By, Christopher M. Knight

1. Standardize on one model & one name brand ONLY. It may not seem like much, but as your business grows, you will find it will be cheaper to even pay more to keep buying the model you standardized on, in order to keep productivity UPTIME high, and problems low.

2. Standardize on your software installation. Every desktop should look and feel the same, to keep internal PC Support costs low.

3. Have a strong tape backup strategy, and make sure you take your backups OFF premises, in case of fire. Electromechanical hard drives DO fail, and one dead hard drive can cost you tens of thousands if you do not have a recent backup.

4. Do NOT allow your employees to bring software from home. This will eliminate piracy issues, viruses, and productivity losses.

5. Invest in an anti-virus strategy, and invest in the proper software from companies such as www.mcafee.com in order to keep your PCs clean of nasty viruses, which can destroy more than just your time, but your data & PC as well.

6. When buying PCs from publicly traded companies, know that they have strong quotas and objectives to meet during the last 3 days of any month. Use this to your negotiating advantage. We buy over a million a year worth of PCs annually and most companies are more motivated to "wheel and deal" during the last few days of any month, especially the last few days of any quarter.

7. Do not BUY *every* version upgrade. It's usually not necessary. Remember the purpose of your PC: To make you more money or save you more money. Everything must be cost justified, except maybe a 21" monitor for yourself.