Let’s talk a little pragmatics of an office. How do you handle the necessary “evil” of computers? I have a small network (server, 5 PCs, plotter, scanner, network printer, etc.) that has developed over the years along with the methodology and I've slowly (painfully) started to periodically upgrade portions of the full computer system (10-base T gig switches, newer processors, external hard drives, back up methodology, etc.). Last week I had the gig switch die. No, I did not have a back up to use (duh, who does that?) so I had to wing it down to Office Desperate. It took a few hours to remove and replace and rearrange the pieces, but it was back up and running 98 emails later. I’m wondering if there is a better way to manage the technology that lets our office run. Any one have any helpful tips? My tip from this lesson is I’m going to keep the cheapie one I got from Office Desperate on hand and get a replacement unit for the one that fried. Hopefully I’ll get some compensation from the battery back/surge suppressor manufacturer (that unit was only 2 months old!).
—Lisa Stacholy, AIA