FlexITechs Now in Its
Eighth Year
FlexITechs is now in its ninth year of serving Sussex County residents and businesses.
After two years as the computer services arm of our sister company, Sussex County Online, FlexITechs was formed to better define the computer services offered by owner Eric Magill.
We thank all of our customers who have made it possible for us to reach our 9th year! |
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Greetings!
Thank you for your continued interest in FlexITechs. If you'd prefer not to receive our occasional email newsletters, use the "Unsubscribe" link above.
Also, be sure to:
Sincerely, Eric Magill, FlexITechs |
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Preparing for a Major Storm
With tracking models showing a significant chance of Hurricane Sandy making landfall on the Delmarva coast, I wanted to get a last-minute message out to everyone regarding storm preparations for your computer equipment.
The following will protect your equipment against anything but the most catastrophic damage:
* Shut down all computer equipment, including computers, monitors, printers, routers, modems, and anything else attached to an electrical outlet that is also attached to your computer. Also unplug any phone cords that might be connected to your computer as a power surge can travel up the phone line and into your system.
* Unplug all of that equipment, even if you have a battery backup (UPS). While a UPS will keep the computer and other devices on if power goes out, it will only keep it on for 15-30 minutes -- not enough time to avoid a hard shutdown when the battery is depleted. You may also have devices plugged into the non-battery side of the UPS, so those devices will suffer a hard shutdown even if the UPS is plugged in.
* Get any computer equipment that's on the floor up off the floor.
* Consider covering your computer equipment with plastic, such as a thick plastic trash bag.
* Check that you have your chargers for all portable devices (cell phones, tablets, laptops) that can run on batteries.
* If you don't do automated online backups to get data out of the building or your home, MAKE A FINAL BACKUP to an external hard drive or flash drive and take it off-site with you, being sure not to leave it in a car. If you have no choice but to leave the backup device in a car, make sure it's in your trunk and that all doors stay locked when you're not driving.
* If you have a business, make plans to return early the next day you open to give yourself time to get all of your computer equipment back online before opening your doors. |
Third-Party Tech Support Not Official
I've noticed a recent trend of third-party tech support companies offering themselves up as some sort of official tech support for manufacturers and software developers like Dell and Microsoft.
Basically, they pay for high placement in major search engines like Google and make their listings appear to be official.
When you call, they attempt to charge you for the service.
If you need technical support from the manufacturer of your equipment or the developer of your software, go straight to the company's web site instead of using Google.
For Dell, for instance, just go to www.dell.com and click on the technical support link there. Same for Microsoft.
I would not quite put these third-party services in the same class as the scammers who call you on the phone and say they've seen numerous errors on your computer, but they are not the official tech support sites of those companies and you could spend money unnecessarily.
In another scam that has re-started recently, hackers have taken to sending threatening emails claiming that you will be assassinated if you don't pony up some amount of money between $5,000 and $100,000. Of course, the recipient is warned not to contact authorities.
Basically, the email states that the hacker has been offered $1 million to assassinate you but that the hacker will not say anything to the entity allegedly requesting your assassination if you are willing to make an initial payment, with the inference being that you will have to make similar payments in the future to keep you off the hit list.
This sounds so ridiculous that I shouldn't even need to mention it, but I've seen enough close calls from other scams that nearly victimized people that I can easily imagine someone being terrified by such an email and offering to pay.
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Biz Tech -- Backup and Disaster Recovery Plans
Ok, the worst time to think about developing a Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan is when a storm is about to hit. The plan should have been created and tested before this point.
But since the approaching Hurricane Sandy likely has everyone's attention and has everyone wondering what they should do to prepare, this is probably a good time to point out what you should start working on once the storm passes, hopefully without any major damage that a BUDR would have been helpful for.
Because a major disaster will take a strong emotional and physical toll on you, the WORST time to figure out how to recover from your business from such an event is AFTER the disaster has occurred and you're dealing with the emotional trauma.
So, when Sandy and the Perfect Storm pass, you should immediately start planning for the next potential disaster so you'll know what to do in an orderly fashion should a Katrina-like catastrophe actually occur here.
The BUDR should include things like a list of all of your employees including their addresses and phone numbers (cell phones, too), contact information for your insurance agents, contact information for your landlord if you're renting office space, contact information for all of your equipment and software vendors, and a step-by-step plan for recovering from disasters ranging from a dead hard drive or server motherboard
to recovering from a total loss.
You should have an educated idea of how long it will take to find new office space and how long it will take each of your vendors to replace the equipment or software you use.
The Backup portion of the plan should include information on where data is being backed up and how to recover it when needed, including the password to restore the backup since reputable backup vendors will not allow you to restore without it and will not have access to the password themselves.
A Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan is not a task to be taken lightly. It must be specific, developed in consultation with experts in the various fields you will be working with during the recovery, and must be reviewed and updated on a regular basis to reflect changes in your business.
For help with this, contact FlexITechs owner Eric Magill at 302-537-4198. |
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We thank you for your past business and hope we can continue to fulfill your technology needs in the future. If you have any questions about current technology issues, feel free to contact us at 537-4198. |
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Sincerely,
Eric Magill
FlexITechs
Microsoft Small Business Specialist |
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