September 15th, 2010
We are pleased to announce our newestSupport Program - CommunityCARE
Just like any business, computers are critical to the operation of the organization. We have developed an affordable solution for smaller non-profits to provide a more secure infrastructure. Additionally, we offer affordable on-demand support. In a nutshell, we have combined key components of our Business Care, proactive maintenance solutions, and Service on Demand (time and materials) programs to meet the network support needs of charitable organizations in the Richmond area.
The program includes:
24/7 Monitoring with Alert Services - Servers, workstations and backups.
Patch Management - Weekly updates of operating system and software updates (servers & workstations).
MessageCare - Email filtering for spam and viruses; stores incoming emails in the event Internet service or server is down.
ThreatCare - Antivirus/antispyware protection of servers and workstations.
Budgeting & Strategic Planning - provided on a semi-annual basis.
Asset Report - Available on demand.
28% Discount on hourly support in 15-minute increments
If you are a 501(c) organization and have at least one Windows server and up to 15 workstations (laptops and desktops) or if you know of one that could use our help, reach out to Elizabeth now.
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August 31st, 2010
Summer is wrapping up and the Richmond business community is ready to get back to work. Not that we’ve taken the summer off, but I’ve not found a single business who doesn’t see a slow down - whether it’s in revenue or just activity levels.
I, for one, am excited to get back into the swing of networking. It’s a great way to build community. Which just happens to be another one of our company values! (Like how I did that?)
Community at The HelpDesk Company applies to many different levels - we provide a caring community within our company, we work to nurture the community that is our clients and partners (keep an eye out for invites to our 3rd annual Oktoberfest celebration on October 7th), and we give to the metro-Richmond community both individually and as a company (see the announcement below on our new CommunityCARE program).
Please help me welcome the following new clients to our Community of clients and partners:
May you make the most of these last few days of summer!
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August 10th, 2010
| In today’s workplace, the ability to communicate professionally and effectively via email is essential but not always easy. Below are some common email etiquette errors made in the workplace. These are not things like spelling and grammar, tone, being concise, etc., nor are they obvious no-no’s, like not sending inappropriate material, forwarding chain letters, or opening files from unknown senders. I’m talking about the less obvious - the everyday email habits that annoy recipients and undermine professional credibility. 1. Use “high importance” or “priority” flags sparingly. Most recipients ignore them, and overuse is like the boy who cried wolf. Besides, if you can’t trust the recipient to read and respond timely, or if the matter is so critical that immediate attention is required, a phone call is more appropriate.2. Don’t CC everyone under the sun, and use care with “Reply to All”. Think about who really needs to receive your email or your reply to one. 3. In mass mailings, set up distribution lists or use BCC or mail merge. No one wants to see a lengthy distribution list, and many included on it will not appreciate your wide distribution of their email address to strangers. 4. Except in extreme circumstances, do not request delivery and read receipts. It is generally rude to do so, especially when the recipient must acknowledge your request for a receipt. 5. Do not recall messages - just acknowledge any errors in a revised email. To avoid inadvertently firing off an email before it has been completed and proofread, complete the “To” field last. 6. Avoid emoticons, abbreviations, and social acronyms. The recipient may not understand the meaning, or worse, the meaning may be different to the recipient. For example, “LOL” doesn’t always mean “laugh out loud” - my high school yearbooks are covered with “LOL”, as in “lots of love”. 7. Avoid non-company quotes and images in your signature line. At a minimum, you may irk those who don’t subscribe to your personal views, nor care to hear them. More likely, however, you may upset someone, especially if your quote or image is based in politics or religion. Even a neutral quote made by a political or religious figure has the same, undesired effect. 8. Even in 2010, not everyone has gotten the message: the use of ALL CAPS means you are YELLING at your recipient. 9. Only use professional fonts, such as Arial, Veranda, or Times New Roman. Do not use cursive or cutesy fonts or less common fonts - many email programs do not support all fonts, and your recipient’s program may display your email in an unprofessional or illegible font. Also, stick to professional text colors, like black or navy blue. (This tip does not apply to the use of company fonts, colors, logos, and taglines in your signature line.) 10. Use the out-of-office feature so senders know if a reply will be delayed and who to contact in the mean time for urgent needs. Conversely, remember to turn it off when you get back. Nothing says “I’m not on top of my game” like receiving an out-of-office reply on July 15 that says you’ll be out until May 6. 11. Respond to emails as quickly as possible, even if just to say that you will get back to the sender once you research their issue, etc. And, no, setting up a generic auto-reply isn’t the same - generic auto-reply is for something like a company’s general customer service mailbox where an immediate acknowledgement is required. 12. When replying to an email, be sure to include the original email thread. With so much email activity, it’s very easy for senders and recipients to forget the intent of the original email or to lose track of the status and various replies. This is by no means an exhaustive list of professional email etiquette, but hopefully, it will serve as a great starting point for your employees. With so much communication among clients, colleagues, and vendors taking place via email, it is essential that employees know the basics of sending emails that are professional and efficient.
Thank you Charlotte Jensen, owner of Cole James Associates, Inc., for this great overview. Cole James Associates, Inc. provides Human Resources services and support to small and medium sized businesses. To learn more about these services, please visit our website at www.colejamesassociates.com or call (804) 339-5576.
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August 2nd, 2010
Todd and I moved last week. The move itself went smoothly and we are trying to settle quickly so we can enjoy our four months of apartment living while we wait for our new house to be built. Needless to say, I’m whupped - and this is going to be short. In the midst of the chaos that has been our personal life this month, I am proud to say we’ve made some pretty neat things start to happen in our business - from CommunityCARE to VoIP phones to colocation and other “cloud” services. I will be sharing all the details in the coming weeks and months and look forward to talking with you individually about our expanded service offerings. Oh, and did I mention that I had the pleasure of presenting “Law Office Technology” to the Richmond Paralegal Association? What a wonderful group of professionals! In the meantime, I hope you are able to find a satisfying balance between work and fun during these last few weeks of summer. I predict this fall is going to be a busy one in the Richmond business community.
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July 13th, 2010
When I was just six years old, I lost my first sister to a congenital heart disease on her fourth day of life. It was a gut-wrenching loss that has impacted my family in more ways than you can imagine. We have been blessed that no other children in our family have had CHD since. Mended Little Hearts is an independently self-funded not-for-profit organization - 501(c)3 - for families with children in Central Virginia that live with heart defects and/or disease. MLH of CVA is a support network providing education, advocacy, awareness, and outreach. I was thrilled to learn of Mended Little Hearts of Central Virginia (MLH of CVA) when my daughter was a toddler and am always looking for ways to support the incredible work this volunteer-run organization does. I can only imagine how much their support would have meant to my family all those years ago.
Did you know?
UVA Children’s Hospital and Fetal Department is sponsoring the 5th Annual MendedLittle Hearts Golf Tournament on August 9th at Stonehenge Country Club. The event will be Captains choice with a 1pm shotgun start.
We are currently looking for:
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Hole-in-One prizes
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Hole Sponsors
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Golf Teams / Players
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Silent Auction Items
A substantial amount of our proceeds will go towards making and shipping care bags for families who have to be away from home in order for their child to get the life saving surgery they need (MLH sends on average 30-40 bags per month costing about $50/care bag). The rest will be used for monthly educational meetings and family fun events (ex. Lewis Ginter, Pumpkin Patch, etc).
If you have any questions regarding the tournament, please feel free to call me or please contact MLH at 804-399-9532 or 804-836-4960. Or you can e-mail centralva@mendedlittlehearts.org. For more information about MLH of CVA, please visit www.MLHRichmond.org.
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July 7th, 2010
This time of year, lots of folks go fishing. Unfortunately, others go Phishing (and I’m not referring to the band). Phishing is an email scam where an email is sent to the unsuspecting person requesting personal information. It works more than it should because Phishers typically use a trusted name in their message. We periodically see this type of scam using bank and credit card company names.
Recently, we’ve seen an influx of these emails using a trusted brand - Amazon.com. It’s easy to get duped since Amazon does send legitimate messages. Hopefully, these tips will help you spot and avoid the Phishing scams…
Check the suspicious email against a legitimate one:
Check out the links - WITHOUT clicking through:
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Hover your cursor over any embedded link in the email
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What URL appears? Is it the supposed senders (i.e., amazon.com) or is it something odd (i.e., sonda.co.kr)?
When in doubt, throw it out.
Subscribers to our MessageCare email filtering service have the majority of these Phishing scams blocked from their Inbox. Want to learn more? Give us a call at 282-2282 or drop us a line at Info@TheHelpDeskCompany.com.
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June 30th, 2010
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Summer is here - with a vengeance! I heard on the radio this morning that they’re predicting this will be the hottest June on record. Hopefully, the heat is energizing you to turn up the heat on your business.
Congratulations to our clients who have recently been recognized for their accomplishments. This is a much better type of “hot” than the weather!
Boy, do we do business with some great folks, or what?!? Have you been in the news and I’ve missed it? Please let me know so I can share in an upcoming newsletter.
We would also like to welcome our newest client - Altadis, USA.
Know someone who’s been frustrated with their IT support? Looking for ways to stabilize their business/cash flow? We encourage you to share our name with them - we just might be able to help.
Stay cool!
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June 15th, 2010
Ink
Did you know there are two types of printer ink? Ink Jet and Solid Ink. Ink Jet printers still use cartridges, but they are much smaller than toner cartridges. Solid Ink is the newest technology and doesn’t use cartridges.
Ink Jet - these printers typically have the lowest page yield per cartridge and print quality is middle of the road. These printers are often the cheapest and you can get better print quality by spending more on the printer itself. As with Toner cartridges, you have a choice.
Green Factor: Reduce, ReUse Smaller cartridges means less plastic. And the Refilled provide the same benefits as Toner Cartridges.
Solid Ink - these printers tend to be pricier. Their cost per page is higher and the page yield per ink block is middle of the road. However, the print quality is much higher - especially with color printing. Although there are no cartridges, there is still an option for OEM or non-OEM ink. Like Ink Jets, Solid Ink printers are designed to work specifically with the OEM Ink. Non-OEM ink is “closely comparable” and the print quality reflects it.Green Factor: Reduce Since there are no cartridges or parts, there is no plastic to discard, reuse or recycle. There is some waste as the Solid Ink is melted onto the page. However, it is minimal.
The Bottom Line
The best choice depends on your business needs and priorities. Many companies will use a variety of options. For example, we use a Xerox Solid Ink for our color printing (and are able to do the majority of our “printing” in-house), a Xerox multi-function toner-based printer as our office work horse, and HP Laser-Jets (Toner-based) at Todd’s and my desks.
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June 8th, 2010
All printers use either Ink or Toner. Sounds simple…until you realize there are multiple choices for both. Following is an overview of not only Ink vs. Toner, but also the different Ink and Toner solutions. Thanks, Mason, for compiling this information!
Toner
Toner-based printers typically provide the lowest cost per page and higher page yields per cartridge. These ”work horse” printers tend to be middle of the road when it comes to pricing. However, the print quality is generally not as good as with Ink-based printers.
Toner is toner is toner. However, the cartridges it comes in have distinct differences. Cartridges are available as New (OEM), Refilled and Remanufactured. Which should you use?
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New (often referred to as OEM)- the most expensive option. However, all parts are new and print quality is virtually never a problem.
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Refilled - typically the cheapest option. No parts are repaired or replaced, only the toner is replaced (refilled). As a result, print quality is sacrificed.
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Remanufactured - middle of the road on price. Not only is toner replaced, but so are parts. Print quality is good, but sometimes there are defective cartridges.
Green Factor: ReUse It’s all about the cartridge. This plastic container is typically not recyclable (definitely not around Richmond). New cartridges have no green factor - unless you donate them to companies who refill and/or remanufacture. An added green factor with Refilled and Remanufactured - their vendors typically will pick up the used cartridges when they deliver the “new” ones.
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May 18th, 2010
Going Green is a hot topic these days. Did you know making a few easy changes to your printing habits can have a real impact - both on the environment and your wallet! There are obvious changes (only print out what you must, print on both sides of paper) and others are more subtle (narrow your margins, print in draft mode).
The IT department at University of Wisconsin, Green Bay identified an even easier solution - use a different font! By changing from the commonly used Arial font to Century Gothic, Green Bay’s nearly $100,000 annual toner costs were cut significantly simply by changing the default font on all their machines. Although Century Gothic is slightly wider than Arial, it’s thinner lines result in about 30% less ink.
Want to learn more about how you can Print Green? Keep an eye out here in the coming weeks as we discuss these tips and more - and teach you how to make these earth-friendly, money-saving changes your default settings.
Thank you, Jordan Amberston, for these great tips. Jordan has been a Support Specialist with The HelpDesk Company for nearly two years now. When not taking providing support, Jordan can be found researching the latest technologies and working with the rest of the team to determine which will best benefit our clients.
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