You can’t risk losing important files on your Android phone, may they be your treasured family vacation photos or your detailed notes on your clients. It’s best to be prepared for the worst and back up your data on your Mac or PC. Here’s a guide to how you can do just that.

To transfer files from your Android device to your computer, you need the following:

• Your Android phone
• A computer with a USB port
• A USB cable

Android file transfer for Windows

1. Unlock your phone.
2. Plug it into your computer’s USB port using a cable.
3. Your Android phone will display a “Charging this device via USB” notification. Tap on it.
4. Tapping on the notification will display other options. Select File Transfer under “Use USB for.”
5. Your computer will show a file transfer window. Drag and drop files from this window to your preferred location on your computer.
6. Once you’re done, eject your device from Windows by right-clicking the device and printers manager on the task bar and selecting your device’s name on the list.
7. Unplug your USB cable.

Android file transfer for Mac

For Mac users, there are several additional steps you need to do if you want to transfer files from your Android device, but the remaining steps are pretty much the same to Android file transfer for Windows.

1. Download and install Android File Transfer on your computer. Take note that this app only works on Macs running on OS X 10.7 or later.
2. Open the Android File Transfer app. You need to open it the first time you use it, but the next time you plug in your device, it will automatically open.
3. Unlock your Android app and connect it to your Mac using your USB cable.
4. On your phone, tap on the notification that says “Charging this device via USB.”
5. Your phone will then display other USB options for your device. Under “Use USB for,” choose File Transfer.
6. This will prompt your computer to display an Android File Transfer window.
7. Drag and drop files from this window to your preferred location on your computer.
8. After backing up your data, eject your USB by right-clicking the icon for the external device on your desktop and selecting “Eject [volume name].” Alternatively, you can drag the external volume icon into the trash can in the Dock.
9. Unplug your USB cable.

Transferring files from one device to another is a piece of cake, isn’t it? But data backup is more than just copying and moving files. Do you want to learn more about making your business devices and computers disaster-proof? Our dedicated IT experts can perform routine backup solutions that go beyond drag-and-drop. With their knowledge in security, data recovery, and business continuity, you never have to fear losing your data again. Call us today.

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The affordability of cloud computing and virtualization are helping small businesses do away with in-house IT hardware. Virtual containers are the next step in that trend. They come with plenty of benefits and are becoming easier to manage every day.

What are containers and why are they so popular?

Virtual containers are like digital versions of shipping containers, which use uniform packaging to simplify the portability and transportation of goods.

Virtual desktops, the predecessors to virtual containers, let users simply log into a web-based desktop, complete with a Recycle bin, Start bar, you name it. They’re wonderfully convenient, but require a fair amount of computing power to run. The next logical step was to let users work from non-cloud desktops, but connect them to individual apps powered by servers across a local network or internet connection.

A qualified IT professional just needs to gather everything an app needs to run, put it in a container, and give users a way to access it. The servers that make this possible are designed to do all the work so users don’t need high-end computers or specific operating systems to take full advantage of the app.

What are the benefits of containers?

The best thing about virtual containers is its simplicity. Your IT technicians can make important applications available to the entire office without having to install them on each computer. This also means you don’t need to worry about computers with limited hard drive space, incompatible operating systems, or slow processors.

Furthermore, when containers are updated on the server, the changes are immediately applied to any computer connected to the app.

The biggest obstacle to taking advantage of these benefits is the amount of technical expertise required to set them up and support them. It’s not something most in-house technicians can keep up with if they’re also in charge of day-to-day troubleshooting. Thankfully, the fact that containers can be accessed over the internet means IT providers can take care of most of the work remotely.

Want to maximize your business potential through virtualization and containers but need outside help? Call us today.

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Google Alerts lets you monitor the web for mentions of your name, your business, and even your competitor. It’s Google’s user-friendly content change detection and notification service. You only need to follow simple instructions to get alerts whenever you have new mentions on the web! Learn more about this revolutionary tool.

What is Google Alerts?

Google Alerts allows you to monitor the web for interesting new content on topics of interest to your business. It can also be used to alert you whenever your business is mentioned anywhere online, whether on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or wherever.

How do You Sign Up For Google Alerts?

Signing up and using this service is easy peasy! Just visit the Google Alert website, log in to your preferred Google account (if you have multiple accounts), and type in the words and phrases for which you want to receive alerts.

How does Google Alerts Work?

Just type your business’s name into your Google Alerts account, and whenever Google encounters relevant posts that mention your company, it will send you an email alert. This is an easy way to get notifications about articles featuring you or your business as soon as the posts go live.

Modify how often you want to be alerted

An avalanche of notifications can be overwhelming, especially if they’re cluttering your email. The great thing about Google Alerts is that it’s completely customizable. If you find that a keyword isn’t relevant to you anymore, you can change or delete it. You can even choose how frequent you want to receive emails and tweak the settings so you can receive the same alert across multiple email accounts in just a few clicks.

The benefits

With Google Alerts, you can easily keep track of your business without having to filter through irrelevant pieces of information that you come across when scrolling through your feed. With this tool, you can record all reviews about your business, competitors, clients, and suppliers in real time, allowing you to stay prepared and one step ahead of the competition.

Explore the myriad tools and services built to make your life easier. Call us today!

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The age-old proverb “There’s more than one way to skin a cat” is especially relevant when budgeting for IT services. Virtualization is one such way to “skin the cat,” as it helps businesses achieve their operational needs without having to incur as much expense as it traditionally would.

What is virtualization?

By virtualizing any of the items below, you can trick software into recognizing hardware when none actually exists. The easiest way to explain this is with examples from the most common type of this technology: hardware virtualization.

If you have one high-powered computer processor, virtualization allows you to split it up and run four separate operating systems (Windows, Apple OS, etc.), each seemingly running on a standalone, low-powered processor. In this case, virtualization is like creating different partitions within one processor, each with an independent environment for different uses.

Conversely, virtualization can also be used to connect four high-powered processors to create what your operating system will recognize as one ultra-fast piece of hardware.
This technology can be applied in a number of ways for more efficient resource utilization and cost savings.

#1 Desktop virtualization

Sometimes referred to as cloud desktops, this form of virtualization grants you access to a fully functioning computer via a local network or the internet. Somewhere, a server has allocated a portion of its hardware resources for your virtual desktop. With a keyboard, monitor, mouse, and extremely low-end computer, you can connect to this virtual desktop and utilize all the processing power and storage the server has set aside for it.

#2 Application virtualization

By installing a program on a server hard drive, your employee workstations can use their computing resources to run the program, but restrict data from being stored on their hard drives. The program and the documents it creates will never leave the server hard drive, making it much harder for hackers to compromise them.

With more advanced virtualization solutions, your server can also allocate the computing resources necessary to run the program, meaning your workstations are merely a window to your server.

#3 Storage virtualization

Similar to hardware virtualization, this strategy makes it easy to organize how your data is stored. In addition to combining hard drives across several computers into a massive virtual drive, storage virtualization also stores data based on how important it is. Frequently used documents are saved to your fastest drives and can be automatically backed up to the cloud.

#4 Network virtualization

If your office has more than 10 workstations, it makes sense to consider network virtualization, which allows you to separate vulnerable devices. For example, if you had one server that handles a lot of web traffic and another that stored sensitive documents, you might want to connect them to different networks to avoid cross-contamination in case of a virus attack. Network virtualization would allow you to do that without buying any new hardware!

Even with our simplified explanations, virtualization is still a complicated subject. Rather than try to figure it out in a few hundred words, give us a call and we’ll show you in person!

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