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Directive has been serving the Oneonta area since 1993, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

Tip of the Week: No Internet? You Can Still View Cached Web Pages in Chrome

b2ap3_thumbnail_chrome_cache_400.jpgHave you ever been browsing the Internet, only to lose your connection and be stuck without access to an article mid-sentence? This is a common dilemma for the average PC user that uses an unstable WiFi connection. Thankfully, so long as you aren’t viewing a constantly updating page like Facebook, you have the option to view your browser’s cached pages. Here’s how you can do it in Google Chrome.

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Tip of the Week: View Multiple Pages at Once in Microsoft Word

b2ap3_thumbnail_microsoft_word_400.jpgLet’s face it; sometimes you need a bird’s eye view of your Microsoft Word document that a single page can’t provide you with. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could view multiple pages and take everything into perspective? Well, as it turns out, you can. In fact, you can view up to eight pages at once by following this simple procedure.

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Tip of the Week: Don’t Let Work Ruin Your Friendships, or Friendships Ruin Your Work

b2ap3_thumbnail_be_the_boss_400.jpgAs a business owner, you walk a fine line between boss and friend. While you want to be approachable and have a company culture that’s friendly, you can’t have your employees be your closest friends. Being too close to your staff will blur your authority, breed favoritism, and make it difficult to fire people; but not being friendly will make for a cold working environment. How do you manage this social dynamic?

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Tip of the Week: Engage Your Workforce to Improve Employee Retention

b2ap3_thumbnail_bad_leadership_400.jpgThe leaders of today’s business world are staring down a problem unlike anything they’ve seen before; their workforce, or rather, engaging them in their work. A study by Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends shows that a meager 13 percent of employees in the world are legitimately engaged in their work. That’s a pretty small percentage, and to make matters worse, over a quarter of the world’s workforce are disengaged to the point their negativity will impact others.

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Tip of the Week: How to Change the Size of Your Desktop Icons

b2ap3_thumbnail_desktop_icons_400.jpgThere seem to be thousands of different ways a user can customize their desktop experience. Almost every nook and cranny of a system can be adjusted, even right down to the icons on your desktop. For this week’s tip, we’ll show you how to adjust the size of your desktop icons.

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Tip of the Week: How to Freeze Excel Rows and Columns

b2ap3_thumbnail_microsoft_excel_400.jpgModern office workers spend lots of time entering data and crunching numbers with Microsoft Excel. Therefore, it’s essential that Excel users know how to best navigate a spreadsheet. One of the best ways to make Excel easier to use is by freezing its rows and columns.

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Tip of the Week: Improve Productivity By Napping at Work, Seriously

b2ap3_thumbnail_nap_at_work_400.jpgAll business owners understand that in order to stay competitive, their team must work as hard as they possibly can. Unfortunately, however, that’s not how human physiology works. Everyone needs a break now and again, and the office is no different. Remember elementary school, when you would curl up with a blanket and get some sleep during naptime? It turns out this might be a viable option in the office, too.

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Tip of the Week: Free Up Storage Space in Google Drive

b2ap3_thumbnail_googledrive_400.jpgIf you use Google Drive, you might notice that your storage fills up faster than you’d like, especially if you haven’t upgraded to get more storage. This can be devastating, and it can prevent you from storing important files when you need to most. Yet, you might not want to upgrade to more storage. What can you do to make the most out of your current data storage plan?

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Tip of the Week: 3 Surprising Uses For Your Mouse Scroll Wheel

b2ap3_thumbnail_mouse_tips_400.jpgNot everyone has traded in their trusty computer mouse for a fancy new touchscreen. If someone gives you a hard time for still using a mouse, tell them about these three cool scroll-wheel features that can only be done with a mouse.

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Tip of the Week: How to Set Up a Business Succession Plan

b2ap3_thumbnail_death_of_your_business_400.jpgIf something debilitating were to happen to you, could your business carry on? This isn’t a pleasant scenario to think about, but it’s absolutely necessary to have a contingency plan in place for reasons like this. Also known as a business succession plan, if you have a plan in place, then you don’t have to worry about what the future holds, at least, for your business.

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Tip of the Week: 3 Ways to Improve Your Android’s Battery Life

b2ap3_thumbnail_android_battery_400.jpgWe all know how useful smartphones are, especially when you’re in a pinch and need to access the Internet. However, you can’t take advantage of any of these sweet features if your battery dies out within four hours of a full charge. This might be an extreme case, but the point stands that there’s a ton of stuff draining your battery when you don’t want it to.

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Tip of the Week: 3 Ways to Improve Your iPhone’s Battery Life

b2ap3_thumbnail_iphone_battery_400.jpgThere are plenty of business owners out there who rely on their iPhone to stay connected to the office at all times. With so much use, your iPhone’s battery won’t last long; especially considering the incredible amount of applications that are being used on a regular basis. As you might imagine, a dead phone is practically useless. How can you boost the efficiency of its battery life?

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Tip of the Week: A Step-By-Step Guide to Broadcasting WiFi From Your Android Device

b2ap3_thumbnail_android_wifi_hot_spot_400.jpgWe all know how touchy WiFi can be, especially when you need it most. A shoddy wireless signal can be especially troublesome if you have tasks that need to be completed, and you need a WiFi connection to complete them. Instead of getting all flustered and calling your ISP, try using your Android smartphone as a mobile hotspot.

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Tip of the Week: How to Prevent Your Mobile Data from Leaking Away

b2ap3_thumbnail_mobile_data_eats_money_400.jpgWith more businesses moving toward Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) than ever before, the workforce grows more mobile by the day. These workers generally need a network connection in order to access important data and applications that are crucial to their day-to-day responsibilities. One way to do this is to use your service provider’s mobile data plan, but this can be both expensive and draining when used excessively.

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Tip of the Week: Consider These 3 Options Before Trashing Your Technology

b2ap3_thumbnail_old_computer_trash_400.jpgAs a business owner, your mind is always on your technology and whether or not you should upgrade it. But, how much of your old technology is still lying around the workplace? You might have rooms completely filled with old IT equipment. If this sounds like your office, don’t just throw away your tech; recycle it instead.

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Tip of the Week: 5 Ways to Be Better Than Your Competition

b2ap3_thumbnail_win_against_your_competition_400.jpgEvery business has competition at some level. It’s tempting to ignore your competition (it may even be hard to speak their name), but there’s great value that comes with watching them closely; namely, you can learn from what they do in order to improve upon your own product or service.

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Tip of the Week: 5 Smart Productivity Tips to Slash Stress Levels

b2ap3_thumbnail_beat_workplace_stress_400.jpgWe all know the story of the overworked employee. They put everything they have into their job, but they still don’t know why they can’t get everything done on time, or why their work productivity suffers. The truth of the matter is that they are pushing themselves too hard.

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Tip of the Week: How to Pick a Secure PIN

b2ap3_thumbnail_pin_tips_400.jpgHow much thought have you put into selecting your debit card PIN? If you’ve not put any thought into your PIN, then it’s likely the case that you’ve picked a number that’s easy to remember or even one that’s associated with something personal. Fact: Taking time to pick random and hard-to-remember numbers greatly improves PIN security.

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Tip of the Week: What to Look For and What to Avoid in a Consultant

b2ap3_thumbnail_consulting_tips_400.jpgSometimes you just don’t know what to do, and you don’t know where to turn for help. You don’t want to ask your competitors for anything, because they don’t need to know your weak points, and you feel crushed under the pressure of day-to-day operation. Maybe a hand once in a while isn’t such a bad thing.

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Tip of the Week: How to Check Your PC’s System Specifications

b2ap3_thumbnail_check_your_specs_400.jpgDo you know how much RAM is in your computer? How about its processors, or its graphics card? An inexperienced computer user might find it difficult to understand what exactly makes a computer tick. It doesn’t have to be difficult to find out all of these specifications. In fact, Microsoft makes it simple to find out all of the details about the computer you’re using.

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Our business began its journey with the purchase of a personal computer back in 1992. This purchase ignited a passion with Chris Chase, our CEO, and there was no stopping its momentum. Less than one year later, he had his first IT support client (and...

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