“One out of two of businesses never return to the marketplace following a major disaster. Of those that do, half go bankrupt within three years.” Source: Chubb Insurance

Does this worry you? It should. These companies couldn’t have had a proper “disaster recovery plan”.  Such a plan helps you to put in place measures you need in order to stay operational in the event of a disaster.  Disaster recovery focuses on the IT systems that support business functions, compared to “business continuity” which involves planning for keeping all aspects of a business functioning despite disruptive events.

Many parts of the USA, and a number of other countries, have recently experienced harsh weather conditions. Some of these involved a lot of rain and/or snow with driving winds.  If your business premises became waterlogged, how would you manage to continue trading? What about your computer data or records – would they still be available in the event of a water-based disaster?

Preparing for potential future disasters need not be daunting. The first things to consider are the sorts of disasters you think might affect your business and its premises. Then you need to consider how you would overcome these disasters, and put in place some safeguards for your IT systems, to help mitigate the disasters.

If you are a small business, you might be located in a single office with a network server and several desktop PCs connected by a network. Part of your planning for disasters should be to ensure that the company data on the server and the desktop PCs is regularly backed up and that the backup media are kept safely stored outside of the office. If the building burns down, the backups physically located next to the server would be useless as they will be ruined. Fireproof safes are not infallible. If the backups are stored away from your normal place of work, it will help you to set up operations in a new location.

Some businesses buy stand-by equipment that can be rolled out if the main equipment gets damaged or destroyed in day-to-day use. Other businesses contract with specialist disaster recovery companies to supply replacement servers, etc., in the event of a disaster – with the replacement timetable being agreed before disaster strikes. What you choose to do depends upon the services available in your area, and whether or not you have the staff to cope with emergency server replacements.

Think about potential disasters before they occur and how to overcome them, and write up notes on the actions required to resolve these disasters – all of this helps you formulate your disaster recovery plan.

One final suggestion: do test any plan you come up with to ensure that it works. It could be fatal to your business to assume you are ready for a disaster, only to find out at the crunch time that you AREN’T as ready as you thought.

Hackworth offers a full array of IT solutions including back up & data recovery, remote network management, computer hardware support and much more. Contact us for a free IT consultation or for more information: 757-545-7675.

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System cleanup and maintenance tools

System cleanup and maintenance utilities are always beneficial and there are some excellent tools available online that can make your task easy. The CCleaner is one such free downloadable program that cleans the system and keeps away unwanted files. The program frees the computer of the temporary and unwanted files, deletes the browsing tracks, kills unused cookies, and atomizes the unwanted files that are associated with different programs, including the browser files. CCleaner even provides a Registry cleaner.

To enhance the performance of CCleaner, you can install CCEnhancer, a freeware that speeds up the cleaning process and extracts unwanted files from every possible nook and corner for deletion. The program gets automatically integrated with CCleaner, so you are not required to do anything more than installing the application in your system.

If you wish to dig deep into your PC to find out how it has been functioning, you can download the LookInMyPC program. The application performs the task of getting into the system core and providing you with in-depth information on how your system has been faring. The information will be provided to you in the form of an easily comprehendible report. You can even take a peek into the part number of the RAM chips, installed drivers, name and addresses of your ISP, software versions, installed updates, and much more. The report gives a sense of how well your system has been responding to the various programs or if it has faced any hurdles in doing so.

For the purpose of keeping your PC up-to-date, you can download the Secunia program. The tool scans the PC, checks for updates, warns you on the same, and even helps in doing the update. Expired programs that pose a threat to your PC are also detected by Secunia PSI.

Productivity enhancers

The Hamster Free Zip Archiver is another handy tool that is believed to make the process of handling large files easier. The tool lets you create and open archived files through an easy drag-drop method. The Archiver is capable of unzipping a variety of formats including .rar, .zip, and .7z. It provides few other options for compressing and splitting files as well.

Evernote is another useful note-taking service program. This is an online capturing tool that takes down excess information to make it accessible for you later on. This type of information varies from notes, picture files from camera, web content, and much more.

Browsers

If IE is still ruling your system, it is high time you changed this norm. Mozilla Firefox, the leading internet browser today outdoes your entire web-browsing experience. The amazing add-ons in the latest version are a pleasure to work with. The simplistic interface also adds to the enhanced experience. Google Chrome follows immediately. With its minimalistic interface and a sharp content viewer that also has a built-in flash player, Chrome is slowly emerging to be the next powerful web browser.

You can install the above tools in your PC quickly and easily. They are also absolutely free of cost. Equip your PC with the above mentioned tools and experience the difference.

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Routers and switches are the most commonly used network devices to transmit packets of data between computers. Both of these use header information to perform their work of transferring data and information, but they differ in the parts of the header they use for the same.

Routers and switches also operate in different environments. A router is a more sophisticated network device when compared to a switch. Nevertheless, let us look at the details of what makes up each of these devices, and how they differ in functionality.

Switches

A switch comprises of sockets called ports. Its functionality is similar to that of a hub, but is definitely more efficient. As it accepts the incoming traffic with its information, it is capable of determining the IP address of the source of the traffic. It then allots a particular port that addresses and eliminates the possibility of the network traffic clogging every available port. This stands out as a huge benefit when the networks are busy. Processing of information becomes significantly faster with switches. Even though it sounds intelligent, the purpose of the switch is to move the data between devices, all of which lie on the same network. This is more commonly known as the Local Area Network (LAN). In technical terms, switches are designed to operate at the data link layer of the Open Systems Interconnections (OSI) model.

Routers

A router is far more intelligent than a switch because of its ability to carry out the operation of transferring data across various networks. There is no dictated path across which data is supposed to traverse, but a router is able to identify the best available path to reach its destination. Routers work in a chained manner, in which one router passes information to the nearest available router, which in turn makes the same calculation and passes the packet of data further. This reaction is followed until the data reaches its destination.

Routers link many networks together. This gives rise to a routing table that is responsible for holding information on the different networks available, and their location. Over a LAN, routers could be slower than a switch as it has to make a decision of sending the packet data to the right destination. In such situations, routers could also be used as a switch. In small offices, this is ideal, as routers can be used to combine various network devices in small packages. This allows them to be used for different purposes when the desired routing capability is not required.

Current routers provide a proxy support and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). They also come with integrated firewalls to protect your LAN. This makes the router a convenient device to be used for setting up domestic and commercial networks. It is quick and hassle-free too. Switches on the other hand cannot join multiple networks, and do not work out as an option for internet connections. Though the switch offers some stability, the wired connection does not make it a user-friendly option. So, based on your feature requirement, you need to make an intelligent choice between the two.

If you need additional questions answered concerning your network, contact our IT experts at 800-676-2424 or hri@hackworth.co.

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Unlike standard consumers, large computer manufacturers are willing to do computer refresh programs with companies. Essentially, depending on the needs of a business, the manufacturer will replace the systems in a business at a constant interval, taking the original computers back and giving the business newer models. This allows a business to stay reasonably up to date without having to spend nearly as much on computer hardware.

There are a few things that you should remember when taking advantage of a computer refresh program. How often you receive new workstations will determine how much you have to spend on the program. Surprisingly, using a shorter-term refresh cycle can save significant amounts of money. This is due to the fact that a three year old computer still has value in the consumer market, where a five year old computer does not. When you refresh your business’s computers, the manufacturer will account for whether or not the replaced systems can be refurbished. Systems that can be refurbished are exchanged for a lower amount as they still have value to the company. This can result in savings that can range anywhere between one hundred to five hundred or more dollars per user. For a large company with fifty-thousand employees, this is millions of dollars saved by taking advantage of the shorter refresh cycle.

A computer refresh program to acquire new workstations covers only the hardware. It is the responsibility of the business to meet all of the licensing obligations for the software that is being used on the computers. When you purchase your software, make certain you pick a license that allows you to transfer older pieces of software to the new workstations. Many companies will keep systems that have old versions of software applications installed on them to support customers and make certain that their business tools are compatible with those who do not have modern systems.

For more information on how Hackworth can assist you with your computer refresh needs, contact our IT department at 757-545-7576 or fill out the form to the right.

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Based in Hoboken, NJ, Carlo’s was approached by local IT company Exigent Technologies after one of the account executives noticed there wasn’t much technology being used on the television show.

“We built a first-class facility, laid the network cables, had our telephony solution ready—but we were missing that core IT infrastructure that brings it all together and needed help,” explains Leo Minervini, the company’s VP of technology.

Their managed IT solution included storage area networks, virtualized infrastructure, PCs, laptops, printers and security software. This was accomplished by phases of implementation.

“Knowledge is power. Having that knowledge at your fingertips rather than searching for a slip — is money. Time is money,” says Valastro.

As Carlo’s Bakery moves forward, so will their managed IT service. End user support, equipment procurement, network monitoring, backup and disaster recovery are all covered. This allows the bakery to focus on making great cakes, while the IT company takes care of their technology needs.

For more information on managed IT services for your business, visit Hackworth’s IT Solutions page or give us a call at 757-545-7675.

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