Erich Stauffer

Category: Technology

  • Email Missing?

    It’s possible for email to not be delivered when spam filters anywhere along the line detect and remove spam server-side. There are two ways this can happen. One way is if the email itself is blocked by a filter. The other way is if an entire organization is filtered for a history of sending emails like in the first example.

    The spam you see in Gmail is just a fraction of your actual spam. Most is pre-filtered and you don’t even have the chance to see it. Spam filters have white, black, and gray lists.

    • White lists allow every server on it to send them mail.
    • Black lists are the opposite, blocking all mail from servers on the list.
    • Gray lists are like white, but are built when an email is sent from your server to theirs, meaning, to prevent blocking, send an email to them first.

    Good practices to avoid a spam filter are to keep your first email to a person “link and attachment”-free. For example, if you want to send an attachment to someone you’ve never written before, simply ask if you can send them an attachment first and then wait for their reply. Once they reply you are on their gray list.

    Having said all that, there has been a DNS attack going on lately that exploits a bug found in BIND. There’s a chance that the email crossed through a network mode affected by the attack and it went to the wrong server.

    The most likely cause though is human error where the email address was typed in wrong OR a new device or app was added to check their mail and it wasn’t configured to “leave messages on the server” making them exist only on the device that got their first.

    One thing to do is to change their password in case their account has been compromised.

    If the organization you are on has been marked as being too spammy, you may have no other option than to switch hosts or email providers. We recommend switching to Google Apps and support Google Apps for most of our clients.

  • Facebook Book Printing Companies Review and Analysis

    Back in June, Mashable wrote an article on 7 Facebook book printing companies. As Christmas is now approaching I remembered that article and wondered if any of the companies let you print other people’s Facebook walls. Not everyone wants a book about themselves for themself, but if someone else gives it to them – hey, that’s a gift.

    Facebook Friend’s Wall Book

    Out of the seven Facebook book printing companies, only two let you print a friend’s Facebook information: Book of Fame and Ego Book. I also added Social Print Studio, which doesn’t print books, but does make posters and photo albums of your or one of your friend’s Facebook pictures. Between Book of Fame and Ego Book, the biggest difference is not price, but layout. Book of Fame will print one status message per page, essentially making a customized notebook for someone, while Ego Book is more of what you would expect in a Facebook book: pictures, wall posts, and comments of you and your friends. You’ll pay more for Ego Book, but you get what you pay for.

    Ego Book – Choose who you want the book to be about.

    Your Facebook Wall Book

    For those interested only in printing their own Facebook wall, Ego Book is still a good choice, but you might want to compare it with Jot Journal and Year Bound. Jot Journal is less expensive, but offers fewer options. Year Bound had more options, but it’s software seemed buggy. I had to try it several times before it would stop ‘blueing out’ the screen.

    Jot Journal

    Life Tracking Stats

    For those interested in printing their stats for the past year, Social Memories is the only choice on the list. Even if you don’t choose to buy it, you can still create the book and post it to your wall as an album for free. To print the 25 page book it costs $27 US.

    Social Memories

    Here’s a link to the Facebook Book Printing Chart I created in Google Docs.

  • Apps and Services to Find Your Phone or Mobile Device

    Have you ever lost your phone or laptop? It’s a horrifying feeling. Thankfully there are some things you can do about it before it happens to you.

    The following apps or services will help you find your smartphone or notebook if they are lost or stolen. They can also be used to find the person using them if you’ve lost them – whether or not they want to be found.

    Some of these are free and some are not. Whichever one you choose, it must be enabled before your phone or laptop is lost – and you must understand the security risks you’re taking to make your mobile devices more secure.

    Platform Device App or Service Description Price
    iOS iPhone Find My iPhone Displays your phones location on a map. Must use from another Apple device Free
    Android Smartphones Where’s My Droid Text the phone to get its GPS or Google Maps location via text. Free
    Android Smartphones LookOut Security and Antivirus Antivirus, Phone Locator, and Data Backup app. Free
    Android, Blackberry, iOS, OSX, and Windows Smartphones, Laptops, and Tablets GadgetTrack Find your mobile device and see who’s using it. Takes and sends pictures of it’s location. $19.95 per year
    OSX and Windows Laptops LoJack for Laptops Remotely locate, lock, and delete the data on your laptop. Service is guaranteed. $39.99 per year
    Windows Laptops Laptop Cop Remotely locate, lock, and delete the data on your laptop. Requires police report to enable. $49.95 per year
    OSX Laptops Hidden Find your mobile device and see who’s using it. Takes and sends pictures of it’s location. $15.00 per year

    The Hidden app, whose name itself makes it hard to find, got notoriety when a blogger posted pictures online of the man who allegedly stole his Macbook laptop (below), but for Android, Blackberry, and Windows users, GadgetTrack does something similar. Hidden is only for Mac operating systems, OSX.

  • Nook Color Rooted

    I had a call last week where the customer asked me to help them root their Nook Color. We used the instructions found here. It requires purchasing a MicroSD card and having a way to read it on a PC, Mac, or Linux computer. She had both so we got started.

    I did a little research first to determine that what she wanted was a simple root, not to boot from a new operating system like Honeycomb. To make it simple to understand, the process uses a temporary operating system boot to change the files on the Nook and ‘unlock’ it, which is what rooting is.

    Because the customer’s Nook Color was on version 1.3 we had to do both ManualNooter-4-5-18 and ManualNooter-4-6-16. It’s okay, you just do 4-5-18 and then 4-6-16 right after. As long as you follow the generous poster’s instructions, everything should go fine, but there is always a risk you could ‘brick’ your device rendering it useless. The customer understood this risk and chose to do it anyway – and she was then able to download any app she wanted from the Android Market.

    The customer’s Nook Color had a nice pink, leather cover that I had to take it out of to access the MicroSD slot. If you’re looking for Nook Color covers, check out Nook Share, which highlights a wide range of Nook covers, cases, and accessories.

  • Sprint Gingerbread 2.3 Update for the HTC EVO

    Even though Sprint announced the Gingerbread 2.3 update in June 2011, I just got it installed on my HTC EVO phone two days ago. If you don’t have it yet, you can still get it by going to the home screen/Menu/Settings/System updates/HTC software Update. This will initiate the upgrade process. According to the website, “Gingerbread restores HTC EVO 4G’s ability to sync multiple Gmail™ accounts, display email attachments in the email client and fixes battery discharge issues.”

  • Indianapolis Computer Repair

    Indianapolis, the Crossroads of America, is home to the Indianapolis 500, the Indianapolis Colts, and the Pacers. It’s also an area where Erich Stauffer technician, Erich Stauffer, has spent a lot of time in helping clients with their computer needs, which is why Erich Stauffer serves the greater Indianapolis area with Mobile Phone Support & PC Repair Services for Android™ & Windows®. From high rises on the circle to businesses in Park 100, Erich has helped small businesses with their computer needs all over the city.

    Erich Stauffer offers both on-site and off-site computer services for home and small business users in and around Indianapolis. We are available by appointment for on-site labor, which is charged at $100/hr. We may pick up your computer or mobile device if it is decided to continue with off-site service, which are billed at a flat-rate.

    A lot of the time we can fix your problem on-site, but if it requires more time or specialized tools, sometimes it’s more cost effective for us to take your computer to work on off-site and then return it. Usually this process takes no more than 48 hours, but situations vary.

  • Tipton Computer Repair and Web Design Services

    Erich Stauffer provides IT and web design services for Tipton county.

    Are you looking for someone who knows how to troubleshoot computer systems, networking issues, and security concerns? Erich Stauffer has been helping business owners like you for over 6 years and is ready and willing to hear about your concerns.

    Tipton, Indiana, home of the Tipton County Pork Festival and the southern boundary of the Miami Indian Reservation, is also home to technology consultant, Erich Stauffer. From Tipton, Indiana, Erich is able to quickly help business owners in Tipton, Carmel, Kokomo, Fishers, Noblesville, and Westfield, but he also serves Plainfield, Brownsburg, Pendleton, Indianapolis, and Greenwood areas.

    Erich Stauffer offers both on-site and off-site computer services for small business owner operators in Tipton County. Erich will pick up the equipment if it is decided to continue with off-site service. All off-site options are billed using a flat-rate system.

  • Business Process Management Tasks

    Business Process ManagementBusiness Process Management Tasks

    Business process management tasks can be grouped into five categories: design, modeling, execution, monitoring, and optimization.

    Design

    Process Design involves both the identification of existing processes and the design or recommendations of future processes. Areas of focus include representation of the work flow, the forces that act on it, interruptions, deadlines, procedures, service level agreements, and inputs and outputs.

    Good design reduces the number of problems over the lifetime of the process. Whether or not existing processes are considered, the aim of this step is to ensure that a correct and efficient theoretical design is prepared.
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  • 5 Ways to Save Money on Corporate Blackberry Accounts

    Blackberry Torch 9800

    There are four basic things you can do if you own your own business or manage Blackberry’s for your business to save money on your coverage:

    1. Ask your corporate provider if everyone is on the same corporate billing account number (BAN): Doing this ensures a base line of corporate minutes and/or data per month for all of your users. This will decrease the surprises for what should or should not be included and reduce hassles as to why messages or bills are over their quota.

    2. Train those who travel the most frequently on roaming charges: Understanding roaming fees and SMS/calls is critical. Ensure that Blackberry Messenger (BBM) is used versus SMS since Canadian/North American providers charge the most in the world for texting and roaming in Canada is especially expensive.

    3. Instruct users to avoid dialing 1-800 numbers while outside of the US: In the United States, 1-800 numbers simply use ‘minutes’, but outside of the US they are no longer “toll free”. International long-distance rates will apply when they are dialed and therefore simply training your users not to dial them internationally will help.

    4. Isolate those who have the largest bills and revisit the their plans, specifically: User habits and behavior issues with how they are using the devices may be causing them to increase your costs without their knowledge. Once you identify what they are doing, you can instruct them on how to change habits or adjust their plan.

    5.  Work with your BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) administrator to create a standard device model and operating system (OS) base:  When Blackberry users are due for a free upgrade, this allows for a smoother transition and cheaper training across the corporate board. Having to increase training time/costs to train for multiple OS versions and questions and guidance will affect the corporate budget.

    If your coporation is in need of BlackBerry skills training or support, Erich Stauffer conducts workshops focusing on how to be more efficient and productive when using your BlackBerry or Android Smartphone. Most smartphone users only use 10-20% of the device functionality. Our workshops will enable your staff to use their new skills to better utilize all the dynamic functionality their device has to offer, which can make them more productive for your corporation. For more information, contact us.