tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49404454145585364802024-03-27T18:53:03.084-05:00Tekk In MotionAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-81418651851192445992016-03-21T13:42:00.001-05:002016-03-21T13:42:20.018-05:00Tekk Life: Users Love Passwords, Just Kidding They Hate Them<span style="font-size: large;">User and Passwords</span><br />
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At work the other day we had a situation which bears bringing up due to the issues involved with users and their passwords. Anyone who has worked in IT from more then a week more then likely knows that users suck when it comes to password practices. They make them the same on multiple devices. They wright them down on paper and leave them on their desk. Then they even have the nerve save them into a browser and then forget them since they have been saved in their for so long. That is what happened at my place of employment the other day. This is expected from users these days but how can we enhance our security practices with passwords and not piss off our users at the same time?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNyZP80pN1rU6zCZSuxZW3stsZrj456aWTN30K508nRr4PjfFQVQJjNm0CHZorfT-oAVbVps6GD11Ax_EskGKHMVEtAChn8at1OmIhGs1xP2cVyj0QyhQAoguPiYpmD86lk1X1VMXJP0U/s1600/password-866979_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNyZP80pN1rU6zCZSuxZW3stsZrj456aWTN30K508nRr4PjfFQVQJjNm0CHZorfT-oAVbVps6GD11Ax_EskGKHMVEtAChn8at1OmIhGs1xP2cVyj0QyhQAoguPiYpmD86lk1X1VMXJP0U/s320/password-866979_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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So what if a user saves all their password in Internet Explorer and forgets them which is what happens at my company a lot. I have heard some IT pros say that "It's the user's fault for forgetting them so they will just have to reset every password." Well that is a good attitude to have if you want to very easily piss off the user when you roll out new computers. If you are ok with that then go right ahead. But I think most sensible people will realize that pissed off users is usually something you want to avoid. It makes their jobs more difficult and it makes your job more difficult if you are just butting heads with you users. Do it enough and your users will just down right start to despise you. So we have to handle this situation a little more tactfully. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Trying to Help the Users</span><br />
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This can be done by moving their saved IE passwords over to their new computers using something as simple as Windows Easy Transfer. A few more minutes of your time and BOOM, happy user. Well less pissed off users. Lets face it any new computer situation is gonna make your users a little upset since it disrupts their normal flow. But you have removed a major frustration from your user and that is a good thing because at the end of the day IT people are at companies to make the user more efficient. Plain and simple that why we are where we are. But that doesn't really solve the issues with passwords does it? <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Make Password Easier</span><br />
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To really fix the problem the best solutions I have found so far is central password storage and management on platforms like LastPass. Almost more important than that is user training. Both of these will cause some friction with users because you either deploying a new system for them to learn and/or bothering them with training that they probably don't care about. This has to be handled correctly as well to maintain a good relationship with your users but this can solve a lot of security issues that come up with mishandled passwords. <br />
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The real point I am trying to make here is that yes passwords should be handled correctly but your users are still people and you need to treat them like people even if they aren't handling things exactly as best practice says they should. You also won't be able to maintain best practices all the time. You can't when you are dealing with users which is pretty much all the time no matter how much you think a service is only used by IT. IT is there to make the users more efficient, and in a lot of cases, keep the company secure. Finding a balance between that can be difficult but it critical to making sure your users are happy and you are happy. Forgotten passwords saved in IE is not one of the times you want to be a hard ass about security best practices.<br />
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Remember, user and passwords suck. We need to maintain the best security we can. But if we can do small things to help make a users life simpler then we go a long way to making the company run better as a whole and that is an important thing.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-30013623956356446542016-03-15T15:02:00.000-05:002016-03-15T15:51:54.540-05:00Tekk Tip: Using Too Much Ink? Try This Helpful Tip<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfFbd25AzQexUqZng5uKJBnLuJ9OunAS5IWSK2P9EwEDlkYXTPzqmzW1S4xV0NSHuwp4hxnQMGXSRztiEMeoC7Q9L-Vc8LSeJtjD7pB17QDvI-dd7uPgAjExMjr2WpSRwz-KTsWNY47GM/s1600/printer-1166514_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfFbd25AzQexUqZng5uKJBnLuJ9OunAS5IWSK2P9EwEDlkYXTPzqmzW1S4xV0NSHuwp4hxnQMGXSRztiEMeoC7Q9L-Vc8LSeJtjD7pB17QDvI-dd7uPgAjExMjr2WpSRwz-KTsWNY47GM/s320/printer-1166514_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ever thought to yourself "Hey, I am spending way to much on ink in my printer." Of coarse you have. Who among us hasn't? Ink is expensive but we still need to print. One solution is you could buy a better printer that uses ink more efficiently but then you spend money on a more expensive printer. Try a simpler solution instead.<br />
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The font you use to print or type can majorly affect how much ink you use when you print. Thicker font may be easier to read but it requires more ink. To save a good amount of ink when printing use different fonts like Times New Roman or Calibri. Arial is a bad choice although a common one. It uses significantly more ink when printing then the 2 fonts I mentioned.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-33307347662135575352016-03-07T11:01:00.001-06:002016-03-07T11:01:06.005-06:00Free Hosted Email?! Where? Zoho Mail Thats Where. <span style="font-size: x-large;">Zoho Mail</span><br />
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Zoho Mail. A interesting piece of software that I am very happy that I came across. I was Googling in a field one day for Email solutions and ran across this beautiful piece of delicious software. Quite simply it is hosted email. Not hosted Exchange but a good hosted email solution none the less. So lets dive into this mean piece of software meat.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_Ain23rapOcI4U1wU-derDxaB7oBhRRSXcDwnwDKWtoKLNstXUdpDbjcFBiLKASb7NPaOsAnfVpRdDwBUzQLpzC46iIKeOl9MumB4Qz_WzuICXSCr4YFWhyphenhyphenUx_CxGBVgYXGKobGe3c8/s1600/zoho+screenshot.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_Ain23rapOcI4U1wU-derDxaB7oBhRRSXcDwnwDKWtoKLNstXUdpDbjcFBiLKASb7NPaOsAnfVpRdDwBUzQLpzC46iIKeOl9MumB4Qz_WzuICXSCr4YFWhyphenhyphenUx_CxGBVgYXGKobGe3c8/s640/zoho+screenshot.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pricing</span><br />
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The major thing that first caught my eye about Zoho Mail is its pricing. Like most enterprise level products it has multiple tiers so you can pick the one that is right for you or your organization. Here are the tiers and some of their benefits.<br />
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<li>Free - $0 & Ad Free!</li>
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<li>5GB/User Mailbox Storage</li>
<li>5GB/User Docs Storage</li>
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<li>Host 1 Domain Only</li>
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<li>Up to 25 Users</li>
<li>Online Office Apps</li>
<li>Docs Desktop Sync</li>
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<li>Standard 10GB - $2.5/User/Month</li>
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<li>10GB/User Mailbox Storage</li>
<li>5GB/User Docs Storage</li>
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<li>Multiple Domain Hosting</li>
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<li>Custom Logo</li>
<li>Online Office Apps</li>
<li>Docs Desktop Sync</li>
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<li>Standard 15GB - 3.5/User/Month</li>
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<li>15GB/User Mailbox Storage</li>
<li>5GB/User Docs Storage</li>
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<li>Multiple Domain Hosting</li>
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<li>Custom Logo</li>
<li>Online Office Apps</li>
<li>Docs Desktop Sync</li>
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<li>Premium - $10/User/Month</li>
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<li>25GB/User Mailbox Storage</li>
<li>250GB Docs Storage(Shared)</li>
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<li>Standard Edition Features +</li>
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<li>Document Sharing</li>
<li>Docs Admin Gonvernance</li>
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So for FREE you can have up to 25 email accounts and each one will have 5GB of storage not to mention desktop syncing and online use of the Zoho Docs product which is a competitor to Microsoft Office. Don't have to worry about ads on the free edition either. Go up to either Standard plan and get more email storage, the ability to go above 25 users, and you can use a custom logo. Premium jumps way up in price, maybe a little too much, for a crap ton more storage not to mention document sharing and Docs admin control.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Setup</span></div>
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So the free edition is perfect for my needs and probably lot of your needs. But how is setup? Well the big thing is you need to have your own domain first. The big reason why Zoho Mail's free edition is so great is because you can get an email address at your domain name for free and it not just be some forward account. This is what I am doing for my tekkinmotion.com email. </div>
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So setup is pretty simple. Zoho gives you some instructions that easy to follow. The biggest things you have to do besides actually setting up email accounts and email groups is verify that you own the domain you are going to use and change your DNS records to properly point to Zoho servers. Which may sound a little complicated if you have never setup an email server before but like I said, Zoho gives very clear instructions on how to do this. Just know where you can change the DNS for your domain on the site where you registered, bought, your web domain name.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Usability</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKLJK-ks9zXEH32A73ENFwzxsZQnZjB-eengNk218d096e1hUO1gAsNbcEFiTDCH3oyVlyLtGo54zc88Nf09M0tURXDFS770ERyJg43KiVYJNusS2CdMwbcjI5FLY6JE_Kbz06KsWDJ8Y/s1600/letters-1132703_1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKLJK-ks9zXEH32A73ENFwzxsZQnZjB-eengNk218d096e1hUO1gAsNbcEFiTDCH3oyVlyLtGo54zc88Nf09M0tURXDFS770ERyJg43KiVYJNusS2CdMwbcjI5FLY6JE_Kbz06KsWDJ8Y/s200/letters-1132703_1280.png" width="200" /></a> Now I have not recieved that many emails through my tekkinmotion email addresses yet so I haven't actually used Zoho mail that much. However I have preformed a few test emails I have to say for a no name never heard of email solution, the web interface is right up there with outlook.com and gmail.com. They also have an app for Zoho Mail. Well two actually but I haven't tried the second one. Just download the Zoho Mail app on either you Android smartphone or iPhone and login with your email accounts credentials and you will get started. One down side I have found for the app so far is that it won't work with multiple email addresses. Which is a bummer, but you can use POP3 or IMAP to retrieve and sync your emails in another program or app.</div>
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I could keep going on about the other awesome features in Zoho Mail like the calendar and contacts but I think this post is getting a little long. I highly recommend that you go check them out if you are looking for custom email at your web domain for the right price. Even the paid editions are cheap compared to most out there. So now that you have feasted on some information I just suggest you head on over to <a href="https://www.zoho.com/mail/">https://www.zoho.com/mail/</a> and start digging into the feast that is Zoho Mail.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-8286219519174564982016-02-29T10:34:00.000-06:002016-02-29T10:34:09.865-06:00Tekk Life: Tablets Are Changing, Not Dead <span style="font-size: large;">Are Tablets Dead?</span><br />
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I read an article over at TechCrunch the other day about how tablets are dead. I don't know what they are talking about because I think tablets are actually just hitting their mature stage rather then just being a toy. Think about it. Do you have a tablet sitting at home somewhere collecting dust? Have you had it for several years now and see no reason to upgrade? That's because, as a toy, tablets don't do much for us that our smartphones can't already do. But tablets aren't toys any more. They are turning into true devices that have a purpose.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Professional Tablets</span><br />
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Tablets have really transformed over the past year or two. Where you once saw only tablets like the IPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab, now we are starting to see things like the IPad Pro and Surface Pro tablets. Now I don't think the author of the TechCrunch article considers those tablets but 2-in-1 devices. But they really are just tablets with optional keyboards. They fit into a different niche. Not everyone needs a Surface Pro at home but in a business environment, I see a lot of potential. A super mobile full version of Windows can be a laptop killer in my opinion. The convince of a smartphone but the power of a Windows desktop that can be easily held in your hands.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">2-in-1 Devices</span><br />
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Now 2-in-1 devices are also a transformation of tablets. I don't really use my Nexus 7 anymore but my HP 2-in-1 laptop I use quite a bit. Mostly I use it as a laptop but there are several times that I flip it over and use it in Windows 10's tablet mode. I am seeing more and more 2-in-1 models coming to market as well. They are usually on the higher end of laptops but that is because of the extra hardware needed to make the laptop a 2-in-1. No matter if they flip over or disconnect from their keyboard base, 2-in-1s have a tablet built in there somewhere.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3wUOMA5rL5SsXXB5E62CnvHskpGdeAqS7XPqF39fFsj-afptmX2IPfimS9cJ-rRluMFMqVyft6GXz08rDRdnY6eWYH76kX2GJxXIED6RxkMtLe_5bIOgKzha0B3EIQKWDwHS9JTQo1u8/s1600/tablet-338300_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3wUOMA5rL5SsXXB5E62CnvHskpGdeAqS7XPqF39fFsj-afptmX2IPfimS9cJ-rRluMFMqVyft6GXz08rDRdnY6eWYH76kX2GJxXIED6RxkMtLe_5bIOgKzha0B3EIQKWDwHS9JTQo1u8/s320/tablet-338300_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
So while the first generation of tablet tech may be on the decline, the second generation is starting to find a solid market. Surface Pros, the IPad Pro, and the 2-in-1 devices are the children of devices like the IPad and Galaxy Tab. Faster, tougher, more powerful, and more useful then their parents, this generation of tablets is starting to come into their own.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-54921821801912467012016-02-23T13:11:00.002-06:002016-02-23T13:11:40.162-06:00Tekk Life: In The Throngs of Exchange and STP <span style="font-size: large;">Tekk Life: Something Slightly, Different</span><br />
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So this is a new series I thought I would start. Something similar to a day in the life of. But with me as an IT professional. I get a good view of what it takes to be an IT professional and IT Director. A lot of skills are technical but a lot of skills are people and social skills. That is a good insight for people who are new to the industry or wanting to get into the industry. And besides the personal aspect of the field there is the fact that some of things we have to do is not necessarily the best way or correct way to do it but that is how it will work in a real world environment. Reading these things as they happen could be a good insight for those of you reading out there. If you don't like this or think I should change something about it then please tell me in the comments below.<br />
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So right now at my company we are starting a large project. We decided to bring our email in house and use Microsoft's Exchange Server software. I may be kicking myself in the ass when this is done but that is what I decided would be best for the company at this point. Besides that I am also working towards my CCNP so I am back in school. We recently dug into the joys of Spanning-Tree Protocol.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There Is Nothing Lovelier Than A Spanning Tree</span><br />
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For those of you who don't know Spanning-Tree Protocol is a fun thing almost no one thinks about, It runs on network switches to prevent loops but allow redundancy in the network. Simply put if you have three switches that look like this...<br />
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|->|</div>
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|<-|</div>
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/ \</div>
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/ \</div>
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|->|-------|<-|</div>
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The arrows being the switches and the lines between being cables, then you would have a loop in the network. Not good and it could slow things down to a crawl. VERY simply put Spanning-Tree Protocol (aka STP) blocks one of those links to prevent a loop. If another of the links goes down then the blocked one is unblocked so you don't lose connectivity. The real fun part is the different versions and technologies that go with each. Here is a quick summary of the types for you if you are a crazy like me and would like to have something to throw into Google and read up more on.</div>
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STP or CST - Spanning-Tree Protocol or Common Spanning-Tree</div>
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RSTP - Rapid Spanning-Tree</div>
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MST - Multiple Spanning-Tree</div>
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PVST - Per-Vlan Spanning-Tree (Cisco Proprietary)</div>
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PVST+ - Per-Vlan Spanning-Tree Plus (Cisco Proprietary)</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Exchange Server, You Heard Me Right</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8xhaBbVT9FpLnF7DlEltLTWkDk7u7xx5AUv9iQ9rOBhKU5MLeemRqRyXP8I2K3z3kuxT2TCM8uN2Rz3y7cQkbipE6oKij2xwXRWSwRxXrT6pWG0LXFgcN1ZHDcZbOPRhpckHAX_j_kZA/s1600/server+image.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Microsoft Exchange Server" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8xhaBbVT9FpLnF7DlEltLTWkDk7u7xx5AUv9iQ9rOBhKU5MLeemRqRyXP8I2K3z3kuxT2TCM8uN2Rz3y7cQkbipE6oKij2xwXRWSwRxXrT6pWG0LXFgcN1ZHDcZbOPRhpckHAX_j_kZA/s320/server+image.png" title="Server Image" width="260" /></a> There is a very shallow dive into very massive networking topic. You're welcome. Like I said up above I have also been learning about Exchange Server. Trust me when I say, "What fun!" Most companies already have Exchange or are using something like Office 365 or its kin but we have never had Exchange and my company decided it was time for an upgrade on the email front. I gave them some options including things like Zoho or SoGo alongside Exchange Server and we decided on Exchange. In hindsight I could have handled that process better but that is for another post. For now here is a link to the website I am reading through in preparation for our Exchange Server deployment. Enjoy!</div>
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<a href="http://exchangeserverpro.com/">http://exchangeserverpro.com/</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-17185305231784530002016-02-16T08:30:00.001-06:002016-02-17T13:18:19.816-06:00Google Domains: The New Domain Registration Kid On The BlockSo today I thought I would talk a little bit about a service that I use. Google Domains is Google's service to register internet domain names like tekkinmotion.com. That's about all there is to it. Oh, but it is still in Beta so what I say about the service could change in the future. <br />
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It doesn't do a lot but let you keep track of your domains, configure email through Gmail or Google Apps for Work, and configure DNS for your domain. You can also directly integrate your domain through Blogger, SquareSpace, Wix, Shopify, and Weebly. You don't have to however and can use that domain on any website hosting service by using the DNS configuration.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm1d7yjTwbxBqjOIUqhQCPnIWPFLA0bvxGBKXG6S70A0oePYkW221XxOY1yUx5cCkuqvVnsUeIfegYzJkt63lybcryFY6dBWLqnhDiHHbojc6pFyeedKwCUFhp24Z5-6wAiipQ5MTp9Vk/s1600/Google+Domains.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm1d7yjTwbxBqjOIUqhQCPnIWPFLA0bvxGBKXG6S70A0oePYkW221XxOY1yUx5cCkuqvVnsUeIfegYzJkt63lybcryFY6dBWLqnhDiHHbojc6pFyeedKwCUFhp24Z5-6wAiipQ5MTp9Vk/s1600/Google+Domains.PNG" /></a>That's all of its features which is nothing compared to GoDaddy but I still prefer it. I like how simple it is to use and the fact that registering a domain with them is only $12 a year. Since its under the Google umbrella you can expect a similar experience as you do with other Google products. Wanted to let those reading know about this because I am extremely happy with it and I think you could be too. Check it out at <a href="http://domains.google.com/">domains.google.com</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-9439969481252294382016-02-10T13:38:00.000-06:002016-02-17T13:18:53.307-06:00Tekk Tip: Reset the Print Spooler for Those Devious Printers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg21lI5BcFI9I79GVOQSfWVFHaaL3WrBMqJFzScvOSOSDCUO4CKD42-CwfHmqx3F_msbyedLT1adjb1S5T5PaPJkzQazUwJzDeemlU09ViJjilXF6iWe-_gg6q1ew_oosMbwf3ZqlLzJ4I/s1600/laser-printer-98436_1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Print Spooler" border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg21lI5BcFI9I79GVOQSfWVFHaaL3WrBMqJFzScvOSOSDCUO4CKD42-CwfHmqx3F_msbyedLT1adjb1S5T5PaPJkzQazUwJzDeemlU09ViJjilXF6iWe-_gg6q1ew_oosMbwf3ZqlLzJ4I/s320/laser-printer-98436_1280.png" title="Printer" width="320" /></a></div>
Here is a quick tip on how to get a damn printer back to working. If a printer isn't printing and the print jobs aren't at the printer yet. Check the computer or print server's print queue. Are there jobs in there still and not being sent the printer for seemingly no reason. The in Windows search look for services.msc. One of the items will be Print Spooler. Right-click and restart that sucker. Should help you out in a lot of cases. Either way this should be a standard troubleshooting step for fixing printers.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-69310922232163870262016-02-08T14:35:00.001-06:002016-02-23T13:15:46.279-06:00Sitting in the Server Room This one is a little more for the IT professional. I had a situation come up the other day at the company I work for. I was asked to see how feasible it was to sit our IT techs in the server room. Now our entire IT department is only me and one other person so I would only have to fit one or two people in our server room. Normally putting people in the server room is a big no no. However our company is in a bit of bind at the moment. We are growing rather quickly and we don't have enough office space. We are in the middle of getting a new office/warehouse space put up but its not done yet and we are still growing. We need more space for desks so we are finding any place we can to put another one in. That is why this subject came up.<br />
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Now before I dive into this I want to preface this by saying under best circumstances should anyone ever work 8 hours a day in the server room. NO!!!!!!! Never. Never ever ever. Hell NO! However I was still asked to look into it so I did.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqmujRSoaMu5jt_3yquZ_rcNRXB_sHcS3KW2cOUwToB7DmSt8gBghZWhHeK9Iim-EFZMZrwJVgJH8bgLlFf-65HoJiqIP7EyT4LTaYga48ITplCMLgqtMyCmFfWScEvybSC5M3rXXdz0M/s1600/server-90389_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqmujRSoaMu5jt_3yquZ_rcNRXB_sHcS3KW2cOUwToB7DmSt8gBghZWhHeK9Iim-EFZMZrwJVgJH8bgLlFf-65HoJiqIP7EyT4LTaYga48ITplCMLgqtMyCmFfWScEvybSC5M3rXXdz0M/s320/server-90389_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a> So what exactly do I need to consider? What can we move out of the server room to make room for a desk. What are some of the aspects of sitting in a server room that is different then sitting in a normal office environment. Will we be able to get work done as efficiently as we do now. I had my concerns from what I have seen online about this topic and decided to start investigating.<br />
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First we have to move some crap out of the room in order to have space for at least one desk. We have shelving units with non-essential equipment on them so I decided they could be moved. We have some space in a room at one our warehouse where we can put it. Big problem is that it's not temperature controlled so we can only move items we aren't concerned about being in that environment. Simple. Ok so we can move a shelving unit and have room for the desk. Now what is different about the environment then our standard office.<br />
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The two big aspects are noise and EM radiation. First the scary one. EM radiation is electromagnetic radiation. All electronics give off EM. Hell light is EM. Apparently EM is a consideration if you are in a large data center. With our two small racks of equipment it doesn't appear to be a big concern. Noise however is. Too much noise can damage your hearing over time and neither of us in IT signed up for a noisy, potentially damaging, work environment. This isn't a factory. To determine just how loud it is in the server I download an Android app called Sound Meter by Smart Tools co. Very simple app but it uses the microphone in your phone to determine how much noise is in your area. Where the person would be sitting I measured 60db. The same as a conversation at about 3ft away from you. Right next to the AC compressor I was getting about 70db which is about same as busy traffic or a phone ringtone. Neither of which are at a level where it is harmful to your hearing. However one might go crazy hearing the drone of fans every second of the day. So I will get some headphones. Hell I will have the company buy us BOSE noise cancelling headphones if I have to in order to save our sanity.<br />
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Now about that efficiency. Considering we are right now sitting in the middle of the users we support I think we would actually be more efficient in there. Surprising right? We would be behind a locked door so it would easier to funnel tickets to us besides walk-ups.<br />
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So could one or both of us sit in the server room until the new building is done. Yes we could. Are we right now after I presented my thoughts to management? No. Management decided that we don't need to this at this time without even hearing about my thoughts or what I had done. So more or less it was just a time waste. At least it was a fun research project. Got to feel all sciency with my noise level reading app.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-15570130728491636862016-02-03T18:44:00.001-06:002016-02-17T13:20:11.174-06:00How Secure Is Cloud Storage?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhog7Chyl7lFkunENH7iCDUqTVaLWpi2tl5W1gWqNRf9USQtjjgtThRa6xsrcWrlykN56y_hir0A6-59P5N0J18aPZT3e_QXWqlcFiepaKIWyb1ms1V02kMR6kpX6e__QdEt8IVEk5aj1o/s1600/cloud-37010_1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhog7Chyl7lFkunENH7iCDUqTVaLWpi2tl5W1gWqNRf9USQtjjgtThRa6xsrcWrlykN56y_hir0A6-59P5N0J18aPZT3e_QXWqlcFiepaKIWyb1ms1V02kMR6kpX6e__QdEt8IVEk5aj1o/s320/cloud-37010_1280.png" width="320" /></a></div>
I saw an interesting discussion today. Someone brought up the question of how secure is cloud storage. That's a very good question and could use some discussion. With the cloud being such a big buzzword recently a lot of people are starting to use services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive. But how secure are the services really? First we need to take a quick look about where is your data saved when you save it to the "cloud".<br />
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We you save something to say, Dropbox, it is actually saved on Dropbox's servers somewhere. These servers can be anywhere in the world but typically they are in the United States when you use US based companies. The Safe Harbor situation with the US and Europe kind of muddles that however. But that's a different discussion. So rather then saving your data on your computer or device, you are putting it on a companies servers. Now that company has the responsibility of protecting their servers same as you would your computers. Firewalls, Anti-Virus, Anti-Malware, just to name a few. Normally companies use much more in the way of security then you or I would at our homes and they should. They hold a lot of people's data in their hands.<br />
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Now knowing that, how secure do you think your data actually is. Good cloud storage providers will use encryption not only on their servers but also on the connections you use to them when you are transferring files. This keeps your data safe, for the most part, from people who try to sneak a peek at it while it is moving across the internet. That combined with the enterprise level of security they employ to protect their servers will keep your data protected against people who try to hack in and steal it. But that only protects your data from one possible vector of attack against your data.<br />
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If you were to ever let someone else use your cloud storage accounts they could inadvertently cause harm to your data. I am sure you would only let someone else into your account if you trust them, but accidental deletions have been known to happen in these situations. Also if they were to upload a file that was infected by a virus that virus could spread to the rest of your data before any security would know about it. This can be avoided however by not sharing cloud storage accounts and using the shared folder feature that most providers have.<br />
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Now I have both a Dropbox and Google Drive account that I alone have access to. I put lots of files on them for the sake of convenience and extra storage however I do not put everything up there. I do not put financial information or anything that I would not share on a social network. I assume that at one point or another my data in cloud storage will be hacked. The reason I look at it like that is simply that cloud storage is a more tempting target for hackers. Sure it may be more difficult for hackers to get through all the enterprise security to get at that data then to just hack my home computers. But if they do, then the reward is that much bigger for them. They hack me at home, they only get my data. They hack Dropbox, well then they have the data of the thousands and thousands and thousands of users on Dropbox. A much better reward for the time and risk involved.<br />
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So, how secure is cloud storage? That is really for you to decide but in my opinion you are good to use it. Just don't share accounts or put up anything you would consider sensitive. That's a couple of good guidelines.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-63001217516617808922015-12-30T08:36:00.000-06:002016-02-17T13:20:43.175-06:00How to Keep Up With All Those Passwords<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Keepass and LastPass</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjomAH_cLCne4LB4Gic7cmc4GryQjOSaZTdWnYpCeYji6kyH7HGuVEnt9aoX-e99JnssJ2iyzYQVyLI3aEbegTOgS3v3b9e77tD7AFI19sgObQ9C0FZeS3IgLeZpjR15M2c2F9odB1gIcA/s1600/Keepass.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
No matter if you are making a switch over to Linux or using Windows everyday, you need to have tough passwords. It is also a bad idea to use the same password more then once. But then the problem becomes how on Earth are you going to keep track of all those passwords. These days we sign up for sites like it is nothing but giving each one a unique password? How are you going to remember what it is tomorrow? Fortunately there are a couple of programs to make this easier.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfplHD4UreVRu8U4UZatyqtAtzq4InOukgy2Bp40N7_84QY_i-zKmLyi-J6nHDFdDIXRSp7LMUk18qyFLrYqSb0UO4jWQERGZMAHgqtSIcDOtMO2_AgseZJPFCJEhC8aJaby1Y2Anir6Q/s1600/vault-154023_1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfplHD4UreVRu8U4UZatyqtAtzq4InOukgy2Bp40N7_84QY_i-zKmLyi-J6nHDFdDIXRSp7LMUk18qyFLrYqSb0UO4jWQERGZMAHgqtSIcDOtMO2_AgseZJPFCJEhC8aJaby1Y2Anir6Q/s320/vault-154023_1280.png" width="320" /></a>Keepass and LastPass are two programs of a breed of software that are trying to make your password woes go away. Both of these programs store your passwords so you don't have to remember them. Now I know most web browsers these days can do the same thing but not as well or I have had people lose all their passwords when they get a new computer when they store them in their web browser. Keepass and LastPass make this a whole lot simpler by only making you have to remember one master password.<br />
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Lets start with my personal favorite of the two, Keepass. Keepass allows you to save all of your passwords in a local encrypted database that exists on your computer and computer alone. This is nice for the security worry warts like myself out there that like to know where our data is at all times. Keepass uses 256 bit encryption to protect your passwords and all of your other data including usernames and notes. On top of that you can require a security file be used along side a master password to unlock your database of passwords. You can also run Keepass off of a USB drive making it a portable program. <br />
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One downside to Keepass is that it only exists on your computer or flash drive. So what if have multiple computers that you need to access your passwords from and you forgot your flash drive? Well I have found a solution using Dropbox. You install Keepass on every computer that you want to use it from and put your database file in Dropbox. Dropbox also encrypts their data that you are storing with them so now your passwords have double encryption and are accessible from any of your computers or mobile devices. I like this because I know at all times where my database is and I can remove it from Dropbox at any time and return to a local only password solution.<br />
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Here are some links to Keepass and mobile apps that will work with Keepass databases.<br />
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<a href="http://keepass.info/download.html">http://keepass.info/download.html</a><br />
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<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.android.keepass">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.android.keepass</a><br />
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The other program I mentioned is LastPass. I don't use it day to day but I have played around with it. Basically LastPass has a browser add on. You install the add on and put in your master password to get easy access to your password list. Pretty simple. You can access your passwords at any time by logging into the LastPass website or browser add on. This is because LastPass is actually a cloud service and store your passwords for you. I am not exactly thrilled about that for two reasons. First my passwords are stored on someone else's server. That right there is a privacy and security concern for me. But what happens if LastPass goes down like it did a few years ago. Here is a link to that story.<br />
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<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/lastpass-melts-down-and-leaves-many-users-hopefully-temporarily-stranded-without-their-passwords/">http://www.zdnet.com/article/lastpass-melts-down-and-leaves-many-users-hopefully-temporarily-stranded-without-their-passwords/</a><br />
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Despite that thought I still think LastPass is a good service and I would recommend it to people.<br />
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<a href="https://lastpass.com/">https://lastpass.com/</a> <br />
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So there are a couple options on how to keep you password madness under control. Keepass gives you more control and options while LastPass gives you more convince. With both of these options there is absolutely no reason for a person to your the same password on more then website. That is not only bad practice but down right dangerous in this age where everything is online. LastPass and Keepass are just a few clicks away.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-77722534368275464122015-12-22T11:55:00.002-06:002015-12-22T11:55:27.999-06:00IT Is The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!If anybody that is reading this is in IT then you understand.<br />
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Now EVERYBODY!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-41728683974171896932015-08-25T15:39:00.000-05:002015-08-25T15:39:44.142-05:00Windows 10: First ImpressionWindows 10 was release on July 29th, 2015 and I have been playing around with it. Most people have had their chance with it at this point and the Internet is raising all kinds of concerns about privacy. While I agree with some of the privacy concerns, they are not as bad as most people are saying. Despite all the talk about privacy I am really enjoying Windows 10. I have been testing it out on my HP convertible laptop. It flips over to become a tablet so I get to take advantage of Windows 10's tablet mode. So here is a little bit about what I have found out during my time with Windows 10. I will try to keep it short so you can start your upgrade and find it out for yourself.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Privacy Concerns</span><br />
First we will just get the elephant out of the room, out of the way. Most people are talking about Wi-Fi Sense and Cortana. Wi-Fi Sense is a "feature" in Windows 10 that lets you share your Wi-Fi with your Facebook friends, Skype Contacts, and Outlook Contact. It doesn't give out your Wi-Fi password though. It just uses Microsoft servers to authenticate your Wi-Fi with your friends. So your password is always safe. It also doesn't just give out your Wi-Fi automatically. It will only share your Wi-Fi if you if you allow it. Wi-Fi Sense will ask when you connect to Wireless network if you want to share it with your friends. You can just say or do like I did and dig into your settings and just shut Wi-Fi sense off. Boom no problem. Just a slight inconvenience. Now for Cortana.<br />
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Cortana is the "AI Assistant" that Windows developed for the Windows Phone to compete with Siri and Google Now. With Windows 10 they brought it to the desktop. Most people don't like it because of all data it collects on you. For Cortana to work properly it stores and uses a lot of data that you create while using Cortana, Microsoft's new Edge browser and other Microsoft products. A lot of people aren't comfortable with that these days after the whole NSA Snowden thing. Now while I agree that privacy is a big deal on the internet these days, Cortana is worth at least a try for a few weeks to see if you can fit it into your workflow. Heck it may make your life easier. And at the end of it if you don't like you can just turn her off. They she won't collect data on you. BOOM no more elephant. Now for some of the cools things about Windows 10.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Cool Stuff</span><br />
Windows 10 came with a lot of improvements a small one being a performance update. Windows now uses less of your computers resources to run. Of coarse the start menu is back as well and it looks better then ever. Not to mention you can now resize it so you can see as many or as few of those live tiles as you want to. The biggest things that Windows 10 came with that I am enjoying is tablet mode. Tablet mode is a mode that convertible laptops and the detachable laptops can take advantage of. It made Windows 10 operate like tablet so that it is easier to use with your touch screen. Windows has finally got the whole one OS for all devices things right. Tablet mode works very fluidly too. Swipe from the left to see open apps and swipe from the right to open your action center which is basically notifications with some quick settings. Now it is worth it to turn my laptop over for more then just getting my speakers at a better angle.<br />
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Windows 10 is a big improvement on Windows 8 in my opinion. The one last thing about it though is support for all programs may not be there yet. Especially the more obscure ones that colleges use. I would not upgrade on my primary computer just yet. My desktop is still at Windows 7. Even with all of that though I think Windows 10 is great and will be even better after the next couple months and some of the small issues get fixed. So now I am done and you can go and decided if the Windows 10 upgrade is right for you.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-7467456224729038872015-08-18T23:01:00.000-05:002015-08-23T10:50:18.618-05:00Excuse the Silence <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello everyone. I know there hasn't been a lot of posts lately but I have a good reason. My wife has had some time off recently so I have been spending it her. During that time I have also been brainstorming ideas for posts and writing. I just haven't posted anything quiet yet. This is also inline with how I am going to change my way I post on the blog from now on. Up to this point it has been, I post when I get done writing an article. In the future though I will be writing several things and then releasing those posts in a more consistent manner. This means sometimes though there may be some lag between my postings as I am writing more. Current event posts will still be posted as soon as I am done writing them. For example tomorrow I will be posting my Windows 10: First Impressions post.<div>
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I urge the readers of this blog to be patient with me as I try this new style out. This blog is still young and I am finding a writing style & rhythm that works for me. None of this is set in stone however and if this new method of posting doesn't work for me then I will change. So fear not. If you don't see anything new for awhile it only means I am working on more great content. </div>
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Stay inspired my Tekkies.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-80936675159294703382015-08-07T18:33:00.002-05:002015-08-07T18:33:54.181-05:00Transport Tycoon Hello everyone. I know I don't cover video games very often but one of my favorite games from my childhood is now on Android. I found it the other day and almost fell off the couch when I saw it. The best part is that its original developer created the company that brought it to Android. So what is this game? TRANSPORT TYCOON OF COARSE!!!!!!!! <br />
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Transport Tycoon allows you to build a transportation business using trains, trucks, buses, trams, airplanes, and boats. It was originally released in 1994 but the game play is still amazing to this day. Graphics leave a little to be desired but I like Minecraft so I am not picky. This game was made by the same guy who came up with Roller Coaster Tycoon. Transport Tycoon is his earlier work. Here are some pictures for you guys to check out but after that I suggest heading over to play store and try out the free version for yourself. The paid version is $6.99 is defiantly try out the free version before buying to see if this game if right for you.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-86080314973553727852015-08-03T07:26:00.000-05:002015-08-03T10:08:18.597-05:00Tired of Windows? Try These Alternatives to Windows Instead Ever get tired of Windows Updates or how Windows just like to crash on you at random times, or even all the changes Microsoft has been making to Windows and they are nothing close to what people want. If you are tired of Windows you wouldn't be the only one. Slowly but surely people keep moving away from Windows. An obvious alternative for most people are Macs. Apple put out a amazing smartphone with the iPhone so their computers must be good too right? Yes usually they are very good but you have to be ready to pay for it. So what if you don't feel like giving Apple over a $1000 for a MAC. Well, you can always go with Linux.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZhQLCR_HrudAQ8BeVR5xOhYPlFd8DI_MbO9ttmPeWhw90W4kSGQTd14rJ_MIesLjcDURTpN2wNBd1TPf1In3fkshqhuRU7I1hPkNbqibDccLL5de7Cw7jRqrjSbcdV6KibipxMCBdeaQ/s1600/linux-151619_1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tekk In Motion" border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZhQLCR_HrudAQ8BeVR5xOhYPlFd8DI_MbO9ttmPeWhw90W4kSGQTd14rJ_MIesLjcDURTpN2wNBd1TPf1In3fkshqhuRU7I1hPkNbqibDccLL5de7Cw7jRqrjSbcdV6KibipxMCBdeaQ/s320/linux-151619_1280.png" title="Linux Tux" width="320" /></a></div>
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Linux has always been associated with hard to use and for nerds or geeks. That is not how the Linux world is anymore. Linux has been making itself easier to use over the past decade going so far as to try and look similar to Windows to make the transition easier for people. These days you can do everything the average user needs to out of the box. You get a web browser, Firefox, and a free alternative to the Microsoft Office software. Even if you do have to download a program, you can get it from the built in app store that most Linux versions have built in.<br />
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Linux has many versions to choose from, I found one site that listed up to 227 versions of it. Thankfully you only need one or two to get your computers to work the way you want them too. Past that it is only personal preference. You just have to pick which looks best to you and comes with the programs you want. Also did I mention that almost all versions of Linux are free?!?!?! There are one or two that require you pay one way or another but typically you don't need those unless you are running a business. Out of all of these version I will cover a few of the big ones here. And they are all free.<br />
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Now you may be asking yourselves, why are the only choices, Windows, Macs, or Linux? To put it bluntly, that is all you need. Linux is not just an operating system like Windows. Linux is an open-source piece of software that you build operating systems from. You take the core of Linux and add to it and customize it to make a operating system for people to use. The Mac operating system, OSX, even uses some of the basis that is also used in Linux. Android on smartphones was started from Linux as well. So really Linux is the only alternative to Windows. <br />
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Now no more waiting. What are those alternatives.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ubuntu</span><br />
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Ubuntu is the name most people know of when they think of Linux. It is the most common variant of Linux and even comes pre-installed on some systems. Ubuntu uses the Unity desktop which must be their try at building a tablet and full computer desktop all in one. Ubuntu is also the core of many Linux versions so if Ubuntu works on your computer then many of versions of Linux will work too.<br />
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During my time using it I found Unity to be the most awkward desktop I have ever used on Linux. The ISO file was a decent size at 1.1GB. It ran well on the laptop I used to test it which is a dual core AMD with 3GB of RAM. On that system it was using 544MB while nothing else was running. While Unity is weird it does have some beautiful animations and has nice smooth windows, booting however is a little slow.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lubuntu</span><br />
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Lubuntu is based off of Ubuntu and was designed to run on older or under powered systems. It focuses on low resource usage and energy-efficiency but does its best to still be a powerful environment. Lubuntu uses the low impact LXDE desktop and comes with several low impact programs. The number of those programs it comes with is also small to keep the operating system running nice and quick. <br />
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During my testing of Lubuntu I found out just how little resources it uses. The ISO file is 700MB. On a small netbook with only 1GB of RAM it was using only about 270MB of the RAM. That is amazing compared to what Windows usually takes. I wouldn't even be able to run Windows 7 on this netbook today. Programs are responsive and launch quickly. And last but not least booting it incredibly fast for being on a standard hard drive.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Xubuntu</span><br />
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Xubuntu is another low impact operating system but not as low impact as Lubuntu. It comes with more programs then Lubuntu you can get up and running as quickly has possible. It uses the Xfce desktop which is fairly light weight and snappy.<br />
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I also tested this OS on the same netbook that I test Lubuntu on. The ISO file is 1GB and Xubuntu used 310MB of RAM on the netbook. Slightly slower then Lubuntu at launching programs and booting but definally gives you the feeling a more full featured OS compared to Lubuntu. From my testing I think Xubuntu has a good balance of low resource usage and power. But I advise using it on slightly more powerful hardware then the netbook I ran it on.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Linux Mint</span><br />
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There are several versions of Linux Mint so to stop any confusion I tried out Mint with the Cinnamon desktop. Linux Mint is known to be one of the fastest growing Linux based operating systems in term of popularity. Thats mainly because it is so easy to use out of the box. It comes with the necessary software to play MP3s, DVDs, and Java application at installation so you don't have to spend the next hour setting up utilities like you do in Windows. The Cinnamon desktop also looks and works very similar to Windows so the transition is easy for most users. Also Linux Mint is no to have a very "in touch" development team. They listen to what users say on the forum and blog and make changes that their users want. Refreshing to see this after having the whole Windows 8 thing with Microsoft.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8sbjuLn13tdqphb5n9IkK-1Bh6CjVHywzi6ie-Mvh_CUdiRX_MRMUraZqgvoVIzaHp2JyzDlhWgTXrWvYWFtubsW4Mmb_jMnH17QjQlmEQ99vvxcX5wMOUxvJ4XkjxNt7XwOaQcGyFx4/s1600/Screenshot+from+2015-07-30+18%253A59%253A50.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tekk In Motion" border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8sbjuLn13tdqphb5n9IkK-1Bh6CjVHywzi6ie-Mvh_CUdiRX_MRMUraZqgvoVIzaHp2JyzDlhWgTXrWvYWFtubsW4Mmb_jMnH17QjQlmEQ99vvxcX5wMOUxvJ4XkjxNt7XwOaQcGyFx4/s320/Screenshot+from+2015-07-30+18%253A59%253A50.png" title="Linux Mint" width="320" /></a></div>
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While testing Mint I did notice that its install ISO file is somewhat larger then most Linux operating systems. It is about 1.5GB in size. So if you install via a disk you need to use a DVD, a CD defiantly won't cut it. I ran Mint on the same laptop that I used for testing Ubuntu. Out of the 3GB of RAM that my laptop has it only used about 425MB. Thats a good chunk of RAM but the OS runs extremely smoothly with gorgeous transitions and animations. The color palate is also extremely pleasing to the eyes but if the light green color isn't for you, you can change it under preferences. So far this is my favorite Linux based operating system and it will be staying on my laptop permanently. I highly recommend Mint with the Cinnamon desktop if you are using anything better then an old netbook.<br />
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So that is a short overview of some Windows alternatives. Linux is a huge world but don't be overwhelmed. You don't need to know the whole thing. You just need a solution to your problem. Linux can be your solution to Windows if you are willing to try it.<br />
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I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. Look for more post written similar to this one to come as well as the usual Tekk Tips and the like. Thanks for reading everyone and check out my Twitter link on the left for more Tekk goodness.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-65750933976909063542015-07-26T11:35:00.002-05:002015-07-26T11:35:35.044-05:00How to Tekk: Mobile Linux OS, Bootable Linux Flashdrive<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicLlEIK6kirVzvoTvrx7d97sN0arPyZxI6JhE3Nh1lzxfENtQfPhhEeeqtZnoxyV5vIRaN2geVapc4-2z5orEewcCF2uXDRRQuSmYnvQ3jHnj3NpkN5aRjWNBZijeJ66tsuCRFkMRP-Ik/s1600/removable-150604_1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Tekk In Motion" border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicLlEIK6kirVzvoTvrx7d97sN0arPyZxI6JhE3Nh1lzxfENtQfPhhEeeqtZnoxyV5vIRaN2geVapc4-2z5orEewcCF2uXDRRQuSmYnvQ3jHnj3NpkN5aRjWNBZijeJ66tsuCRFkMRP-Ik/s320/removable-150604_1280.png" title="flash drive" width="320" /></a>Hello my furry friends. Today I am going to show you the simple easy way to create a bootable Linux flashdrive. This is useful for carrying around a OS you are familiar with. Not to mention your files. You could also carry around a utility version Linux such as <a href="http://www.hirensbootcd.org/">Hiren's Boot CD</a> or <a href="https://www.kali.org/">Kali</a>. Those two are just a few examples and they have multiple tools in them to learn. I may cover some of them later. For now though, lets get on to building that bootable drive.<br />
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First things first is you need and ISO file for the OS you want and you need to download a tool for making a USB bootable. We will be using <a href="http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/home">Linux Live USB Creator</a>, aka LiLi. For our operating system we will be using <a href="http://xubuntu.org/">Xubuntu</a>. Now why did I choose Xubuntu.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUYfEtp3iBRZnWv195-A1aRDASTX2YtFgd_t5VhZ-pr4ZJypjf2FVUOmklMj1Yh0QnRt555R2zYJP1DchPRu4VTnh0UnDp5eATchy2owUUdKQOBqMsKhHgXJJcew1zAWPTXgYD427rDxA/s1600/LILI.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tekk In Motion" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUYfEtp3iBRZnWv195-A1aRDASTX2YtFgd_t5VhZ-pr4ZJypjf2FVUOmklMj1Yh0QnRt555R2zYJP1DchPRu4VTnh0UnDp5eATchy2owUUdKQOBqMsKhHgXJJcew1zAWPTXgYD427rDxA/s320/LILI.PNG" title="Linux Live USB Creator" width="188" /></a>Xubuntu is a spin off of the Ubuntu version of Linux. It is extremely light weight. So light in fact that it can be used on older computer that came with Windows XP. So it should work like lightening on almost any system you boot it up on. Xubuntu comes with some powerful yet lightweight programs already installed. Such as Firefox, and an alternative for Microsoft Word and Excel. Plenty for everyday use. The best part is that Xubuntu has support for persistence. This means that any files you save on the OS will still be there the next time you plug the USB into another computer. Without persistence you would lose your work. Unless, of coarse, you saved your files to a service like Dropbox or Google Drive.<br />
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Now how to use LiLi. It is quite simple. After installation run the program and you will get a menu like the one on the left, that pops up. At the top where it says choose your key you need to pick a blank USB drive. It needs to be blank because we will be overwriting it. Under choose a storage you need to select the ISO file that you downloaded. <br />
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If the OS you are going to install support persistence then under Step 3 you will get a slider for how much room you want to use for persistence. Step 4 are a few basics options. You want to check Format the key in FAT32, this will erase the flash drive, and Enable launching Linux live in Windows. LinuxLive is a feature that will allow you to plug in this USB drive into a Windows computer, after Windows is already started up, and let you run Linux as a virtual machine. Useful if you just want to test Linux or a specific version Linux before installing it on any hardware. This would also give you a portable OS and your files but still allow you to use Windows for most tasks where ever you are. Now just click the lightning bolt and LiLi will run.<br />
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Once complete you can plug your USB Drive into another computer and either boot to it or use LinuxLive so you can play with Linux but still have Windows. Not too complicated right?<br />
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I know I have been quite the past couple days and I apologize to everyone for that. But I do it with good reason. I am working on some new posts that have a decent amount of content to them. That takes time though so I have been writing fewer posts. Keep checking in to see whats coming up.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-25072728353799578592015-07-21T19:42:00.001-05:002015-07-22T13:30:03.505-05:00How to Set Static IPs on iOSWell I have already told you about setting static IPs on Android devices. How about on iOS devices?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Z9RtFiliSY0zvjOSMEoiTBpdFLPVKXrASluUGk8zC0m56hO7niGoNiFZfMXN6dtcopGDNOdOJ-Ebg4egq_M3vBoTbk6jUnStogrivtYkycfh0sLLDoTUz0R32bLVJsdhGPLioQWnaWk/s1600/IMG_0005.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Tekk In Motion" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Z9RtFiliSY0zvjOSMEoiTBpdFLPVKXrASluUGk8zC0m56hO7niGoNiFZfMXN6dtcopGDNOdOJ-Ebg4egq_M3vBoTbk6jUnStogrivtYkycfh0sLLDoTUz0R32bLVJsdhGPLioQWnaWk/s320/IMG_0005.PNG" title="How to Set Static IPs on iOS" width="213" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB816wDMu1ZZMrDb80h_4mzlRIadLRtUYDZFBanKk5SBtC234wdpV74FosjVCwCHQi4fXBgN6uLanCFEE-BpGHDeAVcAXI_hOvUIlXYng-tZErH9D7TE2Hqf8HVKX-SOJU-HDTR-kfAN0/s1600/IMG_0004.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tekk In Motion" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB816wDMu1ZZMrDb80h_4mzlRIadLRtUYDZFBanKk5SBtC234wdpV74FosjVCwCHQi4fXBgN6uLanCFEE-BpGHDeAVcAXI_hOvUIlXYng-tZErH9D7TE2Hqf8HVKX-SOJU-HDTR-kfAN0/s320/IMG_0004.PNG" title="How to Set Static IPs on iOS" width="213" /></a><br />
Well its actually simpler then on Android. First step is head to your Wi-Fi settings. Find the wireless network you want to set a static IP for and press the blue I next to it. There are three options at the top and you need to select "Static". Now simply type in your information. Router stands for Gateway by the way and don't worry about Search Domains. Aaaaaaand your done. That's it. Boom!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-169350859732430242015-07-19T20:30:00.005-05:002015-07-19T20:30:58.666-05:00Nova Launcher Review One of the best things about Android is the fact that you can customize it so much. The includes its Android overlay. Samsung, LG, and HTC all add their own special sauce to Android but if you don't like one of theirs you can just download your own. No root required! All you do is download one from the play store. Most have a free and paid version where the paid version gives you extra features. I am going to talk about one of those today. Nova Launcher.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSBwz10cdQBh3wyDfYA6E4QRumy-tE6tF_6KYSjJUId7R62eZBym1NVuKSO-Usk2h4SQq2nUH8-NVO6i2BVHweL1rxIYliIxme7Hqh-1mYjz6RrEcPd7dBZ7hujzlwaKYmLP_amVboPKA/s1600/Landscape+screenshot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tekk In Motion" border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSBwz10cdQBh3wyDfYA6E4QRumy-tE6tF_6KYSjJUId7R62eZBym1NVuKSO-Usk2h4SQq2nUH8-NVO6i2BVHweL1rxIYliIxme7Hqh-1mYjz6RrEcPd7dBZ7hujzlwaKYmLP_amVboPKA/s640/Landscape+screenshot.png" title="Nova Launcher" width="640" /></a></div>
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Nova is one of the most popular launchers for Android if not the most popular. It lets you customize a ton of stuff but doesn't change the way you use your Android device like some other launchers. You can change the size and layout gird of your apps on the main screen and in the app drawer. You can even change animations when you open the app drawer or switch screens. Oh and did I mention gesture controls?! Thats a pro feature though. Here is a more in depth look at Nova Launcher to help you decide if it is the launcher for you.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr_URr1HB7JzWQRxhRSOo6FlOcKHVoAOWGqDOoyZAr1EwbZpdhEgUyls_ToAFtf57xEZRwF2oLFmD_HIul1fbrIzrKFCABY-eIKu5ApcY1Wi7gvo5V2MSYD7Ij-I3SGDkzGRItNfefwc4/s1600/regular+shot.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tekk In Motion" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr_URr1HB7JzWQRxhRSOo6FlOcKHVoAOWGqDOoyZAr1EwbZpdhEgUyls_ToAFtf57xEZRwF2oLFmD_HIul1fbrIzrKFCABY-eIKu5ApcY1Wi7gvo5V2MSYD7Ij-I3SGDkzGRItNfefwc4/s320/regular+shot.png" title="Nova Launcher" width="180" /></a> When you first install Nova you need to set it has your default launcher. That way when you press the home button it takes you into Nova and not your phone's default launcher. At first glance it looks like your standard Android home screen with room to put apps and widgets. You start with three home screens to flip between but you can add more or remove some if you don't need that many. You also have the basic dock at the bottom of the screen that contains the app drawer and apps you will probably like to access from any home screen. So far it is like standard Android with a slight graphical upgrade. Look in your app drawer and you will find a app called Nova Settings. Now here is where the fun begins.<br />
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Once you open Nova Settings you will see a huge menu that has several options and each of those options has a menu in it with a multitude of settings that you can change. Also at the top of Nova Settings it will let you know if you don't have Nova as your default launcher and if you don't already it will help you set it as the default. Next the list of menus you dig into.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Desktop</li>
<li>App & Widget Drawers</li>
<li>Dock</li>
<li>Folders</li>
<li>Look & Feel</li>
<li>Gestures & Inputs</li>
<li>Unread Count Badges - Prime Feature</li>
<li>Backup & Import Settings</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOMkEdibImBA173cMrSvdyM4L9VRb18C6vFQ9wrg9G0B3rvObqK6zHuJxQ7DEeilXfnyVLH4hyx4p0xPytHfL8jSdVCdMT0Ha7Q-9HyXAGd3QELNDp5FaA3TwoxSVGv5pnvEErIDNlicc/s1600/Screenshot_2015-07-17-16-47-05.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Tekk In Motion" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOMkEdibImBA173cMrSvdyM4L9VRb18C6vFQ9wrg9G0B3rvObqK6zHuJxQ7DEeilXfnyVLH4hyx4p0xPytHfL8jSdVCdMT0Ha7Q-9HyXAGd3QELNDp5FaA3TwoxSVGv5pnvEErIDNlicc/s320/Screenshot_2015-07-17-16-47-05.png" title="Nova Launcher" width="180" /></a></div>
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There are way too many settings for me to go each one individually but I will go over some of the more interesting ones in each section. In Desktop you can change how many apps you want to show on your home screens. My favorite setting is the animation for when you move between screens. I have it set to cube so it looks like you are turning a cube when you swipe to another screen. I also set height and width padding to none so my widgets take up the screen to the borders. The App & Widget settings offer lots of ways to customize your app drawer experience. Such as having a transparent background when the drawer is open and scrolling through the drawer vertically or horizontally. The Dock you can set to give you multiple docks to swipe between. You can also give your dock a background. This gives your dock a kind of OSX feel. In Folders I found a great look by using fan as my Folder Preview and Disc has the Folder Background.</div>
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Told you there was a lot you can change. Under Look & Feel you can change your icon pack, screen orientation, and animation speeds along with a few other appearance settings. Gestures & Inputs is where you can change settings for what you would like specific gestures to do. This is a prime feature though so you have to purchase the Prime edition of Nova Launcher to have access to these settings. Unread count badges is a prime feature also that lets you see our many new emails and texts you have on your app shortcuts. Not a big deal but a nice to have. Last in the list is Backup & Import Settings. Under here you can backup your settings before changing devices. After you get the new device this is where you import your backup too. You can back up locally in case you need it but you can also backup to cloud services like Google Drive or Dropbox.<br />
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Under that massive list of settings that you can change is where you would check for updates and set your default home. There are also a few advanced settings for you to poke around in. Nova Prime does have some nice features in it. I am happy to see that Nova did a premium version the right way. They didn't keep a critical feature that makes this launcher unique from you. The premium version gives you access to features that would be awesome to have but doesn't take away from the launcher at its core. Nicely done Nova.<br />
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So now that you have some perspective on just how much you can tailor Nova to your personality are you ready to start playing with it? Place some screen shots of your customization below. Show the world just how unique Nova is to you.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-8176382520999708742015-07-16T11:00:00.000-05:002015-07-16T11:15:55.124-05:00Clean Master; Speed Up My Android<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjgFoO07D_iTYoXJvPihnY9NddtDt9zOz7EINM1UjzVaa2ZQcdSIdedHwN_4n4v2TjaSzNyxEbLFS1tq7AkMk6RnYDIQoZUqBIcQWYJTbH4_6kTTZxHLOS2WTmJWumR-Tgmg9VMzJeQ4w9/s1600/Motorola_Defy_Plus_in_a_glass_of_water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjgFoO07D_iTYoXJvPihnY9NddtDt9zOz7EINM1UjzVaa2ZQcdSIdedHwN_4n4v2TjaSzNyxEbLFS1tq7AkMk6RnYDIQoZUqBIcQWYJTbH4_6kTTZxHLOS2WTmJWumR-Tgmg9VMzJeQ4w9/s320/Motorola_Defy_Plus_in_a_glass_of_water.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Let's be realistic here, our phones get hot from time to time, we have all at one time or another reached down in our pockets only to have <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades">Hades inferno</a> engulf our hand in an unknown blaze. It happens, it sucks, we can go the route of swiping, closing, figuring out, and just all around trying to figure out what and why it's happening, holding ourselves back from just dipping our phones in a nice ice bath too cool it off. Well instead, let's talk about a pretty nifty app that could help you out. <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cleanmaster.mguard&hl=en">Clean Master.</a></div>
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Clean Master is a pretty cool app that monitors temperature, memory usage, storage, and also offers security options. Instead of running through the mobile phone trying to find what is running, a single button press will in essence nuke any and all apps running, including useless system tools that have become frozen and are just devouring resources. After that single button gets pressed, it will tell you the estimated temperature drop and memory gained in the process. Your mobile phone will now, speed up, and who can hate that? I for one love it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGneD8B-Du8NKwuvnGW0kxI6pElIEDb6GroeNbN3rLzcJ8OH4AYSHcexYjjqhf6foFdcq7Y7P0ahh3TE8OlbBTdAh1iRExQqDq8LJrREQ38yUkJWBWdwjHe6LsSPT_YLkLeoTT15bQQYJK/s1600/474385566_00d3d58280_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGneD8B-Du8NKwuvnGW0kxI6pElIEDb6GroeNbN3rLzcJ8OH4AYSHcexYjjqhf6foFdcq7Y7P0ahh3TE8OlbBTdAh1iRExQqDq8LJrREQ38yUkJWBWdwjHe6LsSPT_YLkLeoTT15bQQYJK/s320/474385566_00d3d58280_o.jpg" width="320" /></a>Here is a real world scenario that happened to me. I was playing three or four high end, memory devouring games that would give <a href="http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Matter-Eater_Lad">Matter Eater Lad</a> a run for his money with the amount they they consume, but oblivious as I was, the memory and power consumption that was ensuing caused the phone to reach some seriously critical temperatures. As I clicked the power button and dropped my phone in my pocket, it only took a few minutes for it to feel as if <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dantes-Inferno-Marcus-Sanders/dp/0811842134">Dante's inferno was raging</a> deep in my jeans. Didn't take long for me to reach in my pocket from utter shock, full out the phone and just throw it on the table waiting for the battery to rupture. Luckily it did not, but all I had to do was open up Clean Master, hit a few buttons, and the phone dropped in temperature a great amount within 10 minutes, saving both battery life, my leg, and my phone.</div>
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The fact is that some applications will hang, some will continue to run in the background, and always shutting them down isn't a primary nature action that many of us do. But why stop at memory management when we can talk about storage as well? <a href="http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/cache"> Cached files</a> occur, and junk appears, this app even allows for a one button disk clean up to roast the useless suckers and clear up some space. No you're not going to recover 50% of your storage, but a gig or two of storage from time to time is more than enough to justify a couple megabyte application.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY8mNLHUWYKzS15FzAJoMJbGOttKWXutOlvsNRD0e850kqYwZU7pA74i6knsmlbNgXVuXKeV_QBdItWXkXbH41Hwo04Yo4OneyxwqOenUOCyXGqUr3ZiAXC9SSDLbS155SFIPltQvtRAIM/s1600/2219e05143c24e5bbabb7b214d61601b_small.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY8mNLHUWYKzS15FzAJoMJbGOttKWXutOlvsNRD0e850kqYwZU7pA74i6knsmlbNgXVuXKeV_QBdItWXkXbH41Hwo04Yo4OneyxwqOenUOCyXGqUr3ZiAXC9SSDLbS155SFIPltQvtRAIM/s320/2219e05143c24e5bbabb7b214d61601b_small.png" width="192" /></a>Why stop though with useful tools am I right? Clean Master also includes <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.domobile.applock&hl=en">AppLock</a> built into the application. Which is a very cool extra. If you're unfamiliar with AppLock, lets explain through scenario. Someone asks to borrow your phone to make an ever so important phone call, in the case of friends, not a problem, but... sometimes our friends can be jerks and think "Ha that fool gave me their phone, lets invade their privacy!" and begin to rifle through email's, text messages, call logs, everything. As a self professed hacker, finding a mark in this fashion is quite easy, but with AppLock, even after the login screen a pass pattern is required to open specified apps. Opening email, opening SMS, opening a game, can all be done and lock out anyone who shouldn't have access to the specified apps<br />
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All around this is a great application, increasing security on our mobile phone applications, monitoring temperature and controlling memory on the mobile phone, really what is there to lose? Clean Master is one of my go to applications, I LOVE this application and suggest it to all of my friends.</div>
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Clean Master is not available for IOS yet, but they do plan on releasing a versions for IOS in the near future, there are a couple alternatives we will talk about at a later date. For all those using Android, check out Clean Master, you won't regret it.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03949241203902991565noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-19149508633507192872015-07-15T13:24:00.002-05:002015-07-15T13:27:10.092-05:00How to Set Static IPs on Android Hello everyone. Sometimes it is useful to set a static IP address on your Android devices. Maybe you need to be able to get to your device across the network at all times or you happen to be getting on a network that uses static IPs. Its pretty simple but you have to do this when you are putting in the password for the Wi-Fi you are trying to connect to.<br />
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Go down to advanced and check it so you can see advanced options. Under here you will now see a spot to put in your IP address, subnet mask, gateway, and DNS server. You will have to either know these settings or ask who ever setup your Wi-Fi for these settings. Click connect after putting in the password and settings to connect to the Wi-Fi.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD117yCldGN_e7icnaWhhc6GyUKhtd499OPafrPbnV03WjALCWis_m8-cJzNR5sSOLGvBWhr_DGFpwjtI5iTveIg0uLOq1hMWJJagBBcoMS-VRBm8lFsiDd5hEZJ-A5nFaf30Pkj-PYeo/s1600/Screenshot_2015-07-15-07-08-07.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD117yCldGN_e7icnaWhhc6GyUKhtd499OPafrPbnV03WjALCWis_m8-cJzNR5sSOLGvBWhr_DGFpwjtI5iTveIg0uLOq1hMWJJagBBcoMS-VRBm8lFsiDd5hEZJ-A5nFaf30Pkj-PYeo/s320/Screenshot_2015-07-15-07-08-07.png" width="180" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvG6ziwqmmxIZWLgdq1ICN0Eo0dSLBzQk4vwcFoAKNnia5WpMSI6ZC3PnacENjuWlFNgy8CuJPRVaqZEHbXhhd7j8gQt4nsmdtb-OsBSzYqX2MjcMG9g814vc5ujya50s-wAQOqaRKdiE/s1600/Screenshot_2015-07-15-07-08-28.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvG6ziwqmmxIZWLgdq1ICN0Eo0dSLBzQk4vwcFoAKNnia5WpMSI6ZC3PnacENjuWlFNgy8CuJPRVaqZEHbXhhd7j8gQt4nsmdtb-OsBSzYqX2MjcMG9g814vc5ujya50s-wAQOqaRKdiE/s320/Screenshot_2015-07-15-07-08-28.png" width="180" /></a><br />
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If you have your settings and password put in correctly then you will connect and be able to get on the internet. The great thing is that if you leave that Wi-Fi and come back, your phone will keep your settings. That when you auto-reconnect to the Wi-Fi you will be ready to go. As a last piece of knowledge on this, you can see what your IP is currently set as if you go to Wi-Fi and click the triple dots in the right corner. At the bottom you will see your current IP address for the Wi-Fi network you are currently attached to. For people with iPhones, I will be putting out how to do static IPs on iOS devices as well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM64YHKO_dCzeTtyqWt3wvWGb47ByZTHHH6SEoRpliCDI4vvzSu-c7p2-1UYyRIdtizfh-J5ip4j4rjv2-cFu5lqC-5eVxtjTeVnOu61kuwyF688ewAfGPLSu-HzjST5VL5wVRKMUAVcA/s1600/Fuzzy+MAC+Addresses.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM64YHKO_dCzeTtyqWt3wvWGb47ByZTHHH6SEoRpliCDI4vvzSu-c7p2-1UYyRIdtizfh-J5ip4j4rjv2-cFu5lqC-5eVxtjTeVnOu61kuwyF688ewAfGPLSu-HzjST5VL5wVRKMUAVcA/s320/Fuzzy+MAC+Addresses.png" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-28836367097896075782015-07-13T19:04:00.003-05:002015-07-13T19:04:58.991-05:00How To Make Your Taskbar Taller Ever wanted to personalize your Windows desktop more then the background? Me neither but I found a way! Apparently you can re-size your task bar. Right-click on the task bar and uncheck "Lock the taskbar". Now you can resize the task bar just like you would a window. You can only make it a little bigger.<br />
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Or half the screen! HAHA!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi7DfP33Tj0GABMYrpXYGyJQ2WHxioLz8VMSPJ0hQWQscyGUjEh29Orw33H9ZQheAimwXn2MITl2VJOCxEwDAukBtQaUQZmjIZ2MG0pCCO3JUO4wlsgdsNUBPAIZOCZunSg2Ae5jpfgoY/s1600/Half+The+Screen.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi7DfP33Tj0GABMYrpXYGyJQ2WHxioLz8VMSPJ0hQWQscyGUjEh29Orw33H9ZQheAimwXn2MITl2VJOCxEwDAukBtQaUQZmjIZ2MG0pCCO3JUO4wlsgdsNUBPAIZOCZunSg2Ae5jpfgoY/s640/Half+The+Screen.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Looks better if you play with the way your taskbars icons look. Play with and personalize your Windows experience even more.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-48869495978381161452015-07-11T09:18:00.003-05:002015-07-11T09:19:58.187-05:00How to Factory Reset A Locked iPhone Hello everyone. Thats right you did read the title of this post correctly. I am going to walk you through the simple steps to factory reset a locked iPhone. Why? Because I got my hand on a older iPhone so I can finally learn more about iOS. As I learn more I will post more here for people who may not be too similar with the more inner workings of their iPhones. Now how do you factory reset a locked iPhone? Well we need to put it into recovery mode. Before we get started you will need a couple things.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDu3QXm_WWnaeoCFMFx_rw1gDwWA_7JcgrMLj62ZIAsy5J5eER4RuXD9B_BtizaxS_uPrWyh_xoUGGhC8asH-UCmQHWl6ZGTt6UuNhPlQ4EIbFsR5Rse_9SwBcOZF2ZvCXH6rY3aCPyLw/s1600/iphone-37856_1280.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDu3QXm_WWnaeoCFMFx_rw1gDwWA_7JcgrMLj62ZIAsy5J5eER4RuXD9B_BtizaxS_uPrWyh_xoUGGhC8asH-UCmQHWl6ZGTt6UuNhPlQ4EIbFsR5Rse_9SwBcOZF2ZvCXH6rY3aCPyLw/s200/iphone-37856_1280.png" width="195" /></a></div>
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<li>The locked iPhone.</li>
<li>The USB cabled for the iPhone.</li>
<li>A computer with iTunes installed on it.</li>
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Ok now for resetting the iPhone.</div>
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<li>Turn off your device and leave it off for the time being.</li>
<li>Hold down the Home button on your iPhone as you plug it into your computer that has iTunes installed on it.</li>
<li>Keep holding down the Home button until you see the "Connect to iTunes" screen.</li>
<li>Once this screen appears you may release the Home button.</li>
<li>Now open iTunes on your computer if it has not already started.</li>
<li>iTunes will see a iPhone in recovery mode and ask you if you would like to update and reset the phone.</li>
<li>Say reset & update if you wish to reset the iPhone to factory condition. You will lose everything on the iPhone when doing this.</li>
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Your iPhone will now being resetting itself and updating to the most recent version of iOS that your iPhone can handle. Wait until the iPhone is done resetting itself and you will be good to go. Just walk through the standard new iPhone setup and poof, your iPhone is ready to go.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-86500818679524401812015-07-07T20:57:00.002-05:002015-07-14T16:41:06.791-05:00Email Week: A Solution Welcome to the final installment of Email Week here at Tekk In Motion. Today I talk about a solution to your inbox woes. The solution may not be for everyone but in the coarse of this week I have gone over several things that can not only organize your email but integrate and organize more of the technology you use in your lives. Now, on to the solution. <br />
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We are going to use IFTTT to push email from Gmail to Evernote. So before going any further, if you are following along you need to have a Gmail, IFTTT, and Evernote account. Also make sure to activate the Gmail and Evernote channels in IFTTT. Now it is time to write some recipes.<br />
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All the recipes you are going to need for moving emails into Evernote are going to be written like this. Start a new recipe, click "This", choose a trigger channel. You are going to choose Gmail. Choose "New email in inbox from", enter the address you would like to sort. For example, receipts@amazon.com. <br />
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After typing in the address click submit, click "That", then choose an action channel. You will be choosing Evernote this time. Choose "Create a note" from the list of actions. <br />
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Here I would put in the notebook you wish the email to be saved to and under tags based on the email you are saving to Evernote. Such as receipts, amazon if you are moving emails from receipts@amazon.com. Click "Create Action". From here you can choose what you would like to call this recipe and if you would like to receive a notification when this recipe is triggered. The notification is usually an email but if you have the IFTTT app on your phone you will also get a notification there.<br />
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Congratulations!!!!!!!!!! Your first recipe towards email organization is complete. After the email is saved in Evernote you will be able to edit, annotate, it and do pretty much whatever you would like to it within the realm of Evernote's capabilities. I have noticed thought that if you save emails into Evernote that have big complex images with links and buttons and the like, Evernote won't format them properly so they look ugly. Simpler emails work better but I still use this anyway. If this isn't for you I understand. Keep an eye out for more ways to organize your email for here on out. Hope everyone enjoyed email week. If you like me posting in this format please let me know in the comments below or on the Tekk In Motion Facebook page.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-7182943056374009192015-07-06T16:30:00.000-05:002015-07-06T16:30:04.697-05:00Email Week: Gmail Now for our 3rd post in email week! Email week is me showing my lovely followers a great way to organize your email so you can finally get that inbox under control. We have already gone over the basics of IFTTT and Evernote that we are going to use but now for a little background on the email platforms that I will be using during this week. Gmail is one of the biggest online free email platforms available so I will be using that to for this week. Gmail also works well with IFTTT. Outlook.com is also large but doesn't have good integration with IFTTT yet. If you use Outlook.com you can signup for a free gmail account. After that go to Outlook.com and forward your email to your new gmail address. Hopefully IFTTT will get Outlook.com support in the future so you don't have to do this.<br />
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Gmail is the free email service by Google. They allow you to store massive amounts of email and has several other features built in that you will find useful. Gmail is easy to navigate and available on several platforms. When you sign up for Gmail you get a Google account. So now you also have access to all Google websites and services through the same sign in as your Gmail account. Because of this Gmail has amazing integration with other Google apps but we are going to use IFTTT to integrate with even more apps. Gmail already has some tools for organizing your email built in but I prefer to get my emails into Evernote so I can do even more with them.<br />
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Once my emails are in Evernote I can sort, edit, or annotate them. And that is a just a few of things I can do with them. Gmail allows you to save almost an unlimited amount of emails so nothing ever has to be deleted. This way you never lose anything important on accident. This would create a very messy email environment if we weren't going to do something about it. With IFTTT and Evernote however, we can do something about the emails we need to see and then forget all the junk email that we never want to see again.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4940445414558536480.post-5640239735423024412015-07-02T20:50:00.000-05:002015-07-02T20:50:52.898-05:00Email Week: Evernote Hello and welcome back to email week here at Tekk In Motion. The next part of our email solution is Evernote. Most people know Evernote as a note taking app, but it can be so much more. It can organize your entire life if are willing to use it. We are going to use it organize your email. Well the email you want to see anyway. Here are some the basics of Evernote.<br />
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Evernote, at its core, is an organizational program that you can use from every device you have. Desktops, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Web to name a few. I use it at work and at home. At home I use it save emails, receipts, web articles, and even entire web pages. At work I use it to give me reminders and organize my to-do lists. These are just a few ways you can make Evernote work for you. The most powerful way I have ever seen is when someone had a process to make Evernote an inbox for your entire life. Using all of the features in Evernote he was able to organize anything life threw at him.<br />
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We are not going to be doing anything nearly that involved but just know you can do that if you want. Here is what Evernote looks like after you have signed up and installed Evernote on your computer.<br />
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From here you can start setting up your notebooks and and making notes. Lets make a few notebooks to get us ready for our email organization. In the left column you will see Notebooks. Right click on it and create notebook. You can name these whatever you like but I am going to be using Receipts, Reminders, and Read Later. After you have your folders created, right click on one of them and click "Add to Stack". Create this under a new stack. Rename your stack for convenience. I named mine "Email Week".<br />
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Now we have our basic Evernote setup ready to go. Now for our email. I will be going over Gmail since it integrates well with IFTTT and is one of the most popular email platforms out there. After that comes the integration with IFTTT and then some extras. Email Week keeps on going!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04348021286607379504noreply@blogger.com0