Welcome

Welcome

Finding the Right Solution for the Right PRICE

I am a local expert who provides IT services for small business owners and end users.

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IT Support You Can Understand

IT Support You Can Understand

Finding Solutions That Make SENSE

My solutions always consider your comfort level with technology to ensure I don't provide an overly complex solution that not supportable.

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Business Make Easy

Business Make Easy

IT That Makes Your Business or Life EASIER

I understand that the most technical solution may not be the best solution for you.

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Service

My Services

How I Can Help YOU!

01

Customer Services

My goal is to take the “stress” out of your IT experience(s) by providing “Gold Standard” customer service and support. This requires effective communication to ensure you have the skills/tools necessary to understand and use the technology deployed.

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02

Cyber Security

Most issues have a root cause involving security. I will evaluate your current situation, recommend solutions, and ensure YOU understand what is necessary to maintain a secure environment.

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03

Cloud an Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The advances and advantages in these areas swiftly outpace the average end user's understanding. I will help you understand, effectively deploy/use these technologies, and provide support/training on usage.

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04

IT Management

Managing your IT environment is a contant moving target in skills, software, and hardware. My expertise and support will ensure you have the "right balance" of IT to keep current with technology but not needlessly update just for the sake of change.

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My Support

Please call, text, or email me!

(657) 210-0619

[email protected]

Technical Support Information

My Blog

This blog will include posts on some of the most frequent or impactful issues my clients are dealing with....as well as solutions.

Programmable and Universal Remotes

Almost every device seams to have a remote controller. Unfortunately, almost all of us have experienced expensive remote replacement costs or complete remote meltdown (i.e., don’t know which one to use for a specific task). A programmable remote or a universal remote may be the best solution.

If you have kids or a pet, I HIGHLY recommend you get a cheap universal remote for day-to-day control of your TV, audio, etc… systems. Typically, for functions like power on/off, volume up/down, change channel, etc… a universal remove works just fine. Only when you want to use brand/device specific feature or a more complicated task, the brand specific remote would be necessary. Some options are:

Programmable remotes typically are not cheap but can greatly reduce the complexity of a task. They can be programmed to perform a series of tasks across multiple remotes/devices in a specific order. For example, a single button could be setup to Power on TV, Audio, System, and Blu-ray player; set TV source to HDMI 1, set volume control to Audio device, and eject/open blue ray player. At this point, with a single button, you are ready to drop in your Blu-ray disc and hit play. Before, you would have had to use 3–4 remotes in a specific sequence to accomplish this task. Some options are:

Most users will need some technical help with setting up programmable remotes. Give me a call if you have any questions or need assistance.

PDF — What Is It and How or Why I Should Be Using It

The PDF file type stands for portable document format. The most important consideration of .pdf files is the fact that it is the international standard (ISO 32000) for electronic document and archiving file format. This means that years from now as applications change, data saved as a .pdf will still be readable by new applications, among other considerations. The .pdf file format can handle images, links, text features, and is a relatively small file size.

Some usage best practices.

  • If you are saving data from a proprietary application (i.e., tax return program) and done making edits, make sure you store the data as a .pdf. The proprietary program may no longer be available in the future or due to changes be unable to open old files without issues.
  • Email — most people don’t think about email applications as proprietary, but they are, and they are very poor at data management, archive, or searchable results. Programs like Adobe have the ability to archive multiple emails as a batch job into a single .pdf file that keeps the emails as individual items and makes them searchable. Most email programs have a save as .pdf option. Assuming you already have a folder structure for a client/subject, this allows you to save those critical CYA emails as files in an easily findable location.
  • The Adobe Acrobat programs, Microsoft Office, and many others automatically install a virtual .pdf printer. This allows you to convert any data from a program with a print function to .pdf file format, with the layout and physical formatting automatically matching the original program print command.

Programs for creating and editing .pdf files.

  • Microsoft and Apple Office Programs both have the ability to convert files to .pdf file types.
  • Adobe is the gold standard for a PDF program. The Reader version is free and should be installed on all computers, smartphones, tablets, etc…. If you need some of the more advanced or editable features like encryption, install Adobe Standard or Adobe Pro.
    • Adobe .pdf Binder vs. Adobe .pdf Portfolio — both are great options for archival of multiple files into Adobe searchable .pdf structure, but have different features.
    • Video showing/explaining a portfolio/binder differences. Portfolio maintains native file association vs. a binder which converts everything to .pdf. (Link: https://youtu.be/nBsdNd3_uiE)
  • At a cost savings, multiple off brand options are available but make sure you review the features carefully. Typically, they are less costly because they might only work with an internet connection (i.e., cloud based), features are missing, not as easy to use, or owned/operated by a foreign entity, etc…. Depending on your business, these considerations may or may not be acceptable. Here are a few options:

As a best practice, I like to work my emails in subject related folders within the email structure. Upon completion of the project or during an annual archive, I will export the emails from an email folder to a .pdf binder or a portfolio (which allows me to keep all the attachments intact). That file is then saved with all the other non-email files/folder structure of the closed project. This keeps my email clean and manageable in size, retains email data in a file format that supports archive and search features, and allows typical backup file practices to capture former email content without needing any special actions/steps.

Home Solar/Battery — What Are The Pros/Cons

With the constant increase in energy usage as well as the increasing cost of electricity, homeowners today may find it financially viable to consider adding solar power and a home battery to their residence. Most solar systems will last about 20+ years with little to no additional costs other than installation. A secondary benefit if you include a home battery is your energy independence from the grid. No longer are you impacted during rolling brownouts in the summer months, potentially out of power during a storm, or down when your utility company performs maintenance.

1st — What is your current roof age and associated life expediency? Do not install solar panels with a 20+ year life on a roof with significantly less life remaining. You cannot replace a roof without removing the panels. Depending on your panel age and construction techniques used for attachment, it may not be viable to reinstall the panels.

2nd — What are your climate characteristics (i.e., amount of sun exposure), roof orientation, and size? West and south facing roofs have the greatest amount of sun exposure, and California in general is a very good climate for solar power. New panel technology is much more effective at capturing energy from indirect sunlight or cloudy days but still not as efficient as panels with optimal orientation and climate.

3rd — What are your plans for this residence? Solar panels typically increase the value of a home but not as much as they cost, therefore you need to ensure you will own this home long enough to see a return on your investment. Another consideration is lease (some are transferrable and some are not) vs. buy (some loans are transferrable and some are not). When you are selling your home if a lease (that is not transferrable) or loan (that is not transferrable) is involved, you will be required to pay off the panel system at the time of sale. If it is a lease or loan is transferrable, the new homeowners may not want or be able to assume the lease/loan. Lease systems typically have requirements about utility providers and energy rates. Make sure you are aware of all the lease or loan requirements so you are not surprised.

4th — What is your lifestyle currently and in the future? Do you own an electric vehicle? Do you plan to own one during the time the panels will be active? What is your current home energy usage? Do you have a pool (i.e., pump running 24/7)? How many heavy energy products are you using? How often do you experience power interruptions that are negatively impacting your life (i.e., loss of cooling during heat wave events, interruption to home business, inability to perform tasks as home due to power loss, etc….)?

5th — Cost? Once you know your current and future planned energy usage, you need to evaluate how much energy should the panel system generate vs. how much it costs to install it. Remember, unless you install a home battery, you will NEVER use the power directly. All panel generated power must first be transferred to your utility company (and they charge a transport fee per kWh). If you have a home battery, most systems are set up to use the panel power from the battery first and only supplement from your utility company if there is a shortfall. With a panel only system, you will be “dead” anytime your utility electricity is out. Considering these facts, most homeowners will need to install at least a home battery that will cover their needs for 24–48 hours in order to maximize their benefits.

6th — Panel system manufacturers going out of business. Most manufacturers will not work or provide parts for any system other than their own. If they go out of business, any warranties will be void and the system may not be repairable.

7th — HOA and local covenant requirements. While California is very pro solar, your HOA or other local requirements may prohibit some systems, especially if they will not be considered aesthetically pleasing.

I recommend you research and get quotes from more than one company. Each will have various pros/cons but make sure you also review their current public financial information. In California due to issues with Sunpower (https://www.cnet.com/home/energy-and-utilities/sunpower-a-major-solar-installer-went-bankrupt-what-now/) many homeowners are experiencing some real horror stories that can significantly impact their ability to sell their property or make repairs to the panel system. Cnet (https://www.cnet.com/home/energy-and-utilities/california-solar-panels/) has done some very good research about current providers by zip code.

If you are replacing the roof at the same time, make sure you review the new roofing options that incorporate solar. GAF makes a solar shingle (https://www.gaf.energy/timberline-solar/) product that will resolve most concerns about aesthetics as well as it is installable by regular roofers (i.e., it doesn’t have to be a solar installer specialist). Tesla’s solar roof (https://www.tesla.com/support/energy/solar-roof/learn/why-solar-roof) is pricey but comes in a tile format that is very low visibility. Both systems are very durable with excellent ratings.

Company Training — Is Yours Up-To-Date?

Typically, most small business owners have very little accurate/up-to-date company training documentation. Even more importantly with millennials, the training is typically a list of steps and not screenshots or short video formatted. Unfortunately, this becomes apparent when attempting to onboard a new team member. It is not unusual to see new employees updating training as they are attempting to onboard and function in their new job/role. This sets everyone up for failure.

Even as an employee, if the company doesn’t have up-to-date or complete training documentation on your job/role/responsibilities, do it yourself. This information is invaluable when preparing for your performance review, updating your resume, or requesting help/additional staff.

Historically, training is a list of steps that may or may not include how to information. Today, younger employees find this lacking. They are expecting screenshots or short video detailing/showing the steps outlined in the training. Before using various smart or recording tools, make sure you are not violating any company policies. Quite often 3rd party tools will keep a copy of the data/screenshots involved in any training you create using their services. This could be a violation of your company’s policies and result in company or client data loss.

Some Currently Available Smart Tools:

Obviously good training content can be created using typical resources like Microsoft Office, Apple Office programs, etc… but remember it should be more involved than a list of steps. The content must be up-to-date, accurate, at a minimum include screenshots, probably include short video examples, and include url/program specific information. Don’t make the user have to look up content elsewhere just to complete a step or understand an instruction.

Give me a call if you need some help updating your company training content. Don’t forget to regularly have employees review their current job/roles/duties in relation to training and documentation content to ensure it is current and reflective of their duties. Waiting until someone turns in a notice, retirement, or medical emergency is not a recipe for success.

How Or What Equipment To Install Audio In Your Home — Without Needing To Open Walls For Wiring!

Home audio installations or upgrades can enhance your home with minimal disruption to your life by not using a “wired” system.

The first consideration is your home network. If you are going to install multiple speakers and/or sound/video playing devices, you will need a robust and stable Wi-Fi network in your home. For most homes, this will be a mesh router. The default gateway (router & wireless router combined) provided by your internet provider will just not be enough bandwidth to cover the typical household as well as audio upgrades.

Here are some typical mesh router options:

After ensuring you have enough Wi-Fi coverage to handle the extra load, the next question to answer is, “What features am I looking for?”.

Some Examples:

  • Do I want multiple rooms to synchronize and therefore play the same stuff from a single source?
  • Do I want outdoor/backyard coverage?
  • How many channels do I want in a single “zone”?
  • Speakers come in different types (Ex., tweeters, base, soundbars, midrange, etc….). What mix of speakers do you want?
  • Do already have some equipment and therefore want your new stuff to be compatible so you can mix and match equipment?

It is always easier to work with a single system/brand, especially if you are trying to synchronize a single source through multiple rooms or locations in your home. A typical example of this is kitchen only when you are home by yourself but when guests are over you want the same sound source to project from speakers in all the common areas (Ex:, kitchen, living room, dining room, outdoor space, etc….). Sonos immersive theater set (Link: https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/premium-immersive-set-arc-ultra-sub-era-100-pair-black) combined with their outdoor set (Link: https://www.sonos.com/en-us/shop/indoor-outdoor-set-era-100-move-2-black) give you a good living room and outdoor space option. You can add additional speakers to cover larger areas or more rooms. The Sonos app allows you to group speakers into specific zones, so you can create multiple or single environments of sound.

Channels are what audio people talk about when describing how many unique output speakers a single source uses. For example, a 5.2 channel system could have 2 tower speakers, 2 base speakers, 2 bookshelf speakers, and 1 center speaker (Example: https://www.polkaudio.com/en-us/product/all-brands/signature-elite-platinum-home-theater-system/BN1024.html#specifications). You need to understand how many channels you need to achieve your performance requirements. This is where talking to a specialist is really important. You should walk through what you want to do (i.e., play one source in kitchen space, play same source in kitchen, outdoor, and living room space, play a source in the media room in the basement but never synchronize or share it with the speakers upstairs, etc….) and a specialist can design a system to make that happen.

Now that you have your requirements, you can pick a brand/price point of components that meet your needs and include wireless connectivity options.

Some equipment options are:

The key is to understand is that wireless systems only require an electrical outlet and Wi-Fi coverage. If you have a wired system, you will need to connect the speakers to your amp or music source with a built-in amp via monster cable or some other audio wire. In an existing home, this either requires exposed wires or opening up walls to install wires behind drywall/plaster. Wireless speakers use your Wi-Fi network to transmit the audio data, therefore they only require an electrical outlet or battery source. Typically, the wireless speakers must all be the same brand to function with a branded source and be controlled by a single app from your phone.

Why/If You Should Update/Migrate to Windows 11!

So the first question is do you have IT support provided by your company. If so, they should already have a migration plan in place. If not, then the short answer is yes, but you do need to keep some considerations in mind.

  • Is my equipment ready? If you are getting a notice from Microsoft to upgrade, then your equipment should be ready. If not, this would be a good time to consider if you need to replace existing equipment because it will not support the upcoming Windows OS. Here is the Microsoft list of minimum requirements (Link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11-specifications). Obviously, almost any IT person would tell you never run a Windows OS at just the minimum requirements if you want a smooth, stable working environment.
  • Limited timetable for existing Windows users to upgrade to Windows 11 at no charge. Currently, Windows 10 is schedule for “end-of-life” by Microsoft for October 14, 2025. While Microsoft has not given a specific date for the free upgrade ending, they have stated repeatedly that it is a limited time offer. It would not be surprising for the free upgrade to end sometime around or after Windows 10 is sunset.
  • New software written for the latest Operating System (OS). Any new software you are installing/purchasing will be configured for optimal performance in the latest Windows OS. Many times it will work with an old OS but not as fast and stable or specific features may be disabled.
  • Windows 11 includes significant security enhancements. Windows 11 includes many security enhancements, including boot isolation and enhanced application controls. Some of these enhancements require specific hardware components, which maybe why it is not practical to upgrade your existing equipment (Link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/learning-center/windows-11-security-features). In my opinion, while these enhancements are great, they do not take the place of a 3rd party firewall and antivirus application….especially if your device has client personally identifiable information (PII).

Both Apple and Windows OS should be updated regularly. If you don’t have a company controlled computer asset, you should have automatic updates turned on. Even with them scheduled, you still should do a manual check because many of the major OS updates or the “optional” 3rd party drivers (i.e., monitor, keyboard, mouse, Bluetooth, etc…) do not automatically install. You should have a monthly reminder to check your updates to see if there is anything you want to install.

Give me a call/text/reach out via my website if you need some support to figure out your equipment and updating situation.