CST News

Where is the year going? Already half way through March and the nights are getting longer with an autumn feel. Jackie mentioned the first of her trees at home showing a yellow tinge.

Blake had a week of annual leave and then another spell of sick leave which caused a few problems. But fortunately our customers were happy to wait for Blake to get back on deck and no-one really got too upset. I was forced to do a couple of jobs and we got one of the staff down from Dunedin to fill in a day for us and catch us up a bit. A big thanks to Brendon for stepping in when we needed help. This is often not an easy thing but Brendon handled it well.

We have been busy here in the last month. Repairs have kept Blake busy. I have been on deck again at Telford and Sue has been busy with beginning of the year stuff at In 2 Learning. As a result Sue and I will take a few days off around Otago Anniversary Day and head off to Te Anau before the weather turns too cold.

In addition, we have picked up the contract for HP warranty work in Dunedin and South Otago and this has involved lots of time in training and changing workshop and office procedures. But it is an exciting opportunity which will let the guys work with all sorts of new equipment and meet lots of new customers. So hopefully what this means is that local HP warranty work will now be all done locally.

Microsoft Scam

Thanks to Joshua (whom some of you may remember as a staff member here a few years ago) for this little trick to deal with these bogus technicians. It might take a bit of setting up beforehand though.

When the phone rings and you work out what is happening, tell the “technician” at the other end that you are busy with a meal or whatever and could they call you back on the other line in ten minutes at this number. Then give the number of the local police station. I am not sure how pleased our local constabulary would feel about that but maybe another number could be substituted.

Another trick to try from another customer is to ask the caller to just hold the line a minute while you go and turn a pot down on the stove and then just leave the phone and not come back to it for 15 – 20 minutes.

Insurance Jobs

You are working away late at night with a coffee in one hand and half an eye on the world cup cricket on TV when a slight accident happens – may be the excitement of the cricket! Your laptop gets a flush through with coffee as you spill the contents of the mug into the laptop keyboard. Probably too late at night to call CST. What should you do?

Cut the power to the laptop by removing the power cable from the wall.
Remove the network cable from the wall or router
Turn the laptop over and remove the battery
Check the laptop for a few minutes to ensure there are no other potential problems.
Pat dry any liquid remaining on the laptop or the keyboard.

As soon as possible, get the laptop into a repair shop.
Depending on the liquid – sticky or not – the keyboard may need replacing.

If you have a broken screen, get the laptop to us and we can prepare an insurance quote. To arrange this, we will need a case number and the name of your insurance company. So the best procedure is
1. Drop the laptop into us
2. Contact the insurance company and explain the situation. Get a case number and contact email address for us.
3. Give us those two details and leave the rest to us.
4. Do not be put off by the insurance company if they say to use someone else. If you want to use us, tell them you use CST as your repairer.

In cases of both keyboards and screens, waiting time will be a couple of days while we get parts in. Obviously also, you will need to work out whether an insurance claim is worth it compared to your excess and any no claim bonuses lost.

Clouds

These are asperatus clouds – apparently very rare world wide. The name translates to roughened or agitated waves. It is thought these clouds’ choppy undersides may be due to strong winds disturbing previously stable layers of warm and cold air. Shades of Jim Hickey really.

But I thought it was a pretty picture and amazing colours!

Tech Support Tales

Apparently these are true tales.

Protecting Your IT Hardware

We live in an area where our power supply can at times be a little suspect for a whole host of reasons. If your power is unreliable or “dirty” – ie it fluctuates from high to low which you notice as very bright to very dim lights – then you might want to consider an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to protect your computer.

What this does is sit between your computer and the mains and filter the power. If the power is too high, it will reduce the power to the correct level. If it is too low – a brown out rather than a black out – the UPS kicks in and boosts the power to the correct level. If the power goes out altogether, it will give you time to shut the computer down correctly rather than just let it crash – never good! The traditional surge protector is of limited use. Better than nothing at all but of no use whatsoever if the power dies. They may not be fast enough to catch power spikes.

For the home user, this is probably not really necessary since all your important stuff will be backed up and you will only be without a computer for a few days while we get a new one in or fix the old one. However I your computer is mission critical – ie your business depends on it – you might want to consider one of these. We can easily give you a price for a suitable one.

A home user level one, such as that below, retails for $125.00.

Website of the Month

Many thanks to Connie for this website – a fun, artistic site (which pretty much counts me out). Add my colour blindness to the artistic flair of an earthworm and I will leave this stuff to Connie.

I found this fun site for arty types or types who would like to be arty. It gives hundreds of symbols to pick from. Choose a symbol and then it gives a white background to draw with the symbol. When one gets tired of that symbol just click any button to get another symbol. No two drawings will ever be alike

Drunk Joke

A drunk walks into a bar and says to the bartender, Drinks for all on me. That is including you, bartender.

The bartender follows the man’s order and says, That will be $42.50 please.

The drunk says he has no money, and the bartender slaps him around and throws him out.

The next night, the same drunk comes in and orders a drink for everyone in the bar including the bartender. Again, the bartender follows the drunk’s instructions and the drunk says he has no money. So the bartender slaps him around and throws him out.

On the third night he comes in, the drunk orders drinks for everyone except the bartender.

The bartender says, What, no drink for me?

Oh, no. You get violent when you drink.

Fail Pic

To finish this newsletter, I could not resist this. Both Sue and I are grammar and spelling nerds and I thought this was as bad a fail as I have seen for a while.