Why Do Computers Break?

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We know computers always break at the worst possible time, but what exactly prompts that failure? It’s easy to think it was something you did since you were using it at the time, but while your online gaming frenzy might cause a temporary crash, normal user actions are rarely the cause of a broken computer.

Physical Damage

Accidents happen, but they don’t always mean you need to buy a new computer. As an electrical item, liquid spills are a big problem. This could be anywhere from a spill on the keyboard, going overboard with the screen cleaning spray or even a flood that reaches the computer. Laptop users need to be especially careful when choosing their work surface, as cafes and kitchen tables often have small puddles left behind. If you’re lucky and the liquid didn’t fry the circuits, ongoing corrosion is still likely, as is stickiness to gum up the internal parts. Similarly, a dropped computer isn’t going to be happy, nor is one that’s been knocked around. Even a light thump of frustration can cause loose cables, disconnections and internal damage.

Age

Computer parts have an expected lifetime, especially moving parts like fans or mechanical hard drives. Some computers can run 24/7 for up to a decade, while others can be barely used but fail within warranty. When age is the issue there are usually early warning signs like extra noise or slowing down, but the actual ‘break’ generally happens when you go to turn the computer on, perhaps after a crash or overnight – either it makes a valiant effort before giving up, or nothing happens at all. Sometimes lasting age is the luck of the draw with how it was manufactured, and quality does play a big part in how long it can keep churning.

Power Surges

We like to think electricity is a constant stream that never varies, but computers are particularly sensitive to both surges (too much electricity) and brownouts (not enough electricity). You might notice the lights dimming or flickering during a brownout, or glowing just a tad too strong during a surge. These variations never last long, and they’re not something you can control unless it’s just your house (it’s worth checking with your neighbors), but they can easily break your computer. A surge protector can guard against mild increases in voltage, but brownouts and strong surges will still cause damage.

Heat

Overheating is a big contributor to premature computer death. Some computer parts run hot and need plenty of cooling to keep them working. You might not feel it from the outside, but internal components can rapidly build up heat that needs to go somewhere. When your airflow vents get blocked with dust or pet hair, the temperature continues to increase until components literally bake themselves to failure. At set temperatures, the computer will automatically switch off to try and cool down, however, the more often this happens and the higher the temps, the more likely your computer is to die.

Hard Drive Failure

Your data is stored on a hard drive, and if you’ve got a mechanical hard drive (most people do), it works a bit like a record player with a spinning ‘platter’ and a needle that reads it. Small bumps, liquid, age, surges, and overheating can all trigger hard drive failure. Along with making your computer unusable, hard drive failure means your data is also lost. While sudden breakage might leave you surprised, take note of any strange noises or repeated crashes and back up your data in advance.

Like a car, your computer needs to be serviced. We can check your computer both physically and its software to make sure its running right and will keep on working for you. Give us a call or text at 507-556-1439. Book your service online at Book Your Remote Service Call Now!

5 Signs Your Computer is Crying Out for Repair

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It’s pretty obvious when your
computer is already broken,
but how do you know when it’s 
about to break? Even before it
falls into a heap and refuses
to turn on, or flashes big messages
about how your files are now encrypted,
you’ll be given multiple hints
that something is wrong.
Here are the common signs your
computer needs repair,
sooner rather than later.

1. It’s running slow.
Most people assume their computer
is running slow because it’s getting older,
but it could actually be a variety of reasons.
A program behaving badly, a virus,
overheating or even a failing hard drive
can all cause a massive slow down.
You might only notice it when booting
up or starting a program, or the
problem may have taken hold to
the extent that even moving your
mouse becomes torture. Sometimes
the slow speed is simply due to
some newer software that your
hardware can’t keep up with. 

2.  Your system is running hot.
A very common sign with laptops, running
hot can be both the sign and cause of
damage. Computers have fans to blow
out hot air so they can cool off their
internal components. At the same time,
fresh air is drawn in through
vents to create an effective cooling system.
Unfortunately, just about every vent
in a computer can quickly become
clogged with dust and pet fur,
essentially choking off the circulation
and leaving components to overheat.
Desktop computers have more space
inside to circulate air, but you’ll
still need to keep their vents clear.
You’ll know your computer running too
hot if your system shuts down
frequently (safety cutout), the fan
is working serious overtime, or your
laptop is too hot to use on your lap.

3. Blue Screens of Death are everywhere.
A classic Windows error, this is quite
literally a blue screen that covers your view.
The system will still be running,
but something has gone wrong. You’ll be shown
some text and an error code, often with
Windows suggesting a restart. If a restart fixes
your problem, perhaps something didn’t load
properly at bootup and your computer had a whoopsie.
It’s rare, but it happens. If you’re getting
blue screens all the time though, that’s a
sign a hardware or software problem needs
to be resolved. Your computer will continue
to give blue screen errors more and more
frequently, so it’s best to take action
as soon as you know something’s wrong.

4. It’s making strange noises.
Your computer has a number of moving parts.
You’ll know by now which noises it normally
makes, from the startup beep to the whirring
fan. When your computer starts to make extra
noises...that’s when things get interesting.
Fans can wear down and screech or grind, hard
drives can start clicking, and in emergency
cases, you might even hear a zapping noise.
None of those are good! Whenever you notice
a strange noise, remember your computer
parts are all designed to work together and
one problem could quickly become many if
left unchecked. 

5. It crashes and freezes.
If your computer is crashing randomly,
restarting without you, or freezing
up completely, it’s a sure sign there’s
a problem. As annoying as it might be,
your computer isn’t doing this to drive
you crazy - it just feels that way!
You might notice it’s showing other signs
from this list too because crashing and
freezing are what happens when something
isn’t just wrong, it’s terribly wrong.
The problem could be almost anything,
hardware and software both, but it’s always
fixable. This is simply your computer’s
final way of crying out for repair,
desperately trying to get your attention
and a little TLC.

Is your computer doing these things?
Let us fix it for you. Call or Text us at 507-556-1439.

Book Tech Service Now!

Remote IT Will Create Tech That Works for You

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Remote Tech Support

Remote Tech Support

Remote IT Will Create Tech That Works for You

There are few things as frustrating as IT issues getting in the way of your work. Even the simplest of problems can break your flow, ruin your productivity, and waste your time.  IT should be working to boost your day instead of slowing you down.

Tripping up on a computer glitch can happen at any moment.  Working to fix one can take hours.  You might try a few steps that have worked before, ask a colleague for help, or try a web search to see what turns up.  All of these take time from you or your colleagues, and often make the original problem worse.

When you outsource your help desk, your IT problems become our IT problems.  We take charge of righting the ship to keep your tech on the right track.

Setting Up Your Business for Success

Many businesses try a break/fix model to deal with IT issues.  This means waiting for problems to happen before contacting IT to resolve them.  Break/fix adds costs and downtime to every IT issue as they happen.  To us, this makes it an unacceptable long-term solution for business.

The process of scheduling a mutually suitable time to visit, diagnosing the issue, and resolving every issue on a case-by-case basis is massively time-consuming.  Both IT technicians and in-house staff waste productive hours dealing with, often trivial, problems.

We think that time could be better spent building your business instead.

Your Personal Help Desk

When you outsource your IT help desk, you get a custom service dedicated to resolving your issues fast.  Technicians with the knowledge and experience of years in IT can work without creating new problems or making the original issue worse.  In modern IT, knowledge and experience is the key to successful solutions.

Many of the issues we resolve on a day-to-day basis are problems we have seen many times before on many different systems.  IT is our business, and we know it very well.

How Outsourced IT Works For You

Outsourcing your IT means simply submitting a ticket to have issues taken care of.  Having your own help desk to rely on means having help available exactly when you need it.  Waiting on a local firm, or nearby technician to become available should be a thing of the past.

Queueing for an ‘advisor’, waiting on hold, and spelling out your problem over and over again is no fun for anyone.  There should be better ways your time can be spent.  There are certainly many ways firms can benefit more from ours.

Submitting an electronic ticket to resolve your issue is an easy, one step, process.  Detail the problem once, email the ticket, and you can return to your work.  We’ll call you back to work on a solution when the timing best works for you.

Managing Problems Remotely

To resolve system issues, diagnose, update, or maintain systems, we often log in remotely and take ownership of the problem personally.  We’ve found there is little advantage to wasting time asking staff to find menus, click on links, and tell us what they see. We get straight to the heart of the problem and fix it there and then.

Problems that tie up one or more machines for a long time can be scheduled for out-of-hours, holiday, or weekend fixes.  Large, system-wide updates or upgrades can be done remotely when they won’t get in the way.

For staff, updates appear to happen without anyone around to see them.  You would be forgiven for thinking the IT is fixing itself.

Our golden rule is to make sure IT works for you, not the other way round.  If you are wasting staff hours on hold, arranging meetings just for your tech, or structuring your day around simple problem solving, your firm could be upgraded in a flash.

Call us at 507-556-1439 

Get Back to Brand New with a Refreshed Computer

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Remember how well your computer ran when you first brought it home? It was booting so fast, files were whizzing around at light speed, and no matter how many tabs you had open, nothing was slowing that baby down. It was spotless, inside and out. Then one day you turned it on and everything was so slooooow, taking forever to do anything – and that was only if you could even find your files in all the clutter. All that zip and speed you loved so much was gone.

The good news is you probably DON’T need a new computer, you simply need what we call a “format and reload” to:

Clear the clutter: Over time as you install applications you collect icons, files and options everywhere. They’re not necessary, they’re not used, but they were installed automatically ‘just in case’. It’s a bit like when your overnight guest shows up with a massive suitcase and then claims a shelf in your bathroom. Those applications are making themselves at home in a big way! All that uninvited clutter is slowing your system down and making it hard for you to find the things you need. Simply put, it’s a mess. Our technicians can clean your system back to pristine in no time.

Beat viral overload: Is the virus really gone? Sometimes a virus has multiple layers and can bury itself so deep even your anti-virus doesn’t see it. Despite getting the all-clear from your anti-virus, you might also be seeing the damage from the infection. Perhaps the virus made a mess of your internal file structure, left pieces of code all over the place, or deleted files essential for smooth running. When an infection has been cleared but the system is still running slow, we recommend dropping it into our store asap for a check-up and refresh.

Assess incompatible software: Installing a new piece of software can sometimes produce unexpected results. While your system met the hardware and operating system requirements, maybe it’s simply not playing nice with your other applications. Maybe they’re fighting over the same resources, system files, or clashing with one of your hardware components. Clearly, something isn’t quite right, but you’re not sure what. Our team loves to play detective and get your system back to normal.

Archive older files: Some of your files are definite keepers, long term. Your photos, recipes, accounts etc, they’re all important to keep – but are they important to keep sitting on your desktop? They’re not just slowing your computer down, you’re at risk of losing them in a crash. It’s much safer to archive them to an external drive or cloud storage, simply let us know what you’d like to keep.

What exactly is a computer refresh? It’s like a car tune-up, but more flexible. Rather than tick the boxes saying we’ve changed the oil, cleaned the filters etc, we treat each computer as a unique case. Sometimes we can tune it up in a few minutes, and that’s all it needed. Sometimes it’s worth starting over like day 1.

We can reinstall Windows and migrate your data (photos, docs, emails, bookmarks, etc), putting back only what you WANT to keep. The rest of the clutter that built up over time or piggy-backed on a virus gets flushed away. We can also set up your email and install any devices you need, like printers. It’s doing whatever is necessary to give you a fresh start with your computer, but keeping the essentials.

Ready to get back up to speed? Give us a call or text 507-556-1439

11 Reasons To Upgrade To Microsoft 365 Today

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With Microsoft 365, it seems common sense has finally prevailed, giving businesses the changes they actually want. It’s still Office, and your staff will still know exactly how to work it, but they’ll get so much more done.

1. The whole Mac/Windows drama is over

Microsoft 365 brings with it a stack of benefits, but perhaps the most relieving is the in-built file compatibility across all platforms. No more converting (or corrupting) files back and forth, productivity black holes have essentially been eliminated.

2. It’s always ready to go

Microsoft is so confident in their cloud-based software and data storage; they’re giving a 99.9% uptime guarantee. You can even call a real-life human for support.

Work online, offline or mobile – the choice is yours.

3. Security is built-in

A large part of Microsoft’s uptime certainty comes from their extremely robust security protocols. Microsoft 365 offers enterprise-grade admin controls at your end, as well as government-grade security at their end.

4. Generous data allowances

Each user gets 1TB of cloud space for file storage, which can be shared at folder or file level.

5. Work anywhere, anytime

Previously, staff needed to establish a VPN or manage security concerns which made working off-site difficult and cumbersome. Microsoft 365 has solved that problem and working from anywhere is now easy.

6. Integrated organization

Calendar, email, and contacts are all synced and updated across multiple devices: Laptop, desktop & mobile.

7. Yours for no upfront costs

Once upon a time, updating your Office version meant paying a small fortune and half a day of downtime. Microsoft 365 changes that, with no upfront cost or installation delay.

8. Mailbox storage through the roof

Forget the days of ‘user mailbox is full’ – each user is given a whopping 50GB in a gorgeous, easy-to-use mailbox.

9. Built-in malware and spam protection

Data security doesn’t stop at file storage: email is scanned for malware and spam, protecting your organization from all manner of attacks before they happen.

10. Collaboration tools and virtual meeting

Cancel your 3rd party services and bring all your collaborations into one platform.

11. Integrated Team planning

Schedule tasks, meetings and track allocations from a top-down level to know exactly how projects are progressing.

We can help with your Microsoft 365 migration and setup – give us a call or text today at 507-556-1439!

How to Make Your Photos Last A Lifetime (and Beyond)

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Digital cameras are great, and thanks to smartphones, we have one with us almost all the time. We’re taking more photos than ever before, and building a lifetime of digital data. But despite the enormous value of these photos and videos, most people don’t have a backup. It’s time to shine a light on this essential task and make it a regular habit before those precious memories are gone forever.

If you asked someone what possession they’d save from a house fire, most would say photos, and they’d make a point of grabbing a frame or album on the way out. But with digital photos, you don’t need a fire to lose everything, they could simply disappear in the blink of an eye with hardware failure or theft. There’s no warning, no smoke alarm, and without a plan already in place, no chance to recover the data. It’s time to get set up with a true backup system.

Is one copy enough?

You might think saving your information to an external hard drive or flash drive is enough. You’re right, it’s better than nothing, but since the data is stored in only one place, this isn’t a backup – it’s just storage. That drive could fail at any moment, perhaps from age, malfunction, or plain old theft.

Often enough, that drive even becomes lost over the years, put somewhere ‘safe’ and promptly forgotten! And with the way technology is moving, accessing that data in 5 years might even bring up compatibility issues – some newer computers don’t even have CD/DVD drives, yet hundreds of thousands of homes would still have photos stored on a disc.

Two copies?

You might have your extra storage drive as a backup and keep a copy on your computer. This is a better solution, and how most people store their data, but it still isn’t enough. While you’re protected against device failure, that house fire is going to take both copies up in flames. Thieves would probably grab the external drive while they’re bundling up your computer too, so again, you’d be left with zero copies. It’s close, but it’s not a true backup system.

The rule of three

We subscribe to the backup rule of three. Just reading this may sound like overkill, but tech is fragile and device failure is a constant risk. We recommend keeping one copy on the computer/device, another on an external drive, and a third copy as last resort tucked safely away in the cloud. The cloud backup can be fully automated so you don’t even need to worry about remembering to do it. If the day comes that you need your data back, it’s ready and waiting in perfect condition. Cloud technology also means your data is far away from any potential fire or flood, it’s secure and with the right provider, guaranteed against loss.

There’s a saying in the IT industry: “There are two kinds of people: those who backup, and those who have never lost all their data”. No matter what the cause of your data loss, it always has a deep impact, particularly when it comes to precious data. While re-creating some homework or the family budget might just be inconvenient, there’s no way to recreate photos once they’re gone. It’s a loss that hurts for a long time, but it’s also so very avoidable.

If you value your data, give us a call at 507-556-1439 to implement a well-rounded backup system.