Time to replace that old computer? Wanting the latest and greatest? Bigger (or smaller), faster, cooler? Are you just looking for a good excuse to treat yourself? I know I am! Late Father’s Day gift to yourself? Early Christmas? How about an Independence Day gift? That sounds good!

In any case, if you are planning on buying a new notebook or desktop computer, don’t forget to protect that investment with the purchase of these items:

Anti-Virus / Anti-Malware:There is no way you can survive these days without proper anti-virus on your computer! Regardless of your platform, you need this protection. Our favorite is Trend Micro Anti-Virus, which we sell and install. However, if you are truly replacing your computer and not just adding another one, you may already own current anti-virus software. If you do, then you can download and install on the new computer, using the same activation code. Getting a Mac and think you can run “bareback” because they are immune to viruses, trojans, etc… Think again. More and more malicious software is targeting Apple Mac OS X.

Uninterruptable Power Supply / UPS: You are buying an expensive piece of hardware, and then trusting that the power company is going to deliver a good clean source of power to your system. A surge protector can help, but an UPS will not only protect the hardware, it will keep you from losing documents you are working on should the power go out. Our favorite brands of power protection products are APC and Eaton. They make an UPS for every situation, whether you need to protect a single computer, a complete system with monitor, modem, printer, etc or you have to protect a server or a data center.

Backup Solution: You now have an awesome system, with lots of room to download music and store thousands or tens of thousands of photos, movies, etc… What happens in the event of a hard drive failure? These days, you can use online backup solutions such as our Servosity service which will automatically backup your data to the cloud (the internet) in a safe and secure (encrypted) data center. You can then restore your data in the event of a loss. We also offer physical backup solutions, such as USB drives, tape backup systems, Symantec Backup Exec, and we do work with other backup providers as well.

Insurance Rider: Your insurance policy may not cover an expensive computer system. Check with your insurance carrier to make sure you are properly covered in the event of a loss to fire, flood, theft, lightning strike, etc. Many times a rider can be added to your policy for only a few dollars a month that will protect your hardware, and even software.

If you have any questions about these solutions and what may be right for you, please do not hesitate to call us, we can provide computer repair, consultation and sales.  We are authorized resellers for APC & Eaton power protection products, Trend Micro anti-virus / anti-malware, Servosity, Mozy & Symantec backup solutions and more! Call us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com to find out how we can help you in the Greenville / Upstate SC area…

This is just a test… please ignore.

This is a test… You can safely ignore it =)

I haven’t been well due to that car accident on the 7th, in fact, today is the first day I could really do much in the way of work, so I am pretty happy. This trend should continue until I am hopefully back to normal (some of you will not believe it, but I am kinda normal)…

Brett has a high school project that is due soon which must incorperate several things such as levers, incline, etc, in a silly manner and the end result is to knock over a marker. Of course, this has my little mind going 90 to nothing due to the fact that I kind of think in abstract ways anyway.

This has nothing to do with Homeland Secure IT, computer service, computer repair or anything at all to do with computers, or business, but I do think that is a neat thing to do in school. I will post more information as it the project nears completion.

Until then, thank you for your patience while I recover, and to those who sent cards, emails, direct messages, facebook messages, and phone calls… Thank you very much!

Google Apps offers in-the-cloud alternative to Microsoft Office products and BPOS

A major buzz word for 2009/2010 has been “cloud computing”, where your applications and servers are not actually hosted locally, but instead “in the cloud”, on a remote server or servers. Thus eliminating the need for you to purchase an expensive Microsoft Server and Microsoft Exchange Server, all the licensing, then the Microsoft Office applications for each of your users, not to mention the costs associated with maintaining and upgrading all this. Instead, you sort of rent the usage of this technology from an in-the-cloud vendor.

Let me go ahead and get the buzz words out of the way so the uninitiated will stop hating me.

In-The-Cloud, or “The Cloud” – Just think of the cloud as the internet. Something that is out there, elsewhere. Not local.  It would be “in the cloud”.

Cloud Computing, Hosted Solution, Software As A Service, SaaS – These are all the exact same thing, or variations on a theme. It means, the hardware and software is not all hosted locally at your site. Some or all of it is hosted at remote sites and accessible via the internet. Sometimes with a simple browser, and sometimes with a download of an applet or software package to access it. The largest part of the computing power and storage requirements takes place outside your facility.

Google Apps – A suite of software and services that is hosted in the cloud. These applications could potentially replace a Microsoft Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office, and the need to maintain and upgrade all that. What you get: Gmail, a mostly web based mail application similar to Microsoft Outlook. Google Calendar, a calendaring system similar to what Outlook offers. Google Docs, which is similar to everything the rest of the Microsoft Office suite offers, including document editing via a word processor, spreadsheets similar to Excel,  drawings and presentations similar to Microsoft Powerpoint.  You also get Google Groups, which is a group sharing system with mailing lists, and Google Sites, a web hosting/authoring package, and last but not least, Google Video, a place to host your video.

Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite – This is the direct competitor of Google Apps, and offers the familiar Microsoft look and feel. With this you get a familiar Microsoft Office and Outlook interface.

These are both great solutions for some businesses. And as the headline reads, The City of Los Angeles ditched GroupWise, a very expensive system to go with Google Apps. Could this be the right solution for your business? A free consultation with us might just answer that question. Please call us today at 864-990-4748. We will closely analyze your needs and tell you if either of these options will work for your application.

Homeland Secure IT, LLC is a reseller of both Google Apps and Microsoft BPOS, as well as other hosted solutions, such as Servosity online backup to backup your computers and servers automatically!  We offer service to Greenville, the Upstate of SC, and national sales.

SuperHosts.Net offers super web hosting and design in Greenville and Upstate SC

I keep getting asked if I know anyone who does web hosting and design in Greenville / Upstate SC and I am surprised that more people do not know that Homeland Secure IT does that in-house, they just think of us for computer repair, computer service, computer sales and computer consultation, etc.  We’re not just about computers, servers and networks….

SuperHosts.Net is our web hosting & design business. It was started a number of years ago, and when we formed Homeland Secure IT, LLC, we incorporated SuperHosts into the new entity. It’s still the same hosting & design business, just under a different umbrella if you will.

SuperHosts is not the perfect solution for every website. If you are looking for cookie cutter, dirt-cheap hosting, you are going to find it every direction you turn. Just Google for “Cheap Web Hosting” and you will get a few million hits. Our focus is on the businesses, organizations and individuals with a special need, a site that represents them or their brand, a site that they may wish to maintain themselves or maybe they want someone else to handle entirely. We specialize in the odd-ball services such the client who needs a custom interface written to handle input, or distribute data in some specialized way. We have programmers who can provide real-time data manipulation, live databases and cross-site linking. Need a blog? Live Chat? Forums? That’s our bag, baby!

What you will find is a web host and design team that is very in touch with what you want and need. From custom graphics, logos and branding to menus for your restaurant that match the website layout/theme. We also do SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and can skyrocket your site to the top of Google, Bing, Yahoo and the rest of the search engines.

Thinking about delving into social media? We can help build a presence for you, and teach you how to effectively monitor and use the various social networking sites and tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In, Plaxo, Spoke, FourSquare and yes, even MySpace. Don’t have time to work with social media? We can refer you to a “Ghost Writer” who can assume your identity, learn your brand and become active in social media FOR YOU!

Of course, we can and do offer the stock template type sites, starter sites, “business card” sites, and domains just like everyone else.

We also know our limitations, and that is when we call in a range of experts who can assist. If we cannot handle the job, we will turn you over to one of the great minds in Greenville who can help. We work with and know of many awesome and inspirational places.

Want a free consultation? Email or call 990-4748 for more info!

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Please ignore this
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That’s right… Our entry into the Cisco “Heroes of the Human Network” campaign was determined to be one of the most viral and we will be receiving a Flip Mino Ultra HD Camera!

While not 10,000 dollars in pure Cisco awesomeness that the grand prize winner will receive, it is certainly much better than nothing at all. In fact, the Flip Mino Ultra HD Camera is an uber-cool tool. If you have not checked one out, I suggest you do so. How do I know? Because my wifey bought one for me as a Christmas gift and those who have seen my annoying YouTube.com channel have witnessed the results of that. (Blame her okay, not me!).

Of course this has created an interesting situation. The other people who work with me at Homeland Secure IT want the camera for themselves, but, how do you split a camera in two and share it between two great guys? Not really possible. Welllllll, anything is possible, I do have a hacksaw, but I just don’t think that is what they are wanting… Two equal sized pieces of non-functional and until recently, very cool camera.

The solution? How about this… Since we won this camera as a result of the campaign held on BrickFish where tons of our friends and followers so selfishly clicked and voted for us and reposted, etc, I believe the best option is to give it away! I’m not exactly sure how, but once we have it in our hot little hands, I think I will post a link on http://www.HomelandSecureIT.com to let people sign up for our spam email newsletter over a 30 day period, and at the end of that period, let a little script randomly pick a number that relates to one person who subscribed.  I think that is the best option.

If you have other ideas, I would love to hear from you, so shoot me an email or click on the comment line above…

Thank you again for your support of Homeland Secure IT!!!!

Alrighty! The weekend has arrived. After a hectic week where we lost a technician, I now get to relax just a little bit! Which is good because we have another busy week coming up in just a few hours. Hope you enjoy your weekend.