Texstar Website Updated with Testimonies

Texstar Networks website has been updated. Among the changes, a number of new testimonials, be sure to check them out.

www.texstarnetworks.com

New Article Links About the FCC and Net Neutrality

www.texstarnetworks.com

Some interesting stories that affect the every day computer owner. For those unaware, the FCC is considering new rules that would prevent internet service providers (your cable or dsl company) from capping how much bandwith you can use, or charging you more for using a certain amount of bandwith.

It will be interesting to watch.

There are two articles below that may shed some light on what is happening.

FCC's Genachowski Not Neutral on New Net Rules

Will Net Neutrality Go Wireless? - Interesting article that may impact all wireless users, as well as broadband users

Windows Upgrades Made Easier - PCmover transfers programs and files to the new operating system with fewer headaches

Organize Firefox Bookmarks In Tabs

www.texstarnetworks.com

Updates at Texstar Networks

Today, I finished some updates to our website at www.texstarnetworks.com. The portfolio pages will be updated over the course of this week.

Additionally, Texstar finished www.pawsup.org yesterday. Check them out if you have a dog in need of grooming or training. I have been involved with them for over 4 years and they are awesome!

FYI...they have the number 2 German Pinscher in America, as well as AKC Champion Dobermans, Irish Wolf Hounds, and German Pinschers. They have an amazing program!

Updates Coming

It has been a very busy two weeks at Texstar Networks. Just finished www.businessdirectoriesoftexas.com. And, there are a few other websites being created.

Texstar Partners with Bash Accessories

Texstar has signed a contract with Bash Accessories to build their website. The e-commerce company is located in Forney, TX and more information will become available on the company in the coming weeks as the website is completete.

Thanks Everyone and New Tech News

I want to thank everyone for the kind words and support over the last six weeks. It is amazing and encouraging. Thanks to all of you as well who are beginning to contact me about doing your website.

It is an honor to work with great business owners with a vision for their businesses and a desire to grow their companies.

On to today's tech news:

Employers increasingly turning to Facebook to check up on you - Yahoo News

Facebook disables 6 rogue phishing apps, but 5 more appear - CNET News

Ten ways to break your laptop - CNET News

Laptops' Price Slide Continues - Business Week

9 Web-Based Office Productivity Suites - Yahoo News

Free and Commercial Stock Photography Sites - Smashing Magazine

Thursday's Practical Tech News

Here a number of interesting stories about what is happening in the tech world and how it may impact you:

10 Browser-Boosting Downloads - PC World

BlackBerry to Sport Flash and Silverlight? Maybe Next Year - PC World

The 12 most annoying types of Facebookers - CNN

Back-to-School Laptops: We Review Best Buy's Exclusives - PC World

Blockbuster Takes Motorola to the Movies - Technology News

Microsoft Down but Not Out in Texas - Business Week

USB Flash Drives Cleaner - Ghacks

Visit Texstar's website at www.texstarnetworks.com

Texstar Partners with Business Directories of Texas

On Wednesday, Texstar Networks and Business Directories of Texas entered into a partnership for design, seo, and upkeep of their website.

If you are a retailer or service provider, I highly recommend and have personally referred Business Directories of Texas to a number of businesses. They are great people of integrity and really go the extra mile to serve their clients.

In the coming week, their new website should be online, so look for them and some information on a new service they will be providing their clients.

Their current website is www.businessdirectoriesoftexas.com.

5 Questions to Ask Your Web Developer

This was a very good article written on Enterpenuer.com about five essential questions to ask your web designer. Though not stated, it highlights why you ought to consider a professional instead of someone who dabbles on the side if your serious about paying to have your website developed.

Here is the link: http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/buildingawebsite/article202862.html

www.texstarnetworks.com

Training Every Week to be the Best

To be the best, at anything, one must constantly train to be the best in a chosen craft.

Athletes spend countless hours in the weight and training room, on a field practicing, or in a room studying.

Many professions require degrees, and many professionals spend a lifetime earning advanced degrees, credentials, and continuing education credits.

So it is at Texstar Networks. With trends and technology constantly changing, I am committed to this company getting on the leading edge to better help and equip our clients to grow their businesses.

With that, every week one day will be set aside for training. We may attend seminars and workshops, both present and online, take special classes, or take time to catch up on journals and trade publications.

Regardless, we want you to know that we are committed to the success of our clients and this company when it comes to your online presence.

Our mission and goal is simple, we want to provide you with the highest level of service, competence, and online technological knowledge possible.

Testimonial from Scotts Automotive and Maintenance

"Our new website looks really nice. I felt the price as fair and competitive. Don is mentoring me in how to use the website and make it work for us."

Manuel ScottOwner,
Scott's Automotive and Maintenance
www.scottsautoweb.com

Watch New Video and New Website Updates

Today, Texstar Networks finished two websites.

Scott's Automotive and Maintenance is located in Forney, TX, and services all makes and models of vehicles. Visit their website at www.scottsautoweb.com.

View my webcam video with Manuel Scott on our YouTube Channel. Manuel shares his business with viewers, as well as shares his thoughts about his new website.

Keep up with Manuel by following him on his new blog or Twitter page, which is accessible from their front page.

Additionally, Texstar also finished Cedar Creek Lake Listings website. The site is owned by local realtor Jimmy Summerall. Jimmy owns a Re/Max office in Gun Barrel City, in addition to his wife who owns the Forney's Re/Max Platinum, where he helps home buyers and sellers around the Cedar Creek Lake area.

Thanks to these two great companies who have allowed Texstar to serve their website needs!

Texstar Completes Schindler Floors Website

It was a joy and pleasure to work with Matt Rooney and Bill Schindler, co-owners, at Schindler Floors in Forney, TX.

In a testimonial, Matt wrote:

Don with Texstar Networks was a pleasure to work with. He took his time
with us to create and design our state of the art website and we had input all
through the process to assure we got our message across.

Matt Rooney VP
Schindler Floors Inc
www.schindlerfloors.com

Be sure to check out the website.

Changes in Technology and Tech News Links of Interest

I don't know about you, but I think all of the changes in technology is fascinating. Think about it, in the early 90's, we were carrying around big bags with cell phones in them. My wife had one I bought her in the event of an accident on her way back forth from school (the trip was 100 miles one way).

Now, we have small phones that organize our lives, give us access to the web and email, social media, gps, and still yet probably a lot more than any of us realize.

And do you remember computers in the 80's? My dad had a Tandy machine where we played dot games and thought they were the coolest thing ever made, next to Atari of course.

Now, some newer laptops have more power than desktops and can do amazing things, include play state of the art games. Of course, I still don't think they are as good as Xbox 360 or PS3, but in reality they are also just computers.

In the last five years, technology has revolutionized communication and entertainment. Who knows, the days of the Star Trek hologram may be a lot nearer than any of us can imagine.

SIDEBIT: I hope to post a picture or two of a few websites that are currently being designed.

Here is some tech news links for today:

HD DVD returns and kicks Blu-ray to the gutter - ZDNET

Judge rules against RealNetworks DVD copy software - Yahoo News

Microsoft Issues Slew of Xbox Live Updates - Yahoo News

Interesting video on BusinessWeek.com - How to Engage Customers Online

Video Makes a Difference

Many small business owners have never thought of doing something like a video blog, or make their own unique, fun commercials for their businesses to post online in places like YouTube. Watch our new video from our YouTube Channel below.

But you can, and perhaps you should.

Millions upon millions of people use YouTube everyday! Some companies and people using the popular service have become celebrities, many time unintentionally.

For certain, business use it all of time. Here is just a small list of companies you use it successfully and their links.

Texstar Networks now has a YouTube channel. We will be having fun with some of our clients, as well as doing some entertaining, fun and unique videos that will highlight the need for your web marketing strategies. Click here to visit our channel: http://www.youtube.com/texstarnetworks

Hope you'll log in and watch often. Be sure to look for some promotions and discounts on both our YouTube channel and on our Twitter page (www.twitter.com/texstarnetworks)

www.texstarnetworks.com

Monday's Practical Web and Technology News

There are a number of interesting things happening in the web and technology world's that affect web users and consumers. Take a look at some of these stories:

Microsoft to updated 9 patches on Tuesday, 5 are considered critical - ZDNET news

The boomers keep coming to Facebook. Researcher iStrategyLabs just released new numbers on Facebook's demographics, and one figure stands out: The number of members 55 and older grew 25% in the past month. —Douglas MacMillan, The Tech Beat

The FTC Takes On Targeted Web Ads - Business Week

Mozilla issues first Firefox 3.6 alpha version - CNET News

Microsoft joins HTML 5 standard fray in earnest - CNET News

How much do stores jack up ambient lighting to sell you HDTVs? - ZDNET news

www.texstarnetworks.com

Pratical Home and Business Technology

Today's pratical technology news:

Xbox 360 prepares to give the WII a run for it's money with the new Natal project. What's great about...advanced graphics, remoteless, no hand controllers. It is completely hands free and looks like a lot of fun. Check out the article

Twitter blackout left users feeling 'jittery,' 'naked' - CNN

Home automation has taken 30 years to gain acceptance. With more people installing home networks, which are primarily adopted to support home computing, telecommunications and multi-room distribution of home entertainment systems, the door is being opened to help automate your a/c and heating, hot water tanks, lighting, refrigerators, and more. These systems can help your bottom line, sometimes significantly. Check out the article, "Home Automation: The Unfulfilled Promise"

Your iPhone could soon be watching you! - Zdnet News

Another Day, Another Apple Tablet Rumor - Yahoo Tech News

External Hard Drives: How do I Choose Which One to Buy - Ghacks.net

More news and info on Monday.

www.texstarnetworks.com

Internet Explorer 6 a Headache

Have you ever noticed that some websites just don't look right? or things are not in place where they should be? Or some features just don't appear?

There may be nothing wrong with the website, you may have a very old, outdated, and unsupported browser.

Internet Explorer 6 is a headache for web designers. And some, such as myself, no longer take the time to build for outdated browsers that require a lot of extra coding and work.

In a recent statement provided for an article on CNN, Microsoft stated, ""Microsoft has consistently recommended that consumers upgrade to the latest version of our browser," the company said. "Internet Explorer 8 offers improvements in speed, security and reliability as well as new features designed for the way people use the Web.""

Below is a link to the well written article on the subject on CNN's website.

If your not sure which version you are using, at the top of your browser on the menu click the "Help" link. Scroll down and click "About Internet Explorer." It will tell you which version you have installed.

There it will tell you what version of Internet Explorer you have. At a minimum, you should be using version 7, but version 8 is my recommendation if you prefer to use Internet Explorer over other browsers such as Firefox, Safari, or Opera, just to name a few.

If you are using an older version, you can update your browser by going back to the menu bar and click "Tools." Scroll down to "Windows Update" and click it. Follow the wizard as it comes up and click the option to update Internet Explorer. Keep it mind, it may give you options to update your operating system, security patches, as well as some drivers. I don't want you to get confused if you are not familiar with this process and you see all of the other stuff.

CNN Article titled, "Web citizens trying to kill Internet Explorer 6" - http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/06/internet.explorer.six/index.html

www.texstarnetworks.com

Texstar Adds New Client

On Thursday, 4-T's BBQ in Forney, TX agreed to a one year contract for services of their website, as well as a mobile version.

The website will be available for preview soon.

Don

www.texstarnetworks.com

Texstar Announces New Partnership with Paws Up

On Monday, Texstar Networks signed a one-year contract with Paws Up in Forney and Terrell, TX.

Paws Up is a multi-purpose company servicing Kaufman and Rockwall County with grooming, training, and boarding for dogs.

The dynamic company is run by Ken Hapgood and Karen Mounts. In addition to Paws Up, Ken and Karen have thirty years each in showing thier AKC champion Dobermans, German Pinschers, and Irish Wolfhounds, among many other breeds for their clients.

Mobile Websites Part 2

As previously stated, mobile websites continue to gain momentum in the marketplace. It may be several years before they become as applicable as a computer due to their size and limitations. However, that doesn't mean you can't still provide a great resource for your customers and clients.

There are several ways you can use a mobile website. News is a prevalent means, however, many use google searches on the road for addresses, maps, phone numbers, etc., to locate retailers, find sporting event locations, among many uses.

Recently, both travel and online shopping have become popular. So popular, that Target, UPS, BestBuy, Paypal, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and many more, have begun using .mobi domains to help customers locate stores and view their current ad flyer's.

If you haven't considered a .mobi domain, you might want to. It's a great way to communicate and earn more clients and customers.

www.texstarnetworks.com

Mobil Websites Catching On

Mobile phones have been able to access the web for several years, but viewing has been difficult with traditional websites.

But as manufactures are coming out with newer technology that makes web browsing on mobile phones easier than in previous models, consumer demand has continued to rise for mobile content.

Unfortunately, many phones are still not compatible with standard websites, and still look "funny" on mobile browers, and they may never be due to many factors.

However, comined with a .mobi url and proper web coding with w3c standards, mobile phone browsing doesn't have to be frustrating.

That's why if you are a small business owner, you ought to consider a .mobi and web designer capable of building your site for the mobile browser.

As technology advances, this will become a mainstay of the technology landscape. Already, you can find cnn.mobi and foxnews.mobi. They have all of the relevant, new news, but not all of the features of their main websites.

In the coming days, I'll address mobile websites, their relevance, some samples, and why you ought to consider having a mobil website to compliment your main website.

www.texstarnetworks.com

New Partnership

Texstar announces new partnership with Re/Max Platinum Owner/Agent Jimmy Summerall for his Cedar Creek Lake agency.

www.texstarnetworks.com

To Change or Not to Change Your Website

When it comes to your changing your website, there are generally two major options. I would like to propose a third.

The first option is that change is never good, and can have a negative effect on you search engine listings if a total redesign is done on a website.

The second is that change can be good, and gives crawlers a good reason to keep coming back to your website.

My proposal, both can be good depending on the business and website.

Some websites are just not aesthetically pleasing.

When I evaluate a website, there are three criteria I use: 1) Navigation, navigation, navigation; 2) How does it look; 3) Information

If your website does not follow these, it may be time to redesign, or perform a partial redesign.

The reason is that your website may be found by the search engines, but what good is it if your visitors log on and get frustrated because they can't find their way around, or the website is just not pleasing to the eye and confuses the mind.

In either case, visitors will not stay long on your web site to hear what you have to say.

In the long-run, that may hurt your website, and your bottom line, even more.

Besides, during a redesign (or partial) you can evaluate your web site's code for all the little things it may need to help the search engines.

Of course, to balance things, perhaps your website is just fine, and in your case no change is most likely the best option.

It is true that you don't want to change your website for the sake of change, and I agree it is not good to change it's layout and design frequently. But, small updates weekly, or daily, are good and should be part of your web strategy program.

More to come later on web strategies.

Your best option is to find a web design professional with the knowledge and skills, who you can trust to help you make the right decisions.

www.texstarnetworks.com

What to Look for in a Web Designer

Okay, this may be a controversial blog, I understand. However, over the last ten days I have spoken with a number of business owners who have hired various web designers, only to feel that they have not done what they said they would, or once the web site was built neglected their future needs.

First, I understand the frustration. I have been there and done that.

When you are looking for a web designer, in my opinion there must be an initial relationship built on trust, and a contract. Granted, a contract may not always be worth much, but at least it is some accountability.

More importantly, does the web person take the time to understand your company, needs, desires, and wants?

Are they business people themselves who understand business, and take the time to understand yours?

Do they take the time to educate you on what they are doing to your website to help ensure it is optimized for search engines, and have they provided the pros and cons to business blogging as well as social media like Twitter.

Granted, you can get overwhelmed quickly. However, it is good to know that your web designer is not only friendly, but also competent and capable, and willing to go the extra mile in offering a long-term service for a long-term relationship.

To me, it is not about the short-term gain of a sale and a job, it is about the long-term relationship that comes out of providing a quality service for my clients.

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How to Keep XP Running in a Windows 7 World

With Microsoft releasing the new operating system (Windows 7), what does it mean for your business, or even your home.

This informative article may help you decided the pros and cons of upgrading.

http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/67618.html?wlc=1247867081

http://www.texstarnetworks.com

Best Buy Requires Twitter as Part of Job Description

As an ongoing and developing theme happening in the web/advertising world, Best Buy announced on a job opening they are requiring knowledge, experience, and 250+ followers on Twitter as part of a qualification for a Senior Manager's position.

This is a growing and ongoing issue not only for corporate or large businesses, but also for small businesses.

I'll share more later about an e-book I'm writing on this subject, but suffice it to say, if your small business is not learning about social networking and marketing, I hope you will consider doing so.

There are tremendous tools out there which are free and can help you grow your business over the next year.

Again, I will be sharing more in the very near future.

Link to article: http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/43490

http://www.texstarnetworks.com/

Website to publish sensitive hacked Twitter info

The above title is from an article in Reuters today. In it, they state the popular tech news website, TechCrunch.com, received information via email stolen from Twitter on the popular social websites financials, and other sensitive company information.

While the information may be interesting, and even newsworthy or valuable, it is clearly wrong to post or use malicious information of this sort, considering especially that Twitter has done nothing wrong. Either way, the posting of the information is not appropriate in my opinion.

The real question here to me is, how did the thieves hack into Twitter's system to gain the information?

My suspicion is that in all likely hood it was an inside job. Most of these types of scrupulous operations need an inside person to help gain access to sensitive materials. Though I admit, that is not necessarily true and may not be the case in this situation.

Unfortunately, by this happening to Twitter it proves that we are all susceptible to hackers and online thieves at some level.

How can you prevent sensitive personal information from being stolen?

First, don't share your information with anyone. And if you must, keep it to a very few number so that it may be possible to identify who could be providing the information. Of course, that is a very pessimistic view, and hopefully doesn't happen to you, or your company.

Second, some industry experts say don't log onto websites such as your bank accounts, etc., in public networks where hackers can be lurking. It could be a recipe for disaster and you will likely not even know it until it is too late.

Third, be sure to keep your computer clean of spyware and viruses that can help hackers gain access to your computer(s). This was probably not an issue for Twitter. But, it could be one for you. You'll want reliable spyware and virus protection software to help keep your computer safe. Please keep in mind, they may not be full proof, but they are very helpful.

The FBI has a list of helpful things you can do as well to protect your computer. Click here to read their list of things to consider.

Interesting Search Engine Optimization Blog

Just today I discovered this interesting article on Search Engine Optimization terms and tactics that may be way outdated.

Everyday I talk with businesses about SEO, and for certain I agree with much that is written here and ought to be considered to get the most out of your website through search engines.

http://www.seoptimise.com/blog/2008/09/25-outdated-seo-terms-tactics-vs-their-modern-alternatives.html

How to Save Money on Your Home Theater System

For many years, home theaters have thought to be out of the reach of the average home owner. With images of theater style seating in large rooms, and the high cost of large HD televisions and projectors, many of us have believed that a home theater is expensive, out of reach, and not practical.

Movie playing in our home

Picture taken while playing Xbox 360

But that doesn’t have to be so!

In the last month, we purchased a Mitsubishi HC900 HD projector, and you won’t believe what we spent for it.

Normally, these projectors retail for approximately $1,300 - $1,500. But with a little persistence, we were able to purchase the actual pictured projector for $350.00 at Fry’s in Garland, which was a floor model.

Projector mounted on ceiling in our home


We initially purchased it for $450.00. While at the store, the sales lady refused to test the unit to make us feel it worked. Still, we were assured we could bring it back if it did not.
When we got it home, the unit turned on, but apparently the lamp was bad due to the high usage of a floor model.

When we chatted with the manager over the phone, he asked us to come back into the store where they gave us another $100.00 off, and they got Mitsubishi to legitimately ship us a brand new lamp, worth approximately $300.00.

Wow! A HD projector for $350.00.

Anyone can do this with a little persistence and a lot of patience.

To set-up the screen in our small home, we went to Wal-Mart and purchased the cloth for $20.00, and some trim at Lowe’s for another $20.00.

We now have a 155” screen for $40.00. If you bought a screen retail, you would easily pay $200.00 or more.

So, for a total of $390.00, we got a home theater system worth approximately $1,400.00 - $1,600.00 total.

We have our projector hooked up to our hdmi cable box for high definition, our Xbox 360 through HD component cables, and our Sony 6.1 digital surround sound system.

All it took was a few hours to hook it all up.

You don’t have to have a lot of money, a big room, or fancy seats to have a GREAT home theater, just some patience, and any room to set it up.

http://www.texstarnetworks.com

Technology Brings Lots of Ideas

Technology can bring a lot of great opportunities for both business and home needs. From networking to websites, to wireless application, home theaters, and entertainment, our new blog hopes to share how technology is changing all of our lives at a fast rate, as well as share some things that are a must in the current economic climate to improve business opportunities or enjoy more time with your family.

Of course, some of the things we will discuss include things we use in our own home, and how entertainment is going to a new level as we spend more time with our families and friends around the house.

So, by all means, we encourage you to converse with us, share your ideas, links, and more.

Looking forward to it,

Don

Securing Your Computer

If you install the software below, you are reducing the chance of your computer needing a service call or losing important information that is stored on your computer.

Anti-Virus software
Anti-virus is the most important piece of software you can have on your pc. It is crucial to have it; otherwise you are playing with fire. A reliable anti-virus should identify, neutralize and eliminate viruses, worms, Trojans, malware and other infected programs.

Spyware remover
Identity theft is growing at unprecedented rates, spyware being one of the main culprits. Spyware secretly monitors the user's computer habits and much. Today spyware programs can collect various types of personal information, and can interfere with the user's control of the computer.

Adware remover
If you have ever encountered those annoying pop-up windows that won't stop and you have no idea where they are coming from, you PC is probably infected with adware. Although in many cases adware is harmless, it can slow your computer down dramatically and expose your system to other risks.

Firewall
A firewall basic function is to control all incoming and outgoing traffic and to determine which traffic is safe by following policies. Incoming traffic has to come from allowed IP addresses, if the IP address is not recognized, the website will be blocked unless you allow it. As time passes the firewall allowed IP address list grows. This is a very useful tool to compliment your other protection software.

Speed up Windows Explorer

Speed up the display load time of Microsoft Windows Explorer by disabling the feature to search for network printers and folders. By default each time Windows Explorer is opened it'll attempt to locate any network printer or folder on your computer network. If your computer is not on a network and/or you have no network printers, folders, or shares disable this option by following the below steps.

Open Windows Explorer
Click the Tools drop down menu and then Folder Options
Within the Folder Options tab click the View tab
Uncheck "Automatically search for network folders and printers"