OK, I'm not one to get personal but are you absoultely sure??? If you are 100% certain you really want to reformat your laptop (assuming you mean format the hard drive in your laptop) Here's how it goes: Click on START, click on RUN, type CMD in the box and click OK. From the DOS prompt, type the following; format c: (format space c:) the prompt will then ask you if you are sure and that all data will be lost if you proceed. If that is indeed your intention, type in Y and then enter. If not, type in N and enter. Again, I don't know your reason for wanting to reformat your hard drive and I'm a bit nervous telling you how to do this. Irecommend that before you actually do it you e-mail me back and let me know why you want to and we'll explore other options as to what your concern is and how we can fix it another way. Please note, all data from your hard drive will be lost if you perform this procedure.   [less]

It depends upon how much data needs to be backed up, what the recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) are for a given business. An important question to consider is that most small and medium businesses are not “in the business” of performing backups. With that in mind, is it more cost effective to employ some type of managed service for backup thus balancing cost with effective service and business continuance capabilities. A remote, offsite back up for a small or medium business is extremely cost effective, safe and reliable. Partner up with a company providing these services and explore your options.   [less]

When it comes to a suggestion from an IT Provider, always ask yourself one question: are their objectives aligned with mine? All IT providers do one thing well - sell and install equipment. Outside of that you can call them on a “break fix” agreement in which you are charged an hourly rate for them to come to your business and “fix” your system. Where the objectives are misaligned is that your IT Provider lives and dies by the adage, “the more you break the more we make.” My recommendation is that you partner up with a company providing managed services and request a comprehensive system analysis. Often times the need for a new server can be avoided by something as simple as remotely hosting Microsoft Exchange. Exchange is the death of most small and medium business networks - it’s big, it’s hungry and it’s a handful to manage. I would invest in a simple Network Analysis before making any capital investment, you just may be surprised.  [less]