Are You Ready?
OK, the holidays are over and it’s time to get back to the daily grind of making ends meet. Small business people are dealing with seasonal fluctuations in their business patterns, and individuals are settling in for several months of productivity without any breaks. This is when you need your computers to work. If you are a business person, imagine for a moment what would happen if the data on your hard drive disappeared suddenly. What if the internet was no longer available, and could not be restored for days. What would happen if you lost the programs you run daily, and it all needed reinstalled? Would these issues cost you time and money?

Of course they would.

If you are a small business and you are working without a full-time IT staff, how long has it been since a professional checked your network for problems? Have you ever had a professional check your systems? The most common problems are usually user initiated and often can be easily corrected by the user, if they know the problem exists. But if these issues are left to fester, they can bring down the entire network. At the Village Geek, we are trained professionals. We will make suggestions on how you can protect yourself from data loss, hacking, virus and other issues. We will come to your small business and do an initial survey of the network at no charge. The suggestions we make are yours to act on or not, of course we will be happy to help implement whatever suggestions we make, but you can take action on these suggestions on your own if you wish.

We commonly are called on-site after a disaster has occurred. In this case we will do every thing possible to get you back up and running as quickly as possible, but a quick survey of the network at no charge will often avoid the downtime and save money.

There are some things that we see all the time that can be catastrophic. Ask yourself a few questions to see if you should have us come check your network:

1. When was the last time you backed up your data?
2. What type of media are you backing up to?
3. When was the last time you did a test restore?
4. When was the last time you checked the date on your virus signatures?
5. Do you have spyware protection?
6. Do you have a battery backup on every computer that contains critical data?
7. Do you know where you save your data files, and what they are named?
8. Do you think you are working in Microsoft?
9. Is there a hardware firewall between you and your high speed internet connection?
10. Do you know where your router, switch and firewall are physically located?
11. Can you identify them each by sight?
12. Is your password your name, or “password”?
13. Is your username or password written down near your computer?
14. Do you know what your username is?
15. Does your brother-in-law (or neighbor’s high school kid) really know all about computers?
16. Do you understand these questions?

I’ll give you the answers you should have given in a moment, but for many people just asking the questions is very revealing. If you find that you may be at risk, just give us a call. We will happily review your configuration and make SPECIFIC recommendations.


OK, here is how I would hope you answered those questions:
1. Last night,
2. It doesn’t matter as long as it’s not a floppy disk, and you know what it is.
3.and 4.Last month.
5. and 6. Yes.
7. Yes, you should know the folder, the file name, AND THE EXTENTION.
8. Microsoft is a company, not a software program. When I ask people what they were working in when a problem occurred, they often reply “In my Microsoft.” You need to know the names of the programs you use on a daily basis.
9. Yes, you should never connect your computer directly to a DSL or Cable modem. If the DSL/Cable salesman told you it has a firewall built in (“this is all you need”), remember it isn’t the salesman’s business that is at risk.
10. and 11. Yes, you need to know where these devices are, and you need to know which one is which. The most common issue you will have is when the router (firewall), modem, or switches need rebooted. Paying someone to come out for this task is a complete waste of your money.
12. and 13. NO, NO, NO!
14. If you just count on the username filling itself in, or if you log on without a username, your system is not secure.
15. No, no one person knows ALL about computers, there are too many disciplines. The advantage you have with The Village Geek, is that we are many, your brother-in-law is few.
16. I hope so.

-Steve Weigle