Date: August 17th 2009

PC-ASSIST/MAC-ASSIST | Updates: New Office Number! (760) 550-9496

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer!

Scott

New Office Number! (760) 550-9496

I have a new office number that rings me on both lines. Please enter this number into your contact information for me - this will be the best way to get to me. It rings all of my numbers when a call is coming in so you no longer have to dial two different numbers to find me.

(760) 550-9496

Please use this number for all communication as it is setup to manage call routing, converting voice messages to text and email so I can see what is going on right away.

If you are having an urgent issues, please indicate that clearly in the voice message if you do not reach me immediately.

REMINDER: Some of my clients are in bulding that do not receive cell phone service and others are out of the range of the towers. This does not mean I am ignoring anyone, I am just not reachable in those areas...I do check messages from the local phones.

Windows 7!

I now have two computers that are running the most recent release of Windows 7 RC.

One was an XP netbook from Asus and the other is a laptop from HP. Both are configured with 2GB of RAM and I find Windows 7 to be very fast and easy to use with even that smaller amount of memory. (umm, I have 8GB on my main office computer...)

This is probably the best version of Windows that I have had the pleasure of using. Remember, I started in DOS 1.1! Windows 3.0 was the first major graphical version to hit the market...and I have been versed in all of them since!

Windows 7 was released to be manufactured last week and will be out in October.

If you are in my neighborhood and would like to play with the latest operating system from Microsoft, please call me so we can setup some coffee and you can check it out! Note: Windows Vista is directly upgradable to Windows 7 but XP would require a complete reinstallation of the operating system and software.

Purchases of new computers at this time with Vista Home Premium and better will receive a free upgrade from Microsoft if you register the machine. XP will not directly upgrade to Windows 7 and will require a fresh install of the operating system. Vista is directly upgradeable depending on the version of Vista (32 or 64 bit).

Netbooks vs. Notebooks vs. Laptops

Over the past month I have also had the experience of attempting to setup the new Asus Netbooks. Although I have the Asus eePC 1000HE (and it now has Windows 7 on it), there have been 6 different models configured here at my office. Three of six have had to be returned to the supplier as they were clearly defective. A 50% failure rate across the models I have tried to setup it abyssmal. Two 1005-HA models failed within a few hours of being turned on, and a 900 model line did not even charge the battery.

I suggest that if you are looking for a new netbook for travel, avoid the Asus line though they offer many upgraded features. The failure rate is frustrating.

There are some major considerations when purchasing netbooks: touchpad buttons for the mouse and where they are located, operating system, memory, easy to upgrade RAM, included software, cameras on the screen for Skype and video conferencing, wireless (WiFi) level (b/g/n?), ability to handle a card to use a cell providers wireless network when travelling and of course, cost.

The newest Acers have a screen size of 11.6" and are pretty nice...though they only have XP or Windows Vista Home Basic...neither of these have the free upgrade options to Windows 7 and would require a future purchase of Win 7 to upgrade.

Anti-Virus and renewing...

As some of you have are starting to expire with your current version of your anti-virus/internet security programs, I advise giving me a call prior to renewing. The latest round of viruses that got out went right past four of the major products including Trend-Micro. Trend was at the top of the list for a while but has now shown that it too has some vulnerabilites that can be exploited by determined hackers creating these viruses.

Most of my customers are now switching to BitDefender as their subscriptions expire. This is available directly from the main page on http://www.mac-pc-assist.com. While is does cost a bit more, it offers online backup with the Total Security version and some of my clients are making good use of it.

I have personally been testing this product for about three months now. It has stopped every single attempt that was thrown at it including infected web pages, myspace accounts, FaceBook pages, and infected files from downloading.

Backups...@!!@#$!#@$

Okay, I cannot tell you how many of my clients have had their data saved from extinction by having some of the following forms of backup systems working for them.

I recently had a computer with a major infection on it. It took a few hours to scan and clean it up, but right after that was finished, the actual login (we call them profiles in computer parlance) was corrupted and the data was corrupted beyond repair. The drive also was damaged by the type of virus it was infected with.

Two months prior, my client had taken a subscription to Carbonite through my website. I logged into Carbonite and was able to restore the data within an hour or so and recreate another profile for him. After breating a sigh of relief and noticing that my blood pressure was down from 900 over 800....

Okay, so what should you do?

For businesses and anyone with CRITICAL data that CANNOT be lost, I suggest a multiple backup approach. What data are we talking about? Email stores in Outlook and Outlook Express, photos, documents that were created and might be needed in the future, accounting and financial data, and any other record that would create a detrimental loss if it was gone.

First: a local backup on an external drive. Why? If it needs to be restored fast, it is at hand and can be gotten to.

Second: an online backup such as Carbonite or Mozy, and now with BitDefender up to 2GB online. If the office or the computer were completely lost in a disaster, theoretically you can get to the data online with another computer and retrieve what you need.

Third: for accounting/financial data I have setup a system that also creates a backup onto one of the USB memory drives such as the Cruzer. This type of information can be critical and since the USB drives can be placed in your bag or keychain, it is immediately available in case of a disaster.

With daily backups it is easy to recover data, and sleep a bit better at night. Without backups, it can take up to $5,000 to recover critical data from a crashed drive.