Posts Tagged ‘computer advice’
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Can I just ignore a virus and save some money?
Do you run better in crutches?I Didn’t think so.
Continuing to operate a system that you know full well is infected is tempting. Many people do just that and continue to limp along until the system comes to a grinding halt or they get the blue screen of death. Why is this a problem? (Do you like seeing the blue screen of death? I don’t know about you but MY nerves can’t take it!)
Besides all of the annoying things that happen with an infected system – like running sllloowwwllly, obnoxious pop-ups and inexplicable bouts of freezing there are also more worrying things that accompany them such as malware, spyware and scareware. Not only do these things threaten your identity and bank balance but viruses will destroy your data bit by bit (literally). Further, some can do damage to your hardware. If caught early, you can largely avoid these problems and spend far less to repair it. If you are thinking…”so what, I can just buy another system!” Are you going to by one every time you get infected? How cost effective is that solution?
The better solution is to go ahead and get it taken care of properly (by a real professional) as soon as you suspect an infection. Then, purchase and properly configure top quality anti-virus for your system to help cut down on infections.
Copyright © 2012 Help Me!!® Tech Team, a division of HELP ME!!® Computers, LLC
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fix my PC
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
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The Case for Managed Services
If you can get the milk for free…why buy the cow? Contractual commitment. Does anyone really love it? Why would they? You’re locked into something or someone long term (well unless you’re Kim Kardashian). It could be costly. What if you don’t get what you need? What you paid for? By the way…what ARE you paying for? It could end badly…then what?
I too have had my own aversions to contractual relationships so I understand the hesitations. However, partnering with an information technology firm that provides “Managed Services” can be an ideal situation. Allow me to make my case and yes, I’m going to use different analogies so prepare yourself.
Let’s be honest, most of us can’t get through lunch without checking our email, text messages, etc., let alone…gasp…being “down” for a day. Consumers have changed throughout the years along with the evolution of technology. They need things to work NOW and having a network down in business is costly. In this economy businesses can’t afford to have paid employees standing around idle waiting for the “all systems go.”
Free Milk. In the good ol’ days. When you had a problem, you could just call the local IT house and they would drop everything to rush out and put out the fire with no commitment or obligation for you to use them in the future. Today, IT companies are more like your Primary Care Physician who is trying to prevent the fire in the first place (but are fully capable of smothering you should you spontaneously combust) and they can best help you by regularly seeing you over the long term. If your IT provider hasn’t changed the way they do business yet, they soon will.
This means that IT companies are moving from handling service in a reactionary model, to a proactive model, in which we keep things running smoothly by monitoring your network 24/7/365. Depending on the level of care you choose, updates are performed automatically and we are alerted by the monitoring system we put in place before your equipment fails – giving us time to do something about it. Then, when things do go wrong, you receive priority treatment. No waiting until your “IT guy” can “get to it.” It’s better for your budget, your schedule and your sanity while allowing service providers to remain open and ready to serve without adding to your overhead.
You might think that going with a hosted server will save you the trouble in committing to a technology firm. This sounds good on the surface, but you still have a network to maintain even if your server is hosted elsewhere. Hardware, such as in individual workstations, software applications and anything else attached to your network (cameras, telephones, etc.) still need to play together nicely. Additionally, you will still need to maintain constant Internet connectivity on your end to stay attached to the cloud. If you hadn’t already seen it, my last blog entitled “Up in the Clouds” explained the cloud and the hidden costs involved. You might want to read it for more things to be aware of so that you make a fully informed cloud decision.
Our advice? Don’t be afraid to make a commitment and hop on board the Managed Services ship with a service provider that you trust, then sit back and enjoy the free sailing, well okay, reasonably priced value-packed cruise! That is, after you’ve done your homework, carefully compared plans (apples to apples) and found the best fit for your business.
Copyright © 2012 Help Me!!® Tech Team, a division of HELP ME!!® Computers, LLC
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Is a blog a blog or not really a blog?
This might be a shocking revelation…but not everyone that “blogs” really blogs. Call me naive but when I found this out I was shocked. Not the “not everything you read in the National Enquirer is TRUE?!” kind of shock but surprised nonetheless. I mean isn’t a blog supposed to be the inner most thoughts of the author? Kind of like an electronic diary?
Who cares?
Well, what if you were cleaning out your late Grandma’s belongings and found her diary. You read it, and you felt like you gained some bits of wisdom, some juicy stories (after you washed the “eww…that was my Grandma” off of you that is) and you felt like you got to know her better. Now, what if later you found out that Grandma didn’t write it at all but instead hired a ghost writer to handle it? Your entire world is now rocked! Were the stories true? Didn’t Grandma care enough to write it herself? WTH?!
After I started writing this blog, I found out that some people actually hire other people to write their blogs for them. Now, I’m all for outsourcing when it makes sense but I thought a blog was your opinion otherwise, couldn’t you just call it a “white paper?”
After I poked around some more, I found some things suspiciously familiar. Many blogs look exactly the same, same word-for-word content, same pictures, same order…same everything (except the company name of course). I understand that some people make a living writing but maybe the blog could just say so…full disclosure so to speak.
Bottom line, I’ve always been “special” (at least my Mom thinks so) so why change now? So, in the spirit of respect and genuine concern for – our clients and the technology challenges they (and we) face daily – I will continue to take the time to personally write meaningful blogs on issues we see day in and day out. Issues we know matter to them.
Copyright © 2011 Help Me!!® Tech Team, a division of HELP ME!!® Computers, LLC
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THIS works…now THAT doesn’t
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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Recent Posts
- Mobile Devices & Your Network
- Can I just ignore a virus and save some money?
- fix my PC
- The Case for Managed Services
- Is a blog a blog or not really a blog?
- THIS works…now THAT doesn’t
- Up in the Clouds
- Di-agnostics
- Gone Phishing
- The Validity of On-Line Reviews
- Sink that Pirate Ship!
- Resolutions…shoulda woulda coulda
- Pa$$w8Rds!
- Always Use Protection
- Back to School…and not a moment too soon
- Break the chains that bind you!
- Remote Repairs…Proceed with Caution
- Got junk in your trunk?
- Buy Cheap…Buy Twice
- Fact or Crap?
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