Chicagoland Computer and Network Technical Support - Entek Micro LLC ::Business Solutions::

Computer Support Solutions

Welcome to our business solutions page. Here we try to give some examples of what our technology can do for you. Look in the table below for common business problems and solutions. We can offer many different approaches to different problems. For more ideas give us a call at 888-450-6003 x81

(Items in green are open source or free)

Faxing

My company wastes tons of time faxing reports and papers to our customers and partners.

We recommend a fax server to allow faxing from users desktops. This will save time when sending the fax as well as recording fax errors. No more worrying whether a fax got somewhere or not. Several available fax servers are:

Hylafax
Tobit Faxware
VSI Fax

Email

I need simple email for my employees. I have email from my ISP but it just isn't cutting it.

There are many different types of email servers available. Which one you go with depends on what platform you have and what your needs are. Here are some email servers that we support that do well for simple email.

Sendmail - Linux
Postfix - Linux
Pegasus - NetWare or Windows
IMail - Windows

Groupware

I want more from my email. I want to share my calendar, contacts and tasks with other users.

What you need is called groupware. Groupware is any product that is used to allow collaboration within a workgroup. Here are some common ones.

Opengroupware - Linux
GroupWise - NetWare
Exchange - Windows

Security

My company is connected to the Internet and I am worried about security.

The first step to protecting you network in this case is to install a firewall. A firewall is a device that control how and what outsiders access on your network. Here are some of the firewalls we support.

Sonicwall - Hardware based

Freesco - Linux

IPCop - Linux

Proxy/ISA - Windows

Anti-Virus

I also need to protect against viruses. What can I do about that?

Virus defense starts with a good anti-virus software like Norton Anti-virus Corporate edition. We also recommend using windows update to ensure that you computer has the latest patches on it.

Updates and Patches

I have over 30 machines and new patches are released almost weekly. How can I possibly keep up with it all?

In this situation you should install SUS server from Microsoft. It is a free downloads. This service automatically updates Windows 2000 and XP computers. This kind of updating prevents certain viruses. It is important to note that anti virus software cannot stop many viruses unless the computer is patched.

Terminology

Many of our visitors are unfamiliar with computer jargon. Here are some common terms that we use here.

Open Source:: This means that the software is licensed under the GPL License or similar free licenses. This basically means that anyone can copy, share and use the software however they want for free. Linux is a popular example of software under the GNU License.

This also means that the source code of the software is available to anyone as well. The source code it the human readable text that software is made from. With the source code anyone is free to modify a program to fit their own needs.
Commercial Software:: This is basically any software that has to be purchased like Microsoft products etc. Software under these types of licenses typically do not have the source code included. Without this you cannot edit or change how a program works.
Firewall:: A firewall is a very important piece of security. It is defined as anything that separates a network from the internet. It can be a computer with special software on it or a piece of hardware specifically designed for that purpose. How and what a firewall protects depends on how it is configured. In addition to a firewall you should also have anti-virus scanner and use good security procedures.

If you are concerned about security we can help you determine what threats there are and how to best protect you company. Give us a call and we will be happy to talk to you about your security concerns.
Network:: This is a very common term that sometimes get misused. Basically it is all the computers wires and servers that are hooked together at a single location.