One of my customers just told us on a recent follow up call that our Fixed IT program is really expensive. Nervous that I was about to be told: “So therefore we are going to cancel our subscription.” I took a deep breath and asked why he thought this. The customer responded, “Look, I am not complaining! When jumping out of a plane, I don’t buy the cheapest parachute I can find, I buy the best one money can buy. You folks are like a good parachute; I wouldn’t want to run my business without you.” It sounds like he is going to be renewing his contract next year. Woohoo!

So you can type 110 words per minute. Awesome. Can’t we all? But every time you touch that furry little mouse (yeah, I got a leopard print mouse cover for mine, you should think about it.) you reduce your production. Here are some tips that work / help out when navigating around your documents. Memorize them and you will be a word rock star: (or any program for that matter!)

Ctrl + Z key is the undo key – you can use it to undo all of the following tips:

Delete key – deletes to the right of the curser

Backspace key – deletes behind or to the left of the curser

Ctrl + right arrow – takes you back an entire word

Ctrl + Shift + right arrow – takes you back an entire word while highlights the word (useful when combined with Ctrl + X key to cut the selection or Ctrl + C to copy the selection)

Ctrl + left arrow – takes you forward an entire word

Ctrl + Shift + left arrow – takes you forward an entire word and you guessed it: highlights as you go!

You can also use Ctrl + backspace and Ctrl + delete key to delete entire words.

That should get you wording along pretty quickly. Stay tuned–  we will be covering mathing in excel soon!

Sorry to keep harping on the backup thing: if you haven’t tested your backups in the last 6 months, you can just assume they aren’t working. We just did a network audit for a company and found out that they didn’t have a backup of any of their data since March 14 (over three months). The business owner said that the loss of this data would cost him over $100K to reproduce. Talk about crippling!

Just for kicks – I spent a little time finding out how much it would cost to recover the data. The quote I got was $20K, and two weeks of processing time. (Not to mention the fact that his confidential data would have to be shipped to New York via Fed Ex – not something I would want to do be responsible for). The company would not guarantee the data and wanted a $5K up front, non-refundable deposit.

If you are worried about your backups, please contact us immediately so we can take a look. If you aren’t worried about them then either your business could withstand the loss of all your appointments, email, customer contact information, financials, creative work, x-rays and photos, or you are on our Fixed IT program.

Did you know you can work tons faster if you never reach over and grab that little usually-ever-so-helpful-mouse? Let’s face it – every time you hold that silver-egg-shaped-piece of plastic in your hand, you are wasting a few seconds. These seconds become minutes and before you know it, you are stuck at work at 7:45 PM wishing you could make it home in time for Law and Order (Matlock, whatever).

Over the next few weeks we are going to share with you some quick and easy productivity enhancers. There are two today, so pay attention!

First, find the Windows-key (it is the little key in the bottom left hand corner of your keyboard that has a little picture of four boxes), also known as the Windows logo.

Now here are the tricks:

Minimize it! Press the Windows-key, hold it and press the M-key. M for Minimize. This will minimize all of the windows on your screen at once. This is a great way to get back to your computer’s desktop and look for that file you need to open.

Lock it…now you are ready to get up and go get that third cup of coffee – you don’t want people looking at your documents so you need to lock your computer. You can do this quickly by pressing the Windows-key, holding it and then pressing the L-Key. L for Lock. Good. Now if you could only remember your password.

Brian and Megan first locked eyes seven years ago under the fluorescent lights of VG’s Grocery, where both used to work, and where Megan continues to work while she earns her degree in teaching from the University of Michigan. Their love blossomed among the cereal and canned goods aisles, and three years later they decided to start dating. Now, Brian admits that he finds it bizarre how much they enjoy hanging out with each other, and how good they are at it (a plus when you’re getting married).

The couple kicked off pre-wedding season last Saturday with a bridal shower that was attended by (shock) both women and men. (Although the men did manage to skip out on half of it, escaping in an excursion on Brian’s friend’s boat—got to get every last pirate adventure in before the big day!) The shower was a huge success, with a crowd of over 60 partying people and a stack of gifts that included essentials for the bride and groom-to-be (a GRILL, toasters, silverware… the necessities).

Now that the shower is over, Brian has just one more pre-wedding event coming up: the bachelor party! He admits that he is excited, but terrified because of what he witnessed in the recently released film, “The Hangover.” Who wouldn’t be?

The wedding will take place at the Cornerstone Presbyterian Church, in Brighton (you know, just in case anyone is planning on crashing the ceremony). Although Brian is excited about it, and mildly excited about his black tux (“It’s kind of nice, I guess”), what he is most looking forward to is the reception. This reception, or Night of Chaos, will take place at Megan’s house (again, just in case crashers were curious), where there will be plenty of booze, and where the goal will be to make as much noise as possible in order to make Megan’s neighbors angrier than ever right before Megan moves out. Best of luck with that!

While working with a customer the other day, it hit me: people don’t really care about desktop computer support any more! Why invest $ in your current computer when you can just toss it out, and get a new one at a great price, right?

Wrong!  After explaining why it took us about 5 1/2 to get the replacement computer (purchased from  a local store) on to their network, set up with their business software, mapped to their printers, and secured, our customer wasn’t very happy with the bill. The problem;  computers you buy off the shelf are not set up for your office, and when you buy one and  then call us for the prep, we have to do a bunch of extra work to get you up and running.

You have other options:  you can call one of the software manufacturers and spend hours on hold, or call the company that built the computer and spend your day working with someone who “doesn’t speaking English very much good” to get it set up. Face it, you’re busy and you don’t have time to waste on the phone.

Next time you decide: I need a new computer call us and we’ll help you decide if that’s the best choice for you. If it is, we’ll put Nick West on the job. He’ll make sure you get the right one, the right software and he will give you an estimate on the set up—this way there are no surprises. Oh, and all you Fixed IT customers out there – we take care of all the set up, it’s part of the program.

Cheers!

–Bruce

Just got off the phone with a company that lost 5 weeks of client bookkeeping data because they didn’t have good backups, they aren’t very happy.

Here’s the scoop: just because you are swapping tapes doesn’t mean that you are actually getting a backup. You need to test the backup to make sure it is working. We have seen cases where the actual logs say that the backup was successful, but the backup data was actually corrupted. Here’s how to test your backups and make sure they are good:

• Take a file that you have been recently working on and rename it to zmytest.zzz
• Contact the person who is responsible for your backups and ask them to restore a copy of the original file. (don’t tell them you renamed, tell them you deleted it by mistake)
• If they can’t at least get you a copy from yesterday, you have a problem.

We could have saved them thousands of dollars: (how much would it cost your company to lose 5 weeks of work?)
With our Fixed IT program, we address this whole backup issue by doing nightly backups, checking the logs every day, and restoring your files once a month to make sure they are good. We suggest you do this as a minimum! If you would rather not worry about it get on our Fixed IT program… or be prepared to lose 5 weeks of client work once in a while.
Cheers!

–Bruce McCully

The Emcee’s voice rang out, “Your word is “de-main” also pronounced “de-mean”. Nice; either way I didn’t have a clue. Maybe I should have passed on that second glass of wine. “Can you give us the definition?” I asked, trying to buy a little time. Speculating on the language of origin and root word I played out several possible variations in my head. His voice broke through my reverie….“an estate or part of an estate occupied and controlled by the owner or manor house…. blah blah blah……….” .  I conferred with my Dream Team partners and it soon became evident that none of us could do more than guess at the spelling of the word. Hesitantly the guy on my right picked up the microphone and took  a stab. “D-E, pause, (so far so good),…M-E-I-G-N?    he ended somewhat desperately.” Ding”, (went the little bell) “I’m sorry” said the Emcee…..”that was a tough one”  and our short lived hopes of becoming the 2009  Family Learning Institute Spelling Champs faded to the sound of good natured applause.

Last Friday night 19 teams took to the stage in a “spell-off” fundraiser, benefitting Family Learning Institute, an organization that provides a supplemental academic program to low income students in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti who are performing below grade level, at no cost to the students. Their program incorporates tools for becoming successful learners and their track record tells the story of their success. (www.familylearninginstitute.org)

Representing Dynamic Edge as a wild card player, I was given a seat on the “Dream Team” when one of the official teams was eliminated with the word “reminiscence”. Lucky for me I spent many an hour shopping in my favorite vintage store in Greenwich Village, aptly named “Reminiscence”– I was a shoe in.
Teams as diverse as the WCC Honey Bees, Zinger Bees from Zingermans,  Retirement Income Solutions  Grammar Crackers, the Ann Arbor Motion Roads Scholars,  St Andrews Holy Bees, the  Mss-Spellers, and more, strategized, conferred and competed, and, as the “bee” progressed the words became more difficult and well, just plain weird. The teams fell one by one, tripped up on words that had no place in the English language I knew and loved. 
A few more rounds and two teams, both representing Green Hills School, were the only ones standing. Ratcheting things up to a whole new level, the Emcee opened up a plastic baggie and brought out the Really Hard Words!  No longer in the spotlight, I ordered another white wine and sat back to listen and learn.
Fifteen grueling minutes later, edging out their sister team, Green Hills ParentTeam “Houyhnhnms” spelled their way to victory and accepted the golden trophy. The real winners though were Family Learning Solutions who raised over $20,000 with a spelling bee!
Graciously accepting defeat I congratulated Marjorie Horton, a member of the winning team. Eyeing the trophy covetously, I leaned in to give her a hug, already planning a strategy for the Dynedge team I was hoping to debut in the 2010 event. Anyone interested in joining?..We’re always looking for a few good spellers.
Oh, by the way….that word is spelled demesne.

– Debra Berman

Sitting around a campfire last weekend, I learned that Google has  an application called Google Docs that allows users to build documents that are oh-so-similar to our favorite Microsoft Office docs for FREE. Ok… so I’m WAY out of the loop, but I’ve become hopelessly addicted to and trained to use the “gold standard.”

But then again, maybe you’re in the same boat as me, and didn’t know that Google was giving every person with a computer and internet connection access to free word processing, spreadsheets, form builder and presentation software — and has been since 2007.

What provoked my interest in this? My friend Marc’s whole office made the switch last week from Microsoft Office to Google Docs. “It was really a budget move,” he explained. “Non-profits really start to feel it when we have to upgrade.”

Naturally, I was curious about Google Docs. After all, Dynamic Edge is in the business of information technology. Being one who uses Word, Outlook and Excel on a daily basis, I wondered how an office like mine would (or if we could) function on Google Docs alone. I’ve read several reviews and blogs with opinions both ways, then decided it would be best to just check it out for myself. Here’s what I think about Google Docs word processor:

The Good
+ Loads up quickly
+ It’s easy to figure out and use. If you can do Word, you can do Docs.
+ Composing and editing is very straight forward.
+ Navigation is very similar.
+ No irregularities in printing.
+ Collaborating on a document is less confusing than “track changes.”
+ It’s Free!

The Bad
- Not as many fonts available, font sizes either.
- Only allows simple formatting
- It’s hard to talk people into trying something new — that they’re afraid of.
- I miss my individual desktop icons.
- Google Docs is still in beta, why?
- Haven’t tried to use it offline –  we’ll test that functionality over the weekend.

Conclusion:
Google Docs can do everything you would use Office to do, with a few limitations (file size, formatting, etc.) So, if you just need the basics covered, why not use Google Docs? Honestly, you can’t beat the price!

On the other hand, if you’re crunching lots of data into spreadsheets — and then using those to create detailed reports and complicated — you should probably stick with the programs you already know. This is especially true if you’re currently running the latest versions of these professional products.

This morning, when I  sat down to breakfast (at my desk) I found this inside my yogurt container:

Well, not really in the container. Rather, it was inside of the label. I pulled the tab that said “Pull here for environmental information.” Naturally, I was intrigued. What is this? Now my yogurt comes with both nutritional and environmental information. What a treat!

Kroger’s Earth-consciousness got me thinking: if the Kroger brand can put this level of concern for the environment into their product line, why can’t we? So, on the distant heels of Earth Day, I’m proud to announce that YOU, blog-reader, will be the first to hear about Dynamic Edge’s eco-friendly office products!

The first idea: 100% post-consumer use recycled notebooks. I ran this one past Tim Neiman this morning, and he seemed supportive. As soon as I have a prototype ready, I’ll post a photo on this blog, so stay tuned! If you’re interested in one of these custom creations, email mcgee (at) dynedge.com!

By the way: the more requests the merrier, a bunch of excited blog-readers is a compelling reason to begin production…feel free to include suggestions for future products as well and we’ll work on developing recycled versions of those as well.

ttyl! Stormie