Over he last few years there has been an increase in the sales figures for USB flash drives.

Manufacturers now produce drives as small as a tie clip or a small keychain figurine.

You read that correctly – a computer storage device that you can wear as a tie accessory. In addition to the size becoming small, so too has the price, so many people can afford (or already own) them.

photo credit: Nedko

Because of their popularity, and the security issues they present, many workplaces are banning employees from using them at the office.

Using a USB drive is one of the easiest ways for a rogue employee to steal company information. Some companies have even gone so far as to disable the USB ports on all company computers that employees access.

While this might seem a little extreme, some companies feel they have to take these steps to protect their information. Some businesses have given USB drives to their employees for promotional purposes, but still have not allowed employees to use them within the company offices.

photo credit: jsc.

Because the drives come in many different shapes and designs, some businesses have decided it necessary to disable USB ports, since a supervisor might simply look at someone’s keychain and think that little attachment is cute.  But that little attachment could ruin the entire company.

There are potentially a number of harmful effects that these USB drives can have on a company’s business, through the theft of company documents and information.

Even if employees were only using their USB drives for approved company business, what happens if they keep the drive in their purse or on a key chain, and then lose it? All of the information would be lost and available to anyone who finds or steals the flash drive. In a sense, carrying around a flash drive is just like carrying around your social security number or birth certificate. If you lose it, you are vulnerable to fraud.

For most people, USB flash drives are a convenience that have allowed the easy transfer of files between computers, and cheap portable storage. They can also be valuable as a means of backup, in the event you lose information due to a virus or hardware failure. Given the increasing capacity and decreasing prices of the drives, it’s easy to see why this is an attractive solution.

Admittedly, businesses that ban or restrict the use of the flash drives are sending a bit of a mixed message. Judicious use of USB flash drives can make it vastly easier for an employee to conduct company business during travels.

For example, employees can make presentations using files on the flash drive, and rather than carrying along a laptop with a lot of company information, they just take the flash drive with only the files they need.

USB flash drive technology continues to evolve, however. Some drives are now including on-board encryption, and other security measures, including biometric (fingerprint) security. It remains to be seen whether this will lead to a change in attitude or policy at those companies that have taken a restrictive view of USB flash drives in the workplace.

Have you ever wished that you could do away with the hassle of commuting and office politics and work from home using your computer? You might be a candidate for that type of career choice, but you should be aware of some important issues before you jump in head first.

photo credit: Zabowski

Not every company or job-related website contains only legitimate offers, and increasing numbers of people have become frustrated after learning that they are actually asked to pay money just to start working online.

And the solicitations you receive in your email inbox tend to arrive quickly, but the money just never appears. Keep in mind that you should never be asked to pay for the privilege of working online. Additionally, you should be paid promptly for the work you do.

One recurring problem that always seems to be showing its ugly head is the pyramid scheme.

For example, you might receive an email invitation to join a particular program free of charge, and then have the opportunity to earn money from individuals who you sign up. This sounds like a great and easy way to make money.

In truth, for most people it turns out to be a nightmare. After you sign up, you’ll have to take some further action like “upgrade to a gold member” (or something similar) by buying certain products or books, regardless of whether you want or need them, and whether or not the products are actually good ones.

Once you buy the products, you are instructed you can now make money from those people who are under you in the set-up, but only once those individuals buy the products themselves. Now you’re in the midst of the “scheme” part of the pyramid scheme.

So, to make back twenty dollars, you might have to spend sixty or eighty dollars. And you might not even make back those twenty dollars, since there is no guarantee that anyone under you in the structure is going to buy anything.

So it seems like there are two choices: you could simply wait until your pyramid scheme disintegrates and you’ll learn a costly (but perhaps valuable) lesson, or you could stay away from the scheme entirely, and save your efforts for a legitimate way to earn money.

Yes, you can find jobs that will let you work from home!

There are companies out there which pay for the kinds of work you can do at home; you just have to know how to find them, and how to tell if those companies are on the level. One thing to remember is that legitimate companies already have people working for them, and you’ll be able to find a number of people who’ve had good experiences with that particular company.

With a little bit of searching, you’ll be able to find websites that give details and information about companies that offer genuine work at home opportunities.

Your first line of defense, however, should be to keep in mind the old adage that if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. And if it’s so easy to make money, why isn’t everyone doing it?

The advertisements you see and the emails you receive, all touting the newest get rich plan, are not going to contain all of the details or “fine print”. In fact, sometimes, after you sign up, you’ll receive additional emails or correspondence informing you when others are joining “under you”.

This information, even it it’s true, is the tease to try to get you to “upgrade” by buying the products they’re trying to sell. Remember that you’ll have to be counting on other people to buy as well before you’ll see any money.

Armed with this knowledge, it should be relatively easy to spot (and avoid!) these types of pyramid schemes.

If you look at programs that don’t promise lots of money for little or no work, then you’re much more likely to find legitimate opportunities for working at home.

Finding Your Perfect Work (Working from Home)

Skype has become one of the most popular and widely used communications services on the Internet. Individuals who have Skype accounts can “call” other users over the Internet, and actually talk to one another out loud using standard microphones plugged into their computers.

Skype(TM): The Definitive Guide

For a small fee, traditional telephone calls from standard landlines can be received and routed to a Skype user through their Skype account. The toll rates for traditional calls through Skype are generally much cheaper than the rates for standard calls, and computer-to-computer calls between Skype users are free.

This pricing structure is one of the things that has made Skype especially popular. However, in 2007 (August 16 and 17, to be exact), Skype was forced to temporarily shut its service down due to a system crash. This article gives a brief look at what caused the system to shut down.

One of the most significant factors that lead to the crash was a security update that occurred on the Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft periodically sends security updates to Windows users, and for many users the update process runs in the background, so that users are sometimes unaware when an update occurs.

In order for the security updates to be fully installed and operational on Windows, the user needs to restart their computer. According to some reports that came out of Skype, there was an unusually high amount of Internet traffic on the days in question and it seemed that nearly all of their users were rebooting their computers at approximately the same time, and then attempting to log into the Skype service. This rush of activity is certainly a key factor in understanding what caused Skype to shut down.

Another related issue in explaining what caused Skype to shut down was the fact that there was certain code in the underlying Skype program, and the particular code was written in such a way as to cause Skype to shut down when it detected an excessive amount of activity. It’s not entirely clear how this coding error made its way into the software product, but almost immediately after it was discovered, Skype took steps to remedy the error so that a similar system crash wouldn’t happen again.

To be precise, Skype described the error that caused the system failure as being a “deficiency in an algorithm within Skype networking software.” The algorithm was explained to be an interaction that facilitated a connection between the Skype network and the client that the individual Skype user has to connect with. Given the outcome (that being the system-wide outage), some commentators have stated that Skype was simply unprepared for this particular type of error.

There are several other factors that contribute to the cause of the Skype shutdown. One of the more significant issues is the sheer number of users that have begun using Skype in recent years. The additional load on the Skype servers and infrastructure would have made it much more likely that any coding error or other latent problem would eventually be exposed, with significant results.

Just how popular has Skype become in recent years? During the first part 2006, there were under 100,000,000 Skype user accounts (in the U.S. and worldwide). Fast forward to July 2007, and that number has more than doubled, with more than 220,000,000 users worldwide.

On average, there are roughly 9,000,000 users logged into the service at any given time. With those kinds of usage numbers, and the bandwidth and infrastructure costs that go along with them, it’s easy to see how the success of the service itself could have led to the system outage.

For now, it appears that Skype has fixed all of the original coding issues that led to the system outage. They are certainly working hard to make sure that a similar outage does not happen again.

VoIP Skype USB Phone Adapter

It’s frustrating when your computer intermittently hangs-up , or re-boots itself for no reason that you can tell.  At best it’s an annoyance, and at worst it means that you’ve lost hours of valuable work that will be difficult or impossible to recreate.

If this has happened only once, then it’s probably next to impossible that you’ll be able to explain why this happened.  But if you find it happening on a regular basis, then you really need to be able to find and correct the problem .

There are a few things you can check for yourself, before you have to make a costly visit to your local computer repair shop.

As is the case with most modern computers, your computer comes with built in circuitry to monitor the status of the computer. One of the checks built into your system is testing of the computer’s internal temperature . The computer may be built to shut itself down if the temperature moves outside the desirable operating range.

For your system to run at the correct operating temperature, it is important that air is able to circulate freely inside and around the case. If you have placed your computer inside of an enclosure, such as a tight-fitting bookshelf or cubbyhole, then this may be the first thing you should consider changing. By the same token, I have seen computers practically covered with books, manuals and other papers. Once again, these types of things can hinder air circulation , and you should make sure that there is plenty of space around your computer.

You should also take a look at the slotted vents in the sides of your computer case. Over time, these slots can become blocked by dust, lint, and other debris. Because the computer is usually always drawing some power, it has a constant (even if small) electrostatic charge. Your computer rivaled only by a vacuum cleaner in its ability to suck in dust and fluff.

If you take the cover off of your computer case, you’ll be able to see the dust build-up that has occurred inside your computer. Be careful when you remove dust from inside of the case. For this job, it’s probably best to use a very soft artist’s brush or a can of compressed air.

Next, take a look at the cooling fans inside the case. Modern computer usually have a cooling fan positioned near the top of the microprocessor. This fan should be clear of all dust, and able to move freely, without any grinding noise, when the computer is operating. It is okay to start the computer with the case cover removed, just be careful not to poke things into the various components.

There will be another fan inside near the power supply . Make sure this fan is free of dust and running freely. Some computers may also have a supplemental case fan. This will be screwed on over one of the slotted case vents, and will generally be running from a cable connected to the motherboard. Not all machines will have a separate case fan, but yours does, it is there for a reason. Do the same thing to this fan as you did with the others.

If you have identified faults with your cooling fans , this could require a trip to your local repair shop. The repair technician may also suggest that the CPU heat sink be removed and re-placed with fresh heat transfer compound, which should be a relatively easy and inexpensive job.

The computer can be thought of as a “sign of the times”. It was invented to remove the mind-numbing aspects of various collating, organizing and thinking processes. It has also brought about a big change in all of our lifestyles. Even our lives themselves have been influenced by this technology .

Some may have the view that the computer is more of a menace than a blessing , but this seems to be completely out of touch with the rest of the world. This is ridiculous because the rest of the world has learned to enjoy and use computers. The statement is the typical mourning of a person who’s always clamoring for the ‘good old days’.

The trouble with the ‘good old days’ is that, while they may fill us with a sense of nostalgia , in many respects they weren’t all ‘good’. People who clamor for them fail to see the pain they also held. Before the computer was invented, there were too many things that were necessarily slow.

Data processing was slow, typing on typewriters was tedious and error-prone, and accounting was done by hand on paper ledgers, which was extremely slow and highly tedious. The computer sped up all these processes. And on a personal level, computers have become a vastly popular household item.

Why is it so great for things to be sped up? It is simply a great blessing . If simple, but troublesome, tasks like data processing can be done faster, then we will have time to do the other, more important, tasks. It simply doesn’t make sense that the computer could be a menace .

Perhaps the idea of the computer as a menace arises from the trouble that it has been perceived to cause in some areas. Some people may have lost their jobs because the computer has made them obsolete. To be honest, though, this is simply a matter of looking at the ‘problem’.

The fact that the computer can replace a person could be thought of as a clear indication that the person should be doing something more important. In many companies, where computers have replaced people, those people receive high-value retraining. This is a ‘life upgrade’ and the worker should see the process as a blessing; since the computer was indirectly responsible for providing the upgrade.

Another reason why some may look at the computer as a menace is the fact that it makes some people waste time playing games on it. This is a ridiculous accusation; time could just as well be wasted by that same person watching television. On top of that, playing games on the computer at least has the advantage of being interactive, unlike the habit of staring at the TV. But more importantly, playing computer games is something that a person chooses to do. There is no compulsion for any particular individual to waste time in this (or any other) way. It’s simply not appropriate to label the computer a menace for this reason.

So to call the computer more of a menace than a blessing is just plain unfair. Indeed, the computer is a great blessing. Like just about everything else, whether the computer is a blessing or a menace, depends a lot on how one exercises his or her choices.

Children’s Computer Software can be a great way to let your kids have fun, safe, and educational experiences while at the same time learning more about computers. This is essential because the personal computer has become an essential part of our lives, and communication in general.

SpongeBob Squarepants Typing 2008 Win/Mac

While children will eventually learn basic computer literacy in school, many parents are seeing the importance of giving their kids a chance to learn computer literacy early on, in their homes.

Parents are usually very protective, and concerned with how to give their children exposure to computers in the safest possible way, and rightfully so. They feel much better knowing they can be sitting right beside their children, and be active in introducing their kids to the world of computer literacy.

Children’s computer software, and educational games in particular, can be the one of the best ways to do this. There is such a huge variety of choices in software, catering to all types of creative minds. There are choices available in all different age groups, genres, and subjects.

Crazy Machines: The Wacky Contraptions Game Win/Mac

If you educate yourself about the many choices out there and which ones might be the best for both you and your children, you may be surprised to learn that children’s computer software does not have to be “just for kids”. There are just so many options available! How can you go about deciding?

When you start looking at this kind of software, one of the first things you need to consider is how old they are, and what exactly you want to accomplish with the software.

There are so many options, from development to learning to games, and even software programs that combine all of these things! You can get software that will help your children with their homework, or that helps them to improve their math or reading and writing skills. The choices are practically unlimited.

Take the time to consider what you and your children want from your new software. You’ll also need to take into account the appropriate software age range best suited to your child. Perhaps as importantly, you’ll need to decide what type of software “genre” best suits your and your children’s individual tastes.

If you are choosing a game, educational or just fun software, would you most enjoy a setting of adventure, fantasy, sports, mystery, or something different altogether?

If given the choice, would your children rather be an animal, mineral, and vegetable? Or perhaps they want to know more about the universe, or the ocean, or the rain forest. Would they be excited to tag along on an archeology dig or to hunt sunken pirate treasure?

By having a conversation about these things with your children, and giving due consideration to what they say, you’ll be sure to choose software that will best stimulate their imagination and keep them involved. If your child is a bit older, then you might consider letting them choose the software themselves (subject to your final approval, of course!)

Zoombinis Logical Journey

There a great number of programs available to draw your children, no matter their ages, into a lifelong love of learning, and at the same time start to teach them computer literacy. You can also buy children’s computer software for the whole family to enjoy together. This can provide everyone with hours of fun and learning for everyone! This can be a great way to watch your children learn in a supportive and safe environment, and to be a key part of it yourself.

Of course, given the large number of choices out there, there are dangers of online communication. This can be especially true for children. So when you examine and track their computer usage, you must ensure that they are in a safe online environment. Perhaps the best way to find the right software or online sites is to do your research, and always talk to your children.

Searching and hunting for the best game for your and your children will likely be part of the fun in buying children’s computer software.

Backyard Baseball 2009

You will feel better to know you have selected something that you’ve already done your homework on. After you’ve done your best in choosing software for your child, the fun will really begin. Your children will be learning, and enjoying yourself, and you’ll be doing these things together with them.

]]> http://www.yumacomputerguy.com/different-types-of-child-friendly-computer-software/feed/ 0 http://www.yumacomputerguy.com/digitizing-your-documents-plan-ahead-for-before-disaster-strikes/ http://www.yumacomputerguy.com/digitizing-your-documents-plan-ahead-for-before-disaster-strikes/#comments Fri, 26 May 2006 02:03:41 +0000 Helpful Spouse http://thatpainterlady.com/yumacomputerguy/digitizing-your-documents-plan-ahead-for-before-disaster-strikes/

Earthquake! It happened just the other evening.  We had a small earthquake in the Yuma area, and I wasn’t prepared.  Yet again, I had put off the digitizing of my documents.  Ryan has reminded me to get our stuff digitized and put somewhere safe, but it takes an event to get me motivated.  Are your ready for a disaster?

What original documents would you need if you had to evacuate your home now? I know you would grab the kids and pets. But what have you left behind?

1. Insurance information
2. Bank account information
3. Medical Records
4. Financial Records

Where would you find all that information in a hurry?

You could put all those numbers in a text file on your computer.  But wait… your not going to carry the computer around – so that doesn’t save the day.

You need to get that information saved out of your home. Burn that file on to a cd and put it in your safety deposit box.

Tip:  Give a copy to a close relative or a friend you trust.  This is handy, because if your not able to get into your home you will be with this person anyway.

Tip: Scan your records.  Gather together all your important documents and scan them.  If you don’t have a scanner, take them over to Kinko’s and have them do it for you. They will get it onto a cd for you at the same time. Scan at at least 300 dpi in grey scale.

1. Birth Certificates
2. Marriage Licenses
3. Tax Documentation
4. Home and Car Documentation
5. Passports and Immigration Records
6. Life, Health, Car and Home Insurance Policies

Save all your documents in JPEG files and label each file separately.  Transfer all these files onto
cd’s and get them to some safe places.

In case of Identity Theft… these documents will be quickly at hand.

Tip: If you are the keeper of the family photos, get the rare ones scanned also.

If you need help or guidance on this subject, give us a call.  We are always happy to advice on computer safety.

Do you back up your confidential or proprietary business information everyday?  Backing up your data is an easy and quick way to guarantee you will never lose critical information.  It’s a problem when your hard drive crashes and you don’t have any back-ups.  Will you lose important

• customer information
• financial records
• employee records
• irreplaceable photos
• endless list of information
  

How will you feel knowing all that information is gone and you can’t get it back.  This is the power of the computer age.

All machines fail – someday. When will your computer fail? Don’t risk it.  Call Ryan and let him help you with suggestions on fast and economical solutions to keep your critical information protected.

We have helped many Yuma Business Owners get control of their network.

Call Us…928-920-7553

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We do the job on time and on your time schedule.
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