Posts Tagged ‘Clifton Park computer repair’
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
Privacy on the Internet? Are you kidding me? We know who you are. We know where you live. We know where you go. In fact, we know everything about you; and there’s not much you can do abodit!
Most everyone has their shorts in a bunch over the latest security breach by Epsilon. Epsilon is a marketing company focusing on Internet technologies such as social media and captures information such as email addresses. Large corporations such as Disney, American Express, Target, Citibank, Chase, TD Ameritrade and hundreds of others are all clients of Epsilon.
Epsilon’s email system was breached and as a result, possibly millions of email addresses have been stolen. While Epsilon states that no personally identifiable information has been given out, this opens up the very strong possibility of computers being compromised; and massive identity theft as unsuspecting people click embedded links in fraudulent emails they receive.
As hard as one might try to retain some form of anonymity or privacy, if you use Google or make any online purchases, you can fuhgeddaboutdit. Google keeps from months to years of everything you search for and as has been shown by the latest security breach, companies such as Epsilon store millions of pieces of information from thousands of its corporate clients on what you buy.
Other than taking a baseball bat to your computer or moving to a secure family compound with no connection to the outside world, this is one of the unintended consequences of today’s technology.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company, based in Clifton Park and serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.
Tags: American Express, BestBuy, Business, Citibank, Clifton Park computer repair, Data breach, Email address, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Marketing and Advertising, Personally identifiable information, Privacy, Security, TD Ameritrade, TiVo
Posted in Privacy, Web | No Comments »
Monday, February 28th, 2011
The other day I spoke with a person who was having an issue with Quicken. She had been using Quicken and computers for quite a while.
Before we proceeded, I asked her the when was the last time she did a backup. Her response was,” just a few minutes ago as I just pressed the save button.” When I explored this further, it became apparent she never did a backup, and she has a lot of financial data going back for many years on her computer.
I explained to her how she could backup her Quicken data and suggested she purchase some USB flash drives. As Quicken doesn’t take up a lot of space, almost any current USB flash drive would work fine for her needs.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company, based in Clifton Park and serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.
Incoming search terms:
- quicken save as vs backup
Tags: Accounting, Backup, Business, Clifton Park computer repair, Gigabyte, Hardware, Intuit, Microsoft Windows, Operating system, QuickBooks, Quicken, Storage, Universal Serial Bus, USB flash drive
Posted in Security, Software, Technology | No Comments »
Sunday, February 20th, 2011
As one of our IT tech’s was unable to work yesterday in our Clifton Park computer repair office, I had the opportunity to work directly with many of our walk-in customers. Normally I only see the numbers and computers in the repair area and get to only briefly say hello or thank you to our customers.
It was wonderful talking with so many of our residential customers. While I typically don’t work on residential desktops, I did for several of our customers as it allowed them to use their computers without experiencing any downtime. And being one of the owners, I provided their computer service free of charge.
Sometimes it’s good to get back into the trenches for a little while.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.
Incoming search terms:
- website developers schenectady new york
Tags: Albany New York, Business, Clifton Park, Clifton Park computer repair, Clifton Park New York, Computer, computer repair, computer service, Customer, CustomerService, IT, New York, Schenectady New York, Troy New York
Posted in Business | No Comments »
Friday, December 10th, 2010
On a recent computer service call, one of our home PC clients was so happy with the support he received, that he offered one of our techs a cup of hot chocolate.
While the hot chocolate was initially refused, during the time it took to get the computer hooked up, a hot cup was handed to the tech. Our client then began to show him all of the villages he had setup in his home. He was obviously very excited about Christmas and told stories of the different neighborhoods and streets.
It is wonderful to be able to help people by fixing their computers and see how appreciative they are. Truly rewarding.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.
Incoming search terms:
Tags: Albany New York, Christmas, Clifton Park computer repair, Computer, computer repair, computer service, Hot chocolate, New York, PC repair, PC service, United States
Posted in Business | 1 Comment »
Friday, November 12th, 2010
Last week we received two alerts from systems which we monitor, both were servers. Had the issues not been caught it could have brought down both systems, one almost immediately, costing thousands of dollars in lost time. Both systems were miles away from our office in Clifton Park, NY.
We monitor many network servers, computers, and notebooks for a myriad of potential issues and bottlenecks. Often times, the alert may relate to something which we need to resolve, but is not an immediate threat. Some of the items we keep watch over include; processes, CPU and memory load. We check the event logs for unusual or suspicious activity. Basically we keep a watchful eye over all the systems under our supervision.
Because of this, the alerts were simply that. We were able log in remotely to the networks and resolve the situation before it became a major issue. At both sites, there were no user interruptions and if it wasn’t for the fact that we contacted our clients afterword to inform them of that we took action, it was just another business day as usual.
As all of us depend so heavily on technology, it is important to have someone looking out for your best interest and the health and safety of your network infrastructure. We can be that someone 
Tags: Central processing unit, Clifton Park, Clifton Park computer repair, Clifton Park New York, Components, Computer, Hardware, Hardware virtualization, Infrastructure, networking, notebook, Servers, Virtual machine, VMware
Posted in Business, Technology | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010
Our company has been in business for over twenty five years, and has the opportunity to work with many different vendors. We have purchased everything from stick of memory to desktop computers to network servers to specialized software, along with many different peripherals.
Going back to well over fifteen years ago, we started purchasing the majority of computers, servers and Okidata printers from Seneca Data out of Syracuse. Through the years I have had the opportunity to work with their technical staff, many are still there today. For quite some time now our account representative has been Marcy Korczakowski, and has always been great to work with. While we could shop around to save a few dollars here or there, we know that long term, building relationships has a greater impact on the bottom line.
Last month I ordered a computer for a client running GarageKeeper software. Our client is in Syracuse and our office is located in Clifton Park, so I had to travel a couple of hours to install the new computer. When I got on-site and went to connect the printers there was no parallel port, which is required to run the GarageKeeper software. At around 10:00 am I placed a call to Marcy at Seneca and explained the situation. Marcy asked if she could get the port to me by 11:30 or 12:00. When I indicated I was close to finishing, Marcy said she would be right over. Within 20 minutes I had the port.
Regardless of how diligent we are, from time to time things do not go as planned. One of the benefits of doing consistent business with the same people is that they also want you to succeed. In this case Marcy and Seneca were there to help. We were on time and our client was up in a very fast manner.
Incoming search terms:
- seneca data syracuse marcy
Tags: Business, Clifton Park computer repair, Desktop computer, Hardware, Servers, Syracuse New York
Posted in Business | 2 Comments »
Friday, August 20th, 2010
Recently, a researcher demonstrated how he could impersonate a GSM cell tower at the Def Con Convention in Las Vegas. Chris Paget, a security professional created a device which impersonates GSM cell phone towers for about $1,500.00. Note: cell phone snooping is illegal and Chris took many precautions not to break the law.
The device impersonates AT&T cell phone towers, making Android and iPhones think they are connecting to a legitimate phone tower. The system can be configured enabling the call to be listened to. The device could also be configured to intercept calls.
As Verizon Wireless and Sprint use CDMA technology, their systems would not be affected by this vulnerability. While the hack will not work with 3G, it is possible to knock the 3G offline and then the hacking device would take over. The cost to build the equipment to knock 3G offline would be less than $1,000.00.
Even if a phone has the voice mode set for encryption, the hacking device could just turn it off. And depending on the phone, there may be no notice that encryption has been disabled.
Information provided by: HITman Services, a computer and IT services company located in Clifton Park, New York.
Tags: 3G, AT&T, cellphones, Clifton Park, Clifton Park computer repair, Clifton Park New York, GSM, iPhone, Las Vegas Nevada, mobile phone, Science and Technology, Verizon
Posted in Privacy, Security, Smartphones, cell phone | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
The short answer is yes; and most recently earlier this month. The software: Google Wave. If you haven’t heard about it don’t feel too badly as it never created the buzz Google was looking for.
About a year ago, Google came out with a product called Google Wave. It was touted as a real-time collaboration and communication system. Google Wave comprised all forms of Web 2.0 including; instant messaging, wikis, social media, chat, email, and more.
The issue is that Google Wave just hasn’t taken off. People have not taken to it the way they have with Facebook. Google will continue to provide the service until the end of the year. While Wave may be down for the count, there’s always another match not too far in the distance, and I can’t imagine Google giving up.
Information provided by: HITman Services, a computer and IT services company located in Clifton Park, New York.
Tags: Clifton Park, Clifton Park computer repair, Clifton Park New York, Companies, Facebook, Google, Google Wave, Instant messaging, Search, search engine, Search Engines, Searching, Social media, Wiki
Posted in Technology | No Comments »
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
In May we had decided to try a new software program and contracted with a well know, and well established company as we thought it would be quicker to deploy than take time from client projects to update the system we were currently using.
Within a week of making the decision and attempting to work with the company, it became apparent that this would not be a good fit as it took quite a while to get questions answered. And we were just at the beginning of the implementation phase. So I contacted the company to let them know we would not be proceeding.
I had put their system out of my mind until yesterday. That is when we received a call from the company regarding us terminating the relationship. This morning I returned the call and spoke with one of their representatives. She asked why we decided not to continue with the software. I said this is a perfect example of why we stopped; we canceled in May and it is now almost August and we are just receiving a call asking us why.
I then stated if we were in a situation where a client no longer wished to do business with us we would be on the phone with them in the afternoon, or tomorrow at the latest.
Exceptional customer service needs to be a core believe from the top down and permeate throughout the organization. Everyone who comes into contact with clients or customers needs to be empowered to do whatever is necessary to make sure that clients and customers are completely satisfied.
This latest interaction with such a large company provides our computer networking and repair; and website development companies, with a good example of what not to emulate. We can always learn.
Tags: Business, Business Services, Clifton Park, Clifton Park computer repair, Clifton Park New York, Consulting, Customer Management, Customer service, Education and Training, Environmental Working Group, Industry-Specific, OpenSource, Question, Retailers, Small business, United States, Website
Posted in Business | No Comments »
Friday, July 9th, 2010
Earlier today a client from Clifton Park called in concerning an email message they did not send. When we connected with their desktop we discovered a new spam message disguised to look legitimate.
The email comes from Mail Delivery and shows Subsystem Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
The email contains an attachment which holds the payload. The attachment is called Forwarded Message.html
The body of the email message is as follows, (we substituted the email address):
Note: Forwarded message is attached.
This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification
THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY.
Delivery to the following recipient has been delayed:
name@domain.com
Message will be retried for 2 more day(s)
If you get a message like this, delete it.
Tags: Bounce message, Clifton Park, Clifton Park computer repair, Clifton Park New York, E-mail address, E-mail spam, email, Mail, Shareware, Spam, Windows
Posted in Security | No Comments »
