To all Veterans, those actively serving, and all their families: Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.

To the Families of those who have died defending our country: Thank you for your sacrifice, it is appreciated and valued.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
Winston Churchill

Windows 7 is scheduled to be released at the end of October. There has been a lot of hype about this version, and how its better than Windows Vista. But should you upgrade? Here is my advice:

1. If you are buying a new computer, get Windows 7, its better than Vista and it will be worth it. ‘Downgrades to XP will be phased out (if they haven’t already) so you don’t have much if a choice anyway. Based on on the reviews, you won’t be disappointed with Windows 7
2. If you have Windows XP do NOT upgrade to Windows 7, the hardware requirements may be more than you have;  many of your programs won’t work without an add on (that’s not available on the lowest priced version of Windows 7); some hardware won’t work; and you can’t actually upgrade–you have backup your data,  erase you hard drive and install Windows 7, download and install the XP add-on,  reinstall your drivers, install your programs, and restore your backup.  Since Microsoft will continue to support XP for the next couple of years, my advice is to  just  buy a new computer when you are ready for Windows 7
3. If you already have Vista its a bit murky. You can upgrade from like version of Vista to like version of Windows 7 without erasing your hard-drive and all of your data and programs. In addition, most of your hardware will be compatible.  So in this case, the upgrade isn’t a big hairy deal. On the other hand, if Vista works for you why bother with the effort and expense. If you do need to upgrade, stick with like versions. Here is a list of the upgrade paths:

• 32-bit Vista Home Basic/Premium upgrades to 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium
• 64-bit Vista Home Basic/Premium upgrades to 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium
• 32-bit Vista Business upgrades to 32-Bit Windows 7 Professional
• 64-bit Vista Business upgrades to 64-Bit Windows 7 Professional
• 32-bit Vista Ultimate upgrades to 32-Bit Windows 7 Ultimate
• 64-bit Vista Ultimate upgrades to 64-Bit Windows 7 Ultimate

(Source Microsoft)

Also before you upgrade, download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to confirm that you won’t have any problems.

Another reminder: Always backup your important data before you do an upgrade.

Good luck, and leave me a comment to tell me what you decide, and how it goes.

If you have a small or  home business and you’re active on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace  you are a sitting duck when it comes to password security.

Why, because you’ve probably put the answer to your password reset verification questions in your social network profiles. Usually the password reset verification questions are thinks like the town you were born in, your favorite pet, where you were married, etc. Frequently this information is in a profile, or other post you’ve created. You mother’s maiden name, your wedding date, and your kids names may be on that family tree site you site or application you use. The list goes on…

So what should you do?

1. Think about those verification questions
2  Sanitize your social networking profiles and remove or obscure that information, so it can’t be used against you
3. Or better yet, change your verification questions, to information you have never published,  since once information is  on the Internet old copies are stored all over the place.

Remember most of the information put put on social networking sites are searchable somehow, so don’t risk your security–think about what you put out there and how it can be used.
I know of a documented and publicized case where a hacker used social networking to get answers to verification questions as part of network break-in.

Man with Laptop

If starting or running a home business you probably need  a computer. I strongly recommend that you get a laptop instead of a desktop computer for the following reasons:

1. A laptop isn’t much more expensive then a desktop when you factor in the monitor and extras like a webcam.
2. Frequently at home you may not always have a permanent location for your office, or you may need to temporarily relocate your office (when your office is being vacuumed, to watch the kids. etc)
3. If the kids are having a birthday party (or something else disruptive is going on) and you have a critical proposal to get out, you can just take the laptop somewhere else to work.
4. You really should have separate computer for work since you don’t want your spouse’s ‘free’ apps on your business computer
5. Its nice to have your own computer  to take to presentations and customer meetings.

While having a laptop is nice, trying to buy one can be very confusing, while I’m not going to make any specific recommendations, I would like to give you some guidelines.

1. Small, cheap and powerful– Pick any two. Laptops are compromises, so you need to understand that you cannot ‘have it all’. For must home office systems I would recommend that you sacrifice size/weight for value and power (Unless you travel a lot)
2. Don’t confuse a notebook or laptop with a netbook,  netbooks are not desktop replacements.  See my related post on Netbooks
3. Buy a dual-core Processor, not a single-core processor.
4. Get 3GB memory or, if you can afford it  4GB of memory
5. Get a 260 GB hard drive
6. If at all possible get a built in webcam.
7. Spring for 802.11/b/g/n card (N is new but its probably going to be the new standard, it’s much faster)
8. Make sure it has a DVD-RW drive.
9. If you are comparing systems, more USB ports are better then less.
10. Stick to a brand name.

You should be able to get a laptop with these specs for under $800. Make sure you shop on the Internet, at electronics, and office supply warehouses. Sometimes the in-the-store deals are better than the Internet.
Also, at this point Windows 7 will be out in about 3 weeks (around October 22) so wait for for it, before you buy if at all possible. (If not make sure the version of Vista you get has a free upgrade to Windows 7

If you paid any attention to technology news this week, you’ve probably noticed that Google has announced that they were going to release an operating system intially geared at netbooks next year. Its currently being called the Google Chrome OS. Since Google is the 800 pound gorilla of the internet, it got a lot of news coverage. From a practical standpoint for small business however, it’s really not that important, it’s going to be year until it’s out, and we won’t really know what effect it will have on business until then.  So just ignore the hype.

On the other hand Google made another announcement this week, one that didn’t get the same media coverage as the Chrome OS announcement but was much more important: Google is moving Google Apps (mail,docs, etc) out of beta. (Beta is the software term for a final test version) This means that Google has reiterated its commitment to these web based applications and users who want to can adopt them and cloud/web based computing with more confidence.

As you know from my last post, I’ve moved a lot of my computer operations from my PC to Google. One of the downsides of doing this is that, if the internet is down, so are you.  That’s just what happened to me last week.  At 11 pm I turned off my computer and the internet was working, and at 8 am the next morning, no internet. I troubleshot the issue and established that I wasn’t getting a signal from my provider, called, waited on hold, and learned that someone would have to come out the next day to fix it. NEXT DAY.!… that’s at least 24 hrs without the internet!, so now what. Now its time for my backup plan.

My backup plan is simple and cheap. If nothing urgent is happening I can use my iPhone to keep up with email.  If I have a major project on the other hand, our local library has free Wi Fi,  so I can pack up my laptop and go there. Its not complicated, but I’ve thought it out in advance so I don’t have to panic.  (I just checked mail on my iPhone this time since nothing urgent was happening.) You need a plan too.

Options include:

• A list of internet cafe’s in your area
• A list of free Wi-Fi locations in your area
• Tethering your phone
• Dial-up
• A Wi-Fi modem from your wireless carrier
• Verizon’s MiFi cellular modem (It lets you setup a mini wireless network)
• Wi -Max (a long distance high speed wireless service available in a few large cities)

Consider these, and see what available and feasible for your  business — and make a plan. I recommend a two phase plan, since sometimes ‘Plan B’ fails, and you need to try ‘Plan C’. (For instance, if the phone and the DSL are both out,   dial-up as your ‘Plan B’ won’t work.)

Good Luck.

I moved my business to Google apps a few weeks ago. I wanted to add some email addresses and consolidate my docs online. It’s also a step towards a ‘cloud’ based architecture where the computer I use becomes irrelevant. The conversion was fairly painless, although the some of the directions for modifying domain info on goDaddy were out of date. I now have multiple email addresses,a nice Google-mail based email client, and the ability to store my documents in the Google docs application. Apps also has a shared calendar app that I’m not using now, and the ability to quickly create websites for projects.

Now that I’ve gotten everything set up I’m planning to convert my business documents to Google docs. I also plan to start creating websites for each of my clients major projects. I hope that will make communication easier.

By the way, Google apps standard edition is free. With it you get up to 50 users, shared calendars, shared contacts, websites sites, and docs. Since it’s free, you do get ads in the email client.

Because of it’s functionality, and value Google apps is a great tool for very small businesses. But, before you take the plunge, read my post on the the ‘Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ of Cloud Computing

Netbooks have become very popular lately, almost  every pc maker  has one, but what is it, and how does it differ from a notebook computer.  The truth is, a netbook is just a smaller, lighter cheaper notebook computer.

The chart below shows the general differences between a netbook and a notebook:

Differences between a netbook and a notebook

As you can see a netbook is basically a smaller, lighter, less expensive notebook computer.  Many applications will run slower on the a netbook, and some won’t run at all. Besides, if you follow the sales, you know that you can  get a pretty decent laptop on sale for between $450 and $600.  So, why get a netbook?  There are two reasons:

1. You travel a lot and want a small computer to check mail, surf the web, and give presentations on.  A netbook is great for this, since it’s small, it doesn’t weigh you down or take up a lot of space, and it won’t break the bank if it’s lost or stolen.  You still need full sized laptop or desktop PC to use when you are not on the road.

2. You run your business on a desktop, but sometimes need a computer to take with you to clients’ offices, or to do lite work off-site.

In either case, the netbook will do better for you of you have a lot of web based apps (google, salesforce.com, etc)  to use.  But remember, DON’T BUY A NETBOOK TO BE YOUR PRIMARY COMPUTER–the keyboard is too small, the monitor is too small, and stuff runs too slow (or not at all) on it.

Before you buy a netbook make sure you check the following:

1. Try out the keyboard – can you type on it?

2. Is the monitor big enough for you to comfortably use?

3. Will the Operating System installed on it run the applications you need. (Linux won’t run Windows applications)

4. Does it have enough disk space to store your data?

5. If you are using it for presentations, does it have the proper video outputs, and resolution?

Leave me a comment and tell me what you think about netbooks.

I mentioned in a post Friday that Microsft is no longer going to support MS Money after Jan 2011.  So now what do you do? This may be a time to re-evaluate  at your accounting software in order to figure out what will meet your needs, and how they can be  best met.

If you are like me, when you started your home business, you used your current personal financial software, I used Quicken, but both Quicken and Microsoft have business features. Now, you have a  couple of options, replace MS Money with an equivalent copy of another brand of financial software, or upgrade to a full-fledged accounting software package. Here are some questions you need to ask yourself to help make this decision:

1. Does your Accounting Software handle expense/revenue categories the way you want?
2. Is it difficult to enter transactions?
3. Are you able to easily get accurate reports on profit and loss, net income, and margin?
4. Do you need online integration with a web store?
5. Do you need customized invoices/easier email delivery?
6. Do you want to better segregate business and personal activities?
7. Do you need to track inventory?
8. Do you need to support double entry/accrual  accounting?

Some options to consider are (this is by no means a complete list)

Outright — Fee basic online accounting. (Well reviewed)

Quickbooks Online (Both Free and Paid Versions)- A next step from personal financial software. (I use this for my consulting business)

Quickbooks – Also free and paid versions — Also easy to transition to, lots of free templates and wizards

Peachtree – More advanced for a businesses that need full support of double entry/accrual accounting

If you have an accountant,  consult him or her, before you make a decision about acounting software (I’m not an accoutant so they will know better then I.) Also since this is in no way a complete list, so please feel free to add your own suggestions in the comment section.

According to CNET Microsoft has announced that they will discontinue Microsoft Money. Their schedule is to stop selling it by the end of June 2009, and stop supporting it  as  of January 31, 2011 (19 months from now). The software will still work, but  it won’t be able to download data from banks  after Jan 31 2011.  Here’s a link to the CNET story.

Time to look for a replacement. Quicken is the obvious choice, but you may also want to look at Mint, a free online personal banking app.