Many technology heavy businesses depreciate equipment over a roughly 5 year period, with replacement of servers and workstations happening within roughly that timeframe. With Coronavirus impacting the economy here in Maine, we can expect many businesses needing to “do more with less”. This may mean using that server 1 more year, or keeping that Windows 8.1 system around for less critical tasks.

Aces IT Support LLC is your technology advisor, providing insight into the risks your current equipment faces, as well as multiple mitigation options so that you can make your own informed decision on how to proceed. You can even source your own equipment directly, further lowering costs, with our consultation to avoid costly mistakes when ordering.

Many computer support consultants have transitioned to more profitable “Managed Service Provider” business models, with monthly bills designed to make it easier to plan annual IT budgets. According to the sales pitch “everything is covered under the monthly bill”, meaning all you need to do is pay over $100 per computer monthly and your computer issues are no longer your problem. This isn’t true as the contracts are narrowly scoped with many exclusions, and defined responsibilities leaving many common tasks such as adding new employees as extra billable expenses, leaving many to wonder what exactly the monthly bill is covering? Typically what’s provided is a suite of automated management software platforms to reduce physical work required, and an understanding that you’ll typically need less than 15 minutes of support per system per month once a system is setup and running properly. Many of these packages are sold at over $100/month/system, so the question is whether you want to effectively be obligated to pay $400+ per hour to address sporadic issues on your network?

Aces IT Support LLC has elected to instead focus on offering the same cost saving management and automation cloud services at an extremely low cost, leaving you to simply pay for the support you need each month. Automating security maintenance and backup processes keeps “manual labor” at a minimum, further reducing costs. Small businesses may not have any issues arise during a given month, and pay substantially less than the “flat fee” MSP model. With every dollar counting these days, why not review your current monthly bills, and start tracking the number of times you need to contact your IT support provider? Aces IT Support LLC can go over your expenses and past incidents, and estimate your savings with many businesses saving 50% or more annually.

Let Aces IT Support LLC help you weather this storm… we’re all in this together, and your business has better things to invest in than overpriced computer support contracts which provide minimal benefits.

This last Patch Tuesday Microsoft closed some major vulnerabilities: many are categorized as Critical by Microsoft, meaning they could be exploited WITHOUT USER CONSENT. While there’s always a security risk created by users clicking on something they shouldn’t, these critical vulnerabilities can be exploited without necessarily making a mistake or opening the wrong thing. The sheer number of vulnerabilities patched in this months cumulative updates means you should update immediately, rather than wait.

That being said, windows updates in the past typically introduce additional issues and bugs, just like Apple’s MacOS updates do from time to time. MacOS Catalina has had a rough release since it initially launched over 6 months ago, with several bugs still causing issues with basic functionality like USB ethernet adapter instability. Windows monthly updates sometimes cause applications to stop working, cause bluescreens, and even at times cause data loss. As such, it’s important to take a cautious and paced approach to installing Windows updates to avoid disrupting your ability to work.

Aces IT Support LLC monitors critical updates, and can manage and control the rollout of patches to both delay potentially buggy updates from plaguing your system, as well as to force install critical updates such as the April patches to ensure your systems remain up to date. Basic patch management and antivirus protection are available for just $10/month for workstations, and would ensure that Aces IT Support pushes out updates in a timely manner to ensure both uptime and security are managed properly.

You can see a list of vulnerabilities here, along with links to update your own systems.

Welcome to the future… errr… current form of meetings, Video Conferencing! While video conferencing has been common in multi-branch businesses for over a decade, it’s use in small business has been far more limited up till today. So what’s the best way to Zoom your Teams across the Web-ex?

1. Learn to use a Virtual Background. If the space that you’re conferencing in has a cluttered or distracting background, you can enable a Virtual Background in many apps. Here are links to instructions for Zoom (Windows, MacOS, and iOS), WebEx (iOS only). Microsoft Teams doesn’t support Virtual Background yet (although they are expected to release this feature in the next month), but they do allow you to blur your background, which may work well for you. Consider using something like Publisher, Powerpoint, or even a simple web app like Canva to create a professional background image for you to use.

2. Make sure your Wifi is up to the challenge! If you have the option to connect to “networkname”-5G, try connecting to that network for greater bandwidth and less congestion. Keep in mind 5Ghz wifi can’t penetrate walls and structures as well as 2Ghz, however it’s far quicker in most cases if you can maintain a good connection. If you repeatedly have issues, try running a quick speedtest to see what kind of bandwidth you’re getting? Try Megapath or DSLReports speed test. Your upload bandwidth (indicated as the up arrow on DSLReports), quality, bufferbloat, and jitter are far more important than a big download number. DSL really tends to struggle here, as most dsl connections struggle to break 20mbps of download bandwidth, and more than 2-5 mbps of upstream bandwidth. Spectrum on the other hand typically starts at a MIMINUM of 200mbps download and 10mbps upload bandwidth, and only goes up from there. Likewise, fiber internet can offer massive download and upload bandwidth and quality.

3. Consider using a Bluetooth headset during your call. Not only will this typically reduce the background noise in your calls, but it can keep conversations private and avoid disturbing those around you. This can be done with your phone, tablet, and oftentimes even your laptop or desktop computer.

If you don’t have a webcam and need to order one… good luck! Webcams have been selling out rapidly, but in general units from Logitech and Microsoft are reliable, and easy to use. The more expensive units tend to have quality improvements from automatic tracking to keep you centered if you move around your desk, better microphones for clearer audio, and more.

As always, if you have more questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Aces IT Support LLC to resolve your video conferencing woes.

Wifi has become more critical than ever to many Mainers, with telecommuting and remote work being the only way to maintain your employment. So what should you do if your wifi isn’t performing the way it should? Read on for 3 tips… wait that sounds too much like clickbait. Wifi unfortunately is an extremely complex technology that depends on your wireless router/access point providing proper connectivity, your client device connecting in a compatible and reliable way, and your environment to not interfere. This can include construction materials restricting wireless signal penetration, as well as noise sources that can throw off your connection, such as a microwave or other device.

Get intimate with your wif-i.

Wireless networking has been around for decades, but became popular in late 1999 with the introduction of 802.11b. Beyond that, you have 802.11A, 802.11G, and what’s considered the “minimum” these days, 802.11N (Wifi-4). 802.11N is good for around 150-200mbps in good real world conditions, with minimal clients/devices. 802.11AC, or Wifi 5, is only available on the 5Ghz spectrum, 2.4Ghz is 802.11N. 802.11AC is good for around 250-400mbps typically, however it can be less often times due to interference. The latest standard, Wifi-6 (rarely called 802.11AX), operates on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz spectrums. It’s also a significant improvement in many ways from 802.11N/AC, namely the implementation of MU-MIMO, or in English, the ability for multiple devices to communicate simultaneously. Up until 802.11AC, wireless radios could only communicate with 1 device at a time. So if your kids were streaming Youtube, your laptop would have to wait for gaps in the stream to communicate with the router. This leads to latency, jitter, and poor performance. 802.11AC (Wifi-5) introduced MU-MIMO when transmitting from the router to multiple client devices, but still only 1 client could communicate back to the router when you wanted to make a new request, or upload data. Since 802.11AC is only available on 5Ghz, these benefits were never realized on cheaper, older 2.4Ghz clients either. Wifi-6 changes all this, and allows for multiple devices to communicate simultaneously, when sending AND receiving, on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies.

Or at least that’s the way it should work…

In practice, Wifi-6 is still a very new standard. Most implementations are incomplete, and don’t support the full featureset of Wifi-6. This affects several new features found in Wifi-6, as seen here: https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/33221-what-s-missing-from-your-wi-fi-6-router-ofdma

So the high dollar, $500+ Wifi-6 router you buy today is likely to be faster than the Wifi-5 router you had yesterday, but it’s not going to be as fast or reliable as a second generation unit that will come out later this year.

Don’t buy a Wifi 6 router today expecting it to be the last router you’ll need for the next 5+ years.

Wifi-6 also requires your client devices to support Wifi 6 as well. So that means most brand new phones released over the last year, a few laptops (but no MacBooks… not even that $3,000 16” Macbook Pro you splurged on a month ago), and that’s it. So you’re likely going to be running at Wireless AC / Wifi 5 anyways.

My Advice…

If this is for your home, it’s more important to have a high quality, strong signal, than to have Wifi 6. That means having a proper mesh system, rather than hoping that a single Wifi-6 router will cover your entire house. If you have a small property, and can locate your router centrally, and the construction materials aren’t fighting you, then you might not even need a mesh system! But if you need to install the access point at the far end of a long, multi-story house, and you have a bunch of smarthome devices clogging up your airspace, then a Mesh system can help improve connectivity immensely when deployed properly. Unfortunately with everyone upgrading their Wifi systems now at the same time, stock levels are running low, so you might nee to wait, or be more flexible on your choices.

I like Netgear’s ORBI mesh systems. They’re easy to deploy, reasonably reliable, and provide decent speeds. I like the RBK50 system which you can buy here: https://amzn.to/2UVDjzE

If that’s not in stock, then I’d recommend the Google Nest Wifi, if you’re ok with Google bundling a smart speaker in with the extender. https://amzn.to/3bEED0u It’s not a tri-band unit with a dedicated backhaul radio like the Orbi, but the performance is still decent. So if you’re ok with a Google potentially listening in on you, then that’s a good route to go,

These systems are designed for home use, and can be restrictive in a business environment. Contact us to discuss options for your office, which can offer far greater flexibility, security, and performance for dense offices and spaces where you need to share with tenants.