Computerware Blog

When you ask a managed service provider or other technology expert when you should be upgrading your technology, you’ll likely get a pretty nebulous answer like, “it depends.” That’s because there isn’t necessarily a hard or steadfast response to this question, and the answer will change depending on various factors that are inconsistent across businesses.

Your IT team plays a crucially important part in your business machinations. However, many small and even medium-sized businesses may not have the in-house resources to effectively cover their needs. If this could easily describe your business, you might want to consider outsourcing some of your technology management needs to a managed service provider. 

Making IT decisions while balancing the user experience—including their complaints—can be exhausting. As a decision maker for your business, you have a budget to consider, as well as a timeline to manage. You’ll have to say no, which no one likes to hear, but it’s a necessary part of running your organization effectively.

Now that we’re in Q3 of 2023, it’s time to start planning out your budget for the next fiscal year—including your IT services budget. Let’s go over some of the considerations you’ll need to keep in mind for this remarkably important aspect of running your business.

Artificial intelligence might not be a thing yet, but according to the results of a recent Turing test, it might very well be on its way toward becoming reality. A Russian team has put together a computer program named Eugene Goostman that may (or may not) be the first program to pass a Turing test.

Your business might have a full-time IT person, but it also might not have one, and in cases like this, you might find yourself waiting to call your go-to person until you are experiencing a full-blown problem. The reality is that your internal, non-IT staff should not be responsible for the job of your IT department, and if you are relying on someone externally to handle your technology help, then you’ll want to make sure they tick all of the following boxes.

Due to the overwhelming success of George Lucas's science-fiction film franchise Star Wars, fans all over the world will be celebrating May 4th as a holiday (May the Fourth be with you). Star Wars wouldn't have been nearly as successful if it weren't for its fascinating space technology, something that was previously only imagined by the most creative of minds. X-wings, blasters, and hyperdrives seem really neat, but they can break down just as easily as present-day space technology. There's something about the unknown void that is space which draws our attention, even if it's "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."

Microsoft’s initiative to rebrand Microsoft Office is reaching the final stage of its journey—a plan that has been years in the making. What will this assimilation into the Microsoft 365 brand mean for users of Microsoft’s services and products?

There’s nothing more intriguing than finding a random USB drive while cleaning up your office or while out and about. You might feel the urge to plug it in and discover its contents, but we are here to tell you that this is often a bad idea—particularly if the drive is unfamiliar to you. Unlike cloud storage, which is quite transparent, you don’t know what’s on a USB drive until you plug it in, and it’s often too late by the time this happens.

Ever since the pandemic, there has been an increased focus on mental health and well-being in the workplace. This has led many business owners to consider how they can improve their employees’ relationships with not just each other, but all of the other important people in their lives. As it turns out, remote work can be a major facilitator in this effort.

By default, when you download a file from the Internet, it will go to your Downloads folder, unless you specify for them to go elsewhere. While this is certainly a fine place for your downloaded files to wind up—at least for the short term—what if you wanted to change the default file location for your downloaded files? This is what today’s blog is all about: how you can change the downloaded file location for your Google Chrome web browser.

Most people will spend about one-third of their lives at work. Naturally, this large amount of time spent away from home can lead to a lot of stress. Emotions can overwhelm your employees and lead them to experience negative side effects that could impact their physical and mental health. Let’s examine some ways you can minimize the workday stressors that your employees may suffer from.

As people have increasingly shifted to working remotely, the importance of accessible support for their devices has risen substantially. This has led many businesses to use managed IT service providers, or MSPs, like us to provide this kind of support. To do so, we’ve invested in a series of tools collectively called remote monitoring and management software (RMM). Let’s share some of the reasons that you want an IT support provider that uses RMM to their advantage.

If your business uses as much technology as the average business, you will need to ensure that it is properly documented. Today, we’ll go through what a managed service provider includes in their documentation practices.

Since the dawn of the digital age in the 1990s, illegal downloading of information, music, movies, software, and content has become an issue leading to major shifting in the way these industries do business. It's been hard to contain this issue of illegal downloading, but the latest attempt, the Copyright Alert System, looks promising.

Nature has a special talent for ruining plans. Sometimes nature can be annoying, like when it rains out a picnic. Other times, it can be devastating, like having your office inundated by a flood. Whatever nature throws at you, it's important to have a backup plan. This is true for both your picnic and your company's data.

You can hear what they are saying, but it just doesn't make any sense. You zone out. Cookies. Rambo. The Yankees. "Does that sound good", says your IT technician as you snap back into the conversation. "Sure!", you say reluctantly. Your tech is a master in the ancient art of Technologese.

Two weeks ago, the National Communications Administration managed to weaken a set of malware designed to steal banking and personal credentials from unsuspecting users. They warned the world that GameOver Zeus and Cryptolocker ransomware would be back with a vengeance, and that immediate action could prevent a whole lot of pain later.

Mobile devices are handy, but the need to pack a USB cable or wall charger takes away from the mobile experience. Cords do not fit well in pockets, and often require a carry-on bag, yet everybody carries a wallet. ChargeCard is a new product that has condensed an iPhone USB cable into a credit card shaped portable solution.

If you are a veteran of the many different editions of Microsoft's Windows operating systems, and you are having a difficult time adjusting to the new tile interface of Windows 8, then we have for you a free download for a classic toolbar that can be used with Windows 8. This will essentially make everything right again with a single button.