technology strategies | Small Business Tech Tips

Did you know that there are some tricks to Google that most people do not know about? Blow is a listing of a few that I find very helpful!

Definitions

Pull up the definition of the word by typing define followed by the word you want the definition for. For example, typing: define Finnimbrun would display the definition of that word.

Local search

Visit Google Local enter the area you want to search and the keyword of the place you want to find. For example, typing: Restraunt at the above link would display local restaurants.

Phone number lookup

Enter a full phone number with area code to display the name and address associated with that phone number.

Find weather and movies

Type “weather” or “movies” followed by a zip code or city and state to display current weather conditions or movie theaters in your area. For example, typing weather 80021 gives you the current weather conditions for Broomfield, CO and the next four days. Typing movies 80021 would give you a link for show times for movies in that area.

Track airline flight and packages

Enter the airline and flight number to display the status of an airline flight and it’s arrival time. For example, type: delta 123 to display this flight information if available.

Google can also give a direct link to package tracking information if you enter a UPS, FedEx or USPS tracking number.

Translate

Translate text, a full web page, or search by using the Google Language Tools.

Pages linked to you

See what other web pages are linking to your website or blog by typing link: followed by your URL. For example, typing link:http://www.insertwebpagehere.com displays all pages linking to the website you put in place.

Find PDF results only

Add fileType: to your search to display results that only match a certain file type. For example, if you wanted to display PDF results only type: “HP Prolient” fileType:pdf — this is a great way to find online manuals.

Calculator

Use the Google Search engine as a calculator by typing a math problem in the search. For example, typing: 200 + 200 would display results as 400.

Stocks

Quickly get to a stock quote price, chart, and related links by typing the stock symbol in Google. For example, typing: msft will display the stock information for Microsoft.

October 18, 2013 Everon TechTips

Quick easy way to make Windows shut-down faster

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Get tired of seeing messages saying something like “Closing Network Connections” or “Saving your Settings”? Well here is a way to potentially speed this process up, this has worked for me and many people I have had try.

~Cheers!

1.	Go to the Sounds & Audio Devices Control Panel Open your control panel and select the Sounds & Audio Devices application. In there, navigate to the Sounds tab.
2.	Exit Windows sound Find the item that says Exit Windows. If you set the sound here to play nothing (<none>), your system will shut down significantly faster.

Go to the Sounds & Audio Devices Control Panel

Open your control panel and select the Sounds & Audio Devices application. In there, navigate to the Sounds tab.

Exit Windows sound

Find the item that says Exit Windows. If you set the sound here to play nothing (<none>), your system will shut down significantly faster.

February 5, 2013 Everon TechTips

iPhone LED Flash alerts for an On-call phone

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If you have an important iPhone that requires constant attention, then this feature is for you! You can now enable LED Flash Alerts to bring in 3 senses into notifications. You can now hear, feel, and see all notifications for calls, texts, and alarms. I am posting this information because a friend showed me and I didn’t know about it….and I know everything.

December 17, 2012 Everon TechTips

How to assign Windows 8 Static IP Address

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So what is a fairly simple task in Windows 7 turns out to take a bit of time in Windows 8. What task might that be? Hmm, maybe changing the IP to a static IP address! Granted, 80% of the extra time it takes to do it in Windows 8 is because of the new Metro UI, which makes it difficult to even get to the Control Panel easily.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the steps necessary to configure a static IP address in Windows 8. Along the way, I’ll mention a few things about Windows 8 and how you can make it a little less frustrating. For example, it’s nice to just add the Control Panel to your desktop rather than going through the whole Metro UI.

To get started, let’s go to the Start Screen. You can do that by moving your mouse to the lower left part of the screen (where the start button used to be), opening the charms bar by moving your mouse to the upper right corner of the screen and clicking on Start, or by simply clicking on the Windows key on your keyboard.

Once on the Start Screen, right-click on a blank space and you’ll see the All Apps icon appear at the bottom.

Now you will see Control Panel if you scroll to the right side.

Go ahead and right-click on Control Panel and you’ll see it gets checked and a few options appear at the bottom of the screen. Go ahead and click Pin to Start and Pin to Taskbar. You may have to right-click on it again to do both.

Now you can open the Control Panel from the Windows 8 desktop or from the Start screen. Open the Control Panel and click on Network and Sharing Center.

Now click on Change Adapter Settings in the left-hand pane.

Right-click on the network adapter you want to make static and click on Properties.

Now click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and then click on the Properties button.

Finally, click on Use the following IP address and type in your static IP address. Whew!! That’s a long process for something so simple.

And that’s it! Yes a little long and drawn out, but it’s the same process once you get into the Control Panel. Enjoy!

September 14, 2012 Everon TechTips

Draw on your screen in Firefox

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Have you ever had those days when your trying to explain something to someone and wished you could draw on the computer screen? Or maybe you are like me and give computer support, where being able to draw on the screen can make things clearer for the people we are trying to help. Then there are times when you would like to add comments to the screen and save the results, for reference in the future? If you use the Firefox browser, there is a free add-on that lets you draw or type on any web page and save the screen as a JPG or PNG if you wish.

It’s called Screen Draw and is available at this Mozilla link. When installed it adds a pencil icon to your Firefox toolbar. Clicking the icon opens the toolbar shown on the left.

The toolbar has the functions Clear, Save, Text, Erase, and Brush. There is also a slider to adjust the size of text or of the drawing brush. Configuring of colors and font can be done from the Firefox Add-Ons Manager with the dialog shown in the figure below.

Screen Draw may have fewer features than some commercial programs but it is free and sufficient for situations where you want a simple way to draw or to place comments on a Firefox page.