Why Your Laptop Needs An “Instant Kill” Switch

It’s lunch time and you stop by your favorite café to check e-mail and grab a bite to eat. You settle in at a table when your pickup number is called. Returning to your table, you find your laptop and appetite—has disappeared!

Okay, maybe you’re not foolish enough to leave your laptop unattended in a public place, but one of your employees might think it’s okay to leave a laptop or PDA in their car, a hotel room, or in their gym bag and end up exposing your company’s data and network to thieves.

If it hasn’t happened to you or someone you know, according to the FBI, it will. Sure you have a backup of the data, but now detailed information about you, your family, your business and your clients is in the hands of a criminal intent on stealing your money, identity or worse. There is a lot of software and hardware that protects your data from being stolen by online criminals, but how do you protect your data when someone steals your physical laptop or PDA?

Until now, your only recourse was to change the passwords to your network, financial websites, etc., watch your credit report and cross your fingers hoping for the best. But thanks to new security software, you can instantly erase all of the data on your laptop or PDA preventing thieves from accessing the data.

Here’s how it works: Special security software is installed on your laptop that checks for your “kill” command whenever it connects to the Internet. This happens even before Windows prompts for the user name and password. If it receives the “kill” message, the data on your computer is instantly destroyed. You may not get your laptop back, but you’ll prevent the thief from stealing the information it contains.

If you’re a business, check out Absolute Software’s Computrace and Novell’s ZENworks. Both should be installed and configured by your system administrator or a computer consultant. If you want to protect your home computer or personal laptop, use zTrace’s zControl. Although designed for the general public, it can be confusing to install and configure so seek the help of a professional.

In the PDA world, there’s remoteProtect from sCPsOFT for Windows CE, Windows Mobile and Pocket PC devices or Bluefish’s Central for the Palm Treo. If your PDA is stolen, you simply text a message to it that includes your password and the PDA is reset to its blank factory default condition. What could be easier?

As with all theft and hacker deterrents, thieves can circumvent this software by downloading your data before connecting the device to the Internet. Surprisingly, the typical thief isn’t smart enough to know this. So, for absolute security, data encryption remains the most reliable form of protection. Encrypted data is unreadable to thieves unless they have your encryption key. There are pros and cons to both approaches, but it’s important for you to have SOME protection. For help in determining the best solution for you, give us a call at :

508 992 2541

FREE E-Mail Accounts: You Get What You Pay For...

We’ve all been told there is no such thing as a free lunch; yet it’s hard to resist the siren’s call of “FREE.” That’s one of the reasons why so many people have free e-mail accounts through Hotmail, MSN, and Gmail.

And while you might not be paying out of pocket for these services, there IS a cost. Here’s the price you pay when you use a free e-mail account:

An Extra Helping Of Spam: And loads of it. Are these free services selling your e-mail account? Do spammers have ways of gleaning your e-mail account? No one seems to know for sure (or at least they’re not talking). But the bottom line is you’ll end up with a lot more ads for Viagra than you bargained for.

Your E-mails Aren’t Guaranteed Delivery: The majority of spam messages come from free e-mail accounts. Even though you aren’t sending them, spam filters look at the server sending the message and, if it’s a known source for spam, will block the e-mail from going through. That means your e-mails might be getting blocked before they even reach the sender.

Customer Service? Non-existent! See you DO get what you pay for! If you have a problem, you’re on your own to figure it out.

Difficulty In Moving, Forwarding, or Downloading: Free e-mail services require that you read your e-mail through their web interface. If you want to move, forward or download your e-mail, contacts or other information, the process is cumbersome and sometimes impossible.

No Archiving: E-mail archiving, or storing old e-mails in a searchable, retrievable format has become very important (even a legal requirement) in some industries like medical and financial. E-mail is considered a form of communication and if you use it to support customers, order products, or to negotiate any type of deals, you want to keep a record.

So while these free services are okay for chatting casually with your friends, they are NOT recommended for business purposes or for sending anything you consider important.

Here's a question to ask yourself: if your e-mail account was erased tomorrow and all of the messages, contact information, and history went bye-bye, would it be a slight inconvenience or a catastrophe? If it’s the latter, then you need to bite the bullet and get a "real" e-mail account. And, while you’re at it, you should also get an account that reflects your own URL.

The only reason for keeping a free e-mail account is to provide certain web sites with an e-mail address when you don’t care about getting communications from them, or that may spam you later on.

Want to learn more about setting up a proper business e-mail system? Give us a call at 508-992-2541 or e-mail us at support@thinktechonline.com.

More “Friends” Might Equal More $

With social media sites like Linkedin and Facebook changing the way we keep in touch with business associates and personal contacts, almost every person you meet can lead to an invitation for a "friendship" on one of these sites.

While this connection may not seem significant, big companies are finding otherwise, according to Business Week. In recent research studies, these companies began looking at how employees relationships on social networking sites can actually speed the flow of knowledge and increase profitable ideas coming into their business.

Advertisers are also looking to these “friendships” as a tool to learn more about their customers. They are finding, for example, that if you buy something, there's a better-than-average chance that your “friends” on social media websites will buy it too; leading to targeted messaging and advertisements. Ultimately, companies will use this information to sell more products and drive more revenue. Just another added bonus to having lots of “friends.”

You can check out our Twitter account at www.twitter.com/thinktechonline!

If You Plug Your Computer Into A Surge Protector Put Our Emergency Number On Speed Dial. You’ll Be Needing It Sooner Than You Think!

The electricity your computer needs to run can also destroy it. In a flash, you could lose your computer along with all that data you’ve spent hours entering. The makers of inexpensive surge protectors have bamboozled the public into thinking their computers and data are safe if they simply plug in to a “power strip”. In truth, a few thunderstorms turn that surge protector strip into a fancy extension cord. The lighting and electrical surge can actually fry the surge protector's components.

Plus, surge protectors don’t protect against brownouts and blackouts.

Basically, when the power goes out, it is an extremely traumatic event for your computer—one that it often doesn’t recover from. The US Department of Energy advises you to protect your computers because “power disruptions can result in data corruption, burned circuit boards, component damage, file corruption and lost customers.” Even Microsoft warns that if a computer can’t boot up after a power failure, it generally cannot be repaired. So, if a surge protector isn’t actually protecting your computer then what are you supposed to do?

The simple & inexpensive solution is the battery backup, a.k.a. Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS).

A properly installed UPS will switch to battery power whenever any type of electrical problem or surge is detected and, once the electricity returns to normal, it will automatically switch back. If a blackout lasts longer than the battery can handle, your computer is safely and automatically shut down then turned back on when power returns. No destroyed computer, no lost data, and no need for that emergency call.

50% Off Battery Backup Installation

Contact us before November 30th to install battery backups on each of your workstations and servers and we’ll knock 50% off the installation.

(508)992-2541

Can Computers Prevent The Flu? Two things you can do with your technology that may prevent the flu pandemic from affecting your company’s productivity.

The CDC predicts that 1/3 of the US population will catch the flu this year, with the average employee missing between two and four weeks of work. This pandemic will cripple many small- to medium-sized businesses according to disaster recovery experts. But believe it or not, how you deal with your computers can actually prevent the flu from affecting your employees and ultimately, your business productivity.


#1 Do Everything You Can To Slow The Spread Of The Flu.

The flu spreads through personal contact like shaking hands, touching a keyboard or mouse used by an infected coworker and through the air by coughing and sneezing. So watch who you touch and use disinfectant wipes to clean your workspace including the keyboard and mouse before and after you use them. You can also reduce the amount of people who need to touch your computer equipment by using a program like the Network Headache Eliminator plan, where the engineer can work on your system remotely.

#2 Prepare For Employee Absence With Remote Access

No matter how hard you try to prevent it, you may still have some of your staff out sick at the same time. While no one with the flu is going to do much besides lie in bed, many employees will work part time from home if they have access to their office computer. Some doctors believe this could actually hasten their recovery by eliminating boredom. So, setting up a way that your employees can remote into their computer from home helps you both.

FREE REPORT: The Ultimate Small Business Guide To Setting Up A ‘Work From Home’ Or Remote Network Access System For Your Staff

Critical Facts And Insider Secrets Every Business Owner Must Know Before Installing A 'Virtual Network' To Allow Employees To Work From Home, On The Road, Or From A Remote Office

Call us before November 30th and we will send you this useful FREE report. You can also download it at www.thinktechonline.com/free_vpn

Attention Business Owners: 3 Simple Steps That May Save You From A Devastating Disaster

Though the ghosts and goblins of the Halloween season can be pretty scary, they are nothing compared to the true horror that can happen if a disaster were to strike your business. Whether it is a natural disaster, fire, flood, theft, or human error, these type of events can be debilitating to your business if you are not properly prepared for them. Fortunately, there are three easy steps you can take to protect your business from the downtime and data loss that can result from a disastrous event.

(1) Choose The Right Backup Provider

Make sure that you work with a technology company that can provide you with both offsite and onsite backup, preferably with an option to be back up and running within 24-48 hours. The backup solution they provide should not only protect your data, but should also give you a backup of your programs and network settings so your business operations can return to normal as quickly as possible. Also, be sure that the provider offers security, support, and monitoring on the backup solution so they can head off any potential problems with your disaster recovery plan.

(2) Conduct A “Fire-Drill”

You also want to be sure that your provider does a periodic “fire-drill” with your backup where they are testing your recovery process to make sure everything you need is there. This is the only way to know for certain that your backup will work when you need it.

(3) Keep Your Backup Current

Finally, whenever you add computers, new software, or new services to your network, be sure your backup solution reflects those changes. This will ensure that you are backing up everything you need.

Who’s Keeping An Eye On Your Computer Network?

If No One Is Keeping A Constant Eye On Your Network, Your Next Computer Disaster May Be Right Around The Corner!


Can I talk straight?

99% of the business owners we work with wait FAR too long to have us check and update their computer network’s health and security. Because they are not performing regular maintenance, a nasty virus, malicious hacker, an unexpected software corruption, hardware failure, or DOZENS of other problems could catch them off guard and result in extensive downtime, data loss, and expensive disaster recovery fees.

That’s because most business owners are NOT performing regular maintenance on their network and, therefore, overlook these and other threats. At some point, disaster strikes and they find themselves in a real mess with a network that offline.

By then, the damage is done and it often costs thousands of dollars to restore their network back to normal. Even then it’s not uncommon for them to permanently lose irreplaceable accounting, client, and business data – not to mention the hours of downtime.

What saddens me even more is the fact that almost every one of these costly disasters could have easily been prevented if someone had checked their network’s security and health to remove these threats on a regular basis.

Which brings me to the reason I’m writing this today…

No More Excuses! Our Free Network Check-Up Will “Exorcise” The Demons Hiding In Your Computer Network

I know you are so darn busy running your business that you simply forget to think about the security and health of your computer network – so consider this a “friendly reminder” to get it done right away.

And to make it a complete “no-brainer,” from now until Halloween (October 31st), I’m offering you a FREE Network Check-Up ($297 Value) so you have no excuse for making sure that your computer network is safe not only from spyware and viruses, but also hackers, spam, data loss, hardware failure, software corruption, and a number of other disasters.

For FREE, We Will

Come To Your Office And…

 Check your firewall’s security settings to make sure you are protected from the latest hacker attacks, worms, and viruses.

 Scan and remove spyware that is secretly stealing your company’s bandwidth, jeopardizing the speed of your computer system, and embezzling confidential information about you, your employees, and your business.

 Check your network’s back-up system to ensure it is working properly and accurately backing up all of the critical files and information you never want to lose.

 Verify that you have the most up-to-date security patches installed properly; miss one critical update and you’re a “sitting duck.”

 Diagnose slow, unstable PCs.

 Perform a quick network “tune-up” to make programs and files load faster.

Why Should You Care About This?

Because there are literally dozens of ways hackers and viruses can access your network–undetected—to access and remotely control your network, corrupt your data, and use your network as a conduit for spreading spam, viruses, and even illegal software.

There are numerous system checks and updates that should be done on a regular basis to ensure maximum speed, performance, and security. Ignore them and your system will get progressively slower, unstable, and susceptible to viruses, spyware, and hackers.

Tape backups have a failure rate of 100% --that means all tape drives will fail at some point, often without warning. You don’t want to find out that your backup was not working the day after your hard drive fried.

Think About This…

What else in your business is more valuable than the data on your network? Just imagine how devastating it would be to lose it! That’s why this checkup is so important. We’ll conduct a comprehensive review of your network’s security settings to make sure your data is safe and secure.

Okay…So What’s The Catch?

I bet you’re wondering why I’d be willing to give this away for free. Let me explain…

I know from working with hundreds of business owners that the last thing on your mind is computer maintenance. You – or someone in your office – is probably not checking and verifying the integrity of your backups, scanning for viruses and spyware on a weekly basis, checking the logs to look for hardware failures, disk space limits, and other issues. And, you probably don’t know if you have the most up-to-date security patches in place.

That means you are at risk for a major computer meltdown. And if you will allow me to come in and review your network, I can prove to you how our easy, affordable maintenance can finally give you complete peace of mind that someone is watching your network 24/7, 365 days a year to make absolutely certain you don’t experience a devastating disaster in your business.

After All, Don’t You Just Want Your Darn Computer To Work The Way It’s Supposed To?

That’s why I’m making this offer. I know that we are hands down the best at what we do, but I don’t think it’s fair for you to risk your money to find out. I don’t expect everyone to become a customer, but I know that some will end up becoming loyal, long-term clients.

Here’s How It Works…


To get your FREE, no-strings-attached Network Check-Up, simply call my office at 508-992-2541. After we receive your request, we’ll schedule a convenient time for one of our technicians to come on-site and conduct a complete health check of your network. When we’re done, we’ll give you a comprehensive, easy-to-read report that will show any problems, threats, or vulnerable areas that need to be addressed.

If we discover a problem, we’ll also provide you with a recommended action plan and fixed-fee quote on what it will cost for us to resolve it. No hidden fees, no bait and switch. If you decide to hire us to do the repair (you’re under no obligation), we’ll get to work on it immediately.

And if we find out everything is safe and secure, at the very least you’ll breathe a big sigh of relief knowing the true state of your network’s health and security.

What do you have to lose? We’re making this as easy as possible to say yes – all you have to do is take 60 seconds to call our offices and we’ll do the rest!

The 3 Scariest Threats To Small Business Networks

While spam, pop-ups, and hackers are a real threat to any small business network, there are 3 security measures that you should be focusing on FIRST before you do anything else...

Worry About E-mail Attachments, Not Spam

Sure, spam is annoying and wastes your time, but the REAL danger with spam is in the attachments. Viruses and worms are malicious programs that are spread primarily through cleverly disguised attachments to messages that trick you (or your employees) into opening them.


Another huge threat is phishing e-mails that trick the user by appearing to be legitimate e-mails from your bank, eBay, or other password-protected entity.


Here are 3 things you must have in place to avoid this nightmare:


1. Keep your anti-virus up to date and enabled. Okay, this sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s not uncommon for an employee to disable their anti-virus software unbeknownst to you. Which brings us to #2...

2. Train employees on what they are (and aren’t) permitted to do with the company’s computer, e-mail, Internet access, etc. One thing that should be on the list is that they should NEVER open suspicious attachments or respond to phishing e-mails. We highly recommend creating an AUP (acceptable use policy) to teach your staff what NOT to do.

3. Put monitoring software in place to not only maintain the health of employees’ desktops, but also to automatically “police” employees from accidentally (or intentionally) visiting a phishing web site, downloading a virus, or visiting questionable web sites and content online.

Fear Downloads Before Pop-Ups

Did you know that most computers and networks get infected with viruses because the user actually invited the threat in by downloading a file (screen saver, music file, PDF document, pictures, etc.).?


Again, this comes down to training the staff on what they can and cannot do with your computer network; but the best way to avoid this from happening is to remove the temptation by installing monitoring software that will prevent employees from downloading unsavory items to YOUR network. We also recommend installing and maintaining a good firewall, which will block Internet traffic to and from dangerous sites.

Lose Sleep Over Backups Before Hackers

You are more likely to lose data from hardware failure, accidental deletion (human error), flood, fire, natural disaster or software corruption than a hacker. Sure, you should do everything to keep hackers out of your network, but not backing up your data to a remote location is crazy. At a minimum, you should have an onsite AND offsite copy of your data, and you should be testing your data backups regularly to make sure your data CAN be restored in the event of an emergency.

What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You

Since we are on the subject of protecting your network, can I talk straight? 99% of the business owners I work with wait FAR too long to have us check and update their computer network’s health and security. Because they are not performing regular maintenance, almost every single network we review is completely overlooking these 3 security risks!


At some point, disaster will strike and they find themselves in a real mess with a network that is completely down (that’s when they call us in a panic). By then, the damage is done and it often costs thousands of dollars to restore their network back to normal. Even then it’s not uncommon for them to permanently lose irreplaceable accounting, client, and business data – not to mention hours of downtime.


What saddens me even more is the fact that almost every one of these costly disasters could have easily been prevented if someone had checked their network’s security and health to remove these threats on a regular basis. Which brings me to the reason I’m writing you today…

No More Excuses! Our Free Network Health Check Will “Exorcise”

The Demons Hiding In Your Computer Network

Since it’s Halloween, we’ve decided to “treat” all of our clients and friends to a FREE Network Health Check ($297 Value) between now and October 31, 2008.


For FREE, We Will Come To Your Office And…


• Check your firewall, anti-virus, and security settings, as well as scan for spyware and hidden viruses.

• Check your backup to see if it’s working properly and accurately.

• Verify that you have the most up-to-date security patches installed properly; miss one critical update and you’re a “sitting duck.”

• Diagnose slow, unstable PCs.

• Perform a quick network “tune-up” to make programs and files load faster.

Why Should You Care About This?

Because your computer network is the core of running your business. Try to imagine what it would be like if you walked into your office one day to discover all of your data was lost or corrupt. That’s why this check-up and regular maintenance is so important.


REMEMBER: Keeping your network safe is a moving target; the security updates you installed today may be rendered useless tomorrow because new threats are emerging daily.


There are numerous system checks and updates that should be done on a daily basis to ensure maximum speed, performance, and security. Ignore them and your system will get progressively slower, unstable, and susceptible to viruses, spyware, and hackers.

So What’s The Catch?

We are giving this away to introduce everyone to our Network Headache Eliminator plan.

This is quickly becoming our most popular service because it offers a simple, easy, and inexpensive way for businesses to eliminate their computer problems finally and forever. We take over complete responsibility for maintaining your network so you don’t have to worry about lost data, downtime, viruses, and other problems.


BUT—When you say “Yes!” to our Free Network Health Check, you are in no way obligated to do or buy anything, and you have our promise to NOT lay on the heavy sales pressure.

Here’s What You Need To Do Now:

To get your FREE, no-strings-attached Network Health Check, visit www.thinktechonline.com/network_audit . Or if you prefer to speak to me about this, call my office at 508-992-2541. After we receive your request, we’ll schedule a convenient time for one of our technicians to come onsite and conduct a complete health check of your network. When we’re done, we’ll give you a comprehensive, easy-to-read report that will show any problems, threats, or vulnerable areas that need to be addressed.


If we discover a problem, we’ll also provide you with a recommended action plan and fixed-fee quote on what it will cost for us to resolve it and continue to maintain your network under our Network Headache Eliminator Plan. No hidden fees, no bait and switch.


Should you decide to hire us to do the repair (you’re under no obligation), we’ll get to work on it immediately. If we find out everything is safe and secure, you’ll breathe a big sigh of relief knowing the true state of your network’s health and security—and then we’ll show you the fastest and easiest way to make sure it stays that way.


You Have Nothing To Lose And Peace Of Mind To Gain! But You Have To Hurry…

This Offer Is Only Good Until October 31st!

Call: 508 992 2541

Go Online: http://www.thinttechonline.com/

Tweeting Could Land You In Jail

The Associated Press reports that Guatemalan Jean Anleu may spend five years in a Guatemalan jail for his anti-government Twitter rant.  It makes him the first person in the world to be arrested for a tweet!

Using his Internet alias "jeanfer," Anleu advised Guatemalan depositors to "take cash out of Banrural and bankrupt the bank of the corrupt."  According to prosecutors, these words "illegally undermined" the banking system, violating a 2008 law enacted by the fledgling democratic government.

Foreign governments aren't the only ones concerned about the use of social networking sites.  Many US businesses are revising their acceptable use policies regarding company-owned technology to include social networking.  A recent survey estimated the annual cost to US businesses in lost wages due to personal use of technology on company time topped $1 billion.  FREE assistance with the creation or modification of acceptable use policies is one of the many benefits enjoyed by our Network Headache Eliminator Platinum clients.