Databit Blog

There’s a lot more to the Windows operating system than first meets the eye, especially where handy shortcuts are concerned. Today, we’ll cover five of the shortcuts baked into Windows that may be beneficial to your productivity.

Sometimes you’ll open up a document and it will open up in a default program on your computer that you never use, or one that you might not even know you have. This can happen with common types of file formats, like PDFs or MP3s, that could be opened by more than one program on your computer. Windows 10 makes it easy to customize your user experience through changing up the default applications for specific file types. We’ll show you how it’s done.

Did you know that Microsoft Word can actually edit PDF files? Well… the most recent version of it can, anyway. Since Adobe Acrobat can be a considerable investment for each and every one of your employees, you can instead turn to the tried and true Microsoft Word for this purpose. We’ll show you how you can do this (as long as you have the most recent version of MS Word).

Have you ever been in a situation where you have to continuously hit the refresh button in your browser? Maybe you’re waiting for an online sale to go live, or you’re waiting on an online forum for a critical response. Or, maybe you’re just waiting for an important email. Either way, manually refreshing your browser multiple times can be both annoying and inefficient. We’ll show you how you can refresh it automatically.

GIFs. What are they? If you’ve spent any time perusing the Internet, you’ve definitely come across a GIF or two. Essentially, a GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is an animated picture that loops a few seconds of a video clip (without playing any audio). In addition to GIFs being fun, they can serve as a great way to enhance digital communications. How can you take advantage of GIFs?

For business professionals needing to access sensitive information, a public PC is never the first choice. We’ve all suspected it, and now there’s government-issued proof that hackers are targeting public computers. However, don’t be deterred from using public terminals; there are ways to get around hackers and their traps.

Android smartphones are everywhere. As a result, Google Now, Android’s personal assistant application, is everywhere. The application integrates with a user’s Gmail account to provide information, directions, and perform functions.

We live in an age where everything we do is auto-corrected through our word processor or email client. This makes it particularly easy to make grammar errors, especially when you’re in a pinch and you need to send out a reminder or an email within moments. If your business isn’t careful to avoid these mistakes, you could potentially be seen as unprofessional in your industry.

So you’ve got yourself a new Android device and you want to transfer all of your favorite media from your PC onto the device. How do you go about doing this? While there all several different ways you can transfer your files, one of the easiest ways is to take advantage of a program that’s already installed on your PC: Windows Media Player.

Occupational burnout is a real risk for the busy business owner. Wikipedia defines it as, “Characterized by short-term exhaustion, lack of enthusiasm and motivation, feeling drained, and also may have the dimension of frustration and/or negative emotion and cynical behavior, and as a result reduced professional efficacy.” Can you relate? How can you prevent occupational burnout?

You pay your employees to come to the office and perform their daily duties, but how much of that time is actually being spent working? Every wasted minute cuts into your daily profits, which can waste countless minutes. If you want to get the most out of your team, there are several technology strategies that the modern business can take advantage of to maximize productivity.

Presentations are a necessary, albeit time-consuming, responsibility that you have as a business owner. Thankfully, there are simple tools like Microsoft PowerPoint available to help make your job a little easier. Unfortunately, it’s very easy to make a boring or less-than-great presentation, which can hamper the audience’s ability to let the message sink in. Here are five ways to make sure that your next PowerPoint is as effective as possible.

A growing company tends to experience a lot of IT pains. This is because growth usually goes hand-in-hand with an expanding IT infrastructure, and your in-house IT staff might not be able to keep up with the increased workload. This is especially painful if your budget isn’t as flexible as you’d like. You decide that it’s in your best interest to outsource your IT, but where should you start looking?

Are you looking for a way to manage Internet use on a single computer that’s being used by multiple people? To help you keep your browsing history and settings intact and keep unwanted users from accessing the web, Google has a free add-on available for Chrome created for just this very purpose.

Have you ever felt like you aren’t sure how to proceed, or how to get yourself out of a rut? You surely don’t want your competitors to know about your weak points, but you feel so much pressure that you might think twice about asking for tips of the trade. After all, a hand once in a while can make all of the difference. This is when you might consider outsourcing a consultant.

It’s often the case that people excitedly upgrade to new technology without giving much thought about what to do with their old tech. In an upgrade situation like this, you’ve got a few options for dealing with your old technology that are good for the environment, socially responsible, and may even provide you with some cash.

"Work smarter, not harder.” When you’re at your wit’s end, it’s annoying to be told this by a relaxed, know-it-all coworker. However, this productivity axiom holds up. Following this rule will allow you to get much more done, in a much shorter amount of time, and in a much more relaxed manner. Here are five productivity tips to help you “work smarter, not harder.”

Or, don’t follow these tips. Keep doing things the hard way and stress yourself out. The choice is yours.

As the world pushes toward a more mobile era, so too does the workplace embrace Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) with open arms. As such, workers will need some type of network connection in order to access mission-critical corporate data. Therefore, if they can’t connect to a WiFi network, they’ll default to their cell provider’s mobile data plan.

Smartphones are exceptionally useful tools capable of enhancing your productivity, even while out of the office, but this comes at a steep cost. If your phone’s battery isn’t optimized to handle the workload, the multitude of apps will quickly drain it and you’ll be left with a dead device.

The computer mouse has been a staple in the modern office for many years. Despite its proven usefulness, it’s now threatened by the growing adaptation of touchscreen devices in the workplace. Are you considering trading in your trusty mouse? Before you do, consider these three mouse scroll wheel tricks that make your boring old mouse more useful.