Welcome To Computer Support Manhattan!
Feel free to poke around the site for useful information. If you are looking for a computer support company in your area, call us at 877-414-0035 or visit HotHeadTech for any of your IT needs.
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HotHeadTech team
Ever thought how you can enhance the speed and performance of your computer without replacing it with a new one? Here are 5 tips that can make that happen. Read on…
1. Upgrade your memory. By installing more RAM into your computer, different applications will start up faster and it will allow you to run more of them simultaneously without any hiccups.
2. Upgrade your processor. Maybe you’re just looking for your computer to speed up. By upgrading the processor, your computer will able to process info much quicker and improve the speed of the computer overall.
3. Do regular maintenance. Your servers and PC’s are exactly like a car. They need to be regularly maintained for maximum performance. At a minimum you should run a defrag once a month so your files can load faster.
4. Scan your computer for viruses. This should be completed on a weekly basis. A way you can tell if your computer is contaminated with a virus is if it’s slow. Spyware will kill off all the available resources your computer has which can cause frequent crashes and freezing.
5. Stop unnecessary programs from automatically starting up. If you have to wait a long time once you log in to be able to use your computer, this is probably what’s causing the problem. A lot of PC’s have pre-installed software that will slow your computer down and these programs should be stopped from starting up when you log in.
While the above steps are effective, they may not help computers that are REALLY old. If you see no improvements by following the 5 steps above, then it is most certainly time for an upgrade.
If you need help, give us a call or check us out at HotHeadTech.com. We can recommend the perfect computer or system upgrade for your particular business.
UPS, or commonly known as an un-interruptible power supply, is a battery power supply that can be used for computers, servers, and other network equipment.
If and when you have a power outage at your place of business, the UPS will keep any equipment plugged into it going long enough to save whatever you’re doing and shut down properly.
If you’re working on something and the power happens to go out of your office, 1 of 3 things can end up happening…
1) Say goodbye to whatever you were working on. Windows has an auto save feature, but it can stop working if the computer you’re using is turned off unexpectedly. Unless you saved the document many times while working on it, it won’t likely be there when you turn your computer back on.
2) The document is useless. Because of the power outage, the file can be corrupt even if it was saved properly. The file may be able to open up when you start it, but it has different symbols and characters that aren’t legible. To get that back you would need to redo the entire document.
3) You stepped in you know what. On average, businesses usually get 15 power outages every year. If you are able to retrieve your file after an outage, you’re one lucky duck; you may not be as lucky the next time though…
With what you’ve just read, it’s your decision if you attach a UPS to your PC’s. However, the one device that should NEVER be without a UPS is your server. A server is constantly running and an unexpected shutdown will corrupt some files making the damage spread more.
Here at HotHeadTech, we advise all our clients to have a UPS device attached to their server at a MINIMUM and for increased protection, and if your budget is flexible, one at every workstation as well.
Warning: If you’ve downloaded free software from the internet, your computer may be at risk for viruses, hackers, and spy-ware!
We’ve all heard the saying that the best things in life are free, but I’m not sure they were referring to software.
Freeware (free software), such as the AVG anti-virus free edition, Spybot, and Ad-Aware are all programs you can download for the ultimate discount: free. However, you get what you pay for.
While these programs may work just fine for someone’s home computer, they are not business class tools and should not be trusted to completely protect your computer or network from viruses, spy-ware, hackers, and other problems.
Every month we receive calls from clients who are infected with a nasty virus or spy-ware who had these programs installed and running, and were under the false assumption that they were protected.
*Why Freeware Doesn’t Protect Your Computer*
In most cases, freeware is a light version of a software program that you pay for. Take the AVG free edition for example. AVG offers a free edition of their for free software as a way of introducing you to their fully-featured product.
*You’re On Your Own*
As you might expect, freeware comes with zero guarantees or promises to function correctly, to be compatible with your system, or to safeguard you from threats.
You’re not a paying customer so you’re on your own to resolve any technical problems you encounter, and you certainly won’t get support if your computer gets infected.
Since many free applications are plagued with bugs and incompatibilities, you may end up with a mess on your hands and no one to blame but yourself.
Additionally, freeware programs are not always current with the most up to date protection, and don’t always update themselves automatically or perform scans and tasks on a regular schedule.
Bottom line: you get what you pay for. If the files and functionality of your computer or network are of high importance, then investing in a trusted, industrial strength software program is a smart and worthwhile investment.
*Want To Eliminate Computer Headaches Finally And Forever While Lowering Your IT Support Costs?*
Ask about our new complete network maintenance plan for small businesses. It’s like having a highly trained, fully staffed IT department on call without the costs or overhead! No more worries about viruses, hackers, losing data, or dealing with computer problems.
You’ll get faster performance and fewer problems while lowering your computer support costs!
Visit our website Hot Head Tech or call 1877-414-0035.
Call today to get faster performance and fewer problems!
It can be impossible to plan for every potential computer problem or emergency, but a little proactive maintenance of your network can help you avoid or greatly reduce the impact of a lot of computer disasters.
We have found that most small business owners are NOT conducting any time of proactive maintenance to their network.
This leaves them entirely vulnerable to many different disasters.
If you follow the next twelve steps, you can greatly reduce many disasters that could take place in your environment.
1. All of your software products should be registered. Also sign up to receive product alerts, patches, and automatic updates from Windows.
2. Anti-Virus definitions should always be kept up-to-date to prevent unwanted attacks into your system.
3. All data should be backed up on a DAILY basis. The data should be checked once a week as well to make sure a proper backup ran correctly. If your data is extremely important, you may want to consider storing your information in an off site location as well.
4. Use a program such as Symantec at least once a week so that unwanted spyware is removed from your computer.
5. Email from an unknown source should be avoided at all costs. Be careful not to click any links in an unknown email.
6. Peer-to-Peer file sharing sites where music or videos can be downloaded for free is not good to have on any computer connected to your network.
7. Avoid downloads as much as possible, but especially avoid “enhanced” web browsers, screen savers, cute programs, or other programs from unknown web sites.
8. Surge protectors should be used so that lightning strikes and power surges can be avoided.
9. To free up space on your hard drive, Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter should be used once a month.
10. Temporary internet files should be cleaned out monthly as well. By cleaning these files, it frees up more space that could be put to better use.
11. In your email client, deleted emails should be cleaned regularly. Also, you should set your e-mail to auto-archive older messages.
12. A firewall should be installed to keep hackers and viruses away from your environment.
As you can see, maintenance for each computer can take some time to do, but is absolutely necessary to complete.
If you prefer to have a company with experience handle these issues for you, we can provide your business with a complete network maintenance plan.
This is like having a highly trained, fully staffed IT department on call for you without the overhead!
You can rest easy without worries of deadly viruses attacking your system, hackers, data loss, or dealing with computer headaches.
Call us today at 877-414-0035 or visit our website for additional information at Hot Head Tech.