Thursday, October 30, 2014

How to Use Multiple Dropbox Accounts on an Android Device



Dropbox is a great tool for storing files to Cloud. You can use it to store any content, whether it may be your work files or your personal files. Having multiple Dropbox account can be extremely helpful especially if you have separate accounts for your work files, photos, videos, music, etc. But the thing is, the Dropbox app only allows you to sign in to one account at a time. If you need to work on multiple Dropbox accounts on your Android device at the same time, using the ES File Explorer app will make it easy for you.

ES File Explorer is one of the most popular file managers for Android devices. It is a full-featured file and application manager app that allows you to delete, rename, share, search, and cut/copy/paste folders to different destinations. It allows you to manage your entire Android file system. Not only that, it also allows you to send and receive files over Wi-Fi.

ES can also function as a task killer, download manager, cloud storage client, FTP client, and LAN Samba client. It can also provide access to photos, videos, music, documents, and other files on your Android devices and your computers. It has a built-in ZIP and RAR support and can function as cache cleaner and autostart manager by deleting junk files that take up valuable storage space. It is compatible with a ton of cloud services, like Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Box.net, Sugarsync, Yandex, Media Fire, S3, and Bitcasa. Furthermore, ES File Explorer supports the use of multiple Dropbox accounts at once.

To use multiple Dropbox accounts using ES File Explorer on your Android device, follow these simple steps:

Use Multiple Dropbox Accounts on an Android Device

1. Download and install ES File Explorer File Manager at the Google Play Store free of charge.
2. Once installed, launch the ES File Explorer File Manager app on your Android device.
3. Tap the menu icon located at the top left side of the screen, and then tap Cloud.


4. Next, tap New (+) icon found on the left bottom corner of the window.


5. When the screen of supported cloud services appears, tap DropBox.


6. You will now be prompted to sign in to Dropbox. Enter your Dropbox username and password. Make sure to allow ES File Explorer the required permissions.


7. Your Dropbox account is now added to the Cloud section of ES File Explorer. Repeat Step 4 onwards for each Dropbox account you want to add.



Once you are done, you will be able to see all the Dropbox accounts you added in the Cloud section. From there, you can treat the Dropbox accounts just like any local storage, and you will be able to copy and move files between locations.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Some Google+ Do's and Don'ts for Small Businesses

The decision may not yet be final as for the significance of Google+ for personal users. But for those who own a small business, Google+ must not be ignored. It's not just another attention-grabbing social network that a small business can use to increase its presence online, but Google+ is also one great resource to maximize visibility on Google search pages. The reason why every business owner should be on Google+ is because it works alongside with Google Search. This includes potentially ranking higher on search results, integration with important Google for Business services, and the ability to attract customers by providing key business information such as location and directions, contact number, photos, reviews, and many others -- right on search pages. Google+ also lets you promote posts, specials, deals, and other content to a variety of audiences -- whether it's from those in your Google+ "Circles" or from people who simply want to search for your business in Google.

However, you need to learn more about Google+ other than signing up for an account and sharing posts. Being able to use Google+ effectively with your small business helps in your strategy to attract more customers and engage with them better at the same time. Here are some Google+ do's and don'ts that you may want to check out so that you can properly make use of this powerful social network.

Google+ Do's

Take advantage of the SEO value
The main difference between Google+ and other social networks is that it is the social network from Google. This means that one of the largest benefits to using Google+ is its SEO value. Business owners should take this opportunity by combining their Google+ Local Page (your maps listing) and their Google+ Business Page. Through this, a business will have the chance to rise to the top during location-based searches.

Prioritize on Visuals
To help users stay engaged on your Google+ page, adding images of your business headquarters is one effective step. In addition, these images will be seen on your brand's search engine result pages (SERP) if you are locally verified. This will also give users a sense of security to work with your business online once they have clear visibility of your location, and what your office(s) and employees look like.

Actively Increase Your Audience
As part of your efforts to gain a large group of followers, add people to your circles so that you'll get a chance to be added to theirs. It is best to focus on people within your industry, as well as potential customers and professional acquaintances. Once you reach a certain number of followings, that number will be displayed next to your link when you show up in an organic search result on Google. Another thing about having a high number of followers in your circles boosts your authority with Google, thus improving your search rankings.

Target Your Audience
It might seem irrelevant, but doing a proper research on how your content will reach the proper target audience can go a long way. What do people like about your product or services? What do they normally talk about when it comes to your product or services? Do these consumers mostly consist of male or female? Do these consumers mostly located in the East Coast or West Coast? It's useless to waste crucial time on a content that is not reaching the right audience.

Make Your Post Eye-Catching
Draw the attention of viewers by formatting your posts with bold, italics, and indentation. You can also include images in your postings that will attract people to read it. Use #hashtags as well so that there is an increased likelihood that other users searching will find your mini-blog postings.

Ask for Reviews
Reach out to your customers and offer them your Google+ link to leave a review. Reviews will help build credibility for your business and give you a better edge among your competitors.

Follow Other Businesses
By following other businesses and figures that are related to your industry, this could lead to potential business opportunities down the line or just give you an awareness of important industry news and updates -- so you're always in the know.

Google+ Don'ts

Neglect Your Business Profile
Before anything else, make it a point that all important business information is supplied on your Google+ business page. Avoid skipping any important details and be sure to add as many images of your business as possible. Make sure to use keywords you want to rank for and keywords your customers are using to locate your business when filling out your profile. Also, make it a habit to link out to important pages on your website within your profile as Google+ allows you to do this.

Wait for Customers to Come to You
Take advantage of Google+'s great openness toward interacting with followers. It's very hard to communicate with your customers in Facebook because it doesn't let you reach out to them via your business page -- so they have to reach out to you first. You can offer them discounts, coupons, or simply just check in with them and continue building a relationship. That's exactly what Google+ allows you to do. Google+ allows as much two way conversation as you want. You can tag people people in your posts before they reach out to you. So go ahead and be the first to engage in the conversation with your customers, don't wait for them to come to you.

Spam Users or Communities
Don't make it a habit of posting too much in a community or just be plain annoying, because people can definitely tell if you are. People in Google+ are there for a reason and are able to sense if you are a potential spammer. If ever you get blacklisted as a spammer, then you're in trouble. Usually, it's hard to get out of that list and make headway in the community. So better not screw it up.

Post Unrelated Stuff
While it's great to post tons of food pics, lifestyle pics, things that you do before going to bed -- just make sure to do it on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Always keep in mind not to post these stuffs on Google+, especially on your business page.

Ignore About Circles

Segment your customers. Most businesses have different types of customers, and if possible, add customers in different circles on Google+. This will enable you to provide more targeted content and have a better chance of engaging with your customers.


Thursday, October 16, 2014

Five Ways to Make Your Android Device More Secure

Android is one of the most common open sourced mobile operating system. Having an open source platform has its fair share of advantages and disadvantages. The major advantages of having an Android operating system are its deep integration with third-party application developers and its compatibility with built-in programs. Not only that, Android is highly customizable, so you can tweak it to better suit your needs.

Although Android as an operating system is very secure; with its multiple layers of protection to keep malware at bay, and its permission requirement when making any changes to avoid having your data and system compromised. However, Android's openness can also lead to its greatest disadvantage. It lacks organization and becomes vulnerable to viruses and malicious software if users give away a lot of permissions and root their devices. If the user is not careful, Android will be able to expose you to all kinds of cyber dangers. But, Android users need not fret. Here are five things you can do to make your Android device more secure.

1. Use a Secure Lock Screen
This is probably the most basic and most important thing you need to do in order to secure your Android device. Setting a passcode is the first line of defense for your security, whether it is to keep your device from prying eyes or to prevent your kids from tinkering on it. Having a secure lock screen will ensure that the data stored on your Android device won't be easily accessed should your device end up in the wrong hands.

Pattern unlocks and PIN codes are some of the most secure. Make sure you set a full alphanumeric passcode if possible, and if you can manage it, regularly change your passcode.

2. Install Mobile Security Apps
Like your computers, your Android devices, such as smartphones and tablets, need to be protected from viruses and malware. Remember — it is better to err on the side of caution. If you can find a mobile security app that can protect you from all types viruses and malware, the better. Most Android mobile security tools do more than just scan your devices for malicious apps. They can detect potential phishing websites and provide information on the kind of permissions apps are requesting. Some even have built-in anti-theft features, allowing you to remotely lock your phone, track its location via GPS, and most of all, remotely wipe all your data from the Android device.

3. Encrypt Your Android Device
Most users store sensitive information on their smartphones and tablets. Encrypting your sensitive information is one of the best ways to keep your data from unauthorized individuals. Once your data is encrypted, it will be stored in a "scrambled" format and will only be decrypted when you input a code or a password.

But before you decide on encrypting your data, keep in mind that doing so will hinder your system's performance as well as cause a slight lag. Furthermore, it will require you to restore your Android device to factory settings in order to get rid of the encryption, which in effect can cause you to lose all your data altogether.

To encrypt your data, simply go to Settings > Security > check Enable Encryption.

4. Do Not Allow Apps from Unknown Sources
Do not install apps or allow permission from apps of unknown sources, unless your device is rooted or are sideloading apps to it. Apps from unknown or untrusted sources are not found on the Android market, like the Google Play Store. These apps tend to be less secure and might carry malicious code.

The same goes for links in an unsolicited email or SMS, even those apps that prompts you to download a separate app. Make sure to always read reviews of the apps before installing them. Do not forget to read the permissions the app is requesting. If any permission seem odd, it is best not to install the app.

5. Turn Off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth When Not in Use

Aside from improving your battery life, turning off your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections when they are not in use will help you secure your Android device. Unsecured hotspots and Bluetooth connection are often times used as gateway to access data and profile information from your device. Anyway, you can always turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth if you need to and it will only take seconds to do so.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

What are the Usual Roles and Responsibilities of a Tech Support Specialist?

If you take a look at the job description of any professional IT specialist, you will see this, or something similar to this:

“Problem solver and problem solving scalability, able to present technical information, processing improvement, software maintenance, software testing, network design and implementation, good customer relationship, software performance tuning, network performance tuning, database performance tuning, hardware analysis and repair.”

This about sums up what the roles and responsibilities of a tech support professional are. Basically, the tech support specialist is there to fix your computer when it breaks down.

General Roles and Responsibilities
TI support specialists provide technical support, advice, and assistance to customers and businesses with technical, hardware, and software system problems, be it a customer with a single PC at home or a business with several PC’s and laptops. Specialists generally deal directly with customers and must effectively communicate answers in a way that the customers can understand. The most common problem technical support specialists have to face are connection problems, inabilities to access data, slow performance, inefficient programs, and to replace deficient hardware. Some specialists may work on site to modify, install, clean, and repair computer software and hardware.

Customer Service
Part of the customer service of technical support specialists is to answer inquiries from computer users. They may run diagnostic programs to determine the causes of and help resolve problems. Additional job duties may include writing training manuals, training users, and overseeing computer information systems. Resolving issues with Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN), and other systems is frequently done together with the computer users or business.

Technical support specialists respond to inquiries by telephone, e-mail, live chat, or other means. Typically, they are required to listen to the customer’s problem, diagnose the nature of the issue and walk the caller through the steps required to solve it. They may assist with installing software, maintaining computer systems, and repairing computer hardware. When all else fails, they are then required to go on site and fix the problem, especially if the problem is hardware in nature. In some cases, the customer may bring their PC to the tech support specialist.

Educational Background
While respect is never demanded by professional tech support specialists, they do deserve their fair share of respect, not just because of the demand of the job, but also because of their educational background. The majority of professional IT specialists hold a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, or computer engineering. Some specialize in computer information systems. A small portion are graduates of 1-year or 2-year computer systems courses.

This is understandable considering that employers need to hire only the best people as professional tech support specialists. Many tech support companies have their own training regimen for newly-hired employees so as to find out what skills the newbies really have while adjusting to the environment of a new company.

The next time you call for a professional tech support specialist, keep in mind that the person helping you to fix your computer problems on the other end isn’t just called “professional” for nothing.


By: Supportrix - Providing full spectrum technical support

Saturday, October 11, 2014

What Specs Do you Need to Compare with In Selecting the Proper Wireless Router?

A wireless router is an important piece of hardware for a home local area network, or LAN. It can also be troublesome and difficult to install and maintain if you select the wrong type of router or choose one that doesn't meet our needs. Looking carefully for the best wireless router specs can be helpful for those who want to profit from a wireless high-speed Internet connection in the home or a small business, or anywhere else that wireless routers are used.


Here are some common specs and steps to help you choose a good and proper wireless router.

Speed Ratings
Wireless routers typically advertise their speed in megabits per second (Mbps). Older Wi-Fi models offer 11 Mbps, mid-range 802.11g routers 54 Mbps, and the latest 802.11n routers claim up to 450 Mbps. You may be tempted to only look at those routers with the highest Mbps rating. However, consider that the actual performance you will achieve in practice typically averages much, much lower than the maximum rating shown on the package. Furthermore, even high speed routers cannot directly speed up your Internet connection. The extra speed boost from a faster router may not be worth the extra cost.

Find out whether your client devices all support 802.11n standard. If all of them do, you are safe to choose an 802.11n router. If they don’t, and have 802.11g instead, keep in mind that when an N device is used at the same time with a G device, effective speed is greatly reduced.

If you need to use G and N devices at the same time, a dual-band router will help to avoid interference. You can connect a G device to 2.4GHz, and an N device to 5 GHz. Remember that the concurrent dual-band router and dual-band client Wi-Fi adapter don’t always mean double speed. If your PC has only one Wi-Fi adapter, you can only connect to one band at a time. Even if you have 2 adapters, under Windows it doesn't give you double speed, but only the maximum of either. 5GHz gives a weaker signal compared to 2.4GHz, especially at longer distance from the router.

Evaluate Signal Strength
Different wireless routers are rated for different signal strengths. Even for a small apartment, signal strength can be an issue even with the most-up-to-date router. Figure out which one fits your network needs. Signal strength is best evaluated by real-life tests, and not from the manufacturer’s published specifications. Try to spot for the obstacles in an interior home environment, as well as the specific distance that the signal will need to go for use in any particular part of the building.

In households or small businesses, wireless Internet routers are installed in a visible central area. Purchasing a stylish router can make this an attractive addition to the decor. Routers vary in both size and shape. If you plan to install the router in a confined space, make sure to pick one with a suitable form factor.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

What to Look for in a Technical Support Company

All small and medium sized companies should consider having a technical support partner. Having a go-to technical support company is always good for your business. Unfortunately, hiring a technical support team is often pushed in the backseat. People always want to focus on the front-end of the business and often times neglect the technical side. What they do not know is that if one of the computers crash or if the network system doesn't work, it will create more damage to the business than they could think of. The truth of the matter is, a computer or network downtime can lead to increased overhead costs due to lost in productivity, customer satisfaction issues, and even lost revenues.

Small and medium sized businesses should keep in mind that a reliable, effective, efficient, and well-running computer or network system will lead to increased productivity, reduced overhead costs, and improved profitability.

The challenge now is how to select the right technical support partner for your business. Finding the right technical support will not only save you precious time and money in the long run, but will also spell the difference between merely surviving an emergency and powering through. Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing the tech support company that is right for you.

Dedicated Workforce
The technical support company you should choose should have a good number of highly-skilled experts. They should be well trained and should be certified computer tech support specialists so they can resolve whatever computer or networking issues you might encounter promptly and efficiently. Remember, these people will have the important task of providing technical support to your existing programs and systems, but are also responsible in developing and implementing programs that will increase your company's productivity and efficiency. Apart from that, they should also pay close attention to data security and backup.

Certifications and Credentials
Look for a technical support partner with certifications that matter. The technical experts should be certified in Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) and Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP). For networking, look for CompTIA, Network+, or A+ accreditation. An Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) is an added plus if you have Mac computers around.

Top Class Infrastructure
The technical support company you should choose should have all the latest technological advancements and equipments to better support all your technical needs. Make sure their telecommunication equipments, servers, software, Internet infrastructure, etc are top notch to provide fast and efficient support.

Credibility
Your technical support partner should be highly-credible. As a matter of fact, their reputation is all they can offer as evidence of their viability. A highly-credible tech support company will have a long list of clients that you can use as reference. Pay attention to their customer reviews to gauge their performance.

Availability
The technical support partner you should choose should be able to accommodate your technical needs at any time. If you can find a 24/7 service provider whom you can reach via call, chat, or email, the better to avoid any downtime.