Frequently Asked Questions
Below you will find some of the most Frequently Asked Questions that we encounter. If you do not see your question here, feel free to contact us.
Web Site Design
While there are several schools of thought with relation to social media usage by small business, we believe that it can be a true asset. There are however, a few things to keep in mind:
- Your company needs to promote your use of social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook.
- Social media resources must be kept current in order to benefit you business.
- "Liking" or "Following" other local small businesses can help your business acquire new customers.
PC Tech-Con creates & customizes social media accounts, as well as promoting and managing these accounts.
For a business, web design and graphic design services are in most cases a tax write off. Depending on the purpose of the site, you may have to amortize it over 3 years. There may be some rare cases where it would not be a write off, so you should always check with your tax professional. The cost of the web design is not the only thing you can write off. There is also the cost of website hosting and all the incidentals that go along with that, such as domain name fees and SSL fees. So in a nutshell, any and all fees related to your website are potentially deductible.
IN 2008, the IRS allowed a business to deduct up to $250,000 of capital expenditure (including website development) under section 179. In 2011 that amount has doubled to $500,000 of capital expenditure. What this means is that for your business, 2011 is an excellent year to invest in website development from a tax strategy standpoint.
The owner of PC Tech-Con, Heidi Peterson, worked for VeriFone Inc for over 9 years. One of her main responsibilities was ensuring the compliance of the payment processing software PCCharge. While we can generate a web site that is conducive to the PCI Data Security Standard, making certain that all data remains protected is a team effort.
About PCI-DSS Compliance:
The PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was created by the major credit card companies to ensure the adoption of consistent security measures by all merchants. There are 12 requirements for meeting the PCI DSS, broken into 6 groups:
Build and Maintain a Secure Network
REQUIREMENT 1: Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data
REQUIREMENT 2: Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters
Protect Cardholder Data
REQUIREMENT 3: Protect stored cardholder data
REQUIREMENT 4: Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks
Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program
REQUIREMENT 5: Use and regularly update anti-virus software
REQUIREMENT 6: Develop and maintain secure systems and applications
Implement Strong Access Control Measures
REQUIREMENT 7: Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know
REQUIREMENT 8: Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access
REQUIREMENT 9: Restrict physical access to cardholder data
Regularly Monitor and Test Networks
REQUIREMENT 10: Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data
REQUIREMENT 11: Regularly test security systems and processes
Maintain an Information Security Policy
REQUIREMENT 12: Maintain a policy that addresses information security
Computer Repairs & Services
Scheduling an appointment is as easy as letting us know when you would like one!
PC Tech-Con is a mobile / home-based business. We offer appointment based repair and troubleshooting services to enable our clients to know EXACTLY when they will be helped. We do not say between the hours of 8AM and 2PM, we schedule an exact time, and that is when we arrive!
If PC Tech-Con technicians are late to your appointment, you receive a $5.00 credit towards the repair / troubleshooting!
PC Tech-Con will perform diagnostics on your system to determine whether or not there is a need for a new hard drive.
PC Tech-Con will NEVER replace hardware unless it is absolutely necessary!
While you may have seen TV advertisements for web sites that will "Speed up your pc" many of these sites are actually SCAMS. They report system issues that do not truly exist, install known adware, and then charge you to remove these non-existent issues & software that they have actually installed.
There are several FREE tools available to speed up your PC that PC Tech-Con not only recommends, but uses on our systems and client systems!
Warning: Some of the features included in the software listed below are VERY powerful...
please make sure that you read their manuals prior to using.- Below are a couple of the FREE software tools that PC Tech-Con recommends:
- CCleaner is a powerful tool that allows users to clean their registry, modify start-up applications, un-install software, clear most recently used files, and much more!
- MalwareBytes is another powerful FREE tool that removes known Spyware, Adware and more.
PC Tech-Con tries to make certain that we offer our clients the best prices possible on all repairs. Hardware prices are constantly changing based on demand. Case-in-point, RAM prices have dropped drastically in the previous years, if we were to stock RAM in house, we would not be able to offer the lower prices, as we would have paid top-dollar for the hardware.
By purchasing hardware as needed, we are able to pass these savings onto our client base.
RAM requirements vary from system to system. Prior to installing any RAM, PC Tech-Con will verify your system requirements, and let you know the cost of the hardware.
Virus Removal
The time required to remove a computer virus varies based on the type of virus, time-frame of infection, hard drive size, and other different variables.
PC Tech-Con removes viruses as quickly as possible without further jeopardizing your data.
You should always have UPDATED anti-virus software running on your system.
Anti-Virus software should be updated daily. Most anti-virus software has the option to automatically update their virus database without any end user interaction. To determine whether or not your anti-virus software has this capability, read the end user manual.
PC Tech-Con recommends AVG Anti-Virus software.
AVG's basic software is FREE for home end-users, and very reasonable for small businesses.
Also keep in mind that many internet service providers (ISPs), such as Comcast, offer FREE anti-virus software to their customers.
We are an authorized reseller of the AVG product line... contact us today if you would like more information about AVG products.
Remote Support
PC Tech-Con charges only $35.00 per 1 hour session of remote support.
Remote support allows you as a user to observe, interact, and learn what needs to be done to ensure that your system is running properly. By educating our clients, it reduces their need to contact us and pay for repairs. While this may seem to be counter intuitive to a business model, you must keep in mind that part of our mission is to ensure customer service and satisfaction. We rely on word of mouth advertising and our good reputation. A happy customer = more happy customers.
Remote support is available only by appointment, because you need to be at the system that is to be fixed while our techs are logged onto the system doing repairs and/or troubleshooting.
WiFi Configuration
The type of router that you need depends - below are some of the main considerations to keep in mind when purchasing a router:
- The number of devices to be configured both via WiFi and wired connections
- The physical location in which you are setting up your network (note that some locations CANNOT support WiFi networks)
- The type of devices that you would like to add to the network
- The number of users
- The desired security level
The ability to add another device to your WiFi network depends on the router being used, the device to be added security measures currently in place etc.
Contact us today for a FREE phone consultation.
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