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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.

What is G Suite, Really?

There is no question that Google is an absolute giant in computing, having moved from web search functionality to a much wider variety of applications. These applications now make up the G Suite, and are used by many, many businesses to accomplish their goals. Here, we’ll go over some of these features and how they can benefit your operations.

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Tip of the Week: Some Google Search Tips to Help You

For many tech-savvy individuals, the expression “Google it” is a well-tested, and approved, method to researching. Are you getting the most out of Google search? Today, we share useful tips on how to better optimize your Google search queries.

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How to Make Chromecast Your Employee of the Month

The Chromecast, Google’s offer to the growing streaming market, is a pretty handy device - even in the business setting. I know, I know, it is a consumer device, but some of its capabilities directly translate to professional use. Here, we’ll walk you through the process of setting up your Chromecast, four useful-for-business features, and the process of resetting your Chromecast if it ever needs it. 

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Tip of the Week: How to Search the Web Without Typing

b2ap3_thumbnail_drag_to_search_and_others_400.jpgHow fast are you at finding the information you need using Google Search? In today’s data-driven world, knowing how to effectively use Google is actually a marketable skill. Did you know that there are ways in Google Chrome to search for what you need that take less time than typing your query in the search bar?

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Tip of the Week: View Your Current Google Sessions for Optimal Security

b2ap3_thumbnail_google_sessions_400.jpgLogging into an account only to find out that you’ve been hacked can be a real hassle. If you’re wondering why and how this could have happened, you’re in luck; some accounts, like Google, record when and how the account is accessed, and finding out how is as easy as checking out your security settings. Here’s how you can see who is accessing your account, and how.

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Tip of the Week: How to Lock and Unlock Your Google Wallet Card

b2ap3_thumbnail_google_wallet_400.jpgGoogle might be best known for its search engine and groups of desktop apps, but it’s also known for innovating and rattling the cages of how we live our lives. One of the ways it’s doing so is with Google Wallet, an app that’s designed to make sharing cash and money transfers online even easier. What a lot of people forget, however, is that Google Wallet, and its associated card, can still be the target of fraud.

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Tip of the Week: Google Docs Now Lets You Type With Your Voice, Here’s How to Use It!

b2ap3_thumbnail_docs_from_google_400.jpgVoice-related technology is hardly news for Google. Android smartphones have had voice capabilities for a long time now. Google Now, the function's official name, can be used for Internet searches, setting alarms, adding calendar entries, activating entertainment like movies and music, calling or texting friends, and countless other functions. Now, however, you can literally write entire documents by using your voice in Google Docs.

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Tip of the Week: Handy Keyboard Shortcuts and Other Google Drive Tips

b2ap3_thumbnail_google_drive_400.jpgDoes your business use Google Drive? Google Drive provides several applications that are great for getting work done in the office, similar to Microsoft Office (Want to know the differences? Be sure to contact us). With Drive, there are easy ways to leverage it to your advantage in the form of keyboard shortcuts and other tips and tricks. Here are some of our favorites.

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Tip of the Week: Download All of Your Google Account’s Content in One Fell Swoop

An active Google user will inevitably accumulate a stockpile of photos and videos via their account’s Google Photos app. For this week’s tip, we’ll show you how to download all of this media to a local device.

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Tip of the Week: Work Commands for Google Home

Does your organization leverage any of Google’s plethora of services or applications to achieve success? Google Assistant can also be a great asset for your organization as it can connect to your smart devices and speakers to create an extremely valuable tool. This week’s tip will discuss some of the best features of Google Assistant and how it can affect your professional environment.

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Tip of the Week: How to Properly Search Google

Google is the most visited website in the world. That distinction doesn’t come easily as 4.2 billion people are active users of the Internet. Google claims to process around 3.5 billion search queries per day, or 1.2 trillion searches per year. As a result, it has become the world’s most successful advertising site, which can actually be a hindrance for users looking to get information about a subject.

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Tip of the Week: Optimize Your Chrome Browser

Google Chrome is much more than just any old web browser; it’s the most popular web browser in the world, being installed automatically on Android smartphones and the browser of choice for countless desktop users. Today, we want to help you get the most out of your Google Chrome web browser.

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Stream Media Wherever You Go With Chromecast

b2ap3_thumbnail_chromecast400.jpgMillions of users from all over the globe would admit that Google has taken over their PC. For any major application that has been created, Google seems to have an answer for it. With the exception of television models that run "Google TV", they hadn't found a way to take over your TV.

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Google Docs Finally Adding Microsoft Office Support

Businesses generally have to make an important choice about which brand of productivity software they will implement for day-to-day operations. Two of the heavy hitters in today’s business environment are Google and Microsoft utilizing their respective productivity solutions. While the choice of which service to work with seems exclusive, Google is making strides to break down this barrier and allow certain file types to be edited in Google Drive.

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Tip of the Week: A Few of Chrome’s Native Capabilities

Google Chrome is the most-used browser in the world by a wide margin, which is part of the reason that it is so incredible that many people don’t know a lot about its built-in features. While we certainly can’t go through all of them in a single blog, we can offer a few tips describing the best of them.

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Google Knows Where You Are: Here’s How to Stop Them

Late in the summer this past year there were several articles written about how Google would continue to track the location of a person’s smartphone after they had chosen to turn their location settings off. A Princeton researcher corroborated those claims for the Associated Press, traveling through New York and New Jersey with locations services off only to be tracked the entire way. Today, we will discuss this issue, and tell you what you need to know to keep Google from tracking you wherever you go.

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Prioritize the Protection of Your Google Account

Chances are you have a Google account, whether it’s for business or personal use. It’s more accessible today than ever before and provides a solid way to gain access to several important features and accounts. Considering how much can be done with a Google account, users forget that they can put their security and personal data at risk. Here are some ways that your Google account is at risk, as well as what you can do to fix it.

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Why Your Google Account’s Security is So Important

These days, it seems that to have a computer is to have a Google account. If one isn’t used for professional purposes, it is used as a personalized solution - and no wonder. The convenience and accessibility of these accounts alone are compelling, even before one considers the versatility that this account brings with it. Unfortunately, these benefits can be quickly overshadowed by risk if a Google account’s security is overlooked, even if unintentionally.

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Google’s Making Changes to Chrome, and Not Everyone’s Happy

Chrome 70 is yet another example of how divisive technology has the potential to be. On the one hand, a few of the changes have people excited about some clear benefits to security, but others worry that Chrome will no longer be as secure or as user-friendly. We’ll review some of the changes coming with Chrome 70, so you can decide for yourself.

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Tip of the Week: 3 Easy Ways to Improve the Performance of Your Chrome Web Browser

If you use Google Chrome as your preferred browser, you’ll notice that its performance might dip considerably at times. Thankfully, there are ways to see just what’s causing the problem, and issues can be mitigated easily enough with a little bit of knowhow.

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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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