Computer Repair Blog and Web Design by Exodus Technology Solutions
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Scam: Domain Registry Services in Buffalo NY
Hello everyone, sorry I haven't posted in some time. I just want everyone who owns a domain name to a website to be aware of a scam. Domain holders have been receiving a letter in the mail from a company called "Domain Registry Services". They act as if your domain was purchased through them and the domain needs to be renewed through them. It isn't hard to check when domains are close to expiring. Usually renewals are between $5 and $20, not the $35 a year they want. This company also has no power over your domain so do not send them anything. On the bill, it actually wants you to put your credit card number so they may charge much more then that. Just a heads up to all the website owners everywhere to avoid this scam.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
No power to the PC? Here is a few tips before calling a computer technician.
If you turn the power switch on and nothing happens, here is a simple
process to determine if you need a professional to work on your computer. Keep
in mind, this is for PC that have no power at all like no fans running, no
lights or no activity at all. Sometimes people call me and tell me their
computer has no power, when it's actually their windows OS not loading.
1. Make sure the power cable is plugged into an outlet.
2. Check the power cables connection to the back of the PC power supply.
3. Plug the power cable into a different working outlet.
4. Check to see if the power supply has an on/off switch and make sure it's
placed on the On position.
5. If you have a spare power cable, replace it. Your monitor may use the
game power cable, borrow it.
6. Call a professional PC technician, we are equipped with Power Supply
Testers and can determine if it's your mother board, power supply or on/off
button.
Here at Exodus Technology Solutions, we do understand the costs of repair.
Not just is our prices affordable, but if we can save you the call, we will
provide information to remedy simple problems. Keep in mind if your power issue
is involving a laptop, your battery or power jack may be the problem. Good luck
and I hope this helps someome.
PS: I would like to give a shout our to a few of our clients.
Lifescape Counseling LLC - Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy in Garden
City Http://www.lifescapecounselingllc.com
Eric's Auto Service Center - Car and Truck Repair in Garden City Http://www.ericsautoservicecenter.com
Champion Martial Arts - Tae Kwon Do Family Center in Westland Http://www.champion-ma.com
Competitive Advantage Pro Shop - Bowling Balls/Services in Ann Arbor Http://www.competitiveadvantageproshop.com
Photographic Visions - Christian Wedding Photography in Michigan Http://www.photographicvisions.biz
The Sikorski Law Firm - Bankruptcy Specialty Lawyers in Garden City Http://www.sikorskilawfirm.com
Sunday, September 22, 2013
SEO Services With Customer Service Attatched
I know it almost sounds unheard of, but it does exist. Many SEO firms
charge an insane amount just to have a representative to speak with. Not like
you get that agent from the lower packages either, you have to purchase the
$1,000.00 a month or more accounts. Most professional page ranking firms have a
top package that has that 1k to 1.5k a month rate. Obviously few companies
could afford these costs and those ones usually receive high traffic volumes
without SEO. No matter that your willing to pay for page ranking, you will
never beat out certain companies. No matter my own firms talents are, we will
never top Best Buy on search pages. So if your a small business, don't bother
paying those costs when $100 - $400 packages would suit your need.
Just because your whole business
isn't internet based and you can afford 1k a month services, you still need SEO
firms. Sure there is a lot you can do to help yourself, but real SEO takes more
time and research then taxes. If time is money, then your still better off
outsourcing this service. Granted there is many packages and firm who can
increase your page rank for under $500, at least find one that will work with
you. Many of my clients have never spoken with an SEO representative before and
only get to a chart of how many hours a month they worked on your account. For
all we know, they spent 3 hrs thinking of an article title that day. In fact,
no one knows what forms of SEO or tactics they are using. If they only use one
or two, that could hinder your site in the future. SEO is about diversifying
the links and content. I personally use 5 or 6 tactics and have to research
constantly.
So shop around until you find
reasonable prices with agents who will discuss your account and progress
anytime you need. Most of Exodus Technology Solutions's SEO clients are charged
$100.00 a month and get great customer service. If we offer this, all firms
should be .
Lastly, a shout to the Sikorski
Law Firm. No other law firms charge only $1000.00 for bankruptcy and have payment
plans. Visit them at http://www.sikorskilaw.com/ for more details.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Website Packages, good or bad?
Welcome back to the Exodus
Computer Blog. Today I want to discuss the pros and cons of web packages. I'm
sure you see design firms who list 3-6 bundle options, each with a limit of
pages and cost increases. Most of the time, the first package only includes 2
or 3 pages. That would make for a very plan site that you have no reason
spending high costs for. Before you consider any package, you have some things
to keep in mind.
Here are some of the basic
questions that you need to ask yourself before contacting a website designer.
1. Are you marketing a product? If you are, then you may need a shopping
cart or multiple product pages. Or even a gallery showing everything you carry.
2. is your site meant to be more visual or display a marketing message? This
could affect how the site is even built or how much text is the focus of the
site.
3. How many tabs do you need? An about page? Product/services pages? Blogs?
Contact us pages? Gallery or photos?
4. Do you already have most of the text ready for the site and how much
text is needed on each page? This is very important for a lot of reasons. The
more actually creative writing a company has to do, the more it will cost you.
And you need to make sure your site text will have some keywords and full on useful
information so help on the SEO side of things. If you have too much text for
each product/service, you could drown out your message. More content is better,
but it has to be managed properly and not condense too much into each page. A
careful balance has to be obtained.
5. Does your site need to be edited often? If you have a site hard coded
and built from scratch, you will need a programer to edit every aspect from
text to photos. You will never be able to change anything yourself without
help. Exodus Computer does prefer an easy to edit flash builder for some sites.
Obviously, we can't do every site this way, but for basic business sites, it's
a great option. This way the client can change colors, text, or photos with a
few clicks.
Now that we covered that much, you
can see the most simple packages rarely fit your needs. How much will it cost
you per additional page, to add links, to create site text and does that cost
include keywords? It's not the first time that you expect a low cost package to
cover your needs, but then have 10 things added to increase the costs. Try to
plan out your site the best you can before contacting a design firm. Not all
firms are either close enough or even willing to site down and help you plan
your site. Packages are good for the programers so they have something to build
off the initial costs, but can be deceiving to the clients.
This is the pros to the packages
and why you will prefer this option. The next best choice for design quotes is
based off labor per hour. Even if you get a programer claiming $20 an hr, he
could easily set the project to 50 hrs of work. It may only take him 30 hours,
but you have no idea. There isn't really a standard for this either, they all
work at different paces. The other pro is you know what your paying for with
package rates. If you only need two pages (not usually a good option), then
that package will cover most of the costs. Honestly, if your paying to have a
site built, shop around, ask questions, and get the best looking one you can
get for the cost. Otherwise, your buying a plain template filled in and it
looks out of date. Might as well not have a site if no one wants to visit it.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Thank you for reading another installment of the Exodus Technology Solutions blog. I know that I haven't been posting nearly enough as of late due to our recent location change. For those of you who do not know, we moved over one building and now located at 29215 Ford Rd. Just one block East of Middlebelt and on the South side of Ford Rd.
One of the many things I would like to discuss to day is some signs you can trust a repair business.
This week, I made a point to price shop my competitors again. We try to shop them every few months or so for comparison and to see if our prices have impacted their business. Wouldn't be the first time that we lower our prices and force the competition to do the same. One company located right by us was one of these competitors. They gave us 4 different prices on virus removal that ranged from $30-$100. This doesn't include anything they would add to the bill such as virus protection, data transferring or a diagnostic fee. Another business near us tried to tell us the only way to remove a virus was to reinstall the windows operating system. This can be true with some viruses, but not the one we mentioned. We remove the FBI moneypak virus every week and it stays gone without having to replace an OS. Just something to be careful about and don't take your PC anywhere that doesn't have some kind of warranty in place.
One of the many things I would like to discuss to day is some signs you can trust a repair business.
Usually, a legitimate company will try to give you a real idea of the cost
before leaving the shop. It's one thing to find more issues and it ended up
costing more, but that's a rarity overall. Most cases I find it's either what I
expected it to be initially or something more simple. At least half the repairs
don't require a part replacement and the cost is all labor based. If it's a
laptop about 4 yrs old and the motherboard is bad, it may not be worth
repairing. I don't mind informing a client that a PC repair costs is close to
the worth of the PC itself. But that means I won't push a $300 repair on a
client and so far, I have only had one repair cost more then $250 (upgraded 3
parts). These are just some examples of the real cost a client should be
paying, not $100 onsite fees just to show up (then a diagnostic fee before we
even get to the repair cost).
This is a strange industry with few
standards on experience, ethics and price competition. I do hold some respect
for a few competitors, but there are plenty who prey on clients who have no
computer education. Between Craigslist technicians who work from home (no
standard, no ethics and you can't hold them accountable) and the family friend
who fixes everyone's PC, you have no idea what your getting. Are they really
experienced? Will they use legimate software? Can they find you the best
prices? Will they warranty their own work? Are they really using new parts or
old ones? What's the chances you will hear from them again after you pay them?
At least with a business, you can hold them accountable for bad work (usually
they care since word of mouth is how we advertise best). Plus we usually have
manufacturers and distributors to find us lower part prices then you can find
on your own.
The larger companies are a
different issue all together. Instead of just being a repair shop first, they
are a store with marked up prices. They would prefer you to buy something new
or spend a lot of money per repair. Geek Squad for instance, most repairs are
not competitive price wise at all. They would offer expensive warranties that
don't cover nearly what they make it sound like. Then it's a $150-$300 repair
charge with most PCs and $100 onsite fee just to come to you. No promises on
how long it will really take to fix it nor will the technician be truly
qualified. Many of the big companies that are getting involved in the computer
repair industry are not offering an affordable services for what they offer.
Just because they have an established name and money, doesn't make them a good
source for technology services. If they are a store first, it's a conflict of
interest overall and they have to charge more because of the huge overhead
costs. My company has low overhead, therefor I can charge much less per repair
job.
This week, I made a point to price shop my competitors again. We try to shop them every few months or so for comparison and to see if our prices have impacted their business. Wouldn't be the first time that we lower our prices and force the competition to do the same. One company located right by us was one of these competitors. They gave us 4 different prices on virus removal that ranged from $30-$100. This doesn't include anything they would add to the bill such as virus protection, data transferring or a diagnostic fee. Another business near us tried to tell us the only way to remove a virus was to reinstall the windows operating system. This can be true with some viruses, but not the one we mentioned. We remove the FBI moneypak virus every week and it stays gone without having to replace an OS. Just something to be careful about and don't take your PC anywhere that doesn't have some kind of warranty in place.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Printer is printing HTML code when printing from a website. Solutions here!
Here is a step by step process to eliminate this problem.
1. Print something to word pad to make sure this only happening when
printing from the web.
2. Try this:
Close any open programs
Click Start --> Run
Type: regsvr32 /i mshtml.dll
Press Enter on your keyboard
Click Start --> Run Type:
regsvr32 /i shdocvw.dll
Press Enter on your keyboard
3. Uninstall the drivers and software for the printer and then reinstall
them. Most likely, the updated versions of this are on the companies website.
HP and many brands let you download this directly from them and it's very safe.
4. Follow these instructions:
Open IE7
Click on Tools > Internet
Options > Programs.
Under Default Browser, click on
Make Default button.
Open www.google.com and open Print Preview. You should
now see the web
page instead of the HTML codes.
5. You can go into your using internet explorer, try this:
Click on internet options
Click on advanced
Then click on Restore Advanced
Options
6. Finally, if none of this works, uninstall your web browser and reinstall
it. I've seen IE cause this before and this was the solution.
I hope this helps, I went through this process this week until I got to
number 6. All of these work and have solved this problem for
different cases. If you need any help, call 734-238-2169. Http://www.exodustechsolutions.com
An honorable mention of great companies local to the
Garden City area.
Thank you again for reading and sorry there is so many of these great
business services links. All of these have my sign of approval. Exodus
Technology Solutions blog will keep posting useful clients and PC repair
advice.
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