» New Years Resolutions 2008 Brandstar UK Limited: technical advice for everyone

With 2007 gone and 2008 arrived much sooner than we all imagined it is a good time to look back over the last year and into the new 2008! Many people like to reflect on what happened in 2007 and consider how 2008 could be better and then make a New Years Resolution, which, if we are honest…very few keep past January! Anyone said “I’m going to diet” yet?

Being a computer consultant I’d like to suggest to you some resolutions you could make to help protect your machine and your data and just generally give you a better computing experience in 2008!

Backup your data regularly - No matter how amazing your computer is, there is still the risk of a hardware failure and when that happens the most costly thing you could lose is your data. How often you backup your data depends on how much you use your machine but daily to an external hard drive using SecondBackup or Memeo is quick and easy!
Un-interruptible Power Supply - Protecting from power failures, power surges or someone accidentally unplugging your computer while it is on is one way of protecting your hardware! See our post about Protecting from Thunderstorms for more information and product recommendations.
Microsoft Office 2007 - Give the new Microsoft Office 2007 a try, the new Ribbon interface takes a week to get used to, but once you have it is far quicker to do so many of the everyday tasks you do already. Download a trial and see for yourself, chat with us if you need some advice or want to order a full version.
Switch to Firefox - You are probably used to using Internet Explorer (Big Blue E) to access the internet because that is what comes pre-installed as part of Windows. But Mozilla Firefox is a faster, more reliable, more secure and less prone to virus attacks! And it’s Free! Download Firefox and give it a go
Microsoft Windows Vista - Buying a new computer? consider getting it with Windows Vista. We don’t recommend installing it on an old machine unless you have thoroughly checked out the capability of the machine first. But we do highly recommend getting it on a new computer. For more information before buying read “Windows Vista - What I think” and also check out “Which version of Windows Vista is best for me?” lots of useful advice to ensure you get the right machine and right version of Vista - there are 4! (Or just give us a call :))
Eco Friendly - Do your bit by changing your office procedures. Little things that people can actually keep to are the best, do you really need to print that email!