The Excitement of Uninterrupted Power Supplies: UPS

Summer is a time for lots of construction and road maintenance and my neighborhood is no exception. We were notified that there would be occasional power outages during the times they work on our street and initially, I blew this notice off and quipped, “No problem as long as they give advanced notice of specified [...]

Are online backups a maintenance solution?

Recently, I had a new client inquire about using online backup as an additional level of redundancy to protect their data.  My quick response was I’d compile a list for them to review and make an informed decision. Later, I thought about what considerations go into an informed decision: Storage space? Ease of configuration? Cost [...]

Windows XP SP2 extended support ending July 13, 2010

Several weeks ago I got a Microsoft OEM newsletter informing me that Support for Windows XP with SP2 is ending July 13, 2010:  “Windows XP SP2 will no longer be the supported service pack level for Windows XP computers. Customers running Windows XP SP2 or a previous version of the OS will need to upgrade [...]

What cloud am I computing to?

People always like to tell me I have my head in the clouds; well guess what?  Now it’s the only place to be… Let me explain! Depending on your involvement with business computing, you may have heard the current buzz word “Cloud computing”. There are numerous definitions for cloud computing but simply put it’s online [...]

Are you really backing up?

Backup and Disaster Recovery For the last several weeks as I prepared for this article I’ve been thinking how to make computer maintenance sexy.  Maintenance isn’t as sexy as your new iPhone application or ordering your pizza through Twitter or the cute pictures of my grandson.  But computer maintenance is crucial in business because without [...]