Author Archive: WebAdmin

A CLEAN HOSTING SERVER CAN SAVE YOU MONEY – 2024

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Please may we take this opportunity to inform you that on the 1 January 2024, the Comp U Easy Admin team will be reviewing all hosting packages in preparation for your next annual invoicing charges.  

The basic hosting package managed by and hosted with Comp U Easy has 5GB online storage (Easy5). Most websites hosted with Comp U Easy is 1GB or less as we strive to keep the website as optimized and “clean” as possible. On average, 4GB of online storage is left on your hosting package for emails.  

If more than the basic 10GB of data is needed to host your website and emails online, Comp U Easy offers larger hosting packages ranging from 20GB to 80GB. Please see our 2024 Pricing Matrix for these packages at the bottom of this update.  

We would like to use this opportunity to share with you a few tips that will help you keep your online storage below the current storage threshold, preventing the need to upgrade to a higher Hosting Package, thereby saving you money.  

Please note: These precautions do not apply to our SLA clients with Offline or Cloud-based Exchange Email systems.  

TIP 1. Clean up or Delete Old or Unnecessary Emails.  

By sorting your email from oldest to newest, you can identify old emails that you may want to delete. Also, check your Junk Mail, Sent Mail, Deleted Mail and Draft Mail folders. Delete any old emails from these folders that you feel are no longer necessary to keep. You may want to first do an offline backup of your emails before doing so. You can learn how to do so here: How do I download (backup) my Easy Mail? 

TIP 2. Make an Offline Archive of your Email. 

Another straightforward way to minimize your online storage is by making an offline archive folder and moving older emails to this archive folder. You can learn how to do so here: How do I reduce space on my Comp U Easy hosted Easy Mail Cloud Server (IMAP)?  

Please note: Offline Archived emails no longer reside on the cloud hosting platform and you may need to make a copy of the .PST file to an external drive for safety as your emails will be lost if your computer is damaged or your Email program gets corrupted. If your email program/app does not support this feature, feel free to see Tip 3 as an alternative.  

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TIP 3. Make use of a POP account.  

A POP (Post Office Protocol) account fetches your emails from the server and saves it on your PC. We there for recommend you configure your email program to leave a copy of your email on the online hosting server for anywhere between 1 – 6 months (maximum). Please see: How do I configure my email program to leave a copy of my email on the server when using POP? Once you have added the POP account, you can remove the IMAP account from your email program. 

Please note: Once your email program fetches the emails via POP, emails cannot be recovered if your laptop is damaged on stolen and the online copy gets deleted.  

Hosting Packages and Pricing (2024)

Prevent Permanent Hardware Damage During Loadshedding Season

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Have you been seeing the infamous ‘Blue-Screen-Of-Death‘ (BSOD) lately? So have we! As you can tell from the name, this Windows Warning Screen should not be taken lightly. The article below will explain why many users have been experiencing this warning during the South African Loadshedding Season; why you should take note of it; and how you can prevent irreparable damage to your device.

Why are you seeing the ‘Blue-Screen-Of-Death’?

This may be a sign that your hardware is failing. There are many reasons why your hardware components may fail be it old age; physical damage; incorrect drivers; temperature; moisture (etc.); but one of the most common reasons is HARD REBOOTING. Hard rebooting is when your computer suddenly powers down without a safe shutdown being performed first. If a hard reboot is performed too many times your data may become corrupted, especially if you are still using a traditional SATA / IDE hard drive. If the boot sequence gets corrupted your computer will not start up properly and you get the dreaded BSOD. This error can be fixed. However, if your personal data becomes corrupted or the hard drive gets damaged, you may experience permanent data loss.

Another way your device hardware can be damaged is due to a power spike when the power suddenly comes back on. This is more of a threat to Tower/Box PC’s than Laptops and Notebooks.

How can you prevent the ‘Blue-Screen-Of-Death’ and extend the life of your device?

  1. We recommend that you do not leave your device on overnight.
  2. Make sure to execute a Safe Shutdown (Start > Power > Shut Down) prior to loadshedding.
  3. Ensure that your device is plugged into a SURGE PROTECTOR. 🛒 Available here.
  4. Unplug your device from the main power during loadshedding and overnight.
  5. If you are using a laptop or notebook, set your Power Settings to execute a safe shutdown once the battery-life reaches 10-15%. Feel free to contact us if you require help with this task.

Prevention is better than cure!

We don’t know how long loadshedding will be a part of our lives, but if you apply the 5 steps, mentioned above, you will not only extend the life of your device, but will save yourself having to request data recovery, which can be very costly.

May you continue to practice good Hardware Care,
The Comp U Easy Team.