#IT support and maintenance

[imageits-blog]

Preventative IT Maintenance: Keeping Your Business Running Smoothly

With technology moving forward so fast, your business can’t operate without it. Computers, servers, cloud systems and software platforms have to be running smoothly to keep your team productive, defend confidential information and make sure customers receive a good experience.

Unfortunately, IT systems don’t manage themselves without attention.

This is why we need preventative IT maintenance. Regular car servicing makes sure your car avoids breakdowns and preventative IT support does the same for your systems. Here at Image IT, we know that companies who focus on IT before issues arise benefit a lot. We’ll now look at what preventative maintenance means and understand why it helps your business run smoothly.

What Does Preventative IT Maintenance Mean?

Taking care of your IT infrastructure ahead of time is called preventative maintenance. With preventative maintenance, you take action to make sure your systems are in good shape all the time, so you don’t have to rush to solve emergencies.

Such tasks refer to:

Tracking how the system is running

Putting security patches and new versions of the software into use

Regularly using antivirus and malware software

Testing the use of backup options

Updating both your device’s drivers and firmware

Checking the configurations for firewalls and networks

Exchanging ageing equipment to prevent any breakdowns

At Image IT, we set up specialized maintenance services that guarantee your technology remains in top condition and reduces the chance of risks and downtime.

Why Taking Care of Problems in Advance Is Crucial for Companies in Ireland

1. Minimize any time when your business is not working effectively.

Problems with your IT systems such as servers failing, networks breaking or bugs in software, may bring your work to a halt and cost you in both time and money. Doing preventative maintenance lets you catch and manage issues early and this means your business avoids the stress of dealing with major problems.

If a server begins to overheat, it’s possible to handle the issue before it crashes, so you won’t have to deal with expensive downtime and loss of data.

2. Prevent or Stop Cyber Attacks

More and more, businesses in Ireland are facing cyberattacks, most often small and medium-sized companies. Many attackers use old software, unpatched versions and networks that have not been properly set up.

Ongoing upkeep of security tools such as firewalls, antivirus software and system updates, makes it much less likely for your system to become a victim of ransomware, phishing or a data breach.

3. Increase the Lifespan of IT Assets

Just as changing the oil in your car lengthens its engine’s lifespan, looking after your IT equipment in the same way will help it work longer. Regularly taking care of computers stops them from wearing out and prevents too many replacements.

4. Raise the effectiveness of your staff.

This kind of slow work is frustrating and influences how your team feels about their work. If technology runs smoothly, your team won’t have to worry about systems or spend time finding IT solutions.

5. With time, the cost of IT will decrease.

Though it might feel like a pricey addition, upfront maintenance helps save money and prevents serious IT problems. One data breach, meeting replacement or lasting period of downtime can often be more expensive than all your ISP’s services put together.

Important Parts of a Well-Made IT Maintenance Plan

We create preventative maintenance strategies for your business that fit its individual requirements at Image IT. The method we use is:

We watch your systems around the clock.

We watch over your systems around the clock, spotting problems early and fixing them so they don’t impact your work.

Timely Updates and Patch Upgrades

We make sure your operating systems, applications and antivirus are always running on the latest versions.

Test the backup and recovery of your data.

We ensure your backups are properly configured and we regularly perform tests to see how fast you can recover data.

You can do a Network Health Check here.

We examine your network for good speed, serious security flaws and technology issues to confirm your system operates safely and properly.

Managing Assets and Deciding on Their Life

We watch over your equipment and make sure you can update your technology before it starts causing issues.

Support from the users and helpdesk

If your team has any IT questions or concerns, our friendly team is there to lend a non-technical helping hand.

Why Is Image IT a Great Solution?

Operating out of North Dublin, Image IT has been supporting company’s in Ireland for about 15 years. Our knowledgable team delivers helpful, consistent and friendly IT assistance to the companies here in New Zealand.

We are dedicated to forming long-term relationships with clients so we can do more than just address issues; we can help avoid them.

You will gain the following benefits when you work with us:

Transparent pricing

A quick response from the team

Customized maintenance services

Expert opinions offered in a personal way

If you have just a few devices or a complex IT structure, our solutions are designed to match your requirements and your budget.

Benefits You Can See in Life: An Example

There were many issues at one of our clients, a small financial services firm in Dublin, involving downtime in the network and software that was past its update. Following their sign up for our preventative maintenance, we set up a monitoring system, cleaned their network and ran scheduled updates.

The result? A 90% drop in IT issues reported by staff, faster systems, and peace of mind for their management team knowing their data and systems were protected.

Your Next Step: Secure Your Business with Preventative IT Support

Don’t wait for a system failure, data breach, or productivity drop to remind you of your IT vulnerabilities. Preventative maintenance is one of the smartest investments you can make in your business.

Let Image IT take the stress out of managing your technology — so you can focus on what you do best.

[adbuselp]

The owner of Advanced Business Solutions has extensive experience working with technology. He received his Bachelor of Business degree in computer information systems from the University of Texas at El Paso, and he has spent the last 25+ years repairing all kinds of hardware and software. His background in transportation management system administration allows him to resolve most issues with trucking software.

We're so confident in our ability to set up complex systems that we provide a one-year warranty on brand-new hardware. Reach out now to learn more about our warranties.

Address: 4320 Mcvey Rd, Sedalia, MO 65301 Telephone: (915) 526-0215 Website: https://adbuselp.com/ Business Hours: Mon - Sat: 9 AM - 5 PM Sun: Closed

Services: Voice Over IP, Computer and Laptop Repair, IT Support and Maintenance, Web Design and Exchange Services

[stars-inthe-sky]

if there's solid ground below

It's been five years, but I wrote a whole fic this week thanks in no small part to the singular @iphyslitterator!

[Cross-posted to AO3]

“H—hey, Tommy?”

Tommy startles and bangs his head on the hood of his truck, recovering fast enough that none of the oil he was nearly done changing spilled but not so fast that it would have escaped Evan’s notice. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just surprised,” he says, grabbing for a spare rag to wipe his hands on. “Hi.”

“Got a sec?” Evan rocks onto the balls of his feet and back again, hands shoved deep in the pockets of a hoodie that, in southern California in May, it should really be too warm for. But he runs cold, and the layers always have the added bonus of making Tommy want to rip them off in some kind of Pavlovian response.

Had. Last summer, they’d had that effect. This summer was shaping up differently.

Evan tilts his head, a little quizzical, and Tommy realizes he’s been frozen in place for a few beats too long, dazedly dragging the rag between his fingers.

“Sorry, yeah, go ahead.” He glances down at the car, which hasn’t moved, then back at Evan, who’s still rocking but who looks, Tommy’s now realizing, noticeably lighter than he has in a while—certainly since the funeral, but maybe even more so than that night in the bar all those weeks ago. His smile is far too small, but it’s there. “Although if you need another helicopter, I’m gonna have to start charging you at some point.”

“That’s okay, I heard your fees are competitive,” he chirps, and if his grin isn’t yet lethal, it’s shifted to shit-eating. Which, for Tommy, is lethal anyway, and Evan knows it. “But no, I just…just wanted to talk this time. For real, for once.”

Oh. “Okay…?”

“You can keep doing whatever you were doing; I know you like to have something to do with your hands.”

“Uh, thanks.” He stuffs the rag in the back pocket of his jeans and fishes the oil canister out of his car’s innards. This might be easier without eye contact. “What’s up?”

“I’m taking a sabbatical from the LAFD,” Evan says. Tommy freezes again, more of a twitch than a full stop, and makes himself continue the actual task at hand. “Three months. Mostly thanks to an insane amount of unused PTO, because I realized I kinda haven’t taken a vacation that wasn’t just medical leave in like…ever. And I need a break, you know, after everything? Like, I spent a bunch of my twenties driving around, odd jobs and stuff, and the world is—is so much bigger than the firehouse, or this city, and…yeah.  I think I need that space for a bit. Just got it approved today. And then I came here.”

He pauses for breath, and Tommy stares unseeing at some perfectly intact wiring he could reconnect by touch alone if asked. “That’s great they’re letting you do that, Evan. I’m sure it’ll be good for you. How’d the others take it?”

There’s a little sigh. “I haven’t told them yet. Battalion chief said I’d always have a job to come back to, but they couldn’t hold my spot indefinitely. Depends on the new captain and how they want to staff up. Makes sense, obviously, so.” His sniffle is nearly inaudible, but Tommy’s never been able to tune out Evan’s frequency.

He gives up on the car, closing the hood with a quiet click and resuming with the rag, even though his hands aren’t especially dirty. “Never thought you’d voluntarily leave the 118.”

“I know, right?” Evan’s mouth twitches, and it’s not quite a smile now, but there’s something genuine growing back. “I mean, I guess I might not be, but. Things change, and it’s…time, maybe. I’m doing this, in any case. I—I—I just need to clear my head for a while. Go visit Minnesota, never been there, but then…I don’t know, maybe touch the Atlantic Ocean again. Camp out in some national parks. Go see the sky in Montana—it’s so big, Tommy, I’ve never seen anything like it, not since those years, and the last couple of months…it’s like the smog is just in everything right now, you know?”

Tommy nods. He can relate, despite how often he gets to soar above the chokehold of Los Angeles; smoke is smoke, and heat still rises. “I get it. So…this is goodbye, then?” He swallows, bites his lip, stares down at his fingers and the rag still entwined in them.

“No!” Evan leans forward for a breath, arm lifting, but he seems to stop himself, like he’s remembering they don’t know where they stand with each other, if he’s allowed to grab Tommy’s shoulder. “No, no, I’m coming back. LA is still home, my—my stuff’s going into a storage unit next week, my sister and my niece are here, and the new baby—the job—no, yeah, I’m coming back.”

“That’s good,” Tommy muses. “So…”

“So, I wanted to ask—I—I—I’m asking if you’d maybe be up for thinking about coming with me.”

Tommy freezes so suddenly, and so thoroughly, that the rag drops to the ground. “You—you’re going on a three-month road trip to get away from it all, and you want me to come with you?”

“Yeah, I do,” Evan says softly, surely, ducking his head in that bashful way he pretends not to know is so damn effective. “I need a break from everything, and everyone—but you, you’re not everyone. I meant what I said about being together, before. I still mean it.” Tommy feels both arms drop to his sides, heavy and limp like emptied hoses, and the air jerks out of his lungs as his throat closes tight.

Evan plows ahead. “I—if—if you don’t want to, or you can’t swing it with work, or whatever—I get it, that’s why I’m asking and not—not telling you what to do. I don’t—even if you don’t come, I’d wait. And, and text or call, maybe? If you wanted to? Even if it’s just as friends, my life is always better when you’re in it. Kinda hoping that goes both ways here.”

Tommy croaks, “And when you get tired of me before we hit Reno?”

“I won’t,” he says, no hesitation. Tommy’s slack face must do something, because he repeats, “Tommy, I won’t. I won’t. I just want time with you, more time, all the time. I want to try again, so, so bad. And if we fight, we can talk, and not just think the worst, and keep going, be—because I want to eat crappy gas station food with you and not think about the inside of a gym for weeks. I want to drive out somewhere where it feels like we’re the only people on the planet, and fuck in the back of your truck, and then figure out a map that’s older than either of us because there’s no cell service. Maybe rent a chopper in Montana so we can see that sky up close—there’s, there’s so many stars, and you’re the only person I’d want to see them with like that. I want to be locked in a moving vehicle with you all day, except for bathroom stops, and see your face when you realize it’s been 16 hours and we still have more to talk about, and we’ll just keep going, because I’m never gonna get tired of you.”

He pauses and swallows thickly, and Tommy can’t look away. For all that Evan Buckley wears his heart on his sleeve so easily for anyone to see, actually opening it up and offering to hand it over to someone else—that’s still work. “So—that’s what I came to say. That’s what I want. J—just think about it. No rush, I’m not—I’ll wait. If it’s what you want. You…you get to want things, too. So. Yeah.”

Evan nods to himself, rubs the back of his neck, and turns to walk back to his car, parked on the street. Tommy has to move, has to say something, but the soles of his boots are melting, fused to the cement of the driveway, his throat is still closed, and Evan—Evan is walking away.

Tommy wants things, too.

He forces a breath, in and out, on a four-count, licks his lips, and asks, “When do we leave?”

Evan radiates a warmth that scatters out, tangible and visible like a sunrise before he even turns around, beaming. “I was thinking a few weeks after the baby comes, but—but—yeah?”

“Yeah, I, uh, I could chase some stars over the Rockies. With you.” Tommy’s insides unknot, and the life rushes back into his limbs. “And the rest, too. I noticed it’s my truck in this scenario?”

Suddenly Evan is in front of him, closer than they’d managed even that morning after, pressed gently against him from chest to knees, arms winding around his waist. “Much more cargo space. Very practical. And I kinda thought you might be in the same boat, you know, with the unused vacation. Maybe enough seniority to hang onto your spot.”

“Probably, yeah, they generally…” He doesn’t even know how that sentence might have ended, has rarely thought about anything more than a long weekend away, but then Evan’s kissing him, deep and slow and sweet like they might already be the only people on the planet. His warmth flashes over through Tommy, nerve by nerve, until he’s lit up and burning, flammable in places he’d spent months trying to forget this man could expose.

When Evan pulls back, it’s with Tommy’s face between his hands, his relief and hope palpable. Like life might go on, like the world might really be bigger, could even be better, sometimes, than it had been.

“Let’s go,” he whispers, so close and so quiet that Tommy can feel each syllable rumble against his skin, tires steady on a gravel road away from this scene and toward the next.

[yeyinde]

Bluecollar worker!Reader would drive Price absolutely crazy.

[lorenzonuti]

Maintenance Break.

Twitter (X) | Instagram | Artstation

[avocado62524]

[nixcraft]

[unpretty]

okay i definitely need to mute notifications about that post before people defending my coworker or complaining about The Cloud tempt me into revealing Too Much Information. i mean i've already revealed too much information quite frankly but so it goes.

[ihavenoideaewholetmehavethis25]

ao3 is down, I've finished all my work for the day and still have another 4 hours to go in this customer service job and (!) I ran out my anxiety meds today.... may the odds be in everyone else's favor cause they sure as hell ain't in mine

[peachdues]

Speaking of family law drama from someone who used to work in family court services, I can say from all the types of court case I worked on, the wildest I had to deal with were child support arrears. I knew it’d be an unhinged day in the courtroom when I had to pull out an entire BOX instead of a standard file for a single hearing.

Bestie my husband works for the child support division in another city and WOOO BOY!! Let me tell you!! The stories he brings home!!

I think my favorite was one father trying to send in his twin brother in his place at a contempt hearing as if his ex-wife couldn’t tell the difference between them sksnskdndbbd

[notaplaceofhonour]

welp, time to take the “leftist podcast that’s most normal about jews” award away from knowledge fight 🙃

[walkingbandtee]

I'm literally sitting here refreshing ao3 every 5 minutes😭

[enbycupcake]

i usually headcanon yqy as having transitioned fully bc pidw magic plants/pills/the power of mqf but would he in a modern au where it requires both surgery and money 🤔🤔🤔 thinking thots.....would love to hear other ppl's

[aro-aizawa]

with a push of a button on my keyboard kira kills 100+ fish.....

[nicklasbackstroke]

I think its so funny that drawing blood makes a regular penalty a double minor. There's something very medieval about it.