Data Doctors Tech Tips

In the past, I've warned of the dangers of using images that you find online if you decide to use them on your website or blog without explicit permission from the rights holder. It's pretty obvious that many users on the Internet just don't realize that they're actually violating copyright laws when they post what they think are 'public' images on their site.and#160; You can avoid getting caught up in costly legal situation by making it a point to review all your images that you've posted on any website or blog that you own.and#160; When you aren't sure where any image came from, the best course is to delete them and replace them with items that you know are not violating a copyright. Getty Images and other services like them offer large libraries of images that you can legally embed on your online sites for free, as long as you stick to their guidelines.and#160; Another option is using images that fall under a 'Creative Commons' license which means that the owners of the images are allowing you to make use of their image for free following certain terms and conditions.and#160; Another option is to purchase your legal images from resources like https://BigStockPhoto.com for just a few dollars each.and#160; Ignoring image copyrights can end up costing you thousands of dollars per image when you are caught, so don't ignore this issue. My advice on this issue is posted at http://www.datadoctors.com/help/columns/21988

E-mail is one of those things we just can't live without these days, but how often does it become a huge distraction that can put a dent in your productivity? When your devices are setup to constantly alert as a new message arrives, manually turning the notifications on or off is also a bit cumbersomeand#160; Wouldn't it be great if you could simply pause those incoming messages for a while when you need to focus?and#160; Gmail users can do just that with a free add-on called 'Inbox Pause'.and#160; Inbox Pause is a simple tool that adds a button which allows you to pause or un-pause your inbox with the click of a mouse.and#160; It also allows you to notify people that you're currently in 'pause mode' in the event their message is urgent.and#160; The banner at the top will remind you when you are 'pausing' so you won't forget.and#160; Download the add-on at: http://inboxpause.com

I'm constantly searching for interesting tech related items to talk about and once in a while, I discover something truly amazing that can connect people.and#160; Once example is an app called 'Be My Eyes' it's a simple but incredible idea.and#160; An inventor in Denmark created the app which allows blind users to connect with sighted users of the app for help using a video connection.and#160; Sighted users use the app to 'be the eyes' for those needing visual assistance with small tasks, like explaining what a street sign might say, describing what is in a can of food or confirming the expiration date on a milk carton.and#160; Anyone with a smartphone and the desire to help others can get involved simply by installing the app.and#160; As part of the community, you will earn points each time you help anyone, which then elevates your level in the community, providing you with more opportunities to help others.and#160; If you want a cool way to do something that makes you feel good, checkout https://bemyeyes.com to get the app.

Google has for many years offered an incredible number of free productivity tools that are especially usefel for businesses. A tool that most people have never used and is one of my favorites is 'Google Trends'. The Google Trends tool will allow you to take advantage of their huge database of search terms used by the entire Internet so you can see how often any term is typed in for Google searches. It's a powerful tool for finding relevant keywords that will help your business attract users looking for your products and services; it's a powerful market research tool. When you search for terms, you can reduce the focus to a country, a state or even just a language which will produce a line-chart displaying the interest over time. It'll allow you to adjust the time span from between the past hour back to 2004 and show you the differences between various terms over time. It's an excellent way to find search terms that are seasonal, which is helpful in creating time sensitive marketing plans. If you're one of the many that have not used Google Trends, take a second to see just how this incredibly powerful tool can help your business. Get started at https://Google.com/trends

If you're like me, your smartphone is now your primary mode of communication, but then there are those times when you would rather not hand over your personal number to allow someone to contact you.and#160; Whether you're trying to sell an item or do business with folks in another state or even country, you would likely prefer that your personal number stays private.and#160; In those instances when having a second number would be nice, there's an app for that and it's called TextMe Up.and#160; TextMe Up will allow you to generate special local or even international numbers, for those specific one-off situations that will allow you to keep our cell number private.and#160; TextMe Up also allows you to text anyone in the world using a different number, as long as you're ok with ads in the messaging app.and#160; Anyone that could use separate phone numbers for various activities in your private or public life, should checkout the TextMe Up app.and#160; Your first number is free and the app works on iOS and Android devices: http://TextMeUp.com

Cyber-thieves are constantly creating new ways to take advantage of us because we use the Internetand#160;on a daily basis. The web browser is how you navigate most of what's available online, which is why so many exploits focus on exploiting your browser.and#160; It's also common to experience various issues with your browser, so today's tip is a troubleshooting step when issues do pop up.and#160; Make sure you have two different browsers installed on all your devices so you track down Internet issues more easily.and#160; The next time you run into an Internet access situation, if you switch to the alternate browser, check to see if the issue goes away. If it does, you'll know to look into your main browser and try things like clearing your cache or running a deep malware scan.and#160; If when you change browsers, it doesn't change your problem, then it's more likely to be an issue with your device, the modem or your router, which should be reset all together.and#160; Chasing the wrong side of a problem can be quickly avoided if you try this easy troubleshooting process first.

A Rutgers student recently posted a plea to the thief that stole their laptop letting them know that they don't care about the lost computer, but they're willing to pony up $1,000 for what was on the computer.and#160; 5 years of work including their thesis was on the laptop and that laptop only. Imagine losing something that valuable, that easily? So how could this unfortunate situation have been avoided? Quite simply with a backup. and#160; We help users all the time that bought an external hard drive, called it a backup but didn't realize that it's not.and#160; An actual backup means you are able to point at your files in more than one place. When you use an external hard drive and the your files are only there, that is not an actual backup.and#160; They should live in your Documents folder on the computer and a second copy should be saved on the external hard drive.and#160; Anytime you are working on critical documents, like a thesis, don't forget that you can also use 'save as' or copy those files to any flash drive.and#160; You should also consider on of the many online backup services for your important documents because they will take care of backing up automatically.and#160; Whatever you do, do something because the worst kind of backup, is no backup at all!

Most of us are storing half a forest of paper in our filing cabinets at home or in storage and have been contemplating taking on those piles of papers.and#160; If you are attempting to eliminate as much paper from your life, it's a daunting task made obvious as soon as you open your filing cabinets. So, how and where do you get started?and#160; First step is to sort and sift with a purpose! The mountain of paper will likely include old owners manuals, tax records from 20 years ago, really old credit card receipts and paycheck stubs from a job you don't even have anymore. Toss the useless stuff first.and#160; Second step is to shred and recycle old stuff! Many important documents may already be online, so your don't need to keep all these old paper copies. Start building your recycling pile.and#160; Third step is if it isn't already online... scan it! Pile those important papers in one stack and scan them.and#160; Forth step is to stop killing trees! Just about every business you deal with offers a paperless option for your accounts. Convert those accounts to stop the flow of useless papers. The final step, especially if you are a business owner is to look at a service such as https://www.earthclassmail.com, because they can virtualize all your mail, by scanning things that generally pile up on your desk.and#160; Remember, with no more paper, comes no more paper cuts!and#160;

Every so often, we tend to get behind and sometimes we get so far behind that we really need to start over.and#160; It's really hard to stay on top of the deluge of emails we get on a daily basis and when you get a couple days behind, it can seem like it's impossible to get caught up. You can easily end up with hundreds of messages in the Inbox that you haven't been able to read.and#160; When you find yourself submerged with a pile of emails, your only way out may be to declare "email bankruptcy". This means you will be deleting every message in your inbox. It's like a financial bankruptcy; you're writing off the losses and starting over.and#160; The best way to declare email bankruptcy is to send a message to all the people you care about letting them know that you've filed email bankruptcy and if they're waiting on a response from you, they need to resend those messages. When you do this as a group message, be sure that you type all the addresses in the Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) section so you keep all those email addresses private.

How many times has this happened in your family?: "Hey, I can't connect to the wifi" or "sweety, my email isn't working again" or "I can't get on Facebook"! When experience any kind of nagging issue with your tech, whether it's your desktop or laptop computer, tablet or smartphone, remember what your shampoo bottle says.and#160; Lather, Rinse and REBOOT! Rather than lather, rinse and repeat, we're saying Lather, Rinse, Reboot to make it easier to remember.and#160; If your smarphone's email program is stuck, or you can't get the WiFi connection to work even though it says you're connected... Lather, Rinse, Reboot!and#160; If your computer starts running like molasses or that spreadsheet just isn't adding up... Lather, Rinse, Reboot!and#160; When your laptop can't connect to your favorite online resources or the screen goes blank randomly... Lather, Rinse, Reboot! All computing devices will deplete resources as they're used. The longer it's been in continuous use, the more likely that the resources have been sucked up.and#160; Whenever you terminate an app or resource, it returns most of its memory to the operating system, but a portion of that memory has been lost, so after a while, you can run low on those essential resources.and#160; The next time your computer acts catty, your desktop is dismal, or your tablet is getting tardy, before you call the IT hotline, remember to Lather, Rinse, Reboot!and#160;