Last week I had the privilege of attending Tory Johnson’s Spark & Hustle conference for women in small business. It was a great experience! I learned so much to apply in a practical way to the business side of this blog (and let me tell you it was SUCH a relief that everything was TRULY practical and applicable! You don’t always get that.), I got to hear from some inspiring women in small business, and I got to spend time with my friends Rachel and Luanne, awesome small business owners themselves!
My attendance at Spark & Hustle was sponsored by one of my favorite companies to work with, Intel. They also sent me to the conference with a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge quipped with Intel’s Small Business Advantage tools. These tools are awesome for those in small business who don’t really have a tech guy at the ready. When I have tech trouble, my tech guy (aka my husband) is usually at work when I need him and not close by!
The SBA tools allow your computer to take care of a lot of maintenance issues virtually by itself! Here are some of my favorite features:
- Software Monitor – Did you know there are viruses out there that can come in and turn off your anti-virus software? Eek! Neither did I! The software monitor feature lets you know when your anti-virus software has been turned off or compromised so you can take action right away.
- Data backup & restore- this feature allows you to schedule backups of your data (veeeery important, I have learned! The hard way!) and maintenance to run in the off-business hours so this important step gets done AND doesn’t interfere with your work day.
- USB Blocker – I LOVE this feature. It allows you to choose which type of USB devices you’ll allow to be plugged into your computer. So let’s say you don’t want anyone but yourself to be able to plug in a mass storage device – you can allow that only after the user enters a password. Meanwhile, other devices like cameras or printers can be plugged in by any user. A great way to keep your files protected from anyone who might want to remove them.
I’ve loved using Intel’s Small Business Advantage tools and I know they’ll be keeping me and my data in business safely and securely! Thanks to Intel for sending me to Spark & Hustle and supporting women in small business!
