Videoconferencing

Posted on October 12, 2010 by David Rier

Interactions with customers or peers frequently need a more personal contact than a phone call.  A face-to-face meeting carries more impact than a plain telephone call.  Facial expressions and body language are also absent from a telephone call.

Videoconferencing is no longer the province of Fortune 500 companies.  Anybody can set up videoconferencing (on individual PCs and/or in small conference rooms).  You can set up the hardware for a system very inexpensively and download the software for free.

If an issue can be taken care of with a videoconference, you can see and hear your customer or peer without having to spend the time, money and expenses to travel to and from their location. With the cost of business travel these days, this can save a business thousands of dollars a year even when used infrequently.

In future posts, I’ll talk about how to inexpensively set up you own videoconference hardware and software.

Posted in Computer Advice, IT Manager 101, PCs, Technology | Tagged | Leave a comment

On-line Banking Tips

Posted on October 5, 2010 by David Rier

I’m not going to say that on-line banking is the best thing since sliced bread … but it’s pretty close.  As long as you’re careful with your account safety, an on-line banking account can both save you money and make you money.

First, make sure your password is a “strong” one.  (If you don’t know how, see my post “Passwords – Make Them Strong!” at http://www.davidrier.com/?m=201003).  That’s the first and most important thing you can do to protect your account.

Depending on what your bank offers and charges, here are a couple of the ways that you can save some money through on-line banking:

1.      Pay your bills electronically.  You will save postage costs.

2.      Automate your bill paying.  This will keep bills from “slipping through the cracks” and you can make sure they are paid on time.  That will save you money in late fees and interest.

The best way to make money through on-line banking is to transfer your money from low- or no-interest accounts (like checking accounts) to something like a money market account.  While your money is in the money market account, it will be earning (more) money for you.  When you need more money in your checking account, just transfer funds from the money market account back to the checking account.  As long as the accounts are both within your bank, transfers are instantaneous.

Posted in Computer Advice, PCs, Personal computing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Can a Mac Ever Get a Virus?

Posted on September 28, 2010 by David Rier

Macintosh enthusiasts extol the safety of their computers when compared to PCs.  There are even some who go so far as to say that Mac’s are virus-proof.  So are Mac’s inherently immune to viruses?  Can a Mac actually get infected with malware?  In a word – Yes.

For a very good discussion of the issues around Mac’s and malware, a good article to review is: “Mac Virus FAQs: Do You Really Need Mac Antivirus Software?” (http://antivirus.about.com/od/macintoshresource/tp/macvirusfaqs.htm).

The safe (and sane) thing to do is to protect your personal computer (PC or Mac) and your data from all forms of malware.  It’s much better to be safe than sorry.

Posted in Computer Advice, PCs, Personal computing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Data Security – It’s the Law

Posted on September 21, 2010 by David Rier

Hackers are constantly looking to break into computers and steal personal information.  When they steal such information, they can use it to perpetrate identity theft and subsequently pilfer large sums of money.

When personal information is stolen from a corporation’s computers, the number of people that are affected could range from dozens to millions.  IT people should protect such valuable information as a matter of course. Regrettably, that is not always the case.

In March of 2010, protecting personal data became a matter of law in Massachusetts.  The regulations that are now part of how the law is implemented (201 CMR 17) require that any company that possesses data that could be used in identity theft must put policies and procedures in place to protect the data.

There are many guidelines in the regulations that pertain specifically to IT.  I don’t think that Massachusetts will be the last state to adopt such rules and regulations.  Hopefully, IT in national companies will not have to deal with 50 different sets of state regulations.  In any case, if you are an IT person in Massachusetts, you already have your “marching orders” for protecting personal information.  If you live elsewhere, you might want to check out ( http://www.mass.gov/Eoca/docs/idtheft/201CMR1700reg.pdf ) to see a version of what is probably headed your way.

Posted in Computer Advice, IT Manager 101, Personal computing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

CNET

Posted on September 14, 2010 by David Rier

CNET ( www.cnet.com ) is another one of the web sites that I use for technical help and software downloads.  It is primarily a web site about technology.  Its reviews and ratings cover computers and software as well as arrange of other products such as cell phones, digital cameras, televisions, etc.

The reviews for IT-related are useful as a fair and balanced jumping-off point.  Their buying guides and advice articles help to bring you up to speed in areas where you may need some technical information.

When offering a software download, a number of companies and web sites set links to the CNET download library.  That kind of recommendation speaks volumes about both the site’s bandwidth and its technical oversight in making sure that downloads are free of malware.

Posted in Computer Advice, PCs, Personal computing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Disaster Recovery

Posted on September 7, 2010 by David Rier

IT managers spend their jobs (and careers) working to keep disasters from happening.  That’s as it should be as companies rely on their networks and data and the loss of the IT function through a disaster can result in damage via the loss of customers, orders, etc.

If disaster prevention is all that you do as an IT manager, you have only done half of what you need to do concerning disasters.  You also need to have plans in place as to how to recover from disasters.

By “recover from disasters”, I don’t mean how to come back from spilling coffee onto your server keyboard.  I mean recovering from a truly major problem – E.g. the building burns down, the server room floods, etc.

A fast and accurate disaster recovery can make you a hero.  When every hour of down time costs your company $10,000, recovering in 2 days vs. 4 weeks can save your company (and your job).

Spend some time imagining what disasters might possibly happen to your IT area.  Then work out how you would recover from each calamity.  Document the recovery steps in as minute a detail as you can and put them in you “policies and procedures” manual.  (See http://www.davidrier.com/?p=168).

Remember that s**t happens.  All your anti-virus systems, backup AD controllers, etc. don’t protect you from a hurricane or fire.  Having well-designed (and tested) recovery plans in place before a disaster strikes is invaluable.  The recovery process will be faster as a) you will not forget things, b) things will be done accurately and in the right order, and c) you will not be searching around for important information (E.g. administrator passwords, validation keys, etc.)

Posted in Computer Advice, IT Manager 101 | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

IT is an Enabler

Posted on August 31, 2010 by David Rier

One personal pet peeve that I have is the assumption in the business world that the IT function is just a cost of doing business.  That is, many business leaders see IT as a “necessary evil” in a modern company and they should just grin and bear the cost of all the technology.

I think that’s short-sighted and narrow-minded.  Done right, IT is a true “enabler” within a company.  By “enabler”, I mean that the tools and information that IT provides and supports enable workers to more productively do their jobs – and that leads to a successful company.

The key is to implement IT in the correct way.  IT and its technology should be set up for the benefit of the users and to help the company succeed.  That means that user support and making data and tools safe and available should the primary focus of IT.  IT is there for the users (not vice versa).

Posted in Computer Advice, IT Manager 101 | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Belarc Advisor

Posted on August 24, 2010 by David Rier

Sometimes it is useful to know exactly what makes up a particular PC or server.  Belarc Advisor is a software program that is free for personal use at http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html.  It produces what Belarc calls a “Free Personal PC Audit”.

Once it is run, Belarc Advisor produces a wealth of information about your PC.  Just some of the information you are presented includes:

  • Hardware (including all the specifics about your processor, serial number, service tag, memory, controllers, accounts, display, multi-media, virus protection, communications, devices, etc.)
  • Software (all packages installed including licensing information, Windows service packs and updates installed, etc.)

You can’t go wrong with this type of information.  It’s a life-saver if you ever need it.

Posted in Computer Advice, PCs, Personal computing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

It’s Out There Forever!

Posted on August 17, 2010 by David Rier

You’ve probably read some of the stories about teens putting embarrassing pictures or postings on their Facebook pages.  Those indiscretions can come back to haunt them in any number of ways.  Smart parents explain this to their kids and the potential problems on personal web pages are hopefully edited and/or deleted.

Does that fix the problem?  Maybe … and maybe not.  Here’s why – the content out on the web is like the content on a PC or a LAN.  It is stored, cached and backed up in case something happens to the original content.  The same thing happens with the trillions of links that search engines catalog.  A vast system like Google does not take note of every addition, deletion or change made on the Internet every day.

Links to “old” or backed up web pages come up on searches all the time.  A perfect example came up at my work.  Our receptionist was getting calls concerning products made by a division of our company that had been sold off over 2 years previously.  A little detective work showed that some of the search results for the products were returning web pages that existed before the division was sold.  The phone number was accurate when the web page was part of our web site.  Even though the page is no longer part of our web site, we still get calls based on the old link and backed up web page.

So be careful!  Be extremely careful about what you post and fix any errors as quickly as possible.  Try to keep the “bad” content from haunting you forever.

Posted in Computer Advice, PCs, Personal computing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

It Just Broke!!

Posted on August 10, 2010 by David Rier

Every child has tried to use the above excuse for how a vase or glass turned into a collection of shards.  If you’ve been around PCs, you may have heard the same words as explanation for why someone’s computer is no longer working.

Well … in the case of a PC, “it just broke” may be absolutely true!

No mechanical device (hard drive, fan, power supply, etc.) can be made to work forever.  In fact, hardware manufacturers include a guess about when a device might “break” on its own.  This guess is called the MTBF (or “mean time between failures”).

In essence, the manufacturers acknowledge that things break down and that “it just broke” is a legitimate description of what happened.  As a computer support person, you just have to get used to this fact.

Posted in Computer Advice, PCs, Personal computing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment