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

While roaming the internet, I found that there are a lot of sites listing the ins and outs of nearly everything, but I couldn’t find anything locally that reviewed software specifically from the business aspect. So I thought to myself “Would I suggest a business use something like a free anti-virus program like XXXXX?” The answer was “no”, but how would your typical business owner know about that? Why would they go out looking over the internet at 6,000 sites when they can just look at a local computer repair company to get some basic answers and perhaps talk to more to see about their specific situation?

Well, now you can look to a local computer repair company for those answers. So, Protocol16 now offers a Software Review Category as well as a Hardware Review Category.

With the Software Review category, I’ll start with a review a popular “free” antivirus program and explain why your business should shy away from it. I’ll also go on to suggest a product Protocol16 has been testing recently and am very happy with.

For the Hardware Review category, I’ll discuss the pricing difference between building a custom server or buying a named-brand server. I’m actually in this exact situation right now with a client. Believe it or not, the difference between a name-brand vs a custom built server can be a huge amount of money – but there are downfalls as well.

The Review categories will probably be a once-a-month post, but depending on time, I may post more. If you’re a business, or consumer and you would like something specific reviewed, please let me know and Protocol16 will do it’s best to review it.
Justin

PS: First post is tomorrow, and I’ll discuss that free antivirus software…

One of the questions people usually ask me, especially when they find out I can put on 500 or more miles a week (on our REALLY busy week), is what types of things I see throughout the day.

Well, for non-computer stuff, I see a heck of a lot of traffic violations. There is a reason I hesitate when lights turn green – I check both ways before crossing. I also see traffic accidents. I’ve seen rolled over cars, cars scrunched like an accordion on both ends, cars in ditches and I missed the big motorcycle pileup on I5 by about 3 minutes (it happened behind me by about a mile or so). It’s gotten to the point where I now carry a camera and two first aid kits. I’ve also considered some safety/emergency lighting for the Protocol16 truck.

The absolute worst area I’ve seen is the on-ramp at the Westbound Highway 26 tunnel (aka: Vista Ridge Tunnels) in Portland. That specific spot is particularly nasty, especially when it rains. My advice – stay in the left hand lane around that spot and don’t rubberneck when their is an accident as I’ve seen several accidents further up the road from people not paying attention or trying to watch behind them as they drive away.

For computer and repair related things, there’s all kinds of things that I see, and contrary to what people think of my industry – Protocol16 don’t make fun of customers. That being said, we’ve seen all kinds of nasty things inside cases that cause heat problems for customers.

Note: If you have any pets, you can have problems. As much as I love my girls (I have 2 dogs at home), they can cause all kinds of issues with my computers if I don’t watch out. If you feel comfortable enough, a helpful hint is to open your computer case when it’s off and use some of the canned air you can buy from Protocol16 or other stores (We’re cheaper…) Just as long as you don’t turn the canned air upside down, you’ll be fine. If you’re not comfortable doing this, Protocol16 can do it during any normal visit.

We’ve seen all sorts of things jammed into CD and DVD drives as well. Good people of Portland, please inform your children that Legos are not supposed to go into the CD/DVD drives… As much as I loved to play with Legos as a child, computers just don’t like them as much.

Lastly, if you smoke, it effects your computer as well. The tar from the smoke gets sucked into the computer case by the fans. That tar ends up sticking to the internal components of your computer and can cause all sorts of issues. Through the year, all that adds up. I’ve even had a personal friend that quit smoking after seeing the goo inside his computer – it literally scared him to think that could be inside him as well. One good thing here is, I don’t see this as much anymore…

Yes, there are crazy and wacky things that happen while we’re on calls, but those stories are ours. We really do not make fun of customers and we try to turn every call into an educational experience for the customer. I haven’t laughed at a customer yet.
Justin

A heck of a lot of businesses around Portland and Beaverton seem to think that once they get a few employees, that they’ll need someone specific to handle their internal IT needs. More often than not, this usually turns out to be the person that knows the most about computers. Occasionally, a business owner will panic and attempt to hire a full time IT/Computer guy. Well, I’m here to tell you, that’s not needed.

We completely understand the need to save money. We know, unlike the phone company, the phone book companies and other types of companies, that businesses are not made of money. That’s one of the reasons why Protocol16’s prices are so low compared to other competitors. Some of the big-boys charge TWICE what we do, for the same qualified people. I know first hand, I use to work for that type of company and I would be brought in as a technical expert. I was even flown to a foreign country once to install a network. It’s not fun installing a network in the dead of summer, in Sicily…

There’s a secret in Portland, though. You don’t need to hire a computer guru, you don’t need to worry about problems and if you’re thinking of upgrading your computers, you have someone to call. Protocol16 offers consulting for small businesses.

Consulting through Protocol16 means we show up and take your requirements and offer several types of scenarios that can solve that. That does not mean that we show up, be pushy and tell you what you need to do. If you EVER hire a company to come in and this happens to you – throw them right out the door. On top of that, any company you hire should give you the option of which hardware you move to, or give you multiple offers as to which hardware provider you wish to choose. This is all unless you contact a specific hardware company and request a consultation.

Even if you have an internal computer guy, we can still help take on a bit of the workload for larger projects or suggest options for bringing in new hardware or software.

As always, if you have any questions, please let us know and we’ll be more than happy to help out. Don’t worry, we don’t speak geek, we talk in your language.
Justin

It’s not secret that we provide on call and on site services throughout the Portland Metro, but what excatly does that mean?

Some people have seen our truck driving around, others haven’t, but it’s what that truck carries that makes the difference between a friend fixing your computer or a professional.

We are not only qualified to work on your computers, laptops, workstations, and servers; we carry a small inventory of parts and tools to make that job easier for everyone all around. We carry extra hard drives, fans, power supplies, memory and more – every day. Even if you know what you’re doing, getting parts can take upwards of an hour or more, depending on where you go – time that you can save by calling Protocol16.

Even if you need a specific part and we don’t have it, we’ll let you know and we’ll even offer to pick it up for you.

And for shops that still have older equipment, we carry older parts as well. When was the last time you saw an AT power supply? Most 18 year olds these days wouldn’t even know what that is! To put it in perspective, it’s like a rotary phone in this new high-tech world. For those that don’t know, an AT power supply is a a really old power supply that is mostly used on specific machinery these days, like CNC machines. Why think about scrapping a machine worth thousands of dollars due to an old power supply?

Whether you have a new, or old, computer – Protocol16 has you covered. Portland’s fastest on call computer repair service.
Justin

Today’s Post is Brought to You By the Letter V.

We all know there are viruses out there, at least we should. We also know that you should have your anti-virus software updated on a normal basis (you DID renew your anti-virus subscription, right???). Well, we see a lot of virus problems on top of spyware (spyware is a program that watches what you do, sending personal info across the internet, etc. It can also serve advertising up, and generally muck things up.) here in Portland and it’s a curious thing.

The number one call we receive is “My computer is slow, what can I do?” I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: “It depends”. But, I will say that many times it turns out to be viruses and spyware on the computer. The easiest way to get rid of these programs is to use a program like SpyBot Search & Destroy or anti-virus software. While I use to recommend AVG for home users, I’m actually starting to change my mind.

Over the summer, it seems, the AVG Free Edition has been failing to catch many types of viruses. While I don’t like saying that out in the public eye, I see this more as a warning to those using it. Just be careful.

If you read the report on AV-Comparatives, you’ll see several anti-virus (ok, I’ll call them AV’s from here on out) companies that are reviewed. Unfortunately, AVG earned 1 out of 3 stars (there is a zero-star category too..) We’re currently working on yet another partnership with an un-named AV company that I feel is worth the installation. While I would love to talk about it for now, I can’t until we finalize everything. As always, if we partner up, that means we can pass on savings to our customers.

For now, I would renew your licenses for what you currently have installed. If you don’t have anything installed, read the report from the link above and decide for yourself which one you would like to install. If you want to skip through the rough stuff, scroll down to page 8 of the report for the ratings.

If you’ve got an infection that just won’t go away, we can help out with that as well since we have the software to help out. If your AV software is up-to-date and things are still slow, give us a call at 503-524-9047. We’ll be more than happy to help out.
Justin

Some clients ask, once in awhile, why they should use an on call service vs a drop off service, like the neighborhood computer shop. While I can’t tell you what to do, it mainly boils down to convenience, but both have pro’s and con’s.

Drop Off Services
Drop off services are typically in a smaller computer shop, although some of the larger stores have started to enter the market due to the growth of computers. Those shops are normally packed with all kinds of gear and can either be nice and clean or dingy with parts all over the place.

The “pro” comes in due to the amount of parts that these shops keep in inventory. They will most likely have nearly anything your computer will need right there. The “con” is, do you really need to spend all that time in traffic due to a bad fan or for a memory upgrade? There is a second con as well. A heck of a lot of these shops have drop off service, but they’ll charge you extra to fix it the same day. They’ll also charge you to diagnose problems and they can take 1 day to 2 weeks to fix your computer. Do your research to see what the reviews are for this company. Pay close attention to the negative reviews to see what the issues are.

In today’s world, the extra fees and waiting to get something fixed is unacceptable. Note: We do realize that there are companies out there that are much better than what is listed above… Always call to check on fees and work times before you take your computer to a shop.

Oh, and I need to mention that you’ve got to dig underneath your desk with all the wires and cob webs to get the computer out…

On Call
On call services offer a technician that can come out to your location when you need them, that’s a huge “pro” due to convenience. There isn’t a huge issue with calling a company out and letting their technicians dig under your desk for you to fix someting.

At the same time, in my opinion, these people are a little more adept at solving problems since they see how things work in the wild. Bringing a computer into a shop and saying “Word has X problem”, they’re typically not going to power it up and let you show them the problem. On call services would pretty much rely on you doing this so they watch exactly what happens. This can make the difference between saying “Word needed to be reinstalled” vs “Option X was on and there was a compatibility issue, but update Y fixed it for you”.

There is also the personal relationship that you develop with your technician. Many companies like specific technicians to work on their computers since that technician knows the people, the “attitude” of the computers (ie: workstation X always needs it’s CD rom drive cleaned out) and can setup a normal schedule to be there every Wednesday, if needed.

There are two cons to On Call services:

1. A lot, and I do mean A LOT, of “on call” computer services (especially those advertising on CraigsList) are some guy working out of his house illegally. This means he’s not licensed, bonded, insured, etc. That means, if he’s working on your computer and breaks it, he is personally financially responsible – same if he accidentally burns your house down due to that “cool case mod”. Good luck getting that money back. On top of that, since he’s not setup as a company, he’s not telling the IRS and the state about the income – he’s just taking cash income – that means no credit cards either. Do your research before calling someone over. If their website isn’t professional, I’d worry. If they’re hiding behind a random craigslist address, I’d worry. If they’re using their personal email address, I’d worry. If all of those things line up, you need to be up-front and direct and ask if they’re a full business and if they’re insured. Don’t accept “sure!”, you need the full business name, including the LLC, Inc, etc, as well as who they’re insured through. If they start with “uh….”, I’d think about hanging up the phone.
2. This isn’t nearly as bad as the first option. Due to riding around in a truck or car, the inventory, aka: parts, can be lacking. While on call services may stock parts at a central location or be able to get them on the way to the customer, very unique parts can be hard to come by. If a customer needs a laptop keyboard replaced, the likelihood of that keyboard being replaced quickly is slim due to  the large amount of keyboards out there. If there is a keyboard, the technician needs to hightail it back to the shop to pickup the keyboard, then back to the customer location – that could place the technician more than an hour out. A good company will tell you up front if they can’t fix your problem due to parts.

Those cons can be something some people just don’t want to deal with, but when the on call service costs the same, or less, than a drop off service, it’s MUCH more convenient to let them come to you. Do your research before calling any repair shop or person so you know the whole story.

As always, if you have any questions, we offer free advice at 503-524-9047.
Justin