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Directive has been serving the Oneonta area since 1993, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

As the Facebook Empire Grows, the Acquisitions Keep Coming

b2ap3_thumbnail_facebook_is_buying_400.jpgIt's no secret that Facebook is one of the most visited sites on the Internet. In fact, according to the Alexa rankings, which measure website traffic, facebook.com is ranked second after only Google.com. With this much exposure, and the emanated revenue that comes from this kind of traffic, it has become important for the world's largest and most successful social network to scout out and eliminate possible competitors, many times before those companies even consider themselves potential competitors.

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Tip of the Week: How to Reorganize Your IT Infrastructure

b2ap3_thumbnail_get_your_it_in_order_400.jpgEveryone needs a tip occasionally. Therefore, we want to provide our followers with what we like to call, "Tips of the Week." These helpful tidbits are targeted toward helping you understand certain aspects of business technology. For our first tip, we will walk you through how to reorganize your IT infrastructure. For more tips, see our previous blog articles.

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Tip of the Week: How to Clean your Laptop

b2ap3_thumbnail_clean_laptop_400.jpgThis is our first article in a series of helpful technology tips that we will publish every week. For more great tips, check out our previous blog articles. This week, we're walking you through the proper way to clean your laptop.

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Organize Your Microsoft Outlook 2013 Contacts the Easy Way

b2ap3_thumbnail_big_data_help_400.jpgAs a business owner, your email contacts list is probably chock-full of clients and customers you've met over the years. This can make it difficult to find your target without sifting through countless names. Instead of getting flustered by an unorganized list, try sorting your contacts in various ways.

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How to Find Greater Success By Reading More Books

b2ap3_thumbnail_read_with_spead_400.jpgAs a business leader, you know that you should read more about the latest industry trends and helpful management concepts. How's that going for you? For many business owners, finding time just to run their business is difficult enough, making book reading a luxury. We've found that you can do both by learning how to speed read.

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Make Dynamic Infographics with Microsoft PowerPoint

b2ap3_thumbnail_powerpoint_for_infographs_400.jpgNot only can Microsoft PowerPoint make great slideshows, it can also make engaging infographics. The latest trend in marketing is fairly simple: Visual content sells. Images and videos are the most popular way to take advantage of this. Infographics can offer your marketing campaign a combination of text and image, allowing your marketing content to be both engaging and informative.

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Can Minecraft Teach Kids Valuable Real-World Programming Skills? [VIDEO]

b2ap3_thumbnail_minecraft_class_400.jpgChildren across the world are heading back to school, and their parents breathe a sigh of relief. Instead of playing video games, children can now expand their minds in institutions designed for learning. But, what if a popular video game could teach children how valuable programming is as a real-world skill?

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Do We Have the Right to Be Forgotten?

b2ap3_thumbnail_right_to_be_forgotten_400.jpgIn Europe, there's a lot of discussion about whether or not citizens have the right to be forgotten, or rather, be forgotten by search engines. According to a May 2014 ruling, search engines must consider requests from the public for removal of content. Not just any content, though; according to ZDNet, the content must be "inadequate, irrelevant, or no longer relevant." As you might guess, this concept is extremely controversial.

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3 Easy Actions Your Business Can Take to Go Green!

b2ap3_thumbnail_start_going_green_400.jpgWith more businesses becoming aware of the environmental impact of their day-to-day operations, one would assume that a practice like printing would be on the decline due to how wasteful it is. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. Despite advances in digital communication, paper consumption continues to increase by 20 percent each year in modern offices.

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Almost Half of Business Owners Reply to Work Email While on Vacation

b2ap3_thumbnail_relax_on_a_beach_400.jpgYou're on vacation with your family and your smartphone notifies you about a work email entitled "URGENT!" What do you do? Checking the message could mean hours spent putting out a fire at the office. Ignoring it will give you more time with your family, but you'll be distracted and stressed the whole time thinking about the worst-case scenario.

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Understanding Basic Formulas in Microsoft Excel 2013

b2ap3_thumbnail_Excel_for_databases_and_spreadsheets_400.jpgIt can be difficult to keep track of your budget and expenses, especially when prices and needs are always changing. But perhaps the biggest annoyance is the intense paper trail that you leave behind when building your budget. By taking advantage of Microsoft Excel's formulas, you can easily keep track of your budget and alter it as prices change and demand increases.

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5 Gmail and Outlook Tricks to Cut Corners On Your Email Time

b2ap3_thumbnail_email_tricks_400.jpgWe all know how annoying email can be at times. Your inbox is constantly being filled with new messages, and before you know it, you have no idea what you've responded to or what needs to be responded to. To make matters worse, the average office worker spends roughly two hours staring at their email inbox and responding to messages. Not only is this counterproductive, but is also a massive time-wasting practice.

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What’s it Take to Have Your Idea See Potato-Salad Success? [VIDEO]

b2ap3_thumbnail_yummy_potato_salad_400.jpgGot a great business idea but lack the capital to make it happen? Many startups are looking to the Internet to find the funds they need to get their project off the ground. Known as crowdfunding, this tool presents entrepreneurs a chance to find supporters in unlikely places, and even find wild potato-salad-like success!

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3 Tips to Increase Focus and Improve Productivity!

b2ap3_thumbnail_use_these_productivity_tips_400_20140707-125059_1.jpgMore studies are proving that multitasking is terrible for productivity. This is due to the fact that the brain just isn't capable of doing two things at once, or at least very well. Instead, behavioral scientist are saying that focusing on a single task is the key to productivity. Here are three tips to help you focus at work!

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How to Optimize Your Twitter Background

b2ap3_thumbnail_custom_twitter_background_400.jpgDue to Twitter's popularity, it can be difficult to establish a significant presence on the social media giant. To succeed, you have to grab a user's attention immediately when they visit your page. Having an dynamic background image will help improve your chances of landing a new Twitter follower. Here's how you do it!

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Tips to Search the Web like a Pro, Part 2

b2ap3_thumbnail_mastery400.jpgLast week, we shared four tips to help you search the web and find anything that you're looking for. In part 2, we will take a look at additional search tools that will help you refine your searches so you can become a search master!

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How to Covert PDFs to Word Documents

b2ap3_thumbnail_pdfword400.jpgHave you ever been frustrated by not being able to edit information locked up inside of a PDF? Now, with Microsoft Word 2013, the issue is resolved, making it super easy to edit text, tables, and graphics within a PDF file.

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Tutorial: Master the Art of the Mail Merge, Part 2

laptop mail

Last time we spoke about creating your contact list in Excel when performing a mail merge. Of course, you can also use your Outlook contacts, and if you are running any sort of CRM software it is pretty likely it exports its own spreadsheet that can be used in a mail merge. Let's go over how to perform a mail merge now that you have your list.

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Quick Tips - Master the Windows 7 Taskbar

windows 7 icon

Want to look like a PC Pro and get more done faster? With these simple tips, you'll have the skills to impress your co-workers with a few keystrokes. The Windows 7 Taskbar is the menu bar that stretches along (typically) the bottom of your screen. These are some lesser-known productivity tips to streamline your Windows 7 experience.

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The Small Business Guide for Preparing for Disaster

tornado

It's the start of the 2011 hurricane season, and with Hurricane Irene making contact with Atlantic coastlines this week, it certainly doesn't hurt to make sure your business is prepared for a disaster. Even if you are lucky enough to not be affected by these devastating storms, there are plenty of opportunities for nature to cause havoc on our way of life. It's never to late to put together a Disaster Recovery Plan (alternatively known as a Business Continuity Plan) in case a natural (or otherwise) disaster were to occur for you. Nobody wants to think a disaster might happen, but it isn't impossible. Here are a few steps small businesses can take to become better prepared.

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Our business began its journey with the purchase of a personal computer back in 1992. This purchase ignited a passion with Chris Chase, our CEO, and there was no stopping its momentum. Less than one year later, he had his first IT support client (and...

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