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It’s Always A Good Idea To Investigate Computer Noises

In this article I would like to talk about one of the more scary aspects of computers and computer repairs, “Things that go bump in the night.”

As I was lying in bed the other night I heard a noise, and I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. As I got up to investigate, the sound suddenly stopped. When I laid back down the sound started up again, this time I was able to track the sound down.

It was a low level moan coming from my computer.  Thinking I could deal with it later, I shut the computer off and went back to bed.

The next day I returned home from work and was just settling down on the couch when my wife informed me there was “something desperately wrong with our computer.” She said she went to turn it on and it is making a loud noise now. She said she just turned it right off.  Sure enough, I turned it on and the cooling fan on the power supply was moaning away. I let it run for a few minutes and the noise seemed to diminish.

But, I knew it needed to be fixed: Not only do we need access to the internet for email and other things, the wife cannot live without her recipe websites.

I shut the computer down and I opened the case and found that the CPU fan was in dire need of a good cleaning. I cleaned it up and got all the dust bunnies out of it and lo and behold noises are gone.

I am sure nearly all of us have experienced noises from our computers. Some noises are normal. Although a computer is mostly solid state electronics, there are a few components that move, and as any computer engineer can tell you, if it is a “moving part” it will eventually fail.

Along with the cooling fan in the power supply, computers have cooling fans on the processor, and case mounted auxiliary cooling fans that provide additional cooling. All of these fans can and do occasionally fail. Cleaning does not always fix them and they have to be replaced.

The next component that moves and is subject to wear and tear is the hard drive. As I’ve explained in previous articles, this is where your important data and files are stored. As the disks inside the drive spins at a very high rate of speed they can eventually wear out and hit what is called the seek head. Once this happens damage to the disk’s surface can result in a loss of data.

We call hard drives with this condition “serious clickers” due to the fact a clicking noise is very audible during the process of the seek head moving across the disks.

If your computer is making any funny noises, make sure not to delay getting it fixed, serious problems can result from failure to address and repair noisy fans and clicking hard drives. Tech Experts has a staff of trained certified professional technicians to help isolate and eliminate these “noises in the night.” Give us a call at (734) 457-5000.

Important Security Alert To Anyone Using Instant Messaging

According to the Radicati Group, 85% of businesses—both large and small— are now using instant messaging (IM) as a communication tool.

Unfortunately, hackers are rapidly developing ways to use IM to spread viruses and gain access to computers and networks. Instant-messaging security vendors have reported an exceptionally high spike in attacks in recent months.

IM attacks work similar to e-mail viruses; the sender tries to get the user to click on a link that takes them to a website where they’ll be infected with a virus, or it tries to get the user to download a file. Many of these attacks appear to be from legitimate sources or people on a “buddy” list.

Just recently, researchers discovered a threat on AOL’s instant messenger system, but tens of thousands of computers had already been infected. Hackers then used a program to upload movies to the victim’s hard drive and use their computer as a vehicle for sharing it with others.

These attacks are also getting more complex. Savvy IM users will often reply to an IM and ask their buddy if the link or file sent was safe. However, hackers have now developed an intelligent bot that will actually automatically respond to the message confirming the file or link is safe.

Just like viruses, worms, and other security threats, businesses need to put measures in place to protect themselves from these new threats. The first step is educating your employees about these threats through your employee’s acceptable user policy. However, since there is always a chance someone will click on a link or download a file, education is not enough.

If you currently use IM, we urge you to contact our office about installing the proper software and security measures to make sure you don’t fall victim to these growing attacks.

Expert Advice On Choosing A New Computer

Picking out a new computer can be challenging. Questions you might want to ask yourself include: What is my budget, what do I need to use it for, and where do I plan to use it?

After you answer those questions, you need to think of more specific questions like should I get a laptop or desktop, how fast does it need to be, and how much memory or drive space do I need? All these will help get you an idea of what you are going to look for.

When looking for a computer the form factor is one of the biggest decisions. What I mean by that is the size of the computer, whether you want it to be a portable computer or a desktop computer.

The two most common sizes are a regular tower case (the kind that usually sits on the floor) or a laptop. Deciding on one of those will help eliminate half of the choices right away.

Next, ask yourself if your needs will pretty much stay the same, or is there a chance of needing upgrades as your needs and computer use change?

You’ll probably not be able to predict when you’ll need to upgrade your computer, but it’s something to keep in mind. Laptops are generally more expensive than tower computers, and can’t be upgraded as easily.
Most laptops can only have ram and hard drive upgrades. Tower computers have pretty much inlimited upgrade potential. From a new motherboard to just a simple RAM upgrade.

Be careful, though: Some major computer manufacturers like Dell make it so that you can only upgrade your computer with manufacturer parts – limiting choices and making upgrades much more expensive than on standard computers.

When reviewing the specs for your new computer, consider the kind of work you do and how fast you need to get it done. Two of the biggest factors to consider are hard drive space and the physical RAM.

Think of hard drive space like a file cabinet – this is where the computer stores all of your programs, files, pictures, music and so on. You can think of RAM memory as the computer’s working memory – where it does all of the different calculations you ask it to do.

If you do a lot of tasks that have very large files like video editing or pictures you would want to make sure you have a bigger hard drive so that don’t run out of space right away. Hard drive space is very inexpensive – less than $1/gigabyte – so it makes sense to buy as large a hard drive as is practical.

For the speed on the computer you need to look at the CPU type and speed, and the RAM.

CPU type will typically be single or dual core – without getting too technical, you’ll probably want to go with dual core, which makes the computer (in general) able to process twice as much information at the same time. The faster the speed, usually measured in gigahertz, the faster the computer can process information.

RAM is also a determining factor in the processing speed of the computer – the more RAM, the more the computer can process without accessing the hard drive. I recommend at least 2gb, and preferrably 4gb.

These are just a few things to keep in mind when buying a new computer. We’re very proud to offer IBM and Lenovo laptop and dektop computers at Tech Experts, so if you’re in the market for a new machine, give me a call!

The Year Is One-Sixth Over… How’s Your Progress?

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

I’m writing this month’s article in the Dallas airport, waiting for my flight home after spending three days in meetings with my HTG peer group. I wrote about peer groups before, but in case you missed it, here’s a quick refresher: Four times a year, I get together with other computer company owners for a two to three day meeting, sharing company metrics, reviewing the business, and setting goals.

We act as each other’s “accountability partners.” We hold each other’s feet to the fire. We start by reviewing how our businesses did the last quarter; we lay it all out on the line, the good, the bad and the ugly. Everyone is here to work “on” their business for a few days – instead of working in it.

A big part of what we do together is sharing goals. Most small business owners talk about setting goals for their companies, but at the end of the day, they almost always get stuck in the day to day, and don’t get a chance to focus on the objectives they have set for the business. That’s what I really like about the HTG experience – there are 11 other business owners who are holding me accountable for what I say I’ll get done.

When we report on our goals for the previous quarter, the group votes on whether we’re “green, yellow or red” on a goal.

Some of the members of HTG16 gather before going to dinner. From left, Jason Hagens from Seattle, Tim Rettig from Cincinnati, Mike Perkins from Boulder, me (checking service tickets), Alex Rodriguez from Borger, Texas, Matt Zaroff from Sherman Oaks, California, and with his back to the camera, Dave DelVecchio from Easthampton, MA.

Green means we nailed it, yellow means we’re almost there, and red, obviously, means you didn’t get it done.

There’s a lot more to the HTG experience, and I’m sure I’ll share more throughout the year. If I had to sum up the value in just a few words, I’d say that the peer group experience forces me to focus on what’s really important for my business, my team and my clients. It is accountability on steroids.

Now that the year is one-sixth over, how are you doing on the goals you’ve set for your company? Are you 10% there? Have you set the world on fire yet?

Part of our job as your IT company is to work with you on the strategic goals you’ve set for your business, and help you apply information technology in ways that will improve efficiency, increase client satisfaction, and reduce costs. Toward that end, we’ll be conducting quarterly business reviews (QBRs) with each of our business clients.

The purpose is to sit down with you and discuss the big-picture aspects of your network, computers and servers as they relate to your business goals. Chances are, there are things we can do to improve operations at your company – and there’s probably some things going on in your business and industry that we should know about.

QBRs will also give me a chance to check up on our relationship and get a feel for how the services team is performing for you. I’m excited about this new initiative and believe we’ll both get a lot of value from it.

My three goals for Tech Experts for the next quarter – we set three goals in HTG, the thinking being it’s impossible to concentrate on more – all revolve around process documentation and improvement. As Tech Experts grows, it’s critically important that we perform all of our services consistently, so that when Bob works on your network, the flow and process works the same as when Corey or I do.

I also have to admit that I have a fourth goal – one that didn’t get accomplished last quarter. That’s the thing about being held accountable – goals don’t go away when they’re not completed. They just get added to the list of things you’re responsible for in the next meeting.

Big, business changing goals don’t get accomplished in a week or even in a quarter. But being accountable to your goals should happen every day.

Are you working on your business, or in your business? When you look back at January and February, will your goals be green yellow or red?

3 Things You Need To Know About E-mail Marketing

It’s everyone’s favorite application. Since its introduction, it has revolutionized the way we communicate, both personally and professionally. It has had a major impact on how companies market themselves, communicate with vendors, send out press releases, rally employees and alert clients to their latest and greatest promotion. The ease, low-cost and speed of e-mail in marketing is the biggest reason why our inboxes are overflowing with spam.

In response to the ubiquitous outcry, “I hate spam,” governments have crafted new regulations surrounding the use of e-mail; and if you are one of the millions of companies using it for marketing, then it’s important that you familiarize yourself with these laws. But the danger doesn’t stop there…

Even if you don’t get caught by the authorities for violating the rules of e-mail usage, you can still end up on a blacklist with the major ISPs such as Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN. Once you get blacklisted, you are considered guilty until proven innocent, and ALL the e-mail you send won’t get through, even to people who want to receive it—a consequence that could end up hurting your business more than a fine.

So what are the basic guidelines of e-mail marketing?
First and foremost, make sure you are only sending e-mail campaigns to people who have solicited (requested) to be on your distribution list. This is called “opting-in” or subscribing, and e-mails sent to these folks are considered “solicited e-mail.” You are perfectly within your rights to send them messages; but if you got their e-mail address by any other means and they did NOT specifically request to be on your list, that is “unsolicited e-mail” or spam.

Sending promotional e-mails to people who have not requested it can be illegal, but certainly annoying…so don’t do it!

Next, make sure you provide directions on how a person can remove themselves from your distribution list in EVERY e-mail. The best place to put this information is at the very bottom of your message. You should also include your full company name and contact information at the bottom so no one can blame you for cloaking your identity—which is in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act.

Finally, when sending mass e-mails, we recommend using a web based service such as iContact (www.iContact.com). These applications will help you manage your e-mail distribution list with automatic opt-out and opt-in tools and will keep your e-mail server off an ISP’s blacklist. Naturally, you want to make sure the information you are sending is interesting and relevant. No one wants more junk filling up their inbox so the better you are at marketing, the better your results will be.Email is not a magic marketing bullet that will solve all your marketing problems, but used correctly, it can help you reach more customers and build stronger relationships with the people you already do business with.

How To Pick A Good Password

What’s the most common password? You guessed it…”password.” Obviously this is not the best way to protect yourself against hackers and online thieves. But even if you don’t use the word “password,” you might be using an equally easy password to decipher.
We suggest you DON’T use the following passwords for really important web sites, such as your online banking web site or other financially related sites.
• Your name or your spouse’s name.
• Your children’s names.
• Your pet’s name.
• Your birth date.
• The last four digits of your Social Security number.
• Your phone number.
• Your address.
• A series of consecutive numbers, such as “1, 2, 3, 4.”
• A single word that would appear in a dictionary.
Your best bet for creating a strong password: Use combinations of letters, numbers and special characters.

USB Flash Drives Great For Backups At A Low Cost

A few issues back I discussed what random access memory (RAM) was, and how important it was to have as much memory as your computer can hold. This month I’d like to talk about memories. Or more to the point the storage and retrieval of memories.

I’ve experienced countless numbers of hard drive failures in computers that belong to our home user clients and as a result of this failure they lose all of their precious photo memories.

Once I tell them that I cannot rescue these photos, a lot of times they get that deer in the headlights look, and it is so sad. I got to thinking about this as just this past holiday season, my wife and I purchased a digital camera. Never having owned one before, I have been taking pictures like crazy and downloading them to my home PC.

In years past, it wasn’t an issue to back up your photographs. You used to take your pictures into the store and have them developed. It didn’t matter which type it was, slides or photos: Once you got them back developed, you could put them in an album and anything short of a major disaster those images will live on for generations. Your “backup” was the negatives that came back with your pictures.

Hard drive failure can lead to a loss of so many memories that many feel this would be a major disaster. We’ve touched on various backup systems for business users, but home users should be just as vigilant in the protection of what they consider to be their important data, their photo memories.

As technology has changed over the years, storage technology has evolved just as quickly. We used to backup onto floppy disks. Then came the writable CD player. And just a few years back came the development of an affordable DVD writer that can store much more data then a CD.

But the latest technology is the USB thumb or flash drive. This tiny portable electronic drive has no moving parts and is small enough to fit on your key chain.

And as companies refine their technology; these drives have become more and more affordable.

The ease of use is one of it’s best features, a truly plug and play device that works instantly on any computer with a current operating system such as Windows XP or Windows Vista. You can move the drive with true ease from computer to computer to copy those memories and have them stored away for future generations.

I’ve seen USB flash drives with 4GB of storage sell for as low as $25. This type of capacity will allow you to store numerous photos and can serve as an electronic photo album. The other nice thing about a USB drive for backup is that you can use them for more than just pictures – any important data you have on your computer can be backed up or copied.

If you’d like more information about how to use a USB drive to backup your memories (and important documents), just give us a call at (734) 457-5000.

Tech Experts Keeps The Sun Shining For Electrik Beach

If the winter weather has you missing your tan, chances are you’d love visiting Electrik Beach, Monroe and Toledo’s premier chain of tanning salons.

Since we last profiled Electrik Beach, the company has added two new locations in Toledo, and updated their computers at all four of their stores. Company president Dennis Asmar keeps his fingers on the pulse of the company’s operations by using state of the art computer and network technology from Tech Experts.

“You can go into any of our four locations and tan,” explained Dennis, “ and our staff is able to review your account to make sure you receive the best service possible.”

Being able to use any of Electrik Beach’s facilities is accomplished through the company’s proprietary tanning management software. Using secure Internet connections, each store communicates with the central server, keeping each customer’s account information up to date.

The company recently upgraded all of their servers and workstations to the latest high speed equipment available from IBM. The company’s servers have super fast and highly redundant RAID 5 arrays, using drives that operate at 10,000 rpms. The speed difference between the old system and the new is remarkable.

“Fifteen or twenty seconds doesn’t sound like a lot of time to wait,” continued Dennis, “but when you have several clients waiting, it can seem like an eternity. With our new systems from Tech Experts, our client wait time has gone way down, while our customer service has gone way up.”

Downtime just isn’t an option for Electrik Beach, so Dennis opted for Tech Experts’ “Experts Total Support” service for the salons. With Experts Total Support, all of the servers, workstations and connectivity equipment are monitored for problems 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As soon as a problem is detected, a ticket is raised, and it is immediately checked.

“Before hiring Tech Experts, our network would sometimes go down, run slow, and we’d sometimes run into just weird problems we couldn’t figure out,” said Dennis. “Since signing up on their support plan, we haven’t had any network problems. I’m VERY glad we hired these guys to support our systems.”

Visit Electrik Beach on the web at www.ElectrikBeach.com.

E-Mail Trouble? Here Are Some Things To Check

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

Have you ever wondered whether someone got your email? You send a message, you wait to hear back, and…nothing. Did it arrive, or did it get lost along the way?

One of modern life’s greatest conveniences and frustrations, all in one, is email. When it works, it’s near-instant communication. But when it doesn’t, you’re left hanging.

How is it possible for such an important form of business communication to be so unreliable? Sadly, spam is to blame – I long for the good old days of reliable e-mail! As companies work to combat junk e-mail, chances are your mail may have some problems getting delivered. Fortunately, a little knowledge will increase the odds that your message gets through.

Bad Address
A common problem is simply an out-dated or mistyped email address.

With hard-to-remember addresses, frequent job moves, and changing internet service providers, your contact list should be updated regularly.

If you send something to a bad address, you usually get an error message sent right back to you. This is called a “bounce-back message” because the email was sent (“bounced”) right back without getting through.

Check for typos in the address line; if it looks right, pick up the phone instead. Be sure to update your address book with the new email.

Blacklists
A more serious problem occurs if your address is added to a blacklist. These are lists managed by a variety of spam-prevention services that flag people, websites, and servers that are known spammers.
Many anti-spam programs rely on these lists to filter out bad email. If you are caught on one, you will undoubtedly have problems delivering your message. Since different email servers rely on different lists, you may find most email gets through and only a few people have problems. Get on a big enough list – or several lists – and the number of issues will increase.

Even the innocent get blacklisted. For example, a spammer may “spoof” your email, making it appear that you are a spammer even though messages come from a completely different source. If you start getting bounce-back messages as mentioned above, that make it appear you sent large batches of obscene or get-rich-quick emails to people you don’t know, that’s the most likely cause. There’s no way to prevent this; wait a couple of days and it will usually subside.

Greylists
A less serious but equally frustrating list is the greylist. Many large organizations will use these to filter email from senders they haven’t seen before.

As long as your message isn’t spam, this will more likely delay your message than completely block it. However, if you need quick response and the email doesn’t arrive for a full day, it creates a significant communications obstacle.

When the delay is a one-time occurrence and your next message gets through, there’s no need to do anything. Keep in mind you may encounter delays with several recipients; it’s only cause for concern if you run into multiple delays with the same person, or even the same company.

Other Spam Filters
There are a number of additional triggers that can flag your message as spam. Excessive use of the word “free,” for example, is commonly associated with spam messages.

Google “spam checker” and you’ll find a variety of tools (free!) that will scan your message and tell you how spammy it is. Use these tools when you have an email you plan to send to a large group.

Info Overload
Human error is also a factor. With the sheer volume of email coming into our computers each day, it’s challenging to keep email organized.

If your message has been missed, it’s always a good idea to follow up with a phone call. Perhaps it didn’t arrive, but more likely it came in at a busy time and was accidentally overlooked.

A Convenient Excuse
If you take all these precautions and still your email doesn’t get through, and there’s no bounce-back message, you may be the victim of a convenient excuse.

If your email isn’t rejected, isn’t in any spam filter, and yet doesn’t show up despite a “careful review”…and all your subsequent tests work just fine…well, let’s just say technology may not be your problem.

Laptop Or Desktop? It Depends On Your Application

I have noticed an interesting trend lately in our service department at Tech Experts.

We have been seeing an increase in the number of laptop or notebook style computers in for service. While this may be due to the holiday season and students returning home from school to visit family, I also feel that the falling prices have lead to laptops being much more affordable then in the past.

This got me to thinking about the comparison of laptops versus desktop and the advantages and disadvantages of both.

Many times I have been asked “Which one is better laptop or desktop?” The short answer is “It depends.” It basically boils down to what you plan to do with the unit.

Laptops are obviously an advantage for students who must travel not only back home and to school, but they also travel between classes and dorm rooms and restaurants. This portability is also an advantage for business travelers and mobile offices. It is hard to carry a desktop with you in your travels.

And with the popularity of wireless “hotspots” in almost every public place, laptops will continue to grow in popularity.

Some of the disadvantages I have seen with laptops are the ease at which the power jack on the unit can become loose and the power adapter cannot charge the battery, because the connector is broken and separates from the board – meaning no power is getting to the computer.

This is typically caused by applying some type of force to the plug when it is plugged into the jack. Tipping the laptop so the weight of the unit rests on the plug will cause this problem and care should always be taken not to do this.

While I am on the subject of power adapters, this is another disadvantage of a laptop. We had a call just the other day from a couple travelling from their home in Louisiana that forgot to pack their power adapter.

No power adapter means you cannot charge the battery which means a useless laptop after a few hours of operation. In this case the couple purchased a couple of extra adapters from EBay and discovered it still did not work. After coming into our service department it was quickly discovered that their power jack in the laptop had broken.

Another disadvantage to laptops is the ease at which careless operators can spill liquid onto the keyboard. If you do this on your desktop computer it is really not that big of a deal to purchase a new keyboard at the local computer shop, plug it in and off you go.

Laptop keyboard replacement is much more difficult and can be a costly repair. You can’t just rinse the liquid out. Often the liquid that is still in the keyboard will dry and cause the keys to stick. Care should always be taken to keep all liquids away from laptops.

Desktop computers, although they are not so portable seem to have longer lifespan then laptops. This is mainly due to the fact that they do not get moved very often. If you are going to move your desktop take extra care to treat it very gently as they do not take jolting and jarring well.

I have had people mention to me they don’t like to type on a laptop. I prefer the feel of a laptop keyboard to a traditional keyboard, and all laptops can accept USB keyboards if you prefer.

So it “depends” on your situation and requirements for your computing needs. Call us at Tech Experts and we can provide you with the expert guidance needed to make the right decision.