Posts Tagged ‘advice’
I’ve been thinking about the weather lately. Here in Buffalo, our spring so far has been sunny. Almost too sunny – not exactly an ordinary springtime here, but we’ll take it!
Other parts of the country haven’t been as lucky. Right now, many parts of the South and Midwest are battling floodwaters brought upon by violent storms. As these storms have made their way across the country a brief electrical storm passed over our way as well, which got me thinking; what is the one problem I have most frequently seen this time of year?
Power issues.
Spikes, sags, interruptions and cycle or frequency variations threaten the health of electrical components, computers, networks and the data they carry and store. A server or PC lost to a sudden, unexpected power issue can be devastating, and it doesn’t take much. A common static discharge, although harmless to a person, can be lethal to a circuit board.
Lightning generated in storms, which increase in frequency this time of year, can pose a larger problem. Lightning can create an enormous environmental disturbance, threatening any device that can carry electrical currents. Furthermore, it doesn’t take a direct lightning strike to cause damage. The electromagnetic fields created by lightning can be just as damaging. These electromagnetic fields can be strong enough to induce a current into any nearby conductive structure, including electrical infrastructure, telephone and coaxial cables.
A sudden change in voltage can cause a system failure, threatening data storage and consistency.
Protection from these environmental hazards is a must. But what is required?
We see a lot of people, in an attempt to keep costs down and increase the number of outlets available near equipment, purchase very inexpensive surge suppressors or even simple power strips. This is an inadequate solution to protect equipment from power issues and can even create other unexpected issues.
At a minimum, one should consider investing in a good surge suppressor. Our recommendation is nothing lower than a 1500 joule rating. A joule is the amount of energy the suppressor can absorb before it fails. The higher the rating, the better it will protect the equipment attached to it. Of course, nothing is fool-proof and even the best suppressor will fail given a large enough spike. Also, if you’re using traditional phone-line communications with a modem, look for a surge suppressor with a telephone line protection jack.
A good surge suppressor will protect your equipment from over-voltage events, but is not effective for other power events – under-voltage, interruptions, and other out-of-phase occurrences can still cause damage by creating instability in the electrical system your technology depends on. That is why at Aspire we always recommend an Uninterruptable Power Supply, or UPS, for every computer, printer, server and phone system we sell, service and/or install.
There are three basic types of UPS units:
1. Standby UPS – this is the most basic type of UPS. In a standby system, under normal A/C power, the attached equipment will be powered from the A/C source while the UPS unit maintains a constant charge to its battery. When a power event occurs, the UPS will switch to battery power. This switch-over can be as long as 25 milliseconds, but in most cases will keep your electronic equipment running smoothly. They also provide surge suppression against over-voltage situations. The benefits to these UPS units are their relative affordability and surge suppression. The drawback is they provide no line conditioning and even with a fast switchover it might not be fast enough at times to keep your attached equipment powered properly through the event.
The Eaton Powerware 5110-1500VA is a great all-purpose Line-Interactive UPS!
2. Line-Interactive UPS – similar in design to a Standby UPS, but these devices can maintain a consistent energy flow to attached equipment using variable-voltage transformers to balance electrical output through over and under-voltage events. This is becoming a more common technology even in inexpensive UPS options.
3. On-Line UPS – Provides electrical isolation by powering attached equipment from the battery at all times. The battery power provided maintains a consistent cycle and flow regardless of the events on the electrical system. These tend to be larger and more expensive, used more commonly in data-center and enterprise environments
Of course when considering a UPS solution, other factors such as equipment voltage, amperage and desired run-time on battery power must be determined. Aspire Technology Solutions can help you find the UPS solution that will best fit your requirements!
And remember the only sure way to protect your equipment during a storm is to shut it down properly and unplug it from A/C power. And I can’t stress this enough; always make sure you do regular and frequent data backups to guarantee your data will be safe regardless of what Mother Nature surprises us with!
Some Windows optimization techniques are well known – others are not. Here is a short list of five common problems we see on a regular basis and how to avoid or resolve them.
1. Uninstall unnecessary browser tool bars. Having one search engine tool bar on your browser is convenient. Your security software may install another that you will find useful. However, having multiple search engine tool bars and other tool bars is not only redundant but will slow down your browser.
Many applications will insist on installing a tool bar when you install the application. There is usually an option to not install the tool bar, but often the wording of the installer is tricky – pay attention to all install options when installing new software, especially anything downloaded online.
Most tool bars can be uninstalled through the add/remove programs utility in the control panel after the fact or have their own uninstall utility in their program folder.
2. Clear your temporary internet file cache. Frequently we get calls from customers experiencing sudden and unexplained browser issues. Your browser saves temporary files – graphics, HTML code, forms, etc. – from the sites you visit so the next time you load that site, it can call upon those temporary, locally saved files to speed up the page loading time. Unfortunately if this cache is not purged, the file directories become cumbersome for the browser and the browser will start to malfunction. Clearing the cache is as easy as a couple mouse clicks and the controls for this are usually found in the browser’s options menu.
3. The more data you have on your hard drive, the slower it will perform. Keep frequent backups of your data and consider storing infrequently used files (such as family photos) on other media, such as flash drives, secure-digital cards or USB hard drives. Although none of these media alone is the ideal back-up solution for irreplaceable data – secure, remote backup solutions should be considered. But for the sake of keeping your PC running smoothly, less data means quicker read/write times on the hard drive, adequate virtual memory space and quicker disk cleanup and defrag utility run times.
4. Reduce the number of applications that launch on startup. Some programs will run an auto-updater service in the background that can be turned off. These applications will most likely go out to find updates once they are launched, but turning off features that run automatically every time you start the PC will improve boot times and reduce the system resources being used on a regular basis.
5. Registry optimization can help improve system performance in Windows operating systems – customers frequently ask us for our opinion on different optimization programs; most of these costing either an annual maintenance fee or one-time purchase fee. We have found good success with I/Obit Advanced SystemCare Free edition. Running this manually on a regular basis will help keep your registry and other system resources running well.
IOBit Advanced SystemCare
Advanced SystemCare does have a malware removal utility, which we have found to be adequate for removing cookies and not much else. Stick with a quality malware removal tool like Malware Bytes for any heavy duty malware clean-up.
As always, Aspire is here to help. Call us at 716-200-4479 or email service@aspiretechnet.com if you have questions.
Unprotected, the average PC is attacked by Malware within 50 seconds of going online. If you go online with your home computer, you need protection against online threats such as viruses, spyware, phishing attempts, pharming and identity theft.
These are real threats, putting your data and even your personal security at risk.
One of my colleagues once phrased it as, “Going online without security software is like jumping into a shark tank wearing nothing but raw meat.” A colorful analogy, to be sure, but an accurate one. Every day more new viruses, spyware, Trojans and other malicious applications are released into the wilds of the internet. Experts (and not just me) say it’s close to the range of 22,000 new malware samples per day.
What is really at risk when you leave your PC unprotected? First off, and probably most importantly is time and money. The expenses of having to have a virus removed can cost 10-times as much as a one-year subscription to a consumer level security application. This is further exacerbated through down-time and the loss of productivity, not to mention the loss of data.
I mean, who reading this article doesn’t depend on their PC these days to help them find information online, pay bills, manage bank accounts, communicate with friends and family or Twitter endlessly about how they had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch? Just from a life-management perspective, how much time do you lose without having these conveniences at the tips of your fingers?
And to compound this further, one infection might not even be noticeable, but simply serve to open doors for many more, and more damaging infections to creep in. Malware programs designed to propagate across a network, key-loggers that try to steal your personal information or bugs designed simply to cripple your PC and make it unusable.
Yet, so many people walk into our office with horribly outdated security software, or none at all.
It is sad. Of course, we fix their problem for an affordable rate, and not a single one ever walks out without a new security software install with a current subscription.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
What is running, or not running on your PC? Do you have P2P applications such as LimeWire or Kazaa? They might seem like a convenient way to download files and applications for “free” but their networks are also littered with infected files and malicious applications disguised as popular downloads. Also, an improperly installed P2P application will run at all times and possibly leave your entire hard drive open to the P2P network – did you want to share your new mp3’s or your personal financial files?
Has your PC slowed down recently? Does it take a long time to finish a boot cycle? Do you have intermittent and unexplainable internet connection interruptions? Do you get messages telling you about how many malware applications have been found followed by offers to buy some really professional looking (or sounding) security software you’ve never actually heard of until now?
All of these symptoms may point to a possible malware infection.
So, how do you fix this? What precautions should you take?
First off, having current security software with an active subscription AND making sure it stays updated is the first step. If you don’t have that, get it.
Secondly, making sure all of the current Microsoft security updates are installed. Yes, yes, it is all Microsoft’s fault there are all these viruses…. Uh, no. Sorry, it’s not. They need to make sure their software is secure, for sure, but wouldn’t it be nice if we could just trust people won’t do bad things? It is still the fault of those who write and distribute the malware. Microsoft, owning 98% of the operating system market, is just their biggest target.
Different soap-box there; we’ll go off on that tangent another time.
Third, make sure your data is backed up. Current and complete. Having a computer crash due to any reason is always less painful when the data on it is duplicated somewhere else and can easily be restored. We’ll discuss backups in another blog article.
A good first step is to stop using P2P applications and make sure your network is secured. A good Firewall can be your best friend – another topic we’ll address at a future time. This also includes putting a security key and encryption on your wireless network.
Those are some of the precautions – but nothing, and I mean NOTHING goes as far as having some common sense. Don’t open random email attachments, don’t surf questionable websites, make your internet passwords strong and keep them secure.
And if you need help, we’re always around to answer questions.
