SMART Blog

Being scammed—in either the professional or personal sense—is a scary thought. To avoid this outcome, we must be vigilant all the time now.

Of course, it also helps to know what to look for.

Let’s take a few minutes to go over a few warning signs and red flags that something is likely a scam.

If you are a Gmail user, you might have noticed the different inbox categories available. This makes it much easier to reach “inbox zero.” With the “priority inbox,” you can achieve this feat without so much as breaking a sweat—unless you count sweat from how much you’re laughing at how easy this tip is to pull off.

File sharing is a big deal. When you try to send your friends a meme or share a video with them and it doesn’t send… that can be extremely frustrating. When it comes to business file sharing, miscommunication can cost quite a bit. Today, we will look at two concepts in small business file sharing and how they help a small business.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere, and it is making data more valuable than ever. This is because AI platforms rely heavily on data to function effectively. Many platforms and services collect data from their users to fuel these algorithms. LinkedIn has recently been found to do this—by default—without properly informing its users or updating its terms of service.

Windows 11 features a robust desktop environment with a lot of neat tricks and customizations to work more effectively. Controlling your Windows desktop experience can enhance productivity and streamline the way you interact with your computer. In today’s blog, we give you four tips to help you customize and manage your Windows environment more efficiently.

Windows 11 takes a page out of Apple’s design playbook and features a taskbar that, instead of being off to the side, is smack in the middle of the toolbar. While some may like this change, others may not.

Fortunately for these others, a simple setting change can return the taskbar to its familiar place like on older versions of Windows.

Modern wisdom states that if you’re not paying for a product, you’re the product.

For all the good the Internet is capable of doing, it is equally capable of being extremely harmful… especially when data is involved. Websites and social media platforms collect data from their users and track their movements across the Internet, sell it to advertisers, and more recently, use it to train AI.

Let’s go over what you can—and arguably should—do to limit these platforms' ability to do so.

X The Everything App®, formerly Twitter, has been experiencing a massive user loss for the past few weeks, with everyone from celebrities to average people evacuating from the platform. If you wish to join them for any reason, we’re sharing the process for fully extricating yourself and your data from this specific social media network.

Sometimes problem solving requires you to step away and think about the issue at hand. Consider any great strategist out there and you’ll understand that it takes time and calculation to make moves that will benefit you now and in the future. Today, we’ll explore how you can be more productive through strategic pausing.

Bluesky is the new kid in town regarding social media platforms, which means that most users may not have a significant following on it yet… and new users may not be following many at all. However, a few baked-in options make it much simpler for the latter to curate their experience on the platform.

Let’s go over how a user can find new accounts to follow on Bluesky.

The modern worker (or really, the modern person) spends a lot of their time looking at a computer screen. Considering this, it only makes sense that their screens and the items displayed on them are arranged in a way that they like. Our tip covers a few shortcuts to help you arrange and view the items on your workstation a little quicker.

Technology allows your business to achieve growth and greatness. However, technology has also brought about a society that oftentimes tosses old technology aside in favor of the latest and greatest devices. This is a habit we have yet to break, but it’s not too late to do the right thing and commit your business to environmentally friendly practices.

Your computer is mostly just a machine used to accomplish specific tasks. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t know all of the advanced tips that help you get the most out of it, though. Here are some of the best shortcuts that you can use to take full advantage of your workstation.

Mistakes happen, especially where technology is involved. There are plenty of ways that user error can occur when using a computer--many of which are avoidable through simple preventative measures. For our tip this week, we’ll go over some behaviors to avoid when using a computer.

Hackers put a lot of thought and effort into coming up with new ways to fool the unsuspecting consumer, especially during the holiday season. Here are some recent scams you should watch for.

With Labor Day now behind us, it’s a hop, skip, and jump until the holidays arrive. With more companies allowing their employees to work remotely, holiday travel means that people are going to be taking their work on the road with them. Preventing credit card and identity theft has been a priority for shoppers during the season for many years. It’s important that the same security considerations be given to technology being used for business while traveling.

Does your business have trouble keeping data on the company network? This can be an issue if your employees use their mobile devices to do work while on the go. In order to keep this from becoming an issue, you should encourage your employees to not keep sensitive data on their mobile devices, and establish policies that give you control over your data and email on personal devices. That said, let’s show you how to get your data off of your Android device and back on your network where it belongs.

Each worker within an organization is delegated some sort of responsibility based on their role. Managers are responsible for managing, while human resources keep all workers accountable for their responsibilities. Yet, there are multiple responsibilities designated to all employees who use technology for their everyday duties.

Microsoft Outlook can be a fantastic way to communicate, but only if you know how best to use it. When you’re using it to reach out to clients or vendors, you need to consider the best practices and shortcuts you can use to make the most of it. We’ll discuss some of the best ways that you can use Microsoft Outlook to help your business function better as a whole.

Have you ever received Facebook requests from people you don’t know? While it might be tempting to give them the benefit of the doubt -- after all, maybe they know a friend of yours -- it’s best to keep strangers off of your page when you can. In order to give your page the flexibility to accept friend requests from people you may know and protect it from strangers, you can implement a “follow” feature, and limit who can send you friend requests.