As 2009 turns to 2010, I’ve started to ask our clients how they are going to change how they use technology in the new year.   I’ve heard answers which include “More remote work” to “more personal service to our customers” to “ensuring our clients know we do more than just X”.  Inevitably during the same conversation, our clients ask me about how they can reduce their technology spending, but offer more services than ever.   As many of you know – this is a seemingly double edged sword – to save money long term you need to replace inefficient equipment, update software and convert in-sourced services to outsourced services.  One of the biggest challenges is a budget to make planning these items out a little easier.  

So I ask all of you, what is your plan for technology for the new year?  What does your budget look like?  How are you going to ensure your technology spending does not become like the game Risk – which can easily go on for ever and seemingly have no end.

Let me know what your thoughts are here.

If you don’t have a UPS (battery power) between the wall outlet and your computer – you should unplug your computer completely from the wall (don’t just turn it off) – this will stop the electrical surges and possible lightning strike from traveling across your power lines right into your computer. 

If the room you are in is susceptible to flood or leaks, lift your computers and power strips off the floor to avoid eletrical shorts and shocks.   Don’t just think about your computer – but anything electrical – TVs, DVD players, etc -  as yourelf “What can get wet or struck by lightning?”

One thing to know – your power company is not liable for any damage caused to your electrical equipment.   You MAY be able to file a claim with your home owner’s insurance but it depends on the size of your claim and what specific riders you have on your insurance.  If you run your business from your home - don’t forget to check with your business insurance provider (general liability, etc) to see if they will cover any damages.

Most power strips you buy at the local stores don’t have any type of insurance or protection from surges or power spikes.  There are a few and rather than recommending a specific brand, we’d rather discuss options with you in person to ensure you are receiving the correct protection for your equipment. 

If you need help in gathering information for an insurance claim, call us and we can help get you current pricing, replacement pricing and any labor estimates for the claim.   Our estimates are accepted by most insurance companies and we can work with your insurance company to determine the actual value of your equipment.

Here’s a exceprt from an article about using someone else’s internet connection:

Perhaps the first and most notable case of an individual being arrested for illegally accessing a wireless network is that of Benjamin Smith III of St. Petersburg, FL.  In the spring of 2005, Richard Dinon noticed someone parked outside his home and obviously staring at a laptop PC.  According to Dinon, when Smith saw that he was being watched, he quickly closed the laptop. Dinon left to run some errands, but upon his return over an hour later, Smith was still outside staring at his PC.  Dinon called the police, who arrested Smith, claiming that he was illegally accessing Dinon’s wireless network. Police said Smith admitted using the network and was charged with unauthorized access to a computer network, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

A subsequent inspection of Smith’s PC found child pornography, leading to an additional felony count of sexual performance by a child.  In June of this year, Smith pled no contest to stealing a wireless computer signal and no contest to an amended, lesser, charge of felony child abuse relating to child porn police found on his laptop computer.  According to a report in the St. Petersburg Times, “Smith’s attorney, Hubbell Losson, argued in motions that the statute outlawing unauthorized access to computers did not apply to wireless service, but Peters ruled against him.”

The key here is not that the guy was accessing the Internetor that he was parked outside the house, but that this can happen to you without your knowledge.   If you are accessing an open wireless network or someone is accessing yours, how do you know what they are doing – they could be downloading music off a file sharing site (a felony here in the United States), hacking into a restricted site (which will be traced back to your Internet connection, not their specific computer) and do you want to be caught up in whatever they are doing?   I trust my neighbors and the companies that are near me, but if they have an open Internet connection I make sure I steer away from it at all costs.  In addition to the security risk I am taking (the open wireless could be a trick to steal passwords, bank account information or infect you computer with viruses and spyware), you are putting your future in someone else’s hands.  So my recommendation is the not access that wireless network  and to make sure yours is secure as well.   Public wireless access connections (Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, etc) are OK as long as you have a firewall installed on your computer and good anti-virus/anti-spyware software.  Here’s a quick wrap up of my recommendations:

1. Don’t access an open wireless network unless it’s from a commercial service (e.g. Internet hot spots)
2. Make sure your wireless network is secure from access (most devices have an easy to follow set of steps to secure your connection)
3. If you are accessing one of the many public Internet connections available, have your firewall turned on, anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed correctly
4. If you see any suspicious activity, call the police – it’s a felony to gain access to a computer or computer network without authorization.

So stay smart, stay secure and keep your network safe.   If you are having trouble checking your wireless network, just give us a call and we can come out and check it for you.

Joe Vivona
A&J Computers Inc

Well last night, while working on a problem for a customer of course the inevitable happened – my computer froze.  When I rebooted windows, the memory card gave me an error mesage about it being corrupt (can you hear my screams – ARRRRRRRRGGGHHHHH!).     Now for the positive:

Just like I tell you to do, my backups were up to date – the downside was backups run once a day at 1AM – so of course everything I did Tuesday wasn’t in the backup.  So first things first, I got myself a new memory card and started restoring my files to it.  This morning I have the crashed memory card in our lab attempting to recover yesterday’s work.

So what are the lessons learned from my experience?  Here’s the quick list

1. Backup, backup, backup (decide if you need twice a day backups even)
2. Know your hardware
3. Pay attention to little problems before they become big ones (I should have noticed the little things that were happening to the memory card)
4. Have a plan (what would you do if your drive crashed – panic, or know that you are prepared).

If you want to talk about the possibility of your drive crashing (no one really wants to talk about it) or you want us to help you build a recovery plan – just drop us an e-mail or call us and I’d be more than happy to help.    Here’s to a long hard drive life and no crashes!

This reminds me of running a business – at what point in a project do your resources all fall in line because of the strategy you’ve laid out and planned for.   Sometimes it seems like you are veering away from the end-goal, but the reality is you’ve carefully planned out your strategy and the leader’s jersey is yours when you want to take it.   Taking this lesson from cycling is extremely hard – it’s about how do you work smarter not harder, and proper planning is the key.  

One of the things we’ve been doing for a few years, is better and better information about clients, environments, process and procedures.  It seems simple enough, but when you get down to it – it’s a ton of work.   When the activity is not revenue generating, how do you justify spending all that time, resources and money on something that may never be needed?  Every time we go to a client or get a tech support call, we make sure we have their folder in front of us.  Coupled with our helpdesk system, this provides a comprehensive set of systems for us to ensure we have everything ready for the next time a client needs something.

So what do you do for customers to defend the leader’s jersey, or at what point do you have everything aligned to grab that jersey when you want it?

The most common answer is: It depends.   When someone asks this question of me, I usually ask a few questions:

1. How do you normally use a computer?
2. Do you have another computer?
3. Is size the only reason you are considering a NetBook?

If the person is planning on using the computer for anything more than web surfing, web based email and some note taking – I typically recommend one of the smaller full-power laptops.   These days, there are a number of manufacturers with 12 inch screen, powerful processors and room for expansion.

In our business, we use NetBooks to supplement our primary computer (desktop and laptop) – the NetBook lets us move from client to client with the information we need, plus gives us quick startup and long battery life.  So it’s easy to see where even in the non-typical use NetBooks can be useful.

Recently some school districts are using NetBooks for classroom computing – with everything on the school’s intranet, the power savings and light weight make these ideal for educational use.  Additionally, their use in military and police applications. 

There are lots of options for small format laptops and NetBooks.   Wether or not a NetBook is right for you depends on how you are going to use it.   If you want more information or to compare a NetBook to a small-format laptop, call me to find out.  Contact Us for more information.

For those of you who host their email with us, let me give you an idea of the amount of spam we filter every day.   As of July 1, 2009 we host about 150 domain names for customers with a total of 500 mailboxes.   Every day we receive approximately 800,000 emails – of those, we allow around 20,000 emails into mailboxes.   That’s 97.5% of all emails are tagged as spam by our filtering software.   It’s a never ending battle for us every day.

If you want to read more about the FTC action, or see the rules around CAN-SPAM compliance (which every company is supposed to abide by), you can check out the FTC’s site.

FTC’s action against Pricewart: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/06/3fn.shtm

FTC’s page on CAN-SPAM: FTC’s page on CAN-SPAM: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm