Not A Slogan I Would Use With My Clients

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

I recently ran across an old postcard from a local area computer repair shop.  I don’t want to quote it because you might think I made it up.  So here’s a picture:

Now, how in the world can the company be comfortable making that claim?  And how would you, as a client, feel about taking advantage of it?

A competent computer technician will tell you at the outset whether he can fix your computer.  I mean, come on!  How many things can go wrong?

Here’s a list of the most common hardware problems:

  • Your monitor no longer displays anything
  • Your printer no longer prints anything you send to it
  • Your computer beeps when you turn it on and nothing happens
  • Your computer doesn’t turn on at all

Here’s a list of the most common software problems:

  • Your computer is infected with malware
  • Your computer displays a blue screen with white text when you turn it on
  • Your computer freezes in the middle of a game
  • Your computer displays an “End Program” message when you shut down

Obviously, these are very short lists.  You may encounter other errors from the software and hardware that you are running, but there are very few instances where something absolutely cannot be fixed.  To make the claim this company did is disingenuous; it implies that there will be situations where a customer will receive free computer support.

I certainly don’t operate Heliotropic Systems like that.  You know right from the start that all of my work has a 100% guarantee.  If you are not satisfied with what I have done, I will work to correct what ever is wrong – or refund your money.  It is as simple as that.  No muss, no fuss, and no idiotic statements about “free.”

My Business Grew In the Midst of a Recession

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

I am pleased that I was able to provide computer support to a larger client base during 2010.  Because Heliotropic Systems specializes in home computer users and small businesses (5 to 10 PCs), it was difficult to gain traction against the overwhelming forces of the economy – but I did.  And so, I would like to take a moment to say, “Thank you!” to my client base, for helping me achieve growth during a difficult time.

Now that the overall economy appears to be settling down, I look forward to 2011 as a year in which I can make a greater improvement in my support of all things computer-related.

The other day, I was reading an article by Harry Brelsford in a recent issue of SMB Partner Community.  Here is an excerpt:

Have you ever worked with a client who insisted on doing too much of their own IT?  Maybe they buy their own computers (from whatever’s on sale at Costco) and try to add them to the network themselves, maybe they pick security applications from magazine ads and do their own installations, maybe they spend hours on the phone with Dell tech support trying to figure out a server issue.  What’s the result?  In my experience they usually wind up paying a lot more for a real IT pro to come in later and clean up their mess.  In fact many of us use the same sales pitch with those types of clients, something like “You have your own work to do.  Why don’t you save money, time, and frustration by letting a professional handle this for you?”

It is quite obvious that Harry knows some of my clients and what I say to them.  And it is true – you don’t need to know about computers.  All you have to do is let me do my job so that you can do yours.

In the coming year, I hope more of you will contact Heliotropic Systems when you need a professional to take care of your computer systems.

Computers, The Cloud, And Thanksgiving

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

In the November 2010 issue of “Redmond Channel Partner” magazine, Paul DeGroot, a senior analyst at an independent research firm commented on an aspect of Microsoft’s product development trajectory and how it relates to the partner community that supports Redmond.  He states:

Assume that before the end of this decade, a new computing device will either include or will automatically connect to a full set of hosted applications and maintenance services that regularly update its capabilities and fend off malware and configuration errors.  The device may even be “free,” when you subscribe to all the applications and services

Of course, he is talking about a computer and all of the requisite add-ons that make up our daily existence.  In the present case, that would include the operating system, the desktop office suite, the e-mail client, the web browser, a security product, and any other software we install to perform one function or another on our PCs.

I have always stressed that it is important to be mindful of what is installed on your computer.  I also insist that you make sure that all of your software is kept current to ensure you reduce the possibility of being adversely affected by malware.  These are key reasons that Heliotropic Systems offers SPF plans for home users and SHADE plans for small businesses.  This software takes care of several often mundane tasks that most people tend to ignore, or do not realize they need to perform.

Yet, after I read DeGroot’s article a second time, I believe his example of a future device doesn’t resemble a computer at all, but something else that everyone uses on a daily basis – a cell phone!

Over time, technology that was affordable only by large corporations has become more prevalent in the small business and even consumer space.  Two of the more popular offerings are online back-up and online e-mail.  These are exemplified by companies such as Carbonite and Mozy, and Google with its Gmail offering.  These companies tend to talk about their products use of “the cloud,” which is nothing more than another way of saying “on the Internet.”

Today the trend is for software vendors is to create their product so that it runs on the Internet instead of directly on your desktop.  This means that you no longer have to install software, you simply point your favorite web browser to a URL and sign on to your account.  While you do not need to install these products, they all require some kind of constant Internet connection.

And, to carry the analogy just a little bit further, when you buy a cell phone, you automatically get a variety of applications and can purchase more through your phone vendor’s online store.  Most of these apps are updated automatically when your cell phone is on.  You don’t have to worry about making sure the updates take place – Verizon, or AT&T or Sprint take care of that for you.

As DeGroot concludes:

I can’t predict what the partner role will be, except that there will be one.  Someone needs to make devices, applications that run on them, systems that connect them to applications.  Someone needs to guide businesses through a myriad of choices and rescue those businesses from bad decisions.

Perhaps most important, someone needs to map hardware and software against human needs and wants, and help people and businesses integrate the digital landscape with people, process, and products.  Those skills will be as rare and valuable a decade from now, just as they are today.

I thought it was very fitting to reflect on these words just before we celebrate Thanksgiving.  Because it is my sincere belief that Heliotropic Systems is in business to help people – both home users and small businesses – use the technology they have so that they can do what they want in the best and safest manner.  No matter what device they are using.

Your Clients Can Teach You New Things

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

I received a phone call from a client the other day.  She complained that the USB mouse she was using with her laptop had stopped working.  I went through the normal series of diagnostic questions:

  • Did you remove it and plug it back in?
  • Did you shut down Windows and restart your laptop?
  • Did you try it in another USB port?

She replied “yes” to all of these questions.  She also told me that the transceiver – the part that actually plugs into the laptop – had gotten extremely hot.

That surprised me, because I would not expect the transceiver to get very hot.  Nevertheless, I believed that it was defective and had died.  I suggested that if she was going to Staples any time soon, she could pick up a new one.  A quick look at their web site confirmed this was not an inexpensive purchase; replacing this mouse would cost $39.99 plus tax.

Obviously undeterred by this set back, my client did what most people would not.  She called Microsoft!  She spoke with a customer service representative who acknowledged the problem and offered a free replacement.  When she called me back later in the day, extremely pleased with her exploits, I was quite surprised.

At that point, I took some time to research the issue with more care, and it is quite prevalent.  The mouse works for a while, the transceiver becomes extremely hot, the circuits inside melt, and the wireless mouse no longer works.  While Microsoft has not issued a recall for this product, it has established a policy of free replacements for which it provides a three-year warranty.

So, if you happen to have a Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 (Model D5D-00001) and it stops working, you don’t have to call me.  You can call Microsoft at 800-933-4750, and don’t worry; this call center is located in Canada.  Have your mouse handy when you call them.  They will need the Product ID (PID) from the bottom.

Did this information help you?  Please let me know!

Proactive vendor updates with an e-mail blast!

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

I received an e-mail today from Norton. Yes, that was the “from” name in Outlook. At first, I suspected the subject line, “Larry, your free update to Norton™ AntiVirus is Available” was spam. However, a careful review of the contents (thank you SpamBayes) revealed this was legitimately from Symantec.

Norton 2011 Update

After spending a moment reading the contents, I thought this marketing effort was quite impressive. The 2011 AntiVirus and Internet Security products were released to the public on September 9, 2010. Now, one month later, it is all the more impressive that Symantec would alert customers to take advantage of what amounts to a “free” upgrade.

Most consumers usually wait until the product starts to nag them (30 days – every day) before they update their subscription. Others wait until they can manage to obtain the new version of the product for $9.99 at their local office supply store.

In this case, Symantec is taking a preemptive step towards ensuring their customer base is on the latest version of the product. That is something aggressive and new.

Yet this actually fits in with something I have been telling my clients for a long time now:  You should update the product version at least every two years to take advantage of the latest available detection technology. Simply renewing your subscription to the updates is not sufficient to keep your computer secure from all of the nastiness that is out on the Internet.

In keeping with a recent ruling, the e-mail contains the requisite text that informs customers of the following:

If your product is not updated yet and you choose to download Norton AntiVirus 2011, you will have the right to use this product for no additional charge until the expiration of your current Norton AntiVirus subscription, subject to acceptance of the Symantec License Agreement included with this product and available for review at www.symantec.com.

I’d be interested to learn about your reaction to this e-mail.

Access 2010 Runtime Gotcha With Report to PDF

by ⋅ 1 Comment

One of my small business client’s is still using Microsoft Access 2000 for two of its databases.  There never was any need, nor was there a desire, to upgrade the version of Access when the rest of the Office suite was upgraded.

Now, Windows 7 is being rolled out across their office and they want to continue to contain costs.  At my recommendation, they started using the Access 2010 Runtime.  This will permit their databases to continue to function without change – or without too much change.

One thing that was discovered early during testing was that the Calendar control (MSCAL.OCX) is no longer supported in Access 2010.  However, it is possible to continue to use the Calendar if you copy the file and register it.

More importantly and just recently discovered was the errant output of one of their reports.  The function uses Stephan Lebans’ Report to PDF code to take a report and convert it to PDF format.  While this has worked for a very long time, with only a minor hitch or two as the DLLs changed, it has proven to be a valuable utility.

Imagine the client’s surprise when a recently created document was produced in A4 landscape format (11.69 x 8.27) – resulting in a loss of data on the report!  Well, I was surprised and, at first, figured that some random printer setting was at fault.  That wasn’t it at all.

Another aspect of Access 2010 that Microsoft changed was the elimination of the snapshot format for reports.  Because this is the “driver” for Lebans’ code, the output defaulted to – I don’t know what, but it didn’t generate a valid report.

On the plus side, Access 2010 allows you to create a report and send it directly to PDF.  So, once it was clear that that some kind of coding change was necessary, it was relatively easy to implement.

I simply had to test for the current version of Access, because the shop is still in transition. Those folks who haven’t been upgraded continue to use the Lebans’ code, while those who are using the Runtime, get to take advantage of the new functionality that Access 2010 provides.

Here’s a sample of the code:

{code type=HTML}

Dim blRet As Boolean

‘If greater than Access 2003, use the built-in PDF functionality
If Int(Val(SysCmd(acSysCmdAccessVer))) > 11 Then
Dim acFormatPDF As Variant
acFormatPDF = “PDF Format (*.pdf)”

DoCmd.OutputTo acOutputReport, strRptName, acFormatPDF, strPDFName
blRet = True
Else
‘ Call Stephen Lebans’ convert function
blRet = ConvertReportToPDF(strRptName, vbNullString, strPDFName, False, False)
End If

{/code}

Now, everyone in the office can continue to produce PDF reports without any errors.

Your Security Should Come Before a Discount

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

For several weeks, Staples has been selling laptop and desktop computers with a unique offer.  They will give you a $50 discount if you give them a laptop or desktop to recycle.  That is between a 5 and 10 percent discount on the price of a new computer.  I am all for saving money when the opportunity arises.  Nevertheless, you have to be cautious when something appears to be “too good to be true,” and this offer bears some scrutiny.

The fine print of the Staples offer is quite specific.  They want you to give them a computer that works.  Yes, your trade-in has to be able to boot to Windows (XP, Vista, or even Windows 7), have a “working AC adapter and undamaged screen.  At the time of trade-in, laptops must power on and boot up to operating system, desktops must power on.”

I am not at all certain why they have this requirement, but I don’t like it.  If you give them a working computer, it has all of your files on it.  It has all of your e-mail correspondence.  It also has all of the web browser sessions where you have plugged in your user id and password, because you cannot remember what you used for you bank account versus Amazon.com.  In other words, it is a treasure trove of personal information that could – in the hands of a malicious individual – be used run up charges on your credit cards, ruin your credit rating, or steal your identity.

To their credit, Staples has text on their web site that assures customers that their technicians will, in no way, look at any of that information before they run a utility program to delete all of the data on the computer’s hard drive.  I believe their lawyers had to insist on that.  At the same time, do you really want to take that kind of risk just to save $50?  I certainly don’t!

Yet there is something you can do to protect your personally identifiable information before you give them your computer for trade-in.  It takes less than half an hour and requires just a few simple steps.

The “trick” is to create a new user ID on your computer.  You will then log on to your computer as that user, and remove your existing user ID.  This will eliminate the majority of the personal information that can easily be obtained and give you some peace of mind if you decide to take Staples up on their $50 offer.

Here’s what you need to do:

Click Start and select Control Panel.  Whether you are in Category View or Classic View, double-click User Accounts.

Under “Pick a task…” click Create a new account

Under “Name the new account” type in the name for the new account.  I would suggest the following, NoOne, and click Next.

Under “Pick an account type” use the default, Computer administrator, and click Create Account.

Close this window and the Control Panel.

Now restart your computer.  Click Start, Turn off computer, Restart.  The new user ID will appear on the Windows Welcome page.

Click that new account.  Windows will spend a few minutes creating the desktop – it will not have any of your customizations, but will look just like when you first got your computer.  (Some of you may not remember that far back…)

Once again, click Start and select Control Panel.  Double-click User Accounts.

If you are using Category View, under “Pick a task” click Change an account.

Then, under “Pick an account to change” click your old user ID.

Under “What do you want to change about your account” click the Change my account type link.

Under “Pick a new account type” select Limited and click Change Account Type.

You will be returned to the “What do you want to change about your account” window.  This time, click the Delete the account link.

Windows asks if you want to keep the files – and the whole purpose of this exercise is to eliminate them – so click Delete files.

Windows has a final prompt, to make sure you know that everything will be deleted.  You want to do that, so click Delete the Account.

Depending on the number of files you have, and the age of your computer, the delete process can take either a few minutes or a half hour.  Get a cup of coffee, read a magazine, or go run some errands.  You must have the patience to wait this one out.

After it is finished, you can close Windows and feel better about giving your computer to Staples knowing that you have eliminated the bulk of your personal information and can save $50 on a new computer.

Why would you want to do that? It’s my job!

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

One morning you had a problem connecting to the Internet.  So, what did you do?  You turned the Internet box off and on a couple of times, you rebooted your computer, but nothing much changed.

Next, you unplugged the Internet box and headed over to the local retail office supply store.  You asked one of the sales people (you know, the guys in the colorful shirts) what to do with the box that no longer worked.  He said you needed a new box and proceeded to sell you one.

You got home, and plugged everything in the way you remembered it.  Lo and behold, you still had a problem connecting to the Internet.

It was only at this point that you decided you really needed help, so you called your computer consultant.  You told him you had a problem, and asked if he could stop by to see what was wrong.

It only took a few minutes for your consultant to diagnose the situation, because several things were wrong.

The most obvious one was that the “geek” at the retail office supply store took your broken DSL modem and sold you a Linksys router, which would never, ever, work as a replacement.  Without a DSL modem, there was no way you were going to access the Internet.

As a side note to office supply store personnel:  If you do not know what you are talking about, please don’t waste someone’s time.  If the customer complains (or if enough customers complain), you are going to be out of a job.

Your computer consultant managed to obtain a replacement DSL modem from your Internet Service Provider by using a little subterfuge.  The net result was that you would be back up and on the Internet in a few days.  You were grateful for your computer consultant’s prompt responsiveness to your call for help and his advocacy for your situation.

I was going to turn this post into a rant, but I was reminded that harsh sounding words wouldn’t get the point across.

The truth is that you are not a computer consultant.  You are a real estate agent, or a dentist, or a lawyer, or just someone’s mom.  However, you are not trained to handle computer problems.  That’s my job, and that’s why you ask – and trust – me to take care of your computer systems.

Because, after all, that’s what I do – you just have to let me.

Windows Vista Laptop Can’t See Printer in Windows XP – Solved!

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Too many people seem to be having a problem connecting their Vista laptops to Windows XP-connected printers. It took me a while to get the steps right, but I believe this should help anyone else who has been similarly vexed.

Here’s a default configuration:

  • Existing Windows XP desktop with USB attached printer
  • New Windows Vista laptop

To network the laptop to the desktop printer, you need to do the following:

  1. Gather computer information
  2. Install printer drivers on Windows Vista
  3. Install LLTD on Windows XP
  4. Set up printer sharing on Windows XP
  5. Establish Vista user on Windows XP
  6. Add the network printer to Windows Vista

Step 1. Gather the required information

In Vista, click Start, right-click Computer, and select Properties. Scroll down until you locate the Computer name and the Workgroup name. Write both down.

In XP, click Start, right-click My Computer, and select Properties. Click the Computer Name tab.  Write down the name of the Workgroup.

You must use the same workgroup name, so change one of the computers.  Afterwards, you must restart the computer.

Step 2. Install printer drivers in Windows Vista

Unplug the USB cable from your Windows XP desktop. Download the appropriate drivers to your Vista laptop and start the installation. Don’t connect the USB cable until directed.  Print a test page to make sure everything works.

Step 3. Install LLTD on Windows XP

Download and install a Microsoft file that allows you to see your XP desktop on your Vista network.  Use the following link:  http://tinyurl.com/2b3lkn.

Step 4. Set up printer sharing

In the XP Control Panel, select Printers and Faxes. Right click the printer you want Vista to use and select Properties. Click the Sharing tabe and select “Share this printer.”  Make a note of what Windows calls the printer; you can change it if you wish.

Step 5. Create a new Windows XP user

To use the printer, Windows Vista needs access to the Windows XP controlled device.  So, you have to create a user with the associated privileges.

In the XP Control Panel, select User Accounts. Click the Create a new account link and enter the user name that you use on your Vista laptop. Click Next. On the next screen, take the default option and make this user an Administrator. Click Create Account and close the open windows.

Step 6. Add the network Printer to Windows Vista

On the Vista laptop, open the Control Panel and select Printers.  Click the “Add a Printer” button at the top of the page.  Select “Add a local printer.”  Select the “Create a new port” radio button and leave the drop-down menu on the default.

A small window will open for you to enter the port name, which is in the form of \\computername\printername (you wrote down the computer name in Step 1).

Select the manufacturer and printer from the list and keep the existing drivers.  You can set the name of the printer and print a test page to ensure that this process works.

I hope this post helps anyone else who might be struggling with the same problem.  Please let me know if this has helped you, or if there is anything I may have overlooked.