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I.T. Tips and Tricks to Help with Diagnosing Issues

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There is nothing more frustrating than when your computer begins to malfunction or simply stops working. Whether you are simply using your computer to check your email and play games, go shopping, or to earn a living, no one really takes the time to teach you how to troubleshoot it. There are a few simple I.T. tips and tricks you can use to help diagnose your problems or more importantly to help you know what information should be given to your tech support personnel so that they can make the correct diagnosis.

Take a Screenshot

Now this may seem a bit silly as it is not always going to be possible to take a screenshot if your computer fails or locks up. However, when it comes to useful I.T. tips and tricks this may be one of the best. Although you might think you can remember what was on your screen the moment your computer failed, a copy of it will make it much easier for your IT technician to fix the problem. If for any reason you cannot capture an actual screenshot, you can always take a picture using a good digital camera and send it along with your service ticket.

Keep a List

When your computer starts to act up, it can be easy to ignore the simple little warning signs. However, it may not take long before small problems grow into larger ones. Following this the bigger problems will grow until your computer stops working altogether. Another one of the hottest I.T. tips and tricks is to keep a journal of the issues that pop up as you encounter them. This way when you do finally decide to contact your I.T. department you have a “shopping list” of problems including what happened, when it happened, and how often each of the problems occurred. This along with a good screenshot may be among the best possible tools you can give the technician to help him diagnose and repair the problem restoring your computer back to full working order.

OMA Comp wants you to go about your day without a hitch. If you’re having any trouble with your computers please call OMA Comp today at (248)-616-3057 or visit us at www.omacomp.com and we’ll help you in any way we can.

Responsive Design Allows Your Website to Fit All Screens

When it comes to your website, a responsive design means that no matter what size screen your visitors happen to be using, the design will respond to it and size the view to include the entire page. In simpler terms this simply means that the design takes note of the width and height of your screen or more accurately the size of the viewable area within the web browser being used. It then adjusts the layout of the website. This is done to ensure that the viewer can see everything you, as the site owner, want them to see.

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Going Mobile

One of the best possible examples of responsive design is the current trend towards the use of mobile devices. For many years all website design focused heavily on accommodating desktop computer screens. As the trend towards mobile devices has led to ever shrinking screen sizes the need for websites to take this into account has increased. Today more people are surfing the web using smartphones, tablets, and laptops. If your website is not optimized to take all of these different devices into account you will lose the opportunity to take advantage of a rapidly growing number of clients.

Responsive, Liquid, and Fixed Layouts

In the early days of the Internet websites made use of liquid layouts. These web pages were designed to flex in order to fit the size of the screen. In most cases this meant stretching the width of the page to fit the screen. While this type of design is still in use today, it has never truly gained in popularity in comparison to the fixed layout in use on many websites today. The liquid layout has become very popular for use on mobile devices as it lets the web page adapt to the size of the screen. However, this does not allow it to adapt fully to the size of a desktop or laptop screen. This is where responsive design comes into play as it allows the website to adapt to the screen or more accurately the browser. This ensures that no matter what your visitor is using they will be able to see your web pages clearly and be able to easily navigate their way around.

 

OMA Comp has full responsive capabilities with their website development branch. If you’re interested in bringing your website into the “now” rather than leaving it in the “then”, call us today and we’ll set you up with everything you need. If you can think it, we can do it. 248-616-3057

Building Strong B2B/B2C Relations – OMA Comp

OMA-Comp-Business-Relations-ExpertsAs an entrepreneur you deal with both retail and business customers, and you have to take a different approach to how you deal with both sides of your business. No matter which type of customer you happen to be dealing with, it is vital to the success of your business that you succeed in building strong B2B/B2C relations. At the same time you must realize that you are dealing with two completely different types of customers, each of which has a different method of shopping.
 
Looking at the Business Side of Things
When looking at the business side of B2B/B2C relations, it is important that you understand how the business customer conducts their shopping. The average business customer tends to be extremely savvy with regard to what they are buying. They spend countless hours researching any major purchase and comparison shopping. The web copy for the business customer needs to have a certain level of sophistication based on this assumption. It is safe to assume that these buyers already know a great deal about the products you have for sale and are more interested in being shown that you have the exact item they need.

 
From the Consumer’s Point of View
On the other hand the average consumer tends to be less informed and is more likely to buy on impulse. They are far more interested in finding the best price rather than the item with the best specifications. Looking at this aspect of B2B/B2C relations, it is very important for your website design to instill a sense of trust in your customers. Your website content not only needs to be SEO optimized, but also has to be worded in such a way as to let your customers know that you are the experts with regard to your products. These are the steps you must take in order to be successful when running an online business.

Malware On The ISS? More than Once Apparently. – OMA Comp

OMA-Comp-ISS-Malware-Story-11-14-2013According to security experts, it seems that a Russian astronaut mistakenly brought a virus onto the ISS recently, causing a breach in it’s security. How many times has this happened? According to Security Expert Eugene Kaspersky, a lot. A study also showed that a joint venture between American and Israeli forced helped create a virus to damage Iran’s nuclear agenda. This virus not only did it’s job, but is still doing it – there have been millions of infections all over the world.  Let’s hope they learn to scan those drives before taking them into space next time.

Do you think you need an update of your malware protection plan?

OMA Comp can get you set up in no time, leaving you anxious-free and confident in your systems’ security.

Ransomware and What To Watch Out For – OMA Comp

OMA-Comp-Blog-Post-11-13-2013With the ever-intense shopping season right around the corner, it’s also the perfect time for hackers and cyber-thieves to hunt, and now lock you out of for your sensitive information that cost you hundreds in repair/retrieval. The latest thing to wreak havoc across the internet is a form of malware known as ransomware– yes, you read that right. Sweeping helpless consumers across the world the last couple of weeks, Black Friday could be a potential goldmine for these wrong-doers.

A rather new form of malware, ransomware typically arrives in the form of an email made to look like something legitimate using social engineering, causing the user to think it’s a trustworthy message. There is a zip file attached where the user then opens it, allowing the encryption software to run on their computer. Before you even know what you’ve obliviously initiated, it’s far too late. Your computer brings up a lock-out screen telling you have a certain amount of time to pay a fee or you will lose you data. Reports are stating that prices are falling anywhere between $300 and $2000. Only after you pay the fee will you get your files back, but some reports claim that even then you’ll be out of luck. If it came down to this the only savior in such an event would to have a backup somewhere, but many users don’t use any form of backup whatsoever.

Anti-Virus companies try their hardest at keeping up with the newest tactics and devices as to update their software as often as possible, but sometimes it’s just not enough. You need to keep your malware software up to date as to have the latest version, keeping the latest and most dangerous viruses at bay. Telling the difference between a legitimate email and a fake one is becoming increasingly difficult as well, so it’s important you leave any messages you don’t know about alone and leave it to the Anti-virus and Anti-Mal ware software to clear out.

OMA Comp uses only the best software and hardware when it comes to protecting your computer and your files. Daily backups and a proper security setup are the best protection against such an event, so be sure you’re in good shape for a day’s worth of online shopping. The last thing you would want to happen is to open that email thinking it was from a major department store, only to find out it was fake with a digital ransom minutes later. Are you thinking of something you’d like done to your system to better prepare yourself? OMA Comp can do it all so call today!

MMS Marketing & The Future of Text Message Advertising- OMA Comp

I-Phone-OMA-Comp-MMS-Marketing-AdvertisingA few major corporations have started to believe that something as simple as a text message could become the best source of advertisement. In fact, ABC, Fox, and CBS have developed and enacted advertisements via MMS messaging, which greatly expanded the amount of people that can be accessed at a time.
In Chicago, thanks to a $3 million sponsoring fee from numerous local firms, Iris Mobile was created, to help increase the amount of promotional campaigns and secure customer support. One of the founders of the company, Deep Malik, claims that thanks to this company, companies can text any phone. He claims texting is the best way to expand customer base because they’ll check their texts, whereas emails can easily be placed under spam and ignored. Other parts of various firms are developing the same idea because they too, see the potential in this.

In the past couple years, the amount of MMS messages sent has exponentially increased. For example, in 2012, nearly three quarters of a billion messages were sent. Although this way of advertising has been rising quite slowly, it is predicted that it will be subjected to change in the near future. In May 2013, it was found that only 38% of 745 marketers have used this way to advertise. However, when used in 2010, it was found that 98% of these texts were opened.

Some companies like Starbucks used a program that hacked MMS messages to determine each person’s type of phone and whether they should continue sending them advertisements or not. Although the message only had an image to capture the attention using visual media to spread the word of Happy Hour, it achieved more than expected. The successful use of MMS, however, was claimed to have been not as efficient as that of SMS, because for SMS one could track location to determine consumer density.

The MMS messaging tactic is an expanding idea, and it could be a great source of advertisement; just depends on the firm.