IT Support Q&A

Greetings Peter from rural Australia,

We often don't know the value of security until the horses have bolted.

I now use, and would never again not use, a website security service to keep my website secure and hacker free.

On Christmas morning, 2015, I received a stomach crunching email from my host company to say my website had been severely hacked. And their server used to transmit illegal emails.

Because of this threat, my host company shut my website down until I made my site more secure.

Nothing we did worked. From Christmas morning until mid January, my site came under a full scale attack from all over the world.

Again, my site was shut down by my host company until I could prove it was no longer vulnerable to attack.

This site is our only source of revenue. So this was a major event for us.

One of my problems is my website is based on the Wordpress platform. Which is the weakest as far as security is concerned. But for those of us who aren't technical wizards, it's the easiest platform to use.

In desperation, we looked online and found an Australian company that would harden our site. Back it up. And monitor it 24/7/365 against any further threats.

For this we pay a very reasonable monthly fee.

We've used them since mid January 2016. And it really is P.A.L. Peace. At Last. There are no more stomach crunching emails about attacks. I no longer worry about malware on my site. About being hacked. Or about my site being taken off the web.

I no longer even look at the logs. They're too scary. The number of brute force attempts - that they thwart - that are made daily on my site makes me blanch.

As more and more people use the Wordpress platform. And as more and more articles are written about how it's hackers' paradise. Tens of thousands of sites are destroyed every year. It should become easier and easier to sell a website security service.

Best wishes,

~Carol Jones, Ironing Diva❦

Purveyor of The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover And Other Goodies

350,000 customers. In 29 countries.

I really think a good answer to this kind of question requires a "wish list" of the features/processes you would like in an ideal system. Otherwise, all you're likely to get are lots of different opinions from people about systems they like, that may be perfect for their situations, but not so for yours.

And then, if there are none out there that people can recommend, or any that meet all your requirements, you can talk to someone like me to help put something together that will meet every single one of your specific needs.

Hi, I am a Zumba dance trainer, and when I looking at creating a live video streaming class app for my clients and people who are interested in watching. I also like to have other instructors use this premium vod platform to upload their own channel and upload their own videos and be able to charge their clients a fee to stream. I got a fully customized featured platform in market named as CONTUS Vplayed. 

Hi Stuart,

I completely agree with the three points you made above - in particular, the last two.  The third point really leads into the second point.  It is often a really good idea for a small business to obtain input into what quality infrastructure and setup is best for their business.  If they obtain advice on this and have an IT contractor/external business/internal support person setting that up, then if there are problems these people are knowledgable about the systems and the solutions should be quick - or at least a lot quicker than calling in someone not familiar with their system.

I agree that technology is vitally important and we are now going to more seriously look into offering support services to small businesses around us here in Brisbane.  

Computer Repair Costs

Computer technicians charge by the hour for labour and then there is the cost of replacement parts if applicable. 

Some computer repair companies also add a small margin on top of the replacement parts to cover for postage, holding stock, collecting the part etc.

Computer Technician Rates

Hourly labour fees range from around $80 an hour to $190 or more an hour.  Whilst the hourly rate should reflect the expertise of the technician, that is not always the case.  If you go for one of the larger computer repair companies then you can expect to pay the higher rate as they have to cover advertising, administration, salaries etc.  Your local computer repair technician without these expenses can still make a living with a lower hourly rate.

Workshop And Call-Out Charges

Another aspect of what sets the amount charged by computer repair companies is whether the repair is done at the computer shop or workshop or if the technician is called out to your home or business.

At Affordable Computer Repairs and Service, we encourage customers to bring their malware-infected machines to us as we can then run several scans over say 4 hours to make doubly sure the computer is clean of malware.  We do this for a fixed fee which is much, much lower than if we were to do the same service at someone's home or office.  

Computer Repair Rates Vary By Location

In relation to fees, we are a Brisbane based computer repair business and our hourly rate is $125 which is probably less than market rates given the service we provide.  Rates in Sydney and Melbourne are likely to be higher and those in regional areas probably lower...

Don't Just Select a Computer Repairer Based on Fees...

I would recommend when looking for a computer repair technician, do your homework, read the reviews and the replies from the owner, do they sound real - are they lengthy or have they been requested on the spot to leave a review and thus provided only a few words?  A computer technician (or any other business for that matter) that has lengthy heartfelt reviews is the one to contact.  Whilst the price is important, at the end of the day what you are looking for is a reliable, trustworthy computer repair business that charges a fair price for the work done.

“IT Support” or Information technology support refers to those things related to computer software, computer hardware, database management, networks, internet, websites, email, mobile phones, etc. The “term technical” support is a much broader term which can include the same things as IT Support.  Think of anything to do with engineering, machinery, electrical, electronic, consumer appliances, etc, these will involve “technical support”.  Visit the websites of HP, Lenovo, Dell and the rest, and you will find a particular section labelled ‘technical support” for their particular products and services.

Are you sure it was automatic or client error ? If automatic how do others safeguard from this from happening? Many things break and issues occur when upgrading operating systems, particularly if your business is dependent on older more specialised Windows software.

There are several ways you can look into going about this:

• You will need Adobe Acrobat Pro (I believe) to have this ability within the "Tools" section. There will even be an option at the end of the form you can add a button that sends completed forms to your email address.
• You can create interactive documents in Microsoft Word as well. I've used these successfully when deploying them as surveys. However, if you export an interactive Word document to PDF, I am not sure if it will keep the interactive parts or not. Sorry, I haven't tried that functionality.
• You could add a link to an interactive Google Form document for them to fill out as they are going through the material (this could also be submitted to you and used as a lead capture if you get their names and emails - if you aren't capturing them elsewhere)