“70% of businesses that suffer a major data loss are out of business within 18 months” – DTI Data recovery and security need to become priorities but there are still significant risks that are largely being ignored. Writing for Forbes, Kevin West, chief executive officer of Klogix, suggested that data loss is reaching levels so high and costing companies so much that it could start to impact the economy. While he cites the US as an example, the importance of intellectual property >>READ MORE>>

The new G-Drive and G-Raid storage products from Hitachi bring data center-scale storage to mobile and small-business users. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announced that it has added two new hard drives to its G-Technology series of storage devices. The new drives come in 1TB and 4TB sizes and are incorporated into the G-Technology G-Drive and G-Raid solutions. The new drives bring impressive amounts of storage space to what are considered mobile or small-business storage devices. The >>READ MORE>>

Nik here with the Call That Girl blog! Today I will be discussing something pretty simple, but something I find more and more people seem to have little idea about; hardware.  More specifically what you can do if you are having problems simply getting the computer to start up, or if when you pressed the power button you could hear fans and see lights, or hear beeps, but the PC itself would not get activity on the screen,  or get to the “Windows” splash screen. Keep in mind this will not >>READ MORE>>

Our lifeline to the digital world refuses to show any signs of life.  What does one do?  Fear not, for all hope is not lost! Computers may refuse to power on for several reasons, including past overheating, a failing power supply or another hardware problem.  Sometimes the problem can be resolved easily by attempting a [...] >>READ MORE>>

Many of our clients use Outlook and most of the tips below are things I review with the clients when they call in with problems. Not every tip pertains to everyone, but overall these are great tips for Outlook users. TIP: Outlook by default opens a PST File (Personal Storage) in a hidden file on your computer. That is where most of your email and folders probably are.  Not everyone knows this and it’s very important that you back up that PST file often. If your computer crashes, the >>READ MORE>>

Often times our customers ask us where they can recycle their computers in the Arlington, Virginia area. The answer may not be immediately obvious when searching the web.  Fortunately there are several local organizations that offer computer donation and recycling services, depending on the condition of your computer. Important: Please be sure to securely wipe [...] >>READ MORE>>

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Ah, finally…it’s time for the Doctor to tell her patients what they are doing wrong with their computers. One thing I will tell you for sure not to do is, floss at night! But there are many things we find our clients doing that are just flat out bad, wrong and ugly. Your computer will thank you if you listen to this advice. 1.)  Never restarting. Many of you keep your computers on all day and night. Give it a restart on occasion! It’s good for the computer to refresh >>READ MORE>>

Many of our clients at Call That Girl call in with problems and sometimes they tell us that their computer doesn’t come out of sleep or hibernate very well. I have learned from the old XP days that not all computers are comfy in sleep mode. The computers may be sluggish and don’t want to spring back to life so fast, or they are just aging overall. When Vista came out, I called it the “Vista Coma”, and alerted all of those clients to just not use sleep mode as it >>READ MORE>>

Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is free, powerful and stable anti-virus software that works on PCs running Windows XP through Windows 7.  It’s even going to be integral to Windows 8 as a built-in security solution.  I’ve been recommending MSE to clients for their home and small business PCs as a robust alternative to the expensive [...] >>READ MORE>>