Web Browsers

Hello again!

Ask anyone who uses the internet what browser they use and you'll get a multitude of answers, but the four most common ones are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari.

Why, may you ask, are there multiple browsers for the simple act of navigating the internet? The answer to that question is simply this: customization.

Lets start with Google Chrome. Google Chrome is a browser powered and created by Google. This browser claims to be fast, not just with loading pages, but also with the start up time. It's also a simply designed browser with a clean look with ultimate customization on the tabs and the search and navigation boxes. Chrome has upped the ante with a built-in malware and phishing (attempt to gain passwords, usernames and credit card information) protection. Beyond all these nifty features, there are plenty of extensions and themes that allow the user to modify the browser to his or her hearts content. Pretty cool, huh?

Next in line is Mozilla Firefox. This browser contains some the coolest features out there, including Private Browsing, a Password Manager, an Awesome Bar (defined as something that lets you "find the sites you love in seconds, without having to remember any chunky URLs"), Super Speed, Anti-Phishing and Anti-Malware, Session restore, One-Click Bookmarking, Easy Customization, Tabs and Personas. Mozilla offers the greatest variety of Add-ons, over 6,000 of little extras that you can choose to download to manage the browser your way. They also offer Personas, which are themes that allow you to change the look of your browser.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer is probably the most comfortable browser for internet users. The newest version, Internet Explorer 8, is a big departure from the old and stodgy style of previous versions. While Internet Explorer lacks the customization of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, it has been updated with search suggestions, tabs, visual suggestions and a smarter address bar.

Safari is a web browser made popular by in the increase in Apple users. This is the go-to browser for Apple lovers but is also available for Windows-based PCs. The design of Safari is very simple and streamlined, with a small border and a scroll bar only when necessary. It's a fast browser as well. Safari is one of the most well-used browsers for web-developers as well, due to the fact it incorporates a Standard look to all sites on the web. It also contains Private Browsing and stores text from every page you have visited in the past, making it easier to find the sites that you forgot about.

With all these differences, it can be hard to choose just one of these browsers to surf the web and that's OK. From simple to customizable, these browsers offer something different to each user.

Best Regards,
T-Tech Solutions

The Importance of Backing Up Your Data

Hello again readers!

There comes a time in every computer's life in which the hard drive kicks the bucket. It's a natural cycle of life for computers and happens a lot more frequent than we think. When that time comes, the fear of the loss of data is overwhelming, but with a few low cost and low tech tools, data can be saved.

The evolution of virtual data storage devices has been an interesting journey. From the first hard drive created in 1980 for micro computers to a 2 TB (terabyte) hard drive, the devices have been vast and quite interesting. There's quite a fun article about Computer Data Storage here.

When that day inevitably comes, you can take a few simple steps to protect your pictures, documents and music. The two best methods for backing up your data are burning the data to DVDs, which hold 4.7 GB worth of data. If you have a lot of data, you'll eventually have a lot DVDs. The other option is an external hard drive. Majority of these hard drives are powered by USB only and take a few minutes to load on your computer. Ranging now from 250 GB to 2 TB worth of storage, these are the most cost-effective and quickest forms of backup, ranging from $45 to $150.

The external hard drive acts just like a thumb drive. Simply plug it into the USB port on your computer. Once it's recognized by your computer, open up the drive. In another window on your computer, open up the folder that you want to backup. Simply drag and drop the data from the folder on your computer to the folder on the external hard drive. Transfer time may vary from computer to computer.

You can also set your computer do to an automatic backup to the external hard drive. This step takes a little bit more technological knowledge, but works extremely well. There are also backup programs available online that will protect your data and depending on your specifications, these may be a good fit for you and your family.

Remember, backing up is key! There are many options available to protect your data. If the inevitable hard drive failure happens before you can back up your data, we at T-Tech Solutions are here to help! We, for the most part, are able to retrieve "lost" data from hard drives, although the cost varies depending on how badly damaged the hard drive is.

We are always here to help, regardless of the issue that you are having with your computer. If you have questions about backing up your computer or any other issues you are having, feel free to call us at (248)616-9600 or email us at info@ttechsolutions.net.

Best Regards,
T-Tech Solutions

Prevention of Virus Infections and Spyware

Being that the internet is so commonplace, the increase of virus and spyware infections is expected. In this digital age, we often lack a sense of security because we have numerous amounts of security programs available at our fingertips. Just because these programs exist, they can't always guarantee 100% protection.

It is important to update your anti-virus and spyware on a regular basis to prevent infection from new viruses and bugs. There are an infinite number of viruses created everyday, and until we, as people, catch up with technology, exercising a little caution can go a long way.

If you are unsure of a link, don't click it. If you see an email from a friend in your inbox, be careful that is indeed from your friend and scan the attachment before you open it. When using your credit card for an online purchase, be sure the site is legitimate. Exercise caution when downloading new programs, as well. Many viruses can be attached to the most minuscule and seemingly unimportant file.

If your software is out-of-date or you don't have any installed on your computer, there are many excellent free programs. Malwarebytes is an excellent piece of software, along with Spybot-Search & Destroy for spyware. As far as anti-virus programs, we here at T-Tech Solutions strongly recommend Avira AntiVir Personal. Another excellent anti-virus program is Avast!.

There are many other programs available to protect your computer and data from online threats. Cnet is an excellent site that offers reviews and trial versions of many popular programs. With a little research, you can determine which program best fits the needs of you and your family and whether or not to purchase a program.

If you update your software on a regular basis, regularly run scans and are diligent when surfing the net, the chances of your computer becoming infected are greatly reduced. However, there is still the chance that a virus may sneak through cause some serious damage.

If that happens, know that at T-Tech Solutions, we strive to make sure your computer is healthy and working as it should. If you find that your computer is running a little slow or isn't acting as it normally is, a quick visit to our office can be a step in the right direction. We are able to remove stubborn viruses before serious damage occurs in a relatively short time, typically one to two hours, and can save all or most of the data on your computer.

Things happen. We know that. But if something happens that you can't fix, let us help you fix it and get your computer up and running, better than ever.

Best Regards,
T-Tech Solutions.

T-Tech Solutions announces strategic partnership with Core 3 Solutions

T-Tech Solutions LLC is proud to announce that we have formed a strategic partnership with Core 3 Solutions LLC, another local IT powerhouse. A perfect example of Michigan Small Businesses working and growing together.

This relationship allows Core3 to focus on its core business function in IT, which is providing Managed IT Services to small and mid-size organizations, while T-Tech takes on the role which they have become well known for in the area, IT Repair Services.

As Core 3 and T-Tech continue to grow and gain strength amidst a difficult economy, Paul Chambers (CEO of Core3 Solutions) and Tony Haddad (President of T-Tech Solutions) form an alliance that not only creates a win-win for the respective companies, but also for the clients.

"We are very excited to be able to work with Core 3 Solutions and offer our IT Services to their long-time and respected customers. It is our dedication at T-Tech Solutions to provide the customers with the red carpet and excellent service experience they have grown accustom to. We look forward to the opportunity to work with you and show you why T-Tech and Core 3 have been long time trusted partners" - Dr. Tony Haddad, President of T-Tech Solutions LLC

A Letter from the President of T-Tech Solutions LLC

Throughout 2009, we have been blessed to have supported and gained the trust of so many of our clients. Even in a difficult economic environment here in Michigan, we continued to remain steady and grow each and every month throughout this year. I want to take a moment and make sure that our customers understand that we appreciate you!

T-Tech Solutions was started in 2008 with a determination to providing a premier service to our clients and we continue to do so pushing into 2010. However, at no point in our growth this past year have we forgotten that our business is driven by our dedicated customers.

Wishing all of our friends, colleagues, and business partners a strong finish to 2009 and a prosperous New Year ahead. I hope that this New Year brings forth a brighter future for all and here at T-Tech Solutions, we will continue to provide the service and support that you have grown to appreciate.

Happy Holidays from our family here at T-Tech Solutions, to your family at home!

Tony Haddad, Ph.D.
President of T-Tech Solutions LLC

T-Tech Solutions presents T-Tech OnCall

With the demand that we put on our computers and laptops, it is often difficult to drop them off or being without them for a few days. For this reason, we have developed a new service offering called T-Tech OnCall.

T-Tech Solutions LLC now provides it's clients with the option to have our technicians connect remotely to machines and clean the annoying virus and spyware issues slowing down systems. In addition to many other remote solutions such as software training, wireless network configurations, software installations, server troubleshooting, and more.

If you are an on-the-go type of person and don't have the time to bring your machine in or have one of our technicians visit on-site, try out our T-Tech OnCall remote support solution.

Please check our T-Tech OnCall support section at http://www.ttechsolutions.net/remotesupport.html

Looking forward to supporting you.

Holiday Specials from T-Tech Solutions

With the economy how it is, end of year approaching, and upcoming holidays, T-Tech Solutions would like to help it's customers save some money on their technology needs.

For the month of November and December, here are some holiday specials from T-Tech Solutions LLC:

- Everyone receives Parter Rates for DC Power Jack Repairs ($70.00 flat fee)
- Discounted on spyware/virus cleanups ($70.00 flat-fee in-house, $80.00 flat-fee remote)

It's just a simple way of us saying thank you for your valued business.

New Online Store - Coming Soon

We are currently working on a re-design of our online store to include a wide selection of products and online payment options.

Looking to have this completed within September. Thank you for patience.

Even IT people have computer crashes!

The common misconception is that if you work within the IT world, that you don't have any IT problems... Not true at all. I was having a conference with clients this week and pulled out my laptop, which is only 2 months old, in order to present a proposal and presentation. Laptop booted up, hard drive crashed, system dead...

Now, this is where I practice what I preach to our clients. Have a data recovery plan in action at all times! When my hard drive died, it was an inconvenience at the meeting, but ultimately, I was not worried at all. Here is why:

T-Tech Solutions offers an online backup solution called SOS Online Backup. We have installed this solution at many of our clients and including at our own office. We backup our server as well as each individual laptop for our travelling consultants. The data is backed up off-site, secure, and encrypted. In addition to that, I create a "snapshot" image of my hard drive on a weekly/monthly basis, basically giving me an identical image of my entire system at that standpoint. I backup this image off-site to our SOS Online Backup Account.

So, in this scenario, I have a backup of all of my files, as well as an image of my entire system. Opened a new hard drive out of the bag, downloaded the image onto the new hard drive, and was back up and running in less than 30 minutes.

Imagine the disappointment that I would have experienced had I not had a backup routine set up for my system. Data is extremely important in our business, as it is in many of our clients. We take this matter very seriously and highly recommend that a data protection and disaster recovery plan is in order!

If you have not checked out our online backup system, I definetely recommend it. Visit our hosted solutions page to take a look at the prices. For $1.62/gb you really cannot go wrong. We have a 70GB account for our office which accomodates for our servers, workstations, desktops, and mobile units. Each unit backs up into its own section of the online backup server and is easily accessible in the event that data recovery is needed.

If you have any questions on how this works, or what plans should be put in place for your business, please don't hesitate to call us at 248.616.9600

Social Networking Class For August

Topic: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn - What's it all about?
Date: August 28, 2009 (Tentative date)


Tony Haddad will be teaching another course for the month of August, based on demand, for Social Networking. The date is tentatively scheduled for Wed, August 28, however, may change to be 2 days during that week based on class size.

The course is $35.00 per student and is for beginner to basic level users of these social networking sites. The course will discuss all three social networking platforms as well as what the advantages, statistics, and benefits of using these are for growing your personal career or business.

Please email or call to sign up.

Contact Information:

Tony Haddad
248.616.9600
Email: tony@ttechsolutions.net

Review of Lenovo Ideapad U330 Laptop

If you have taken a look at some of the new Lenovo laptops lately, they are starting to become more and more sleak and eye-catching. IBM typically in the past, as I have to agree, had the typical "boring" and "expensive" laptop. However, things have definetely changed.

Some of these new Lenovo laptops have finally started to look nice and come down to an affordable price. For example, the new line of Lenovo IdeaPad's are very nice.

I just picked up the Lenovo IdeaPad U330 for business after selling a few of them to clients and have to say that I am very impressed. The laptop is extremely light with a 13.3" Anti-Glare Backlit LED display and built in 1.3M pixel camera. Very slim-line laptop perfect for both business and personal usage.

The U300 series comes with numerous different spec options, however, this particular build includes a T4400 Dual Core CPU, 13.3" LCD, 3GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive, DVDRW, WebCAM, and wireless. Resolution of 1280x800 and 256mb graphics card. Not bad for a laptop within the $600-$750.00 range.

If you are interested in trying out a new Lenovo laptop today, or have some questions about which model might be more suitable for you, please don't hesitate to give us a call.

HP Photosmart "Ink System has failed" error

We have had numerous clients bring in HP Photosmart printers recently with a very common "Ink system has failed" error. HP does not have very good documentation on the user side for what causes this error, nor solutions to fix it. In fact, many of the solutions that have been proposed provide a simple possible solution and indicate if it does not resolve, that it requires service.

It appears that the printers begin to have this issue after about 12-14 months, conveniently after the 1 year warranty coverage timeframe, or when it has reached a certain page count. We have been able to succesfully clear this error on numerous printers that have been brought in. There is not one simple solution that works, the solution has required different fixes for different models, however, we are repairing the units for a flat 1/2 hour fee of $35.00

Please feel free to contact us @ 248.616.9600 with any questions or concerns.

Don't judge a book by its cover... Not true for Recruiters.

Of course, we have all heard the line "Don't judge a book by its cover."
The sad part about this statement is that it doesn't apply for the majority of recruiters and job hunters.

Your book cover is your resume and really is the judgement factor of whether or not you will be emailed or called upon by a recruiter. To be brutally honest, if your cover is no good, you are only hurting yourself.

Regardless of whether you have great experience, a wonderful education, and skillsets and real-life scenarios to back it up, it has to be presented properly in your resume for it to stand out. Most recruiting firms are working through tools such as Monster, Yahoo, Talent Bank, etc. The search engines built into these tools are searching out keywords, content, and skillsets. Just as a search engine finds your website.

Take some time to review your resume and clean it up. Put yourself in the position of the recruiter and change the scenario to a bookstore. Make your book stand-out on the shelf and intimidate someone to pick it up.

Here are a few simple tips to help out:

- Summarize yourself in an introduction paragraph for viewers. Like cliffsnotes for your resume. Short, sweet, and to the point.
- Only list relevant professional experience applicable to the career path you are choosing. If you don't have much professional experience to show, obviously, you are limited to what you have to put down.
- Keep your job description and specifics of what your role was neat and to the point. Don't ramble on and repeat yourself. Consider your resume an outline.
- If you have superior education and limited work experience, list your education first.
- While hobbies are useful for an assortment of positions, they are not generally an area that is critiqued when looking for a potential candidate.
- Talk yourself up, but don't be a bragger. Bragging on your resume is the equivalent of bragging to a group of friends. Nobody likes it.

There are numerous other resume tips and suggestions for helping make the cover of your book stand-out.

If you are interested in assistance in revising and re-writing your resume to stand-out, please don't hesitate to contact us at 248.616.9600.

Keeping your website fresh and up-to-date

This is a situation that we come across constantly. Most businesses do not feel that their website is worth investing any time and money into. Feeling that it is not a method by which they obtain business. However, most of these companies are spendings hundreds to thousands of dollars on advertising in magazine, newspaper, billboard, google, etc.

There is no question that the statistics speak for themselves in terms of the power of advertising on the net as opposed to advertising on paper. Your population is numberless and reach-out capacity is priceless.

Most people have become somewhat computer-savvy these days. When they want to find something or are looking for a service, they go right to the Internet. At that point, if you haven't gotten yourself listed on the search engine sites either through their own local advertising or through your websites content, you will be stepped all over by those who have.

Spend some time and work on either creating a website for your business, or refreshing and updating your current website.

- Update any information that is old and out-of-date.
- Keep the site lively and interesting to potential visitors
- Incorporate clean content that is readable and understandable.
- Perform updates or refresh to your website in a different area, DO NOT perform updates to your website LIVE so that it is down or "under construction" during re-work.


T-Tech Solutions would love to assist in any refresh, face-lift, or content revision to your website. Please feel free to contact us with any questions, concerns, or analysis of your current site.

Benefits of Social Networking Sites

Dr. Tony Haddad of T-Tech Solutions LLC has been booked for July to teach classes on the benefits of utilizing social network websites for business and personal growth.

The social networking sites that have been selected for discussion are LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

If your organization is interested in expanding the knowledge and awareness in this area, please give us a call @ 248.616.9600 to discuss an appropriate awareness course that may work for you.

How to Get a Job When No One's Hiring

I came across this article a week or so ago and found it interesting.
Definetely worth sharing:

How to Get a Job When No One's Hiring (click to view)

What's with all these viruses!

The days of being able to surf the internet without an active virus protection or spyware/adware/malware removal tool are over. In fact, according to Consumer Reports, computer viruses helped contribute to $8.5 billion in consumer losses in 2008!

Just as with the common cold these days, a virus or computer infection is inevitable. In fact, if you surf the internet on a regular basis, you are going to come in contact with something. So, take some precautions and get protected today.

Some commonly used and well known virus protection software are: Trend Micro, Norton Antivirus, Kaspersky, and McAfee Antivirus.

Some commonly used "freeshare" anti-virus software are: AVG, Nod32, and Avira.

Some commonly used and well known spyware, adware, and malware software are: Malwarebytes, Ad-Aware, Spy Sweeper, and Super Anti-Spyware.

Each software has its pro's and con's, but what is important is to evaluate the software and decide which one is best for you. All the softwares have free trials, with most of them at-least allowing 30-90 days. Some are even free.

For the entire month of April, T-Tech Solutions LLC in Troy, MI is offering a flat 1 hour fee for all cleanups. Whether you have a virus, spyware, adware, malware, or whatever the infection may be! We are here to help you save some money this month on cleanups for an affordable cost of only $70.00 Flat-Fee!

The normal virus removal rates for any IT firm typically run between 1 to 3 hours of labor, some charging even more.

Give us a call today if you have any concerns or questions we can assist you with.

Online Backup Solution. Safe, Secure, Worry-Free

More and more of our clients are going paperless these days and storing the majority of their files and important information digitally on their desktops or servers. This is a great way to streamline, remove clutter, and start going green.

However, what are you doing to make sure these important and critical files being store are safe and secure?
The majority of systems that are storing important data are being backed up one way or another. Whether that be through the usage of external hard drives, tape backups, or burning to external media, there are a few additional important questions to ask.

1.) How often are the backups being performed?
2.) Where are the backups being stored?
3.) Is the current method convenient? How often are we forgetting to backup?
4.) If our systems crashed today, would we be safe?
5.) If an unfortunate incident occured such as flood, fire, or theft, would we have our data?

The safe, secure, and worry-free solution to all of these problems is the usage of T-Tech Solution's online backup solution, powered by SOS Online Backup.

The backups are secure, off-site, government protected, government compliant, worry-free, and SAFE!

Let the backups run routinely without you having to worry and work to make it happen.
You will receive a full backup report via email at the conclusion of each online backup and be able to access your data online from any system. Of course, with your secure password.

Open an online backup account through T-Tech Solutions LLC and save 10% on your monthly cost of SOS Online Backup. Purchase an entire year and pay for only 10 months.

Read more details on a special section of our website, located at http://www.onlinebackupsolution.net

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us today.

Review of Toshiba Satellite Pro S300

So, anyone that knows me pretty well will be aware that I am a huge Lenovo fan. When it comes to laptops, desktops, and workstations, they just make a great product that is very reliable and cost-effective.

Many of our clients have learned the benefits of switching over to the Lenovo products as well and have always come back for more units.

I have to admit though, that I was always a Toshiba fan as well, but was not as thrilled with some of their latest units that were in the cost-effective range as I didn't feel they were coming equipped enough to drive the latest software on the market. So, I picked up a new Toshiba Satellite Pro S300 as a trial and definetely have some good reviews to provide on it.

The machine is extremely affordable between $480-$600.00 depending on the exact configuration you choose. I picked up the machine that was in the $500.00 range, Intel Dual Core 2.0, 15.4" LCD, 1GB RAM, 160GB Hard Drive, DVDRW, Wifi. The machine came with Windows Vista Home Edition which is a quick nono.. Downgraded the machine to Windows XP professional and upgraded the ram from 1GB to 4GB. First of all, there are not as many Dual Core laptops on the market that can take 4GB Ram, so I was already impressed at that fact, which was one of my reasons for picking the machine up. Additionally, for the internal video card being an Intel card, the memory is shared with the system allowing it to be pushed up to 1GB RAM for the internal video card. That in my mind, for a machine in this price range, is amazing!

Have put it to the test with all the usage and applications that I utilize and have been very impressed. I highly recommend this low-cost Toshiba to anyone looking to pick up a nice machine at a considerable price. Not to mention that it also comes with a 2 year standard warranty.

I would compare this machine to the Lenovo 3000 N500. Both are awesome machines and within the same price range ($480 - $600.00), again, based on the configurations you choose. I can't see anyone going wrong with either machine and would love to help you choose the next laptop that is right for you!

Give us a call if you have any questions or are in between which laptop to choose.
Don't always go for the machine that is more money, you can achieve great results and save money these days.

Website Content & Blog Writing

We are offering packages for the month of March for our clients that are looking to increase their website traffic by adding website and blog content.

Increasing content to your website aids in the ability for search engine crawlers to find your website through keywords and phrases utilized within your new web content.

After setting up an agreement for your website/business, you simply provide us with the topics that you would like to see content for on your website and we will take care of the rest.

Interested? Give us a call today and let us work out a deal for you.