Lifestyle | Information and Document Management

Common Security Protocols for Document Management Systems

A document management system is often used to help a business or organization store and retrieve information in a quick and effective way. When using a document management system those that retrieve the information will do so through a computer system or an internet browser. Due to the fact that document management systems are held on a computer there are various security protocols that must be put into place to ensure that all information is safe. Here is a look at some of the security protocols that are available for those that use a document management system.

Firewalls. A firewall is the basic type of security protocol. Firewalls ensure that no one can get inside the computer that is storing the information and retrieve any of the valuable pieces of information. Firewalls will also block any spyware or malware that is places on a computer that can copy the documents.

User Tracking. A document management system protocol that is sometimes put into place is known as a user tracking documentation. This system will document who signs into the system, where they signed in and how long they were in the system. This is often used for systems that contain extremely sensitive pieces of information such as government documents or health care documents.

User Access Codes. Some companies will have various levels of authorization. The use of a user access code can be used as a specific type of security protocol. These access codes will allow certain individuals to have access to files while others will not have access them. This controls who can look at documents and who cannot. User access codes are often used by government document management systems or health care files so that only those that have permission to view the documents will be able to view them.

How to Do the Chin Lock Breathwork Exercise

One of the essential elements of the yoga practice is known as breathwork or pranayama. Breathwork allows the body to release toxins and rejuvenate the spirit, mind and body. In fact, breathwork is so effective that many people choose to just engage in the breathwork portion of yoga and not the exercise part.

There are many different types of breathwork techniques that are used in yoga. One of breathwork techniques is known as the chin lock breathwork or the Jalahandhara Bandha. The chin lock is a moderately difficult breathwork practice that cleanses of toxins and reenergizes the body.

Here is a look at how the chin lock breathwork is performed.

Step 1. Sit down comfortable either on the floor in a cross-legged position or on a chair. Choose whichever one is most comfortable for you.

Step 2. Take a couple of cleansing breaths. Cleansing breaths will allow you to approach your breathwork with an open mind. Make sure that you are breathing in and out through the nose and not the mouth.

Step 3. After the cleansing breaths place your hands on the top of your thighs and begin the chin lock breathwork. To begin take a deep breath in and lower your chin to your neck. As you breathe in bend at the hips and try to hunch your shoulders.

Step 4. Hold the position of your body for around ten seconds. After ten seconds, start to raise your head and let your breath out very slowly through the nose. As you move your head upwards move your spine so that you are back in a sitting position.

Step 5. Once back into a sitting position take two or three cleansing breaths and repeat steps three and four. Try to engage in this practice about five to eights times every two or three days. As you advance and become more comfortable with the breathwork exercise you can increase the repetitions of the breathwork exercise.

Filed Under: Health, Lifestyle Tagged With: Breathwork, Chin, Lock (water transport), Mind–body problem, Yoga

How to Assess if Breathwork is Working for You

Breathwork is a very subtle psychotherapeutic technique. Due to the subtle nature of the breathwork many people engage in a couple of breathwork sessions and feel that they no longer need them because they are not seeing dramatic changes. While you might not see sudden changes happening from your breathwork exercise there are subtle changes that are happening.

If you are engaging in breathwork exercises or breathwork sessions here is a look at how you can tell if they are working for you.

Are You Surrendering Yourself? Many people enter breathwork with a closed mind. They believe that it will do them no good and that it is a waste of time. Their closed off nature causes the breathwork exercises to not work for them because they have closed their Ego off to releasing and stress or negative energies. If you are wondering if breathwork is working for you ask yourself do you enter each session with an open mind and try to allow yourself to cleanse yourself of the negative thoughts and emotions?

Are There Physical Benefits? Try to sit back and see if you notice any physical benefits that come from breathwork. The physical benefits can range from decreased amounts of stress, less tension that is held in the muscles and other parts of the body, a relaxed overall feeling and an increased sense of energy. Many people who engage in breathwork will often report that they are feeling less fatigued throughout the day. Try to consider the physical benefits if you are not sure breathwork is working for you.

Filed Under: Health, Lifestyle Tagged With: Breathwork, Mental Health, Physical exercise, Stress

De-Clutter the Book Shelf

Do you have a lot of books lying around? Are you really reading them? Are they reference material? Have you considered Kindle? Kindle is the ability to read books from an electronic hand held device that weighs less than a book. It also comes with more features than a book itself could imagine having.

Many of the Kindle devices come with either Wi-Fi or unlimited 3G access with no monthly fees or contracts. You can also search, share passages on Facebook or Twitter, bookmark, and link directly to a dictionary or Wikipedia. It can also read to you out loud, and it can play mp3 files while you read.

Book availability is also impressive. You can choose from over 800,000 books, most of which are under ten dollars. They also have over a million books that are out of copy right (generally your classics) available for free. Publications like newspapers, magazines, and blogs are also available for viewing in addition to games like Sudoku, Hangman, and Scrabble. Devices can hold up to 3,500 books, and pricing ranges from $100 to $200 for six inch Kindle devices.

Afraid the screen will be as difficult to read as a computer monitor? They have focused design to make the screen look as much like the paper from a book as they can. In addition, you can change your font, the size of the font, and zoom in on text.

Some of your books are best served in a book format like a dictionary, The Bible, and those where the paper is part of the reading experience. If you have a book where you have already written a lot of notes, that’s a must save. However, many of your books might serve you better with an electronic version on Kindle and the hard copy donated to the local library.

Filed Under: General, Lifestyle Tagged With: E-book, Facebook, Scrabble, Twitter, Wikipedia

The Best Resources Compiled Online

The Internet has created the perfect platform for research of all types, and has made it easier than ever to compile information into usable resources that are available to the general public. Though there are services that require a fee to access them, a majority are free and open to anyone. The user has to be careful about what type of resource they are using to get information from, but at the same time can find many that are reputable, well written and with solid references.

Libraries and universities have been able to digitize and put their materials online for students and the public to access. This creates a boon to researchers who no longer have to travel to get what they need. You can directly view the documents on your home computer, or can request a copy by mail. There may be a fee to download an item, depending on what you are working with. Some of these institutions have private collections of letters, journals or artwork that have been digitized for online access as well.

Museums and research centers have now added journals, online collections and documents to the web. You can take a virtual tour of a facility, watch historical films and peruse documents easily. Military museums have a plethora of online information in the form of manuals, unit history and war documents and footage that are a historian’s dream to navigate through. The government and its various agencies have made it easier to access information online. You can see what bill is currently before Congress, historical documents of the Senate and House and access numerous data through the National Park Service, United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and many others. With this incredible organization and accessibility available online, anyone can find the resources they need with the click of a mouse.

Filed Under: Information Management, Lifestyle Tagged With: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Digitizing, Information, Research, United States Congress

Surviving Change

Our bodies struggle to endure it, our relationships, too. Our energy levels reflect its long-and short-term effects, right down to the core of our being. It’s the one constant we can depend on in our physical universe, but when change occurs, rather than allow it, our first instinct is to run from it, and treat it as an enemy. Why not embrace change as the first sign that some new thing awaits you, probably right around the corner?

Whether it’s a divorce, a death in the family, the loss of a job, or an upcoming move, being jarred from your comfort zone can be upsetting. It can sneak up on you, or it can feel like a hard slap. It happened to Joan, a computer programmer and self-proclaimed workaholic with a husband and a 3 year-old son. The last thing on Joan’s mind was losing her job. She’d been giving her all at the office, starting her day before seven a.m., often not to return until well after eight or nine. Unemployment was sobering. She and her husband had just purchased a home which they planned to renovate. Now, forced to live on one salary, it looked like they might lose it.

What time at home helped Joan discover was the closeness with her child that she’d long been missing. At last, she was available to make his breakfast, take him to pre-school, and tuck him in at night. The deepening experience of being a better parent significantly improved her marriage, too. The gift of change brought with it the realization that her former life had been out of balance, and the cost to her family was tremendous. Change was Joan’s wake-up call, and because of it, she was able to reconnect with what’s really important. She eventually returned to the job market, only this time, seeking a position that was not only financially rewarding, but would allow her more quality time with her family.

When we welcome the dance of change, we’re able to move forward harmoniously, free from the bounds of complacency.

Filed Under: Lifestyle, Society Tagged With: Education and Enrichment, Relationships

Eliminating Paper Clutter: Use the Computer

Sometimes, the most annoying thing on a person’s desk is the endless mound of paperwork that rests there, with no immediately visible way to get rid of it properly. As creatures of habit, people keep almost everything and are very slow to throw something away for fear that it may be needed later.

Some people get stressed out at the sign of clutter and paperwork mounds on their desks. There are likely piles of unopened but important mail or bills. And, because the piles look so overwhelming, important things are never weeded out and rescued. This is when it becomes a problem, especially if important documents are ignored. What can you do?

Much of the paperwork that resides on your desk can either be 1.) stored or 2.) discarded. Storing the information is relatively easy, provided that there is a mechanism for doing so. If the paperwork is to be discarded, the best way to do that is to use a paper shredder that will completely and sufficiently destroy the paper.

It’s good to occasionally purge documents and clean out old systems. Whether you do this with your personal connections, your social media monitoring contacts, or with business documents, paring down your paperwork to a minimum can really decrease your mental and psychological stress.

For important paper work that needs to be kept, you can use a flatbed or handheld scanner to scan in those important documents, save them to a word processing file and then save the document to your computer’s hard drive. This way, you can easily access the documents you need without having to drag out and sort through boxes of endless paperwork. Also, be sure to save a disc of the file(s), as well, just in case there are any future computer issues or problems. With a little organization, you can wipe out the paper clutter using your computer.

Filed Under: Information Management, Lifestyle, Society Tagged With: Desk, Image scanner, Paper

Use Software for Download to Document Childhood Memories

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Since the first photo in 1826, people have used pictures to document important events and memories. Scrapbooking became a way for people to highlight those memories in an attractive setup that freed pictures from the box in the closet.

Digital cameras further added to a reduction in the amount of pictures lying around a house; however, they elevated scrapbooking to a new level: online scrapbooking. Today, you can make a digital scrapbook to preserve childhood memories. As an added perk, you can even send your scrapbook electronically to friends and family.

If you want to display your digital photos, consider using scrapbook software for download. With programs, such as My Memories Suite, even beginners can scrap like pros in just a few short minutes. Scrapbook software programs usually have the following features:

~ A drag-and-drop option to place photos on the scrapbooking page.

~ Basic photo editing tools, such as crop or rotate.

~ Word art and digital embellishments to create visually appealing pages.

Even people who love to scrapbook with actual photos enjoy the benefits of online scrapbooking programs. The online program reduces the cost of scrapbooking, making it more affordable as a hobby. You can reuse templates, papers, and embellishments without having to run out to a craft store. If you purchase additional scrapbooking items, you can add them to your online collection to use repeatedly.

Some software for download comes with a trial version, so you can test out the features before you commit to a purchase. If you like what you see, it’s easy to install the full version. If you want to keep searching, you can use the trial version until you find something better.

When you take advantage of scrapbooking, whether online or off, you can use your creativity and personality to make a legacy you can pass on to your children once they get older and begin having children of their own.

Filed Under: Childhood, General, Health, Lifestyle Tagged With: Arts, Crafts, Digital, Digital photography, How-To Sites, scrapbook, Shopping, Supplies

How to Turn any Song Into an iPhone Ring Tone

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Did you know that you can use Apple’s iTunes to turn practically any song or sound or your computer into free ringtones for your iPhone? First off, make a copy of the file that you want to convert to a ringtone and give it a unique name or you will ending up ruining the original file. Fire up iTunes, find the song with the unique name you just created in the song navigator and after you right click on it go into the Get Info settings.

Once you’re there, you’ll need to find the feature that allows you to select the time period inside the song that you want. On the Options tab, locate the Start Time and End Time options. It might be a little tricky to find. After you have the Get Info tab open, you have to click on Edit, then Preferences, and then choose Advanced. This is where you select the start time and end time options for the file you are working with. With this setting you actually end up specifying the portion of the song you wanted converted into a ringtone. For example, you can select that portion of the song that starts at 1 minute and 45 seconds and ends at 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Ringtones must be less than thirty seconds. Once you’re finished, click OK. Now, convert the file into ACC format.

Now, import the song into iTunes so it will recognize it as a ringtone. Get out of iTunes and find the file in the iTunes music directory. Change the file extension so that iTunes recognizes it as a ringtone. Rename the file’s extension to .M4R. Don’t use symbols or underscores or hyphens in the file name.

Import this file to iTunes and, voila! When you synch your iPhone, it will recognize your file as a ringtone.

Filed Under: General, Lifestyle Tagged With: IPhone, iTunes, Ringtone

Business on the Move: Who Called?

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The world has changed and the rapid-fire way it is continuing on this massive overhaul is only going to accelerate. There is no way to predict the outcome, so don’t bother trying. It’s like trying to make sense out of Chaos Theory. Even the theorists don’t get it!

That being said, get this: you work on the road. Your job is actually a work from home setup but you can’t stand being locked up in a 650 square foot apartment all day so your real workspace is a combination of half a dozen Wi-Fi cafes. You have your two emails set to send you texts from three different supervisors, your son, and daughter and of course your girlfriend in Texas. Yes, you are divorced and hoping to re-marry once she finishes her degree at Texas A and M. Meanwhile you are driving the I-5 corridor from Seattle to the Canadian border and back, hopping from one café to the next to keep your sanity. The last thing you need to interrupt your vision of success is the ex-girlfriend calling you and worse yet, you answering! Sigh.

Free ringtones are a godsend. Your daughter plays violin so you download Vivaldi for her. It doesn’t matter which Vivaldi piece—they all sound the same anyway! Hey, your daughter said that not you. She prefers Led Zeppelin’s Dazed and Confused on the electric violin. Hey, Perfect!

For your ex-girlfriend? Maybe she likes classical music too. Shoot, no 11th Symphony by Shostakovich. Oh well. Explore! There are countless tunes out there that have meaning. That is the point. Give meaning to every call that comes in so that you can continue meaning what you said when you told her, “Don’t call!”

You can now get your triple shot Grande Americano and start getting some work done.

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: Classical music, Ringtone, Seattle