Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Call That Girl. She is an Outlook Expert and Microsoft 365 Consultant.
Good news and bad news folks…it’s Friday, that’s the good news. I had a great week with clients, but unfortunately…the bad news. New viruses are out and on the path of destruction. I have 2 computers in the shop with the same virus. Both viruses are pretty bad ass. They are far from easy to remove. One computer I got out finally…but the other is in for life I fear. It won’t even let me load any new programs to get it out. So I will have to manually remove them. This is equal to a root canal done with pliers!
The latest virus is “Personal Antivirus” and it is bypassed by Norton and pctools *(my favorite too) but you have to remember this is SPYWARE viruses, not regualar viruses that should be caught by regular programs. This virus also attacks Firefox. So beware!
Just keep an eye out for anything suspicious and you get a window that pops up, I would just shut down your computer at this point and do not go back to that website you were just on.
If you want a play by play on how to close that window and not get the virus, in a nutshell…
Go to your task manager and end all IE processes.The virus window will close, but so will all of your other IE windows.
That’s the easiest way to not get it. Most folks click on the box and the whole box is an image, so if you touch it, you’ve got it pretty much.
Hope that helps some of you avoid it…
Lisa
I’m sure we all have somethings about networking that annoy us.
For me..the big one is being asked to go for coffee. I guess I used to accept the request more when I was out killing myself in the first year of my business. Then I learned that 9 times out of 10, it would end in a sales pitch from the person who requested the meeting. I learned to avoid these at all cost. If someone wants to get to know me, that’s fine. I figure out if there is a benefit to meeting them. (like maybe they can be a referring partner). I check out their profiles/website and make that determination and then agree or not. Lately I’ve been asking what the agenda is, that gets the pitch out and I can avoid the denial. I have very few things I can afford to buy or actually need, so I end up telling folks I will keep them in mind for future connections. I have referred people to them later too!
I also close by saying “Hey, that’s great we know what each other does now!”
Sometimes at events you don’t get enough talk time, but to do an hour over coffee, in today’s tight economy…no can do.
I have told all my friends, fans and colleagues for 2 years now to “back up your data”…but I wonder if you’re backing up everything you should be. Many of you use the Windows “back up” software. Great, that should get it all. The only back up program I trust is YOU. You need to verify you’re backing up everything you should be.
Many folks also use their software that came with their external hard drive. This is fine too, but just remember to test it on another computer because getting all of that data back in one package may be tough for your workday.
Small office/home office users: I recommend getting an online program. Daily back up is critical for you!
Home users: I recommend using an external hard drive and backing up as often as you feel necessary. Not every home user has data changes daily.
But of course, I recommend daily for everyone!
Manual back ups: Tools such as flash drives, cd’s or external hard drives. I recommend saving the following groups of data…
1.) Your documents folder (which should include your music and pictures) double check! Some folks don’t save all their documents in the “documents” folder.
2.) Your internet favorites.
3.) Templates you use frequently and would hate to have to re-create
4.) Desktop items
5.) Outlook users: Your PST file of your email
6.) Tax forms and bank records
7.) Software and music you purchased online (keep the license keys too!)
Online back ups: If you opt for an online solution, it will guide you through a configuration and you can make sure you want backed up what should be. They also usually select the common files.
That’s it for today folks, if you need a walk through to make sure you’re getting it all, feel free to cfall for a review. We can do this for you in 15 minutes at a charge of $25! Cheap enough to make sure your stuff is there in case of a crash!
You can’t just “call in sick” like the old corporate days. I usually have 5-8 items on my calendar everyday, so when I’m not feeling well, I have to reschedule or cancel everything. It’s not fun or something I enjoy doing. When you work for yourself, you also tend to not have so many sick days as you did in the corporate world. I noticed this early on in 2008.
I woke up today not feeling good. I cancelled all the interns today and asked them to work from home, kept all my phone appointments (as I can do those from home)…and am now heading back to bed for an hour to see how this pans out today.
Off for the day, happy blogging for the rest of you.
Edited to add: back on the horse! can put in a half day, woo! see you later Minneapolis…
Lisa
I’m beginning to wonder why I didn’t start my own business up years ago because owning my busines is just way too much fun!
Yesterday I met with Drew Beson a local artist about business and networking, this and that stuff at Stella’s. Drew’s quite the guy, if you haven’t seen his stuff, check out his website. Make sure to check out this “auction” link and watch the video. Crazy stuff there. It’s almost amazing to watch. http://www.drewbesonart.com/
Today my parents are coming up to see my new apt, see my new office and I’m taking them out to lunch at Bar Abilene. They don’t come to the cities all that often, so it’s a treat to show off all my stuff up here. I was hoping to have a new tattoo to show off, but didn’t get that done yet. Any recommendations on a good local artist?
Finally, I’m meeting up with Mike O’Neil of http://www.integratedalliances.com/ He is the founder and CEO. If you don’t know Mike, he’s my LinkedIn mentor. I got very lucky and met him last year via a friend from college. Mike is so awesome!!! He lives in Denver and comes to Minneapolis twice a year or so, each time we try to make time to catch up. Mike is in the top 40 LinkedIn. So when he gives a seminar, you should try to make it. He knows his stuff.
Tomorrow and Friday are just office days, but they are filling up fast. Have I told you folks how much I love my new office? Going to work is so much fun now! I have room to work!
Ok, that’s it for today! See you all soon:)
Lisa
Hey everybody, Hassan here blogging to you from our Call That Girl workshop. Hope everyone had a wonderfull weekend, mine was pretty low key which is the way I like it! 🙂 Just want to start off by throwing a shout out to the MN Twins for embarassing the White Sox yesterday. I’d also like to say goodluck to Joe Mauer in the home run derby tonight! For those of you who haven’t ready my bio on Linkedin, I love the Twins and baseball in general, I also love eating great food. Yesterday I went to a new restaurant with my girlfriend called The Blue Door off Selby ave, in St. Paul. The food was awesome, and if you love Juicy Lucy’s, you have to check them out!
On to some Call That Girl news…
We met with a video design company this afternoon to start discussing some viral marketing concepts. During the brainstorm session the team’s ideas were flowing, and we developed some pretty cool ideas for 2-3 minute videos. Look on the website in the next couple weeks to see our first finished video, I am sure it will be good for at least a few laughs. My project is coming along nicely, I met with a printing company Friday afternoon to go over some estimates on cost for our promotional materials. Tomorrow I meet with the business development manager at Reboot, to finalize the marketing “stuff”, then we will be ready for their grand opening. The date is still yet to be determined, but the Reboot store in Uptown should be open for business very soon. That is all for now, hopefully my blog was able to bring a little energy back into your afternoon. See you all next week!
Random computer fact of the week:
70% of computer virus writers work under contract for organized crime syndicats!
