Business owners are locked into a never-ending quest to get that next little boost in profitability. It's a noble quest that takes both cost-cutting and smart investment. One thing to look at is optimizing the overall value gained from your technology budget. After all, investing in technology wisely will lead to simplified operations, reduced staff and a better bottom line.

1. Laser, yes — inkjet, no. In recent years, inkjet printer prices have dropped through the floor. They even come free when you buy a new PC.

Don't be fooled by their low up-front cost. It's a marketing ploy to get you hooked on pricey replacement ink cartridges. A better strategy is to sell those "free" printers and buy a midrange laser printer instead. One good laser printer in your office will have lower maintenance costs and IT staff requirements then if everyone has their own free inkjet model.

2. Monitor size does matter. Is office productivity directly related to monitor size? It's strange, but true. Anymore, everything from Web pages to popular software packages is being designed for higher screen resolutions. The result is a lot of time spent scrolling and switching between applications.

The solution to all this extra scrolling is to upgrade to 19-inch or larger monitors. They can comfortably display more information on the screen at once because of their ability to run at resolutions of 1600x1200 or higher.

3. Ongoing PC maintenance. Dust causes PCs to fail. It gets sucked into PCs by the cooling fans and then collects on everything. It's a major cause of both fan failure and overheating CPUs. A can of compressed air will do wonders to clean things out. A damp cloth can make a keyboard and mouse look like new. Just remember to unplug the unit before you begin.

4. Anti-Virus and PC firewalls. There is still no end in sight to the growing problem of spyware, viruses and worms.

Every PC in your office must have a PC firewall installed with up-to-date anti-virus protection that does real-time web and e-mail protection. Most packages can be set up to automatically download the latest virus database on daily.

Think of these steps as insurance against unproductive downtime.

5. PC security. Password-protect your PCs to safeguard your proprietary company data. Just as you protect who has access to your computers, you should also control who has access to make software changes.

Consider locking down your PCs so that unapproved software cannot be installed without the help of your technology staff. Even employees with good intentions can waste valuable productive time on superfluous software.

— The author is a freelance technologist focusing in business automation. Contact him at 801/592-2810 or visit his blog at http://www.tylerwhitaker.com/.