Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock
Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock

Microsoft announced a special Windows 7 pre-order program today that offers the company’s newest operating system at a DEEPLY discounted price. But is your computer ready for Windows 7?

There are two basic camps of people who will be upgrading to Windows 7 – Vista users and XP users (Windows 2000 users can also technically upgrade, but in many cases their hardware is so old that ot will be incompatible).

Testing Windows Vista PCs for an Upgrade to Windows 7

Vista users will have a pretty easy time upgrading to Windows 7. Microsoft is promising that everything that works with Vista will work with Windows 7.

When you run the upgrade disk, Windows 7 moves all of your documents, settings, registry, and programs to a holding directory. It then installs a clean copy of Windows 7 and copies all of your information back over. This eliminates many of the layered operating system problems that plagued XP and older upgrades.

In theory, everything should just work after the installation, but if you want that extra measure of comfort, you can run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to check for any issues.

Testing Windows XP PCs for an Upgrade to Windows 7

Windows XP users will have a bit of a tougher time upgrading.

It is HIGHLY recommended that you ru the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. There is a good chance that some of your hardware and/or software will not be compatible with Windows 7.

As a rule of thumb, if your software is not compatible with Vista, it will not be compatible with Windows 7.

With that said, the business and Ultimate versions of Windows 7 have a special feature that allows you to download and run a virtualized copy of Windows XP from within Windows 7.

Think of it like running Windows XP as if it was a program, and then opening up other programs from within it. This will allow business users who rely on older software (and lazier IT staffs) to still run many of their old XP programs in a limited form. There is no additional charge for the virtualized XP download.

Schrock Innovations has hired Steve Borland to head our Data Recovery Division!

Steve is a promising technician and an entrepreneur in his own right. His company, Minaska Outdoors, makes some of the highest quality gaming calls on the market. His made-in-the-USA products can be found in retail locations like Cabella’s. The electronic game calls his company produces can bring animals within 10 feet with the push of a button!

Why Schrock Likes to Hire Entrepreneurs

Steve started his company from the ground up. Now that he has people performing the company’s day-to-day operations, he thought it was time to try something new. Steve is returning to his PC roots to use his 10+ years of experience for Schrock’s customers.

Some company owners are hesitant to hire people who have an entrepreneurial blend of talents. A smart business owner is one who is willing to hire people who can do things he can’t do – or doesn’t have the time to do. Rather than feeling threatened by an employee’s drive and ambition, smart business owners visualize the amazing things that could be accomplished if their company was able to harness those entrepreneurial abilities.

The Midlands Business Journal runs some really informative articles on subjects and trends that can seem daunting to many business owners. When they are doing a feature on a technology related subject they will often ask for some comments on the basic questions they plan on writing about in the feature.

Michelle Leach is one of the MBJ’s most talented writers and she recently sent me an email with some questions about data recovery and data backup. Here were some of the questions she asked and how I answered them:

You read that right! Schrock Innovations is teaming up with 104.1 The Blaze in Lincoln, NE to give away one FREE netbook computer EVERY DAY for a whole month!

How to Win One of the Schrock Netbooks:

All you have to do to win is listen to 104.1 the Blaze on the air or on the Internet and wait for the cue to call in. When you hear the sounder, be caller #10 at 402-464-1041. They will air the sounder once each day.

Improve Your Odds of Winning:

If you are trying to win by listening online I have a couple pointers for you. The online feed is delayed by upto 45 seconds. Since you have to be caller #10 to win the computer a time delay will make that challenging for online listeners.

You can improve your odds (and get more sleep) if you follow the Blaze on Twitter. They will tweet specific details about when the sounder will be going off so you can be one of the first people to call in. Knowing WHEN the souder will happen dramatically improves your odds of winning!

What Are You Trying to Win:

You are trying to win an Asus netbook from Schrock Innovations. The netbook has a retail price of $349. Because the promotion is called PCs and Pudding, the radio station will throw in a box of instant pudding as well. If you don’t know how to use a netbook, the instant pudding is a nice addition to any office.

I have no inside information about when the sounders are going to air, and I can’t do anything more than what I already have to improve your odds of winning, so enjoy the great music and have fun trying to win!

All About Vista

This week our show focused heavily on the the latest Vista service pack update. The update was originally scheduled to be pushed via automatic update on June 30, however Microsoft has been making it available on Windows Update now.

If the install is popping up on your computer, you need to install it ASAP. We recommend you bring your computer to Schrock Innovations for our $39.99 installation special. This way you can be assured the update has been installed correctly.

In the News

The latest virus hitting the internet is called Gumblar. This virus attacks websites you trust and infects your computer. An interesting fact is that 37% of the websites you trust actually infect your computer. The Gumblar virus is no exception. The best way to prevent this from happening to you is to stay up-to-date on your security software. As always, we recommend Norton 360.

The Key to Key Words

Have you ever searched for song lyrics or “free” stuff on the ‘net. The majority of us have and the likely hood of you getting a virus is great. Our suggestion, call your radio station and ask for the lyrics to the song and simply stop searching for free things. Here are the most dangerous search terms on the web.

There are, however, key word searches you can type in without worrying about getting a virus. These are phrases such as things about the economic crisis and health questions. Search away about the economy and that agonizing pain in the neck-you’re safe.

We closed the Schrock Service Centers early today for our annual company BBQ. Schrock employs more people than ever, so the BBQ gives everyone an opportunity to tie a face to the telephone extensions between Omaha and Lincoln.

This year we held the BBQ in Omaha at my house. We have 1/3 of an Acre in South Omaha, and our employees’ kids made the most of it. I have to admit that one of the best parts of our BBQ’s is watching all of the kids have a blast playing together.

Did you miss the show this week? Listen to the commercial-free recording here!

The first part of the show was a top ten list of technology fails of the decade. Next Thor moved on to the virus that has been nagging the FBI for over a week. Callers asked about some tricky marketing messages and how to avoid them, Norton 260, Adobe Acrobat updates and more.

On Compute This, the term “whaling” was discussed. No, this is not another word for fishing; it is a word that describes online attacks for account information. We also touched on Google’s fail that happened earlier in the week. Google’s search engine was down for several hours, leaving users unable to use the site. We […]

What is whaling and why does Steve Jobs care? On Compute This, we talked about the term “whaling.” Whaling is a term similar to phishing except that big names are targeted for maximum impact. Over the past month, several whaling attacks have taken place against wealthy executives and individuals. The reason for whaling these people […]

I tend to welcome my employees unofficially on my blog once they have worked for us for a few weeks and we know they are the real deal.

In fact, it’s almost an inside joke among Schrock’s employees that once you make it on Thor’s blog you know you are good to go.

If that’s the case, then I am happy to report that Schrock’s newest employee, Scott Long, is good to go. Scott will be taking on a management role in the Lincoln Service Center.

Scott brings an official Apple certification to Schrock as well as additional HP and Dell certifications. Anyone who has been through the certification process for these three companies understands the training and experience required to gain these certifications. His presence in the service center will help us keep our turnaround times to same-day or next day.