Small business IT support is typically an afterthought for most owners and/or executives of organizations with under fifty employees.  In some cases the owner is involved in support herself.  In others, a key employee has this responsibility in addition to another important role.  Occassionally, there is a dedicated employee for this activity, but at this size, it is usually hard to justify.  In most cases, the company avails itself of a reactive break-fix IT services company.  The problem is that reactive support yields sub-optimal results.

IT managed services are not new, but most small business owners still do not really know what they are.  Following are five case studies that describe how technology impacts business results and the role of IT managed services in improving those results.

Backup Internet connections in a storm are an important part of a disaster recovery plan as we recently witnessed in Snowtober in the northeast part of the U.S.  Even if you have power, Internet service providers (ISPs) are often dependent on the power infrastructure elsewhere such that you may lose Internet access.  What are the options to restore it to get e-mail and other critical services back?

Virtualization vs physical server management is not particularly more complex and the benefits are well worth the effort.  Following are three simple ways to manage your virtual server environment.

Disk drive space constraints can be very dangerous because the operating system relies on a certain amount of free space to function properly.  Following are four steps to restore storage space before you lose work or crash.

An antivirus definition update may fail due to firewall issues, licensing, network connectivity or other reasons.  Following are steps to take to ensure that you have the most up to date protection for your business.

Unable to access Internet resources and want to know what to do now?  Following are the top five steps to get your small business back online now.

Tropical hurricane Irene will soon be upon us in the Northeast.  It is good to remember that if your network goes down after the storm, there is a proper sequence to getting everything up and running again.  If you are having a problem after the storm, try shutting down all equipment, include Internet access devices (Cable, DSL, Fiber, etc.), firewalls, switches, servers and PCs.  Then, follow the five steps below to restart your network safely.

A graphics card not working after a driver or operating system update is a problem that occasionally pops up.  When it does, you lose productivity over a something that we usually take for granted.  Following are steps to get your display back and prevent future issues.

A network printer not printing is a common, frustrating problem for small business owners.  Due to the large variety of printers and operating systems out there, it is impossible to offer a comprehensive guide.  That said, what follows are six tips to help you avoid problems and get back in action today: