XFER Blog

At the end of the workday, you’ve got an important decision to make: power down your desktop or log off? Each option has its own set of pros and cons, but are you confident that you’re making the right decision? Here’s how to find out for sure.

We’ve all been in a situation where you’re asked by someone if they can use your personal computer for whatever reason; checking their social media, email, or just browsing the Internet. Some people, however, also want to protect their privacy, and allowing relatives to use your own account can become problematic. A quality solution to this issue is to create a guest account.

Cellphone etiquette goes hand-in-hand with common sense. Here are four cellphone etiquette tips that every device owner should know.

The Internet is a great and wondrous thing, giving us information about pretty much anything we could ever hope for. However, this is a dangerous thing for those who want to go about their entertainment “spoiler-free.” In other words, you want to be pleasantly surprised when you watch your favorite movies or TV shows. Sometimes the Internet isn’t so kind toward that goal. Well, here’s a somewhat viable solution: the Spoiler Alert extension for Google Chrome.

Knowing how to properly use your PC is key to its longevity. Therefore, you should never take for granted basic PC best practices. Here are three basic PC best practices that are easy to overlook.

Today’s society practices a policy of upgrading to brand-new devices whenever the next big thing drops. We see this all the time when businesses want to keep up with the latest trends by upgrading to new workstations that utilize recent operating systems, or because their old hardware feels slow. However, this can have a negative effect on the environment in the form of e-waste.

Email is a staple in offices around the world, but many organizations are finding it easier than ever to make simple mistakes that can be easily avoided with proper training procedures. It’s a best practice to ensure that your team is adequately trained on how to efficiently use your chosen email client to its maximum potential. Here are four of the most common email mistakes that the average employee can make, and how they can easily be avoided in the future.

The purpose of business technology is to propel an enterprise into the future. Yet, too many businesses are reluctant to make major adjustments to their current IT systems, wrongly believing that it’s not worth the investment. The best way to approach upgrading is to use an IT roadmap that lays out a plan for your technology’s future. This way, you won’t be surprised by what the future holds.

In today’s competitive workplace environments, productivity is at a premium. Although, thanks to our gadgets, the allure of the Internet, and of course, having to interact with people, working at the modern office isn’t without its fair share of distractions, which hinder productivity. Here are three tips that you can use to tune out the distractions so you can get more work done.

Running a business means going to meetings. There’s really no way around it. And while you can’t run a business without meetings, you can run your meetings as efficiently as possible so that they’re not a complete waste of time. Unfortunately, according to a recent study by Blue Jeans Network, the worldwide trends for meetings show that they can hinder productivity more than help it.

September was National Disaster Preparedness Month, and as such, it’s important to consider the state of your business’s current backup and disaster recovery practices. Different disasters pose various threats for your organization, but many of them have one thing in common: they’re going to ruin your physical IT infrastructure, and, depending on your backup practices, could potentially bring down your entire operational infrastructure.

Mobile devices are one of the hottest items for thieves to target. According to reports from Consumer Reports and LoJack, 2013 saw the theft of two million laptops and three million handsets. What this means for you is that having your mobile device stolen is probably a lot more likely than you would think.

Is your network running a little sluggish? Computing hardware isn’t perfect and requires a certain level of maintenance in order to keep everything running at capacity. Before you swap out your old server units for new ones, try these maintenance best practices.

As an employer, you understand that employees come and go. The same group of professionals who helped you build your business will probably be drastically different ten years, or even five years from now. While employee turnover is a natural occurrence, it also presents a certain risk. Believe it or not, a surprising percentage of employees will leave your business one day, and they’ll take some corporate information with them.

Have you already arranged for your upgrade to Windows 10 on July 29th? If so, good for you. You’ve made a decision that, last year, several Windows XP users went without. However, those who went without upgrading to a more recent operating system are now feeling the effects of having to purchase custom support from Microsoft following Windows XP’s expiration; including the United States Navy.

Internet users today are a little spooked, and for good reason. Stories of major hacks seem to perpetually be in the headlines. A hack attack can lead to stolen or compromised data, which is why backing up data is a crucial piece of every business continuity plan. For this purpose, World Backup Day 2015, March 31st, is an important day.

As a business owner, you've probably had the misfortune of letting a valued (or not-so-valued) employee go. The reasons might vary, but one thing is consistent: they're gone, and could potentially use their newfound residual malice to strike your business right where it hurts. How can you prepare yourself against former employees you may have once called "family?"

It's no secret that social media has opened a lot of doors for businesses that may not have been there a short time ago. LinkedIn in particular has been an immensely useful tool for people looking for employment, and for employers to find prospective hires.

Multitasking has become one of the buzzwords of the twenty-first century. Did you know that your browser lets you multitask, too? Most modern browsers (IE8, Firefox, and Safari) provide the user with a rich interface that allows for multiple windows to be open in the same browser at once. “How is this miracle performed?” you may ask. If you look at the tab shown in the image above, you will see on its right side is a smaller tab. If you place your mouse over it, you will see the option to open a new tab. Click on this tab and a new window will open within the current browser. By clicking on the tabs or pressing the TAB key while depressing the CTRL key, you may cycle through the existing opened windows in your browser. Do you want even more tricks? Once you have multiple windows opened in the browser, you may then notice a new icon to the left of the tabs with a down arrow. This button’s down arrow allows you to open any one window that you want without using the “cycle-thru” method. Click on the button itself and you will see your tabbed windows displayed all together on one screen. In that screen, you may close or activate any of the windows using your mouse. If you prefer to see your tabs in a particular order, you may drag them in order to rearrange them. Having multiple tabs may enhance your day. You can do the same with multiple Home Pages, but that may slow down the initial response of your browser.

Multitasking has become one of the buzzwords of the twenty-first century. Did you know that your browser lets you multitask, too? Most modern browsers (IE8, Firefox, and Safari) provide the user with a rich interface that allows for multiple windows to be open in the same browser at once. “How is this miracle performed?” you may ask. If you look at the tab shown in the image above, you will see on its right side is a smaller tab. If you place your mouse over it, you will see the option to open a new tab. Click on this tab and a new window will open within the current browser. By clicking on the tabs or pressing the TAB key while depressing the CTRL key, you may cycle through the existing opened windows in your browser. Do you want even more tricks? Once you have multiple windows opened in the browser, you may then notice a new icon to the left of the tabs with a down arrow. This button’s down arrow allows you to open any one window that you want without using the “cycle-thru” method. Click on the button itself and you will see your tabbed windows displayed all together on one screen. In that screen, you may close or activate any of the windows using your mouse. If you prefer to see your tabs in a particular order, you may drag them in order to rearrange them. Having multiple tabs may enhance your day. You can do the same with multiple Home Pages, but that may slow down the initial response of your browser.