How old is your router?

Circa 2004?
Is this what your router looks like? If it is this old you probably need a new one. Router technology has improved dramatically in the last few years. Now that most homes and offices are relying on internet services and wifi to get things done having a router that is up to the task is essential. Replacing an old inadequate router in an office will yield noticeable results when searching web pages and uploading and downloading content. As more pcs and wireless devices are added to a network having a more powerful router will improve everyone’s experience. Newer business routers also offer improved security, spam filtering, web filtering, firewall and other add on features. If you are paying for good internet service don’t skimp by choking your bandwidth through an old under powered router.

Computer Guy Consulting can advise you about your current network and router. A network assessment can be conducted to see if you would be better served with newer hardware and maybe wiring. Give a call and schedule your network analysis today. 325-4656

Why would my computer get hacked?

Here’s why. A hacked pc or server can be used for multiple nefarious activities. Would you even know if your server stuck back in the closet was serving spam before your internet service provider cut off your internet access? Most business owners would not. It happened to one of my clients who added an additional pc in a conference room cabinet and never told us or installed any security or windows updates. Guess what- one Monday morning the DSL internet provider cut us off and we got blacklisted by an international spam filter. It was a hard and expensive lesson!

Computer Guy consulting can monitor all of your office computers and servers to make sure that all is well. This is one of those ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure deals. If you need a security evaluation or an infection clean up call us and be confident that all is well again. Most downtime and infection issues can be eliminated with an ounce prevention. You are backing up your data right??? -that’s a topic for another post!

Here at Computer Guy we help people figure IT out. Back up systems, computer repairs, software issues, virus and spyware removal, data recovery, network and internet installation and support. If you are a small business and need help Computer Guy Consulting can help you with all your small business IT support.

Windows 8 is here!!

Like it or not Microsoft has released another operating system known as Windows 8. Windows 8 is quite different from the last 2 versions of Windows. Windows 8 comes in three different PC versions. Windows 8 comes in a tablet version as well as a PC version. Not to worry, if you prefer you can still get Windows 7 on most pcs currently available. Windows 7 will be supported until 2020. If you are still using Windows XP your days are numbered. XP will only be supported until early 2014. After the XP support is ended, most users should switch to a newer and supported operating system. Confused yet? No worries, here at Computer Guy Consulting we can help you figure it all out. If your business is still using Windows XP it is time to work towards migrating to a newer version of Windows for both security improvements and continued support.

Back Up -Be Sure

Make sure you have a back up. You should have 3 copies of important files. For example: have one file saved in my documents on the pc, have one copy on your usb thumb drive, and have an automatic back up to an internet based service. Never trust your “digital eggs” to one basket. Hard drives fail frequently. USB drives sometimes stop working properly. Your internet based service could be interrupted by outages. Three copies should be enough to keep you from losing anything.

Here at Computer Guy we help people figure IT out. Back up systems, computer repairs, software issues, virus and spyware removal, network and internet installation and support. If you are a small business and need help Computer Guy Consulting can help you with all your small business IT support. Give us a call for a free network evaluation.

Email Services -Which should I use?

This blog post is in response to helping a customer of mine decide what type of email she wanted.

email Email is an essential business tool. Which service is right for you? Free or paid? Muffy@gmail.com or j.doe@mybusiness.com? Web mail or domain email? Which mail client should I use? Do I really need an email client? Help I am so confused!

Email comes in many forms both paid and free.

Option 1: Use the email address(es) your ISP (Internet Service Provider) gives you. JohnDoe@cox.net

Option 2: Use a free email address from google.com or yahoo.com. johndoe@gmail.com johndoe@yahoo.com

Option 3: Use a paid email service with your own domain name. john@johndoe.com

Option 4: Your cellular service gives you an email address. johndoe@att.net

Mail client software or webmail?

Mail client software is a program for checking email. Outlook express (included in windows xp), Outlook (part of Microsoft Office), Windows Mail (included in Windows Vista and Windows 7), Mail in OS X, many other minor players as well.

Webmail is simply logging in to a website to check your mail. No client software needed. Gmail.com is the most popular.

Which is best for you? It depends. Webmail is generally free, can be checked from any internet connected pc, you don’t have to back up because it is stored on a remote mail server somewhere. Quick and Simple. Generally, most people who are heavy email users prefer to use a mail client because it is more configurable and feature rich. In the case of Outlook is tightly integrated to the office suite. Mail is stored locally and is available even with no internet connection available. Is that email important? If so you need to be backing it up.

Free or Paid? Again it depends on your needs. Running a business and want to use your own domain name, that cost a little money. You get what you pay for. Some of the hosted email services provide really nice spam filtering, large inboxes, and the ability to send large attachments. Paying for a service entitles you to some amount of customer service and a better quality service. Lots of people are perfectly happy to use a free webmail service such as yahoo or gmail addresses with no problems. Just remember you shouldn’t have any expectation of customer service or server uptime with the free accounts.

Email is a complicated topic depending on your individual or business needs. At Computer Guy Consulting we have a lot of experience setting up various types of email for a variety of clients. If you need small business IT support to figure this whole email thing out please feel free to contact us. We’ll be happy to consult with you about the best email solution for your business.