In a previous post I wrote about issues a client, Botanas had with their MSP. Well COVID-19 caused a mistake to be made. You can read that blog here: http://theweeklygeek.com/2020/05/04/pay-for-manages-services-dont-get-support/
As a restaurant and needing to stay in business, move the produce she purchased before the mandatory (and in my opinion illegal) shutdown the owner wanted to offer online order and drive up pickup.
Continue readingAs a technology company we pride ourselves on customer service.
Unfortunately, too many companies only care about making money.
For years I have fought against the “managed service” (MSP aka Managed Services Provider) mentality. Microsoft and Intel have tried their darnedest to coheres tech companies into providing “manages services”. Where the customer is charged a flat fee for a lot of things and supposedly provide certain maintenance and support to the client.
Continue readingA black Swan event is something that was not expected to occur, but a series of events caused it. Normally hindsight allows those looking at it to see that it was actually predictable. Here is a link where you can read more on Black Swan events: http://blackswanevents.org/?page_id=26
In our case, I can see clearly why technology is increasing in price and in some cases is just not available.
Computers, server and technology grows old or dies and must be replaced. If you need to replace them now, you selected a bad time.
Sometimes you need to open your wallet and get faster internet.
I have a client, only 3 active computers with 5 on their small network. They have the slowest internet available to save money. They had to quit using Microsoft Outlook because it would time out when downloading email from this 768kb connection. Windows Live Mail (WLM) worked if only one person at a time was retrieving email. However WLM is no longer available. We went to EM Client which acts a lot like WLM, however it is not unusual for headers, images and even senders names not to download.
If I bring any of their computers to my office, open email everything is fine.
I had another client that I had to let go for this very reason. They moved into a community office that had community internet. They were getting 256k internet speeds and Outlook never quit trying to get email until it times out. They also were unable to get Security updates, Windows patches or browse the internet for business or pleasure. Once again, if I brought the computer to my office, everything worked, after the 600 plus emails downloaded.
Now imagine needing to email important papers, invoices, or photos. You are wasting more than the monthly cost of faster internet while waiting for those things to go through. Add the use of Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive and online backup programs and you have a never ending issue.
Moral of this lesson, if you don’t have at least a 1Mb connection per person using the internet you are not acting like a real business or even home internet user. I would suggest even more speed. Today it is common to have 1Gb (1,000Mb) service available in most communities where there is a city with 100,000 people or more.
Quit causing yourself and your IT folks frustration and get faster internet.
Until we meet again, have a virus free week.
In continuing with why I use the parts I do series, in this article I want to cover the hard drives I use and why. Yes I used the plural in hard drives.
Unlike my exclusive use of ASUS motherboards, Crucial RAM and Intel processors, I use three different brands of hard drives. Continue reading