The maintenance work that I had planned for last night didn’t happen because I was too tired and passed out. So, it will probably happen tonight after midnight, early Sunday morning, June 21st, possibly earlier if backups finish sooner on Iglulik but probably later than earlier. I’ll be rebooting a number of machines and the web server will be down for about half an hour to fully image it so that the databases for a new customers website and for our new ticket system don’t disappear in the event of a failure.
Monthly Archives: June 2015
New Ticket System
Under the green Support section pull down menu on our home page there is a new feature, “Tickets”. This allows you to generate tickets, trouble tickets, questions, general inquiries, as well as to check on the status of those tickets.
You are still free to e-mail support@eskimo.com or call us at +1 206-812-0051, but this is an additional option that allows you to interact with us and track the status of your requests.
Website Construction
Website Design and Construction
- Responsive Web Site Design
- I design and build websites that work well on mobile devices like smart phones, phablets, and tablets, as well as desktop and laptop computers.
- WordPress Websites
- I design and build fully responsive WordPress based websites. I can build responsive designs or fixed width designs. Not all themes support responsive sites. For responsive sites I generally use a modified Twenty Eleven theme. This can include plugins for things like photo galleries, message boards, automatic social media posting, and more.
- Hand coded HTML5, CSS, PHP, and Javascript
- I design and build hand coded sites using current HTML5 and CSS3 code as well as PHP for server side processing and JavaScript client side processing.
- WordPress Optimized Hosting
- Our WordPress hosting is optimized with caching to provide speed close to that of static pages. Each site runs with it’s own user ID so that an exploit in one site does not expose other sites.
- We host your site on Linux with Apache
- Your site will be securely hosted on Linux with the latest Apache 2.4 server. We can support pretty much any modern PHP applications. We also have support for Python, Ruby, and other scripting languages as well as compiled C or C++ applications.
- Rates
- My rates for website development are $25/hour.
Please contact me for an estimate.
On Site PC Services
Personal Computer Services
- Virus Malware Removal
- Is your PC plagued with some nasty malware you picked up while web browsing, installing software, or reading e-mail? If so, and you need assistance with it’s removal, I would be happy to provide that assistance.
- Installing, Configuring, and Upgrading Operating Systems or Applications
- Do you require assistance installing and configuring operating systems or applications? Would you like to optimize the use of your hardware by moving towards a virtual server solution? (Allows multiple virtual machines to be hosted on one physical computer) I can help you with these tasks or perform them for you.
- Security
- I can improve the security and optimize performance of your system by disabling unused services and configuring firewalls and applications. I can perform port scans and other security audits to help you identify potential vulnerabilities.
- Hardware Repair
- I can repair or replace defective hardware in desktop and reasonably accessible servers and some laptops.
- Windows, MacOS, Linux, Unix
- I can assist you with Windows, MacOS, Linux, and most flavors of Unix.
- Rates
- My rates during normal business hours are $25/hour including travel time. Emergencies rates, outside of normal business hours, are $100/hour including travel time.
- On Site Service Area
- On site services are available in Western Washington. I am located in Shoreline near the Snohomish / King County border so you can have some idea of travel time accordingly.
Please contact me for an estimate.
Ransomeware
Ransomware is malware that will pop-up a message telling you that your computer is infected but just pay some dollar amount and this application will remove it for you.
In the past most of this ransomware was installed by malicious software installers when you installed something you thought was desirable on the web.
In the past these have been exclusively targeted at Windows machines because Windows is such an easy target, especially if the user was using Internet Explorer with active-X.
More recently though browser based versions have emerged that affect MacOS as well and even, Gasp!, Linux. However these newer versions often reside in the browser cache and just clearing the cache usually gets rid of them. Sometimes they also will add advertisement bars or other trash that needs to be removed, and often the removal function is disabled. The work-around for this is to reset the browser to the default configuration and then re-install all the plugins that you normally use.
If you have a Windows machine that gets infected with the more traditional versions, MalwareBytes, the free version, almost always will find and remove them, and paying the requested ransom most certainly will not.
If your computer gets infected and you need assistance cleaning it up and you are in the Puget Sound region, I will come to your location and clean and optimize your computer at a cost of $25/hour including travel time. I can also assist you with configuring peripherals, installing and configuring operating systems and applications, and general optimization for this price. If you are interested, please e-mail nanook@eskimo.com.
Maintenance 6/19/2015 22:00 PDT – 6/20/2015 02:00 PDT
I will be performing maintenance Friday evening into Saturday morning that will involve about half an hour of downtime for the web server during that interval and shorter reboots of some of the other servers.
Security Social Engineering Alert!
This is a security alert to let you know that we are presently being targeted by scammers trying to get your account information.
If you receive a letter from helpdesk or some other such entity, telling you that your password has changed or that our servers are being replaced and so we need your password, IT IS BOGUS, do not give them your information.
I will never ask for your password via e-mail so if you get such a request, know it is some 3rd party trying to hack your account, not us.
Thank you!
It’s Hot – I’m Going for Ice Cream
If you need help, please either e-mail support or leave voice mail with the requested information and I will return your call upon my return.
Stupid Spammers
You think they’d at least learn the language for the country they are going to spam. You know this isn’t us right? What exactly is a limit quota? You don’t need to reply to this, your account will be just fine.
Your Mailbox has reached limit quota, You might not be able to send or get
updates until you re-validate your mailbox. To re-validate your mailbox check
the link below:
https://webmail9.typeform.com/to/b3joQ8
Note that if we do not receive your reply in the next 48hrs your account will
be down with our service team
Copyright � Admin 2015 All Rights Reserved.
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This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
Mint is Up
The shell server mint.eskimo.com is up, maintenance on this server is completed.
Maintenance on all servers is finished, images are being compressed and this will slow things somewhat but everything is back in service and should remain that way.