We’ve just launched our Free Resources section of the website.  There are a few articles and videos in there to get started and we will be adding more every week.  Check back often.

We’d like to know what you need.  More power tips for Excel or Word?  Search tips?  Send us a request and we’ll add it.

Many analysts claim that an economic recovery is in process. That should be good news, but a lot of small businesses are still struggling. In fact, many business owners are re-thinking their go-forward strategies. Many are becoming more conservative than ever and getting creative about deploying resources. This is where technology can make a huge difference.

Technology was supposed to create efficiencies and improve productivity – at least in theory. Can you honestly say this is true in your business? Perhaps in certain areas, it is true. Communications for example: Email and mobile phones have lived out that promise. However, if not managed properly; email, chat, mobile calls, texts can all work against you without a sound strategy (I’ll save that for a future article).

How about company knowledge. Still using paper files? Can everyone in the company easily lookup accurate and up-to-date customer order information?

I’d like to spotlight this topic of company knowledge management. What if you could easily index all the proprietary knowledge that each employee has in their heads or in their “My Documents” folder? It is entirely possible using some new tools by Google.

I’d like to invite you to our very first Webinar on this topic. I’d also like to hear your thoughts about how technology has (or hasn’t) helped efficiency in your business.  Please post your comments below.

As always, please feel free to forward this to anyone who you think would benefit from the conversation.

Most companies are not sure about their ROI (return on investment) when it comes to the Internet. There are a variety of tools available for measuring your website effectiveness.

Google Analytics is one example of tracking that can help you find the strength and weakness of your website. It is important to understand if and how your site is being found. What happens when someone gets there and are they taking the steps to contact you? Once you understand the “how”, you can make a plan to improve your online presence.

***

Tip posted by Kim Niccolai from DJD Marketing, Inc.

Yet another free service by Google, their “alerts” are basically memorized searches that will email you the results. Let’s say you are insanely interested in Madonna. You can add her name as an alert entry for ‘news’ and you will get an email (daily, weekly or as it happens) that will contain all news-related items by Madonna. Better yet, the email will be formatted like a search result, so you can easily scan and click only the headlines that interest you.

Since there are potentially unlimited topics to configure as an alert, it’s easy to get carried away. But that’s ok! Add and remove topics at will. You can also go back and change the frequency of email notifications. Additionally, you can setup the alerts to be sent to a RSS feed reader, like Google Reader.

I have found Google Alerts to be a great tool for filtering the information that I find interesting so I can be more efficient online.

Free Computer Help

Do you need help with computer hardware?  Does your desktop computer work like it should?  How do you know if you need to replace computer parts? There are many ways to get free computer help.  You can do a search by clicking here.

Computer Technical Support

Computer technical support can be found locally and online.  Do you want an on-site visit?  How about trying online computer support using one of these services:

• GreenstarRocks.com
• Onlinesupport.com
• PlumChoice.com

Computer Systems

You can get help with just about type of computer system.  You can get HP support or Dell support.  You can also get Apple support for your iPhone.  You can also get printer support.

Custom Search

One online vendor in particular has developed a rock-solid solution.  Mozy.com allows any computer to achieve the lofty status of being properly backed up.  The Mozy solution works for PC’s, MAC’s and Servers.

Getting started is very simple.  If you are interested in backing up your personal computer, they have a free option for the first 2gb.  This is a fairly generous amount of storage if you don’t need to backup music or movie files.  If you need more storage, you can buy 1gb for .50/mo. after the initial $5/mo. license fee.  So you can get about 10gb of storage for about $10 per month.  For a personal computer, that should cover a lot of ground.

If you are small business, you can get multiple PC and server licenses for a reasonable monthly fee.

So how does it work?  After you sign up and select your plan, you can download the “client” software.  This small piece of software will ask you a few question during the install about what kinds of files you would like to backup.  If you are not sure, the wizard will choose the typical types of files.  Then, you set the time that Mozy should do it’s thing.  It’s probably best to set a time like 11pm every night.  This will insure there is enough time get a good batch of files before you need to start work in the morning.

If you are backing up over 10gb, the process might go for a couple of days.  Don’t worry, the Mozy backup process knows when you are working on the computer and will pause itself, not to suck up computer resources.

Every morning you can get an email notification showing the success of the backup from the night before.  You can also logon to you account on Mozy.com and check everything about your data that was backed up.

And here is the greatest feature about Mozy.  File restores actually work!  If you’ve ever tried to restore from a tape, then you know the nightmare that can ensue.  If you have accidentally deleted a file or directory, simply open the Mozy client and click “restore files” and it will walk you through the rest.

Mozy is a great example of how technology can actually work for you.

If you are experiencing extreme slow-downs or errors with your computer after installing a program, then you might need to restore to an earlier snapshot.

Here is a quick reference for restoring XP to an earlier time:

1. Click Start and select Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, and finally System Restore.
2. The first time you use System Restore, two options appear on the welcome page:
   • Restore my computer to an earlier time
   • Create a restore point
3. Click Restore my computer to an earlier time, and then click Next.
4. On the calendar that appears, choose the restore point to which you would like to roll your system back. Click Next.
5. You will be prompted to close all applications before completing the restore process, because the computer will restart.
6. After the computer restarts, a confirmation screen will appear. Click OK to continue using your computer.

You will also see a message once you reboot to undo the restoration.