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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.

Tip of the Week: Do Yourself a Favor, Document Your Processes

Tip of the Week: Do Yourself a Favor, Document Your Processes

The average business has a lot of internal processes, and these processes are typically pretty concrete: to accomplish this task, follow steps A, B, and C, in that order. However, due to the sheer volume of processes like these, it helps to have these processes documented for the benefit of your future employees... and, if we’re being honest, your future self. For this week’s tip, we’ll go over the proper process for documenting a task.

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Disaster Training: What to Do

Disaster Training: What to Do

You never know when your organization might fall prey to a disaster, whether it’s something natural that you can’t predict or a user error from even the most vigilant employee. We’ll walk you through what some of the most common office disasters are and how you can make sure your organization survives them with ease.

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Google Search Practices That Have Purpose

Google Search Practices That Have Purpose

You could say that Google is an extremely popular website, but even that is an understatement. It’s the most visited website in the world, with 3.5 billion search queries being processed every day, and over 1.2 trillion searches a year. With so many people using Google, it’s no wonder that it’s such an advertising conglomerate, but the fact remains that this can come at the user’s detriment more often than not.

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3 Ways Digital Signage Pays Off

3 Ways Digital Signage Pays Off

With so many new devices and strategies to use in the workplace, it should come as no surprise that even your office’s signage can receive a major facelift from IT. Digital signage in itself offers the chance for a business to use displays in innovative ways. Here are a few reasons why you should consider it for your office.

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You’ll Be Glad You Protected Your Google Account

You’ll Be Glad You Protected Your Google Account

Computer users today more than likely have a Google account, either for business or personal use. Not only is it accessible and convenient, it offers a versatile assortment of features. Regardless, no amount of accessibility, convenience, or versatility are worth your security. However, many users put precisely that, their security, at risk… often without even realizing it, or why this is such a big deal.

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Cybersecurity In 2018, What You Need to Know

Cybersecurity In 2018, What You Need to Know

2017 wasn’t so long ago, but one year is a long time in terms of cybersecurity developments. Anytime the Internet is involved, it’s important to remember that threats have access to the collective minds of every hacker on the planet, meaning that developments can happen rapidly and without much warning. We’ll take a look at how cybersecurity has changed since 2017, including some notable information about how organizations are protecting themselves today.

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Know Your Tech: A/B Testing

Know Your Tech: A/B Testing

A key component to effectively attracting your audience is to better understand their preferences. Even the most seemingly insignificant change, like changing the color of the buttons on your website, can have a major impact on how effective your materials are. Fortunately, through a process called A/B testing, observing the impact of these changes is somewhat straightforward.

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Tip of the Week: Why You Shouldn’t Just Kill Power to Windows

Tip of the Week: Why You Shouldn’t Just Kill Power to Windows

There’s a big difference between turning off any other appliance, like a stereo or a television, and turning off a computer. A computer takes much more time to shut down than your average device, but why is this the case? Is there a way to speed up this process? This tip will explain these processes and provide some ideas for how you can make this process much faster.

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Tip of the Week: Excel Features for the Power User

Tip of the Week: Excel Features for the Power User

As useful as a spreadsheet can be to convey information, they can be a little drab and disengaging if the full capabilities of Microsoft Excel aren’t understood and leveraged. For today’s tip, we’ll go over a few little-known and underutilized features that can help you create spreadsheets with both more style, and more utility.

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How to Be Selective when Picking a Backup Solution

How to Be Selective when Picking a Backup Solution

You literally never know when your data may be lost. It may be frightening to consider, but there are so many factors that could lead to you losing your data, ranging from an act of nature to user error. To counter this, you need to make sure your backup solution meets certain requirements. Today, we’ll review those requirements.

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Does Your Server Room Need Air Conditioning?

Does Your Server Room Need Air Conditioning?

You don’t need us to tell you that servers, workstations, and many other network components create a lot of heat from constant use. Servers in particular produce an incredible amount of heat, so much that they need to be kept in a climate-controlled room to ensure they don’t overheat and cause hardware failure. How can you make sure that your business’ servers are in an adequate environment to preserve your organization’s future?

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Tip of the Week: How to Improve Your Invoicing Processes

Tip of the Week: How to Improve Your Invoicing Processes

One of the most important considerations in any business is to ensure that payments are properly received and processed. Otherwise, you may as well not be in business at all. To help expedite this, we’re dedicating this week’s tip to creating a better, more effective invoice. Let’s get into it.

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Cybersecurity Requires Flexibility to Changes

Cybersecurity Requires Flexibility to Changes

Security is always changing due to the volatility of online threats and vulnerabilities. Things have changed so much over the past decade that solutions that worked back then are so outdated that they put your business at risk today. This brings into question what you should expect in the years to come. What are some of the threats that your business can expect to face in the future?

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Three Give-Aways that Your Security Approach Needs a Change

Three Give-Aways that Your Security Approach Needs a Change

It only makes sense that you would want only the best security for your organization. It’s natural to want to eliminate risk entirely. However, this simply is not a realistic viewpoint to take where your security is concerned, and it can even contribute to greater security issues as a company holds out for the best solution.

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Are the Apps on Your Device Safe?

Are the Apps on Your Device Safe?

It’s difficult to judge whether or not an app can expose your business to risk without first downloading it. Despite their best efforts, Google Play and the iTunes store can’t possibly identify every single malicious application out there. Unfortunately, you’re charged with taking the security of your mobile devices into your own hands, but thanks to Google Play Protect, this responsibility is a bit more mild.

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Tip of the Week: How to Write a Better Email

Tip of the Week: How to Write a Better Email

Writing an email is one of the most prevalent methods of communication in the business world, but it’s not as easy as you might think. There are considerable details and intricacies to mastering this art, and we’re here to help. By the end of this blog article, you’ll be armed with five tips to write the most effective email that you can.

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4 Ways to Secure Your Business and Ensure Compliance with Best Practices

4 Ways to Secure Your Business and Ensure Compliance with Best Practices

More businesses than ever before have been falling victim to the various threats found on the Internet, which has provided a valuable opportunity to learn more about how to protect your business and ensure its survivability in the face of data breaches. However, even your employees are a valuable method of securing your business, especially if you take the time to explain to them the important role they play in security.

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Tip of the Week: Got a Solid State Drive? Here’s How to Take Care of It

Tip of the Week: Got a Solid State Drive? Here’s How to Take Care of It

You may have purchased a solid state drive because of its many benefits over the hard disk drive. Although, if you want to get the most bang for your buck with a SSD, you’ll want to follow these best practices.

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Study Finds Employees to Be Sloppy About Network Security

Study Finds Employees to Be Sloppy About Network Security

How confident are you that your employees act in the best interest of your company’s security with every decision they make? While it’s certainly the case that you, as the business owner, think along these lines, it’s also true that the average worker isn’t nearly as motivated about network security as you are. The challenge, then, for business owners is to get everyone in your organization on the same page when it comes to security best practices.

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6 Data Backup Best Practices Your Business Continuity Plan Needs

6 Data Backup Best Practices Your Business Continuity Plan Needs

The future of any organization is only as good as its business continuity plan. This is a well thought out plan that instructs a company of what to do in the face of a disaster, so they can return to normal operations as quickly as possible. One key part of every business continuity plan that should never be overlooked: the backing up and recovery of your data.

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