What Computer Repair Techs Need to Know About Migration of Data and Programs on Windows Operating Systems

Authors: Guest Writer

Guest Post by Micah Lahren:
The old computer just won’t perform anymore, and your client needs a new machine. Thankfully, they followed your advice about backing up all their data, in case it failed completely, but they steadfastly refused to get a new machine for years. Now they want all their old programs, pictures, documents, music, and other data to be available and functional on a new machine.

Hopefully they haven’t gone out on their own and purchased one already, as many new machines are equipped with 64 bit operating systems, and those old 32 bit programs may not function at all, even with the so-called ‘compatibility mode’ of Windows operating systems. Even between operating system versions, you will find many programs that simply will not function on a different version than the OS that was intended for them.

Before rushing them into a new computer, find out what they need, and you’ll be in a better position to ensure they won’t regret moving from that old dinosaur to something new. Just grabbing any migration software and setting it to work could be a big mistake. There are many factors to take into consideration such as 32 bit/64 bit, program compatibility, hardware compatibility, and more. I’d recommend following some basic steps to ensure the best results, and client satisfaction, to say nothing of headache prevention for you, the Tech.

1. Get a list of absolutely everything they use on their computer, even simple games like Hover from ’95. It may also be helpful to implement a scale of importance for each program, such as 1-10 for importance. I’ve mentioned this before, but the CBK from Technibble has an excellent list of forms for just this situation, and it merits serious consideration if you want to cover all your bases as far as handling client data.

Of course, you’ll need them to list locations of where the data is stored on their computer that they will want to migrate, such as documents and pictures. If they’re not sure, offer to sit down with them and work it out together. It’s amazing where some old programs attempt to save program-related files. Note down all configurations you’ll need to recreate, taking detailed screen shots if you need to.

2. Find out what operating systems those programs are supported on through research and testing. Virtual machines can be an quick hassle-free way to get some of this done, but don’t rule something out if it doesn’t work on a VM, as it’s not completely foolproof. The internet can be a great resource for finding out what problems have been encountered using different programs on varying operating systems, and workarounds if there were any issues. Notify the client of the results of your investigation, and suggest new machine specifications accordingly. Depending on the importance of the old programs they wish to use, they may decide to just drop some of them and find alternatives, and you can also help them with that.

3. Depending on what they choose to do, or have already done, there’s nearly always a solution or a workaround if you try hard enough. If they’ve already bought a machine, the OS of which just won’t run some of those old programs, even with ‘compatibility mode’, try a VM such as VirtualBox, install their old OS in it, and use their old key to activate it. They may spend all their computing time inside that VM, and you’ll be their hero for resurrecting their old operating system on a faster machine.

For some of the older operating systems, you’ll need to jump through a few hoops to get them installed on a VM, but it’s not that much trouble, and it’s better than not having those programs they need. If all else fails, and there’s no way those old programs are going to work again due to one thing or another, in a worst-case scenario, you can always demonstrate newer similar applications that perform the same task faster, and in many cases, much better. As a case in point, there’s a plethora of reasons why audio cassettes and older media types aren’t popular anymore.

4. Migrate the data and programs carefully. I’m extremely hesitant to recommend any ‘migration’ software after unpleasant experiences with a few popular products that claim to be ‘hassle-free’. If you encounter proprietary software, including business software that connects to remote data sources during it’s operation, you’ll find some migration software will fail completely at attempting to reinstall the proper configurations. In addition, to ‘undo’ a failed migration, it will take additional time, in addition to the time it will take for another attempt. My recommendation is to find the original installation media (or locate it on the internet) and install everything and reconfigure it manually.

You’ll find in many cases, it will save you a lot of time compared to using a commercial ‘migration’ product. Many migration products refuse to transfer drivers, which automatically means you won’t be able to transfer that ‘all in one’ printer software they have installed on their old machine. If you’ve installed everything else manually, and simply can’t find the installation media for a specific program anywhere, perhaps that is the time when you’ll absolutely need a migration software solution. If you intend to use migration software from the start anyway, do yourself a favor and read the fine print, if you haven’t used it before. It may do the job quickly and effectively in simple cases, but cause nothing but problems in other, more complex scenarios.

5. Reacquaint the client with the new machine. If you used a VM to install some programs, show them how to use it. Show them how to access their old data, and if any workarounds needed to be effected in order for some programs to function, make sure they’re all in working order and that the client knows exactly how to perform them. As I mentioned before, be sure to complete all the paperwork for the task, and ensure their satisfaction with the migration.

If you at least follow the basic steps and make the migration as painless as possible for them, they’ll be much less hesitant to upgrade to the next version of their operating system the next time they need it, which will make your job that much easier. There’s also a very good chance they’ll refer their friends to you if anyone asks for an expert on ‘computer upgrades’.

Guest Post by Micah Lahren – Micah covers a wide spectrum of the tech industry, including PC repair, front-end development, WIMAX networking and installation, and more. He currently works with an ISP in Texas that also provides web hosting/design and computer repair, although he’s been tinkering with computers since he was 6 and eventually turned it into a career. He also enjoys traveling and doing volunteer missions in other countries.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit.

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Why Have Everything in Writing When it Comes to Invoicing?

Authors: Guest Writer

Guest Post by Micah Lahren:
I’m sure we’ve all been there before. We’re called in to migrate applications and data from an old machine to a new one, which may or may not include proprietary software from obscure companies who only do business with a limited industry sector. You’ve arrived, and get down to it. You start going through the checklist of items on the old machine, asking the client or the client’s employees exactly what they use on the computer, and what other data will need to be transferred. Meanwhile, they’re more interested in listening to the latest album of their favorite band on their MP3 player than answering your questions. The answers you get?

"I don’t know if we use that or not…"

"Well, I don’t think we use that one…"

"Steve’s out of the office, he knows all that stuff…"

You’ve possibly driven an hour or more to take care of this client, but the individuals left in charge of the office aren’t knowledgeable enough to answer your questions. Perhaps they were only hired a few months ago and aren’t completely familiar with all the operations performed by the company. Just to be safe, you include the programs the client wasn’t sure if they needed or not, and perform the transfer. Upon completion of the transfer, it’s discovered that some of the applications refuse to perform correctly, or worse, fail to launch at all. Upon further inquiry, you discover that the individual you’re dealing with doesn’t actually possess the installation media in any form, and also doesn’t know where to obtain it.

A routine data transfer has more or less turned into a circus act, minus the screaming monkeys. On the other hand, maybe you’re the one screaming like a monkey now. After you do some technical detective work and track down the companies responsible for the inoperable software, you finally get everything installed and working correctly. All the network drives have been remapped, and everything is how it should be. The printers, scanners, fax machines, and other pieces of hardware have all been reinstalled and are operational. Convincing the client to drop their MP3 player just for 10 minutes, you reboot the system and inquire as to whether everything they need is working as it should. Upon final testing, everything seems to be finished.

After several hours of jumping through fiery hoops trying to locate proprietary software sources and obscure business application companies, downloading hundreds of megabytes of printer software and drivers because original media was missing, and final testing to ensure absolutely everything is working, you leave the premises and return to other service calls. The next day, the client calls you back. “Nothing is working! You took too long to do it anyway! We’re not paying you, and we’re calling someone else!”

Have Everything in Writing Before and After the Work

Routine service calls such as malware removal or simple hardware installation rarely turn messy like the scenario mentioned earlier. You usually deal with the individual who is most knowledgeable about the system you’re working on, and they generally care enough to know what they need done. But occasionally you’ll run into scenarios where you’re dealing with employees of a company who sometimes couldn’t care less what happens to their computer until they are under pressure to complete tasks that require them to use that computer.

In situations like that, you need to have everything in writing beforehand. Two basic steps will save you a lot of headaches, and possibly much more, including your reputation as an experienced Tech. If you already have the CBK from Technibble, which I will talk about in a bit, you’ve already got all these bases covered with the plethora of forms available to you in the kit, but if you don’t, you’ll need to implement the following steps below with your own forms.

1. Do investigative work and use preparation techniques. Write/Type out everything you’ll be doing, and require their signature or written consent to perform it. If this involves migration of data and applications, require a list of all data locations and applications that will need to be transferred to be given to you via email or fax, before you do the work. This requires the client (or the client’s employees, if the client isn’t knowledgeable about the systems being used) to be at least marginally knowledgeable about what they actually use on their computer. Require that all installation media for the applications be available, and when media is missing, require contact details for the companies responsible for the software you will be dealing with.

Most companies have this kind of information easily available in a filing system for future reference. For other service calls of a less detailed nature, simple notation of what work you’re about to perform should be sufficient, along with their signature or initials for confirmation. You should also have some information regarding what liability you will or will not have depending on what issue may resurface after your work is done, such as a warranty limitation or exclusions. This may seem like overkill, but in many cases, it will protect you and your reputation in the long run.

2. After the work has been completed, pull out that paperwork you prepared, with a space for them to add their signature with a note that all work was completed to their satisfaction, and that all programs and applications are completely operational. Any issues that may pop up later, due to the incompetence of the computer user, cannot be traced back to your previous work, as all work was noted as being completed to their complete satisfaction, with their signature. In the case of routine service calls such as malware removal, this will also negate the possibility of individuals complaining that you didn’t actually remove the malware, when in all actuality, you did remove it, but they inadvertently repeated the bad move that put the malware on their system in the first place.

This kind of paperwork requires that you be absolutely sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have completed all requested work. For basic examples, the malware was completely eliminated with no traces left, or you tested all applications you transferred to ensure compatibility and operational status, or you located all the data you transferred and ensured there was nothing missing.

As I mentioned, this may sound like overkill to many, but I vividly remember experiences where this kind of paperwork could have saved me many headaches, but I had not yet implemented my paperwork strategy to that level of effectiveness. Most of us love working with tech, and I speak for myself when I say sometimes the paperwork aspect can suffer as a result of being focused on the work more than the paperwork. Perhaps you don’t feel you have the time, energy, motivation, or creativity you need to effectively create the forms that would be indispensable in situations where having things in writing is imperative. You don’t have to create them yourself. They’re already available in Technibble’s CBK, the Computer Business Kit.

In the CBK, you’ll have access to forms such as the Data Backup Checklist, which outlines exactly what data you’ll be backing up, and has slots for the client to list exactly what applications they’ll require along with keys or serial numbers for those applications. Browsers and browser data are also included in the information gathered beforehand. You’ll also find the Engagement Forms, which detail such things as liability in the case of data loss or other situations, along with information regarding liability in the scenario of incomplete or inaccurate information supplied by the client, which is a successful prevention method of severe complications and many headaches.

You’ll also find the handy ‘Work Order’ form, which includes warranty information regarding your work, along with exclusions designed to protect you from such things as user error or user inflicted infection of the computer you just finished working on. All of these forms are easily modified to fit the specific situation you may find yourself in, so I really recommend getting the CBK. I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg, you might say, in the way of the amount and variety of forms encompassed in the kit, as I’ve only mentioned a few. You’ll most likely also find the maintenance forms useful as well, as most of us do regular maintenance for companies who rely on their machines 24/7.

In conclusion, I’d just like to reiterate the importance of having everything in writing. You never know when you’ll be asked to do work around the lines of the scenario mentioned at the start. It will happen, sooner or later, and with the Computer Business Kit under your arm, you’re well prepared for any similar situation. I’m sure you’d agree that your reputation, time, money, and sanity are worth the paperwork involved in having those work forms filled out and signed by the client. In addition, you’re much less likely to put on a screaming monkey act when things go awry.

Guest Post by Micah Lahren – Micah covers a wide spectrum of the tech industry, including PC repair, front-end development, WIMAX networking and installation, and more. He currently works with an ISP in Texas that also provides web hosting/design and computer repair, although he’s been tinkering with computers since he was 6 and eventually turned it into a career. He also enjoys traveling and doing volunteer missions in other countries.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit.

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Episode 60 – 20 Tips To Improve Your Computer Business Part 1

We talk with a computer consultant who wrote an e-book with helpful tips for other computer business owners and is giving it to them FREE.

TechPodcasts Promo Tag :10
Intro 1:18
Billboard 1:34

News and Comment segment 2:53
AMD was awarded $12.6 million from the U.S. Department of Energy for two research projects.

MakeUseOf is offering a free e-book called Your Guide to Solid State Drives.

Over 400,000 Yahoo passwords were stolen July 11.

Betaworks reports that it has acquired Digg.

Commercial Break 2:00
The Computer Business Kit

Intro to Topic 2:11
Today we’re going to talk with Matthew Rodela an IT consultant, owner of Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy and author of a free e-book called 20 Things You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your Computer Business. We’ll learn what inspired him to write it, find out what makes it different from other publications of its kind, and discuss how you can incorporate the first ten tips listed in his e-book into your own business. Par1 1 of a two part series.

Interview with Matthew Rodela 21:59

Episode 61 Teaser :33

Wrap up and Close :46

Comments, questions or suggestions? Send them in to comments@theforcefield.net or post them in The Force Field Forums. Feedback on this topic will be read by the host and included in future episodes of the show. Visit us at http://www.theforcefield.net!

©2012 Savoia Computer. All rights reserved.

 

Episode 60 – 20 Tips To Improve Your Computer Business Part 1

We talk with a computer consultant who wrote an e-book with helpful tips for other computer business owners and is giving it to them FREE.

TechPodcasts Promo Tag :10
Intro 1:18
Billboard 1:34

News and Comment segment 2:53
AMD was awarded $12.6 million from the U.S. Department of Energy for two research projects.

MakeUseOf is offering a free e-book called Your Guide to Solid State Drives.

Over 400,000 Yahoo passwords were stolen July 11.

Betaworks reports that it has acquired Digg.

Commercial Break 2:00
The Computer Business Kit

Intro to Topic 2:11
Today we’re going to talk with Matthew Rodela an IT consultant, owner of Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy and author of a free e-book called 20 Things You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your Computer Business. We’ll learn what inspired him to write it, find out what makes it different from other publications of its kind, and discuss how you can incorporate the first ten tips listed in his e-book into your own business. Par1 1 of a two part series.

Interview with Matthew Rodela 21:59

Episode 61 Teaser :33

Wrap up and Close :46

Comments, questions or suggestions? Send them in to comments@theforcefield.net or post them in The Force Field Forums. Feedback on this topic will be read by the host and included in future episodes of the show. Visit us at http://www.theforcefield.net!

©2012 Savoia Computer. All rights reserved.

Marketing a Computer Business In A Small Town

Authors: Guest Writer

Guest Post by Adam Sewell:
Let me introduce myself. My name is Adam Sewell, and I run a technology services business in a small town of 20,000. MyGeek Computer Services has been around for a little over two years now, and I’ve had a hard time making my business known in the community, even though I grew up here. I found that marketing my business using conventional advertising methods was ineffective. Yellow Pages, Google Ads, Facebook ads, and other advertisements just didn’t produce the results that I expected. After about a year of failed marketing attempts, I realized something important. My small town reacts differently to marketing compared to a large city. In this article, I will detail what I did, how I did it, and what proved successful.

As I mentioned, my small town has about 20,000 residents. The population is composed of ex-textile workers, small business owners, and a good selection of affluent individuals. Our town is best known for its pork barbeque, and a nearby lake is popular for recreational activities. We are nestled in the middle of a triangle of three of the largest cities in the state, all within an hours drive. Like many other small southern cities, there is a very strong network of ‘good ol’ boys’. There are several other computer repair shops in the area – some mobile, some with physical shops, and some working out of their homes. Most of these do no advertising at all.

In today’s digital world, you might expect most people to search the internet for new businesses, or to read reviews of existing businesses, especially when it comes to computer services. That may be true in your city, but in mine, it’s a different matter. I will concede that those in the 18-30 age bracket utilise the Internet to locate possible service providers more than the previous generation, but still not as much as you might expect.

A few times over the past two years I’ve run Internet marketing campaigns, including Google Ads and Facebook Ads. With Google I averaged about 1 or 2 clicks per week – yes, per week. I’m not claiming to be an expert with Google Ads, but I did spend a considerable amount of time reading up on the subject.
With Facebook Ads I had more success. I averaged about 1 or 2 ‘likes’ per day. But the interesting thing was that they were all from out of town! I set the radius to target my county, which bled over into a larger city to the north. Nearly all my new ‘likes’ were from this larger city. But even with that limited activity, I received no phone calls from the Facebook traffic. So I’ve eliminated those methods from my marketing plan for now.

I next looked into Yellow Book. Yellow Book has a reputation for being on the expensive side, but it’s almost a necessity, especially if you are targeting residential clients. I sat down with the representative from the company, and he proceeded to give me a demographic summary. Most of what he said wasn’t new to me, as I had done my own research. However, he confirmed my suspicion that the residents of my county respond poorly to internet marketing compared to residents of other counties.

Newspaper advertising is another traditional way to get your business name out in a small town, but from my experience, it was expensive and seemed ineffective as well. I ran several ads in the local newspaper and received no calls from them. However, I was able to get a decent response from a couple of articles they ran about my business. One of the articles was a grand opening article that I personally wrote, which they edited before publishing. I also wrote a few articles for the newspaper detailing some tech help items. While the expensive advertising yielded nothing, the articles were actually worthwhile.

Internet marketing was ineffective, Yellow Book was expensive and didn’t have the focus towards business that I needed, and newspaper ads were expensive and produced very little response. What’s next? What about ‘word of mouth’?
I have actually received most of my business from referrals and hitting the pavement. It all started with my CPA. I worked out a deal with the CPA to maintain their network. He felt I did such a good job that he referred me to some of his clients, who then referred me to other businesses they had relationships with. I also joined a networking group that meets weekly, Business Networking International, which has been great for my business.

By getting into this closed network of ‘good ol’ boys’, striking deals, and getting referrals, I was able to kickstart my business. Word of mouth is the most important form of advertising, and by using a network like BNI you are able to extend your salesforce out into the community through people the community already trusts. People trust their friends and family before they would trust an advertisement in the newspaper or on the radio.
In the end, you just need to get your business in the public eye, whether that means going door to door introducing yourself or joining a networking group. Regardless, it may take some trial and error to find out what works for your business in your community. Most importantly, ask your friends or family members where they go to find services they need, such as a plumber or electrician. Wherever they are looking, that’s where you need to be seen.

Guest Post by Adam Sewell: Adam is a technology professional with over 10 years of experience. Classically trained in Information Technology but passionate about open source software such as WordPress and Linux. Other interest include politics, religion, and anything else you’re not suppose to talk about in polite company.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit.

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Massive Discounts For Computer Technician Software – Get Them While You Can

Authors: Bryce Whitty

I have noticed that 4 fantastic Computer Technician products have recently gone on sale that are well worth getting. In fact, are the deepest discounts I have ever seen these products. Up to 50% OFF!
All four of these products should be no stranger to the Technibble readers as I have talked about them a few times before and they are often mentioned on the Technibble forums.

The products that have recently gone on sale are:

 

I dont know how long these are going to remain on sale so get them while you can. I have written about each of these here on Technibble in the past, a few of them being product reviews. Read on for a little bit more information about these products and the links to my past writeups & reviews about these products. Be sure to use the links above as the links in the writeups and reviews are not the discounted ones.

Fabs Autobackup 4 Tech

Fabs Autobackup is a small, portable application that makes backing up and restoring your clients data incredibly easy.
It will backup pretty much anything your client would want backed up such as their My Documents folder, browser favorites, emails, address books and more to a location of your choice. I personally use it to back up my clients data to a USB hard drive, plug it into the new machine, hit restore and all the data and settings are back where they should be without all the manual work. It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
[Technibble Writeup]

Laptop Repair Videos

Laptop repair can be tricky. There are hidden screws all over the place, a certain order you have to pull it apart and sometimes the spare parts are hard to find. Laptops are also prone to damage that a desktop wouldnt normally have such as being dropped or having a damaged DC jack.
Steve Cherubino, who was computer technician until he went full time podcasting has worked on thousands of laptop computers in his shop and would now like to share his laptop repair knowledge with you in the form of high definition, narrated, downloadable videos.

Podnutz Tech Site Builder

The package contains 20 high resolution videos show you how to customize, get a professional looking website online within a couple of hours and includes all of the files and software you need in order to do it. Check out the Technibble Review of Tech Site Builder.

Linux For The Rest Of Us

Linux is something that isn’t going away any time soon. Servers use it, Smart Phones use it and even devices like TiVo use it. In fact, we should be seeing much more of it in the future as Linux acceptance increases. In the computer repair world, Computer Technicians are using Linux builds to remove viruses, resize partitions and recover data. Many computer technicians are also installing lightweight Linux builds to give old computers a new lease on life. It pays to know at least a little bit of Linux in the computer repair world.
Steve Mclaughlin (aka DoorToDoor Geek), a regular on the Podnutz show has created a series of Linux training videos videos called “Linux For The Rest Of Us” to help people learn the basics of the Linux flavor “Ubuntu”. Check out the Technibble review of Linux For The Rest Of Us.

As always, all 4 have a refund policy to get your money back if you find the product is not for you. So it really is risk free.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit.

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5 Great Ways to Re-Purpose Old PCs for Customers

Authors: Derrick Wlodarz

Any computer repair technician should be able to properly recycle an old customer PC after wiping it effectively. But this shouldn’t be the only course of action to recommend to customers. Perhaps a client is looking to make use of a still-capable system in some other manner. Having a few tricks up your sleeve never hurts, which is why I wanted to show some of the ways which my company FireLogic has internally “recycled” older PCs to fit niche functions for customers. All of the options described below entail free or open-source software, and usually require no further upgrades of the hardware inside of the machine in question. If a hardware upgrade is recommended, I make note of it for you.

Before I go over these 5 neat feats of PC re-purposing, I’d like to tackle how these mini projects serve both the customer and your own business in a positive manner. First off, the customer will fully appreciate that you aren’t pushing new hardware on them to fit newfound needs. Saving customers money is what we need to be mindful of whenever we are consulting on projects. Likewise, this will also help us keep hardware out of the recycling centers and put it to good use.

I’m not going to say than an old PC is ALWAYS the best fit for any of the projects described below, so use good judgement. Trying to re-purpose a Windows 2000 system to run as a file server? Probably best to invest in a NAS-box for the customer instead of sipping hundreds of watts of energy to power a dinosaur of a system. But most of all, these are all great ways to provide some extra income from systems that would otherwise be saying hello to the recycling bin.

Without any hesitation, here are my top 5 ways to re-purpose old PCs for your customers:

5) Setup a Free Open Source PBX Phone System on Asterisk

This particular scenario involves a little more Linux than some may be comfortable with, but luckily there are already pre-built distributions available that do most of the legwork for you. My personal favorite happens to be AsteriskNOW which includes the open source Asterisk PBX software configured on top of a ready to go Linux installation. But there are a few other choices out there – and if you are Linux-proficient, you can even install Asterisk on the distro of your choice.

What can you do with Asterisk? I won’t go over all of the many uses, but to sum it up, it’s pretty much an all-out PBX phone system for your home or office (for free). There are no catches to it. As long as you can follow a simple guide, like this one put together by the folks at Maximum PC, then you can provide your customers with a completely free phone system like the big boys use.

The above guide goes into tying Google Voice to your Asterisk system for a truly 100% free in/out calling setup, but this may be a bit of a stretch for some businesses. I suggest you play with such a setup first before recommending and installing this for customers. The Asterisk website has a full archive of excellent help videos for first time users in getting setup, configuring IP phones, and much more.

4) Configure an Open Source FOG-based Cloning Server

If you thought Symantec Ghost or Microsoft System Center were the only players in the IT management market, think again. A wonderful free and open source alternative is available now by the name of FOG. The name is short for Free Open Source Ghost which is a full blown PC management server utility that replicates much of the functionality of a suite like Symantec’s Ghost platform. Any old PC a customer may have can be turned into a Linux box and have FOG installed on top of it, in essence becoming a central management point for all of the systems in a company’s network.

Keep in mind that the follow through on getting this setup properly is what counts, and an effective rollout of a FOG-based managed network takes time. One of the caveats in order to utilize FOG fully is that your client PCs all have to support PXE boot and you need to be able to place PXE into the first spot of the boot order. Many OEM systems do not offer this capability yet, but it is definitely growing. However, if a prospective customer does meet these requirements, then you can deploy a FOG server and offer things like centralized system imaging, virus scanning, disk wiping, and even patch management. The best part about FOG? It requires no client software to be installed. How about that!

You can download the latest version of FOG anytime.

3) Turn an Old PC Into a High End Open Source Firewall with IPCop

Nothing beats a standalone quality hardware firewall, except for one that happens to be open source and replicates most of what the big players do for the price of free. If one of your customers is looking to filter out traffic or particular websites, look no further than IPCop. This all-in-one Linux distro with powerful firewall functionality can be easily deployed onto an aging system that can likewise be turned into the primary firewall of a small business (or mid-size business, if you so wish.)

While this nifty system is quite powerful, it does require some re-architecture of a company’s network, so you will need to plan your downtime and installation path appropriately. A great overview of the layout of an IPCop protected network can be found on their installation guide. One of the other requirements you will need to be mindful of is that each “logical network” you want to configure within IPCop will require an additional network card with patch cord tying back into the physical infrastructure. This may be a challenge for PCs that may have only 1-2 PCI slots that are full. A system best suited for running IPCop will likely be a mid-tower to full-tower ATX system due to the hardware requirements.

Feel free to download the IPCop Linux distro for evaluation and see if it will work for your customers.

2) Ditch the Old Fax Machine and Setup a Windows-based Fax Server

I hate the word “fax” just as much as the next tech. In the year 2012, email should have taken over faxing of all forms by now. Unfortunately, many businesses (and home offices) still rely on faxing for one reason or another. Instead of trying to coerce customers to ditch the technology altogether, offer them a cost-saving solution: turn an old Windows PC into a fax server. They can easily add up all of the electricity, toner, paper, and upkeep costs that are going into the old 14.4 fax machine year after year.

Many techs may not know it, but Microsoft has been supporting native faxing in Windows since before Windows 2000. For the sake of brevity, I’m going to only touch on this native capability of all the recent common Microsoft operating systems including Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. The steps to get faxing setup and working differ slightly in each version, but the notion is the same. Windows can easily take any run of the mill fax modem card and turn it into a full blown fax server for any phone line. Windows will then take incoming faxes and save them into a centralized fax console. Users with access to the system can then take the faxes and export them or print them. I’ve setup numerous businesses with this free functionality and they have been running marvelously ever since. Look – no more fax toner needed!

1) Convert an Old PC Into an Open Source Storage Server with FreeNAS

I’ve long been a proponent of cutting down on overspending in small business IT, namely in the form of full-blown Windows servers (my company decommissions old and overkill servers on a monthly basis.) Most small businesses don’t need them, and are paying dearly for keeping all aspects of such a server running including licensing, electricity, upkeep, AV protection, and so on. I’ve previously penned about my love of QNAP NAS (Network Attached Storage) boxes for SOHO and small businesses, but if your customers are on the budget-conscious side, they may prefer the “re-use” route instead.

A great piece of free software is thankfully available in the form of FreeNAS. Like some of the other solutions I mentioned earlier, this open-source Linux distribution is geared towards users who are newer to Linux and may need some hand-holding in the process of getting a box configured. FreeNAS is very powerful in that it supports all of the advanced technologies that the expensive NAS appliances do like ZFS support, spanning volumes, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 3, and full sharing support for Apple Microsoft and Linux machines, just to name a few features.

The system requirements on FreeNAS are a tad higher than some of the other uses I mentioned, but trust me, you will be pleased to see what this system can provide. For the cost of a used PC, an extra stick of RAM, and a few hard disks, you can put together the equivalent of a $2000 Windows Server box for a few bucks. And the best part is that the entire box can be managed remotely over a web interface, meaning you don’t have to wade through dialog boxes like in a traditional server environment. It’s worth a shot.

You can download FreeNAS in x86 or x64 flavors right off their home page, and learn more about the product off their excellent installation guide WIKI page.

Have other great uses for retired PCs that are otherwise hitting the recycling bin? Post them in the comments section below!

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit.

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6 Reasons Why I Hesitate to Make Recommendations to Clients

Authors: Guest Writer

Guest Post by Ronn Hanley:
I have never refused to answer a direct question from a client, but I have been known to cringe a bit when I’m asked for recommendations about specific computer equipment, software or technology purchases.

It’s a lesson that I’ve learned the hard way through trial and error (mostly error…). If you’re in the process of starting any kind of technology based business or even just helping out a friend, it’s important to realize that choices you make for yourself won’t always match your client’s needs.

Here are my six top reasons to always think twice when offering advice or answers to clients about technology choices.

1. Recommendations can blow up in your face

Your clients need computers or other technology devices to do specific tasks for them. Trouble is, they may only have a vague idea of what they want to do based on some Microsoft commercial that talks about how amazing the ‘cloud’ is. Once they ask you, the problem becomes yours to solve.

If you’re at all conscientious, you’ll approach the question from the standpoint of reliability, functionality, and ease of use. The biggest thing you want to do is be honest about the technology since you know that it has its upsides and downsides. As a matter of fact, a lot of what you might say to them is based on your own biases, there isn’t much you can do about that, if you been working in the field for any length of time you will have developed specific likes and dislikes.

Here’s where it gets difficult, your clients needs and your dislikes or likes aren’t going to agree. You’ve developed your skills along a specific path, usually due to trial and error. When they ask about a specific computer brand, that’s where the inclination to steer them away or towards a brand comes from.

It’s very possible, even with the knowledge you possess, the product you ‘recommend’ might not suit their needs. There are many reasons for this, but ultimately if things don’t work out, it becomes your problem for recommending the product in the first place. I’m not saying this happens every time, but its well within human nature to blame the person who made the recommendation.

2. There might be too hard or too long of a learning curve

Your clients are busy people. They have a business to run and they don’t intend to spend a lot of time learning new software or hardware. Businesses are all about making money. They aren’t making money if their staff are taking time learning the newest app or hardware gadget.

I’ll be totally honest, they don’t really care about new whiz-bang stuff like that. They want it to work right out of the box. They don’t want long winded explanations and they certainly don’t want a lot of techno babble doublespeak.

I realize this sounds harsh, but remember, you didn’t get into this business to be coddled.

3. The client will have to change too much to make the software/hardware work

Sounds trite, but clients are people and people generally avoid changing how they do things. It doesn’t matter that you ‘know’ what you are proposing will work better, that’s never the point. You must to be prepared to handle this mindset. Don’t believe me? Ask an older tech, I bet they’ll tell you the same thing. Business owners are slow to change from what has worked for them in the past.

It’s not a bad thing, it’s just something you have to factor in when making recommendations and one reason that I will make sure I ask a billion questions of my client before they ever get even a small recommendation from me. I’ve run into clients who are upset that what I offer actually works better than their current pet machine or product. You are messing with people’s ideas and emotions when you make a recommendation, be prepared for that.

4. The software/hardware solution may not work for them depending on how they try to use it

Every office runs different. If you want to see push-back, try introducing Open Office in a Windows or Microsoft Office environment. It doesn’t matter that OO if free and pretty much works the same. Your clients are only worried that their documents are readable by the receiving end. And there is that pesky learning curve to consider. It’s very possible that the recommendation you offer, be it hardware or software will simply not work based on how the client does business.

Internet Explorer has been the standard browser for more than 20 years. MANY Citrix, Electronic Discovery or SharePoint applications simply will not work in Firefox, Opera or even Chrome (To be perfectly honest, a lot of them won’t work in IE9…). It’s not your fault, it’s the way the system works, so you have to be careful about any recommendations you make in this regard. And you also need to be prepared to make corrections on the fly when something doesn’t work properly.

Yes, it’s true that many companies are changing their back office systems, but Windows is the largest out there and that’s not going to change any time soon.

5. All recommendations are subjective

Just because you had a good experience with a certain hardware or software solution doesn’t mean that your clients will. It’s no different than movies or food, your tastes aren’t always going to be in alignment with your clients. I’ve had friend who swore by a certain cable company, and I’ve also had friend who wants to find medieval ways to destroy the same cable company.

Any recommendation you make is completely subjective, which sucks since you are just trying to do your best for your client. Be aware that your job is to think things through after asking questions. Get to know your client well before you offer anything. It’s a policy I’ve learned the hard way and I won’t change it no matter how ‘simple’ it might make me seem to a new client.

Trust and believe that when you get to know your clients and how they do business, you become a valued member of the team, not just some guy or girl who fixes stuff when it breaks (this is both good and bad, but I’ll save that for another article). Your recommendations will still be subjective, but at least they will be flavored with solid knowledge about what works for particular clients.

6. You very seriously run the risk of losing customers

Losing customers is never a joke. It’s hard on you, it’s hard on them, and its hard on your bottom line.

The problem is, you can never please everyone. Think about it this way, even the worst client contact usually is nothing personal. You are a vendor, they are a client and they need you to do a job. Your recommendations need to follow the same concept. You aren’t helping a friend (even if it is a friend), you’re helping a client solve a problem. Treat them all as serious – I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that your clients are.

Ultimately you have to determine the risks

In the end it’s up to you whether or not you want to offer advice or recommendations. You know your clients and you know their way of thinking. The best advice I can offer is to be honest in your appraisals of their questions. If you don’t know about something, SAY SO. A good client doesn’t expect you to know everything, and if someone does, then that’s not a person you need to be working for anyway.

Guest Post by Ronn Hanley: Ronn is a technology enthusiast from way back, during the dark ages of the Arpanet and the Purple monochrome monitor screens. His first computer was a Commodore PET and his first laptop was the size of a suitcase. Despite that, he loves computers and technology to distraction and has been working in the tech world for almost 10 years full time, currently as the owner of a Desktop and Network support company in Atlanta, Georgia.

© Technibble – A Resource for Computer Technicians to start or improve their Computer Business
To get started with your own computer business, check out our Computer Business Kit.

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Marketing your business in The Force Field Part 2: Sevacall responds

Last week I blogged about a recent incident in which The Force Field Forums were spammed by representative from a new web-based “lead generation” platform called Sevacall. I wrote about it for two reasons – as an effort to fight back against forum spamming, and to use this as an opportunity to explain the basics of social media marketing on the web with a real world example of its potential return on the branding of your business.

The post was titled My new approach to fighting spammers – or how to market your business in The Force Field. As part of this exercise, I publicly released an e-mail response I sent to the member from Sevacall whose one and only post in the forums started it all. There were no real expections that my post would actually enlighten the average forum spammer and curb such an annoying and unethical practice. In fact, a lot of forum spammers are really just spambots, and those who are human aren’t promoting reputable brands anyway, so chances are they don’t care what anyone thinks of them or not. They just want to leave links that will get them higher rankings in the search engines. Normally, the links are the key component in the spam post. To these spammers, it’s all about posting links to boost Google page rank on their sites. That’s all the forums are to them.

However, while this spammer did attempt to mislead the members by posting a phony “testimonial” of sorts as a satisfied customer instead of as direct representative of the company (which is who this individual really was), this individual forgot the one key thing most forum spammers are there to do – embed the forum with all the spammy links. This is what prompted me to check them out. What I found was a bona fide startup that was trying to market itself elsewhere as legit.

How could a company like this make such a huge marketing blunder? Were they really out to sabotage their reputation and destroy their brand as they built it? Or did they really not understand how to market their business to forum communities? This is why I wrote the article. It wasn’t for the spambots and the sleazy spammers marketing phony meds, pirated software and porn. It was for those companies who are legit and are trying to do it right, but don’t understand how to market to communities on the web. It is also a primer for professionals like us who want to learn how to market their IT businesses and build their brands properly.

Okay, there are other companies out there, some of them quite well established, that have made one, several or all these mistakes. Some of them never learn from them, either, as they continue to make them, despite the negative feedback from their customers. I’ve written about some of them before as prime examples of how not to market your business. Barrister Global Services, Endeavor and Geeks Mobile USA are three that immediately come to mind. Given those examples, I wasn’t really sure if I would receive a response to my e-mail message or not.

But I did.

A couple of days after I sent the e-mail, Sevacall responded. Since I posted my e-mail to them publicly, I want to be completely fair and post their response publicly as well.

 

Rick,

We are sorry to hear that your forums are getting spammed so much.  Some of our team members at Seva Call have had the pleasure of moderating an active blog/forum in the past and have also dealt with tens of thousands of spam messages.  We know it can be frustrating and from that perspective we are happy to see your blog post.

We also appreciate the level of research you conducted on our behalf before writing the blog and e-mail.  You are correct in saying that we have recently launched and also brought on 17 summer interns, most of whom have not even been here a month yet.  The post you marked as spam was, in fact, written by one of our interns, and we do apologize for that.  We should have given that particular intern more direction on how best to use forums as a marketing tool.

Although there are several lead-generation platforms in existence, we have designed Seva Call to enable real-time conversations between consumers and professionals that best match the specific request.  We allow professionals to prescreen service requests before they choose to accept or reject them.The prescreening process provides professionals with the consumer’s availability, location, and the details of the request, allowing them to make an informed decision about the quality of the lead before they spend any money.

Along with that, Seva Call’s Pay Per Conversation model makes Seva Call more cost effective than other lead-generating platforms because professionals are only charged if they have a conversation with a potential consumer about their service, as opposed to buying contact information and having to track down the consumer only to find out that they no longer need help or it isn’t really a good match.  We scratch the consumer’s itch when it happens and get a high quality professional on the phone immediately.   

As a side note, we also offer service pros a Free for Life account which allows them to get conversations at no cost.  Professionals using the Free for Life status are prioritized lower in the matching process, but there is no cost at all.

The good news about your post is that this gives us an opportunity to have a team meeting and re-visit our ethical policies and our forum marketing strategies.  We will be taking some action internally to improve our marketing processes and review intern work before it goes live.  We appreciate the opportunity to do this early in our launch cycle so that as we grow into a larger company we will have the proper processes in place.  We went from a 4-5 person team to a team of over 30 in a few short weeks.

The bad news is that most other spammers aren’t budding young start-ups that care for their reputation and will modify their internal processes and go out of their way to make sure they do things the right way.  Therefore, it is doubtful that the blog you wrote will really be an effective deterrent for future spam, but I do understand your sentiment.

Best of luck to http://www.theforcefield.net and all your members.

Thanks,
Seva Call Team
http://www.sevacall.com

 

There is a right way and a wrong way to market your business. If or when a mistake is made that could threaten your reputation and your brand, there is a right way and a wrong way to handle it. No matter what one thinks these days of web-based service platforms in general or the “lead generation” model in particular, Sevacall may earn some respect based on their response alone. I think their response deserves promotion as an excellent example of how to properly handle negative press and avoid a potential blemish on your reputation and brand.

Whether Sevacall helps or hurts the industry with their lead generation service, only time will tell. They do have one thing in their favor. They got this one right.