With No IT Guy Down the Hall, Here's What You Need to Know at Home

No commute, a more flexible schedule and answering conference calls in your favorite Scooby-Doo slippers — the advantages of the "home" part of a home office are not hard to imagine. It's the "office" part that tends to be more troublesome. Here's the stuff, and the help, every home office owner needs to have.

Your Career on Your Lap: the Computer

A computer is obviously an essential for a home office, but with travel and kids, mobility is key.

"A laptop is a must have," said the founder of Dr. Phil-approved Webmomz.com and work-from-home mother Kristie Tamsevicius. "If the mood strikes and you need to move somewhere else, a laptop is a savior. When you travel, you can take your business with you."

However, being mobile is basically useless unless you can stay connected.

"The main thing is a really good broadband connection. Without a good pipe, you're in trouble," said Michael Kanellos, technology expert and editor at large for CNET.com. "Definitely get a wireless so you can move around the house."

According to Kanellos, home office owners should also look into buying a cellular card so the computers can connect outside the home as well.

"You can buy them integrated with the notebook, which is very handy," he said. "Or just go to your cellular dealer. You can usually get a good deal with them."

If you work for a larger corporation, Kanellos said, once an Internet connection is made, a simple call to the company's IT guy can get your computer logged into the company's "virtual private network" so you will be able to communicate with other employees easily.

Lesley Spencer Pyle, founder of Home-Based Working Moms, a "professional association and online community," added that office software, such as Microsoft Office, is "a great way to remind me of important meetings and just keep myself organized."

The much advertised webcams for video conferencing are also a nice addition, but Kanellos doubts many companies take advantage of the technology.

"It's more likely that you'll be the only one with that capability," he said.

Talking the Talk: the Phone

Saying hi to the kids during a coffee break is a great advantage of working from home. The kids saying hi to your business contacts when they get to the phone before you is not. That's why home office owners should invest in either a dedicated line or a cell phone. Adding a dedicated line can cost anywhere from $50 to $200; the cost depends on the phone company, whether options like caller ID and call waiting are activated and if a technician is needed to install the new line.

"Fax isn't a must-have anymore," said Pyle, who believes workers are far more likely to use e-mail or, if absolutely necessary, online faxing services.

Rather the cash should be spent on backup hard drives to make moving data simple and reduce the likelihood of cardiac arrest during a computer crash.

"Everything on your computer will be automatically archived," said Kanellos, chuckling. "You never know when you'll drop that thing."

Pyle knows what it's like to lose everything, if only temporarily.

"It's a helpless feeling. I obviously didn't have a staffed tech person like a big company would," she said. "The backup hard drive pretty much saved my business. You should definitely have an external backup."

Depending on the storage capacity, decent external hard drives can cost anywhere from $30 to more than $1,000.

special thanks to abcnews:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/SpecialSeries/Story?id=3303550&page=2

Societe Generale Uncovers Massive Fraud

PARIS (AP) -- Societe Generale uncovered a $7.14 billion fraud -- one of history's biggest -- by a single futures trader who orchestrated a series of bogus transactions that spiraled out of control amid roiling markets this week, the French bank said Thursday.

Executives said the trader, a French man in his 30s, acted alone. CEO Daniel Bouton said the trader's motivations were "irrational" and that he may not have benefited directly from the fraudulent deals.
The bombshell announcement destabilized a major bank already heavily exposed to the subprime crisis and rattled the global banking sector. France's second largest bank said it will seek 5.5 billion euros ($8.02 billion) in new capital.

Trading in Societe Generale's shares, which have lost nearly half their value over the past six months, was suspended Thursday morning. Trading resumed midday and shares dropped 5.5 percent to 74.77 euros ($108.97)

Societe Generale said it detected the fraud over the weekend at its French markets division.

The trader had misled investors in 2007 and 2008 through a "scheme of elaborate fictitious transactions," the bank said. The trader, who was not named, used his knowledge of the group's security systems to conceal his fraudulent positions, the statement said.

The man confessed to the fraud, the bank said, and was being dismissed. His supervisors were to leave the group. Bouton offered his resignation but it was rejected by the board.

Bouton said the fraud was uncovered after the crisis on world markets began late last week, as the trader rushed to close fraudulent positions.

The man had worked for the bank since 2000 and earned a salary and bonus of less than 100,000 euros ($145,700), executives said.

"I'm convinced he acted alone," said Jean-Pierre Mustier, chief executive of the bank's corporate and investment banking, who interviewed the trader when the fraud was uncovered.

The trader was responsible for basic futures hedging on European equity market indices, the company said, making bets on how the markets would perform at a future date.

"Detecting the fraud over the weekend was problematic because world stock markets on Monday and Tuesday fell hugely around the world," said Janine Dow, senior director at Fitch Ratings financial institution group in Paris. "When the positions had to be unwound, the bank did that in a terrible market of falling equities."

"In hindsight, it was this guy's superior knowledge of the control system of every aspect of trading at the bank that allowed him to build up fraudulent positions and hide them," she said.

The fraud appeared to be the largest ever by a single trader. If confirmed, it would far outstrip the Nick Leeson trading scandal in 1995 that bankrupted British bank Barings. Barings collapsed after Leeson, the bank's Singapore general manager of futures trading, lost 860 million pounds -- then worth $1.38 billion -- on Asian futures markets, wiping out the bank's cash reserves. The company had been in business for more than 230 years.

The Bank of Credit and Commerce International failed after a 1991 scandal that led to claims by depositors and creditors exceeding $10 billion at the time.

Gilles Glicenstein, president of asset management at rival French bank BNP Paris -- France's largest -- said, "It shows that we are in a very troubled period for banks, and I think that it's in such troubled periods that difficult things happen."

"This is not good news for Societe Generale, but also for banks in general. It can create doubt, but at the same time in this period, we are making efforts to be transparent in order to give confidence back," he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Axel Pierron, senior analyst at Celent, an international financial research and consulting firm, was stunned that a trader could be involved in such a massive fraud 13 years after the Barings Bank collapse.

"The situation reveals that banks, despite the implementation of sophisticated risk management solutions, are still under the threat that an employee with a good understanding of the risk management processes can getting round them to hide his losses," he said.

At Societe Generale, the fraud announcement came on the back of subprime-related difficulties. Subprime writedowns linked to the crisis in financial markets amounted to 2.05 billion euros ($2.99 billion), Societe Generale said.

The Paris-based bank said that with the fraud and writedowns, it expects net profit of 600 million euros to 800 million euros ($874 million to $1.16 billion) for all of 2007.

The Bank of France said it was immediately informed of the fraud and was investigating.

Societe Generale's full-year results will be announced Feb. 21.

AP writers Matt Moore in Davos, Switzerland, and Thomas Wagner in London contributed to this report

Tips If You Fear You've Been Scammed

Unfortunately, not everyone will escape job fraud in time. Job seekers who are victimized by payment-forwarding scams are advised to take the following steps.

1. Close all bank accounts at the bank where the scam took place. It is a good idea to change banks to avoid "social engineering" attempts by the con artists to fool bank workers into giving out new account information.

2. Order a credit report from all three credit bureaus every 2 to 3 months. Watch the reports for unusual activity. If you have given your SSN to the fraudster, we advise that you place fraud alerts on your three credit reports - Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. For information on how to establish fraud alerts, read Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Fact Sheet 17a on identity theft, http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs17a.htm.

3. Victims of payment-forwarding scams should contact their local Secret Service field agent. The Secret Service handles complaints of international fraud. Fraud victims should also file a police report with local law enforcement officials as well.

4. Victims should report the company name, the job posting, and all contact names to the job sites where the scam was posted.

5. Victims should permanently close all email addresses that were associated with the job fraud.

Work At Home Opportunities

Whether you're looking to contribute to your family's finances or earn some cash to cover special or unexpected expenses, many people want more ways to make money at home. From freelance to full-time gigs, we have a range of fields and resources below to help guide you in discovering the options that exist. Only you can decide if an opportunity is right for you. Don't limit yourself solely to responding to advertised openings. Sometimes the best way to land a home-based job is by calling someone you'd like to work for and offering your services.

Mystery Shopping
Get paid to shop and eat at great restaurants, and then report back to the corporate headquarters on the level of service and cleanliness to help improve the experience for future customers. There are opportunities to earn small amounts of money -- and get free products and services -- here and there, depending on where you live. While there are some people who've managed to make a living at this, I don't recommend that you rely on it to pay the bills, especially because assignments can be sporadic. Don't get hooked into paying $25 to $100 to become an "official" mystery shopper, assuming you'll automatically get hired. A legitimate opportunity should not cost you any money. It should give you the chance based on your profile, interests and background. One helpful resource in learning more about the industry and finding links to opportunities is Mysteryshop.org.

Become a Blogger
Blogging and media sharing on the Internet are super-hot right now, with no signs of fading any time soon. Web sites with videos, personal content and gossip are raking in advertising dollars with each click of the mouse. You can become a professional blogger, too. Web sites such as Eefoof.com allow you to post videos and photographs, and then receive a percentage of the site's revenue, which is generated from advertising associated with page views and clicks to the content posted by you. The harder you work to promote your own videos and photos, the more money you'll earn. Another way to make money is to create your very own blog at Blogger.com. Set up your own page and create captivating content to lure readers to your stuff. Then add the site's AdSense feature, which allows advertisements to be included on the page. Every time a viewer clicks through on the advertisement on your blog page, cha-ching! Keep in mind this only works if you're committed to creating a blog that others would find fascinating -- and you hustle to attract readers to build a following for yourself.

Telemarketing Opportunities
Many companies and organizations outsource their cold-calling campaigns to third parties. Those third parties hire full-time and temporary workers -- many of whom work from home -- to place those calls with specific goals in mind. You may be required to persuade contacts to book an appointment, commit to making a donation, or agree to try a product or service. Your calls could also be focused on debt collection. Typically you'll receive an hourly base pay, plus performance-based commission. While some training is provided, applicants are expected to have some high-quality customer-service and/or cold-calling experience. Among the companies to explore: Telereach.com, Intrep.com, and West.com. You should also search online for home-based telemarketing positions on the big job boards and the major search engines. Do not pay for leads; you should be able to find employers that are hiring without paying a middleman for access to that information.