Earlier this month, an IT disaster hit some of Seattle’s most successful companies. Fisher Plaza was one of the most advanced communication hubs in the world, but even it wasn’t invincible. The fire and power outage at this data center knocked out several top web sites, including Allrecipes.com and Bing Travel. IT disasters happen all the time. Question is: are you prepared?

Redfin, a Seattle-based real estate site, was one of the first to notice a problem. At 1 a.m., they announced on Twitter that their site was offline. But by 4 a.m., the site was back. How did Redfin, a small business, manage to recover faster than corporate web sites? Redfin CTO Michael Young shares the secret to their success:
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Most of the time, Microsoft Word behaves relatively well, especially when you are creating simple documents. There are times, however, when it will change your formatting, insert text that isn’t relative, and add weird code.

Here are our top five annoyances while using Microsoft Word and the easy ways to fix them:
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Due to extremely high outdoor temperatures which are forecast to continue throughout this week, cooling capacity has been reached in many office buildings throughout the Puget Sound region.

If your building’s air conditioning cannot keep up with these hot temperatures, you may experience heat load problems with your computer servers. There are several proactive measures that can be taken to help reduce heat loads. If you have rising temperatures in your building, we ask that you take the following measures to help: Continue reading

Late last week, Microsoft announced it had finished work on Windows 7. The final version won’t be released to the public until the end of October, but you can already download the RC (release candidate) for free here.
I’ve tried it out, and so far Windows 7 seems to be everything Vista should have been and more. It has more than a few great features, including an improved taskbar. The taskbar in Windows 7 allows you to:

• simply click and drag to rearrange icons
• pin any program so it’s always ready to be launched
• preview programs that are running by just hovering over them

One of my favorite taskbar features is the way it streams live videos even when the mouse hovers the program’s icon on the taskbar. Way cool.

Want to make the most out of your taskbar? Here are a few totally useful tips:
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I’m a hard-core PC user, but I still find the Mac vs. PC videos insanely funny. One of my favorites pokes fun at my least favorite Vista feature: User Account Controls. Windows 7, for all it’s glory- features the Kapersky Anti-Virus, which does the same thing (always bugging you to “Allow” or “Block” specific programs).

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Working remotely benefits your small business, your employees, and the environment too. Here are a few reasons why you should think green and consider remote management:
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In October of 2006, Netflix announced that it would award $1 million to the contestant who could improve its movie recommendations by at least 10 percent. After receiving nearly 42,000 entries, the contest is on the verge of announcing its winner. This more accurate recommendation system will help the company deliver more on-demand movies and television shows, giving it a crucial advantage over the competition.

The genius behind this contest is crowdsourcing, or asking others for help (often for no compensation) via the Internet. Your small business can use this tactic to expand your talent pool while gaining deeper insight into what customers want.
Here are a few ways you can outsource innovation:
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If you get a call like this, hang up the phone:

The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant.

Give out any of this information and bingo – your identity was just stolen.

The fraud has been reported in 11 states so far.

The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.
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On July 2, the SBA announced that its program backed 30% fewer loans than it did a year ago, and 55% fewer loans than it did before the recession. Mr. Sandy Baruah, the acting administrator to the administration since June of this year, said the reduced demand for SBA loans is the result of a “perfect storm” of tightening credit by lenders, declining creditworthiness and a reduction in borrowers because they are uncertain about the future.
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Ever felt this way about your computer?

We can help! Contact us to schedule a free network assessment.