Trust me, they or their friends will try something at some point and you need to make sure it gets stopped, and that you know it happened.  My favorite software to do this is  K9 Web Protection.  It will automatically block any attempt for a computer to access an inappropriate site.  You, as the administrator can add other sites or unblock sites as needed.  K9 can even enforce the times during the day that the Internet can be accessed.  If you don’t want anyone accessing the Internet after 10 at night, it will do that.  And K9 is free.  

Some other great kid-safe resources for parents to check out include Kidzui, ZuiTube, and TotLOL.  If you are looking for a great white list or need to give your kiddo a safe email account, check out PikLuk!

Before you start, however, keep in mind you must have a Google profile to start. 

Next, let’s talk “lingo.”  The terms you need to remember are: circles, hangouts, and sparks.

Circles - Here is where Google+ is much better than Facebook.  Instead of having just one big pile of friends, Google+ allows you to group different people into circles.  For instance, you might create one for Family, another for Church Friends, and yet another for Business Associates.  Once your circles are created, Google+ makes it very easy to post messages just to certain circles OR to everyone. Facebook has this functionality with “groups” but it is not as easy to accomplish.

Hangouts - One of the coolest features of Google Buzz revolves around video.  Using Hangouts, you and a bunch of friends can all get together in a video chat room AT THE SAME TIME.  Whomever is speaking shows up in a large window and everyone else is in smaller windows.  When someone else starts speaking, they instantly jump to the large window.  You have to see it to really appreciate how cool it is.

Sparks - Imagine having a feed of JUST the topics you are interested in.  When you have free time, you can always check this feed for something you KNOW you will enjoy.  Using the “Add Interest” button, you can slowly teach Google what you like to see, and more importantly, what you DON’T want to see.

So, will it take off?  Well, my view is that Facebook is too entrenched to actually be beaten by Google+.  However, Google is now paying trendy and famous people to generate “buzz” about this service.  You never know.  With enough money thrown at it, Google+ may actually take off.

Well, this week, I want to share some of my favorite tricks to keep you focused.

1. Close multiple windows on your computer.  While the computer can easily multi-task, YOU cannot.  Only open the one program you need to get the job done.  You don’t need a little floating window off to the side showing your Twitter stream, Facebook updates, or stock quotes.  Shortcut: Hit the Windows-key + Home to minimize all but your active window.
2. Turn off Facebook Push Notifications on your Cell phone.  When this capability first came out, I thought it was pretty cool.  After all, when someone commented on one of my posts, I got the equivalent of a “text” on my cell phone tell me so!  However, it became incessant, interrupting my train of thought on a regular basis.
3. Only have your cell phone check your email manually, not every ten minutes.  In other words, when I am ready to check email on my phone, I simply click the email button and it checks right then and there, not at 2am in the morning, waking me to the important arrival of a random piece of spam.
4. As an addendum to rule #3, only check your email at specified times.  Constantly switching to your email program to “see if anything new is there” will waste time and break your concentration. Make a personal rule only to check email BETWEEN projects, not during them!

The necessity to “buy” an antivirus program is slowly going away.  Large companies are now adding them in to their software offerings at little or no charge.  Sometimes, when you buy a new computer, you will get a “free for a limited time” installation of some program, but eventually they will start hounding you for money.

As of this week, my favorite antivirus program is Microsoft Security Essentials.  For my Mac friends, check out iAntivirus.They run  unobtrusively in the background and have been very good at finding these nasty digital creatures.

However, I typically don’t rely on just ONE solution.  Sometimes you get a varmint that is truly slippery, so every once and a while I will check my entire system with Malware Bytes and SuperAntiSpyware.  These two programs don’t need to run all the time.  I just fire them up once a month or so, update them, and let them run (one at a time), while I go to lunch.

Remember, install these programs BEFORE you get a virus. Many viruses will attempt to infect any programs you install AFTER they have taken root!

If you truly get a bad virus, though, give our friendly techs a call at 806-353-0004. ]]> http://www.ericspellmann.com/wp/2011/06/27/my-favorite-and-free-antivirus-programs/feed/ 0 http://www.ericspellmann.com/wp/2011/03/31/the-death-of-the-small-business-server/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-death-of-the-small-business-server http://www.ericspellmann.com/wp/2011/03/31/the-death-of-the-small-business-server/#comments Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:26:54 +0000 admin http://www.ericspellmann.com/wp/?p=655 I bet the title got your attention. And yes, that is a bold statement to make. However, if you can get past “tradition” and status quo, you will see that small businesses are on the threshold of some pretty amazing technological changes.

But, before I start blasting away at the small business server model, let me give some background: When someone starts a business, they typically have one PC. This machine does everything: balance the books, handle email, provide web research, build brochures, etc. However, once this business starts to grow and more people are hired, the need for more PCs increases.

As these PCs are added, the need for a true network is created. To save money, all of these PCs will need to share the same Internet connection….AND (this is the important part), they will need to share files.

In the beginning, users can simply share certain folders on the PCs with each other. However, as the business grows, this model becomes clunky. SO, most businesses go out and buy a machine dedicated to providing a central location for all files to be located: the SERVER.

Typically, no one sits down and types at this machine. It sits quietly in a closet somewhere, serving out files as people request them. At night, a backup program copies all of your company’s key documents in case of catastrophe. Users may work on any of the files and have access to them on their PCs, but in the end, all of the files reside on the server.

The problem with servers is that they break down. After all, they are just souped-up PCs with special software. Everything breaks. And when your server goes down, NO ONE works. In addition, servers must be replaced every three or four years. Its not that they stop working in three years. It’s typically because they can’t run software developed three or four years after they were built.

So, every company starts budgeting to spend quite a few thousand dollars every four years for a new server.

However, a new model has emerged that has challenged this entire premise: Cloud Storage. Basically, instead of you buying equipment and paying some tech guy to configure it, you “rent” space on a secure server in a data farm. You access it over the Internet. All of your files are backed up automatically, and (this is a big one), you can access these files EVERYWHERE on ANY device.

The largest players in this market are Google and Dropbox. Google Apps and Docs allows storage of typical office documents (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDFs, etc.). Dropbox takes it a step forward by keeping a local “copy” of the files on your system. Using both of these tools, most small businesses can eliminate their servers altogether.

Dropbox is a combination program and service. You download the free program (http://www.dropbox.com) onto your PC. You then create an account with dropbox. A folder appears on your computer. Copy any files you want into that folder. Now, go to another computer in the office, or even at home. Download the dropbox program again, and this time, login to your existing account. A folder will be created on THAT computer and will automatically start populating with the files from the first computer! Whenever you save an updated file in that folder, it is automatically copied to all of the other dropboxes on the account. Voila! Instant server! You can even download apps for your iPhone, Android, iPads, and other devices and access your files ANYWHERE.

With dropbox, you get 2 gigabytes of space free. For 50gig, it runs $9.99 per month. 100 gigabytes is $19.99/month. But if you compare that cost against the price of a new server, server software, backup system, and an IT guy to set it up and maintain it….

While “Dropbox” has been my favorite, they are not the only player in this game. A quick Google search on “cloud storage” will yield a number of other competitors.

1. Always use multiple keywords. Unless the word you are typing in is extremely narrow in usage, the results will always be too nebulous.

2. Pay attention to the Google Suggest options (the drop-down suggestions that Google gives as you type). They often provide better search phrases than I could come up with.

3. Use Quotes. If you are looking for a specific book title, quote, or song name, surround your search phrase with quotes.  The results you receive will be dead-on accurate.

4. Check out Google’s Advanced Search. To the far right of the search blank on Google’s home page, you will see a link labeled, “Advanced Search.”  I use this all of the time when I want to narrow my search results by file type, date, or even site.  For instance, if I am looking for the meaning to a Windows error message, I will limit the results to ONLY show pages from the official Microsoft site.