Happy Memorial Day from the Ivanhoe Computers team. We are OPEN Memorial Day regular hours 9AM – 6PM.
Archive for May, 2013
Windows Repair in St. Louis
Posted by
South City Computer offers Windows repair services to the St. Louis metro area. South City Computer can fix all Microsoft Windows versions including Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. Contact South City Computer for Windows repair services today!
Microsoft Windows is the most commonly used and therefore the most targeted computer operating system and often requires repair and support services. Some of the most common Windows repair issues are the infamous “Blue Screen of Death”, “BSOD”, or also known as the “Blue Screen”, or a black screen and blinking cursor issue and black screen with mouse cursor. Windows can sometimes fail to start and needs service. Sometimes the Windows operating system will only be able to boot into “safe mode” because possibly a system file has become corrupt or was deleted by a computer virus. Another very common Windows issue is that the network connection or the wifi “wireless” internet connection has stopped working and therefore the Internet stops working on the Windows computer. Most computer viruses are targeted at Windows computers since they are the most commonly used. Windows start menu is missing or will no locks up. Windows device drivers also become corrupt or have been deleted and need to be repaired. Windows user profile has become corrupted and can no longer access the desktop. Windows is slow and unresponsive. Windows can get stuck in an update and never boot again.
If you are using Windows XP, you may have noticed that it has become difficult, or impossible to run Windows Update. Microsoft announced some time ago that they had discontinued all support and updates for Windows XP, and that they had officially “end of lifed” the Windows XP operating system. Unfortunately this causes many issues for Windows XP users that still rely on Windows XP because they are invested in software that will only run on Windows XP, and therfore cannot upgrade to Window Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10.
Windows computer users may notice big user interface changes when moving into the Windows 8.1, or Windows 10 operating system. A new “Start screen”, similar to the one on the Windows Phone OS, includes live application tiles which some users find confusing when compared to the classic Windows desktop. While this is not a malfunction of the Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 operating system, it is rather a new feature that can seem confusing to some Windows 7 and Windows Vista users who are familiar with the classic Windows desktop and start menu.
Many of these are common issues of Microsoft Windows and can be repaired by the expert computer technicians at South City Computer. If you are experiencing any Windows issues, and need expert PC repair and computer support services then bring your computer to South City Computer today!
When the cloud goes down it turns into fog
Posted byAre you confident that your data is safe and available at all times on the “cloud”? Many companies and individual entrust their valuable data, and proprietary business information to third party data storage and hosting companies without ever giving it a second thought. Mainly “who controls the cloud”? Is your data really any “safer” and more available on the cloud?
Cloud services from Amazon, Google, etc are prone to failure just like any other computing storage network. The truth is, the cloud is just a pretty way to say “A computer in a datacenter somewhere”. As we know computers and data networks are prone to failure. The cloud is by no means a high availability cluster like most people invision. They falsly invision the “Borg” if you will (that ones is for the Trekies). Unfortunately most cloud services are not at all like that, and are no different than shared hosting services. Many companies are suprised when their data is unavailable do to outages at major cloud hosting companies like Amazon and Google. They are also suprised when their data is hacked and stolen on the cloud, since they falsly invisioned security happening behind the scenes. While most cloud hosts offer some basic security, you should probably not rely on the cloud for sensitve and proprietary data storage. The cloud get hacked, and the cloud goes down. There I said it.
When the cloud goes down it turns into fog.
A fog of questions like, “What happened to may data?”, “Where is my data?”, “When can I expect to see my data again?”, “Will I ever see my data again?”, “Wait a minute, what the heck is the cloud anyway?”. Leaving many business owners and IT managers scratching their heads and throwing their hands up as they are at the whims of the big cloud hosts to restore their data, “hopefully”. This downtime costs companies millions of dollars in lost time, productivity and revenue. There is nothing worse for a business than the entire company of employees sitting at work waiting for the computer systems to be restored while on the clock.
If you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself! This includes data security and data hosting. We recently lost a contract to a company touting cloud data services for use in a medical practice. They convinced the customer to move their email service to Google Mail (Gmail). They sold them on the data uptime and security of Gmail at such a minimal cost. However no where does Gmail admit to being HIPAA compliant, and nowhere would they agree to enter into a Business Associate agreement with a physicians office to be so. Google also shares information with third party advertisors, because Google is first and foremost an advertising giant who survives on selling data to advertisers! So next time you are wondering how the heck Google knows you are on ED meds, or something more private, you should probably ask, where is my physician storing my electronic private health information?