SysQuick Computers and Support | Baltimore Computer Repair | 443-231-5627

We just received a confirmation that we will be installing a WiFi system st a local hotel in the Baltimore/Rosedale area on Pulaski Hwy.

We put the bid in a few months ago and have not heard from them for a little while and just got the call today to do the installation.

SysQuick will be installing a router and multiple access points throughout the motel in order to expand the signal to all of the rooms at the motel.

Tentatively we will be doing the install Thursday of next week and we will try to post some photos from the install.

Have a great day!

—> Bill

Family Communications Plan: Write down critical cell and landline numbers in case your phone dies; know where you will meet if cell towers and landline phones go out; designate an out-of-area relative everyone should contact if they can’t reach each other.

Cell phones:Text messages use less battery and get through when calls can’t; external batteries are available to keep your cell phone powered when the internal battery dies; pack your car charger and home charger if you evacuate; extend your battery by turning off wi-fi and other services you aren’t using.

Computers: Back up critical data onto external hard drives, thumb drives, or online services; if you have to evacuate take critical equipment with you or seal it in garbage bags to protect against water damage.

Water: Buy water or fill pots and pitchers with drinking water – 1 gallon per day per person; water systems may be contaminated and unsafe for drinking.

Food: Keep non-perishable food you don’t have to cook.

Cash: Credit cards won’t work if power and communications go down. Withdraw $ 200 – $ 300 so you can make purchases.

Automobile: Fill your gas tank; gas pumps won’t work if power fails.

Evacuation: Have a backpack or overnight bag with clothes, medications, sweatshirt and sweatpants; extra glasses, personal hygiene supplies; energy bars; emergency blankets; follow instructions to shut off water, gas, and electricity before you leave.

Hand-crank weather radio: These can also charge cell phones through a USB cable. Purchase one at Lowes, Home Depot, Sam’s, Costco, or Wal-mart. Make sure the radio has SAME alerting so you will only receive alerts for your local area.

Batteries: For flashlights, lanterns, radios.

LED lanterns: No need for fuel or mantles; safer than candles; some lanterns come with removable LED flashlights.

Common Sense: Evacuate if your local government issues an order; don’t drive through flooded streets; stay away from downed wires.

Don’t panic: Keep your cool for your own safety and your family’s safety.

See the entire posting at: http://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/231600232/irenes-coming-are-you-ready-to-help-your-company-and-your-customers.htm;jsessionid=a1WWgSOFnGk4KEVsivx2jw**.ecappj03?cid=nl_alert

Are you prepared for Hurricane Irene Baltimore?

Remember Katrina!

So, for all of you computer users out there make sure you have your surge protectors plugged in if you plan on keeping your equipment plugged in during the storm. If you have time to run out and get a battery backup then that’s even better!

Unplug all equipment in your home that’s not plugged into a surge protector… you never know what will hit us in this type of storm!

If you are FAR from the city and are in the boonies…. make sure you have gas for your generators, plenty of water and hold on to the farm animals

Don’t plan on having Internet access if the storm gets too bad…

After the storm…..

If you have lost data, pc not responding or have weird system errors give us a call and we can definitely help.

I hope you read the above recommendations about sure protection……

Today was another looooong CCTV day.

We have a chain of stores we take care of and are supporting their CCTV systems and some computer work. Both are in Baltimore City and are a few miles from eachother so it made it easy to travel between the two.

First one we just needed to add another security camera to the owners office and get it positioned properly… their monitor they used to monitor the system went bad (was very OLD and was used with their previous CCTV system before we removed it and put in a new one). We put in a nice 32″ lcd tv and all is up and running 100% now.

At the second we added 2 outdoor security cameras (box cameras). The kid to see in a big box on the side of a bank or office building…. it kinda looks like a shoebox with a window on the end.

After configuration, we setup remote viewing (so the ownder can see the cameras from home and on his iPhone.

Back to the office….. we had a few computers were were removing viruses from, ordered a motherboard for a laptop and have to troubleshoot a computer that keeps rebooting. We will start the diagnostics friday morning.

Another tiring day but this is what we do and anjoy help you, our amazing readers and customers!

We will have some great pictures tomorrow from an internet cafe we are working at… grand opening coming soon!!!! You gotta visit them and we will post more info tomorrow.

See you at SysQuick!

—> Bill

Today we started again at around 9AM in Baltimore city running our sweep to prepare for a new support contract. This day was slower than yesterday and I will tell you why…

We had to finish up 3 computers in one department yesterday running updates, defragmenting and removing infections. That took about 2 hrs as we wre workin on 3 computers at once and completing all of these tasks does take some time.

After completion we moved onto another department to start on 6 more computers. This was very tiring and took a lot longer than we expected.

The first computer was almost 10 years old and will need replaced. It was a custom build Pentium 4 1.8 ghz with 512 RAM…. nowadays this is just barely usable to get online and type a document, expecially in an office environment. The machine had a few infections and was also connected to an old CRT monitor (the old tube type monitor). We tried running updates and on the Microsoft update site is said it would take 32 hrs to complete at their current connection speed. We made a printout of the message and gave it to the office manager and decided we just need a replacement…. the user was very happy

The second computer was newer but ended up with 15 infections, was running slow and took almost an hour to scan the computer for viruses… defragmenting took another hour and updates…. forget it, we just set them on a schedule and they should run next week.

The 3rd and fourth machines were quad core computers with 3 GB memory… and they took forever also (because of the Internet connection speed and they were infected). One of them had over 200 infections, ran slow and did not want to let us update. We finally got it to run but it took over an hour. The second was a pain as well and the pc got an error and our scans stopped and we had to restart. Eventually we finished and the frustration levels were getting higher… but we kept our cool!

The last 2 were a Pentium D and another quad core. The Pentium D was passed from user to user over the past 3-4 years and all the baggage it came with. We got it back up and running properly and will install a virtual machine program and run Linux Ubuntu on it (in Windows) so we keep them from getting infections again. The quad core belonged to the receptionist and was pretty clean… but the Internet connection is very bogged down so it took some time running updates.

We have a few more computers to go until we are finished and will continue on Tuesday of next week. Tomorrow we have a few laptops with infections (in the shop) to finish up, order some replacement motherboards for other laptops, go out on 3 appts for cctv and prepare for friday.

We installed a cctv system at an internet cafe and will post all about the place on friday. They will have a grand opening and all are welcome. We will have pictures, maybe some video and info about the internet cafe and what they offer and where they are located.

I am a bit tired and will goto sleep soon. I took my kids and a friend to an Orioles game tonight and it is later and I am tired…. they actually won the game also! The kids loved it!

Ok…. need to go now so have a great night.

—> Bill

Today we had quite the job with a new support contract…..

We have 2 servers and 23 computers we need to optimize and prepare for a new maintenance contract we just signed. They have 2 servers running server 2003 and 23 computers running xp pro and windows 7 pro. The previous company that took care of their equipment really dropped the ball and it will probably take us 4 days to clean up the mess.

ALL 23 of the pc’s will need the following:

• Hardware Diagnostics – to make sure hardware is ok before we perform any service on them
• Infection/Virus scan and removal
• System Updates for Windows
• Internet Explorer and other browser cleaning (cookies and cache)
• Disc Defragmentation
• Pagefile Reconfiguration
• Msconfig changes – change items that startup when the pc boots up
• Flash, Java, Adobe and other updates
• Removal of any Mcafee tools, Norton tools, fake AV programs, optimization tools and whatever we find that do not need to be on the computers (toolbars, music players, personal files, etc…)
• Antivirus change – from old version of Symantec Antivirus to the newest version

Today we had a job to install some PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom – like those big dome cameras you see on large office buildings) CCTV cameras in Fork, MD. The customer already ran the cables an we just had to hook them up. The cameras he got were pretty nice and they were also pretty big. We got the cameras setup on the back and front of the house (had to mount the cameras, connect the controller wires, video cable and power). The next step was to get the on the customers network so we could see them on the computers in his house… this is where we ran into some issues.

He has some older equipment installed and after a while we figured out that the best option would be to just replace the router and old Verizon modem. We will do this later this week or next week and continue with the network install.

The PTZ on the cameras work great from the DVR and from the computers. We will have some work to do at the customers office in Baltimore after this job is completed and will update you on job progress over the next few days.

Tomorrow we start our PC sweep at a customers to prepare for monthly maintenance… hopefully it goes smoothly and we can get it done in 2 days.

Just got some great Dell desktops in with XP pro so if you need some computers, give us a call. Also, we got some new laptops and netbooks in with Windows 7… check our sales page for more details: http://sysquick.com/index.php/baltimore-computer-sales-new-used-refurbished/

Have a great night!

—> Bill

SysQuick was involved last year with Extreme Makeover Home Edition and they are having a one year anniversary.

Sunday, September 26th, 2010, was a night that no friend of Boys Hope Girls Hope will ever forget.

On Sunday, September 26th, ABC Television’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s Season Premiere featured Boys Hope Girls Hope Baltimore, as Ty Pennington and his crew built a home for the girls of our Baltimore Affiliate.

See our logo and link here: http://excelhomes.com/baltimoreextreme/index.php/get-involved/current-sponsors

We supported the project manager with IT Services, computer equipment and some system troubleshooting. It was great working with them and we are very happy to have helped Boys Hope Girls Hope in this project.

Link to thanks: http://extrememakeover.boyshopegirlshope.org/