Common IT questions, answered

Act immediately. The first 30 minutes matter most.

• Change your password from a different, trusted device
• Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) if it's not already on
• Check your sent folder for emails you didn't send
• Review account recovery settings (phone number, backup email) to make sure they haven't been changed
• Notify your team not to click links from your account until it's secured

If you use Microsoft 365, we can check sign-in logs to see exactly when and where unauthorized access occurred. Submit a service request and mark it as High urgency.

The best approach is a password manager (we recommend Bitwarden for small businesses - free tier works for most teams).

If your team resists password managers, use passphrases instead of passwords. "correct-horse-battery-staple" is more secure and easier to remember than "P@ssw0rd!23".

Minimum standards we enforce:

• 14+ characters (passphrases easily hit this)
• Unique per service (never reuse)
• MFA on everything that supports it

We can set up a company-wide password policy through Microsoft 365 or your existing tools.

Before you call us, try these quick checks:

• Speed test: Go to fast.com on a wired connection. If you're getting less than 50% of your plan speed, the issue is likely with your ISP or router.
• Restart your router: Unplug for 30 seconds, plug back in. Fixes about 60% of issues.
• Check if it's one device or all: If only one computer is slow, the problem is local to that machine (could be malware, outdated drivers, or Wi-Fi interference).
• Wi-Fi vs wired: If wired is fast but Wi-Fi is slow, you may need better access point placement or a mesh system.

If the problem persists after a router restart, submit a request with the speed test results and we'll diagnose remotely.

Yes. Always. This is one of the cheapest and most effective security measures.

A guest network isolates visitors' devices from your internal systems. Without it, anyone who connects to your Wi-Fi could potentially see shared drives, printers, and other devices on your network.

Most modern routers support this natively. We configure guest networks with:

• Client isolation (guests can't see each other)
• Bandwidth limits (so a visitor streaming doesn't tank your speeds)
• A simple, memorable password you can share without worry

Email deliverability issues are usually caused by missing or misconfigured DNS records. The three things every business domain needs:

• SPF record: Tells receiving servers which servers are allowed to send email on behalf of your domain
• DKIM record: Adds a cryptographic signature to prove emails haven't been tampered with
• DMARC record: Tells receiving servers what to do with emails that fail SPF/DKIM checks

We can audit your domain's email authentication in about 15 minutes and fix most issues within an hour. This alone resolves the majority of "going to spam" complaints.

For most small businesses (under 25 people), Microsoft 365 Business Basic ($6/user/month) covers everything:

• Business email with your domain
• Teams for chat and video calls
• 1TB OneDrive storage per user
• Web versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint

Upgrade to Business Standard ($12.50/user/month) if your team needs desktop Office apps.

Skip Business Premium ($22/user/month) unless you have compliance requirements (HIPAA, etc.) or need advanced threat protection. We can evaluate whether Premium features are worth it for your situation.

Follow the 3-2-1 rule:

• 3 copies of your data
• 2 different storage types (e.g., local drive + cloud)
• 1 copy offsite (cloud backup or physically remote)

For most of our clients, this looks like:

• OneDrive/SharePoint for daily file sync (included with Microsoft 365)
• Automated nightly backup to a cloud service like Backblaze or Wasabi
• Weekly verification that backups are actually restorable (most people skip this and regret it)

Critical: Microsoft 365 does NOT back up your data by default. If someone deletes a file, you have a limited window to recover it. We recommend a third-party backup solution for M365.

Usually yes, but time matters.

• OneDrive/SharePoint: Deleted files go to the recycle bin for 93 days. After that, they're gone unless you have a backup service.
• Local files: Check the Recycle Bin first. If emptied, recovery depends on whether the drive sectors have been overwritten.
• Email: Deleted items can typically be recovered by an admin for up to 30 days in Microsoft 365.

The sooner you report it, the better the chances. Submit a request with what was deleted and when.

Every 4-5 years for most business laptops and desktops.

Signs it's time to replace:

• Boot time over 2 minutes (even after cleanup)
• Can't run the latest OS (Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0)
• Frequent crashes or hardware failures
• Repair cost exceeds 40% of replacement cost

Budget tip: Buy business-grade (Dell Latitude, Lenovo ThinkPad, HP ProBook) not consumer-grade. They cost 10-20% more upfront but last significantly longer and include better warranties.

We can do a hardware audit and create a replacement schedule so you're never hit with a surprise bulk purchase.