you lack the necessary accounting skills, it may be a good idea to look into hiring a part-time accountant.

Many business owners struggle with delegation, as they feel the need to control everything. One way to challenge this idea is by looking at your hourly rate. If you charge $100 an hour and an accountant is $50 an hour, it makes sense to hire the accountant instead.

By outsourcing, you will find that you have more time to focus on what you're good at. As a result your productivity will rise and a better work-life balance will soon follow. If you'd like to learn more about how our IT systems can help make you even more productive, please contact us.

Last week we posted part two of our three part article about your IT revenue and how to maximize resources in the current business economy. For those who missed it: The article covered ways you can maximize your internal resources by using VoIP and other digital solutions, investing in the cloud and working with an MSP. This week, we look at the outward facing aspects of your IT solutions and what you can do to save costs.

Here are three ways you can save money or get the most out of your outward/customer facing IT resources.

Invest in a new website The website is the new hub of your business and customers look to it for information and often expect it to be there. If you don't have a functional website that provides your customers/future customers with what they need and want to know, there's a high chance that you will be losing sales.

You don't need a fancy website, just one that looks professional and represents your business. If you have a good website that is also optimized for search results, you can and will see your business show up higher in search results which means more exposure for your business.

This does seem a bit counter-intuitive - why spend money when you want to save it? However, having a website that appeals to your customers will increase the chances of both attracting and keeping new customers. If done in the right way, more eyes on your name means higher brand recognition. This in turn will lead to more enquires and potentially higher sales.

Get advertising social If you have a presence on any social media platform, it could pay to invest in social advertising. The reason advertising on social media platforms has become so popular is that you can target the most relevant people for your product or service.

When it comes to marketing and advertising: If you can target people who are already interested in your service or product, you are more likely to see higher conversions and sales. With other mediums, like paper, tv, etc. the audience is too wide and the cost too great to make it worthwhile for most small businesses. Social advertising is vastly more economical and often more powerful.

We're not saying you should stop all other forms of advertising, but you can scale them back, save costs, and invest in more targeted social advertising. If you pitch this just right you should see lower advertising costs coupled with higher real conversions.

Be a bigger part of the environment Being environmentally conscious is a big deal these days. Customers like to see that the company they are doing business with takes steps to reduce their waste/carbon footprint. Looking at the numbers though, 'going green' can be quite costly, especially if you have a larger office.

The key to remember is that when it comes to greening IT related processes you should start with conservation. One of the easiest ways to conserve starts with reducing the amount of paper you use. Instead of printing out bills or receipts, why not email them to your customers? If you send faxes or print lots, why not look into a virtual solution. Who knows, you may even be able to get rid of that expensive printer.

Striving to reduce waste is only half of the battle. Environmentally positive actions are a perfect thing to brag about on social media. Saved 300 sheets of paper this week? Tweet it. Customers who are environmentally conscious will look favourably upon this and are more likely to remember you when they next need a service you offer.

There are many things you can do to cut costs and maximize your IT resources. What is your company doing? If you're not sure, you should contact us. We can help ensure you get the best bang for your buck when it comes to IT.

Take a look at computers in almost every business and it's guaranteed that a large percentage of them will be running Microsoft Office. There are many different versions of Office, and Microsoft will officially release a new version of Office - 2013 - in Q1 2013, and businesses will be looking to upgrade. Those who do upgrade will undoubtedly have questions - one of the more common being how to change the default location where your documents are saved.

Here's how you can change the default save location, (where documents are saved), in Office 2013. By default, Office 2013 will save your documents to SkyDrive. Some users will want to change this so that documents are saved to their PC.

1. Open Microsoft Word and select a blank document.
2. Click File followed by Options.
3. Select Save.
4. Click the box that says Save to Computer by default.
5. Click Browse beside the Default local file location and select the file where you would like to save your documents. If you don't change the location, your files will be saved into your Documents folder.
6. Select Ok.

After you set the save location, you will notice that other Office programs will also be set to save in that location as well. If you're interested in upgrading to Office 2013 when it arrives please contact us.

When it comes to security most businesses take adequate steps to ensure their networks and systems are secure from the majority of attacks. The major problem with this is that many don't look beyond what they already do, and this is where security issues can harm them. One such security threat comes from social media. Your employees are likely using these platforms right now, and if you're happy about that then it's a good idea to develop a policy that ensures your business remains secure.

Here are five things you should integrate in a social media policy to ensure social media is conducted in a secure manner.

• Log in using HTTPS - HTTPS is a type of transfer protocol that ensures the data is transferred in a more secure manner between networks. Many websites like Facebook, Google, etc. support HTTPS, and you should ensure that you use it. To use HTTPS, you simply put an S at the end of the usual http address in the URL bar of your browser. I.e., https://facebook.com will open a more secure version of Facebook. By using HTTPS you can eliminate Man-in-the-Middle attacks and other similar types of phishing.
• Don't share personal information - This might seem like a no-brainer to some, but there are still users out there who love to share their personal information. It's important to remember that social media is all about being social. Most information you share can be viewed by others. The last thing you want is a hacker getting a hold of all of your contact info, etc. It's a good idea to limit your contact information and never give it out over social media.
• Update privacy settings - Social media sites, and the companies who run them, love to tinker with security settings on a fairly regular basis. This has led to a number of users being caught unaware of their security settings. It's a good idea to ensure that all of your profile information is private.
• Watch what you click on - Take a look at any service and you'll notice that the vast majority of content contains links. This is where hackers are starting to target, by placing malicious software connected to links, or hijacking accounts and sending links to users to get them to click on them. Tactics like these need to be highlighted, and you should tell your employees not to click on any suspicious links. If they receive links from friends that seem uncharacteristic, it's a good idea to not click on them.
• If you don't know them, they aren't your friend - Yes, social media is about connecting with people. However, when it comes to personal accounts, you should encourage your employees to be judicious in who they connect with. In general, if they don't know the person who has just tried to add them to their network then it's advisable not to do so.

The five tips above are just a few things you should include in a social media use policy in the office. It's important to have a solid policy if you want to ensure that your network and data remain safe from potential threats from social media. Looking to learn more about safety and security of your networks? Contact us, we may be able to help.

Last week we posted part one of our three part article on how to improve your IT revenue and maximize resources in the current business economy. For those who missed it: The article covered ways you can maximize resources you already have by being an outside thinker, always looking around and using facts to help determine your actions. This week, we look at the internal aspect of your IT solutions and what you can do to save costs.

Here's how you can maximize your internal IT costs.

Use VoIP and similar digital solutions Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has been around for a number of years and many companies, large and small, have integrated it into their offices. Because VoIP uses an Internet connection to send and receive phone calls, there's no need for expensive cabling and switchboards. Aside from lower overheads, many VoIP providers offer calling rates at a fraction of what most telephone providers charge. So, companies that make lots of long-distance calls can really benefit with VoIP.

While many businesses have integrated VoIP solutions, most don't go beyond that. If you use a fax machine, did you know that you can either digitize that and ditch the fax machine, integrate it with most modern email programs or use your VoIP connection to transmit fax data.

If you have a sales force who is constantly on the road or giving presentations, why not look into a Web conferencing system. Many systems, like Microsoft's Lync, allow users to hold conferences and share documents or presentations without having to leave the office.

Invest in the cloud One of the hottest current trends is the cloud. Currently there are two major types of cloud operations: Cloud storage and cloud based applications. All companies need to store documents. If they go with physical solutions like hard drives, backup tapes etc., it can get very expensive, very quickly. Cloud storage allows you to store all your documents off site, often at a fraction of the cost of physical storage solutions. Beyond that, you will have access to your documents as long as you have an Internet connection.

Cloud based applications come in many varieties, with the most popular being based around the office suite, or a hybrid of storage and application. Solutions like Google Drive which takes Google's office suite and combines it with a storage and sharing solution, is completely based in the cloud. The goal of Google Drive and other solutions, like Microsoft Office, is largely to provide a platform that enables easy collaboration and sharing at a fraction of the cost of more traditional solutions.

Integrating cloud based solutions can often times save you a ton of money, not only in operating costs but also long-term maintenance. As these services depend on a data connection and not sheer computing power, you won't have to replace your machines in order to upgrade to new software. This means lower costs all round.

Work with an MSP While this may seem counter-intuitive - why would a company want to pay to save money? Managed Service Providers (MSP) usually charge a monthly fee and offer a full service solution that aims to keep your systems running. Through preventative monitoring and ensuring systems are running, IT costs are often reduced in the long run. Beyond that, the chances of a major service outage are drastically reduced. Should anything happen to your business MSPs can have you up and running more quickly. allowing you to minimize potential downtime losses.

There are literally thousands of ways you can save money on IT and maximize your resources, and often experts like us can help you extend savings even further. So, why not give us a call and see what we can do. Also, stay tuned for part three of this article, covering how to save money on tech systems that your customers interact with.

Business owners are usually most successful when they are moving forward. As such, it's always a good idea to look into the future and see what coming trends your business should be aware of. When it comes to tech you might want to take a look at what hardware trends we expect for the coming year.

Here's our prediction of the top three hardware trends small to medium businesses can expect in the coming year.

Phones and tablets that fly The processing power and capabilities of both smartphones and tablets are advancing at a rapid pace. From the looks of it there should be an octo-core mobile processor (8 cores) introduced along with increasingly powerful quad-core processors. If an 8 core phone surfaces in 2013 it will give many modern computers a run for their money.

Four-core processors will also increase in power. For example: Samsung is rumored to be working with a new processor that could very well see speeds of up to 2Ghz (on par with entry to mid level computers). Sound like overkill for a phone? Perhaps, but put that processor in a tablet and you could see a mobile device that can handle almost anything.

Regardless of if these rumored processors make it into devices or not, small business owners should expect to see a wealth of phones and tablets that are not only affordable, but are powerful enough to either implement as an extension of the modern desktop, or even replace it.

Increasing demands for BYOD People have gone gadget happy. Take a look around the office. How many employees have a smartphone or tablet? Chances are high it's nearly 100%. With the sheer number of devices available at affordable rates you can bet that tech gadgets were a top gift unwrapped on Christmas morning. Come New Year, employees will be itching to bring their brand new devices into the office.

BYOD - Bring Your Own Device - is a growing demand and trend of employees. Who doesn't want to work on the system they are comfortable with? You can expect an increase in the number of requests for employees to bring in their own device. We're not here to discuss the pros and cons, but it may be time to look into developing a BYOD policy and ensuring your systems are secure enough to support this.

NFC NFC - Near Field Communication - isn't a new idea, but it is just now starting to make its way onto phones. Google and Android device manufacturers are leading the way on the mobile front and companies like Square are pushing the mobile wallet.

The goal of NFC technology is to allow your phone to be a wallet, and handle transactions wirelessly without the need for credit/debit cards or cash. Google is pushing NFC, and it's rumored that Apple will integrate it into new versions of their iPhone. If they do this you can bet that there will be a legion of smartphone users suddenly demanding to pay for things on their phone. This could become a major trend of 2013 that all small to medium businesses could capitalize off of.

These are just three trends that we could well see in 2013. Time will tell how these three ideas pan out. What do you think will be the the top tech trends for 2013? Let us know.