Northern Computer

Monday, 21 January 2013

Lenovo ThinkPad Twist Tour

Posted on 11:38 by Unknown

Lenovo ThinkPad Twist 1- The 12.5" Convertible Ultrabook

The Twist transforms into a laptop when you need to type, a tablet when you're on the go, and a stand when you want to share presentations. When you're ready to browse, bend it backward into a tent for a close-up view.

It Bends. It Folds.It Spins. It Twists.

Northern Computer - Your Trusted Partner
#1 - 495 Banks Road Kelowna, BC V1X 6A2
Phone: 250.762.7753 Fax: 250.861.1861 Toll-Free: 1.877.257.2896
Email: sales@northerncomputer.ca or service@northerncomputer.ca
Web: http://www.northerncomputer.ca

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Meet Windows 8

Posted on 11:31 by Unknown

Windows 8 is the biggest change to Windows since the original Windows 95. It uses touch technology, an app based start screen, a file hosting service called SkyDrive and more ...

The first thing you'll notice when firing up your new Windows 8 PC is the lack of a Start button. For those that find they miss the familiar start menu, there is a utility called Start8 that brings back the familiar start button to make your transition to Windows 8 a little bit easier.

During setup you are asked whether you prefer the original Windows 7 style Start menu or the Windows 8 style. From then on, everything is optional and customizable. You can change the Start menu behaviors, font, icon sizes, color, style, and which shortcuts you want Start8 to display. Documents, Music, and Pictures folders are back to where they belong (pre-Windows 8) and so is the search bar.

The free trial gives you 30 days to play, tweak, and set everything up just the way you like it before asking you to purchase the full version for $4.99. PC Users without a touch screen (which the Start screen was designed for) or who rely on the Start Button to navigate through their programs and files will appreciate Start8 bringing the familiar features and functionality back to the latest Windows operating system.

Click here to go to Stardocks website for the Start8 utility.

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Budgeting Your IT Costs

Posted on 11:28 by Unknown

Traditionally, IT support has worked a lot like a plumber – you call when something is broken. Then someone is sent to look at the problem, they troubleshoot the problem and send you a bill afterwards for the time spent resolving the issue. The emphasis is on reacting to problems that have already occurred and by the time you are aware of a problem, it’s already too late. You’ve also incurred an unexpected and unbudgeted expense – both for the repair and for the downtime experienced. This is known as the break-fix model.

Managed IT Services

This model is different from break-fix in that computers are managed pro-actively, to check for potential warning signs before they can cause problems.

Unlike the old “break-fix” IT Support model, Managed Services align both the interests of the IT provider with those of the client – namely you. Both parties desire for the client’s network to be absolutely stable – because there are costs incurred to both parties when anything goes wrong. In the event of downtime, you lose productivity, while we lose our most precious resource – technical support time. As a result of this alignment, we are incentivized to work harder and smarter to ensure that your network remains as stable as possible.

Our IT Manager program gives you all the benefits of not just one IT person, but a team of specialized and certified technicians who monitor and maintain your network for a fraction of the cost of a single dedicated IT person on your staff.

Advantages of the Managed IT services:

· You pay a fixed monthly fee for us to keep your network up and running, no matter what.

· We are incentivized to keep your network as stable as possible!

· We do all of the proactive maintenance we can to achieve optimal network stability.

· In order to achieve that, we’ve made significant investment in the latest network management systems.

· You enjoy the benefits of enterprise-level automation and monitoring systems.

· Our response times are backed by a comprehensive SLA.

Block Time

For those small businesses that may not benefit from a managed service level agreement, there is the option of block time. Block time is purchased in advance of requiring technical services. By purchasing in advance, the customer is offered a discount off the regular rates.

Labour that is performed is put against a service contract and at the beginning of each month a report is generated that gives you a summary of your service work for the month, thus reducing the amount of invoices that are generated.

Break-Fix Support

Break-fix is pretty straightforward; something breaks, and then someone fixes it. This has been the traditional approach taken by many small businesses. It has worked for many firms for a long time. However, in the traditional break-fix IT support model costs cannot be planned, downtime is incurred, data may be lost and productivity is lost.

If you happen to be lucky enough to have a couple different computers, and if you use a mostly cloud-based model, then break-fix may be easier for you. If one computer breaks, you can just switch to the other one, and carry on working while the first computer is fixed.

Disadvantages of the break-fix model:

· There is no incentive to make your network as stable as possible.

· You are charged every time you have a problem.

· There isn’t an investment in network management tools because there is no incentive for them to do so.

· It’s often a “best effort” service – response times are variable and guarantees are seldom made.

· If they attend to the same problem more than once, you might be double-billed for it.

· Your IT disasters are unexpected and can be extremely costly.

A reactive approach, where you bring someone in to fix hardware or software whenever something fails is costly, erratic and difficult to plan for and budget and emergency or after hours service can add to the expense. Also, every failure costs your business downtime. Inevitably, the total cost to a company is much, much larger than a monthly retainer.

Managed Services provides a predictable and regular cost structure that can be reliably planned into your budget. In a sense you are paying a small monthly premium to keep your business up and running rather than paying through the nose when something goes wrong. In addition, we tailor the cost of the program to the size and complexity of your business. Rather than take a “one size fits all” approach, we assess your network and IT infrastructure first so that we can tailor a solution that best fits your business objectives, operational needs, existing technical investment and your budget.

Whether your business is small with a server and a few workstations, or large with multiple locations and many workstations and servers, we have the IT solution tailored to your exact business needs.

Would you like to see how your business could achieve more, save more and grow more with managed services? Call us at 250-762-7753 or email us and take control of IT costs.

Northern Computer - Your Trusted Partner
#1 - 495 Banks Road Kelowna, BC V1X 6A2
Phone: 250.762.7753 Fax: 250.861.1861 Toll-Free: 1.877.257.2896
Email: sales@northerncomputer.ca or service@northerncomputer.ca
Web: http://www.northerncomputer.ca

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Tuesday, 8 January 2013

Choosing a strong password

Posted on 14:16 by Unknown

Password regulations on some sites are getting better these days – requesting more complex passwords in order to ensure confidentiality. So what constitutes a strong password?

A complex password should have the following characteristics:

Minimum of 10 characters

Minimum of 1 alpha character

Minimum of 1 upper case character

Minimum of 1 digit

Minimum of 1 special character (!@ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + | - = \ ‘ { } [ ] : ” ; ’ < > ? , . / )

Passwords should not:

Be less than 6 characters long

Be a word in any language, slang or jargon

Use predictable information such as your birthday, address or phone number

Be a word or number patterns such as aaabbb, zyxwvut, 123321, etc.

Be an obscenity

Be based on personal information, names of family, pets, friends, co-workers, fantasy characters, etc.

Examples of what constitutes as a complex password (think of using pass phrases as opposed to passwords):

1L0veh0ckey! Myd0giSwh1te Gre@tne55!

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Maintain Your Favorite Bookmarks – Online

Posted on 14:13 by Unknown

These days, more and more data is being stored in the Cloud which allows you to access to your data from anywhere. The cloud also allows you to synchronize your data across all your devices (computers, laptops, tablets, smart phones, etc). You can also maintain and synchronize your bookmarks online with your web browser's (ie Firefox, Safari, etc) features if you sign up for them.

There are also third party services like XMarks that provide bookmark syncronization as well. These handy services are great for providing the same experience across all of your devices, and your bookmarks are also backed up online. So why not use the services that are freely available to us? It definitely makes life a whole lot easier.

Northern Computer - Your Trusted Partner
#1 - 495 Banks Road Kelowna, BC V1X 6A2
Phone: 250.762.7753 Fax: 250.861.1861 Toll-Free: 1.877.257.2896
Email: sales@northerncomputer.ca or service@northerncomputer.ca
Web: http://www.northerncomputer.ca

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Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Virus Phone Scam Alert

Posted on 15:44 by Unknown

Last year about this time, we had clients coming in for service for their PCs and also calling us about phone calls they had received from a representative claiming to be with a company from a recognized brand such as Microsoft that offered to repair their PC for a fee. We have noticed an increase in these calls again this year.

The PC owner (victim) is told that the representative is from Microsoft and that they are calling about a computer problem (often a computer virus) that was detected by Microsoft. To confirm the problem, the victim is often directed to open Windows Event viewer to check if their PC has been infected. Several error messages are listed, even though these errors are common and often harmless. The victim is then offered technical support for a fee and directed to a website where they are prompted to download a program or enter a code. This gives control of their computer to the caller so that they can perform the required “fixes”. And then it’s time to pay a fee for the service.

The “fix” that they have performed has actually installed a virus, spyware or malware so that their computer can be controlled remotely. The victim’s credit card information has also been compromised as it is given to the scammer.

Microsoft does not send unsolicited email messages or make unsolicited phone calls to request personal or financial information or fix your computer. Below is a quote from Microsoft regarding the virus scam.

Quote from Microsoft:
“Microsoft takes the privacy and security of our customers and partners personal information very seriously. We are advising customers to treat all unsolicited phone calls with skepticism and not to provide any personal information to anyone over the phone or online. Anyone who receives an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft should hang up. We can assure you Microsoft does not make these kinds of calls.”

What should you do if you receive a similar call and aren’t sure what to do? Hang up. Or better yet, tell them you don’t own a PC and they’ll hang up on you.

If you are concerned that your may have computer problems, due to the viruses or malware, we would strongly recommend that you bring your computer in to have it thoroughly checked out.

- Janet F, IT Consultant

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Friday, 16 November 2012

Windows 7 Home Premium vs. Windows 7 Professional

Posted on 13:48 by Unknown

Came across a great article that does a great job explaining the differences between the home and premium editions of Windows 7...

Originally published by Glenn Howlett - PC World Australia (online) - http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/386085/windows_7_home_premium_vs_windows_7_professional/?

People often ask us which version of Windows they should purchase for their new PC build. Generally speaking Windows 7 Home Premium Edition has everything that most end users would need for normal day-to-day usage of their PC. There is no use in paying extra for Windows 7 Professional Edition if the added features will be of no benefit to you. Here is a list of the major differences between Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional.

Memory support

Home Premium: 16GB of physical memory supported
Professional: 192GB of physical memory supported

(*64-bit editions only.)

Recent tests of a mid range Windows 7 based PC with configurations of 4GB, 8GB and 16GB of system memory have shown only a marginal overall performance benefit between 8GB and 4GB. No performance improvement was evident when moving from 8GB to 16GB, therefore I do not see the 16GB physical memory limitation of Home Edition to be an issue when choosing an operating system.

Backup and restore

Home Premium: Limited to local HDD or DVD

Professional: Local HDD, DVD and Network

The Backup and Restore centre was first introduced in Windows Vista and provides users with the ability to back up files, folders, libraries or even their complete hard drive. Backups can be automatically scheduled by the user to any frequency they like. The only limitation on Windows 7 Home Premium Edition is that it cannot backup data to a network location such as a network-attached storage device (NAS), another PC on the network, or to a network server. Full hard drive backup can be performed by choosing the “Create a system Image” option. This image can be used as a complete disaster recovery option (as long as the image is not stored on your operating system drive). In the event of a mechanical failure or data corruption on the Operating System drive in the PC the “system image” can be restored to a new HDD and your PC can be back up and running in an hour or two, complete with all data and programs intact.