Some small business owners think… I don’t need a website, I have fliers and postcards. Print ads do not allow your customers to see a full presentation of your business.

Why Your Business Needs A Website: 

• A website is a 24 hour, 7 day a week professional on-line presentation of your company.
• A website will allow you to connect with your current customers and new customers.
• A website is an on-line communications tool that you will use to present news, service updates, special offers & events to your customers.
• A website allows you to present information about your business to current and potential customers at their convenience.
• A website gives your clients IMMEDIATE access to e-mail their questions, set-up appointments and give customer reviews.

Technology is moving fast, your business needs to move with it by establishing an on-line presence NOW!!!

A website recoups its cost in days, weeks or months NOT years!!!

Remove Old Programs & Files that you No Longer Use: By removing unused programs and files you will free up space on your hard-drive. This will ensure that your Operating System has enough free space to function properly, while at the same time giving you enough space to add new programs and files. If your hard-drive does not have enough free space it will slow down your computer, or in severe cases cause it to freeze-up.

Delete Temporary Internet Files: The files (e.g. history, cookies, prefetch) and pictures associated with browsing the Internet are called, “Temporary Internet Files”. Computers store these temporary files in a folder on your hard-drive, allowing previously viewed websites to load faster the next time you access the page. Considering that each website can consist of hundreds or thousands of temp files, a good practice would be to delete these files once a month.

Back-up Your Data: Unfortunately, your computer does not give you a warning before it crashes. This means that you should take precautions to ensure minimal down-time if your system fails. Backing up important data that you cannot afford to loose to a Flash-Drive, CD or an external Hard-Drive on a regular basis will ensure minimal down-time if your system fails. This process is easy to manage with the automated back-up procedures built into most operating systems. Set the automatic back-up to run during hours that your computer is not in use. Backing up your data on a regular or daily basis allows you to rest easier knowing that all your important data is recoverable if you experience a sudden system failure. When using automated back-up procedures it is a must that you check periodically to ensure your back-ups are running smooth. It would be a double disaster to experience a system failure and then realize that your automated back-ups have also failed.

Start-Up Objects: A large number of programs will place themselves in the Windows start-up process when installed, using memory and windows resources. This means that they will load every time you turn on your computer. If your computer takes an extended amount of time to start-up this could possibly be your problem. Example, you don’t need games, movie players and audio players to start when your computer is booted up. These are programs that you would manually start when the program is needed.

Drefragment Your Hard-Drive: A fragmented hard-drive slows down your computers read write process, because it takes more time for the hard-drive heads to move between file fragments on the hard-drive surface. This means that your computer is looking in multiple places to find pieces of files on your hard-drive, instead of finding the file in one consecutive location. Deleting old files and programs is one thing that affects your hard-drive access time by leaving data scattered on your hard-drive. Drefragmenting your hard-drive will speed up your computers read write speed, by organizing the stored data.

Virus/Spyware & Firewall Protection: The Internet is filled with viruses, spyware and malware seeking unprotected computers to infect. Standard practice is to activate your Virus software’s automatic update feature; the software will look for and install updates most times on a daily basis. Once, your virus software is up to date you want to scan your system for infections at least once a week. Firewall protection keeps hackers from hijacking your computer and using it for malicious activities. Most operating systems have built in Firewalls; you will require more security if your data is sitting on a Server.

Windows Updates: Windows Update is a free service offered by Microsoft, which provides updates for all Microsoft operating systems and there components. Windows updates are necessary to keep your operating system up to date with changes that are made by Microsoft after the operating system is in place. Windows Updates will install and configure the changes made by Microsoft ensuring that your software is protected against vulnerabilities and in some cases improves operation. Windows offers an automatic setting for this feature that will check your system to see what updates are needed and install them, which means no fuss for the user.

Reinstallation Software and Serial Numbers: It is a common practice of computer manufacturers to give customers copies of the software installed on the machines that they purchase. This software is for reinstallation purposes, having all needed software in one central location allows for faster recovery if a piece of software or your whole system fails.

Dust & Dirt: One major reason to keep your computer in a clean area is because of the damage that can be done by dust and dirt. Dust and dirt can slow down your internal fans, which will cause your computer to over heat. Over heating can cause your computers components to burn out, which can be very costly to repair. If you see dust building up on the outside of your computer case especially around the fan exhaust area, use a dry cloth to wipe it down. You can also get a can of air and GENTLY spray out the inside of the case as well. This has to be done with extreme caution; serious damage can occur if you start touching things inside the case with out taking the proper precautions. So, be sure to spray it out with the air and close the case back up immediately; don’t touch anything inside the case.