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Our mission is to help businesses like yours increase productivity and get more out of the technology you invest in.
We specialize in solutions that safeguard and protect your data and keep operations running smoothly.
Premium IT Services
Intelligent remote monitoring, proactive maintenance, and behind-the-scenes remote support.
Network Security
Protect your business from threats like malware, viruses, phishing attacks, hackers and other threads.
Backup & Disaster Recovery
Ensure peace-of-mind in any situation with the most complete data backup solution available.
Cloud Hosting Solutions
Reduce infrastructure costs, collaborate, and get more done with our unique cloud solutions.
When you just want IT to work!
There are a lot of computer shops out there that you can call up to fix an issue or install a piece of equipment. They might be able to get you out of crisis mode, but they aren’t looking at the full picture.
At Decatur Computers Inc., we understand business. We consult. We provide solutions to solve everyday challenges. We just happen to fix computers as well.
We believe (and have proven) that if you proactively manage technology, run maintenance religiously, and monitor a business network, everyday issues and downtime will be greatly reduced.
This is what makes us different than your typical tech support company. Sure, we can fix computer issues when you have them, but our specialty is preventing them in the first place.
Are you looking for a partner you can trust your IT with? Sign up for a FREE IT Assessment to get started today.
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What Our Clients Say
This past year I have been planning my wedding, and I have a ton of spreadsheets and documents on my computer pertaining to the “big day”. I saved everything on an external hard drive just in case. One day I went to get one of the documents off of the hard drive and of course there were no documents in the file. My computer is very old so I have worried about it crashing. I have no clue where to take it to find out what went wrong. I was telling my cousin Steve Turner about it and he suggested Decatur Computers. I took it in, I was only there for about 10 minutes, they had great customer service, said that they would call me in a few days to let me know what they were able to do. I got a call that week, they not only retrieved everything on the hard drive but they also increased the speed of my computer so we were able to wait a bit longer to buy a new one. I would definitely recommend anyone to Decatur computers.
"These guys do a great job! I took my computer in to be updated and they not only did that but they got rid of all the bugs and viruses and it runs much faster. Then when I got home with the upgrade my printer wouldn’t connect. I called them up and they connected to my computer from their location and within half hour they had me back in service! It was also kind of funny watching them move the mouse and different things going on the screen while I was sitting here not moving a thing. :)"
Decatur Computers has given us excellent service in our computer needs. The staff provides professional, immediate service. A telephone call to them gets immediate help with any of the needs we have had with our current system. We are most happy to have them available, and the prices have been right!
“Decatur Computers has always provided prompt, efficient and affordable computer service at our home as well as at our place of business. We have also purchased several new computer systems from them and have been very pleased with the products they recommended for purchase. The technicians are always courteous. Any technical issues or problems we have had, they have addressed quickly to ensure that we had minimal down time if any at all. I would highly recommend Decatur Computers to anyone whether it be for residential or business services.”
“I run two small companies and have relied on Decatur Computers for over 7 years. The staff is very professional. One business runs a POS system the other data management . They are fantastic with both. There has never been a problem they cannot fix, even though both systems are very different. I would strongly recommend them to anyone for whatever they need.”
“I have worked with Decatur Computers for over 10 years. I have always had great service and fair pricing. Now that I have my own home based business I am looking forward to the continued relationship. The staff is always courteous whether it is on the phone, in shop or off site. I know that I can count on them to fix my problem or answer my question.”
With today’s technology advancing so fast it is nice to know there is a one stop shop for all technology problems. I personally have gained a lot of knowledge and had the best assistance with all my computer and software issues I have encountered. I would highly recommend Decatur Computers for anyone’s personal and business needs. As I always say ‘Why try to fix your own computer when that is what Decatur Computers does'”
Decatur computer and their staff go above and beyond to serve their customers. Mathew was very friendly and informative through the repair process. I received emails through the entire process updating me on the progress of my repair. I would highly recommend Decatur computer to anyone i know for repairs or upgrades. Thanks again to Mathew his great customer service and hard work.
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First, you need to update your iPhone to iOS 13.2, which is Apple’s latest release as of the writing of this article. After updating, you’ll be asked if you want to share your recordings with Apple.
This doesn’t change how Siri works - you can still use the digital assistant the same way you always have.
No worries, you can opt out at any time, provided that you are running iOS 13.2 or later.
Go to the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap Privacy > Analytics and Improvements.
From there, you can turn off Improve Siri & Dictation.
The above steps just keep Apple from getting new recordings from you. To remove any that Apple already has, you can do so by going back into the Settings app and following these steps:
Go to Siri & Search > Siri & Dictation History.
Tap the big button with red text that says Delete Siri & Dictation History.
Once done, you can be fairly confident that all of the strange questions you’ve asked Siri are no longer being reviewed by an Apple employee.
For more tips and tricks on how to gain control over your data and protect yourself and your business, be sure to subscribe to our blog!
If you, as a business owner, were to analyze the status of a project that your team has been chiseling away at, how would you do so? The traditional approach of individually asking employees will not only waste precious time but it could lead to a misleading status report.
Understanding where your employees are at with a project doesn’t have to be such a struggle. Gathering in a conference not only will offer the opportunity to talk about hurdles, it is also a great time to discuss progress as well as setting goals. Team-leaders can be assigned to facilitate the meeting, requesting all members to come forth with questions or concerns they may have. Often times, if one individual is unsure of a project task then someone else may be holding back from asking the same question. Conferencing keeps your workforce not only on the right path, but in-sync and moving in the same direction.
Most of us have been put in a situation which leads to the promise of receiving a call or visit at an unspecified time. It could have been a mother-in-law arriving unexpectedly early, or a wasted Saturday waiting for an untimely landlord.
In business, there are few disasters greater than unpreparedness or wasted time. Conferencing allows you to select a concrete start time, as well as a predicted end time. Telling your team the meeting will run from say 1 p.m.-to-2 p.m., not only allows for them to be more prepared with questions or concerns, but it also means they won’t leave the rest of their day unfilled due to an overestimation of the length of the meeting.
Don’t call your team expecting well-thought-out input without giving them time to prepare. When scheduling attendees be sure to include details of what this meeting will entail.
Sometimes meetings will be scheduled in less than convenient locations. The technology that is available offers solutions to problems you may have not even realized you have. If you are taking advantage of a remote workforce, stop requiring attendance to in-house meetings. Video conferencing options are available to complete the same task as a roundtable meeting.
Organizing a video conference and ensuring satisfactory results is easier than you might anticipate. Decatur Computers Inc. has the experts to assist in procuring conferencing solutions. Reach out to our team by calling us at 217-475-0226!
Story from a property manager
A little background about me; I was formerly a sales manager, and I did things the ‘old school’ way. I learned as much as I could about my prospects so when I’d follow up I’d have a lot to talk to them about. I’d know their birthdays, their anniversaries, their kids’ names, you name it. I also learned that having a detailed record of all of their interactions with my company helped me give them a very personalized touch.
I was always inspired by my dad, who basically built and ran a series of rental properties with his own two hands while working a full-time job. I scrimped and saved until I could buy the duplex I was living in, and the rest is history.
Today, my properties are my main source of income and my family and staff rely on them. That means collecting rent, paying taxes and payroll, managing utilities, and keeping up with my maintenance team requires a fair amount of logistics.
My dad gave me two critical life lessons that I’ll never forget. The first one is measure twice, cut once, and the second is you can’t do it all, so rely on the expertise of others. I’ve always taken these lessons to heart, but I did have some tricks that my dad never did.
I wanted my apartments to be nice, so many of them include things like Wi-Fi, smart locks, and some even have gates. Some of the commercial properties have even more going on. Either way, managing everything requires a pretty elaborate setup at my main office, and keeping track of tenant names, documentation, and employees is dependent on my IT.
I followed my dad’s lesson and relied on a trusted IT company to set everything up, and when they recommended I get a backup system, I didn’t bat an eye. They set it all up and showed my office manager how to use it, how to restore files if ever needed, and they checked back in a month later to check their work.
That was three years before the event…
The event happened at the worst possible time. We were juggling with some maintenance issues, we had some tenants cycling out, and it was all happening during tax season. Oh yeah, and my office manager was on her honeymoon.
The software that handles all of our internal communication, scheduling, and payroll got corrupted. After a morning of sweating over it myself, I finally called my poor office manager, who was literally on the edge of cell phone service AND roaming on a beach in the Bahamas. She helped walk us through accessing the backup to restore. I had also called and left a message at the IT company that originally set up the backup.
The restore ran, and a couple hours later it said it was finished. We opened up the software but the data was still corrupted. We tried another restore to pull data from a previous backup, and a few hours later we got the same result.
We finally got tech support on the phone and it turns out that the software changed how it stored its data a year ago, so it wasn’t being backed up. Everything else was, but this critical piece of my business wasn’t being backed up at all.
This data was so crucial that we would have had to spend months and hundreds of hours of labor before we would reach normality again. Not to mention the embarrassment of having to go to our tenants with our tails between our legs to collect bank account and contact info. Worst of all, we were made clearly aware of the issue back when our software updated - we just didn’t think it would have affected our backup. We didn’t even think about the backup.
Fortunately, after several days of phone calls and hair pulling, followed by a big fat bill, the data was able to be accessed and we were back in business. Honestly, I would have paid that bill four times over to get my data back (but don’t tell the IT company or the software vendor that, sheesh!).
It could have been prevented, and now we actively test our backups once per month. It only takes us a few hours, and that time is absolutely worth it. We essentially simulate a situation where the only data on our network is the backup, and see if we can run off of that.
Since we’ve been doing these monthly tests, we’ve actually found two other major instances where data wasn’t being backed up, so it’s already saved us from a future disaster.
Test your backups, or else you may as well not have backed up at all!
Thank you so much for sharing that story! Things can definitely change on your network over time, and systems that you’ve set up should be audited to make sure they are performing their job. For example, adding a new device or application on a secure network could lead to that network no longer being secure. The same goes for backup.
We perform tests of backups in a similar fashion, because if your backup doesn’t contain everything you need, it won’t do you much good when you need to restore from it.
Looking to prevent a future horror story from affecting your business? Give us a call at 217-475-0226 and ask about our data backup solutions.
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