​It’s that time of year; tornadoes and power outages, hot weather and brown outs, and the flickering power surges that cause electrical spikes.
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Anything that causes your electronics to improperly shut down or run at less than full power, can ruin your servers, desktops and printers. Putting a surge protector in place helps only to avoid damaging spikes.  Installing a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) will allow your electronics to stay running on a battery, but only for a brief time, allowing you to properly power them off until the electricity comes back on. (That is assuming you are present at the time the electricity goes out).  A Smart UPS is your best option. It connects via USB to your server or desktop, and when the power goes out it sends a signal to the device and gracefully shuts it down before the battery power dies.  Several brands even have easy and convenient remote accessibility.  Need help installing or selecting a UPS? Give us a call, we’re here to assist. 

Something strange happening on your system just recently? There is always an underlying cause and it likely isn't the changes we made months ago. Take a moment to check for the latest installs you downloaded and the extensions you just added. Chances are you'll discover the culprit. ​

Our service fees:
Call us first…$125
Call us after you tried to fix it…$250
Call us after Uncle Joe tried to fix it…$375
Ask us how long it will take…$500
Stand over our shoulder and watch…$625
Do the right thing, nothing, and call your I.T. Guy, the I.T. Expert
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​Multiple clicking, (having a happy finger), will only cause 50 windows to pop open once your computer decides to start responding again. 

The deleted items folder in Outlook and the recycle bin get automatically cleaned out from time to time. You may find it hard to believe, but many of you like to store your most important emails in there!  Instead, create a folder pertaining to the subjects or accounts of the important emails that need to be saved and you'll never have to worry about them being deleted. 

It may appear that we have infinite knowledge and can resolve all issues with no effort; however sometimes resolving your problem involves researching tech forums, trial and error to discover potential known issues, and even “Googling”.  We’re always learning.

One thing that we do know for certain here at Just Call the IT Guy, is that I have been selected as one of 2 nominees for Wylie’s Small Businessperson of the year! If you’re an Alignable business member in Wylie you have until midnight Friday the 15th, to vote on Alignable for the winner on the home page in the Wylie Community insights section. If you’re not a member yet, you can sign up for free and then vote.  Thank you for your votes! 

Yes, it's true, rebooting your computer can resolve many problems that you are experiencing.  When issues suddenly pop up like running slow, or your apps won't open, try rebooting first. This quick and easy refresh closes apps that need to reset and allows patches and updates to take effect only through restarting your computer. We suggest rebooting your computer once a week to help maintain optimal performance. This also works on your phones, which we often times forget to restart.

If you're wondering about the picture? This is from the amazingly funny Brittish TV series called The IT Crowd, where they answer the help desk phone with "Hello IT have you tried turning it on and off again"?The show originally aired in 2006 and ran 4 seasons, 6 episodes per season.  It can be found onNetflix and will show you see the lighter and funnier side of IT. 

​Cyber-criminals and hackers infiltrate your company through your weakest link, your employees. (Rarely, if ever, is it through IT).  Every small business needs to enhance awareness and expand the education provided to employees. Feel free to reach out to us for suggestions of the preventive measures that we use, are easy to deploy, and will help keep your business in business! 

​Who wouldn’t want to save 20% to 70% of the price of purchasing a new computer? Authorized refurbishers have made the purchasing of re-purposed machines a wise decision, and most come with the same warranty as a new one.  Statistically, most refurbs weren’t returned due to problems, but due to the fact the user didn’t take the time to learn how to operate it, or they had a bad case of buyer’s remorse.

You can usually find your favorite make and model when viewing a trusted refurbisher’s catalog, and many with the high-end features that you are longing for. This is an affordable way to get that larger SSD, double the memory of what you currently have, a laptop USB-C port, and the ability to hook up a docking station with the 3 monitors that you have been dreaming of.

While many of you are getting ready to upgrade your Win7 or 8 OS to Win10; you can save yourself the time and money of purchasing new software, plus 1-3 hours of labor by purchasing a refurb with Win10 already installed.  Simply put, a refurbished computer with everything you desire will cost little more than paying your IT guy for the software upgrade and labor.  Need help finding the next refurbished machine?  Reach out to me, I’d love to talk “nerdy” to you!

We often hear clients complain that their internet isn’t what they paid for…when in fact it is exactly the speed they paid for but were not aware that there is a world of difference between the term MBps vs. Mbps.  While both terms are units of measuring the speed of data transfer between two devices or locations; MBps is MegaBytes per second and Mbps is Megabits per second.  Bytes vs. bits equates to 1 Byte = 8 bits, 1MBps = 8Mbps, or 8 times the difference.  This is true for all units measuring Bytes and bits.  The next time you see the capital B remember the larger or “bigger” unit the Byte, and 1KBps = 8kbps (KiloBytes vs. Kilobits), 1GBps = 8Gbps (GigaBytes vs. Gigabits), and 1TBps = 8Tbps (TeraBytes vs. Terabits). Now you’re up to speed! ​