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Technology Tips for the Home OfficeHere are some technology tips I've found useful in building my own "computer home office" - that is, an office that is centered around my computer. Your office may not have the computer as a central appliance, however, you probably still have one to organize your home or business. My artist wife has hers tucked back in the corner of her home office, but she STILL uses it daily! Therefore, you can probably use all or some of these technology tips to save you money and time. These are all technologies that I have used myself for years, and I consider them real life hacks in improving my efficiency! Bill Pay I REALLY
hate paper, so I love this bill payment service called Paytrust.
You set it up so all of your paper bills go to THEM!
Note: It costs about $11 / month, and NO I don't
make any money for selling their service - I have used it personally
since 2003 and I think it's just wonderful. If you're interested in
this, here's more about Paytrust
bill pay.Passwords Passwords are
SUCH A PAIN! Since I am a computer consultant,
at last count I had more than 120 passwords to remember!
Nowadays, every website wants you to log in and have a unique
password, and, for security's sake, you shouldn't use the same password
for different things - (although I KNOW you do ... GRIN)
Here's another one of my best technology tips and a great
FREE tool I have used for years, called
KeePass. It will keep an encrypted database of all of your
passwords, so you only have to remember ONE password! It will
also type them in for you when you request it! More about how
to get this great passwords tool!Backup Files Here's my favorite mechanism to
backup files. If you have a computer, you MUST have a way to
securely, positively backup file because computers DO crash!
In my work I've seen people lose files SO MANY TIMES, and
when I ask for their backup files they either 1) give me a blank stare,
or 2) give me a backup disk with NOTHING ON IT! This is a
great service that backs up your files to their own servers, and it
constantly monitors your files for changes so you don't have to
remember when to back up! It even keeps 3 previous versions
of every file so if you back up one that had mistakes or corruption,
you can easily restore an old copy!. More about how to backup files that
are important to you!Virus Scanner Of course there are lots of
virus scanner programs out there, but I think that the Windows
Live OneCare scanner works the best. Many of the
others have popups that ask you simple questions and get in the way of
your work. Windows Live Onecare however has a colored status
down by your system clock - green, yellow or red depending on whether
you need to take action or not. You can also invite other
computers you may own into your Onecare "circle". It also
does other important tasks such as defragment your hard disk, and
monitors for spyware and phishing attempts, and has its own firewall.
More about how to use a virus
scanner here.Registry Fix Every time you install or uninstall software, take a Windows update, or make changes in your existing programs, the Windows registry is updated. The Windows registry is a giant hidden database on your machine that can become overloaded with information over time - this is why after a few months you can experience a significant slowdown on your PC. You can download this application for free and it will scan your registry and report errors. If it finds any, then you can decide whether to buy the product. WebEx The gold standard in netmeeting technology, this
tool allows you to collaborate and hold meetings without leaving your
home office. You can share video, your desktop, or any
application without leaving the comfort of your home office!
Learn more about netmeeting
technology here!Any other tools that you think are great? Contact us about your technology tips and I'll add them in after I have a look!
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