Sarasota PC Monitor
Get to Know our Advertisers (11/03)
A Better Computer Solution, Inc.
by Pete Theisen
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.Are you having problems with your computer? Has the performance of your computer changed since you bought it? Are you thinking of upgrading your computer? Are you in the market for a new computer that is better than the ?runof-the-mill? computer, or something that is custom- made to your special needs? Do you think you have a virus or has a hacker gotten in your computer? Do you need help designing your own website? Would you like to have a custom-made business program to run your day-to-day operations, and have it designed the way YOU think? These are just a few of the problems that A Better Computer Solution, Inc.can help you with.
The people at A Better Computer Solution, Inc. are dedicated to providing their customers with the quickest possible service for their computer systems and networks at the most reasonable cost. They pride themselves with this policy: We will not mislead you about what has to be done to your system, nor will we tell you something can be fixed if it cannot be fixed. What we WILL do is tell you what it will take to fix your computer, or, if it isn't worth repairing, what it will cost to replace it with a custom-built system designed SPECIFICALLY to YOUR NEEDS! If you take the repair or the new computer, there is no diagnostic charge.
Larry Hicks, the owner of A Better Computer Solution says We have based our years of service to the Sarasota-Manatee county area on one basic principle: There are no strangers here, only friends we haven't met. Like a good friend of yours, we believe in dealing fairly, honestly and in a straightforward manner with our customers. In other words, to use a well-worn phrase, we tell it like it is. If you need help, we are here to assist you. The question that is never asked is the question that is never answered.
A Better Computer Solution, Inc.specializes in upgrades, repairs and maintenance for the IBM-compatible personal computer (PC). ABCS people also design, build and maintain PC-based networking systems for the home and office. With 24-hour emergency help available, the following is a list of just a few of the services they provide: Virus detection, recovery and repair; Data recovery on virus-damaged or hardware- damaged systems; Repairs and upgrades (in their shop or on your site until 9:00PM if needed); Custom-built computer systems tailored to your specific needs; Computer network systems, including home or office 100Base wiring; Web site design and programming from a simple site to e-commerce and data enabled; Customized database systems and intranets to meet personal and business needs; Printer service and repair with a 48 to 72 hour turn-around; and Monitor diagnostics, repair and/or replacement. Not only that ,if you don?t see what you need in this list, you can call 379-6530.
A Better Computer Solution is The Center for Computer Disease Controlaccording Larry. It has become a fact of computer life that there are things called viruses out there that can and will attack your computer! The damage that can be done to your computer can be anything from a dumb message that pops up on your screen to a complete deletion of all your files, and physically damaging or even destroying your hard drive and motherboard.
A computer virus is really like a virus we humans get in our bodies. Some are annoying, and we can recover with medication or proper treatment. And some viruses can be deadly (need I bring up the AIDS-HIV example?). With proper precautions, we can generally avoid human viruses or prepare our bodies through proper diet and/or lifestyle to reduce the effects when we do get them. Viruses in computers are basically the same thing; when we open e-mail attachments (and most viruses now are spread by friends, or people we know, sending them to us) or when we leave our computers running and on-line continuously through the new highspeed connections such as cable modems or DSL (think what would happen if you left your front door open and then left for a 2-week vacation), we leave ourselves open to attack! It?s not a pretty picture! But you can protect your computer, or at least give it a good chance of surviving these attacks. A good anti-virus and firewall program will help reduce the attacks on your computer or the effects that these attacks produce.
BUT! What happens if you do get a virus??? How do you remove it if it stops your antivirus software from installing (and there are a LOT of viruses out there now that do this)? How do you save your data on your computer and not risk re-infecting your computer when you put the data back in your system? How do you even know what the heck the virus is (after all, at last count, there were over 65,000 known viruses out there, and more being found every DAY)? This is our specialty! We have had unequalled success at finding and cleaning viruses off infected computers, rescuing people?s data, repairing systems that have been attacked and returning the computers to their proper running condition. Just like a doctor, we have spent a GREAT deal of time and research in learning about these things and how to control them! If you get a virus, call your doctor; if your computer gets a virus, call us!
A Better Computer Solution is located in the Center Gate Professional Office Park at 5540 Bee Ridge Road in Sarasota. A Better Computer Solution is open from 7:30 AM to 4:50 PM Monday through Friday. They also schedule work from 3:00 AM to 9:00 PM by appointment. The company founder, Larry Hicks, moved to Sarasota in 1971, and started consulting work in 1989.
Some of the companies that A Better Computer Solution has alliances with: Microsoft Corp. - Microsoft OEM System Builder; Symantec Corp. - Solutions Delivery Program Partner; Compaq - Authorized After- Service Reseller; Hewlett-Packard - Extended Solutions Partnership; Copy Technologies - Partner; Okidata Corp. - Authorized Service Partner; Philips Alliance - Reseller Partnership; Xirlink Corp. - Partner; Western Digital Corp. - Registered OEM RMA Provider; Fujitsu Corp. - Registered RMA Storage Drive Provider; American Power Conversion (APC) - Certified Reliability Provider; Kingston Technologies - Network Preferred Reseller Partner; Microsoft Corp. - Direct Access Business Critical Support. For more info on the company, try their website www.a-bc-s.com.
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Copyright 2003. This article is from the November 2003 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,100+ members and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User Groups (APCUG), the Florida Assoc. of PC Users Groups, Inc., and we are members of the America Online Ambassador Program.
See http://www.spcug.org for all reviews from the Sarasota PC Monitor, go to the Newsletter Section.