August 04, 2008
We're back
Well as you may have noticed for the last three days the blog has been in hiatus.
You might have thought at first that it had something to do with these two posts on censorship, or maybe as part of the big IE-sitemeter issue that hit this week. It was a totally different problem that we were able to resolve.
Anyways its nice to be back and we look forward to keeping you informed as time goes by.
Updated: Entry condensed and renamed.
Posted by Peter at 01:06 PM
July 10, 2008
You can take PC Magazine's word for it.
Well I've moaned in the past about not being nominated for best tech blog.
However PC Magazine has given us the big prize as they have named us their Editor's Choice for online support services!!
The article is here money quote:
Support site HiWired distinguishes itself from fix-anything services like Geek Squad by being focused solely on PC service and by offering a money-back guarantee (though SupportSpace does this too). While testing HiWired, I encountered the best processes, tools, and techs of any support services I've reviewed. They also did the most thorough job of getting my messed-up test PC back into top running form. Thanks to this impressive performance, HiWired unseats firedog as our Editors' Choice for online support services.
The whole article is a source of a lot of smiles around here. If you are looking for US based tech support for your pc and its bits and pieces, then we are ready to serve you.
Posted by Peter at 08:47 PM
April 10, 2008
Still looking for a few good men and women
Well the economy is not supposed to be doing too well, (my kids college stock accounts took a hit this quarter) money is tight and unemployment is up, but the Christian Science monitor finds some places that are still hiring:
Around the nation, a wide range of companies are still hiring. Some of the new jobs are even in areas that are shrinking, such as financial services. Some positions require advanced degrees, but a variety of skill levels are in demand.High-tech companies, including Epik, are especially looking for workers. In Needham, Mass., HiWired Inc. is planning to add 50 to 100 new employees to its staff, which provides US-based technical support for consumers. The company is gearing up partly because during downturns, consumers tend to keep their computers longer. "What happens is the computer slows down, and people want to know if there is anything they can do to make it run like new again," says Singu Srinivas, company president.
The positions we are offering currently are here. Maybe you're just the person we're looking for.
Posted by Peter at 02:26 PM
March 31, 2008
Men at work
We will be doing some blog cleaning up this week so posting may be a bit random.
But that is what Slashdot is for. And tech republic, and boing boing, and well you get the picture.
Posted by Peter at 10:39 AM
March 24, 2008
Has it really been 3 years?
Today we celebrate the 3rd anniversary of our company blog.
At the time we started in March of 2005 I'm not sure there were too many company blogs out there, let alone ones that allowed all kinds of employees to post. Now it seems odd if a company doesn't have some kind of online interface.
We would like to thank our customers who have checked with us daily or weekly to see what we have to say, we'd like to think we've been useful.
We look forward to many more years of sharing our tips, thoughts, news gripes and occasional jokes with the nicest customer base in the business.
Posted by Peter at 12:38 PM
March 23, 2008
Happy Easter
Today is Easter Sunday, with Good Friday the holiest days of the Christian year and pretty much an unofficial family holiday in the United States and in western nations in general.
HiWired will as always be open all day today to tend to your PC needs, it's likely that most of you will be too busy with feasting, family and fun to need us, but if you do, we will be here.
We wish all who celebrate it a happy and holy Easter, to those who don't celebrate this or any other holiday we mention, we say as always, have a great day!
Posted by Peter at 01:01 PM
March 09, 2008
Multiple machines+Connected on the go=No email mess
It is now becoming much more common for the avg user to have multiple machines in the house. This has started to lead to trouble has they use e-mails on each machine. Problem what do you do if e-mails are downloaded on different machines and they are not the same?
The solution is our connected on the go e-mail. It uses Microsoft exchange to route all of your e-mail to a single server. Each system that receives e-mail syncs with that server causing the mail to be identical on all systems.
Now in the business community this is much more common thing but it is only lately becoming an issue for the home user. This service run about $16.50 a month for the yearly sub a small price to pay to be sure that you have all your e-mails all the time.
Posted by Peter at 12:55 PM
February 28, 2008
No Comment
Just for the record in case any of you are having comment issues, we have been having some issues with comments and trackbacks. Since backtracking comments is frankly a bit of a pain we will be disabling comments as a default until the issue is resolved.
On the bright side this means that I have had very little comment and trackback spam to clean up. Come to think of it that a pretty good incentive to leave them off.
Posted by Peter at 01:09 PM
January 26, 2008
Party like its 2008
It's the annual company party today so I don't have much to talk about, just chilling with the wife and the kids and all those grand people that have helped us grow to where we are today.
However there is one group that made us what we are today who are not here. That's you our customers.
From all of us to all of you thanks for making us the company we are today and the company we will be tomorrow.
Meanwhile if you like me are recalling pleasant old memories the latest "retro" games available on the Wii console. Sega anyone?
Posted by Peter at 01:14 PM | Comments (0)
December 01, 2007
Has it really been 3 years?
Three years ago a gentleman gave us a call to help out with a problem he had with his outlook e-mail on his Blackberry.
Tens of thousands of customers later we continue to provide support to people all over America and around the world.
Its really been something watching this company grow since that very first call. A lot of good people worked very hard to get us to this point.
But without you the customer it never would have happened and all of us would be doing something else for a living. You are the reason we are still here and growing stronger.
On behalf of all of us at HiWired and all of us who were here when we were still LightFrog (I still think that was a cool name) thank you very much for your support and for the job. We will do our best to continue to be worthy of your support in the next year and God willing for many years to come.
Posted by Peter at 08:45 AM | Comments (0)
November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving
Today is Thanksgiving Day a National Holiday.
HiWired as usual will be open 24/7 to serve all your needs as we prepare for one of the two traditional busy periods in the call center business (Christmas week is the 2nd).
We wish all our customers a very Happy Thanksgiving and a safe travel weekend.
Posted by Peter at 06:09 PM | Comments (0)
November 17, 2007
My bad big time I think I grabbed the wrong link
As you might guess some days when I don't have something in my head to write about I go looking around the net for tech news. It turns out the Turbo tax story I posted a few days ago was rather old news. I don't know how I managed to miss the date when reading the story but it is totally my bad.
I've included a correction to the actual post but since it was a rather egregious mistake I figured it deserved a correction of its own.
This story and suit however are current:
A Philadelphia woman is seeking class action status for a lawsuit accusing H&R Block, Intuit and other tax software makers of overcharging consumers who pay to file their taxes online.The class, if approved, could number tens of millions of people, according to lawyers who filed the federal lawsuit this week in Philadelphia.
I suspect that I meant to grab the link to this story the first time but opened the wrong window while searching, either way its still my bad.
Posted by Peter at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2007
Ok we are up and running
Well the update of the blog is complete and its looking good.
Speaking of looking good it always looks good when a spammer gets his comeuppance:
Todd Moeller, 28, was sentenced 27 months in prison in a federal court in New York after he was caught making a deal with a government informant to send junk e-mails — known as spam — advertising a computer security program in return for 50 percent of the profits, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said.
Via slashdot; there is about as much sympathy for guys like this as there is for people who kick animals.
If you haven't heard the word before comeuppance is defined here.
Posted by Peter at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2007
I think it looks cool
Well as you can see our new look is up and I think its pretty cool.
We still have some tweaking to do so don't be surprised if there is a bit of a changing curve over the next few days.
Posting will continue as normal.
Posted by Peter at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2007
Yes i know its been a week
I know I know the blog templates still haven't been updated.
Our developers will be on it as soon as possible but the posting will continue.
Posted by Peter at 05:24 PM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2007
These are the people in our workinghood...
The Boston Globe has a nice little article concerning some of the internals of our business.
That's why some progressive bosses are counterbalancing the diffusion of the digital age with innovative efforts to boost face-to-face and real-time connections. They're mandating no travel or no e-mail days, or making flesh-and-blood connections a new priority. The results are sometimes surprising - less stress, more learning, even better balance at home."We embrace chat and e-mail and collaboration tools," says Singu Srinivas, copresident of Needham's HiWired, a technology support start-up with 60 employees. "Those are additives to face-to-face relationship building, but they can't be a replacement for it."
Read the whole thing to get an idea of how things are done in the digital age but with a personal spin.
Posted by Peter at 11:36 AM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2007
Just needs a lick of paint
As you can see (unless you are reading this in the archives) we are in the transition period for the blog. Our new look has reached our main page but hasn't quite made it here yet.
Sort of like Annie's place which today reopened after she closed up a few months ago (under new management unlike us) we will have some cleaning up to do that will take place over the next couple of days.
But the posts will still be here and we will be working. After all we didn't close for Game 7 did we?
Bring on the Rockies!
Posted by Peter at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2007
Makeover coming
Well the blog is going to soon be undergoing our 2nd makeover along with our main site, as wild and we continue to move forward.
Due to the upgrade access and posting might be a tad sporadic for the next few days.
So keep an eye out and take in our new look, but with the same great service.
Posted by Peter at 06:21 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2007
2007 Webblog awards; Yes I am electioneering
One of my personal heroes is John Quincy Adams 6th president of the US and only man that to serve in the Senate, The White House, The House of Representatives and be nominated to the Supreme Court and confirmed unanimously (He declined on the grounds that he felt himself unfit for the position). Adams was also the first president ever photographed although it was years after he left office. 40 years ago Historian David Jacobs wrote this on Adams who was running for re-election for president in 1828:
Naturally, Adams did not electioneer. Adamses serve but they do not campaign for office. Adamses also do not win second terms.
Well my name isn't Adams. The 2007 Weblog awards have come upon us. The nomination period ends on Wednesday. The categories are listed here. There are a couple of categories that we might qualify in. (There is unfortunately no category for best blog by a business).
If you enjoy the blog and find it useful or informative we would be very grateful if you considered us for a nomination. I haven't asked previous years but one of my other heroes is Tip O'Neill who told this story in his autobiography Man of the House. I quote it from a speech by John Hume:
This brings me to Speaker O’Neill’s second rule. The day before his first election his neighbor across the street, Mrs. O'Brien said, "Tip I am going to vote for you tomorrow even though you didn't ask me to". And Tip said, "Mrs. O'Brien I shovel your walk in the winter, I mow your grass in the summer, I didn't think I had to ask for your vote." She replied, "Let me tell you something, Tip, people like to be asked." That's rule number two. Because he had taken the votes of his neighbors for granted, Tip O'Neill lost that election. But it was the only one he ever lost. For the rest of his life, on every Election Day, for over fifty years, Tip O'Neill would leave his house to go to vote, but first would turn to his wife and say, "Millie, I'd like to ask for your vote". Her reply was always the same, “I will give you every consideration".
Well I'm asking.
Posted by Peter at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2007
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.
First off I want to thank Hiwired for sponsoring me to walk for a good cause. 10,000+ showed up to raise money for breast cancer research and walked 4 miles inside Roger Williams Park in Providence Rhode Island. The event started with local singers singing inspirational music and a recap of last year’s donations. After a quick registration and a contribution I was off to the walk. I decided to walk this year for 2 reasons. A family member is a recent survivor of breast cancer and It was just the right thing to do. This is really a horrible disease and the fact that it’s likely to see a cure in my lifetime is worth my time and energy. At first I was thinking that there was no way I could actually walk 4 miles but once it was over I realized that it was nothing compared to what breast cancer victims and their families go through. This was my first walk and it will not be my last! It was allot of fun and you just can’t beat having a great time for a good cause!
Posted by Dustin at 08:49 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2007
Just a reminder why housecleaning is important
Did all kinds of stuff around the house before heading to work today so didn't have blogging time, but when I finally got to checking the blog, what a difference!
I still haven't finished all the cleaning up but there amount of blog spam (comments and trackbacks) are dramatically down.
BTW I have yet to have a SINGLE person suggest the zune over the pod despite the extra 20 gigs of space and the larger screen. I am countin gin person along with comments. If you guys over at the Zune User Group want to try to weigh in now is the time to do so.
Posted by Peter at 07:52 PM | Comments (0)
September 03, 2007
Generic Holiday Post
Today is (Insert Day Here) Labor Day, a national Holiday.
HiWired will as normal be open 24/7.
Of course I'm on Mini Vacation #1 this year so I won't worry about that till Thursday.
Update: post trimmed.
Posted by Peter at 08:27 AM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2007
There's a vote for Vista
I guess we have one solid vote for Vista; our customers. We have been VERY busy, it is almost like the day after Christmas. I guess Back to school trumps an iffy operating system.
Posted by Peter at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)
August 26, 2007
Manbots not supported
We generally don't spend much time around here talking about the competition but yesterday the wife and I were watching TV and one of those commercials came up where the Geek Squad guy fixes the robot. She asked why we don't have neat commercials like that?
It's true, we don't have neat commercials, we don't have identical suits and we don't support fixing manbots or space lasers and if you are hiding your daughters backpack in your grill we won't discuss it.
But if you want US based (Boston to be exact)tech support 24/7 without having someone in your house, support that can be continued while you work or sleep, if you want the ability to have unlimited data backup or connected on the go e-mail, if you want straight advice on what to buy and what you have, and if you want them from a group of techs who work together and know each other by their first name, then we are your ticket.
Note to management:
Nothing in the above paragraph is meant to imply that I would reject a company car if offered. (:c)
Posted by Peter at 07:23 PM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2007
You know you've done your job right when...
How can you tell when you delivered proper customer satisfaction? When a customer who is a Yankee fan offers good wishes for the Red Sox after we've set up her wireless system.
I won't include her name as I don't want her found and executed for blasphemy.
Posted by Peter at 06:55 AM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2007
Busy busy busy
Apparently all of your computers decided to break this morning. I'll try to get something interesting up ASAP.
Meanwhile there is always George Ou, Slashdot or EnGadget.
Posted by Peter at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2007
Avoid Panic Attacks, Backup That Data!
Seeing as I'm one of the "marketing" guys at HiWired, I feel it my duty to be sure all of our readers are aware of a great and truly helpful new service we have launched here...Unlimited Premium Data Backup. Everyone should back up there data and there are countless of reasons to do so (I give a personal example below). It's one of those things that is really easy to do, takes almost no time at all and is extremely reasonable in price (at least with HiWired it is at just $8/mo. or $75/yr.) and yet provides an unbelievable amount of value and peace of mind.
I recently got a new computer when my old one went down and as a result had to set up a new itunes account. Needless to say, I hadn't backed up most of my music (of course, this is before I joined HiWired and knew any better). Now, that music exists on my ipod but nowhere else. So I'm left with two options: 1. Keep the songs on my ipod but never download another song to it (itunes will delete all existing songs because I'm now using a new account) or 2. Delete all the songs on the ipod and start from scratch. Had I backed up my songs, I could have deleted the songs and uploaded the backed up songs into my new itunes account. If only I new about HiWired's Unlimited Premium Data Backup....
You can check it out at:
http://www.hiwired.com/web/info/products/unlimiteddatabackup.aspx
It's done remotely via the internet and takes very little time to implement. The system backs up your data on an ongoing basis to secure, encrypted data storage centers so your files are always safe. If you need to retrieve your files, there is an easy to use interface or if you need assistance we are always here to help.
Here's to fewer panic attacks and more peace of mind!
Posted by Jeff at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2007
Taking it to the Max, Office Max that is
At HiWired we are very proud of the service that we provide to our customers. Now it looks like the number of people we will be helping will be growing thanks to some big news here at HiWired:
HiWired Inc. formed a strategic alliance with OfficeMax Inc. to power a new technology support center for customers of OfficeMax's office-products retail chain.
That would be control center:
According to Illinois-based OfficeMax, its new remote-access technology support service, called "ctrlcenter," enables customers to remotely connect with US-based technical advisors to obtain technology services and solutions via a secure broadband Internet connection.
We are very happy to be working with Office Max and look forward to solving many problems for our shared customers while providing the same great service that our longtime customers have come to expect.
And on that note I want to say a big thank you to all our loyal customers whose business has allowed us to reach this point. We couldn't have done it without you!
Posted by Peter at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2007
A non-traditional Batchelor party
You might remember Andy who used to post here but no longer works for us.
Well yesterday (actually mostly this morning)he had his bachelor party. Unlike a traditional one this was held at Igamespot where we played an overnight game (10-8 a.m) of civilization 4.
Not only is such a party less likely to get you in trouble with your wife but it is rather less expensive.
Posted by Peter at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2007
Hey Juan e-mail me!
We interrupt our blog for some inside Baseball.
Juan you sent me a link last night by IM for a story for the blog, but I was flat out with customers and neglected to save it before a crash. If you can e-mail me the link I'll get that story up.
And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging.
Posted by Peter at 09:31 AM | Comments (2)
April 11, 2007
Oh and one thing about comments
One thing I keep meaning to mention but never seem to get around to...
As you might be aware you don't have to be registered to post comments on this blog but all comments are subject to approval before they go up. The approval process is rather loose as long as it isn't spam, evil or total nonsense it makes it up.
There is a time lag based on how fast I see it. Since I do the approvals in between taking care of customers the speed at which your comment gets approved is directly related on how often I check it or have time to check it.
Thanks to your support (and we've seen a LOT of that lately) I haven't had a chance during the day to post as much as I've liked. We've been so busy I haven't even gotten on anyone else's case about posting like I usually do since the customer comes before the blog.
Lately its been checking just before my shift start and just as my shift ends, so if you see a lag on the approval of your comment, its not the system, its me and all those customers kind enough to give us their business.
Thanks again for all the business, we'll do our best to continue to be worthy of it.
Posted by Peter at 07:32 PM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2007
Happy Belated Birthday to us and one Angry man
How Busy has it been around here? So Busy that we didn't even have time to make notes of the Blog's 2nd Birthday on March 24th.
Our First actual post was on the 25th and like yesterday's post and many others we have put up, it concerned the dangers of P2P software:
Just remember when you see the internet the internet sees you. If you are putting key files on your computer make sure they are NOT in a shared folder. You never know who might be watching.
This came to mind last night when a returning customer came in complaining about some phishing issues and some popup issues. I noticed. Since we had worked on the system about a month ago I was surprised to see Limewire on the desktop. I checked the notes of his PC Restoration and sure enough, the notes showed that Mike had asked for permission to remove Limewire and was denied that permission.
I informed the customer that we would be happy to re-clean the system, uninstall LimeWire and install IE7 to get a phishing filter in. When he was informed that he would have to PAY for that he was beside himself, why was that system getting infected after we had already worked on it? I informed him that since he choose to keep Limewire on his system we certainly couldn't be responsible for any stuff that came in via P2P and its misuse and reminded him he denied us permission to remove it at the time. He disconnected in a huff saying what a poor service we are. He apparently never read this post.
There is nothing more basic than the right to take a risk. If the customer decides to take a risk with his own machine, well it's his machine and his risk to take.And if the machine tanks we'll be here.
I was very surprised at how annoyed and insulted I was over this. I'm rather protective of the company since I've been here since opening day, but what really got me was there is no subject that I have written more about than losing the P2P. My first blog post (not counting the "hi here is our blog" post ) was on the subject and the post I had put up that morning was on the same subject. We have warned and warned and warned about this. It's not a secret. He keeps the stuff and complains when the system has issues? If you break your leg skiing and a doctor sets it, is it his fault if you ski again and break it?
The Best analogy I can think of is this: You own a club, some guy comes in with his posse and trashes it, you hire security, they escort the guy and his mates out and station a bouncer at the door. When that guy shows up at the door and you order the bouncer; who stops him; to let him through don't complain that the security stinks.
Your system is your system and you do what you want with it, but I'll be grangeled if I'm going to take an insult to myself, our company and our co-workers when they don't deserve it without answering it!.....
Yes I do feel much better now that I've said it.
And Yes Grangeled is a totally made up word, I was actually going to use a different made up word but when I googled it it showed up as worse than the word I was trying to replace in the first place.
Posted by Peter at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)
March 07, 2007
The Good the Bad and the Wiki-maiden?
With Apologies to Clint Eastwood Eli Wallach & Lee Van Cleef
With Wikipedia we've mentioned the good:
Wikipedia has its faults, but apparently lack of guts or honor is not among them.
And the Bad:
...we linked to an interesting debate betweeen Wikipedia and Britannica Online over which is better. I figured that both have their uses but at least with Britannica you don't have to worry about uploaded virus:
Now this BBC story (via Michelle) gives us the Ugly. A Wikipedia editor who was in fact a wiki-maiden:
But he was in fact Ryan Jordan, 24, a college student from Kentucky who used texts such as Catholicism for Dummies. He has now retired from the site....
Under the name Essjay, Mr Jordan edited articles and also had the authority to arbitrate disputes between authors and remove site vandalism.
To their credit you can also find an article on the story...at Wikipedia:
Essjay had described himself on his user profile as "a tenured professor of theology at a private university in the eastern United States."[3] According to the note, he now said he was Ryan Jordan, a 24-year-old community college dropout from Kentucky and that he had relied on sources such as Catholicism for Dummies when editing articles
The review of edits being made is only proper, but this highlights the greatest weakness of Wikipedia, Digg and other sites that rely of the honor of their users for stories and ranking; The honor system requires honorable people.
Posted by Peter at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2007
Podcast delayed
Due to a recording glitch (that was totally my fault) the next podcast will instead of being posted this weekend or the beginning of next week will have to wait till the following week.
The egg belongs totally on my face.
Posted by Peter at 01:40 PM | Comments (0)
February 26, 2007
HiWired ain't afraid of no Whoop
If you are a customer who I've served in the past week you could not help but notice a rather nasty cough that has been bothering me for a while. Back in Jan it was primarily in the morning before I came to work but all this month is has been rather horrible and I've had to beg the pardon of customers I'm working with. It turns out that I in fact have Whooping Cough and the nature of the disease when not discovered at once (everyone thought it was Pneumonia) can't really be cured. It has to be endured until it passes. That unfortunately can take from 30-100 days or more.
Now since this is contagious and the cough is nasty at almost any other job I would be deep into or finished with my sick time and eating up vacation time.
Lucky for me at HiWired I am able to Telecommute (see our podcast under the same name)I can still work and not either infect the company or burn up every sick day I have. This is a win win win.
It's a win for the company because I am able to work.It's a win for me because since I'm able to function in between attacks I can do something instead of waiting to start coughing.
It's a win for the customers as another experienced tech is available to help as needed.
All of this is because of this modern world that we live in. Are we lucky or what?
Posted by Peter at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2007
Beginnings are the most fragile time
Well, hello! My name is Roland, and I will be blogging today -- Peter is "wikked sick", and not in a good way! Please join me in wishing him a speedy recovery!
Anyhoo, it was recently Valentine's Day, one of the few days of the year which tend to focus our thoughts on beginnings (or endings, as it may be), and since I've recently started at HiWired, I thought I would volunteer for blog duty. And what do you know, there is a new Microsoft operating system out, another beginning; I have seen more than a few of our customers struggle with learning the ins and outs of Vista, so here's a tip that I've picked up while working with them... say that you're trying to run ipconfig /flushdns so that you can get a new IP address at the command line prompt, and Vista says:
Elevation is required for this operation
First, find the executable file. You can search for the executable file by going to the Start menu, and going up to Search. Put in the name of the program that you are trying to use, ie Command Prompt, and then click Search.
When the search has run, right-click on either the entry which indicates the executable file (designated by the ".exe" appendation) or on the shortcut to the executable file, and choose "Run as administrator". The program will now launch, and you should be able to make changes as needed!
Posted by at 04:55 PM | Comments (1)
February 10, 2007
All day and all of the night.
Things have gotten pretty busy here. So busy we are now open 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
So day or night if you have an issue don't hesitate to call or chat.
Posted by Peter at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2007
Lets repeat what stays and what goes.
I think it's time to review the posting/commenting rules guidelines, etc that I follow here, for all you new guys that I hope will be posting (and we've hired quite a few) and for our readers so they know what to expect. Here is a quick handy guide:
1. With minor exceptions all posts have a tech, internet, or blog angle. That doesn't stop me from including side items that might not be of a tech nature, but other than an intro or a brief personal post or two, you will be reading about tech stuff here.
2. As a rule if there is a link it will not be to a spot that contains stuff that isn't work friendly. If I quote such a site because there is a relevant post may name it but won't link to it. I will also not link to cracks and hacks although I may mention their existence. If you want to break the law go ahead and google how to do it. We aren't going to show you how.
3. Everyone here is an adult (physically anyway) so we expect our posters to conduct themselves accordingly.
4. Until and unless I am told differently from on high there is no pre/post-censorship of posts provided that rules 1-3 are followed. If I disagree with a post, I might put a comment or a follow up post to that effect. If you disagree with me do the same. I do reserve the right to correct spelling and grammar errors if I find them, and please let me know if I miss something like that myself as I'm a big offender in that department.
Trackbacks: I don't do trackbacks anymore, the amount of spam/porn, etc trackbacks have increased to the point where it just isn't worth it. Each poster has the ability to allow trackbacks on an individual post but I expect you to police them, people don't come here to find links to Viagra.
Comments: I'm debating if I should start comment registration, open comments leads to a ton of time deleting spam comments, comment approval takes the same amount of time but at least the spam doesn't hit the site, in the last week somebody called watt1, watt2, watt3 has been putting up gibberish like comments, I allowed the first one as it seemed harmless but that was a mistake as further nonsense has been coming up. If you want to say something fine, even if you want to complain and insult me that's fine too, but say something. I will not spell check comments but I will censor out vulgarities and swearing without removing the comment. Depending on how busy I am, comments close on a post after 30 days.
Suggestions/Questions/podcast interview requests: If you have any put them in comments I'll post them and we'll go from there.
Posted by Peter at 07:52 AM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2007
Happy New Year from HiWired
A very Happy New Year (and 8th day of Christmas) from HiWired.
We will be opening today at 12 noon EST. till 2 a.m. EST.
Starting tomorrow we will be back to our normal schedule 9 a.m.- 2 a.m. EST. 7 days a week.
We hope the New Year brings a lot of happiness with it, and of course if during the year your PC fails to do so, we'll be here.
Posted by Peter at 08:52 AM | Comments (0)
December 31, 2006
Don't drink and click
Today is New Years Eve (and the 7th day of Christmas)
HiWired will be closing at 7 P.M. EST today so our employees can enjoy the New Year.
Meanwhile we make two suggestions to our valued customers one far more important than the other:
Remember when celebrating the New Year don't drink and drive and beware of those who might choose to do so, we would love to enjoy your patronage in 2007.Less important but also true, don't drink and attempt to FIX anything on your PC. I have interesting memories of trying to lead people through system repairs (in my pre-screenshare days) who either did weird and wonderful things to their PC while drinking or who had a few too many to follow instructions.
No matter what we hope 2006 was a great year for you and 2007 is even better!
Posted by Peter at 07:13 AM | Comments (0)
November 23, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving from Hiwired
Today is Thanksgiving day, a legal Holiday.
HiWired will be open from 9 A.M. - 2 A.M. EST.
We wish all of you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving day.
Posted by Peter at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
September 29, 2006
An iffy PC is like Baseball.....
If you are going to say that it is like baseball because both Sony Batteries and the St Louis Cardnials are spontaniously combusting, (although in fairness unlike Sony, the Cards still control their own destiny ) that is wrong....
...but close.
In baseball you have a 162 game season. You have to play out the whole string before you can claim the title. Likewise in an individual game you have to get the required number of outs to win. Normally it's 27 but it can be as low as 15 (5 inning rainout) or as high as extra innings take you, you can't run out the clock, you have to get those outs to win.
A bad PC is like a pitcher who can't last or a team that plays out the string, some things will work some won't.
You want a team that plays hard for 162 games, and you want a properly working PC. The first step is a good diagnostic. When you get a diagnostic from us we don't just look at one or two things, we check your MSCONFIG, we check your startup items, we check the alerts. We give the PC a good going over.
So if you want to know the state of your PC go with a team that plays the whole 9 innings and see about getting a Diagnostic for your PC, or even better consider one of our Worry Free PC plans that way you won't just know your PC's problem's you'll have them taken care of!
BTW if you are a CARDS fan don't feel bad at least your team hasn't been eliminated like mine.
Posted by Peter at 05:46 PM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2006
Last updated When?
I pulled this screen shot from Technorati this morning. Apparently we haven't updated our blog for the last 4 months. 
That's news to me. It's news to the other guys who have posted here.
I'd better make sure my boss doesn't see this, don't want her to think I've been slacking.
Posted by Peter at 08:19 AM | Comments (0)
September 04, 2006
Labor of Love
Today is Labor Day. HiWired will be open our normal hours 9 a.m. EST to 2 a.m. EST.
Hey, if we are open New Years Day, the 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas, do you really think we are closing on Labor Day?
Posted by Peter at 08:37 AM | Comments (0)
August 23, 2006
Another Edition
My name is Melissa Nolan, Operations Manager at HiWired. My husband and I recently had a baby in January 2006. We are excited to announce that we will be adding to our family with our newest edition in January 2007.
Once I returned to work in April of 2006 we recorded a Podcast on the benefits of Telecommuting. I can't express enough how wonderful it is to have a company that appreciates a good balance between work and family. The ability to work remotely has made this transition flawless.
Thank you HiWired!!
Posted by Melissa at 04:51 PM | Comments (0)
August 07, 2006
Flat out
Very busy today, that Civ IV Warlords review I promised will have to wait till either I'm off duty or later in the week.
Posted by Peter at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)
July 03, 2006
A reminder HiWired open all day tomorrow
A quick reminder that HiWired will be open our regular hours 9 a.m. EST- 2 a.m. EST on July 4th. So if you need us we will be there.
Posted by Peter at 02:31 PM | Comments (0)
June 30, 2006
What's going on here?
A post today concerning a new wireless standard was posted in error. The poster was testing some features of Movable Type (our blog program). At his request it has been pulled.
He may repost it later.
Update: Issue resolved reposted
Posted by Peter at 05:43 PM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2006
Security pessimism HiWired the cure
I haven't commented on the tons of personal data compromised via Hotels.com and the VA as it doesn't shock me at all. I am a security pessimist. This pessimism comes from my nature, and my belief in human nature.
Technology changes but humanity doesn't. Technology can't solve the problem of human error or indifference.
You might use a spell checker to go through a big document, but if you misspell with a word in the dictionary it's not caught.
You can have good file security, but your security is only as good as the physical protection you give that laptop.
You can have a great backup program, but it's useless if you don't run it.
You can have a first rate anti-virus program but if you don't keep it updated it won't do that job.
You can have strong passwords but if you leave it on your desk that strong password won't mean a thing.
Life is a busy thing, we all have things going on more important than a pc, but when something goes wrong, those priorities can change is a big hurry.
This is why HiWired is such a useful service. Our dashboard gives you a report on the state of your system. We notice if your system isn't updating or backing up and act on it. That's our job, it's what we do.
You can't make more hours in the day, but if you let us we can give you one less thing to worry about.
Posted by Peter at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2006
Hey I was only Six months and one hour off
Since I have tomorrow off and a ton of personal errands to run I'll get this announcement out of the way now:
Starting this Sunday, June 4th HiWired will be open every night till 2 A.M. Eastern time. This will give our west coast customers a little more space for troubleshooting and us a little less shuteye here in the east.
This time i've double checked my e-mail.
Posted by Peter at 09:09 PM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2006
New Delhi on the Charles
Alarm Clock has picked up the story about our new funding here at HiWired but also says something that doesn't make sense to me:
HiWired sells a service that we get. For $60 they will remotely troubleshoot a PC problem for you. For $90 they will run a tune-up. Of course nobody will make a house call for these prices. Probably the technician is in India, but who cares so long as they fix what ails you at these prices. (emphasis ours)
From our current hours (9 a.m.- 11 p.m. EST soon to be extended more on that later ) to the fact that we have New England accents (except for Kieran who has that melodious New Zealand Accent) to the fact that we tend to mention that we are in Boston during conversation, it seems very had to believe that somebody using us would think we are in India. And there are a few posts here that suggest Boston.
Of course it could all be as Baldrick says, part of a cunning plan!
Posted by Peter at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)
May 31, 2006
Kodiak does HiWired
The Boston Business Journal reports that Kodiak has decided to continue to invest in HiWired:
Waltham-based Kodiak Venture Partners, which co-led HiWired's first round along with Sigma Partners in Boston, found the company has the qualities of its favorite kind of investment: early stage combined with an experienced team and a roomy market.
...not to mention a pretty good blog and some fine customers. Take a bow you know who you are.
Posted by Peter at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)
May 15, 2006
Neither rain or snow nor massive flodding...
As you might have heard we in New England in general and Massachusetts in particular are dealing with some nasty flooding.
10 years ago on a day like this a company might have to close it's doors for the day. However the same technology that allows us to fix your computer remotely allows our staff be available for a full day ready to serve your tech needs. And since I was a little light on the Mother's day gifts maybe I'll get some dishes done too.
Posted by Peter at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2006
As opposed to a Blogroll page...a blogroll post.
Update bump to top:
We've got our list up to the middle of November end of April, I'm hoping to finish this by Monday of next week or before
A while back we had a post on why we had no blogroll. In liew of that I thought it would be interesting to have a single blogroll post. This post will consist of every blog that we have linked to since we started the HiWired blog (in the days when it was the LightFrog blog). If the blog linked to no longer exists, I won't include the link.
BTW this is going to involve going through a whole years of posts in between helping customers so I will put them all in the extended entry and just keep updating until I'm done. The list will contain the name of the blog and the date of the first time we linked to it. It might take a few days:
Michelle Malkin March 24, 2005
Roger L. Simon March 25th 2005
Captain's Quarters March 28 2005
George Ou March 30th 2005 Recommended!
Mudville Gazette May 5th 2005 update to an April 4th 2005 post.
Instapundit May 5th 2005 update to an April 4th 2005 post.
Dynamist Blog May 8th 2005 update to an April 4th 2005 post
Win Wifinet News> April 20th 2005
Protocols of the Yuppies of Zion April 21 2005
Slashdot April 23 2005 (included on the list under the if it walks like a duck theory.)
Interested Participant April 27 2005
The Carnival of the Vanities hosted at Part Time Pundit April 27 2005
That's two months worth so far will continue as time permits
Dan Gilmore's E-Journal May 12 2005 now hosted at Backfence
Tommy LaSorda's Blog May 13 2005
Brooks Robinson's Blog May 13 2005
Andrew Sullivan May 19 2005 (now posting at Time Magazine)
The Bleat May 19 2005 (In my opinion one of the best writers on the net)
Talking Points Memo May 19 2005
Archipelago May 23 2005 Now posting at Spoken
My Little Corner May 23 2005 which later became Lishux Favorites
Lifehacker May 23 2005
Hecksetter.com May 26 2005 the stuff there has been moved to Danny Hecksetter for now.
Michael L Snyder May 26 2005 (link repaired)
ToTo247's Xanga Site May 26 2005 (He was murdered shortly after this post.)
The Tablet PC Education Blog June 1 2005
In Loco Parentis June 1 2005 (doesn't look active)
Net Dimensions Insights June 1 2005
Web Designer Ramblings June 13 2005
Navjot's tech blog June 13 2005 now Exguides
Rconversation June 14 2005 (the free speech diva)
From the director June 16 2005 now called The Ed Tech Blog
The Volokh Conspiracy June 27 2005
Good Morning Silicon Valley June 27 2005
Pinky and the Brain June 27 2005
Shellen dot com on the side June 27 2005
The Other Matt June 27 2005
Just a Simple Online Nerd June 27 2005
Infothought June 27 2005
Naked Law June 27 2005
(June took a while will continue as time permits)
The Social Customer Manifesto July 12 2005
GeekLove July 15 2005 now Wool Sock (After a second look it might have always been Wool Sock and Geeklove as a sub catagory but not sure.)
ScottAllenLewis.com July 17 2005
Lileks July 20 2005 (Still one of the best reads on the web !)
Systems Support Group, Inc. Blog July 22 2005
Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff July 22 2005
Being Carsten Bogelund July 22 2005
Quick Online Tips July 22 2005
nevon.net July 22 2005 now posting at Neville Hobson.com
Ian Dixon July 22 2005
Eric Rudasingwa's WebLog July 22 2005
This book has ridiculously bad binding for $60 July 22 2005 (I'll bet there's a story behind that name.)
Andrej Budja's blog July 22 2005
Straight from the Lam's Mouth July 29 2005
Unfettered Blather as host of Carnival of the Gamers August 4 2005
Asymmetrical Information August 8th 2005
Global Voices Online August 18 2005
Life and Deatherage August 24 2005
Security Market Wrap August 24 2005
A Man In The American Northeast August 24 2005
The Truth Laid Bear September 6 2005
Brian Behrend.com
September 7 2005
Endo Locusta Credo
September 7 2005
Hooverdust.com
September 7 2005
Jonathan Phelps.com
September 7 2005
High Altitude Blog
September 7 2005
Occasionally Original.com September 8 2005
Saskatchewan Plates September 8 2005
Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus September 8 2005
A Little Dose of E September 8 2005
Generation Star Wars September 8 2005 ( I bet my son would love the title.)
Live! from the Hotel Cosmonaut! It's ... September 8 2005
Welcome to the Funcave September 16 2005
Mary Schmidt September 16 2005
Stupid Pastors.com September 16 2005
Tom Dailey Webblog September 16 2005
Malaysian Alien September 16 2005
techyted's blog, blog, blog September 16 2005
Mobility Handyman September 16 2005
GERM the MEAN September 16 2005
Anyletter hosting the Carnival of Computing September 26 2005
Inside Microsoft September 28 2005
The Tattered Coat September 30 2005
Richard's Oval Office October 13 2005
Little Green Footballs October 24 2005
Topaz Partners October 28 2005
Boy; October was a slow month for new blogs to be found!
Manal and Alaa's bit bucket November 3 2005
Contemporary, Intellectual, Property, Licensing and Information Law November 9 2005
Broadband Blog November 11 2005
Fergie's Tech Blog November 13 2005
Rantings of a Sand Monkey November 14 2005
Committee to Protect Bloggers November 14 2005
kareem amer November 14 2005 (In Arabic)
Charging Rhino November 17 2005
Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth November 17 2005
Brain Droppings November 25 2005
Tone Deaf Company November 25 2005
What A Big Mouth... November 25 2005
Wireless Zone November 25 2005
Temple of Ronin November 25 2005
Pajamas Media November 30 2005
The Radio Equalizer: December 7 2005
Jeremy Hermanns December 28 2005
Publius Pundit January 24 2006
Ed Driscol Jan 27 2006 (our first and only Instalance but I have high hopes!)
A lot of repeat blogs in January
Secular Blasphemy February 2 2006 (who I'm happy to see survived the death threats from the article linked.
Counterterrorism Blog February 5 2006
Fierce Orange February 7 2006
The Belmont Club February 8 2006
Freedom for Egyptians February 8 2006
Expose the Left February 12 2006
Dallas Morning Views February 12 2006 (this is the blog of the Dallas Morning News Newspaper)
Tulane Honors Program March 4 2006
Transterrestrial Musings March 10 2006
Compasspoints Blog March 10 2006
Rahul Sood's Weblog March 27 2006
Digital Crusader March 27 2006
Independent Conservative April 4 2006
The Bodie specter April 4 2006
[Citizen's Band] April 15 2006
Inside Larry's Head April 15 2006
The Monroe Doctrine April 15 2006
Flank Two Position April 15 2006
Nashville Files.com April 15 2006
Freedom will always be too high a price April 19 2006
Donna's Security Flash April 19 2006
Arcadeoddie Xbox 360 April 19 2006
The Mdb Solution April 19 2006 also known as Black Hat Marketing
Ed Bott's Microsoft Report April 19 2006
Net Dimensions Insights April 25 2006
Manal and Alaa's bit bucket May 7, 2006
Download Firefox blog May 19 2006
The Work at home Journal May 24 2006
Not Just for Techs May 25 2006
Life with Brock & Gill May 25 2006
Baseball Musings May 25 2006 My favorite link on the internet is on this page (avoid it if you are from New York or St Louis).
Save the Internet June 22 2006 (We linked to the site at this post on June 5 2006 but not to the blog.)
Hands off the internet June 22 2006
Update roll continued here
Posted by Peter at 11:43 PM | Comments (1)
April 26, 2006
Welcome back
It's a couple of days late but we at HiWired want to welcome back Melissa (nka Mom) from her maternity leave.
Posted by Peter at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2006
Thank you for your support
We are just plain flat out today, will get something up when I can today.
Posted by Peter at 02:14 PM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2006
sleeping late
In the call center and support business the time just after Christmas is is the time when the most calls come in. This is when the most gadgets are purchased by the most people.
Once the middle of January comes things tend to slow down a bit. For the next couple of weeks we will be sleeping a bit later opening at 9 a.m. EST instead of our usual 8.
Unfortunately since I don't have the morning shift that means I can't sleep in any later.
Posted by Peter at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2006
As Peter goes to one solution...
I'm going to another, one without a cost so far. Right now my own computer has a different solution in hand, and how temporary it is depends on how much I have to do myself over the next few weeks. What I have on my home XP system now is ZoneAlarm Free, AVG Free, Microsoft Anti-Spyware and a couple of other popular anti-adware/anti-spyware products.
Total cost of the software: zero.
Both are free downloads, but may not necessarily be the best solution for the layman to install by themselves, not without a technical support agent guiding you through, and that's where we come in.
If things go well, or not so well, I'll be sure to let everyone know.
Posted by at 12:42 PM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2006
Happy New Year!
A Happy New Year from all of us at HiWired. We hope your 2006 is even better than your 2005 was!
We will be open till 11 p.m. EST for all your technical needs today and will be open our regular hours tomorrow Jan 2nd from 8 a.m. EST- 11 p.m. EST.
Posted by Peter at 04:08 PM | Comments (0)
December 11, 2005
Posting, Trackbacks and housekeeping
Some reminders about posting, trackbacks and the stuff you will find here:
COMMENTS: We have purposely not made any general restrictions on posting comments; however we reserve the right to edit comments for propriety. Disagreement and discussion are welcome and encouraged, however we would hope and expect that this take place within the norms of polite discourse. We reserve the right to edit and/or delete anything that falls outside of that area. We also reserve the right to ban the IP of any commentator who violates that policy. Likewise if a comment is a generic spam comment (The "I really like your blog, link to me") it will be deleted and the IP banned.
TRACKBACKS: As you might imagine it is not uncommon for sales sites or porn sites to try to plant trackbacks via spam. This will be deleted and the IP's banned as soon as we are aware of it. We delete them and ban them as soon as we are aware of them. Even with a legit trackback if your site is not work safe we will remove the link and convert it to a comment so your site will get credit for the link but we will not knowingly provide a direct link to a site that isn't work safe.
POSTS: The posts here are made by employees of HiWired. As a rule they are on technical subjects (hardware, software, the net, news about the net etc...) or link to stories relating to technical subjects. You will also see posts here on blogs and blogging and the occasional personal item. Reviews are the reviews of the individual poster. Our link to any article on any site is not an endorsement of every post on that site by Hiwired.
UPDATE: One more thing to mention. If you attempt to post a comment or trackback and find yourself unable to; drop us a line here. It is possible that your pc was hijacked to send out spam. Of course we can help you fix that too.
Posted by Peter at 11:27 AM | Comments (0)
December 01, 2005
Now that we're older we get to stay up late (NOT)
HiWired turns one today!
Starting today we will be open till 1 A.M. EST.
There are a lot of things that go into making a business a success, but the most important thing is you!
So thanks to you all, Ronald, Shirlee, Eldonna, Doc, Ruth and all the rest of you (much too many to name)for your loyal support. We look forward to serving all of you for many years to come.
Update: The 1 a.m. time has been nixed for the present. This is what happens when you post on your day off without reading your e-mail.
Posted by Peter at 07:44 PM | Comments (0)
June 30, 2005
Good News Bad News
The Good News:
Things have been very busy here.
The Bad News:
This will limit my blogging a bit as I try to keep up with customers
Of course Wayne, Andy, Rhonda, Brian, Lorie, Melissa, Mike, Singu, Kieran, Eric, Troy, and the rest of the Crowd are just as busy as me, hopefully they can squeeze in a post or two as time permits.
Posted by Peter at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2005
Excuses Excuses
Very busy day today will try to get some good bloging in when we can
Posted by Peter at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
May 15, 2005
Comment spam
There is nothing less joyful than checking comments and seeing spam from online casinos to delete.
Posted by Peter at 09:35 AM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2005
Lightfrog pulls in the viewers
The Drudge Report states that Good Morning America beat the Today Show for two days straight starting with May 6th.
This of course has everything to do with LightFrog appearing in the first hour that day.
Posted by Peter at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2005
Stars of the Day
It was very cool to see our owners Singu and Michael along with Wayne, one of our techs on Good Morning America today.
If you are visiting us for the first time (and even if you aren't) LightFrog will be more than happy to support your PC, Digital Camera, IPOD, PDA, Printer, etc, etc, etc. We don't care what brand you have or combinations thereof.
When you are ready for support we have several different pricing plans to meet your needs.
Even if you don't need support today you can sign up and have access to our free tech tips and reports available for members only
And of course there is our blog here updated daily. Our techs, developers, management and ownership all post here, and you can comment on what you read.
Of course now that Wayne is a big TV star he might be posting less.
This article at the Washington Post has more on Computer Rage
Posted by Peter at 09:34 AM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2005
Lightfrog on TV!
LightFrog will be be featured in a story tomorrow on Good Morning America in the 7-8 AM hour concerning Computer Rage.
Back in the days when I still had hair we used to call that losing your temper.
Posted by Peter at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)
April 29, 2005
Snappy new Look
Our snappy new blog looks comes thanks to our developer Keith. Great job!
Now if we could only get him to post on the blog a little more....
Posted by Peter at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2005
I love it when we look smart
Going by this article at Business week we are ahead of the curve.
I always knew we were.
Posted by Peter at 10:36 PM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2005
Don't forget the Chat
Twice tonight I've had a customer's cell phone die in the middle of the call. Once I was able to get the fellow back once not.
Remember that phone support isn't the only way to get help. Help is available via chat during the same hours (8 a.m.-11 p.m. EST) If your phone dies simply sign into the lightfrog service and do a help request in chat and we can not only pick up where we left off, but we can remotely control your machine and fix your problems while you sit back and watch.
You know my mother's old rotary phone never cut out like that....
Posted by Peter at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2005
WELCOME TO LIGHTFROG - LEARN MORE ABOUT US!