Bay Area IT Management
Where technology experts at Endsight share their expertise on IT Management, the issues that arise for clients, and the benefits of technology for medical practices, biotech firms, law firms, financial services and other small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Sep 11th, 2009
by Jason Clause Filed under: General, Hardware, Software
Generally, we do not recommend that our clients spend their valuable time attempting to solve minor computer issues. Endsight maintains a fully staffed response center whose sole purpose is to solve these problems for our clients.
That said, I can appreciate those of us that like to tinker with things. Sometimes I just want to understand what the problem is and figure out how to fix it on my own. It’s a total time waster, but sometimes I just can’t help myself.
I found this article on the HP Small Business Website and decided to reprint it here. For more related articles, click here.
Small & Medium Business
As we all know, computers are not perfect devices, and they sometimes malfunction. And when they do, this can create frustration, wasted time, and unneeded expense – especially for those of us whose computers are as vital to our daily existence as oxygen. Luckily, many common computer issues can be resolved without professional help – and with excellent results and little or no hair-pulling involved. Here are a few of the problems you might encounter, and how to fix them.
The problem: my computer is running slowly
Over time, you might notice that your computer’s performance is lagging – programs take longer to load, and booting up seems to take forever.
The fix: there are lots of them, since there are lots of reasons your computer might have slowed down. First, run a spyware and anti-virus software program (if you haven’t got one installed, you should, and you can download one free from the Internet) to see if your system is infected. If it is, follow the removal instructions provided by the software. If that doesn’t work, try removing unnecessary programs that might be taking up storage space on your computer – things like games you haven’t played in months or that accounting software you only installed for the tax season and haven’t used again. Finally, if you use Windows®, try running the Windows defragmentation utility, which can help boost your PC’s performance.
The problem: my PC started normally, but there’s nothing on the screen
If this happens, you should first check that all the cables and wires are attached to your monitor and that they’re all securely plugged in. Another idea: make sure the screen brightness isn’t turned down – this can easily happen to monitors with exposed dials.
You should also listen out for the sounds your PC makes when it boots up: if it beeps once, that’s a normal startup. However, one long beep followed by shorter beeps can mean your graphics/video card has a problem and might need to be “reseated” – this means manually removing it from the computer and then returning it to its slot. To do this, first power off your computer and unplug it. Take the case panel off, and locate the card in your machine.Before touching the card, touch one hand to the metal of the PC to ground yourself. Then, remove the screw holding the card in place, and gently rock the card back and forth until it is released. Finally, reinsert the card gently but firmly until it is completely seated in the slot, then replace the screw and PC cover and plug the machine in again.
The problem: my computer crashes and displays a blue screen
Congratulations, you’ve just encountered the famous Windows stop error, or Blue Screen of Death, as it’s lovingly known in the IT community. If this happens to you, it’s likely that you’ve recently added a new program, device, driver or application that your machine just doesn’t like.
Sometimes, a simple reboot of the PC resolves the issue. But sometimes it doesn’t – you reboot, Windows loads, and the computer crashes again. System Restore is a tool in Windows XP and Vista® that takes snapshots of your computer’s configuration over time, so if your system crashes due to an installation or bad configuration, the tool can roll Windows back to the state it was in before it stopped working without affecting any of your data. Microsoft® provides detailed instructions on when and how to use System Restore.
Microsoft, Windows and Windows Vista are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.
Tags: computer issues, Endsight, hp, Microsoft, small-business
Aug 18th, 2009
by Jason Clause Filed under: Software
One reader is locked out of a brand-new copy of Microsoft Office. Will the folks in Redmond help him?
Microsoft wants its customers to believe that installing software is as simple as loading a disc into the CD drive and clicking okay. Sometimes it’s that easy, and sometimes it’s not. When it’s not that easy, what are customers supposed to do?
Here’s the Reader’s Digest version of the article. A remote user needs to upgrade from Office 2003 to Office 2007. His IT department ships him the Office 2007 disk and a licensing key. The user is instructed to put the disc into the CD drive, enter the licensing key, and cross his fingers. The installation doesn’t go the way that it’s supposed to, and he needs help. The end user calls Microsoft and gets the runaround.
Microsoft is in the business of developing software. They offer support, but that’s not one of the businesses that they make money on. Instead, Microsoft works through an immense network of partners to provide support.
EndSight for example, is a Microsoft Gold certified partner that specializes in, among other Microsoft titles, Microsoft Office 2007.
The EndSight team knows software like office 2007 inside and out and that experience allows the us to sidestep known issues in a deployment. But on the off chance that we get stumped, we know how to navigate the Microsoft support apparatus. As a result, our clients experienced smooth deployments that are frustration free.
At EndSight, we make it our responsibility to manage our clients licensing. This includes the requirements planning that determines the necessity of the new software in the first place, the purchase & life cycle management of a particular software title and the organizational deployment of that software.
There’s rarely such a thing as a flawless deployment. Computers are temperamental and there’s always going to be problems that creep up. To address that issue, Endsight builds ample time into the deployment plan to assure the resources are there to help users, the day after the deployment is completed.
“This kind of problem would never happen to one of our clients. We would take ownership and work it all the way through.” Says,
Will Lee, Endsight’s Response Center Team Lead.
Will joined Endsight in 2005 after graduating from the University of California San Luis Obispo. A Microsoft Certified System Engineer, Will is in charge of the day to day operation of the EndSight
Response Center.
Endsight’s Response Center is fully staffed from 7-7 Monday - Friday and supplemented by off hour pager support. This allows Endsight to provide their clients 24×7 reactive support. Each team member works out of the firms Berkeley office, has a four year college degree, and maintains various Microsoft Professional Certifications.
About Jason:Originally from the great state of Ohio Jason Clause relocated to the Bay Area to work in high-tech. A veteran of the dot com boom and bust, Jason has more than 10 years experience helping small businesses apply information technology to improve business process and increase revenue. Jason lives in Dublin, California with his wife Jennifer and enjoys hiking, cooking and quiet time at home. His hobbies include golf, snowboarding, creative writing and performing amateur stand up comedy.
Tags: Endsight, installing software, it management, Jason Clause, Microsoft, microsoft office 2007, microsoft support, microsoft titles, Office, outsourcing
Aug 3rd, 2009
by Jason Clause Filed under: Electronic Medical Records, Medical, Software
Health care and health care reform are in the news a lot these days. Much of the discussion is around changing the way we structure insurance and pay for the rising cost of health care. While it doesn’t seem like any of us can really agree on how we solve the issue. It seems like most of us agree on the problem. As a people, we have the knowledge and the technology to prolonging human life, treat disease and ease suffering. But as individuals, most of us are having a hard time figuring out how to pay for that care.
United Health group Inc., the parent company of Pacific health systems and one of the largest health technology companies in the United States recently published a claim that they believe the domestic health care system could save $332 billion over the next 10 years if it updates its information technology. The San Francisco business Journal published an article on the report and I’ve included a link to it a here:
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/06/29/daily59.html?ana=from_rss
According to the report,”Much of the $332 billion in savings would come from getting rid of paper records of all types at providers. For example, UnitedHealth estimates more than $108 billion would be saved in printing, postage and administrative costs by shifting payments and remittances to an electronic format.”
The health care system has been trying to migrate to an electronic format for health records for some time. In fact, I saw a video, that I believe is from the 60s that IBM used to demonstrate the value of an electronic medical record system.
I’ve included a link here if you’d like to take a look at it. I’ve always associated medicine with technology. X-ray machines and MRI machines are great examples of technology employed to help doctors care for their patients. But while the rest of the world keeps track of their information in database driven computer applications, the bulk of the doctors in the United States still keep their information on paper charts organized in folders that occupy huge file cabinets in the back of their offices.
It’s a system that’s worked for many years, but just like any other paper-based process it is highly inefficient and error prone. I believe that’s one of the key reasons why the federal government seeks to incentivize the move from paper charts and records to electronic health records. In fact, part of the economic stimulus plan provides up to $44,000 per doctor in incentive payments to encourage the mass adoption of electronic medical records over the next five years.
Electronic medical records provides a doctor a 360° view of his or her patient, including demographic information, patient history, medications and allergies. Doctors that implement EMR will be able to more efficiently document encounters with their patients and features such as e-prescription will allow doctors to electronically transmit prescriptions to a patients pharmacy. In addition to being convenient, this feature also reduces errors.
EndSight has partnered with a company called
gloStream to help doctors move from their paper charts to electronic medical records system. The product is called gloEMR and we believe it has a number of advantages over competing solutions.
It uses Microsoft Word as its form editor. This allows doctors to re-create their paper-based charts in a Microsoft Word file, maintaining the format and look and feel of the original paper-based document.
It’s embedded with voice recognition software, allowing doctors to dictate directly into the Microsoft Word formatted note. This feature saves time and eliminates the monthly cost for dictation services.
Glostream only sells their software through local dealers. Moving from paper charts to electronic medical records is a huge undertaking. Having a local partner help you through this process and maintain your systems moving forward is a much safer approach than simply buying software, trying to implement it yourself.
If your a local doctor and are interested in learning more about the stimulus program and electronic health records,
let us know by clicking here.
About Jason: Originally from the great state of Ohio Jason Clause relocated to the Bay Area to work in high-tech. A veteran of the dot com boom and bust, Jason has more than 10 years experience helping small businesses apply information technology to improve business process and increase revenue. Jason lives in Dublin, California with his wife Jennifer and enjoys hiking, cooking and quiet time at home. His hobbies include golf, snowboarding, creative writing and performing amateur stand up comedy.
Connect with Jason: Blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
Tags: electronic medical record, electronic medical record system, Endsight, gloStream, health technology, Jason Clause, medical record system, Microsoft, small businesses
Jul 1st, 2008
by Mike Chaput, President & CEO Filed under: Software
Yes, it’s true….XP is out and Vista is in. There has been so much negative publicity regarding Vista, and for good reason. In my humble opinion, the release of Vista was poorly managed and perhaps the worst job Microsoft has done in releasing a desktop OS in two decades. The single biggest problem is that Microsoft seemed to overlook how important that third party software vendors were prepared. Print drivers, VPN clients, and a mass of other software simply did not work when Vista was first released. While customers who moved to the new version of office may experience minor inconveniences such as not relearning how to do basic tasks such as ‘undo’ or ‘save as’ like when moving to a new version of office; moving to Vista broke major functionality such as printing and accessing network files remotely.
So then, where are we know? I think moving to Vista is inevitable for most businesses and home users…and I think the time is about right. Most of the major problems have been addressed. While there is always going to be the minor hassle of dealing with a new user interface, people are simply going to have to be dealt with that. Vista is here to stay and does have some fantastic new features that frequently get overlooked such as:
• Sophisticated graphics
• Better search and organization tools
• Improved security
• Easier access to information and applications
• New multimedia functions and tools
• Improved system tools for backups, updates, and more
Given the problems and resistance most people have had, we’ve all lost site of the Millions of dollars in R&D that have gone in to this protect to move technology forward.
My advice? The time has come. Suck it up and move forward.
Tags: Microsoft, Print Drivers, Vista, VPN Clients, XP
