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Bio
Russell Mickler, Principal Consultant, has over 14 years of professional experience leading and managing IT organizations.
Contact Information
- Mickler & Associates
- Vancouver, WA
- Voice: 360.601.0818
- Fax: 360.397.0468
Living Outside the Box
Written on February 28, 2009
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At the start of the year, I wiped the hard disk on my laptop to perform a little experiment. I wanted to see if I could be able to do everything that needed to be done without Microsoft applications.
Now, the laptop shipped with Windows Vista Business and I just refreshed its image, so I did keep the core operating system and components. However, I did not load the applications that I normally would from Microsoft. Instead, I used a number of free substitutes to see if I could get by – I use my laptop a lot for teaching, grading work, handling issues with my clients, and so on.
Chrome is an alternative to Internet Explorer. It’s not necessarily a friendly browser but it is lightweight, easy to install, self-updating, and fast – very fast. In running Java applications, in fact, it’s 57-times faster than Internet Explorer.
OpenOffice is a free alternative to Microsoft Office and comes with a spreadsheet application, word processor, visual presentation application, a database, and some other tools. It’s compatable with Office in that it will open and save MsO2003 and MsO2007 documents. It’s also not perfect and had some problems translating Microsoft Office 2007 documents, and sometimes, the visual display didn’t work out like it was expected. It allowed me though to interact with students who used Microsoft Office exclusively though.
OpenOffice doesn’t come with a standard personal information manager (PIM) like Outlook, so I needed an alternative here. Mozilla makes a pretty good product called Thunderbird. This product has the ability to manage calendar, contact, task, and note objects, as well as email – in an interfact that’s very like Outlook. Using Google’s IMAP features, I was able to interact with my Google Gmail and the folders, contacts, and other items that I already had loaded there. As Gmail is a free email solution, I didn’t have to pay for that either. Those using Microsoft Exchange should note here that with IMAP capabilities, Thunderbird can be a mail client with Exchange instead of Outlook… bonus!
Now, Thunderbird is cool, but I didn’t have the calendar synchronization that I wanted to my primary PC. So here’s how I solved it. First, I downloaded this Plug-in for Thunderbird that synchronizes Thunderbird with my Google Calendar. Then, I downloaded an application for my primary office computer that synchronizes Outlook with Google Calendar. So what would happen is, every thirty minutes, my office machine would sync my usual Outlook calendar to Google, which would then be synchronized by Thunderbird. I think the biggest problem here would eventually be synchronization with my Blackberry if I went cold-turkey off Outlook.
Google Apps is a free way to be able to manage files remotely and with shared resources – kind of like OfficeLive, except without the Microsoft slant. Here, I was able to upload my MsOffice and OpenOffice documents and manage them, share them with specific people, and download them at any time. No more thumb drives. Real-time, secure, collaborative access to shared content.
Still paying Adobe $400 for Acrobat to create your *.pdf files? Well stop that – download free CutePDF today to create advertising-free, clean, PDF’s. Now, if you’re creating low-resolution office documents and standard photographs with this *.pdf writer, you’ll be fine; if you want more capabilities and embedded controls, you’re going to have to pay Adobe. CutePDF though worked great for my needs.
Can’t be without Twitter – my favorite free tool is Spaz.
Antivirus products aren’t integrated into Microsoft Windows (yet) but no computer should be without one these days. FreeAVG is a good, free solution that is integrated with email, browsing, and files, and offers defense against spam and spyware. Again, it’s not perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction.
9. Instant Messaging: Google Talk.
Using Google a lot, a number of my pals are online using Google as well, so I caught up with them using Talk. Some people, though, can’t live without Yahoo! or MSN, and for them, I’d recommend downloading Trillian Basic – a free application that allows you to talk to at least three IM services through just one application (Yahoo!, MSN, and Google Talk).
Finally, I wanted to install a little more protection for my laptop because I tend to use it in public a lot. So I installed the free version of ZoneAlarm to provide me protection above the normal firewall offered by Windows.
What I found from this experiment is that I could do almost everything I would normally do with some subtle and, alas, sometimes annoying changes. The system was fast – a lot faster than I remember with just IE 7.0, MsO2007, and Symantec’s Norton Internet Security loaded on the previous image. However, some of the annoyances were show stoppers:
One example: contact and calendar information isn’t as easily accessible through Thunderbird as Outlook (or, I’m just conditioned to Outlook so much that I’d have to say that I prefer it over this free competitor). I also couldn’t directly sync my Blackberry with the Thunderbird instance. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t have worked for me unless I installed my kludge (where I bounced information across Google).
Another example: MsWord 2007 documents sometimes opened pretty poorly inside of OpenOffice and I had to play with the formatting manually to get the output right. And sometimes I’d re-save an MsWord doc using OpenOffice (retaining the Word format) and the changes that I made didn’t quite save right. Rather annoying.
Another example: Proprietary stuff from Microsoft, like, no Microsoft Access. I found that I could run MsO2007 Access applications using the free runtime component, I couldn’t edit the Access database. I could run and use Access applications but I couldn’t edit them. Since I develop and publish Access databases, this was a problem.
Last example: one of my schools that I work for doesn’t support non-IE browsers. When I tried to access DeVry/Keller using Chrome, it rejected me. When I accessed Colorado Technical University, no problems there, and the entire experience was superfast and useful. Unfortunately, Outlook Web Access looks pretty crummy in Chrome, too, so that wasn’t an entirely positive experience.
So, at the end of a quarter, I’m debating what to do now. It feels like I have a lot of ties back to Microsoft applications, yet with some additional experimentation, I might be able to sever that to an even greater extent. I’m actually trying to convince myself to wipe the drive again and install Ubuntu (Linux) on the machine instead of Vista, then, load a majority of these applications back in to see if I can survive entirely without Microsoft. I dunno – makes me a little nervous but I’m willing to give it a go. Just to rack up the savings if I used the same strategies that I mentioned above and then got rid of Windows Vista, the total software licensing savings would be somewhere in this ballpark:
Operating System (Vista Business Upgrade) ….. $199
Productivity App (MsOffice 2007 Professional) …. $449
Adobe Acrobat Professional …. $399
Antivirus, Antispam, Firewall …. $79
Now, that’s $1,126 in licensing savings, not to mention all of the value-added benefits from the Google apps, Gmail, and Calendar. In an era of cost cutting, imagine those kinds of costs per user in your small business.
R
Transitioned Almost All Content to Google Apps
Written on February 26, 2009
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Just a programming note -
I’ve transitioned all of my online content on my website to Google Apps and YouTube. Pretty slick management tools, and, end-users can view, download to PDF, as well as download to PPT. A much better interface all the way around.
R
5 Tech Policies You Should Be Reviewing Right Now
Written on February 24, 2009
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Admittedly, we all have a little extra time on our hands this year. Hey, so now’s the time to take care of those important management details that help govern the operation of your business!
Technology-related policies reflect management’s intent to control their information system – the absence of policies usually reflects poorly in court of law and public opinion: if management never communicated a position on a technology governance to employees, customers, or vendors, then “Due Care” obligations could be considered ignored. Thus, it could be seen that management was negligent in their handling of an issue which extends liability, making it difficult to prove that “reasonable” precautions were taken in preserving customer data, securing network resources, or terminating an employee due to cause.
1. Write or revisit your Technology Plan (TP). The TP is a complementary document to your overall business plan and would traditionally be prepared by the executive responsible for technology strategy. It is usually 24 months in scope and identifies how tech spend complements your business strategy. It is an evolving document that lays down principles in how technology will be used and managed within your firm, and how tech relates to your success. This document should help guide your purchasing, management, and deployment of tech indefinitely, and should evolve over time as technology issues continue to shape the macro economy.
2. Write or revisit your Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan (DR/BCP). Think about how critical software and hardware is to the execution of your business strategy. Think about how important the years of electronic data is to your ability to do your job. Now think about this stuff being wiped out in a flood, burned in a fire, or just the victim of bad luck – a hard drive failure. After Hurricane Katrina, more than 20,000 small businesses folded on the Gulf Coast because they didn’t have a way to recover their electronic data to resume business operations. Now is precisely the time to revisit how data is stored, how it is backed up, how it is moved off-site, and services would be restored in the event of an emergency.
3. Write or revisit your Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The AUP is the most critical policy in your Administrative arsenal. It outlines to employees and others who use your electronic resources what rights and obligations they have in using your resources. It is usually the principal document that is signed at the employee hire that outlines what is good and bad behavior in using your resources, and is the governing document allowing employers to terminate for cause. If an AUP doesn’t exist, it’s difficult to suggest that expectations of behavior was communicated to employees and a wrongful termination defense could be mounted. An AUP should be an evolving document as threats in IT change every 24 months. Now’s the time to really take a look at this again.
4. Write or revisit your privacy policy and legal liability towards protecting personal private information (PPI). Your firm may be subject to federal or state regulations governing the security and privacy of electronic information – of patients, consumers, job applicants, or financial records. Fines are usually bestowed on a “per incident” basis, and if you have thousands of records outside of compliance, the liability is enormous. Further, it’s best practice these days to communicate to stakeholders up front how you manage PPI and secure it. If you don’t have a privacy policy, “Due Care” concerns could be raised that management was negligent in managing the private information of a party, which could result in civil tort for damages. Over 31 states have individual laws governing PPI; that in addition to the federal laws governing protected classes of information demands a thorough investigation in your compliance obligation.
5. Write or revisit your procedures governing employee terminations and audits. Finally, keep in mind the number one security risk for you during these economic times. It’s not hackers, viruses, or malware. It’s employees, and specifically, terminated employees who’ve still access to your confidential intellectual property. Now’s the time – if any – to revisit those procedures and verify that employee access restrictions are performed, documented, and reviewed.
Policies, procedures, work instructions, and plans are Administrative Controls that reflect management’s _intent_. If management’s intent isn’t communicated, and technology is governed by assumption and intuition, then management isn’t “managing” technology – they are hoping for the best without taking on responsibility to effectively govern it. Now is your chance to reflect upon how your intent is reflected in the workplace and how well you’ve addressed technology “Best Practices” and regulatory compliance issues as a management team.
R
A Case Study in IT Strategy
Written on February 18, 2009
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If you’re a business owner, should take a good look at this article found in the latest issue of Inc. Magazine. If you’re a student, or, an IT professional, you should see how the business of IT is dramatically and rapidly changing.
Within the article, Fitzgerald illustrates some critical strategic IT conceps everyone should be thinking about:
1. Core Competency.
The case study example shows a company that has made investments in information technology and pays considerably to maintain it – through staff expenses, total cost of owernship, software licensing agreements, and service/support agreements. This is an exercise equipment retailer: managing technology was not its core competency and it didn’t add value to the strategic execution of its business plan. Through recognizing that, the CFO in the article was able to realize that parties outside the firm could provide stronger services at better economies of scale than what his company could.
2. Cost Shifting and Containment.
In recognizing that IT wasn’t a core competency for this company, the CFO eliminated the expensive IT staff and took their IT needs to an integrator at nearly half the yearly cost; the CFO shifted email management, Point of Sale (POS) management, accounting system, and payroll management to the Clouds (see below). Through doing this, the CFO shifted the cost and burden of maintenance to fixed contracts that limited his IT expenses yet kept up with his growth; tacking on new capability just meant adding on new per user subscription licenses to the web services.
3. Cloud Computing.
Instead of paying for and managing local applications, POS, accounting, and payroll functions were shifted to web-based applications; in this case, Netsuite.com and ADP. Secure and professionally managed, the CFO was able to tap into these larger companies with much more favorable economies of scale who could offer smart, integrated products at lower and fixed prices.
So what the CFO ended up here is a smaller IT footprint professionally managed by local integrators, with application hosting managed in the clouds through fixed contracts. Further, because of their use of the Cloud, they could offer the same application platform anywhere, to anyone, on any device, via the Internet, at the same cost and risk as every other user. And the CFO could now offer a more nimble and flexible IT function that went from an annual $670k -> $259k (or .7% annual revenue to .3%)
This company, the CFO realized, doesn’t use IT to innovatively create new markets and services; instead, IT is a cost that provides business process automation, and managing that cost themselves was anti-competitive – IT was not their competency. And like many companies, it doesn’t have to be… tapping into these kinds of service providers gives immediate capability at fractions of the time/maturity cycle that it would have taken to develop those capabilities on their own.
Thanks for letting me share this – this was a great case study and real important, I think, for everyone to see what’s happening right now in the industry.
R
It Won’t Get Better
Written on February 16, 2009
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I’m running into this conversation daily – from students, small business owners, employees of major organizations. And it is difficult to tell you this. Everywhere, everyone is telling you, “It’s going to get better.” Well, unfortunately, this is not true.
I don’t wish to come across as an alarmist or a pessimist. I am an optimist, and I really want to be optimistic when it comes to the economic downturn. I want to look you in the eye and convince you that – not to fear – consumers will be back soon, money in hand, to continue enthusiastically buying your products and services. I want to believe that this is like every economic downturn and that, eventually, markets will rise. I want to convince you, and perhaps myself, that enough patience and persistence and cost containment will pay off. However, that would be a lie. And I’m not a liar.
I want to be straight with you and suggest that what we’re experiencing isn’t an economic downturn but an economic restructuring – a redefining of “value”.
Let me ask you a couple of questions:
If consumers spent beyond their means and gave rise to an economy built largely on debt, is it likely that we’d return to an era of fast and loose credit to support a lifestyle beyond their means? No. That’s unsustainable.
If 2/3rds of America’s GDP is built off consumer spending, and consumer spending is shrinking, is a declining American economy likely to attract domestic or foreign investment? No. Retooling that 2/3rds will take decades.
If 2/3rds of America’s GDP is built off consumer spending, and Americans started actually saving just 5% of their annual earnings – out of fear, prudence, or caution – wouldn’t that also subtract hundreds of billions from GDP and put downward pressure on economic stimulus and growth? Yes. This is likely to happen.
If energy costs – particularly the cost of oil – continue to go up, which they will because oil is increasingly more scarce in a global market of high demand, and cheap oil is the foundation of inexpensively moving consumers to shop, play, work, and buy things… from the suburbs to the cities, will increasing energy costs yield more consumer spending? No. Living too far from central distribution hubs will be, in fact, a competitive liability.
Does your brand capitalize on the frivolous, or the excessive, or the non-essential? If your brand thrived in an age of excess and depends largely on discretionary consumer spending (SUV’s, coffee, special juices and mixes, subscription healthcare products, powder energy supplements and nutribars, cable, premium electronic content, pre-paid legal services, personal chefs and dietitians, landscaping, travel agencies for luxurious vacations, financial advisers, Realtors, chiropractors, technical support analysts, business consultants…) will your brand be successful in an age of thrift and security? Unlikely, and relevant recent examples abound.
Is your small business diversified with multiple fixed and variable revenue streams, automated enough to contain costs yet strategic enough with your marketing to specifically target your niche at an affordable price? Are your employees flexible enough to work anywhere and at any time to satisfy your existing customers? Are you ready for your competition to work twice as hard for the sale? Do you know what separates you – makes you distinct – and what convinces the consumer to do business with you? Maybe not.
I really want to tell you: hang in there. It will get better. Things will be tight but it will improve. I really want to. But, if I did, or if any other business consultant does, it’s bunk. So I can’t, not in good conscience, lie to you. I have to be honest with you as a consultant and as a business owner:
It won’t get better.
Many elements of our economy and lifestyles are about to dramatically change forever. Thus, we will need to adjust our expectations. You need to embrace that. Stop waiting for the return of “normal”. Instead, get used to the “new normal.”
Now, wherein that blunt and honest assessment lies opportunity for you, your family, or your brand? Your relationship with your employees, or, with consumers? Everything I’ve mentioned sounds pretty dire – and it is – but you should also be very conscious of the strategic opportunities that those harsh realities present you with.
1. How can your brand be re-presented as low-cost, less frivolous, more conservative? Why is your brand _essential_? What is its value?
2. How can your marketing earn the highest returns? Are there better, less expensive options? What is of value from your marketing campaign?
3. How is your revenue picture dependent upon stable termed contracts, or, upon variable consumer spending, and how can you change that?
4. How are your competitors different from you? What is your perceived value-adds? Are you prepared to compete in a drastically overpopulated competitive market place for fewer and fewer opportunities, which in turn leads to aggressive price competitiveness? How are your margins looking these days? What can you offer your customer than just the lowest possible price?
5. Maybe sales don’t need to go up, they need to go out. You need to diversify. Take a risk in complementary business activities. Partnerships and joint ventures. If you have capital, more returns may be earned from taking a strategic initiative than to resink it into creating conditions for those “higher sales” that won’t come.
6. How is your business sustainable, and, how can it lower energy costs over time?
7. Are your employees prepared for self-directed telecommuting? Are you prepared for it? Is your family prepared for it?
You see, I really don’t think I’m a pessimist. I do think the survival of your small business (or even you, as a student or working professional) has less to do with waiting and hoping for the best, and, more to do with seeing things as they really are.
What we’re experiencing is a dramatic, systemic change, that has come around as a result of our own inaction, and it’s not likely to improve quickly.
Taking urgent action now – with clarity of thought and purpose – is what will allow you to retool yourself, your business, your stakeholder’s expectations, and your customers, in preparing for the new era of scarcity. Especially right now, as everyone is holding their breath, worried, anxious, and waiting… waiting for it to get better. And that is the worst thing you can do in a time that screams for action.
Now you have a competitive edge. You know now that it won’t get better. Start planning for it.
R
Describing What I Do for Monthly Server Maintenance
Written on February 14, 2009
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I perform a monthly service for my clients to update their server products. Taking a few minutes, I wanted to document my process and describe the value of these services.
1. Update the Windows platform. Microsoft deploys its updates for the Windows platform on the 10th of the month. The Because I want time to verify that the updates sent out by Microsoft don’t cause a dramatic problem to the o/s and the services running on my client’s network, I will wait until the middle of the month to manually download and publish them to my client’s servers. Through a manual update, I can control the update process and reverse it if there was a critical failure.
2. Update software. Applications that are installed on servers require routine maintenance to address security and software bugs. Keeping these applications up to date prevents software problems from suspending the server.
3. Examine backups and backup logs. Routine examination of the backups allows an administrator to find shortcomings in the backup process. Files are the lifeblood of a business – sometimes, files are left open because of user or system processes. Being able to identify files that aren’t being covered on the regular backup allows a troubleshooting process to fix that problem.
4. Dump AV quarantines and anti-spam repositories. Routinely, administrators must dump at-risk files and email identified by anti-virus/anti-spam solutions. These repositories build up over time. Dumping them cleans up the hard drive and reduces the indexing the softwae does on these repositories, improving server performance.
5. Examine Security Logs. Although critical problems can be identified daily by emergencies which are shown in the system, security, and application logs, and acted upon immediately, routine investigation of the logs is just a normalization process for the administrator. Familiarizing yourself with normal baseline behaviors, minor issues, problems found in the daily operation allows the admin to target long term or systemic problems that plague the machine. And the problems that I find on one server can directly translate into remedies for all of my other customers. That provides a better service to my clients.
6. Free Drive Space from Server. Drive space is important. If drive space runs out, the server will perform a critical stop. And drive space is related to system memory. Reducing the frequency of I/O (input/output) activity to the hard drive on a server improves overall performance. Improving space, cleaning up the allocation tables, checking for defragmentation needs… all improves I/O and overal system performance.
7. Database and Exchange compress and backup – Exchange log file purge. All databases, over time, become less efficient. This relates to the way they store and categorize data. There are certain system databases and, in particular, databases the reside on Windows products and services, that require some routine maintenance to achieve optimal performance. Using some native tools from Microsoft, I run compress and defragmentation operations on these databases to flush their log files, destroy old data permanently, and improve system performance.
8. Deploy updates to client machines. The Windows Small Business Server R2 platform can control the deployment of updates to client computers. Through a controlled, measured release of updates, we can make sure PC downtime is drawn to a minimum.
Broadly, along with daily reviews and status alerts, these are the main steps that I take to ensure long term system health every month. It’s one of the ways that I provide value to my clients by handling the routine stuff so that they don’t have to.
R
Take Control: Manage Your Viral Marketing Strategy
Written on February 13, 2009
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Like most small business owners, you might have a few questions about marketing your company in the digital age. The choices can be confusing: to blog or not to; to Twitter or to Flickr; to setup a profile on Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn; to Plurk, StumbleUpon, Digg, or Friend; to use email marketing effectively without annoying others; or even just how to build an effective website. And, like most entrepreneurs, you’ve probably already tapped into a few of these channels to build your brand. Indeed, viral marketing is an inexpensive way to promote your business but you might be completely clueless about how it’s working for you.
What you lack (and desperately desire) is a viral marketing strategy. A blueprint for combining social media, web content, and direct sales via email into a single demonstratively effective marketing campaign. Yeah, you may be blogging one day, “tweeting” the next, and scheduled to update your Facebook profile next week – hey, it’s really hip to do these things! – yet you’re really not clear about where your viral marketing campaign is going, or, even how to measure its effectiveness.
Well, sometimes some great advice can sometimes be found for free. Here are three free eBooks from Microsoft that you can download now to help clarify your goals and build an effective online marketing strategy:
Startup Nation, LLC. Five Steps to Successful Email Marketing.
http://officeliveoffers.com/email/ebook.htm
Entrepreneur Media, Inc. Build a Website That Sells.
http://officeliveoffers.com/ebook/MS2eBook.pdf
Jantsch, John. Let’s Talk: Social Media for Small Business.
http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/socialmedia/
Generally, the books contain some very practical pieces of information and advice for the technical layperson. They’re an easy read, under 50 pages each, and provide an action-list style of narrative that could easily translate into some constructive “next steps” for the reader. Although it’s true that all are written from a slant that promotes Microsoft’s Small Business and Office Live spaces on the Internet, familiarizing yourself with Microsoft’s offerings or at least understanding what your viral marketing campaign should/could be doing would be well worth your time.
So, get a leg up on your competition. Instead of using the web and hoping for the best, take control: manage a meaningful viral marketing strategy that produces measurable results for your small business.
R
The Verizon Task Mistress
Written on February 12, 2009
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Every month, I receive my phone bill from Verizon in email.
This woman’s picture accompanies the invoice every month.
It’s like, I hear her in the recesses of my mind, her voice dripping like warm liquid sugar, or, a voice-talent from “Snow White”…
“Why pleasantries and salutations, happy consumer: it’s time to pay the phone company again! Now, over to the left, you can see the amount you owe. Isn’t it painful? You like pain. You like the pain that I deliver. Now, it’s not nearly as painful as, say, a small car payment, or, electricity, but, I can make it pleasantly painful. Yes, I’m sure you’re considering paying Verizon later in the month. You might even be considering lowering your service level or discontinuing your data plan in these tough economic times. Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. That means I would need to make it even _more_ painful with contract change fees. Now, you weren’t thinking about deleting this email were you? No no, don’t ignore me, because I’ll be back… back with gentle reminders, convenient payment links, and my scalding hot cattle prods. Okay then. You have a nice evening, you hear?”
(gasp) The Verizon chic scares me! It’s like, “Shhh I see wayyy too happy people…! Too happy!”
R
Ideas on Purchasing Laptops
Written on February 9, 2009
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So I was putting together some laptop quotes for a client today and thought that I’d share a couple of my cliff notes on the blog.
Laptops are a commodity purchase and should be considered a disposable asset. It is unlikely that the laptop will have a useful life beyond three years and it is equally unlikely that the components will be upgraded. What you’re purchasing here is a consumer electronic – laptops have a limited life, are likely to break before that life ends, and aren’t likely to be improved upon.
You want a good name, a reliable warranty, compatibility with your existing network and applications, and something that will scale well with software to be released within three years. The biggest names in the US domestic market for PC’s are Dell, HP, Toshiba, and Acer. Of course, purchasing a refurb from a local retailer or an online auction may appear cheaper, but likely the manufacturer’s warranties are reduced to 90 days and you’ve been handed sub-par parts to get the price down. You’ll end up paying more later to either fix the unit or to scrape its hard drive contents in a disaster recovery situation.
A couple of things to consider:
1.Function. Quite simply: what will the laptop be used for? If you’re looking to run standard business applications, you don’t need a great deal of screen, memory, or processing power. If you are a power user and want to use your laptop for databases or programming, memory may be most important to you. If you’re a gamer and want to use a laptop, the latest in WiFi specifications, graphic cards, memory, display technology and processor are important. Understanding what you need is at first critical. Standard office-related work shouldn’t cost you more than $800; power user configurations more than $1,500; gamer systems no more than $2,000.
2.Screen/keyboard size. Again, relative to function, but a good size is the standard 15.4″ widescreen. Use that as a benchmark. Models can go lower than this to provide more lightweight, thinner form factors, or, bigger than this to accommodate a 17″ or even 19″ screen. The more screen you have, the more cost you have, and, generally speaking, the more weight you have. Most laptops come with a full QWERTY keyboard with a regular-sized layout… some of the smaller screened units will come with more condensed keyboards; the larger units may come with a 10-key extension. Again, know your purpose and your preference.
3.Battery. The lithium ion batteries in laptops come in a six cell or nine cell variety. If you’re offered, choose the nine; if there is an opportunity to expand the battery, do so. The more battery you have, the better, and the more functional the laptop becomes. When you actually get the unit, just charge it then unplug it – don’t leave the unit plugged in overnight or that could end up “burning” the battery and reducing its capacity.
4.Manufacturer’s Warranty. The main thing that will break on a laptop before the end of its three year useful life is the screen. They are difficult if not impossible to replace, and usually would cost more than the replacement cost of the asset. Besides that, this is a portable device: it’s likely to be dropped, stepped on, or stuff spilled over it. Pay the money for the extended warranty only if you intend to really be mobile with the unit – if it’s just being used primarily in an office and likely doesn’t travel, don’t worry about it; it has the same risks as a normal PC. However, if it’s truly mobile, consider the extended warranty.
5.Processor and memory. Some simple rules. At the time of this writing, traditional office applications: no more than a “cored” or “dual” 2.2 ghz processor with 2gb RAM with a premium video card to handle multiple displays; power user, a mid-market processor, dual-core, 2.5-2.8 ghz processor with no more than 4gb RAM; a gamer, a 64bit processor, multiple cores (perhaps 2-4), 3.0-3.5 ghz, at least 8gb RAM, premium sound and video.
6.Operating system and compatibility. A lot of professionals would encourage you to stick with WindowsXP. If you’re an office user, you want the XP Professional product; purchasing XP Home will prevent your machine from working correctly in the office place. If you do choose Vista, choose Vista Business for the same functionality as XP Professional; choose Vista Home Premium for the same functionality as XP Home.
7.Hard disk capacity. Hard disks are cheap. Get as much as you can. However, if you’re an office user, practically, you won’t store more than 160gb of data on a laptop (we should hope not anyway – see my comments below). If you’re a power user or a gamer, you’ll need at least 250 gb – 500 gb worth of space.
8.Accessories. I always recommend a good port replicator and a simple carrying case.
9.OEM software bundles. Finally, if you have your eye on a particular piece of software, check out the pricing. Usually, the OEM can offer a 34-38% discount off retail bundled with the laptop. Not a bad way to get that software license and the discount.
A final thing to remember: a laptop is an unsecure mobile device. It deliberately leaves the protection of our facilities and our firewalls to roam around unprotected in the outside world. It’s not invulnerable, it will likely break, and whatever you had on the unit may be rendered foreever unaccessible.
I always tell my clients that you shouldn’t ever put anything on a laptop that you couldn’t stand to lose, or, wouldn’t be completely embarrassed by if it got into the public domain (example: how many times have you heard about a large company, the loss of a laptop, and the exposure of thousands of employee records? Right – don’t put thousands of employee’s private information on a portable media… ever.).
The Windows XP operating system, in particular, makes your data very vulnerable, for if your laptop is stollen (many are), there is nothing native to the o/s that prevents the drive from being read. There are tools that you can use, and versions of Vista, that support encryption on the hard disk, and these are matters you’d want to consider with your technology pros if you’re likely to be toting around personal and confidential information.
All the best for your next laptop purchase-
R
Troubleshooting PC Performance Problems – Suspected Malware
Written on February 7, 2009
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From: Mary
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 10:40 AM
To: Russell Mickler
Subject: I was in your SE583 class this past summer and I’m hoping you can give me a suggestion
I’m hoping you can make a suggestion regarding my home desktop computer. We seem to have contracted something – a virus or whatever – and my specialty is accounting more than computers. I’m hoping you have a suggestion that’s better than just randomly trying to choose an antivirus software and hoping it will work, which is where I am now. The symptoms are:
- Internet running VERY slowly
- Random websites opening without warning (not just popups)
- Warnings appearing frequently to say that a Google link may be broken (Oops! This link appears to be broken – 83.149.75.33/info.png?)
- ‘HTTP 404 This site is not responding’ with an isp address instead of a website name and not when we’re trying to open anything
Help!
Sure Mary. Follow these steps.
1. Uninstall any browser that isn’t Internet Explorer (IE). So if you have Firefox, Safari, whatever – uninstall them through the Control Panel, add/remove software. Reboot when prompted.
2. Uninstall any anti-spam/anti-virus you might have through the same process. Reboot when prompted.
3. Open IE. Go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. Install all critical updates. Reboot when prompted.
4. Make sure Internet Explorer isn’t open. Open the Control Panel and access Internet Settings. Under the Advanced Tab, click RESET. Follow the dialog to reset IE.
5. Download malwarebytes. http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?part=dl-10804572&subj=dl&tag=button
6. Run/execute Malwarebytes. Allow it to install, update, and do a simple scan (it’s first option). Clean anything it finds. The system will reboot.
7. Again, run Malwarebytes. Do a thorough scan. Clean anything it finds. The system will reboot.
8. Download Free AVG from http://free.avg.com. Execute and install. Have AVG do a thorough scan. Reboot where required.
9. Download Zonealarm from http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/1025_update/zaSetup_en.exe – save and then run it.
10. If you’re running Windows XP, download Windows Defender and install it.
All of this would be one step in the right direction; it’s not perfect, but it will bring you to a state of stability. When you’re ready, you could buy a commercial product (Norton or McAfee) and remove Malwarebytes, AVG, and ZoneAlarm for superior performance.
Best wishes –
R