January 28, 2012
January 26, 2012
Do a Clean Sweep: How to Delete Unwanted Files and Programs
Ever wonder how to clean out your computer? Many people do, because it’s not unusual to have your PC’s hard disk filled with games and other programs you no longer need. In fact, some technology analysts believe that we use less than 10 percent of the programs installed on our computers. The following instructions describe how to safely—and easily—uninstall old or unused programs and remove files from your Windows-based computer.
Click here to finish reading reading this article from Microsoft at Home
January 25, 2012
Protecting Your Image(s)
Marilyn Monroe holding down a flying white skirt. The sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square. The explosion of the Hindenburg. Ansel Adams’ The Tetons – The Snake River. The lone protester in Tiananmen Square. Photos that capture the essence of a person, a time or a movement.
While an architect’s project photos or a designer’s interior pictures may not equal the power of the above photos, they are still extremely important to the firm. The photo of an award winning project. The charrette sketch that turned the tide for a complex project. The final CAD files. They must be protected as the valuable assets they are. They document not only the professional success and accomplishments of the company but also the history of the firm and its people.
So how do you protect your assets? My credo for backing up any data is that the more important the data, the more copies you should have of it and the further apart those copies should be from each other.
Step one is a database. Build a database to catalog photos, sketches, project details, personnel details as related to projects. A database allows you to find the information much easier since you organize and file the items in a more logical manner than “Photos” on the company server. The database’s keywords allows great flexibility to find “fire station” projects or “$10 million” projects. A side benefit of your asset database is that you can respond to Requests for Proposal or award submittals much more quickly as all of the data is gathered in your database instead of being crammed willy-nilly into project file boxes.
Part of the organization process should be placing the clearly ID’d items into appropriate containers in a protected area. Slides in slide boxes. Photos in appropriately sized boxes with acid-free paper. Plans in flat boxes.
So how do you make the second or third copy of an asset? Go digital.
With older items, this means scanning the item. Scanning software will not only capture the item, it will allow you to add keywords, dates, names, etc. for your database. Newer photos from your digital camera or your computer can be stored and go right into the database.
Where do you store the digital images?
Some companies point proudly to their CD or DVD library. However, CD lifespan is questionable. When asked how long CDs could be relied on, a MAM-A engineer replied “Who knows? We’ve only been making them for 12 years.” Realistic estimates from international testing organizations place the timeframe between 2-5 years. The readability lifespan has lots of factors that can compromise it. CD-R disks survive longer than CD-RW. There’s a lot of difference between manufacturers. How well was the CD burned? Did you use good software at a slow speed? How was the CD stored? In a place with little light, the right humidity in the right container?
Some companies have developed RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) systems. Having multiple hard disks which back each other up gives you duplicate or triplicate copies of your photos as well as your daily work files. Should one drive fail, its information is on another drive. You can simply replace the bad drive with a new one. Your database provides the means to locate the particular photo, plan or sketch you want.
Your most important data should have a third copy in online storage. While cloud storage is more expensive than CDs or RAID back ups, it has the advantage of being off site with its own back up system. A company in tornado alley can choose a cloud server in Arizona where there is little threat of natural disasters.
Eric Jamison, principal with Studio J, (This month’s Hotshot photographer!) works with his clients to develop a storage plan. They were able to help one client scan and organize 20 years of printed assets into a digital storage box the size of a bread box. Eric emphasizes the need to catalog your digital assets carefully. Sort carefully to distinguish 2 copy, 3 copy or even 4 copy assets based on the importance of the item. This gives you protection while controlling your costs.
Bringing in an expert with database experience and a wider range of scanning equipment can be advantageous for your firm. Let experts set everything up, catch up the backlog and train your staff to keep the system up to date. Schedule an annual review to be sure the system is still fulfilling your needs.
Regardless of how you store today, your company must have a plan for updating its storage plan that is reviewed regularly. Media changes! It is conceivable that a company could be audited and need 7 year old financial data that is on floppy disks. Who has a floppy drive anymore? Your company needs to upgrade storage media as new alternatives become available. Don’t be caught flat footed!
Written by: Pamela Bir, Your Computer Lady
As published in Sources+Design Magazine October/November 2010 Issue
January 20, 2012
Microsoft Word 2007 - Word Count
Did you know that there is a way to count words in your document?
In Word 2007, look at the bottom right of your screen, you will see "words:" and a number.
If you need more detailed information of your document for example, paragraph, lines, word spacing, etc. following these easy steps:
1. Open the Review ribbon.
2. Click Word Count in the Proofing section.
A box will display the number of pages, word count, character count, paragraph count, and line count.
This tip is especially useful when you are writing an article and it needs to be a certain word count.
In Word 2007, look at the bottom right of your screen, you will see "words:" and a number.
If you need more detailed information of your document for example, paragraph, lines, word spacing, etc. following these easy steps:
1. Open the Review ribbon.
2. Click Word Count in the Proofing section.
A box will display the number of pages, word count, character count, paragraph count, and line count.
This tip is especially useful when you are writing an article and it needs to be a certain word count.
January 17, 2012
Time Management Tips: 5 Beliefs that Limit Productivity
Productivity—both at home and at work—depends on multiple factors, not the least of which are time management and organization. Compiling to-do lists and wrangling the email in your Inbox are two basic time-management skills that promote productivity and organization.
Click here to continue to Microsoft at Work website.
Click here to continue to Microsoft at Work website.
January 16, 2012
Social Media Trends for 2012
"With over a billion people on social media it’s irresponsible for any brand not to have some sort of presence. 2012 will be the year for brands to go beyond cookie cutter campaigns and really determine how it not only adds value to their company, but how it adds value for their customers."
Read the full article.
Read the full article.
January 12, 2012
5 Word Processing Mistakes to Avoid
I found this great article on About.Com Word Processing web site. This is a must read for everyone!
When you’re formatting your document and changing things such as margins, fonts, and typefaces, here are some things to think about:
1. Margins that are too big or too small
Most of the time your software’s default margins will do just fine, providing the optimum amount of white space. If you’re tempted to fit two pages of text onto one piece of paper by adjusting the margins, don’t even think about it -- your reader will tire quickly from reading the document, as the white space allows one to rest one’s eyes.
If you’re trying to make your document longer by increasing the margins, you’ll look like a high school student trying to fool their English teacher. You should only change the margins when you have specific formatting requirements that demand it, when you want to squeeze a couple extra lines of text onto a page, or to accommodate your paper’s letterhead.
2. Inconsistent spacing
The margins aren’t the only white space on the page that require attention: You should consider every space you add to your document. The first thing you should look for is consistency -- are you using one or two spaces between sentences and do you stick with it, are you adding one or two blank lines between paragraphs, are your indents in a neat row, etc.
After you check for consistency, you should evaluate whether you’re giving your readers the right amount of white space between paragraphs and other elements on your page. Remember -- Too little and it will look scrunched up and be difficult to read; too much and it looks like you’re padding.
3. Too many fonts
Nothing is more jarring than a document that uses too many fonts, and, for the record, more than one font is often too many. You should stick with a single font for your document -- preferably a serifed font, as they are easier to read.
If you have titles or section headings, a second sans-serif font may be appropriate, although not a necessity. Outside of that, there really is no reason to use multiple fonts. Period.
4. Fonts that are too big or too small
Just as margins and spacing can add or detract from your document’s readability, so can the size of your font. It is no secret why Times New Roman 12 is the default font in Word.
No, not because it is a conservative, business-like font, but because it is easy to read. If you go any larger than 12 it will look like you’re trying to pad your document. Go any smaller and your readers will need a magnifying glass.
5. Too much special formatting
One of the problems with today’s feature-rich word processing programs is that users are always tempted to take advantage of all the formatting options available to them. This spells disaster for the look of a document.
Generally speaking, things such as ornate borders and colored fonts have no place in a professional document, except under special circumstances. They make documents difficult to read and distract from the content.
Along the same line, things you might not consider special formatting -- bold, italic, and underline typefaces can be included in this category. Don’t overuse them; save them for emphasis, headings, or citations.
If you stick to these rules and proofread your work carefully for spelling and grammatical errors, you will produce well formatted, easy to read documents every time.
When you’re formatting your document and changing things such as margins, fonts, and typefaces, here are some things to think about:
1. Margins that are too big or too small
Most of the time your software’s default margins will do just fine, providing the optimum amount of white space. If you’re tempted to fit two pages of text onto one piece of paper by adjusting the margins, don’t even think about it -- your reader will tire quickly from reading the document, as the white space allows one to rest one’s eyes.
If you’re trying to make your document longer by increasing the margins, you’ll look like a high school student trying to fool their English teacher. You should only change the margins when you have specific formatting requirements that demand it, when you want to squeeze a couple extra lines of text onto a page, or to accommodate your paper’s letterhead.
2. Inconsistent spacing
The margins aren’t the only white space on the page that require attention: You should consider every space you add to your document. The first thing you should look for is consistency -- are you using one or two spaces between sentences and do you stick with it, are you adding one or two blank lines between paragraphs, are your indents in a neat row, etc.
After you check for consistency, you should evaluate whether you’re giving your readers the right amount of white space between paragraphs and other elements on your page. Remember -- Too little and it will look scrunched up and be difficult to read; too much and it looks like you’re padding.
3. Too many fonts
Nothing is more jarring than a document that uses too many fonts, and, for the record, more than one font is often too many. You should stick with a single font for your document -- preferably a serifed font, as they are easier to read.
If you have titles or section headings, a second sans-serif font may be appropriate, although not a necessity. Outside of that, there really is no reason to use multiple fonts. Period.
4. Fonts that are too big or too small
Just as margins and spacing can add or detract from your document’s readability, so can the size of your font. It is no secret why Times New Roman 12 is the default font in Word.
No, not because it is a conservative, business-like font, but because it is easy to read. If you go any larger than 12 it will look like you’re trying to pad your document. Go any smaller and your readers will need a magnifying glass.
5. Too much special formatting
One of the problems with today’s feature-rich word processing programs is that users are always tempted to take advantage of all the formatting options available to them. This spells disaster for the look of a document.
Generally speaking, things such as ornate borders and colored fonts have no place in a professional document, except under special circumstances. They make documents difficult to read and distract from the content.
Along the same line, things you might not consider special formatting -- bold, italic, and underline typefaces can be included in this category. Don’t overuse them; save them for emphasis, headings, or citations.
If you stick to these rules and proofread your work carefully for spelling and grammatical errors, you will produce well formatted, easy to read documents every time.
January 11, 2012
Faster Cloud
Several previous articles have discussed SaaS (Software As A Service) and the prospects for cloud computing. Today we’re going to look a step further at PaaS (Platform As A Service) as it is being utilized by RevUp Render.
Glossary of Computer Terms You Need To Know:
The Cloud – Just another way to say the Internet. The distinction would be that the Internet is a method of connecting a whole bunch of computers so they can talk to each other. The Cloud expands the use of those computers to store data, to serve as the host for software and now even to provide a platform for software to work on. EX: Google Apps gives you several software programs such as word processing and lots of storage space on their servers. You don’t need a server in your office. The server is owned, managed, protected by Google. You access it via your Internet browser. You pay an annual or monthly fee to Google for access to their servers.
SaaS – Software that is totally hosted on the Internet. It is not downloaded to your computer. You use your browser to go to the service provider and to access the software. EX: Salesforce, Google Apps, Zoho. Some software manufacturers offer both downloadable software and SaaS to choose from. EX: QuickBooks, Microsoft Office.
PaaS – A server in the cloud that you can use with your software and a browser. EX: Chermayeff & Poole tried to process a Revit file of a 42,900 square meter multi-use project. Their powerful in house computers locked up after hours of working. RevUp Render was able to complete the processing in 10 minutes.
CPU – Central Processing Unit which most of us have in our offices. The typical single chip processer that is in your laptop or that box that is your desktop computer. The Intel Pentium III had 9 million transistors.
GPU – Graphics Processing Unit. A supercomputer used for computing 3D functions. The first GPU was developed by NVidia. The GeForce 256 has over 22 million transistors and can process 10 million polygons per second. (These are a tad bit expensive and usually out of the budget of an architectural firm.)
Platform – The hardware that is used to run the software. The CPU or GPU is my platform for running my software. My IBM Commodore CPU is too old and slow as a platform to run my new Windows 7 software.
You download Revit, 3DS Max or Google SketchUp on your CPU. You design a great model of your project. Then you wait hours or days for your CPU to process the information to print out a page of data. Or you do all kinds of contortions to have your client, engineer and other team members view the model with you online to make final edits.
RevUp Render simplifies that whole exercise. You create your model, you use the RevUp Render to process it. You can now edit the model very quickly as needed. Then you email a link to your colleagues and everyone joins you online for an editing session in real time.
To see demos and learn more details about RevUp Render, visit their web site at RevUpRender.com
Even if you are not an architect, it is worth your time to view a demo or two. Get a glimpse of our future with cloud computing.
You do not have the option of being computer literate. It is our future. Every day more and more of our lives are being organized, managed or directed by computers. You just get to decide on your attitude and how difficult you are going to make the transition on yourself. Age is not an excuse. Your title is not an excuse. If you are a serious professional and/or business owner, you have to have basic computer skills and basic computer knowledge. Anything less is like trying to survive today’s pace while driving a horse and buggy.
Written by: Pamela Bir, Your Computer Lady
As published in Sources+Design Magazine November 2011 Issue
Glossary of Computer Terms You Need To Know:
The Cloud – Just another way to say the Internet. The distinction would be that the Internet is a method of connecting a whole bunch of computers so they can talk to each other. The Cloud expands the use of those computers to store data, to serve as the host for software and now even to provide a platform for software to work on. EX: Google Apps gives you several software programs such as word processing and lots of storage space on their servers. You don’t need a server in your office. The server is owned, managed, protected by Google. You access it via your Internet browser. You pay an annual or monthly fee to Google for access to their servers.
SaaS – Software that is totally hosted on the Internet. It is not downloaded to your computer. You use your browser to go to the service provider and to access the software. EX: Salesforce, Google Apps, Zoho. Some software manufacturers offer both downloadable software and SaaS to choose from. EX: QuickBooks, Microsoft Office.
PaaS – A server in the cloud that you can use with your software and a browser. EX: Chermayeff & Poole tried to process a Revit file of a 42,900 square meter multi-use project. Their powerful in house computers locked up after hours of working. RevUp Render was able to complete the processing in 10 minutes.
CPU – Central Processing Unit which most of us have in our offices. The typical single chip processer that is in your laptop or that box that is your desktop computer. The Intel Pentium III had 9 million transistors.
GPU – Graphics Processing Unit. A supercomputer used for computing 3D functions. The first GPU was developed by NVidia. The GeForce 256 has over 22 million transistors and can process 10 million polygons per second. (These are a tad bit expensive and usually out of the budget of an architectural firm.)
Platform – The hardware that is used to run the software. The CPU or GPU is my platform for running my software. My IBM Commodore CPU is too old and slow as a platform to run my new Windows 7 software.
You download Revit, 3DS Max or Google SketchUp on your CPU. You design a great model of your project. Then you wait hours or days for your CPU to process the information to print out a page of data. Or you do all kinds of contortions to have your client, engineer and other team members view the model with you online to make final edits.
RevUp Render simplifies that whole exercise. You create your model, you use the RevUp Render to process it. You can now edit the model very quickly as needed. Then you email a link to your colleagues and everyone joins you online for an editing session in real time.
To see demos and learn more details about RevUp Render, visit their web site at RevUpRender.com
Even if you are not an architect, it is worth your time to view a demo or two. Get a glimpse of our future with cloud computing.
You do not have the option of being computer literate. It is our future. Every day more and more of our lives are being organized, managed or directed by computers. You just get to decide on your attitude and how difficult you are going to make the transition on yourself. Age is not an excuse. Your title is not an excuse. If you are a serious professional and/or business owner, you have to have basic computer skills and basic computer knowledge. Anything less is like trying to survive today’s pace while driving a horse and buggy.
Written by: Pamela Bir, Your Computer Lady
As published in Sources+Design Magazine November 2011 Issue
January 10, 2012
3 Stubborn PC Problems You Can Fix
Ever notice how each PC has a personality of its own? Or maybe even multiple personalities? In the course of a week, your computer may act friendly, moody, and sometimes downright mean.
Click here to continue to Microsoft at Work to finish reading this article.
Click here to continue to Microsoft at Work to finish reading this article.
January 5, 2012
Microsoft Office 2007 - The Double Click
Did you know if you double click on the Office button in Word, Excel or PowerPoint it will close the program?
Try it!
Try it!
January 4, 2012
How to Use LinkedIn Answers
Good video from Blue Penquin Development demonstrating how to use LinkedIn Answers.
I'd like to mention one aspect that Michael didn't cover. This is an easy way to poll your clients. For example, if I'm planning the next six months of webinars, wouldn't it be great to know exactly what topics my clients want to learn about? I can use Answers to send a question - What are the top 2 software programs you need to learn how to use more productively? I select up to 200 clients or prospects from my connections and send out the question. The answers not only tell me which topics I need to cover but which clients are most likely to attend the webinars.
I'd like to mention one aspect that Michael didn't cover. This is an easy way to poll your clients. For example, if I'm planning the next six months of webinars, wouldn't it be great to know exactly what topics my clients want to learn about? I can use Answers to send a question - What are the top 2 software programs you need to learn how to use more productively? I select up to 200 clients or prospects from my connections and send out the question. The answers not only tell me which topics I need to cover but which clients are most likely to attend the webinars.
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