Lochlan Technologies

07/11/2023

Hi folks.

Today is "Patch Tuesday" for Microsoft Windows users. "Patch Tuesday" is a monthly series of updates for Microsoft Windows users that ensures their systems are fully up to date against viruses and any vulnerabilities.

This month, Microsoft has rolled out updates to it's Malicious Software Removal tool, and to Windows 10 users who have the "22H2" update installed. We highly suggest you update your Windows PC or laptop at your soonest possible convenience.

Windows 11 users will have updates too - at the time of writing, the person writing this Facebook post has not yet updated their Windows laptop to Windows 11.

07/11/2023

We have been gone from this page for a bit, our apologies. Our servers were hit with what is called a "denial of service" attack, or DOS attack for short.

A DOS attack occurs when a malicious hacker targets your webserver with a ton of traffic requests, slowing down your server and eventually causing it to crash. Businesses with important data on their computers should always take precautions to back up their data on an external hard drive, large flash drive, or cloud storage provider like Dropbox, Google Drive, or Microsoft OneDrive.

We at LochLAN are stepping back from offering our own cloud services at the moment, until we have migrated our servers from Linux to Windows. (The delay in server migration is due to costs - we are a startup and thus bootstrapping our business from the bottom-up. :D )

07/04/2023

Some photos of today's work.

- Worked on a Lenovo Thinkbook doing anti-virus/malware cleaning, Windows Update, installing and removing programs for efficiency.

- Testing virtualized instances of macOS on non-Apple hardware. (This is against Apple's Terms Of Service/Electronic User Licence Agreement - do so at your own risk.) Apple, and us at LochLAN (along with many other computer repair shops) won't take liability for you attempting this and damaging your computer; however if you do end up messing something up we can likely get you back to using your computer normally.)

Testing out "OpenCore - Legacy Patcher" on an "Late 2011 Unibody" model MacBook Pro. OpenCore: LP is able to speed up old Apple computers and install modern macOS on "end of life/out of service" Apple computers. If you have an old Mac computer you still like using but can't update it, send us a PM & we will be glad to help.

We hope you enjoyed your long weekend - it was a busy one for us at LochLAN.

06/29/2023

New customers - we are offering a "first time free" offer on most small jobs, or a great discount on bigger jobs (new clients only)
Existing customers - we are charging a service rate $20 dollars per hour for the remainder of 2023.

However, we will likely bill flat rate depending on how much work we end up completing. (We don't "gouge" our customers like alot of city-based IT & computer repair shops, we have a more honest & transparent billing policy.)

Services include:
PC hardware diagnostics, troubleshooting, repair & replacement. (I use OEM parts whenever we can find such.)

Apple Macintosh troubleshooting, diagnostics using Apple Service Diagnostics software, and hardware replacement using OEM selected hardware (The same software Apple Store technicians use; any Apple computer built in the last twenty five years we can repair)

Linux Installation and support - Our tech's have been using Linux since 2002, starting with Linux Red Hat OS. We work with most of the popular distros like Ubuntu, Gentoo, Debian & Elementary.

Mobile Devices: We are capable of most phone diagnostics & most repairs on modern Android devices, iPhone's & iPad's

Custom website and web app development/modification. We mainly using HTML, CSS and JavaScript to build websites and web applications.

Windows/Mac app development: We are experienced with the C # and Swift programming languages used in app development for Windows and Mac. Regarding this -we will charge a $50 flat rate fee for an initial consultation where we will discuss your requirements and estimated time & labour involved.

Network management - Our lead service tech, Jesse Hayward trained in the Cisco Certified Networking Associate program at North Battleford Comprehensive High School in 2006 - 2008 under Mr. Rob Wall. He is capable setting up networks, new Wi-Fi routers/extenders, set limits on internet connections, block/enable access to specific apps/websites, and much more.

Operating System tasks -Our team is fairly knowledgeable with Microsoft Powershell and can write scripts to automate certain tasks, download files, install programs, etc for those folks who have often-recurring tasks on their computer.

Content Backup/Restore - We can likely recover lost data from a hard drive, or older storage device.

Flate-rate services: If you are using exclusively hotspot for internet, we will happily update devices, download big files, install apps, etc on a flat rate basis, or a monthly paid service agreement.

Anything else not covered - please contact us on social media, or by e-mail and I will be happy to discuss your device/software/network issue.

Thanks everyone!

06/25/2023

For the past 6 months, Jesse and Conner have been working on something top secret - a specific type of computer network for IT configurations.

Today, we witness the embryonic beginnings of our core product.

LochLAN is proud to break news of "Project: Medina".

A revolutionary tool for Windows system configuration.

More will come on "Medina" in the coming months.

06/15/2023

Hey everyone, it's been a little while.

We have been working on finishing a website for a major client. In the last month, we have rebuilt the core tech for the website from scratch, including implementing our own text editor into the website for content creation.

Personally, I (Jesse) do not like "Content Management Systems" such as WordPress or Joomla because of how often their systems are hacked. (Their two biggest plugins Elementor and WooCommerce are hacked monthly.)

We as a team at LochLAN are also aware of how cloud-based web applications often harvest user data to be sold to marketers/advertisers. Advertising and marketing is NOT our business - our business is strictly technology troubleshooting, IT management, and custom software/application/website development.

With that in mind, we have been slowly working on a prototype of our own "Google Docs" style text-editor for people to use without fear of your user data being sold off.

I (Jesse) will be back in Saskatchewan in a few weeks, as I am aware of some outstanding service calls I need to tend to. Sorry I've been a bit MIA.....my head is literally in the "cloud" :p

Have a wonderful Friday everyone. :D

05/12/2023

For those who are wondering, here is some context on the name "LochLAN"

It's a play on words meant to make you think about "a locked LAN" (LAN stands for Local Area Network)

LochLAN is also a part of the Gaelic term, "Lochlannaigh"; which means "viking" in Gaelic.

Jesse Hayward's father's family, the Ford's of Paynton, SK are descendants of the last of the Norse-Gael's who lived in colonies throughout Ireland, become fully Gaelicized by the beginning of the 1700's. The Ford family's Irish orgins lie in the Connemara region of County Galway in the Republic Of Ireland; a distant ancestor of the Ford's, Mr. James Ford came to Nova Scotia in 1842, as "The Great Famine" started to inflict damage upon the Irish population.

James Ford came to Canada with two brothers that went to Michigan, while he eventually settled in Ontario, in the area that is now Kawartha Lakes, Ontario. (Formerly called "Emily Township".)

It is worth referencing that one of those brothers of James Ford is an ancestor of the senior Gerald Rudolff Ford, who adopted a boy named "Leslie Lynch King, Jr." who at the age of ninteen years old changed his legal name to "Gerald Rudolff Ford, Jr".......
.......the very same Gerald Ford who went on to become the 38th President Of The United States Of America.

Also worth noting - thirteen generations ago, a most distant ancestor named "John Ford" from Connemara had a brother of the same name, who was the grandfather of the late innovator Henry Ford, who founded the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, MI.

Our company mission is to innovate in the world of personal technology, as Jesse's Irish - family ancestors did so many, many years ago.

The Norse–Gaels (Old Irish: Gall-Goídil; Irish: Gall-Ghaeil; Scottish Gaelic: Gall-Ghàidheil, 'foreigner-Gaels') were a people of mixed Gaelic and Norse ancestry and culture. They emerged in the Viking Age, when Vikings who settled in Ireland and in Scotland became Gaelicised and intermarried wi...

05/11/2023

In the past two days, we've been busy!

- set up a non-profit in Maidstone SK with Bodhi Linux & Apache OpenOffice, so they do not have to pay for expensive Microsoft software.

- Did a quick check-up on a rather unique Dell PC that is kind of like a Mac Mini. Figured out it uses a similar power adapter as Dell laptops made in the same era. Found one on Amazon and am getting it shipped to the client.

- Learning more code. Mark Cuban always says "If your not working 24/7/365 on your concept, someone else will be more motivated and beat you to the punch". This is something that our lead tech Jesse H really believes in.

- Coding. On our main web project for a government - based client. A second, "top-secret" website that might get sold to a specific client we are trying to win over.

:D Happy Thursday everyone.

05/09/2023

Hello to anyone who is looking at this page.

We are LochLAN. A three-person distributed IT services startup.

Our goal is to provide quality service to any customer, regardless of budget or location. We strive to make communities more efficient in their usage of computers and modern technology in their day to day lives.

Our team is:

Jesse Hayward, Conner Patrick, Sophia Ross W Parsons

We have a website-in-development hosted at https://lochlantech.ca

Come check out our unfinished website, and throw us a message if you need technology advice.

Inquiries are totally free - we love talking tech & improvising solutions.

Send a message to learn more