IT Support Perth — Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. IT Support Perth is the managed-IT services division of Computer Mechanics, a Perth IT company operating since 1997. The two names refer to the same business, team and Perth office — Computer Mechanics is the long-established parent brand, and "IT Support Perth" is how we present our managed IT, cloud and cybersecurity services.

IT Support Perth is a Perth-based managed service provider (MSP) supporting around 250 local businesses with managed IT, cybersecurity, cloud and Microsoft 365 services. We have operated as Computer Mechanics since 1997, hold a 4.9-star rating, and are reachable on (08) 9325 1196.

Yes — we are a genuinely local Perth business with a Perth office and Perth-based technicians, serving businesses across the metro area since 1997. We are not a national call centre or an overseas helpdesk.

Since 1997 — more than 25 years supporting Perth businesses under the Computer Mechanics name, founded by Garry Bloom.

We provide fully managed IT support, cybersecurity, cloud and Microsoft 365 management, email protection, backup and disaster recovery, firewalls and IT consulting for Perth small and medium businesses. We act as your outsourced IT department, or work alongside an existing in-house team.

An MSP proactively manages your IT for a predictable monthly fee — monitoring, securing, patching and supporting your systems — rather than only fixing things after they break. As a Perth MSP we keep your technology running so problems are prevented, not just repaired.

We support businesses across Perth and have dedicated expertise in law firms, accounting firms and healthcare, along with mining and construction. These sectors have specific compliance and software needs that we handle day to day.

Yes. We manage and secure Microsoft 365 (Exchange, SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive) and provide layered cybersecurity aligned to the ASD Essential Eight — including MFA, Conditional Access, email protection and managed backups.

Yes — most of our ~250 clients are Perth SMBs from roughly 10 to 100 staff. Our managed IT plans scale to small teams without enterprise overheads.

We monitor business-critical systems around the clock, while our standard support hours are 9:00am to 5:30pm AWST on business days. Critical issues are prioritised and escalated, and after-hours or emergency support is available by arrangement for businesses that need cover outside normal hours.

Yes. We set up and manage automated, regularly tested backups — including immutable cloud backups that ransomware cannot encrypt — plus a documented disaster-recovery plan, so your data and systems can be restored quickly after an outage, hardware failure or cyber-attack.

Yes. We act as a fully outsourced IT department for Perth businesses with no in-house IT — covering helpdesk, security, cloud and IT strategy. We also offer co-managed IT, working alongside an existing internal IT person or team where you already have one.

Yes. We manage endpoints with Microsoft Intune — enforcing security policies, app deployment, updates and remote wipe across laptops, desktops and mobiles — so every company device stays compliant and protected whether staff work in the office or remotely.

We manage and secure your people wherever they work — company and personal devices via Microsoft Intune, secure access to Microsoft 365 and files, MFA and Conditional Access, and a helpdesk your remote staff can reach by phone or email. Working from home should be as secure and well-supported as working in the office.

Yes. Microsoft 365 Copilot can be a genuine productivity boost, but it inherits your existing permissions — so if your files and SharePoint sites are over-shared, Copilot can surface data staff were never meant to see. We tidy up permissions and data governance first, then roll Copilot out with the right controls so you get the upside without the exposure.

We use automation and AI behind the scenes to catch and fix issues faster — automated monitoring and patching, scripted fixes for common problems, and AI-assisted threat detection that spots suspicious behaviour rather than just known viruses. The goal is less downtime for you; it doesn't replace the local person who answers when you call.

An IT health check is a structured review of your technology — security, backups, licensing, hardware age, network and cloud setup — that tells you where you stand and what needs attention. You get a plain-English report with prioritised, costed recommendations, so you can make decisions on facts rather than guesswork. It's also how we start with most new clients.

Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025, so it no longer receives security updates. The computers still work, but every new vulnerability found after that date stays unpatched, which makes them a growing target — and running an unsupported OS can affect your cyber-insurance cover and compliance.

For a business, Microsoft 365 is about far more than email — professional email on your own domain, Teams, secure file storage in SharePoint and OneDrive, and the security controls (MFA, conditional access, data protection) that free consumer email doesn't offer. Most Perth SMBs are best served by Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Premium, set up and secured properly.

This is usually a problem with your email authentication records — SPF, DKIM and DMARC. These DNS settings prove your emails genuinely come from you. Microsoft and Google now enforce them, so if they're missing or misconfigured, your legitimate email lands in spam and scammers find it easier to spoof your domain. Getting them set up correctly fixes deliverability and protects your brand.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) requires a second step — usually a prompt on your phone — on top of your password, so a stolen password alone isn't enough to log in. "MFA fatigue" is a trick where an attacker who already has your password spams you with repeated approval prompts hoping you'll tap "approve". The fix is number-matching MFA and never approving a prompt you didn't trigger.

This is one of the most dangerous misconceptions in small business IT: Microsoft keeps the service running, but under its shared-responsibility model your data is your responsibility. Microsoft 365 has short, limited retention — it is not a backup. We recommend a proper third-party backup of Microsoft 365 so you can always recover.

AI tools can be a big productivity win, but the risk is staff pasting sensitive company or client information into public chatbots, where it leaves your control. The answer isn't to ban AI — it's to control it: an acceptable-use policy, data-loss-prevention controls, and a safer approved option like Microsoft Copilot configured to keep data inside your tenant.

Yes — and more than large ones, proportionally. Attacks are mostly automated and opportunistic, scanning for weak passwords, unpatched systems and staff who'll click a phishing link. Small businesses are attractive precisely because they often have valuable data but weaker defences. The good news: a handful of fundamentals stops the overwhelming majority of it.

Antivirus is one layer — it looks for known malware on a device. Modern threats (phishing, stolen logins, ransomware, business email compromise) often walk straight past it because no "virus" is involved. Real cybersecurity is layered: MFA and identity protection, email filtering, modern endpoint detection and response (EDR), patching, backups, and staff training.

Often yes, but not always, and not blindly. For many Perth SMBs, moving email and files to Microsoft 365 and any remaining servers to Microsoft Azure removes ageing hardware, improves remote access and turns a big capital cost into a predictable monthly one. Some businesses are better on a hybrid setup — we assess before recommending.

Most Perth SMBs pay a predictable per-user, per-month fee for fully managed IT, typically roughly $90–$180 per user per month depending on the level of security and support included. On top sit software licences (like Microsoft 365) and any project or hardware costs. We scope to what you actually need and quote clearly.

Phishing is behind a huge share of breaches, and AI has made the emails far more convincing. Defence is two-sided: technology (advanced email filtering, link and attachment scanning, MFA and DMARC) and people (short, regular security-awareness training and simulated phishing tests). Together they dramatically cut the odds of a costly click.

For a business, downtime is lost money, so response time matters. A good managed IT provider gives you clear response targets (an SLA) — urgent, business-stopping issues acknowledged within minutes to an hour, less critical requests handled the same day. Just as important is who answers: a local Perth-based team resolves things faster than an overseas call centre.

A deepfake scam uses AI to clone a real person's voice or face — often a manager or supplier — to trick staff into transferring money or handing over data. Just a few seconds of audio can produce a convincing voice clone, so any business can be targeted, not just big ones. The defence isn't spotting the fake; it's verifying unusual requests through a separate, trusted channel.

Zero Trust means "never trust, always verify" — every user and device has to prove who they are and that they're secure before getting access, every time, instead of being trusted just for being on the office network. You don't buy Zero Trust as a product; you build it with MFA, device management and least-privilege access. Most of it is achievable for a small business with tools you likely already own.

Yes — for almost every business, a password manager is one of the cheapest, highest-impact security tools you can adopt. It lets staff use strong, unique passwords for every account without having to remember them, and lets you share and revoke access safely. It works alongside MFA and passkeys rather than replacing them.

Windows 10 support ended in October 2025, so moving to Windows 11 matters for security. Not every PC is eligible — Windows 11 needs a reasonably recent processor and a security chip called TPM 2.0. Many business machines from the last few years qualify and upgrade for free; older ones need replacing. We can audit your fleet and tell you exactly what's ready, what's not, and the smartest path.

Yes — visitors, and often staff personal phones, should use a separate guest Wi-Fi that's isolated from the network your business systems run on. It stops an unknown or infected device reaching your servers, files and work computers, and it's simple to set up on business-grade equipment. It's a basic, low-effort security win.

For most businesses, upgrading to Windows 11 is the real answer and Extended Security Updates (ESU) are just a bridge. ESU delivers critical security patches only and gets more expensive every year — it's designed to buy you planning time, not to be a long-term home. Pay for ESU only on machines that genuinely can't move yet, and use that time to plan the migration.

Usually not all of them. Many recent PCs can upgrade to Windows 11 in place for free, provided they meet the requirements — chiefly a TPM 2.0 security chip and a supported processor. Older machines that don't qualify do need replacing. The only way to know your real cost is to inventory each device and check its eligibility.

Most mainstream business software runs fine on Windows 11, but you should confirm your specific accounting, practice-management or industry applications are supported before you migrate — not after. The safe approach is a quick vendor check plus testing on a pilot machine, so nothing critical breaks on rollout day.

Planned properly, a Windows 11 rollout for a small business is a low-disruption project run over a few weeks, not a single chaotic day. Eligible machines upgrade in place, replacements are staged in waves, and each person's move is scheduled so nobody loses a day's work. The disruption people fear almost always comes from leaving it to the last minute.

Most OneDrive and SharePoint sync issues come from a handful of predictable causes: being signed into the wrong or multiple accounts, a lost permission to a folder, very long file paths or too many files, or a network blocking Microsoft's sync connections. Nearly all are fixable once you know which one you're hitting — and a proper setup prevents most of them.

Most Perth SMBs pay a predictable per-user or per-device monthly fee that scales with team size. The price depends on your user count, devices and the security level you need — see our Perth MSP pricing guide for ranges, and we will quote after a free assessment.

Our standard service level is a response within 4 business hours, with critical issues prioritised and escalated ahead of routine requests. A response target is not the same as a resolution time — some IT problems are complex and take longer to fix — but most day-to-day issues are resolved remotely within the same business day.

Break-fix means you pay each time something breaks, with no prevention; managed IT is a fixed monthly service that proactively prevents problems, secures your systems and includes ongoing support. Managed IT is more predictable and almost always cheaper over time — see our managed IT vs break-fix guide.

We handle the transition for you: a free assessment, a documented onboarding plan and a smooth handover from your current provider. Most switches are completed with no downtime or disruption to your team.

We generally charge per user, which keeps pricing simple and predictable as your team grows. Where a business has noticeably more devices than employees, we add a small per-device component to cover the extra administration and management those devices require.

Our base pricing is per user, but if you run more devices than staff — for example shared workstations, kiosks or multiple machines per person — we apply an add-on to cover the additional admin and management overhead of those extra devices. We will make this clear in your quote.

A managed IT plan typically includes proactive monitoring, helpdesk support, security patching, Microsoft 365 management, endpoint security, managed backups and ongoing advice — all for a predictable monthly fee. The exact inclusions depend on the tier you choose and the security level your business needs.

Yes. We offer different levels of managed IT so you can match the plan to your needs and budget. Core support covers day-to-day IT and security, while higher tiers add services such as co-managed IT, security-awareness training and deeper strategy work. We will recommend the right tier after a free assessment.

The usual surprises are onboarding/setup fees, per-hour charges for projects and migrations, after-hours and on-site call-out surcharges, per-user or per-device add-ons, and "security" that turns out to be basic monitoring only. We quote transparently — a clear per-user monthly fee, a written list of what's included, and any genuinely out-of-scope work agreed in advance — so there are no surprise invoices.

Most growing businesses quietly overspend on software — licences for staff who've left, overlapping tools that do the same job, or the wrong Microsoft 365 tier. As part of managing your IT we review your licensing and right-size it, so you're not paying for shelfware. It often covers a meaningful part of our fee on its own.

For regular managed clients our standard service level is a response within 4 business hours. Critical and business-impacting issues are prioritised and escalated ahead of routine requests.

No — the 4 business hours is a response target, not a guaranteed resolution time. We aim to be on your issue quickly, but IT problems vary: some are resolved in minutes, while others are genuinely complex and time-consuming to fix properly. Most everyday issues are resolved remotely within the same business day.

Our standard support hours are 9:00am to 5:30pm AWST on normal business days. Business-critical systems are monitored around the clock, and after-hours support can be arranged for businesses that need cover outside these hours.

Our standard hours are 9:00am to 5:30pm on business days, and after-hours or emergency support is available by arrangement. We monitor critical systems 24/7 so serious issues can be flagged and escalated, and we will agree out-of-hours cover with you based on how critical your systems are.

Backup testing frequency is set to your preferences, but our recommendation is to test backups at least once a month. Regular testing is what confirms your backups can actually be restored — an untested backup is only a hope, not a recovery plan.

A business-stopping outage is our highest priority — it jumps straight to the front of the queue and is escalated immediately to senior technicians, not left in a normal ticket line. We work to restore you as fast as possible, keep you informed throughout, and where it's a serious failure, fall back on your tested backups and disaster-recovery plan.

We support businesses across the Perth metro area — from the CBD to Fremantle, Joondalup, Rockingham, Midland and the northern and southern suburbs. See our locations pages for suburb-specific information.

Yes. We support businesses throughout the Perth CBD and the wider metro area, with fast remote support and on-site visits when needed. See our Perth CBD IT support page for local details.

Book a free 30-minute IT assessment — no obligation. Call (08) 9325 1196 or use our contact page, and we will review where your technology stands and where it can be improved.

A typical onboarding runs over the first few weeks and is designed to be almost invisible to your staff. We document your environment, secure the essentials, and take over monitoring and support in the background, scheduling anything disruptive out of hours. Your team keeps working while we get everything under control.

Both. The large majority of issues are fixed remotely — which is faster, because there's no waiting for someone to drive out — but when a job genuinely needs hands on hardware, a new office setup or a site visit, our Perth-based technicians come to you. You get the speed of remote support with the reassurance of a local team that can turn up.

Yes. We support VoIP and hosted phone systems for Perth businesses, including 3CX, Breeze Connect and Vocus. We can help you choose, set up and support a modern phone system that works alongside the rest of your IT and supports remote and hybrid staff.

Yes. We can provision and manage cloud servers on Microsoft Azure or AWS sized to your needs, whether you want to move off ageing on-premises hardware or run new workloads in the cloud. We design the environment around your performance, security and budget requirements.

Yes. We help Perth businesses migrate on-premises servers to Azure or AWS, planning the move to minimise downtime and keep your data secure. We will assess whether a full cloud, hybrid or on-premises setup is the best fit before recommending an approach.

Yes. We can work as co-managed IT, supporting and extending your existing in-house IT person or team rather than replacing them — covering areas such as security, after-hours cover, projects or specialist skills. Co-managed support is offered as part of our higher service tiers.

Yes. Beyond day-to-day support we offer IT strategy and virtual CIO (vCIO) guidance — regular reviews of your technology, security posture, budgeting and roadmap so your IT investment lines up with where your business is heading. This strategic planning is part of our higher service tiers.

OneDrive is for an individual's own work files; SharePoint (which is what sits behind Teams) is for shared, team and company files. As a rule of thumb: if a document belongs to the business or a team, it should live in SharePoint/Teams, not in one person's OneDrive — so it doesn't walk out the door when that person leaves.

Yes. We can run simulated phishing campaigns and ongoing security-awareness training so your staff learn to recognise and report scams — people are the most common way attackers get in. This is available as part of our higher service tiers.

Yes. Cyber-insurance policies increasingly require specific controls — such as multi-factor authentication, managed backups, endpoint protection and staff training — before they will cover you. We can implement and document these controls so you can answer your insurer's questions accurately and qualify for cover.

Yes. We help Perth businesses uplift against the ASD Essential Eight — application control, patching, macro settings, application hardening, restricting admin privileges, multi-factor authentication, regular backups and operating-system patching. We assess your current maturity and work through a practical plan to raise it.

We focus on preventing incidents with layered security, but if one occurs we help you respond and recover — isolating affected systems, restoring from tested, immutable backups that ransomware cannot encrypt, and getting you back to work. Strong backups and the Essential Eight controls are what make a fast, clean recovery possible.

Business email compromise — where a scammer poses as a supplier or executive to redirect a payment — is one of the costliest scams hitting Australian businesses, and AI has made the emails far more convincing. Defence is both technical (email filtering, MFA, DMARC) and procedural (always verify a bank-detail change or payment by phone on a known number). We put both in place.

Put a simple verification rule in place: any request to pay money, change bank details or reset access must be confirmed on a separate, known channel — for example, calling the person back on their saved number — before anyone acts. Pair that with dual approval for large payments and short staff training. It's low-cost and stops the scam even when the request looks and sounds real.

When someone leaves, their access needs to be removed promptly and completely — email, Microsoft 365, remote access, shared apps and any saved passwords — and their company data and devices retained. Done ad-hoc, forgotten accounts become a serious security hole. We use a documented offboarding checklist (ideally automated) so nothing is missed.

Dark web monitoring watches the criminal marketplaces and breach dumps where stolen logins are traded, and alerts you if your business email addresses or passwords show up. It's an early warning that a password has leaked — usually from a breach at another company — so you can reset it before it's used against you. For most businesses it's a low-cost, worthwhile layer.

No long-term lock-in is required. Managed IT clients are invoiced monthly, and you can give one month's notice to stop the service. We would rather keep your business by doing good work than by trapping you in a multi-year contract.

Managed IT clients are invoiced monthly for their agreed plan, so the cost is predictable and you are not billed separately for each support call or ticket within scope. The monthly fee covers your ongoing managed support, monitoring and security.

Yes. If you do not want a monthly managed plan, you can buy a block of prepaid support hours up front. We then draw down from that balance as we do the work, rather than invoicing you for each individual job, so you always know what you have left.

You purchase a block of hours in advance, and we deduct time from that balance as we complete work for you, until the hours are consumed. There is no per-job invoicing while you still have prepaid hours available, which keeps small ad-hoc jobs simple and admin-light.

One month's notice ends a managed IT agreement. Note that any unused prepaid support hours are not refunded, so it is worth using your remaining balance before you go.

For a reasonable, straightforward offboarding there are no exit fees — we want customers to leave happy even if they are moving on. If you ask us to do work that is out of scope, such as extensive access handovers or migration tasks, we will quote and bill for that work fairly, but a normal handover is not charged.

Yes. Your data and accounts are yours. We aim for a clean, professional handover to you or your new provider so you keep your data and administrative access. Any out-of-scope work we are specifically asked to do during the transition is quoted separately, but a reasonable offboarding is handled cooperatively.