Spam
I will not support the sending of automated unsolicited bulk commercial email. Any client who wants send unsolicited bulk commercial email will have to get this service from someone else.
Spamming is a disgusting practice that costs American companies billions of dollars in wasted bandwidth and time each year.
There is nothing American, capitalistic, or patriotic about Spamming. Can you imagine how much faster the internet would be (and how much less it would cost) without Spam?
Spyware / Adware / Virus Infections
There is a hard truth about spyware and adware. If you're running Windows, and are connected to the internet and you don't have any software installed to combat this, you're going to get infected by it. I have seen machines from different clients with over five hundred individual pieces of spyware on them.
The other hard truth about spyware is that it indeed does take several hours per machine to clean it up. There is not yet any easy solution for this scourge other than to spend time cleaning it up.
Prevention is the best medicine when it comes to viruses and spyware. Dentar, Inc. can help you remove your spyware and hopefully put your machine back in working order. Unfortunately there can be no guarantees here because some spyware programs can make a machine unfixable.
Sadly, cleaning up spyware sometimes requires a reinstall of Windows from scratch, which will require erasing all the contents of the hard disk. However, given a machine that must be cleaned up, Dentar, Inc. will try first to avoid having to do that. So far, about half of badly infected machines need reinstallation.
If your machine is infected please be sure you have your Windows CD for that machine.
Piracy
I will not sell, give away, install, or support pirated software, period. Not only does this put my business at risk, one incident can put all of my clients at risk. I can help you audit your business to make sure you are not running pirated copies. Give me a call if you need help determining if you're legal.
HINT: Use GPL and Free software such as Linux and OpenOffice.org (which is VERY __HOT__ RIGHT NOW) and this will be a non-issue!
Insurance
While working for a previous employer (Pre-Dentar), a few clients had asked me to bill hardware as labor to get it paid for by the insurance companies. I did not do this for the company I worked for then, nor will I do this on behalf of Dentar, Inc. now. However, I'll gladly help with all your legitimate insurance claims (e.g. lightning, flood damage...) and will help you document actual damage so that you can get your systems repaired and your legitimate claims filed.
"Hacking"
I will not attempt to break into systems for any client, whether they be a competitor's, the kid's next door, the boss's, or whatever. I can help you discover YOUR OWN security flaws after given all the proper permissions by the owners of the system(s).
I will also not break into people's systems for the purpose of selling any sort of security service. There are companies that pull this sort of trick, but Dentar, Inc. is not one of those.
Backups
Backups are the most important duty for any system administrator. All clients are responsible for their own backups. If you're in doubt as to whether or not your backups are working, or you need to know how to interpret your backup logs, please call and I'll be happy to help. However, Dentar, Inc. will not be held liable for any backups or lack of backups.
Home PCs
Dentar, Inc. does not take calls from home PC users, unless they're already part of a corporate client and the PC is used for business purposes.
The time and materials rates are the same for home PCs as the business PCs. Home PCs can be MORE troublesome than a business PC because their usage pattern makes them severely susceptible to viruses and spyware. It is very likely that if your home PC is infected, Dentar, Inc. might be forced to reload from scratch. If in doubt, it will be reloaded from scratch. This will erase your machine! This is why backups of your important data are crucial! Spyware and adware can really ruin your Windows installation and cleanup can take a long time. Some home PCs are too infected to even load preventive programs onto, which also forces a reload. PCs not reloaded from scratch might still be in danger of re-infection.
1099/W2
Dentar, Inc. does not allow any of its employees, consultants, or support engineers, including officers to do any outside 1099 or W2 work. Dentar, Inc. will gladly allow its employees, consultants, and support engineers to do work on Dentar, Inc's behalf, billable by Dentar, Inc., corporation-to-corporation.
Collection
Although this is not a problem for Dentar, Inc. yet, thanks to having a fantastic client base, it retains the right to charge interest at 10% per annum on past due accounts. We also retains the right to stop service or pursue any other option when an account becomes delinquent.
Dentar, Inc. is most appreciative of clients who choose to not put it in a position of having to be bill collectors.
Sales Calls
All salespeople or solicitors who wish to get Dentar, Inc's attention MUST see the sales page before trying to contact Dentar, Inc.
Non-Competes
It is Dentar, Inc. policy to not pursue clients of Dentar, Inc. associates or clients without permission. However, no employee or officer of Dentar, Inc. will sign a non-compete for themselves or Dentar, Inc. unless the following criteria are met:
* No excessive time spans. 180 days are the maximum.
* Complete list of entities with whom not to make contact is provided. No "blanket" clauses, etc.
* Dentar, Inc. President/CEO must approve and sign
* Changes to entity list must be approved by Dentar, Inc. President/CEO
Non-Disclosures
It is Dentar, Inc. policy to not expose clients' information or secrets to anyone else, period. However, no employee or officer of Dentar, Inc. will sign a non-disclosure for themselves or Dentar, Inc. unless the following criteria are met:
* The NDA must be specific as to what information is being guarded. No "blanket" NDAs will be considered.
* Information being guarded must be a valuable trade secret which has the potential for causing damage to the parties if exposed. For example, a salesman's cold-calling sales prospect list is not a trade secret. A secret recipe or formula for a chemical or food product that makes it unique in its market IS a trade secret.
* Dentar, Inc. President/CEO must approve and sign
Bids
It is Dentar, Inc. policy to not participate in bidding for contracts. All work is time and materials, billed to terms arranged with each client.
Sales are Final
Hardware orders, software orders, and all other sales of goods and services are final. Before ordering items, be sure it is really what you need and that you intend to purchase it. Special orders cannot be returned.