She told her boss.  The laptop is only about 1 year old, still under warranty. They ran a virus scan and didn’t see anything, the laptop has McAfee*. She got a quote from the manufacturer who would take care of it remotely. The issue was not equipment, the quote was $129.

They determined that the laptop needed to be reloaded and devices re-installed. The boss wanted to take it on. During the course of the day the boss gave it a shot, but then got busy. Linda asked if she could get in touch with a local computer technician for a quote. Linda called Big Dog IT and we gave her an estimate of $125 and asked her to drop off the machine so we can look it over. Linda said we would be her backup in case of emergency.

When I saw Linda the next day she told me the rest of the story.

By 4:00pm her boss gave up and said call the manufacturer repair guy. Linda got in touch with someone in the Philippines. He was very nice and easy to work with on the phone. Linda spent the day without her laptop…By 7:00pm Linda wanted to go home. Her guy in the Philippines said that was fine, he could still work on it remotely, just don’t turn it off.

So Linda drove home from the Eastside office to her home in Seattle. Right as she was nearing her house, the guy in the Philippines called and said he lost the connection. So Linda had to turn around and go back to the office.  Instead of staying all night at the office, Linda took the laptop home and he worked on it (remotely) until 2 in the morning.

Linda said she can get online now and she has her email. But on Friday when she started working again her email still has an issue, something weird with her attachments.  It sounds like her tech didn’t fix the real problem. From the other details it sounds like a virus.

Lesson for the day – find a computer support tech who understands your business.  It saves time and money.

*McAfee is not one of the better choices when it comes to antivirus software

- Make sure your anti-virus software is updated.
We like Trend Micro, call or email and we can come out and install or send it to you.
Yes, we all need it.

- Backup your files; there are good ways and other ways. How much is your data worth to you, how long will it take you (or someone) to rebuild a database, accounting info, or all your marketing materials?
The good way to do it is automated, safe, secure, and offsite.
Yes, we all need it.

- Patch Management; keeping your software and apps updated can help you avoid all sorts of issues.
This can be done remotely, without interruptions, or you can call an IT guy to make a site visit to get it done. It’s just part of doing business, create a budget for these things and you can avoid unnecessary expenses.
Yes, we all need it.

This is a good column and I love the way they start this article!

1. The lowly extension cord. People get cold feet. They get a space heater. They plug it into a two-pronged extension cord. They forget to unplug it when they leave work. That night, while you are sleeping, your entire business burns down. Your brilliant marketing plan, your three-year projections, all of your records, your new product samples …You get the idea. This is not something that most business owners think about, but insurance companies know that extension cords and space heaters are major fire hazards. It is good practice not to allow any extension cords in your business that aren’t three-pronged. read the whole article here

Overall, it’s a good reminder article about the basics. Which reminds me, it is so important to control costs. Businesses can save money with basic computer support and the right tech people on your side. Planning your IT budget will help save you from emergencies, employee downtime, data loss, server failure.

In the long run, it makes sense to manage your network for a monthly fee factored into your budget. Or you can run into a minor server issue, troubleshooting, repairs, and a site visit for about $1,000 plus employee downtime, all because no one was watching.

It’s a useful article, not too long of a read. Check the pages of comments and notice the repetition about extension cords, and backing up your data! Also reminders about Anti-Virus software and updates.

Plan to succeed.

Computer anti virus software is a software program that prevents, detects, and takes action to remove and disarm malicious harmful software programs, such as worms,  trojans and viruses. You can help guard your PC system from virus attacks by using a good anti-virus product. We like Trend Micro Security.

PC viruses that attack your computer are software programs that are purposely created to mess with computer operation, steal or delete data, record, corrupt, or transmit themselves to other PCs and computers and all through the world wide web. To assist you to avoid the most up to date viruses, you should update regularly your anti-virus program. Automatic updates is one of the features you will find on all anti-virus software programs.

If your computer becomes infected by a virus program or attachment, you may not realize it until you system seems to acting up. Listed below are a 9 major indicators that your computer may be contaminated with a virus:

1. Your PC appears to be running extremely slow.

2. Error messages seem to be popping up all over the place.

3. Your system shuts down often and restarts by itself frequently.

4. Your PC system restarts by itself and then fails to operate routinely.

5. You see unclear dialog boxes and menus.

6. Software programs on your PC will not operate properly.

7. Your computer hard drive system crashes and restarts every few minutes.

8. Disk drives and Disks or are unable to open and operate.

9. Your printer does not print properly.

10. Your browser gets hijacked- when you open a new browser window (internet) you no longer go to the same place…it look different.

In order to keep your computer system from becoming infected, you want to make sure you have good security software installed on your computer.

In addition, to make sure your system is protected properly, install a firewall and keep it up to date. A firewall blocks incoming and outgoing messages from leaving your computer.We also suggest that you keep your PC current by backing up your computer system.

Steps to help prevent viruses attacks on your computer:

1. Use a recommended firewall software.

2. Keep your operating system updated with regular security updates.

3. Install an effective anti virus software program.

4. Make sure you do not open email attachments that you have received from someone you don’t know.

5. Stay away from opening an email attachment even from a person you recognize, unless you know accurately what the attachment is and know that they sent the email. The person that sent the email to you may be uninformed that it contains a virus program and may not have even sent it due to a virus infection.