What are Solid State Drives and do you need one?

Define Solid State Drives, please

More and more, we're seeing solid state hard drives being offered on store shelves and being sold with new desktops and laptops.  What's a solid state drive?  Unlike a traditional style hard drive, with it's heavy spinning disk and read/write heads, a solid state drive has no moving parts at all.  Solid state drives store information on memory chips instead of internal spinning disks.  This means solid state drives are more like the RAM in your computer or the USB thumb drive in your pocket.  

 Left: traditional HDD guts.  Right: inside a SSD.

Advantages

 The big advantage solid state drives have is speed.  No moving parts means no disk for read/write heads to physically scour for data.  This physical difference makes SSDs twice as fast as traditional hard drives and even faster in some cases.

The second advantage is durability.  There is no perpetual motion machine.  Moving parts break down, just ask your mechanic.  Solid state drives, since they have no moving parts, should outlast comparable hard drives.  This does remain to be seen, though, since SSDs haven't been out too long compared to standard hard drives.

Disadvantages

So they haven't been out long.  What does that mean to you?  It means SSDs are expensive.

Drive pricing is based on cost per gigabyte.  Traditional desktop hard drives run roughly 10 - 20 cents per gig.  Physical laptop hard drives go 20 - 30 cents per gig.

Cost per GB on a solid state drive?  About $3.

So while you can get a traditional HDD with a terabyte of storage for around $100, that may only get you a 120GB SSD.  The good news is that, like any technology, the cost of SSDs is dropping.

Who Should Buy a SSD?

People with money!  :)

Allright, that's a given.  Anyone who needs -- I mean NEEDS -- ultra fast performance should buy a solid state drive.  I don't mean gamers looking to pwn n00bs in Call of Duty.  I mean professionals who rely on high performance applications.  Anyone who creates movies or music on a computer for a living, for example, would benefit from the performance increase that using a SSD gets you.  IT professionals building servers, to an extent, would also benefit.  I say "to an extent" because of the price to space ratio.  A vmware server, for example, has a small OS footprint and would be a great candidate.

So that's the lowdown on solid state drives, their pros and cons and who should look into them.  Keep in mind that tech prices drop constantly, and they could be a dollar per gig next year, and lower the year after.  SSDs will change computing eventually.  Just not yet.

Thanks for reading!

Should You Be In the Cloud?

One of the big new buzzwords is "The Cloud."  The term "cloud computing" can mean a few different things, including hardware virtualization, hardware colocation, software as a service and even web hosting.  Being "in the cloud" means different things in different applications, but its most basic meaning is this: farming out IT services to a third party. 

The aspect of cloud computing we'll look at here is the software piece.  Also known as
 “hosted applications,” software as a service means paying a third party to host a company's applications and then the company simply pays the third party for the service.  Some examples include:

• Enterprise-level systems like Microsoft Exchange or backup/disaster recovery systems
• General desktop applications like Microsoft Office
• Specific applications like time billing software for accounting and legal firms

There are four key ways that software as a service helps companies save money.

Hardware

Consider all the servers, network equipment, storage and other hardware required to run applications and serve them to the end user.  Now consider how, as apps become more complex and need more resources, better hardware becomes a necessity.  Finally, consider the electric bill for powering and cooling a room full of servers.  Over hardware's typical five year life cycle, the cost of one server can add up to the low five figures.  Subscribing to software as a service eliminates these costs.

Software

Software manufacturers are making a killing.  Don't even ask yourself why something as simple as MS Office Professional costs the same as a week or two of groceries, depending on whether you have teen boys.  You'll just get mad.  And that's just one copy.  Software assurance, licensing per seat and other charges are drive that price higher.  Cloud computing removes this cost.   It also removes allows for "right sizing," since cloud subscribers only pay for what they actually use on a per-user basis.

 

Maintenance

I might be hurting my own bottom line here, but I have to mention that software as a service saves on maintenance costs. There is no server hardware and software troubleshooting for IT staff to do here.  Your IT department would simply need to make sure the company's Internet connection is up and that your desktops are doing alright.  This could greatly free up your business' staff and allow them to plan projects and be proactive, not reactive, for a change.

Downtime

Outages cost money.  Hardware breakdowns, software glitches, spyware, viruses, even normal upgrades and maintenance all cause downtime and a huge cost impact.  Cloud services typically build redundancy into their systems, ensuring  uptime and eliminating outage costs.

So is Cloud Computing Right for My Business?

This depends on your business and its reliance on technology.  It also depends on the size of your company, number of servers and how critical your apps are.  I'd recommend evaluating all this based on the four cost-saving factors I've outlined here, and even contacting some cloud computing companies to get pricing and learn more.  If you need or advice and don't have an IT department to bounce ideas off, contact your local independent IT contractor.  CHEAP PLUG: If you're in Maryland, feel free to look me up. 

Thanks for reading!

Social Media Tips for Small Businesses

More businesses are turning to social media like Facebook and Twitter for free, quick and easy promotion.  Rather than pay a lot of money for traditional advertising, small businesses can benefit from their own Facebook page and Twitter feed to get their message out there.  Using social media for advertising can be sticky, though, since social media creates a far different relationship than the standard "advertiser/viewer" exchange.  Here are some tips to navigate the choppy waters of social media advertising to get the most out of your business' social media presence.

Be a Friend

Social media like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ create a relationship with your audience.  Always remember that using social media means your customers interact with family and friends on the same platform they interact with you.  Like it or not, this blurs the lines between categories like "friend," "customer" and "company."  What this means to you is that you must be genuine and conduct yourself on social media according to its own mores and practices.  In other words, be a friend and don't communicate like a company, which leads us to our next point.

Don't Shill

This is the biggest social media marketing mistake I see, usually because marketers are stuck in the old ways of advertising.  They think the tried and true communication methods proven in print and electronic media advertising will also work in social media.  They're wrong about that.

It's tempting to approach social media like any other advertising and just plug away, shilling everything under the sun to drive business.  Trust me when I say that constant huckstering is the best way to get customers to unfriend you.  Think about it.  Would you want what amounts to commercials showing up constantly in your feed?  This is not to say you should never promote your products.  Come on, that's why you're on social media in the first place!  Just be mindful of your posts and temper the flow of selling with non-commercial messages like links to articles, helpful hints or just a simple greeting.  Customers will be more receptive to sales messages if you come across as a friend first and a company second.

Make it Worth their While

Along with your shills and friendly notes, give customers a reason to follow you and give existing friends a reason to stick around.  One way is to publish content relevant to their interest.  Another way that might be better to both parties is to announce deals and special offers.  Discounts and promotions are a great way to get new friends and inspire social media loyalty.  This gives something to your friends (a deal) and give you something as well (more business).

Network

Networking is just as important in social media as it is in the real world.  Use your account to follow the accounts of other local businesses.  Their fans might notice you and start following you, adding to your audience and spreading your promotional message.

I'll wrap up this article with my own shill if you don't mind.  If you live in or around Mt. Airy or Frederick, Maryland, or know someone who does, and need computer repair help, give me a call.  Here's my website, email, Facebook page and Twitter feed.   I offer a wide range of computer services at great prices for both home computer users and small businesses.  Thanks for reading and good luck with your social networking!

Five (plus one) Quick Ways to Speed Up a Slow Computer

Add Memory.  Different flavors of Microsoft Windows have different memory capacities, and this is further compounded by the processor architecture (32 or 64 bit).  Check the chart linked here and see if you can add memory.  Doing so can definitely speed up a slow computer.

Go Wired.  Wireless networking is convenient.  It's more fun to surf the web and do work in your living room.  That's where I'm writing this, after all.  But if your computer is slow, the culprit might just be a slow wireless connection.  If this is the case, try using an Ethernet cable instead of wireless.  If you're very far from your router or modem, try an "Ethernet over power" solution like the one mentioned in this article.

Defrag.  Your hard drive stores information wherever it can, not contiguously.  Deleting data leave holes, which leads to files being saved in pieces all over the hard drive.  This can lead to slower file access and, of course, a slower computer.  Defrag your hard drive regularly to consolidate data and make access faster.

Reboot.  It's healthier to leave your computer on at all times -- cold startup is tough on hardware and helpdesk friends tell me 80% of the time, that's when hardware fails.  That being said, you do need to reboot once in a while, especially if your computer is running slower than usual.  Rebooting will clear out your pagefile and virtual memory and restart background programs, "freshening up" your computer for faster performance.

Spring Cleaning.  Take some time to clean your computer once in a while.  Uninstall programs you don't need and take any programs out of startup that don't need to run in the background.  This article mentions how to run MSCONFIG.  If you're going that route, definitely triple check every app before turning it off.  That being said, shutting down unnecessary background programs and uninstalling software you don't need on a regular basis are great ways to speed up a slow computer.

Bonus Tip!  I don't know how many times I've seen clients who have two or even three antivirus programs running at once.  Antivirus programs aren't like locks on your house.  You only need one good one.  More than that and you'll definitely have a slow computer.

Common Computer Repair Misconceptions - Part 1

As a computer repair professional, I encounter a lot of misconceptions about what we do in this field.  It’s easy to see how these misunderstandings happen, since computers are pretty complex and there’s a “knowledge gap” between technicians and their customers.  Unless your technician really takes the time to explain exactly what’s causing a problem and why – something I strive to do on my client engagements –  misunderstandings can occur that cause difficulties, pain and hard feelings for both parties.   Here are a few of the misconceptions I sometimes encounter.  I hope this fosters a better understanding between computer technicians and you, the client! 

After a Repair, Future Issues are the Technician’s Fault or Problem

This is probably the toughest one of all.  If my mechanic fixes my brakes and, a week later, my engine starts leaking oil, I’m not going to assume they’re related.  This happens all the time in my field, though. 

I’m sure it’s completely innocent and related to the mysterious nature of computers.  Cars have been part of our lives for a very long time and most of us have at least a basic grasp of their systems.  Not so with computers, which have been in households really for the past decade and a half.  The mystery is still very prevalent, but this will change over time.  So I can understand why home and small business computer users might make the whole “correlation/causation” mistake.  The understanding just isn’t there yet.  I'm sure a day will come when a router is as recognizable as a gas cap, but that day's just not here yet.

What I do, after client engagements, is follow up after about a week has gone by.  If my clients are having the same problem or a related issue, I’ll fix it for free for up to a month after the repair.  I do my best to do right by my computer repair customers but if there’s a new problem, it has to be a separate service call and a new fee. 

Everything Can Be Fixed

I’ve been doing this for over a decade and many computer repair guys have been doing it longer.  We can work miracles sometimes.  On other occasions, it’s nobody’s fault that something can’t be fixed.  This is most typically the result of a bad virus or outdated hardware.

I do my best to clean viruses, but if I try for a few hours and your PC is still infected, it’s time to look into other options.  Virus writers specifically craft their little nasties to be difficult to remove.  Even the technician’s best manual removal efforts and AV software might fail.  When this is the case, it’s not really the fault of the tech.  Some viruses simply won’t go away.  Clients need to understand this and be ready for a wipe and reinstall.

The other pain point in the “everything can be fixed” realm is outdated hardware.  If your computer is more than 5 years old and it’s running slowly, there are a few things I can do.  See previous posts here and here regarding what causes a slow computer and what can be done to improve it.  Notice I said "improve" and not "fix?"  That's because technology moves FAST and it’s entirely possible your old computer might just not be up to snuff with regard to running the latest apps.  There really is only so much I or any technician can do to pep up your old PC.  I've leveled with clients before who were happy with my honesty and really just wanted to get an extra year out of their systems.  When we both understand, it's a great feeling.

These are just two of the many misconceptions tech guys like me face.  I’m writing this not to complain, but to hopefully help techs be better techs and customers be better, more understanding customers.  This was fun to write, and I’ll definitely continue soon.  If you live in or around Mount Airy, MD or Frederick , MD and need computer help, check out my site at www.userfriendlysupport.com.  Thanks for reading and happy computing!

Website design: so you've bought the site. How do we get CONTENT up there?

In my last article, I wrote about how to get started with your own web site.  We covered what a domain name and hosting are and how to buy your own domain name and set up hosting for your web site.  Now that your site has a name and someplace to live, it’s time to generate content.

This is client engagement.  In this process, the site developer (hopefully me) meets with you to discuss your ideas for your site.  We’ll get any materials from you that we need, including the following:

• Pictures of products or projects
• Detailed descriptions of products
• Any definite verbiage you want on the site
• Contact information you want published
• Number of pages on the site

Essentially, we’ll collaborate and plan the site.  We can be as involved in the planning process or keep it to a few basic ideas.  I find that the more the client is involved with this step, the happier they’ll be with the final result.  As far as the number of pages goes, I used to charge a flat rate per page, but I am transitioning to a “package” model instead.  This offers more flexibility for clients and helps us both make good design choices. 

After the initial site planning has been done, I will create some site mockups, each witha  different design and feel.  Depending on how complex the site is and how many pages you want, I may do a full mockup of the entire site or I may simply create a few select pages.   

I then meet with the client to go over the mockups.  If I’ve done my job well, the client will usually pick one of the mockups as the final design.  I can then get started on the final product.  After another meeting or two just to get the fine details right, the site is completed and YOUR new web site is ready to go online. 

Remember in the last article when I said a web site is just a collection of files?  Well here’s where I upload the files to the host.  Once the files live on the host’s servers, they can be accessed immediately.  After final approval, your web site can be online in minutes. 

Once the site is online, it’s just a matter of tweaking content according to the client’s ongoing needs.  I typically do this on as as- needed basis with my typical hourly rate, providing an estimate before any work is done. 

So there you have it.  I hope, with these two articles, I’ve demystified the process of creating a web site for yourself or your business and getting it online.  It’s really a collaborative process between you and I that should lead to a great deal of satisfaction for both of us.  Thanks a lot of reading and if you have any questions or if you’d like to discuss getting YOUR site up, please email me. 

User Friendly Computer Services

Website design: how do I get my own website for my small business?

 

So you have a company, or maybe you're starting your own small business, and you need to have your own web site.  The problem is you don't even know where to start.  It can be daunting. 

The good news is this:  It's not as hard as it sounds and with the right help, you can be online advertising your business to the world - or your small part of it - right away. 

A web site consists of three key parts: 

• Domain name 

• Hosting 

• Content 

A domain name and hosting must be purchased by you from a provider.  I typically use GoDaddy.com.   

Domain Name: 

Simply put, it's the name of your web site.  Mine is www.userfriendlysupport.com.  On GoDaddy's home page is a search tool you can use to find out if your desired name is available.  If it is, great!  You can buy it.  

Ownership lasts a term of one or two years, typically, and then you can renew. If your name isn't available, GoDaddy will suggest alternatives or you can search for a different name.  As far a pricing goes, it varies.  .com is a more desirable "top level domain" than .net, .us etc, so .coms usually cost more.  Domain names that might be in demand or are general terms that might get more traffic are also more expensive. 

Hosting: 

A web site is simply a collection of files.  They have to be put somewhere accessible to the outside world.  That's what hosting is.  Your hosting company, GoDaddy in my example, provides server space and bandwidth.  They put your site someplace and give people a way to get to it. 

The best approach is to buy hosting at the same time you buy your domain name.  Sites like GoDaddy will usually give you a price break for buying both at the same time.  Also in the realm of price breaks, consider that buying two years' worth of hosting costs less per month than one year.  You do pay up front, though, so evaluate whether you really want to e in this for "the long haul" or if you're just "testing the waters." 

We can help you get started and walk you through the buying process if you need it.  It can definitely be confusing for some, with options like Windows vs. Linux server, private or public registration and so on that there's not room to go into here.  Just understand that it's not as hard as you might think and if necessary, you can do the whole process over the phone with the hosting company instead. 

The next topic to discuss is content.  You have a name and a place for your site to live.  A "home" for your homepage.  How do you get exactly what you want onto that little piece of the Internet that belongs to you?   That's the next topic, where we'll discuss how the client engagement goes and how you get exactly what you want online on your site.    

User Friendly Computer Services