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Preparing for New Year’s Resolutions

Countdown-to-2014

The coming of a New Year is a time to reminisce over the events of the past year and plan for the coming year.  Each year we make a New Year’s resolution but each year they are forgotten about within the first month.  So why are we wasting time with New Year’s resolutions if we are only going to break them?  How are we preparing for New Year’s resolutions that we can keep up with?

Set a Realistic Goal

Most resolutions are broken because we set an unrealistic goal.  If your goal is to stop eating chocolate it would be more prudent to set a goal of limiting the amount of chocolate you eat rather than eliminating a favorite sweet from your life altogether.

Make it Measurable

Making a measurable resolution will help your to be more successful at keeping them.  If your resolution is to cut back on eating chocolate then a measurable goal would be allowing yourself one serving of chocolate a day then gradually reducing the amount to one every other day until you reach your final goal of perhaps eating only one chocolate a week.  Preparing milestones for your New Year’s Resolutions will help your chances of keeping your resolution.

Create Milestones and Reward Your Achievements

To help keep your resolution set milestones.  For example, using the chocolate example at the end of the first week if you limited your chocolate consumption to your one a day goal then allow yourself an extra treat at the end of the week.  At the end of the month go on a quick shopping trip to buy something new if you managed to keep your goal for a month and continue this till you have successful incorporated your resolution into your daily life.

In conclusion, most New Year’s resolutions fail because the goals are not realistic, measurable and there are no milestones to help reward your progress.  By following these basic steps you will be successful in whatever your New Year’s resolution may be. Now get to it!

TNW had a piece last year regarding the best apps one could use to monitor and track their resolutions. Check it out here.

OMA Comp has always been proactive in advancing one’s abilities. Whether it’s our own or our clients, we want to be better next year and the year after that. With that constant goal in mind, you can’t go wrong in whatever your ventures may be.

Don’t Fall Victim to Scammers This Time of Year! (Part 2 of 2)

There are ways to avoid being pulled into a scammer scheme:Smart-Shield-OMA-Comp

1) As an online shopper, you must pay attention the URL. A website usually has http in the beginning of the web address. If you see https instead of http, this means that the website has security for transferring personal information.

2) If you go to a website and you get a pop-up with an offer that’s too good to be true, close it immediately. If excepted, it can infect your computer either immediately or take you to a website containing a virus.

3) Keep security software on your computer updated, and do scans every once in a while to make sure there are no hidden viruses on your device.

4) It is safer to type the website you are looking for into the actual URL bar than following links to get to where you want to be. The links you following can redirect you to infectious pages.

5) When it comes to malicious emails, don’t click on any links you aren’t familiar with, or on any links sent from random companies. Basically, if you weren’t expecting it, don’t open it.

6) If you receive any offers for donating to charities, look up the charity, and confirm the legitimacy of the cause and its website.

7) If you are online shopping, check your credit card statements and make sure there aren’t any illegal charges.

8) If a website or company contacts you with a plea that you enter personal information, don’t.
Holiday shopping is a time of great deals, and is a great time to buy gifts for others. I myself ,a programmer, have seen people get scammed, and by following these guidelines and being aware, you can easily prevent this from happening to you.

OMA Comp can help in any and all of these situations. If you think you’ve fallen victim to a identity theft or online-shopping scam, call OMA Comp today and we’ll help you stay safer for the next time.

Don’t Fall Victim to Scammers This Time of Year! (Part 1 of 2)

The holiday season is the busiest time of year when it comes to shopping and retailing. People both make the decision to go to stores, or make a variety of purchases online. Although online shopping can be a major convenience, it has its risks. I say this because the holiday season is the busiest time of year for more than just online shoppers. Of course, I am referring to scammers.
OMA-Comp-Scammers-Post-GraphicScammers use anything from social networking media to fake holiday offers in order to scheme against every day consumers. People are always looking for good deals on holiday gifts, therefore paying less attention when giving out personal information to websites. Scammers, for instance, send emails with a known company’s logo that offer gift cards, and then ask for your credit card information for shipping. The gift card, however, never arrives, and you’re now susceptible to fraudulent crimes. Scammers use charity labels as well, and basically use the same idea as mention before.

People often travel during the holidays, and as they travel, they search for hot spots and Wi-Fi connection. Although this more of a rare case, some scammers are capable of designing malware that hacks that connection, and can see what each user of it is doing. Hackers can use this information against you, and this could potentially lead to identity theft.

Part 2 coming soon!

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.