Triona's Tech Tips

If you’re not familiar with iPads and Facebook, 2012 may be the year you join the crowd. In my Tech Trends column in this month’s McHenry County Business Journal (digital edition here) I talk about how this may be the year everything changes:

Mobility, social media, and cloud computing are taking the world by storm. Consumer IT is affecting everyone from enterprise-level organizations to small businesses, and back to the consumers themselves. It’s a rapid and sometimes vicious cycle in which failure to follow the trend could cost companies much-needed momentum.

Here are five ways you can stay on top of these emerging trends.

1. Make a mission statement
Everyone should have a mission statement for online marketing, businesses and individuals alike. What are you trying to accomplish? Do you want people to buy products, sign up for your email newsletter, visit your blog? Explain how you are uniquely qualified to help. If you’re marketing yourself rather than a business, your mission is to demonstrate to employers how you are uniquely qualified.

2. Contribute value
You get out of social media what you put into it. Follow people with valuable content and contribute valuable content of your own. Note that the converse is also true: you can and should stop following people if they do not provide you with information you find useful.

3. Seek balance
If you’re not posting often enough, people will lose interest. If you post too often they’ll be overwhelmed. Find the right frequency for you based on your mission and target audience. This is where mobility and social media go hand in hand. If you think of a good LinkedIn status, use your smartphone and post it. It takes far less time to actually do it than to write “Update LinkedIn Status” on a to-do list.

4. Delve in
Don’t be afraid to experiment! Sign up for Facebook, add some apps to your iPad, and most of all read, read, read about these emerging technologies.

5. Subscribe to Tech Tips by email, RSS, and Twitter
And here’s a good place to start. Follow Tech Tips and get your feet wet with someone who isn’t going to laugh if you make mistakes. Email subscribers receive bonus tips and product reviews. Be sure to follow me @trionaguidry on Twitter for breaking tech news and other geek goodies. If you’re not on Twitter you can visit my blog where you’ll find my Twitter feed in the right sidebar. Don’t know how to RSS? Check out my info on RSS here.

How are you planning to use mobility and social media in the new year? Comment and share your thoughts!

In today’s Northwest Herald I talk about how mobile security is a growing threat to businesses and consumers alike. Here are additional resources that can help.

First, the basics: recommendations on security software. These are all reliable vendors in the security arena and have mobile products available for a variety of platforms.

• Kapersky Mobile Security
  http://usa.kaspersky.com/products-services/home-computer-security/mobile-security
• ESET Mobile Security
  http://www.eset.com/us/products/mobileantivirus.php/
• Webroot Mobile Security For Consumers
  http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-products-mobile-security.html
• Intego VirusBarrier iOS (Apple iOS only)
  http://www.intego.com/virusbarrierios/
• Trend Micro Mobile Security (Android only)
  http://us.trendmicro.com/us/products/personal/mobile-security-for-android/

Next, I wanted to expand on what I said about using mobile technology to keep up with the latest threats. One of the best ways to do this is to subscribe to technology-related RSS feeds. I’ve talked about RSS before. It’s like getting regular headlines automatically updated to your computer or mobile device. There are a wide variety of RSS apps, but you’ll find most of them will require you to use either Google Reader or their own cloud-based technology to sync your feeds. And speaking of feeds, here are some to try.

• Triona’s Tech Tips RSS Feed
  • You can also subscribe via email by clicking here or sending a message to techtips-request@guidryconsulting.com, subject subscribe.
• Security Feeds For Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, and US-CERT. Note that these might change as this post ages.
  • http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/rss/bulletin
  • http://rss.lists.apple.com/security-announce.rss
  • http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/feed/atom
  • http://www.us-cert.gov/channels/alerts.rdf
• Sophos Naked Security
  • http://feeds.feedburner.com/NakedSecurity

One last piece of advice. Go into the settings of your mobile device and turn off any sharing that you’re not using. Periodically monitor your privacy settings on mobile devices and online sites, because they won’t necessarily stay the way you set them (thanks a lot, Facebook).

How can you succeed with social networking? Try these six easy steps.

Take It Slowly
You don’t have to dive into every social networking site right away. Start off slowly, perhaps with a LinkedIn account, and allow yourself to get your feet wet before going further.

Don’t Sweat It
Social networking is not a contest or a race, and you don’t get a better score for having more contacts or more links than other people. Don’t miss out on opportunities, but don’t let social networking take over your life either.

Make The Commitment
That being said, stagnation is death in social networking. If you’re going to do it, do it right. You need to post on a regular (but not too frequent) basis.

Analyze And Revise
Your profile shouldn’t stagnate either. Every few months, look it over and see if your wording still applies. Maybe you have something new to add, or maybe you just want to rework what you’ve already got. Fine-tuning your social networking profile is as essential as updating your status.

Offer Invaluable Info
To get you have to give a little, and nothing showcases your talents better than making yourself an invaluable resource. When people need help, you want them to think of you, and the best way to do that is to offer them concise, relevant information they can put to immediate use.

Measure Your Success
What you get out of social networking will be different than what someone else gets out of it. Define “success” for yourself. Twenty new prospective customers? A foot in the door at a company you’ve always admired? Whatever it is will be unique to you and your goals.

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Want to learn more about LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter? I’ve added new social networking seminars to my calendar for the month of May.

NEW! Grow Your Business With Social Networking
Power Partners Of Cary Grove
Thursday, May 19, 2011, 8am-9am
Century 21 Sketchbook, 20 Northwest Hwy (Rt 14), Cary IL

What’s the best way to use LinkedIn? Should you market your business on Facebook? In this seminar we’ll discuss how you can use social networking to grow your business. Guests welcome! Power Partners of Cary Grove meets at Century 21 Sketchbook in Cary, Illinois.

Leveraging LinkedIn
Cary Grove Chamber Of Commerce
Thursday, May 26, 2011, 12pm-1:30pm
Fox River Grove Village Hall, 305 Illinois St., Fox River Grove IL

Discover how to get the most out of LinkedIn. We’ll explore the features of LinkedIn and how you can best use them to market yourself or your business. To register, contact the Cary Grove Chamber Of Commerce at 847-639-2800.

Coming this summer…

Advanced Blogs For Business
Expanding Your Online Presence With Social Media

..and more! You can always find my latest schedule in the Upcoming Events section of my web site, or subscribe to Tech Tips by email. Hope to see you there!

I’d like to say thanks to Jane Friedman, former publisher and editorial director of Writer’s Digest, for publishing my guest post on her WD blog, There Are No Rules. The post is called Ten Steps To Secure Your WordPress Blog From Hackers. It’s geared toward those running their own installations of WordPress, but also applies to those hosting their blogs with WordPress, Blogger, or other services.

Also, don’t miss my Blogs For Business seminar this Friday, April 1, 2011, from 8:30am-10am, part of the Crystal Lake Chamber Business Builder Breakfast series. To register, please contact the Crystal Lake Chamber at 815-459-1300. Here are more upcoming seminars in April and May. For registration details, see my web site.

Social Networking For Business
Business Networking Group
Friday, April 22, 2011, 7:30am-8:30am
Routes 176 and 45, Mundelein IL

Leveraging LinkedIn
Cary Grove Chamber Of Commerce
Thursday, May 26, 2011, 12pm-1pm
Fox River Grove Village Hall, 305 Illinois St., Fox River Grove IL

Hope to see you there!

Subscribe free to Tech Tips and receive bonus tips, tricks and product reviews. Click here to subscribe or send email to techtips-request-at-guidryconsulting-dot-com, subject “subscribe”.

I’ve gotten an increasing number of reports from people who either received messages similar to the following, or discovered that such messages had been sent from their email accounts:

Subject: Hello

Dear friend,

i would like to introduce a good company who trades mainly in electronic products, They provide the best service to customers,they provide you with original products of good quality,and what is more,the price is a surprising happiness to you!

The web address: (removed for safety)

If you check online you’ll find reports of this coming from users of Hotmail, Gmail and other email services. There are variations in the scam. Some may cite a different web site, or may have a different subject or message in the email.

If you receive a message like this, the important thing is NOT to click on any links because it will infect your computer with viruses. The same goes for messages you may receive via instant messaging (IM), Facebook, Twitter, or other means. Inform the person who sent it to you by another means (like the good old fashioned telephone) to let them know they have been hijacked.

How can you tell if a message is real or not? If it seems generic, contains no subject or a bland subject like “hi” or “hello,” doesn’t mention you by name, contains spelling, grammar or punctuation errors, or has been sent en masse to a large number of people, those are indications it may be a scam. Ask yourself: Is this the sort of message I would expect this person to send?

If your account has been hijacked, it’s vital to change your password immediately. Here’s some information on how to create strong passwords:

• Triona’s Tech Tips: How To Create Secure Passwords

And here is some more information on what to do if your email account is hijacked:

• Triona’s Tech Tips: What To Do If Your Email Account Is Hijacked

Be sure to scan your computer with your security software. If you’re using free software you should consider purchasing a security software suite. You should also check your email signature and any autoresponders you may have set, as they may have been modified to send malicious links to your contacts. Inform your contacts that your account was hacked and that they should not respond to any scam messages they have received. And you should report the incident to your provider.

These hacks are becoming more and more prevalent. It is absolutely vital that you protect yourself by using strong passwords that are unique for every account, and that you stay vigilant about your computer’s security.

Subscribe free to Tech Tips and receive bonus tips, tricks and product reviews. Click here to subscribe or send email to techtips-request-at-guidryconsulting-dot-com, subject “subscribe”.

While social media can be beneficial for businesses, some companies have chosen to ban their employees from using it at work. But company computers aren’t the only way to access social media. If you ban your employees from using Facebook, aren’t they just going to whip out their smart phones? Is there a way to balance employee social media use with the needs of your business?

Years ago people asked this same question about computer games, specifically Windows Solitaire. Some businesses found that access to the game actually helped employee performance by allowing them to blow off steam or entertain themselves while on break. Others made it standard policy to remove all games from corporate computers.

In the case of social media, there are other dangers besides lost productivity. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are some of the hottest entryways for viruses and malware. And, as a business, you want to make sure that those who speak for you online are presenting a consistent marketing message and refraining from inappropriate comments.

However, you may be stifling your business if you don’t permit your employees to interact with customers and business contacts via social media. A presence on LinkedIn, Facebook and/or Twitter is becoming as necessary for businesses as a Web site or an email address.

There really is no one right answer. Whether you permit social media sites at work depends on whether the business use outweighs the risks, and whether you consider reasonable personal usage a benefit you want to extend. If you do choose to allow it, make sure you educate your employees on how to use it in a safe, secure, and effective fashion.

Subscribe free to Tech Tips and receive bonus tips, tricks and product reviews. Click here to subscribe or send email to techtips-request-at-guidryconsulting-dot-com, subject “subscribe”.

Businesses and consumers alike find convenience in sharing passwords but doing so is highly risky, as demonstrated by a recent incident concerning wireless carrier Vodafone. Vodafone’s customer database was compromised using login information that was shared among employees. Shared passwords may seem convenient, but if you establish the proper procedures you can do without them while still enabling your people to get the job done.

When employees need network access, the proper thing to do is assign usernames and passwords specific to those employees, then grant or revoke permission to network resources depending on what the employees require for their jobs. Yet I routinely see companies setting up shared passwords. Because these passwords are typically not changed when people leave the company, it widens the potential for unauthorized access. Also, it muddies the audit trail. You should always be able to tell specifically who logged into what and when. It’s vital to establish a process for creating and deleting accounts as employees come and go, as well as mechanisms for altering access to network resources as appropriate. This is especially true if someone has administrative access to networks and servers. If you have an account that is not assigned to a particular person, say for shipping or vendors, you should limit who has access to that account and make sure the password is changed when employee duties are reassigned. Is that inconvenient? Perhaps, but ask Vodafone how inconvenient it was to have a journalist call them up and tell them she had access to their customer database, and imagine the damage if such access was gained by a competitor.

Shared passwords are equally risky for consumers. While it’s a good idea to make sure a trusted individual such as your spouse can access your accounts in an emergency, it is never a good idea to blithely give Aunt Gertrude access to your Facebook account so she can see your kids’ pics. Better for her to get her own account and friend you. It’s not that your family and friends intend to do harm, but a password once shared is a genie out of a bottle, and getting used to sharing passwords trends toward complacency in your computer security mindset. You should take your home computer security as seriously as any company does, if not more so. A company can lose face and revenue, but you can lose your own personal identity.

Don’t forget the rules of strong passwords, and remember they need to be unique on every system and changed on a regular basis. Again, inconvenient? Not when you compare it to the damage control you’d have to do if your company suffers a data breach, or if your individual identity is stolen.

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What do you do if your business needs a new web site, or you need help changing the old one? How do you find a web designer who understands your needs?

A top-quality web designer will discuss your goals with you, and develop a site that is professional, clean, and easy to navigate. Ask for references and examples of previous work. Once you have chosen your designer, don’t hesitate to ask questions. You may have your heart set on a particular design, but keep your options open. Your web designer may have suggestions that will increase your site’s appeal and marketability. He or she may also have advice about content that will increase your traffic and search engine rankings.

If you’re interested in changing an existing site, ask your designer what information he or she needs. Text changes are relatively simple, while changes to graphics can be more complex. If your site looks outdated, it may be better to create a new one than modify the existing one. Your web designer can help you evaluate.

Be wary of web “designers” who have no references or experience, or who try to upsell you on services like search engine optimization. While SEO is important, unscrupulous people may try to talk you into expensive and unnecessary options. Know what you’re getting and how much it will cost. When in doubt, ask for clarification. A good web designer will keep you informed of your costs and let you know if the price is going beyond the original estimate.

Some Web designers can help you integrate your blog with your web site, or teach you how to use LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for marketing. You can also ask about followup services such as making site changes or learning how to change the site yourself.

Subscribe free to Tech Tips and receive bonus tips, tricks and product reviews. Click here to subscribe or send email to techtips-request-at-guidryconsulting-dot-com, subject “subscribe”.