The sudden loss of power to the working of your electrical devices can be caused by many things besides the natural calamities that can happen. In such situations you need a solution that will help you safely save important data or other activities that you might be conducting when the power got cut off without warning.

An uninterrupted power supply is the superlative solution to this problem as they help safeguard your equipments from all kinds of electrical disorders like brownouts and various other hindrances. Installing a UPS however, will not guarantee the safety of your equipment. Extra security measures need to be carried out to ensure absolute safety of your applications. The list below shows you ten protection solutions in order to maintain the safety of your devices.

Lightning can badly affect your hardware, as it is capable of transmitting through telecommunication cables and causing short circuits as it passes through. You need to separate your computer network from the telecommunication’s data line you in order to avoid this situation; you can do this by installing a UPS data protection circuit. This will prevent the power surge from destructing other devices and saving you the cost of replacing the entire burnt out plugs and switches. The destruction of the data protection device will only need replacing when an electrical surge takes place.

Always install the software that that comes along with a riello UPS to ensure that all IT equipments are correctly powered if the outage happens. Communication cables need to be in place; this will allow the PC and UPS to be able to connect with each other.

Apart from installing the software that comes with the UPS, it is advisable to change the factory default configurations and set it according to the requirements of your company. Shutting down your applications safely will be dependant on the amount of time your UPS is able to provide backup support for; check that configurations are set appropriately.

Batteries cannot last you a lifetime and need to be changed at intervals. Regularly checking the status of your battery with a battery backup tester must be installed; this will ensure your backup battery is functioning correctly. Conducting tests on a regular basis should be ascertained; to ensure they are carried out mark the dates on a calendar. This will help you know whether the battery is strong enough to power your equipments.

Ensure that your present UPS is capable of supporting load when demands increase in the future. You must calculate your total requirement and compare it with what your UPS can provide because if you overload it, the UPS battery is sure to die out.

You must remember not to plug in a laser printer to the UPS because a laser printer takes in a lot of energy which most of the UPS brands are unable to supply. Overload on the battery can cause weakening to its strengh.

It may be required to fulfil data replication and other network activity that need network connectivity while shutting down systems in case of outages. Backup energy from a UPS must be provided in order to avoid a system failure.

When the system begins to run on the battery mode then you need to command Windows Backup to discard back up functions. Make the necessary changes if required to avoid unfinished or distorted backup of a previous backup file.

Batteries need to be replaced accordingly as they can only last a few years. Hot swappable batteries are provided by some of the UPS brands. These are useful as they can be without having to shut down the system. Also unplug systems that re changed and not used often so that the load on the UPS is reduced during power surges and outages.

An unineruptible power supply should only be used to provide you enough time to close and save everything before shutting down the system. Corrupted files, data loss and othter technical failures may occur if it is used to continue working until it can hold.

You should be able to increase the longevity of your UPS, thereby receiving uninterrupted power supply to successfully shut down your programmes before they are lost by bearing these points in mind.

In recent months, I’ve noticed a growing trend in virus removal. Parents are actually having their children (either teenagers or adult offspring living at home) pay for it. About half the time I have a virus removal job; the parents blame the infection on the kids and let me know that the cost of the job will ultimately be paid for by the kids.

I think this makes perfect sense. Having been a computer tech for a number of years, I can usually look at a computer and tell you approximately how old the children in the house are by the software and viruses on the computer.

Whether the parents are helping the children learn about responsibility and consequences or the parents just want to save their own hard-earned money in these difficult financial times, I don’t know. But this is a growing trend and I completely support it. Hopefully, by learning this lesson financially, the children will learn about computer safety and that visiting certain types of websites is going to mess up their computer and cost them money.

***EDIT*** That being said, I know that there are parents that blame their mistakes on the children. Trust me, I don’t care who caused the problem or where the problem came from. I believe it is my job to fix the PCs, not place blame.  ***END***

Way to go Parents!

Tim

If you found this post to be informative, consider following Biden PC on Twitter.

Biden PC is a Computer Networking Company and we now offer Online Computer Support.

Did you know that if you get a virus, spyware or malware and remove it, it can still come back? It can. The way that viruses and malware do this is by attaching themselves to other files or your computer registry. This way, once you clean it out, it can download more virus files itself to attack you again.

Whenever Biden PC performs a virus removal we do our best to be certain that the virus can’t come back and we stand by our services. We offer a 30 day warranty on all virus removal services. So if you are reinfected within 30 days, we will remove the viruses again at no charge to you. Does your computer repair company offer that?

We So how do we ensure that the virus doesn’t come back again? We scour the registry for all places that viruses are known to hide. We perform multiple checks including checking for rootkits.

When we’re finished, we are so sure that your computer has no more viruses that we are willing to back it up with our 30-day warranty.

Disclaimer: This30-day warranty is null and void if there has been a music/file-sharing program (LimeWire, BearShare, BitTorrent) on the computer within the 30 day period.

Thank you very much,
Tim

If you found this post to be informative, consider following Biden PC on Twitter.

Biden PC is a Computer Networking Company and we now offer Online Computer Support.

Whenever you’re planning on getting a new computer, changing your ISP (Internet Service Provider), or just making changes to your network, don’t be afraid to ask for advice. Generally, computer consultants and repair shops are happy to give advice, especially to their current clients.

I am currently playing cleanup with a client who decided to change his ISP without telling me. Under many circumstances this would be fine but this client has his email server at his office and that makes the ISP change a big deal.

I received an email after I had closed up shop for the day so I didn’t see it until the next morning. As I often check my emails first things in the morning to know what my schedule looks like I saw his email that requested that I be on alert for problems. “No Problem” I thought. But after I had been awake for a little while I realized that this would mean that his Static IP Address would change and that would completely disrupt his email. Of course, no one wants their business email service disrupted. I then had to change my entire day around (fortunately I have great and understanding clients) to be at his office that afternoon for the change. As my client never received the IP address that everything was going to change to, I had to wait for the ISP’s installer to get that information.

The entire situation was unorganized as well as much more stressful and expensive than it had to be. Had I been informed even a few days earlier, I could have given them questions to ask and issues to watch out for. Fortunately, everything was handled in a manner that kept business downtime to a minimum.

We all have enough stress in our lives. Keep your unnecessary stress to a minimum by getting advice from professionals.

Thank you for reading,
Tim

If you found this post to be informative, consider following Biden PC on Twitter.

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company and we now offer Online Computer Support.

I’m certain that we have all seen them, software programs that promise to have your PC “Running just Like New”. I’ve seen many people use them and most have to admit that the programs did little or nothing to speed up their computer. In some cases these programs have even crashed their computers.

What these programs typically do is remove orphaned or invalid registry entries. This will usually shrink the registry by 150-800 entries. Sounds good right? Well when you consider that the registry is made up of many thousands of entries, removing a few hundred really isn’t that impressive. After they remove the orphaned entries, they may compress or compact the registry, moving entries to make the file size smaller.

Will these processes speed up your computer? Yes, a little. What these programs all fail to take into consideration is how many programs are running on startup. The more programs you have running at once, the less processing power and memory your computer can give to the more important programs and processes.

Lets look at a computer as if it were a person… If you are trying to write a research paper, you need to put all of your attention into writing the paper, right? Well, lets add into the mix a stereo playing distracting music, a dog barking, a cluttered desk and your neighbor’s baby screaming. None of them are really requiring your attention but your mind has to bounce around a bit more than it should to work on your research paper. Just think about how much more you could accomplish if you removed the screaming baby, barking dog, cleaned up your desk and put on more soothing music. This is what you really need to do in order to speed up your computer. “So how do I speed up my slow Computer?” I’m glad you asked, here are a few simple steps!

• Make sure your computer has enough RAM (memory)
• For Windows 2000 and XP, you should have a minimum of 512MB.
• For Windows Vista and Windows 7 I recommend having a minimum of 2 GB.
• Remember, more is always better!

** Warning: Editing the registry can be dangerous and Biden PC does not warrant any changes that you make.**

**If you  do not feel comfortable doing this, Biden PC can do it for you for the small fee of $15.00**

• Download Autoruns from Microsoft. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx
• Unzip the file and run autoruns.exe.
• Look at the bottom left corner of the window. Don’t do anything until is says “Ready”.
• Once it says “Ready”, click on the “Logon” tab. That is all we are going to concern ourselves with.
• Find the line below “Explorer.exe” and start unchecking boxes. DO NOT UNCHECK “Explorer.exe” OR ANYTHING ABOVE IT.
• Most things here can be disabled. Things like iTunes, QuickTime, Adobe, Google Update… These can all be disabled.
• Do not disable your Antivirus (Norton/Symantec, McAfee, Avira, AVG, CA…)
• Do not disable “cftmon.exe”

Once you have disabled what you feel comfortable disabling from the system startup, reboot your computer and enjoy how much faster it is. Feel free to share this information or like with your friends.

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

If you found this post to be informative, consider subscribing to our Biden PC’s RSS feed.

As everyone is having a difficult time in this recession, Biden PC has lowered its prices on all computer networking and repair. Going from $100 per hour, our new lower prices are as follows:

Businesses: $85.00 per hour
Residences: $75.00 per hour
Remote Support: $15.00 per 1/4 hour

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

If you found this post to be informative, consider subscribing to our Biden PC’s RSS feed.

If you are a first time customer, you can head over to YellowBook.com ad and click on “Coupon” to see Biden PC’s 20% off coupon. This is 20% off our service fees. It does not include any hardware or software prices.

Happy Computing,

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

If you found this post to be informative, consider subscribing to our Biden PC’s RSS feed.

This problem is obviously still happening. If you can afford to be without your computer for a week or 2, I would be glad to work on it free of charge. If you are local to Los Angeles, I will pick up the PC and give you a receipt for proof that I have your PC. I will work on this issue until I have fixed it and post the answers here for everyone else. I will then drive back to you to drop off the PC. All of this will be free of charge. If you are not local to Los Angeles, all you will have to do is pay the FedEx shipping 1 way. I will fix your PC free of charge and return it to you via FedEx. Feel free to call me (Tim Biden) at 909-992-2031 or 877-243-3601.

I had previously written that I had a couple Windows Vista systems that stopped the mouse from clicking. Well, I seem to have found the answer. Meryl’s post “How to Make Microsoft Word Stop Ignoring Mouse” seems to have the answer.

1. While your mouse still works, close Word, Outlook and all other MS Office programs (ignore the pop up message by clicking X)
2. Start / Run and type regedit
3. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
4. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data
5. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click Yes.
6. Exit Registry Editor.
7. Restart Word.
8. Thank David for the new info.

If you have never used a registry editor before or are uncomfortable wih it, please consult a professional computer technician. We do these edits all the time.

Happy Computing,

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

If you found this post to be informative, consider subscribing to our Biden PC’s RSS feed.

“What is computer network consulting?” I get that question from time to time and I think this would be a great time to answer it.

Computer network consulting is one of those ambiguous terms that includes many different issues. In short, the best answer you can get is to ask each company what services they provide for their clients and customers.

I’m certain that if you do ask other computer network consulting companies what services they provide, their list would be a lot like ours. If you ask me that question, I would say that we do the following, and much more…

• Install and upgrade a networks, servers, and workstations
• Monitor the health of your network, servers, and workstations
• Monitor the health of your network’s routers and switches
• Prevent virus attacks, network intrusions, and network security issues
• Internet connection support
• Preventative maintenance of network and computers
• Network troubleshooting and repair
• Network hardware, software and cable sales
• PC troubleshooting and repair
• Provide desktop support

Those are among the many services that our clients love us for. The short of it is, we keep their network and computers running efficiently so they can keep their business running smoothly.

If there are any specific computer services that you or your business are in need of, contact us.

Happy Computing,

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

If you found this post to be informative, consider subscribing to our Biden PC’s RSS feed.

In phone tech support we often have to tell people to go to their desktop and sometimes they don’t know what that is.Please allow me to help you. This will tell you what the computer desktop is so when you’re on the phone with your tech support agent, they can speak and you will know what they mean.

On your computer, the desktop is where you see your background picture or as some people mistakenly call it, the “screensaver picture.” There are usually many icons here including “My Computer”, “My Documents” and the “Recycle Bin”. If the tech support rep is telling you to go to your desktop, minimize or close all of the programs that you have open. When you see your normal picture, tell him or her, “I’m there.”

This will make life and the phone call easier for everyone.

Happy Computing,
Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

If you found this post to be informative, consider subscribing to our Biden PC’s RSS feed.