October 2007, or Thereabouts

Here I am back from Ireland and ready to re-enter the work world. Hurricanes have missed us so far. It's time to regroup and plan a strong finish for the year. It's time for me entertain you with techie tips and my next occasional newsletter!

I present myself as the "Computer Wizard." I am the technical person with social skills who brings productivity improvement to your 2 to 25 computers, servers, software, hardware, and Internet applications in your office network.

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Microsoft VISTA is making a slow entry into the business market. Windows XP is still available on new machines from DELL and Hewlett Packard once you convince them that you are a business customer. Cautious folk are waiting for others to work out the bugs and write drivers for existing hardware.

We can hope for the best to come out of Vista, but right now we have our own businesses to run.

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Unplug that Modem if you are no longer using it for Internet or fax. A phone line into a modem is another path for voltage spikes and lightening. If you are not using it, unplug it.

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Memory is most important in new PCs. More processor speed can help, but it is memory that modern programs use as a scratch pad. A bargain price on a new PC probably means a minimum of memory.?

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Server Recovery is more complex that restoring a crashed workstation. A Server can have layers of updates and application installations. While it might take two hours to restore a workstation, you can spend all weekend restoring a Server.

Along with your backup of your data, you might consider an image backup of the entire Server. You use a product like Norton Ghost to take a snapshot or image of the Server. You restore the snapshot and then insert your data over it.

Some tape systems can make a full backup. Sometimes you have more on your Server than one tape can hold. Sometimes, your tape is not really working like you think.

You would store this image on an external hard drive. Does all this sound very complicated? That is why you have a consultant.

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How fast is your Internet connection? See my links section below for websites to measure this. Download and upload speeds can be different. Speed can vary depending to how much other traffic is sharing your same line. Notice that there are busy times of the day plus rain can slow down your connection.

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Now is the time to learn one thing new in technology. Now is the time to delegate the other techie puzzles to someone who actually finds them interesting. Now is a good time to check your backups, update my mailing address, and to refer the people who serve you well.

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