I connect a larger screen - having two desktops is nice. sm

• working on a laptop - ann
  • Couldn't work any other way. I love being portable, and the equipment takes up so much less room. - I put up with a lot if I can be mobile. nm
  • I connect a larger screen - having two desktops is nice. sm - No problems.
    • laptop cooler - ann
  • Laptop - USMT
    • Laptop - Mary
      • You can upgrade memory. 512 RAM is - me
  • Been working on a laptop for 6 years. - me

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You most likely won't have a serial port or game port connection on a laptop unless you have it customized, but there will be several USB ports and most everything these days comes with USB connections.  There will be a place for headphones on any computer.  As far as the rest of the stuff it is the same and you would look for the same things as if you were buying a desktop.  I was told recently though that the Sony Viao run hot and that they weren't really made for a mobile type situation. 

If you want to travel you have to know all your internet options because you'll find yourself in various situations and your primary option may not be available for some reason, so you always have to have a backup plan. 

although you need to purchase all the components. DocShuttle Administrator will let you set up separate accounts for your dictators, and set privileges for which MT's work on which accounts and do they have QA privileges. Also allows you to upload templates to the FTP site for use by all transcribers. So you have to buy Administrator for sure. DocShuttle Client is for anyone who transcribes (including yourself), it lets you download files from the ftp site. When you click on the voice file, it brings up templates that you choose from. DocShuttle Dictator is for the docs. What I like about Dictator is you can set it to work with the Olympus recorder so that when the doc docks the recorder, it automatically imports to the Olympus program, and erases the file from the recorder. Then DocShuttle Dictator can be set up to automatically, say every 4 hours, import from the Olympus program and upload new files to the ftp site and download finished files. I have found that the front desk girls can sink your account by not being able to figure out how to upload or download files. I just did an install with DocShuttle and you should have seen the doc's eyes light up when he docked his recorder and it all went automatically. Also the files stay in the local box and get uploaded to the ftp site so there's always a copy at the doc's office for back up. It also marks the files with a coded number that includes the date, dictator, etc. And at the end of the month, you can run reports that will give you MSWord data such as characters or lines to you can do a line count without opening every single file. Files can be encrypted if you want.

This program is ideal if you have more than one MT working with you. If you are working alone, they just came out with an email program that would work for just an independent contractor working at home for a doc.

Scott and his crew have worked hard on making DS very user friendly, which as I said, is a must because of the front office ladies. Their support is excellent. Just get past the first lady because she usually doesn't know what she is talking about.

one more word - MAKE SURE you purchase the Dongle. You get unlimited installs with the dongle - otherwise three installs and they want you to buy another license. email me with any more questions - I've been using DS for a few years now and am very happy with it

incentive plans, or the companies that have an unfriendly system so that it is hard to get lines, or horrible dictators so that MTs do the minimum and no more.  From what I have seen of the incentives there are a lot of strings attached and a lot of times the company finds a way to get around them, others make the line counts so high that is is near impossible to get the incentives without working 16 hours a day.  My company offers incentives if they get in a bind and get too far out of TAT.  They pay a 20% for any lines over your normal line count, so that anyone is able to reach the incentive level, just how much depends on how much they are willing to work extra.  I am an employee, but the ICs are offered the same incentives.  I have worked for other companies that did not offer an incentive until they got in a bind. 

I think some companies try to confuse you with an incentive, so that you think you could make more than 7 cpl, but then the incentives aren't that easy to make and you'd have been better offer spending the extra time living instead of working. 

You may want to attach an external monitor (I don't) or use a box of some kind to elevate the computer.  They have boxes at the office supply store in the computer area that have trays for storage or a place to put your keyboard and that is about the right height.  I would also suggest an external mouse.   If you need a new keyboard/mouse I'd go wireless.  If you want to be somewhat mobile, like sitting in the backyard in the shade unhooking and hooking everything up gets to be a pain and if you just want to diddle and not work you can use the laptop keyboard and not have to take the other keyboard and mouse. 

If you are used to a large monitor that is probably your biggest adjustment, the rest is fairly easy and may take some trial and error to get everything worked out. 

I used them for years. I didn't pay any attention to their rate, above -- but it doesn't matter how fast you type. You could sit there and NOT type, and you're still paying $1.80 for every hour you're hooked up.

And by the way, there are several dictators I'm 1:1 on. Not many though!

Basically, you need to have an available network (also called hot spot) that will allow you to connect to the Internet. The card is only hardware, not the actual network.

stick I have a menu come up that asks what I want to do, view, copy to  a file, etc.    Once they are in a folder you can send pictures as an attachment or copy the picture to the e-mail.   If you send as attachment when you request attachment it will ask you to search for whatever it is you want to attach, if you want to include a picture in the e-mail  right click on the picture and one of the options that comes up is to e-mail picture.  Just follow the directions. 

I am using a wired PC with a DSL connection.  Last night I set up a new wireless router and a laptop.  I had to have Linksys help me so I know we did it how they told me.  Both computers can connect to the internet, but now on my wired PC I cannot connect to my clients.  I have one I connect to with VPN and another over the internet through Citrix.  That one I can connect to initially, but it keeps disconnecting itself.  Help anyone?

When you're there, let the computer search for the network and when it is recognized, connect to it. You will need to enter a passcode if it is a secured network (which it should be). You can save that confirguration to your laptop for future visits. It's really the same process as with a wireless router at home.

Now, if neither router is wireless, you can get a cable from places like Staples that will connect directly into your laptop and the back of the router. You will still need to set up the laptop as described above but, again, that configuration can be saved.

I live in a small town and we don't have Starbucks, Panera, etc., close by but the public library has a wireless network that I can connect to for free; you might want to check into that option as well.

The biggest thing you should be concerned with is that you are operating on a secure network and that information going across the network is at the very least encrypted according to HIPAA standards.

in 5 years the hospital system has been down twice and my company wasn't able to pull work and the company's system was down once for a hurricane and once the power was out for part of a day.   I never went a full day without work.

I think maybe some of the nationals are poorly managed and they use "server down" as an excuse for no work.  For a company that depends on their servers for their livelihood I don't believe they actually have the much down time.  I don't think most companies pay for downtime. 

Can someone tell me how to make a screen shot of whatever is on my computer screen?  Sometimes it helps to have a screen shot when contacting the IT department for help.