The research was conducted on behalf of the online phone directory site WhitePages.com, which runs an online campaign called Ban the Phone Book designed to educate the public about the waste created by the continued production of phone books, 165,000 tons of which they say end up in landfills every year and as we have already seen are never even used.

To many of us these numbers are not a surprise  but this article is not for those of us who know this, it is to shed the light for those who unaware of how much they are spending on print media only to have it never reach their target market, when that same money could be used to establish a web presence which will be much more effective for your business.

For consumers the act of pulling out a laptop, tablet or smart phone and searching for whatever you need at that moment is easier and instantaneous where you  may spend minutes searching through a giant phone book only to encounter confusing directories and being redirected from page to page before you find what your after.  With services like Yelp, Google Local, 411.com and a host of other directory sites literally at your fingertips from the emergence of smart phones it’s only a matter of time before the paper-based phone book disappears.

Now more than ever before is the time to get your business online and establish a web presence before paper advertising collapses completely and you are scrambling to catch up to your competition.

In most cases you can get your business online today for less than you are currently spending to advertise in the phone book, and have a form of advertising you can change as often as you please.  At Sault Web Design we would be happy to discuss your options for moving your business online and taking the first step to reaching a greater number of customers.

Sault Web Design

44 Cameron Ave.
Sault Ste Marie, ON
P6B 4W8
Office: (705) 575-1716
e-mail: info@saultwebdesign.com
www.saultwebdesign.com

Technorati Tags: advertising, web design, yellow pages

I know when I was starting out if someone told me that they had already checked the most obvious cause of a problem I would take their word for it and look for other causes.  This is a mistake, and in hindsight a very obvious one.  There are many people out there who think they know how to check for errors when in reality they are not even in the same ballpark.  This is especially true when they tell you that they have had a professional look at it, however their idea of a professional and mine seem to differ drastically.

Just recently I was on a job to install hardware and activate the internet for a store.  I have everything hooked up properly and I was told that the router had all the required setting programmed into it, not only was this untrue but the technician who shipped the parts argued with me about it.

Here is the rundown on the issue I hook up all the hardware computer, modem, router etc.  Power everything up get no internet, I try to look at the settings internal to the router but I have no password, so first I test the modem direct connection to the computer and hook it up fine with a static IP setup, so I come to the conclusion that the router is not configured properly, so I call the company I am working with at the moment to get the password for the router to check the settings.

I tell the tech on the other end that I need the password to check the routers settings, he tells me everything is fine that I did something wrong, so I humor him because I am not infallible but I was 99% certain I was right.  After reconnecting the router, no connection.  Now I know I am right so I ask again for the password to verify the setting in the router, he goes on the whole tirade about how he programmed the router himself and has been doing this for ten years etc etc.  So after another 20 minutes ( minutes I am billing for by the way ) he finally  gives me the password to check the router and I find two things wrong immediately.

First he has a connection that requires a static IP setup programmed for PPOE and second the router does not even work it will not accept changes to the setting nor accept a reset so he shipped a broken router with invalid settings in it.  So after all this he concedes that he made a mistake I hang up hook the internet back up direct to the modem and leave, than I have to return the next day to install the new router.

Now I am not one to over-bill or waste time but when I run into problems like this I do not feel bad about it.  It goes to show that you can only count on your own eyes and expertise in an issue when you encounter problems.  But it does go back to an old article one that I myself forgot to do and that is get all passwords upfront, although in this  case I don’t think it would have helped because I do not think the tech would have given me the password without the song and dance.

So back to my point, you should always go with your gut first no matter what the client says has been done, or who has looked at it etc, 9 times out of 10 you will save yourself a lot of headaches in the long run.  You can always tell them they had the I D 10 T error.

Technorati Tags: computer repair, computers, tech news, tips, weekly

What I found was a problem that is becoming more and more common, redundant software.  People are installing numerous antivirus and spyware programs thinking they are doing some good and protecting their computers when in reality they are making it easier for infections and they are causing their own problems by having these programs fight one another and in turn block proper computer functions.

When you have two antivirus programs running both want to do their job and keep your computer safe, so they both take action to quarantine a problem but they then start to clash and begin blocking one another thinking they are infections.  So while you think you are getting double the protection you’re not only letting the things you want to keep out in, your slowing down your computer by trapping this software in a continuous cycle of fighting one another.

So my tip of the week is to pick 1 piece of software whether it be AVG ( my personal favorite ), Norton, Symantec whatever it may be, and stick to it.  When upgrade time comes around and you want something new make sure you uninstall the old one before putting a second program on.  Either that or keep your old software up to date, out of date software is nearly as bad as no software at all.

Technorati Tags: advice, anti spyware, anti virus, computer repair, computers, tech tip, weekly

1. Open Network Connections by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type adapter, and then, under Network and Sharing Center, click View network connections.
2. Right-click the connection that you want to change, and then click Properties. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
3. Click the Networking tab. Under This connection uses the following items, click either Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) or Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6), and then click Properties.
4. To specify IPv4 IP address settings, do one of the following:
- To get IP settings automatically using DHCP, click Obtain an IP address automatically, and then click OK.
- To specify an IP address, click Use the following IP address, and then, in the IP address, Subnet mask, and Default gateway boxes, type the IP address settings.
5. To specify IPv6 IP address settings, do one of the following:
- To get IP settings automatically using DHCP, click Obtain an IPv6 address automatically, and then click OK.
- To specify an IP address, click Use the following IPv6 address, and then, in the IPv6 address, Subnet prefix length, and Default gateway boxes, type the IP address settings.
6. To specify DNS server address settings, do one of the following:
- To get a DNS server address automatically using DHCP, click Obtain DNS server address automatically, and then click OK.
- To specify a DNS server address, click Use the following DNS server addresses, and then, in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server boxes, type the addresses of the primary and secondary DNS servers.
7. To change advanced DNS, WINS, and IP settings, click Advanced.

Technorati Tags: computers, tech tip, windows, windows 7

What Revision Control does is allows you to limit the amount of revisions WordPress will store for each posting.  You can determine if you only want the most recent revision saved or the last 5 revisions the choice is up to you.  Personally I only keep the most reccent revision so that I have a place to go back to but not so many that my blog slows down.

This plugin may not be loaded with features but it is easy to use and it does exactly what it promises, which is why I rate this plugin a 5/5.

You may also enjoy reading our review on Adsense for WordPress.

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A key example of what I am referring to is years and years ago I worked as a tech support agent and a person in my training group openly admitted they had never used a computer before and they were hired, oh an we were not doing support for like cable, or telephones.  No we were tech support for Gateway computers.

Recently I was dealing with tech support for my ISP.  As I mentioned earlier on the rare occurrence I need to call support its for something I cannot fix myself and would like help.  In this particular case my modem was flashing which can mean 3 things.

1. The modem is broken itself
2. There is no signal coming in to the modem meaning an outage or an issue preventing signal reaching the modem
3. The modem is not active.

So you have the back story on the situation now.  Before I called tech support I tested the signal at the source to rule out any problems with the lines inside my house and since my TV and telephone were still working it was obviously a modem issue.

So I call tech support wait half an hour and finally get an agent, he proceeds to waste another 10 minutes collecting info about me before finally getting to actual support.  I tell him what I have tested and what is happening.

We immediately rule out an outage.  He than tells me the problem is my cable splitter and he will send out a tech in 5 days.  I tell him it cant be the splitter I tested it at the source plus my phone and tv still work.  He says he will run a test and puts me on hold.  He comes back and says sir I cannot diagnose it from here I need to send a tech out to check your splitter box.  I repeat again it cannot be a splitter issue its a modem issue can you check if my modem is having an issue as this usually means an authorization issue, he assures me it cannot be that and says again its the splitter box.

Now at this time I am getting upset because this tech clearly does not know what he is talking about and I ask him to transfer me to someone else which he does.  I wait another half an hour run through the whole authorization thing again and we start over.

Again we rule out the outage as the cause.  He proceeds to tell me he needs to send out a tech to check, you guessed it the splitter box.   This is the second tech support agent who would rather just get off the phone and send out a tech than even listen to your problem or have any knowledge beyond what he is reading on the screen.  I tell him it is a modem issue and please check if it is activated he says he can’t do that, which I know to be an outright lie because they are the ones who handle that even when the tech is present.

So I finally give up but luckily I got a tech out sooner, and find out the problem is A DEACTIVATED MODEM.  When I upgraded my account someone screwed up and the modem was unauthorized so I had to wait 2 days for a tech to come to my home so he could call technical support and ask them to authorize my modem.  All of this could have been done on the first call.

This was not one but two agents in the same call who would rather push the problem onto someone else than do their job, even when you are doing their job for them and telling them exactly what they need to do.

I do not expect every tech support agent to have the level of knowledge that I do or even close, but I do expect somoene who is supposed to be able to help you when you have these issues to know the slightest little bit of what they are talking about and a willingness to at least what their job entails.

Now I don’t want to hammer on my ISP, because they are not the only ones to do this.  I have never had a good experience with technical support.  Constantly you get people who either either say it’s not their problem and your doing something wrong or they try and pass you off to someone else.  There is a very real problem with call centers dealing with these issues and for the most part I don’t think the actual company is even aware.

As I said earlier I used to work in technical support for an agency called Sutherland.  We handled technical support for Gateway Computers.  I used to get callers who were so happy to get someone who knew what they were talking about, how thankful they were to get their problems solved, and how glad they were I could speak English.  Do you know what Sutherland had to say about my tech say about my tech support?  They said I took to long on the phone and that I needed to get off the phone faster by selling them replacement hardware rather than troubleshooting theirs, sell them software to fix their problem that can easily be fixed without.

So as you can see these are not isolated incidents this is the norm in the industry.  These call centers do not care about the customer or their clients all they care about is getting as many calls as they can.  Many are based out of India where the agents can barely speak English.

Companies need to start addressing these issues as technical support in some cases can be ruining their reputation.  I for one will never buy a Gateway PC, use any Bell Canada or Rogers service.  All based off poor technical/customer support.

If you have had a nightmare with technical support please share it with us in the comments section.

Technorati Tags: computer repair, computers, tech support, technical support

As I said earlier there are many other AdSense plugin’s and I will be the first to admit that in terms of overall performance and options I think that some are superior to AdSense for WordPress however the lack of automation in its competitors lets this one pull ahead.

For any user who has an older blog with many posts prior to your AdSense campaign this is a plugin you cannot do without.

I highly recommend this plugin but its lack of features offered by its competitors I rank it a 3/5.  With that said I would not recommend any other AdSense plugin higher than 3/5 as well due to their lack of automation.

If you enjoyed this article you may also like our review of

Technorati Tags: adsense, plug in, plugin, weekly, wordpress

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