Why contact FTR?
Firestone Technical Resources was started to provide old
fashion customer service to the Firestone, Colorado area. We
want to help you with whatever situation your are facing:
computer running slow, got a virus, or just need some training.
We are patient with our customers and will work with them at
their level of expertise.
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What is "Old Fashion" support?
Many years ago people would shop at their local store because
the store owner lived and operated his business in his own town.
This allowed people to cultivate personal relationships with the
store owner. The store owner understood his community and his
customers allowing him to provide more caring and personal
service - not just the common corporate bottom line. Firestone
Technical Resources mission is to provide this same type of
support to its customers.
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Is Identity Theft Real?
Identity theft is on the rise. According to the Javelin
Strategy & Research Center ID theft affected almost 10
million victims in 2008; a 22% increase from from the prior
year. Victims are spending their own valuable time and money
to correct the damage from ID theft. The mean cost per
victim is $500.
Identity theft can happen to anyone. For example, you
purchase a meal at a restaurant with a credit card; your
restaurant attendant makes a copy of your information; the
person impersonates you to purchase items on the Internet.
An additional scenario you should really be cautious of is
making copies on your business copier. Any document you copy
is stored on the copier's hard drive. When that copier is
retired, often the hard drive is not wiped clean. All of the
copy impressions stored can be easily recovered by a thief.
Here’s a brief overview of the types of identity theft based
on Federal Trade Commission complaint data:
- Credit Card fraud (26%)
- Utilities fraud (18%)
- Bank fraud (17%)
- Employment fraud (12%)
- Loan fraud (5%)
- Government fraud (9%)
- Other (13%)
So how can you be protected? Be mindful of where and how you
use confidential information. Enroll in an identity theft
protection service such as Pre-Paid Legal Services. Don't
assume that the data on a defective computer hard drive is
unrecoverable. Work with your local IT support company to ensure
any computer equipment that is scheduled to be recycled is
wiped clean of any information.
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Will repairing my computer cost allot?
We do our best to make computer repairs affordable for all
types of clients. We provide flat rate fees (not including
parts) for repairing home computers, which is often far less
than the purchase of a new computer. Repairing a home
computer typically costs less than $150.
We provide some of the
lowest business rates because we know that small businesses
have limited budgets. Our rates for small businesses, less
than 5 employees, are typically less than $75/hr and our
midsized business rates are typically less than $125/hr.
We value our relationships with our clients and know that
when they advertise for us we don't have to spend those
dollars ourselves. Therefore we provide patronage and
referral discounts to our clients as a way to say Thanks
back for helping our business grow.
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Can my data be recovered?
Hard drive failures, virus infections, system corruption,
and the accidental formatting of hard drives is a common
part of our business. In most cases your important data can
be recovered with the use of special tools and time. The
average data recovery is about 24 hours. If you have
extremely sensitive data that must be recovered, we have
partnerships with forensic and other data recovery firms
such as Kroll Ontrack.
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What is Green computing?
This is a belief and practice whereby everything that is computer related
has a minimal or no impact on the environment which we live in.
This means that the computing equipment manufactured, the power
it uses to operate, and the disposal of the equipment does not
cause harm to the environment. For a more complete definition
see
GREEN COMPUTING on Wikipedia.
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What is the cloud?
The cloud is a long time symbol for the unknown realm of networking. It
consists of many service providers that interoperate together to
allow you to accomplish a specified task or objective. A network
cloud would consist of various network hardware and cabling
owned and operated by a number of telecommunication companies
for the purpose of providing voice and data communications
between clients. Cloud computing is a method of using
applications and storing data on demand using the internet just
like the electric grid is used for distributing electricity. See
also
CLOUD COMPUTING on Wikipedia.
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