Knowledge hub · 15 guides
Plain answers to the things we get asked every week
Written for the person who runs the office, not for another IT company. No preamble, no scare tactics, and nothing you need a background in networking to follow. Every guide is written by Jass Singh.
Getting found
Getting found
Five guides on search, local visibility and AI answers — what actually moves, how long it takes, and what to be sceptical about.
5 min read · Updated 11 August 2026
What is AEO, and how is it different from SEO?
Every agency started selling AEO about six months ago. Most of it is SEO with a new invoice line. Here is what is genuinely different, and what is not.
5 min read · Updated 11 August 2026
How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT and AI assistants
You cannot submit your business to ChatGPT. You can change almost every input it draws on, and most businesses have not changed any of them.
5 min read · Updated 11 August 2026
How long does SEO actually take to work?
The honest answer annoys everybody: it depends, and it is longer than you were told. Here is what happens month by month.
5 min read · Updated 11 August 2026
Why your business isn’t showing in the Google map pack
Three results appear on the map and yours is not one of them. In almost every case the cause is one of eight things.
5 min read · Updated 11 August 2026
What does a small business website actually cost?
Quotes for the same brief routinely differ by a factor of five. Usually that is two quotes describing different things.
The services these support: web design · SEO · AEO
Remote support
Remote support
Four guides on the fastest and cheapest way to get a problem looked at — how a session works, whether it's safe, when it isn't the right call, and how to make one shorter.
5 min read · Updated 11 August 2026
How remote IT support actually works, and what it can’t fix
A plain description of what happens when a technician connects to your computer — who approves it, what they can see, and the faults that will always need a visit.
5 min read · Updated 11 August 2026
Is remote IT support safe? What a technician can and can’t see
The question everyone thinks and almost nobody asks. What access a technician genuinely has, what controls sit on your side, and how to spot the scam version.
5 min read · Updated 11 August 2026
Remote or on-site IT support: which one do you actually need?
Most people ask for a visit because it feels more serious. Usually it is slower, more expensive and no more effective. How to tell before you pick up the phone.
4 min read · Updated 11 August 2026
What to do in the five minutes before a remote support session
Sessions are billed by time, so the five minutes before one starts are the cheapest five minutes available. Here is what to do with them.
The service page these support: remote IT support.
When something breaks
When something breaks
3 min read · Updated 4 August 2026
Your email has stopped working. Here's what to check before you call.
Four things you can check in five minutes that resolve about half of the email outages we get called about — and the point at which you should stop and ring someone.
Security
Security
3 min read · Updated 21 July 2026
Multi-factor authentication, explained for a six-person office
The single most useful security change a small business can make, what it actually looks like day to day, and the objections we hear most often.
3 min read · Updated 4 August 2026
The invoice email that catches small businesses
How business email compromise actually works, why it doesn't look like a scam, and the one process change that stops it.
Backup and recovery
Backup and recovery
3 min read · Updated 9 July 2026
How to tell whether your backup actually works
A backup that has never been restored from is a theory. Five checks you can run yourself, and what a real test looks like.
Buying and budgeting
Buying and budgeting
3 min read · Updated 4 August 2026
Repair it or replace it? How we decide
The rough arithmetic we use on site, why the cheapest option is often the second-cheapest, and what to buy when replacement is the answer.
Networks
Networks
3 min read · Updated 28 July 2026
Why the office Wi-Fi is worse than the Wi-Fi at home
Consumer gear, concrete walls and twenty devices per room. What's actually going on, and what fixes it properly.
Quick answers
Five things people ask on the phone
How quickly can someone get to us?
It depends on the suburb and the day — tell us the address and we will give you a real window rather than a blanket number. Most faults are fixed remotely before a visit is needed at all.
Does Microsoft back up our 365 data?
No. Microsoft keeps the service running and holds deleted items briefly. Long-term backup of mail and files is your responsibility.
What's the one security change worth making today?
Turn on multi-factor authentication for email. It's free, takes an afternoon, and blocks most account compromises.
How old is too old for a work computer?
About four to five years for a laptop. Past that, repairs stop being good value and reliability drops sharply.
Will another Wi-Fi extender help?
Almost never. Extenders halve throughput per hop. Cabled business access points are the fix.
Glossary
The words your last IT provider used
Nobody should have to nod along in a meeting. Here's what the ten terms you'll hear most actually mean.
- MFA (multi-factor authentication)
- Signing in needs your password plus a prompt on your phone. The single most effective thing a small office can turn on.
- Patching
- Applying the security updates that software vendors release. Unpatched machines are the second most common way businesses get compromised.
- Endpoint
- Any device a person works on — laptop, desktop, phone. "Endpoint protection" is antivirus that's centrally monitored rather than left to each user.
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC
- Three records on your domain that tell the world which servers may send email as you. Missing records mean your mail lands in junk and anyone can forge your address.
- Tenancy
- Your organisation's own space inside Microsoft 365. It belongs to your business, not to your IT provider.
- Access point
- The device that broadcasts Wi-Fi. Business access points are cabled back to a switch; consumer extenders repeat a signal wirelessly and halve the speed.
- RTO and RPO
- How long recovery takes, and how much work you'd lose. Two numbers every business should know before they need them.
- Ransomware
- Malicious software that encrypts your files and demands payment. The defence is monitored, off-site, tested backups — not the payment.
- Phishing
- An email designed to get a password or a payment out of someone. Modern examples are well written and reference real jobs.
- Managed plan
- A fixed monthly fee covering support, monitoring, patching and backup, instead of paying per callout after something breaks.
Reading this because something's broken right now? Skip the article and call.
Emergency IT support