Data Net Blog

The modern computer is a marvel, but they can be quite the investment. It stands to reason that when you purchase new hardware—whether it be for yourself or your business—that you should want it to last as long as possible. For this week’s tip, we wanted to go through five things you can do to protect your computer from wear and tear. 

Sometimes the last thing you want to do is type on your keyboard, especially if you have already been doing it just about all day. In cases like this, you can give your fingers a break and use Microsoft Word’s dictation features to “write” by speaking into your device’s microphone. Let’s go over how you can use this feature on a desktop, your web browser, and even your mobile device.

Chances are that, if you are a user of an Android device, you prefer Google Chrome as your mobile web browser. However, did you know that you can change your default web browser to a different one? All you have to do is know which browsers are available to use; then all it takes is a quick settings adjustment!

While we all like to think we are paragons of productivity, the reality of the matter is that it’s far too easy to become distracted while trying to get work done. How do you stay focused when there are so many distractions out there? It all starts with controlling your environment and changing the way you approach these distractions.

While email has remained a major communication tool for businesses for quite some time, a lot of us might still be struggling to keep it organized. Alternatively, a lot of us may have just given up, allowing our inboxes to become a virtual dump of old communications and check-ins.

Fortunately, with a little bit of time now, you can turn your inbox into an organized and useful resource again. 

Staring at a bright computer screen all day can bother your eyes, especially if it’s done on a routine basis. We know that staying away from computers and devices is something that we cannot really get away from in the business environment, but you can take steps to make it more manageable and easier on your eyes through the use of Dark Mode.

There are a lot of different notification sounds that the average office worker needs to listen for as they’re hard at work. However, these notifications can often be drowned out by other applications. To help prevent this, we wanted to go over how you can adjust the volume levels of some of your individual applications.

Burnout is a serious problem in the business environment, and if you are not careful, it can have profound effects on operations, productivity, and profitability in the long term. If you suspect that your employees are experiencing symptoms of burnout, you need to act on these symptoms and implement policies to protect your team from… well, themselves.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had an easy way to track your device even if it were lost or stolen? Thankfully, this feature exists to an extent for Android devices in the form of the IMEI, or international mobile equipment identity number. If you know this number, you could potentially help mitigate the issues that losing a device can present.

Most companies use a word processor of some sort in their day-to-day tasks, but there are none more dynamic and well-known than Microsoft Word. To get the most out of Word, you need to take advantage of keyboard shortcuts.

Wi-Fi is a very important component in the modern office, which makes it critical that it operates well. Let’s go over a few tips to help you get the highest available speeds out of your business’ wireless connection. 

The modern office has a ton of devices that need to be tracked and monitored, but how do you do it? How do you make sure that you are keeping track of each device, such as what they are, who is using them, and how they are being used? If you are not currently tracking your technology, it’s time to start doing so. An inventory management system can make this task much easier and more efficient.

The Windows OS is chock-full of capabilities, with many of these given an associated keyboard shortcut for added convenience. Of course, having these capabilities is one thing, but remembering so many is quite a different story. For your reference, we’ve put together a list of the shortcuts associated with the letter keys, with a few extras as a bonus.

Take note of any that you might have particular use for.

A good data backup protects your business’ information (and because of this, the business itself) from a wide variety of threats. Of course, to accomplish this effectively, a data backup needs to itself be secure and reliable. Let’s take a few moments and go over a few practices and policies you would likely find it beneficial to adopt.

The screenshot is one of the great tools that users can use to capture information in their browsers. If you are using a PC, you have access to many of them. Once you set one, you can typically use the Print Screen key to capture the image. Today, there is a Snip & Sketch tool that provides better functionality and is much easier to use.

At this point, the term “collaboration” has fully transitioned from an intriguing operational ideal, to an overhyped buzzword, to a legitimately essential consideration for any modern business to embrace. As such, it makes sense that there are so many collaboration-geared applications available today, with so many options to pursue this collaboration baked into each.

Let’s consider the many, many collaborative capabilities that are available in Google Drive—a tool that is used by many businesses today.

It’s often said that a clean workspace is a safe workplace. When your workspace is mostly your computer, safety has less to do with it, but that shouldn’t deter you from doing what you can to keep your computer clean. It can help keep it in working order, longer, and is just a sanitary thing to do. Let’s get into why a clean computer is better, and how to go about cleaning your workstation. 

The laptop has been gradually seeing a boom in the office, replacing the desktop for a more portable option for meetings and remote work. Long gone are the days where the laptop feels like a more expensive, less capable option. They do have their detriments, though. One of the most complained about parts of using a laptop is the trackpad. They’ve added features and improved materials over the years, but the overall experience of using a trackpad hasn’t changed very much for over a decade.

The productivity software suites now available to businesses have come a long way in a relatively very short time. However, when selecting one, it is still crucial to compare your options based on a few key variables. Let’s go over these variables to make sure that the software suite you’re using is the right one for your needs.

Microsoft Word offers a variety of handy capabilities that could potentially save users a lot of time—including the means to replicate text across multiple documents, down to the formatting. In doing so, you can edit the text in one place to edit all instances of it simultaneously. Let’s go over how to accomplish this.