Archive for the ‘troubleshooting’ Category

• fix my PC

  Date: 2012.02.07 | Category: About, computer maintenance, computer repair, diagnostics, remote access repairs, safety and prevention, troubleshooting, virus cure/prevent | Response: 0

  

  If it’s displayed in a prominent TV or internet ad, it must be good…right?  I mean who doesn’t love their pajama jeans or shamWOW?!   But when we are talking about things that can “make your system run faster,” as in computer repair, buyer beware.

  These days everyone is in the computer repair/tune-up business.  I mean everyone…even popular search engines have gotten in on the act.  One doesn’t have to look far to find in-your-face ads claiming that with a quick click of the mouse your system will run smoother and faster than ever by fixing hundreds of problems (you didn’t even know you had) thereby returning your computer to “like new” condition.  Additionally, it will KEEP your systems running smoothly for a small annual fee if you wish.

  It seems safe enough, a phone call to that 1-800# or a little click here and there and presto you’re all done.  No need to get ripped off again by that local repair house…that is for suckers!

  Let’s explore this shall we?

  Most of these quick fix services charge about $30-60 or so.  Luckily most do not access your system remotely and seems safe enough.  You just click to install their software onto your system.  What they don’t tell you is that their software is one of those unnessary items that helps make your system run slower in the first place.  They also don’t tell you that you can delete your own cookies and run the same defrag scans yourself for free…but now I’m just getting picky.  Another thing they don’t tell you is that you may have just installed a program that was already infected with malware, spyware and viruses.  But hey…it comes with UNLIMITED tech support…so they can fix it.  Oops except that they can’t really diagnose (it’s okay this is probably covered in the fine print somewhere) hardware except for the super obvious “eminate failure of hard drive”…which again they can’t fix…double oops.  Of course, your internet must be working to partake in these convenience services in the first place.  Oh, and darn it…you can’t really completely remove all viruses this way…no matter what they tell you.

  Our advice?  Don’t engage in risky behavior no matter how good of a deal it appears to be.  Downloading software and/or allowing remote access to your system is risky unless you KNOW who/where it’s coming from.

  Keep your systems running smoothly by:

  • Investing in a good anti-virus, properly configuring it and keeping it updated
  • Allow ligitmate system updates
  • Use your common sense when clicking on websites, links, emails, facebook invitations or allowing anyone access to your system remotely.
  • Pay a professional a minimal fee to do a system tune-up a few times a year or do it yourself.  I recommend the first who can also check for viruses/malware/spyware/scareware and remove it for real if they find them.
  • Keep unnessary software and files off your system – in addition to food and beverages (seems obvious I know).
  • If you hear strange noices, feel heat, suffer from pop-up hell, your system freezes up often or doesn’t turn on…contact a local professional that you trust immediately.

  Copyright © 2012 Help Me!!^® Tech Team, a division of HELP ME!!^® Computers, LLC

   

   

   

   

• THIS works…now THAT doesn’t

  Date: 2011.11.09 | Category: About, buying new equipment, systems integration, troubleshooting | Response: 2

  Remember the Rubik’s Cube?  If you were alive in the 80’s you remember it (and if you weren’t…too bad for you).  Did you ever get four of the sides perfectly lined up to one solid color…FINALLY…only to notice the top and bottom all messed up?  Didn’t it drive you crazy?  Were you like my “friend” who just ripped the stickers off, placed them perfectly back on and called it a day?

  Cause and effect.  It’s a sometimes mind boggling and often frustrating thing that refers to the philosophical concept of causality, in which an action or event will produce a certain response to the action in the form of another event.  Here’s another example.

  Imagine that you are Farmer that raises goats.  You don’t raise the goats for fun, you raise them to earn a living, making and selling Goat’s Milk Cheeses.  Things are going along okay, until one day when you hire a new helper, but the goats don’t like him.  Unfortunately for you he’s not too smart and he leaves the gate open.  The goats take this as their opportunity to go rouge and high tail it out of there.  So, what’s a Goat Cheese Farmer to do?!

  Hire a professional Goat Wrangler to bring back your goats and get rid of the lamebrain who left the gate open in the first place.  But wait there’s more!

  Now your goats are pissed off and sure they’re back but they’ve rebelled, there is infighting and now they refuse to play nicely together.  Luckily for you, the professional Goat Wrangler that you hired knows how to not only make the goats get along…but more efficient than ever by producing even greater amounts and better tasting milk.  Sales are up, profits are up and everyone is happy!

  That’s what we do.

  As Systems Integrators we are your professional Goat Wranglers – making technology work together seamlessly and more efficiently than ever.  Why is this important?  Now I’ll give you a technology example.

  Let’s say you have a business or you run one.  Things are humming along nicely, in fact you are growing.  You then decide to improve efficiency, and thereby profits, by undergoing a major software upgrade.  So you purchase industry specific specialized software from that nice software company that you’ve heard so much about.  They take your money, blow in to install it then blow out in a hurry.  Problem is…now your hardware doesn’t work and your network is slow and keeps crashing.  So you call “Tech Support” but they only have one technician for your region and you have to wait.  Even worse, you have employees, which you are paying, that now can’t perform their job.

  The problem is that by hiring separate people to install specialized software, a phone system, CCTV cameras/security system, point-of-sale system, electronic medical records system, etc. you are looking at each problem separately.  This causes problems in itself because they are tied into your network but networks are designed to work as one (cause/effect). 

  Looking back, I never solved the Rubik’s Cube (embarrassing yes) because I approached each side separately; trying to get one side to work instead of looking at the puzzle as a whole.  System Integrators, do just that…they look at the technology puzzle as one big picture that they solve as a whole.

  Would the Goat Cheese Farmer have been better served by hiring a team of counselors to talk down each goat separately?   Expensive and not a very efficient use of their time…wouldn’t you say?

  Our advice?  Hire a technology provider, specifically, a Systems Integrator that can look at the big picture and make certain that ALL technologies for your business can and will work together in the first place.  If it can’t, discuss/plan/budget for the changes that need to take place in order to support those improvements.  Once the strategies are fully mapped out, they’ll need to have the experience an ability to make it happen.  Surprises can still come up (and you thought technology was boring) but a professional Systems Integrator is agile and can move things along to keep your overall costs down and save you many headaches along the way.

  Copyright © 2011 Help Me!!® Tech Team, a division of HELP ME!!® Computers, LLC

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