Windows 7 has many features which makes it a great improvement over earlier systems. However, like most things, if you are unaware of all these features you could be missing out.

By mastering a few simple tricks, you can get the most out of Windows 7.

• If you want to copy images from your computer to a CD or DVD it is now much simpler with Windows 7. Double-click the ISO image you want to burn and select the drive that has your blank disc in it. After selecting the “burn” option all you have to do is wait!

• Finding and repairing problems is extremely simple with Windows 7. If you feel like your OS is operating oddly select the “troubleshooting” option from the “Control Panel”. This gives you access to a series of wizards that can help you eliminate clutter and tidy up your system.

• What if you have younger members of your family who insist upon installing cumbersome software onto your computer? Install an excessive amount of this software, and your computer will become a sluggish mess. Fortunately, Windows 7 has the AppLocker feature. This feature enables you to run and install only programs with your pre-approval. For example, you can tell AppLocker to only run programs created by reputable companies such as Microsoft. If your kids try to install a program from an unknown publisher, AppLocker will block it.

• One great feature for individuals that work remotely is its power efficiency service. It’s easy to get information about the quantity of power your laptop is using, which is often important if you’re working on a project and are away from a power source.

It’s time to put a common misconception to rest: “isn’t WordPress only a blogging platform?” Although this used to be the case, according to an article by Tech Crunch, around 22% of newly published websites are created on WordPress. What’s more impressive, one of the most popular publishers is using WordPress as their platform.

Here are 7 things you should know about WordPress:

1. With WordPress it is not necessary to rebuild your pages eachtime you wish to update your site. Updating your content is fast and easy, as WordPress has dynamic page generation.
2. You can get a free website at WordPress.com with subdomains. This is a good way to cut costs if you don’t mind .wordpress.org at the end of your domain.
3. If you have your own domain and hosting account, WordPress can be installed in minutes (WordPress calls it their ‘famous 5-minute install’).  No coding skills required.
4. Are there minimum requirements? Yes, if you’re hosting your own website outside of WordPress, there are some requirements to consider. To get the appropriate support at some point, you must make sure you have the correct MySQL and PHP versions on your server.
5. There are scores of great looking templates (known as “themes”) available from different sources on the Internet. Many are free, some are not. In any case, choosing the right design for your website is quick and easy.
6. Managing your web site, posts, media, and all other materials in WordPress can be achieved easily through their user-friendly dashboard. You can even manage multiple users!
7. WordPress has many plugins developed by users that make e-commerce simple. You can promote, review, as well as sell products by using these without having to look for additional add-ons.

We always read about the most popular gadgets on the market. But for every technology that changes our lives there is something that flops. It’s hard to judge what the general public will take a fancy too, so companies take a risk every time they release something. Below we explore a handful of technologies that fall outside of the “took flight” category.

Famous tech failures

• Apple TV: Apple TV lets customers buy their entertainment straight from iTunes and stream it on their computers, handheld devices, or TVs. The regrettable thing about this, which may be the reason behind its less then popular ranking, is that it is somewhat restricted to iTunes.

• Sony Mylo: The Mylo came and went very quickly so you may not recall it. It was geared toward the 18 to 20 something crowd and was a Wi-Fi-enabled mobile device. It allowed people to play games, connect to the Internet, and also had Skype preinstalled on it. Sadly, the presence of the iPhone and its extensive app store overshadowed it.

The Segway peters out

• Segway PT: The Segway PT scooter had a lot of media hype before its launch. It was expected to be wildly successful, that it may even replace cars in metropolitan areas. However, people thought it made them look sort of silly so it never quite caught on. I suppose next to a flashy sports car there is no comparison.

The CueCat doesn’t purr

• CueCat: The CueCat was a digital barcode reader made by Digital Convergence Corporation. In the shape of a cat, this device allowed the consumer to scan a bar code and be automatically guided to a company’s website. This did not go over well, but it may have paved the way for the now widespread QR code.

If you use Microsoft Outlook on a frequent basis, chances are that you most likely take it for granted. Outlook has been around for many years, helping us organize our email and our schedules. It may seem uncomplicated, but it is in fact a very powerful and robust program. In order to make the most of your experience with Outlook, let’s take a look at some of its unknown features.  Below we’ve layed out only 3 of the often-overlooked functions that help you work more efficiently.

Eliminate the Clutter

Using Outlook’s “Conversation View” can help keep your email conversations neatly in one thread rather of being spread out over days of email backlog.  The drawback to Conversation View is that often these emails are cluttered with duplicate material from old emails.  To quickly eliminate this annoyance, merely right-click the conversation and select the “Clean Up Conversation” option.  Now all of the recurring quoted material will be removed from the conversation.

Say it in a Picture

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, if you can include screen shots in your email messages. Just think of how many thousands of words you can avoid typing! Due to Outlook, dropping in screenshots of something on your desktop is simple. From Outlook, just click on the “Insert” tab. Then click the “Screenshot” option. This will bring up little pictures of all the windows open on your desktop. To insert one in your email message, justselect it.

Take Out the Trash

Did you know that all those old emails in your trash folder are taking up lots of valuable space? It can be easy to forget to empty our email trash. Outlook has made that simple too! Choose the “File” tab and then select “Options.” Go to the “Advanced” section and look for the “Start” and “Exit” options. By checking the box after “Empty Deleted Items” when exiting Outlook, this will enable Outlook to automatically get rid of your trash folder every time you exit the program.

It is easy to fall into the mistaken idea that you currently have enough safeguards in position to protect your small business. You probably stay up to date with the latest antivirus software, but is that enough? You also probably think that since you’re not really a huge corporation, you don’t have to worry about cyber criminals hacking into your system. But here’s the unlucky reality: cyber criminals have upped their game and are starting to target small businesses increasingly more. Let’s take a closer look to  give you a better understanding of the level of danger your business may be under.

Small firms: low-hanging fruit

It might seem obvious, when you think about it, that small businesses make fast and simple targets of cyber attacks. Cyber criminals can launch attacks on small businesses at a faster rate, which greatly improves the likelihood that they will succeed on stealing some valuable information. Don’t be fooled into thinking that your small company doesn’t have important information that a hacker might want to steal. The simple act of paying via credit card means that your system must verify the card’s validity. This verification information can include names, addresses, account numbers, and more.

How hackers gain access to your data

Even though you probably have systems in position to defend your information, hackers will make use of multiple points of entry, so firewalls alone might not be enough. Destructive email attachments are one of the biggest offenders. These attachments can leave your system wide open for data mining. This year alone in the first quarter, 6 million malware programs were found. Aside from these more high-tech tactics, cyber criminals also use low-tech methods to steal information. Phone calls or even personal visits by someone pretending to be a network administrator or security firm can be detrimental. We all hope our workers are smart enough not to be seduced by an obvious phishing scam, but it only takes one slip up to open yourself up for attack.

The buck stops with you

Many people believe that since credit card companies are usually accountable for any bogus charges that occur from a hacking event, that data security isn’t crucial. While this may be true for a consumer, for a business owner the result may be very different. Consumers will hold you accountable personally should their information be stolen. Damage control after an attack can cost a business thousands of dollars and in some cases a single attack can spell the end of business in general.

An ounce of prevention…

Taking extra precautions when it comes to your business’ data security is a very wise move. Continue to update your programs and passwords on a regular basis. Teach your employees good security practices like setting up strong passwords and instructing them to never give out login information or open suspicious emails. Hiring an outside consultant is another great way to ensure your clients’ information. These measures not only give you peace of mind, they tell your clients that you care about keeping them safe.

Often, in business, concentrating on the strategy of the company is the main objective.
Is that because it’s the most important aspect to concentrate on? Many businesses think so, but exclusively concentrating on strategy can lead a company into stagnation. People make up a company and they collectively make the culture of the company. Culture does not just affect the employees in your office, it impacts your brand, marketing, and how the public in general views your business. Without a healthy thriving culture a brand has little potential for long-term success.  When we examine brands like Apple, Google, or Starbucks we not only recognize the logo, but we correlate a number of feelings and thoughts about these businesses. This is mainly due to the culture of these companies.

Why Culture is so Important

Giving your employees a sense of ownership over their jobs makes them feel empowered, and empowerment fosters innovative thinking. This all starts with a healthy workplace culture. If people feel invisible or stifled in their work place, they will do the minimum required of them. It’s human nature to want to feel like we are part of something and that we have some control over our lives. Don’t forget that your brand is made up of the individuals in your company. So nurturing a good company culture is not just the responsibility of the HR department, but of everyone, from the CEO to the janitor.

If you are not yet convinced, here are a couple of the obvious advantages of fostering a healthy culture.

• Focus – The old adage is true; two heads are better then one. When all the people in a company are devoted to the same goal, everything runs more efficiently. This kind of focus comes with a healthy culture; your employees will care about the collective goal because they feel like they are a part of it. When people do not feel like they are part of the team, they don’t care about the goal, and this can lead to cynicism.

• Cohesion – Healthy culture can result in strong communication in good and bad times. In a place where there is unhealthy culture people may frequently resent being told what to do because they don’t feel their ideas are heard or appreciated. When a problem occurs they may avoid pointing it out because they fear backlash.

• Motivation – It may seem obvious that a motivated workforce gets things done, but companies that are not aware of the health of their culture could be suffering when it comes to efficiency.

Measuring the Cultural Health of Your Company

This can be a difficult step but should be evaluated a few times a year. One of the first steps is to examine how people are managed, how tasks are given out, and do people have some say in what they’re doing? Obviously you might find some people who will never be happy, but if the general opinion is unfavorable, start thinking about making a few changes for the healthy of your organization. Check back soon for a few tips on transforming your company’s culture for the better.

If the rumors are true, Microsoft is stepping up considerably to join the fight against cyber crime. Allegedly, Microsoft is developing a real-time feed that documents current cyber threats and provides necessary steps to protect against them.

Microsoft has already had success in taking down botnets. In doing so, the company collects a great deal of useful data about the threats that these botnets pose. The process works like this: Microsoft basically swallows the botnets. This, in turn, sends botnet-infected hosts to addresses that are under Microsoft’s control. This captures the infected hosts and takes them offline.

This collected data is now given to ISPs, private and government agencies, & CERTs. While real-time data may not lessen the quantity of attacks by malicious code, the impact of sharing this data will likely be quite remarkable. IT security companies should be able to respond more speedily to these threats and therefore be able to limit the amount of damage they can cause.

Even more importantly than a reduction in damage, a live threat feed could mean that the IT security industry overall will start to share more data.  It’s been a long-standing belief that sharing confirmed threat data may lead to copycat attacks. However, this is not a sound concern. Cyber criminals are already sharing tips and tricks and ways to get around security systems. It only makes sense for the IT security industry to be sharing their expertise in how to combat these cyber criminals.

Microsoft’s real-time feed is a great first step toward a change for the better in IT security. Let’s hope this trend persists and that the IT security world will discover that secrecy is not more useful than sharing information!

Businesses that have struggled in these tough economic times have found some relief in the cloud. The cloud can save a company a lot of money. Never the less, the cloud is not ideal for everyone, particularly when it comes to security concerns. There is a chance that documents, presentations, and data could be damaged or destroyed when stored in the cloud.

Password issues

Password protection is an important issue when dealing with the cloud and personal computers as well. Passwords can often be easily guessed or they are shared too freely.

Business owners must be careful to choose passwords to their cloud projects that are difficult for others to guess. The best solution is for owners to include a blend of letters and numbers in their passwords. Owners also need to be cautious about sharing their passwords with too many people. The more people who have access to passwords, the more in danger important data and documents are.

Hacker alert

Hackers, malware, and spyware are issues for anybody who owns a computer. Likewise, they are significant issues for cloud environments. As a user of a third party cloud storage service, you do not have control over the security of the cloud which could be very scary for business owners. Large companies must set up their own security for the data that is stored in the cloud.

Common sense protection

Protecting yourself from theft in the cloud can be as simple as applying some common sense practices.

First, owners should think about what type of information they’re storing in the cloud. The most sensitive data, data that could damage a company if it is lost or stolen, may not be ideal for cloud storage. Instead, this data may be better preserved on a business owner’s individual computing system and reliably backed up.

Secondly, be careful about who is allowed access to the data stored in the cloud. It seems obvious that business owners protect their laptops and desktops with passwords. The same should be applied to the cloud.

The benefits of storing information in the cloud are extensive. Backing up important data, freeing up space on your servers, and having your data easily available to your staff are only a few. If you’ve been looking into this route, you almost certainly have many questions about the security of the cloud. If your company deals with sensitive information that belongs to your clients you may need to stay compliant with HIPAA, PCI or Sarbanes-Oxley regulations.

Do cloud storage solutions follow these regulations? Are they required to? If they haven’t spelled it out in their privacy policies, it is safest to assume they are not compliant. We will explore this more below.

Compliance

Cloud security has become an important issue recently, as increasing numbers of companies turn to online storage solutions, looking for greater simplicity, scalability and affordability. Yet the cost in both money and reputation for poor handling of customer data can be extremely high indeed. If your business should comply to key regulations associated with patient privacy (HIPAA), credit card security (PCI) or the finance-sector strictures of Sarbanes-Oxley, it can be hard to find out if a service complies with these important restrictions.

Who is responsible

Whose responsibility is the security of the cloud? It is not currently required that a service provider be specific about their compliance with these regulations. While the safest option is to assume that if they haven’t clearly stated that they are in compliance in their privacy policy, they are not. This may mean that cloud computing is not for you. However, if your business does not require tight regulations, then the advantages of cloud computing could be an excellent solution for you. 

Ultimately, as there is no current law that states that companies must disclose how tight their security is, the responsibility is in your hands. You must weigh the pros and cons of cloud storage to decide if it’s suitable for your business. 

Disasters can happen to any company and they come in many forms and severities. They can be anything from a natural disaster, to a well-meaning employee accidently downloading a dangerous virus, to something essential getting mistakenly deleted. These what-ifs can keep you up at night, so for your own reassurance develop a disaster recovery plan.

Decide What’s Important

The first step is to determine what data is vital to your business. What data must be recovered quickly for your company to run? This will tell you what you should back up.

Make a Plan

Next, decide what steps have to be taken to recover that data that is lost if a disaster strikes? What data and systems must be up and running first? Start with the worst possible scenario and decide what’s needed.

Know Your Workflows

I’m sure you have an overall understanding of the way your company is run, but knowing every last process is almost impossible. That’s why you have employees. Have your employees document their workflows so that any team member can execute the tasks in case of an emergency.

Decide Who is in Charge

Depending on the kind of disaster you go through, your employees could panic.  Before this happens, select one levelheaded person in the organization to be “in charge” of the disaster recovery plan. They should know the plan as well as you do and possibly have helped you develop it. This is the individual you turn to for execution of the plan, so that you can be the strong leader your employees need at a time like this.

When we hear of disaster people often think it can’t happen to them, but we never know what is around the corner. It’s important to be prepared. Having a strong disaster recovery plan will not only make you feel more secure, but will comfort your employees as well.