Andrei Parabellum Maximize Your Business with IT 10 Surefire Ways to Succeed with Technology © Andrei Parabellum 2007 Maximize Your Business with IT Page 2 www.infobusiness2.com Table of Contents Introduction 5 File & Printer Sharing 7 12 Surefire Signs Your Business Is Ready For A Server 13 One Big Secret To Saving Money 14 They’re Not Just For Big Business Anymore 15 12 Signs That Your Business Is Ready For A Server 16 The Concept of the Slight Edge 18 The “Latte” Factor 19 Antivirus Solutions 20 Consumer Awareness Guide: How To Keep Your Computer Safe From Crippling Pop-ups, Viruses, Spyware, & Spam, While Avoiding Expensive Computer Repair Bills 23 Don’t Be A Victim To Online Crime! 24 Three Dangerous Threats You Must Be Aware Of 26 Surefire Signs That You Are Infected With Spyware, Malware, and Viruses 30 The Four Most Costly Misconceptions About Spyware, Malware, And Other Computer Threats 32 7 Simple Steps To Secure Your Computer From Malicious Attacks and Avoid Expensive Repair Bills 39 Network Security 46 Internet Sharing & Monitoring 50 Server-Based Computing 53 Email 57 Email Response Management 61 Email Auto-Responders 62 Email Marketing 64 5 Simple Ways To Avoid Getting An Avalanche of Spam 65 Maximize Your Business with IT Page 3 www.infobusiness2.com Internet and Web 71 Generating More Business with Search Engine Advertising & Optimization 73 Generating More Business with Visitor Tracking 75 Generating More Business with Internet Marketing 76 Enhancing Service to Existing Customers 77 Backup & Disaster Recovery 79 The 3 Most Expensive & Deadly Computer Disasters That Wipe Out Small Business Owners … And How To Avoid Them 84 Why Small Business Are Especially Vulnerable To These Disasters 89 Auto Body Shop Shells Out $20,000 To Clean Up A Virus 90 Two Failed Hard Drives Costs Health Products Company $40,000 and 9 Days of Downtime 91 Property Management Company Spends $9,000 And Weeks Of Down Time For A Simple Inexpensive Repair 92 Business Continuity Planning 93 What Every Small Business Owner Must Know About Protecting And Preserving Their Company’s Critical Data And Computer Systems 96 But That Could Never Happen To Me! (And Other Lies Business Owners Like To Believe About Their Businesses…) 99 Take a look at these statistics: 100 What These Failures Are REALLY Costing Your Business 102 Six Things You Must Do At A Minimum To Protect Your Company From These Types Of Disasters: 103 Voice over IP (VoIP) 112 Small Business Advisory Guide: 116 The 7 Most Costly Mistakes Companies Make When Choosing A New Phone System… 116 And How To Avoid Them 116 Maximize Your Business with IT Page 4 www.infobusiness2.com Who I Am And How I Can Help You Avoid Making A Bad Decision On Your Next Phone System 119 Buyer Mistake #1: Not planning for future needs 120 Buyer Mistake #2: Not buying an open system 121 Buyer Mistake #3: Not getting enough voice mail 122 Buyer Mistake #4: Not buying a system that can be easily maintained in-house 123 Buyer Mistake #5: Paying for technical support 124 Buyer Mistake #6: Not buying next generation features 125 Buyer Mistake #7: Not choosing the right vendor 126 Bonus Tools 127 Free and Open-Source Software 129 Automation 130 Project Management & Collaboration Tools 131 Remote Access 133 Network Faxing 134 Unified Messaging 135 Video Security 136 Biometrics and Time & Attendance 137 5 Things You Should Know Before Buying a New Computer 138 Consumer Awareness Guide To Choosing An Honest, Reliable, and Competent Computer Repair Shop 140 The Five Most Costly Misconceptions About Computer Maintenance and Repair 144 5 Critical Characteristics You Should Demand From Your Computer Repair Guy or Shop 152 Money-Saving Secrets Your Computer Consultant Doesn’t Want You To Know 158 Afterword 171 Technology Glossary 173 Maximize Your Business with IT Page 5 www.infobusiness2.com Introduction Maximize Your Business with IT Page 6 www.infobusiness2.com Businesses of all types and sizes know that innovation is the key to smooth, efficient, and profitable operations. But understanding and evaluating all the available technologies on the market today – and deciding which ones are best for your company – can be an overwhelming task. With thousands of products and vendors to choose from, and dozens of new offerings being introduced every day, many businesses find themselves asking: • What are these solutions, and how can they help me? • How do I put together an effective technology strategy that will align with my business goals? • How much do these products cost, and what type of return on investment can I expect? In this book, I will try to answer these questions and more by highlight existing, new, and emerging technologies. Each chapter will provide an in-depth look into specific category, discuss its uses and benefits, and offer some vendor recommendations. At the end, you will have gained vital insight into available tools and technologies, as well as an understanding of how each one can add value to your organization. This information will enable you to put a successful technology plan into place, so you can improve the way you do business and increase your competitive edge. Maximize Your Business with IT Page 7 www.infobusiness2.com File & Printer Sharing Maximize Your Business with IT Page 8 www.infobusiness2.com In today’s information age, businesses thrive on communication and collaboration. An organization’s ability to share and distribute client lists, product information, and other critical data across and outside the enterprise, in a variety of formats (documents, reports, presentations, emails, images, spreadsheets, etc.) is critical to its success. For many companies like yours, email has been the traditional method for sharing information. In fact, more than 75 percent of the average company’s intellectual property is contained in email messages and their corresponding attachments, according to a study by research firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). But sending documents back and forth can be time- consuming and redundant, and can result in information latency (a file may be updated between the time it is sent, and the time it is opened and viewed). It can also cause communication to become inaccurate and ineffective. Additionally, the use of email to distribute large files to multiple recipients can negatively impact the performance of your IT network. That’s why Internet analyst Gartner predicts that, by 2009, email will be replaced by more cutting-edge collaboration tools in at least 50 percent of all US companies. One way in which businesses can improve the timeliness and availability of vital corporate data is by creating a shared folder that allows authorized users to retrieve, view, and edit files. These folders can be set up on a central server, a dedicated workstation, a network-attached service device, or your own desktop. Maximize Your Business with IT Page 9 www.infobusiness2.com In order to keep the data contained in shared folders secure at all times, you must grant authorized users the appropriate permissions to access, edit, and delete files as needed. Additionally, you must implement a rigid data backup schedule, to protect files from being lost, overwritten, or mismanaged. While backing up shared data at least once a week is recommended, daily back-ups will provide you with the highest level of safeguarding. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) can make it easier and more cost-effective to link shared folders and files together, and to maximize information flow and accessibility among remote users across your business. Some of today’s most common VPN and VPN-like products include Microsoft Groove Virtual Office, Nortel VPN Gateway , CheckPoint, and Cisco. Another option for businesses that must share information between users that are not connected to the same network is a Web-based file hosting solution. These solutions provide a secure, high- speed environment that enables the movement of large files back and forth between locations. There are hundreds of third-party providers that offer file hosting services. Among them are SWMirror , File Burst, File Factory, My Data Bus, and The File Den. Maximize Your Business with IT Page 10 www.infobusiness2.com If all of your users and their computers are connected to the same network, there are three ways to share documents and files: 1) Peer to peer 2) Servers 3) Network attached storage (NAS) Peer-to-peer sharing is the easiest option. All Windows computers, by default, allow users to share any drive, folder, or file with any other user on the same network. To do this, you simply go to Windows Explorer ® and right-click on the drive, folder, or file you wish to share. Then, choose Properties, select the Sharing tab, and click on Enable File Sharing. Don’t forget to assign users with the appropriate access privileges. Consider prohibiting them from editing or deleting your files. Accidents are more common than you might think, and if another user unintentionally overwrites or deletes your document, you won’t be able to recover it. Faster, more reliable, and more secure file sharing can be accomplished by dedicating one computer for the sole purpose of housing shared data. This will make documents and information readily available to authorized users, without impacting the performance of their individual workstations. The dedicated computer will act as a network server or file server. All you have to do to begin sharing information immediately is transfer the appropriate files to the workstation and grant user permissions. [...]... inject a great deal of simplicity, productivity, and security with a small business server www.infobusiness2.com Maximize Your Business with IT Page 15 A server simply acts as a single specialized computer that ensures all of the computers connected to it (called “clients”) have access to the resources, information, and systems they need, faster, and with fewer problems It also acts as a centralized... interfere with using your computer? Does your computer run slow, act funny, or crash unexpectedly? Are you getting tons of spam from unknown senders? If so, then your computer is probably infected with malicious programs that could end up destroying your files, stealing your personal and financial information, and rendering your computer useless www.infobusiness2.com Maximize Your Business with IT Page... additional office? Are you just sick and tired of dealing with conflicts, error messages, and breakdowns? If so, this report will reveal if a server is right for your company! www.infobusiness2.com Maximize Your Business with IT Page 14 Dear Fellow Business Owner, If you are like most small businesses, you acquire desktop computers, phone systems, and software in a random, “buy -it- when-you-need -it ... are: www.infobusiness2.com Maximize Your Business with IT Page 27 Spyware: Spyware is Internet jargon for hidden programs advertisers install on your PC without your permission to spy on you, gather information, and report this information about you and your online activities to some outside person Spyware is NOT harmless; it can be responsible for delivering a boatload of spam, altering your web browser,... your computer runs slow, if you continue to get crippling pop-ups, or any other www.infobusiness2.com Maximize Your Business with IT Page 33 of the tell-tale signs discussed earlier, you will need to seek the help of an experienced computer technician www.infobusiness2.com Maximize Your Business with IT Page 34 #2: It is my computer’s fault that I continue to get attacked by spyware, malware, and viruses... – for each individual computer To share a printer, simply go to your Control Panel, click on Printers, choose the one you want to set as your dedicated shared printer, and set user access privileges www.infobusiness2.com Maximize Your Business with IT Page 13 Special Report: 12 Surefire Signs Your Business Is Ready For A Server Is your business limping along using outdated computers or a peer-to-peer... or limited by the tools they are using The computers, software, and office equipment you use are the tools you use every day to create your greatest masterpiece: your business If the technology in your office is not simplifying your business and making it easier for you to get more done with fewer employees, it s costing you a lot more than the price of a server While there is no shortage of white papers... or request Mysterious files suddenly start appearing Your CD drawer starts opening and closing by itself You get constant runtime errors in MS Outlook/Outlook Express You find emails in your “Sent Items” folder that you didn't send www.infobusiness2.com Maximize Your Business with IT Page 31 Some of your files are moved or deleted or the icons on your desktop or toolbars are blank or missing If you... outsourced IT support A properly configured and maintained client-server network is far easier to support and troubleshoot than a patchwork of computers that are loosely connected All of this translates into higher revenue from your technology investment and should land on your bottom line www.infobusiness2.com Maximize Your Business with IT Antivirus Solutions www.infobusiness2.com Page 20 Maximize Your Business. .. designed to send itself from your e-mail account to all the friends and colleagues in your address book without your knowledge or consent www.infobusiness2.com Maximize Your Business with IT Page 29 Hackers: Hackers are computer programmers turned evil They are the people who design the spyware and malware programs that attack your computer Some of them have criminal intent and use these programs to steal . Maximize Your Business with IT Page 5 www.infobusiness2.com Introduction Maximize Your Business with IT Page 6 www.infobusiness2.com. great deal of simplicity, productivity, and security with a small business server. Maximize Your Business with IT Page 15 www.infobusiness2.com