How to Lengthen the Life of Your Printer

30th January 2013 / Author: Bolt

The printer is known to play the background roll in the home or business office. We focus on computers support and desktop management more than printer upkeep and functionality. However, when the printer jams or becomes offline, rendered unable to print, our world comes to a standstill. There are a few methods you can employ to extend the life of your printer.

Cleaning the Inside of Your Printer

Over time, your printer will collect dust and various debris inside its walls. Keeping the inside free of dust and debris can be an effective preventive measure. Consider cleaning the inside every 3 to 4 weeks. Like with cleaning keyboards, a can of compressed air works impeccably.

Replace worn or old parts

Wear and tear happens to all things: knees, tires, and, yes, printers. Feed rollers, when worn, can conduce to paper jams through improper paper feeding. Over time, the surface of rollers becomes smooth and slippery, making it arduous for them to pick up paper in the paper tray. Replacing them lessens the frequency of paper jams. Furthermore, it reduces the chance of paper being misaligned when fed from the paper tray.

Use care whenever you are replacing parts in or on your printer. Most parts are made of plastic that may be highly susceptible to stress and will break, chip, or crack under pressure. Be mindful of the angles at which you are placing and installing parts.

Paper Quality, Toners and Loading

When loading paper, do not fan, or rapidly shake the ream of paper, before loading. Fanning a ream of paper does not reduce the frequency of paper jams. It may conduce to more paper jams as it produces static electricity, which causes the sheets inside to cling to one another.

Use of high-quality paper can reduce the number of paper jams, and thus, limit the amount of wear and tear on your printer. Consider upgrading to 24 pound paper from 20 pound paper. Refer to your manufacturer’s manual to determine the range of paper-types your printer can use.

Make sure you also buy brand name toners. This is especially necessary because these types of toners will match perfectly with the sort of printer you have. For instance if you have a Dell 2335, you must get the same model toner for your printer otherwise it would not fit. To browse for more toners such as the Dell 2335 Toner visit 247inktoners.com.

In addition, use high-quality labels when printing labels. Low-quality labels may peel off the backing paper and adhere to the surface of any part it comes in contact with inside the printer. This creates a nightmare, as printer parts will become useless and will need to be replaced.

When shopping around for different memory cards, you’re going to find there are all sorts of different sizes, brands and storage amounts, all in this small equipment category. Instead of going out and just buying the items randomly, you need to know what the difference between these different various memory cards are. When you know about the different memory cards, you’re able to spot the difference right away and you’ll be able to know what card works with what product and what is going to be the best for your current equipment. Once you know the difference between these kinds of cards, you’ll never have to worry about buying the wrong equipment again.

Compact Flash

A compact flash memory card has been around for some time now, as the first card came onto the market in 1994. This card is no longer used very often, due to its over sized shape. It is an older flash based drive, which saves data instantly and looks almost like a square based disk.

MultiMediaCard

There are several different multimedia cards. The difference between these cards, known as MMC, is the actual product provider. The card came into play in 1997 and has basically reduced in size. The cards are able to hold up to 16 gigabytes, depending on the manufacturer.

Secure Digital

More commonly known as SC cards, there are several different kinds of SD cards. These cards are all produced by Panasonic, SanDisk, Toshiba and Kodak, and the main difference is the overall shape of these cards. The cards alter, depending on the device the card must be used with. There is almost a new design coming out every year, as the microSDXC is the latest. This is able to hold up to two terabytes worth of storage, although it is not compatible with older host devices, due to the overall speed of the card and how it transfers data to the computer system or other device. Other SD cards include the original SD card, miniSC, micro SD, SDHC, miniSDHC, microSDHC, SDXC, and the current microSDXC.

Memory Stick

Produced by Sony, these cards are basically just designed for Sony based products, although Sony has largely switched over from the memory stick design to just the SD cards, as this is a more universal design and easier to use. Some SD and memory card slots are interchangeable though, capable of accepting both kinds of memory cards.

There have been many changes in smart devices and social media. People that interact through all the different types of smart phones and social media platforms are interested in emoticons. These little facebook smileys faces and other various symbols are making more people look for apps with this feature. This is usually the easiest way to incorporate this in your text messages.

The key to getting good emoticons is finding apps that have diversity. Sometimes people just want to send something that is familiar. Lots of smart phone owners that interact with one another will need some emoticons. The sad face or the smiley face is very familiar territory. On the other hand, there are times when people want to communicate by shocking the person that is holding the other end of the phone. People like to be the first one to come up with new trends or emoticons to express themselves. This will take a little searching.

The good thing is that there are thousands of apps and new ones are surfacing everyday. Lots of heavy text senders will constantly stay on the look out for new apps. They want to have the advantage of trying the app out first. Some will even go as far as attempting to develop their very own apps. This can be a very intense thing to do, but sometimes people just get bored. They may not actually see anything that they like. This is what leads them to come up with ideas for better emoticon apps. Individuals that have the skills to do this should seriously consider it. They may even make some money from the creation of an emoticon app.

The reality, however, is that emoticons are more of a thing for teenagers. Adults that download them should be cautious of how they send out their messages to associates. It is much more common for teenagers to use this to express themselves. Adults that use this emoticons all the time may seem a little bit childish.

Individuals that download the emoticons should also be aware of what these emoticons represent. Sometimes people may look at a certain thing and assume that it means more or less than it actually means. It is best to download apps that have descriptions of the emoticons that are present inside the app. Some are animated. Don’t download these if you do not have a large data plan.

Learning to Program is Very Beneficial

8th June 2012 / Author: Bolt

In the past few decades computer science has become one of the most important and beneficial sciences of all time. Learning how to program has become an important thing to do lately in our society. Many primary school are making computer science classes an option and very many college majors make at least a beginner computer science class mandatory. The internet nowadays even has a very large computer science tutoring service. You are able to find programming tutors not only in the silicon valley but in other major metropolitan cities. For instance, New York is now developing their own tech boom nicknamed “silicon alley”. It is more than easy to find a New York tutor specializing in computer science.

There are many reasons to learn how to program and only a few are covered in this article.

Many new jobs require employees to learn how to program. Computer science majors are some of the top earners straight out of college. This shows that programming and computer science are new, important factors in the frontiers of the business world. Just like engineers, computer science majors are held in very high esteem and their paycheck shows that this is true. Out of all the reasons for learning how to program a fat paycheck is one of them.

Programming is an art and a science. Depending on how you use it, programming can be a very creative outlet. Games, programs (obviously) and many other applications can be designed through computer science and programming. The more you learn how to program the better you get and the better you get the more you can create. Learning how to program can even give you the opportunity to become an entrepreneur!

Many programmers have made a career out of their hobby by creating their code and selling it to businesses. Although most programs are created with a team of programmers it is still very possible to create entire programs without any help, although this can be rather inefficient. You don’t have to make a fancy program to make some money off of programming either, you can make a large amount of money by designing a simple flash game.

Although most people who design flash games don’t make a large amount of money it is possible to make big bucks, but it all depends on a multitude of factors. A good way to make some cash is to create a website along with your game. If your program makes it big people will visit your website and you can make money from advertisements, products… etc. The sky is the limit.

Programming can be very lucrative, depending on where you go with it. You can learn how to program using online courses, books and schools. Although programming is not for everyone it doesn’t hurt to give it a shot! Who knows, you could be a natural.

You may ask yourself from time to time one simple question when you are using your computer: Why do I need to backup my computer? You may think that this is a step that you need not have to take but in reality it is probably one of the best things you could do to prevent a total loss of information pertaining all your hard work and saved files on your computer. You are not alone in thinking that just because this has never happened to you it most likely never will. But the chance is to great to take that risk. Now is a great time to invest in your future.

Think of backing up your files on your computer as auto insurance or home insurance. What are the chances of getting into an auto accident or your house catching on fire? Pretty slim, it’s true, but it only needs to happen once to cause devastating and long lasting results that will negatively affect your future. It’s better to have your computer backed up and saved on an external hard drive in case of an extreme emergency. What if you spill water on your computer or some other accident occurs that may jeopardize your functionality of your computer and permanently damage all of your data and files.

Have you ever typed an essay or done a project in a word file and forgot to save your work? Have you ever written an email and accidentally got your internet connection disconnected? What was the feeling like? It was terrible! And can you imagine if this happened on a larger and more drastic scale? Imagine if a virus or some other incident wiped out everything on your computer? What would you do? All the pictures, documents, files completely lost because you ceased to complete one simple task. That simple task being to backup your computer.

I recommend that you do some research on backup companies. A very convenient way to back up your files is through the cloud over a company’s server. Many companies are allowing services that help you back up your images, videos, etc… without ever needing to buy extra space on a hard drive. One such example is the company Backblaze.com. They provide services that allow you to back up by paying a monthly fee to cover the costs.

It is not worth all the pain and stress that would result in the unlikely but highly probable scenario of losing your information. Play it safe and back up your computer now. You may think it will never happen to you but that is also what so many people have thought before they lost everything they had on their computer too. Just backup. It’s so simple and easy to do!

 

What is Social Media

22nd April 2012 / Author: Bolt

Since the creation of the Internet, the world has drawn itself closer and closer together, with knowledge free flowing between individuals all around the world. Of course, there are other sites and features that have helped progress this even further, with the main Internet features bringing people closer together is social media. Social media is exactly what it sounds. It provides media, ranging anywhere from word based information to videos and images, all of which are socially shared with other people. To better understand what exactly social media is, you need to know what websites fall into its category of Online sites and what these websites are able to do.

The most popular social media websites (and one of the most popular in the world) is Facebook. This is basically the kind of social media currently. The website allows you to directly communicate with just about anyone else who has an account. It is basically the offspring of email and instant messenger systems. On these earlier instant messenger services, users had a general profile with a few tidbits of information about them, and then they could talk with one another after accepting a contact request. Facebook took this one step further, allowing you to share information with others that you want them to see (this is the social part of it). The website allows you to post pictures, videos and comments with one another that other users can see. This way, instead of attempting to email individuals a single picture, or mailing a copy to those you want to have it, all people signed into the account is able to see it.

For a social media website to exist, there must be some sort of way to share and connect with one another. Another leading social media site is Twitter. Twitter allows people to most small comments to their account and others can see this information and then share their own feedback (again, the “social” aspect). There must be some sort of direct communication between users, as without it, there is no social media. It is just media. More and more website are going towards social media, and it has generated its very own way to advertise and spread news to one another. Social media is an Internet service that is here to stay and is just going to grow larger as the years go by, due to all its features it provides.

Why WordPress is the best CMS For Blogging

1st April 2012 / Author: Bolt

When making the move to become a serious blogger or for blogging for a business, you will come to the realization that you need your own blog. Now I am not talking about the blog you have been working with or the free blogging sites on the internet. These are great and can help a blogger realize how to run a blog.

The biggest problem with these free sites is that you do not own the content. If for some reason their server was to crash there is no way to back up your site. Can you imagine if you had been blogging daily for two years, and then just wake up one day and all of your work was gone?

So what do you need to look for when creating your own blog? Besides the given of needing a domain name and web hosting, where do you begin. You are going to build your website and blog. The best place to start is to use WordPress. Most web hosting companies support WordPress.

WordPress is the best Content Management System for blogging and works well for other websites as well. One of the things that make it so awesome is that it is a open source free program. It is also great for creating a mobile website. The basic system is available to everyone and there is a huge community to ask for support and advice.

Another feature that makes WordPress work well for most bloggers is the fact that it as a What You See Is What You Get editor. This WYSIWYG makes it easy to create post and pages in minutes. It also allows you to pick from many of the amazing themes and widgets that are available.

The themes and widgets can be free or paid as they are created by third parties independent of the platform. These themes allow you to pick the best templates and widgets you might need for your blog. You can also choose extra widgets that you might need or plug-ins to make your site run the way you want.

No matter what features that your blog needs you will be able to find them in the community. The best part about the system is that it is user friendly. This makes it the perfect system for a blogger. They do not have to know programming code to create a great site, they also do not need to hire someone to do it for them. They can start their site all on their own for a very small start up fee. WordPress makes creating and storing your content on your site easy.

The Benefits of Having a Virtual Office

18th March 2012 / Author: Bolt

Does a business truly need an expansive full-service office setup on site? In prior generations, there only feasible answer was yes. Today, there is an alternative available and it comes in the form of a virtual office. Certain business owners might not be aware of the many excellent benefits to a virtual office. For those wondering what a virtual office has to offer, the following is a brief look at the main benefits.

The most obvious benefit would be the cost savings. With a virtual office, a business does not have to hire a full or part-time staff. Additionally, there will be no need to hire any office equipment or devices required to fully run the operations of the office. Overhead can cut into the profitability of an office immensely. Through cutting back on costs associated with running it, it becomes more financially solvent.

Businesses can also used the system presented through a virtual office to institute a telecommuting program for current employees. With fewer employees needed in the office, there becomes less of a need to rent a great deal of office space. This means less money earmarked towards paying costly rent. In fact, the entire need to rent office space could be outright eliminated. The owners of the business could move all operations out of the office and to the home upon instituting a virtual office system.

A virtual office can also come with a provided street address in a prestigious metropolitan area. This definitely can leave a positive impression on potential clients. It also offers a location in which mail can be sent as most virtual offices offer a mail servicing system.

Productivity can also improve immensely when employees are working on a telecommuting basis. Employees do not have to deal with the stress of traveling to work and they will also find themselves working in an environment that is more amicable to their needs with call forwarding. From this, a greater potential for productivity is possible.

A virtual office does come with a great array of benefits. For those wishing to make effective changes in the way their business operates, working with a virtual office service could prove to be the wisest strategy to follow.

How to Leverage Social Media for Business

28th February 2012 / Author: Bolt

If you have a business, one of the best ways to promote your company, as well as your company’s products and services, is through social media. Studies have shown that businesses who use social media consistently, for three year periods or more, show the highest results in terms of sales gains.

Whether you choose to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest, or perhaps, all of the above, you are certain to gain new followers. Connecting your company’s website to your social media accounts is one of the most important ways to advertise. Not to mention, many of these sites are free to use.

Potential clients prefer connecting with a business on a social / personal level. This is what social media offers. You get the ability to show potential consumers who you are and what you stand for on a more relatable level. Forming a bond of trust through social media is a simple and cost-effective way to gain new clients.

You can post pictures of company outings or parties through your social media accounts to get people engaged and excited about your offerings. Furthermore, when you choose to leverage social media for business, you have the opportunity to get people talking about your company through their social media accounts, hence, the possibility to go “viral.”

For example, if you are a doctor, you can use your social media accounts to give daily health tips, while sharing links to your website. If you have a Facebook account, you can use an app called “Aweber” to capture email addresses or post contests on your Facebook page. Social media helps increase traffic to your website, further pushing your rank upwards in Google searches.

Sites such as Flickr and YouTube also allow you to post pictures and videos as well. All of these ways can help promote and increase sales for your business.

How to Cope With Death in the Workplace

2nd February 2012 / Author: Bolt

Employees spend a large percentage of their time with their co-workers. They often become friends and confidants. The loss of a co-worker can cause a ripple effect through the workplace hitting those who worked directly with, or were the closet to, the deceased person the hardest. There are different things to do to cope with a death in the workplace.

Notifying the employees of the death is one of the first things that must be done. For a large company with many employees it may be appropriate to send out a memo or an email, especially if not everyone knew the deceased personally. When it’s a smaller company, or when dealing with the person’s own department, it is better to deliver the news in person. Call a meeting to advise employees of a coworkers passing. If possible, hold the meeting in a private location such as an office or conference room. Be prepared to answer questions and allow employees time to accept the news. If the deceased’s death was sudden, tragic, or happened in the workplace bringing in a grief counselor may be appropriate.

It’s not always feasible to allow employees time off to attend services. Therefore, allow those closest to the deceased to use bereavement or personal time to go to pay their respects. If the deceased was a well-liked person, consider having a memorial service at the workplace. A small reflection ceremony where co-workers can say something about the deceased followed by releasing balloons into the air is one idea for a memorial service.

Memorializing the deceased can help keep their memory long after their passing. A tree planted outside of the building, an indoor tree for the lobby or a bench with a plaque bearing their name are some ideas of a fitting memorial. Allow co-workers to take part in the process by voting on, or collecting money for, the purchase of the memorial.

Once the initial shock has worn off, think of a way to boost employee moral. Something as simple as a company lunch or a casual dress day in memory of the deceased may be enough to bring up the spirits of the employees. Consider having employees pay a small fee to participate and then donate the money collected to the deceased’s family or make a donation to a charity in their name.