Computer 101: Why Do We Need to Share Networks Resources?

First of all what is a computer network resource? Computer network resource are those item that is being used by the whole network this may include shared printer as stated in previous blog, shared disk drive or a file server with several large amount of drive, shared scanner and any other devices that can be shared over a network. Again back to the question, why do we need to share network resources? Well the answer to this question is explained below.

1. Save on Cost or Money

All business needs financing or money to run, in fact almost all things that we do today needs money. This is true with business, if top management can save as much money as it cans then it will do it. One way saving cost in operating a business is to reduce the cost of consumable being consumed by the business an example of this is the cost of buying an ink for a printer. I already elaborated on this on my previous blog. Another cost that can be controlled or can save a sum of money the paper being used in printing document for the daily transaction and report of the business. Because we buy lots of bundle of paper for regular used to create hard copy of reports and transaction. Why not instead of a hardcopy for filing, archiving, meting and others use instead a digital copy wherein the said report can be view on the screen of each computer or laptop or devices that can display them. This will also reduce the trash the business is producing, less paper and trash less cost and more money to be saved or diverted to other important projects. Also less paper, less paper clip, staple wire and other paper accessories. For storing and archiving of reports the file server will act as the central storage of all documents with a back up copy of course for safety.

2. Save on Time, Less Time Do More.

How do we save time, we save on time by being more productive in a given amount of time. Like if the goal was to have 50 transactions completed in five hours, then maybe we do 60 or 70 in the given time. This can be done with the used of shared network resources, like digital copy of document instead of having a hard copy one employee can request another for a digital copy of the same report without living his/her place and moving about just to get a copy of that report. By not leaving your place one do more while waiting or the time it takes for the document to arrive from an actual delivery of a person compare to a document being sent to the server and then to intended receiver of the document or just plain interoffice email is very big. In computer world a 5 minute waiting time is already to slow compare to just a few milliseconds to wait for the digital copy to arrive in your computer from the other computer where it originates. Also sharing an actual document in real time is slower compare to sharing it via the network. It doesn’t need to be distributed by hand wherein the person responsible to distribute it will have to go floor by floor just make sure the document is delivered to the correct person.

Money and time are two most important resources in a business the third is manpower or person of that organization or company. It more resources is being spent and the company is producing less chances are that company will not last longer in a highly demanding world of business. The more it can save the better for that company to keep on growing and free of debt.

Computer 101: How to share a single printer on a network without using a Print Server.

In today’s modern times, all offices is now using printer for creating a hard copy of a document. Every office can have multiple computers for every employee that needs them. But when it comes to printer, it seems strange that not every employee can have them. What wrong which this scenario? Well there nothing wrong with this scenario. Yes almost every employee in an office or institutions can have his/her own computer but no his/her own printer, the reason for this is because in every printer there is these item that needs to be replenish or change once it’s empty or if we do not change it then the printer becomes useless. This item is called the INK. Computer or PC do not have ink in order to work, it does not have a consumable part that needs to be replace every week or month to keep it working. But printer do, this item is the INK, and keeping a close watch on how every employee use these resources is very important.  

Compute these is a small office has ten employees and every employee has its own computer and printer and printer ink cost has not really gone done despite having a huge demand for it. Every ten printer needs is own ink supply, the cost factors would certainly be off the roofed just for ink alone. So having one or two printer is much cost effective by having both printer shared on a network without using a print server. Please watch the video to get a better understanding of how to proceed with this procedure on sharing a printer or two on a small network.

Again these video has no voice over instructions, just watch and simply follow the procedure as seen for a simple sharing solution.

To summarize the video instructions, on the computer where the printer is installed open the printer and fax folder. Select the printer to be share if there are many printers installed, and then right on the printers to be shared and look for the sharing tab and click it. Then when inside the sharing tab choose the share this printer option then you can leave the default name or change it, this item is completely in your control. The last step would be to click the OK button to close the sharing tab.  Notice on the printer and fax folder under the printer that you have chosen to share a hand with an open palm has appeared, these only means that you have successfully shared the printer.

Computer 101: The ABC of File attachment and Transfer via your email or using Web Based Free Services.

Today I'm going blog about using the internet to send all types of files from you to your friend or simply just uploading them to your favorite social network or free on-line file storage website. Let's face it the internet has become an integral part of our daily work routine. Flash drive and external drive are simply not enough for some of us. We always want to access our file or at least a copy of it using the internet or move it from one location to another. Sometimes we are confused on what to use to accomplish all our desired goal of moving or more commonly called file transfer or file upload and download. Now how do we accomplish this task? Well there are several ways on how to go about it. First there your standard free email account from different email provider. Yup every kind of email account has function for transferring your desired file to your friend, work place and family email account. Let's your friend is asking for a copy of the birthday picture you have taken from yesterday's birthday. They requesting for copy to be printed. Instead of doing it yourself or giving the memory card to your friend which would require you to physically move around from your place to his/her place say you need to transfer picture stored on your computer to give them the copy. Why not use your email account to this. Just simple login and create or compose a new letter and after typing all the detail and message you are now ready to attach the requested picture by your friend. But wait do not attach the entire picture at once. Every email has this feature but this feature has a limit. Yup there a limit to how many you can send and attach per email. Also the process of attaching files to your email is also dependent on the speed that your computer is connected to the internet. Oh also file attachment speed is also dependent on how large each individual file and or how many file your going to attach to a single email.

 

You say, but my friends are requesting a whole bunch of picture that i have taken during the birthday party. Yup those are the reality of attaching picture thru your email free account. The size, number and the internet connection speed. All of this will determine how long you will take to upload those entire pictures and send them to your friends. One or two files you have no problem, but more than that and if each file has a large size then think of another way of transferring them via the internet. Okay how about we use free online storage system. There are a lot of them in the internet, hey that a great idea, they are much faster than on ordinary email file attachment plus you do not have to send the file always whenever your friend requested a copy. They can just copy or save the picture as they view them one by one. Well they one catch to this type of on-line storage, the number of file you can store is limited. Some of them offer up to 15 or 20 files per account. Also you need to sign-up or create an account with them in order to have your picture stored in this web based storage service. The same is true with your favorite social networking site. Creating an account is a requirement in order to use the services also every time you use the service you need to log in to use it. Well i guess is not a bad thing, it is also for security reason why you need to have an account with them. Yup they have limitation but this should not discourage you in using this kind of free file transfer services. 

Filecatalyst.com Home Page

Okay i will ask a question is there a web based free service that you could use to transfer your file without having to create an account and log on every time you need to transfer file? Well there is such such and they call their company File Catalyst and their website is http://www.filecatalyst.com/ just click on the link to go to their website. But wait let's make things clear first, I am not in any way related to them, i am just sharing this things because it may help you and me at some point in time. I am sharing this as an alternative means to transfer your files. It is up to you if you're going to use the free Fast File Transfer that they are offering a free service to transfer your file via the internet. Also if ever you're going to use their free services make a research of the company background and other stuff that are related to them. Everyone is free to make his own choice on what to use. Another thing when it comes to sending large files don't even attempt to send them through your standard email server. The file size is generally too large for the basic email server and it will usually exceed the limit. A great alternative is FileCatalyst, they have a free service where you can use their fast file transfer software for sending files quickly and easily, no login or registration necessary. Although you have to input your name and email address so they could notify you if the file transfer has been completed. They also offer several services including Managed File Transfers, FileCatalyst workflow, and many others. You can also always tell a company's success by their client list...check it out. To access the FREE file transfer service you can go to their products page at: http://www.filecatalyst.com/products. 

 

Computer 101: How to Create a Back-up of your files. Windows Native Back-Up

On my post we blog about the need for back-up and the needed things for back-up. Now lets blog about how to back-up you files on your own. First for Windows user, windows system has already a native back-up system in place so you don't need to use another software or tool to back-up you files.Yes they are generous enough to place a back-up tools for the individual user like us. Please see picture below for more information.



Windows Back-up Location

 

Please note the red encircle part, it's said "This option will back up files in volume." Okay what was that? Don't be scared by it. It just telling us that this is the back-up tool for you files. Also the volumes means all your files will be back-up at the same time even the ones you are using. Now how do you get to this part. well its basically easy. First step go to the My Computer  and click or double click it, either way you'll arrived at the same spot. Next the picture on the background will appear. That the inside of the My Computer. Now for the third step choose the hard drive you going to back-up and do a mouse right click. Now to make it clear i have inserted another picture to guide you.




Note pull down menu after the Right Click mouse event

 

Now do you see clearly on the image, my apologies for the smaller images previously. See the pull-down menu, on the bottom part click the Properties tab and the first picture above will appear. Now click on the Back-up Now Button to begin the back-up process. You can play with it if you are not yet comfortable in using the this tool. Playing with it also enhances your knowledge on what to select on the different menu and options once you started the back-up process. Try to setup a group of files for test back-up so you will know all the options, before you start on your real file back-up process. Don't be intimidated by it, once you learn how to do it, then you'll begin to use it more and more. Go ahead and try it.

Computer 101: File Saving and Backup

Back up your file always, how many times have you heard that phrase? This stuff is very important in all your usage of the computer. Every time you use the computer to do your task somethings might go wrong during the activity.Do we really need to back-up our files and data, and if so how often? Well the answer is a big YES and more YES. It is imperative that we back-up our computer files.And how often, as often as you can, especially if you use the computer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 12 months a year. Yup that how need to backup our stuff in the computer. I can't emphasis enough how important it is to back-up all your files. Remember if you don't back-up. There will be no chance for you to recover you data or files in the event your computer came crashing down.

The need for back-up now is more needed than ever before because of the huge volume of data that we put into our computer everyday.A lot people has the mentality not to back-up there files, especially the documents they working until they are finish. This practice is completely wrong. Let me explain further. Lets say you are going to work on a file for several days and this file is very large, 100 pages or more and its growing everyday. Because of the heavy data encoding and lots and lots of information to put in on the documents, the saving and the backup process has been the least concern of the user. This process only happens twice or thrice during the daily activity during the typing period. What happens if and during this long process your computer suddenly hangs and you didn't save or update you files. Another scenario is that your computer is fine and working yesterday, but for some reason when you open it today, it did not start. How would you feel. This things can be very disappointing and dangerous. The scenario i mentioned are real, i have experience them during my learning days. That why when i do some encoding or word processing, i always save them as often as possible and create a back-up files for the days activity.

Saving is the most common method of preserving newly created documents and files, from word processing, spreadsheet calculations, image editing to video editing or just simple playing with your favorite software. Some software has a feature called AUTOMATIC SAVE. It works by setting the needed time interval to save your documents on a regular basis while you work on it. It is measured in minutes, most common intervals is 5, 10, 15 20 or more minutes. This means when when you set your AUTO SAVES to 5 minutes. The document you are currently working is being save every 5 minutes. Some people don't like being disturb during the typing period by several time so they set the auto save function to longer minutes. When the auto-save activates, you will see that your word processor in reacting by temporarily not responding to your command. This can be noticeable on the status toolbar of the software where in it display the current activity. If the auto save activate this will clearly be display on the status bar of your word processor. But over used on this feature is sometimes not good, what if somethings go wrong with this feature and does not work properly. Therefore from time to time you need to manually save your work by pressing the save button on your word-processor or use the shortcut key equivalent for it like CTR L+S for most short cut key. It pays to be prudent on always updating your files and saving them, this will save you from allot of trouble and head ache in the future. So start training your selves to always save your file as often as possible.