The Dot Com Miner

Whether using the telephone for business or personal use, using this
communication tool effectively means being timely, communicating clearly and
having the other person’s interest in mind.

1 - Plan and schedule your telephone calls so that you can allow time for off-track
discussions. If you plan a 10:30am telephone call “schedule” it like you might
schedule a face to face meeting: a little extra time, particularly for those you know
like to talk!
2 - At the beginning of your call, mention you know you can cover the points
needed within time enough for you to make your next appointment, at a stated
time. Then as you want to wind up the conversation you can backtrack to restate the
appointment you mentioned. Or, you may find that someone will remind you, “Oh,
you have to get on to that appointment, right?”
3 - Maybe you prefer to wait until you are into the conversation before needing to
ask for an exit. As you near time to say goodbye and find it difficult to end, try
saying, “Oh my gosh, I have a long distance call I need to take. Can you hold while I
take it?” Your customer or friend will likely say the conversation can pick up later.
And, once again, it is the other person who ends the call.
4 - If you have to leave a voice mail, certain elements are important to include: your
name, when you are calling, a brief message about your purpose, and a telephone
number to return the call to you. If you work in a staffed office and there’s another
extension of someone as an alternate contact, leave his or her name and extension
as well. This last point is being considerate of the other person’s time.
5 - When leaving a voice mail make it easy for the person who is taking and likely
writing down this information. First, you can say the number slowly by area code,
exchange and last digits. For example, say it just as you might write it in the United
States: 777-555-1234. Alternately, or even in addition to the divided method, you
can repeat your telephone number a second time. Or, you can combine both
methods!
6 - Your outgoing message (om) is as important to etiquette as the message you
leave when you are the caller. For business protocol it’s wise to identify yourself by
name. At home, if you want more security, you may want to just state, “You have
reached, 777-555-1234.” In either environment, state for the caller to leave their
name, telephone number and a brief message. If you include the date, “Monday,
February 21st,” in your om, be certain you change it everyday. If you ever have
anyone run out of time with leaving his or her message, you may also want to
include, “and there is a 30 second (or whatever time) for your brief message.”
7 - The cliché that “time is money,” is particularly true for the working person. That
we all have the same amount of time is true for everyone. Return your telephone
calls on a timely basis, within 24 hours is professional and considerate in either a
business or personal setting.

Try one of these tips next time you find yourself wanting to be in charge of the
telephone.

Copyright© Patricia Weber, http://www.prostrategies.com.

Pat Weber is a coach, certified telelcass leader, and corporate trainer. With her
incisive, effective communication skills, her services can help you to accelerate
professional and personal results you want, by helping you increase your choices
and build your self-confidence. With personal coaching, a teleclass, an online email
course or on-site workshop, get what you want, more easily and more often. Visit
her website at http://www.prostrategies.com. Contact her for a free coaching session.

The data on your hard drive is the most critical item inside your computer, and the only item which can not be replaced. It may be an unwanted hassle and expense to replace a defective memory module, monitor, or processor, but there is no replacing data once lost.

In addition to the possibility of a simple hard drive failure, the threat of internet borne worms and viruses has become an increasing risk to data loss or corruption. Although you may not be able to provide absolute protection to your hard drive, there are various ways that you can ensure that the data on your hard drive is protected. Five methods of backing up your data are summarized below…

1. USB Flash Drives

Although I am not recommending that flash drives be used for the actual data storage, they are a convenient means of transferring data from one computer to another. Important files can be quickly loaded onto a device such as the MINIDISK-512-DGRY-CS USB 2.0 Flash Drive, and transported to another computer for safe keeping. Installation and operation is extremely simple, and other than perhaps having to install a software driver, the use of a USB flash drive is a matter of having an available USB port on your computer. Just about every computer produced over the last several years has USB ports included, with more modern systems supporting the USB 2.0 standard. USB 2.0 allows for data transfer rates of up to 480 MB/s, which is a tremendous improvement over the original USB speed limit of 12 MB/s, and allows a user to fill their drives with data in a relatively short period of time.

Although the storage capacity of flash drives has increased greatly over the last year or so, users are still limited to common sizes of 512MB and 1GB. Mass storage is obviously not an option, but even 512MB may be enough to backup your “My Documents” folder, several albums of MP3s, or other important files to be stored elsewhere.

2. CD and DVD Writers/Re-Writers

The falling prices of CD and DVD writers/re-writers have made them a staple of just about every modern computer. These devices can typically be found installed in a computer case, but external devices supporting USB 2.0 or Firewire are available for greater flexibility and ease of installation.

A combination drive, such as the NU Technology DBW-521, will provide the user a high speed CD reader/writer, as well as a DVD reader, for under $40. The extremely low price of the drive (and the blank media) makes for an inexpensive means of creating data backups, and the re-writable media increases the convenience by allowing the same disc to be erased and reused many times. The main limitation of using a CD writer for data backups is that the discs are generally limited to a capacity of 700MB per disc. Not nearly enough for a full backup, but adequate for archiving key files.

The popularity of DVD writers/re-writers has surged thanks to dropping prices, and they are pushing the stand alone CD burner towards extinction. DVD media affords the user far more storage capacity than a CD, and DVD burners can generally burn CDs as wells as DVDs. The recent availability of double layer DVD burners, such as the Sony DW-D22A-DO-N, represents a large boost in the capacity of writable DVDs, taking the previous limit of 4.7GB per disc and nearly doubling it to 8.5GB.

With proper storage, CD/DVD media can provide long term storage that can not be jeopardized by hardware failure. The data on a CD or DVD can easily be read by just about any computer, making it a good choice for archiving files that aren’t excessively large.

3. External Hard Drives

As the name might imply, external hard drives are generally the same type of drive you might find inside your system, but housed in a smaller, external enclosure of its own. The enclosure will feature at least one data interface (such as Firewire, USB, or Ethernet), and the capacity is only limited by the size of hard drives presently available and the user’s budget.

The Ximeta NetDisk is an example of an external hard drive that provides a user the option of connecting an additional 80GB, 120GB, or 160GB of storage to their system by using either a USB 2.0 or Ethernet connection. Installation for such a device is rather simple, and may involve the installation of some basic software, as well as making the necessary connections between the computer and the external enclosure.

The capacity of external hard drives makes them ideal for backing up large volumes of data, and many of these devices simplify the process by including software (or hardware) features to automate the backup.

For example, some Seagate External drives feature a “one-button” backup option right on the case.In addition to being a convenient method of backing up large volumes of files locally, most external hard drives are compact enough to be portable. The inclusion of a common data transfer interface, such as USB, allows an external hard drive to be connected to just about any modern computer for data transfer, or for more than one computer to share the external hard drive as a back up.

4. Additional Hard Drives

By simply adding an additional hard drive to you system, you can protect yourself from data loss by copying it from your primary drive to your secondary drive. The installation of a second hard drive isn’t difficult, but does require a basic understanding of the inner working of a computer, which may scare off some users. We do offer a “how-to” section on our site for many tasks such as installing a hard drive into a computer system.

To take the installation of a second hard drive to another level of security and reliability, the hard drives may be installed in a RAID array. RAID stands for a Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks, and can be configured in several manners. A thorough discussion of RAID and all of its variations would be an article all by itself, but what may be of interest to this discussion is what is known as RAID 1. A RAID 1 array requires two hard drives of equal size to be installed on a RAID controller, which will then mirror one drive to the other in real time. Many motherboards now come with RAID controllers onboard, but the addition of a PCI slot controller card, such as the Silicon Image Sil0680, is an inexpensive purchase that will add RAID to any system. With a RAID 1 array in place, if one hard drive should ever fail, the system won’t miss a best by continuing to run on the remaining good drive, and alert the user that one drive may need to be replaced.

5. Online Storage

Online services, such as Xdrive, allow users to upload their files to a server for safe keeping. Although it may be convenient to have the data available wherever an internet connection is available, there are a few limitations.

The services generally charge a monthly fee relative to the amount of storage space required. At Xdrive, for example, 5GB of storage costs $9.95 per month, which can quickly add up to more than one would spend on any of the other options discussed.

Security is supposed to be very tight on these services, but no matter how secure it may seem, it is still just a password keeping prying eyes from your potentially sensitive documents.

The speed of your internet connection will also weigh heavily on the convenience of your backup, and no matter what type of connection you have; it can’t compete with local data transfer rates.

Final Words

Although not a comprehensive list of options available for backing up your data, the five items listed provide some simple and relatively affordable means to ensure that your data is not lost. Data loss is an extremely frustrating and potentially costly situation, but one that can be avoided.

http://geeks.com/pix/techtips-11-04-04.htm

Jason Kohrs
Computer Geeks tech tips and computer advice

Most of us tend to think of laptops in the same way: a fairly small portable computer that can open and close like a suitcase, with all of the capabilities of a desktop. In fact, the term “laptop” is really very generic. There are currently four main styles of these portable PCs, each offering something a bit different, depending upon your specific needs.

Ultralights - Also known as sub-notebooks or ultraportables, this style of laptop weighs up to - but no more than - four pounds, making them ideal for travelers. The upside of an ultralight is that it doesn’t burden those who have to spend a lot of time carrying them with aching muscles, as its larger cousins often do. The downside, however, is that - in order to cut down on the size and weight - this type of laptop is so small that there’s no room for a network card or internal CD drive. In order to reap the benefits of these types of “attachments,” you’d have to bring an external CD drive and port replicator. Another negative in the scenario is that ultralights tend to be on the expensive end of the laptop spectrum.

Notebooks - This is basically just a regular laptop, but is slightly less heavy, weighing in at four to six pounds. While it’s heavier than the smaller ultralight, it also offers more options with less fuss. Offering the flexibility of a combo bay, notebooks are designed with a large opening on the side which allows the user to plug a CD drive, floppy disk or extra battery - allowing you to access the features that you need without the burden of making room for those that aren’t needed.

Standards - Commonly referred to as “regular laptops,” these weigh between six and eight pounds and offer a full range of benefits. This technological pack-mule is the best buy - dollar for dollar - when you consider the cost/performance ratio. Due to their popularity, combined with their design and usability, it’s not uncommon to find discounts on these from major manufacturers. Other types of laptops, which fall into more specialized categories, tend to be in the higher price ranges. The bottom line is, of the four main types of laptops, the standard is the most economical for the most reasonable amount of money.

Extra Large - Although this type of laptop doesn’t yet have a technical name, it’s best to simply refer to it as “extra large,” since they weigh between eight and ten pounds and have a screen that measures at least 17 inches. In addition, the keyboard is much larger than a standard laptop, making it a more comfortable fit for those who find the keyboard of the standard laptop rather inhibitive. There are a couple of downfalls to owning this type of unit, not the least of which includes its weight. There can be a four pound difference between the weight of a standard and an extra large laptop - and that’s quite a bit, when you think about lugging it around all day. The other negative factor is the cost of this type of laptop. It offers a price tag that’s every bit as hefty as its weight and size.

The purchase of a laptop comes down to personal preference, and there are enough styles in the laptop community to please just about everyone. For those who can’t decide and just want “a laptop,” then it’s probably better to stick to the standard model.

Jonathan Chase is a computer enthusiast and contributing writer to All Cheap Laptops. Learn more about laptops at http://www.all-cheap-laptops.com/How-Laptops-Work.htm

What are the options available for refilling my printer?

There are mainly two ways you can refill your printer - with printer cartridges or with ink refill kits. There are OEM cartridges, remanufactured or recycled cartridges and compatible cartridges. The cheapest option is, however, buying a printer ink refill kit and refill the empty cartridge.

Do remanufactured cartridges harm the machine?

Remanufactured cartridges do no harm to the printer. Remanufactured cartridges are nothing but recycled OEM cartridges. You only have to buy a remanufactured cartridge that is meant for your specific printer.

How many times I can refill a cartridge?

Many suggest refilling should not be done for more than 4-5 times. Printer cartridges come with printer heads and once these heads wear out, the cartridge needs to be changed. As long as you are satisfied with the print quality, you can go on refilling.

How to save printer ink?

Printer inks are very expensive and the best way to save money on printer ink is to use it economically. Plan and print. Often people take printouts simply to realize later that it is not required. Take printouts of only those documents, which are necessary.

Where to buy printer ink?

Printer inks can be brought from retail stores or from online stores. Buying from online stores will save you a lot of money - both on the product and on shipping and traveling expenses as well.

Does my printer warranty remain valid even if I use compatible or remanufactured cartridges?

Printer manufacturers like Hewlett Packard, Canon, Epson, Lexmark etc suggest that you use only OEM cartridges. Generally your printer warranty will be void if you use compatible or remanufactured cartridges. If you have ever used remanufactured or compatible cartridges, the printer manufacturer will not take responsibility for any damage done to the computer.

We have made the most comprehensive research to find the best place to buy printer inks. Find the results only on the cheap jet ink cartridges and ink refill research. All about printer inks on http://www.leandernet.com