PC MIRACLES, INC.

May 2010

Issue 40
PC Miracles Connection
“How To Get Your Employees
To Cheerfully Put In MORE Hours”
What’s
Who doesn’t want employees that are more productive in the workplace? Yet personal
Inside
issues, illness and family obligations often prevent employees from coming in. That’s
why so many employers are now enabling remote access to their network.
Whether you call it “working from home,” or your “virtual office,” the idea is the
How To Get Your same; your network is configured to give you and your staff the ability to work from
Employees some location other than the office. While most business owners and managers pulling
To Cheerfully Put 60 hour work-weeks love the idea of putting in some of those hours from the comfort of
their home, they often fear that employees given the same luxury won’t be as productive.
In MORE Hours

Should You Be However, studies have shown that employees working from home are actually far more
Afraid of productive than those who are limited to working at the office. The biggest fear is that
Windows 7? employees will goof off and not take their job seriously; however, that fear is on the de-
Details On Page 2 cline as more and more businesses are pursuing this (23 million and growing to be ex-
act!)

What To Do When While telecommuting will not work in every situation, there is no doubt that technol-
You Outgrow Your ogy has made working from home extremely practical whether a few times a month or
Email every week. As a matter of fact, offering work-from-home options can give you a com-
Find Out On Page 3 petitive advantage in attracting and retaining the best employees. Here are some addi-
tional benefits to allowing your people remote access:
• Employees who are sick can continue to work without infecting the office or losing
What’s So Special an entire day of work.
About The Number 17?
Full Story On Page 4 • Employees forced to stay home to take care of sick family members can continue to
You Could Be The work instead of taking off long periods.
Winner! • Inclement weather or heavily congested traffic won’t shut down your office.
• Key managers with a heavy workload will actually be more productive if given the
ability to work from home on evenings and weekends.
• Allowing employees flexibility during peak workloads (eg. CPAs during tax season)
makes employees happier to put in the extra hours from a home office.
• Employees with temporary or permanent disabilities can continue to be fully func-
tional in a home environment.

Continued on the next page...

Page 2 PC Miracles Connection

How To Get Started With A Work Windows 7

From Home Program Upgrade
While there are several options for remotely accessing your Without
network, there are two primary ways used by most. They are: Fear
Remote Web Workplace: Most business owners feel
software upgrades are akin to
Pros: It’s easy to use. This method of remote access automati- having a dental extraction: not a
cally comes with most Microsoft Small Business Server soft- pleasant experience. But an
ware. As long as your server is configured properly, you upgrade to Windows 7 can
should be able to use the remote features. actually be pain-free. Here’s
Cons: Your desktop in your office has to be turned on and
why:
XP Mode. If you’re worried
functioning. Because this method actually takes over your about compatibility issues, fear
computer, any issue with your computer that requires a not. XP Mode allows you to run
physical reboot (meaning you need to be there at the ma- older programs in Windows XP
chine) renders your work from home session impossible. and simultaneously run every-
Virtual Private Network (VPN):
thing else in Windows 7. If your
main business software runs
Pros: Doesn’t rely on another computer in the office to work. well now in Windows XP or
Also, a VPN has some flexibility, since it can be set up as a Vista, it should run just fine in
hardware or software VPN. XP Mode.
Cons: Tends to run a little slower than remote web work-
For even more peace of mind,
make sure you contact your
place. Basically, if you need to do a lot on your desktop PC,
business software vendor and
VPN may not be for you. get their a-ok before beginning
Want to find out which method is right for you? an upgrade. You can also try

FREE Remote Workplace Action Plan

this on a “test” PC before
rolling it out on your network.
During the month of May & June, we’re giving away a
Installation Time. Windows
FREE remote workplace Action Plan development. We’ll
7 set-up is significantly faster
than Vista or XP (previous
review your current situation, help you clarify what you versions of Windows). Boot-up
want, discuss various options and put together an Action times are multiples faster too.
Plan on the most cost effective, hassle-free way to implement Stuff Just Works. When you
this in your business. plug in a new scanner, camera
or other device into your
Get Your Free Action Plan Today:
computer, you don’t want to
fight with pop-up messages that
Call us now at 248-620-2201 tell you to search for drivers.
E-mail: info@pcmiracles.com
You just want it to work the
way it’s supposed to. With
Windows 7 that’s what you get.
 PC Miracles Connection Page 3

One Big Reason To Ditch

That “Free” Email Account
Using a free e-mail account can be frustrating; no help
organizing your messages, keeping track of appointments
and deadlines, or staying on track with projects. Plus, if
you want to share your electronic rolodex of prospects,
vendors & clients with employees, it’s a pain in the rump.
Worse yet, there’s no way to store and keep your e-mail
data safe and secure, and no easy way to retrieve it when
you need it.
The Answer To Your Email Woes
For many businesses, Microsoft Exchange is the answer.
This e-mail system automatically puts you and your
employees’ contacts, e-mail, calendars, and tasks all in one
place (Outlook) where they are easily accessible, backed
up, and secure.
But the cost of setting up this type of system used to be
cost-prohibitive for some companies. A server needs to be
purchased along with software and other network
components. Even on the smallest of networks, this
would add up to thousands of dollars for set-up plus
hundreds of dollars each year for maintenance.
Fortune 500 E-mail, Mom & Pop Price
“Hosted Exchange” is the cost-effective alternative. For
the cost of a few lattes per month, you can have a great
system for organizing your contacts, calendars and tasks,
plus have peace of mind that your email data is safe.
Not convinced on features and cost savings alone? Here
are 4 more reasons to consider Hosted Exchange for your
business:
1) Quick Set-Up. Installing an Exchange server at your
office could take a full day or more to complete. With
Hosted Exchange, there is no server to set up. Just
connect to the Internet, enter your log-in, and you’re
off to email land.
2) Disaster Recovery. With Hosted Exchange, your
emails, calendar, contacts and tasks are all stored in an
iron-clad data center and then replicated to another
data center. Even if the network in your office goes
down, your email service isn’t interrupted.
3) Grows As You Grow. Need an email account for that
new employee? Looking to upgrade Exchange to a
new version? Hosted Exchange makes both these
tasks a snap.
4) Keeps You In Synch. In real time, your laptop,
home PC, work PC, and mobile phone all have the
same email, contact, and calendar information.
Want To Learn More? Call Us Now:
248-620-2201

Cleaning Tips For Flat Screen Monitors

Unlike their CRT cousins, LCD monitors require a bit of special care when cleaning. Their displays are much more sensitive
and are easily scratched and damaged. Follow the easy steps below to safely clean your flat screen monitor in just a few
minutes.
1. Turn off the monitor. A dark screen will show dirty or oily areas better.
2. Use a dry, soft cloth and very gently wipe the screen. A great choice would be the microfiber type of cloth used to clean
eyeglasses.
3. If the dry cloth didn’t completely remove the dirt or oil, don’t press harder to scrub it off. Pushing directly on the screen can
cause pixels to burn out.
4. If necessary, dampen the cloth with distilled water or with an equal ratio of distilled water to white vinegar.
Tips
1.Avoid using paper towels, toilet paper, tissue paper, or something like your shirt to wipe the LCD screen. These non-
ultrasoft materials can easily scratch the screen.
2.Avoid cleaning products that contain ammonia, ethyl alcohol, acetone, or ethyl acid. These chemicals can react with the
materials that the screen is made of which could damage it or make it go yellow.
3.Never spray liquid directly on the LCD screen or it could run inside the monitor and cause damage.
 Services We Offer:

PC Miracles, Inc. • Effort-Free IT Managed Services

9207 Andersonville Rd. • Authorized DellTM Partner

Clarkston, MI 48346 • General Network Repair & Troubleshooting
www.pcmiracles.com
info@pcmiracles.com • Network Design & Implementation

Phone: 248-620-2201 • Disaster Recovery

Fax: 248-484-7128
Supporting Business Systems
Since 1994
PC Miracles Connection online at:
http://news.pcmiracles.com/
• Virus Protection & Removal
• Network Security
• E-mail & Internet Solutions
• Wireless Networking
• Spam Filtering
• Storage Solutions

Monthly Contest I’d Love To Hear From You!

Is there an article you would like to comment on? Is there a topic
Congratulations to Tara Blauvelt, who was the winner of you wants me to research? Have a funny story or a resource you
last month’s contest! This month’s winner gets a pair of want to share with the other subscribers? Send it to me! We are
Movie Tickets Submit your answers by email to always looking for new and useful content to add to the PC
info@pcmiracles.com. Miracles Connection.
Make sure you include your name and phone number,
the question number and the answer letter (for example, Dan Izydorek
1a, 2b, 3c, 4d). Entries are judged by the date and time Call: 248-620-2201
received, as well as correctness. Go Online:
www.pcmiracles.com
E-mail Dan:
info@pcmiracles.com
Only 17
1. Which space appears 17 times on the Scrabble board?
a) double letter b) double word c) triple letter
d) triple word
2. In Mary Poppins, which family lives at 17 Cherry Tree
Lane?
a) Banks b) Mitchell c) Lancaster d) Shaw
3. Which female singer had a hit called “At Seventeen”?
a) Kate Bush b) Janice Ian c) Suzanne Vega
d) Michelle Shocked
4. Who was the narrator in the movie Staglag 17?
a) Gil Stratton b) William Holden c) Don Taylor
d) Harvey Lembeck

April’s Contest Answers: 1d, 2b, 3d, 4c