If you have ever walked around Brown’s Race at High Falls in downtown Rochester, you may have seen the remnants of the massive 25-foot Triphammer Forge water wheel. The Triphammer building was originally built in 1816 and occupied by the Will Cobb Scythe and Tool factory. The tool factory used water power to raise a large heavy hammer which was then dropped to forge wrought-iron tools. You see, in those days, if you wanted to be in the manufacturing business, you also had to be in the power production business. There was no electric grid to plug-in to.

In the 1860′s, Junius Judson purchased the building and expanded it even further to generate even more power. It is in this expanded area where the 25-foot wheel was housed. However, within 20 years electricity and steam utilities were rapidly replacing on-site water power. It was no longer necessary for businesses to generate their own power; they could simply plug in to the grid. As a result, the Brown’s Race area lost its strategic location advantage and the Triphammer water wheel stopped spinning. It laid hidden in its basement tomb for nearly a century until it was re-discovered in 1977 while clearing away rubble from a fire on the site.

So what does this have to do with IT services? Simple. We are in the midst of another fundamental business change. This change is going by the name “Cloud Computing”.

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If You Don’t, You’re At Risk!

Two Pronged Approach

To reduce the risk and minimize non-productive activities, business owners are utilizing a two pronged approach:

1. Implementing an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and
2. Installing a monitoring system to restrict and police employees’ online activities.

An AUP is nothing more than a written agreement that sets out the permissible workplace uses of the Internet, e-mail, and other computer network resources. In addition to describing permissible uses, an AUP should specifically set out prohibited uses, rules of online behavior, and access privileges with penalties for violations of the policy spelled out, including security violations and vandalism of the system.

Not only does an AUP reduce wasted hours on the net, it can reduce bandwidth and equipment needs, as well as shield you, the business owner, from possible sexual harassment and other lawsuits arising from your employee’s inappropriate use of the web.

 An AUP Is A Good First Step… But It’s Only Half The Battle

Unfortunately, not everyone follows policies, and some accidentally will violate your AUP. To ensure company policies are being followed, businesses are choosing to monitor all Internet activity initiated by their employees using a web content filtering software (or hardware).

Tools available today make monitoring of employee Internet usage simple and easy. Most companies choose to regularly monitor summary level activity like hours connected to the web, number of sites visited, and illegal or banned sites visited by the company while leaving detailed transaction reviews as necessary on a case-by-case basis.

And if someone complains that this is a violation of their privacy, rest assured that nothing could be further from the truth. It’s not only legal but good business. After all, they are using your company assets. If employees are focused on productive work and minimize personal use of your systems, you’re likely to never need to address their Internet usage. Include a clause about Internet monitoring in your AUP and have your employees sign the agreement.

If your company doesn’t currently have an AUP, we would be happy to provide you with a template that you can use.  Simply contact us or give us a call and ask for it.

Want to improve the speed and performance of your current network without investing serious cash into new PCs? Read on…

#1 ADD MEMORY. One of the most inexpensive and effective ways to improve a computer’s performance is to install more RAM (random access memory). This will speed up the applications installed on your computer and allow you to open and run more programs simultaneously.

#2 UPGRADE THE PROCESSOR or add a graphics accelerator. If you are just looking for a little more “zoom,” upgrading the processor or installing a graphics accelerator will give your computer the ability to process information faster and improve its overall speed.

#3 PERFORM REGULAR MAINTENANCE on your servers, desktops, and laptops. Computers, like cars, need regular maintenance to avoid problems, sluggish performance, and error messages. At a minimum, you should run ScanDisk and the Disk Defrag Utility on your machines once a month. This will make your applications and files load and run faster.

#4 RUN A SPYWARE SCAN once a week. One telltale sign that your computer is infected with spyware is slow, unstable performance. Spyware sucks up your system’s resources to carry out its evil intent, slowing down your computer and even causing it to freeze and crash.

#5 DISABLE OR REMOVE unnecessary programs running in the background. Many computers have pre-installed software programs that use up system resources and slow down your computer. While these recommendations will certainly speed up your system, they aren’t a miracle cure for a seriously out-of-date computer network. If your computer or network constantly crashes, freezes up, or runs painfully slow, then it’s time for an upgrade.

If you own a small business with five or more computers in the Rochester NY area and would like to see how we can help speed up your computers and keep them running at peak performance, give us a call at 585-672-5563 today and request a FREE no obligation IT Health Check.

Maybe it’s the constant problems that continue to crop up with your e-mail, printer, server, applications or other programs. Or maybe they takes a little bit too long to call back and then when you DO get them on the phone, they are less than polite. Or maybe they constantly makes excuses about why things aren’t working or forgets to follow through on your requests.

Enough Is Enough!

These are the frustrations we hear all the time from business owners who are fed up with the lack of support and service they are getting from their computer guy or IT support company.

And while delivering fast, friendly IT support from technicians who actually know how to get things working isn’t an amazing concept, I’m amazed at how many IT companies don’t get it right.

See What GREAT Computer Support Should Be…For FREE!
Since it’s Valentine’s Day and we’re feeling the “love,” we’d like to offer you a FREE Health Check on your network’s security and backup systems or simply to provide up to two hours of support to resolve an issue or problem you are facing to eligible small businesses and medical practices. There are no strings attached and no fine print, but you have to call us during the month of February.

Why are we giving this away for free? Because we know that once you see how quickly we make your technical problems melt away, you’ll end up being a client for life and tell your friends about us too!

Call Before February 28th To Claim Your IT Health Check: 585-672-5563.

Up To 17 Hours Of Your Time May be Wasted…

As a busy business owner, nothing is more frustrating that being made to wait; especially when that waiting seems unnecessary. And when it comes to waiting for your computer to start up, most business owners are all too familiar with the frustration of impatiently watching as their computer goes through the slow and agonizing process of getting ready for you to actually use it. Most Microsoft Windows computers take between 3-4 minutes to completely load up, not including opening any programs outside of the start-up menu. Multiply that time over a year, and you’ve got yourself 17 hours of staring at the screen, drumming your fingers on the desk and trying to figure out how to be productive while your computer boots up.

Want To Cut Down On Time-Wasting While Waiting For Your Computer To Start-Up?

Here are some tips on how you can speed up your computer’s start-up process so you can get right to business:

1. Remove auto-loading software: If you’ve got any programs that start up when you power your computer on, you are significantly adding to the time it takes for your computer to be ready for use. Take these programs off the start menu or, if you don’t use them, simply delete them off the machine.
2. Let the computer hibernate: When possible, leave your computer on and simple put it in hibernate mode. This tells the computer to start up again in the state where you left it last. Plus it has the added benefit of using very little electricity – about the same amount a computer uses when plugged in but shut off.
3. Remove “trial-ware”: Some computers come with software already loaded on them, like photo software or other utility programs. These programs, most of which don’t even show up in the list of available software you can remove, are called “trial-ware” because they came with the machine. Typically, they run processes in the background while you boot up your computer, delaying the start-up process of your computer.
4. Ensure your anti-virus and firewall protection are up to date: Malware and other malicious software can also slow down start times. These programs can embed themselves into the start-up menu and keep you waiting longer than necessary as your computer boots up. They also wreak havoc on your general use of the computer. So, it is important to protect your system from these kinds of attacks.
5. Upgrade your computer: Older versions of Windows will look for a CD or floppy to boot from before the computer actually begins the process of starting up. Lower amounts of memory installed on a computer can also impact its ability to start quickly. And, of course, simply having a fresh, clean and fast computer eliminates any miscellaneous software programs you may have installed that can bog down a machine.
6. Consider switching to a thin client: Thin clients are “dumb” computers that connect to a server which houses all the software, programs, and even processing power. Because nothing is loaded up onto these thin client machines, they can be ready to go in as little as 5 seconds after pressing the power button. Thin clients do require your network to be set up a certain way though, so be sure to check that before you install one.

Undoubtedly you’ve heard all the commotion around cloud computing and how it’s the “next big thing.”  Yet despite all of the hype, no one really seems to understand what cloud computing is or how it can help your business.

That is why we wanted to provide small business owners and executives a simple, easy to read report that explains what cloud computing is, how it can (possibly) help their business and if so, what you need to know in order to make good decisions about choosing a cloud vendor.

In our free report, you’ll discover:

• What cloud computing is and why so many small and medium sized organizations are switching to it versus more expensive, on-site server-workstation networks,
• How cloud computing may eliminate the need for you to purchase new hardware and software in your business, potentially saving you thousands in future expenses,
• How much (or little) your internet connection affects weather or not you’ll be able to move to the cloud, and
• Why the security risks you may face may not be as bad as you think.

Are the computers in your office slow, crashing, and freezing up? Are you haunted by pop ups and spam? Is your PC acting so weird that you think it’s possessed? If so, these are all signs of an ill-maintained computer that’s been infected with a virus or spyware program. If left alone, it will evolve into a much bigger and more expensive problem than you bargained for!

To “exorcise” these gremlins and protect your systems from becoming re-infested, we recommend:

• Running virus, spyware, and malware scans
• Checking critical firewall and security settings
• Checking the integrity and reliability of your data backup
• Looking for fragmented data, corrupted registry files, and unnecessary programs and services that would slow down performance
• Ensuring security updates and patches are up-to-date

If you don’t know where to begin, Contact Us today or call us at 585-672-5563 and we can help you out.

Think back to the last time your server went down or you weren’t able to get e-mail; remember how frustrating that was? Or perhaps you experienced a virus or other data-erasing disaster. Remember how painful that was to resolve?

There are very few business activities that don’t heavily rely on your computer network, e-mail and data – and if any of these components stop working, business grinds to a screeching, frustrating halt. And with viruses and hackers becoming more sophisticated (and smart) about accessing your network, you simply cannot afford to NOT monitor the health and security of your network daily.

A network monitoring system is simply a way for a trained professional to watch over your computer network for slow or failing components, security breaches, and alarms that signify trouble is brewing. It can also detect signs that your backup is not working, that you’re running out of space on the server, or that a firewall is not functioning properly. Think of it like a security camera watching over your entire network 24/7/365.

So if network monitoring is SO important, why aren’t more small businesses INSISTING that their IT person put a system in place?  One of the biggest reasons we see is lack of knowledge. The reality is that many businesses DO have their systems monitored for problems; and the bigger and more sophisticated the company, the more critical this becomes. But smaller businesses are often outsourcing their IT support and, unless their computer guy offers this service, they may not even know it exists.

The second reason is complacency; the belief is that, “If it isn’t broke, why fix it?” This is akin to saying, “We don’t need locks on our doors because we’ve never had our house burglarized.” The reason you HAVE the locks is to prevent your home or office from being robbed – and the reason you have network monitoring is to make sure you DON’T have problems.

Plus, simple monitoring is cheap. For as little as a few dollars per month, you can have a basic monitoring system in place.

Do you want to determine how healthy, secure and reliable your computer network is?  If so, we can provide you with a free IT Health Check.  There is no cost or obligation for qualifying organizations and at the end, you’ll have a clear snapshot of:

• The security of your network against viruses and hackers
• If your backups are actually working
• Any looming problems in hardware malfunctions, space issues, reliability, etc.

Is e-mail communication the lifeline of your business?  Would your productivity grind to a halt if your e-mail was cut off?  Are you tired of new hardware and software expenses and the endless maintenance needed just to keep everything up to date? If so, I have some great news for you.

Cloud Based E-mail (such as “Hosted Exchange” or “Google Email+Calendar for Business”) is often a much easier way of eliminating e-mail downtime, slow performance and annoying spam messages. Here’s how it works: Instead of purchasing and maintaining your e-mail in-house, which can be costly and time consuming, your e-mail server is hosted (and maintained) in a high-performance, high-security hosting company “in the cloud” where you can access it securely from any device or PC.

Best of all, you don’t have to make any changes in HOW you access your e-mail – your messages will simply be delivered to your inbox, phone or other device faster and with fewer issues, and it will always be synchronized and up-to-date!

Here are just a few of the advantages of cloud-based e-mail:

• Synchronized access to your e-mail and calendar from anywhere. You don’t have to remote into your office PC; now you can securely access your e-mail from any device or PC.
• No more software, hardware or maintenance costs. YOU don’t have to purchase the hardware and software, nor do you have to maintain the system. This is all included in a very low monthly fee.
• High speed, “always on” e-mail. The hosted Exchange platforms we provide to our clients are high-performance systems with multiple “fail over” backup servers, maintained and monitored like Fort Knox, which is a level of service you wouldn’t typically need for your small business. However, since you are hosting on this platform, cloud-based e-mail gives you all the benefits of a high-performance system without the costs. Your in-house network could go down and you’d STILL have access to your e-mail, contacts and calendar.
• Automatic backups and archiving. What would you do if your in-house e-mail server failed and erased your messages? Or what if a disgruntled employee deleted all their e-mails? If you were hosting your Exchange, these would be non-issues since your e-mails are backed up daily and secured.