Today’s business person will spend hours at the tailor crafting a fine business suit, hours at a power lunch sweet talking their next big client and hours pouring over proposals or negotiations to try to get every last penny they can, and then spend 30 seconds banging out an important email that will single handedly cost them a dozen more potential clients. While grammar and spelling aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, knowing basic email rules is an absolute must in this day and age where email has taken over as the primary form of communication used in today’s business world. Here are a few simple tips.

Let Your Email Utilities Work For You

The world of email has come a long way since Outlook Express. Today’s email clients are quite sophisticated and come with all sorts of bells and whistles that can make sending an email easier. It used to be that email spell checkers were absolutely horrible, but they have been vastly improved and most use the same spell check library as Microsoft Word. If your email client is old and doesn’t have a grammar or spell checker, upgrade now, or simply type your emails in Microsoft Word and copy/paste. Make sure you check how the format looks before you do by sending yourself an email.

Use a Template

If you have trouble setting up the formal date/address/body/signature form in every one of your emails, than simply write one and save it as a template that you can go back and use again and again. You can even have multiple templates ready to go for clients you email on a frequent basis; that way, much of the hard work is done before you even get started.

Avoid Being Overly Casual

Since most people still view email as a casual way to communicate, the one problem that costs more businesses clients more than any other is the urge to be overly friendly and casual when communicating with current clients or future clients. When writing a professional email, it is always better to sound formal and stilted than casual and overly friendly. If you have trouble coming up with the proper vocabulary, have a dictionary and a thesaurus on your desk that you can flip through to come up with better verbiage. You can even use websites like Dictionary.com or similar sites to help increase your vocabulary so you don’t sound unprofessional in your correspondence.

If All Else Fails, Ask For Help

We all know that many competitive office environments will take asking for help as a sign of weakness, but if you want to get the process of writing compelling emails down, there is no shame in asking for an occasional email to be proofread by someone else in the office who has an English background. Most bosses will take asking for help as a sign of maturity, and before you know it, you’ll be a master of the formal email.

Many people think that if you can write a compelling letter then you can automatically write a compelling email. The truth is that writing a compelling email is a learned skill that takes practice.

Today, there are many different viruses that can attack your computer - the Internet is rife with them, and they can be easily contracted if you don’t know how to avoid them. Let’s look at how you can protect your computer from viruses simply and easily.

Don’t download anything online if you aren’t sure of the source. Even for file sharing between companies, you should ensure that the sharing client has a stable system that is free from viruses before beginning to transfer files or open a direct link.

Don’t download email attachments if you’re not sure about the sender. The best way to start this is to turn off the automatic launching of your email client. It’s best to read your email online where you aren’t downloading anything, including graphics from emails, onto your computer. You shouldn’t open any attachments or allow graphics until you are sure the file is safe for your computer. Check the file attachment extension - if it’s a .pif or .scr extension on the end, chances are it is a virus. Watch out for .exe files, which are executable files as well, that extension is another common outlet for viruses.

Don’t just trust your anti virus program. They are only good for known viruses, but if you are attacked with an unknown virus then your computer could be at risk. Make sure that you update your antivirus often to keep abreast of new viruses and protected against them. However, if you aren’t sure if something is a virus or not, scan it anyway - it’s worth the extra time to check the file before opening it on your computer. Use a quality anti-spyware program to help rid your computer of programs that send personal data to the Internet that could potentially be opening holes in your system that you are unaware of.

Be aware of your settings. Set up your computer so that it doesn’t launch files, download updates, do security checks, load HTML pages or save cookies without your permission for each instance.

Install a firewall on your computer and on your LAN. If you don’t have one, switch operating systems to the most recent which will come with a built in fire wall. Also include a hardware firewall on your computer as well - a router that is easy to set up and helps to protect your computer.

Take some time to learn about how viruses and worms can attack your computer. When you are armed with knowledge, you can protect your computer even further. A simple search on the Internet for information on how viruses work will result in enough information to give you a basic understanding.

Watch the kids on the Internet. Don’t let them utilize it carte blanche - this can open up holes in your computer as kids have a tendency to click on advertisements without thinking about the ramifications of clicking “ok” on a webpage.

Protecting your computer is something that only you can do - no one else is going to do it for you. It’s important to arm yourself with knowledge to protect your computer on your own to ensure that your computer is as solidly protected as possible.

By now, you should know that copying and distributing any copyrighted material is illegal and is called piracy. You should also know that having any of these pirated materials in your possession is also illegal. While there are some differences in the types of piracy, the end of the line is that it is illegal and you could be charged and even face jail time for downloading, burning, copying, selling or owning pirated materials.

Pirated materials are rife throughout the world, but especially in the Far East and Eastern Europe. It is easy to get a hold of these pirated versions of popular (and expensive) software; however, the costs can be many.

Not only may you find yourself with hefty fines for using and owning pirated material, you may also have problems with your computer. Many pirated software packages come complete with viruses that can tear down the foundation of your computer. The cost to repair damages done by some viruses can be incredible - rendering your computer useless in some cases and much data lost.

Internet piracy also affects the base cost of the product. The more that people steal the programs, the higher the cost of the programs in retail - companies are out to make a profit and if the guy down the street sells pirated versions of software, the company has to increase their price.

There are several types of software piracy, and these include:

End-user: a user copies software without the appropriate license. This can be as easy as purchasing one copy of software and using it on multiple computers in a business or home setting.

Pre-installed software: a manufacturer uses one copy of software and uses it on more than one computer that they are selling. Watch out when you purchase a new computer that the software comes with the appropriate license documentation stating that the software you have is licensed properly.

Internet: downloading copies of software through the Internet. If you are downloading material, ensure that the publisher of the software has authorized the distribution. There is quite a bit of “free ware” and “share ware” out there on the net, but be cautious that you aren’t downloading from a third party who does not have the right to offer these downloads.

Counterfeit: Illegal copies of software are made and then distributed in packages that are similar reproductions of the manufacturer packaging.

Online auction: There are several forms of online auction piracy, such as selling software that is labelled NFR (not for resale) or OEM software that is not authorized for sale by a third party.

Remember the rule of thumb: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. If you have found a “sale” on software that seems too good to be true, chances are its pirated and illegal.

Pirated copies of software, including downloaded movies, music and more, affect everyone. These illegal copies are not “showing the companies” - it’s making everything more expensive at the retail level and copying these discs will become increasingly more difficult, to the point where we may not be able to afford them at all in any way shape or form (and thusly, if pirated, no newer versions will be released).

In 100 years, we’re all going to look back on this period we’re living through right now and laugh. It will seem startling that we survived this technological infancy that we find ourselves in. Websites today will be in the Smithsonian next to the first printing press and the first television. Even the most respected voices in online technology are still learning the very basics of how we, as a species, communicate through web sites. We take bits and pieces from successful ones and then try to duplicate that success with additional innovations. If you could zoom out from the Internet, it would likely look like a giant stack of Jenga blocks wobbling too and fro. Let’s take a closer look at some common websites mistakes and how you can avoid them.

Short attention span theatre

If there is one truth about the Internet, it is that the average web browser has the shortest attention span ever recorded. This means that you have a second, possibly two, to capture the attention of someone who stumbles upon your companies webpage. There are several things you can do to capture a person’s attention, but the most important thing to remember is that it is impossible to capture everyone’s. If you can get one out of every 20 people who click onto your webpage to stick around and do some exploring, you are way ahead of the field. Think of it as people strolling past your store front window on 5th Avenue in Manhattan. No matter how good your product is, you can’t bring in everyone. You do, however, want to capitalize on those that venture inside.

The Internet is powered by content

There is a reason why websites like ESPN.com, CNN.com and similar sites constantly change their front page stories. It isn’t because new and exciting news has broken and continues to break throughout the day; it is the idea of something new being available for consumption. No matter what your website sells or does, you must provide a new reason for people to visit as frequently as possible. It doesn’t matter if you are showcasing new sales, blogging about the impact of your product or service or simply changing up the look of your page, if you don’t give the public a reason to keep you in mind, they won’t.

Don’t overdo it

Most new pages that attempt to make a big splash on the Internet do so by attempting to cram as much new technology, streaming video, audio, Java applets and everything else to create an online experience you won’t forget. While the initial hurdle of having too slow a connection for any of that technology to work has been largely overcome, not everyone needs to multitask and do a dozen things at once. Yes, having bells and whistles can be a good way to attract users initially, but there has to be content and relevance to back up the flash. Even video game websites have blogs that talk about the video game industry and lists of products and services users can buy.