How to Make Autocorrect Less Ducking Annoying

a man sitting in front of a laptop computer

While autocorrect is an excellent feature for mobile devices to offer, we all know how much of a pain it can be when it accidentally creates text typos. This leaves many individuals feeling embarrassed and stupid, when they were trying to compose a message to their loved ones or business clients. Keep reading as we discover how to adjust your autocorrect settings, so you can avoid some of the most humiliating autocorrect fails in the future.

How to Adjust Android Settings for Autocorrect

The information we’re going to share here is suitable for anyone using the Gboard keyboard that Google has added to Android settings. Firstly, you’ll need to head to the Settings app, then select System, Languages and Input, On-screen keyboard, Gboard, and lastly Text correction.

When you get here, you’ll see an option to switch auto-correction on or off. There’s also another button to switch off predictive text under the Show suggestion strip selection. Here you’ll find some other customization options to avoid autocorrect fails too, such as switching off the ability to use vulgar words.

The Dictionary feature allows you to add words to your own dictionary, which can be a great feature. Just press the + button to add any words you frequently use, so that Gboard can recognized them when you next use them. This can help to avoid autocorrect fails that will embarrass you with your family and friends.

One thing we particularly appreciate about the Android setting options is that you can also help it to learn how to make better predictions. When you click through System, Languages and Input, On-screen keyboard, Gboard, and Advanced, you can then select Improve voice & typing for all using data saved on your device and clear the data to delete any learned words and data on the device.

How to Adjust iOS Settings for Autocorrect

You’ll find that with iOS settings, there are fewer options for personalization, but you can still navigate to Settings, then select Keyboard to activate or deactivate your Predictive and Auto-Correction options. When you disable Check Spelling, you’ll find that misspelled words won’t be highlighted, but you will still be able to click on words to receive spelling suggestions.

For predictive text, you can reset the dictionary on your phone to start over again. Go to Settings, then select General. In Transfer or Reset Phone, choose Reset and Reset Keyboard Dictionary.

Let Us Help You Avoid Common Autocorrect Fails

Following the steps we’ve shared above can help you to avoid making simple mistakes in the future when texting personal contacts or business clients. While some autocorrect fails will leave you all laughing, others could cost your business greatly. Our team is here to help you prevent mistakes and protect your company’s data. Contact us today for more information about how we can assist your business to avoid these embarrassing errors and text typos in the future.

Contact Us Today and Check Out Our Blog!

3 Tips for Choosing the Right Office Technology

office technology

Technology has become an essential resource for businesses nowadays. It helps your company stay organized and run more efficiently. However, with ever-changing technological advancements, it can be very difficult to identify what technology your business needs, especially if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Today, let’s discuss three tips that can help you implement the right technology for your business.

1. Assess and Identify

The first step to identifying what technology you need is analyzing what your business is already using. What technology do you currently have implemented and how is it helping your company achieve its goals? Conducting a full-scale technological assessment allows you to better conclude what areas you already have covered, and where the holes lie in your technology resources. 

Since operations is a multi-faceted issue, be sure to assess the tech in every department including HR, database management, and communications. The better you understand your business, the better you can determine how technology could improve it.

2. Chose Reliable and Scalable Technology

Technology investment usually comes at a cost, so it’s crucial to find reliable and scalable tech. The goal is to replace your technology as infrequently as possible, so you need to prioritize devices that will help you both today and further down the line.

If you’re unsure about technology investments, you can lease equipment to test it before making a permanent decision. Cloud hosting is also a great choice for business computing. It is designed to eliminate upfront costs, so it turns your investment into operational expenses, allowing you to scale your computing needs easier than purchasing your own IT and hosting in-house.

3. Necessity Over Vanity

There are tons of cool new technologies being released every day, so it’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting what’s exciting and trendy. However, this typically leads to a less efficient tech setup and greater costs in your investment.

It’s important to always put your business’s and employees’ needs first. What your company needs is not always synonymous with what you want or think is fun. Favoring your business’s needs and goals with reliable technology will render much better results and keep your costs as low as possible.

At 4 Corner IT, our expert IT consultants can help you find an investment strategy that works best for your business. Our experience gives us insight into what businesses just like yours need, and how to get it installed quickly. Give us a call today at 954-474-2204 to learn more.

Contact Us Today!

Need to Cut Costs? Switch to a VoIP Solution

rows of VOIP office phones

VoIP, the shortened form of Voice over Internet Protocol, can be considered the latest and greatest in telecommunication. It is a far superior solution to traditional landlines. Some businesses have embraced this technology with open arms. However, others still cling to their landlines as their lives depend on it. At the end of the day, relying on your landline when a VoIP solution exists is basically throwing money away.

The numbers reported below are pulled from a guide put together by Harbor Networks. They show how much the average small business can save by simply shifting telecommunications to a VoIP solution.

The Capital Savings Are No Joke

The first savings you might notice from VoIP are from the costs associated with traditional telephone communications. A report by Telzio states that businesses save up to 50% on monthly communication costs by switching to a VoIP service. Also, this 50% was separate from the additional cost savings from hosted VoIP’s lack of maintenance costs. Thus, further driving the solution’s value. As if that weren’t enough, startup costs for hosted VoIP are low or nonexistent. Additional VoIP cost savings come from those cut from teleconferencing (30%) and local calls (40%).

Enhanced Productivity Leads to Additional Cost Savings

This trend was increasing even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to adopt a more flexible stance on remote work. Businesses have been adopting VoIP for a while now to accommodate the increasing requests for remote work. Furthermore, businesses that did saw a significant increase in productivity. Productivity then transforms into savings. Just imagine what your staff could achieve with a 20% boost to their productivity and an average savings of 40 minutes per workday. It can add up quickly!

Hosting Alleviates the Challenges of a VoIP Solution

One of the biggest challenges that come from a solution like VoIP is figuring out who will manage and maintain it. This is especially pertinent for small businesses that have limited resources at their disposal, particularly for IT. If your small business is already struggling to get by and has a limited budget, hosted VoIP offers significant savings. These make managing a VoIP system as easy as can be but much more affordable as a whole.

If you don’t have someone on-premises to manage your VoIP solution, a managed service provider can help to address this shortcoming. We can host your VoIP solution for you and manage and maintain it so that you can focus on making use of it. Only 14% of businesses without full-time IT staff have issues with VoIP, and we think it’s largely because of the existence of MSPs like 4 Corner IT that this number is as low as it is. We strive to make our services as accessible to small businesses as possible, especially those that do not have in-house IT resources.

The longer you wait to implement a solution like VoIP, the more savings you are missing out on. To get started today, reach out to 4 Corner IT at (954) 474-2204.

How to: Use Windows 10’s Screenshot Tool

Female hands showing cropping composition gesture. Isolated on blue.

The screenshot is one of the great tools that users can use to capture information in their browsers. If you are using a PC, you have access to many of them. Once you set one, you can typically use the Print Screen key to capture the image. Today, there is a Snip & Sketch tool that provides better functionality and is much easier to use.

How to Use Snip & Sketch for Screenshots

Snip & Sketch is integrated right into Windows, not a browser. It provides users with several screenshot options that you can access by pressing Windows Key+Shift+S. Here is a list of the available options:

  1. A basic box selection, allowing you to click and drag to encompass your selection
  2. A freeform selection, allowing you to draw out your boundary
  3. Window snip, allowing you to select an active monitor to screenshot
  4. Fullscreen snip, taking the place of the Print Screen key, allowing you to take a picture of all your monitors simultaneously

This tool gives you a wider range of useful options than most of today’s screenshot programs and it can be used throughout Windows to capture images.

We hope you can use this extremely useful tool to make your “screenshotting” needs easier. If you like the tips and tricks we provide, return to our blog weekly!

Reopening Your Organization: Key Steps to Take

key steps to take before reopening your organization

While many states have at least partially opened, it remains to be seen if they will continue a steady pace forward to an eventual full reopening. Or conversely, if they will decide to pull back for a time. In other words, the process of recovering from a world-wide pandemic seems to be a process of two steps forward, and one step backward. Thankfully, many organizations have employed creative and innovative methods to keep their doors open as much as possible. All while protecting both employees and the clients they serve.

For those who may have gotten off to a shaky start, we will provide some helpful tips on how to make reopening your organization as smooth as possible.

Employee Safety First

While customers may come and go as they like, employees are obligated to remain in the workspaces their employer provides. Of course, organizations must follow government guidelines. These define how many people are allowed within a building at the same time. Employers may need to expand the distance between employee workstations, whether they spend most of their time sitting or standing. It’s also a good idea to keep up with the latest information regarding PPE (personal protection equipment). Allowing you to determine whether employees have the correct instructions on how to wear their various forms of protection. 

Stay Flexible When Reopening Your Organization

Many companies allowed their employees to work remotely right from the beginning of the pandemic. However, some have found they need at least some of their employees to work within their physical buildings. Still, some employees may have pre-existing health conditions that put them at a higher risk. Additionally, they could have a family member who is in a high-risk group.

In a normal world, it may be advantageous to have these people back in the office. However, if they do get sick, it will add an extra burden to their physical and mental health. Also, at best, they’ll still be required to quarantine for a two-week period. Now is the time to remain flexible. You must also realize it might not be possible to have the entire company operating as effectively as it could. 

Reassure the Public 

Let customers, vendors, and other company staff members with which your organization regularly comes in contact know that you are making every effort to honor their health and safety as well. This may include sending out a corporate email outlining all the steps your organization is performing. Thus, ensuring their interaction with your employees will remain a safe, positive experience.

If an organization has a physical building that customers or vendors will enter, let them know what you are doing to ensure their safety as well as your expectations of them, by posting a sign on the door which they can read prior to entering. Some organizations may want to include some details about their safety practices in their corporate phone greeting. Others may want to inform the public by way of an advertisement shown on TV or through a radio commercial.

Reevaluate Corporate Technology Security

Many organizations have employees working in entirely different settings than they did before the pandemic. This could mean the new settings open them up to additional security risks as they use technology devices and software apps in a way they never did before. For employees in a remote work environment, organizations need to consider who in the environment may potentially have access to confidential information and/or computer equipment, including logins used for various apps. 

All the different ways in which employees now use corporate computer equipment and software applications must be reevaluated to ensure that a company’s technology system as a whole, remains safe and secure.

If you would like to know more about how to successfully navigate reopening your organization after the pandemic, please contact us.