This is your Final Notice of Domain Listing?

Have you gotten one of the notices below?  We get them regularly and they’re not legit.  If you’ve read my other blog posts about spotting email scams and fraud you know there are several ways to spot a scam or bad email.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, and again, and again…. you are your own best protection when it comes to avoiding scams, phishing and keeping your computer and personal information safe. You have to THINK before you click!

First,  check out the email address of the sender:  From: “Domain Services” <domainservicb73@hotmail.com> Hotmail?  Who uses hotmail for business communications!?

This particular notice is worded to be completely confusing.  It starts by calling the service “Domain listing”.  Further along it morphs into a “Domain Service Notice” then it’s a “business Domain name search engine registration” and then it’s “SEARCH SUBMISSIONS”.

There are search engine optimization (SEO) services offered by legitimate companies but they’ll never to send you an invoice before sitting down with you to discuss your company, website and goals.

In short, the email below is trash and should be deleted from your inbox should you get it.   Have a question about an email you’ve received – let me know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: “Domain Services” <domainservicb73@hotmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 10:20 AM
To: SUPPORT@VIRTUALDENSITY.COM
Subject: Domain Notification: CHRIS F This is your Final Notice of Domain Listing – ADOMAINYOUKNOW.COM

Email has become the go-to communication medium for businesses of all sizes. It’s not uncommon to see people emailing one another when they could just as easily talk. But, many emails are poorly written. They create confusion, and sometimes both parties end up having to take time out of their busy days to clarify. The best way to stop this is by writing good emails to begin with.

Here’s six tips that can help ensure that the emails you send get your message across.

1. Have a clear decision or action
99% of the emails you send are to ask someone to take an action, make a decision, reply etc. So, before you write any email pause for a minute and ask yourself:
Why am I writing this?
What do I want the recipient to do with this email?

If you can’t provide a clear answer to these two questions, you may want to try contacting the recipient through another medium, or take some  more time to think before writing your email.

2. Write it backwards
Once you know why you are writing your email, the actual writing becomes a lot easier. Because you will most likely be asking the recipient to do something, why not start with the request. Simply write down, in clear English, what you want done.  Once you have that, then you can provide justification to your request, or background information.

The reason this works is because many business owners/managers/employees are busy, they don’t have time to read a whole report’s worth of information that ends with a request. Most of the time they will just skip to the end anyway, so why not put the most important part – the action that you want them to take – at the beginning.

3. Use lists
Many poorly written emails aren’t actually poorly written. They are just formatted in an inefficient manner. In most English classes, students are taught to develop their ideas or arguments through logical paragraphs, while having only one point to each paragraph.
Pause for a minute and think: If you get an email asking you to make a decision on what product to buy with five paragraphs each talking about a benefit or reason, would you actually read the whole email? Chances are the answer is no.

To be more efficient, break your ideas/reasons/arguments into a list. You can usually summarize the majority of main ideas of each paragraph into a single sentence. This makes them easier for you and the recipient to read.

4. KISS
We don’t mean you should kiss your monitor. In this context, KISS stands for Keep It Simple and Straightforward. You shouldn’t have long essays or arguments with lots of padding. Get to the point immediately and provide the essential information.

If you find yourself writing an essay or long report, email is not the medium you should be using. Instead put your thoughts into a word document that you attach to the email. In the email itself put a brief overview along with the most important points and tell your recipient to check the attachment for more information.

5. Have a relevant subject line
The subject of your email is like the title of a report or news article. Without a solid subject, the chances of your email being opened and read are low. It would be a good idea to write your whole email first, then the subject.

A good subject line can both interest the recipient enough and provide enough insight so the reader can infer what you want. If you look over a subject line of an email you are about to send and see that it doesn’t make sense or reference the email itself, it would be a good idea to re-write it.

6. Proofread everything
This may make sense now, but we are all guilty of writing an email and pressing send without reading the content over. Once you hit send, the damage is done, you won’t be able to get the email back. That’s why it’s a good idea to read over your email after you finish.

You should look for any obvious spelling and grammar errors along with ensuring that the content makes sense. If you think it’s OK  then you can probably go ahead and send it. If you are the least bit hesitant, walk away from it for a few minutes then come back and read over it again. You will likely be able to see a couple of changes.

There are many options that allow you to improve your company’s productivity. Contact us today at 203.987.4566 to see how we can help.

There have been plenty of important inventions over the last 100 years among those is the computer. Unfortunately, they come with a downside: Destructive malware such as viruses have become a major problem for computer users because viruses have been built up to such mythical proportions that many users simply don’t know fact from fiction.

A virus is a computer program that infects a computer and can generally copy itself and infect other computers. Most viruses aim to cause havoc by either deleting important files or rendering a computer inoperable. Most viruses have to be installed by the user, and usually come hidden as programs, browser plugins, etc.

You may hear the term malware used interchangeably with virus. Malware is short for malicious software and is more of an umbrella term that covers any software that aims to cause harm. A virus is simply a type of malware.

Now that you know more about viruses and malware, here are five common myths about viruses that confuse people, and the truths associated with them.

Myth 1: Error messages = virus 

A common thought many have when their computer shows an error message is that they must have a virus. In truth, bugs in the software, a faulty hard drive, memory or even issues with your virus scanner are more likely the cause. The same goes if your computer crashes, it likely could be because of something other than a virus.

However, if you do see error messages, or your computer crashes while trying to run a program or open a file, you should scan for viruses, just to rule it out.

Myth 2: Computers can infect themselves
It’s not uncommon to have clients bring in their computers  and exclaim that a virus has “magically appeared” on the system all by itself. Despite what some may believe, viruses cannot infect computers by themselves. Users have to physically open an infected program, or visit a site that hosts the virus and download it.

To minimize the chance of being infected you should steer clear of any adult oriented sites – they are often loaded with viruses,. A good rule of thumb is: If the site has illegal or ‘adult’ content, it likely has viruses that can and will infect your system if visited, or if you download anything from there.

Myth 3: Only PCs can get viruses
If you read the news, you probably know that many of the big viruses and malware infect mostly systems running Windows. This has led users to believe that other systems like Apple’s OS X are virus free.

The truth of the matter is: All systems could be infected by a virus, it’s just that the vast majority of them are written to target Windows machines. This is because most business computers run Windows. That being said, there is an increasing number of threats to OS X and Linux, as these systems are becoming more popular. If this trend keeps up, we will see an exponential rise in the number of viruses infecting these systems, too.

Myth 4: If I reinstall Windows and copy all my old files over, I’ll be ok
Some believe that if their system has been infected, they can simply copy their files onto a hard drive, or backup solution, reinstall Windows and then copy their files back and the virus will be gone.

Wiping your hard drive and reinstalling Windows may get rid of any viruses. However, if the virus is in the files you backed up, your computer will be re-infected when you move the files back and open them. The key here is that if your system is infected, you need to scan the files and remove the virus before you put them back onto your system.

Myth 5: Firewalls protect networks from viruses
Windows comes with a firewall built into the OS, and many users have been somewhat misled as to what it actually does, and that firewalls can protect from viruses. That’s actually a half truth. Firewalls are actually for network traffic, their main job is to keep networks and computers connected to the network secure; they don’t scan for viruses.

If a virus is sending data to a computer outside of your network a firewall may pickup this traffic and alert you to it or stop the flow of data altogether. But some of the bigger viruses actually turn off the firewall, rendering your whole network open to malware attacks.

What can I do?
There are many things you can do to minimize the chances of infection. The most important is to install a virus scanner on all of your systems, keep it up to date and run it regularly. And, it’s just as important to be proactive by:

• Not installing programs from sources you don’t know or trust
• Being wary of any program that asks you for your password
• Not installing any browser add-ons or plugins suggested by websites. Instead, download them from the browser’s app store, or the developer’s website.

If you are worried about the security of your systems and network, call us today at 203.987.4566. Our team  can work with you to provide a plan that will meet your needs.

When it comes to operating a business, you’re always balancing costs and profits. And you’re probably eager to cut costs whenever possible. One area that has probably demanded a large investment is technology. The problem with technology is that it can be hard to keep costs at bay.

Here are five ways you can reduce IT spending.

Backup everything
If your business is like most other small to medium companies, the majority of your important files are located on one server or maybe spread across a couple of computers. Hardware doesn’t last forever and the machine where you have your data stored on will eventually stop working.

When it does, you’ll have to replace it, and your files that were on it could be lost. The cost to recover them will be high. To minimize this risk, you should invest in a solid backup platform that runs on a regular basis.

Yes, this will cost money now, but would you rather have a copy of your systems and data from yesterday which can be easily implemented when you have a problem, or would you like to pay to maybe recover year’s worth of data? Or worse, not be able to recover the data at all? Backups will save you costs in the long-run, not to mention the stress they will help you avoid.

Have a strict anti virus policy
Even if you tell your employees not to download programs or browser extensions, they’re still going to do it.  Simply having computers and devices accessing the Internet through your network puts you at risk. If your systems are hacked or infected, you can lose data, face high recovery costs or worse.

Minimize the chance of malware infections and the risk of being hacked by having antivirus software and security solutions installed on every computer. This makes it easier for you or your IT partner to ensure your systems’ antivirus software is up to date and scanning when it should be. This will minimize the chance of infection and keep costs down.

Document everything
The more your company grows, the more technology you’ll use.  If you document all of your systems, computers, software, etc. including where it’s located and when it was implemented. You will be able to track things down quickly when needed, thus managing your systems better.

Look into a CRM/ERP/HRM solution
There are so many software solutions out there that can help you plan and run your operations. If you’ve been tracking customer or employee data by using a simple spreadsheet, you could be getting more out of a tailored solution.

Solutions like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or even Human Resources Management (HRM) sfotware can help you spot hidden costs or even plan more efficiently, which will reduce costs well into the future.

Look for fixed-price solutions
A major problem with all technology related systems is that predicting costs is nearly impossible. You simply don’t know when/if an important piece of hardware will fail. This becomes even harder if you don’t have expertise in tech.

One of the best ways to save money on IT costs is to outsource. Almost every IT provider offers flat-rate services that cover your systems with anti-virus and patching and can provide network documentation for all your hardware and software.  Since it’s a regular, fixed, monthly cost it makes budgeting for IT easier.  You can then focus on your business, and over time will see a decrease in IT costs.

If you are looking to cut your IT expenses call us 203.987.4566.  We can help you reduce your IT expenses and make your business more profitable.

One of the more popular debates about the Internet is: who exactly owns your data and information when it goes online? Most of the information regarding this is held in the Terms of Service, which most people click and agree to without reading. The interesting thing about this is that web oriented companies usually update their policies on regular basis and often introduce changes you may not be aware of. With so many websites, it can be a chore to keep track of all these changes.  Luckily there is an online database that makes this easy.

Since Terms of Service for websites change on a fairly regular basis, it’s hard for us to know if and when such changes have been made, and what exactly has been changed. That’s why a group of lawyers and professionals started Docracy. According to the website, “Docracy is a home for contracts and other legal documents, socially curated by the communities that use them.” The company aims to make legal documents freely available.

Part of this site is the Terms of Service section which is a database of over 1,000 popular websites’ Terms of Service and Privacy policies. It tracks them and notes when changes are made, and highlights these changes so they are easily found.

If you visit the site here, you can see a list of changes that companies have recently made, and clicking on one should give you basic change information. Clicking on See Full Changes will bring up the full doc with the recent changes highlighted.

Selecting See Full Directory will bring up every policy that the website tracks, and allow you to read them.

Is this useful for my business?
Online law is very complicated, and many companies that run websites that you may have accounts with often don’t make it easy for you to find legal contracts or policies. A good example of where Docracy is helpful is if you want to know who exactly owns your content stored on a popular cloud service. You can go to Docracy’s database and quickly find the related Terms of Service. From there you can download the document and look through it, or view it on the site.

Basically this site can help you get a clearer picture on the various contracts you sign with websites, and how these websites plan to use your data. For many business owners, knowing exactly what other companies are going to do with your data can help you find a more secure solution. After all, being prepared with the correct knowledge is half the battle.

If you would like to learn more about Docracy, or how a change to a Terms of Service could affect your business please contact us today.

Operating a business is never easy. There is always an element of risk, and always external forces that threaten your business. As such, many disasters are simply beyond your control. These disasters are a part of business, and with extreme weather changes we experience today, owners and managers need to be prepared for almost anything. For many companies, the only way to prepare for adverse times is by developing a Business Continuity Plan.

Companies are generally hesitant to adopt a formal Business Continuity Plan (BCP) because they’re unfamiliar with the subject matter and fear the perceived costs and complexity involved. We don’t deny that plans are usually on the complex side, but there are good reasons as to why your company should adopt one. Here’s five.

1. Your business will be perceived as more valuable
Banks, venture capitalists and other investors tend to err on the side of caution, and as such will usually look to businesses that appear to be stable as more viable investment vehicles. Companies with a BCP are often seen to be more valuable, as they can address diverse situations better than those without. As a result, they will make the investor more money over time.

2. Compliance
Big companies in a number of industries have had continuity plans for years and many have started to look for suppliers and vendors with continuity plans. Beyond that, some industries and government bodies have made BCP a requirement. If you are a vendor, supplier or even in specific industries, it is a good idea to have one in order for to ensure business runs smoothly.

3. Potentially lower insurance premiums
Operating a business is filled with risks, and business managers are often looking for ways to minimize it. One way includes the purchase of insurance – many industries and situations require you to carry it. Generally, insurance providers will give more favorable rates to companies that take steps to minimize risk. A solid BCP will go a long way in showcasing how risk-averse your company is, which could lead to lower rates or at the very least, stable rates.

4. More efficient communication
Developing a BCP involves constant, company-wide communication in order for it to be successful. For many businesses, this involves collaboration between team members who don’t normally work together on a regular basis.

A BCP also fosters communication plans during disasters, both within the organization – most employees have a role, and will need to work together to pull through – and outside – customers, suppliers and other stakeholders will be contacting you. If your employees know how to communicate what needs to be done, effects of the disaster will be minimized.

5. Survival
Recent natural disasters around the globe have highlighted that businesses without a plan will most likely be forced out of business. Having a BCP will minimize the chances of this, while preparing your business for survival.

If you are looking to implement a business continuity plan, or improve on an already existing one, please contact Christopher Furey at Virtual Density today. We have affordable and effective solutions and can customize one just for you.

When it comes to your business there are many dangers that could negatively impact your bottom line, or even force you out of business. As such, it’s a good idea to have a plan in place to help keep your business operational during any disaster. This strategy is commonly referred to as a Business Continuity Plan and is something that companies will benefit from looking into.

While a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) can be complicated, and comprised of many different objectives, the main reason companies include this in their business strategy is to build up resilience. Disasters of many kinds can result in either lost data, sales or even business. While a BCP won’t prevent large-scale disasters, it will help your business recover quicker. The goal is to turn a disaster into a mere inconvenience by properly preparing for the worst.

When looking at how resilient your business is, there are three main aspects to consider.

RTO
RTO stands for Recovery Time Objective and is the time period from the beginning of the disaster to recovery of operations. This number, or time period, will be different for every company. For example, companies that operate online stores will likely have a short RTO, as they rely on 24/7 uptime to conduct business and sales.

In general the RTO is an objective, one that employees and stakeholders should strive for. Having one can help planners identify potential problem areas along with critical functions that must be recovered and any preparations that will be necessary. If a business does not address, or identify a set time to recovery they could see an unnecessary increase in recovery times, or worse lost profits.

RPO
RPO stands for Recovery Point Objective and represents the amount of data a business is willing, or can afford, to lose. The easiest way to figure this out is to look at your systems and think about how much data or information you personally can lose before being unable to do your job. From there, you can work out the frequency with which you should back up your systems.

For example: If you figure that you can lose a day’s worth of data, then your backup should be done on a daily basis. If you currently back up your data or systems once a week, and figure you can only miss a day, then RPO helps you realize this is not enough and that you need a system or plan that better meets your needs.

The difference between RTO and RPO is that RTO is a broad process that covers the whole Business Continuity timeline, while RPO is focused on data and backup.

ROI
When looking at different Business Continuity systems, it is always a good idea to calculate the ROI, or Return on Investment. You can calculate the cost of the integrating any plan, time to implement and recovery, expected value it can bring your business and avoided losses. This will give you a pretty good picture on whether current systems are strong enough, and if new alternatives are better.

By figuring out the time you expect to recover, how often you should back up and the total ROI of proposed, or existing, systems you can gain a clearer picture of how resilient your company is.

If you’re looking to make your company a little more resilient, why not get in touch with us? We are happy to sit down and discuss your options with you.

How many times have you been in a meeting only to have a participant’s phone ring or vibrate? This is a common occurrence and to many, this is the type of interruption that drives them nuts. While smartphones have changed our lives, mostly for the better, there are still times when we don’t follow common etiquette.

Here’s six cell phone etiquette tips you should practice to ensure you show respect to your peers and people around you while on your phone.

1. Watch what you snap – Almost every phone has a camera these days, and we can’t help but take pictures of nearly everything. While it is convenient to take pictures with your phone, there are times when it’s not a good idea, such as in a meeting, for example.
2. Indoor voices - How many time have you heard someone yelling into their phone on a busy street. This is often because they think that they can’t be heard by the person on the other end. The vast majority of modern phones have powerful enough microphones and noise cancelling technology to enable users to talk with an indoor voice, even while out on the busy street. If the person you’re talking to can’t hear you, try cupping your other hand over your mouth and directing the sound towards the phone.
3. Darn you autocorrect! - Most phones use touchscreen keyboards as their input for text. This can be quite inaccurate, so OS developers created autocorrect, which often picks the wrong word, leading to some potentially embarrassing situations. When typing on your phone, be sure to always read over what you have written before you hit send.
4. Resist the beep - One of the most annoying things about smartphones is that every time a notification sounds some people rush to check it. When you’re in meetings, or talking with customers/employees, ignore your phone until you are free to answer/check. If you are expecting an important call, excuse yourself before turning your attention to your phone.
5. Pick the right sounds- You can set the phone to vibrate, ring, or for lights to flash, etc. If you are in a meeting, it’s best to set your phone on silent, as even vibrate is enough to distract these days. Really, the only time your phone should “ring” is when you have it in your pocket, or are in a loud location and unlikely to hear it.
6. Turn it off every now and then - Smartphones bring the ability to be always connected, which can be both good and bad. Sometimes being constantly connected leads to higher stress, and increased work hours at the expense of your personal life. You shouldn’t be too afraid of spending a bit of time away from your phone every now and then.

What are your etiquette rules in regards to phone use? Let us know.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

As a species we are social creatures, needing relationships to survive. That’s likely why social media websites are so successful. They give us a way to interact with others, even when we are physically alone. Organizations have found that social media sites are great marketing tools that can build a brand better than almost any other method. One social media use, often overlooked, is learning more about a job applicant coming for an interview.

Here’s three steps you can employ to learn a bit more about potential hires before they come in for an interview.

1. Google them
Googling yourself can be seen as an exercise in vanity, however putting a potential new hire’s name into Google Search is smart. You can enter their name along with specific queries that can help you narrow information down. One thing you can do is enter their name with double quotes around it and the city they are based in, this will help you find their presence on related social media sites. You can also input their area code or zip code to narrow down the search.

The point of this is to help you find more information about the person without having to search on individual social media sites. This will also return results like photo albums, recent account activity and maybe even some hobbies and interest groups. Searching on Google and other search engines is a good way to see if the prospective employee is legitimate.

2. Take a look on Facebook
Almost everyone and their dog are on Facebook today, so don’t forget to search for them on this popular service. And the recently announced Graph Search should make searching a lot easier too. Enter their name, along with some specific interests or information from the resume and the chances of finding this person’s profile go up.

While some would argue the ethics of doing this, you may see information or posts that conflict with information in their resume, or even paint a better picture of the applicant. For example, you can ask them about their family when they come in for an interview. It could prove to be a great ice breaker. And in terms of ethics, any information an applicant posts in public is findable and therefore fair game to use in assessing them and their fit within your organization.

3. LinkedIn
Most social media sites focus on the social aspect of people’s lives, while LinkedIn focuses on the more career and professional oriented areas. Searching for the candidate on LinkedIn can often shed more light on their history, and may even showcase common links between you and them. If you notice that the candidate worked for a previous employee or a professional contact of yours, you could contact that person to see if they have any thoughts about the candidate.

Researching your future employees and contractors is a good idea because it can help you learn more about them than you might otherwise do from just an interview. It also may give you a deeper understanding of whether they would be a good fit for the company. If you would like to learn more about how you can leverage social media in your company please contact Chris Furey or Jenn Morandi at Virtual Density today.

Some people dream of owning their own business.  They dream of working in their PJs from the couch while simultaneously spending quality time with their families and friends.  This dream, as many business owners know, is often a laughable one as work-life balance can be non-existent. It doesn’t have to be this way however and with a little work on your productivity you can actually get something akin to a good balance.

Here are three tips to help small business owners or managers be more productive and from that achieve a better work-life balance.

Know how you spend your time
To be productive, you need to know how you spend your time. The easiest way to do this is to keep a log, or journal, of what you do each day. You should include everything you do in relation to work, including: travel time, Facebook breaks, time spent checking emails, meetings, etc.

The goal here is twofold. Firstly, you get a solid glimpse of how you spend each day; secondly, you can see if there is anything you do that takes up way too much time. Some experts suggest you do this for a week at least. To get the best results though, it would be better to do this for at least two weeks to a month.

There are a few different ways you can go about journaling your activities. For the old-fashioned among us, go buy a pocket calendar that has at least one page per each day. For the more technical, your email program has a calendar that you can record activities on. For the mobile crowd your phone’s native calendar app will work great.

Now, it’s time to start recording your activities. Record when you start one, and when you finish. From there, clearly label the activity. Over a few weeks, or even days, you will begin to see a clear picture of how you spend your time.

Plan to be more productive
Once you’ve figured out where you spend your time, you can begin to schedule around your strengths and weaknesses. The key here is to schedule time that is uninterrupted so you can focus on one task. If you find that you are checking your email every five minutes, it may be a good idea to schedule time in the morning and just after lunch for checking and replying to emails. When you aren’t in that time period, you can work in a focused way on something else.

By sticking to a more rigid schedule you will find your productivity starts to rise. If you are having a tough time keeping to a set schedule, try using the pomodoro technique. This is where you set a certain amount of time for one task, and gradually increase the amount of time you focus on that task.

Play off your strengths
If you are a small business owner, chances are you wear lots of hats.  If you are aware that you are constantly spending time on bookkeeping and yet hardly get anything done because you lack the necessary accounting skills, it may be a good idea to look into hiring a part-time bookkeeper.

Many business owners struggle with delegation, as they feel the need to control everything. One way to challenge this idea is by looking at your hourly rate. If you charge $100 an hour and an bookkeeper is $40 an hour, it makes sense to hire the accountant instead.

By outsourcing, you will find that you have more time to focus on what you’re good at. As a result your productivity will rise and a better work-life balance will soon follow.

Virtual Density can help you, too. If you’d like to learn more about how our IT systems can help make you even more productive, please call us 203.987.4566 or email us sales@virtualdensity.com.