Archive for the ‘Computer Tips’ Category

If you’re unfamiliar with Skype, it’s a way to make phone calls to anyone around the world from the convenience from your computer. It’s easy to use and extremely affordable, in fact in many cases it’s free to make a phone call. And for business owners, it can offer the convenience they’re looking for.

Skype offers you the ability to:

* Receive calls from anyone on any type of phone
* Call anyone from your computer whether they’re on their computer, a landline, or a mobile phone.
* Video and conference calling – all you need is a web camera

However, because Skype requires an install and transferring files during calls, it can seem like a security threat to your business. Fortunately, Skype has taken that into consideration and has taken steps to protect your computer systems.

Here’s How To Use Skype Safely For Your Business.

As a business owner you have access to the Business Control Center. This center gives you the ability to manage Skype accounts, for example you can create accounts for each of your employees or contractors and add credits to their account from the Control Center.

Additionally, within the Business Control Center you have added protection features to protect you and your business from, spam, spyware and adware. This security center comes with:

Antivirus compatibility – each of your inbound and outbound Skype file transfers are scanned by the major antivirus products.

Secure firewalls – most often you don’t need to make any changes to your firewalls to run Skype on your business computer.

However you don’t have to use the Business Control Center to use Skype as a business owner. You can get started with it and still protect your privacy. Here’s how:

You’ve downloaded and installed Skype, set up your account profile and privacy settings. You can choose who you allow calls and chats from and whether or not you want your status to be shown on the web. Your profile is public and can be viewed by other Skype Users so take care to only put things in your profile that you’re comfortable with other people seeing.

How to Get Started Using Skype

#1 Visit Skype and create an account.

#2 You’ll download and install the software. Note nothing is installed without your consent so read each step carefully as you’re installing the software to make sure you’re not accepting anything you don’t want to.

#3 Set up your Account and privacy control settings or set up your Business Control Panel. The Skype for Windows – Business version download includes a Windows Installer Package, which makes it really easy to configure for your system needs.

Skype is a simply and cost effective solution for the business owner, whether you have a bevy of employees or are a single work from home entrepreneur. Take a look at the benefits of using Skype today and rest assured, security measures are in place to protect your business computer from spam, spyware and adware.

About the Author
Becki Noles, Visionary of Virtual Accuracy Companies has been at the forefront of stream-lining coaching and entrepreneurial businesses since 1998. Utilizing her background in marketing, publicity, corporate training, advertising and media, Becki custom tailors and implements individualized action plans for taking coaching businesses to the next level. As a Virtual Assistant her business partners with top business and executive coaches in the United States, Canada, Switzerland and the world over.

We change the oil in our cars, filters in our furnance and batteries in our smoke detectors to maintain peak performance. What are you doing to maintain peak performance of your computer?

Because your computer is the key to running your business you want to make sure it is always operating at maximum speed. This ensures you are being as efficient as possible when performing tasks and translates to being able to over deliver resulting in happy clients. In this edition of Ask the Master we will explore the maintenance schedule required to keep our computers and our business running efficiently.

What things do I need to maintain on my computer?

There are basically two sections to maintaining your computer. There is the cleaning and removing of unnecessary files and data which slow down the speed of your computer and the updated of major software programs to ensure protection against vulnerabilities and improved operation. These include cleaning files, browser cache, cookies and temp files. Updating virus definitions, Windows and Office applications. Defragmenting your computer.

What What do I need to do weekly?

Update virus definitions at least weekly. Find out when and how often your virus software posts and updates their definitions. For instance if they only update them once a week on Wednesdays then you would want to make sure you run your updates every Thursday morning so you have maximum protection. This may be something you need to do daily as well so it’s important to know how your virus software company operates their updates.

Also consider running more than one antivirus software for maximum protection!
What do I need to do monthly?

This is the largest piece of the computer maintenance I do. I clear my browser cache (including history), cookies, temp and prefetch files (these are files Windows XP uses to start the program and applications and should be cleaned out regularly to avoid build-up), and empty my recycle bin using a free tool called Clean Up! (http://cleanup.stevengould.org/). You can do this manually through your browser under Tools then Internet Options and simply emptying your recycle bin.

Check for and update security and critical updates to your Windows program by going to your browser and clicking Tools and Windows Update. XP users can set it to automatically check and update these. Be wary of adding any and all updates to your computer focusing on just the critical and security issues for programs you use.

From the Windows Update page on your browser you can go to the Office Family page and run any required updates to your MS Office program.

Defragging your computer is an important task to your computer’s performance. As files are used, deleted and created, free space on your hard drive become split into smaller non-contiguous blocks or sectors. Eventually new files being created, or old files being extended, cannot be stored in a single contiguous block but become scattered. This degrades your computer’s performance as your computer must perform multiple seek operations to access a single fragmented file.

Defragmenting consolidates existing files and free space into a continuous group of sectors. Access speed is improved due to the reduced number of seek operations. To defragment your computer go to Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools and Disk Defragmenter.
What do I need to do yearly?

At least once a year clean out your data files and emails. Go in and look at old documents you have stored on your computer. Do you or your client still need or use them? Are they obsolete or outdated? Files I have for client’s I worked with 5 years ago could definitely be deleted to make more room and improve the speed of my computer. Do you have old jokes or pictures you have saved? An old version of a form or marketing item? Get rid of them! Clean your computer the same way you would clean a filing cabinet.

If you do not use or have the Auto Archive feature on your email program go in and clean out your emails as well from folders and sent files.
What else do I need to consider?

If you have ever gotten a virus that has slowed your computer down to a crawl you will recognize the importance of installing a firewall to further protect yourself from these situations. Trying to work on a limping computer is stressful in addition to inefficient.

Schedule regular back ups of your data files. If you encounter computer problems, viruses, system crashes, floods or anything that incapacitates your computer you don’t want to be spending time and energy recreating these files.

About the Author
Mary-Lou Ashon successfully launched her Virtual Assistant company in 1997 and holds expertise in organizing information, creation and implementation of administrative procedures and marketing. She has proven that dedication, communication, loyalty and a flare for marketing are keys to developing successful client relationships. Mary-Lou has a keen desire to promote awareness of VA\’s as a career option both internationally and at home in Canada and has developed a cost effective, convenient and high quality training program which you can locate at http://vatp.ca/.

When you operate a business online one of your most important assets is your computer – it’s where all your data is stored. Everything you’ve set up, your systems, client information, database of contacts, history of things that have taken place, everything, it’s a very important part of your Virtual Assistant business.

So, why would people risk this and not back up their systems on a regular basis? The absolute minimum should be weekly but I would recommend daily, especially if your computer is in use daily. And this would include all of your My Documents folder, any other folders outside that with client/business information, your accounting program, Outlook or whichever email program you use and so on.

I don’t mean back up your software – you should have the original disks for that anyway, and perhaps separate backup disks also. But I do mean back up what changes regularly and do it religiously. DO NOT FORGET. Don’t let it be shoved aside. A good backup system is your insurance for your Virtual Assistant business – otherwise, if you lose it, you may as well pack up and go and do something else, because you can effectively lose your business. I’ve heard of some people who have taken a good 6 months to get back to where they were before, because they didn’t have a backup system and lost everything when they lost their computer. Imagine the money lost because they couldn\’t recharge for the time spent in replacing everything?

There are many options available these days: CD burning, external drive systems, tape back up, online file storage – explore what’s available and select what best suits you. Even backing up to a second computer (perhaps a laptop) is better than no back up system at all.

Don’t risk your VA business – back up!

About the Author
Kathie M. Thomas, AFAIOP, MVA, ASO is the founder of “A Clayton’s Secretary”, a Virtual Assistant Network with members in many countries. Dedicated to teaching others about operating business over the Internet, Kathie is a multiple award winner as both a Secretary and Virtual Business Operator, and has over 30 years’ experience in the secretarial/administrative field. She registered her business in March 1994 and is one of the senior VAs who launched the industry globally. http://www.vadirectory.net.