Peter Blaise Monahon
APC American Personal Computing
2776 South Arlington Mill Drive #277
Arlington,/Shirlington, Virginia (VA) 22206 US
703-845-1556
peterblaise@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/americanpersonalcomputing
(personal homepage: http://www.peterblaise.com)
This page updated: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 1:51 PM
Q:
Why APC ?
- "A" gets me to the front of your Rolodex and the Yellow Pages. "PC" comes from Personal Computer, so ... if you've got A PC, call APC.'
- AMERICAN
- that unique creative blend of hard work and ingenuity,
- PERSONAL
- enhancing the power and resources of the individual,
- COMPUTING - simplifying the complex, and automating the repetitive.
- Doing business as American Personal Computing, I offer 100% independent web, networking, hardware and software support for DOS, Windows, Unix/Linux, Mac and compatible computers, printers, peripherals, networks, web sites, and whatever else you have. I owe no allegiance to any manufacturer, vendor, or store. I work for you and your interests only.
- I directly service my customers in the Washington, DC, Metropolitan area. I come to your site to troubleshoot and master your setup exactly where you use it. I have no investment in a 'storefront' or nonproductive, non-technical support personnel. You pay only for the real cost of your services. I have a well-stocked lab in Virginia, where I can work on your equipment if it seems more efficient to take it off site, yet most services begin and end at your office or home. Through phone, UPS and FedEx, I also provide quality support for anyone anywhere.
- In my many years of customer service experience (since the 1970's), I have seen that there is no one, single answer to every problem. Hi-tech systems, electronics, software, especially Personal Computers have at least 3 areas of service failures, with many, many possible causes:
- 1)
Hardware can fail, or be improperly assembled, so I work on your hardware problems.
- 2)
Software can foul up, or be installed or configured incorrectly, so I work
on your software problems.
- 3) You can also unknowingly operate your computer, network, and web systems in ways that may cause them to become unreliable, so I work on operator problems.
- Mostly
PC-Clones with DOS and Windows and popular software. I do extensive crash
prevention and recovery, including hard drive rebuilding. Macs ( no surprise
) don't need much service. HP LaserJet printers sometimes need service.
Old Epson dot matrix printers, too. All systems could use enhanced review
of the decisions that went into setting them up in the first place, especially
regarding prevention of data loss. Many people have no experience 'backing
up' their files, or have no idea how to use any backup they may have made.
Avoiding a disaster is much more manageable than is recovering from a
disaster - I help avoid disasters.
- Gateway,
Micron, HP/Compaq, Dell, Packard Bell, Toshiba, (even antiques such as Zeos
and Northgate) - they all have so much in common 'under the hood', even
IBM and Apple. Over the years I've seen just about everything. I'm happy
to look at what you've got.
- Software
from Microsoft, Word Perfect/Novell, Intuit/Quicken, Quarterdeck, Lotus/IBM,
Norton/Symantec, and on ... and on ...
- HP and Epson laser, ink and dot matrix printers, and others. I say 'others' since there's rarely a long-term reason to purchase other brands. However, seasonally, Canon, Apple, and other manufacturer's do offer unique solutions. Since printers are primarily mechanical, many people prefer to upgrade rather than service an older printer.
- Once, I built service departments for some dealers in this town ( ComputerLand, Entré ). But, the dealers, large and small, sell products - 'boxes', not quality support service, so their technical support budget was the first to get cut whenever a store changed owners and they wanted to show immediate profits. You're better off getting your support from someone who works independently only for you, rather than for a 'box mover'.
- Remember,
a hardware service contract only swaps out broken hardware parts, and will
leave you to rebuild your own software, and leave you to recreate your hard
earned personal data before you can get back to work again. Do you know
where your last backup is? How to reinstall and actually use your backups?
How many days since your last backup will you have to re-type into your
computer system? A hardware service contract leaves you without any of these
important services. You can call me now or you can call me later. It's always
more expensive later.
- Classroom
training usually covers less than the tutorials that come with your software.
Most teachers don't know the software they teach, short of looking up 4
things just before class -
1) how to CREATE a file with the software,
2) how to SAVE that file,
3) how to EDIT that file, and
4) how to PRINT it.
In 15 minutes, an experienced classroom teacher can come up with a 2- to 4-hour course to keep most novices busy without anyone learning much. My customers find that they grow much faster in the direction they choose with my one-on-one tutoring at your site with your equipment and your software.
- You may already have a hardware service contract and you may have already sent your employees to training. So, how come you're still not getting the performance and reliability you expected from your investment? CAll me and I'll provide the missing element - personal support.
- You
might think, "We're not having problems, everything's fine." Great. So far.
- An
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A second opinion reviewing
what your doing now can't hurt.
- When
you do have a problem, I am available, I am local, and I can address any
of your Personal Computing needs and problems. And, my front door is brought
directly to your front door by the omnipresence of UPS, FedEx, phones, E-mail
and the Internet - so don't hesitate to use my services. It's often faster
to overnight-ship back and forth to me than search for a local shop and
hope their hours and parking and response times satisfy you, not to mention
their skill!
When it comes to problems, keep my name, Peter Blaise Monahon, APC American Personal Computing, and my number,703-845-1556 , in your Rolodex filed under PC Headache Relief.
