Author Archives: Anton Ruighaver

The Convenience Of Dual Monitors

Business, Personal, Technology
Many things come in pairs, including glasses, shoes, and, for busy office workers, computer monitors. Using two monitors at once may seem unconventional to some, but doing so has a lot of advantages. If you’re hesitant about your employees using two monitors simultaneously, perhaps these benefits will change your mind. Enhanced productivity A survey by Jon Peddie Research shows that working with dual monitors increases overall productivity by 20–30%. Computer programmers, for example, can use one screen for source coding and the other for programming. By using dual monitors, they no longer need to toggle back and forth between tabs. This frees up time to complete more projects. Better multitasking Efficient multitasking requires adequate screen space to keep multiple applications simultaneously visible — a view that single monitors alone simply cannot accommodate. With a dual monitor setup, workers like customer service … READ MORE »

How To Extend Your iPhone’s Battery Life

Business, Personal, Technology
If you’re working out of the office or house, you never want to be in a situation where your iPhone is almost out of battery. A dead smartphone can mean missing important calls and being unable to send crucial updates to the team. But with some careful preparation combined with the tips below, you can avoid these issues in the first place. 1. Activate Low Power Mode Low Power Mode can be activated with a single tap. When switched on, it automatically adjusts several settings to extend the life of your battery. For starters, it reduces the brightness of your screen and the amount of battery power your apps are using. It also disables the automatic fetching of new email and it powers off the display more quickly. To activate Low Power Mode, press Settings > Battery and then tap Low Power Mode so … READ MORE »

A Little Desktop Tidiness Goes A Long Way

Business, Personal, Technology
You may have the habit of putting apps and files that need your immediate attention on your desktop, but not of deleting or moving these to their proper folders when you’re through with them. What you end up with is a mess that makes it hard to find what you need and easy to lose important files forever. Prevent this by following our tips on clearing your desktop. 1. Arrange, sort, and prioritize Before you go about deleting everything from your desktop, think about what you really want to keep. This will vary from person to person, but most people use their desktop for storing files, folders, and app shortcuts that they want to access quickly. Take the time to prioritize your files and folders. An easy way to do this is to right-click on an empty area of your … READ MORE »

5 Tips to Work Smarter in Outlook

Business, Cloud, Technology
Microsoft Outlook comes with many features that make managing your busy schedule and boosting your productivity easier. If you find Outlook’s myriad capabilities a little overwhelming, don’t worry — these tips and tricks will have you using Outlook like a pro in no time.   Organize your inbox Is your Outlook inbox getting a little too cluttered for your liking? Use the Clean Up feature to tidy up your inbox. From your inbox, click the Home tab and choose from one of three Clean Up options: Clean Up Conversation – reviews an email thread or a conversation and deletes redundant messages Clean Up Folder – reviews conversations in a selected folder and deletes redundant messages Clean Up Folder & Subfolders – reviews all messages in a selected folder and any subfolders, and deletes redundant messages in all of them Be careful using this, … READ MORE »

Why Your Business Is The PERFECT Target For Hackers…

Business, Security, Technology
…And What You Need To Do NOW To Protect Yourself Everybody gets hacked, but not everything makes the evening news. We hear about big companies like Target, Home Depot, Capital One, and Facebook getting hacked. What we rarely hear about are the little guys – the small businesses that make up 99.7% of employers in the United States, according to the Small Business Administration. It’s these guys who are the biggest targets of cybercriminals. Basically, if you run a business, that business is a potential target. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, what you sell or how popular you are. Cybercriminals go after everybody. In 2018, a cyber security survey by the Ponemon Institute found that 67% of small and midsize businesses in the US and UK were hit by a cyber-attack. For the cybercriminal, casting a wide net … READ MORE »

How AI is Revolutionizing Healthcare

Business, Technology
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to radically change the face of the healthcare industry — in fact, it already has. Here are some of the ways that AI has benefited medical professionals and patients alike. Virtual personal health assistants At the helm of the AI revolution are virtual personal health assistants. A lot of people are already using such apps through their smartphones, wearable devices, computers, and other gadgets to keep track of their heart rate, blood pressure, and diet. Virtual health assistants can also set a doctor’s appointment for you and remind you about it. They can document your symptoms so you can relay them to your doctor easily and efficiently. The proliferation of smart watches and other wearables that utilize AI also helps doctors monitor patients with early-stage heart disease. This enables them to detect potentially life-threatening … READ MORE »

Save on Printing Costs With These 5 Tips

Business, Personal, Technology
  Managing your print infrastructure effectively is a quick and easy way to minimize your IT budget. Many small and large enterprises don’t realize that they are using inefficient printing models, but you won’t be one of them if you follow these tips.   Go paperless Designing a document management solution that reduces paper consumption is an incredibly effective way to save money. It may not be possible in every department, but those who can do their jobs without printing should be either forced or incentivized to do so. Printing lengthy email chains that can be discussed in a meeting is just one example of a wasteful practice that should be avoided. Replace outdated printers Your outdated and cheap printers may meet the absolute minimum requirements, but they’re taking a bite out of your IT budget. Any piece of equipment … READ MORE »

3 Excel Tips That Make Life Easier

Business, Personal, Technology
Microsoft Excel is now better than ever, thanks to its extremely user-friendly features. Pull yourself up skills-wise by following our three tips below. Take advantage of Ideas in Excel If you’re not sure which type of chart best tells a particular story out of a table of data, don’t worry — Excel’s artificial intelligence (AI) has got your back. Just click any cell in a data range, then go to the Home tab and click the Ideas button. A task pane will appear, showing recommendations for what data visualization you can use. Here’s a quick reference for what some of the most popular charts are for: Column/Bar chart – compares categories with one another by depicting their numerical standing in terms of column height (or bar length, in the case of bar charts) side by side (think of lining children … READ MORE »

Protecting Healthcare Data from Cybercriminals

Business, Security, Technology
Hospitals and other healthcare organizations rely on the integrity of their medical data. Unfortunately, healthcare systems — especially those that involve data entry software, prescription management systems, or electronic medical records — are often targeted by hackers. That’s why healthcare providers must do everything they can to protect highly sensitive medical data.   From financial information to medical information In the past few years, cybercriminals have focused on stealing financial data, including credit card numbers, online banking credentials, and other personal information. But things are taking a turn, with financial institutions fortifying their database security and raising client awareness on the growing problems. Stronger data protection measures in the financial industry have forced criminals to turn their attention to medical data, which is typically much less secure. Patient data includes date of birth, medical and physical records, and social security … READ MORE »

Why Your Company Needs a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

Business, Security, Technology
Multiple things can disrupt the operations of small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), such as natural disasters or cyberattacks. This can lead to lost revenue, or in some extreme cases, business closure. But having a concrete business continuity plan (BCP) in place will help your business recover quickly after a disaster.   What is a BCP? A BCP is a predefined set of protocols on how your business should respond in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. It contains contingency plans for every aspect of your organization, including human resources, assets, and business processes. Key threats to business continuity Various types of threats can affect SMBs such as: Natural disasters – These are natural phenomena such as storms, earthquakes, and wildfires. Man-made disasters – These include cyberattacks, intentional sabotage, and human negligence. Equipment and utility failures – These include … READ MORE »