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Ferrum Technology Services Blog

Ferrum Technology Services has been serving the Elgin area since 2007, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

Industry Professionals Report that the Chip Shortage Could Lead to Counterfeits

Industry Professionals Report that the Chip Shortage Could Lead to Counterfeits

The pandemic placed a heavy emphasis on the capabilities for organizations to shift to remote operations, and if you were one of the many companies to seek additional equipment and hardware to make this happen, you might have noticed a lack of product out there. The global chip shortage has made it difficult for companies to procure new equipment, but there is another darker side to this story, particularly in regards to issues in the supply chain.

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Semiconductor Shortage Wreaking Havoc with Supply Chains

Semiconductor Shortage Wreaking Havoc with Supply Chains

Technology supply chains have been world-renowned for being some of the most dynamic and strongest for over a decade. Currently, companies are having problems procuring computers and networking equipment because of a global shortage of computer chips. Let’s take a look at the issue in today’s blog. 

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What You Need to Successfully Work from Home

What You Need to Successfully Work from Home

When you work from home for any length of time, you’ll come to understand that there are certain things that you need in order to get your job done. Depending on the type of work you do, you could need different tools. Today, let’s take a look at some of the most important tools your business can use to find success with a remote workforce. 

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Solid State Storage Can Breathe New Life Into Your Computer

Solid State Storage Can Breathe New Life Into Your Computer

When you are looking to buy a new computer, you need to consider the options available for data storage. This is especially true if you are looking to replace a computer used by several users. The more people that use a computer the more files will likely be stored, after all. Today, however, there is another determination to be made: how fast is your storage device?

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Tip of the Week: Activating Clicklock on a Laptop

Tip of the Week: Activating Clicklock on a Laptop

Laptops are pretty great. They’re powerful, yet portable computers that can be brought effectively anywhere work needs to be done. That being said, there are a few drawbacks that can irritate many users to some extent. For instance: trying to click-and-drag your cursor as you are using the trackpad. For this week’s tip, let’s go into a feature that you can use to make this process a lot simpler.

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Is Your IT Infrastructure Fully Documented and Tracked?

Is Your IT Infrastructure Fully Documented and Tracked?

When reviewing their inventory, many businesses forget to consider one of their most used, most important resources: their technology. Let’s go over a few reasons that your business’ technology inventory needs to be tracked—and what goes into properly doing so.

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Is the Cloud More than Your Business Needs?

Is the Cloud More than Your Business Needs?

Five months into the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have resolved to shift their operations and replace a lot of their onsite computing hardware with cloud solutions. While the cloud has proven to be a great method for businesses to obtain the resources they need without investing in the associated costs of a hardware refresh, its other costs could prove problematic. Let’s examine your options briefly and try to establish a sense of value.

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Solid Inventory Management Starts for Under $100

Solid Inventory Management Starts for Under $100

While stocking up ahead of time may be a sound strategy for things like breakfast cereal and toilet paper, the same cannot often be said in your business. In fact, excess inventory can sometimes cost your business a lot of money. That’s why we figured that we would discuss how an inventory strategy can help prevent redundant spending in your business.

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Storing Data Is a Miracle of Physics That We All Put Too Much Trust Into

Storing Data Is a Miracle of Physics That We All Put Too Much Trust Into

We all store data on our computers. Whether you have family photos and text documents on your home computer, or databases and on-premises applications running your entire business, data is typically stored in exactly the same way. If you knew how delicate your data actually was, you’d never let a single file exist in one place ever again. Let’s explore that.

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Tip of the Week: Old Mobile Devices Still Have Value

Tip of the Week: Old Mobile Devices Still Have Value

Most smartphone users like to get a new phone every year or two. This isn’t just because the hardware or software on newer devices are better, but because after two years, many people have dropped their devices a half dozen times and there are cracks and dings in the device. After two years most device’s batteries start to degrade. Some newer software isn’t compatible or won’t run on older devices. Whatever your reason is for getting a new smartphone, you should know that your old smartphone still has some value. For this week’s tip, we’ll outline some ways you can use your old mobile device:

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Network Attached Storage Explained

Network Attached Storage Explained

A business’ data is one of its biggest assets. For the smaller business, large portions of an IT budget can be spent storing data. One way to keep costs down and maintain control over all this data is by utilizing Network Attached Storage (NAS). 

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Is It Time for a Technology Refresh?

Is It Time for a Technology Refresh?

Your business is always looking for ways to improve its operations. The more efficiently you do business, the more productive your company will be. To accelerate this growth many businesses look to information technology to build that added efficiency. Today, we will go over when you should consider upgrading your systems, and what benefits you can see from doing so. 

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Tip of the Week: Laptop Cleaning Best Practices

Tip of the Week: Laptop Cleaning Best Practices

While we don’t mean to gross you out, your computer can be a pretty dirty place - and considering that we have our hands all over it (and who knows what else) all day, it seems a little obvious. What is also obvious is the idea that perhaps it should be cleaned once in a while. Here, we’re giving you a few tips to help you to do so safely.

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An Introduction to Bloatware

An Introduction to Bloatware

Getting a new computer or smartphone is always exciting for the individual. For the growing business, however, getting new computers can be a giant pain in the neck. That’s not to say that a hardware refresh isn’t an exciting time for a business, it’s just that to get the new hardware to a point where it can be usable takes some doing. Today, we’ll talk a little bit about bloatware, why manufacturers install it, and how to get rid of it quickly. 

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Delivering Efficiency with Managed IT, Part V

Delivering Efficiency with Managed IT, Part V

Information technology has a critical role in any business. The key part of an outstanding IT system, is the technology itself. Businesses greatly benefit from IT support that procures the latest and greatest technological developments. So, is your IT provider delivering the best value possible?

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Your Computer May be Older than You

Your Computer May be Older than You

Think about how much office technology has changed over just the last 10 years. Remember those bulky, 60-pound CRT monitors? Remember thinking a 32” screen was a TV, not a computer monitor? While you more than likely have replaced those old computer monitors, what is the status of your computer hardware? If you purchased your computer at the same time as that monitor, your hardware is also extremely outdated. How do you know exactly how old your computer is, and when it’s nearing retirement?

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Our Comprehensive Guide to Purchasing a New Computer, Part V

Our Comprehensive Guide to Purchasing a New Computer, Part V

You might think you have all the information you need to make the best decision possible for your business’ computers, but there are a few other odds and ends you should think about. This final part of our computer buying guide will focus on topics that didn’t seem to fit in other parts of our guide.

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Our Comprehensive Guide to Purchasing a New Computer, Part IV

Our Comprehensive Guide to Purchasing a New Computer, Part IV

Your new desktop is nothing but show without a display to make use of it. Here are some of the major considerations you’ll need to think about when purchasing a new display for your device.

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Our Comprehensive Guide to Purchasing a New Computer, Part III

Our Comprehensive Guide to Purchasing a New Computer, Part III

In this part of our computer buying guide, we’re focusing on storage space. Modern devices have several options available to them for storage, but the amount of space will vary by the brand of the device and the types of external storage used. Needless to say, knowing how much storage is available on your device will be extremely important, as it will dictate how you use it and what you store on it.

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Our Comprehensive Guide to Purchasing a New Computer, Part II

Our Comprehensive Guide to Purchasing a New Computer, Part II

In part two of our desktop buying guide, we’ll focus on RAM, or random access memory. Some users have difficulty understanding this, so we’ll do our best to make sure it’s easy to grasp and apply to your own purchasing habits. You’ll learn how to make the best decisions regarding how much RAM your device will need.

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