Prepare Your Technology from Hurricane Irene!

Hurricane Irene, a powerful Category 3 hurricane, is threatening the east coast and it looks like we may get hit hard. It is best to be prepared for a storm like this. It is said that Irene will hit Long Island this Sunday.

Prepare Your Technology
Be sure you have a full backup of all your important data. (both on and off-site preferably)

If you have a UPS battery (Uninterruptible Power Supplies with surge protection) be sure the unit is connected and the auto shutdown software is installed and working.

If you do not have a UPS battery on each device we recommend shutting down your PC's and servers if you expect, or are prone to power outages. A sudden loss of power will damage computer equipment. At the very least, be sure you have surge protectors if you do not have UPS units.

We advise you to unplug your PC if you do not have a proper UPS or surge protector.

If you're in a flood prone area, make sure to keep all your computers and hardware off the floors.

**If you have a server and multiple PC's, it might be safest for you to shut down your office for this weekend to protect your systems. Before you take this action, please contact Larry and discuss if this is the best way to prepare for your site**
Office: (516) 986-1884

Manage all of your Google Gadgets!

Do you know how to add google gadgets to your G-mail Account? No?!
Well we're going to show you!

Open the below Google Gadgets link in a browser window, then watch the video on how to manage your gadgets.

Google Gadgets Lab

Video: How to Manage your Google Gadgets

Larry Schweitzer Presents at NCCPAP!

On July 27th, Larry Schweitzer gave a presentation to the Nassau/Suffolk Chapter of NCCPAP entitled 'Technology for CPAS's - Don't Get Left Behind". It was attended by approximately 40 members of the organization and covered New Technologies and the effect on CPA's. The session was extremely interactive in both discussion and questions. This presentation was highly informative and beneficial to all the attendees.

Does Your Business's Online Profile Need Improvement?

It is crucial to make sure that your online profile has completely accurate information so that customers can easily find you and are presented with a current profile. Many prospective customers do their research online and all information should be up-to-date. This includes the right phone number and location, but also an easily navigated web page. Customers can quickly be turned away if they can’t find what they are looking for in a short amount of time.

To first ensure that everything is up-to-date, type your company name into multiple search engines to see what comes up. Check your Place Page on Google as well. You can register with the Google Local Business Center to create and/or edit your page. Besides search engines, all social networks should be verified as well. Finally, look for business reviews on Yelp or similar sites. Responding to reviews, whether they were positive or negative, is valuable customer service.

Making certain that your business is being represented correctly and consistently helps create a professional outlook for your company. More than ever, future customers are using the Internet to look for information.

Do You Need A Second Monitor?

Are you often working with multiple software programs at the same time and feel that your monitor display is too crowded? It may seem like a good idea to buy a larger monitor, but also consider buying a second one. Not only are two 22” monitors cheaper than most single 30” monitors, but you will get increased screen space too.

Before you purchase anything however, you want to make sure that a second monitor is supported by your PC. You can do this by seeing if your computer has more than one video output. (A second one can be installed as well.) Different connections are okay—you can use both DVI and VGA, as shown in the picture below. If needed, CMIT can help you figure out if your computer supports it already.

Once your second monitor is purchased and plugged in, Windows should recognize them both. If not, right click on your desktop, select “Screen Resolution” and use the “Detect” and “Identify” buttons to configure the second display. Once this is up and running, you are free to arrange your windows however you please. Some people choose to keep email and chat programs open on one screen while working on a document on the other.

You can put them in “Duplicate” mode to show the same display on both screens, or only show one monitor at a time, depending on what you are doing. Press “Windows key + P” to look through all the configurations, or view the options in the “Screen Resolution” control panel. Feel free to contact us if you have further questions about what is best for you or for quotes on any hardware purchases.

The Importance of a Paperless Office

Regardless of your industry, it is simple to see the technology advances around us. Recently the New York Times reported that airplane pilots are replacing flight manuals with digital versions via iPads. This is physically lighter, quicker to update, and easily searchable. A digital or paperless office allows businesses to eliminate (or alleviate) file cabinets and storage issues. While this seems very ideal, things like computer crashes and software glitches required companies to maintain both physical and digital copies of everything. For certain industries, government regulations require paper archives as well.

Crashes and glitches are at times inevitable but with advances in data security and backup systems, paperless offices are much more reassuring and often become a necessity. At CMIT we urge businesses to have a data security and backup recovery plans in place in case of emergency. We know the importance of going digital and how it can save both physical storage space and money. With the latest technology, there are open opportunities for enhanced efficiency, convenience, and cost savings.

CMIT of East Nassau Expands to West Nassau County!

Larry Schweitzer announced today the expansion of his CMIT Solutions (CMIT) business to meet the needs of businesses in both East and West Nassau County, NY.

Previously only serving East Nassau County, CMIT Solutions of East and West Nassau is a professional, affordable option for quality information technology (IT) support. Schweitzer's company provides local small businesses in those markets with all the benefits of a full-time IT staff at a significantly lower cost. Through enterprise IT support, CMIT offers local small businesses a full range of preventative computer maintenance and monitoring services that can help avert costly, large-scale emergencies.

To read the rest of this article that was featured on citybizzlist.com, please click here!