Posts Tagged ‘Clifton Park’

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If It Can Happen to Santa Clause It Can Happen To You

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

Over the weekend while taking a break, I happened to see a segment of Fred Clause which was on TV.  It was ironic as what was being shown actually happens to lots of businesses, and if it can happen to Santa Clause, it can happen to you.

An “efficiency expert” was sent in by the board of directors to take a look at how Santa runs his operations, and if Santa received 3 checkmarks, would be terminated.  Like some employees and contractors, the representative from the board had nefarious intentions.

An opportune moment presented itself and the “expert” started shredding important documents.  When the “expert” confronted Santa about the missing documents and asked about his backups; Santa replied nothing like this had ever happened before so they have no backups.  This was Santa’s third check mark and he was set for termination.

Being a movie all ended well.  But you and I don’t live in a movie set and if something can possibly go wrong it will.  Don’t get caught in a trap like Santa.  Not everyone has your best interest at heart and it pays to have backups to protect your data and digital assets.

We are currently offering a free Data Disaster Audit and Review to businesses in the Clifton Park, Albany and Saratoga area who would like some options to help Eliminate HI-Tech Frustrations.  If you’d like some free tips, give us a call or fill out our online form at www.HITmanSafe.com.

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Prepare for Technology Disasters Now

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

What a topic!  Prepare for disaster; and now.  How depressing.  Or discussing technology disaster now could be for the best.  For many however, they will bury their head in the sand, living in a world of ecstasy.  After all, everything always happens to someone else.  Unfortunately bad things happen and it is much better if we are in a position to deal with the issues when they come up, by being prepared.

Last week a colleague was relating to me an issue he was going through.  It seems a data center he works with was facing very serious failures as a majority of their systems were offline.  My colleague used this company for all of his data storage and email.  Now with the data center not able to service him, he felt like he was working in the blind.

One could argue, how could he know the data center would go down.  Most data centers these days rave about a 99.99% + up-time rate, and the data center never had any issue before.  Well, in early August if you had asked anybody when was the last time they felt an earthquake in the Albany, NY area, the majority would say never.  Had you asked them again at the end of August and their story and frame of reference would be completely different.

Let’s take a look at one scenario which could have helped my colleague.  Being a road warrior, his laptop accompanied him everywhere.  He also had his iPhone setup for email.  His laptop was setup to access his email via a web client.  This is typically a good option, but has its drawbacks.  In this case because the data center was offline, so was his email.  Where this turned into a major issue was that his calendar and contacts were now not accessible.  Had he been using a program such as Microsoft Outlook running on his laptop, at least he would have had access to some of the critical data he needed.

My colleague is a very bright individual, he just never took the time to either sit and think of potential issues or talked through possible problems with someone.   Regardless of the reason, because the data center was down, he was unable to function anywhere near his potential for several days.  The time he lost can never be replaced.

On a positive note, he decided he should take some time and talk with me about planning for future disasters now.

Because we work with many local and regional businesses in the Albany and Saratoga Region, we have been able to put into place backup procedures to help in times like this.  If you are unable to access certain portions of your business, how will you continue?  Will this be a major or minor incident?  We are currently offering a free Data Disaster Audit and Review to businesses in the area who would like some options to help Eliminate HI-Tech Frustrations.  If you’d like some free tips, give us a call or fill out our online form at www.HITmanSafe.com.

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When Technology Fails

Friday, November 11th, 2011

Like it or not we live in a world engulfed by technology.  And regardless of the technology, at times technology fails.  It’s the plans, and procedures we have in place to back us up during those times which separate the companies and people who deal with technology failures in a stressed out state and those who are able to weather the storms and continue.

Earlier this week our entire area was in a so-called Internet blackout state for a period of time for businesses and individuals who use Time Warner’s Road Runner.  While we have experienced many of these outages, this one seemed to be on a much larger scale and had the Road Runner crew scrambling.

Our office fielded many phone calls and it was very interesting to hear how people were reacting.  We had one woman who was in denial and wanted a service call even though the issue related to the Internet.  The majority of people calling in to our Clifton Park IT company were glad to know the issue was not with their systems and we were aware of the situation.

Because we work with many local and regional businesses we have been able to put into place backup procedures to help in times like this.  If you are unable to access certain portions of your business, how will you continue?  Will this be a major or minor incident?  We are currently offering a free Data Disaster Audit and Review to businesses in the area who would like some options to help Eliminate HI-Tech Frustrations.  If you’d like some free tips, give us a call or fill out our online form at www.HITmanSafe.com.

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Protecting Children When Using The Internet

Friday, November 4th, 2011

Early mornings at our Clifton Park IT office, usually is a good time to get a lot of work done as it is quiet.  A recent morning I took a phone call from a woman who had some security questions about locking down the family computer to protect her children when using the Internet.

It was a great call because this woman was more knowledgeable than most on methods to help keep her children safe.  Her question was about password protecting the BIOS on her computer.  This is a very good method to locking down a computer to limit access.   I explained the additional steps she would need to take and that the safest place for a family computer was in the kitchen or family room as it can be easily observed by everyone.

Child predators are lurking everywhere on the Internet and children do not understand the realities of what can and often does happen to unsuspecting children.  Law enforcement does a good job of helping to keep the predators at bay, but the ultimate responsibility resides with parents.  It was wonderful to be able to offer advice to someone in the community who understood the implications of unfettered access to the Internet.

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.

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Attorney Client Privilege and Technology

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

Almost everyone knows about the attorney client privilege and what transpires between a lawyer and client is confidential.  But when technology comes into play, all that is said may go beyond the ears of the lawyer and client.

Very recently I had a person visit the office of our IT company in Clifton Park.  The salesperson was trying to sell marketing services to me and was from one of the major phone book providers.

During the conversation, this person mentioned that for companies who used their designated phone numbers for tracking, they (the phone book company) has the ability to dial in and listen to calls, and then went on to mention how this person has done just that.

While I kept a poker face, I was outraged by this.  While many companies have phone systems which allow the conversation to be taped, I have yet to run across one in an attorney’s office.  And the companies always make an announcement that the conversation will may be recorded.  But to have an outside person listen in on a conversation which one of the parties (or maybe both) believe the information will be kept confidential, yet is not, is simply unbelievable.

Moral of the story; if you’re making a call to a doctor or lawyer and you want your information to be kept private, you may not want to use the number published in any of the phone books.  And if you do, you might want to ask the person if the conversation is being recorded.

If you’re serious about keeping your data safe, visit www.HITmanSafe.com.

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.

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Data Disasters

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

Data is a critical and key component to business and data disasters can strike without a moments notice.  The statistics are very grim for business which don’t prepare for the inevitable, as many never survive.

Many people I talk with regarding business security and continuity are poorly prepared in the event they lose their data.  Computers get hacked, hard drives and other components fail; folders and files get deleted; and computers get stolen.

Several months ago we received a call from a client with a critical issue.  The controller was working on her financial spreadsheets.  She decided to clean up the folder on the server and inadvertently deleted all of the spreadsheets.

As our client had been running our HITman Safe System, we were able to retrieve every spreadsheet very quickly.  We verified the versions were correct and there was no data lost.

While the controller is very good with computers, stuff just happens and mistakes get made.  As long as the proper plans and procedures are in place to mitigate damages, we can usually come through ok.

For more information on our HITman Safe System, go to www.HITmanSafe.com.

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.

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Do Anti-Virus Companies Make Viruses and Other Contemptible Practices

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

Do anti-virus companies make viruses?  As technologist, that is a question I hear a lot when visiting clients onsite and also while at the office of our computer company in Clifton Park.  I don’t believe they do.  There are other slimy practices though which businesses do partake in.

Yesterday while adding a new domain name to our account, I was asked by the representative on the phone if I would like to buy a .xxx extension for my website.  When I replied no, the representative stated it would be beneficial as it would protect my domain names.

Let me get this straight!  An organization decides to add a new domain extension which the vast majority of businesses would not want to use and they promote this as helping keep your domain names safe.  This is a form of extortion.  If they wanted to keep domain names safe all they had to do is not open up a .xxx!

Perhaps they decided to use a .xxx to help people filter, but we already have many good content filtering systems both hardware and software related available to us.  It seems this is just an attempt to extract money with nothing in value being returned.  Certainly not a good business practice by any stretch of the imagination.

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.

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Your Data and The Businesses and Organizations You Entrust With It

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

It always amazes me how willing people are to give out confidential information.  And I’m not talking about the younger generation who have grown up with computers.  Your data is yours; and the businesses and organizations you entrust with it may not really care for it as much as you do.

While some states have very strict guidelines, such as Massachusetts; imposing additional regulations only serves to increase the cost of doing business which typically gets passed on to consumers.  While regulations have their place, they are not a panacea.

Case in point: yesterday I visited a business establishment which falls under several federal laws regarding data security.  Their security measures consisted of one paper sign taped on a wall and a plastic sign on a door, they both read “Secure Room Authorized Personnel Only”.  If this works as well as the no gun signs on bank doors and drug free zone signs, the data must be secure!  The door was next to a sliding glass window and the lock on the door was cheap and had a twist button to unlock it.  A person reaching an arm through the window could unlock the door, but that would be unnecessary as the door was wide open and only one person in the building.

Earlier this month one of our lead application developers and I had a meeting with a fairly large business organization.  The organization kept very confidential records regarding its membership, which if it fell into the wrong hands could cost the business member thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, or perhaps even worse.  We drew up a proposal for the organization based upon the criteria we received from their staff.  During a phone call with the director of the organization, I was told that security really wasn’t that important to them; driving home my point.

Before giving control of your information to another person, company, or organization, you just might want to have them show you how they protect your information.  As with almost everything, it is our responsibility to take the proper precautions with our information, as we will be the ones cleaning up the mess.

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.

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Google, Amazon & Zappos

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

As one who makes a lot of purchases via the Web, I have accumulated my share of experiences, both positive and negative.  Zappos ranks extremely high on the positive scale; Amazon typically does a great job with the occasional mishap; and getting the right things to happen with Google is like wrestling with a multi-colored octopus.

Zappos is an exceptional company.  They take customer service very seriously.  Zappos provides free shipping to the customer, takes returns on unused shoes for up to 365 days, and free return shipping.  The selection of shoes at Zappos covers the gamut.  This is a great example of a company doing things right.  If you haven’t purchased from Zappos you might want to consider them for your next shoe purchase as it may inspire you to have your business achieve better customer relations.

Amazon is another company doing a very good job regarding customer service.  Not long ago Amazon added as a free bonus to Amazon Prime members, free streaming video.  Using Amazon’s website, one is able to do quite a bit with account management and purchasing.

Google, while offering some exceptional services, lacks in easily getting things done.  The issue stems from not being able to speak with Google employees without going through gyrations.  Google’s Marketplace guidelines are very consumer unfriendly.  As opposed to Zappos 365 day return policy, Google offers 15 minutes.  It is a virtually impossible task to make sure software will work properly given only 15 minutes.  Some downloads take more that 15 minutes to complete.  At a minimum, Google should provide a 7 day return policy, or if the developers really cared about empowering and retaining customers, they would offer trial versions of their software.

By learning how all of these companies interact with their customers, we can look at these as case studies and improve the companies we work for.

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.

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Business Communication and Cell Phones

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

Communication is key for success in almost everything, especially in relationships and business is all about relationships.  If you don’t believe that, for the next year stop communicating with your customers!  It would be highly doubtful you would still be in business when the year is out.

Business communication and cell phones can be the best of friends or worst of enemies.  Cell phones are great because they provide the ability to keep in touch with clients and customers from where every you may be.  Cell phones are horrible because if you give the number out to everyone and answer every call that comes in, you are not able to give the person the attention they deserve.

Being able to control the time and space of handling phone calls is key to having a successful outcome.  What is your plan for taking calls?  Do you even have one?  Do you answer the phone every time it rings? Perhaps it is better if you let most of the calls go to voice mail?  This would give you the opportunity to gather the information and respond properly.

Do you give the number out to everyone or just a select few?  Do you have a system in place for customers to send a text or email to your phone without having to disclose your phone number?

We developed a Web based system in place which allows customers to contact us 24/7.  This type of solution provides the best of both worlds by making sure clients can contact us when needed and gives us the time to properly prepare to help them resolve their issue.

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.

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