Getting Organized
There is no one office arrangement that will work for everyone in every situation,
obviously. There are a few general rules however. When these are followed, your
workflow will go more smoothly, and you business life will be much easier. In this
chapter, we’ll go over some arrangements and set-ups that should increase
efficiency while keeping stress levels at a minimum.
Setting Up Your Workspace
How you set up your workspace is going to depend a great deal upon the size and
shape of your workspace. Ideally, you want to minimize unnecessary movement
while keeping the space easy to navigate and free of obstacles. Organization is also
important, because you don’t want to have to hunt for some important file when
you need it. (This, by the way is important not only in your actual office space, but
on your hard drive as well.)
If yours is a home office and that particular room serves another purpose as well
(say, as a guest room or family room), it will be a challenge to keep your work (i.e.,
papers) from taking over the space completely. Designer Fay Sweet recommends
strongly that you (A) keep up on paperwork, and (B) keeping any archived papers
boxed up and stored in another part of the house4. In any event, you will find it a
challenge keeping your home life separate from your work life. At the very least, if
a home office must share a space with some other activity or purpose, attempt to
locate the workspace in an area where it can be shut away while not in use (such as
a closet), or if this is not feasible, use folding screens.
Organizing the Worktop
Furniture choices were discussed in an earlier section. The most important
selections here will be the chair and the desk upon which your computer monitor
will rest. In Home.work, Fay Sweet makes some recommendations for the home
office that could very well apply to the office of any small business:
Make sure the monitor is at least an arm’s length – about 2 feet – from your
face and positioned directly in front of you.
While people disagree as to the proper angle of the monitor, most experts agree that a monitor should be no higher than eye level, and preferable below. Most flat-screen LCD monitors have stands that cause the screen
itself to tilt away, so the top of the monitor is farther from your eyes than the bottom.
The keyboard should be directly in front of you, and in such a position that allows your forearms to be bent upwards slightly. A soft wrist support is no bad thing, either (refer to Figure 3).
Peripherals and Office Supplies
Peripherals are such things as your printer, extra drives, and speakers – anything that is attached to your computer. Where these will be placed depends a great deal on how often you need to access or use them. If you’re not printing, faxing and/or copying documents more than two or three times a day, it might not be a bad idea to locate your printer in another part of the room. That way, you’ll be forced to get
up out of your seat and stretch periodically, yet it won’t interfere with your work flow. Otherwise, equipment such as printers, scanners should be within easy reach, preferably on an auxiliary table or stand set up perpendicularly to your chair – and ideally, next to your dominant hand.
Your telephone on the other hand should be located right next to your monitor within reach of your non-dominant hand – if you mainly receive incoming calls. On
the other hand, if you plan on spending a lot of time making outgoing calls, this is
where it really pays to have your computer keyboard on a retractable drawer that
can be moved under the monitor when not in use. You’ll want a telephone chord
that’s a bit longer, allowing you to move it around a bit as needed. This all may seem obvious, but it’s amazing how many people don’t think about it until it
becomes an annoyance.
No matter how high-tech you office becomes, there are some things – such as staplers, paper clips, pens and pencils, paper, tape, “post-it” notes – that will
always be part of running a business. The best place for these are on a hanging
shelf above the monitor where they are within easy reach, yet out of the way.
About Wireless Technology
By now, there are few among us who haven’t heard of (A) the horrors of tangled masses (messes?) of chords, sitting like a great Gordian Knot underneath desks, making it nearly impossible to change peripherals or track down trouble when it
occurs. No matter how neatly one attempts to arrange these cords, they inevitably turn into a writhing pile of snakes from Indiana Jones’ darkest nightmares.
Wireless technology is nothing new, and actually dates back to the 1890’s, when Guglielmo Marconi developed the first successful wireless telegraph. The idea of
using radio frequencies eventually led to the broadcast of music and news over commercial sets, the “walkie-talkie” of World War II, and eventually cellular
phones. In the last several years, this technology has been used in WANs (“Wide Area Networks”) and LANs (“Local Area Networks”) in order to transmit a wide
range a data.
In addition to wireless Internet, there are wireless keyboards, printers, and mice. It’s possible to set up a wireless network in your own home without too much trouble, and in fact – if you live in an older existing home in which the wiring is already installed – wireless may be your only practical choice, should you want to network all the computers in your home.
The advantages of a wireless network include convenience and mobility; if you have
a laptop equipped with a wireless card for example, you can pretty much work anyplace you like. It also allows you to expand your network quite easily without
having to run additional cables all over the place.
Wireless technology does cost a bit more; you’ll have to update your cable or Ethernet modem to a wireless one, and install special cards in all your computers.
Many say this extra cost is offset by the additional productivity that seems to occur as the result of not having to deal with extra chords.
There are however distinct disadvantages of a wireless network. Like all devices
that rely on radio frequency transmission, wireless networks are subject to interference. If you have ever attempted to listen to a radio program while someone is running electric trains or using power tools nearby, you know what this is about. Additionally, there are security issues.
Wireless networks tend to use more power than their wired counterparts, and this
extra power makes it easier for unwanted third parties to intercept data. There are
encryption technologies available especially for wireless networks, but many of
these seem to have weaknesses that are easily exploited by determined hackers –
some of whom make a career out of identifying and hacking into wireless networks.
Some additional information on wireless security is available in an online article
located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_security.
Getting Online
Naturally, you’ll want your business to have Internet access as soon as possible –for ready access to vital information, for networking, for promotion and communication and more. Here, you have many different options as well, at a range of costs and speeds. The general rule of thumb is that higher transmission
speeds mean higher subscription fees. Again however, these higher fees may be offset by the greater revenue generated by a higher rate of productivity.
Dial-Up
This is really unacceptable for anyone but the most casual occasional surfer, or someone who uses the Web primarily for e-mail communication. It is the least
expensive way to access the World Wide Web, with some companies offering access for as little as $5 per month. Others charge as much as $25 per month; the average monthly subscription fee for dial-up Internet access runs approximately $12.95.
The only advantages here are wide availability and the low cost. The major disadvantages are speed and the fact that your phone is tied up whenever you are online. The maximum speed for downloads and uploads is 56 kilobytes per second.
Some companies offer additional software they claim can speed this up by as much
as 400%, however this does not help when it comes to downloading graphics - and
attempting to download or watch streaming video or most audio over a dial-up connection is an exercise in futility, regardless. In addition, Internet connections
over a dial-up service are frequently subject to interruption.
Satellite
Although satellite Internet access offers download speeds of up to 1.5 megabytes per second (about 25 times faster than dialup) and allows you to be online and on the phone at the same time, it is less dependable than dial-up as far as interruptions and dropped connections are concerned. Costs for satellite Internet
run between $55 and $70 per month.
DSL
The “Digital Subscriber Line” was discussed earlier. This is a mid-range option and typically costs between $50 and $150 per month – although we’ve heard of one company offering DSL for as little as $25 per month. Download speeds range from 144 kilobytes to 1.5 megabytes per second, and upload speeds are comparable, though generally a bit slower. A DSL connection is made through your computer’s Ethernet port. If you’ve never seen one, an Ethernet cable resembles an overgrown
phone cable.
The main advantages of DSL are that it has a high degree of dependability and it does not interfere with telephone communication in any way. In fact, DSL allows you to have VoIP telephone service, which can offset some of the extra cost of DSL. The disadvantage is that if you live in a rural area, any kind of high-speed Internet access may simply be unavailable, since the major corporations who control high-speed Internet find that serving small communities doesn’t generate enough profit
to make any investment worthwhile.
If you are a cable TV subscriber, your cable company may offer special rates on
DSL through your existing cable. Contact your cable provider for more information.
T1 and T3
This is the “Rolls Royce” of Internet access; a T3 connection offers rock-solid reliability and blistering download/upload speeds of 45 megabytes per second. This
speed and reliability comes at a price: such Internet service starts at around $350 per month, and can go as high as $1200. Unless yours is a very large corporate
business with sizable headquarters and 25 or more employees who are regularly
online, you really don’t need this one. T1 service is more affordable (and slower),
but for most businesses, the same performance can be achieved with DSL or cable.
A Word Of Caution
Before going online, it’s necessary to set up protection against malicious hackers,
viruses, spyware, cyber attacks and an entire host of enemies who are gunning for
your data. There are numerous options available here as well, which are discussed
in more detail at the end of this chapter.
Networking: The Intranet
If your small business is just you, and yours is the only computer being used, you may skip this section. On the other hand, if you have more than one computer in the office or home and would like to be able to share files, programs and peripherals, read on.
Networking for a small and/or home-based business is not complicated, and requires little in the way of elaborate equipment beyond what you probably already have. A network is really nothing more than two or more computers connected in some way that allows them to share information. Figure 10 on the previous page depicts a simple network typical of that found in many home-based and small businesses. In the old days, networking required special hardware. Today, all that
is required is a router and cables (unless you’re going the wireless route – in which case you will need special hardware – refer to the previous section). In addition, most modern operating software – such as Windows XP – has built-in networking capability.
Essentially, all that is required (other than the modem for Internet access) is the router, which is installed between the modem and the networked computers. From the router, Ethernet cables connect the individual computers together and to the World Wide Web. (You’ll notice that the computer actually hooked up to the printer
is labeled “server,” while the others are labeled “client.” We’ll get into that in just a
moment.)
We are assuming for the moment that your computers, like most built in the last three to four years, already has a network adapter. (You should ascertain this when purchasing computer equipment.) If not, you’ll need to install one – your local computer store or consultant can help you with this, but if you’re comfortable opening up your system yourself, installing these adapters is easy.
Before doing anything, make sure your modem, router, all computers and any
peripherals are powered off. Otherwise, serious damage to your equipment could
occur.
Step 1 is to connect the modem to the router. Your router will have several ports;
the correct one for the modem connection is labeled Internet, WAN or WLAN.
Step 2 is to plug each computer into the remaining ports of the router (typically
identified by number) using additional cables.
If the networked computers are in different rooms and you don’t want to go with
wireless, you have a couple of different options. The easiest – if not the neatest – is
to simply get chords of sufficient length and run them from the router to whichever
room the computer is located. Ethernet cables are available in lengths of up to 50
feet, which is sufficient for most homes.
If you don’t want cables running along the floors of your home or place of business,
you might consider trying a network extension kit. This device plugs into the
electrical outlet in the wall and allows you to plug an Ethernet cable into them.
(Note: these will not work with an extension chord or power strip.) Essentially, you
will need one of these devices for each room in which you have a computer. One
end of the cable goes into the appropriate router port with the other plugging into the port on the device. In the room where the networked computer is located, you’ll
run a second Ethernet cable from the device to the networking jack in the
computer.
Sharing Printers and Programs
Now that all your business computers have access to the Internet, you’ll want to
give them all access to the “server” – in other words, the business’ main computer,
which is probably yours.
In the context of a small or home-based business network, the “server” is the computer that contains the programs and is attached to the peripherals that are to be shared. As such, it should be the most powerful computer on the network. You may wish to add a second or external hard drive with partitions for each employee for file storage and backup.
Windows XP makes this process exceptionally easy through the use of a wizard. In case you haven’t encountered this term before, a “wizard” is simply a feature of many software applications that use a series of dialogue boxes that pose “yes/no” questions, which you answer by clicking on the appropriate button or filling in information. Based on your answers, the wizard creates the document or completes
the task for you.
The first step is to call up the Windows control panel as shown in Figure 17a. This time however, you’ll click on the icon labeled “Network Setup Wizard” (it looks like a while house with a red roof with a pipe sticking out the bottom connecting to what looks like a water main). This brings up the Network Setup Wizard as shown
in Figure 16a on the following page.
As you go through the wizard, the only other vital piece of information you’ll need
(assuming you have everything hooked up and ready to go) is for the dialogue in
which you are asked about a connection method (Figure 16b). Since all the computers on your network connect to the Internet via the router, you’ll want to
select the middle option.
You’ll then be asked to name the various computers on the network as well as the
network (workgroup) itself. Finally, you’ll be asked whether or not you want to turn
on file and printer sharing. Make sure the top button is selected, then click on
“Next.” The next dialogue will ask you to confirm the information you’ve entered so
far. If correct, click the “Next” button again. At this point, you’ll probably want to
go have a cup of coffee; the process will take about five minutes or so.
If all the computers on your network are also running Windows XP, you can select
the bottom option. Otherwise, you’ll have to run the wizard on the other
computer(s) on the network. In either case, you’ll need to restart your computer in
order to activate the network and make your printer available to other users.
Once you’ve restarted your computer and completed the process, a “SharedDocs”
folder in “My Network Places” under the Windows menu should be visible on each networked machine.
About Sharing Programs
Legally, if you have multiple users of a given software application, you must either
purchase a separate copy of the application for each user, or – if all clients on a network are using a single copy of the application that is stored on the server – you must purchase a site license. These are typically sold in groups of five, ten, twenty, fifty and one-hundred, and allow multiple users to utilize a single copy of a given application program.
Here too are ways to save substantial amounts of money. One of the obvious ways
would be to require other users to access the application on your machine. This
may be practicable with an application that is used on an occasional basis, there are
some applications that are simply necessary to the day-to-day operation of the business. Two of the most common software applications used by 90% of all
business are Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop.
MS Office consists of a suite of software tools that include an extensive word-
processing application, a spreadsheet program and a tool for creating graphic
presentations. New, MS Office has a price tag that ranges from $400 for the
standard version to $680 for the deluxe version. If you own an earlier version, you
can purchase the newest version as an upgrade for around $250. An older version
(2004) will run about the same price, if you don’t own it already.
Adobe Photoshop is a massive, highly complex image editing application that is
considered the industry standard. It is indispensable for any business that does any
sort of graphic design and publishing. The new version is priced at $570, while
older versions go for around $250.
If your business is a non-profit organization or related to education, you may
qualify for “academic pricing.” This is a steep discount (sometimes as much as
65%) off the full price made available to teachers, students, school administrators
and other education employees. To be eligible, you must typically submit a copy of
your school’s ID, a teaching certificate or a pay stub from the school district at
which you are employed. The only real difference between an “academic version”
and the “full version” of a software application is that the “academic version” does
not usually include the documentation in printed form (it is however available online
as a “.pdf” document).
If you don’t qualify for an academic discount and purchasing even older version is
beyond your current means, you should definitely know about Open Office and GIMP.
These programs are free-ware versions of Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop
respectively. Open Office (available at http://www.openoffice.org) has virtually all
of the functionality of MS Office, can be used to edit MS Office documents and will save documents in MS Office-compatible formats, allowing for easy exchange. It
lacks a grammar check feature, and some users have complained of some
incompatibility issues when it comes to bulleted and numbered lists. Open Office is
also reported to use more memory and run more slowly than MS Office. These are
minor drawbacks however, considering the price ($0!), and development is ongoing.
GIMP, or the General Image Manipulation Program, is a “raster graphics editor” – in
other words, it allows the user to edit photos and even create images, then save them in the most common graphic file formats (.jpg, .gif, .png and .tif). Like Photoshop, the user can remove cosmetic imperfections from photo images, draw with various sizes and types of virtual “brushes,” change image colors, add text,
composite images with the use of paths, layers and channels as well as add effects.
On the down side, GIMP lacks support for many “plug-ins” that Photoshop users
depend on. The magnetic lasso tool is not as precise, and the free application lacks
the undo history “snapshots” that persist between sessions in Photoshop.
Nonetheless, if you can live with these limitations, GIMP is an excellent alternative
to Photoshop.
Both GIMP and Open Office are available for Windows, Mac OS (“Classic” and X) and Linux.
Beyond these two, the kind of specialty software your business may require will depend on the product or service you are offering. Again, an online search will assist you in determining and locating specific applications you may need.
Comparison shopping is a good idea, since software package prices can vary widely between the various resellers. Also, don’t hesitate to use an older (up to two years) version – most applications have “backward compatibility,” meaning that you’ll be able to read and edit a document created by a newer version of an application using an older version.
Protecting Yourself And Your Business
You’re probably aware issues such as computer viruses, cyber attacks, spyware, adware and more. Do not access the Internet before you have a firewall and virus protection in place.
Windows XP has its own integrated firewall, but many I.T. professionals have doubts about effectiveness. In a recent article for Tech Republic, Mike Mullins points out that while Windows XP does an adequate job of monitoring incoming information, but is less effective when a program on your computer attempts to initiate an outgoing connection to any Internet address. In fact, by the time Windows alerts you, the connection has already occurred. According to Mullins:
“…a firewall mechanism that only works one way is a security feature
— not a firewall. Thanks to viruses, worms, Trojans, and a host of
other malware and spyware that arrive on your computer daily, you
need to be able to control communications from both directions.”
The bottom line: while Windows security is better than nothing at all, you’ll
definitely need a “real” firewall that requires minimal monitoring from you. The
Firewall Guide (http://www.firewallguide.com) has some good information on the
various firewalls, virus protection, and other security tools that are available for
free as well as purchase. In addition, you’ll learn about email clients and browsers
that can be used as an alternative to those integrated into the Windows OS.
One free utility that is practically indispensable is Ad-Aware SE. This is not an anti-
virus program, but one that allows you to monitor the ad-ware and spy-ware that is
frequently deposited on your hard drive by commercial web sites. These are used to
track surfers’ Internet usage. Unchecked, these little bits of code accumulate on the
hard drive and can eventually wreak havoc to the point where the computer won’t even boot up. Ad-Aware is simple to use and is available free at
https://www.adaware.com/
Before installing and activating any third-party firewall and virus protection, you’ll
want to be sure to de-activate the Windows security system, as having more than
one firewall running at the same time can cause major conflicts that can harm your
system. Simply go to your control panels, select the Windows Firewall icon, and
follow the instructions for de-activating the application.
E-mail Issues
Simply having a firewall and virus protection does not mean you can simply relax
and depend on it to do everything. Granted, these protections will do about 98% of
the work for you, but you’ll still need to do a bit of monitoring – especially when it
comes to e-mail. Many malicious programs arrive as e-mail attachments, and many
businesses simply no longer accept attachments from unfamiliar addresses. The
safest course of action: if you receive an e-mail from an unrecognized address and
it has any sort of attachment – delete it.
The other problem frequently encountered by individuals as well as businesses is
unsolicited commercial e-mail, popularly known as “spam.” Most e-mail programs
have a “bulk mail” folder to which you can direct all e-mails from specified
addresses and domains. Often however, you are limited to a certain number of
these. Alternatively, some e-mail programs allow you to direct all e-mail to the
“bulk mail” folder except that from addresses and domains you specify.
The best cure for spam is really prevention. If your business has a website (and it
should), avoid putting your e-mail address on the site as a link or hyper-text. The
reason is that small programs, sometimes known as webcrawlers or bots, are
constantly monitoring the Web and harvesting e-mail addresses from html code.
Obviously, you need an e-mail contact to enable your clients and customers to reach you.
Computer Care And Maintenance
Computer repair can add to your I.T. costs tremendously. Fortunately, 95% of all
computer problems are software-related, and here again, a small amount of
prevention now will spare you having to shell out for a lot of cure later.
The cardinal rule of computer care – as well as any peripherals you may have – is
this:
“Don’t just plug it into the wall!”
The circuits, wiring and other electronic components are extremely delicate and can
be affected by power spikes, surges, brownouts, and more. At the very least, you
need to plug everything into a surge strip. A good surge strip will cut off power when surges and spikes are detected, protecting the delicate internal components
from being “fried.”
For around $50, you can get a device that combines the function of a surge suppressor with a battery that will supply a limited amount of emergency power to
your computer long enough for you to back up any data and shut it down properly. If you live in an area that is prone to brownouts and blackouts, you may want to
consider this solution.
Protecting The Hardware
One thing will shorten the life of your computer hardware very quickly, and that is excess heat. A cooler running computer is a longer-lasting one, and fortunately, this is very simple issue to take care of.
First of all, make certain the case cooling fan in the back is operating (you should feel a nice breeze when you stick your hand back there. Also, be sure and allow at least 4 inches of clearance back there – plenty of air circulation is key to long service life. It’s also a good idea to clean the fan blades periodically, both on the case fan and the CPU cooling fan.
At least once a year – twice if you’re located in a dusty old building – you should
open up the case and use a can of compressed air (available at most electronics
stores) to blow out all the dust that tends to accumulate in there. Dust acts as an
insulator and can cause the hardware to run hotter than it would normally. Blow
dust out of your keyboards as well, as accumulation can cause the keys to become sticky.
Note: do not use one of those “mini-vacs” to remove dust and vacuum the inside,
as these give off electromagnetic energy that can harm your computer’s components. For this reason, you’ll also want to avoid using a television, radio, or
any sort of appliances or power tools near your computer (and vice-versa). These
may not actually damage your computer directly, but they can interfere with its performance.
Today’s flat-screen monitors need less care than the old kind that used picture
tubes, but you should wipe the screen gently with a soft damp cloth once a month
or so and blow dust away from the ventilation openings in the back every so often.
The old-style mechanical type of mouse – with the ball – requires frequent cleaning.
The advantage of the old-style mouse is that it’s very inexpensive. Nonetheless,
you’ll be disassembling and cleaning it at least once a month, as well as replacing
your mouse pad twice a year. You’ll need to remove the ring by unscrewing it (see Figure 21, below). The ball will come out. Wipe it off with a dry, soft cloth. You’ll also see some rollers inside; prior to replacing the mouse ball, clean these thoroughly using a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol.
An optical mouse – which uses an infrared light – requires almost no maintenance,
and works on any surface with a discernible pattern (it won’t work on a solid
colored surface). For prices ranging from $10 - $25, they’re a marvelous
improvement over the old ball-type.
Software Maintenance
Many software maintenance tasks can be automated, depending on the utility
program you are using. Daily software tasks include:
1) Scanning your hard disk file systems for errors
2) Scanning for viruses
3) Backing up data
Items 2 and 3 have already been discussed in previous sections. Normally, you’ll
need to do these manually, but a utility from Norton or Symantec can be
programmed to back up your data every day to a location of your choice. As far as
viruses go, a good security application such as Zone Alarm does automatic virus
scans several times per week; there is nothing you normally need to do.
Over time, small errors tend to creep into the code which contains your data. This
can be caused by bugs in software or drivers, power failures, and even human
error. Rarely is it indicative of hardware problems, provided that the maintenance
outlined in the previous section is performed as needed. 99.9 percent of the time,
these errors aren’t a problem – as long as they’re caught early on.
To do this manually in Windows XP, go to the “Start” menu, select “My Computer,”
then click on the “C” Drive icon, using the right mouse button. This will bring up a
menu; select “Properties” at the bottom, then choose the “tools” tab. Clicking the
“Check Now” button will commence the process.
At least once per week:
1) Defragment your hard drive
2) Scan for hard disk read errors
Picture your hard drive as an old-fashioned LP record player. The “record” is the disk itself, to which data is written and read. The “tone arm” is what actually reads
and writes the data. When you open a file, the “tone arm” reads the data on your hard drive and loads it into your computer’s RAM.
