Critical Windows Flaw Being Exploited

The cyber-idiots are at it again. A flaw in a Windows Graphics function has been discovered and the instructions on how to exploit the flaw have been posted on the Internet. There have already been a good deal of reports of computers being affected by various exploits.

Basically, the problem involves how Windows processes certain types of graphic images. When the image is loaded via an infected website or an infected image in an email, the hacker can take control of the computer with the same security rights as the user of the machine. At this point the hacker can do a wide range of damage from destroying data on the computer and/or server to monitoring for personal or sensitive information.

Microsoft has posted more information here. Users are advised to be vigilant and to keep anti-virus and anti-spyware programs up to date. We will continue to post pertinent information here.

Check That UPS

We have had several calls over the past couple of weeks where servers or other equipment have unexpectedly shutdown. Upon investigation we found that a UPS with failing batteries caused the problem. Normally a UPS is responsible for supplying power to critical network devices if there is a power outage. The power can be maintained for from several minutes to an hour or so depending on the capacity of the UPS and the load on it. This is a good thing. We don't want servers crashing when the power goes out.

However, UPSs use batteries and batteries age and fail. We have found that when UPS batteries fail the UPS can do strange things including shutting the power to the connected devices off even if there is no power outage. This is not a good thing!

Because UPSs are quite and not usually highly visible we tend to forget they exist until a problem occurs. To avoid any surprises, UPSs should be tested regularly. The test is simple, make sure no one is connected to the devices that the UPS is connected to, make sure no applications are running on your server. and pull the plug. The UPS is plugged into a power outlet on the wall. Pull the plug from the wall. The devices connected to the UPS should stay running. The UPS will usually start emitting some type of sound indicating power has been lost. After you have confirmed that the UPS can withstand a power outage, plug the plug back into the wall. The beeping should stop. Be careful with this test. You are playing with electricity and it doesn't always play fair. If you are unsure about this test get someone who knows this stuff to do it.

I also suggest that UPSs connected to critical devices be replaced after 5 or more years. They are not that expensive anymore and the value of not having problems caused by a crashed server far out way the investment.

We have included this test in our list of items that we perform for our Maintenance Program Clients.

Microsoft Releases Several Security Hotfixes

Microsoft released 3 Critical, 4 Important, and 2 Moderate Security Updates on Tuesday 10/11. This is their scheduled October Security Update. These hotfixes cover Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Exchange, Internet Explorer and some other Windows components.

Our Maintenance Program Clients will have these updates installed on our next maintenance visit to your site. Other users can install the updates via the Windows Update Service. Be sure to have a backup and read the update information BEFORE doing any updates. We do not suggest users do server based updates.

Notes From Microsoft TS2 Meeting

Microsoft holds a quarterly event for its Partners called TS2. This event is generally of a technical nature, but designed to help us resellers sell and support Microsoft products. I have been to several of these events and have found them to be very useful. The most recent was held Oct 6 in Plainville, which was nice because I normally have to travel to the Boston area for these.

There were several new products presented at the event. The first was a new product called Microsoft Small Business Accounting. This accounting package is designed for small business with sales generally under $2M. It competes head on with Quickbooks. It looks very good. The interface is designed like Outlook which makes it pretty easy to navigate. It has pretty much everything a small business needs. Payroll, however is a little weak, although it does interface with ADP. (They are working on more payroll options) We don't sell accounting software, so other than possibly using it ourselves you won't hear much more from us about it.

The next product was another one that we won't be selling but it is a very cool system for small retailers. Microsoft Point of Sale is a full retail management package for small stores that might have 1 or 2 cash registers. It is a very cool system and very well priced.

There was a session on Windows Mobile 5, which we will be getting involved with. Windows Mobile 5 enables remote users to connect to Microsoft Exchange with a PDA or cell phone. Users have full access to their email, contacts, calendar, etc. This is really cool stuff. You will be hearing more about this from us. If you have Windows Small Business Server 2003 you will be ready to utilize these features when they are available.

There was a lot of other technical stuff that I won't bore you with. As always this was an excellent Microsoft event.

Click here for Microsoft Small Business Accounting info
Click here for Microsoft Point of Sale info
Click here for Windows Mobile 5 info

Microsoft Releases Several Service Packs

Microsoft released MS Office 2003 Service Pack 2, OneNote Service Pack 2 and Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2 today. These Service Packs address security, reliability and performance issues in the related products.

We have installed the Service Packs on our machines and are in the process of testing them. Clients that are on our Maintenance Plan will have these Service Packs installed on our next scheduled visit after October 15th, which will give us time to complete our testing. Of course the Service Packs are available from the Microsoft Website for do it yourselfers.

Has It Been 10 Years

On this day 10 years ago, Microsoft released Windows 95. It was quite an event. People stayed up all night camping at computer stores to buy the new Operating System. Similar to Harry Potter books today I guess. I remember being impressed with Windows 95 but I also remember it was very buggy. Since that time, there has been Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP and BOB (Don't Ask!). Many of those operating systems had update releases like Windows 98 Second Edition (SE). Of course time and gas prices move on. We are now waiting for Windows Vista, which is scheduled to ship next year. I don't foresee any lines at Staples. However, the line is all ready forming on the Internet! Microsoft says this will be the most reliable and most secure Operating System yet. Funny, I thought that's what they said about Windows 95!

I Would Not Have Thought Of This

I am a big believer in using technology where you can to make things better, faster etc. But I never thought of this.  Not sure what I think about it yet.  But I am gathering content just in case.  Be sure to check out the sample video.  I wonder if they have a 42” model.   Check it out!

New Virus On The Loose

A new virus, Zotob, which exploits a Windows vulnerability made public last Tuesday, is spreading on the Internet. The virus takes advantage of an issue with the Microsoft Windows Plug and Play Service. The virus is a worm that can spread itself to unprotected computers. It will affect the workstation's access to the Internet and opens a backdoor for an intruder to gain access to the machine.

One of the patches released by Microsoft last week closes the hole that this virus takes advantage of. If you are running Norton AntiVirus, check to make sure your Virus Definition File is 8/14/05 rev 16 or higher in order to detect this virus.

If you do not have a method in place to update your workstations and servers with the latest Windows Updates give us a call. We can help you get this important function done.

More information on Zotob can be found here.

Problems With Norton Corporate AntiVirus 10.0

We have several reports of serious issues with Norton (Symantec) Corporate AntiVirus 10.0. These problems include the server rebooting at random times. Norton has posted a couple of fixes but I would suggest that 10.0 is not installed until it is verified that the problems are fixed.

Get Ready For Windows Vista

Microsoft's next desktop operating system has been in development for some time. It is expected to be released in 2006. During the development process Microsoft always uses code names for the project. Longhorn has been the code name for this Windows XP replacement. Today Microsoft is expected to actually name the operating system. The rumor is that it will be named Windows Vista.

Don't know if I like it yet. Sometimes these things take some getting used to.

Thinking Outside The Box

A hacker was getting tired of being constantly spammed by this one spammer. So he hacked into their server and deleted their database and changed their network passwords. Cool!

Microsoft To Buy Secure Email Service

In another security related move, Microsoft has announced it will purchase FrontBridge, a provider of secure email services. Microsoft says it plans to use FrontBridge to augment its own Exchange Email Server.

Say what you will, Microsoft knows what its doing and how to do it. Oh, by the way, WalMart has announced it is trying to get into the banking business. After 4 unsuccessful tries in various states they are hoping Utah will give them a green light. For some reason I see this little Zorro guy slashing interest rates.

New Top Level Domain Name

A new Top Level Domain (TLD) name has been approved for use. TLDs are the major groups of Internet domain names, for instance .com, .org, .net, etc. They are used to group generally similar web content. TLDs must be approved, meaning you can't just create your own.

The new TLD is .mobi. This TLD will be used for websites that are designed for mobile devices like PDAs and cell phones. Currently, there are few websites designed for the smaller screens of these devices. It is also difficult to locate the sites that support these devices as well. This new TLD will help that. Sites are expected to start using the .mobi TLD sometime in 2006.

Yes, I have Internet access on my cell phone. I would like to see more content designed for these devices. Of course, I would only view the content when I am not driving! Did you know that you are 4 times more likely to have an accident when you are using your cell phone while driving? Even with the cool new wireless headset I just bought!

Remember These Letters - RSS

RSS, Real Simple syndication, has been around for a while now. I have been using it to capture posts to my favorite blogs for over a year. My own blogs all have RSS feeds. RSS is a method of pushing information out to the Internet so that RSS Readers can grab it and present it to the user. The user does not have to go and check each blog or website to see if anything new has been posted. It's a great tool that's just getting started. Podcasting is a variation that includes audio feeds.

Microsoft has announced that IE 7 and Longhorn (the next version of Windows) will include RSS tools. This is great news for the RSS community. Microsoft doing something like this always adds credibility to a new technology. Although it usually sends shivers down the spines of the companies that make their living creating similar tools.

It's yet to be seen how far Microsoft will go with this. One thing is for sure though, RSS is here to stay. This is a technology everyone should keep their eyes on! Click here for more info on RSS.

Sprint Nextel Corporation

The merger between Sprint and Nextel will create a new company called Sprint Nextel Corporation. It appears that for now Nextel will be a separate labeled product from the company. This is mainly because the two systems are not compatible. Nextel will continue to use its popular push to talk function over its IDen network. The two systems should merge down the road a bit. (If not what was the point of the merger?) For you racing fans, the Nextel name will still be used for the Nextel Nascar series at least through 2006. What a relief! More information can be found here.

IE7 For Windows XP Only

Microsoft has announced that the next version of Internet Explorer, IE7, will be available for Windows XP only. Windows 2000 users will not be able to use it. Two reasons given are the fact that Win2K is getting to the end of its life cycle (extended support through 2010) and several of the IE7 enhancements are dependent on technology built into WinXP but not Win2K.

It seems Microsoft is pouring fuel on the alternative browser fire to me. Why does the browser have to be so connected to the operating system? There are several alternative browsers including Firefox that are not dependent on the OS and do a great job. Is Microsoft saying you must use one of those if you want a better or secure browser for Win2K?

Over the years Microsoft has back stepped on many of these types of announcements. There are still a large number of Win2K users out there. This type of announcement can not only make them consider a browser alternative but possibly even an OS alternative. If IE6 needs a refresh, Win2K users should not be left out. Get the browser out of the OS!

Don't Let Up On Security

We get real busy when some type of IT security event hits the mainstream news. Clients are always concerned that they are protected during those times. Then it gets quite for a while. Invariably another incident occurs and the cycle continues. In the meantime business get laxed in their vigilance.

Your IT infrastructure, including your hardware, software, and data is much too valuable. Even when things seem to be quite you need to insure that you are following all the security protocols. Maybe even more so.

Do you have the latest AntiVirus data files?
Are you running Anti-Spyware software?
Do you have all the latest Windows and application updates?
When was the last time you changed passwords?

These are just a few of the things you should know the answers to in order to keep yourself reasonably safe from the next round of attacks. It stinks but it's necessary. Give us a call if we can help.

How Old Is Your IT Equipment?

For many companies IT equipment is an expense that tends to be a nuisance. Equipment is rarely replaced until it can no longer operate. While I can understand this method, I find companies are wasting valuable time with old equipment. How so? As users use their workstations throughout the day applications are opened and closed, data is added, changed, deleted, reports are created and printed, etc. On older systems time spent waiting for each of these process adds up. On a daily basis it can be from 30 minutes to an hour or more. If a new system can cut this time in half (many times it is much more than that), the user will save from 15 to 30 minutes or more per day times 5 days per week times probably 48 working weeks per year. That's 60 to 120 hours per year per employee. How much is that worth to you?

Support costs reflect the same situation. Installing Windows XP SP2 on older machines can take 30 to 45 minutes, while on a newer machine it may take 10 to 15 minutes. (actually a new machine would already have SP2 installed requiring 0 minutes to upgrade). Then there's the security updates, application updates, normal maintenance, etc. Each of these necessary functions takes much longer on older devices and translates to wasted time and money.

IT costs need to be treated as a productivity booster and not an expense. The bottom line is that is what they are at this point. Many users spend a good portion of their day in front of their workstation. Making them more productive is always a goal. Our general rule of thumb is to replace 20% of your workstations per year and servers about every 4 to 5 years. You make the calculations and see what you think.

VOIP Vendors Hitting Some Rough Spots

The FCC this week ordered VOIP (Voice over IP) service vendors to provide 911 service as a standard feature of their voice services within the next 4 to 6 months. Currently, several VOIP vendors do not provide what is considered a standard 911 service. Several states have legal actions against several VOIP vendors over this issue. Here in Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal is suing Vonage, a popular VOIP vendor.

Obviously, this is a good idea, although I'm not sure that the FCC has or should have the power to issue this type of order. The market itself will force this to happen. Similar to cell phone 911, there are issues with VOIP that make 911 more difficult to implement. Namely, cell phones and VOIP phones can be mobile. This makes location information difficult to track. I'm sure technology will solve the problem. VOIP carriers should have to provide useful 911 service. We have become dependent upon it.

The interesting thing is that standard voice carriers control the 911 services and have made it difficult for VOIP vendors to connect to them in a move to squash the competition. This ruling requires that they open the lines. Ironically, their monopoly practices have backfired on them.

I have been using VOIP for over a year. While there are still some problems with the technology, it is very much viable. The cost of the calls is drastically cheaper than standard phone service and the capabilities are fantastic. 911 service has been a problem. This order will correct that. Standard voice vendors are in for a tough time. VOIP is real and combined with wireless Internet, will eventually mean we don't need the SBC's of the world. I can't wait!

SSGI Off-Line Today 5-4-05

Northeast Utilities will be doing some work in our area today and have informed us that our power will be off from about 8:30am to 12:30pm. Our phone system is on battery backup so we expect to have phone service for most if not all of the outage. Our servers will be shut off so email and file access will be down. We will check email intermittently from outside the office.

Watch That Spelling!

It's amazing to see what the idiot Spyware creators will do to infect your computer. An Internet security firm, F-Secure has discovered a malicious website at googkle.com Do you know how many people go to Google every day? Of those how many might spell it this way by mistake? The site will attempt to take advantage of unpatched Windows systems and force Spyware onto your machine.

So... watch your spelling. This is not the only site that does this. I have run into others. Next, keep Windows and all your applications up to date with patches and hotfixes. And never, never, never buy anything from a company that has spammed you or was involved in infecting your machine with Spyware. In fact, let them know you do not appreciate this type of "marketing".

Microsoft Planning Blackberry Type Technology

Microsoft has a family of products called Windows Mobile, which is designed for mobile devices like Pocket PC's and cell phones. Currently, email can be received on these devices by the user "pulling" the messages from the server. The next upgrade of Window Mobile will allow email to be "pushed" to the devices. This is what the RIM Blackberry device does. It's basically on-line all the time and mail is sent to it without the user needing to request it.

This product is just one of many for mobile devices that Microsoft will roll out over the next year. It will be interesting to see how well it works. Microsoft has also announced a joint project with RIM that will allow it's technologies to work with the Blackberry devices. Covering all the bases I guess!

Here's some info on Windows Mobile.

HIPAA Security Rule In Effect 4/20

As everyone in the Health Care profession is aware, the HIPAA Security Rule goes into effect on Wednesday 4/20. This rule requires most Health Care Providers implement mechanisms to protect the Integrity, Security, and availability of Electronic Protected Health Information. Basically, if you transmit EPHI in any fashion, you must comply with the Rule.

We have been working with our Health Care Clients to help them become compliant. One of the tools we have been using is a Blog dedicated to the Security Rule. You can view it by Clicking Here. This is another site that contains some good HIPAA information.

HP Names New CEO

It didn't take too long! Carly Fiorina was sent packing just a short while ago. HP yesterday announced her replacement, Mark Hurd. Mr. Hurd comes from NCR where he was CEO for the last few years. He is credited with turning the company around. However, NCR is not HP. He has his work cutout for him.

He is receiving a pretty good package which includes a $2.75 million relocation allowance! By the way, Carly received an over $21 Million severance package. I wonder how many printers they have to sell to cover that!

I don't know anything about Mark Hurd. We'll see what happens.

SSGI Welcomes David Brown

David Brown has joined Systems Support Group, Inc. as a Field Engineer. He comes to us with some good experience in supporting Client networks. We all look forward to working with David. If you haven't already met him, you should get a chance over the next few weeks as I am making sure that he gets a chance to visit every Client location.

Having David on board will help us better meet our goal of providing timely network support to our Clients.

Medicare Trying To Leverage Technology

An interesting article on how Medicare is trying to find ways to use technology to provide better health care at less cost can be found here. I would be interested in what our Health Care Clients think about this. Note that one of the companies involved is McKesson.

I believe that our health care system needs lots of work. Technology can help a lot. But, there are currently cultural issues that will prevent widespread usage for a while. Maybe Medicare's Modernization plan will help.

Microsoft To Purchase Groove Networks

Microsoft has been busy trying to spend its $40 or 50 billion in cash. After a $4.00 per share payout to its shareholders, it has been on a buying spree. They have purchased an anti-virus company, an anti-spyware company, a couple of accounting software add on companies, and this week Groove Networks, a small collaborative software company.

This purchase does several very interesting things. First, the Groove Networks product is a natural plug in for the Microsoft Office products. Microsoft is betting that collaboration will be a big part of the future use of software products, I agree. They are already developing a bunch of collaborative products, these are a natural fit.

Possibly more importantly, this purchase gets them Ray Ozzie. Ray Ozzie is one of the geniuses of the software industry. He is right up there with the heavy hitters. He created Lotus Notes which has given Microsoft a run for its money in the collaborative workspace. He will become a Microsoft CTO (Chief Technology Officer) and report directly to Bill Gates.

As everyone knows, I am not a big fan of corporate mergers that make no sense (most of them). This acquisition by Microsoft is pure genius. Amazing things will come out of this. This Bill Gates guy is pretty good!

64 Bit Computing On The Way

Next month, Microsoft will release Windows for 64 Bit Computers. This will begin the process of moving to a 64 bit computing platform. Actually, 64 bit computing has been around for several years. But as usual with technology leaps, the initial releases are very technical and limited in scope. With Windows becoming available for the 64 bit platform, the evolution to mainstream usage will begin.

I remember when 32 bit computing (the current platform) was starting this same process. (Do you remember the 80386 Processor? 1985) AMD actually has a leg up on the 64 bit game, releasing their 64 bit architecture quite a while before Intel. At this point both companies have tried and true 64 bit platforms. With the addition of 64 Bit Windows the evolution is under way.

What's the big deal? Well, 64 bit processors can handle twice as much information at one time and can access more memory than our national debt. So? In the short term this is usually not a big deal. Over time these features become enablers. They enable things to be done better or things that are simply not possible yet to be done on your computer. For instance, voice recognition, while it is getting much better, simply isn't there yet. With 64 bit processing it may just become a reality.

You'll hear a bunch of marketing on the 64 bit platform very soon. Don't jump with joy just yet. But give it a couple of years and amazing things are going to happen. Some prediction huh!

Click Here For An Interesting History of the Intel MicroProcessor.

Microsoft Is Clamping Down On Piracy

Microsoft has a very active effort going on to fight software piracy. While this can cause headaches for legitimate users, I do understand their problem. Do you realize that in some countries the piracy rate is over 90%? I think I would be doing something too!

Recently, they have changed their update process to check to make sure the update is being applied on legitimate copies of the software. They have also made changes to Windows XP product activation that are designed to catch pirated copies before they get in the hands of unknowing end users.

Microsoft is also involved in several law suits with PC vendors that have been installing pirated copies of their products on computers the vendor builds.

While this will probably cause some pain for legal users of Microsoft products, it is certainly understandable.

New Internet Explorer On The Way

Bill Gates announced that IE 7 will be available sometime next year. The beta testing of the product will begin this summer. Some interesting notes. IE7 will be a stand alone product, not bundled with Windows. IE7 will require Windows XP SP2 or higher. Remember that support for Windows 98 has ended? Support for Windows 2000 ends this year.

There is a lot of talk about Microsoft doing this only because Firefox, an Internet Explorer alternative, has been gaining market share. To a certain extent this may be true. Internet Explorer has been rather dormant with not much more than security updates. However, I think that the delay in the next version of Windows, code named Longhorn, has caused Microsoft to scramble a little as well. Longhorn was always supposed to include a new browser. The release of Longhorn is now scheduled for 2006. This move actually allows Microsoft to test the new browser's features and gives them time to refine things before Longhorn is released.

As soon as the beta is released we will begin testing it and post our findings here.

I Love Panera Bread!

I am posting to this Blog from a table at Panera Bread in Bristol! They have free wireless Internet access. From my wireless connection here I was able to connect to my desktop at the office, connect via VPN to one of our Clients, logon to their server and resolve a printer problem. All this while eating Broccoli Cheddar soup and some kind of Turkey sandwich! And now I'm posting to this Blog.

Wireless is really becoming useful in many areas. This connection is pretty good, although it slows down every now and then. The "free" part is the best. Starbucks and even McDonald's has wireless but it can be pricey. The connection took me all of about 1 minute to complete, no big sign up forms or advertisements.

Did I mention the food is very good as well? I know where I'll be the next time I'm near a Panera Bread for lunch.

Microsoft To Purchase Anti-Virus Software Company

Microsoft announced today that it is acquiring Sybari Software, Inc., an anti-virus software company based in New York. This is the second anti-virus related company has purchased. Last year they purchased GeCAD. GeCAD technology is in the latest malware removal tool Microsoft has been distributing for free.

Microsoft began using the Sybari anti-virus product itself last year after extensive testing of anti-virus products. They feel the product is the best available solution and decided to purchase the company. Expect a Microsoft labeled anti-virus product relatively soon.

SBC To Buy AT&T, Eliminate 13,000 Jobs

SBC is in the process of buying AT&T for about $16 Billion. Yes, the company that is losing money, laying off 7000 people, and losing lines on a monthly basis is at it again! Second announcement "We expect to eliminate approximately 13,000 positions". These guys are wizards!

I must have missed the part about how this will be a good deal for customers or stockholders. I wonder what the CEO's will make? For AT&T customers this might be good. AT&T has totally lost its way in the last few years. Today, I read an ad telling me I should use AT&T network services because they are the best in the world. Huh?

For SBC customers, well can it get much worse really? For stockholders, you might look at how the stocks of the last several mega-mergers have done.

Microsoft Releases MSN Search and Updates MSN

Yesterday, Microsoft released its MSN Search Site. It had been beta testing its search engine for a while. Previous to this release, MSN Search was hosted by Yahoo and was third most used search site behind Google and Yahoo. We'll have to see what happens now. I'm not a search expert by any means but have been using the beta for a couple of months. It seems very capable to me. Microsoft says it has big plans for its Search Site. Of course so do Google and Yahoo!

At the same time, Microsoft updated its MSN Website. They trimmed it down and added the MSN Search buttons. I have been playing around with my.msn.com which is a customizable portal on MSN. I think it is pretty neat. You can plug in the content you want and create custom pages like a Weekend Page that includes various plug in components like the weather, movies, dining info, etc. Very cool! They have also just added an RSS Reader component so you can get RSS feeds from your favorite RSS sites!

SBC To Eliminate 7000 Jobs In 2005

SBC, the second largest telco company in the US announced it will cut 7000 jobs in 2005. Actually this is just an extension of its announcement in 2004 that it will eliminate 10,000 jobs. What's more interesting to me is that it lost 266,000 phone lines in the last quarter of 2004, a trend that started in 2001. I suspect many of those lines have been lost to VOIP (Voice over IP). VOIP is phone service over the Internet. I have been using it for about a year and its great. My cost is 50% of what SBC was charging. I am switching to a new VOIP vendor and my bill for unlimited calling will be $199.00 per year!

SBC's monopoly is on the telephone wire coming to your house. They are losing that monopoly because you don't need their wire any more. Now they must compete on the quality of their service. They are going to have a tough time. Just call for service sometime!

If you are an SBC stock holder consider this. I predict that within 10 years wireless high speed Internet will be widely available. Guess what? No wires. Think cable companies are immune? TVoIP (TV over IP) will enable television over high speed Internet and is being tested as you read this. What if you don't need the cable company's wire for your TV?

The next few years will be interesting to watch. This Internet thing just might be something!

I Love RSS!!

Do you have certain Websites or Blogs that you visit regularly to see if any new items have been posted? Wouldn't it be nice if the Website or Blog notified you when something new has been posted? Well that's exactly what RSS is designed to do.

RSS means Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication depending on which article you are reading. What RSS does is allow Websites and Blogs to syndicate their content. Then by using one of many RSS Readers a user can subscribe to syndicated Websites and/or Blogs and be alerted when the subscribed content has changed. This is really useful!

There are many RSS readers. I am using FeedDemon at home. It is a stand alone RSS Reader that is very easy to use. At the office I use Newsgator which is an Outlook add in. Newsgator adds another set of folders to Outlook that accept messages from my subscribed sites and lets me view the content changes.

Many Websites and Blogs have syndicated their content. All 3 of my Blogs are syndicated and our new SSGI Website will be syndicated when we go live with it in a couple of months. You can find a list of RSS Readers by clicking here. For more information on RSS click here.

You can check my SSGI Blog, SSGI HIPAA Blog, and Ed's World Blog by clicking on any one of them. Each of the Blogs is syndicated.

Time To Clean Out Email

We have been fielding a few calls regarding issues with Outlook and/or Exchange lately. In resolving these issues we are noticing that some users are becoming very lax in keeping their email folders cleaned up. In some cases users have over 15,000 messages in their folders.

With disk space becoming cheap a lot of users simply aren't taking the time to clean up. This is a bad idea. First, why keep old stuff? Evaluate how often you go back to find something that's 1 year or less old. How about 1 to 2 years old? How about 2 to 3 years old? If you really must get back to that stuff you should be creating yearly archives that will allow you to call things back while getting them out of your Outlook folders. Large Outlook mailboxes make things run slower and can cause you to receive various Outlook errors. If your Outlook is anything less than Outlook 2003, you can crash Outlook if the file gets larger that 2 Gig.

Organizing Outlook is another concern. Do you keep all your items in your Inbox or your Deleted Items folder? When was the last time you cleaned your sent items folder out? Creating a simple folder system for storing your email will save you lots of time when you are looking for things and keep your Inbox reserved for what it was intended - new items coming in.

Outlook is a great tool. However, it does require regular house cleaning. Give us a call if you want to know more.

Welcome to 2005

It is the end of one year and the beginning of a new one. This is always a good time to do some thinking about your IT assets. First, make sure you have created an End of Year backup and separate it from your normal backup media. If you ever need to be able to get back to 2004 you will be able to. Regarding backup, it's also a good time to cycle out some old tapes and insert fresh ones in their place. If you have tapes that are more than 18 months old you should phase them out. Also, check your backup. Make sure you are able to read tapes back and that everything is being backed up as it should. Have you added storage space this year? Is it included in your backup process?

This is also a good time to review the status of your servers, workstations and peripherals. Replace older machines that are slowing your users down or creating security risks. At the same time evaluate your software licenses. Are you legal? Should you be considering upgrades.

Evaluate how you might use training to help your employees be more productive with the software applications you are using. How about some training for yourself?

Make one of the resolutions you make for 2005 to be more productive with your IT assets!