Business IT Support

Many people have encountered the ‘Blue Screen of Death’ (BSOD) while operating their computers. This occurs when there is an error on your computer while running Windows, causing it to lock up and display a blue background with white text. The computer then needs to be rebooted. There are various reasons as to why this might happen, but chances are that the computer was simply not powerful enough to run the amount of programs it had opened at the time. If you are unfamiliar with computers, the only way to fix this is to call IT support.

 

One reason that the BSOD can appear is from using your computer for long periods of time. When it overheats, the BSOD acts as a prevention measure to avoid any damage to the CPU. A simple solution would be to take breaks from your computer every so often or to get a cooling fan to keep it from getting too hot. This simple prevention method can save you hundreds of dollars and many hours of time.

 

Sometimes, though, the problem can be more complicated. With older machines, the amount of RAM it has is less than the amount necessary to run newer applications. If this is the case, it won’t matter how much you prevent it from overheating, as the computer itself simply isn’t powerful enough to run the program you’re trying to use. This does not necessarily mean you need a new computer. Upgrading the RAM is not very expensive, and it will make your computer run much more smoothly. Another possible cause for the BSOD is a bad memory stick that needs to be replaced. Testin the memory is a good approach if possible. If that is not possible, replacing the memory could be a good first step. 

 

Before taking anything apart, make sure you check how much RAM your computer has first. This can be done by opening the control program in Windows and checking your system information. Also, check to see what the minimum requirements are for the program you were trying to use when the BSOD occurred. Chances are the amount of RAM you have installed is less than the minimum required. Again, if you’re not familiar with any of this, the best solution is to call IT support to avoid any further damage to your computer.

 

After you’ve taken care of the problem, be sure to keep your computer up to date with the necessary minimum requirements for any future versions of programs you attempt to use. The BSOD is not only limited to old computers. This doesn’t mean you will need to fully upgrade every month, but simply checking the technical specifications on a program before trying to install it can prevent the chances of you ever seeing the BSOD again.

Finally, if the memory troubleshooting did not prevent the event from reoccuring, a thorough review by IT consulting professionals who are proficient in computer troubleshooting of the minidump generated by the Blue Screen will help to pin-oint the cause of the failure.

 

A particularly knowledgeable employee may emerge and become known as the resident expert on computer related issues. This individual informally becomes the IT department, and life goes on for a time with few surprises.

 

However, this scenario is a very tenuous situation. Job obligations take priority and the accidental IT staff member may be unavailable to care for the needs of his fellow employees. The employee has vacation time and holidays when he is not available. His skill level and expertise may be minimal or lacking in certain areas. He may get the job done, but his lack of proficiency may result in time-consuming delays as he struggles to overcome a complicated situation.

 

Another issue can be the employee’s lack of enthusiasm for his newly acquired position. What started as an interesting change of pace from his normal duties may become drudgery and an interference with his customary role in the company. This can result in costly delays if the staff member procrastinates in addressing the situation. 

 

As his reputation grows, his IT skills are called into play more frequently, leaving his own work to suffer. This becomes a spiraling situation for the company and must be addressed at some point. Management, who may not be technically knowledgeable, must determine how to handle this ongoing situation in the most advantageous manner. 

 

Computer network support may not be considered in the cost of doing business for a small business. What started as an occasional incident multiplies as the business grows and becomes more technologically advanced. For this small business, outsourcing is a cost effective method of addressing this growing concern.

 

In-house training and supervision is an ongoing proposition and requires significant investment. As a result of turnover, new staff members require training and all IT staff must continually update their skills and knowledge base to remain current in the field. Many businesses do not have the kind of resources necessary to effectively manage and fund this new department.

 

Finding and maintaining competent staff is also a challenge for a small IT department. An IT technician may begin his career with a small business as a stepping-stone to corporate positions. The turnover can be quite high for a small enterprise and a result in a frequent need for replacements. This training is a continual financial drain and is another reason that justifies outsourcing. 

 

Finding qualified IT staff is a challenge for small business. Newly minted recruits may have a lack of hands-on experience. Seasoned professionals require high wages and incentive packages to lure them. Older candidates have limited years they are willing to devote before retiring. Once again, outsourcing the support staff eliminates this ongoing problem, which is a constant flow of staffing recruitment and training.

 

It makes good business sense for a small business to put its network support need in the hands of a reputable IT support firm. The associated costs of in-house staffing far exceed the cost of outsourcing. With an IT support firm there is knowledgeable, up-to-date reliability that is not an ongoing drain on resources and eliminates management problems that arise from continual turnover. 

 

WMware Reformulates the Data Storage Decision
It appears that IT Consulting providers everywhere will be rethinking their approach to data storage designs with the addition of a slew of new features in the vSphere 5. Now it is possible to share storage seamlessly across different servers as if it was a single drive. This means that the traditional Storage Array will be meeting the end of it’s life cycle to be replaced by a Private Cloud Concept enabling users to pool their data in virtual, easily transferable, and reliably replicated drives. This has significant bearing for IT support providers for small business because now they have a capability to deliver to their clients capacity and capability to run large applications at much lower costs of data storage and distribution.

Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (SDRS) is a feature that aggregates storage among different and distributed data volumes into a single pool. SDRS provides load balancing for data storage and traffic to ensure optimum space allocation and I/O bottleneck avoidance.  Further features include Policy Based Management, Profile Driver Storage through a user defined policy, and auto deploy. This level of data pooling combined with customization of policy and control allow a new level of scalability for a fraction of the cost of comparable configurations prior to vSphere 5.  

Just to understand the  the capability of this product we can look at it’s maximum technical envelop, with includes the ability to generate up to:

• 32 Virtual CPUs

• 1 TB of Memory

• 1 Million I/O Operations Per Second in Network Throughput

This ability to support large applications through robust processing power allows for:

• Simplification of IT Infrastructure

• Reduced Costs of Equipment

• Reduced Costs of IT Consulting

• Capacity to Process More Data Faster

• Increased Flexibility of Data Storage

• Increased Redundancy and Backup of Data

• Reduced Cost of Data Storage and Backup

• Increase in Functional Use of Application Data

vSphere 5 features such as VAAI, VASA, SDRS, Storage vMotion enable it to be a comprehensive Cloud solution that includes not just the server environment, but the reason for the server’s existence, its data. Computer network support professionals are at the forefront of the deployment and maintenance of virtualization products and need to keep pace with the rapid expansion in data storage and redundancy that vSphere has created.

The New Trend
Now that this creation has been released, we foresee an acceleration of transition to virtual storage methodology, starting with large enterprises. vSphere 5’s data storage features are designed primarily for the large enterprise / data center environments. This technology will not stop there and will fairly quickly make its way toward the lower segments of IT services, into small business. It would be wise for the CIOs to direct their IT support for small business providers to analyze their data storage processes and prepare for the future.  

Complete Services
VMware offers multiple complementary services that allow  IT Consulting providers  to deliver complete and comprehensive virtualization solutions that include not only cloud computing itself, but also data storage control, redundancy control, and security control. vShield App with data security, for example, brings protection from network based attacks for sensitive data. This control for IT support for small business providers control and flexibility that their customer will demand more and more now that the potential is there.