SylvanLink Client Guidelines

As a SylvanLink client you can help us keep your network running at peak performance by following the guidelines below.  Following these recommendations keeps us able to best support you and your team.

Most of our clients choose the one-stop convenience of purchasing new hardware like PCs and network equipment through SylvanLink.  This ensures the hardware you get is supportable and optimized for your needs.

If you prefer to purchase hardware on your own - no problem!  Let us know what you're needing and we can make recommendations that will ensure supportability.  Or if you know what you need already, run your quote or specs by us so we can make sure it fits our support requirements.

General guidelines for PCS and Laptops are as follows:

Desktop PC - Dell Optiplex line preferred.  Other supported brands include HP and Lenovo.  Macs are not supported.

Laptop or 2 in one - Dell Latitude or XPS line preferred.  Other supported brands include HP and Lenovo.  Macs are not supported.

Recommended minimum specs:

• Processor - Intel i5, AMD Ryzen 5 or better.  
• Memory - 8 GB or more
• Storage - 256 GB SSD or larger
• OS - Windows professional.  Windows Home edition is not supported except for non-office use.

All computers in use on your network should be in our management system to make sure your environment is fully supported and secure.  "Rogue" pcs create both support challenges and security risks if they are not managed along with your other devices.

Clients should keep pcs powered on and connected to the network at all times to make sure maintenance policies such as patches and updates can run during after-hours windows.

Thinking about adding new software?  

Like hardware, you can always check with us to see if we can assist.  

If not, purchasing directly from the sofware vendor is fine. Just let us know in advance so we can make sure the software you're evaluating is supportable and will work well with your existing systems.

For major systems like line of business software or other specialized applications, involving us early on is key to making sure your implementation goes smoothly.   

We provide native licensing and support for Microsoft, Proofpoint and Webroot.

For other software we always work to understand how these systems are used in your environment and work with these vendors to provide a seamless support experience.  If we can't resolve an issue, we're happy to work directly with the software vendor to do so. 

To make this possible, it's important to make sure you maintain current support agreements and the necessary licensing with these vendors so that we can work with them when issues arise.

One constant in technology is that people and environments are always changing.  

As staff comes and goes and as needs change, both people and devices are in constant flux.  The key here is keeping us in the loop as changes happen. 

For time sensitive changes such as new hires, separations, or changes such as office or departmental moves, notify us at least 48 hours in advance.   This helps us make sure we're standing by to make the needed account or hardware changes.  It also makes sure you're not waiting for us to set up access for new hires, or worse yet, to secure your network access during a sensitive employee separation.

Also, keeping us updated when hardware or people move around ensures they have the proper access and that our systems and documents stay updated so we know things like what device belongs to which person when we get a support call.  

Data protection is our top priority.  Help us by making sure your documents and data are saved in a location that is backed up!

In general, you should ALWAYS save your documents and files to one of the provided network drives - typically G: for departments or P: for personal.  These locations reside on your server and are regularly backed up.

Avoid saving important documents to locations on your local computer such as the desktop and the local documents folder as these are typically NOT backed up.

If you don't have a server, you should save your files in Sharepoint and/or Onedrive.  We can assist you with this to make saving and syncing these files as easy as possible and ensure they are backed up in the cloud.

We always make sure your network is as secure as possible with the technology and processes we use every day. 

However, total security depends on you too.  Bad actors are always seeking to exploit targets through soft attacks like phishing and social engineering that can circumvent the best technology-based defenses - usually through email or your web browser.

Suspicious or Unusual Emails

Spam and virus filters are imperfect. Never click on an email attachment or link unless you know it's from a trusted source.  If it doubt, always contact us so we can review the message and verify it's safe!

Browsing the Web

Always use caution when clicking links in your web browser.  Malicious sites are often behind links that can look legitimate or are designed to lure you by imitating legitimate sites.  As with email, if in doubt, always contact us so we can check any questionable links or sites.  NEVER provide sensitive information such as personal information or logins to a site you do not specifically trust!

Please be aware all maintenance agreements are subject to a 2% - 5% annual price adjustment based on CPI inflation over the previous year.