Should I buy a new PC?

                

For some time now, I have been making clients aware of the age of their computer and arguing the value of repairs. Usually, my personal rule of thumb is that you may want to debate repairing your computer if it is over ~5 years of age. In my experience, computers over that age tend to be at a higher risk of hardware failure. Further, the average price of today’s computers makes extensive repairs somewhat risky for the average consumer.

If in the event a client comes to me with a 6yr old PC which requires a new hard drive, I may suggest replacing the computer instead. Aside from the cost of the part, replacing the hard drive would necessitate reinstalling the Operating System and could include transferring the data from the old drive to the new one. That could add up pretty quickly, and I would hate to see the client come back a week later with something like a fried motherboard. When a computer is that old (as upsetting as that sounds), these days, it can make more sense to simply replace the PC.

Though today’s low prices is an almost inarguable factor, I recently decided to check with a few local pawn shops to see what I could get for an old PC. Surprisingly, these pawn shops ran on my same rule, except even more strict. They refused to buy any PC older than ~3 years. Their reason? “It’s more likely that we could run into hardware issues.” Replacing the PC helps to ensure the continued reliability of parts and would also grant the added bonus of a one year (or more) warranty through the manufacturer. 

               

Verizon Users - DO NOT switch to AOL

Along with Yahoo, AOL has also been on my list of domains to avoid and it too has been the victim of several data breaches. Its interface is more loaded than a Chinese newspaper, with so many windows, marketing ads and clickbate, just trying to check your email becomes an attack on the senses. Aside from that, its users have been on the unfortunate receiving end of such a hackneyed stereotype of being aged troglodytes for so long that it seems even AOL itself has begun to pray upon this potential vulnerability;

Upon using the website or the AOL Desktop program, the user will find several mycleanpc-esque ads that are actually from AOL. Aside from this blatant use of scare-tactics pertaining to issues which have been debunked again and again, a class action lawsuit was filed against AOL in 2012 regarding Support.com and AOL's Computer Checkup software, which used software developed by Support.com. The software was reported to often claim illegitimate problems with users' computers and would then offer to sell them software to fix the plethora of non-existent problems —for which AOL allegedly charged $4.99 a month and Support.com $29. Both AOL, Inc. and Support.com, Inc. settled on May 30, 2013 for $8.5 million.

Being that Google's top related search suggestions when researching AOL is "Does anyone still use AOL", "Do AOL email addresses still work" and "Does AOL still exist", it would become apparent pretty quickly that AOL is not exactly the top choice of email service providers. Knowing of how god-awful their service is as a whole, AOL has been known to ignore clients’ demands to cancel service and have also been known to send out reoccurring bills which clients never needed to pay before. The New York Attorney General's office began an inquiry of AOL's customer service policies, revealing that the company would actually reward employees who purported to retain subscribers. I have actually had several clients who would receive monthly small bills from AOL and never knew why. Due to the small amount and the client assuming it was something they needed in order to use their computer, they would often just pay these bills and never question it. That is, until I would come along and find that they were pretty much paying for nothing or that they didn't even use any of AOL's services anymore. 

I wanted to provide a concise source of information for those who are still using these services and could never get a straight answer as to why they shouldn't. It seems like a lot of people have been told that they shouldn't use these services, but not by those armed with any useful, compelling information. "Because, I mean, just look at it!" isn't a good reason for someone to uproot from something they feel is tried and true. Further, most of these users, if not all, are under the impression that they are so invested in the service that they could never leave - that all of their contacts, emails, and future emails would be lost. Though AOL and Yahoo would really like you to continue believing that, even taking steps to make it a rather needlessly irritating process to move on - I can tell you from experience that it is not only possible, but relatively painless. For you, anyway. For me, well....That's what I get paid for. 

Like I Said, Yahoo is Terrible

For several years now, I have been attempting to steer clients clear of Yahoo and anything related to Yahoo. Aside from the irritating interface of frames buried within more frames covered in ads, Yahoo has had several security breaches over the years, losing well over 1,600,000,000 usernames and passwords in total. At its peak, Yahoo was once worth over one hundred billion dollars before being bought out by Verizon for a mere 4.8 billion.

Yahoo officially solidified its position as one of the worst protectors of user data on Wednesday when they revealed in a press release that data from more than one billion user accounts had been stolen in 2013. This is separate from the breach which occurred in September, when it was announced that 500 million accounts had been compromised.

Having warned one of my clients for several years on his business’s use of Yahoo email accounts, I finally received the inevitable call when emails had been sent out from his account which he did not send. This particular hack resulted in some pretty specific emails being sent to people on his contacts list requesting things such as account numbers and wire transfers. Being that it was coming from his email address, users on his contacts list assumed the honesty and accuracy of the request and granted the hacker the information they requested.

I am now assisting my client in not only purchasing and setting up a proper domain name, but an email account for the aforementioned, and moving all contacts and emails from his Yahoo account to his new account. I have also set up a secure forwarder so that he does not miss any emails over the next few months before completely cutting Yahoo off.

AOL has also been on my list of domains to avoid and it too has been the victim of several data breaches. Its interface is more loaded than a Chinese newspaper, with so many windows, marketing ads and clickbate, just trying to check your email becomes an attack on the senses. Aside from that, its users have been on the unfortunate receiving end of such a hackneyed stereotype of being aged troglodytes for so long that it seems even AOL itself has begun to pray upon this potential vulnerability.

Upon using the website or the AOL Desktop program, the user will find several mycleanpc-esque ads that are actually from AOL. Aside from this blatant use of scare-tactics pertaining to issues which have been debunked again and again, a class action lawsuit was filed against AOL in 2012 regarding Support.com and AOL's Computer Checkup software, which used software developed by Support.com. The software was reported to often claim illegitimate problems with users' computers and would then offer to sell them software to fix the plethora of non-existent problems —for which AOL allegedly charged $4.99 a month and Support.com $29. Both AOL, Inc. and Support.com, Inc. settled on May 30, 2013 for $8.5 million.

Being that Google's top related search suggestions when researching AOL is "Does anyone still use AOL", "Do AOL email addresses still work" and "Does AOL still exist", it would become apparent pretty quickly that AOL is not exactly the top choice of email service providers. Knowing of how god-awful their service is as a whole, AOL has been known to ignore clients’ demands to cancel service and have also been known to send out reoccurring bills which clients never needed to pay before. The New York Attorney General's office began an inquiry of AOL's customer service policies, revealing that the company would actually reward employees who purported to retain subscribers. I have actually had several clients who would receive monthly small bills from AOL and never knew why. Due to the small amount and the client assuming it was something they needed in order to use their computer, they would often just pay these bills and never question it. That is, until I would come along and find that they were pretty much paying for nothing or that they didn't even use any of AOL's services anymore. 

I wanted to provide a concise source of information for those who are still using these services and could never get a straight answer as to why they shouldn't. It seems like a lot of people have been told that they shouldn't use these services, but not by those armed with any useful, compelling information. "Because, I mean, just look at it!" isn't a good reason for someone to uproot from something they feel is tried and true. Further, most of these users, if not all, are under the impression that they are so invested in the service that they could never leave - that all of their contacts, emails, and future emails would be lost. Though AOL and Yahoo would really like you to continue believing that, even taking steps to make it a rather needlessly irritating process to move on - I can tell you from experience that it is not only possible, but relatively painless. For you, anyway. For me, well....That's what I get paid for. 

Office Upgrade

I have seen time and time again business both small and large struggling with old tech.

Though being sensibly frugal in business is arguably beneficial, the reason this methodology doesn’t work with technology is because technology moves too quickly. Where this issue really comes into play is the fact that the world moves with these advances in technology.

Just recently a client contacted me saying they were having a lot of trouble with their mail systems, receiving bounce backs among other issues. Upon calling their exchange host, the rep immediately said “Are they using Outlook 2007 or older?” I said yes, but I was a little surprised that this was the issue. Now my client is going to have to upgrade everyone to the latest version of Office.

Another client had backend systems that were so old that it would cost over $15,000,000 to get the office up to code and at least two weeks of down time until the system was up and running again. Past technicians notified the higher ups over the years, back when the amount to fix the problems was reasonable. But being that the CEO and other powers never wanted to spend the money in the past, these other technicians over the years were forced to kept the system running through jerry rigging with batch scripts and third party programs with no support. This only made things worse and eventually resulted in the system coming to a grinding halt before the company was forced to file for bankruptcy.  

A Global Engagement Study collected data from nearly 5,000 full-time employees across 20 countries, working at companies with 250 or more personnel. Only 44% of employees said their company uses the latest technology to enable them to effectively perform in their role. That means that more than half of employees don't have the tech that they need to be successful at work. And just 38% said their company supports causes that are important to them.

To me, this is the Achilles heel for all corporations, especially in America. Cutting costs and not listening to employees who are dealing directly with clients must seem economically beneficial to the myopic suits, but the problem is that this only works in the short run.

Back when I was in high school, I worked at Staples as a technician. I don’t remember specifics, but I do remember the store being locked into ridiculous practices that benefited no one but were the demands of the seemingly blind higher ups. We had weekly meetings where the employees unanimously suggested must haves which were never granted. Today, it seems as though nothing has changed. The Easy Tech position is filled similarly to the way Home Depot moves employees around – when it is needed, regardless of the qualifications. I have met Easy Techs who admitted to me that they started at Staples as furniture associates and knew nothing about technology at all.  They admitted that a program which resides on a corporate flash drive does everything for them, and the rest is actually done remotely by someone they don’t even know. The associates in question told me that they didn’t even know what company was remoting into these computers – they assumed it was Staples Corporate. Further, prices on simple tech parts have skyrocketed. I recently purchased a DVI cable, an item which is usually around $9 for ~$40 in store. Though they had cheaper ones online, this was the only cable available in the store. I returned it as soon as the one from Amazon came in the mail.

If you feel that your office isn’t running as it should, give me a call at 617-693-7044 or shoot me an email at Help@MooreITHelp.com. I can give you a free consultation and tell you what you need and what you don’t need.