Attack of the Viruses!

Along with Death and Taxes, it seems the other thing we are destined to have in our lives are viruses. It is a rare day that we do not get at least one call, usually more, from a customer whose computer has become infected. And it seems there is not an anti-virus product out there that will protect you 100%. Viruses have slipped by Norton, McAfee, Kapersky, AVG, Symantec Endpoint Protection, and Microsoft Security Essentials. One of the reasons viruses slip past your protection is that the people who create them lean the definitions of the protection programs and create a new virus that avoids the protection. The anti-virus companies spot the new virus and write a new definition to protect you from it, but it takes time to write the new definition and then additional time to get the definition dispersed to all the computers in the world. In that gap is where most of the infections occur. So to protect yourself, make sure you have a current update for both your anti-virus program and its definitions. And should you get an infection, call us right away. We can usually remove the virus for between $50 and $100. On a rare occasion, the infection is so bad that we have to take your computer with us, save your data, erase your hard drive and rebuild everything from scratch, which runs about $200. Hopefully you will not experience a virus infection, but if you do, we will be there to help.

Heat - Your Computer's Enemy

Once upon a time all computers were huge and they were kept in air conditioned rooms to keep them from malfunctioning due to over-heating. Today, computers are smaller and they tolerate a wider range of operating temperatures (usually 45-80 degrees Fahrenheit). Serious damage can still be caused to your computer or its components by not providing a cool enough space. Recently one of our customers, not aware of the need to provide proper ventilation for their server, had one of the main drives fail from overheating. The server was kept in a closet with the door to the closet kept shut. To make matters worse, bubble-wrap packing material, not only a good protector of fragile items but a great thermal insulator, was piled on top of the server. Without a proper air flow to remove the heat the server generated and with the further insulation of the bubble wrap, the contact points on the hard drive became so hot that data loss was just around the corner. Fortunately, we were able to recover the great majority of the files on the drive and the customer is back in business. So whether your computer is a laptop or desktop, make sure it is surrounded with as much cool air and air circulation as possible, or you run the risk of a “melt-down”.