How Cooling Helps IT Maintenance

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IT workers worry about a lot. They worry about employees who bring their own devices into the corporate network, and introduce viruses from an unsecured connection. They worry about privileges for all levels of employees, and they manage all traffic that goes in and out of servers. IT maintenance is a big job, and to top it off they also need to do some of the work of an HVAC specialist. Data center cooling is an important part of IT maintenance, and it’s a major factor in keeping Internet infrastructure up and running.

Heat Generation

Computers naturally generate heat as energy is transferred from one place to another. The circuit boards generate ambient heat, which usually triggers fans to respond in order to try and cool things off. If there are many computers clustered together, like a server room, that heat can be difficult to dissipate. If too much heat accumulates, computers will shut down before they melt their internals. This is especially problematic for server rooms, which house computers that are perpetually up and running.

Server Cooling

There are several strategies to cooling a server room. A portable room air conditioner, for instance, is perfect for smaller companies that house less than ten server clusters. More robust cooling systems must be installed in larger server rooms, possibly incorporating fans for spot cooling purposes. Removing ceiling tiles is another method, but it’s more like a temporary fix than a solution you want to rely on.

Software Measures

Software installed on these servers can report rising temperatures to administrators, who can then make adjustments on the fly. It may not be a situation of residual heat, so much as it is related to complications with the machines themselves. When a machine becomes overloaded, it generates more heat as it attempts to clear out the processes it works with. Software would help to catch these problems within the operating system, and slow down the consumption of power.

Final Thoughts

Portable air conditioners are the most common form of server cooling you’re likely to find in the field. They are large enough to cool a small server room, and they can be moved to the areas that need it most. Used in conjunction with fans and other methods, and you can effectively cool a server room without spending too much on the prospect. Larger companies, however, will need to evaluate their needs and either host off-site or consider improvements to meet challenge of cooling several clusters of computers.

 

3 Ways to Share Files Using Sync 1.4

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Just recently, Bittorrent released Sync 1.4, an peer-to-peer sharing app, that make sharing files and folders with others rather easy.

Now, if you aren’t familiar with Sync 1.4, here are 3 ways by which you can share files across your devices:

#1: Photos

Placing your photos on Google, Microsoft and Facebook and so on and so forth is easier when using this app. First, create a folder with a name of your choice and then add it to Sync 1.4 as well by selecting the Select folder and Add folder options. Make sure that whoever you share this with also has Sync 1.4 on their device.

#2: Music

If you don’t use Spotify or Google Drive for your music, Sync 1.4 can come in handy as well. Create a new folder and add it to Sync. Hover the mouse pointer over the shared folder and select QR Code. Leave it open.

Now download VLC from Google Play and open Sync from your Android phone. Go to Settings and Advanced and uncheck the Simple mode. Scan for the QR mode that was left open earlier while also adding the folder on your PC to your Android phone. From here on, any music you drop into that folder will also be available on your phone.

#3: Messages

You can also set up a basic messaging system using Sync where you can share files, messages as well as documents too. For this, start a folder titled “[Your Name] Inbox”. Add that folder to Sync and share it with friends and family. Just remember that whoever you share your inbox with will have complete access to its contents. In order to avoid this, you can create a number of folders for different people or use OpenPGP to encrypt these messages.

3 Common Ways to Keep Your Desktop as Clean as Possible

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There are a number of ways by which you can use your desktop optimally but if you ask users, almost everyone of them will give you different answers.

 

Despite this, let’s look at 3 of the most common ways by which you can keep your desktop as clean as possible:

 

#1: The Taskbar

It’s best for you to hide the taskbar so that it appears only when you truly need it. For this, move the mouse pointer to the bottom of the taskbar and right-click to get the Properties window. Select the ‘Auto-hide the taskbar’ option accordingly and click Apply and OK.

 

#2: Files and shortcuts

First and foremost, all the shortcuts that you have on your desktop aren’t needed at all. You are better off pinning them to the task bar. As for files that cannot be categorized, create a junk folder where you can store these files too. After that, delete these files so that you can get a cleaner desktop.

 

#3: Recycle Bin

Not only can you clear up your desktop but hiding all icons from view by going to View>Show desktop icons but also clear up space by eliminating files from the Recycle Bin. First, you have to right-click a file and select Delete. Once this is done, then you can visit the Recycle Bin through File Explorer and Empty Recycle Bin as always.

 

Another way of clearing up space is limiting the amount of files that your Recycle Bin can hold – say, for example: 2 GB. The only thing you need to watch out for is deleting files that exceed that size.

4 Common Search Terms that You Can Use Google For

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Using a couple of search tricks, which depends on how you enter your search terms, you can get certain types of information instantly from Google.

Bing has these options too but Google, as usual, has much more to offer in this regard.

That said, here are 4 common search terms that are useful on a day-to-day basis:

#1: Weather

If you’re headed to a particular city in your country or elsewhere and want to know how the weather is, all you have to do is type in the name of the city along with the word ‘weather’. Based on your findings, you can decide what kind of clothes to carry as well.

#2: Time zone

If you want to know what the time is in a particular or city, then all you have to do is type the city or country name along with the keyword time, and you should have it. Of course, if you two timezones at the same time, then you can add them to your taskbar instead.

#3: Calculator

Not only can you use Google Search as a calculator by typing simple mathematical operations but you can also find that entering simple questions about what you want to calculate also helps. In fact, people go as far as being lazy to type in question such as “What is 5 times 19.62 billion?” and get the right answer.

#4: Currency conversions

If you are traveling abroad, Google can also give you a good idea as to how much your currency is worth at the destination you are headed to. All you have to type is 100 USD to/in Indian currency. You can do this for any other type of recognized, and that includes BitCoin too.

How One Piece of Equipment Can Improve Employee Performance

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By Allied Time

No matter what type of business you’re in, if you have employees, they’re going to be a key factor in either making or breaking you. So it makes sense that most companies spend a lot of time and money on trying to get the most out of their employees. Unfortunately, for these companies, a lot of their efforts fall short and for one very sad reason.

They don’t have time clocks. Employees who aren’t being actively monitored by an electronic time clock simply aren’t giving you the performance you’re paying for. That’s not even their fault all the time either. Without clocks to monitor them, they can often be confused about what they’re supposed to be doing, when they should leave for lunch, come back, etc.

You also can’t be giving them very good leadership if you don’t understand the type of day they lead. With professional time clocks, though, this all becomes easy. Your company can operate better knowing that the time they’re paying for is being put to good use. Furthermore, your employees will have an easier time meeting your standards because of the feedback you’ll be able to deliver them.

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All businesses need the right kind of clocks to monitor their employees time cards, otherwise you really can’t expect much in the way of results. That’s why so many companies like yours turn to Allied Time for their Time machineneeds—if you can get them met there, they can’t be met!

Don’t Neglect Data Center Customer Service

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By Rack Alley

It’s never an easy task being the person in charge of hiring on the LA data center that will be handling your company’s business. Obviously, a lot of responsibility is on your shoulders and making the wrong mistake could cost your company a lot of money and ultimately you your job.

So while you may have a long list of things you’re looking for in a server hosting Los Angeles company, don’t forget one of the most important parts: customer service.

LA colocation companies are everywhere and most of them offer all kinds of amazing services in packages that are sure to fit your company and meet your budgetary needs. That’s great! But unfortunately, many of them are missing the customer service component.

Although they’re taking care of a very big chunk of your company’s needs, that doesn’t mean you can just hand over your data to a company and forget about them. You’ll have questions along the way and want to check in. This is all for good reason. Any company that doesn’t respect this and support it should be immediately ruled out or fired.

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When your LA business needs a Los Angeles web hosting company they can rely on, look no further than Rack Alley. They have all the data center services you need, including the all important customer support and redundancy, at a price you can afford. Don’t end up paying for more than what you need with this option so close by.

How to Carry Out a Factory Reset on your Android Phone

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In the situation where you want to get rid of your Android or start with a clean slate, performing a ‘factory reset’ is just what you need to do.

It is called so because it restores the phone back to the state when it was ‘fresh from the box’.

While this procedure is enough to safeguard your data, there are people who can still dig up your data. For this reason, it is a good idea to encrypt your phone too if you’re planning to donate or sell it to someone else too.

Of course, before you do this, ensure that you backup data that you consider important. That said, here are is how you reset your Android phone:

First, you have to find the Backup and reset menu on your phone, which performs the functions as the name of the menu suggests.

Even if a number of phones’ menus have different options for backup, the first thing that you will need to do is look for the reset option at the bottom of the menu.

When you tap on this option, you will find that it will throw up a number of actions that will be performed and which includes deleting all data from your phone.

In the case, where you smartphone or tablet has expandable storage, wiping the external memory card will also be an option you have at your disposal. Of course, this is completely up to you but isn’t necessary.

Once you tap Reset phone or Reset device, your phone will reboot in recovery mode and will wipe the tablet or phone.

As soon as it reboots, you’ll find that it has returned to its factory settings and requires you to set it up again or give it a new user.

How to Select and View Multiple Timezones on Windows

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There are a number of features in Windows that can make your Life easier. One such feature involves being able to keep track of a number of time zones at the same time.

While it’s easier to use Google by typing “time (city name)”, both Windows 7 and 8.1 can help you view these time zones at a glance.

For this, click on the lower right hand corner of your screen to open a window that displays the time and date. After this, click ‘Time and date settings’. Now, with the window that opens up, click the ‘Additional Clocks’ tab.

Click the checkbox next to the ‘Show this clock’ and select the time zone as well which is based on hours before or after Universal Coordinated Time.

Once you’ve done this, then enter the appropriate names for each of the clocks in the given boxes ‘Enter display name’. Once you’re done, then click ‘Add’ and ‘OK’ and that’s it!

As for wanting to see the time zones together, move your mouse pointer to the bottom right-hand corner and click to a see a window with all the clocks showing the times you selected earlier.

Another simpler way to see the time is to hover the mouse pointer in the same area and a yellow pop-up window will appear listing the three time zones alongwith their display names.

Finally, even though Windows doesn’t provide a shortcut key to display these clocks, one can use the Windows key + B and the arrow keys to open them once the time and date option is highlighted.

Using PushBullet to Swap Files in a Few Clicks

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If you want to transfer files from your PC to an Android device, the most popular method involves using AirDroid for Android.

However, there a new feature provided on the free app Pushbullet for iOS and Android that is worthy of attention as well.

All it takes is a just a couple of clicks which makes it ridiculously easy as the connection between both devices remain.

But why pick Pushbullet over Airdroid if you are already using the latter?

This is for the simple reason that Pushbullet pushes all notifications on your phone to desktop and this could include incoming calls, email notifications, texts and alerts from your news apps.

Now, in order to use Pushbullet, you need to download the app from Google Play while running the desktop app too. All you have to do is sign-in on both devices and you can begin swapping files too.

So, let’s say you want to move a music file from a particular folder. First, you open File Explorer and move to the folder. Next, right-click the file and move the mouse pointer over Pushbullet in the context menu.

If your mouse pointer stays over the selection, you’ll find that another menu opens up with a list of devices. Pick the one you wish to transfer the file to by clicking on the selection.

Soon, you will get a desktop notification saying that your song is being uploaded. And you’re done!

Targeting Tips for Mobile Campaigns

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Mobile users are ready to buy, but you have to know how to sell to this growing market segment. Screen size plays a role, but simple tips like setting proper targeting settings can go a long way. Learn the tricks to make mobile display advertising work for you.

Geotargeting

Mobile users are on-the-go, so it makes sense that their queries are location sensitive. Geotargeting display advertising for these users based on their immediate location can encourage more foot traffic in a brick and mortar business. You can also try to tap in on deals related to what users might be doing, for instance offering lower prices on retail goods that can be drop shipped.

Day Parting

Certain campaigns tend to do better at certain times of the day, so adjust when your ads show accordingly. This cuts down on the volume of traffic that you receive, but it also adds quality visits to your campaign. Think of it this way, you’re sacrificing a wider net for the safety of showing banner advertising only when those visitors are most likely to convert.

Demographics

Market research is key to any serious attempt at affiliate marketing. You need to know the age of your demographic, but should also have key information like income level or type of employment.

Final Thoughts

Pay attention to the leads your campaigns bring in. Mine those leads for data you can use to improve your campaigns, like demographic or location.

Bio: Ted Dhanik is the CEO and co-founder of engage:BDR. Ted Dhanik has fifteen years of experience in the direct marketing agency, with special emphasis on display advertising. Learn how to make mobile a part of your business with tips from Ted Dhanik.