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20140828_1buck

Online Fraud: The Buck Stops Here

Earlier this week, I noticed some small charges to my VISA card. $0.99 for an iTunes movie rental; $1.05 for a Berkeley parking meter; and $1 for something related to TransUnion. I could not recall what that might had been. Fearing a deluge of scam-related charges, I went to investigate. I called TransUnion, and indeed, […]

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malware

Steps To Take After Removing WordPress Malware Infection

A few days ago, I wrote about how we got our arms around a malware infection of this site. With the help of Sucuri.net, the site was scanned, scrubbed clean of malicious code, and site’s URL was submitted to the various powers-that-be to have Remodel Blog removed from blacklists. Upon completion of its work, Sucuri.net […]

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viruswarning

Remodel Blog Beats Malware!

Some of you noticed that Remodel Blog was off-line for nearly a week, with Google’s security warning popping up for many visitors. While I never thought it would happen, Remodel Blog was hit by malicious code. I decided to describe this event so other business owners can learn from what happened to us, and what […]

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drowning

California Contractors, Check Your Remodeling Contracts!

Yesterday I attended a presentation for construction professionals titled “Drowning in Paperwork, or Ten Ways To Stay Out Of Trouble With Your Lawyers.” It was made by attorney Eric Phillips with Wendel Rosen Black & Dean, and hosted by Truitt & White Lumber in Berkeley, California. Among the presentation’s main points was the fact that […]

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ds410_n_510

Robust Data Storage

Recently I posted a description of my company’s efforts toward becoming paperless. The post mentioned that a solid & redundant back-up system is key, and that I’d write a separate entry addressing the nuts and bolts of this. Interestingly enough, the way our back-up system came into being did not have so much to do […]

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franklin

Payroll: A DIY Project?

For many years my company worked strictly with licensed subcontractors and carpenters who would receive a 1099 at year’s end. Then at some point I decided it was time to start a payroll and hire employees. I won’t say it was a mistake, but this added a substantial layer of paperwork and expense. Unless you […]

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ScanSnap

Paperless Office – First Steps

In April of last year, my company made its first strides into becoming paperless. We bought a document scanner, deep-sixed our fax machine, and eventually were able to eliminate one large file cabinet. It required coming up with reliable storage for electronic records, plus a redundant back-up system. We chose the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M (‘M’ […]

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