Author Archive: Lisa Hendrickson

Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Call That Girl. She is an Outlook Expert and Microsoft 365 Consultant.

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Call That Girl’s computer crashed this past weekend

| March 25, 2010 | 0 Comments

Yes, it happened to me last Sunday morning. I had spent many hours on Saturday working on a few work documents and even though my Mozy.com backs up daily, I had decided to do a manual back up. Took 6 minutes and I left the computer on for the night.

I wake up on Sunday morning to hear “beep…bloink”. You should have seen my eyes, bursting out of my head. What happens to my clients finally after 15 years of doing computer repair, happened to me. Thankfully I borrowed a laptop from family and I was up and running again, with all my documents/spreadsheets and Outlook pst files all as they were the day before.

We just had a newsletter about backing up, but due to my situation this past weekend, we will be running a “back up special”. Not everyone knows how to do computer back ups (even though they have an external hard drive) or how to go online and set up a data back up program. Call That Girl is seeing many computers in the shop that do not have their data backed up. This is something you need to think about now, rather than later. Yes, we can usually get your data off the hard drive, but there are times we cannot due to the hard drive being corrupted.

 “Back up special” Special Price, $59

Here’s the rules:

  • Phone/Remote support only
  • You will have to supply an external hard drive or an online solution (see below for options)
  • We will set it up for you or show you how to do it yourself
  • We will follow up in a month to make sure you are backing up!
  • Expires April 3rd, 2010

We will back up:

  • Precious family photos
  • Ipod music collections
  • Taxes Documents
  • Videos
  • Geneology
  • Anything else you will miss if your computer crashes!

Back up options

  • Mozy 20% off until the end of March, use coupon code “GOLD” Mozy.com website Mozy.com 
  • Mozy’s 2 gig’s for free Mozy.com website Mozy.com
  •  Minnesota Back Up (one free month with coupon code “callthatgirl”) MNBU.net

Call us to book an appointment at 612-865-4475 or email info@callthatgirl.biz

Call That Girl’s week in review

| March 20, 2010 | 0 Comments

Holy moly, what a week for us at Call That Girl! Busy week doing a few fun things and a few not so fun things. We started off Monday with full calendar of remote support jobs. Many of my colleagues wonder how I can be so busy doing remote support, but to be honest…it’s very easy to do. When we get a call, I take down what is wrong and then I ask if their internet works. If so, then we can do the job remotely, no problem!

Tuesday was a big day for me, I had my second paid employee Becky start in the workshop, we will be adding her info on the “meet the crew” page here next week. My assistant Gina will also be added. Training Becky was interesting for me because I know how I work, how to train someone to work like me was another thing! I did enjoy seeing Becky troubleshoot and work on documentation that we have needed done for sometime now. I am excited to move forward with building the team up.

I went to the SHARP UpSwing event on Tuesday night in Oakdale. Running into over 10 clients there was awesome! I also got a chance to talk to Sheila Ronning, Owner of SHARP about some social networking strategies. While I’m name dropping, I also ran into one of my competitors who was so nice to hand me off a nice flash drive full of good repair applications, score for THAT GIRL!

Then on Wed I got a call from a major player in a market that I have been wanting to get into and they outreached to me to do some marketing together, I have to admit…I was thrilled! After following my marketing for a few months, they came to me to help. It’s very refreshing to have someone just say “Hey, here is a bunch of ideas for you, let’s do it!”

On Wednesday, I was also interviewed for a podcast from  The Force Field, an internet podcast company. The interview was based on computer repair marketing techniques. It went so well that they are turning it into 2 podcasts, yay!

Then….(wow this week doesn’t end it seems), I found out I was an honorary nominee for the Women’s Press award, Favorite Independent Shop for Computer Emergencies. The results will come in May, wish me luck! http://www.womenspress.com/

Then….nope, this doesn’t end it seems. The nominations closed for the Minneapolis St. Paul Biz Journal’s award for “Women to Watch”…thank you everyone who voted for me! I really appreciate all the help. I hope I get on the list.

That’s it for this week, I hope you all enjoy the blogs, they are really picking up steam lately so I figured I better start filling you all in on what’s going on in my world! Oh and btw…I did about 30 computer repairs this week in addition to everything else. Who has a few hours of their life to borrow me? 🙂

Enjoy your weekend,

Lisa

Does your internet work? Try our remote support for computer problems

| March 20, 2010 | 0 Comments

Seriously, why unplug all your cords and drag your computer to a shop when we can more than likely fix your problem with remoting in via your internet? Did you know that 90% of the computer problems are software and not hardware?

If your internet works, we can probably fix it remotely.

If your computer is not working, try us anyway to get a few things attempted to get back on the internet. We are pretty savvy with “loss of internet” issues! (probably virus related anyway). We often troubleshoot computers that won’t power up and get them back on track with a few tricks of the trade. (Many are here in my blog if you look back a few pages).

We offer a quick fix of up to 15 minutes for $25. Can’t beat that now can you? $75 for a full hour.

Keep our phone number handy and next time you have problems, Call That Girl! 612-865-4475

Tips on using free software

| March 15, 2010 | 0 Comments

Many of us today are using Gmail, Google applications, AVG free, etc. Free software is usually great, but the support you get if you need help is usually not up to par. About a month ago, I decided to start using Google documents to store a few files because I needed to have them on 3 computers. I worked on a massive “to do list” and after I was done, I hit the “cut” button to move something and it all disappeared. I could not get it back, even though it had saved just a minute before! I was LIVID to say the least. I had been saving it too for a whole day or so and I’m not sure how easy it is to put in a support ticket to Google and have it checked out for a restore, but decided then and there…to only rely on myself for such needs from now on.

Support is very important when it comes to things you need to use.

Here are my opinions:

  • AVG free is a good product, but not a great product. The download for AVG 9.0 takes a very long time to install (up to 45 minutes) and we see that program on virus infected computers. It works, but I quit recommending it to folks who want free software because it doesn’t work either. Toss up on AVG free!  AVG free offers online FAQ/Knowledge Base and Forum help. No email or phone support that I could find online. If you upgrade to the paid version, then you get the premium support.
  • Microsoft Security Essentials Antivirus so far is doing well with the clients who I have recommended using it. Only one client so far has had a problem with “real time protection” and Microsoft will support that issue via chat or email.
  • Google calendar can have glitches that can’t be fixed easily (from what my clients have told me, I am having success using it for now, but am looking at paid alternatives). Again they have the forum/FAQ help, but put in a ticket and wait a few days for help, if they help….Google decides if they support you due to the millions of users.
  • Gmail is not something I am fond of, but many of my networking friends use it frequently and are happy with the product. My problem with Gmail is, what if you woke up one morning and your emails were all gone. Do you have time to wait for Google to figure it out? Who do you call? With Gmail, you have to search their support and help forums first, then put in a ticket and wait a few days. If you’re using Gmail for business (or hotmail, yahoo, etc..) do you have a few days to wait? Business is on the line!

For the sake of your business, please move to a paid email hosting solution. There are many affordable solutions out there, if you need some recommendations, please email us at info@callthatgirl.biz

Feel free to comment on the blog!

Lisa

Looking for a local online backup solution? Try MNBU

| March 11, 2010 | 0 Comments

 

Well folks, the time to start considering online backup solutions is NOW. Many times I have been asked what is better, online or external hard drives. I always ask people how important their stuff is…external drives are not that reliable these days. I had one a few years back that died after 3 months and I had to send it back in under warranty. Where was my stuff? I didn’t have a back up or a back up solution for 2 weeks.  ???

How good is your external hard drive if it was stolen, in a fire, fried out or got something spilled in it?

Online back up today is very reliable and I will now introduce you to a Minnesota based online back up solution, MNBU (Minnesota BackUp).  The owner is Dean Meier and I met Dean when we were neighbors a few years ago. He is also the owner of Digital Brigade (http://www.digitalbrigade.com) a server/network solutions business.  I was thrilled to find that they are offering a local solution, as many people are worried about online backup. “Where is my stuff”…it’s right here in Minnesota!

Why chose MNBU?

  • Minnesota based
  • Easy to install
  • Your data is HERE in Minnesota
  • They check your back ups daily for you
  • If you miss a back up, they will email you
  • If you don’t respond to the email alerts, they call you and let you know
  • If your computer has a crash, they will deliver your information to you
  • Unlimited backup for one price
  • You have a problem? You call a Minnesota number for help…and they answer the phone with a real live Minnesota person!

Want to give it a try? Here is the sign up link….and use code “CALLTHATGIRL” to get one free month.

http://www.mnbu.net/

Stop drop and roll: the virus evacuation plan

| March 3, 2010 | 0 Comments

I bet you didn’t think I could come up with this one, but you are wrong! I have come up with an evacuation plan! I recommend printing these out asap and tape up to a filing cabinet. These instructions, could save your computer and your wallet a few bucks.

Be Smart

  • Be very careful when clicking on any advertisements, many are fake and will take you to a virus download
  • Be very careful when “googling” anything, just because it’s at the top of your google search, doesn’t mean it’s “virus free”
  • If you see any type of “scan” started when you go to a website, do not touch anything! These are definately fake and will download a virus if you touch any part of the screen. Right now, it’s “fake” (appearing to be real)
  • Change all of your email passwords, make sure they are unique and are not the same as your Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn accounts
  • Many email accounts are getting hacked into, so be very careful when getting emails from friends with “just a link” in it. The hackers are getting lazy and not even sending out text anymore. Just a link, be careful!

If you happen to see an attack/infection going on, your best bet to stop it:

  • Press the “control, alt and delete” buttons” at the same time on your keyboard or…put your mouse down on the bottom of your screen (the task bar) and right click
  • Start “Task manager”.
  • Go to the “applications tab” and then you will see what you have going on with your computer.
  • Click on the Internet E or Firefox and then hit “end process”. Do it for all of them.
  • You will see the scan windows go away.
  • Update your antivirus software and do a scan

Now, you may or may not be infected still. If you do all of the above and see symptons of a new program on your computer or it acting very slow, then you probably have a virus.

You can do the following:

  • Ignore it and it will get worse, no question
  • Fix it yourself, some folks do a good job with that
  • Get the neighborhood kid to fix it, not a good idea
  • Call That Girl and get it fixed and get added protection so next time, you are set!