TexasIT

Viruses Can Do More Than Steal Your Identity

Gregory Feathers — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:25:00 +0000

Could there possibly be files stored on your computer that you are not aware of? Pornographic pictures and videos can be deposited on computers by viruses and, as the computer owner, you are held liable for what is on your personal computer. A recent Associated Press investigation found cases in which innocent people were branded as pedophiles after their co-workers or loved ones stumbled upon child porn that was placed on their PC by a virus. Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash of photographs or videos on your computer without fear of getting caught. One man in particular spent more than a week in jail, three months in a halfway house and lost custody of his daughter after a virus changed the home page on his Web browser to display child porn. This, sadly, was discovered by by his 7-year-old daughter. Child pornography was on his computer, but in reality he was only guilty of becoming a victim of a malicious computer virus. According to security software maker F-Secure Corp, approximately 20 million of the estimated 1 billion Internet-connected PCs worldwide are infected every minute with viruses that could give hackers full control. Computers can get infected by something as simple as opening e-mail attachments from unknown sources or visiting a malicious Web page. Having a computer professional perform regular maintenance is the only way to ensure your computer is as safe as possible.

Source: Associated Press

Data Backup Service

Gregory Feathers — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:44:00 +0000

Do you have digital photos, music or documents that are valuable to you? What would happen if you lost everything on your computer? Computer hard drives are the number one failure item in computers and without a current backup you are gambling with your data. Bring your computer by Texas Innovative Technologies and for $65 we will backup all of your family photos, music and personal documents on to DVD for long term storage no matter how much data your computer has on it. Our data backup service will ensure your valuable data is available even when your computer is not. Offer valid for drop off service only. On-site service, virus removal, hardware troubleshooting and other services are additional fees.

Upgrade to Windows 7

Gregory Feathers — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:36:00 +0000

Wanting to upgrade to Windows 7 but unsure of how to do it or don't have the time? Bring your computer by Texas Innovative Technologies and we will upgrade your computer to Windows 7 for $65 plus the cost of the version of Microsoft Windows 7 you decide upon. Computer must meet certain requirements (1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor, 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit), 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit), DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver, and current licensed version of Windows XP or Windows Vista). Data backup, on-site installation services and installation of other software packages are additional fees.

Drop-Off Service

Gregory Feathers — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:44:00 +0000

Beginning November 2, 2009, Texas Innovative Technologies will be offering drop-off service to all clients at a reduced rate of $65 per hour. We will be conveniently located at 17006 Seven Pines Drive, Suite 200 in Spring, Texas 77379, just off of Louetta and Stubner Airline. We are a full-service technology provider proficient at website design, internet marketing, virus removal, computer repair and data recovery. Don't let our location fool you, we still offer on-site computer repair and service. We look forward to seeing you.

Alpha K9 Pet Services | Website Re-Design

Gregory Feathers — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:03:00 +0000

When Manny King, the owner of Alpha K9 Pet Services, first contacted Texas Innovative Technologies he was just like most business owners: he wanted a website that produced results. He wanted clients to find him in web searches and be able to easily navigate through his website. A website that was easy to update was also a top priority. Who could blame him; he was a business owner who wanted to stay in business. A new website was the perfect ticket. Magazine ads and reduced rates were not producing results and he knew he needed a new way to reach potential clients. Even though Alpha K9 Pet Services already had a website, Manny knew that it was in dire need of help and that most people searching for his business, like any other, would be doing so from the comfort of home on a personal computer. The original website was a mere 11 pages and required someone with technical expertise for all updates. Because this original website could not be found easily by clients, it became much like his physical business location: you won't know it is there unless you look for it. The website that Texas Innovative Technologies designed aleviated these issues, allowing clients, old and new, to find his business and enjoy his services. Additionally, Texas Innovative Technologies designed a new logo and slideshow, edited and revised all of the content, as well as incorporated statistics for effortless tracking of visitors to the website. With these simple changes Texas Innovative Technologies was able to bring Alpha K9 Pet Services 30 new clients in the first month alone!

Website Before

Website After

Website Grade         52
Google Indexed Pages 11
Traffic Rank          Not Ranked
Blog Rank             Not Ranked
Inbound Links         1,612
del.icio.us Bookmarks 0

Website Grade         94
Google Indexed Pages 31
Traffic Rank          1,204,991
Blog Rank             Not Ranked
Inbound Links         1,681
del.icio.us Bookmarks 1

Don't Be Fooled By Total Security

Gregory Feathers — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:08:00 +0000

Total Security is a rogue anti-spyware program that displays false scan results to convince you that your computer is infected with viruses and malware. Total Security is actually a total scam, it is not an anti-virus progam and it is not capable of scanning a machine or detecting infections. Total Security reports falsified virus attacks and similar security issues then demands money in order to trick people into purchasing a fix for their made up infections. Total Security suggests paying either $49.95 or $79.95 to protect against the falsified viruses but doing so will only slow down your computer more and generate more annoying pop-ups. A sure fire way to determine if a program is valid or not is by grammar and spelling. Hackers and virus writers obviously have trouble with English. Total Security states "Protect this files now" which should read "Protect these files now".

Total Security is a malware, do not purchase Total Security and avoid websites that promote Total Security as an anti-virus tool.

To remove Total Security you must block Internet Access, stop and remove processes, unregister DLL files, search and delete all other Total Security files and registry entries.

If you have already purchased Total Security contact your credit card company and watch your statements closely for illicit activity. If you have this rogue virus on your system it needs to be removed immediately by a professional. Call Texas Innovative Technologies today at 281.658.7096 to set up an appointment and have your computer checked for this and other types of infections.

{gallery}TotalSecurity{/gallery}

How important is social media to your business?

Gregory Feathers — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:08:00 +0000

How important is social media to your business? What about finding new employees that use social media to bring in new business? Continental Airlines recently posted a position for a social media manager and twitter users responded. Brad Parler, a Houston area social media guru applied for the position Continental posted and started tweeting about it. Within hours Continental's followers grew and tweets about Brad were coming from his 5,000 plus followers recommending him to Continental Airlines. Discussions about the position and how social media was going to play into filling it were everywhere. Speedster1978, A poster at the FlyerTalk forums, mentioned "In this day and age, the resume is no longer the only tool people use, but social media as well." In today's economy social media can mean the difference between closing your doors or expanding because of rapid growth. Are you using social media to promote your business or still holding on to the idea that print marketing still works like it did before the rise of the Internet and social media?

Job Application for IT Support

Gregory Feathers — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:39:00 +0000

Texas Innovative Technologies recently held a job fair at the local big name coffee shop. Applicants were asked to answer a 20 question survey to identify their knowledge of Computer Repair, Networks, Information Technology and the Internet. Out of all the applicants that were interviewed, the one with the most impressive resume and longest list of certifications received the worst grade on the survey. Obviously the survey was a great eye opener to the skill level of applicants and the differences of knowledge and experience from what is written on resumes. Pearce Smithwick from Techcaddie provided the additional seven questions added to the original 20 question survey. This goes to show, always be prepared because you never know when there is going to be a test.

What is Twitter?
What is the highest failure item in a computer?
Which anti-virus program do you prefer?
What is Joomla?
What is SEO?
What voltage is the red wire on a molex connector?
What voltage is the black wire on a SATA power connector?
Which is bigger: 1tb or 1000gb?
Which brand of processors do you prefer?
Do you use Windows Vista on your personal computer?
What is the difference between 802.3 and 802.11?
How many pins in a USB 2.0 connector?
What are the shortcut keys for cut, copy and paste?
Do you use Internet Explorer?
What is an IP Address?
What does the acronym DHCP stand for?
What is a gateway?
What is a firewall?
What is the color of the microphone jack on a computer?
How do you change screen resolution on Windows XP?
How do you properly apply thermal paste?
Where is 127.0.0.1?
What is the default Username/Password for wireless routers made by Linksys, D-Link, and Netgear?
How do you remove Anti-Virus Pro 2010?
Which is a more secure default setup: Microsoft Windows Vista Business, Apple OSX, or Ubuntu?
What is the Windows equivalent of sudo?
How does one turn on a power supply that is not plugged into a motherboard?

Our First Woodlands Tweetup Was A Huge Success!

Gregory Feathers — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:07:00 +0000

On July 8, 2009 The Woodlands Resort (@woodlandresort) hosted the fist Woodlands Tweetup. The event was organized by Brad Parler (@brad_parler) and promoted by local tweeters using Twitter. The attendees were offered free food and drinks which were donated by The Woodlands Resort and one lucky winner (@psalm33_3) won a free overnight stay at the resort. Sixteen people attended the event and all were local business owners, except for two, who were looking to generate networking contacts. During the event, discussions ranged from how to create an account to how to use Twitter to market your business. Bill Gibson (@b_gibson1), who found out about the event through a local networking group, was coached by Brad Parler and Gregory Feathers (@innovativecrs) while he created his account. Bill had heard of Twitter and wanted to use it to reach future clients for his health insurance business but was reluctant to try the service before the event. Attendees tweeted pictures and updates from the tweetup while other local tweeters who were unable to attend responded and followed Bill shortly after creating his account. Overall the event was a huge success and the first of many tweetups that will be promoted in the Houston area.

{gallery}twtu{/gallery}

Photos From Around Houston

Gregory Feathers — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:09:00 +0000

Over the past year while traversing the city of Houston I have come across some very interesting things that I have taken photos of. I have decided to share those photos here. This page will regularly be updated as new photos are taken so come back often.

If you have photos you would like to submit please email them to photo_submit@tx-it.com

Update log:

July 6th, 2009 - Added America Onhold, Cobra on Highway, Guy with tons of trash in his car and When the a/c and the windows don't work, drive with your door open!

{gallery}AroundHouston{/gallery}