Small Business Computing Staff

PCWorld: Lenovo Introduces ThinkPad X201 Tablet Lenovo, which mainly targets enterprises with its premium-priced laptops, believes most businesses will steer clear of pure slate PCs and choose convertibles like this one that you can use as a tablet or a conventional laptop. “Lenovo on Tuesday introduced ThinkPad ultraportable laptops, including a tablet, which the company […]

Smallbiztechnology.com: Microsoft Office Is Expensive – There Are Alternatives This post looks at the viability of using free or cheap alternatives to Office such as IBM’s free Lotus Symphony and quotes a recent ZDNet article on possible strategies for making decisions about which to use. “Microsoft Office, can set you back hundreds of dollars per […]

InformationWeek SMB: Mozilla Posts Firefox Fixes But Possible Bug Remains Questions remain about possible vulnerabilities left in the Firefox browser, despite five new ‘advisories’ that deal with critical and moderate vulnerabilities that Mozilla HAS confirmed. “The Mozilla Foundation on Wednesday issued five security advisories related to vulnerabilities in its Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey software. But […]

Smallbiztechnology.com: Wireless 4G: Faster ‘Net Access Wherever You Are (Hint: More Productivity) Broadband 3G mobile data services were okay for Internet access, this blogger argues, but new 4G networks from Sprint, Clearwire and, eventually, others make mobile computing really sing. “I’ve been using wireless broadband from Verizon Wireless for many years. No matter where I […]

PCWorld: Best Bling for the Home Office The list includes a treadmill-cum-workstation, ergonomic chairs, cool scanners and keyboards. Also a slideshow. “Whether you work at home full time as I do, or just use your home office after hours, it should be filled with things that make it comfortable and help you be as productive […]

SocialMediaToday: 7 Reasons Every Business Needs to be on Twitter The reasons seem fairly obvious when you get down to it – to interact with customers, to interact with prospects, to influence influencers, etc. – but blogger Tom Pick makes a compelling case. “Despite the fact that Twitter has more than 32 million users, has […]

ZDNet: Firefox 3.6 suffers from unpatched “highly critical” vulnerability Security software firm Secunia has spotted a vulnerability in Firefox 3.6 that can leave users at risk of being attacked by hackers at some Web sites. “A vulnerability has been uncovered in Firefox 3.6.x. This bug is rated as highly critical by Secunia. Details are sketchy, […]

InformationWeek: Help Rolling Out Windows 7 A survey and reviews of five tools designed to manage and automate migration from earlier versions of Microsoft’s Windows desktop operating system to the new Windows 7, some appropriate for larger SMBs. Deploying a new operating system across a company is a bit like conducting an orchestra: You need […]

PCWorld: Social Networks Help Businesses Share Knowledge A PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant argues that social networks are a good way for companies to distribute ‘tacit’ knowledge that would only otherwise be exchanged in informal phone conversations and at cocktail parties. Social networking is providing new ways for businesses to unlock tacit knowledge within their organizations, according to […]

InformationWeek SMB: Facebook To Accept PayPal Payments We’re not sure this is what social networking was supposed to be about, but if you can figure out a way to sell directly to your customers from a Facebook site, you’ll now be able to receive payment more easily using PayPal. “Social networkers and businesses looking to […]

Merchants Information Solutions Inc.: Small Business ID Theft and Fraud A provider of identity theft protection and recovery solutions scopes the problem and shows how SMBs can protect themselves. “The premise of this Small Business ID Theft and Fraud whitepaper is based on three principles: 1. No ONE COMPANY can PREVENT any individual from becoming […]

ITBusinessEdge: Online Backup Services Launching SMB-Specific Versions Carbonite and SugarSync have both recently introduced SMB versions of their online backup services that include administrative tools, premium support and other features that make them more attractive than similar consumer-oriented services. “Earlier this month, online backup service Carbonite launched Carbonite Pro, which is an SMB-specific version of […]