Computer Solutions in the greater brisbane area.
Author archive
Author archive
Sals Mechanical – Wacol
Check out the new Sals Mechanical website we’ve built for Sal.
Outlook Search Folders
I was setting up a new search folder the other day and thought to myself, I bet a lot of our clients don’t even know you can make these, I should make a video! So I whipped up the video below to give you a quick intro into search folders and how they work.
They are great for creating a way to gather the important emails together so you can deal with them first; For example, you can setup a search folder (as I do) to give you only emails from your team, allowing you to ensure everyone has what they need to get their jobs done, and make your business more successful.
So check out the video, and leave a comment letting us know what you think and what you might like us to do a future video on.
Excel Print Area Tip
We had a call from a client recently who was having some trouble with Excel. They had a great spreadsheet setup, but when they tried to print it, only a single cell of the entire workbook would print.
After helping the client out, we thought a video showing how this feature works for good, as well as evil, would be a great idea. 
The print area feature of Excel is there so that you can have private information on a spreadsheet that will not get printed out. A great example might be a quotation calculator, where you only want to print the retail pricing and not all the wholesale information. Check out the video and see how easy it is to setup a print area, or get rid of one.
New PPSR – What you need to know.
The federal government has launched the Personal Property Securities Register, which is intended to simplify the process by which business can register interest in goods supplied to clients. Here’s a few articles that should help explain what it means; Read More…
Seeding your Managed Backup
Now that Shift Computer Solutions is taking care of your backups, we just need to build what we call a “seed” backup, which will be sent to our data centre. This backup will be loaded on our servers, so that your entire backup doesn’t need to be pushed there over the internet, because that would take far too long, and leave you vulnerable for a lot longer.
This video will walk you through the process of getting the Seed done. As you will see, it’s very easy!
Why you would benefit from a network audit
A SHIFT analysis of your small business will be quick and painless and provide you with valuable information.
Here are our top 5 reasons why your business would benefit from a technology analysis:
1.Examination of current technology – If you’re thinking of replacing your computer, a SHIFT analysis may reveal that upgrading specific components, such as memory, would give you a significant performance boost. It could also highlight incorrect system settings or poor security configurations that could easily be fixed. once we determine what technology you have, it will be easy to find some quick, inexpensive areas for improvement.
2. Long term assessment of your system requirements – A SHIFT analysis may reveal components that are out dated and should be replaced with newer, faster components. It could also highlight storage capacity issues on your system and where there is more space to be found. You can then plan and budget to address these areas in the future, without any costly interuption to your business
3. Know what software is in your system – A SHIFT analysis of the software in your system will reveal if your computers have illegal file sharing software, other programs that may be harmful to the system or just taking up valuble space. Remember if your employees are able to install software onto your computers, do you know what they have been installing?
4. Determine you have the correct software licenses – In some cases, a software manufacturer has the right to randomly check your business for the correct license number and the right kind of license for their software. If you’ve taken on more staff, or you’ve had employees installing software on your system, a SHIFT analysis can reveal where your software licensing might need to be updated.
5. Complete IT asset register – Your business will have certain assets listed for accounting purposes. If a theft or natural disaster hit your business, SHIFT can store a copy of your SHIFT analysis results, including a detailed list of your system assets, off site in case you need to refer to that list to make an insurance claim.
The outcomes of your SHIFT analysis will be a comprehensive list of your I.T. assets and recommendations for improvements (both short and long term) that fit in with your budget and your business plans.
iPhone Setup for Office 365
We’ve produced this short video to show you how to configure your iPhone or iPad with your new Office 365 login details. We shot the video using an iPad but the setup is exactly the same on the iPhone.
Clearing your web history
A lot of clients ask how to go about clearing their web browsing history from their computer. We’ve made this quick video to show you how its done. Starting with Internet Explorer, then Google Chrome and finally showing you how its done in Firefox.
Got more questions, please ask them in the comments!
Clearing Browser History from Mathew Taylor on Vimeo.
Always consider total cost of ownership
Today I saw an advisory issued by a Queensland group (I won’t name them) that told its members that the group was organising to provide IT services to its members. The particular area of concern for me was where they suggested they would periodically arrange “group buying” of new computers which they assured their members would “save them money”.
The reality is that this type of buying never saves anyone any money. You want to make sure that your equipment is provided by a local, honest vendor who is prepared to give you the support and assistance required to ensure the lowest possible “cost of ownership”.
Firstly, bulk deals will always land you cheap hardware. If your vendor is struggling to come up with the lowest possible price, they are going to provide you the cheapest, lowest quality parts. You should make sure you aren’t being ripped off, but you should never buy solely on price alone. You get what you pay for.
Secondly, the types of vendors likely to bid for a bulk deal like this (as it’s a statewide group) are going to simply deliver a bunch of boxes to the buyer, as they aren’t local to the businesses in question. So there’s no support, no installation and no help. Buying from a vendor like Shift Computer Solutions gives you not only great equipment, but that equipment is delivered, installed and working 100% without ANY intervention on your part. Your time is valuable, and if you are wasting it setting up computers, that needs to be added to the cost, as it forms part of the total cost of ownership of that computer.
Warranty is also a big issue. Most vendors are going to offer 3rd party warranties, which means the vendor isn’t responsible for fixing any problems, a 3rd party is. The problem here is that the 3rd party is paid a flat, up front fee for carrying the warranty, and thus they actually lose money if they do any work for you. This makes them look for ways to avoid assisting you, and can waste valuable time and cost your business valuable money.
Finally, the biggest cost of ownership issue is support. If you are buying your equipment from your IT support vendor, you are getting a team of technicians who know all your systems and equipment, so issues that crop up are dealt with quickly. By putting in cheap hardware from a 3rd vendor, you increase the number of vendors responsible for your site, make it harder to get problems fixed and increase your overall costs.
Change your Facebook password immediately.
News out this week that authority tokens used by facebook apps to access peoples facebook profiles have leaked onto the internet hasn’t got a lot of mainstream coverage. While Facebook has fixed the security loophole, the problem remains that those authority tokens do not expire, and once leaked, are out there forever.
The good news is that changing your Facebook password resets ALL the authority tokens, making the ones that have already leaked out void and useless to potential hackers.
We are advising all our clients to immediately change their Facebook password to make sure full security of their account is maintained.
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