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XFER Blog

XFER Blog

XFER has been serving the Livonia area since 1994, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

Microsoft Office 2016 is Here and It’s Got Something For Everyone

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It’s only been a few months since Microsoft introduced Windows 10, but the world’s largest software company is now updating their wildly popular Office productivity suite. Office 2016 takes the fully-featured productivity apps that users are used to and adds in significant improvements, especially to the integrated collaborative capabilities. Applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and the other apps that make up the Office suite have all seen improvements.

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Tip of the Week: 3 Essential Bluetooth Devices for Your Smartphone

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If you’ve ever taken your gadgets on the go for work purposes, you might have found that it’s somewhat difficult to get anything done with the limited computing potential of a smartphone or tablet. However, with the right technology, you can take full advantage of your mobile devices, especially if you’re using Windows 10 with its full Microsoft Office suite (Want to know if Windows 10 is right for your business? Reach out to us before you upgrade).

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Think Strategically When Upgrading Your Workstations

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With technology growing faster than most businesses can keep up with, organizations have to continuously upgrade their solutions in order to maintain a semblance of modernity. The only issue with this is that many businesses can’t keep up, simply because they don’t have a team that’s dedicated to this important task. What technology upgrades should be made a top priority, and why?

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Tip of the Week: 4 Windows 10 Features that Let You Do More

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With Windows 10’s arrival comes all sorts of great new features, many of which are unprecedented. Here are four new features that you should check out on your Windows 10 device.

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The Newest Smartphones From Samsung, Apple, and Microsoft

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Smartphones are firmly established as a staple of modern society. In fact, sales of smartphones grew a whopping 23 percent during the previous year. It’s the nature of mobile devices for consumers to look forward to the latest models. To that end, here’s our preview of this year’s top three smartphones.

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3 Mobile Apps Every Modern Office Worker Needs

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Mobile devices are changing the face of businesses in obvious ways, like employees accessing their work outside of the office. Additionally, there are many not-so-obvious ways that mobile devices and apps have changed work environments. Let’s focus a moment on the little things around the office that have changed since mobile devices took over.

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Tip of the Week: Taking a Screenshot is Ridiculously Easy

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Sometimes explaining issues with your technology to someone over the phone is difficult at best. To help your tech support better understand the issue you’re dealing with, provide screenshots to help with your explanations. All you have to do to take a screenshot is hit a few keys. Here’s how it’s done.

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A Dark Shadow is Cast Over the Good Work Robots Do

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The point of living in a world where technology takes over everything is that it’s supposed to make life easier. Although, keep in mind that imperfect humans are responsible for creating these technologies. Therefore, technology is flawed, maybe even to the point of putting people in harm’s way. This fundamental truth makes for an uneasy trust between man and machine.

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What If You Never Had to Go to the Doctor’s Office Again?

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Remote technology is so efficient and popular that it’s infiltrating many industries that you’d be surprised to hear about. One such sector is the healthcare department. Some doctors are taking advantage of the leaps and bounds made by technology to help their patients get back on their feet as easily as possible.

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Be Sure to Take These 4 Actions Before Leaving Your Desk Unattended

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We’ve published several blog articles about enterprise security technologies, but it’s equally important to focus on the other side of the security equation and make sure people know how to properly log off, lock, and walk away from their workspace. To that end, even something as seemingly-mundane as forgetting to lock your computer can leave your network vulnerable, big-time.

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The Correct History of Autocorrect

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Autocorrect. The world takes it for granted now, but at times, it can be as furious as it is fasting… err, fascinating. It plays such an integral part of our everyday lives, yet how much do you really know about this software?

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Forget Passwords: Access Your Phone By Identifying Pics of Familiar Faces

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With all the hacking attacks we’ve seen in the news, it’s painfully obvious that using passwords just isn't enough to protect our information. We now have more security measures available than ever before. One of the more unique and effective solutions to have surfaced is Facelock, a clever solution that grants access based on how well you can identify images of your friends and family.

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4 Game-Changing Virtual Reality Technologies

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Entertainment has become such a huge part of technology consumption that nobody can think of a smartphone or the Internet without immediately thinking about it. In fact, entertainment has grown so important that some are trying to create machines that integrate virtual realities into the lives of everyday consumers. What is virtual reality, and is it limited to the entertainment industry; or can it be used in the business sector, as well?

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Your Solid State Drive May Outlive You

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When shopping for a new computer, you’re faced with a choice; go with a traditional hard drive (HDD), or a solid state drive (SSD). The benefits of an SSD are many, but are they enough to justify the extra expense?

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Microsoft Takes a Business-Centric Approach With Its Mobile Strategy, Part II

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In our last blog article, we looked at Microsoft’s mobile computing strategy for businesses. In part II, we want to follow up by looking at some specific mobile technology from Microsoft, including a preview of its newest mobile computing venture, Windows 10.

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Microsoft Takes a Business-Centric Approach With Its Mobile Strategy, Part I

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Just like the personal computer before it, smartphones have become essential pieces of technology that are practically required in order to complete mission-critical tasks. However, the primary advantage that these devices have over the popular PC is that they’re vastly more mobile and designed for use on the go. Are users able to increase productivity by using Windows tablets?

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Don’t Fall for these 4 Smartphone Battery Myths

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Mobile technology has become so integrated into society that some people can’t even leave their smartphone at home for a few moments. As a business owner, you in particular know the value that mobile technology brings to your industry. You should know that there are plenty of common misconceptions surrounding how to get the most power from your mobile battery.

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Experts Believe Email Will Soon Meet Its End

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With email being such a prevalent tool used in the modern office, it might seem silly to think that in just a few short years, email might not be as relevant as it used to be. However, many professionals believe that email is limping along on its last leg, waiting to be put out of its misery by a new solution. Will email be around for much longer? Should the average business prepare for a world without it?

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Which VoIP Solution is Best for Your Business, In-House or Hosted?

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Proper communication is an imperative part of doing business, and nothing improves this aspect of your company better than a telecommunication system of some sort. Some businesses rely on their legacy telephone system for interoffice communication, but this can be both difficult and expensive to maintain.

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USB vs Wireless vs Bluetooth: Which is the Best for Tethering?

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Using your smartphone to tether another device like a laptop to the Internet can come in handy when you need to accomplish a task that can’t be done on your phone (which is becoming increasingly rare these days). Most smartphones present the user with three ways to tether their Internet signal. What are they and which is the best?

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