Get computer help without hiring a full time staff to come to your home or office

Do you need to call someone when you have computer prob­lems? Don’t have the skills, time or the desire to fix your own computer and perform upgrades and maintenance? Or do you just need someone to walk you through a new program or soft­ware?

If you work in a mid-large size company and your computer crashes during a dead­line, you can always call the com­puter or I.T. department to help you. But if you’re not technically savvy and you work in small company or have your own busi­ness or even if you just use your computer personally, then it’s a big deal when you experience computer problems and fixing those problems is not always easy. One way to solve this problem is to find a local, dependable, inde­pendent technology consultant or company who can help you fix your computer. You can also turn to computer services at nation­wide retail stores such as Best Buy (Geek Squad), Circuit City (Firedog) and Staples (Easytech) – they have price lists available for computer services.

Another option is to get remote computer support, where an IT technician, with your permission, gains access to your computer or server through the internet and troubleshoots the problem from afar. Desktop shar­ing is used so you can monitor the progress as the technician performs the work. You can also ask questions during the process. Computer upgrades and mainte­nance can be handled remotely as well.

Digital Art Station offers this service through MiniRedRobot. com. The advantages of getting remote computer support is that it saves you the cost of hiring a full time IT person and it also saves you time since remote com­puter assistance is almost always available right away and you don’t have to take your computer to the shop.

What about non-repair computer help?

There are online office assis­tants (or Virtual Assistants, VAs) that you can contact to help with computer tasks not related to repair and maintenance. They work from their own location and can provide online office support services, such as general adminis­trative tasks; data entry; writing reports; editing documents; mail-merge; setting up and maintain­ing databases; software training and a lot more.

Online office assistants may live nearby or be located any­where across the country and communicate and receive project details via mail, e-mail, phone, fax and instant messaging. Those that offer online/virtual assistance have different skill lev­els so find someone that can help you with the task that you need support in. You can find online office assistants through Virtual Assistance U (http://www.vir­tualassistanceu.com/) and the International Virtual Assistants Association (http://www.ivaa.org). If you’re interested in getting someone local, contact Digital Art Station and we’ll help you find someone in the area.

Some Advantages of Getting Remote Computer Support and Online Office Assistance:

  1. Saves you the cost of hiring a full time IT person or staff member
  2. Saves you time since remote computer assistance is almost immediately available. 
  3. Remote technicians and online office assistants have their own equipments so busi­ness owners don’t have to buy the pricey equipments needed to perform the tasks 
  4. Be more productive by del­egating computer problems and tasks to someone who can do them more efficiently and effectively.
  5. Small business owners with limited space will benefit from not having an additional staff to work on location. Full time moms or people living alone can get computer assis­tance without having to have someone come in their homes.