Home Workers Should Forget the Old Laptop Balancing Act

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When I first started working from home the only problem I had was that my home office resembled a child’s nursery with a battered old laptop in it.

That is probably because that’s exactly what it was. The only place I could find to work from was my little girl’s old room, and my old computer had definitely seen better days long ago. I sat there with the laptop balanced on my knee and surrounded by Barney the dinosaur, a scary looking doll and assorted ducks as I tried to work. Needless to say, I soon found out that spending a bit of time and money on a good home office is worth it.

home office (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

Find the Right Place

A nursery is no place to work from, and instead I found a nice corner of the kitchen where I could hook up to the internet and munch on yoghurts at the same time. Somewhere with plenty of light and fresh air is ideal and my kitchen fits the bill nicely as I can leave the patio door open when the sun comes out.

Get the Right Equipment

The laptop I used to use was no good at all for working with. It was slow, it crashed when I tried to do too many things on it once and it had no decent music on it. As I was just starting out as a home worker (do they still say telecommuter or does that make me sound old fashioned?) I was a bit worried about spending a lot of money on new machinery. The final straw came one day when the blooming thing didn’t boot up until 10 in the morning. Admittedly I had only switched it on at 10 to 10 but it was still far too long a wait for me. I got a shiny new desktop PC which promised to lead me down the technological highway (that’s another outdated phrase, is it?) at breakneck speed. I couldn’t believe how fast it was and how many games were pre-installed on it. Now my only problem is that I want to spend a bit of time each day poking around it to see what else it does.

Sort the Furniture

My spanking new PC sat on a wonky old table at first, with the speakers on the floor and the keyboard on my lap. My wife asked me why I didn’t buy a computer table at the same time and I honestly don’t know why I didn’t. I quickly got onto the task and before the week was out my computer was perched on a glass topped table with loads of shelves for my cartons of juice and a nice drawer to keep my biscuits in.

Protect Yourself

I had only ever used the internet for fun before; looking up football results, seeing what on Earth that Facebook malarkey was all about and helping my Mum find out what latest contagious disease she is apparently suffering from. Then one day my sister said to me that I should be wary of rookits, spyware and Trojan horses. When she told me that people could grab control of my computer and steal the money I had been working hard to build up I immediately panicked and started looking for all the protection I could find. Thankfully she told me that all I really needed was a good antivirus and that this would protect me against all of the current risks. As a home worker this is one of the most important things I have done and while it might be a less obvious improvement than some of the other ones it is nevertheless something which I am glad I did.

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Every home worker should be sure to protect their data with a good program like the McAfee antivirus.

The Growth of Software as a Service

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Back in the day software was something only the IT man was concerned with, and the choice of programmes was rather limited to what were seen as essential computing needs such as Word Processing and Spreadsheets and the like. But with the computer and mobile devices now an essential part of almost everyone’s daily lives, software too has grown to become a massive industry in itself.

Some of the software titles most of us would have been familiar with in the past might have included Microsoft Office, accounting packages like Quickbooks and illustration programmes such as Photoshop. All of these software packages have evolved and been updated many times, with current versions being almost unrecognizable to the original releases. For some, keeping up with the latest release of Microsoft Office or Photoshop is a hobby in itself.

In the past certain companies would hold a monopoly over their field for the software market, but that is no longer the case thanks to thousands of clever programmers dissecting the internet to create their own, cheaper versions of software for people to buy or download. This is great news fro anyone on a budget. Spending out on software just to find it is suddenly out of date due to a new update or release is never fun.

Open-source or free software has become particularly popular, and there are a lot of site on the web dedicating to listing free software downloads. Many internet users campaign for all software to be freely available to download on the web, but of course the developers aren’t always in favor of this and many still charge a high amount for use of their licenses. A typical example of this is Anti-virus software. Because consumers need to be able to trust their anti-virus software they are willing to pay good money for an established brand and name they have heard of.

On the contrary to this, providers of other professional software services have now realized that consumers enjoy using software for free and it is possible to get basic free accounting software, free illustration packages and of course very many free games and time management applications for both the PC and the mobile environment.

With some free software, users are simply treated to a basic working version for their personal use. The trick for the software companies to draw in an income from new customers is to offer a support system for a small monthly fee. This is where software becomes a service. It’s not just about having the software to use, it’s about having a person behind the application who can help you to make the most of the programme and be on hand in case anything goes wrong. Another way the software companies are making money is to offer Premium upgrades on their tools. So if a consumer likes a software tool they have been using to help manage their business accounts, they can purchase the programme in full to roll it out amongst all of their staff.

The saying “there’s an app for that” is more true than ever. It’s exciting to think what software can do for us in the future as the line between real and virtual simulated life becomes more and more blurred.

Katie Sykes is a Digital Marketing professional who enjoys using a variety of different software to manage her work flow. Katie advises on small business SEO and time management.

The Growing Threat of the Mobile Malware

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Malware, short for malicious software, is software designed to disrupt computer operation, gather sensitive information, or gain unauthorized access to computer systems. While it is sometimes software, it can also appear in the form of script or code. Malware is a general term used to describe any kind of software or code specifically designed to exploit a computer, or the data it contains, without consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software.

The mobile world has not been spared from malware infection and attacks. Please have a look at a very nice information graphics about the current states of mobile malware.

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McAfee: Their Solution for PCI Certification Services

PCI Certification can be intimidating, especially for smaller merchants, although larger ones as well can experience the growing pains it causes. It is a fact that in this growing, global, online, consumer driven economy that it is a necessary evil. It feels that way at least because of the rigmarole required to be PCI DSS certified. But the PCI Data Security Standard is out there for a reason. It allows vendors, consumers, banks, you name it to trade with reasonable assurance that credit card information is processed, transmitted and or stored in a totally secure environment. That is a reality of the digital age in which we live, and a requirement that can be met and maintained in a number of ways. One of them being the updates McAfee now offers.

McAfee has taken the necessary steps to help business and individuals become PCI Certified, they even offer a free trial period of 90 days to give it a go before buying.  Their offer is attractive and many are looking to what is the best way to become certified and maintain that certification. PCI Certification is for many out there a new thing, one that is becoming closely monitored, because of the sensitive nature of credit card information. Consumers guard their information jealously and a sure way to fail is to prove to consumers you are not taking every single available as well as necessary step to guard their information as jealously as they do themselves. Or else consumers may turn to the competitors that do.

                                                       Image via CrunchBase

The PCI Data Security Standard is maintained by a council that was created as an independent entity by the main credit cards. That is right, this came down from the credit card companies, but the vendors are the ones, especially individuals, or small to medium sized companies that are faced with sorting out how best to become compliant and not pay an arm and a leg with an IT security firm to do so. McAfee is a familiar face, one whose brand many use for business or personal security already. They have made seeking a solution just a little, or if not tech savvy, a lot easier. To be honest, some of us out there are better at those sorts of things than others, but McAfee offers a service, not just a software package, although the package is a good start, when more help is needed this might be the choice to which one would turn. McAfee includes scanning, remediation assistance, technical support, self-assessment (with a SAQ Wizard to ease the way), and validation of merchant compliance status for Level 2, 3 and 4 merchants.  

Heinrich Meyer is an avid writer and promotes a website to help people find UK customer support numbers including the McAfee phone support number.