Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Call That Girl. She is an Outlook Expert and Microsoft 365 Consultant.
Call That Girl will be launching a new business services line of support and to get going, I thought I would do a review of Outlook. Outlook is probably one of the most used software programs out there. I am a big fan of it, have used it for years…but there are a few things everyone should know. The big tips are at the bottom of this blog. We will start with a review of who uses Outlook and for what purposes.
HOME USERS
So, let’s start with the average home user. Why do you need Outlook? You probably don’t unless you have a smart phone and like synchronizing your calendar, tasks, contacts, etc. Most home users use free email services such as Gmail, Hotmail and Comcast. Many Mom’s like Outlook for the kids calendar, home calendar and keeping track of contacts.
SMALL OFFICE/HOME OFFICE USERS
SOHO (small office/home office) crew. Yes, you folks need an email program of sorts if you are going to run a business. Outlook is a great option, and here is why…
SMALL BUSINESSES
Small businesses need Outlook help too. If you are in an office with around 20 people, you probaby don’t have in-house help, but rather one person who happens to know the most about the company IT and do it as well as their real job with the company. Sometimes having an outsider who knows Outlook is a great option for the quick fixes (for us!) and less headaches (for you!). With our 15 minute quick fix rate of $25, you can’t go wrong asking Call That Girl to help out on occasion.
CORPORATE USERS
Many corporate users have Outlook and keep all of their contacts/calendar appointments at work. They may also have rules about taking data with you, so we recommend you check with your manager or HR department before calling us and assisting with that. Your company IT department may also be able to assist you in exporting critical Outlook information (email, contacts, calendar).
Are you an Outlook Express user? If so, as you may or may not know, Outlook Express is no longer supported by Microsoft. You can still use it, but support is not an option with them. We at Call That Girl can support you, but many functionalities just do not work so well and we are now moving folks to Outlook. You can also opt for Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail if you are still looking for a free option. But of course, you may have problems importing in your folder list from Outlook Express. I have seen this be a problem for some of my clients.
TIP: Outlook by default opens a PST File (Personal Storage) in a hidden file on your computer. That is where most of your email and folders probably are. Not everyone knows this and it’s very important that you back up that PST file often. If your computer crashes, the PST is just as important as your pictures and music!
TIP: if your Outlook is getting slow to open, you may want to see how large your PST file is. Some versions of Outlook will lock you out if it gets too large. If you have a newer copy, you have a lot more room. But keep this in mind, the larger your PST file, the longer it will take to open. I won’t get into technical talk about this, but if your Outlook is slow to open, call us for a quick review on it, we can help you move off old emails to another PST and get your Outlook in good shape again.
TIP: Using multiple computers and am sick of dealing with mail everywhere? I happen to use a service that synchronizes all of my email and folders. I was at a place a few months ago where I had 4 computers I was checking email on and was just tired of all the extra work I had to do to manage the email. If you are interested in learning more about this, contact us for a review.
TIP: Set up rules and make your life easier! I have been doing this for years and LOVE IT. If I happen to get a ton of email from one person, I give them a folder and a rule. When I get an email from that person, it goes right to the folder I need. Outlook marks it unread, so you know there is new email there.
TIP: Looking for a calendar sync tool? I have been using the Google calendar with my Outlook for a couple of months and have to admit, I really like it. As many of you know, I’m not a big fan of using Google for everything, but I am liking this calendar option. You have to invite yourself to the event, and then it syncs to your Outlook calendar. I have my assistant do all the bookings on the Google calendar and I get the invites on my Blackberry and every computer I have Outlook on. I really dig this!
TIP: Be sure to check your junk e-mail folders! So many of us forget to check that folder, and I have found many important emails sneaking in there! Why is that? Because of the subject line. The person sent it with a title that was caught by spam/junk filters. I think checking that daily is important, you can mark what is not spam/junk to make sure that those emails come to your regular inbox.
I hope this helps many of you, if you have any questions about your Outlook, feel free to comment or give us a call for a review of any problems you are having. 612-865-4475
Are you wanting to get a bit more technical and learn to do a few things, but just don’t know how to do it? Call That Girl’s core business is repair, but we sometimes we will show you how to do a few things to not get that glitch back or make your business run smoother. If you are wanting to learn a few technical issues at your own pace, you should check out Modern Inconveniences, “Tech Guide”. It’s a really neat little book! The book has insert cards (kinda like the old school cookbooks) and every quarter, they will send you new cards to insert in, so you have easy reference very handy.
Tech Cards: Members receive six new Tech Cards per quarter by mail – a total of 24 cards over 2010! Tech Cards illustrate technology tools and how they can be used for small business owners, applications, helpful hints and step-by-step instructions. Collect them all to build your own technology resource library!
Notes: Each Tech Guide features a section to capture your questions and answers, jot down resources and suggestions.
Resource Directory: Need a quick referral for your business? The Tech Guide contains a Resource Directory for easy-to-search, categorized listings of helpful businesses that have the tools to make your job easier! Flip to the Resource Directory tab in your Guide, or visit the Guide online at: www.modernincon.com/resources.html. Over $750 in discounts!
To purchase a book, see the little book over to your right on my website, click on it and it will take you to the purchase site. Or click on this link! Cost is $54.99.
Facebook tips and tricks from Call That Girl!
The “Koobface” virus (Facebook’s big virus) is at it again and this time, hitting the Twitter folks too.
If you want to get your computer protected before something bad happens to your computer, call us today to get some good tools installed. Remember…Norton Symantec, McAfee and most of the big box antivirus software do not catch these viruses!
If you think your computer already has a virus or feel there is something strange going on, we can remove these viruses and give you real time protection before you get infected again. It’s also a good idea to have this protection for just general web surfing anyway. Websites are getting hit too, not just Facebook.
Short list of things to watch out for:
Many of you have stopped printing pictures in the past few years and just keep your pictures on your computer. I too am one of those people. I was thinking the other day while I was retrieving a 6 year history of family pictures off a crashed hard drive how important those pictures are.
Why are we not printing these pictures and putting them in albums to share with our family and guests when they come over? Are those days now days gone by? The photo album memories I have from my childhood are precious! My mom and Aunt just shared an hours worth of laughs last night going through their storage. Will our future’s be full of “where is that hard drive with the Hawaii photo’s on them”…and then to find a computer to install the hard drive on to view them! (in 50 years, who knows how we will be using computers).
I recommend for those that are storing all of their pictures on their computers to upload them all to Walgreen’s or another company and get them all printed. It’s good for your photo albums and as a secondary back up! I uploaded all of my pictures two years ago and it cost $20 to have them all printed.
Just my two cents on this folks!
….Ponders many of my clients when a repair may be costly. Here is what we think at Call That Girl!
If you are a heavy user on your laptop, expect a 3-5 year life on the computer. My system lasted 2.5 years without a serious crash. My system is in the process of getting fixed by another company because I cannot fix what is wrong. If it’s going to be under $150, I will probably fix it. If over, I will opt for a new one. (edited to add: what is wrong with it that I cannot fix it? The motherboard is fried, and no…Call That Girl does not work on laptop motherboard issues).
I always recommend to clients this bit of advice:
New laptops are around $500 (basic laptop)
New desktops are around $400 (Dell has many that are cheaper)
If you have a desktop that is 5-7 years old, I would not put in anymore than $150 – $200 into it.
If you have a laptop that is 3-5 years old, I would not put in anymore than $150-$200 into it.
Many folks think just buying a new one is the best answer for even cheap repairs, but you have to remember that buying a new computer can have some costs or new problems that are unexpected.
As you can see, buying a new computer sometimes isn’t worth it….with the extra costs, it may be costly. If you ever have questions, feel free to contact us and we can try to help.
My computer that crashed last weekend is still in the shop! I think that it’s hardware. I’m too busy to figure it out right now…so I’m still using my mom’s laptop (the Green Dell Inspiron 1521). Thank you Mom! I think that I should buy a new one because I think I deserve it, don’t you think so? 🙂 This is a great question for my next blog “Should I just buy a new computer over fixing the broke one”.
Call That Girl has to report that we are thrilled to see the viruses are on “spring break” for awhile. While we usually see many virus infected computers in the shop, this week was somewhat easy for virus repair. When you are working in a business like computer repair, when the viruses are hot, we are busy. VERY BUSY…but when it’s slow, we have the time to work on other things, such as process/procedures and a new marketing plan for an opening of a 2nd location! Yes folks, you heard it here first….(((spoiler))). We are looking to open a location in Rochester, Minnesota in May/June.
Conor my marketing intern has been working on a marketing plan for the last two months. It is now finalized and I will be now working on finding a location and getting the new shop set up. Why Rochester? Why not! Rochester has 100,000+ Mayo Clinic patients that come to this city, and we are ready to help and support those traveling folks.
Next up, I met with a secret marketing partner on Wed night and plans will be formalized this week on this new adventure. I will expose this secret weapon in an upcoming Week In Review. I spoke to the Minnesota Chapter of the American Marketing Association on Thursday evening. What a great crowd!! I try to book a speaking engagement once a month (great marketing) and I was completely shocked when they asked me to speak to their group last January. Call That Girl has some great marketing ideas and sharing them, is what we always do. We will be blogging here in April about our 2009 marketing ideas, what worked and what did not.
Week ended with a “Back up your stuff” special for $59. We have that sale on board until April 3rd, so if you want in, let us know via email or give us a call to book an appointment.
That’s it this week folks, next week I will attending the The Original Twin Cities Social, March 31st 5:00pm – 7:00pm
It’s at Cooper Pub in St. Louis Park! Since my office is almost next door, I will for sure be there!
