Ready Remote is designed to address the many challenges most small businesses face when it comes to maintaining their computer systems, such as network issues, downtime, lack of on-site IT services and competent outside help.

Our cutting-edge software and decades of IT experience overcome all of these challenges by providing 24/7 monitoring and proactive maintenance for your entire computer network.

When a problem is detected on your network server or workstations, we’re notified immediately of the issue, and can go to work to resolve the problem remotely, many times while you continue working. If necessary, we will come on site at no additional labor cost to you and resolve the problem in person.

Your Ready Remote service also includes on-line data backup and comprehensive antivirus protection for your covered servers and workstations.

As an added bonus, if we service any of your covered equipment in our shop, the labor for that service is free. That’s right, free in-shop labor… no gimmicks, no gotchas, no fine print.

And with fixed monthly pricing for the Ready Remote services you’ll be able to budget your network support expenditures just like you plan your other regular expenses.

(From time to time, you may ask us to perform additional work, such as installing a new workstation or upgrading software. As a preferred Ready Remote client, you’ll receive those additional services at reduced labor rates.)

Now, what’s a great offer without a great guarantee? Here’s ours: We guarantee that we will be able to detect, diagnose, and PREVENT any type of network problem from escalating into downtime. If by some odd chance your network goes down or you have any other network-related issue that requires clean up and fixing, we will do all of the work necessary to restore your network back to health with no additional service fees to you. All hardware costs will be additional.

You depend on your technology… Now you can depend on your technology support, with the absolute best service available in the area, guaranteed uptime and free in-shop labor.

Give us a call today at (701) 837-6202 or email at les@larsoncomputerservices.com. We’re “Ready” to help you now!

If you expect to be in business for the long haul, you need to protect that data by regularly backing it up.

Don’t yet have a data backup plan in place? Consider the following sobering statistics:

94% of companies suffering from a catastrophic data loss do not survive. 43% never reopen and 51% close within two years. (University of Texas)

30% of all businesses that have a major fire go out of business within a year and 70% fail within five years. (Home Office Computing Magazine)

77% of those companies who do test their tape backups found back-up failures. (Boston Computing Network, Data Loss Statistics)

7 out of 10 small firms that experience a major data loss go out of business within a year. (DTI/Price Waterhouse Coopers)

96% of all business workstations are not being backed up. (Contingency Planning and Strategic Research Corporation)

50% of all tape backups fail to restore. (Gartner)

25% of all PC users suffer from data loss each year. (Gartner)

Let us help. Our off-site, secure, Professional-Grade backup service will automatically back up your important data (ALL of the data, not just accounting data, for instance) every day and store that data on multiple encrypted servers. Your data is safe, and only you have access to it.

And here’s one last statistic for you:

100% of the customers using the online backup service from Larson Computer Services have successfully restored their data when they needed to. 100% of their data. 100% of the time.

Give us a call today, and find out how we can get you to 100%!

Many customers, however, for whatever reasons, choose to continue using the venerable Windows XP Professional and would rather not have to think about upgrading anytime soon.

So the following is an interesting development from Microsoft:

In a blog post about Windows 7, dated July 12 (and updated July 13) Microsoft announced, in so many words, that Windows XP Professional (not the Home version) will be available until 2020.

That’s right. 2020, ten years from now.

Specifically, Microsoft is extending the option for business customers who purchase Windows 7 to choose the downgrade option, meaning that the computer will come pre-installed with Windows XP Professional. Media (DVD) for Windows 7 will be included, so the customer can, at any time, upgrade the system to Windows 7 without additional expense.

This is an option that many of our business customers currently enjoy when ordering a system from Dell, and it’s one I highly encourage them to take advantage of.

Oh, and you don’t have to be a real “business” user to benefit from this yourself, in the case where you need a new system for personal use. Just order any computer from Dell in their business line, and tell them you want the downgrade option to Windows XP Professional. “Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy” … (THAT’s gonna take a few of you back, ha ha)

Here’s a link to the blog post if you want to read it yourself, but be forewarned. The article is quite geeky

And of course, if you have any questions about this or any other matter related to computers and technology, give us a call anytime at Larson Computer Services, at 701-837-6202.

“We know more, and we do a better job”

I made a choice between two paths when I started Larson Computer Services in 1989. The choices were to be either a) the cheapest, or b) the best.

I also made another choice, between “selling Widgets” and “providing Expertise”. I chose to be in the Expertise side of things.

Twenty-one years and thousands of successful resolutions later, I can tell you those choices have provided win-win scenarios our customers love, and they tell others about us, all around the country.

See, anybody who is reasonably honest and has at least two brain cells they can bang together knows that “Cheapest” and “Best” don’t go together. Ever. And anybody (and I do mean ANYBODY) can “sell” you a widget.

When people ask me about buying a new computer, I refer them to excellent, proven resources for branded or custom equipment (based on their preference) and when they need expert help setting things up, that’s where Larson Computer Services comes in.

With expertise ranging from local workstation issues to large, complicated networks, to web-based issues such as reliable website hosting, online backup and custom programming, there is simply not a better choice than Larson Computer Services. You won’t spend a fortune, and more importantly, you won’t be treated cheaply.

Give us a call at Larson Computer Services. 701-837-6202.

“Because anyone else is just a vendor…”

Starting on March 1, 2010 your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Your work will not be saved during the shutdown.

The Windows 7 RC will fully expire on June 1, 2010. Your PC running the Windows 7 RC will continue shutting down every two hours and your files won’t be saved during shutdown. In addition, your wallpaper will change to a solid black background with a persistent message on your desktop. You’ll also get periodic notifications that Windows isn’t genuine. That means your PC may no longer be able to obtain optional updates or downloads requiring genuine Windows validation.

To avoid interruption, please reinstall a prior version of Windows or move to Windows 7. In either case, you’ll need to do a custom (clean) install to replace the RC. As with any clean installation, you’ll need to back up your data then reinstall your applications and restore the data. For more details about replacing the RC, see the Knowledge Base article KB 971767. For more information, visit the Window 7 Forum.

Visit our site often, and you’ll see timely articles right on this home page, news about products and services coming soon, the latest on virus and spyware warnings, and so forth.

The new site is a work-in-progress, so bear with us, and check back often while all the pages are completed. Feel free to look around and call us with any questions. Like you, I depend on the things I need to run my business. We provide great tools for great customers, and I’m sure we can help you. Take a look around, then give us a call at 701-837-6202; you won’t be disappointed.