Remote managed services are gaining a lot of attraction these days. Companies are looking to outsource the maintenance and monitoring of their IT infrastructure to a third party to improve efficiency and save costs. BizTech2.com caught up with Uday Challu, founding partner and CEO, iYogi, to see what the company has to offer in this space.
As far as Enterprise and SME customers are concerned, which verticals are you focusing on?
Our focus will mostly be on small companies with around five to 100 users and also firms that have multiple small branch offices like travel agencies, retail stores etc.
What kind of support services do you provide to your customers? What is the Green PC service?
iYogi provides the next generation of remote computer support services for consumers and businesses. For consumers, our live 24/7 support extends to technologies we use everyday, including hardware, software applications, devices, peripherals and networking equipment. iYogi also offers a full range of business IT solutions including managed monitoring, managed services, set-up and installation services, and incident-based services.
Green PC Service
With the current state of the global climate and increasing dependency on the computer, iYogi helps PC users reduce their carbon footprint and save money at the same time. iYogi’s Green PC service is the first in the independent computer support industry to offer customers a way to save money, conserve energy and protect the environment by optimising their PC’s efficiency. Consumers and businesses can save up to $200 per year, per desktop, in energy costs with iYogi’s Green PC application. This green application makes the computer environmentally friendly by reducing power consumption by almost 50 percent.
Our Green PC dashboard helps customise power settings and calculate power savings in kWh (kilowatt hour). The Green PC dashboard also gives a status on the reduction of CO2 and how responsible usage will benefit the environment by saving trees. A customised service that increases the energy efficiency of computers, undertakes the below-mentioned three primary initiatives:
- Computer assessment, analysing settings and PC energy use
- Customised efficiency planning geared specifically to the individual’s usage patterns
- Implementing setting changes to maximise the computer’s energy use
What are the technologies that allow you to offer 24/7 support and ensure there is no downtime at the client site?
We have invested significantly in developing a comprehensive monitoring and management tools stack. This enables us to manage and monitor all devices in the office network as well as for branch offices and mobile users. Our tools continuously monitor the customer’s network and notify our NOC (Network Operations Centre) in case of problems. Based on the set of events, tickets are automatically generated and escalated to corresponding teams. Over and above our proactive approach, the customer always has an option to call our 24X7 support line for issues that are not identified via the monitoring tools.
Please throw some light on your proprietary iMantra technology.
iMantra is a CRM system, which is tailor-made to suit the emerging business needs at iYogi. It allows for the formation of individualised customer relationships with the aim of providing personalised services to each subscriber. This tool is built on the latest java technology with a layered architecture that makes it scalable and secure. This architecture provides a seamless workflow and independent channels for various business needs: sales, support, quality and customer service. The entire system can be exposed in the form of secure APIs and Web services, which makes it a re-usable entity.
Your business model is similar to BPOs in India providing technical support to offshore customers. What unique values do you bring to this ecosystem that would help a potential client choose you over a competitor?
iYogi’s business model is different from traditional BPOs. Some key factors that differentiate iYogi include:
- Direct-to-consumer and -small business: iYogi delivers technical support services directly to consumers and small businesses and is a global technical support brand based out of India. Unlike traditional BPOs in India, iYogi does not provide any private label support and/ or work on behalf of large OEMs or software publishers.
- Optimised Processes: iYogi has developed proprietary processes for consistently delivering on a resolution rate of 87 percent, which is among the highest published benchmarks in the support industry, where averages hover in the range of 50 percent.
- Comprehensive technology platform: iYogi’s global delivery platform, iMantra, gets smarter with every customer interaction. It documents every problem, the solution and relevant hardware and software aspects, while capturing each customer’s demographic information and creating a behavioural profile. All of this information is at the fingertips of iYogi’s Global Tech Experts. This set-up combines a knowledge base with a comprehensive set of tools and technology expertise. iYogi offers a range of tools that complement its remote support services for helping customers maintain technology at peak performance levels. iYogi’s products include iYogi Smart PC Scan, iYogi Support Dock, iYogi Green PC and iYogi PC Optimisation.
How do you plan to move up the value chain in the times to come?
The growing use and penetration of the Internet and new Web-based applications has consequently opened the door to threats and vulnerabilities, which affect the system performance and ultimately lead to degrading performance. If the threats are diagnosed early on, the impact on efficiency can be minimised considerably. Currently, a user only realizes that he needs technical support once the damage has occurred and reactive methods of support are used to recover from the loss.
At iYogi, we are developing our capabilities to not only provide support when demanded, but to also monitor, pre-empt and fix threats before they can cause any damage to the computer. This will be possible only by combining technology with processes that are capable of re-defining the way technical support is delivered today.
What is your India strategy?
Technically, we are capable of servicing any geography including India. At this stage, we are looking for the right kind of partners to find access to potential customers and provide them a consolidated, 360-degree solution and services for issues relating to hardware, software, network etc. We aim to launch our India services in the coming six to eight months. Our services will offer clients a one-stop solution for all their business needs.
Source : BizTech2.com
Remote managed services are gaining a lot of attraction these days. Companies are looking to outsource the maintenance and monitoring of their IT infrastructure to a third party to improve efficiency and save costs. BizTech2.com caught up with Uday Challu, founding partner and CEO, iYogi, to see what the company has to offer in this space.
As far as Enterprise and SME customers are concerned, which verticals are you focusing on?
Our focus will mostly be on small companies with around five to 100 users and also firms that have multiple small branch offices like travel agencies, retail stores etc.
What kind of support services do you provide to your customers? What is the Green PC service?
iYogi provides the next generation of remote computer support services for consumers and businesses. For consumers, our live 24/7 support extends to technologies we use everyday, including hardware, software applications, devices, peripherals and networking equipment. iYogi also offers a full range of business IT solutions including managed monitoring, managed services, set-up and installation services, and incident-based services.
Green PC Service
With the current state of the global climate and increasing dependency on the computer, iYogi helps PC users reduce their carbon footprint and save money at the same time. iYogi’s Green PC service is the first in the independent computer support industry to offer customers a way to save money, conserve energy and protect the environment by optimising their PC’s efficiency. Consumers and businesses can save up to $200 per year, per desktop, in energy costs with iYogi’s Green PC application. This green application makes the computer environmentally friendly by reducing power consumption by almost 50 percent.
Our Green PC dashboard helps customise power settings and calculate power savings in kWh (kilowatt hour). The Green PC dashboard also gives a status on the reduction of CO2 and how responsible usage will benefit the environment by saving trees. A customised service that increases the energy efficiency of computers, undertakes the below-mentioned three primary initiatives:
- Computer assessment, analysing settings and PC energy use
- Customised efficiency planning geared specifically to the individual’s usage patterns
- Implementing setting changes to maximise the computer’s energy use
What are the technologies that allow you to offer 24/7 support and ensure there is no downtime at the client site?
We have invested significantly in developing a comprehensive monitoring and management tools stack. This enables us to manage and monitor all devices in the office network as well as for branch offices and mobile users. Our tools continuously monitor the customer’s network and notify our NOC (Network Operations Centre) in case of problems. Based on the set of events, tickets are automatically generated and escalated to corresponding teams. Over and above our proactive approach, the customer always has an option to call our 24X7 support line for issues that are not identified via the monitoring tools.
Please throw some light on your proprietary iMantra technology.
iMantra is a CRM system, which is tailor-made to suit the emerging business needs at iYogi. It allows for the formation of individualised customer relationships with the aim of providing personalised services to each subscriber. This tool is built on the latest java technology with a layered architecture that makes it scalable and secure. This architecture provides a seamless workflow and independent channels for various business needs: sales, support, quality and customer service. The entire system can be exposed in the form of secure APIs and Web services, which makes it a re-usable entity.
Your business model is similar to BPOs in India providing technical support to offshore customers. What unique values do you bring to this ecosystem that would help a potential client choose you over a competitor?
iYogi’s business model is different from traditional BPOs. Some key factors that differentiate iYogi include:
- Direct-to-consumer and -small business: iYogi delivers technical support services directly to consumers and small businesses and is a global technical support brand based out of India. Unlike traditional BPOs in India, iYogi does not provide any private label support and/ or work on behalf of large OEMs or software publishers.
- Optimised Processes: iYogi has developed proprietary processes for consistently delivering on a resolution rate of 87 percent, which is among the highest published benchmarks in the support industry, where averages hover in the range of 50 percent.
- Comprehensive technology platform: iYogi’s global delivery platform, iMantra, gets smarter with every customer interaction. It documents every problem, the solution and relevant hardware and software aspects, while capturing each customer’s demographic information and creating a behavioural profile. All of this information is at the fingertips of iYogi’s Global Tech Experts. This set-up combines a knowledge base with a comprehensive set of tools and technology expertise. iYogi offers a range of tools that complement its remote support services for helping customers maintain technology at peak performance levels. iYogi’s products include iYogi Smart PC Scan, iYogi Support Dock, iYogi Green PC and iYogi PC Optimisation.
How do you plan to move up the value chain in the times to come?
The growing use and penetration of the Internet and new Web-based applications has consequently opened the door to threats and vulnerabilities, which affect the system performance and ultimately lead to degrading performance. If the threats are diagnosed early on, the impact on efficiency can be minimised considerably. Currently, a user only realizes that he needs technical support once the damage has occurred and reactive methods of support are used to recover from the loss.
At iYogi, we are developing our capabilities to not only provide support when demanded, but to also monitor, pre-empt and fix threats before they can cause any damage to the computer. This will be possible only by combining technology with processes that are capable of re-defining the way technical support is delivered today.
What is your India strategy?
Technically, we are capable of servicing any geography including India. At this stage, we are looking for the right kind of partners to find access to potential customers and provide them a consolidated, 360-degree solution and services for issues relating to hardware, software, network etc. We aim to launch our India services in the coming six to eight months. Our services will offer clients a one-stop solution for all their business needs.
Source : BizTech2.com
If you are using a 3rd-party driver provided by your printer manufacturer instead of a driver included with Windows 98, follow the instructions provided by your printer manufacturer to remove and reinstall your printre driver.
1. Click Start, point to Settings, then click Printers.
2. Right-click the printer you want to remove, then click Delete. NOTE: If you are prompted to remove all the files associated with the printer, click Yes.
3. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
4. Double-click Add Printer, and then follow the instructions in the Add Printer Wizard to reinstall the appropriate printer driver.
5. Test to determine if your printing issue is resolved. If your printing issue is not resolved, continue to the next step.
6. Try using the “Generic/Text Only” printer driver for your printer. This test can help determine whether or not your printing issue is related to your printer driver. To try using the “Generic/Text Only” printer driver:
a. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
b. Double-click Add Printer, and then follow the instructions in the Add Printer Wizard to install the Generic/Text Only printer driver as a local printer.
c. Test to determine if you can print using this driver. Note that this driver is a very basic driver, and the printed output may be simplified or appear in a lower resolution. If you can print successfully using the Generic/Text Only printer driver, your printing issue is most likely specific to the printer driver you are using. You should contact your printer manufacturer to inquire about the availability of an updated printer driver, a patch (or fix) for your current driver, or information about any known issues with your driver.
The Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE) is included with most versoin of Windows (although you won't find it on the Start Menu) it enables you to view, search and edit the data within the Registry. There are many methods for starting the Registry Editor, the simeplest is to click on the Start button, then select Run, and in the Open box type "regedit", and if the Registry Editor is installed it should now open and look like the image below.
An alternative Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE) is available for use with
Windows technical support /2000, it includes some additional features not found in the standard version, including; the ability to view and modify security permissions, and being able to create and modify the extended string values REG_EXPAND_SZ & REG_MULTI_SZ.
Create a Shortcut to Regedit
This can be done by simply right-clicking on a blank area of your desktop, selecting New, then Shortcut, then in the Command line box enter "regedit.exe" and click Next, enter a friendly name (e.g. 'Registry Editor') then click Finish and now you can double click on the new icon to launch the Registry Editor.
Using Regedit to modify your Registry
Once you have started the Regedit you will notice that on the left side there is a tree with folders, and on the right the contents (values) of the currently selected folder.
Like Windows explorer, to expand a certain branch (see the structure of the registry section), click on the plus sign [+] to the left of any folder, or just double-click on the folder. To display the contents of a key (folder), just click the desired key, and look at the values listed on the right side. You can add a new key or value by selecting New from the Edit menu, or by right-clicking your mouse. And you can rename any value and almost any key with the same method used to rename files; right-click on an object and click rename, or click on it twice (slowly), or just press F2 on the keyboard. Lastly, you can delete a key or value by clicking on it, and pressing Delete on the keyboard, or by right-clicking on it, and choosing Delete.
Source:
http://www.pctools.com/guides/article/id/1/page/3/
Error Messages due to Hal.dll Error
• "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.'
• "/System32\Hal.dll missing or corrupt:
Please re-install a copy of the above file."
• "Cannot find /Windows\System32\hal.dll'
• "Cannot find hal.dll"
Resolution
1. Restart the PC. The hal.dll error could be a fluke.
2. Check for proper boot order in BIOS. You might see the hal.dll error if the boot order in BIOS is first looking at a hard drive other than your main hard drive.
Note: If you've recently changed your boot order or recently flashed your BIOS, this may be what's causing your problem.
3. Run Windows XP System Restore from a command prompt. If this doesn't work or you're receiving the hal.dll error message before you're able to complete this process, move on to the next step.
4. Repair or replace the boot.ini file. This will work if the cause of the problem is actually Windows XP's boot.ini file and not the hal.dll file, which is often times the case.
Note: If repairing the boot.ini does correct the hal.dll issue but the problem reappears after a reboot and you've recently installed Internet Explorer 8 in Windows XP, uninstall IE8. In this specific situation, IE8 could be the root cause of your hal.dll problem.
source:
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/missinghaldll.htm
The best method to change the windows registry keys, always export or backup the whole windows registry keys on
backup drive before editing. Because any error in Registry can cause serious problem in your computer to run properly.
Follow the given steps to change the Start button setting.
• First click on Start button then type Regedit in Run option.
• In
Registry Editor go to left hand panel, and find HKey_Classes_Root / Directory / Shell
• Here Right click on Shell folder option and add any new key with descriptive name and Press Enter.
• Now Right click on that key and give the full path of that program you are interested to add in start button. For example if you want to add MS excel, then full path may be C:\program file\msoffice\msexcel.EXE.
• Now close all open programs and check the changes in your computer Start button.
See also
online technical support
Nowadays everyone is using computer. Computer is a part of our daily life and make our daily work easy like booking ticket, transferring money so on. Everything from booking ticket to finding a girl for marriage depends on computer now even the world economy and any military strength depends on computer. So everyone have to know how to use computer because if you are not capable of handling pc then you cant survive in this fast developing world. So these make a concern to have a computer maintenance expert around you.
Do you need a
computer technical support Expert?
Most of the peple say "no" because they think that they are very friendly with computer and they think troubleshooting any sort of problem in computer is as easy as making a sandwich in their kitchen, but what happened, at last they mess up their computer because they are not technically sound about computer they do not take any kind of backup of registry and system data backup prior to any troubleshooting steps. But a technocrat took backup of whole system before doing any things. Alought some people know how to check computer for updates, how to remove unwanted and temporary files for cleaning up Hard Disk , how to use good antiviruse and its scanning process, but that is not enogh to mantain a computer.
General users do not notice minute things while installing any software and they messup their PC by changing the home page and making the PC boot slow by adding that programme as startup.
Another thing during
Internet browsing , people do not know about the spywares and virus attack. They click on some add without noticing that it might be a virus, which invite virus and spyware some kind of viruses keep dormant in computer and whenever they get chance they get activated and create problems. Some viruses have antidote of your virus removal software and they cant be removed from your
antivirus programme and at last they chew up your operating system after that there is only one choice left for user and that is to formate the computer.
So you should consult an expert whenever you have some problem with your PC, Because it is your data which is more valuable than the fees of that consult.
Source:
http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/when-should-you-call-a-computer-maintenance-expert-965222.html
There are a lot of Microsoft and non Microsoft email clients available in the market , for example Mozilla thunder bird , lotus notes , Eudora and several other but they all are non Microsoft email clients .There are several Microsoft email client available in the market for example outlook express web mail .Outlook is one of the Microsoft email client and is consider to be one of the best email client used both basically for the business world .
There are various versions of Microsoft outlook available for example outlook 2000, 2003 and latest one is the outlook 2007 each version has several new features added in it .
As we all know that we need security of our data , ie to back up of data in the email client .In the Microsoft outlook Microsoft has a very strong feature of back up of our data , so that we can recover it in all possible it in all possible cases of data loss.
Going to the technical aspects of the backup of the mail client there is file called .Pst .which is created .and out back is in the same file .PST . It stands for the "personal storage group " the default path for this file is " Drive letter/Documents and settings/user/local settings/application data/Microsoft/outlook/outlook .pst "
And the question arises how to back up our data in the outlook , Prior to backup our data in the outlook support , we needs to
email troubleshooting configured in the Microsoft outlook , after we go to the File > then Import and Export , prior to discussing the process of back of data we need to be fimilar with ,what Import and export actually is , Export is basically process backup our data and then comes the import which is recovering the data , ie we can backup our data with export it and recovered the backup data using the import .
Process of backing up of data , for backing up of the data Click the import and export button then export the data > click the .pst file and after that we can give the path , where you want to save the that backup data .
Recovering the data stored in the .pst .There are two ways of doing so firstly go the import and export section and then import the .pst file that you have saved from the destination where you have saved that .pst and wait till the time restoration process is completed
Other way is that , you can simply paste your saved .pst file " Drive letter/Documents and settings/user/local settings/application data/Microsoft/outlook/ " at this destination
But we have mention that .pst file can be recovered , if it's in a good condition but if any how our pst file is corrupted , Then it’s not possible to recover the
data backup from that file .
There are several third party softwares available in the market to improve the corrupted .pst file .
Two possible causes of corruption of .PST file are virus or any other infection and second one is due to the over sizing of the .pst file
There corruption can be removed using the scanpst.exe.
Source:
http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/how-to-backup-your-mails-on-outlook-833829.html
There would have been no need of pc optimization services if our pc can stay new and untouched forever. Since we use them all the time and cannot be sure when it can be full of errors, optimization does play an important role.
With the availability of the Internet, there is no dearth of online pc support resources. You can contact any of the good resource to avail pc optimization services. Also, Internet makes them easy to locate.
These resources offer useful services in a single package thereby making things highly appropriate for you. Buying support services from online shops is certainly much cost effective than calling expensive techs at your premises, be it office or home.
The services which fall under the category of pc optimize are as follows:
Antivirus installation
performing an automatic scan
virus removal Spyware Removal
removing unwanted files, background processes, and programs
Windows updation and hard drive defragmentation.
You can also ask your tech about tips and tweaks to keep your pc in healthy condition. Pc optimization is useful for cleaning the mess accumulated on your system’s hard disk. You can see immense improvements in the working of your system. Once your machine is perfectly optimized, you will no more be annoyed by any pop-ups or useless software programs.
In fact, you can ask your pc support technicians to upload useful programs and back-up your data on safer mode. These techs hold certifications and are highly experienced in handling customer’s pc support needs.
With the help of pc optimization, you can help your PC system run like brand new. These online resources also offer exclusive pc service packages for small to medium sized businesses whose operations mainly depend on network availability.
People are fast embracing online pc support resources to ensure the availability of their valuable data. Another factor which is filling the delight cup of most pc users is 24x7, availability of online pc support resources.
So don't let pc errors become a fact of your life. Avail online pc optimization facilities now and make your PC happy by adding to its longevity as well as efficiency.
Sourcehttp://www.articlesbase.com/security-articles/optimize-your-slow-pc-with-pc-optimization-services-753213.html
