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Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder PSR

Being in IT is often akin to being a detective. You interview people, look at evidence and try to piece together a series of events to decide what occurred after the fact. This is an art, some people are simply amazing at it, it's a gift they are born with. What about the rest of us? We now have an ally - PSR or Problem Steps Recorder included in Windows 7. You can now demonstrate an issue that is occurring with a very professionally documented reproduction with comments and screen captures. To ...

Quick Tip Email Sorting

Use the "from" and "subject" fields to sort Emails while you are cleaning up your inbox. You should find it easier to get through your back log of messages by addressing issues with certain individual(s)... or certain subjects all at once. Quite often the most recent Email of a certain subject contains all the prior information and the older ones can be deleted.

When the Solution is Worse than the Problem

There are few things more frustrating than very slow computer performance. You are typing away, or trying to anyway and the text is not even displaying properly on the screen it's skipping and catching up like an inchworm. You immediately start to wonder, did I get a virus? So you do the universal solution, you reboot your computer only after a short while it comes back again. This story has played out in many a local Peet's Coffee, an office, living room or dorm room. One common culprit is inde...

Don’t Become Over-Dependant on Auto-Save

Develop a habit to save documents as you work on them, whereas not all programs come with an auto-save feature. A quick save can avoid the loss of valuable time in the event of a crash or failure.   Your data is often reproducible or recoverable, but time is not! Most programs reserve the hotkey Ctrl+S to save a file. If a hotkey is available for a program, it is usually displayed next to the "save" option on the program's "file" menu.

Virtualization Technology Pays

You may have read our primer on Virtualization technology where we detailed some compelling reasons to consider virtualizing some or all of your servers. At the time of writing that article we were not aware of a new program from PG&E that can give you up to $300 rebate per server that you virtualize. While the process is not without some invasive steps, such as before and after inspections, a large project would be well worth the work. Let's say you were planning to consolidate 20 servers ...

High Tech Goes Green

With over 2 million tons of “e-waste” per year in the USA alone, it is apparent that high technology has an environmental impact. It is enough to make almost any environmentalist cringe, but there is hope. I have recently observed and read about several different positive improvements to high tech environmental impacts. They boil down to materials and efficiencies. In the realm of materials there have been massive quantities of difficult to recycle (but not impossible, see resources at the bo...

Tips For Effective Use of Business Email

Simplicity and convenience have made Email the primary communication tool for many businesses. According to studies performed in recent years poorly worded emails could generate negative feelings by co-workers, customers or even your boss. Poorly organized Email communications can also cause delays or even hurt business relationships. Respondents in some of these studies acknowledged that confrontations with co-workers had taken place due to Email misunderstandings. To fully take advantage of Em...

The Internet Productivity Dilema

The last few years many of us have worked hard to convince others of the merits of internet connectivity and the tools associated with it such as Email. The productivity benefits of the net and the associated communication and collaboration tools are desirable to any business. We even heard the fed chairman Alan Greenspan mention "productivity" as a factor in the prospering economy, perhaps largely due to these tools. Perhaps the time has come for us to reflect on the negative elements and poten...