Why Every Vancouver Plumbing & Electrical Contractor Needs Managed IT
Discover why managed IT services help Vancouver plumbing and electrical contractors reduce downtime, improve security, and keep jobs running smoothly.
Okay, picture this.
It's 7:15am on a Monday in Vancouver, WA. A plumbing company has three crews heading to job sites, but nobody can access the schedule. The office computer won't start, customer information is unavailable, and invoices from Friday haven't been sent. Every hour the system stays down means lost revenue, frustrated customers, and technicians waiting instead of working. Yikes!
That's exactly why managed IT services for plumbing and electrical contractors have become less of a luxury and more of a business necessity.
Technology Keeps the Work Moving
Most contractors rely on technology more than they realize. Estimates, invoices, scheduling, customer communication, QuickBooks, Microsoft 365, and cloud-based field service software all have to work together.
When one piece fails, the entire day can fall apart.
For plumbing and electrical contractors serving Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR, reliable IT isn't about having the newest or even the best computers. It's about keeping your crews productive and your office operating without interruption.
Four Ways Managed IT Makes a Difference
Prevent Problems Before They Become Emergencies. Waiting until something breaks is expensive. Regular monitoring, software updates, and maintenance catch many issues before they create downtime.
Protect Customer and Business Data. Contractors store customer addresses, payment information, contracts, and employee records. Cybercriminals know that smaller businesses often have fewer defenses. Good cybersecurity helps protect your reputation as much as your data.
Support Your Team Wherever They Work. Your office staff may be in Vancouver while technicians are spread across Clark County or Portland. Managed IT helps everyone securely access the files and applications they need whether they're in the office or on a job site.
Plan for Growth. As your business adds employees, vehicles, or another office, your technology should grow with you. Having a long-term IT plan prevents expensive surprises later.
The Business Benefits
Reliable technology means fewer interruptions, happier customers, and motivated employees who spend more time serving clients instead of troubleshooting computers.
It also creates predictable IT costs, faster response when problems occur, and confidence that someone is watching over your systems even when you're focused on running your business.
Remember that plumbing company from the beginning? After moving to managed IT, their crews started every morning with working schedules, secure cloud access, and confidence that if something went wrong, help was only a phone call away. Instead of worrying about computers, they focused on serving customers. That’s a big part of what we do around here.
Let's Keep Your Business Running
If you're a plumbing or electrical contractor in Vancouver, WA or the Portland metro area, you don't need an oversized IT department. You just need dependable tech that works every day.
Whether you need managed IT, cybersecurity, Microsoft 365 support, cloud services, or help planning your technology, the team at Mickler & Associates, Inc. is here to help. We'd be happy to talk through your business, answer your questions, and build an IT solution that fits the way you work. You can even ask for a free security assessment.
Got questions? I’ve got answers.
R
Microsoft L2TP Client Work-Around
Microsoft broke its own L2TP Client with its January 2022 roll-up patches. Here’s a quick fix to both keep the roll-ups as well as to allow L2TP VPN’s to work normally on a Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer.
On January 11, 2022, Microsoft released Windows 10 KB5009543 and Windows 11 KB5009566 as a part of their January 2022 roll-up. After applying the patches, administrators found that L2TP connections from remote Windows computers using the L2TP client would fail on connection.
At the time of this writing, Microsoft hasn’t pulled the roll-up and hasn’t issued a hotfix, suggesting instead that the IPSEC server be modified to disable the VendorID field in negotiation.
As this isn’t an option for most firewalls and would require vendors to post firmware updates for tens of thousands of product SKU’s, this effectively turned this problem into a pissing match between hardware vendors and Microsoft. Hardware vendors claim this is a Microsoft issue and advise customers to reverse the patch; Microsoft claims their implementation of the IPSEC client is correct. Meanwhile, VPN’s for millions of people working from home don’t work.
Reversing the patch may not be a suitable option when dealing with classified networks; as a system administrator, I’ve an obligation to apply Microsoft’s roll-ups to protect my clients’ data and network. Doing so may not only jeopardize IT assets that I’m responsible for but may just invalidate cyberinsurance policies because I did the exact opposite that I was supposed to do: I sacrificed a bunch of security patches in favor of one working feature; a feature that would break again unless I disabled patching on a remote machine, only exacerbating the problem over time.
The real fix for this, then, is for Microsoft to either pull the patch or issue a hotfix. Since Microsoft is (again) not stepping up to address messes that it makes, there’s a good work-around.
On a machine that doesn’t have the KB updates mentioned above (or reverse the KB on the affected machine), find the file c:\windows\system32\ikeext.dll. It’ll be dated 2021.
Copy this file out to where you have a copy of it.
Apply the Jan 2022 patches and reboot.
You’ll now find a 2022 version of ikeext.dll in the c:\windows\system32 folder.
Take control of that file by changing its ownership to a local administrator (perhaps the user account you’re using), and change your permissions to Full Control.
Using Task Manager, under the Services Tab, find ikeet.dll and stop it.
Rename c:\windows\system32\ikeext.dll to *.old, providing administrator elevation to do so.
Copy in your 2021 version of ikeext.dll to the same path.
Restart the ikeet.dll under the Services Tab or reboot the machine.
You’ll find that your L2TP VPN will now work, keeping the Jan 2022 patches and isolating the roll-back to just one DLL.
R
** Update: Microsoft has now issued a out-of-band update KB5010793 to address this issue.
Why You Shouldn't Be Using Windows 7
Here’s the thing: if you’re running Windows 7, you’re just making yourself an easier target for hackers. Why would you want to run around with a target on your back? Take action today!
As of July 2020, Microsoft Windows 7 still controls around 20% of total desktop operating systems worldwide.
A couple of reasons why you don’t want to still be using Microsoft Windows 7:
It’s no longer receiving security updates as Microsoft ended mainstream support for the product in January 2020. That means its existing vulnerabilities are forever; aggressors will be able to exploit those problems forever.
Consequently, the US FBI issued a warning on August 3, 2020 about continuing to use the legacy operating system, as has the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has directly warned users not to use Windows 7 for commercial activities like email or banking.
If the appeal-to-authority doesn’t work for you, how about money? IBM recently reported that the average cost of a data breach in the United States is $3.86 million.
And, yeah, cyber security insurance. You think you’re covered. It’s not like your cyber security policy is going to cover you if you’re running a known-bad o/s. That’s just raw negligence, kids.
Now, you have options.
Like Mac’s? After January 2021, Apple will be transitioning to ARM microprocessors. Lots of techie stuff here but the bottom line is that Macs are soon going to get hundreds of dollars cheaper. Cool! Upgrades!
But if don’t have a cool $1k to drop on a new machine, and if you’re married to the Google Cloud Ecosystem, there’s never been a better time to update to a Chromebook or a Chromebox. There’s a lot of great boxes out there, some priced at a 1/3rd of the cost of a comparable Microsoft Windows 10 computer. They boot in eight seconds, they’re encrypted, they receive automatic updates that don’t break them, they are significantly more secure than Windows will ever be … why not?
Okay, so maybe Google ain’t your thing. If you have an older machine still running Windows 7, and you’re comfortable with the machine’s overall performance and still want to use it, and you’re mostly using a web browser to access online services, consider installing Linux. I’d recommend Ubuntu or its cousin, Zorin. They’re more secure than Windows, won’t break your system, and will make the older machines run like they were new.
If you’re still using Microsoft Word and Excel? Are you dependent on some 3rd party application that has to run on Windows? You could upgrade your Windows 7 machine to Windows 10, sure, it’s only a $100. That’s a lot cheaper than $3.86 million. But watch the performance hit. You’d probably be better off just replacing the asset.
Here’s the thing: continuing to use an obsolete product is only making you more vulnerable, and, more of a target to aggressors who look at you and your data as an easy target. There’s no reason why you’d rationally want to be an easier target for hackers. Take action today to replace that old machine. Do something!
R