31478 Industrial Road Suite 200, Livonia, Michigan 48150 sales@xfer.com

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: Treat Your Tasks Like a Game of Chess

Tip of the Week: Treat Your Tasks Like a Game of Chess

Sometimes, one of the most effective ways to be productive is to step back for a moment. Consider how long a chess grandmaster will sit and stare at the board, planning the moves and maneuvers for the next seven turns.

So, to boost your productivity, approach your tasks like a chess grandmaster. Let’s discuss how to go about doing so.

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Tip of the Week: Moving the Taskbar in Windows 11

Tip of the Week: Moving the Taskbar in Windows 11

Windows 11 introduces a new look by centering the taskbar, similar to the style used in macOS. While some users may appreciate this fresh design, others might prefer the traditional left-aligned taskbar found in older versions of Windows.

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Tip of the Week: 7 Cybersecurity Basics You Can’t Do Without

Tip of the Week: 7 Cybersecurity Basics You Can’t Do Without

Business cybersecurity is increasingly important for every organization in operation today, to the point where it could very well be the difference between your business’ survival or failure. While extensive things must be accomplished to ensure your overall business continuity, you have to start somewhere.

Let’s review some of the most essential things you can—and need to—do to keep your business secure.

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Tip of the Week: Your Guide to Google Apps’ Helpful Android Shortcuts

Tip of the Week: Your Guide to Google Apps’ Helpful Android Shortcuts

The Android operating system offers a litany of additional features and shortcuts in most applications… all you have to do is long-press an application’s icon to pull up a contextual menu of shortcuts. Naturally, Google’s applications are no exception.

Let’s review some of Google’s application capabilities as they appear in these shortcut menus.

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This Website Tells You What Your Technology’s EOL Date Is

This Website Tells You What Your Technology’s EOL Date Is

We live in a world where technology is central to everyday life, yet unfortunately it does not last forever. Eventually, your smartphone, laptop, smartwatch, or other device will reach its end of life, or EOL. This is when the manufacturer stops supplying critical updates—including security.

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Tip of the Week: How to Keep LinkedIn from Using Your Data to Train AI

Tip of the Week: How to Keep LinkedIn from Using Your Data to Train AI

Artificial intelligence is a hot topic nowadays, making data an even more valuable resource. After all, AI platforms rely on data to function.

Due to this, many platforms and services collect data from their users to feed these algorithms. LinkedIn was recently discovered to have started doing so—by default—without informing users or updating its terms of service. 

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Tip of the Week: Check When Your Devices Will Reach EOL

Tip of the Week: Check When Your Devices Will Reach EOL

Nobody likes the thought of the device they rely on daily suddenly dying, leaving them without a phone, a laptop, a smartwatch, or whatever the case may be. This is why it is important to stay conscious of when these devices are due to reach their end-of-life date, or EOL, when the manufacturer will no longer support them or provide crucial updates.

Fortunately, there’s a resource that makes this monitoring far easier to manage.

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Try Clearing the Cache to Speed Up Your Device

Try Clearing the Cache to Speed Up Your Device

If you work on a computer often, you’ve almost certainly been told to clean your cache. It usually amounts to clicking a button on a login screen or in the user settings. In today’s article, we will tell you all about cache and how to clean it on your iPhone and Android device.

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Tip of the Week: How to Share Large Files with Google Drive

Tip of the Week: How to Share Large Files with Google Drive

Google Drive is an extremely useful cloud storage and file sharing platform that many businesses use as a part of the Google Workspace productivity suite, or as a stand alone cloud storage solution. We thought it would be useful to give you a couple of ways to use Drive to share large files.

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How to Set SMART Goals for Your Business

How to Set SMART Goals for Your Business

If you want your business to thrive, then you need to set goals that allow it to do so. Today, we want to explore a framework for goal setting that your business can benefit from: the SMART goal framework.

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Swap Your Outfit with Adobe Photoshop’s Generative AI Tool

Swap Your Outfit with Adobe Photoshop’s Generative AI Tool

AI might be able to pull off some crazy things, but it’s far from perfect. Depending on the service or solution, it can dramatically increase your output or change your workflow for the better. If you’re not up-to-snuff with your Photoshop skills, you can rely on AI to help you fill in the gaps, both literally and figuratively, in your photo editing skills.

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Tip of the Week: How to Set Your Google Alerts

Tip of the Week: How to Set Your Google Alerts

Setting up Google Alerts is a useful way to stay informed about topics that interest you. This tool allows you to receive notifications whenever new content related to your chosen keywords appears online. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up Google Alerts effectively.

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Some Novel Technologies You Can Use for Your Business

Some Novel Technologies You Can Use for Your Business

Fringe technology refers to innovative and unconventional tech solutions that are not yet mainstream but hold the potential for significant impact. Small businesses can leverage fringe technologies to gain a competitive edge, improve efficiency, and enhance customer experiences. Here are some examples of such novel technology that small businesses can use:

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Tip of the Week: Use Forms to Populate a Sheet in Google

Tip of the Week: Use Forms to Populate a Sheet in Google

Utilizing a form to gather data for your business offers myriad benefits, including insights into customer impressions, service needs, and employee feedback for collaborative decision-making. However, the challenge arises when it's time to consolidate responses—unless you're proficient with the available tools.

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Tip of the Week: Hover Over Links to Prevent Hacking Attacks

Tip of the Week: Hover Over Links to Prevent Hacking Attacks

The fact is that phishing messages are all over the place. It doesn’t matter if you are a large corporation or a small business with only a dozen employees; the threat of phishing attacks is real and should be prepared for. Thankfully, one of the easiest ways to avoid phishing messages is as easy as moving your mouse. We are, of course, talking about hovering over links.

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How to Install APK Files, and Why You Might Not Want To

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When you download a program or application to your computer, you must install it through its operating system. The same is true for your Android smartphone, but the file names are a bit different, and the process is a little more convoluted… and for good reason. Today, we want to walk you through how APK files work and why it might not be a good idea to install them on your device in the traditional sense.

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Tip of the Week: How to Make Good Investments in Your IT

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With technology being such an important part of doing business, making the right calls on how to spend your IT budget is important. Before diving into any technology purchases, take a step back and assess your business’ specific needs. What are your goals, challenges, and pain points? Understanding these aspects will help you narrow down the technologies that truly add value to your operations. Let’s take a look at a few technologies that can help a business spend wisely on their IT. 

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How to Install Windows 11 Without a Microsoft Account

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All things considered, Windows 11 has received favorable reviews, although it can also be considered a somewhat unnecessary upgrade from Windows 10. Upgrading has significant benefits, provided you have the hardware to handle it. Microsoft wants users to have accounts to install the operating system, but there is a way to install Windows 11 without it.

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Four Ways to Boost Your Password Hygiene

Four Ways to Boost Your Password Hygiene

Securing accounts is part of a comprehensive security strategy, and it all begins with practicing proper password hygiene. Are you using strong, complex passwords that are going to keep your accounts safe? While we always recommend using multiple measures to protect accounts, starting with your passwords can be a good way to build up to this. Let’s go over how to use better passwords for all of your online accounts and business needs.

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Tip of the Week: Implement Android Archiving to Free Up Storage Space

Tip of the Week: Implement Android Archiving to Free Up Storage Space

In April 2023, Google made a statement claiming that the Android platform would be able to archive unused applications with the intention of preserving storage space on the device. This came with a caveat: it would only do so if the device was almost out of available space. This auto-archiving feature, however, was released to a pleasant little surprise; it is available to all users, regardless of how much storage space is left on the device.

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XFER Communications, Inc.
31478 Industrial Road Suite 200
Livonia, Michigan 48150