Word processors are among the most important tools a business can have, and it would be hard to conduct business without one these days. Microsoft Word is the most popular program and has many features users have come to rely on. One of the most popular of which is probably copy and paste. Did you know that there is a lot more to this feature than simply copying and pasting though?

Here's an overview of Word's copy and paste feature.

Simple copy and paste As you likely know already, you can copy by selecting/highlighting text, or pictures and either right-clicking and selecting copy; pressing Ctrl + C (Command + C on Mac) or selecting File followed by Copy.

You can paste by either right-clicking and selecting paste; pressing Ctrl + V (Command + V on Mac) or selecting File followed by Paste. When you copy and paste, the highlighted text or image will be placed where you have placed the cursor.

While simple copying and pasting works fine for most situations, there are times when you are copying from one word document to another and need something else. Many documents have different text and layout formats which can make copying a bit inefficient, as you will likely have to change some of the text or image settings. Word has four built-in features that can make this easier.

These settings can be found by first highlighting what you would like to copy. You should see a clipboard above the highlighted text when you hover your mouse over it. Pressing the down-facing black arrow will open the different copy functions.

• Keep Source Formatting - Pressing this will keep the formatting of the text/document you copied from. This is the default option.
• Merge Formatting - This will keep the text's format, without changing the format of the document you paste into. E.g., if the text you copied is a different font and size, it will be posted into the new document at the same format, but the next word typed will retain the previous format.
• Use Destination Style - This will change the text you copied to the same format as the document you copy into.
• Keep Text Only - This will copy only the text. All graphics, tables, charts and formatting will be discarded. When you paste into the new document, the text will be changed to that document's formatting.

This feature can help make it easier to copy and paste from one document to another. Office has many features that can assist in improving your productivity, or make your job easier. If you are interested in learning more Office tips and tricks, please contact us today.

Cyber crime has been around since the very early days of the Internet and has it has become an increasingly serious problem as the number of Internet users has increased. This trend is likely to continue, and you can be guaranteed that you'll continue to see news about websites being hacked and valuable information exposed. One of the latest sites to be hacked is LivingSocial.

LivingSocial is a daily deals website that focuses on bringing bargains and original deals to users based on their geographical location. In late April, news broke that the website had suffered a massive cyber attack with 50 million accounts being compromised.

From the reports we have seen, the attack targeted accounts world-wide with only account holders in Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and the Philippines being unaffected. An email sent out by Tim O'Shaughnessy, LivingSocial's CEO shortly after the incident said, "We recently experienced a cyber-attack on our computer systems that resulted in unauthorized access to some customer data from our servers. We are actively working with law enforcement to investigate this issue."

The company assured users that their credit card data had not been compromised, as they are kept in another database. Account passwords were also encrypted, which means they are harder to crack but not impossible.

What should you do? If you have a LivingSocial account, we recommend that you go and change your password immediately. This can be done by:

1. Going to LivingSocial's forgot your password page.
2. Entering the email address you used to sign up for the account with.
3. Pressing Reset Password.
4. Checking your email for an email from LivingSocial and following the instructions in the email.

It is advisable to pick a new password, one that is as different as possible from your old password and, as always, the longer, the better.

Is there anything I can to do protect my company? If you are a business owner who has websites that encourage customers to sign up for updates, accounts, etc. you may be wondering how you can keep your user's information secure from cyber attack. In truth, you can't keep your important information 100% secure, if a hacker is committed enough, they will be able to get the information they need or wreak the havoc they want to. But what you can do is to make it as hard as possible for cybercriminals to get your information. This could be as simple as using multiple databases to store different bits of information, or as complex as using the latest encryption methods and systems.

Each business is unique, and the best way to ensure your valuable data is secure is to work with an IT partner who takes the time to get to know your security needs and develop a solution that is as near to 100% secure as possible.

If you are worried about the security of your systems, contact us today. We may have the perfect solution that will meet your needs and budget.

Apple's devices are popular for their usability. Watch someone who has never used an iPhone before and see how they figure out how to operate it in a matter of minutes. While these are great smartphones and some would say the best, they aren't perfect. One shortfall is that it can be difficult to transfer files from the device to your computer without iTunes. Luckily, there are apps that can help.

Here's two great apps that you can use to make the transferring of files to/from your iPhone onto your computer not only quicker but less taxing too.

Bump This app started out as a way to share contacts with other iPhone users and has since been updated to include transferring files and pictures. A recent update introduced the capability to move files from your computer to your phone and vice versa.

How this process works is you install Bump on your iPhone, open the app and select a file you would like to transfer. On your computer you can navigate to bu.mp and then bump (hit) the spacebar with your phone. A new window will open with a preview of the file, giving you the option to download it, or share it.

If you would like to transfer a file from your PC or Mac to your iPhone, click on Send files to your device on the bu.mp page and select the files to send. They will be automatically sent to your phone and can be accessed by opening the app.

The app is free from the website, and works on both Mac and PC. There is a 20 mb per file size limit, so for larger files you would be better off saving them to a cloud storage app.

Instashare If you have a Mac, Instashare is new app that allows you to simply drag and drop files from your computer to transfer them to your iPhone.

Once you have downloaded the app on both your computer and iPhone, you then find the file on your computer that  you would like to share, drag it to the app icon and let it go. As long as your iPhone is connected to a W-Fi network, the file will be transferred in as little as a few seconds. You can also send files from your iPhone through the app, selecting the file and dragging it onto connected computers. Instashare will take care of the rest.

This app is an easy way to transfer files within the Apple environment while not having to physically connect your device to your computer. It's also free, which could make it an interesting tool for your business. Download it from the website here, or search for it on in the App Store.

There are many other ways to transfer files from your smartphone to your computer, including using cloud storage. What are your favorite ways? Let us know. Or, if you are looking for a more efficient file sharing solution, contact us today.