Since I deal with technology, I am going to leave it to you to get food, to be prepared to help yourself, family and others. I am going to get on my soapbox and say, get your computer data protected too!

Every computer that holds your critical information (data server or stand alone PC) needs to have what is called RAID (it is multiple disks acting as one disk). This way if one hard drive fails you can still access the information you need to run your business, access your customer et al.

Next if you have 3 or more computers, you really need an external backup device that is NOT one of the computers you use. There are a couple of GREAT choices. Using a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device with a QUALITY backup program (such as Genie-Soft’s backup ) is one very good idea. Another idea to backup your ENTIRE computer (not just the data you select) is a Windows Home Server (WHS). A WHS is NOT just for homes, as a matter of fact, I don’t know of a single home that uses one, except mine. By using a WHS in your business, it can make a mirror image backup (think “complete backup”) of up to ten computers and constantly keep that backup updated, automatically. If you have over ten computers you can either get two WHS or get Windows Server 2011, it has the same backup capabilities plus the advantages of security (another topic) for your network and works with 11 to 75 computers.

So now your main computer / data computer has redundancy internally with RAID, your computers are backed up on a WHS, but a tornado occurs. If everything is blown away, you won’t want to add to your worries. You will be going about helping your family and community. When the time comes to re-open your business, you must have your data and customer information.
This is why you should use off-site storage of your most important data somewhere “out there” in the cloud. I don’t suggest backing up everything or entire computers over the internet. There are local options such as “the Mountain” in Taney County and across the country such as Mozy. By using these services you can access your data from ANY computer and get your staff back to work as quickly as you can. Yes, your data can be made secure both at the off-site location and while being transmitted over the internet.

My suggestion to solve the backup needs of your business, call IFix Computers. Discuss with them your current backup plans and we will determine the BEST solution for YOU. We don’t “sell” you, we don’t determine what makes us the most money, at IFix Computers, we determine and promote what is absolutely best for YOUR business.

Next time, if I don’t continue the series on the View Pad tablet PC, I will cover the proper use of Universal Power Supplies (UPS) to protect from power surges and power outages.

Until we meet again, have a virus free week, and if you don’t, call IFix Computers at 417-337-7184

In this article or series I want to cover, first the Android Operating System (OS), then I will cover using Windows 7 on such a device and finally I want to cover the physical device itself.

Some people want to get to the heart of things, authors and writers however prefer to give the conclusions at the end, wanting you to read all their report. Well, I like to mix things up.

My conclusion is don’t waste your money or time on an Android tablet.

Now that I have that out of my system, I have one more thing I would like to get out too. Manufacturers please create a product or bring out old products that I can once again brag about. Really, over the last several years I have not been able to recommend much in the way of new products. Since I don’t buy into the marketing hype and have not “drank the cool-aid” of any products, I can and will be objective. Let’s get some quality, useful, and value-added products to the consumers! Ok, I feel a little better now.

The hardware specifications of this ViewPad are a 10.1” 16:9 LED (1024×600), 32 GB SDD for the two operating systems, Android 1.6, Windows 7 Pro, Intel Atom 1.66 GHz CPU, Wireless g/n.

Let’s start off with storage, the Android OS will not recognize my add-on SD storage cards. Insert ‘Soup Nazi’ voice here – “No extra storage for you”. This makes the transfer of data more difficult, you now get the privilege of opening a drop box account or something similar. Why not just access data off a shared drive on your network? Well, it appears that these devices are for cloud content only. There is a “high bandwidth” video on the ViewSonic site that is supposed to show you how to access your Widows or Mac system, however, on my 3MB connection with nothing else it took 3 minutes to buffer. Then it was so choppy the video was useless and the audio had nothing to do with accessing my local network data, oh, and it was via the Windows 7, not the Android OS.

This unit constantly wants to format the SD card yet continues to fail to do so, is this an Android or ViewSonic issue, I have not been able to find out. The hardware firmware is 1.05, it shows Android Version 4 under the Application Info for the unit, under the “About MID” the description states “software version” but once opened, there is nothing there. I believe the actual Android OS is 1.6 (according to the box). As of 8/10/11 the web site states they have version 2.2 on these systems (http://www.viewsonic.com/products/vpad10.htm). Yet the only updates are a touch firmware update for Windows 7. Nothing for the Android OS, so much for the promised upgradeability, “just buy another new one”, what a stupid mentality.

Another annoying issue is the web surfing, want a tab too bad, new pages for everything, want to go to a different web site, forget it, you must close the one you are on and open a new one, no address bar here, really, they must think this is 1989. This is beyond silly.

Alright, so you found that perfect recipe on that obscure web site, now you want to print it for future reference, NOT! Printing, not a part of the future for Android apparently, saves trees and ticks off customers.

Next lets go over Android Apps, these can be fun games, educational tools and business tools, however, of you don’t turn your 10” tablet into a phone buy purchasing a monthly 3G service, and thus pay a carrier their monthly cell phone plus data package plus text fee, forget using any worthwhile applications.

For instance I wanted to download Skype and use it on the tablet, via a wireless connection to contact friends and family, my 8 pound laptop battery dies with about 1 hour of actual use, the tablet goes all day (though I have not been able to actually “use” it all day). So I figure I can bring it to church, Skype to a missionary family we know and then pass the ViewPad around and each person can say high. No such luck, when attempting to download Skype (or any other useful apps like YouTube, FaceBook, Google Maps, Pandora, Angry Birds) I get the “There are no Android phones associated with this account” message. So much for using the Wifi.  I was not able to download a single app from the “standard” store.There is an “AndAppStore” included with the ViewPad, not the standard app store on my phone. All of the optional apps here suck, that is all I will say about that.

Another in the long list of annoyances is the way the screen grays out when the on screen keyboard is active and when a search of any kind is in process, hey, why would I want to be able to see what is on the screen, kind of silly of me.
The week of August 20th I installed the Android 2.2 update (Yup, even though 3.2 is out, this can apparently still only go to 2.2).

So, what changed, well the upgrade is a complete reinstall so it formatted the hard drive, no big deal since it is an internet content tool only. Now the battery life is about 1/3 of what it was. Remember I have not been able to be serious about using this device, but running it constantly as I have been testing the battery life just dropped dramatically.

A problem I have had with both versions of the Android OS is that if it does not connect to the wireless or looses connection it does not try to reconnect. You have to go into the settings, turn off wireless and then turn it back on. The antenna/ connection still sucks, I can go into my office and lose connection every time while my laptop stays connected happily.

How about the SD card? Well I finally could “mount” it, either like a lion on the Animal Planet or a Linux geek. 14.87 GB on a 16GB SD card.

Enough about how bad the Android system sucks. Next time we will go over using Windows 7 on the ViewPad.

Until we meet again, have a virus free week.

I have been using Google Docs, voice and Gmail for a number of years now and have recently been using Microsoft’s Office 365. Both have benefits and both have downfalls, in this article I wish to cover what I consider the pitfalls of Office 365.

Office 365 comes in a variety of flavors (a link below will take you to their site and offerings); however it boils down to you “renting” Microsoft Office. You don’t own it, so if you stop paying you lose access to all its services and your cloud based documents and email. To me that is a major negative point.

A “feature” provided is that when a new version of Microsoft Office comes out, you get it automatically, whether it is compatible with your documents, database, email, and other people you share those with or not, you get the new version force fed to you. This is not a plus in my book. I have run onto many customers who have had issues when their new computers came with Office 2007 and their old computers had Office 2003. Microsoft did eventually produce a patch so documents could be read both ways, however that took time and business runs at the speed of light, not the speed of Microsoft patches.

Another “feature” is that Microsoft Office is not physically on your computer. Unless you pay for the $24 per month version, you only get Office online. This means that you are required to have internet access in order to open YOUR files or email. Since I just recently visited family in Texas, I was reminded that not everyone has high speed internet, those that do don’t necessarily have a router, let alone a wireless router. This makes accessing your information troublesome at best and more costly and time consuming in the least. A lack of internet connection and the cost of Office 365 does not include your visits to Las Vegas, Seattle et al where hotels want $15 a day for internet access.

You might have heard there are less costly versions, so here is a quick breakdown. For $6 a month, PER USER, you get Office online (NOT on your computer), Email with 25GB of space via an online Exchange email, with 25 MB file size limits (over the internet I would not open a file that big). SharePoint online, Lync online (an instant messaging program), Anti-Virus by Microsoft Forefront FOR THE EMAIL ONLY.

There are $10, $16, $24 and $27 per month, per user solutions available too. You can see them here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/buy-midsize-enterprise.aspx#fbid=f8HMdt-Uq99

Remember, this is for Microsoft Office and an Email Anti-Virus program only, not your operating system, other needed programs or the hardware.

Intel, Microsoft, and the big manufacturers want you (and me) to replace your computer every 36 months. They feel that you should keep the money flowing to them. In many cases they only keep parts in stock for less than 18 months in order to force the end user to replace rather than repair a computer. Microsoft has repeatedly published that their goal is to come out with a new version of their program (whichever that program happens to be) every two years. Think of Vista to Windows 7, now it will be Windows 8, just two short years after 7 was released, the same is true for Microsoft Office.

Let’s go to the math of what is going on, $24 per month per user for Office 365 times 36 months (if you replace your computer every three years) = $864 just for Office 365. Microsoft Office Professional was only $499.99 retail (IFix Computers charged $469) and Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Business (Which meets the needs of 90% or more of our customers) is only $299.
We sell ESET for $59.99 for a two year subscription and renewals for additional two years are $49.99 each. This covers the entire computer, not just email.

Lync online can be replaced by a number if instant message programs that are free (Yahoo!) or more private and secure such as MessagePal and even Skype, so there is no or minimal cost there.

Purchasing the OEM versions from a company such as IFix Computers for 3 years would be $299 for Office and roughly $85 for the antivirus (broken down from a 4 year cost). OEM versions must come installed on a new computer, retail versions cost more and are available.

Let’s See, $864 or $384, the math seems simple to me. Even if you use the full version of Office $469 plus the anti-virus you are still way ahead of the game.

A new computer from IFix with Office is under $999 with Office Home and Business, ESET, Windows 7 Professional and a three year manufacturer defect warranty.

Take into consideration the number of businesses that wait 5 years before replacing a computer (which is a very bad idea due to the cost of maintaining) and you will see a bigger financial difference.

Another issue I have run into is opening large files over the internet. This is time consuming and bandwidth eating. If you have hiccups in the internet you will lose connection and most of the time your changes and maybe the entire document you had open and if you had multiple documents open, like most end users, the mess can be astounding.

Other issues such as people in your office using Pandora, will slow your internet connection and your productivity. IFix Computers can overcome some if that with a SonicWall router that blocks or limits some programs access or speed to the internet such as Pandora and YouTube but there are consequences to this too.

As a Microsoft Small Business Partner, you might ask why I am writing such an article, exposing something that will offend Microsoft, well the answer is simple, I am in this business for the customer, not for any other reason, I want to support the end user to the best of my ability plain and simple. If that offends some, then I apologize but my drive is “service” and at my company (IFix Computers Inc) that is the way we will operate as long as I am an owner.

In my next article I will review the Microsoft Intune program, a program that uses Windows 7, cloud services (there is that word again), Cloud PC management, and we will learn just how it benefits Microsoft but not you or your business.

Until we meet again, have a virus free week!

SJR 5 requires EVERY county to have an elected County Assessor EXCEPT Jackson County Missouri! Why, it MUST be political bribery. Why are they changing our Constitution to pay off one of their crones?

The full text can be found here: http://www.senate.mo.gov/09info/pdf-bill/tat/SJR5.pdf

Here is the truth about the bill in the politicians own words: http://senate.mo.gov/09info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=530377

The very title states “Requires all charter county assessors, except the Jackson County Assessor, to be elected” What in the world?

Please vote NO on Constitutional Amendment No. 1 this coming Tuesday and prevent another government bribe from being handed out at the citizens expense.

Section 2 sums it up. “All revenues lost because of the exemption of certain personal property of manufacturers, refiners, distributors… shall be replaced to each taxing authority within a county from a county wide tax hereby imposed on all property in subclass 3 of class 1 in each county”.

Everyone gets a new FORCED tax and it will be adjusted EVERY YEAR!

This is not just personal property it is entire businesses being exempt “Manufacturers, refiners, distributors, wholesalers, retail merchants and establishments”, oh crud, what or who are the politicians trying to bribe now!

The full resolution can be read here: http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills091/billpdf/truly/HJR0015T.PDF

I love our veterans but this IS NOT a veteran issue, please vote NO  on Constitutional Amendment No. 2 this coming Tuesday. A NO vote helps fight growing government and their continued LIES to their slaves, oops I mean citizens.