Directive Blogs

Using strong passwords is a critical part of keeping your network protected. For years we have been preaching the need to use complex passwords, along with the need to use different passwords for different accounts. As the technology of crackers (not the salted kind) improves, the need to be diligent about password security intensifies.

What do you do with a broken computer? You can take the time to learn how to fix it yourself, you can drop it off at a computer repair shop, or you can call in a technician. While all of these methods will get your PC up and running again, we think that we have found the best way to handle a broken computer.

E-mail and other forms of digital communication have revolutionized the way humans interact. Anybody old enough to remember life before e-mail (B.E.), can tell some great stories that include kooky characters like Mr. Stamp and Mrs. Envelope. E-mail has changed things; all of us use it every day, but how does it work?

When it comes to listening to music while getting work done, it seems like you can either do it or you can't. Some office workers need absolute silence to get work done. Other people can turn up the volume, tune out the world, and still think clearly. Coffitivity is an audio app that brings balance between the right and left brain.

As an IT company, we get excited about the newest computer hardware and software. We try to convince everybody that upgrades are great, but some people cannot be shaken from their devotion to what is familiar and refuse to upgrade their tech. In our experience, here are the three biggest reasons why upgrades are avoided.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), is changing the look and feel of the modern office. As the ownership rate of mobile devices among American adults creeps closer to reaching 50%, more gadgets are showing up around the office, and they are being used to get work done! If you have yet to embrace BYOD in your office, then you will want consider these 3 advantages.

Every generation improves the technology of the previous generation. Sometimes technology can improve at such a rapid rate that it can make other technologies obsolete. It takes a bit of know how to determine which technologies will last and which ones are just fads. We are here to help you make sense of all of these rapid changes.

Many tech-savvy professionals have labeled tablets merely "content consumption" devices. This may have been true initially, but now with the productivity applications that have been developed using cloud computing, tablets can now be used to do more than just watch videos and surf the web. In this respect, the mobile computing revolution has finally made it to the workplace. Employers and employees alike are beginning to utilize mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones as a compliment to their standard office technology to improve productivity.

The majority of today’s more conscientious shoppers will check out the consumer reviews of the device as well as the detail specifications before purchasing a product.  Just because it’s pretty and all their friends at school have one, doesn’t always mean that it is the best value for your money.  Still, we rarely consider: Do review sites and vendor release notes tell the whole story? Is this device really better because of its price tag or big name brand? There is a widely underused but extremely valuable resource online where customers can gain a little more perspective. This is called the product "teardown”.

One shocking IT scenario that we regularly encounter is expensive computer hardware plugged into inexpensive power strips. Power strips are adequate if you need a few extra outlets for your kitchen appliances, but if you want to protect the computer hardware that is mission critical to your business, like servers and NAS devices, then you will need a solution that is more powerful.

Until now, most tablets on the market only supported mobile operating systems, such as the Apple iPad or the Google Nexus 10. Even the Microsoft Surface tablet, released just a few months ago, uses a limited mobile version of Windows 8. In other words, while these devices have loads of great features and capabilities, it's not the same experience that you get from a laptop. The Surface Pro is the new exception.

If you are in the market to buy the smallest PC possible, that is also fully operational, then you will want to check out the new Edge Mini by Velocity Micro. Boasting a compact size of 1.6 inches thick, and with a length and width that is 4 by 4 inches, Velocity Micro may be well within their legal right to market the Edge Mini as, "The world's smallest desktop."

As your vacation winds down, the reality of being away for a week or two begins to sneak up on you. Knowing that you have a full inbox of back messages may put a damper on your relaxed mood. If you planned ahead, then you would have used an auto responder to automatically notify everyone that you were away.

With the widespread use of mobile devices in the workplace, more companies are questioning the relevance of their traditional IT infrastructure. Mobile devices take advantage of cloud computing, and every new generation of tablets and smartphones have productivity apps that can accomplish more tasks. Before you switch out your old technology, you will first want to consider the data needs of your business.

The evolution of Google from a search engine company renting a garage, to one of the largest companies on the planet, is a story that can truly boggle the mind. One cause of Google's growth is their investment in developing new technology. This is the case with the Google Spanner, which is a new technology designed to manage Google's growth.

In today's digital age there are actually two of you. There is the flesh and blood you, that you are all-too-familiar with, and then there is the digital you, which amounts to a profile of yourself, compiled of data that is collected and exchanged by companies all over the internet. The worst part is how little you may know about your digital self.

It always feels a bit peculiar to come across a fax machine still being used in the modern office. With all of our digital advancements, the fax machine should have gone the way of the floppy disk. Contrary to common sense, it is estimated that there are 131 million fax machines still in operation around the world.

The smartphone market is possibly the most competitive in computing. It's no secret that Apple and Samsung are competitors. Earlier this year in California, a federal jury sided with Apple in a ruling that found Samsung infringed on software and design patents. When the two aren't duking it out in court, they are battling in the marketplace.

Technology can change in an instant. The popularity of mobile devises and tablets has grown exponentially in a very short amount of time. In fact, having a tablet, smartphone, laptop and desktop is not an unusual occurrence, especially for small and medium business owners who are, essentially, always on the clock. And so, it stands to reason that threats and security are also evolving along with technology.

Everybody wants to go paperless, but few people actually want to sit in front of their PC for hours scanning piles of paperwork. If scanning papers was more convenient, then surely more people would go paperless, this is the logic behind the Doxie scanner. Doxie is a portable scanning solution that lets you scan anything from anywhere.