We have all become very dependent on computers not only in the office, but also in the home. Computers can do in a matter of seconds would otherwise would take months to do.  Or at least that's the way it's supposed to be. But all too often people spend countless frustrating hours battling with their systems.  This is a serious role reversal problem where you are now working for your computer.  We believe that computers should work for you and not the other way around.

We offer computer consulting services for homes, home offices, and small businesses including custom computer setup and configurations for Windows systems,  LAN (Local Area Network) setup and configuration, Internet Firewalls, and backup systems.  We group home, home offices, and small businesses (which we  refer to as home/office environments) together because we treat them all with the same importance and attention to detail. We figure that someone's home computer is just as important to them as a small business owner's computer is to the owner.

Our goal to set up and configure your home/office in the most economical way feasible utilizing your equipment to the fullest potential while allowing for future upgrades. In short, we want you to get the most bang for the buck while not working yourself into a corner. We will explain the options to you and then advise you on what we think is the best solution.  We will then configure your system(s) to meet your requirements.  We always strive to minimize your cost.  We recommend high end equipment from reputable manufacturers that have a known track record for producing reliable products.  We caution against being a penny wise and a dollar foolish.

Custom Computer Configurations

In most cases, people only use a small fraction of computing capabilities that they currently have. When their machines bogs down under the requirements of new software, they immediately think they need a new computer when in many cases, their existing machine can be boosted to acceptable performance with a simple processor or memory upgrade.  When they do buy a new machine, they tend to buy machines with cost reduced components thinking they are getting a great deal on a state of the art piece of equipment.

We offer services to build, repair, or upgrade IBM compatible PCs. We can tell you if your current machine needs to be replaced or if it can be upgraded to meet your requirements.  If we determine that you need a new PC, we can either recommend a system from a reputable vender or we can custom build one to meet your needs.   We build all systems with upgrade potential and a system backup strategy in mind. We do not over build (or under build) systems.  We build what you need; nothing more; nothing less.

There are many reasons to setup a LAN (Local Area Network) in your home or office.  A networked environment allows you to share files between systems as well as peripheral devices such as printers and backup devices saving you money on buying redundant equipment. If you need a robust environment, a network can be configured in such a way as to protect yourself against critical device failures. Networking is also a very powerful tool that can be used to protect legacy devices from being obsoleted by future operating systems that no longer support legacy devices. It also allows you to seamlessly share high speed Internet connections (such as xDSL or cable modem) with multiple machines.  This alone is worth the cost of setting up an LAN.  In addition, a LAN can configured in such a way as to provide you with a redundant backup system.

If you have more than one computer at your location, it is well worth the trouble to connect them together through a LAN.  Setting up a LAN is relatively easy and inexpensive and provides you with an extremely powerful and versatile environment. We offer consulting services for network setup, configuration, and trouble shooting. We can also set up a firewall strategy to protect your network from malicious hackers. With 20+ years developing network software, we have a detailed knowledge of networking protocols and stacks (see Mark Rigsbee's resume for details).  We know the pros and cons of various networking systems that can be used and will work to configure the best solution for your computing environment.

Internet Firewalls

Can we make your system 100% safe from Internet attacks?  In a word, no.  But then again, nobody can.  What we can do is make it very difficult from anyone to get into your system.  This alone will deter most attackers.  Why waste time trying to penetrate a fire walled system when there are plenty of easier targets to choose from? We can also setup and configure virus protection mechanisms designed to protect your system from computer virus attacks.

Backup Systems

If you absolutely don't care about anything on your PC, then don't waste time backing it up.  Very few people should fall  in this category.  For the most of us, we use and depend on computers every day for personal and business applications. It is paramount to have a good backup strategy for your home or office. I believe this is the most import aspect of any computing environment. It's easy to reload applications should the need arise but valuable data can not be replaced.   Something to consider is all hard drives will fail.  It's not a question on will they fail, it's a question of when. Hard drives are rated in terms of MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure).  This statistic gives you a good idea of how long your disk is likely to run without failing, but there are no guarantees. A 5 year MTBF drive can run for 20 years or more with no problems.  On the other hand, I have seen these disks fail in as short a time as a couple of months. Your data passes by the read/write heads on your disk drive an average of about 7200 times per second.  This means that every second you have 7200 chances to damage your valuable data.  Actually, it's worst than that because a head crash on any portion of your disk is likely to render the entire disk unreadable by any  thing except specialized equipment used by companies that perform catastrophic media recoveries  (And sometimes, there are certain parts of a disk that they can't even read.)  Are you scared?  If you're not backing up your system, you should be.

The best and only solution is a good backup system. A good backup strategy is lot more than periodically writing data out to a couple of floppies.  At MBR Consultants we realize the extreme importance of protecting your data.  We can examine your current backup strategy and tell you if it is adequate to provide you with the type of protection you need.  If not, we can design a backup strategy for single and/or networked systems that is both reliable and easy to use to protect you against catastrophic damage, accidental erasure, and damage inflicted by computer viruses.  

Please!
As they say, if you don't get help here, get help somewhere.  
Please backup your systems.

Rates and Terms
We perform this type of work by an hourly rate  or as a Fixed Price contract (fixed price for a specified task).  This type of work usually requires an on site visit.  We offer free estimates on all work.  For trouble shooting, we do not charge a fee for problems we can't solve. We usually charge between $80 and $120 per hour for SOHO consulting depending on the type of work required.  Fixed Price contract jobs are priced on an individual basis.