Computerware Blog

The year is 2013 and we, as humans, continually strive to make things smaller, faster, and more efficient. Gone are the days of the rotary phone and the computer processing unit that needed a 12-by-12 room to use. Now we can call our friends halfway around the world using nothing but our voice via recognition software. So why are you still using a fax machine?

What if you walked away from your PC and someone else jumped on with bad intentions? How much digging around would they have to do before they discovered your most sensitive files? If your personal files are encrypted, then a thief will be stopped in their tracks and your identity will be safe.

It's 3 o'clock in the morning and you just shotgunned your last Red Bull to finish up debugging some code for the new software your company plans to launch next week. You decide to take a break and log into your Facebook account and find that John, who recently passed away, just shared a blog titled, "From Beyond the Grave" with you. Spooky right?

Growing up, we didn't dream of servicing computers. Long ago, when RAM was the animal used to represent the letter "R," and not random access memory, our aspirations tended to be draped with capes. While none of us today are superhero crime fighters, we can be an IT hero to your business!

So your boss gives you the task of creating a presentation based on your company's expense vs. profit over the last seven yearsl. He wants to know what was spent, what it was spent on, and what was done to minimize those expenses. You finally find the old files on your server. The problem is, it's from an outdated version of Office and you can't open it!

Nature has a special talent for ruining plans. Sometimes nature can be annoying, like when it rains out a picnic. Other times, it can be devastating, like having your office inundated by a flood. Whatever nature throws at you, it's important to have a backup plan. This is true for both your picnic and your company's data.

So your workstation is crawling along at a snail's pace and you've decided to call your local computer fixer-upper to take care of it. After hours (or days) of twiddling your thumbs, you get your computer back, only to find out that the problem was actually a result of your inability to manage the files. The computer didn't break; it was just infected with malware due to user carelessness.

Snacking is a big part of the office culture. Snacks taste great, provide a nice distraction, and always seem to be within reach. Snacking becomes bad when you take in extra calories without doing any extra physical activity to burn them off. To help you out, we will analyze six common office snacks.

If your business is still using a traditional phone system, then you are paying more than you have to for an expensive and antiquated system that actually limits how you communicate. By switching your phones to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), you will be able to save big money on your monthly phone bill and enjoy more features!

"Some assembly required." These three little words can take the joy that comes from opening a present and transform it into dread. Technology can be the same way. People generally get excited about purchasing (well...receiving) new technology, but few people would want a box of computer parts. Knowing this value, we offer our turnkey business management solutions.

Servers trump all other network components in both size and power. Although, when it comes to the most basic computing tasks, a full-sized server is sometimes too big. To save companies space, newly designed microservers are being utilized. Microservers are a big step in server efficiency, both in data usage and saving money.

You likely have some kind of backup in place for your data, but what about for your hardware? Backing up your computer hardware is a simple matter of having extra PC components on hand. This is a best practice that can save you from the headache and expense of downtime.

As stressful as it is to run a business, it does come with certain advantages. How cool is it to have a team of professionals working on your goals? Most people outside of the business world don't have this luxury. Technology designed for business is the same way; it comes with certain advantages that make business fun!

"With a great management position, comes great responsibility." --Spiderman's Manager. If management were easy, then nobody would be a manager because everybody would know what to do. Management is challenging, primarily because of all the stress and responsibility involved. Managing your technology doesn't have to be stressful; we can do it for you with our vendor management service.

The purpose of setting up a computer network is to allow multiple users the ability to access the same files and programs. With all the different people accessing the same information on your server, it can make for some pretty gnarly network traffic. Giving people up-to-date permissions with different levels of access is the job of the Active Directory.

In 2012, The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), sponsored by Wells Fargo conducted a survey of small business owners to decipher what the most evident issues of contention were in regards to owning and maintaining a successful enterprise. Not surprisingly one of the most popular answers was the ability to manage costs.

Voice over Internet Protocol is proving to be a popular alternative to traditional phone systems. Many businesses making the switch and discovering major savings compared to their long distance phone bills. We are seeing many businesses switching to VoIP and experiencing saving while discovering new communication features that will enhance their professional image.

It seems like everybody owns a cellphone. This might actually be the case; 175 million cellphones were sold last year in the U.S. alone. With the proliferation of cellphones in pockets, comes more cellphones being picked from pockets. Cellphone theft is on the rise, accounting for 1/3 of all thefts in the US. What's being done to stop cellphone theft?

It is vital that you have a firewall in place to protect your network. Unlike the name suggests, a firewall will not protect your PC from an actual fire, but rather, a firewall will protect your computers from cyber-threats. Network firewalls are a little more complex than brick and mortar; here is a basic explanation on how firewalls work.

If you are a user of the popular Google Reader, then you have by now received the memo from Google about their plans to discontinue this service on July 1, 2013. Google’s reasoning for jettisoning their reader is so they can focus on fewer products. What’s a Google Reader user to do? Feedly is a great alternative that’s worth checking out.