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FREE Webinar: Data Protection Midyear Review

Data Protection Midyear Review: Your 2012-and-1/2 Essential ChecklistData Protection Webinar

It’s the 2012 midpoint – time to look at what’s changed in backup and recovery and to take stock of how your backup and disaster recovery processes and solutions stack up. Join Greg Shields of Concentrated Technology and Joe Hand of Dell AppAssure as they guide you through your mid-year assessment.

When: Tuesday July, 10 @ 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM EDT
(10:30 AM – 11:30 AM PDT)

    • The current backup and recovery landscape
    • Backup and recovery essentials checklist
    • The best storage for backup data to ensure you meet your RTO and RPO goals

This is not an event sponsored by Great Lakes Computer Corp., but one in which we believe you will find value in attending.

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Proper Care of POS Equipment

Proper Care of Point of Sale Equipment

Point of Sale EquipmentIn many respects, point of sale systems are like any other kind of electronic equipment; they require periodic professional maintenance to remain functioning at their full efficiency.  In some situations, a point of sale system will need to be repaired by a qualified technician.

Like other types of hardware, however, point of sale equipment remains reliable for much longer when business owners and managers pay close attention to its proper care from the moment of installation forward.  Such care will also lengthen the total lifespan of a POS system, therefore, increasing the return on investment that a business will enjoy from the original purchase of such equipment.

Placement of the system

One of the most important environmental variables concerns the physical location where the POS equipment is installed.  Point of sale systems frequently contain such components as computer units, terminals and hard drives.  All of these pieces of equipment have ventilation needs.  The heat that is generated by the movement of drive heads and the operation of central processing units will damage the equipment if it is not adequately dissipated.

A common mistake some business owners and managers make is to assume that because some POS components contain cooling fans, ventilation concerns need not be paramount.  It may be convenient from the point of view of the cashier to have elements of the POS system lodged against a wall, but this is a recipe for disaster.  At the very least, it will mean that the need for point of sale system repair will become likely sooner rather than later.

As this is an expense that businesses should avoid when possible, all components of a POS system should be located at least two inches away from all other surfaces.  These surfaces include things such as walls, cabinets, and even companion components of the same system.  This degree of space will provide the POS system with enough room to radiate heat away from the constituent units of the system and should be provided both to units with fans and those without them.

Clogged vents

Overheating can also become a problem when the cooling vents of system components become clogged with contaminants such as dirt or lint.  The air in your facility may seem very clean to you, but over time there can be a definite build-up inside vents and air flow can become obstructed.  In some environments, even grease can build up and clog the vents.

At least twice a year, all cooling vents on POS equipment should be cleared out to facilitate good air flow and adequate cooling.  The easiest way to accomplish this is with a can of compressed air, though you must be careful not to accidentally blow the dirt or lint into the interior of a POS component.  When vents are clogged with grease, a Q-tip can be quite helpful for cleaning them.

Businesses should also be sure to provide their systems with routine professional maintenance from a qualified POS repair firm, which can keep all aspects of the equipment in tip-top shape.

Click here to request an IT Service call for your POS equipment:

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AppAssure Data Backup Software Video: Deploying Agents

AppAssure Data Backup Software Video Series: Deploying Agents/ Protecting Servers

Getting ready to deploy? This video will show you how to push the agent software from your Core server to the servers you want to protect using a simple wizard and the process of adding the server for protection.

Our data protection services will ensure you lower your risk and secure your information. Our tech experts will monitor, manage, and restore your data so you know it is securely preserved and is being watched over 24/7. We approach your data protection needs in several ways, including anti-virus and anti-malware software, and generating backups to keep you running if it ever goes down.

Click here to learn more about Great Lakes Computer Data Protection Services:

Great Lakes Computer is an Authorized Partner for AppAssure Software. Contact us for more information.

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Data Loss, Cloud Storage, and Redundancy

Data Loss, Cloud Storage, and Redundancy

Data Backup and Data ProtectionEverybody at one point or another in their life has gotten some very valuable advice from someone that really was intending to help them, save them, or just make them more wise. It’s also safe to say that everyone having received that advice multiple times in their life, has chosen to disregard it, forget it, or maybe never got around to applying it in the area it was intended.

Hopefully today will not be another one of those days where your head is in the clouds, or one of those moments where you received a valuable piece of information that gets filed away into some drawer, in the back of the stack of folders with no label on it. The following advice is for SMBs who think a hard drive crash or data loss scenario will never happen to them, and trust their data will always be available, and right where it was left.

It’s probably safe to say that every business owner in their computing career has heard of a hard drive crashing, data being accidently erased, or the inevitable dog ate the computer story and now the data is lost. The common question that arises in everyone’s mind when they hear this is, “You had your data backed up, right?”. Well that is what everyone hopes for in times like those. The problem is that the majority of the time the answer is “No.”

If you ask every business owner that this has happened to if they were ever warned to keep a back up of their data, you will find most will answer, “Yes.” You actually may not even have to ask depending upon how guilty they feel, they may just tell you something like, “You know our IT guy told me to backup my data just the other week. I should have listened.” And then a sermon will follow about how you should back up your data, and you never realize how bad it is until it happens to you.

Well, this isn’t going to be you is it? No one ever thinks it will happen to them until it does.

So here is your warning. BACK UP YOUR DATA! You have been told yet once again!

Here are a few tips on how to do back it up effectively:

1. Have a local back up for your whole computer on an external hard drive
2. Incrementally back up your files in their folders locally rather than your whole OS installation
3. Create an image of your hard drive bi-weekly
4. Store the important files you work in regularly on an online/offsite backup(in the Cloud)
5. Understand your external hard drive is subject to the same hazards as your computer
6. Library your pictures/music/videos on physical CDs and store them somewhere safe

Just because you have a local external hard drive with your data on it does not mean you are fully protected. Storing your important documents that you work on daily online, in the cloud, is very important for redundancy. As mentioned in the above tips, your external hard drive is just as susceptible to being damaged, or crashing as the one inside your computer. Matter fact, it is the same exact type of hard drive only packaged in an encasement which offers it no real protection from falls, bangs, or even the dog.

Make sure you consult with your IT tech to design a backup system that fits your data storage needs. A trained professional will be able to make sure you are completely protected from every disaster, and provide a reliable solution for cloud storage you can trust.

Guest blog written by Todd Trahan, Owner of A Plus Computer Support in West Palm Beach, about data backup and cloud computing for business.

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Cloud Computing eSeminar

Cloud Computing eSeminar- The Need for Speed: Can Your Application Delivery Infratstructure Compete?

Cloud Computing eSeminar

June 28, 2012
2:00 pm ET / 11:00 am PT
Duration: 60 minutes

As IT environments evolve with the adoption of cloud computing, the need for flexibility and scalability becomes essential in managing IT infrastructure. Slow website performance can have a severely negative impact on a company’s bottom line. With more employee-based mobile devices entering the workplace, the complexity of delivering a consistent accelerated Web experience also becomes increasingly difficult.

Also, with more employees entering the workplace with all types of mobile devices, the complexity of delivering a consistent accelerated web experience becomes increasingly difficult.

In this interactive eSeminar Kavitha Mariappan, Director of Product Marketing at Riverbed Technology, will discuss how you can:

    • Benefit from software-based and virtual load balancers
    • Increase application speed, scalability, and security for your applications
    • Accelerate, and optimize key business workflow for your end users
    • Enjoy great ROI and a short payback period

This is not an event sponsored by Great Lakes Computer Corp., but one in which we believe you will find value in attending.

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AppAssure Data Backup Software: Product Demo Video Series

AppAssure Data Backup Video Series- Intro to the User Interface

Dell AppAssure Backup, Replication & Recovery from Dell AppAssure is incredibly easy to setup, use and manage. In this short video, you will see the basics for navigating in the product to get you started on your installation of testing of Dell AppAssure Backup, Replication & Recovery.

[Read more…] about AppAssure Data Backup Software: Product Demo Video Series

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