The larger McLean IT grows, the more I worry about managing the flow of information. Between telephone calls, emails, texts, and clients telling me about issues while dealing with other issues, the flow can become unmanageable if unprepared.

Originally I’d intended to keep my notes on my phone or tablet, but I was soon painfully aware that they just weren’t as convenient as a notepad and pen – despite my aversion to paper. And even now I keep everything in my handy little notebook. I have to admit that writing things down does prime your memory to trap things. However when I add things to the list, I often have to bring remaining tasks from previous lists forward and I end up writing the same thing over and over.

My biggest fear is that I’ll forget something.

On any given day – every day – I send and receive an average of 55 emails. Doing the math, of course that’s roughly 385 a week, or 1540 a month (actually closer to 1600 but I’m rounding the numbers down).

Last year I bought my wife a new iPhone 5 and at the same time used the opportunity to renegotiate my plan to add more minutes. I’d been consistently using all of my time for months. My new plan is for 1000 minutes and that number is already offset by a number of calls I make through my VoIP line, Skype, and FaceTime. I haven’t taken the time to count the texts sent and received.

What all of this amounts to is a massive amount of information flowing constantly.

In an attempt to manage this flow of information (and limit overhead to keep costs down), I’m now working with a ticket tracking system. With it, not only can both my clients and I create, view, update and edit tickets, but it is also an integrated billing system which I can use to upgrade my old system.

To take advantage of this system, one need only request a login.

There is no pressure for clients to use this system to log issues – they should feel free to communicate the way they always have. Think of it as just one more service to our clients.

Already it’s reducing the amount of time I need to review things at the end of the day, and it’s the first time in months that I’ve finished the day not feeling like I’ve forgotten 100 critical tasks.

I am very pleased to announce that McLean IT Consulting now accepts both Visa and Mastercard thanks to Payfirma and BluePay.

My hope is that this makes goods and service purchases more convenient and flexible for everyone. Below are some benefits to using a credit card:

#1: Warranty Extension. Many Visa and MasterCard agreements state that if an item is paid in full on a card, the Manufacturer’s warranty is automatically doubled to a maximum of one year. Contact your card provider for details and eligibility.

#2: Convenience. Nobody carries cash anymore, and many don’t carry chequebooks either. Pay easily via a mobile terminal or over the phone – safely and securely.

#3: Protection. Paying with a credit card gives protection against fraud, and provide you with an outlet to bring your concerns. In addition to the advantages of #1, many cards will insure purchases against loss or theft as well.

#4: Build credit. For new card owners, building credit is an important step in life – important for buying a car, home, or business loan.

#5: “Points”. Some cards offer rewards to frequent users. Digital cameras, vacations, home appliances, and more.

The preferred method of payment is still by cheque, but the credit card payment option is now being offered to all.

Thank you for your continued support!

I cannot overstate the importance of having a proper data backup plan, but should the worst happen, I’ve got you covered.

Typically there are two big-picture types of hard drive failures.

The first is a disk surface problem. Like a scratched record, all the moving parts are functioning just fine, but the data has holes or scratches – pieces of corrupt data. Files on disks with this issue can sometimes be recovered with special software.

The second and more serious issue is a mechanical issue with the motor or head disk assembly, similar to a needle that reads the record. Because all of the moving parts are enclosed inside a sealed device, and also because of the sensitivity of the parts therein, data recovery for this issue requires a special “cleanroom”. Specifically, a class-100 cleanroom. This classification means that the room is designed to never allow more than 100 particles (.5 microns or larger) per cubic foot of air. To put this into perspective, a human hair is 75-100 microns in diameter – up to 200 times larger than what is permitted. A single hair that comes between the read head and the disk surface would be like putting mount Everest in the path of a passenger jet.

Enough with the technical talk.

I know the sinking feeling one experiences when a hard drive fails and you realize that no backup exists. Years of family pictures, important irreplaceable documents and who knows what else.

Should your drive suffer a catastrophic failure, all is not necessarily lost. I am proud to announce that I have  partnered with an industry-leading data recovery company and together offer a “No Data, No Charge” policy – if your critical data cannot be recovered, you will not be charged. Any format – whether it be Windows, Mac or Linux – and any interface – IDE, SATA, USB, SCSI, etc. – and any manufacturer is fully supported. Prices are very reasonable and are quoted on a case-by-case basis based on the extent of damage to the device.

The class 100 cleanroom is located in Vancouver, BC so there’s no need to ship your device across the country or internationally to restore data. Standard turnaround time is 4-10 days.