Articles by category: Opinions from our Team

Really Green IT Written By: Andrew West Have you noticed that everything, from companies to the products that they sell, is suddenly “green” almost overnight?  Is it possible that the same dish detergent that you bought last year is really green this year?  If you’re as skeptical as I am, it’s probably because your intuition is right on.  “Greenwas... read more

3D Technology: A Review for Home and Business Written By: Chase Christian It seems like there’s hardly a new movie released to theatres now that isn’t featured in 3D. With the huge commercial success of Avatar last year, many movie studios are jumping at the opportunity to get onto the 3D bandwagon. Commercials on television have been saturated with companies trying to sell 3D mon... read more

Think Brown, Not Green!   Written By: Ryan Popke   Here at CIO it’s been a year of thinking brown. Brown boxes to be exact. Over the course of the last year we have switched over to a new way of doing things our shipping department. We have purchased exactly 0 boxes and eliminated all of the packing materials needed to ship our products out, except for the tape. I’m st... read more

Battle of the Slashes First off, I’m no computer guy.  I email.  I surf the internet.  I sometimes even create PowerPoint presentations and hope people don’t fall asleep.  And so it must be acknowledged that I don’t understand much of the computer lingo out there.  I can’t really tell you how what the memory does is different than what the proce... read more

Office 2010  Overview and Opinions from the Team   Microsoft has announced that Office 2010 will be released to their business partners and the general public in May and June respectively. Many of CIO’s engineers have already been testing the Beta version of Office 2010 and are currently using the released version. In this article a brief overview of the new and improved fea... read more

Santa Barbara Microsoft Support - Why You Need Professional Assistance   Santa Barbara Microsoft support is a critical tool for many businesses. There are so many different ways that you can go about getting the support that you need, but the main thing that matters is that you get the support in the first place. Microsoft is not the easiest brand of products to work with, and you should... read more

Santa Barbara IT Support - Customized Solutions for All Business Needs   Santa Barbara IT support is crucial to your business in many situations. You need to take the time to find companies in the area that you can work with, no matter what you might be looking for. Getting customized business solutions is easy when you find the right Santa Barbara IT support companies. IT support will h... read more

Santa Barbara IT Services - How to Choose Your Business Support Team   It’s time to find Santa Barbara IT services for your business. There are a lot of different companies out there, so how are you going to choose the best ones to get the job done? When you take the time to do a little research, you will be able to find the best services, no matter what you need. Start by finding ... read more

Santa Barbara Internet Support - Get the Help That You Need   Santa Barbara internet support companies are not all created equally. When your business needs computer repair services or IT services, it’s going to be a matter of finding the company that works for you. In order to make sure that you get the best Santa Barbara internet support and IT services available, you will want t... read more

Santa Barbara EMR - Finding the Best IT Services and Products   Santa Barbara EMR software is critical to the success of any medical facility. EMR stands for Electronic Medical Records, and can make any business more efficient. Finding a company that has the right software programs or customized solutions for your Santa Barbara EMR needs is going to make a big difference in the experien... read more

Santa Barbara Computers - How to Find Professional Help   Working with Santa Barbara computers and IT repair services is a normal part of life in today’s world. Even Santa Barbara Mac support specialists exist because no computer is perfect. You really want to establish a business relationship with professional IT services when you start your business so that you don’t have t... read more

Written By: Mike Shinn It’s easy to get on the world’s “bad” list while everyone is sensitive to spam.  Here are some tips to try to stay on everyone’s good side and avoid getting your company’s email blocked.  It takes only one person to get your whole company on a black list. 1. Don’t send out spam.  If you are sending out a larg... read more

Written By: Mike Shinn With power outages occurring and more expected due to the power, I’ve been receiving a lot of the same types of questions and problems.  Typically we have provided or worked with our clients to make sure that their network and data are protected using proper power conditioners and battery backups.  More and more I have been asked about personal desktop pr... read more

Operations and team execution are the two key ingredients to support managed services. Any organization can hire a sales rep that can regurgitate the story of the week but how many of those sales reps have an organization behind them that can deliver on that story? For a solution provider(MSP) to be successful at delivering managed services they need to move from having an individual in char... read more

Christmas TV and Movie Special Quiz 1. What did Alvin of the Chipmunks say he wanted for Christmas?2. What does the dad on a Christmas Story win from the Major Award?3. In the Simpsons Christmas Special, what gift does Homer pick out for Maggie when they were low on cash?4. What does Clark Griswold want to get his family with his Christmas bonus in Christmas Vacation?5.&nbs... read more

Christmas TV and Movie Special Quiz - ANSWER PAGE 1. What did Alvin of the Chipmunks say he wanted for Christmas?  Hoola Hoop2. What does the dad on a Christmas Story win from the Major Award?  Leg Lamp3. In the Simpsons Christmas Special, what gift does Homer pick out for Maggie when they were low on cash?  Dog Chew Toy (Pork Chop)4. What does Clark Griswold... read more

A question often asked by perspective customers is to verbalize CIO Solutions’ differentiators as an IT Support firm in Santa Barbara. This question stated another way, i.e. bluntly, is “There are a lot of people who claim they can provide computer and/or IT support in Santa Barbara so why should we consider engaging in your services?” I find this discussion interesting becaus... read more

Your Local lT Community? Santa Barbara – I love it here.  Let’s face it – Santa Barbara is a small town by almost any standard, and that’s what makes it special, at least amongst countless other reasons such as its natural beauty, relaxed culture, delicious farmers’ market produce and world-famous restaurants, so on and so forth.  Obvious as the statemen... read more

The first job that I got in Santa Barbara was doing IT support at UCSB.  Students could buy a network card for their computers for about $150 and I would help them get it connected to something new called “the internet.”  A lot has changed.  Now, the internet is commonplace.  People typically have multiple computers in their homes as well as mobile devices that c... read more

Review of Microsoft Security Essentials Near the end of September of 2009, Microsoft released its free anti-malware all-in-one software solution to the public.  It is the successor to their previous commercially available security solution -  Microsoft Live OneCare;  which was discontinued in June 2009.  In this article, we will discuss the advertised features of Microsoft ... read more

Online Holiday Shopping By: Allison Bolger This holiday season, lessen the hassle of finding gifts by shopping online. In a time where green is good and frugality is key, the internet proves to be a favorable resource for consumers. Shopping on the net allows buyers to browse an endless amount of options, compare prices, and utilize special deals and discounts, all without leaving their homes... read more

Netbooks: From the Third World to the Third Cloud on the Left           The story of the netbook began in 2005 with the One Laptop per Child non-profit organization. Its mission was "To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and softw... read more

5 Reasons Why it is Easy to Do Business with CIO Solutions By: Hannah Rich, Professional Service Coordinator  It has never been easier to do business with CIO Solutions. From the end-user to the CFO we have made it our top priority to make doing business with CIO as enjoyable and cost-effective as possible. Many of these improvements have been implemented in direct response to ... read more

If you are like us, then you are a regional business that is trying to determine what the true opportunity surrounding social networking is. If you are like us everyone is reminding us of this opportunity, your employees, your friends, your vendors and even the messages that make it past your spam filter. However, the question that nobody seems to be able to answer succinctly is how t... read more

We became a Juniper Networks Partner when they purchased Netscreen about 5 years ago. Typically we see partner programs go downhill when a big company eats a smaller one. Juniper’s acquisition was different in that the partner program and Netscreen technology became even better. Since that time we have picked up some of Juniper’s other technology products resulting in more... read more

by Mike Shinn Remote Engineer mshinn@ciosolutions.com             I am currently testing Windows 7, Microsoft's new operating system that will replace Vista.  You may have heard some negative comments about Vista from friends, or even experienced it yourself.  Microsoft has heard your complaints and is rushing to replace Vis... read more