Typically a hard drive upgrade or replacement is a long cumbersome process that involves a complete reinstall and setup of your entire computer.  Lucky for you, Emerson Technologies has the tools to make this process seamless and easy and keep everything 100% identical to the way it was.  Not only do we keep all your material the same, giving you the look and feel you know and are comfortable with, but we can replace your hard drive with a larger one to make sure you have plenty of room to grow.

Prey is a program that is highly configurable and runs in the background on your mobile device.  You download it and setup all the different parameters you want about how often you want it to update and what exactly you want it to do.  If a theft does occur, you can then login to the Prey website on the Internet http://preyproject.com/ and activate the “lost/stolen” device.  The program will then begin sending out regular e-mail updates and location updates, depending on how it was configured when you set it up.  The program can send you screenshots of what the stolen user is doing on your device, which can help you track them down.  If the device has a GPS locator, Prey will email you its location. Prey can even use your laptops built-in webcam so you can potentially see the thief and/or help track down a location.

Keep in mind nothing with computers is fool-proof. Prey is not going to guarantee it will recover your device by any means, but it is a great tool that could potentially help you recover your stolen device.  We have a link to a testimonial about how it helped a user recover his laptop and phone.

If you are interested in getting Prey setup on your laptop and have configuration/install questions, feel free to give us a call at 651-454-7729 and we can answer any questions that you have and help you get everything setup.

Video Explanation – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIwEYd36wTo&feature=player_embedded

Testiomony – http://lifehacker.com/5838440/how-i-got-my-stolen-laptop-back-within-24-hours-using-preyGo%20into%20the%20Prey%20tool%20for%20recovering%20laptops%20and%20phones?

Reference – http://lifehacker.com/5643460/how-to-track-and-potentially-recover-your-stolen-laptop-or-android-with-prey

In order to qualify there are 4 criterion:

1. First, you must be located in an area where Comcast offers Internet service.
2. Second, you must have at least one child receiving free school lunches through the “National School Lunch Program”.
3. Third, you cannot have subscribed to Comcast Internet service within 90 days from applying.
4. Lastly, you can’t have an overdue Comcast bill or unreturned equipment.

If your household does meet the above criterion and you are interested in applying, you can call 1-855-8-INTERNET (1-855-846-8376) to request an application.  They will mail you an application for you to return along with lunch program documents from your child’s school, and then they will get back to you within 7-10 days.

If you have any questions about the program, feel free to give us a call at 651-454-7729, or you can check out the following reference articles.

http://www.internetessentials.com/index.html

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/09/comcasts-launches-999-internet-for-low-income-families.ars

One of the first things you can do is make sure your computer is hooked into surge protector. Plugging directly into a wall or a power strip is not ideal. There is a big difference between a power strip and a surge protector. See this article for more information. A surge protector will help protect against voltage spikes and can help keep your computer safe if that were to occur.

Emerson Technologies feels strongly that every server or computer functioning as a server should be hooked up to a UPS, which stands for uninterruptible power supply. Essentially, this is a backup battery which means that when the power goes out, your server is able to stay on and run off of battery power. Depending on the size of the UPS unit and how many devices are hooked in, they can keep your server up and running for roughly 5 to 45 minutes, but again it depends heavily on the load that is drawn from the battery. If the server is up and running but all of your computers are down in a power outage it’s not going to really help you be productive or get work done, but it is extremely important to the integrity of the server that it doesn’t get suddenly shut off.

Any computer that is in the middle of a “write” operation on the hard drive (saving a file, downloading anything, copying anything) when there is a power outage has a chance of data corruption or hard drive failure. This is because hard drives (with the exception of SSDs) have moving parts in them. When a sudden loss of power occurs, there is no way for the moving parts to stop moving in the way that they should. That is why having a UPS is so critical for servers. Additionally, UPS units have the ability to safely shut down your server so that if there is an extended power outage and the battery is going to run out, it will first shut down your server the way it is designed to shut down. This is a very important feature and can save your server from damage.

If you have any questions about a surge protector or are interested in getting a UPS, please contact us. There are many different models and manufacturers for UPS units, and we want to be sure to provide one that can handle the power load at your location.

With Emerson Technologies Premium Backup Service, your data will be backed up to two online locations. One of the locations is a secure server at our office, the second location is to a second secure server online. This double backup method provides for a second level of redundancy as well as the ability to perform a drastically faster restore. For example, if some catastrophic happened to a computer and multiple gigabytes of data needed to be restored, it could take days or even longer to restore all of this information from a typical online backup provider. With our backup service, we are able to restore a copy of the data right away and physically bring it to you to get you back up and running quickly. This eliminates the slow restore process often associated with bandwidth issues.

Our backup service runs seamlessly in the background. There is no need to change a tape or hard drive, and there is no need to run a manual backup. It is all done automatically and is backed up to both destinations. This easy backup can you give you the peace of mind that your data is being backed up without even having to think about it. Additionally, we are able to monitor your backups to ensure they are backing up properly. If you desire, we can setup regular email status updates as well.

We are seeing more and more cities fall victim to significant damage caused by natural disasters including fires, floods and tornadoes.  Japan is still trying to control a nuclear power plant damaged by an earthquake. Don’t think these can’t happen to you. Take precautions now to ensure your data is safe and secure, regardless of the world around you.

If you are interested in setting up online backups, please give us a call at 651-454-7729 so we can find a solution that works best for you. We strongly recommend that all important data be backed up to an online source, and we are happy to provide you with our Emerson Technologies Premium Backups service.

Do you ever get tired of having to remember dozens or even hundreds of passwords for all of your different logins? What if you just had to remember one password for everything? Well with LastPass it is now possible. LastPass is a program that allows you to keep an online vault securely encrypted with all your passwords and logins. LastPass can run on Windows, Mac, Linux, and most mobile devices, and integrates with most Internet browsers.

With LastPass integrated into your browser you simply login to LastPass once your browser starts. Then, as you go to different websites, all of your credentials will be automatically loaded to make it easier and faster for you to login. If you visit new websites, LastPass will prompt you to save the information into your secure LastPass vault.  This has the added benefit of syncing your password data across all of your computers and devices.  LastPass also has the ability to generate strong passwords for you.

Here is an example of LastPass in action – you are shopping for gifts online and end up finding one on Amazon.com, a website which you haven’t bought anything from before. When you create your account, you can have LastPass generate a random and strong password for you and store it. When it comes time to retrieve the password LastPass will automatically fill in your name, address and credit card information saving you lots of time. With the ability to generate random passwords, you can then have random, strong, different passwords for all of your websites. The only password you have to remember is your LastPass password, hence the name, the “last” password you will ever have to remember.

As far as security, LastPass is incredibly secure, much more than other similar services. For example, if you have your Internet browser store your usernames and passwords, they can be found out by anyone who has access to your computer. LastPass not only stores them securely, but the way it works not even the people who work for LastPass can access your passwords. It is absolutely encrypted and safeguarded and nobody can access any information without your LastPass master password.

This brings up a very important point – your LastPass master password should be a long, random, securely generated password as your vault will contain all of your personal information. It is important to have this password secured, as there is no way to retrieve it. Emerson Technologies recommends using Microsoft’s password checker to make sure you have a strong password and here is an article on choosing a strong password. Make sure that your master password is at least 14 characters long as well. It might seem like a very long password, but it is protecting all of your information!

LastPass is a free service if you only use it integrated into your web browsers, but if you want the ability to use it on most mobile devices it costs $1.00 per month. After you use it for a while and see how much time it will save, you will find it is well worth the cost.

Lastly, here is a short demo video that shows LastPass in action.

If you have any questions about LastPasss or if you would like any assistance in getting it setup, please give us a call at 651-454-7229 and we would be happy to assist you.

Just this week, OpenDNS, an organization with a mission to make the Internet a better place, has released a free service called Family Shield.  Family Shield is a service designed to automatically restrict access to adult websites for all computers on a home network.  It also restricts access for other devices that can access the Internet as well, such as an Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, iPad and smartphones that are connected via wi-fi.  The service is automatically kept up-to-date by OpenDNS.  Family Shield is easy to setup and instantly filters content on all your computers with no software to install or update.

If you have questions about Family Shield or are interested in implementing in your home, please give us a call at 651-454-7729 and we can provide assistance in setting it up, getting it configured, and providing recommendations about how it can help protect you.

Computers are an investment. When purchasing a computer people often look only at the original sticker price as the full cost. However, the total cost of computer ownership includes original hardware, original software, hardware and software upgrades, maintenance and labor.

There comes a point when it is no longer economical to put money into a computer to fix it. In general that is 3 to 4 years. Now, of course there will be exceptions and this is just a guideline that has been developed from years of experience working with computers.

The question remains, what happens to computers that are around 3 years old? Why do they need to be replaced? There are many reasons for this. First, after 3 years the likelihood of hardware failures is much greater, and the warranties for the hardware are often expired. Also, it is very likely that a lot of software will have been installed on the computer and as newer software comes out, it usually requires more powerful hardware to run it. This means that in order to run the latest software properly, you need to update the hardware. Newer computers lead to less frustration and more productivity saving your company in the long run.

We find that many businesses, especially non-profit organizations, opt not to purchase a new computer because of apprehension about up front costs. However over a three to four year period, the cost of not upgrading easily outweighs the initial investment not to mention the difference in productivity. These costs do not factor in frustration by the user. These inefficiencies play a role and should not be discounted when deciding whether or not to purchase a new computer.

Here is the bottom line: replacement of a computer should strongly be considered after three years of usage.

These products are used around the country to protect computers in server rooms, drugs in pharmacies, expensive medical equipment, document storage rooms and more.

Here is a sample situation in which Invetex’s products could be very useful. Suppose it is a Friday night after everyone has left for the weekend and the air conditioning unit goes out in your building and/or server room and nobody will be in the office until Monday morning. Depending on the setup, the heat could rise to levels that could damage your server and any other of the sensitive electronic equipment in the room. This means that when you get there on Monday morning, there could be a lot of serious problems.  There are also going to be potential costs of replacement hardware and the time it is going to take to reconfigure everything, which could be hours or even days. If you had the proper monitoring equipment in place, then Friday night once the temperature started to rise an alert would have been sent out and action could be taken immediately- preventing any huge complications Monday morning so everyone can return to work and not even know there was a problem over the weekend.

For more information, send us an email or call us at 651-454-7729 and we can assist you in getting these products purchased and set up for you so that you can have peace of mind knowing that the correct precautionary measures have been taken.

It is important to have multiple copies of your data. When discussing the 3-2-1 backup strategy, the first set is the original data: this is the information you work with in real time. The second and third sets of data are considered backups of the original information, but the backups are of 2 different types.
For the two backup copies, they need to be on two different mediums. This is a measure taken for security reasons, in case something happens to one copy, or if something is somehow damaged. Having two copies on two different mediums is essential for a good backup strategy. Some of the most commonly used mediums for backups: external hard drive / USB drive, CD/DVD, tapes, online backup. There are different benefits for each backup medium. For example, tapes are easy to take offsite, but you have to have a tape-reader in order to use them, and tapes have to be regularly changed. Servers may have tape drives built into them, so using backup tapes makes sense in that case. CDs and DVDs are also easy to take off site, but they don’t hold as much data as tapes or external hard drives and also require user intervention. External hard drives are large and easy to transport, but they are also fragile and sensitive to damage. Online backups can be done automatically, and you don’t have to worry about physically changing a tape or taking the backup off site, because it is all done for you, but you do have to worry about bandwidth.

Following the 3-2-1 procedure means that one of the backups should be offsite. There are many reasons for this. First off, if you have all of your data backed up on tapes or an external hard drive that are left on site and there is a burglary, fire, or other natural disaster, then there is a good chance that your backup will be damaged or destroyed. Just because one of the backups needs to be off site does not mean it has to be online. If you are using tape backups or an external hard drive and you take it off site every night then that is considered an off site backup. The reason that Emerson Technologies recommends online backups is because they are very easy to configure, they run automatically, and they are already offsite. This means somebody doesn’t have to remember to take something home every night and every morning.

Here are some examples of recommended 3-2-1 backup strategies:

Strategy 1: External hard drive and online backups – Recommended by Emerson Technologies
3 copies of data – One live copy, one copy on an external hard drive, one copy backed up online.
2 different backup mediums – External hard drive and online
1 offsite backup – Online

Strategy 2: Backup tapes and online backups
3 copies of data – One live copy, one copy on backup tapes, one copy backed up online.
2 different backup mediums – Tapes and online
1 offsite backup – Online

Strategy 3: External hard drive and backup tapes
3 copies of data – One live copy, one copy on an external hard drive, one copy on backup tapes.
2 different backup mediums – External hard drive and tapes.
1 offsite backup – Either take tapes home every night, or take external hard drive home.
If you have any questions about your backup strategy, or if you would like Emerson Technologies to help you in any way, please give us a call at 651-454-7729 and we would be happy to help.