By Laurie Gordon
With schools going remote and businesses having employees work from home, computers are more essential than ever. Computrs Inc is committed to helping the area stay online. It's seeing numerous cases come in where immediate action is needed. Founded and owned by a long-time West Milford resident, Ken Freedman, the business serves the entire area and offers such innovations such as remote access from home to your office desktop PC or server. Computrs Inc has been servicing computers, networks and saving clients' data since 1987.
“If the office uses VOIP (Voice over IP) phone their phone system employees can answer phones and transfer calls to others in the office just as if they were physically still in the office,” said Freedman said. Once Computrs Inc gains access, it's as if one of its workers is sitting in front of the PC or laptop and they can go in and make repairs and revisions.
“Our services are going to be widely needed during this time,” Freedman said. “Because of this, we will be extending hours and helping anyone who leaves a voice mail message after hours.”
Typical situations that are arising include a woman who phoned Computrs Inc this morning who is now going to be working at home for the first time.
“I have contacted Optimum for her since she actually does not even have internet service at home,” Freedman said. “We will handle the entire setup for her to work from home with the Chrome Book her boss is loaning her. I also told her we will interface with the IT person from her office so she wont have any concerns trying to get this working. We can setup additional Wireless access so people working from home can use their laptop outdoors or in rooms that currently don’t have a strong enough signal.”
Computrs Inc on Monday helped a company set up VOIP phones so that employees can answer office calls flawlessly from home.
“Then the senior partner called to say he doesn’t have a home PC,” Freedman said. “We are delivering and setting up a new PC this afternoon for him. It will include the remote support and access to his office so he too can be just as if he was in the office. The call came in at 11:40 and we will be on-site setting him up by three pm today.”
As long as a client is not sick or showing any symptoms, Computrs Inc will go to their home or office to help on any IT issue.
“Another major issue is making sure their home PC as well as their office network is safe and secure,” Freedman said. “If they are working from home they are leaving their network or PC open to being hacked if it not properly protected.”
Steps to ensure security include installing all Microsoft Critical updates and a secure remote access utility or program must be used.
“The Remote Desktop Protocol (also known as RDP) is used to allow remote access to a computer,” Freedman said. “Remote Desktop even comes built-in to most versions of Microsoft Windows. When used within a private network, it's a very powerful business tool. Unfortunately, it's not secure enough to safely expose to the Internet.”
He said that the RDP should be a higher level than the one included with the operating system.
“We would recommend any of the RDP plans such as Idrive, Showmypc, or Logmein.”
Another service Computrs Inc offers is converting clients' home movies to digital format, for instance 8 MM reel to reels and super 8 reel to reel.
“We also convert all the home cam corder tapes to digital,” Freedman said. “We copy them to an external hard drive or usb flash drive so they can be emailed or even put onto a family Youtube channel. This was a nice little side thing we are doing so with people staying home a lot more, they can enjoy their memories.”
For further information or service, call 973-248-9500 or visit: http://www.computrsinc.com. Computrs Inc serves the North Jersey area.