broken computer

Recovering Lost Computer/Laptop Data

Losing data contained in your personal computer or laptop can be a heart-wrenching experience. The pain from losing data can be worsened if the lost files were financially or sentimentally important, such as valuable documents, pictures or videos. You can lose your data by several accidental events, such as your device’s operating system or hard drive crashing, mistakenly deleting the data, or your device being successfully hacked or otherwise compromised. The following are some tips and methods that you can use to recover as much of your lost data as physically and digitally possible. Locating lost data becomes much easier when the file format or extension is already known.  o Audio files will be in one of these formats: .flacc, .wav, .mp3, .m4a, .wma  o Images: .gif, .png, .CR2, .jpg o In the case of documents: .docx, .doc, .psd, .xls, .pptx, .ppt, .xlxs o With videos: .mkv, .3gp, .wmv, .mp4 Knowing the location of the lost data can be a great help in the data recovery process. Data that has been deleted within a short span of time is generally easier to retrieve due to that data becoming positioned in a relatively unused and free area of the hard drive. There’s a very small chance that all of the lost data can be completely recovered, but you should get a significant portion of it back to you. Here are a few methods that you could try to retrieve your deleted data. Use a Built-In System Restore or Recovery Tool Most operating systems today have tools that allow the systems to restore certain drives and folders to previous dates in order to undo unwanted changes or to recover data. Windows has a “System Restore” tool that will restore configurations, program and folder states system-wide. For less-comprehensive restoration needs, you can restore data using the “Restore the previous version” tool. Third-Party Programs/Apps If those restore tools are ineffectual, you could try a third-party program or app. Once you’ve downloaded and installed the software, you just need to select the folder and file format that you want scanned. After the scan, you can simply pick the files that you want to recover and save them to your laptop or PC. Data Recovery Agency Consulting with a data recovery agency in Dallas might be your best bet if your laptop or PC has had a mechanical or physical failure that has made some or all of your data inaccessible. They can repair and clean the hard disk drive and any other components that could be contributing to the data loss, likely retrieving it for you.

google maps on a phone

How to Get the Most Out of Your Google My Business Listing

The world of marketing is ever-changing and, sometimes, it can be hard to keep up with current trends. One the absolute essentials when it comes to marketing your business is optimizing your Google My Business Listing. Here is your guide to making your GMB effective. What is Google My Business? When you type the name of your company into Google, a Knowledge Graph should appear on the right-hand side of the search engine. This will have the basic information about your business including the address, photos of your office, your website information, and your hours. This comes up in many different maps and search tools when people are looking for your company, which is why it is so important to maintain.  How do I optimize my Google My Business listing?  In the marketing world, “optimize” is just a fancy way of saying that you need to make sure that it is completely filled out. Make sure that the photos are current, high quality, and relevant to your company. Show off your location and the show-worthy parts of your building. Another incredibly important part of the listing is your business hours. Make sure that each day has the correct hours, and if you make a change to your hours, update your GMB right away.  Google Posts A newer feature of Google My Business is Google Posts. These are like social media posts, and show up at the bottom right-hand side of the Knowledge Graph. These posts can be used to promote a product, tell about an event, or just give an update. It is important to update these, as it’s basically free advertising and can help improve your listing’s ranking for important keywords. A professional Dallas SEO company will handle this for you.   You can post them in the back end of your GMB account, where you see “posts”. The regular posts only last 7 days, and there should always be at least one (though you can have multiple) visible on your page at all times. To make your life easier, pull these posts from any social media accounts you already have and adjust the wording and dimensions accordingly. Make sure that your photos fit into the GMB parameters, and always put a call to action on your post either linking back to your website or with a link to call your company directly.  Google My Business is a great way to help with your SEO and to ensure that you are being seen by potential clients. If you have not updated your GMB page, make sure you do as soon as possible.