Black Swan Event of Technology

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A black Swan event is something that was not expected to occur, but a series of events caused it. Normally hindsight allows those looking at it to see that it was actually predictable. Here is a link where you can read more on Black Swan events: http://blackswanevents.org/?page_id=26

In our case, I can see clearly why technology is increasing in price and in some cases is just not available.

Computers, server and technology grows old or dies and must be replaced. If you need to replace them now, you selected a bad time.

  1. Microsoft ended support for Windows 7, Server 2008 and Office 2010, so more people are buying computers which means less parts and increased prices.
  2. The United States and China are having a tariff war, which means buyers are trying to time purchase which means less parts and increased prices.
  3. The Coronavirus started in China, several technology plants are closed which means less parts and increased prices.
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Slow internet will cause problems

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Sometimes you need to open your wallet and get faster internet.

I have a client, only 3 active computers with 5 on their small network. They have the slowest internet available to save money. They had to quit using Microsoft Outlook because it would time out when downloading email from this 768kb connection. Windows Live Mail (WLM) worked if only one person at a time was retrieving email. However WLM is no longer available. We went to EM Client which acts a lot like WLM, however it is not unusual for headers, images and even senders names not to download.

If I bring any of their computers to my office, open email everything is fine.
I had another client that I had to let go for this very reason. They moved into a community office that had community internet. They were getting 256k internet speeds and Outlook never quit trying to get email until it times out. They also were unable to get Security updates, Windows patches or browse the internet for business or pleasure. Once again, if I brought the computer to my office, everything worked, after the 600 plus emails downloaded.

Now imagine needing to email important papers, invoices, or photos. You are wasting more than the monthly cost of faster internet while waiting for those things to go through. Add the use of Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive and online backup programs and you have a never ending issue.

Moral of this lesson, if you don’t have at least a 1Mb connection per person using the internet you are not acting like a real business or even home internet user. I would suggest even more speed. Today it is common to have 1Gb (1,000Mb) service available in most communities where there is a city with 100,000 people or more.

Quit causing yourself and your IT folks frustration and get faster internet.

Until we meet again, have a virus free week.

Cannot see all computers on your network? Here is the possible fix.

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Do you have computers that do not show up under your “Network” or Network Neighborhood? Or in reverse, do you have snoopy employees that don’t need to “see” all computers that are online?

There are lots of articles on how to share a folder or drive and they have it 90% correct. There are times when you make the share, however when you open up your “Network” the computer does not appear. This requires you to use an UNC path such as “//computername” to get to it compared to just clicking on the computer in your network.

If you have a peer-to-peer network this is the easy fix to finding missing computers not listed under your “Network”. Continue reading →