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We have several large-sized CRT monitors, ranging from 19 to 21 inches, that came in from a client on a recent upgrade.
Normally, we dispose of old equipment for our clients by listing it on eBay.
Unfortunately, with the size and weight of these screens, it doesn’t make economic sense to try and ship them.
So, if you need a large sized screen, and would be interested in a “gently used” model, give us a call – we can make you a great deal!
What’s the best way to keep your computer safe during a thunderstorm? Crawl under your desk and unplug it.
While not a particularly practical suggestion, unplugging your PC from AC power, a telephone line if you use a modem, and your network will protect it from surges and power problems.
A more practical solution would be to use a power protection device, such as a true surge protector, or a business-grade battery backup system.
Computer damage from severe weather conditions is surprisingly a very common problem, despite warnings to installl power protection.
When power problems strike, they can cause permanent damage, to either your computer or your data.
To minimize the possibility of damage, install a true surge protector – not just a power strip. A true power strip will cost you in the neighborhood of $20 to $40, and most offer specific guarantees if your equipment is damaged after you properly install the power protection device.
Get a surge protector that also protects your network, phone lines or DSL connection. Some even offer a connection to provide surge protection on the cable line that services your cable modem. Remember, the more protection, the better.
Check your protection devices regularly. If you use battery backup systems, use the testing feature at least quarterly to make sure your unit still functions properly.
Batteries in backup systems will typically last two or three years, unless your power environment is particularly troublesome.
Remember, too, that not all power problems result from electrical storms.
The every day variances in power quality – from smaller surges, sags, drops and brownouts – will also, over time, cause damage to your electronic equipment.
When you invest in a high-quality surge protector, many of them will also compensate for these minor electrical fluctuations, protecting your equipment at its own expense. These are called line conditioning surge protectors.
Higher end line conditioning surge protectors will wear out and lose effectiveness after a few years, and should be replaced.
Defragging your hard drive is one of the most overlooked PC maintenance tasks, yet one of the simplest ways to keep your PC running fast.
When your files are organized, your hard drive has to work less to retrieve data, which speeds up the computer.
In Windows XP, open My Computer and right-click the hard drive, then click Properties and look under the Tools tab.
You will select the hard drive you want to defragment and click Analyze to see the state of the drive. The computer will take a moment to test the hard disk, then show you a graphical representation of the drive. Mostly blue bands indicate a healthy state on contiguous files.
Scattered red bands indicate fragmented files. If you have a lot of these, Windows will prompt you to defrag and you should accept when ready.
You’ll want to schedule your defrag, since you won’t be able to use the PC while this utility is running. Consider doing this when you leave the office for the day – it could take a few hours to complete depending on drive size.
If defragmenter produces errors, consider running defrag from within Safe Mode, where most services are stopped and nothing is using the drive.
How often you defrag the hard drive depends on your usage. If you constantly add and remove large files, you will need to do this often. If you do general PC work like checking Emails, working on spreadsheets, etc you will only need to perform this task about every two months.
We spend a lot of time talking with clients, and writing in our newsletters, about the importance of keeping your systems clean from spyware, pop-ups and viruses. With the warm weather of summer approaching, it’s important to talk about physically cleaning your PCs.
The dirt, dust and debris that accumulate inside your computer’s case and power supply acts just like insulation, and can make your system run much hotter than it should.
As this extra heat builds up, it can cause erratic operation, lockups, random shutdowns, and in some cases, even data loss.
Tech Experts provides a comprehensive, professional system cleaning service that starts at just $59 per PC, with discounts available for multiple machines.
Our 15-point inspection program is designed to keep your equipment running smoothly, and to pinpoint potential problem areas before they turn into expensive repairs.
If you’re an adventurous sort, and would like to tackle this task yourself, here are some tips:
1) Compressed air is your friend – but make sure you get the “greenhouse gas friendly” canisters. If this is the first time you’ve cleaned your computer, and you’ve had it a while, you will probably need several cans.
Start by disconnecting all of your cables and power cord, and open the PC’s case and take it outside if there’s a lot of dust inside.
Give it a few quick blasts from the can, with the goal of getting all the dust bunnies out of the box. Avoid extended spraying, as the air that comes out of the can is quite cold, and can cause condensation to build up on the electronic parts if you hold the spray button down too long.
Use the nozzle straw attachment to get to hard to reach places like under the motherboard, between the cables, and through the internal air vents.
2) Now turn your attention to the rest of the computer. Particularly, dust out the fans and intake grills, paying special attention to the power supply. If you have a notebook, this is even more important, since these fans are especially prone to clogging.
3) Clean your keyboard, since you have the canned air handy. A few quick sprays will send whatever you’ve accumulated in the keyboard (hair, dust, crumbs, etc.) flying out. Next, you’ll want to clean the surface of the keyboard. Most are pretty tough, so any regular multi-purpose cleaner should work. We prefer to use glass cleaner, such as Windex. Be sure to spray the cleaner on a cloth, and not directly on the keyboard. Wipe the keyboard thoroughly, getting off any gunk or debris that is fixed to the keys.
4) You can use the same technique on your mouse, which you can clean on all sides, but pay special attention to the underside. Mice pick up a lot of junk on the bottom, so just scrape off anything that accumulated there. If you still are using a non-optical mouse (one with a little ball inside), pop the cover off, use a damp cloth to clean the rubber ball, and use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to clean the rollers.
5) You can clean your screen just like you would a window, using any mild commercial glass cleaner. Again, be sure you spray the cleaner onto a cloth, and wipe with that, and do not spray the cleaner directly onto the screen.
Or, just give us a call at (734) 457-5000 and schedule our Spring PC Maintenance checkup.
An article a few months ago in Business 2.0 Magazine talked about how Wal-Mart was really pushing compact fluorescent (CF) light bulbs as a way to save energy.
If you’re not familiar with CF bulbs, you’ve probably seen them – they’re funny looking, spiraled light bulbs.
Now, we’re automatically dubious of anything Wal-Mart might be promoting, but we went ahead and tried a few of these bulbs.
They take a little getting used to. For example, there’s sometimes a slight (1-2 second) delay when you flick the switch, as compared to regular bulbs, which start instantly.
If CF bulbs are cold, they may initially be dimmer than normal, and brighten up over 60 to 90 seconds.
The bulbs cost as much as five times the cost of a regular bulb. But, the electrical cost savings are pretty dramatic – they use about 80% less electricity than regular bulbs. Plus, they last almost 10 times as long as regular bulb. In the long run, they’re quite a money saver.
At home, we’ve replaced most of our regular light bulbs with CF bulbs, and have a notable, demonstrated drop of almost $25 per month on our electric bill.
Take a few minutes to Google “compact fluorescent” and check them out for yourself. You’ll be happy with the cost savings.
Most versions of Windows use a utility called msconfig, which gives you the ability to control what programs automatically startup each time you boot your machine.
Some programs, like your software firewall and your antivirus, are essential startup programs because they protect your PC. However, there are other programs that do not need to load, and preventing them from loading will speed up your boot time and save memory.
Aside from the msconfig utility, there are a couple of other ways to remove these startup programs.
If you look down by your system clock, you will likely see several icons belonging to auto-run programs.
Try right-clicking some of them, and in their preferences menu you may find a way to disable them from loading at startup. You can also check the startup folder, which is located by navigating through your Start menu, then Programs, then Startup. Some of the programs here can simply be removed by deleting them. Deleting them will not delete the program itself.
You will need to make the decision what to remove using the techniques above. If you are unsure, then leave it. But minimizing the programs that hog system resources at boot is a quick way to improve system performance.
Antivirus programs are no longer a best practice; they’re a requirement. If a system has a power supply and runs Windows, it must have a first-rate antivirus application current with the latest signatures.
Don’t make it easier for attackers to compromise the systems your business relies on for day to day operations – insist on these 10 elements in any antivirus application you implement.
1: Potency
An antivirus program is useless if it fails to identify and isolate viruses, worms, and similar infections. Productivity losses quickly mount when you have to clean machines of malicious software.
Removing infections from systems supposedly protected by antivirus applications only adds insult to injury. Avoid such frustration by ensuring that the antivirus platform you deploy effectively prevents infection.
Don’t let persuasive ads or name-brand recognition talk you into specific brands. Research your options thoroughly and talk to your tech expert to learn their recommendations. The insight you’ll gain is invaluable.
#2: Low overhead
Some mass-market antivirus programs have been known to bring minimally configured Windows systems to a standstill. This is why we don’t sell or recommend Norton’s Anti-virus products any longer – they simply take up too much memory.
An effective antivirus program must constantly work behind the scenes to monitor active applications. That’s understood. But protective software apps requiring (or commanding) significant system resources often do more harm than good.
When selecting an antivirus application, review the program’s system requirements. Before committing to a solution, test the application on several workstations to determine the true load that the program places on real-world equipment.
#3: Centralized administration
No one enjoys having to visit every workstation within the organization. That’s just what you’ll have to do, though, if you standardize on an antivirus application that doesn’t support centralized distribution and administration.
Make sure the antivirus solution you select works well with Windows Intellimirror and other mass client-deployment technologies (or has its own native deployment features).
Although some smaller companies aren’t as dependent on time-saving deployment tools, remotely managing and administering antivirus applications is still most efficient, even in businesses with just 20 employees. By eliminating the need to visit those systems to configure scans, review logs, and maintain updates, strong centralized administration features more than pay for themselves.
#4: E-mail protection
It goes without saying that any antivirus solution should guard against infectious code sent or received in e-mail.
However, not all applications provide such protection. Even if your organization maintains an e-mail server- or router-based antivirus program, seek client antivirus apps that provide secondary e-mail protection.
Client-side e-mail security offers essential protection for your organization. It also safeguard’s its reputation, preventing users from infecting external customers, partners, and suppliers and keeping your organization off one of many troublesome spam lists.
#5: Compatibility
In addition to confirming that an antivirus application operates well with your operating system, check that it doesn’t create errors when installed alongside business applications, proprietary programs, and other software packages. Some antivirus manufacturers do a good job of warning about known conflicts, others don’t. But the best bet is to install the solution (prior to a department- or organization-wide deployment) to test the antivirus software’s interaction with other programs.
Pay particularly close attention if you’re working with Microsoft Vista. Don’t expect Windows XP-based antivirus software to work well with the newest desktop OS. In fact, in most cases, it won’t.
#6: Effective reporting tools
Some antivirus solutions enable you to review reports from all configured clients via a Web interface. Others produce reports indicating threats, scans, and infections but require that an administrator visit each client to obtain that information.
Review your company’s needs and determine which method will work best. Consider reporting features carefully. A program’s logs and report information will prove invaluable in alerting you to problems before or as they occur.
#7: Technical support
Antivirus programs fail. It’s inevitable. Sooner or later, you’ll encounter strange failures, bizarre error messages, or inexplicable system freezes. Having access to the antivirus manufacturer’s development staff is essential for successfully identifying a solution.
Before purchasing any software, check out the manufacturer’s Website. Find out whether the manufacturer provides a toll-free number for support, review any troubleshooting forums, and check which live assistance options exist.
#8: Certification
Just as an antivirus solution’s potency is critical, so too is certification. Manufacturers can make all the promises and claims they want in marketing materials, but industry certification is hard won.
ICSA Labs, Virus Bulletin, West Coast Labs, the National Associate of Specialist Computer Retailers, and others all require antivirus programs to meet stringent requirements to receive certification.
Of course, certification isn’t foolproof. But one way to know you’re purchasing a trustworthy application is to confirm that the program has earned certification from these leading labs.
#9: Simplified licensing
Once you’ve identified an antivirus solution that’s potent, compatible, and backed by quality technical support (among other elements), it’s time to turn your attention to licensing.
Some manufacturers complicate licensing to the point that you can install a dedicated license on only a single machine. If that system’s hard disk or motherboard fails (or the entire system goes down), under OEM terms your organization is likely required to purchase another license, even if the original term is yet to expire.
Review license requirements with care. It’s often best to purchase client licenses by seat. Thus, if a workstation or server fails, migrating an existing license to the replacement system becomes a simple matter. (But expect to pay more for the privilege.)
Remember to factor in growth considerations when purchasing a specific number of seats. It’s all too easy to exceed licensing limits signed six months ago. Keep detailed notes on how many systems receive antivirus software and keep the documentation current as workstations and servers are replaced or upgraded.
If you’re very close to a quantity threshold (for example, you need 23 licenses), ask about purchasing a few extra licenses to take you to the next licensing level. You may very well find that the two or three additional licenses needed to move you to the next level end up costing you less than purchasing the exact amount you need. For example, the price difference between Level A and Level B may be $3 or $4 per seat.
#10: Reasonable cost
When purchasing fewer than 50 licenses, expect to pay approximately $40 to $50 per seat for an annual antivirus license. As an organization exceeds 100 licenses, costs can drop to as low as $35 per user.
Unless an application includes firewall, anti-spyware, or antispam features, prices should fall within the above ranges. Any organization tempted to add firewall or anti-spyware tools to its antivirus application, especially for 20 or more users, might be better served pursuing a hardware-based solution (such as the ones provided by SonicWALL and other manufacturers) instead of a software-focused product.
No matter how secure you think your systems are, and how careful your employees are, anti-virus and anti-spyware solutions are critical to protecting your business. With more and more business transacted over the Internet, you must have a comprehensive protection suite installed.
Tech Experts works with several anti-virus applications, and our trained experts can help you choose the right solution for your business.
Here’s a question we receive quite often in our service department: “How can I send a 50-megabyte file to a customer, since it’s way too big for an e-mail attachment? Are there ways to do it other than burning a CD and using postal mail?”
For server space and bandwidth reasons, many e-mail providers limit file attachments on a message to no more that 5 or 10 megabytes in size.
This often makes it difficult to send things like high-resolution photographs or digital video files as e-mail attachments.
If burning the files to a CD and mailing them isn’t a workable option, there are other methods of electronically transferring your large files.
People or companies with their own Websites often upload large files or folders to the Web server with a file-transfer program — and send the intended recipient a user name and password to use for retrieving the files. But this may not be an option for a lot of people.
Instead, several companies offer to transfer huge files over the Internet. Instructions for using each service vary, so be sure to read the information on the site.
Pando, for example, has free and paid versions of its software for transferring files at www.pando.com, and it works with both Windows and Macintosh systems.
You can send files up to a gigabyte in size free through Pando, and the company has paid plans starting at $5 a month to send even larger files from machine to machine.
YouSendIt (www.yousendit.com) is another service that promises to transfer your big files. You can send files of up to 100 megabytes free with its YouSendIt Lite service — or files up to two gigabytes in size with the company’s $5-a-month service.
Some free or inexpensive online file-storage services like Xdrive (www.xdrive.com), iBackup (www.ibackup.com) and FilesAnywhere (www.filesanywhere.com) also let you mark certain files for sharing. This means customers can download a large file themselves from your online storage drive, rather than dealing with e-mail attachments that are too big to fly.
The Voice over IP (VoIP) landscape has exploded in the last five years. In its early implementation, Internet-based telephony was a hassle to implement, inconvenient to use, and far less reliable than regular or traditional phone service.
Today, our cup runneth over with VoIP services and providers, with pricing and features packages appropriate for everyone from individual/home users to small/medium businesses to the very large companies.
VoIP lines can connect seamlessly to regular lines and wireless numbers; to the end user, making a VoIP call no different from placing a call on a cell phone or landline.
VoIP advantages
Early adopters of VoIP were motivated primarily by cost; depending on their phone usage and long distance habits, they could save tremendously on phone bills because:
The big tradeoff in the early days was a lower quality in voice transmission and occasional dropped calls—pretty much the same disadvantages that plagued cellular phone service in its early days.
However, as VoIP has matured, transmission quality and reliability have improved to the point where they’re now close to that of regular telephone service. VoIP users are also drawn by other advantages of IP-based voice services, including the ability to have VoIP phone numbers in the area code of your choosing, regardless of where you’re physically located.
In effect, this gives you a low-cost way to maintain a virtual “local” presence in cities in which you do business so that customers there can call you without long distance charges, at much lower cost than alternatives such as an 800 number.
Another great advantage is that many VoIP services offer free voicemail services such as e-mail notification when you receive a call (along with a .WAV file of your voicemail messages sent to your e-mail address) that are either not available or cost extra with traditional telephone service packages.
VoIP disadvantages
VoIP technology still has a few disadvantages when compared with traditional phone service. Most notable is the inability to make phone calls during an electrical outage or when the Internet connection is down for any reason. In addition, some services that depend on phone lines, such as monitored alarm services, may require a landline, although there are now some alarm companies that offer service that works over a VoIP line.
Businesses that must rely on their phone service should take steps to ensure that their disaster recovery/business continuity plans cover their VoIP service.
Measures might include maintaining some regular telephone lines for emergency use, backup generators, and/or redundant Internet connections with failover capability.
Finally, VoIP services are subject to the same security concerns as other Internet traffic.
Selecting VoIP services
Small businesses may be able to save a lot of money by using VoIP services primarily aimed at consumers, such as Vonage or Sunrocket. These and other consumer-level services offer small business plans with online account management and may include a separate fax line.
A good solution for a small or home-based business that only has two to five employees and needs only a couple of phone lines is to order two VoIP boxes and plug both into a two-line base station system that supports multiple two-line handsets. Each worker can then use either line.
Larger businesses may need features that consumer level VoIP providers don’t offer, such as the ability to transfer calls, put calls on hold, or create conference calls among more than three parties—although in some cases the telephone equipment you choose can allow these activities, even if the provider doesn’t offer them. Larger VoIP providers generally include features like conference calling, music on hold, call queuing, scheduling and remote office features, and fax support.
Regardless of the size of your company, VoIP is now a viable option to traditional phone service, and may allow you to get more features and a wider scope of calling at a lower cost.
First of all we have to ask… Do you know about the upcoming change to Daylight Saving Time this year? Most folks we asked said “What change?”
For those of you that don’t know there is a change in the start and end dates for Daylight Saving Time this year. It will start on Sunday, March 11th, 2007 at 2:00am and will end on Sunday, November 4th, 2007. So, for 2007, DST starts 3 weeks earlier on the second Sunday of March and ends a week later on the first Sunday of November. This change was made as an attempt to reduce energy consumption.
So what needs to happen this year to facilitate the change in DST on your computer systems, and what will the impact be?
The change is about five weeks away, so the time to start making plans is now. Most every device in your company that keeps time will be affected. We’ll address what you need to do to your PC’s, servers and other IT equipment.
However, keep in mind that things like VCR’s, DVD’s, and DVR’s may have some problems. They won’t realize that the time change takes place three weeks earlier so that show that you thought you were recording may not record at all.
Also, PDA’s, fax machines, time clocks, switches, routers, and telephone systems that have programming embedded to change to DST on the first Sunday of April and the last Sunday in October are going to have problems. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Each company will have to look at the impact that this change will have on you.
According to Microsoft, these are their products that will be affected by the change:
Outdated and Legacy Operating Systems/Windows 2000 Server and Professional
The news is not good for those companies who are still running Windows 2000, either server or workstation. Windows 2000 is going to require a manual process be done to update the timezone database and the registry keys for the current control set.
Manually editing your registry can potentially cause problems, or even cause your computer or server to stop functioning. It is best to call your technology expert (Tech Experts, perhaps?) to make these changes and updates.
The entire process may take between 15 minutes and a half hour to complete, per machine, so the cost is reasonable compared with updating equipment to a new operating system.
Windows 95/98/ME/NT Server and Workstation
If you’re still using Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4 server or workstation, it is time to upgrade. Upgrading may mean buying a new computer. Sorry about that, but that is the price of progress. Technology continues to change and we just have to change with it. Don’t fret – you’ve definitely gotten your money’s worth out of your old 95 or 98 system.
Windows XP (SP1)/XP Home Edition (SP1)
Here is the information/clarification on these two items. Installing service pack 2 appears to be the answer. Then you fall into the patch available category. When Microsoft talks about XP SP2 it includes Home and Professional.
Windows XP Pro and Home Edition(SP2)/Windows 2003
There is a patch available on the Microsoft download site and will be in the Update Patch cycle sometime in early March.
Windows Vista
No updates are needed. It is shipping with the new Timezone Database installed.
Microsoft Exchange, Outlook, Biztalk Server, SQL Server or any of the other items listed in the table above would be advised to check the Microsoft article about what the requirements for them will be.
Now for those of you that say… Ok this is it. We get our Tech Experts in to do our updates, and I’m done with it. Well, maybe not.
Part of the government edict changing DST specifically states that “The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. Congress retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete.”
So, this is a test year. If they don’t like it they can change it back. Fortunately, the updates and changes made this year will incorporate an easier mechanism to change back, should Congress decide the change wasn’t effective.
An important note for the Daylight Saving Time changes for this year: A lot of software needs updating, not just operating systems. Anything that uses its own prepackaged Java Virtual Machine needs an update, as well as most software that calculates dates (many will read the system time/date, but use internal code for calculating dates after that).
The best bet is to list out any 3rd party software and double check with the vendors. To make matters worse, not all vendors have released patches for their software yet.