The big difference between Android and the iOS is the fact that, on an Android device, you can play Flash videos. There are times however when this seeming advantage can be a disadvantage as Flash (such as Flash ads) can slow down your browsing experience or even crash your browser. There is a solution.

You can turn off Flash if you choose to. Simply go to your Browser's Settings by pressing on the Menu/Options button, then go to Advanced and change 'Enable plug-ins' setting from "Always on" to "On demand." Flash applications will now appear as an arrow that you must touch to start.

There are times when you may want to capture what is currently being shown on your iPad's screen. That’s easy to do on an iPad.

Simply press the Home button and then the Sleep/Wake button simultaneously. When you hear a click, the screenshot has been taken. You can then go to the photos gallery to see all of your captured screenshots.

One of the most important tasks for a business that uses computers is backing up your accounting data. Everyone knows that, right?  Yet, few businesses do a proper job. In this article we’ll discuss how you should be handling backups.

Why You Need a Backup Plan for QuickBooks

Backups are boring, time consuming, and almost always put off until later. Many business people don’t understand what needs to be done – they treat their computer like a file cabinet that is holding all their papers safely and don’t do backups. Others will tell you that they DO take care of backups and do it often! In BOTH cases there is still risk. Consider the following points:

• Computers are not failsafe – they CAN lose information.
• People are not failsafe – they CAN accidentally erase files.
• People are not always honest, they CAN erase files (see this CNN video for an example).
• Disasters can happen – fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, even power failures can destroy your files in a moment.
• Backup programs and hardware are not failsafe – backups are WORTHLESS unless you test them periodically.

QuickBooks Backup Philosophy

There are many ways that we can talk about this topic. This article is not going to get into the mechanical details of how to make backups at this time. Right now we want to talk philosophy. The key elements are:

1. Make backups often enough so that it isn’t painful to recreate lost work if you have a problem. If you enter a few transactions a day and then lose a week’s worth of work, it could be easy to recreate that in a short time so make weekly backups. If you enter several hundred transactions a day, losing even one day’s worth of work is a problem, so make backups daily.
2. Layer your backups. Have causal backups that are easy to make and are used often, intermediate backups that are more formal and are marked in a log, archival backups that mark major events (new month, end of fiscal year). You can add more layers than this depending on your situation.
3. Vary your backup methods. Don’t rely on just one backup method, such as copying to a CD. Use local backups with removable media or on-line backups to the Internet. If one method fails for some reason, you have other methods.
4. Test your backup procedures. This is the concept that is missed most often. How do you know if your backups are any good? Don’t wait until a disaster to find out…

A QuickBooks Backup Plan

Examine the way your computers are set up, the kind of work you do, the volume of transactions you are entering, the number of people involved, and so forth. A custom backup plan would be implemented to fit your business needs. I know that backups are a pain to do so we have to find a balance between security and convenience – the most comprehensive backup plan won’t work if it is too much trouble to implement!

Here is a basic plan to start with:

1. Use the Save Copy or Backup feature in QuickBooks (in the “file” menu) to make a backup copy (not a portable company file) at least once a month. This backup file (QBB) should be saved to removable media, NAS device, or offsite internet location. This is a very important process that many QuickBooks users miss. People who make backup snapshots of their file system or file server tend to ignore this, thinking that they have taken care of making a backup, but there are other good reasons for doing this. Without going into a lot of detail, your QuickBooks database needs some “house cleaning” periodically. If you don’t do this, performance starts to suffer. QuickBooks is keeping a transaction log (a “TLG” file) which continues to grow as you use the program. If this gets too big your system starts to slow down. The only good way to handle this file is to run the QuickBooks backup procedure, which reconciles and reduces that file. If you have a multi user system you must run this backup from the same computer that is hosting the database.
2. Test your backups periodically. This is a critical procedure. If you are making backups it is because you may someday need to restore those backups. If a disaster happens and you need to restore, that is a terrible time to find out that you either don’t know how to restore, or that your backups weren’t working and you have bad data backed up. You must test your ability to restore a backup from each of the methods you are using, and you must validate that the backed up data is good. It is not uncommon to hear a backup was being made to a tape drive, with no errors being generated, but when someone tried to restore from the backup tape the data was found to be scrambled due to a hardware problem. Testing restore procedures is complicated, and very time consuming, but you should do it on a regular basis.

If you have taken the time to get this far in this article you deserve a pat on the back! It isn’t a fun topic to read, and it is a lot of work to follow through with, but it is critical to any business. Good backups are like insurance, you don’t want to have to use it but you absolutely need that protection. This is one of the cheapest kinds of insurance you can buy for your business.

Article courtesy of ebsAssociates, Inc–Dawn Ashpole, Vice President www.teachmequickbooks.com

In clinics, assisted living facilities, and hospitals everywhere, patient information that once was filed in folders and stored in massive document filing systems, is now managed electronically. Pen and paper have been replaced with precise databases designed for patient data to be saved, sorted, and parsed.

The problem is, at most facilities there remains an inevitable stream of paper documents that defy conversion to digital. The contents of these paper files have not yet found a home in a database field.

These might be paper documents originating outside the facility, like with lab reports, prescriptions, and patient supplied files. Or, they can be paper files generated by internal legacy processes, such as with hand-written notes. Added to this inescapable flow of paper are the typical non-patient paper files common to every business, like invoices, contracts, and office files.

How to effectively digitize these remaining streams of paper documents in healthcare and retirement facilities will be the topic of a special 30-minute Webinar presented by Resource One with ColumbiaSoft at Noon on February 14.

Considerations for managing the privacy of patient related records will be addressed, as well as the advantages of associating digital patient files in an electronic document management system with their data record counterparts in an EMR system. Potential gains in patient care stemming from the automation of document routing and notifications will also be explored.

To register for this informative event, visit:

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/982135302

If you own an Android phone, you can use it as a substitute for an external drive or a USB key. You can load files into your phone simply by plugging it in to a PC with a USB cable, then tapping on “Mount” when you are prompted by the system.

This mounts the internal storage of the device as an external drive relative to the PC, and you can easily drag and drop files or create folders on the device as you see fit. Of course, it is recommended you do this on the SDCard that likely came with the device, or one that you buy for your phone.

A worldwide shortage of hard drives is expected in the near future as many of the Thai-based factories continue to struggle with flooding.

In the same way the massive earthquake and tsunami damaged Japan’s electronics industry, the flood crisis in Thailand is causing concern for companies that require hard drives for production.

The majority of the world's hard drives are produced in factories located in Thailand, where the flood crisis has put a damper on many industries, hard drive producers included.

According to reports, the shortage is already driving hard drive costs up and may just be the beginning of that trend. As companies like Hewlett Packard respond to the situation, the outlook remains unclear. PC sales could be affected well into 2012 and beyond. With flooding still an issue for some producers the shortage could expand.

As of now, there is still no concrete solution in sight for the problem with the supply of hard drives in the world, and while reconstruction efforts in Thailand are ongoing, getting the hard drive industry on its feet will take a while. As for the effects on the computing world as a whole, PC prices will likely rise as pre-flood inventories are sold out and replacement stock is delayed.

The use of social networks has changed the way many people communicate with each other online. In the same vein, internal social networks can also enhance communications within a given organization, but only if the right policies to govern its use are developed and implemented by the company it belongs to.

With the waves created by social networking in how companies do business nowadays, many have also utilized the same principle to develop internal social networks to enhance their in-house communications as well. However, the use of this new medium of communication also requires that companies develop new policies to cover its use.

One concern that may leave you apprehensive about creating an internal social network might be the fear that it could be abused by employees. However, reports have shown that introducing an in-house social network has produced generally positive results.

As long as company policies regarding the use of internal social networks are developed and implemented properly, employees will view such a network as an extension of the workplace, and will try to put their best foot forward. Such policies must specifically tackle the use of the internal social network, and many experts recommend revising existing company rules that govern the use of email, IT resources, and even external social networks. To be on the safe side, it's a good idea to consult with a lawyer to avoid any legal problems with the policy in the future.

Who's going to be in charge? Your managers, of course. Since the social network will be for company use, it follows that department heads should be given administrative duties and permissions which they will use for moderating communications and discussions in and pertaining do their respective sections.

While an internal social network can do wonders for your in-house communications, good policies and rules pertaining to its use will be what keep it working like a well-oiled machine.

It doesn't matter how solid your security system is –any hacker or online thief can figure out a weak password in a couple of hours through trial and error. Don't risk being a victim of a security breach and data theft. Avoid these passwords that are especially easy to crack.

If you think using 'password' as your password is no big deal, then it's time to rethink.

Security experts have recently compiled a list of the worst passwords users can choose, and 'password' is at the very top of the list. Weak passwords make your information more vulnerable simply because hackers can guess them. It may be easier to pick a password that you don't have to think about, but it's a choice that you may come to regret.

To help you avoid common password choice mistakes that users make, management application provider SplashData has compiled a list of the 25 worst passwords to use:

1. password
2. 123456
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon
11. baseball
12. 111111
13. iloveyou
14. master
15. sunshine
16. ashley
17. bailey
18. passw0rd
19. shadow
20. 123123
21. 654321
22. superman
23. qazwsx
24. michael
25. football

Make a smart password choice Experts advise using a combination of letters and numbers when creating your passwords, and to avoid things that anyone might be able to guess, such as birthdays and anniversary dates. Passwords with eight characters or more are safer and it's best to use different passwords for different accounts and websites. Use a password manager to help you keep track of all of your passwords if you're finding it difficult to remember them all..

No matter how sophisticated your security system is, a weak password gives hackers and online thieves an advantage. Helping all the users in your organization understand the importance of password strength will help you secure the IT systems in your organization.

If you're interested in learning more, please contact us so we can develop a comprehensive and custom security blueprint that meets your specific needs.

Reference: Worst Internet Passwords

If you are using Windows Gadgets (or those small mini-applications that are embedded on your desktop that show interesting things like the latest news, weather updates, or sports scores), you may sometimes wish you can just quickly hide them to declutter your workspace.

In Windows 7, you can do just that. Simply right-click on the desktop, go to View, and then clear the check mark on Show desktop gadgets. This will hide the gadgets. If you want to bring them back, just restore the check mark again.

In an unprecedented move against online fraudsters and hackers, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and authorities in Estonia, aided by information from security firm Trend Micro, recently conducted a raid that brought down an enormous bot network made up of at least 4 million bots.

Four million is a big number – which makes four million bots, in security terms, a staggering and frightening number as well.

It is a good thing, then, that four million is also the number of bots taken down in a recent bust by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Estonian Police, and security firm Trend Micro. Data centers in New York City, Chicago, and Estonia were raided by authorities, shutting down hundreds of servers used to create a network of bots that spanned some 100 countries.

The said bust, dubbed “Operation Ghost Click”, is one of – if not THE – largest cybercriminal bust in history, putting to sleep a sophisticated scamming operation that victimized 4 to 5 million users and was said to have generated at least $14 million in illegal revenue.

The scam mainly involved hijacking Domain Name Server (DNS) settings in infected computers, which can be used not only to introduce more malware into an IT system, but also to hijack search results and replace advertisements loaded on websites visited through an infected computer.

While this bust does bode well for all IT users everywhere in the world, it also illustrates the scope of influence and level of organization behind security threats. Since this is probably not the only scam / fraud / botnet operation in the world, it is always best to have a comprehensive security policy for your IT infrastructure to minimize the risk of compromising your company’s data and information.

For more details on the bust, check out Trend Micro’s blog post here.