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Special Offer For June 2013:
Data back-up services:
20GB for $10 per month
25GB for $15 per month
50GB for $20 per month
This is a great deal for large amounts of data storage. Perfect for a small business, entrepreneur or residential computer user.
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Hello,
Ask Erik is committed to helping you solve your technology problems quickly, easily and affordably. One of the best ways we can help you is by keeping you informed. Each month we will share news, tips, advice and special offers in our monthly newsletter. We always welcome questions and feedback |
| The Importance of Preventative Maintenance |
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"Preventative maintenance" refers to taking steps to help keep something functioning smoothly BEFORE something goes wrong with it. For example, you change the oil in your car every 3,000 miles to keep the car running efficiently and to prevent damage. This is considered "preventative maintenance".
Typically performing preventative maintenance is far less expensive than having to deal with the expense of repairs, especially when they are usually rush jobs. In addition to the cost, there is stress involved with a computer not working. While we can typically recover all files, there are never any guarantees and you are safer to just protect and prevent!
If you consider our oil example, I’m sure you’ll agree, it is much cheaper to replace the oil in your car every 3,000 miles than it is to replace the engine because you never changed the oil.
When it comes to keyboards, you want to keep the keyboard and touch pad clean, and, if you use your CD/DVD player/s a lot, using a good commercial CD/DVD cleaner kit to keep them clean as well.
You also want to ensure the computer has no errors in any data sectors, ensure the cooling system is working, check that files are backed up, programs are updated and the system is protected from viruses and malware. Checking the registry is a good idea also. It’s also a good idea to clean out temporary files, ensure the startup process is not cluttered and ensure you have a backup system in place that is properly functioning and backing up the correct data (the data that is important to you).
We have created preventative maintenance plans to help you keep your computer running efficiently, which saves you times and also increases the lifespan of your computer, which saves you money. For more information on our preventative maintenance plans, click here. |
Did You Know?
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Adware & Spyware are not the same thing!
Adware is considered legitimate by many software manufacturers. They offer you free programs, games of software in exchange for putting programs on your computer that display ads. Most users don’t understand they are agreeing to this when they access the original software, program or games.
Unfortunately, some freeware applications which contain adware track your online habits in order to serve ads related to you. When the adware becomes intrusive like this, then we move it in the spyware category. This becomes a privacy and security issue at this point.
Spyware is considered a malicious program and is similar to a Trojan Horse in that users unknowingly install the product when they install something else.
Spyware often has the capability to monitor your keystrokes, scan files on the hard drive, snoop other applications, such as chat programs, install other spyware programs, read cookies, change the default home page on the Web browser and more
Good protection from both is crucial. If you aren’t sure if you are protected, let us know!
That’s all for this month, stay tuned for coming newsletters and receive tips, advice and special offers.
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Summer Computer Tips
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- If you are using a laptop, consider placing your laptop on a cooling tray to help with air circulation and to prevent overheating.
- If you have a desktop, make sure there is enough space by the hard drive to allow the hot air to escape and fresh air to circulate around the tower.
- If you are going to be out of town or not using the computer and you keep it turned off, you will miss scheduled maintenance tasks, like software updates and virus definition updates. It’s important to remember that when you turn the computer back on after your absence. You should manually check for updates (especially on virus definitions) and scan the computer to check that it’s all in working order before you delve into your tasks.
- If you are on the road with your laptop in the summer months, don’t leave your laptop in the hot car when you aren’t in it. High temperatures can impact the lifespan of the battery and depending how hot it gets; other parts may be compromised as well.
- Beware of summer drinks, sand and water splashing on your laptop!
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