Cloud Computing, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), or simply "the cloud" are all terms you may be hearing creep into tech-lingo at your place of business. Perhaps you've even heard the terms used by your I.T. provider, but what does it really mean to put your technology "in the cloud" and is it the right choice for you? In this article, we will look at 5 important ways the cloud can help your business by reducing the total cost of ownership and providing an excellent return on investment.

InfoTECH is proud to announce that we have officially broken ground on our new location in Carencro, Louisiana!

Since the launch of IT/365 at the beginning of September, we have had over 350 node installations. Our team of Virtual System Administrators monitor all alerts that are raised by the system and decide what action should be taken. With the historical data gathered by the IT/365 system in hand, our team can effectively manage all problems that arise. We constantly check our monitoring sets, procedures, and alerting functions to ensure that we stay at the forefront of issues and errors that occur on our clients' computers.

We have all seen the classic yellow shield and exclamation point (now a notification flag in Windows 7) that indicates there are Windows Updates available for installation, but do you know how these updates actually affect your computer? With Microsoft set to patch a record 49 vulnerabilities on October 12th, we believe it is critical to our clients' security that they understand a little about these patches and how you can keep your systems protected. (Don't have time to read? Call us for the solution: Patch Management with IT/365)

In this short article we look at five very important and often-misunderstood facts about Antivirus programs.

Computers, by their very nature, generate heat. Wheather you're looking at the processor, the Northbridge/Southbridge, the graphics card or the hard-drive, you're seeing heat sources.  In this article we briefly cover some popular methods for keeping your computer cool.

Here at InfoTECH, we are constantly looking for the best solutions to meet the unique needs of our small business clients. We already have an extensive product offering that can help enhance the productivity of your workers and streamline your business, but we wouldn't be successfull as an IT company if we didn't stay on the cutting edge to provide the latest IT tools. In keeping with this spirit, we have partnered with Google to become an authorized reseller of Google Apps!

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is a popular method for securely connecting remote users and offices to a central network. A VPN is formed through the use of a VPN "tunnel" which allows traffic to flow between networks securely as though they were directly connected. They are very popular options for small businesses that wish to extend the functionality of their office to outside users. In this short post, we will cover the basics of VPN connections and some of the ways they can be used to benefit your business.

Are you too busy to manage your office’s network? When your computer system is down, your business is down. So what’s the next step? The dreaded call to your IT service provider—the phone call with questions no one in your office understands? Then there is the cost and lost time of having a technician come to repair the problem. But your expense goes beyond the technician—your employees are your largest financial investment, and while technicians are in your office fixing the computer network, employee productivity is shut down.

What if there was a way to prevent these problems without the hassle and with little or no distraction to yourself or your employees? What if your network could be monitored and you were warned about potential problems? What if these problems could be repaired without a visit from a technician?

InfoTECH has the solution—a managed service plan known as IT/365. This new service, a first in Lake Charles, enables us to monitor your network remotely for notifications, troubleshooting and routine maintenance. We will be able to find and resolve a problem when it begins, not when it has grown to a point where it shuts down your system.

How it works:




The first line of defense: Secure Monitoring

IT/365 includes free 24-hour monitoring of all the devices on your network, seven days a week, 365 days a year. This preventive measure ensures the health and performance of your business’s network. We can spot a virus, missed updates and many other emerging issues—before they become a problem.

How does monitoring work?
We install a secure probe program on each computer at your office, which enables us to monitor your entire network and allows us to see problem indicators, alerts and notifications that can be missed during a busy workday or because of lack of computer knowledge. After installation, we can monitor your system from our offices, and the monitoring element of IT/365 is free of charge. IT/365 monitoring gives our clients time to focus on their workload and not their computer issues. We can provide you with warnings, filter for false alarms and quickly fix the problems through virtual management, without interrupting you or your employees with an onsite visit.

In-depth reporting
As we monitor your office network, we also provide a wide range of reports for you to review. This also assists our technicians with a history of your network. The reports will help you visualize and understand the performance of your systems' devices.

Preventive approach: Virtual Management
We all know that the best way to keep our cars running smoothly is through routine maintenance, such as an oil change or a tune up. Computers work in the same way. However, we also know it can be easy to miss an oil change and it is even easier to forget proper computer maintenance. Taking the time for proper computer maintenance, such as clearing your computer’s cookies, running a virus scan or defragging the hard drive can sometimes be impossible during a busy workday.
Our virtual management service is a proactive approach toward managing and solving a network issue—before it has a critical impact on your business. In addition to monitoring, we can also perform routine tasks such as patch management and desktop optimization and remedy problems found through monitoring, such as disabling a virus. We can attack these issues directly through a live connection. You will even be able to see us moving the infected computer’s cursor as the work is being done.

What if my company already has an IT professional?
InfoTECH’s IT/365 can be a valuable tool for in-house IT professionals and will enhance their productivity. It can be challenging to constantly keep up with and constantly monitor and apply security or software updates. IT/365 can free an IT professional from the regular time-consuming monitoring and maintenance tasks to handle larger technological issues that will be beneficial to the company.

The benefits of IT/365
IT/365 allows a business to move from the inefficient “break-fix” model of computer maintenance to a proactive managed-service approach. Instead of waiting for the unexpected breakdown—when time, productivity and data can be lost—your systems are constantly monitored at no charge to detect any signs of potential trouble. Then, the InfoTECH team can take appropriate action to avert costly breakdowns. In addition, routine maintenance by InfoTECH—performed remotely without interrupting your employees—can ensure better performance and extend the useful life of your systems.

In the end, IT/365 can provide you with valuable information about your business's computer usage—information that can help you manage and plan your IT needs into the future. To find out more or get IT/365 setup at your place of business, call our office at 337-896-3681 or email us at info@infotech.us.

We often get asked about various free software products on the market and how they compare to their paid competitors. While we won't dig into reviewing individual products here, I thought it would be beneficial to our clients that they understand the pros and cons to using their favorite free products.

Come October 22nd, 2010, one of Microsoft's most venerable operating systems, Windows XP, will no longer be sold to consumers. There is often a lot of confusion surrounding the phase out of a major OS, and Windows XP is no exception. Let's look at a few aspects of Microsoft's life cycle program and how it will affect your business.

InfoTECH Solutions is very proud and excited to announce that we have once again added another skilled IT professional to our growing staff! Jon Jeffels joins InfoTECH Solutions as an IT Specialist in the Lake Charles area and will serve clients across southern Louisiana.

Junk e-mail, like its paper counterpart, is a staple of the messaging systems in place today. In fact, it's estimated that 90% of all incoming mail traffic in North America is spam. That's a lot of trash!

Lucky for us, some very intelligent applications called spam filters, or more generally e-mail filters, are able to detect and purge a majority of this from most inboxes. However, spam filters, like any other heuristics-based scanner, are never 100% effective at detecting unwanted e-mails. On top of that, spammers are constantly developing new tactics for getting you to open that e-mail.

So how can the average computer user hope to defend themselves? Like anything else in the computer world: with knowledge! Here are some of the top guidelines for avoiding spam:

InfoTECH Solutions is proud to announce that we have achieved Microsoft Certified Partner status.

Servers, like any other piece of hardware, grow old and eventually need to be replaced. Many businesses try to stretch the useful life of their server to the very edge, but that's usually not the best option. Let's look at a few of the most important reasons for replacing that aging box.

With the weather changing and the Gulf Coast preparing for another hurricane season, now is the time to take a look at where your data is and whether your business is prepared to recover quickly after a disaster. So what constitutes a good backup, and how do you know if you are truly protected?

Imagine you are out getting bids for a big project and you want to find someone with experience. You have two people vying for your business: Jim & Bob. They both handed you a business card when you spoke with them, and each business card had an email address on it where you could contact them. Jim's email is jim@acmeconsulting.com. Bob's email is cooltiger14445@aol.com. Which one demonstrates to you that this person is credible and professional? Which email suggests the owner is part of a reputable business?

We'll be posting plenty of information and sharing knowledge relevant to the Louisiana business owner who needs some guidance in their IT endeavours. Be sure to check back often!