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The Pen - Mightier Than The Processor?
Several times over the past few years,
this newsletter has covered the importance of backing up your
data, and of putting a disaster recovery plan into place. A
recent informal survey by a Toronto-area consultant suggests
that while more than 95% of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs)
in North America regularly back up their data, fewer than 5%
have a formal disaster recovery plan.
Perhaps even more thought-provoking, however, was the percentage
of SMEs who had no plan in place to deal with a simple and basic
issue: a power failure. Other than some form of uninterrupted
power supply (UPS) on servers (providing average up-time of
around 20 minutes), not one of the companies included in the
survey had given any thought to how they would continue
operating in the event of an extended power failure. Given
California, heat waves, etc., it seems likely that at some
point you'll be faced with this problem.
The consultant suggests the following commonsense suggestions in
to be prepared for a power failure:
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ensure that your main server has an adequate UPS, and that at
least one printer is also attached to a UPS (but please read the
note at the end of this article)
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have at least one or two notebooks on your network, with fully
charged batteries
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in the event of a power failure, the combination of notebooks
that switch over to battery, and a server and printer that
continue to run on a UPS, will buy you 20 - 30 minutes
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use that time to obtain the key data you need (orders to ship,
receivables aging list, etc.) and print it all out
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keep a supply of pens and pencils, as well as paper - remember,
a pen doesn't require power to operate - and yes, you can
hand-write packing slips and other documents
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be sure to record any actions (such as shipments despatched) in
an organized fashion for future input back into your business
system.
Interestingly, it's the pen and paper step that seems to elude
many people. We've become so dependent on technology that we
sometimes don't think of the simple, low-tech alternatives
available to us.
The only remaining question is: using pen and paper, how do I
play Solitaire?
Please note that these ideas do not replace a comprehensive
disaster recovery plan.
Important
note: if you attach a laser printer to the UPS, it must be
on a different UPS from any other system or server, and
the UPS you connect it to must be at least a 1200 VA (Volt-Amps)
or better UPS.
Brainteaser Clarification
This space in last month's newsletter detailed
the winner of our "snail" contest, and was headlined "Sick Kids
Win in Brainteaser Contest". It seems some readers mis-interpreted the reference to "Sick Kids".
“Sick Kids” is a colloquial term used to
refer to the “Hospital for Sick Children” located in Toronto,
Ontario. We apologize for not making that clear previously.
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In this
issue:
Mightier Than The Processor?
Brainteaser clarification
Tips and Tricks
Our Products
Tips and Tricks
Outlook Attachments
Save multiple attachments in one step
if you receive emails with several files attached,
and you want to save them to a folder on your hard drive, you could
right-click on the first attachment, select "Save As...", save it -
then repeat these steps for each of the remaining attachments.
OR...you could save them all in one step - useful
for the email that contains 23 attachments. Here's how:
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open the email containing the attachments
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Select File, Save Attachments...
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A "Save All Attachments" dialog screen displays -
just click OK
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Now point to the appropriate folder, and all the
attachments will be saved to that folder.
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Our Products
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Our
flagship product, Blue Link Solutions, is a completely integrated
business and accounting package with functionality unmatched in
its price range.
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Affordable yet powerful Human
Resources management software for small and medium sized
businesses.
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Industry-Specific Add-ons |
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The comprehensive functionality of Blue Link Solutions is
further extended by the availability of add-on components, mostly
industry-specific.
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Other products include:
- ProQuote
- Business Alerts
- Asset register
- Track 'n' Bill
- Web.Venture
- Expense Tracker
- Point of Sale
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For a complete listing of all of our products
and for more information about them, click here.
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For printer-friendly version,
click
here.
156 Corstate Avenue, Suite #3, Concord, Ont., Canada,
L4K 4X2 Tel:(905) 660-0599 ( in the Toronto area)
Toll free: 1-877-BLU-LINK
(1-877-258-5465)
www.bluelink.ca
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