HJDS Computer Services Computer Systems Support and Installation.

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.”

Posted under Twitter post

Not sure how to create a pivot-table in Excel? You don’t know how to put together a PowerPoint presentation? Sparky! This is where a file sharing program would come in handy. And you laughed at those of us who bothered to show up to Information Systems class. Youd think file sharing would be rather self-explanatory. You have files ” you want to share them. Simple enough, to be sure, but the file sharing world is rife with scoundrels. Be sure you take precautions and install credible software from credible vendors.

Now, the majority of contemporary file sharing networks are modeled on peer-to-peer networks. What if youre peerless, you say? You cad. Shape up ” and pay attention. A file sharing network will allow multiple people to access the same file. So, if your department has one monthly report, everyone on the team can access and modify the document.

With a good peer-to-peer network, or P2P as we hipster like to call it, you arent required to load one file in order to access another. None of his quid pro quo business around here. That is not to say anyone can access anyones files. Your peers may only allow certain files, folders, or drives to be accessed. You wouldnt want anyone to be able to go poking around in your financial statements or folder full of love letters to Ozzy Osborn now would you? Your MP3s are an entirely different matter ” I always thought you had great taste in music.

Another perk of the file sharing phenomenon is the access. Approved peers can access a file from any computer anywhere in the world. Is your boss in Frankfurt? Did he forget his report? No worries, move the file to a shared drive or folder and he can access it instantly ” is the speed of light instantaneous? Well, its fast enough. And if he or she ask you to modify the report, you simply open it, clean up your messy handiwork, save it, and give him the heads up.

Make sure, when you have the IT guy install your file sharing software, that the program has some kind of search capability. Picture a hellish scenario where youre not sure where your boss left the report. Now, picture having to search through each folder and drive on the network. Now, picture yourself at the unemployment office. Always make sure you have access to a search function. Indeed, some file sharing programs dont and they should be avoided like the plague. So, stay frosty and start sharing wisely.

Posted under Software

I think Michael Jackson put it best when he said, Dont stop until you get enough. Were all in such a hurry, trying to get enough, trying to get more and more and more. The typewriter too slow for you, Mr. Fast Pants? Use a PC. The PC too cumbersome? Use a laptop. The laptop too bulky? Use a smart phone, already! The drive to move and the need to communicate seem to be the two constants in this, our Modern Era, our Brave New World ” our Eden.

For yesterday’s traveling salesman, a leather briefcase was enough to force his way into your home. Today, were all plugged into the mainframe. We all need to access our email, our bookmarks, our Twitter accounts. For this, a desktop would indeed be just fine, if you worked out of an office. For you wonder kids, you whizzes of the New Dawn, this simply wont do. The slick salesman of today needs a laptop to pull up his PowerPoint presentation and flash demos of the new cyclone-powered robot vacuum.

The laptop bandwagon is now a baggage train. You can hop from one car to the next. Dont care for IBM? Rest easy, my son ” you have Dell, Lenovo, Compaq, Toshiba, Hewlett-Packard and Apple ready to go. Dont like the silver cover? You are a finicky lout! Get the red one, or the black one or the yellow one for crying out loud. Now, you can even slap on some new laptop skins and presto: a racing flame laptop. Evel Knievel would be proud.

The accoutrements of today’s laptop computers are so numerous, so targeted, it would be a waste of time delineating them. Extended batteries, flash drives, wireless Internet connections, CD and DVD players and burners and built-in toenail clippers. Bill Gatess, Michael Dells, and Steve Jobss imagination knows no bounds. Hate squinting at a 12 monitor? Come, come, now man ” get yourself a 17 monster and let the whole caf enjoy your vacation slideshow set to Twisted Sisters Were Not Gonna Take It.

Some would say you should stay plugged in for as long as you can. After all, the information matrix never sleeps. Bring your laptop to dinner. Impress your date with all the tricks youve learned. Embrace this break-neck pace and let your laptop take you to the highest peaks of digital reality. Just make sure you dont stop until you get enough.

Posted under Hardware