Corzine IT Consulting

The Common Story

Use it long enough and the hard drive will fail. There are just too many moving parts. They must eventually wear out. That is why backups are necessary. Also, power supplies fail fairly often. So, I do a lot of hardware service. Sometimes it is a matter of adding more memory to speed the system performance. Other times it is a matter of replacing components that are failing or too small.

Infected System

I get a lot of calls from people saying their system is infected. The symptoms of infection are wildly varying. But usually the client is right. And often it isn't just one pest. Over the years I've spent many hours working on these problems. This means a lot of time identifying and researching specific pests and repeated efforts to remove them. Usually, the most effective way is to use a good Anti-virus tool.See my page on this topic for my recommendations. Note that some of the tools that are sold on-line are malware and you don't want them!

Sometimes a tool will remove the infections, perhaps also requiring some manual steps. If not, I go to plan B. I check first with the client for permission, then I remove the disk drive, hook it to my computer and make an 100% copy of the disk. Then while my computer is scanning the copy and removing any infections if finds, I work on the client's machine. I reinstall the disk, then reinstall the operating system after a quick reformat of the disk. Then the long part is the downloading and installing all the updates to bring the software up to date. I then install the needed applications (sometimes the client does this). Finally, I transfer the necessary files to the rebuilt system (My Documents, etc.).

These efforts take a lot of time. It is much more cost effective for my client to have me do this in my office, so I don't have to charge for the time spent watching the computer do these lengthy steps. Still, it costs a lot and we always have to discuss whether it would be better to just buy a new machine. Often it is. Other things we discuss include replacing the old disk with a new disk drive that is larger. Sometimes the client doesn't have any files they really want to save and I can reduce the costs by skipping that step. Some clients will choose to install the applications and updates themselves to reduce my fees. That's fine. I say I'm a 'consultant' because my job is to help the client do what is best for him or her.

Probably half the time, I advise a client that the computer is so old that it would be better to spend a little more on a new computer. I can transfer files if they need help. This advice usually loses me business but builds a long term relationship (I hope).

Law Office

A small law office put me on a retainer basis. Because of the additional responsibility this entailed, I designed and implemented a suitable security system that provided nightly backups of all systems with a weekly off-site backup. The backup design included image backups of the most critical computers so that they could be recovered quickly if needed.

Traveling Businessman

This client had used a special server based file system that allowed him to work with local copies that would automatically update the server when he connected. The server was no longer available, and the local copies were unavailable. The computer disk was failing. I managed to recover the files by an image save and restore to a new disk drive.

Day-trader

Client is a professional day trader who needs to spread the desktop over 4 monitors in order to have all the necessary windows visible at the same time

Disability

A consultant to the financial services industry with severe health problems. He needed voice synthesizer, remote desktop, reliable backup, dependable 7x24 operation, Exchange/Outlook email, secure Virtual Private Network connection to his client company's network, and a super high-speed network with wireless access for his children and support staff.