Western Digital

It’s all over the news, Thailand has been affected by flooding in a treacherous monsoon season.  Yeah yeah yeah, what does that mean?

Unfortunately, it appears that just shy of half of all hard drive parts are manufactured in Thailand, and the flooding has forced closures at those manufacturing facilities.

In one article, it states that Toshiba has halted hard drive production entirely, and Western Digital has closed their plants as well.  Seagate remains open, but their suppliers are in question.

I’ve already been told by one of our suppliers to expect this shortage to raise prices considerably and referenced a 10 dollar hike in the cost of 250GB drives, probably driven by speculation alone. The same supplier told us that quotes for server, desktop and notebook computers would be valid for only 7 days, effective immediately.

Those in the know are estimating it could take as long as a year to recover from this situation and every manufacturer of computers is likely to be affected by this, causing the cost of your next computer to be considerably higher. A computer repair that requires a hard drive replacement will obviously be higher as well.

Hopefully it will not be like the Cisco ASA shortage of last year, where we had to WAIT for the units to become available.

Today could be the perfect time to get that 3TB hard drive you have been wanting, or to renew some desktops at your business!  Call us today and lock it in if you are in the Greenville / Upstate, SC area.  864.990.4748 or info@homelandsecureit.com

I stole the picture at the right from this article.

One conversation new or potential business owners may want to have with their IT professionals is about what technologies exist that can improve their life. Below you will find some that are must haves…

Apple iPhone

Smartphones: Whether it is an Android, iPhone or even a Windows based phone, you cannot survive without one. These devices provide instant communication with your clients through email, text message and phone, along with the ability to browse the web and select from tens of thousands of applications to assist in your business. Your clients will not wait for you to get to your office to respond to an email. Even a quick, “I’m driving, will respond as soon as it is safe” auto-response is better than no response. The cost of a typical phone can range from 100 to 300 dollars per phone depending on features and term of contract from the carrier of your choice.

Square Credit Card Reader

Credit Card Processing: If you expect to get paid, then you need to accept every form of payment possible, including plastic. Yes, you will lose a little bit on the sale, but you will gain an instant payment. If you are just getting started, without purchasing a machine or paying a monthly charge, you can accept credit cards anywhere you have a cell signal using the Square credit card application with your smart phone and the free reader device that they provide to you. No per-swipe fee, and less than 3.0% charge. Fast, secure, and in your account the next business day. Find it in your phones’s marketplace.

Reliable & Fast Internet: There are a lot of choices these days for fast internet, from DSL to cable to fiber, and the old tried and true T1 standard, but some businesses may find that a wireless broadband internet plan may be enough for them. We recommend Charter Business in most situations, but that varies depending upon what is available at the business location. One advantage to using a cellular based broadband internet connection is that you can take it with you, which is great for businesses that are not tied to one specific location. Typical 4G plans will provide over 5 meg down and up to 2 meg up. Verizon Wireless offers the MiFi devices for around 50 dollars with 5GB plans for 50 dollars per month.

IP Surveillance Cameras

IP surveillance: Sure it sounds like the CIA, but IP security cameras at your business will decrease loss of inventory, increase productivity, and may provide an insurance savings. You can even keep tabs on your employees using a smartphone or any web browser to view these camera. Recordings can be reviewed after events occur, and most systems can email you when there is movement in a particular location. Prices range from $150 for a single entry level camera into the $2000 range to cover an entire business. You can install yourself, or get an IT provider to handle this for you for the most professional results.

Email: This is a no-brainer, but many small businesses will cut corners here. A Hotmail account will work for sure, but who wants AcmeWidgetCo@hotmail.com on their business cards. At the very least, your business should use a service that allows for linking a domain to your mail, such as Google Apps (Gmail) or Microsoft Office 365. This gives you a professional appearance, and provides for important features such as linking of your smartphones, sharing of calendars between users and so much more. Microsoft Office 365 costs about 5 dollars per person per month and gives you up to 20GB of storage.

Anti-Virus & Security: Far too often this is overlooked, or taken for granted. A business that is vulnerable to viruses or malware is a business that could experience costly downtime and repairs, not to mention, open yourself up for compliance violations and potential fines or legal issues depending upon the field you are in. The components of a secure network are as simple as a quality firewall like those offered from Cisco, Watchguard or SonicWall, an anti-virus software package from Trend Micro or Symantec, and taking the time to apply updates to the Operating System (Windows, Mac, etc) and support software (Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, JAVA).

Backup: When disaster strikes, you need to be prepared for it. Having backups of your important files will insure you are not out of business when a computer or server fails. Backups technology can be as simple as an external USB drive or remote backup solution, or on the other end of the spectrum, as complicated as auto-loader tape drives. One thing is for sure, ANY attempt to backup your data is better than none. For automated cloud backup solutions, consider Servosity or Mozy Pro.

Here at Homeland Secure IT, we utilize a vast array of technology and we also help many small and medium businesses and even home offices stay up to date. If we can help you with decisions regarding your Greenville or Upstate technology infrastructure, please call us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com. We offer sales, service, repair and consultation of everything from computers to VoIP.

What is your “must have” business technology? I would love to hear about it.  VoIP phone systems? iPad, Android or Windows based tablet computers? A favorite app (We love TiKL & Waze)?

Purrrrrrr

“Sorry, I can’t respond to my emails today as something has crashed on my computer, and my mouse seems to be missing…”

This cracks me up every time I see it.   It’s from over on icanhascheezburger.com I believe, but was posted to someone’s facebook timeline today and made me smile all over again.

BTW: If you call us up to perform computer repair on this issue, I think my response would be, “I’m sorry, I can’t find anything wrong with it, it seems to be working purrrrrrfectly.”

Muahaha

Large businesses have full-time IT staff or fully outsourced IT support that provide monitoring of their infrastructure and keep them up to date and now small & medium (SMB) businesses can have the same level of support when it comes to devices on their network.

Cisco OnPlus works by allowing Homeland Secure IT or your Cisco SMB service provider to place a Cisco OnPlus Network Agent at your location and configure it for reporting.  The Cisco SMB specialist will be able to monitor your site from remote on a variety of devices, from handheld to tablets, to desktops and take action when needed.

OnPlus is the latest tool in the Managed Service Provider’s arsenal. Using it, Cisco products can be backed up, restored and fully managed remotely. Other devices are supported as well!

As always with Cisco, security is the name of the game and OnPlus provides a secure environment for your IT service provider to manage your network. Your data is safe from prying eyes, only the devices themselves can be managed and use of this system does not permit access to data outside of configuration and management.

If you would like your business to have monitoring, alerting, reporting and managing capabilities, then ask your Cisco SMB provider about this exciting offering. No need to wait for a service or repair technician to visit your location, management is handled in real-time, remotely! This service is one of the most affordable methods for managing your firewalls and security appliances, IP surveillance systems, switches, routers, VoIP phone systems and more.

Homeland Secure IT provides Cisco SMB sales and support in the Greenville & Upstate SC area. Call us today at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com.

There's no such thing as a free lunch, but there IS a Free XBOX 360 from Homeland Secure IT available!

It has been too long since we gave something away! Well, that’s not entirely true… We “give away” excellent computer, server and network service, support and repair at amazingly low rates every day!

However, that is not what I am talking about. I’m talking about giving away an XBOX 360 Arcade system from Microsoft which will give you hours of enjoyment, or maybe act as a baby-sitter for your children, or possibly for your husband / boyfriend, etc…

I believe the retail value is about $200, but not being a gamer, I’m not entirely sure.  I received this as a prize from Microsoft and not that I don’t appreciate the beauty of the packaging it came in, or the fact that it functions well as a door stop, it’s just that there is someone out there who will use it and enjoy it, so here we go… Time to Give It Away! (The Red Hot Chili Peppers said so!)

How do you win it?

There is NO purchase necessary, but there are some things that you must do…

• Pass through our initiation process – This is where you tattoo your forehead with the Homeland Secure IT logo. Okay, this is optional.
• Sign up to this blog by hitting the SUBSCRIBE BUTTON over in the right-hand column. You can receive the daily blog posts in email first thing in the morning this way. And you can opt out later (after the contest is over) when you get tired of my yammering…
• Sign up for our SUPER LOW traffic mailing lists HERE … We rarely send anything out, so you won’t be too annoyed. You can unsubscribe from either or both at anytime, AFTER the contest end date.
• Go to our home page at www.HomelandSecureIT.com and hit the Google +1 button
• Go to our Google business places page and leave a review and rating (hopefully a good one)
• LIKE us on facebook HERE …     Follow us on Twitter HERE …

For each one of those that you do, you increase your odds of winning considerably! The way the drawing will work is like this:

Every email / name on the blog and email subscription list will be combined into one long list. However many entries there are will be totaled and then I will use a random number generator like you might find at http://www.random.org/ will be used to pick a number and the person who appears on line number X from the list of combined subscribers will be selected. I will then contact them and see if they actually want it.

There are a few exclusions…  IF you are not from the Upstate area of SC and are unable to stop by our office and pick up the console, then you should not bother, as I don’t want to pay or take the time to ship it to you.

IF you attempt to cheat by subscribing from bogus accounts, I will likely know and unsubscribe you.

IF you are under the legal age, whatever that is, then you should not subscribe. (Let’s assume old enough to drive a car to get a prize, or the age that is legal in your world).

IF you are forbidden by law or some other oddity that keeps people on your planet from playing our silly game, then you should not subscribe.

I think that’s it….    Sign up, and good luck…

On September 1st, the anniversary of asking my wifey to marry me, I will “draw” for the winner!

It will come as no surprise that anything newsworthy results in the creators of malware intensifying their efforts to spread their malicious code. The demise of Usama Bin Laden in no exception as various attempts to entice people to follow links through are being reported all over the place. I have seen 3 people I follow on social media who were posting malicious links already.

As always, if you see a link such as “See Bin Ladens last moments” on someone’s Facebook profile, don’t click it, it is likely not something you want.

Using a reliable and trusted anti-virus with web filtering capabilities, keeping your computer operating system up to date, as well as all supporting applications such as Java, Microsoft Office, Adobe products, etc is always a great idea. We recommend and offer Trend Micro for anti-virus for either your personal desktops or for your entire business network security! We also offer complete computer security, repair, support and sales in the Greenville & Upstate SC Area.

If you would like additional information, please contact us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com

While we are on the subject of Bin Laden, let me take a moment to thank our military and everyone involved in the events of the last 24hrs. I think we may all sleep a little better at night….

It’s that time of year again when ISPs (Internet Service Providers)  all around the world perform their yearly maintenance, call it “Spring Cleaning” if you will.If you have been living under a rock and missed the stories on the news and the countless emails flying around for the last week or so, then this may come as a total surprise to you. 

In the past, Internet Cleaning Day has taken place during a 24hr period, but due to new techniques, ISPs have managed to narrow it down to only 1 hour which they have conveniently scheduled for 12pm to 1pm in each time zone.

While normal analog phone systems are not going to be affected, VoIP systems WILL be… This is often overlooked! You should follow the same procedure if your business is using Voice over IP technology. If you are unsure, it is best to disconnect the cables and place in the same container as your network cables.

Being in the computer service business, every day we are seeing more and more computers that have been compromised, whether they are Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, Linux, it doesn’t matter. Even iPhones and Androids are falling victim to various malware found as a result of blindly following links.

What can you do to help protect yourself, your computer and your private data? Use a little common sense and don’t just randomly click on every link you see.

Sometimes, a link can come to you through email, a Facebook message, or a wall post on Facebook, and it will appear to be from your best friend, or a trusted co-worker, but it was really sent from a malicious source.

Here’s an example of a link posted on Facebook recently:

Typical social engineering attempt to lure you to a bad site...

This is a typical “social engineering” attempt to get you to visit a malicious site.

It works like this: The mark will see the link on their best friend’s wall and because it looks appealing and came from Bob, it has to be good, so they click on it.  The link loads a site that LOOKS like YouTube or some other video site. When they try to play the video, what happens next is sheer genius. They are told that a codec or other piece of software needs to be updated. Of course, they have gone this far, so they will almost always agree to install the software.

And THAT is where the magic takes place. Even if you are running anti-virus, many times, this malicious software is allowed to install because the A/V sees it as a “user initiated action” and simply gets out of the way and lets you perform the install. After all, you know what you are doing, right?

Now there is malicious software running which may do many things, from disabling the anti-virus, to loading key loggers that send every key typed on that computer to some site in Tracrapistan, or full access to the machine may be granted to a remote user, allowing them to use the exploited machine to send spam, distribute more bad software etc.  Whatever takes place is surely not good. They are not defragging the hard drive and doing your taxes.

Then there’s email “Phishing”…  Here’s what that looks like…   Can you spot what is wrong?

There are a number of things wrong with the above email example… Most banks do not send you email warnings that you have been locked out of your account, and in my case, I don’t even have a Chase bank account…. But those are not the one tell-tale sign that will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt it is a phishing message or an attempt to coax you to a malicious website…

To see that, you need only hover over the link itself:

When you place your mouse over the link, without even clicking on it, your email client will generally display the actual link.  This one points to http://ciamedia.be…. not even close to a Chase server.  The perpetrator of this attempted phishing attempt didn’t even try. Sometimes they will register a domain that LOOKS like the source, such as http://www.chasesecuresite.com.

Again, if you are using current mainstream anti-virus software, such as Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security or Trend Micro Titanium, every URL that you visit will be checked before allowing you to continue… Attempting to visit a malicious site will result in a dire warning displayed in your browser….

Above is the warning you will see in your browser upon visiting a fraudulent site if you are using Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security …

Then you will also see this warning pop up from your task bar:

Obviously, relying solely on your anti-virus software is not the wisest thing in the world…   Safely browsing the web requires some common sense.

BUT, reliable and up to date anti-virus gives you an advantage that your unprotected brethren do not have. Especially for you Apple Mac OS X owners.

If you are looking for quality anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-spam software for your business or personal computer, we highly recommend Trend Micro… We are a Trend Micro partner and would love the opportunity to offer their fantastic products to you, whether you need only one install for yourself, or 1000 seats for your company.  We not only sell it, but we support it, along with full computer, server & network service / repair in Greenville & Upstate SC!

Please email info@homelandsecureit.com or call 864.990.4748 for more information.

If you are in the market for a new business computer, where do you go in the Greenville / Upstate area?

Do you go to a “big box store”? A warehouse? An office supply?

You should be aware that the “business computer” you purchase from some dealers may actually be a computer designed for home use, and not actually a business environment.

Here are a few differences between a home computer and a business computer:

• Home computers generally are designed for faster graphics (aka games) and not processes, such as multi-tasking with business applications, where you have QuickBooks, Microsoft Office and other business applications open simultaneously.
• Home computers are likely to have small power supplies, or power supplies that claim higher wattage output, when in reality, that is maximum power output, not average power output.
• Home computers may have inferior cooling systems, such as fans with bushings instead of ball bearings, possibly causing damage to the computer itself if failure should occur.
• Home computers do not have the hard drives designed for long duty cycles (being left on long periods of time), and tend to fail much quicker than their business spec counterparts.
• Home computers generally have Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium loaded by default and cannot join a corporate domain without an upgrade to Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate.
• Home computers have cases and motherboards that may not lend themselves to expansion (IE, adding drives, or additional cards).
• Home computers in most cases do not have long warranties (Our business class computers are sold with a 3 year warranty!).
• Support for your home computer is rarely easy to obtain. You may have to call a call center, stay on hold, then speak to someone who may not speak your language as their own primary language. Returns and replacement parts are hard to obtain sometimes. Our business computers are supported by *US* as well as the manufacturer who is reachable, speaks English, and will ship parts next business day at no additional charge.

Before you purchase your next business computer in Greenville / Upstate SC, consider comparing specifications with a computer designed from the ground up for use in a business! Will it cost more? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Absolutely!

Call us at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com for more information.  We are partners with the best computer manufacturers in the world: Seneca Data / Nexlink, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, and more!  Not only are we a computer dealer, we also service / repair business computers.

Kablooieeee

A common question that computer sales, repair, service and support people hear is, “How long will this computer last me?”

The most common answer is, “It depends…”

Just what does it depend on? The quality of the product is of the highest importance, but even a very reliable device can have a shortened life if not maintained properly and it is very dependent upon the environment it is subjected to.

For instance, a typical business desktop workstation could have a lifespan of 3-5 years in a “typical” office environment. But take the temperature of the room it is in up a few degrees, or expose that same computer to dirt in the air, which coats internal parts and affects how well heat is dispersed and you could have a machine that lives half as long. Power issues are another killer of desktop computers. Failure to use a surge suppressor or UPS could allow harmful voltage spikes and sags to damage components.

This is exactly why you hear “It depends” so frequently. No two locations are the same, and even offices in the same building are different.

Let’s look at what MTBF means exactly.  MTBF is the common abbreviation for “Mean Time Between Failures” and is indicative of how reliable a product is. The higher the MTBF, the more reliable the device is.

MTBF is measured in hours, such as the hard drive from a two year old Apple Mac Book that is on my desk… Its MTBF is rated at 300,000 hours, which should be, what? 34 years? WOW! That’s amazing! In reality that MTBF is a theoretical number, meaning that if all goes well, the drive should live a long happy life. Well all did not go well, the drive is dead in a tiny fraction of the MTBF.

One thing to keep in mind is that business class computers almost always contain components which have a higher MTBF than their consumer counterparts. Business class computers also have 3 year warranties available, and sometimes longer, because the manufacturer understands that they used the best parts that were available for the money. Give a business class computer consideration if you are looking to replace an important workstation or notebook in the future.

One thing I can say is, regardless, be sure to backup your systems! Use either a physical backup like a USB drive, flash drive, or even better, something like our Servosity Online Backup Solution (free trial!) to protect your data. Going by MTBF is like saying that you will live 78 years because everyone in your family did. Don’t count on it.

So how long will that computer last you? It depends….

If you need assistance in selecting a new computer or repair of an existing one for your Greenville or Upstate business, please call upon us as we offer a wide selection of Seneca Data / Nexlink, HP, Dell, Toshiba, Samsung, Acer, Lenova and more! 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com