Top 10 Worst Excuses For Not Performing Daily Offsite Computer Backup

Daily backups have never been easier to get set up—yet many companies still hesitate to make the jump. Do any of these excuses sound familiar?

1) We aren’t sure how to get started

It’s never been easier to get set up with proper backup solutions. A quick call to Corey’s Computing can have you well on your way to reliable daily backups, even if you don’t have a clue where to start.

2) We don’t have time to back up data

Backups aren’t nearly as time-intensive today as they may once have been. In the past, off-site backup could be a time-intensive process, enough so that daily backups simply weren’t feasible for any company that didn’t need them. Cloud based backup solutions have changed that completely.

3) Natural disasters aren’t a threat to us

Many companies view regular backups as something for businesses in disaster-prone areas to consider. But there are many ways for your computer systems to become compromised; ransomware viruses, fires, hardware failures, theft of your systems, the list of digital and physical threats to on-site data go on and on.

4) We keep on-site backups

On-site backups aren’t nearly as safe as off-site backups—in many ways, they aren’t even as secure. On-site data backups can be destroyed physically by any disaster which would damage the primary data, can be stolen with relative ease, and can in many cases be more difficult to access and utilize than modern cloud-based solutions.

5) Off-site data isn’t secure enough

Cloud-based storage wasn’t always as safe as it needed to be, but modern solutions go the extra step to keep your data securely encrypted at every step of the process. Your data may be held somewhere far away, but there are plenty of solutions which will ensure no one on the other end could ever access it in a meaningful form.

6) We’re worried about lost productivity

Keeping daily backups doesn’t need to be a time-consuming hassle, nor does it need to delay your moment-to-moment operations. Modern cloud-based backup solutions operate silently in the background, backing up files without a significant draw on system resources.

7) Losing our data wouldn’t be a big deal

It may surprise you how traumatic even a single day of lost data can be to a business. Not only does it represent the loss of an entire day of work, it can complicate your relationship with clients, partners, and other entities. If you interact with other people, your lost data isn’t just your lost data—it’s other people’s time. That can have a significant effect on your reputation.

8) We don’t have dedicated IT personnel to handle it

Modern backup solutions aren’t complicated. The most basic forms of cloud-based backup are completely seamless—you won’t even need to think about them until you need them, at which point you’ll access them the same as you would your files on Google Docs or similar sites. It’s quick, it’s painless, and Corey’s Computing can help iron out the details.

9) Training our team to use backups would be difficult

Depending on the form of daily backups you choose to utilize, teaching your team to use backups can be a complete non-issue. There might be a few small habits people need to pick up to ensure data integrity and consistency across the board, but they’ll be minor things handled in a company-wide email.

10) It costs too much

It’s never been cheaper to back up your data off site. Storage space is truly inexpensive, as is the bandwidth necessary to get your data to and from data centers.

Slow Computer – How to Fix Your Slow Computer

Looking to fix your slow computer? There are any number of root problems which can lead to sluggish browsing, frustrating performance from your applications, unwatchable videos, or unplayable games. To help you figure out which combination of issues is holding you back, we’ll dive into each of the likely suspects:

• Hardware maintenance
• Software maintenance
• Malware
• Upgrades

Hardware maintenance

Like any complex piece of machinery, your computer should be physically cleaned on a regular basis. There are any number of ways poor computer hygiene can lend itself to reduced efficiency; most commonly, you’ll see problems with too much heat generation, which can slow components, trigger cautionary failsafes, and age your components prematurely.

A can of compressed air can do 99% of the hard work here. Just make sure you shut your computer off and clean it rigorously—don’t leave dust sitting where it might cause problems.

Software maintenance

Of course, hardware maintenance is only a tiny proportion of the upkeep necessary to keep your computer running quickly. You’ll want to make sure you keep the software clean and clear, too. There are a few components to this:

• Disc fragmentation. Most modern computers handle this automatically, but if yours doesn’t it can be a pain. A quick Google can tell you how your operating system handles fragmentation—and how to fix it if it’s not automatic.
• Excessive background processes. If you’re running too many programs at once, your computer will run slow. Often, we’re running far more programs than we realize in the background. Check for unnecessary programs in your task manager.
• Memory hogging toolbars and add-ons. Notice a bunch of extra buttons, bars, and frills in your browser lately? These can slow down your computer in a big way; each one is basically a background program in and of itself.
• Delayed updates. Make sure you’re installing recommended updates on a regular basis. This will upgrade drivers, patch security holes, and otherwise tweak your system to run optimally.

Malware and virus removal

Getting away from simple wear and tear aspects of your computer slowing down, let’s look at malicious infections. There are a few categories of bad data to be wary of as a computer owner. While viruses are the most dangerous and malicious, they’re not nearly as common as more mundane malware that redirects you to certain websites, forces popups on you, installed browser bars you don’t want, and similarly ruin your browsing experience.

Some viruses infect your computer to steal processing power, so the source of the infection can use your computer to hack other computers, sell your processing power, and so on. This will dramatically slow your computer.

Other malware slows your computer simply by existing and being poorly designed. A piece of software that adds extra links to every webpage isn’t just annoying, it’s often going to slow your system immensely because of bad programming.

Cleaning your system of these infections can turn a sluggish computer into a lightning fast one instantly, if enough of them are currently present.

Upgrades

Sometimes, computers aren’t slow because of maintenance issues or infections. Sometimes, they’re just getting a bit old for the task at hand. Understanding what needs to be upgraded in your computer can be difficult, but you get a general idea of the problem at hand by looking at the specific activities you’re struggling with:

• Videos. Video card, CPU, or hard drive.
• Games. Video card most likely, but potentially any component.
• Multitasking. RAM for keeping multiple programs active, CPU for switching quickly.
• Opening new programs. Hard drive or CPU.
• General computing. CPU, RAM, or hard drive.

Contact Professional Computer Repair Experts for Laptop Virus Removal

Noticed a virus on your laptop? Whether it’s a work laptop or a personal laptop, it’s a problem which demands serious attention. Allowing viruses to fester over time makes the problems they cause far worse, and attempting to resolve viruses on your own can leave seeds waiting to sprout out of sight long, long after you think the problem has been fixed.

Why take laptop virus removal seriously?

Productivity

Viruses slow down computers, redirect browsers, and force downtime. Even the most innocuous and unobtrusive virus sits in the background of your computer, eating up CPU cycles and RAM in service to some malicious cause.

Data

The longer you wait to take care of a virus, the more files get exposed to the virus and potentially corrupted. When you do get around to taking care of the virus, because it’s become a serious problem, you’ll find that you’re forced to sacrifice far more files because you delayed. The problem only grows in scope if you don’t backup your files consistently, or the files in question have corrupted backups.

Security

Every virus in your computer represents a breach of security. Private and business emails, customer information, all of it potentially compromised. If you’re in a business which deals heavily in consumer data, this can become a major ordeal and destroy your reputation. Even if you aren’t, customers and business partners don’t like working with leaky businesses.

Hardware

Many viruses run hardware in bizarre or excessive ways, which in turn shortens the lifespan of the hardware in question. This can add up to quite a lot of expensive replacements over time, if you’re not proactive enough about handling viruses.

Why use professional virus removal?

Complete removal

Removing every iota of a virus can be quite difficult, even with good software on your side. By working with a professional team familiar with viruses and willing to do research with necessary, you’re far more likely to see a complete and total removal of the viruses on your system. As many viruses can recover from a single corrupt file or innocuous folder, this is of crucial importance.

Safe recovery

Virus Removal isn’t always a clean and pretty process. Often, files and folders have been corrupted and repurposed to aid in the spread and control of the virus. Eliminating the virus without losing countless files forever means careful application of quarantines, backup recovery, and other tactics.

Vaccination

The best solution for any virus is to never be exposed to it in the first place. When that fails, you want the next best thing—total inoculation against repeat infections. Working with a professional computer support team can help you identify the vector of the infection and vaccinate your systems against a second intrusion, whether that means software solutions, new security policies, or a mix of the two.

How to choose the right computer repair experts for your virus removal

Professionalism

While there’s a cultural image of the ‘sloppy IT guys’, that doesn’t mean you should lower your standards when hiring computer repair teams. It may not matter how they dress or how they talk, but you want people who show up on time, communicate clearly, and do the work they’ve been paid for without a fuss.

Transparency

As with any maintenance and repair service, computer repair lends itself to opaque charges for unclear benefits. You want to work with a computer repair service which clearly outlines each charge and the value being offered. There shouldn’t be any mysteries on your bill, in your warranties, or in your contracts.

So You’ve Cracked Your Laptop Screen, Now What? Screen Repair?

In today’s world, the trusted laptop computer has become ubiquitous, seen operating in just about every cafe and coffee shop as well as many classrooms, libraries and boardrooms, where laptops have naturally taken the place of paper and pen.

Where once personal desktop computers ruled as kings of the computer scene, today the laptop has supplanted desktops not only in home offices but everywhere else. Your portable laptop gives you total mobility – basically allowing you to take your office with you, anywhere you go!

Laptops are much more compact than desktop setups, with everything built into one tight package, which makes such mobility possible. It also, however, makes laptops more susceptible to becoming damaged if they’re dropped (or something is dropped onto them). If your computer’s screen becomes cracked, it becomes virtually useless as far as its previous mobility is concerned. At that point, you have basically three options:

1. You can retire your laptop in favor of buying a replacement. This may be a viable option if your computer is old and tired and likely should have been replaced even before it got broken.
2. You can hook your laptop up to an external monitor (via the VGA-out port) and continue to use it as you would a standard desktop, sacrificing its previous mobility functionality.
3. You can replace the broken screen with a new or used screen (screen repair) of the same type and be back in business just as you were before the old screen became fractured. There are advantages to each of these three options to dealing with a cracked laptop screen.

Buying a Replacement

Many experts recommend a laptop replacement after 4-5 years, although the battery may go sooner and a memory upgrade may be desirable at some point before replacement is required. If your machine’s screen gets cracked and the unit is already four or five years old, replacement rather than repair may be the most prudent option depending on the brand and the quality of the unit. Spending additional money to fix a computer that may soon have to be replaced anyway maybe a waste of funds, but getting an estimate to replace the screen never hurts.

Using an External Monitor

If you’re willing to forego the built-in portability a laptop provides by having its own monitor as part of the package, you can tether your machine to an external monitor and utilize the system as you would a more sedentary desktop computer. An advantage to this kind of setup is that you can choose a monitor of whatever size best suits your needs, which will likely give you a larger view than you had before from your built-in monitor. The obvious disadvantage to using this option to deal with your cracked laptop screen problem is that you can’t just pick up your machine and use it whatever you want because it’s not so easy to cart a monitor around with you wherever you go!

Screen Repair

Repairing your laptop’s broken screen is affected by removing the portion that contains the screen and swapping it out for either a brand new screen or a used screen sourced from a used laptop that no longer operates but that has an intact screen.

If you’re nervous about repairing it yourself, any decent computer shop should be able to fix you up. A repair is cheaper than a total laptop replacement and will ensure you retain your machine’s mobility as it was intended to be.