Make My Technology Simple

Windows 7 Tips > Changing the Way a Program Starts

A cool new feature of Windows 7 (at least in this blogger’s mind) is a new way of configuring how a program starts.

Click on the Start Button, then left click the program that you want to work with. From the new resulting drop down menu you will see the following choices amongst others:

Pin to Task Bar
Pin to Start Menu

I like to keep my desktop as free of icons as possible, so I like to put my most used programs on the Task Bar.

To ‘Pin’ anything to the Task Bar, you must first make sure that it is ‘unlocked’. To do this, right click the task bar and make sure that the task bar is ‘unlocked’. If it says ‘task bar locked’, then left click it once and it was become unlocked.

By clicking ‘Pin to Task Bar’ the application sends a copy of itself to the Task Bar. Now instead of clicking Start>All programs>Program folder>program you can just single click the icon on the task bar.

If you have any questions about Windows 7, or any technology questions, please feel free to post it here and I will do the best I can to answer it.

A great Friday the 13th!

I attended the ExecuLeaders breakfast #39 this morning at Carlyle on the Green at the Bethpage State Park. Rich Kruse put together another great event. Met some very interesting people at the table that I facilitated at. Monique Zorn from Zorn’s Catering, James Fleming from First New YorkTitle Agency, Harry Jacobs of DJJ Technologies were just a few of the business owners that I spoke with. I look forward to networking with them further to see if we can help each other out with any leads or ideas.

Another smiling face at the breakfast was my friend and salesperson for the NY Islanders, Hank Jaroslawski. He is my main contact for all things Islanders. Helped me to find just the right jerseys for me and my daughter.

After the breakfast, I headed over to Charlie Razenson’s Unique Impressions shop to talk with him about getting some monogrammed shirts for my business and then as always catching up on the Islanders with him. Charlie is very involved with the Islanders and does a lot of work for them, so he is constantly talking with them, attends a ton of events, some as a member of the Islanders Business Club, of which I became a member of a few months ago. He was very gracious in giving me an autographed photo of one of my Islander favorites, Tim Jackman #28. That man gets on the ice and things happened!

Then after that I was back at the office, adding the people I met at the breakfast to my database and getting ready to contact them to set up appointments for next week.

Friday the 13th was a good day for this ‘Guy’. Hope it was for you too!

Networking Groups: Small Is Good

I went to a small free networking event at Panera Bread on Route 347 in Hauppauge. I met up with about 7 other business owners getting to know one another. Everyone drinking coffee. I understand that there are 4 or 5 of these events going on between Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Some bigger than others, all introducing people to each other, learning what each does and hopefully forming alliances along the way.

There is something to be said about this kind of forum. It definitely fills a void during these economic times.

(I actually picked up two key leads for work and am talking with a 3rd about using his services to promote my business.

I think the key thing is that we get out there, meet new people and see if we can get each other more contacts and perhaps work.

“People Do Business With People They Know.” Get to know someone new today and maybe do some business with them tomorrow!

You the business owner , “Blew It!”

These are words that no business owner wants to think about! Yeah times are hard here on Long Island as they are everywhere else in America. You the business owner, “Blew It!”. You are so busy cutting costs, laying good hard working employees off, haggling with your vendors for lower prices, listening to the nay-sayers on TV and print that tell you this is how you run ‘your’ business and the only way to stay profitable, that you forgot that this is just another down cycle in our economy. Long Islanders bounce back FAST! And they have mouths. They spread the word about businesses good and bad. Sadly we usually only hear about the ‘bad’ stuff.
You as a business owner should be looking for innovative ways to take advantage of the down turn in the economy. Look into small business loans from the government to upgrade your equipment, train your employees in the new technologies. Start those projects that need research. Sitting back on your hands when ACTION is what will get you ahead of the competition is not considered ‘coasting’. It is considered loosing ground to your competition.
Every business owner right now is standing in front of a crap table called your business environment. Some of you just stand there watching, caressing those budgets carefully in your pockets, trying to make a decision to step up and get into the game. Scared to do anything other than ‘hold back’. While you watch the other people at the table ‘in the game’. Making strategic investments, and yes, taking chances. But calculated chances.
Some of the things you are holding back on are employee training and yourself (but don’t be selfish in this respect), new equipment, planning for projects that have been put aside, and advertising.
One of the first things that companies pull back on is marketing and their IT budgets. Well when everyone else is doing that, you should be out there will BIG Ads. Since everyone else is holding back you will look bigger without a lot of effort.
IT budgets, well as an IT consultant and previously employed IT Manager, I can tell you that now is the time to look at your equipment. Older, power hungry computers, monitors and servers can actually be upgraded for less than you think because you have to remember that new equipment puts out less heat (so the need to cool is less expensive), and that the newer OS from Windows called Windows 7 will make those PCs running VISTA (hold the curses) actually a pleasure to use and increase your employees output.
Contact your marketing partners. Contact your IT people in house and consultants. Start a dialogue with them to start learning what they can do for your business. You know the big boys are quietly doing this! You know you need to set yourself apart from your competition. You KNOW they ARE doing these very same things. You KNOW you don’t want to look yourself in the mirror in a few very short months and say to that stressed out person looking back at you, “YOU BLEW IT!”.

Public Hearings Set for the Long Island Lighthouse Project

THE TIME IS NOW FOR THE LIGHTHOUSE PROJECT.

Lighthouse supporters, we need you. The long awaited public hearing has been scheduled by the Town of Hempstead, and Tuesday, August 4, 2009 is the day we’ve all been waiting for. The meeting will be at 9:30 a.m. at the John Cranston Adams Playhouse on the campus of Hofstra University.

The public hearing is the time you need to let your voice be heard. Please make an effort to be a part of history in the making. Bring your friends and family and show your support for Long Island’s future. You’ve been there for us before, and we need you to be there for us again.

The Town has offered several ways for the public to comment on the project. You can comment via email at lighthousecomment@tohmail.org or in a letter to Lighthouse Project Public Comment, One Washington Street, Hempstead, NY 11550.

For more information please visit www.lighthouseli.com or the official blog of the Lighthouse Development Group the Light Post at lighthouseliblog.blogspot.com. Follow the Lighthouse project on Twitter at @lighthouse_li or join the “I support the Lighthouse at Long Island” on Facebook.