Searching files: how easy is it?

Autor: sammiller

When it comes to computers every one states how good they are. But to be perfectly honest, computers are only as good as the person operating them. We all know, and have possibly experienced our computer crashing at one point in time. If you haven't then you are lucky. When this happens a person can actually lose all files within the computer. To prevent this from happening you should always save your files and/or work. Knowing where to find your files or how to check for files in most software programs, example Microsoft Word or Excel is rather easy and important. By knowing how and where to find the files will help to save all important documents.
The main place to start, knowing what drive your information is saved in. Some computers or as advised by a computer technician, most computers come to you in two partisans. Those partisans are in actually two separate drives. These drives are the C: drive or the D: drive. While some computers may use the D: drive as their main drive most computers use the C: drive when storing or working off a particular drive. Knowing this is most important and it should be written down in case of an emergency (like computer crashing and needing to reboot).
When working with most Microsoft Word or Excel, it is very easy to look up files. A person can start by pulling up the program in which has been used to create the document. Once the program is opened a blank document usually comes up at start up. Once the program is open you will need to go to the top left hand side of the task bar, click on the word FILE, from here you should see the word OPEN, if this does not occur then at the bottom of the drop down box you will see an arrow meaning that the drop down box has to be expanded.
Once OPEN has been clicked on another box will appear. Make sure that the bottom where it states files of type has the words All Files in the box. This ensures that no matter what program was used all of the files will come up that was saved to the area in which you are looking. After making sure that those words are in the box, you will see what files are actually located in the area in which you are looking in. The box also has a spot at the top of the box that has words that state File In next to another drop down arrow. If you click on this arrow you will be able to find another location where more files may be stored.
This is the long way in which to locate files. If you open the program and actually click on the yellow envelope which is located in the second row of the task bar, this will also open the box in which was described above. That is called a short cut.
You can also, when looking for files, click right on your "MY DOCUMENT" icon that is on your desk top. Simply double clicking will open the folder and show all files that we saved in the folder. Or you can click on the start button which brings up a drop down box which has all folders and/or programs within your computer. You will be able to find your "MY DOCUMENT" folder in here also. But on top of that you will be able to find your most recent documents that you have used under "DOCUMENTS" itself.
Lastly, finding certain files may be difficult to locate. When your computer gets a virus or Trojan (a type of virus) they usually are a file in itself. Finding these is hard due to the fast that they are hidden. You can ensure that even hidden files are show taking these steps: click on the start button, from there you will need to open your "MY COMPUTER" by double clicking on it, then go to "TOOLS", from there find 'FOLDER OPTIONS".
Once this is done another box will open up, you will need to click on the VIEW tab which brings up a lot of writing with boxes with some checks in them. Some boxes may not have the checks. Once this box is open you will need to find the words "HIDDEN FILES", under these words are two options, hide hidden files or show hidden files; you will need to make sure that the button next to show hidden files is marked. Once this is done you will need to apply and then hit ok.
After all this is done when ever you open any program or anything it will show all the files even ones that aren't per say from you which mean that some may be viruses. You can always check to see what the virus is by checking websites to see the most popular or even any type out there.
Well, there may be more complicated way in which to search for files but most are done by the above instructions. Computer technicians can use many other options due to the expertise in computers which they have. But unfortunately this goes way above regular intellect. A computer expert in which I have spoken to many times actually stated that one can use a non-Microsoft program called DOS to even search but that is different research all by itself.

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Why Businesses Should Utilize an Electronic Document Management System

Autor: rgoodson40

In today’s business world, the amount of paper a business manages can be endless. With each piece of paper, someone needs to file it, space must be used to store it, and on multiple occasions, someone needs to retrieve it. When you are talking about thousands and even millions of pages of paper, this can be a very time-consuming task, and therefore a very costly task. The costs mount up quickly, in the areas of wages for employees who are responsible for filing and retrieving documents, and the areas of storage space required to house the massive amounts of paper files.

It is also an on-going, never-ending task, requiring the time of countless employees. This is time that could be better used performing the tasks that they have their personal expertise in. The opportunity costs for using a paper filing system include wasted time, delayed customer response time, and wasted floor and storage space. In other words, the efficiency of a business is very much hampered by continuing to utilize a paper filing system.

The benefits of an Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) are countless. With an EDMS, you will be able to take all of paper files, put them through a scanner, and them throw them away, or if your too skeptical to toss them, you can store them in some off-site storage where you will hopefully never have to look at them again. All of your files will be stored electronically, accessible almost instantly by any computer within your office at anytime. You do not have to worry about misplaced files or somebody else already having a file at their desk.

The initial cost of converting to an EDMS is usually what keeps people from doing it. This cost consists of the time and money it takes to scan all of a company’s existing files into the system. To save time, a company can pay a scanning service bureau to scan all their files for them, and this will sometimes be the cheapest method as opposed to paying an employee, who is likely less efficient, to scan the files. Whatever the method chosen, the first year cost might be heavy, but these costs should be offset within the first couple of years.

Another route that a lot of companies take is not to scan all of their backfiles into the EDMS, but to start scanning files today as they come in, and leaving all previous files as they were. This allows the company to bypass a large part of the initial costs, while still enjoying the benefits of the electronic file storage. As time goes by and the companies appreciation for the system grows, they will slowly convert their older files into electronic images, allowing them spread this cost over many months or even years.

Once a company is completely paperless and utilizing an EDMS, their efficiency is greatly increased, their response time for customer support is drastically reduced, and their overall office clutter is eliminated. These improvements convert directly to more business and higher profits.

If that’s not enough to convince you, then this will. The company is no longer at risk to having their critical business information stolen, lost, or destroyed due to some unforeseen circumstances, such as Hurricane Katrina that destroyed thousands of business’s paper records. The EDMS can backup your files offsite so nothing will ever be lost, plus its security features will prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing the documents that they shouldn’t, a very difficult task with a paper filing system.

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http://www.articlecircle.com/computers/software/why-businesses-should-utilize-an-electronic-document-management-system.html

IT Managers, Is Your Network Exposed?

Autor: buzzscott

Most successful companies today use the Internet to help them do business, to assist them in the growth of their business and are a big player in the growth of their bottom line profits. Providing the Internet on employee's desktops does a great thing for many companies and allows a lot of productivity. The Internet has become an elemental tool for today's business.

E-commerce is critical for many companies and downtime means lost business and lost profits. IT resources tend to be stretched thin, especially in growing companies. When something goes wrong, the IT group needs to fix it and needs to fix it immediately. Spyware has become a huge burden on IT managers.

For many companies, widespread Internet access through the user base poses the risk of continuous spyware infection. This can slow down productivity when employees use work time to surf or unknowingly download programs onto the company computer that can be harmful. Even if you only allow your employees to use their computer to surf during break or lunchtimes, you could be exposing your company to potential problems and downtime due to Spyware. Employees could even download potentially harmful programs right into your server and cause definite damage.

Spyware, Adware and malware are not just a home computer user's problem but also a problem for businesses everyday that suffer needless downtime due to these issues. Employees suddenly have problems at their pc where there's an inexplicable slowdown or programs they can no longer find or worse, pornographic advertisements on the employee's computer. The server can also be infected. IT staff spend countless hours troubleshooting users desktops and logging problems and draining their resources.

Anti-spyware programs are very important as part of your network infrastructure. Software programs can not only clean up Spyware problems but also prevent new threats from coming into your network. You need a program on your network that will be supported and will run with other programs as a complimenting software package. Using freeware or shareware programs in a network infrastructure is not a wise choice and can pose future problems for you that will be unsupported.

It's difficult to manage employees' computer time. Arming your company's network with software to combat this problem is preventative and smart and can minimize your exposure to potential problems, confidential company information leaks and unnecessary downtime. Spending a small amount of time by arming your system with software to combat this problem could save a huge amount of your valuable time and result in increased productivity for you and your company.

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http://www.articlecircle.com/computers/security/it-managers-is-your-network-exposed.html

Malware: Malicious Computer Software

Autor: matth02

There is a type of software out there that all computer owners and operators need to be aware of. That software is known as malware, or "malicious software". Malware can completely destroy computers or make them difficult to use.

Malware viruses and worms:
One of the most dangerous type of malware is a malware virus or worm. These two types of malware spread quickly and sometimes undetected until it is too late and a great deal of damage has already been caused to your computer. A malware virus will drop its code into your computer's files to make the virus spread. It often takes you - the user - to advance the spread of the virus. On the other hand, a malware worm will go into your computer's files and replace them. Instead of needing you to help spread the worm, the worm will spread itself no matter what you do.

Trojan horse viruses:
Malware also takes the form of a virus known as a Trojan horse. A Trojan horse virus can do some severe damage to your PC. For example, you could simply download a desktop wallpaper program to decorate your computer desktop background. No big deal, right? Wrong! This program in particular has a Trojan horse virus embedded in it. You think you are getting desktop wallpaper, but in reality you are getting a program that goes into your system and leaves a backdoor open to hackers who can do just about anything to your computer and its information that they want. Hackers can get all of your previously-protected passwords. They can look at all of your bank account, credit card, and personal information you have on your computer. Trojan horse viruses can erase your files without your consent. More complex Trojan horse viruses can even appear to control your computer, by making your CD-ROM drive open and close at random times - when you did not attempt to make it open and close yourself. It will appear as is there is a ghost in your machine! However, it is no ghost - it's a dangerous virus that can even make you an unfortunate victim of identity theft.

Protecting your computer from malware:
If you want to protect your computer from malware, it is very important that you buy high-quality virus protection software as well as a firewall. These two things will guard your computer from any type of malware attacks.

Please also note that you must, must, must update your virus protection software when it expires. If you do not do so, then it will not work to the best of its ability - and therefore your computer will not be protected from dangerous malware. Usually when you buy anti-virus software, the package is sold with an additional year of free software updates. After this time, it is completely up to you to purchase additional protection. For example, you can pay for another year or more of protection for a reasonable fee. Don't let anything stop you from taking care of yourself and your computer!

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http://www.articlecircle.com/computers/security/malware-malicious-computer-software.html

Your Browser's Toolbar Is Spying On You

Autor: aagekold

Spybars are in many cases a much more appropriate name for toolbars, because toolbars often contain either adware, spyware or both. Adware is in itself not dangerous, but it can be very annoying, since as the name implies it delivers ads to your PC. Typically these ads appear in the form of pop-ups or pop-unders. Spyware is worse because it spies on you; it monitors surfing habits, keyword searches or even logs keystrokes and proceeds to submit this information to a 3rd party without your knowledge. A toolbar is a tool to help the internet user perform various actions while browsing the web, so it is a perfect place to hide a spyware or adware program.

One way of obtaining the toolbars is simply to download and install them your self. In this case you will often be prompted to click "I Agree" to an "end user license agreement". Personally I almost never read those; I just click "next-next-agree-install" and I think many people do the same. Lots of adware distributed in this way will be described in the license agreement, so the lesson here is to always read it before clicking on the agree-button. A toolbar can also come bundled with a free piece of software, so again you should always read the license agreement, when you install a free program (sometimes there is good reason why it is free).

Toolbars can also install themselves silently when you surf certain websites, through pop-ups or activeX controls. All of a sudden a new toolbar appears in your internet browser, even though you know with certainty, that you did not install it. This is cause for alarm.

Below I have listed a few toolbars to illustrate their purpose.

Alibaba Toolbar
This one monitors keyword searches and submits the results to a 3rd party without the user's knowledge. The information can be used to tailor ads to match the searches.

DotCom Toolbar
DCT hijacks your default homepage and your browser settings. This means it sets you browser's startup page to something else. It also reports data back to a 3rd party and generally causes system and connectivity issues.

SearchSprint Toolbar
This is a bad one. You will get it through an axtiveX control when browsing the internet. It starts when a "trojan downloader" named "roimoi" gets downloaded onto your PC (It will be with a misleading name). Repeated pop-ups may be displayed until download is accepted. Once the trojan is installed it proceeds to download and install other components such as SearchSprint. The toolbar hijacks keyword searches and replaces the results with ads from another website. It also steals e-mail addresses and sends them to a 3rd party, enabling them to submit e-mail ads to those addresses.

Xupiter Toolbar
This bad boy has been around for several years and exists now in many versions. This is because Xupiter's programmers have kept updating the code to get around anti spyware/adware updates.
The toolbar is typically installed without the user's knowledge, while surfing various websites and through pop-ups or activeX controls.
Once Xupiter has installed it self it begins to perform it's devious acts, which include:

- Hijacking the internet browser's start page.
- Monitoring surfing habits and reporting them.
- Displaying pop-up and pop-under ads.
- Silently updating itself.

The Xupiter toolbar has been very difficult to get rid of and doing this manually should not be attempted by a PC novice.

There are many more spy toolbars out there and they all pretty much exhibit the same behavior as the examples above. A toolbar can be a great add-on to your web browser, but you should be very careful when installing one. Take the following precautions:

- Never download a toolbar before you have done a few web searches on it, to determine if it contains spyware/adware.

- Always read the end user license agreement before installing a toolbar.

- Always read the end user license agreement before installing free software.

- Always perform a full system scan with an anti spyware/adware program, if a new toolbar suddenly appears in your browser.

And as always you should make sure you have an anti spyware/adware program installed.

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