Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Risk: The Game of Strategic Conquest
December 27th, 2009My kids go the game “Risk” for Christmas this year. For those of you who didn’t grow up in the 80s, Risk a board game that is a simplified map of the world and requires you to take your armies and invade other player’s territories. The game can easily go on for days & days (we limit our games to 3 hours). While we were playing over the weekend I started to think about how Risk is kind of like running a business. Every day is a challenge to ensure your customers aren’t doing never ending battle with whatever product or service you offer to them. As an IT firm that offers not only day to day support, but hosting services for email and application I have to ensure that our customers technology services are always ready and always available.
As 2009 turns to 2010, I’ve started to ask our clients how they are going to change how they use technology in the new year. I’ve heard answers which include “More remote work” to “more personal service to our customers” to “ensuring our clients know we do more than just X”. Inevitably during the same conversation, our clients ask me about how they can reduce their technology spending, but offer more services than ever. As many of you know – this is a seemingly double edged sword – to save money long term you need to replace inefficient equipment, update software and convert in-sourced services to outsourced services. One of the biggest challenges is a budget to make planning these items out a little easier.
So I ask all of you, what is your plan for technology for the new year? What does your budget look like? How are you going to ensure your technology spending does not become like the game Risk – which can easily go on for ever and seemingly have no end.
Let me know what your thoughts are here.
Rain, Rain Go Away – How to keep your electronics safe in the storm
September 21st, 2009For those of you not in the southeast, the past few days have been nothing but rain. With well over a foot of rain in the past 3 days, a lot of people are getting worried about the flooding/lightning and the effect it might have on computer equipment. Here’s my advice to you:
If you don’t have a UPS (battery power) between the wall outlet and your computer – you should unplug your computer completely from the wall (don’t just turn it off) – this will stop the electrical surges and possible lightning strike from traveling across your power lines right into your computer.
If the room you are in is susceptible to flood or leaks, lift your computers and power strips off the floor to avoid eletrical shorts and shocks. Don’t just think about your computer – but anything electrical – TVs, DVD players, etc - as yourelf “What can get wet or struck by lightning?”
One thing to know – your power company is not liable for any damage caused to your electrical equipment. You MAY be able to file a claim with your home owner’s insurance but it depends on the size of your claim and what specific riders you have on your insurance. If you run your business from your home - don’t forget to check with your business insurance provider (general liability, etc) to see if they will cover any damages.
Most power strips you buy at the local stores don’t have any type of insurance or protection from surges or power spikes. There are a few and rather than recommending a specific brand, we’d rather discuss options with you in person to ensure you are receiving the correct protection for your equipment.
If you need help in gathering information for an insurance claim, call us and we can help get you current pricing, replacement pricing and any labor estimates for the claim. Our estimates are accepted by most insurance companies and we can work with your insurance company to determine the actual value of your equipment.
Is is OK for me to use my neighbor’s wireless internet connection?
August 31st, 2009We get asked (or told) about using a neighbor’s or the company down the street’s wireless Internet connection. Let me explain why it’s not a good idea to do and what steps you should take to prevent this from happening to you.
Here’s a exceprt from an article about using someone else’s internet connection:
Perhaps the first and most notable case of an individual being arrested for illegally accessing a wireless network is that of Benjamin Smith III of St. Petersburg, FL. In the spring of 2005, Richard Dinon noticed someone parked outside his home and obviously staring at a laptop PC. According to Dinon, when Smith saw that he was being watched, he quickly closed the laptop. Dinon left to run some errands, but upon his return over an hour later, Smith was still outside staring at his PC. Dinon called the police, who arrested Smith, claiming that he was illegally accessing Dinon’s wireless network. Police said Smith admitted using the network and was charged with unauthorized access to a computer network, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
A subsequent inspection of Smith’s PC found child pornography, leading to an additional felony count of sexual performance by a child. In June of this year, Smith pled no contest to stealing a wireless computer signal and no contest to an amended, lesser, charge of felony child abuse relating to child porn police found on his laptop computer. According to a report in the St. Petersburg Times, “Smith’s attorney, Hubbell Losson, argued in motions that the statute outlawing unauthorized access to computers did not apply to wireless service, but Peters ruled against him.”
The key here is not that the guy was accessing the Internetor that he was parked outside the house, but that this can happen to you without your knowledge. If you are accessing an open wireless network or someone is accessing yours, how do you know what they are doing – they could be downloading music off a file sharing site (a felony here in the United States), hacking into a restricted site (which will be traced back to your Internet connection, not their specific computer) and do you want to be caught up in whatever they are doing? I trust my neighbors and the companies that are near me, but if they have an open Internet connection I make sure I steer away from it at all costs. In addition to the security risk I am taking (the open wireless could be a trick to steal passwords, bank account information or infect you computer with viruses and spyware), you are putting your future in someone else’s hands. So my recommendation is the not access that wireless network and to make sure yours is secure as well. Public wireless access connections (Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, etc) are OK as long as you have a firewall installed on your computer and good anti-virus/anti-spyware software. Here’s a quick wrap up of my recommendations:
- Don’t access an open wireless network unless it’s from a commercial service (e.g. Internet hot spots)
- Make sure your wireless network is secure from access (most devices have an easy to follow set of steps to secure your connection)
- If you are accessing one of the many public Internet connections available, have your firewall turned on, anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed correctly
- If you see any suspicious activity, call the police – it’s a felony to gain access to a computer or computer network without authorization.
So stay smart, stay secure and keep your network safe. If you are having trouble checking your wireless network, just give us a call and we can come out and check it for you.
Joe Vivona
A&J Computers Inc
Hard Drive Crash
August 19th, 2009For those of you who have heard me preach about the possibility of a hard drive crash and the steps necessary to protect yourself, you can rest assured that hard drive crashes happen even to the technology guys. Earlier this year, I decided to upgrade my laptop with a removable memory card (like a jump drive/flash drive) to store all of my documents, web site code and other items. This helps me jump from computer to computer by allowing me to pull out the memory card, stick it in my netbook (has anyone not fallen in love with my Dell Mini ?) and away I go.
Well last night, while working on a problem for a customer of course the inevitable happened – my computer froze. When I rebooted windows, the memory card gave me an error mesage about it being corrupt (can you hear my screams – ARRRRRRRRGGGHHHHH!). Now for the positive:
Just like I tell you to do, my backups were up to date – the downside was backups run once a day at 1AM – so of course everything I did Tuesday wasn’t in the backup. So first things first, I got myself a new memory card and started restoring my files to it. This morning I have the crashed memory card in our lab attempting to recover yesterday’s work.
So what are the lessons learned from my experience? Here’s the quick list
- Backup, backup, backup (decide if you need twice a day backups even)
- Know your hardware
- Pay attention to little problems before they become big ones (I should have noticed the little things that were happening to the memory card)
- Have a plan (what would you do if your drive crashed – panic, or know that you are prepared).
If you want to talk about the possibility of your drive crashing (no one really wants to talk about it) or you want us to help you build a recovery plan – just drop us an e-mail or call us and I’d be more than happy to help. Here’s to a long hard drive life and no crashes!
Why is cycling like business?
July 27th, 2009For those of you who know me, July is an important month for me. The Tour de France runs from the first week to the third week, 21 days of cycling around France, over 2200 miles with some mountains so steep cars can barely get up them. But one of the things that has always stuck with me, is how cycling is such a team sport. When one of your teammates is in the lead of the race, everyone else kicks into protection mode to help out the leader of the race. In big stage races like the Tour and the Giro d Italia (Tour of Italy), there’s a strategy going in. How far do you want to get in front of the others, how many people do you send to the front of the pack, do you help other teams who are trying to catch the leaders – lots of strategy questions that need to get answered at 30 or 40 mph while you legs are pumping at 100 rpm on your pedals. One of the most prolific moments in any major race is when a team decides they don’t want to be the leader of the race, and they give away the leader’s jersey ON PURPOSE. Seemingly a crazy idea to people who are used to sports where you get in the lead and stay in the lead as long as possible. But in cycling, you want to save your energy and defending the leader’s jersey is an exhausting process – you want to wait until the last possible moment to grab the lead and then push forward to the end.
This reminds me of running a business – at what point in a project do your resources all fall in line because of the strategy you’ve laid out and planned for. Sometimes it seems like you are veering away from the end-goal, but the reality is you’ve carefully planned out your strategy and the leader’s jersey is yours when you want to take it. Taking this lesson from cycling is extremely hard – it’s about how do you work smarter not harder, and proper planning is the key.
One of the things we’ve been doing for a few years, is better and better information about clients, environments, process and procedures. It seems simple enough, but when you get down to it – it’s a ton of work. When the activity is not revenue generating, how do you justify spending all that time, resources and money on something that may never be needed? Every time we go to a client or get a tech support call, we make sure we have their folder in front of us. Coupled with our helpdesk system, this provides a comprehensive set of systems for us to ensure we have everything ready for the next time a client needs something.
So what do you do for customers to defend the leader’s jersey, or at what point do you have everything aligned to grab that jersey when you want it?
