Quartet Mfg

In this article, writer, speaker, trainer, and veteran IT guy Don R. Crawley makes the case for both demonstrating competence and maintaining competence as a technical support provider. He provides practical, real-world techniques for the support desk engineer to use to demonstrate and maintain competence. Copyright (c) 2007 Don R. Crawley Competence means providing correct, knowledgeable service, performed with accuracy and confidence. Competence is a two-part process. You must demonstrate competence in the way you do your job, but you must also find ways to maintain your technical competence. Demonstrating Competence Here are a couple of good techniques to use to demonstrate your competence. Tell...

==================================================================== As the cost of office space continues to skyrocket, office managers everywhere are looking for better ways to conserve floor space. This trend has caused an extraordinary increase in use of vertical document storage systems in offices worldwide. Most filing and storage systems found in office supply stores are designed for letter or legal-size documents. The large drawings, maps, and charts required by engineering and architectural firms have been stored mainly in flat files or pigeonholes in the past. By storing the documents in a flat position, the footprint of the old fashioned storage systems naturally take up a lot of...

A very popular resource for purchasing office supplies such as computers, furniture, hardware and software in addition to copy and print services and much, much more is a store you've undoubtedly heard of called OfficeMax. OfficeMax came onto the retail scene in 1988 and has since grown from a single outlet to one largest office products superstore chains in the country. OfficeMax actually materialized into the largest American office products superstore in operation in terms of the number of stores they opened and their vast geographical coverage. In January 1997, OfficeMax set a national record by exceeding $3 billion in sales making them the fourth company in United States history ever to achieve...

These ideas are for anyone that has a small budget to workwith or is just starting to expand into exhibiting attrade shows. You can even use these tips and techniques whenever youare speaking or presenting -- at Toastmasters, deliveringworkshops -- or even at eLearning activities. 1. Have a visual point at your booth -- like a power pointshow or a television with a video playing. Put together aworkshop video, even if it isn't of professional quality.People will usually not look at it more than three minutesbefore they feel conspicuous and will approach you. 2. Have a picture album with success stories and pictures.Especially great for independent professionals selling aintangible product. Pictures...

When purchasing printers or multifunction copiers for an office, trade-offs are typically made. Is the speed appropriate for a workgroup or a department? Is color or monochrome output sufficient? If color, would ink technology or the faster laser technology be better? Typically, if color output is needed, the user must decide between the photo quality of an ink technology or the slightly more grainy output of a color laser. Of course, the color laser can print much faster than the ink technology so that is also a factor. If a large volume of output is necessary, the user must choose a color laser because ink printing is just too slow and ink machines are not built to handle volumes of paper...

Auto Power-on & Shut-down 2.05 allows your computer, among other things, to resume from hibernation, wake up from sleep mode, run task schedules and shutdownat a specified time completely automatically. By delegating the day-to-day responsibilities to the simplistic Auto Power-on & Shut-down 2.05, you can focuson crucially important tasks. - Sep 10, 2007: Lifsoft today announces the release of Auto Power-on & Shut-down 2.05, which automatically executes routine administrative tasks,such as resuming from hibernation, waking up from sleep, opening files, playing music, record or playback keyboard/mouse cacro, running or closing programs,opening websites, showing messages, hibernating, rebooting and...

Is it time for a Business Objects migration project at your company? If employees use business intelligence (BI) tools from Business Objects to slice and dice enterprise data and produce reports and metrics on corporate performance, the answer is likely to be a resounding 'Yes'. In less than a year, the company will end support for older versions of its software, including BusinessObjects versions 5 and 6 and Crystal Reports versions 6 to 10. From June 2008, in fact, the latest version of its technology, BusinessObjects XI R2, will become the only supported version. As a result, XI migration is now a high priority for many companies, reports Mike Perks, senior consultant on the business information...

It is a fact that most men dislike going to the doctor. Getting a medical examination is seen as a "weakness" or a very unmanly thing to do, at least for the traditional, macho-types. Some men actually need to be dragged by the girlfriend or the wife to the doctor's office just to get a check-up. But why do they literally hate going to the doctor? Well, most men are very private and do not want to be touched especially by another man. An appointment with the doctor is also very time-consuming, and men hate that. Another reason is that men have a "primal survival instinct" that makes them avoid any situation that will possibly subject their body to any invasive procedure such as being injected with a...

A home just isn't a home without all the unique pictures and works of art that are placed on the wall. Some of them are quite heavy so it is important that they are properly secured to the wall. Otherwise you could end up with someone getting injured, the art being ruined, or the wall being damaged. With the use of a wall fastener you won't have to worry about any of these issues occurring. It is important that you install the wall fastener correctly though. Not all wall fasteners out there offer the same quality and security, so make sure you start with a good product. You will pay a little bit more but it is well worth it to know the wall fastener is going to be sturdy and reliable. Some of the...

Your home office plays an integral part in the development of your internet business. You will be spending a great deal of time in your office and it is important that you develop an atmosphere that will contribute to the success of your internet adventure. Your business plan, your product line, your marketing plan, your choices, your decisions and your achievements will develop within the walls of your home office. It is essential that you create the surroundings that will make your journey to online prosperity easier. There are six areas that you need to consider before you design your home business office: --- Location --- Setting --- Furniture --- Equipment --- Software --- Supplies 1) Location...

MFC printers are a great buy. Why is this? Quite simply, this type of printer, which is manufactured by Brother, is a "Multi-Function Center" and could be considered an all-in-one style printer. You can, of course, find these printers online at or However, you can find more than printers on these websites. In fact, you can find out how to use your printer, where to buy ink cartridges and fix those pesky printing problems. Brother MFC printers use LC51 cartridges, which can be found many places on the web including and Have you ever gone to your local office supply store and tried to find the appropriate ink cartridges for your printer? It is anything but easy. Complicated numbering systems and...

Are you a business owner or are you in charge of purchasing supplies for your company? If so, there is a good chance that the supplies you need to purchase will include office furniture. Where do you currently purchase your office furniture from? If you are like many other business owners, there is a good chance that you may make your purchases from a large, nationally known office supply store chain. Of course, there is nothing wrong with doing so, but you may want to rethink your decision. After all, there are a number of benefits to purchasing your office furniture from a small business; a small business that may be just like your own. When it comes to purchasing office furniture, a large number...

In this small article we will not make side-by-side technical specs comparison. We would rather like to give you opinions from both sides - Microsoft and SAP. Both products target mid-size businesses in the USA, Europe (however Microsoft Great Plains - Dynamics GP will be leaving continental Europe market starting with version 10.0 - somewhere in the year of 2008, where Microsoft Business Solutions will probably stake on Microsoft Dynamics NAV - again this is contingent to the progress with Project Green or now Microsoft Dynamics project). Let's come to the topic: - Microsoft Dynamics GP strong points. Microsoft, being leader in Operating Systems, Office Products, and also having such platforms...

Discount coupon codes! They are those little numbers, letters or words that instantly save you money on a purchase and you don't have to do a thing to deserve it. It's a beautiful thing, really, especially when you're buying office supplies. Those products really add up when it comes to price. I mean, how often are you having to replace printer ink cartridges? Every month or so? That's a lot of money. But the good news is you can save money with coupon codes. The only effort you'll expend is in finding the little buggers. So, shall we get started? Make Google & Yahoo & Your Friend One of the best ways to find discount coupon codes for office supplies is to utilize search engines. Just type...

If you ever heard of this phrase "first impression is the last impression" then this is the place where you implement it. People coming in your office make their impression about you and your office within few minutes. It is not only important to make a good impression the moment they step in but to sustain it till they leave. The atmosphere of your office should be professional as well as comforting to the visitor. If you can strike that balance then you have done a great job. The first that you require is a good reception area. The basic concept is to have your reception area right in-front of your main door, so that people coming in have no problems in spotting it. The receptionist should be...

What is a good landing page? The crucial half of a PPC campaign most people don't know about. Google Adwords, Yahoo (formerly called Overture Sponsored listings) and other Pay Per Click (PPC) companies give you the chance to get your ad or search listing at the top of the pack, right up front and perfectly matched to the searcher's query. With a clever and catchy, attention grabbing ad or headline you can win the viewer in that critical split second he has to decide to click. He clicks, you score! Right? WRONG! If you can get that click on a focused, targeted keyphrase and ad headline, you should feel very good. You're halfway there. But, where does he land? On your home page? On the...

Musical instruments are classified by the way they produce sounds. However, there are some problems with such classifications, as questions like this "Is a piano a stringed instrument or a percussion one?" can occur. Sounds are the result of vibrations and each type of instrument produces vibrations from different sources. You are welcome to take issue with these classifications. Compare, for instance, guitars with drums and digital pianos. Many people have a desire to play musical instruments and most of them have, at least once in their lives, imagined themselves being rock-stars and playing electric guitars in front of thousands of screaming fans. However, choosing the best instrument to fulfill...

One of my biggest, most important responsibilities in my day job is ensuringthat we have purchased all of the software licenses that we require. It'smy job to ensure that we are 100% legal at all times - which fulfills one ofour corporate goals to be a completely ethical company. Most companies make it very simply for me and my staff. If I want to license Norton Antivirus, all I need to do is count the number of machines on whichthe product is to be installed, write up a purchase order and call thesalesperson to order the product. It works the same with Conversion Plus, Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, WinZIP and any of the other hundreds ofproducts that we require to keep our company in business...

You love scrapbooking as a hobby, but staying within your budget can be a challenge if you want to indulge in all the latest paper and embellishments for your page layouts. It's important to balance your passion for making beautiful scrapbook pages with your need to stay out of debt. Scrapbooking with office supplies can be a cost-effective alternative to high-priced scrapbooking embellishments. The first thing to consider when using office supplies in your page layouts is the overall topic of your scrapbook. For example, is this the kind of scrapbook that has a very informal theme to it - a way for you to chronicle events shared with family and friends? Or, is this a more formal scrapbook that will...

A paper shredder is a machine used to shred up mail and other papers that contain information that you do not wish to share. The point of having a paper shredder is to prevent your mail getting into wrong hands. A paper shredder is a gadget which will successfully protect your private life. I will give you an example of its use; I often receive credit card applications with my other mail. If I just throw these credit card applications in the trash, someone can grab them and steal my identity. Finding the credit card applications in my rubbish, he or she may use them to apply for a new credit card using my name. With the objective of preventing such misfortunes, I always use...

Cheap software and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) CDs are comes in the market to enable you to easily find out latest software with easy availability. Personal computer has become a part of our life. No one can think of doing a task without using computer. We load our personal computer with software such as Windows 2003 and 2007 to make out tasks simple enough. There is demand from every quarter for software but thecheap computer software manufacturing industry is not able to meet the rising demand of computer software such as Norton Antivirus, Corel, Adobe, Acrobat, Photoshop and Macromedia. Moreover, xp, vista, Symantec, MSDN, Microsoft 2007 and other cheap software product are too costly...

I'm a recent Hurricane Rita evacuee and survived the evacuation and the ensuing hurricane. Running from a hurricane isn't something I've ever had to do before, nor is it something I'd ever like to do again. However, as a solo business owner, I'm quite thankful that I have a virtual business. The fact that I'm virtual and can operate from anywhere that there's electricity and phone service was of great help to me in this disaster and helped me reopen my business a scant 4 days after the landfall of Hurricane Rita. As a solopreneur, what can you do to make your business disaster-proof? It seems that we have an increasing number of hurricanes making landfall in the coastal states, and add to that...

While many business deals are made outside the office, it is important to furnish one's office with the proper equipment and furniture. This is important because the office is where you make most of your initial deals, and it is the place you use for planning out and implementing business strategies. One of the most important furniture a home office can have is the office chair. There are a variety of office chairs to choose from, depending on the purpose for which they would be used. There are office chairs simply to be sat on and to make your guests comfortable. On the other hand there are office chairs that are intended to keep the user awake and alert while working. The first rule to remember...

Business cards are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company affiliation (usually with a logo) and contact information such as street addresses, telephone number(s) and/or e-mail addresses. A professional business card will often (but not always) include one or more aspects of striking visual design. Card laminating is a lamination process to cover business identity cards by some protective layer. Business cards normally have the information about the individual, working organization and complete contact addresses. Laminating card is a better method to keep information safer. Several plastic films are used to...

If you own a company, then you no doubt can appreciate that keeping your databases current and fully functional are key to keeping your business up and running at full steam. That record of data or records comes in handy for your sales department, and any number of different divisions that work together to keep your company running at optimal levels. When it comes time to prepare documents, presentations or reports that describe all of the wonderful functions that your databases perform, you will want to incorporate Visio database diagrams to make all of your business documents easier to understand and more visually exciting to read. When you have several people working together as a team on a...

First of all, with any new or expanding business, money can often mean the difference between success and failure. Those who have a full-time job and one day decide to quit and start their own business with little capital may find themselves in financial hot water before the business actually gets off the ground. Even if the business requires little or no capital up front, personal daily living expenses must still be paid and your personally finances will suffer without a steady income. Obviously, with little money you will not be able to start a franchise business for a major corporation that often requires an investment of several thousand or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the beginning...

No matter how many times you have used your printer without a problem in the world, it is a safe bet that the time when you need it most is the precise moment that the silly machine will start acting up. As you are frantically striking keys and clicking buttons, it just sits over there next to the computer in silent oblivion. But, before you take a baseball bat to the contraption, here are a few ideas to consider that may help you out of your printing jam. First let's look at your printer driver. No, your driver is not the guy that drives you to a fancy occassion. The printer driver communicates between your software and printer. If this printer driver is missing either due to a power surge or...

Every office is different and subscribes to different needs under even a single product category. However, it is not always possible for the managers to track and answer all the minute details of the needs of employees in a comparatively bigger office. We admit that it is not an easy task to operate. Say, an office needs some tapes. Is this much information enough to get the job done! There are, Clear Tape, Double Sided, Drafting Tape, Adhesives and Litho Tape, Masking Tape, Packing Tape, Printed Tape, Invisible Tape and many other verities. Now again we ask- is this much information enough to get the job done! These tapes come in various sizes and colours to serve specific needs. Without being to...

Once you have begun your search for office or school supplies, you may be a little confused and find it difficult to make a choice, because there is a myriad of such products on the market. Unless you are a loyal client to a certain brand or supplier and you already know where to get your school supplies from, you have to take your time to check out all or some of the products to choose from, and it is going to take quite some time. And even if you have been buying the same products for years, it wouldn't hurt to try something new, especially if these products come with a better price tag. Probably the best way of saving both time and money is to order office and school supplies online. The...

Chairs in an office must be chosen judiciously. The employees are to sit on them for the long hours they remain in the office. So, first priority should be given to the choice of the employees. Then importance should be given to the design and look of the chairs. One more thing to be taken care of is the demand of various rooms. All the office chairs should not be same; different room needs different types of chairs. The chairs meant for the employees should be different from the chairs to be kept in the conference. In the same way, the reception area needs a unique type of chairs. It may appear to anybody that buying office chairs will be difficult as only one type of chair will not be sufficient...

Isn't the Internet great? It's brought the entire world right into our living rooms and offices, making life a bit easier in the process. The days of spending countless hours driving to and from shop to shop, not to mention wasting the fuel for our autos, just to try to find that one specific item - you know the one that you just can't seem to locate- are all but over, thanks to the World Wide Web! The same can be said for shopping for office supplies. How many times have you driven to several different locations in search of a particular pen style that the boss just has to have, only to drive back to the office empty handed? Then you realize that the list you had made is sitting on your desk- and...

Although I spend most of my time evangelizing about the benefits of entrepreneurship, I do want to throw a little reality out there for those who may look at it only through rose-colored glasses. Here are ten reasons why you may NOT want to start your own business: #10: You can't blame your lame boss for your problems. As much as you might have complained about your boss or "Management" in your corporate job, you might find yourself missing the person who takes the heat for big decisions. Whichever success or failure your company experiences is squarely on your shoulders. #9: YOU are all the departments in your business. You must take care of product development, sales, marketing, accounting...