January 2010
In this issue...

GNWritings
Written by Laura Steward

I thought 2010 was supposed to start something new? Isn’t it a New Year and a New Decade at that? Shouldn’t things change? Whatever happened to resolutions to do things better, differently, easier, more profitably? How about actually setting resolutions you can keep and that actually do some long term good? I’m not talking about deciding to lose weight, be nicer to people, laugh more although those are excellent resolutions! I am talking about resolutions that will make your business run smoother, lower your costs of using your technology and perhaps cost the hackers, virus developers and spammers a little money.

Take a look at my list below and see how many you already have in place or how many you are going to plan to do in 2010. Let’s all agree that 2010 begins the decade that safe computing returns. The decade where we can open any email we want without fear of getting infected with malware and the year that makes our businesses raving successes!

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Quote of the Month

Thank you to our sponsors of the 2009 Margarita Ball. It was a resounding success and over 400 toys were raised for needy children who would have gone without this past holiday season. Thank you Eaton, NEC Displays, Anderson Telecom, Exclusive Signs, BWitt Photography and B-Liminal for sponsoring this annual event!

Battery backup and surge/dip power protection that is. Are you prepared if the blizzard, ice storm, hurricane or random auto accident meets power lines drops power to your office while you are right in the middle of making major changes to your proposal, accounts, database, etc and you have not saved it yet? Can you say that you even know what a UPS is? I am not talking about the guys in the brown trucks that drive around and deliver packages to you either. I mean an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS).

How many of you have them? Of those that said they do, how many of you have actually tested them and replaced the batteries in them on a regular basis just like your smoke detector? Those are supposed to be replaced twice a year in case you forget to do that when daylight savings time came and went in November.

The old adage of, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” may be feasible in some circumstances, but applying it to the maintenance of a UPS can have devastating consequences.
 

Who can forget the 60's hit Get off my Cloud by the Rolling Stones? If this was written today by any of the tens of thousands of Cloud providers, they would be singing PLEASE get on MY Cloud. Cloud computing is about as hot as things get in IT. When you combine it with the other super hot technology, Virtualization, you get a Perfect Storm scenario, where we the people (the ones who use computing every day to make a living) ultimately win.

There is no doubt that the Cloud concept along with Virtualization are the two biggest items in IT right now; and rightfully so. Done correctly, either of these technologies can save a company money, sometimes lots and lots of money. Who could argue with that, given the American business mantra of do more with less?

So let me give you a quick overview on Cloud computing.
 

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reprinted with permission from the HP Small Business Center
 

Most of us use search engines every day, but few know how to make the most of those searches. Given the enormous amount of information on the Internet, almost any search you do will yield thousands, or even millions of results. But if they aren’t the right results, they don’t do you any good. And who has time to spend trawling through loads of “sort of useful” information?

Fortunately, there are a few tricks to help you better focus your searches so you get the information you need in less time. Here are five search engine best practices to try next time you need to search.

1. Use quotes to find a specific phrase
In order to find an entire phrase in a search, enter quotation marks (“ ”) around the terms. 
 

Unconsciously, you are influencing the lives of those around you
 

Four of the greatest physicists in the world came from a small town in Germany. Tracing their lives, someone discovered that all four were taught by the same high school physics teacher. Obviously, that teacher touched each of these men in a special way, when they were just boys.

Without knowing it, he touched the entire world.

It’s the same with you. You may not be aware of it, but you too touch the entire world. Your influence flows out from you, often imperceptibly, like waves on an ocean.

Remember that the next time you feel you’re just an average person, powerless and insignificant: there are no average people; the problem lies in thinking you’re just average.