Business IT services & IT support, Clearwater to Tampa Bay
Managed IT, help desk, and network monitoring for small businesses across Tampa Bay — run from my bench in Clearwater. Automatic patching, vulnerability monitoring, and remote support so the emergency calls stop. Homes covered too.
SMALL BUSINESS & RESIDENTIAL · CLEARWATER-BASED · TAMPA BAY COVERAGE
Most of what a small business calls "IT" — keeping every machine patched, watching the network, answering the "why won't this work" questions, and catching trouble before it turns into downtime — I handle remotely from Clearwater for businesses across Tampa Bay: Largo, Dunedin, Palm Harbor, Safety Harbor, and out to Tampa and St. Petersburg. Managed IT and help-desk support travel over the wire, so coverage isn't capped by drive time. When something needs hands on it, on-site work is standard across Pinellas County, with the rest of Tampa Bay by arrangement.
Section A · Why this exists
Most ransomware comes through unpatched apps.
Here's a number that should worry you: the majority of ransomware I see in the field comes in through software that should have been patched six months ago. Not zero-day exploits. Not sophisticated attacks. Just a Chrome update somebody clicked "remind me later" on, a Windows patch the user dismissed twelve times, a third-party app version that's been on the public vulnerability list since spring.
The fix is patching. The problem with patching is doing it consistently across every machine, every week, including the third-party apps Microsoft Update doesn't touch — Adobe, browsers, Zoom, Office, the long tail. Most home users and small businesses can't do that themselves. Most don't even know what "third-party apps" means in this context. That's where managed service fits in.
Section B · What's included
Four things, every month, automatic.
Included 01 · Cross-platform patching
Patching across the whole machine (Windows + macOS + third-party apps)
Windows Update and macOS Software Update handle the OS itself. Beyond that, most attacks come through the apps on top of the OS — Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Acrobat, Office, Zoom, Teams, Java if anyone still has it, the long tail of installed software. None of that is touched by built-in updaters reliably.
The managed-service agent watches every installed application across every managed machine. When a security patch becomes available — from the vendor, not from a third-party repository — it deploys overnight during a configurable maintenance window. Failed patches are retried; successful patches are logged; nothing requires the user to click anything.
The result: your fleet sits at "fully patched" most of the time, instead of "patched whenever the user remembered to restart."
Included 02 · Vulnerability monitoring
Real-time CVE awareness (not a once-a-quarter audit)
When a new vulnerability hits public databases — affecting Windows, macOS, or any of the third-party apps on your fleet — the management platform flags it within minutes and tells me which of your machines is exposed. From there I either schedule the patch on the next maintenance cycle, or push it out of cycle if the severity warrants.
For comparison, the traditional model is: I visit a customer every quarter, run an audit, find six unpatched things, fix them, and we discover next quarter the same six things came back. The managed model is continuous. The gap between "vulnerability published" and "your machines patched" goes from months to hours.
Included 03 · Remote support
Office-quality help, no VPN, no "install this first"
When something does need a human — software acting up, a question about how to do something, a setting you can't find — I connect to your machine remotely from my workstation. No VPN setup. No "please install AnyDesk first and tell me the code." The agent is already there. I see what you see, fix what's broken, log off. Most issues resolve in under fifteen minutes.
For residential users, this is the difference between "Jeff drives 20 minutes to my house for a 5-minute problem" and "Jeff fixes it from his desk in 5 minutes." For small businesses with remote employees, it's the difference between "fly to the satellite office" and "remote in to the satellite office."
Included 04 · Monthly proof of value (on request)
The receipts, if you want them (most customers don't, after the first one)
If you want it: every month I send you a summary showing what got patched, which vulnerabilities were mitigated, and how your fleet's compliance posture looks. Useful for small businesses with compliance frameworks to satisfy (HIPAA, PCI, customer audits), or for residential customers who want the receipts.
Most customers ask for it the first month, realize the answer is "it's working fine, here's the proof," and stop asking. It's available on request, indefinitely — just say the word.
Section C · Who this is for
Two flavors of the same service.
Residential. For the customer who's been burned by malware once, or who doesn't want to be. One Mac, one Windows desktop, the family iPad, the kid's gaming laptop — all covered, all kept patched, all remote-supportable. The kind of household where "the computer started doing something weird" is somebody else's problem before it becomes an emergency call.
Small business. For the office where every machine is somebody's livelihood and nobody has time to manage software updates. The subscription scales with your fleet (no "tier you outgrow at 11 employees" surprise), compliance reporting is included on request, and a predictable monthly bill replaces the unpredictable emergency-call month. For most small businesses I work with, the managed-service spend pays for itself within six months by eliminating the break-fix emergencies.
Section D · How it works
Subscription, not break-fix.
One-year subscriptions are preferred — they let me plan inventory and capacity around real commitments. Month-to-month is available for customers who'd rather try before they commit, with no early-termination fee either way. Quote on request after a short scoping call.
Residential
Quote on request — 15-minute call
No setup fee
1-year preferred · month-to-month available
Add or remove devices any time — billed next cycle
Family-friendly: covers every device in the household
Small Business
Quote on request — 15-minute call
Subscription scales with your fleet
1-year preferred · month-to-month available
Compliance reporting included if needed
Employee remote-support pool included
Section E · What's not included
Hardware work stays hourly.
Physical repairs, on-site visits, parts, and labor for hardware work aren't part of the managed-service subscription. Those stay on the existing service-call rates (free on-site assessment, transparent quote before work starts, house calls anywhere in Pinellas County). The subscription covers the software side; the hardware side is by-the-hour-or-by-the-job.
For most customers the combined cost ends up lower than traditional break-fix, because the software emergencies (the bulk of unplanned calls) drop to near zero. The hardware emergencies — failed drives, dead PSUs, broken laptop hinges — still happen, but those are the calls where on-site labor is unavoidable anyway.
Section F · Break-fix vs managed
The actual math.
Here's what a typical small-business year looks like under each model:
Each one unpredictable — emergency response premium every time
Annual labor cost varies wildly year to year
Plus the downtime cost (a half-day gone per incident)
Hardware emergencies: separate, unavoidable
Managed service
0–2 software emergencies/year (most patched before they happen)
Flat monthly subscription — predictable, scales with fleet
Remote-support included — no per-call charges for the small stuff
Hardware emergencies: still hourly (unchanged)
For most small businesses: the managed-service subscription tends to net out roughly even with what break-fix software emergencies were already costing — but the productivity loss vanishes and the constant "what's going to break next?" anxiety goes with it.
For residential: similar shape, smaller numbers. A monthly subscription usually beats even a single emergency call a year — and most residential customers I move to managed service stop having "the computer is doing something weird" panic moments. That alone tends to be worth it.
Section G · Common questions
The things customers actually ask.
FAQ 01
Is my data stored on your servers?
No. The monitoring platform sees endpoint health, installed-software inventory, and patch status. Your actual files stay on your machine. Nothing about file contents is sent to the platform or to me.
FAQ 02
Can you patch a machine that's powered off?
The agent catches up on the next boot. If a machine stays off through a patch window, it skips that cycle and patches on the next boot — no harm done, patches accumulate until the device is back online. A machine that's been off for months will spend its first hour back online catching up.
FAQ 03
What if I want to skip a particular patch?
I exclude it from auto-deployment per machine or fleet-wide. Most useful for hardware that's known to break with a specific update, or for software that has to stay on a particular version for compatibility (a CAD tool, an industry-specific app, a printer driver that prefers a 2-year-old Windows feature update).
FAQ 04
Am I locked into a contract?
One-year subscriptions are preferred and get the best per-device rate. Month-to-month is available at a slightly higher rate if you'd rather try before committing. Either way: no early-termination fee. Cancel at any time and billing stops at the end of the current cycle. Add or remove devices freely as your household or business changes — the bill scales on the next cycle.
FAQ 05
Does the subscription cover on-site or hardware work?
No — see Section E above. Hardware repairs, on-site visits, parts, and physical labor stay on the standard service-call rates. The subscription covers software: patching, monitoring, remote support. Combined cost typically lower than pure break-fix because the software emergencies drop to near-zero under managed service.
FAQ 06
Do you provide business IT support, or only computer repair?
Both. Beyond repair, I run managed IT and a remote help desk for small businesses — automatic patching, network and vulnerability monitoring, and remote support that keeps machines current so they stop breaking. No contract lock-in, and on-site work when something physical needs hands on it. For a lot of Tampa Bay businesses I'm effectively the outsourced IT department, minus the retainer.
FAQ 07
What areas do you cover — do you serve Tampa and St. Petersburg?
I'm based in Clearwater. Managed IT and remote support are delivered over the wire, so coverage spans the whole Tampa Bay area — Clearwater, Largo, Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Safety Harbor, plus Tampa and St. Petersburg. When work needs to be hands-on, on-site visits are standard across Pinellas County, with greater Tampa Bay by arrangement.
Section H · Try it free
Three paths in, no payment up front.
Pick whichever feels right. The most concrete is the self-service trial — install the agent, see what it does, decide in 30 days. The lowest-commitment is just a quote.
Path 01 · Self-service trial (most concrete)
Download the agent (I see your machine in minutes)
The fastest way to evaluate the service is to try it. Download the agent for your OS, run the installer (~30 seconds), and your machine appears in my management console with its full software inventory and patch status. I see what's outdated, what's at risk, what would be patched in the first month.
The installer is signed and configured for the Computer Medic console. It secures the connection using an embedded certificate; nothing on your machine is uploaded except inventory + patch metadata.
⚠ What the agent does (and doesn't do)Does: reports installed-software inventory, patch status, OS health metrics (uptime, free disk, free RAM). Lets me push updates and start remote-support sessions you approve.
Doesn't: read your files. See your browser history. Access microphone or camera. Run scans of personal documents. All endpoint-state data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Uninstall removes it cleanly — no residue, no nag screens.
After 30 days: uninstall to cancel, or continue at the regular rate. No card needed up front. If you decide to continue, I'll send the first month's invoice with your preferred payment method.
Path 02 · Free audit (no installation)
15-minute remote session, I show you what's at risk
Don't want to install anything yet? Request a free audit. I screen-share into your machine for 15 minutes, walk through what's installed, what's unpatched, what's at risk. You get a written summary of findings whether or not you sign up — it's yours either way.
The audit is most useful for customers who want to see what the service would catch before committing, even to a no-payment trial. Common surprise: how many third-party apps haven't been updated in over a year.
Request via the form below — pick "Free audit" as the inquiry type.
Path 03 · Quote request (lowest commitment)
Tell me about your setup, quote within 24 hours
If you'd rather have numbers before any conversation, fill out the form below with your device count and OS mix. Written quote in your inbox within one business day, no follow-up required from you.
Section I · Request a quote or audit
One form, three paths.
Pick the inquiry type, tell me about your setup. I'll respond within one business day; same business day if you give me a phone number.
Business IT Services · Computer Medic Repair & Service LLC · Clearwater FL · Updated June 2026