2

Greenville and Upstate Businesses Appear to be Thriving in 2010

Business is good in the upstate and Greenville, SC

Business is good in the Upstate & Greenville SC!

Today while I was stopping in and visiting some businesses, I took a few minutes to talk with them about how 2010 was treating them, and without exception, they all were enthusiastic about the year and what it had already brought them.

One place was a building supply who said that due to the recent storms and the hail that accompanied them, their business has been through the roof (pun intended) with sales of shingles and roofing materials. They also indicated that the building industry in general was doing better than 2009. This business is a locally owned part of a national franchise.

The next stop was at a national propane vendor, and they said that the winter of 2009/2010 was “unseasonably cool”, and therefore they were doing well, even though their major season for sales of gas had drawn to a close. I guess they are now starting to see some sales of gas grills, and the gas for them. (I can’t help but think about Hank Hill who sells “Propane and Propane Accessories” when I talk about propane).

I then visited a heating and air company who is a local upstate owned and operated business. I was told by them that business was good due to the “unseasonably warm” spring we have had. They were quite positive and felt 2010 was really looking up.

I find it very interesting that of the first 3 businesses that I spoke with, all of them were talking about the weather as a contributing factor. Maybe this “Global Warming” or “Climate Change” is good for business!

Seriously though, across the board, everyone I have spoken with recently has been very positive about their business and the outlook for the rest of 2010. We can only hope this will be the case and that this trend will continue. Keep your head up!

2

Greenville Business Computer Sale

Does your business need a new computer, or maybe several new computers? Homeland Secure IT can help! We have just lowered the price on our premier business computer systems because our supplier has been good to us! It may be cheaper to replace your old computers than to pay for computer repair or upgrade.

These computers are not your average PC that you buy at one of the local office supply places. They are first rate BUSINESS CLASS computers, designed with businesses in mind. Made right here in America, from genuine Intel motherboards and processors and high quality parts. We have been working with this computer company for five years and their customer satisfaction is far above HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc.

What you get is a computer pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (or XP pro if you require it), ready to join your domain. Sure, you can find a computer for 200 less at local office supply or electronics stores, but what you generally will get will be a machine designed specifically for home use. The operating system will likely be Microsoft Windows 7 Premium, which will require an update to Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate before it can join your business domain. The components may be of inferior design and may not be suited towards 100% duty cycle, where the computer is always on. That is why the computers designed for home use will need power supplies and motherboards replaced more often.

The warranty for these computers is 3 years, and you don’t talk to someone from another country. You can handle any repairs directly with the company if you wish, or we can handle your computer repairs for you. Any problems encountered are most often fixed the same day, as we will replace the component ourself and arrange the warranty exchange with the manufacturer, should you wish us to handle the repair.

We are also offering quanity discounts on these computers…. Upgrade your entire office to Windows 7 Professional and see everyone smile!

Concerned about the new Windows 7 operating system? Afraid it may not work with your existing software? Give us a call, we’ll help you determine if these systems are right for you! We also can take all of the headache away from the upgrades or installs by doing it for you. We’ll migrate all your data and settings without you breaking a sweat anywhere in Greenville or the Upstate.

Need new anti-virus? We sell Trend Micro and Symantec AV to go with your new computer. It may be the right time to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007 Professional and get a free upgrade to Microsoft Office 2010 Professional so you can have the very latest!

For pricing, please visit: http://www.homelandsecureit.com/business_computer_sale.html or call 990-4748 for more information

1

Google On Main participants wanted: Join and support our Komen Race for the Cure team

Race For The Cure

Help us run breast cancer out of town!

We saw where another local IT company, Plus Inc., has a number of their employees involved in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure that will take place in September and thought that was a great idea! In fact, two of us here donated to their goal… See, my wife’s mother is a 15 year breast cancer survivor, so this is near and dear to her heart and we couldn’t stop with just a contribution…

So we started a team for our company, and then it hit me, I was not thinking broad enough. We need to harness the power of a great event that took place a few weeks ago called “Google On Main”, and try to get the 2200+ people involved with that to join this awesome cause, so we have renamed our team from “Homeland Secure IT” to “G(o)(o)gle On Main” and have started telling people about it. Our goal is to raise 5000 dollars, which should be easy, right?

Why not join our team and participate in the walk/run/race? We would love to have the company and the inspiration for us to drag or fat bottoms 5k for this cause!

Okay, so you are lazy, you can actually “Sleep in for the Cure”… That’s right, you can contribute and select “Sleep in for the Cure” and while you sleep, your hard earned money is doing something useful!

The site to signup or support the Race for the Cure is:

http://scmountainstomidlands.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/GNV_SCMountainstoMidlandsAffiliate?team_id=132981&pg=team&fr_id=1792

More information about Google On Main is at http://www.WeAreFeelingLucky.com and you can follow #GoogleOnMain and #LuckyGVL on Twitter too.

1

City of Los Angeles California chooses Google Apps (over Microsoft’s BPOS) for in the cloud solution

Google Apps Logo

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.

1

SuperHosts.Net offers web hosting and development in Greenville & Upstate SC

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

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!

Another dead technology: Floppy disks to become a thing of the past – Finally

Floppy Disk

Look closely - This may be the last floppy disk you see

It has been a long time coming in my honest opinion, but Sony recently announced it would stop production of the floppy disk in March of 2011. (And there was much rejoicing)

The floppy was a long lived technology that almost everyone is is familiar with. In it’s most popular format, it was 3.5″ and held 1.44 Megabytes of data.  It has been available in many other formats of course, with the 5.25″ being a close second to the 3.5″. It was 1981 when Sony rolled out the first 3.5″ floppy and not much has changed since then.

While it should come as no surprise that the manufacture of the media would cease as newer storage mediums became more popular, it is probably going to be a little upsetting to a few who have entire libraries still on floppy. The easy solution to that dilemma is to copy the floppies to hard drives or USB drives which should preserve the data for the future. Using CDs and DVDs as a replacement has its own problems such as the data loss as the media ages.

Then there are the system administrators who may need to reinstall an operating system that relies on floppies, or more commonly, install an operating system such as Windows Server 2003 along with a RAID driver that is expected to be on floppy.

Fortunately, there are ways to avoid the floppy by using a USB flash drive as a pseudo floppy. (If you require help with this, shoot me an email)

What will be the next outdated technology to go by the wayside? PS2 keyboard and mice? FAX machines? POTS phone systems? Dial up internet? Serial and Parallel ports on computers?  Analog (paper) phone books? I would say they are all on the endangered species list, but just keep hanging in there!

1

Saving money on computer repair in Greenville and Upstate SC

Save Money on Greenville computer repair

Save money on Greenville computer repair

Whether you are an individual or a business looking for computer repair or computer service in Greenville or the Upstate (Easley, Pickens, Spartanburg, Anderson, Simpsonville, etc), chances are good that you are not only wanting computer repair but you want that computer service performed as QUICKLY and as inexpensively as possible.

If you already have an IT service provider, you might wish to ask them up front if there is a cheaper way than to have them dispatch a tech to your location. Many IT houses will give you a discount if you take the computer to them. If that is convenient for you, then you can generally save 10%, depending on the company.

Sometimes, saving money in that way can be more expensive in the long run, as you have to take time out of your busy schedule to drop off and pick up the computer. In the case of an attorney billing 200 an hour, that is probably not the most cost effective way to handle the situation.

What about REMOTE SERVICE? Where the tech can look at the computer from remote. This is usually billed at a half hour minimum. The computer has to be functional and connected to the internet for this to work, but this type of service provides INSTANT gratification and a reduced rate! Same with phone service, where the IT provider acts as your help desk to talk you through checking everything. Again, this is billed at a reduced rate or a half hour minimum in most cases.

Think about this for a moment: If you have a computer down at your site, and a technician is dispatched from the IT company, they will usually charge you a one hour minimum, and sometimes the labor may take half an hour. Why not have the tech look at something else while he or she is on location? Instead of just addressing the immediate need of the computer that is broken, you can say “After you get that computer fixed, if you have time left in the hour, could you check a few of our desktops to ensure they have the latest Microsoft Patches on them?”.

A computer that is down is never a pleasant situation. Just like your car, you are suffering from the inconvenience of being without it, then the double whammy of getting slapped with a bill for the service. Knowing the hints above may save you a little frustration and some money.

Homeland Secure IT provides complete computer service & repair, at your location, in our shop, via remote access and we offer excellent help desk support via phone or email. Our response times are above the average in our area, and our rates are very reasonable. Let us help you the next time you need a computer fixed in a hurry. Call us at 864-990-4748.