The last month has been busy, but it’s quickly paying off! We just got notified that Protocol16 has made the Angie’s List Honor Roll with all A’s!

According to Angie’s List, fewer than 2% of the company’s listed with them get to the Honor Roll status, and we’re excited to be there!

Lets hope Protocol16 continues to climb up the virtual ladder on all the review sites.
Justin

Hot on the heels of Best Buy’s “Pre-Optimization” service, which any user can do themselves, Best Buy has decided to release a new program. We’ll call it “More Trialware!” That’s right, Best Buy seems to think that users want even more trialware on their computers, and now they’re getting paid by the software companies to do it to you. All you have to do is buy an HP or Dell and click a few icons, install a program or two and Best Buy makes money.

They still have to take that new computer out of the box, load software on it before you even buy it, then try to put everything back in the box correctly – something they couldn’t seem to do correctly a week ago.

I’ll give you all a secret. If you want to “pre-optimize” your computer, download and install a program called Crap Cleaner and run it before doing anything else to that brand new laptop or desktop. There are a lot of other things to do as well, but that is be best place to start. After that, customize your computer to how YOU want it, and you’re already better off.

You read that right! Businesses throughout Portland and other areas need to watch out about their licensing. The downturn is hurting everyone and let me tell you, everyone is trying to find out how to keep that money coming in.

An article hit the internet the other day out of Europe, but it’s a very good news item for anyone that will read it. It basically states that everyone needs to be careful about their licenses because a lot of software companies are starting to turn into the “dirty cops that sit at the bottom of the hill, behind a bush, simply to generate revenue.” Most of you don’t know, but during the installation process of almost any piece of software you install, you open yourself up (ie: agree) to be audited. Even Microsoft audits companies on occasion, and they are so serious about it, they PUBLISH who they audit to partners to keep us all in line. On top of that, you don’t even need to agree to be audited as Copyright Law plays into software piracy.

Now, is a Software Audit really that serious? YES!!!

There is a reason Software Audits are called “Software Raids”. Businesses generally receive 1 to 2 weeks notice, at most, of an upcoming software audit. Imagine having to look at every single program on every computer and determine if you’re licensed or not. Then, after you find out how many programs you’re illegally using, you find out just how hot that water can get(“illegal” is a general use term here as you’re required to show purchase receipts. Software keys, boxes, etc are “suspect” because YOU may not have bought them, legally, etc…). Auditors don’t come in and just look through your computer, they use automated tools that search your computer for software, but they also tend to focus on just the programs they know about. Tell them a little too much info and your investigation will get larger. Also, the fact that you’re being audited means something to other companies, so expect to have other companies knock on your door as well.

Think it won’t happen to you? Think again. There are several companies that perform software audits for various businesses and they pay rewards to people that report you and your business. That means that if you’ve ever fired any employees, or have any that just really don’t like working for you, the prospect of making money can be too great. Rewards are paid out when there is a a successful audit and the amount depends on how much you’re fined.

Software licenses are governed by contracts with vendors, and by U.S. Copyright law. You as an individual and your company may both be at risk for civil and criminal penalties for software license violations. Fines for corporations can reach $150,000 for each illegally installed copy of software. As an individual, you could be criminally prosecuted, fined up to $250,000 and even face jail time — up to five years.

Here’s another article you should read concerning software audits/raids. It explains how they happen and what you should do. I’ve worked with a guy that was at two different companies that got audited and he even stated that the people that show up are lawyers that act as sales guys. Because of how audits work, Protocol16 will actually recommend that you speak with a lawyer about your situation before contacting any company about a software audit. There is an Client/Attorney confidentiality law out there that may help you during your audit. Bringing in a company, such as us, will not legally help you and we may find more things wrong as well.

This entire situation is one of many reasons that Protocol16 always recommends that business customers setup Standard User Accounts on all employee computers. It’s hard to tell what each employee may have installed without you knowing. You could have illegal software or even MP3’s on your computers and network – bad news.

Now that I may have scared some of you, I won’t leave you hanging. There are ways to protect yourself and your business. Mostly, just taking an interest in what you and your employees install can make the biggest dent. I’ve mentioned that you shouldn’t install products such as the free version of antivirus packages, such as AVG, before and this is where those decisions count. If you have more computers and users than you know what to do with, there are self auditing tools out there that can help you as well. One great program is Microsoft SAM. This program will allow you to audit up to 150 computers, which classifies as a smaller”large” business. This product will help most businesses to get a handle on their issues. Don’t put it off until it’s too late!

As always, let us know if you have any questions.
Justin

While researching competitors online recently, I noticed something. A lot of places are offering “free consultations”, whether they’re 20, 30 or 60 minutes. Well, here’s my take on that – they’re in the door just long enough to see what’s broke or what you need, then the sales pitch starts. If they get you hooked, they throw in a line “we can do it in x minutes/hours”, then later, the sinker comes in with “we went over our planned time…” or “well, we didn’t anticipate this extra cost”.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that we don’t always get estimates right, but we give discounts for going over the estimate amount. We also don’t charge for every single minute that we’re on a customer site, unlike other companies. Lastly, if you need something done on site, that can be done at the shop to save you money, we’ll recommend that instead. If it can be avoided, you won’t see a $1000 bill from Protocol16 for something like a hard drive recovery, just because the call was for on-site service, when the fee should have probably been half that (something we’ve seen a local business do). We really shine when it comes to saving our own customers money.

But, there is something that you need to know about Protocol16, something a recent customer found out. Protocol16 takes new customers seriously. While I’d love to talk about how much time we just spent consulting for a new customer, I’m afraid to even publish it as I don’t want Protocol16 flooded with requests of people expecting massive amounts of free help.

A real consultation report for a Protocol16 customer.

If you call Protocol16 for a consultation, we’ll talk things out about your specific situation, dig around a little to see what type of hardware and software you’re working with, and more, before turning around to talk business. If this takes a few hours, so be it. With that, I’ll say that Protocol16 will offer a 1 hour consultation for any business, but we do reserve the right to take longer to learn about your situation. If you have a complicated situation, Protocol16 may spend many hours just learning about the issue, doing research, then you get one of these pretty reports.

The above technical report, is a real report done by Protocol16 for a mid-sized business having specific problems. The details have been blurred because Protocol16 takes privacy very seriously. We will not publish names of companies or individuals that we’ve helped. It is the decision of the company or individaul to make that information public. While we love saying “We helped xx and yy”, that’s just something we won’t do.

Over the last few days, we’ve had a rash of calls from home based customers, which we call “Residential”. One of the first questions that people typically as is: “Do you work with regular people at home?” or something similar.

The answer: YES. Protocol16 works with both business and residential customers. While we cater to the business side of things, with all their servers, workstations and more – we do service residential customers with the same customer service as the business side.

We, or rather I (explanation coming soon…), have been very busy over the last week. It seems someone turned on a virtual faucet this Monday and I’ve been running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off! While work is getting done, and on time, I may not be in the office 100% of the time.

I’ll also say, that due to this situation, I will personally bend over backwards (Ok, I’m not quite that flexible) to ensure that you get seen as quickly as possible. I’m known to stop by your location on the way to or from the office or schedule a pickup time (pickups are always free) that is convenient to you.

Our normal office hours are:

Mon-Fri: 8AM to 6PM
Sat: 1030AM to 5PM

We are always on call for businesses and there is no additional fee for middle of the night calls.

With that said, please call ahead before heading to our office, as we don’t want to miss you. There are some changes afoot, an explanation here and there and a few odds and ends that we’ll talk about in an up-coming post.
Justin

This post is more for my advanced customers as well as all the competitors that scour my website for any news or information they can get on me. I figure that the more people that know of this up-coming change, the better it’ll be for everyone involved. Some information is best shared…

Hard drives are changing to a new format called Advanced Format. This means that the sector size of 512 bytes is going away. The new sector size will be 4KB (4096 bytes) to take advantage of several things. While the drives are not out yet, they’re coming.

The bad news: Windows XP will be thrown out the door since it will have serious performance issues with the new standard. This means that if you’re using, or recomending XP, it will now be officially limited on hardware, not just on support and age.

For those that just went cross eyed, I do apologize. Occasionally, technobable is a requirement. To put it in perspective, unlike the shrinking parking spaces across the world, the “parking spaces” on your hard drive will get bigger. The “lot” (aka: Hard Drive) will still be the same size and hold the same amount of information. It’s just a better use of space.

If you’d like to get into the details of how this works, feel free to see the original article.
Justin

It’s been a nice and rainy week in Portland, but that doesn’t mean you need to let your guard down!

Today’s post, is brought to you by the letter “R”, for Ransom-ware. Ransom-ware is software that makes it onto your computer, usually mysteriously, then holds your files captive until you pay a fee. This can be a product that’s sold or a virus that holds your MP3’s hostage.

Recently, Sunbelt Software – Protocol16’s recommended anti-virus company, discovered a new “in the wild” ransom-ware package that encrypts the contents of your hard drive (this is actually arguable as to if it encrypts or just causes problems). This means that your hard drive cannot be read within minutes of having the software installed.

After installation, you’re left with the following message:

Ransom-ware from Data Doctor. Shutdown message.

If you get this, it’s too late… The hard drive (specific files, actually), has been encrypted and you’re left with a Windows mess that barely works.

After you see this message and your computer shuts down, you’re stuck with a message stating that “Windows has recovered from serious error. Some files can be corrupted. Disk checking is strongly recommended.” This is NOT a Windows error.

Upon attempting to access a file that’s been encrypted, you’re met with another error message stating: “Unable to open the file due to data corruption.” Upon clicking the “Repair” button, you see the next screen:

Data Doctor 2010, Requesting Payment.

Hey look everyone, my favorite topic! Software asking for credit card information…

Some files may or may not be encrypted, but the software will continue to nag you to purchase it. They’ll even charge you an activation fee so they don’t need to pay any fee’s for the credit card being run.

Don’t install this program. PLEASE don’t.

I’ll fire up a Virtual Machine here shortly and make an infection video for everyone to see how this works as well.

If you’re reading this and curious what we recommend for anti-virus software, we heavily recommend Vipre. We are a local reseller, so if you’re interested, give us a call and we should be able to get you a discount.
Justin

Protocol16 mainly caters to business and small office/home office customers throughout Portland. As such, we offer maintenance & monitoring contracts. Well, a recent customer pointed out that he didn’t require me on site every month, just every once in awhile. So, for these situation, I created two more DEEPLY discounted plans!

“Every Other Month” – 1 hour, every other month, for 1 year: Protocol16 will show up at a pre-determined date and time to check your computer for hardware and software problems, check the log files, ensure that your antivirus and windows updates are working properly, as well as spend time with you to answer any questions and solve any other issues that may arise. Up to our computers will also be physically cleaned, inside and out, 3 times a year. Price: $399.99  – Normal Price: $599.64 Prices do not include any needed hardware. Extra hours, beyond the plan limits, are billed at $66/hr.

“Every Quarter” – 1 hour, every 3 months, for 1 year: Protocol16 will show up at a pre-determined date and time to check your computer for hardware and software problems, check the log files, ensure that your antivirus and windows updates are working properly, as well as spend time with you to answer any questions and solve any other issues that may arise. We will remotely monitor up to 3 workstations and we’ll physically clean up to 3 computers on each visit, inside and out. Price: $259.99  – Normal Price: $459.64 Prices do not include any needed hardware. Extra hours, beyond the plan limits, are billed at $66/hr.

As always, if you have any questions, please let us know! We’re always here to help and it’s our goal to leave you with a smile on your face.
Justin

Protocol16 works closely with other computer shops across the country on a forum where we can all talk, share ideas and alert each other of problems. In this case, our early warning system worked. It just so happens, that a computer shop in the northwest happened to pick up, locate and alert everyone to the virus issue.

This virus causes redirects from Google to other websites. For instance, if you do a search for McAfee or something else anti virus related in Bing, Yahoo or Google, you may or may not be redirected to a random website instead of the intended page.

It’s been noticed that most anti virus solutions are not correctly identifying this issue yet, and if you have anti virus loaded on your machine and you’re infected, your anti virus software will not find the infected files.

If you have this type of problem, please give us, or your local computer repair company – if you’re not around Portland, a call.
Justin