Recent Blog Posts
Why Adjust Your Icon Size? Sometimes you might have a difficult time seeing the icons when they are smaller, particularly if you have poor eyesight or you have a desktop background that makes things a little difficult or contrasting. In cases like this, you can make your icons larger so they stand out more against your background. In some cases, you might just have too many icons on your desktop that take up a ton of space. You can give yourself more desktop real estate by making the icons smaller. However, in this case, we do highly recommend that you reconsider what you store on your desktop, as if your screen is cluttered with icons in this way, chances are you will only make the problem worse by opening up more space to include even more icons. How to Adjust Your Desktop Icon Size Windows will default to the Medium size for your desktop icons, but if you want to change their size to your preference, it?s easy enough to do. All you have to do is right-click anywhere on the desktop and use the View option to change the size. You will see options for Large, Medium, and Small icons. If you?re on a Windows 11 machine, you have some more options at your disposal, too. You can hold down the Ctrl key and scroll up or down on the mouse wheel to make the icons bigger or smaller than the preset sizes allow. That?s all there is to it! With a couple of simple tricks at your disposal, you can customize your desktop icons to your preference. For more great tips and tricks, be sure to keep your eyes on our blog.
Why Do You Need Multiple Calendars? Using multiple calendars can help you with a variety of tasks. If you have multiple streams of tasks going on around the office from various departments or obligations you have, you can use multiple calendars to split them up and segment them accordingly. You can then toggle these calendars on and off so you can get a good idea of what you need to do and when. Furthermore, you can apply different settings to each calendar, setting them up just the way you need to for each of their specific needs. How You Can Set Up Multiple Calendars To set up your multiple Google calendars, log into your Google account and go to calendar.google.com. From here, you can access your settings by clicking on the gear-shaped icon. You?ll find Settings under the drop-down menu. Select Add Calendar and Create New Calendar, then name your new calendar and provide descriptions and time zones for scheduling. Once you?re ready, go ahead and click Create Calendar. Now, you just have to set up your calendar the way you?d like it using the settings available to you. You can now set events on your new calendar using a color-coded display, if needed. You can now toggle calendars on and off to hide events from one calendar to the next. It?s a great way to ensure that you are getting more done by seeing and getting distracted by less. What do you think? Will you use multiple Google calendars to get more done during the day?
Productivity is Nothing More than a Metric Or, if you?d rather think about it differently, productivity is just an equation that helps you maximize your results, whatever it is you happen to be engaged in doing. This equation is as follows: Productivity = Output/Input It?s as simple as that?but despite this apparent simplicity, there are still many, many points of confusion that often trip up people. People Tend to Overcomplicate Productivity Many people see maximizing their input?the number of tasks they complete, for instance?or simply always having something to work on as the way to help ensure they are being productive. These approaches, however, cut out the real crux of the matter?how much value your efforts actually bring. This means that there are various data points that are necessary to measure different aspects of productivity, but that?s something we?ll cover next time. Productivity is one of many business aspects that should be prioritized and considered to really ensure that your operations are as successful as they have the potential to be. That?s something that we can assist your business with, through the various IT services and solutions that we can provide and manage on your behalf. Find out more by giving us a call at (603) 889-0800, and make sure you check back to learn how productivity can be effectively measured today.
Creating Your Shortcut First, you should right-click anywhere on the desktop that isn?t already filled up by an icon or application. You can then select New from the menu that appears. Next, select Shortcut. You?ll see a new dialog box that asks you to provide a program, file, or folder that you?d like to make a shortcut for. You can use the Browse button to find the file locally. If you have found the file, folder, or program you want to open, hit the OK button. You?ll see the file path populate in the dialog box. Click the Next button, and you?ll be asked to give your shortcut a name. Once you?re ready, click Finish. That?s all there is to it! Of course, the option to move the folder or file to your desktop also exists, but we urge you to consider who else might require access to that file or folder. For example, if you have a file stored on your network, the last thing you want is to move it from your network to your desktop, thus preventing anyone else from accessing it in their time of need. Plus, depending on your role within your organization, you might not have permissions to do such a thing in the first place. It?s better to just make a shortcut on your desktop and use that to access the file or folder. It?s cleaner and more effective. There are many benefits to keeping your files and folders stored in a centralized location, including the ability to back up said data in the event of a disaster. If you?re interested in doing so, you can also pin a specific file, folder, or program to the taskbar at the bottom of your screen, also allowing easy access. To do this, just click and drag the specified file, folder, or program to the taskbar. You can then click on it to access it whenever you need to. We hope you find some value in this tip! Be sure to keep an eye on our blog for more just like this.
In light of the holiday, let?s go over some best practices to keep in mind year-round. Data Management Practices for Business Success There are various ways that you can optimize the data that your business stores, such as: Being Smart About Your Storage You?re going to need someplace to keep your data. Rather than keeping data on individual workstations and devices, we always recommend that you keep it in a shared network location, stored on a centralized server. This allows you to not only maintain greater control over your data, it also enables greater collaborative potential. Using Multiple Forms of Data Storage It?s important that you also keep multiple copies of your data, in various formats. We?ve already mentioned keeping your data on a centralized server. Don?t stop there?lean on cloud resources to maintain additional copies. This not only can make remote work and collaboration more attainable, it can also assist with your business continuity by better ensuring you have access to your data should something keep you out of the office?or worse, something has happened to your in-office infrastructure. We frequently espouse the benefits of something called the 3-2-1 Backup methodology, which is effectively shorthand for proper business continuity data management?you want to maintain (at least) three copies of your data, in (at least) two storage mediums, (at least) one of which being cloud-based. Establishing Standards Keeping your data is one thing. Using it is another thing entirely, and one that relies on your ability to find the data that you?re seeking out. This is precisely why it is important that you create and commit to naming conventions that explain what the data in question is so it is easy to locate it later. To do so, you need to create a format that all files will follow, involving details like dates, project names, and other useful tidbits that will help identify your data and make it easier to organize and seek out when needed. We Can Help You Keep Track of One of Your Business? Most Essential Resources Reach out to White Mountain IT Services today at (603) 889-0800 to learn how we can help you manage your data, and the rest of your essential IT.