As one of the many victims of the current slow economy, our customer had to lower their overhead cost by not renewing their lease on a commercial office space and moving everything to their home.  They’ve just bought a new NAS system for storing files on their network and called for an E-Geniuses Technician to implement it into their new network.  When I arrived at their home office, I was impressed to see how they laid out their one big bonus room to accomodate 7 workstations.  The thing that wasn’t so impressive was their network setup.  Before I could install the NAS system into their network, I had to rewire the connections and increase the security level of their 4 port wireless router.

The customer was very greatful that I was looking out for their best interest by not just setting up the NAS system but helping them redo their network and increasing their security.

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

How to Unblock a Blocked Caller ID

Have you ever received a call from a private number and wish that you could find out who was calling before you answered? It’s always frustrating when you are waiting for an important call and when the phone finally rings; it’s an automated message telling you your warranty on your car has expired. It would be so much easier if you could just unblock those unknown caller ID’s.

Well now you can with a service from trapcall.com. The setup is as simple as entering your cell phone number, selecting your service provider, and entering a string of numbers into your phone. Once it’s setup you can start unblocking blocked caller ID’s.

The way that it works is simple:

1. Someone calls you from a blocked number.
2. You cancel the call. (The call is then forwarded to trapcall to unblock the id)
3. The call then shows up unblocked. Now you can see who is calling. (If you cancel the call again, the call goes to voicemail.)

So how much will this power to know cost you? Trapcall offers basic unblocking service for free. They also have paid services which allow you record incoming calls, transcribe your voicemail messages, and block unwanted callers.

Use this service wisely. It does what it claims to do. It would also be a good idea to check to see whether you phone service provider charges for call forwarding.

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

Computer Repair in Glendale

I went to a Psychotherapist office, not for personal reasons, but because there was a computer that was acting up  It was a Windows 95 machine and it would intermittently boot up and make strange noises, and would never keep track of the date.  We diagnosed it as a failing hard drive and a bad CMOS battery.  We also identified that they had a very inefficient way of backing up data for their EMR, Medisoft, with floppy disks.  It was decided that the computer would be replaced before it failed in other ways.  Their proprietary software was then migrated to the new machine and the machine was tuned for maximum speed and stability, far past a simple Windows installation.  Their printer wouldn’t work in XP with the new migration.  Various settings inside this program and in the driver settings were changed allowing the printer to be reinitialized. The old Okidata dot-matrix printer worked in their Dos based program again. They are now able to backup their EMR data via a USB flash drive.

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

Montebello Computer Repair.

I went to Montebello to visit a company that does bottling. They bottle soft drinks for various companies like Jones soda and have all the important formulations for those delectable flavors of cola, and to top it off they mostly use cane sugar. Regardless, something bad was brewing at this bottling company. Fake anti-virus infected one of their computers and the husband of Mariann (who maintains the business) tried desperately to remove the virus, but to no avail. This virus has cost people over 40 million dollars, because it scams them into thinking they need to pay $40 dollars for it to be removed, and 10 million people got infected so do the math. Anyway, this virus was brutal. It was paired with other viruses as well and the front USB ports would not work and the internet was cut off because when it was attempted by her husband to remove the virus, he removed the internet because they are tied together by a dll. I was able to partially eradicate the virus enough to fix the internet, then when I got the updated definitions the virus did not stand a chance. I also gave them a superior browser (Firefox) and WOT for their troubles. I also removed the inferior virus scanner they had and replaced it with our standard one.

Their main financial computer was also unknowingly infected with privacy-compromising spy-ware. They signed up for a maintenance plan on the computer along with new computer setup and I removed the spyware, although my speed was severely limited by the computer’s older processor. We can now connect to it remotely and monitor the health of the hard drive and check to see if the client got any new malware.

They also had network troubles, so I gave them a couple tips to show their DSL company who was the real boss; the customer. They are too far away from the DSL home office, so they are getting slow speeds of that of a $10 value package but are getting charged for premium service at $60 a month. I also moved one folder to another computer that they needed so they were extremely pleased. They were fun to be around too, and I admire people who aren’t too serious. We all had fun and accomplished great things…and so the world turns.

Brandon Lawrence, E-Geniuses Technician

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

Granada Hills Computer Repair

I went to the client, a previous client of ours, who had a Monthly Maintenance Plan that, unfortunately, had not been renewed. They had only been without the maintenance plan for about 3 months and already had many infections on their computer. The computer was setup at a flower shop, but the computer was also being used for personal use. Guests would come in and use the computer as well.

Because the computer was so heavily infected by various Vundo viruses as well as some rogue anti-spyware programs such as Antivirus 2009, the computer could not get online. The computer was being used for accounting purposes and the client did not want to risk inputting sensitive information without the computer being completely secured.

The normal means of virus and spyware removal weren’t working and the viruses had to be removed manually. There were several rootkits and malware that most antivirus suites cannot detect. It took longer than expected and I had to take the computer back to the office to get it online and running well, but it was worth it. I was very satisfied that I didn’t have to reinstall since the client had so much existing work on the system. All of their programs were already installed and customized to suit their specific needs. Reinstalling the operating system would have been a last resort since it requires reinstalling all of the software, reinstalling drivers, reconfiguring the settings and re-customizing the look and feel. This makes reinstallation less cost effective as well. Sometimes it is necessary, but it wasn’t in this case.

This client has referred many friends and family to E-Geniuses. They also make sure we are comfortable since we sometimes are working for long periods of times without breaks. We thank you and appreciate clients like you. You know who you are.

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

Computer repair in Los Angeles. We received a call from a client who sounded like they were in desperate need of computer help. The job sounded relatively straight forward; they wanted to extend the wireless network so that the signal would reach the other rooms in the house. The client was using a Mac and she explained that many of the computer service companies she called only worked on PC’s. She sounded relieved to hear that E-Geniuses services Apple as well as PC’s.

We arrived in a part of Los Angeles called Brentwood around 1:30. The appointment was scheduled for 1:00 but it had rained unexpectedly and we were stuck in some traffic. We made sure that rescheduling for 1:30 was ok with the client. It was.

When we arrived, she showed us where the previous technician she called had setup the wireless router. It was tucked away in the corner of a room. There was no way the signal would be able to reach the other areas of the house. We had to inform the client that we needed to purchase wireless range extenders, also called repeaters, in order to get the signal in the other rooms.

We went back out into the rain, drove to the nearest Apple store, and purchased 3 wireless “airport” basestations. Since the house was partially wired with ethernet cable, we were able to use one of the base stations as a wireless access point and the other 2 basestations as signal repeaters.

The install took longer than we had expected, partially because we had to purchase parts, and partially because we did not have some of the information we needed from the ISP. The network setup worked out well in the end. The signal reached every potential spot in the house and even outside in the backyard. The client was very happy to say the least.

Here’s a reenactment.

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz