Information on Computer use for Businesses

We frequently make suggestions to our customers that sound strange at first. We can usually back up those statements with well respected and authoritative outside sources. After awhile our customers stop questioning why we say some of the things we say. Our reasoning for those suggestions is usually to inform our customers of things they may be doing in the course of operating their computers that could, at some point, cause a problem or be potentially dangerous.

We think way outside the box and we would rather never have a service problem, if it could be prevented, than to constantly put out fires. 24 years of real life computer experience has made us wise to the workings of the software and hardware and what works vs. what doesn't. Prevention of possible problems is frequently more important than providing a fix after the fact.

The following statements are referenced on other pages on this site usually with backup in the form of links to external sources.

• The most potentially dangerous program you have on your computer is Internet Explorer.
• One of the top 5 most dangerous programs on your computer is Outlook.
• In a business, most employees use their computers as if they owned them.
• Employees who use a computer for their work spend, (waste), between 1 and 5 hours a day on non business related personal activity on their computers.
• Unless you use sophisticated monitoring software, Instant Messaging software should not be allowed in the office and if it's installed, should be removed immediately.
• Playing on-line music steals precious Internet speed from everyone..
• The single biggest expense of most businesses is labor, yet the primary tool, (the computer), for many of your employees may be costing many thousands of dollars in lost productivity if it fails to perform.
• Since people will sue these days at the drop of a hat, you MUST have a computer use policy to protect yourself from legal problems or at the least an embarrassment because of a communication that came from an employee that wasn't a part of their job description.
• 90% of the computer system problems we see are totally preventable.
• Surge Protectors will not protect you from a surge. (It's "not" truth in advertising).
• A $600 computer may and probably will cost you far more than a $900 computer, (no creative accounting involved).