From crashed hard drives to computers that won’t start, the largest part of managed IT services is basic maintenance of computers. In an organisation of any size, small or large, computers are relied on to perform almost all duties – from typing to design, marketing and many other functions. Programs are used for all sorts of industries, and as we get more technologically advanced, our systems get more complicated and prone to problems. Rather than risking making the problem worse by trying to fix problems yourself, call in the experts with IT services that ensure that your computer stays up and running at all times. And when or if something goes wrong, you will know who to call.

Other services include the following:

• Viruses and Spyware Problems

It takes just one email forward that is infected with spyware, worms, Trojans or other viruses to infect an entire network – bringing your entire business to a halt as computers freeze, shut down or simply stop working. From virus protection to trouble shooting and virus fixing, IT services will ensure that your computer is both protected against future viruses and healed from existing viruses that may affect the running of your system.

• Network Management

The network controls all computers within an office or organisation. If a network goes down, very often that means that every computer within the network also goes down, leaving the entire office unable to continue working. Network management services guarantee you quick response times, optimal network health and outstanding technical support from your IT services company, allowing you to not lose any valuable time in the event of a network problem. A reputable managed IT services firm will offer network management for a fixed monthly fee, regardless of the number of hours used.

• Internet Connectivity

Your IT services company will also set up and managed internet connectivity, from leading ISP (internet service providers) – assisting when internet connection drops, and helping you maintain daily usage of bandwidth and data packages. With internet slowly improving in South Africa, consumers have a choice of ADSL, 3G and other connection options, and a good managed IT services company will be able to advise the best option to suit your needs – whether you are a business or home internet user.

• Remote Backups

Many businesses do not realise the importance of having effective data or server backup. Managed IT services ensure that your data is kept safe and secure at all times. A remote backup and data recovery service ensures that your critical data is properly backed up to an offsite location. This means that you never have to worry about losing precious data in the event of a system or server crash.

• Hardware and Software Procurement

IT companies provide all the top brands at competitive prices, allowing companies to get all the benefits of wholesale prices directly from leading companies who deal direct with companies rather than with consumers. After all, who better to source your hardware and software than the company that will be responsible for managing it? If your IT company is charging you a fortune for products, or even the same rates that are seen in store, it may be time to change to a managed IT services company that brings you good deals and excellent prices to ensure better value for money.

Without a doubt, virus protection software is the most important piece of software you need on your computer. There are a number of excellent antivirus products out there on the market. With antivirus software, you are not only protecting your computer, but also and just as importantly, you are protecting all the computers on the local area network that you are connected to. Also everyone is now on the internet, and in that case, antivirus protection becomes even more important as online viruses, spyware, and worms, multiply at a rapid rate; do not risk exposing your pc to their devastating effects.

Although antivirus software is a must, the protection it provides comes with increased complexity. If you get a virus on your computer before the antivirus provider has released a new virus definition file, a virus scan may think that your machine is not infected. Unfortunately for Windows, there are no virus packages provided as part of the basic operating system. The good news is that you can get free antivirus protection if you wish so.

The level of damage caused by virus and other malware varieties is huge. At a minimum, they can be extremely annoying and cause your pc to slow to a crawl. Viruses and spyware are threats to anyone using a pc. It therefore makes a lot of sense that antivirus software is the most common security application on people’s computers. With the leading antivirus packages, virus definitions are automatically refreshed to maintain high levels of protection.

Virus scanners are quick, work well, and provide easy drag & drop if you are scanning specific directories or files. Viruses sometimes have payloads – a set of commands that executes only when certain conditions are there, such as at a given date and time. These commands can vary from popping a message to debilitating effect such as reformatting your hard drive or disabling and damaging your system. Make sure to enable the scheduler which would run automated scans at preset times; this feature is usually on be default.

Free Antivirus Programs

If you do not currently have the budget for programs such as Norton or McAfee antivirus and are searching for basic antivirus software on your computer, then check out AVG antivirus – which is a great software to protect your computer; as long as you use AVG for personal and non-commercial use, then it is free; businesses of course have to pay a license fee.

The way virus software deal with a threat varies. Each package has its own algorithm for responding to a virus threat, and the response can vary depending on in what phase of scan the virus is detected at. The software at times will show a dialog box informing you that it has located a virus and inquiring if you want it to clean the offending file (in order to delete the virus). In some other cases, the software may try to remove the virus without prompting. When you install an antivirus package, familiarize yourself with the package and its features to get maximum level of protection and avoid preventable damage to your computer’s software.

In summary, antivirus protection software is a must-have for you and one of the very first packages that you must install on your computer. Not doing this will invite viruses and spyware and ultimately lead to massive loss of time and productivity due to computer crashes.