Website Clients

weTRaIN Homepage

weTRaIN Illinois is the largest training provider in the state of Illinois.  The Illinois Community Colleges weTRaIN network serves nearly 3,000 firms each year through 38 training centers. Supported by 132 statewide representatives working in partnership with some of the nation’s top training firms, weTRaIN provides easy and affordable access to world-class training, resources, and support services.  MikaSue Designs has had the pleasure of designing and maintaining their website for 2 years and counting!

Fit 2B Tied Online

Fit 2B Tied is a formal wear store located in Elmwood Park, IL owned by Mr. Lamar and Mrs. Evelyn Anderson.  They hired MikaSue Designs to launch their website and online store in 2009.  It has be 3 great years.  Check out the new 2012 styles at http://www.fit2btied.biz

Training Clients

Through a partnership with Triton College, MikaSue Designs has had the pleasure of training employees at many major corporations.  You may recognize a few…

• BorgWarner, Bellwood, IL
• Cook County Forest Preserve, River Forest, IL
• Follett Higher Education, Oak Brook, IL
• Navistar, Melrose Park, IL
• Riverside Brookfield High School, Riverside, IL

Support Clients

Since 2006, we have served over 200 individuals and small businesses with computer support, troubleshooting and maintenance.  Some clients just call for advice on computer products or error messages they are receiving and that’s OK with us!! MikaSue to the Rescue

Businesses

Individuals * means VIP

Having supported our loyal existing clients, secured several new clients and provided computer training for hundreds of employees at major corporations, MikaSue Designs ends another year on a positive note.    Still, the beginning of the year brings a fresh start and challenges us to take a new look at existing situations.

For over 5 years, MikaSue Designs has provided computer support, website development and software training to individuals and small businesses in multiple cities across multiple states.  In 2012, MikaSue Designs will enhance its vision of providing excellent services but will have a new focus.  We will continue to provide computer training and website development but in the coming months will pass the computer support torch to our A+ certified externs who have demonstrated extensive computer knowledge and an excellent work ethic.  These individuals have been taught and tested by MikaSue personally and have an understanding of the personalized service we provide to our computer support clients.   MikaSue will continue to oversee and monitor the success of this business area but will not be handling the daily support tasks.  This will allow other individuals to grow and expand as computer specialists. MikaSue Designs is happy to assist with this mission.

With the computer support area of our business getting special attention from our externs, we can focus more on our growing mobile software development.  In past years, we have successfully released products on the Google Android platform which have performed very well. We would like in 2012 to focus on making these products better and developing more products on the Android and the iPhone mobile platforms.  Our software products seek to provide a solution to real-life problems in an efficient manner.

MikaSue Designs welcomes the new opportunities that will come in 2012.  We hope that you come along for the journey and continue to call on us for all your computer technology needs.

It began to take longer than usually to start up but just as I was getting concerned there it came alive.  Then it would move slowly when I performed certain tasks. But just as I was getting concerned, the task would finish.  I knew it was time for a backup but I was soo busy creating, developing, supporting, computing that there was no time to be idle for a backup.

My computer is my everything – my tv, my radio, my phone, my business! Yet I did not make time to perform my preventative maintenance and I paid for it – BIG TIME.  There is never time to do it but always time to recover from not doing it.

I am not venting about my computer crashing, I am simply encouraging you to avoid neglecting yours.  Believe me I understand how easy it is to ignore maintaining your computer especially if you are a power user.  But it is so important to take time to perform the necessary tasks to keep your computer running optimally.  Over time, computers accumulate unnecessary files, out-of-date software, and other hazards.  Staying on top of these can reduce the risk of your computer performing poorly and eventually conking out on you.

I have a preventative maintenance schedule that I try to follow.   It is only my suggestion. Follow it as you see fit. I will definitely be more attentive to it and follow it a lot more closely since I am still recovering from my crash on Sunday.  Feel free to leave a comment and share your stories or preventative maintenance suggestions.  Happy computing!

MikaSue Designs Computer Preventative Maintenance Schedule

Daily

#1 - Be smart online. Only click on links and accept email attachments that you are expecting from others.  Even if you know the person, do not automatically trust the email.  Email is hacked often! You think because you recognize the email and know the person that it is safe.  NOOOO! Confirm with the person that he/she sent you an email with a link or attachment before you download it to your computer.

#2 – Accept updates offered by your active anti-virus software. If you have anti-virus software that has expired, do not allow updates or click on ads from that software. In fact, REMOVE IT.  It is not active and thus not doing your computer any good.

#3 – Run a manual quick scan after you are done computing for the day. Don’t always trust that the anti-virus software is running automatically. Manually click the button and start a quick scan of your computer before you shut it down.

Weekly

#1 – Run a disk clean up to remove temporary internet files, cookies and other unnecessary files that have accumulated from your usage all week.

#2 - Update software such as Adobe and Java. You can click INSTALL LATER only so many times before these updates do become necessary when browsing certain sites.

#3 – Run a full system virus scan after taking updates.

Monthly

#1 - Inventory your Documents and Downloads folders and remove any unused or unnecessary files. If you have downloaded a program from the internet and it is running properly on the computer, you do not need the original Download file you can remove it.

#2 – Archive your email. Don’t let spam, junk and unimportant emails accumulate in your inbox.

#3 – Backup your documents, music, pictures, and other important files.

#4 – Physically clean your computer casing, keyboard and mouse. Dust can cause all kinds of problems with a computer. Food can get between the keys of your keyboard and the mouse can roll over just so much dirt.  Use an anti-static cleaning pad or can of compressed air and blow away these problems.

Yearly

#1 - Inventory the programs on your computer and remove any expired or unused software. Remove software for printers/scanners/cameras you don’t actually own anymore.

#2 – Archive your documents. Create a folder for the current year files.  Move all your necessary documents that you must keep.  Delete all others or save to an external drive.  This will make room for the new files for the upcoming year.

#3 – Defrag your hard drive. Moving and deleting documents can leave spaces in your hard drive.  Run a defrag to increase the storage capacity of your hard drive.

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MikaSue Designs provides excellent computer support services including virus removal, memory upgrades, hard drive optimization, etc.
MikaSue to the Rescue
http://www.askmeacomputerquestion.com

Today, software is very complicated and offers several different ways to complete the same task. This can be overwhelming and may even discouraged use of the software altogether.

While feeling your way through software can be sufficient for your needs, it is also time-consuming. Being familiar with a software program and its features can help you decide the best tool for the task at hand. For example, if you need to create mailing labels, you may know to use a word-processing program. However, knowing about and how to use the mail merge feature of Microsoft Word will help you create labels more easily, thus increasing productivity.

Exploring new software can be exciting but also frustrating. Formal training on software programs can introduce you to its features and user interface, which will increase your comfort level and confidence with using the software. Community colleges and other private training corporations offer training on every software title available. Seek out formal training instead of feeling your way and become a more productive and proficient software user.

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MikaSue Designs offers excellent computer training on popular software titles at affordable rates.
http://training.mikasuedesigns.com