Unusual business art -- GapingVoid

Want some fresh, out-of-the-box motivational art for your business? Take a look at http://GapingVoid.com. Don't want any art? Look anyway -- it's a blast.

Hugh McLeod is a sometimes profane and sometimes profound different thinker whose art inspires the same in those who look at it. If your business is the type of place that has those hideously boring but safe motivational poster scattered about then Gaping Void isn't for you.

But if you want something different that forces the mind into an unusually creative space, consider decorating your walls with these.

My personal favorite is from his SXSW collection, called simply "Texas - SXSW 2010". I like it because it reflects the thoughts of so many of my fellow Texans (not that I share their beliefs). Enjoy here.

Agile Gadgets creates mobile software programs for smallish businesses.

Small businesses need UPSs

All of your computer and networking equipment should be powered through a Battery Backup/Uninterruptable Power Supply(UPS). The common power strip is not very good protection. The only brand of UPS that I currently use is APC (American Power Conversion). These have great surge protection and also allow your systems to run through brownouts and outages. The inexpensive ($35-$90) models protect against surges but the models that start at $100 usually have protection from brown outs also. If you have a UPS and it is over 2 yrs old, it most likely needs a new battery. You can order a new battery from APC or get one locally from BatteriesPlus. www.apc.com

Agile Gadgets creates mobile software programs for smallish businesses. Orion Technology Solutions is the technology department for small businesses in the far north Dallas Metro area. They can be reached at 972.369.8540.

How to get rid of Antivirus 2010

If you get a pop up that says you have been infected with a bunch of viruses from an anti-virus program that you did not install (such as Antivirus 2010 – which doesn’t really exist), you are being attacked by a variant of the SmitFraud virus. You should NEVER let it scan your computer or do anything to it. My clients that have immediately shut off their computers using the power button have been able to avoid getting an irreparable infection. If you get malicious pop-ups when you reboot your computer, then you should call a computer professional to remove it, if you don’t get pop-ups then you should update your anti-malware program and perform a complete deep scan of your computer before continuing to use it.

Agile Gadgets creates mobile software programs for smallish businesses. Orion Technology Solutions is the technology department for small businesses in the far north Dallas Metro area. They can be reached at 972.369.8540.

What is Phishing?

Phishing is an attempt via email, Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In, to get you to give personal information to a criminal 3rd party. The basic scam is to send you an email that says you need to log into your bank account and verify a problem of some sort, the email provides a link to the site where you need to log in – EXCEPT it goes to a fraudulent site that records your username and password to be used later to steal money from you. Most banks and sites like Ebay and Paypal no longer send emails with links. If you get a mail like this -- and you will -- either call your financial institution directly or close the email and open a new browser window and type in the address of the site – DO NOT CLICK on the email. If you did click on the email, be sure and update your anti-virus and do a full system scan.

Agile Gadgets creates mobile software programs for smallish businesses. Orion Technology Solutions is the technology department for small businesses in the far north Dallas Metro area. They can be reached at 972.369.8540.

Free Antivirus – Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft has released a free anti-malware program that fights viruses, spyware, trojans and root-kits. It is a free download for designed for end users that aren’t on domain based networks. It does not use as many resources as some of the other name-brand virus protection systems and does not include a firewall (but all versions of Windows from XP on do have a built in firewall – so one is not needed.) Before you install any anti-virus including Microsoft Security Essentials, you should completely uninstall any other anti-virus programs and do a restart. You may download it for free at: http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Agile Gadgets creates mobile software programs for smallish businesses. Orion Technology Solutions is the technology department for small businesses in the far north Dallas Metro area. They can be reached at 972.369.8540.