Free Storage Offer - One Terabyte

Free Storage Offer, One Terabyte for One Year

This offer for free storage is at our FREE Storage offer page.

Our free storage for a year offer is great!  No credit card required.  More info below….

We’ve added a few pages to tell you about both free offers at our site currently on our site.  The second is an offer for a free technology review.

Back to the free storage offer … here’s an email we’ve been sending to clients, friends and associates (including us Referrals Partners and Wisconsin Business Owners):

Hello Partners,

This is Mark Mullarky, a U.S. Referrals Partner-at-Large. I’m inviting you to try out Datto Drive, a brand new file storage platform built by Datto.

Datto Drive is a best-in-class file sync & share tool that will allow your team to store and collaborate on all of your files and projects from any operating system or mobile device. Best of all, for the next year, 1 TB of cloud storage space is available for FREE for the first one million Datto Drive customers. As a Datto partner, we are able to provide you early access to this incredible offer.

After the first year, it will cost $10 per month for 1TB of space with unlimited users, or you may discontinue the service.

To claim your 1 TB of free cloud storage today, click here to sign up your business for Datto Drive.

Please call me at 262-720-3668 if you have any questions.

Regards,
Mark Mullarky
Mullarky Business Systems, LLC

11933 W Burleigh St Suite 204

Wauwatosa, WI 53222

262-720-3668

www.mbswi.com

Please contact us with any questions or suggestions!  We welcome the opportunity to be of service!

Free Storage Offer - One Terabyte

Business Continuity vs. Backup - Datto Comes Through

Planning for Business Continuity

For the sake of business continuity, we often plan for a disaster that never comes.

Test backups to see if you can actually restore them! This is a real-world case of BUSINESS CONTINUITY – keeping right on going through a case that would have slowed or stopped many businesses.

In the case of your server backups, you

Datto Siris 2 not only backs up files – it backs up EVERYTHING – so it can act as a server when your server is not working – keeping your business continuity going!

should be doing a test-restore periodically to make sure your backup procedures actually work.  Though, like an insurance policy, you hope you never need it.

One of my larger clients has a Datto Siris2 unit in place. This unit backs up all of their servers hourly and keeps a BOOTABLE image of those servers.

Think about that for a minute.  Instead of a “file backup”, which is just your data, this is a snapshot of your entire server at a point in time.  Now imagine we can power-up that snapshot and have a running server in a matter of minutes.  Datto’s backup of your server can be started as a virtual machine and the users can do business as usual.

Business Continuity – A Success Story

This is not just a “backup”.  This is not just “disaster recovery”.   This is Business Continuity!

One Sunday night, I was doing a batch of Windows updates on a client’s Windows 2012 server.  This client runs 24 hours a day, five days a week, so I always do the updates on the weekend. This time, one of the Windows Updates didn’t go very well. When the server did not appear back on the network, I checked the VMware console to see what was happening. The screen said an update failed. “Last Known Good” did not work. The server would not boot in safe mode. A startup repair did not work.  I was running out of tricks!

A little Internet research told me this happened to some other people as well.  The fix looked like a long and painful process.

By now, it was quite late on Sunday night.  People would start showing up to work bright and early Monday morning.  Not good!  I was out of time and patience.  If this client did not have a Datto Siris2, I would have slept a couple hours, then gone onsite in the morning to work some magic – while dozens of people hover and ask “Is it fixed yet?  How long will it be?”

I logged into the Datto Siris2 interface and started the server’s newest backup as a virtual machine. I changed the IP address as required, and THAT’S IT! The server was back in operation and the fail-over was undetectable to any of the users on Monday morning.

This coming weekend, I’ll move the virtual machine from the Datto unit to the production hardware.  No lost data, no lost productivity, no lost sleep! 

 

Business Continuity vs. Backup - Datto Comes Through

Windows 10 - Should You Upgrade?

Windows 10 Coming Soon

January 30, 2016 Editor’s Note:  This post was published on June 9, 2015.  Please see our latest post on the subject at http://www.mbswi.com/2016/01/windows-10-upgrades/

If you have even a casual interest in computers, you have likely heard about the release of Windows 10. There is a lot of hype about this release and people have high expectations. The latest rumors say Windows 10 will be released in July.  Some sites say “it’s official” – Windows 10 will be released on July 29th, 2015.

This 1 1/4 minute video has nearly a million views in the first week:  Windows 10 Features

Our advice to business users is to hold off on the actual upgrade to Windows 10

The best policy is to upgrade ONE computer that runs your critical programs.

Windows 10 coming soon…should you upgrade?

After testing and confirming that everything works as expected, then go ahead with the rest.

Even at that,
I would let the early adopters work out some of the bugs before I get on board.

Naturally, make sure you have your critical information backed up before you start the process.

The download will be massive, and I’m sure it will take a LONG time to install.

Set aside time to plan, install, implement and test in round one (the One Computer evaluation).

Set aside plenty of time for the same in round two ( the rest of the network).

Microsoft has already released a Windows Update that prompts you to “sign up” for the free upgrade. You can go ahead with this if you like. The free upgrade offer (see our post from earlier this year:  http://www.mbswi.com/2015/02/free-upgrade-to-windows-10-big-news/)  will be good for one year after its release.

Learn more about your upgrade to Windows 10 at windows.com/windows10upgrade

*********

Please Contact Us if you’d like help testing, planning, installing and implementing Windows 10 on your network in the Greater Milwaukee / Lake Country area.  Our “sweet spot” is networks from a few to 50+ PCs.  Whatever you need, we’re happy to help, or at least to get you going in the right direction.

 

Windows 10 - Should You Upgrade?

Windows 10 Upgrades: Time To Get it Done!

Free Windows 10 Upgrades

Install your free Windows 10 Upgrades before the free offer expires! Last year we advised waiting till they shook out the bugs before upgrading….the time is now!  Do backups first!  Or simply contact us!

Free Windows 10 upgrades are offered by MicroSoft for “authentic” Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 installations.

If you have Windows Vista or older, you are out of luck. For you, the upgrade is possible, but not free.

The Free Windows 10 Upgrades offer expires on July 28, 2016.  It’s time to get going! (By the way, a client who bought a new laptop from Dell had a packaged offer for the free upgrade that expires in February!  (He called Dell Support to check on that, but gave up after an hour listening to music on hold, interspersed with messages about how much they cared about their customers.)

We recommend that you evaluate your software, back up your system, and upgrade ONE computer.   When you have tested it and you’re comfortable with it, the rest of your computers can be upgraded.

Although it’s possible to upgrade your computers one at a time over the Internet, using Windows Update, it’s not very efficient if you have a number of computers to upgrade. Microsoft has an ISO image available to make the process of Windows 10 upgrades easier.

The Windows 10 upgrades, and particularly the free offer, raise a lot of questions.  The best article I have found is: at ZDNet.

So, what have I seen so far when implementing Windows 10?

The Windows 10 upgrade takes quite a while to download and install.   If you have the option to “Download now, install later”, do so!

I have been running free Windows 10 upgrades for some time now.  The only oddities I have noticed are Internet-related.  Although Windows 10 uses the new Edge browser by default, Internet Explorer is still there, but you have to look for it! In my case, I use an online application that uses ActiveX to talk to QuickBooks. Edge does not support ActiveX.   So, for that application only, I use Internet Explorer, and that works just fine.  We found similar oddities for clients, and offered them similar workarounds right away.  Ensuring they kept running efficiently.

Also, your Internet favorites are not automatically imported into Edge.  The first time you run Edge, it should give you the option to import Favorites.  If you missed that, you can open Edge, click “…” in the upper right corner, and click “View Favorites Settings”.  Here, you will see the option to import favorites from Internet Explorer.

Windows 10 Upgrades – The Time is Now

When using Edge, click the button that looks like three horizontal lines. This is referred to as the “Hub”.   At the top of the Hub, you’ll see buttons to show your favorites, reading list, history, and downloads.  Click the star to view your favorites.

In a couple cases, the user’s start menu items disappear. If that happens to you, call us.

You can do the free Windows 10 upgrades, or have a professional do the backups and implementation for you.  We’ve successfully installed or supervised the install of scores of free Windows 10 upgrades – even though many installations included little ‘surprises’ we had to overcome!

Contact us if you’re ready to get going with Windows 10. The time is now!

Windows 10 Upgrades: Time To Get it Done!

Windows 10 Upgrades: Time To Get it Done!

Free Windows 10 Upgrades

Install your free Windows 10 Upgrades before the free offer expires! Last year we advised waiting till they shook out the bugs before upgrading….the time is now!  Do backups first!  Or simply contact us!

Free Windows 10 upgrades are offered by MicroSoft for “authentic” Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 installations.

If you have Windows Vista or older, you are out of luck. For you, the upgrade is possible, but not free.

The Free Windows 10 Upgrades offer expires on July 28, 2016.  It’s time to get going! (By the way, a client who bought a new laptop from Dell had a packaged offer for the free upgrade that expires in February!  (He called Dell Support to check on that, but gave up after an hour listening to music on hold, interspersed with messages about how much they cared about their customers.)

We recommend that you evaluate your software, back up your system, and upgrade ONE computer.   When you have tested it and you’re comfortable with it, the rest of your computers can be upgraded.

Although it’s possible to upgrade your computers one at a time over the Internet, using Windows Update, it’s not very efficient if you have a number of computers to upgrade. Microsoft has an ISO image available to make the process of Windows 10 upgrades easier.

The Windows 10 upgrades, and particularly the free offer, raise a lot of questions.  The best article I have found is: at ZDNet.

So, what have I seen so far when implementing Windows 10?

The Windows 10 upgrade takes quite a while to download and install.   If you have the option to “Download now, install later”, do so!

I have been running free Windows 10 upgrades for some time now.  The only oddities I have noticed are Internet-related.  Although Windows 10 uses the new Edge browser by default, Internet Explorer is still there, but you have to look for it! In my case, I use an online application that uses ActiveX to talk to QuickBooks. Edge does not support ActiveX.   So, for that application only, I use Internet Explorer, and that works just fine.  We found similar oddities for clients, and offered them similar workarounds right away.  Ensuring they kept running efficiently.

Also, your Internet favorites are not automatically imported into Edge.  The first time you run Edge, it should give you the option to import Favorites.  If you missed that, you can open Edge, click “…” in the upper right corner, and click “View Favorites Settings”.  Here, you will see the option to import favorites from Internet Explorer.

Windows 10 Upgrades – The Time is Now

When using Edge, click the button that looks like three horizontal lines. This is referred to as the “Hub”.   At the top of the Hub, you’ll see buttons to show your favorites, reading list, history, and downloads.  Click the star to view your favorites.

In a couple cases, the user’s start menu items disappear. If that happens to you, call us.

You can do the free Windows 10 upgrades, or have a professional do the backups and implementation for you.  We’ve successfully installed or supervised the install of scores of free Windows 10 upgrades – even though many installations included little ‘surprises’ we had to overcome!

Contact us if you’re ready to get going with Windows 10. The time is now!

Windows 10 Upgrades: Time To Get it Done!