Ask Technology Seed

Ribbon Cutting for American Kenpo Academy

2009-08-30T21:13:00.002-04:00

Technology Seed welcomes the American Kenpo Academy into the park. Congratulations!

Twitter is developing an app to display your precise whereabouts when you tweet.

2009-08-25T06:41:00.001-04:00

During the height of the Iranian election protests, one idea that floated around the Web urged Twitter users to change their locations to Tehran so that it might throw off Iranian government officials looking to crack down on locals Tweeting their dissent. Someone pointed out, however, that if it were that simple, wouldn't it make more sense for the people who were actually in Tehran to change their locations instead? more . . .

Interested in the security of your personal information on Facebook quizes? You should read this . . .

2009-08-25T06:40:00.001-04:00

(Originally posted on the ACLU of Northern California’s Bytes & Pieces blog.) Ever whiled away five minutes on a Facebook quiz, finding out what cartoon character is your look-alike or how your IQ stacks up? These quizzes may seem like a perfectly harmless way to spend a few spare minutes. But have you stopped to think about what these quizzes are learning about you and how that info could be used? Take our quiz and learn more! more . . .

Should you be compensated to use your Smartphone or Blackberry after-hours?

2009-08-10T20:09:00.004-04:00

Should you be compensated to use your Smartphone or Blackberry after-hours? Some employees are suing for that . . .

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124986371466018299.html

Interesting read.

Summer Rewards - 10% per Hour Paid to YOU

2009-08-04T14:20:00.005-04:00

Technology Seed is offering a reward for warm leads!

It couldn't be easier! You provide us with as many warm leads as you'd like and we'll follow-up with them. When we win the account, we pay you 10% of the accrued labor cost for 1 year.

10%, per hour, per month for any lead that turns into a customer. There is no minimum and no maximum.

That's it.

Leads are valid for IT Support (Networking), Business Phone Systems, Website Design.

Not-So-Fine Print: We pay you when the lead pays us. This offer is for warm leads - don't open the phonebook and send us random names. We've got that covered. Offer only applies to labor charges. Limited time offer is valid for leads provided on or after August 4, 2009.

For more information, email ksimione@tseed.com or call us 603-537-2700!

Continuous Data Protection

2009-07-20T09:36:00.002-04:00

Technology Seed™ offers business-class Continuous Data Protection (CDP) Solutions for business.

Our CDP backs up your company's data in realtime. No more changing tapes. No more going to a backup from 24 hours ago - the CDP backs up data in real-time, as you change it.

Accidentally delete an Excel doc? Word doc? Picture? Email? We can get back the version you saved 5 minutes.

Along with the local copy at your office, the data is stored offsite, at TSeed's offices in Londonderry, NH, for disaster recovery (fire, flood etc.).

Should disaster strike your facility, we'll keep a real-time, up-to-date copy of your data at our facility.

For more information, email ksimione@tseed.com or call us 603-537-2700!

Secure / Encrypted Email

2009-05-15T11:41:00.003-04:00

The number of emails sent over the internet grows each day. Likewise, the number of email sent containing sensitive information grows each day. The safety of the information sent over email is becoming a very hot topic at businesses – especially those transmitting sensitive information, legal information, business secrets, etc.

There are already legal requirements for some medical organizations that transmit sensitive patient information. Surely, as the internet continues to develop, and abuses continue to grow, you’ll hear more and more reports of stolen email, stolen information, stolen passwords, breaches of email security and so on.

Securing email has become easier. There are devices that we can easily insert into a business network that will encrypt email leaving the building. Encryption makes the email and its contents unreadable to anyone but the end user – the end user that has the correct “key” to decode the email. Called Secure Mail Gateways (SMGs), the devices analyze all email leaving the building and encrypt any email that we tell it to. You can encrypt all email, just email from certain users, or emails from any user on an email-by-email basis.

The appliances, once setup, run themselves and require very little maintenance.

Have an IT question? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help! Past Articles: tseed.blogspot.com

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

Network Vulnerability Assessments

2009-04-27T13:40:00.003-04:00

We've been doing network vulnerability audits for a long time, but never really got around to publicizing it. Recently we've had LOTS of call for thsi service.

You can read about our network vulnerability assessments and reports, but in a nutshell, we go through your entire IT infracture and tell you what's secure, what's not, and how to fix it.

It's that simple.

We'll provide you with an easy-to-follow, detailed reported telling about the vulnerabilities, how signficant they are, and how they could affect you.

Of course, we'll be there to help you fix the holes, should you need it.

Ask Technology Seed: Domain Names

2009-03-02T09:57:00.003-05:00

Ask Technology Seed

Technology Seed supports the computers and networks of business and home users. Many business owners own the domain name relevant to their company (i.e. tseed.com). However, anyone can register a name for their own use (as long as no one else owns it and there are no trademark issues). Why would a private individual register a name for non-business use?

Consider this: Most of us do a lot of communicating via email - for work, for play, for family matters. Some of us are on it all day long. Suppose you have a comcast.net email address. If Comcast decides to change their email addresses (they get bought by another company, for example – remember Adelphia?), your email address changes and everyone that has your old address needs to start using your new one. This is often confusing and results in lost email.

Suppose you register a domain name for your family (simione-family.com, for example). You own that domain name and, as long as you own it, it’ll never change. You and your family can use those email addresses (name@simione-family.com) forever and not have to worry about them ever changing.

Web Hosting goes hand-in-hand with registering a domain name. When you register the domain name, you now own it, but it doesn’t “do” anything yet. You need to order web hosting, as well, in order to actually use the name for emailing etc.

What’s the cost? While there are many places you can register domain names, GoDaddy.com is a fairly inexpensive option with decent support. Registering a domain name is $9.99/year. Web Hosting (which is the service where you’ll setup your email addresses) is roughly $5/month. It’s not quite free, but not too bad if you have several family members who would like personalized, non-changing email addresses and wouldn’t mind splitting the cost.

Have an IT question? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help! Past Articles: tseed.blogspot.com

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

New Website Release: www.InformedMedicalDecisions.org

2009-02-20T17:41:00.002-05:00

Technology Seed announces a newly launched website for the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making. Check it out HERE.

Ask Technlogy Seed: Netbooks

2009-02-08T22:10:00.002-05:00

Technology Seed supports the computers and networks of business and home users. Netbooks are an interesting breed of laptop. They are typically ultra-portable and ultra small. They are fully capable, though not fully featured. It’s a delicate balance. Read on.

The term “netbook” essentially describes a laptop designed to surf the net, more or less. They aren’t full of bells and whistles, but they are inexpensive and contain everything you need to get online, check your email etc. Some have webcams built-in for those IM video-chats.

Size: Netbooks are designed to be very light and very small with screens as small as 8”-10”. If you have bad eyes, a screen that small might be difficult to look at. But, the small size and light weight (some are around 2 pounds!) make these computers very easy to tote around, travel with, use on your lap, etc. Keep in mind, the small size also means a small keyboard. These units are not a joy to type on. While they are certainly usable, if you do lots of typing, you’re going to want something a bit larger (or you can purchase an additional USB keyboard).

Features: Netbooks are missing some familiar features. Most don’t come with CD/DVD ROM drives which makes it difficult to install software from CD, watch a DVD movie, burn a CD etc. However, you can purchase an external USB drive or share a CD/DVD drive from another computer on the network. Consider, though, that many software titles nowadays are downloadable directly over the internet. You can download Microsoft Office directly from Microsoft’s website.

Price: The price is the nicest feature of these units! You can buy a fully functional netbook for as little as $275! That’s a fully functional computer for < $300 – that’s awfully hard to beat. At that price, they nearly become throwaways (or hand-me-downs) after a year or two, if something goes wrong.

We use a few of these units at Technology Seed. The price is tough to beat and the portability is unmatched. Stop by the office if you’d like to see one.

Have an IT question? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help!

Past Articles: tseed.blogspot.com

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

Music-On-Hold, Business Phone Systems Online Store

2009-02-05T09:23:00.001-05:00

Technology Seed has launched a new online store for Music-On-Hold and Business Telephone devices. Our MOH devices are priced VERY aggressively - Check it out!

Ask Technology Seed: VPN

2009-01-05T20:19:00.002-05:00

Technology Seed supports the computers and networks of business and home users.

What is a VPN? VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. VPNs give us a way to connect to the information at our office when we’re not there. With the popularity of high-speed internet access in homes, VPNs, in recent years, have become a very popular means of getting work done on the road.

There are two main types of VPNs. The first is a Remote Access VPN where one computer is “dialing” into the corporate network from a remote site (home, hotel etc.). All that’s required is a fast internet connection at both ends (corporate network and remote user) and some setup. In this scenario, a user connects to the VPN, accesses the information they need, and disconnects.

The second type is a site-to-site VPN. A site-to-site VPN allows you to connect two entire networks together over the internet. For example, if you have offices in Houston and Boston, a site-to-site VPN connects all of the computers together all at once. It’s an “always-on” connection – there is no dialing-in and disconnecting – the two (or more!) networks are always connected and can access information from either office.

Have an IT question? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help! Past Articles: tseed.blogspot.com

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

TSeed's New Ad Spot

2009-01-05T12:25:00.002-05:00

Technology Seed launches it's new advertising campaign with a 60 second ad spot on WTKK 96.9 FM (Boston). Listen to the new spot HERE!. As always, we appreciate your ongoing support and business. Kurt Simione www.TSeed.com

Website Release: IMEC

2008-12-23T16:19:00.003-05:00

Technology Seed is proud to announce the launch of it's newest website design: IMEC (www.imecamerica.org).

IMEC is a non-profit, volunteer-based, 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to provide doctors in developing countries with quality medical equipment to improve health care for the poor. For the past 14 years, IMEC has worked with over sixty other humanitarian organizations to revitalize hundreds of existing, impoverished hospitals with donated surplus medical equipment and supplies that are organized into complete medical departments, delivering them to over seventy countries around the world.

Looking for help with your next Website Design Project? Contact us at www.website-design-boston.com.

Ask Technology Seed: UPS

2008-12-16T17:23:00.001-05:00

Technology Seed supports the computers and networks of business and home users.

After the ice storm recovery, I figured I might as well write something that might be useful to all of us who have been reminded how much we depend upon our consistent supply of electricity! How do we protect our PCs from power outages and power spikes?

Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPS) are, essentially, batteries for your PC. They serve 2 main functions. 1) To condition the power coming into your PC and 2) To allow you time to save your work if the power should go out.

Power conditioning. The electricity coming into your business or home isn’t perfect. There are spikes and low voltage conditions. Either one can negatively affect your PC – in some cases a change in voltage can ruin components. Generators are particularly tough on computers. The power coming from a generator is rarely consistent. Plugging your PC into a UPS ensures that you’re always providing the correct voltage to your computer.

Power outage. If the power goes out and you haven’t saved that spreadsheet, you will lose your work. Maybe you’ve been there before?! Having your PC plugged into a UPS gives you time to stop working, save your document and shut down properly. A UPS is not designed to allow you to continue working. You generally have only a few minutes of runtime before the battery runs out.

Notes: Many UPS devices have some outlets that are protected by the battery and some that are not. Make sure you’re plugging into the battery ones. Make sure everything you need to shutdown properly is plugged into the UPS. In other words, if the power goes out, and your monitor is not on battery you won’t be able to see what you’re doing! More expensive UPS devices have built-in controls that will automatically shut down your PC after a preset amount of time during a power outage. This feature comes in handy for businesses and home users when the power goes out and no one is around to shut down manually.

Have an IT question? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help! Past Articles: tseed.blogspot.com

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

Ask Technology Seed: Real-Time Blackhole List (RBL)

2008-12-09T22:49:00.002-05:00

Technology Seed supports the computers and networks of business and home users.

How do we minimize junk email? A server, somewhere in the world, is setup to receive and hold your email until you ask for it. Comcast, Gmail, Hotmail are all the same - they all use servers to accept and hold email for their users. Luckily, there is a very effective tool for the IT folks running these servers to use to reduce the amount of spam their users receive: Real-Time Blackhole Lists (RBLs).

What does an RBL do? It’s pretty simple. Consider this – a spammer (or junk emailer) needs a server to send their junk email through. All email, junk or not, has to flow through a mail server somewhere. Spammers look for servers that are setup incorrectly (incorrect meaning they allow anyone to send email through them). Ideally, servers should only allow their legitimate email users to send email through them.

So, if you accept my premise that spammers need a server to send their email for them, then you can accept my premise that, if we know which servers they use, we can merely block all email coming from those servers. This is all the RBLs do –they maintain an up-to-date list of servers that spammers are currently using.

So how does the RBL list help us? Easy – when you setup a mail server you can tell it to check with an RBL when email arrives. So, if I send you an email from questions@tseed.com, your email server will check with an RBL to see if the tseed.com server is on the list as a spammer. If it is flagged as a spam server, it will reject the email. That’s it. Millions of junk messages are rejected in this manner. It is one of the most effective ways of blocking spam.

If you have a home email account (Comcast, Hotmail, Gmail etc.) you have no control over the RBL settings. You can assume (and hope!) that your email provider is using an RBL list to filter out unwanted emails. If you’re a corporate user and have an in-house mail server like Exchange, Kerio or others, call us to help you ensure that you’re using RBLs to effectively cut down on your junk email.

Have an IT question? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help! Past Articles: tseed.blogspot.com

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

Ask Technology Seed: What Is a Router?

2008-12-01T22:05:00.001-05:00

Technology Seed supports the computers and networks of business and home users.

Nearly all businesses and most homes that have more than one computer and a single internet connection have a router (usually a wireless router if a laptop is involved). What’s a router? What does it do?

In their most basic form, routers are devices that share a single internet connection with multiple computers. That’s it. When you order internet service from the cable company or phone company, they provide you with service for one device. If you have multiple computers, that poses a problem. A router solves that problem. It takes that single connection and shares it with several devices at the same time. It uses a function called NAT (Network Address Translation) to keep track of who’s using what. For example, if there are two different computers on your network browsing 2 different websites, how does the router know which website to send to which computer? NAT keeps track of the computers and what each one is requesting.

Many home units come with wireless capabilities built-in. The wireless features allow you to securely roam (currently within a few hundred feet of the unit) with a wireless laptop and maintain connection to the internet. Some routers (even the home-based units) have other features available as add-ons that make them more appealing. They can act as firewalls to thwart hackers, strip-off viruses from email, filter out spam and provide other functions that your computer may not do effectively by itself.

Have an IT question? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help! Past Articles: tseed.blogspot.com

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

Ask Technology Seed: Windows Event Viewer

2008-11-25T22:12:00.001-05:00

Technology Seed supports the computers and networks of business and home users.

The Windows Event Viewer can tell you a lot about how your PC is running. Most people, though, don’t know where to find it, or how to read it.

The truth is, the Event Log can be a bit daunting. It’s chock full of entries (errors and informational), many of which are downright cryptic. However, if you glance at it every now and then, you may stumble across a log entry pointing to the solution to a problem you’re having.

To access the Event Viewer, RIGHT-CLICK on My Computer (usually on the Windows desktop or the Start button). Then click MANAGE on the new menu that appears. The Computer Management window will open. On the left, look for Event Viewer under System Tools. Expand the viewer by clicking the “+” sign. The 2 logs you’re interested in are Application and System. You’ll see that error messages under either log are designated with a red circle. Double click one of them. You’re now viewing an event that Windows deemed an error.

What do the entries mean? When you read the error, some will be clear (i.e. errors about failures to write to the hard disk can indicate hard drive failure). Others (actually, many!) aren’t so explicit and will leave you scratching your head. Don’t worry and don’t lose any sleep, that’s what Technology Seed is here for! However, if you’re really curious, a Google search of some of the keywords or phrases from the error can help solve the mystery.

Have an IT question? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help! Past Articles: tseed.blogspot.com

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

Ask Technology Seed: Failed Hard Drive

2008-11-19T06:58:00.002-05:00

Technology Seed supports the computers and networks of business and home users.

Email: Our PC is about 5 years old, has 120 GB hard drive and a Xeon processor. We'd like to fix it, rather than replace it, if possible. This weekend we upgraded the RAM (to 2 GB) and it rebooted with no problem. We then installed some software and again it rebooted as usual. Everything seemed fine, so we figured we'd clean it up a little and started a Disk Defrag. When we returned to check the progress there was an "Unmountable_Boot_Volume" blue screen error. My husband ran a test on the hard drive and there were errors. At this point, it seems that the problem is more than we know how to handle and we'd like a professional to check it out.

TSeed Response: The hard drive has crashed - it’s time for a new hard drive or a new PC. How do we come to this conclusion? 1) The PC is 5 years old. Under normal use, it’s certainly within the typical range for a hard drive (one of the few moving parts in the PC) to fail. 2) Unmountable Boot Volume: this error almost always indicates a failed hard drive. It can be a loose cable or failed motherboard, but in most cases, the drive needs to be replaced. 3) Gut feeling. Speculation tells me that they added more RAM to the PC because it was slowing down. While adding memory never hurts, when your PC gradually slows down over time, for no apparent reason, it usually points to an eminent hard drive failure. When drives fail, they generally do so over a period of time. Tell tale signs are a noisier than normal drive, and gradual loss of performance.

To resolve the problem we’ll install a new hard drive and reload Windows. If the drive failure was caught early enough we can usually recover all or some of the data off the old drive. Tip: The louder the drive is (think loud “clicking” noises), the tougher it is to recover the data.

Have an IT question? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help! Past Articles: tseed.blogspot.com

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

Ask Technology Seed: DHCP, DNS

2008-11-11T17:08:00.001-05:00

Technology Seed supports the computers and networks of business and home users.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a technology that makes it easy to configure the network settings on your PCs, printers, etc. This is normally a topic reserved for the business user but it’s of interest to any home user that has installed their own router.

Each computer on a network must have its own IP address (something like 192.168.1.1). That IP address must be unique on the network. Where does that IP address come from? DHCP is the “brain” that decides who gets what address (and a few other settings). DHCP has a pool of valid addresses to choose from. When a device requests an address (literally, it asks for one) DHCP gives out an available address from its pool. It then marks that address as “used” and will not give it out again until the expiration time for that address is exceeded. Expiration time: each address must be renewed after a preset amount of time. This helps to keep the list of used addresses current.

Domain Name System (DNS) is a technology that gives friendly names to unfriendly IP addresses. If you asked me for my company’s website, I could give you 75.150.108.153 (which is the IP address) or I could give you www.tseed.com (the DNS name). Clearly, the DNS address is a bit easier to remember!

If you have a server on your business network or a router on your home network, you’ve probably seen DHCP and DNS mentioned somewhere in the configuration - hopefully this gives you a basic idea of what they do.

Have an IT question? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help!

Past Articles: tseed.blogspot.com

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

Ask Technology Seed: Windows Mobile vs. Blackberry

2008-11-04T21:59:00.003-05:00

Technology Seed supports the computers and networks of business and home users.

Windows Mobile vs. Blackberry PDAs (Personal Digital Assistant)

Many of us keep up-to-date via mobile devices like Windows Mobile PDAs (Pocket PCs, Smartphones), and Blackberrys. But which is better? Or which is right for you? There’s no cut and dry answer, but I can probably point you in the right direction. If your goal is strictly sending and receiving emails, the Blackberry devices are the easiest, most foolproof devices to use. They are relatively easy to setup and work very well. They have been around for many years now and most of the kinks are worked out.

PDAs running Windows (Pocket PCs, Smartphones etc.) are better suited to those of us married to Microsoft Outlook. If you’re a big user of Outlook’s Email, Calendar and Tasks the integration between the two is very tight. Not to mention the interface looks very similar - if you know how to use Outlook (which most of us do!) you will already be very familiar with the look of a Windows Mobile device. This makes the learning curve real short.

For companies that use Microsoft Exchange 2003 or 2007, Windows Mobile Devices have built-in software that can take advantage of really some nice synchronization features. Nearly every popular function of Outlook is duplicated real-time when using Windows Mobile devices with Microsoft Exchange. Blackberry users can achieve similar (but not exact) results using a pricey piece of software called Blackberry Enterprise Server.

Have an IT question you’d like answered? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help!

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

Ask Technology Seed: Blogging!

2008-10-27T22:50:00.004-04:00

Technology Seed supports the computers and networks of business and home users.

Want to feel young again? Start blogging - once you get going, it can be fun!

What’s a blog? It’s a made up word that comes from the phrase “web log.” Say web log a few times fast and it becomes “blog.”

What do you use a blog for? More or less, it’s a diary. It’s a running tally of events. It’s a collection of articles. It’s anything you want to write down and make accessible to others.

Who blogs? Nowadays, lots of people! It’s getting real popular with parents who want to keep an online record of their kids for others to read. It’s popular with people like me who want to make some (hopefully!) useful articles available for others to see (tseed.blogspot.com). It’s handy for anyone who wants to make information (often informal) that they’ve written available for anyone who cares to read it.

How do you blog? This one bucks the trend in technology! The “how do I do it” is usually the most complicated in this field. Not so, with blogging. Honestly, it’s easy.

Start by going to a free blog site (yes, most are free). There are many out there, but my favorite is www.blogspot.com. Sign up for an account and follow the instructions. You’ll name your blog (maybe yourname.blogspot.com?), pick a template (basically, the colors and look of the blog), create a profile (a bit about yourself and your blog) and begin typing your first blog. You’ll have your first blog live in about 10 minutes.

Advanced users can get fancy with the look, feel and customizations, but don’t get carried away in the beginning. On the internet, content is king. Blog about interesting stuff and people will read it.

Have an IT question you’d like answered? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help!

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

Ask Technology Seed: Saving Money on Toner Refills

2008-10-22T06:29:00.008-04:00

A money saving tip, this week, for the laser printer users.

Did you know that you can refill laser toner cartridges for a fraction of the cost of a new toner cartridge? From Staples.com, a new toner for an HP LaserJet 2200 (a very common B&W laser printer) is $103.99. Refilling your own costs $29.95.

There’s a company we buy toner from (www.tonerrefillkits.com) that will sell you a kit to refill your own toner cartridge for nearly any type of laser printer (even color). The kits are easy to use and the procedure is easy to follow and well documented in the instructions that come with the toner.

If this is the first time you’ve purchased toner from them, you’ll need to buy the tool kit to assist in the install. The tool kit is good for subsequent refills, though, and only needs to be purchased once (about $13).

For laser color printers, don’t forget to buy a package for each color in your printer (typically Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black).

The packages from www.tonerrefillkits.com are only available for laser printers, though there are local shops that will refill inkjet cartridges. We typically prefer laser printers for their longevity, speed and print quality.

Have an IT question you’d like answered? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help!

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.

Ask Technology Seed: Corporate Backup Strategies

2008-10-14T21:24:00.004-04:00

Let’s discuss how we handle backups for many of our business customers. While this article pertains to business applications, the ideas are applicable to residential environments.

We believe in a multi-tiered approach to backups. That is, the more the merrier. We like to backup important data to different media and different places. If one backup should fail, you can restore from another.

On our business networks each PC is set to save its files to a common server. So, when you save a spreadsheet to My Documents, it’s actually saved on the server down the hall. Likewise, all of your email, documents and pictures are actually stored on the server (not your PC). Because of this, all we need to do is backup the server and we have everyone’s data backed up– this is much easier than backing up every single PC.

How do we backup? We start with a tape backup of the entire server. Every file and setting is backed up to a small, removable tape. The previous night’s tape is removed from the building each day so there is always a copy offsite, should disaster strike. The tape backup is our most inclusive, easiest to use backup medium.

In addition to tape backup, we’ll often use an online (offsite) backup service. We’ll use it to backup the most important data (maybe the accounting data and the most important spreadsheets and documents). Since online backup services typically charge by the amount of data you’re backing up, it saves money to backup just the most important data.

External USB hard drives can be handy devices for backing up to, as well. These are found commonly in homes as well as businesses. Plugging one into your USB port will give it its own drive letter (E:, F: etc.) that you can drag and drop files to. It’s a quick, easy way to backup your most important files. More on residential backups in a future article.

Have an IT question you’d like answered? Email questions@tseed.com – we’re happy to help!

Kurt Simione is the owner of Technology Seed, LLC (www.TSeed.com). We provide IT Support, Business Phone System Support and Website Design to businesses across the country. 603-537-2700.