Roundup from the Charlotte ITEC show
07/03/08
I had the pleasure of providing the keynote speech for the ITEC regional IT conference in Charlotte, N.C. this week and had a great time visiting the area for the first time. Even better, I had the chance to sit down and talk to IT folks fighting the good fight in the Southeast.

Will the death of XP really hurt you?
06/26/08
Microsoft warned us well over a year ago that XP will Die Die Die, at least on new computers, by the end of June, 2008. Petitions and prayers notwithstanding, XP has a firm date with Boot Hill. RIP, XP.

Consumerization of small business IT
06/19/08
During the Altiris user conference in April, I watched a lunch panel discuss the "consumerization of IT" and whether that's a good thing. My initial thought was that it was probably bad for enterprises that want to control everything, but may be good for smaller businesses.

Laptop safety questions
06/12/08
Let me say thanks to the Women's Business Council of the Southwest for inviting me to teach them about laptop safety. The business backgrounds of the members ranged from huge company manager to sole proprietor to corporate lawyer and everything in between. That's what made their questions so interesting, because they came from all directions.

Summer slowdown strategies
06/05/08
Gershwin is wrong about this particular summer. The livin' ain't easy. Besides the normal slowdown many companies feel during the summer months, when you consider the widening recession and skyrocketing gasoline prices, this summer promises more pain than pleasure. It's like we have a sunburn before we even get to the beach.

A new All-in-One server
05/29/08
Almost exactly seven years ago, I reviewed four different "All-in-One" Internet appliances that included file, e-mail and Web servers and some other workgroup type utilities. A purple cube, eight inches on each side, called the Qube 3 from Cobalt (purchased by Sun) won the comparison. The review is still available, but alas, none of the products are. The All-in-One market is tough, and many small businesses go with the flow and buy Microsoft's Small Business Server, which includes most of the All-in-One features.

Better network printing
05/22/08
That "paperless office" idea was nice, but it may be time to give it up. Quit wishing and hoping you will no longer buy paper by the case load. Quit dreaming of the day when an easy to use and inexpensive electronic document management system falls into your lap. People love to print on paper, so it's time to get the company printing system organized. It's even more critical when the company uses some type of non-Windows host. Those add a new level of printing complication.

Collecting money regularly
05/15/08
Every business owner and accounting manager asks the same question: How can I bill and collect more money with less hassle?

Laptop wireless security refresher
05/08/08
Let's recap: during my first Laptop Safety Seminar in Indianapolis on April 23, I was surprised at how many questions from the audience concerned basic laptop wireless security. People love laptops and love wireless connections, but don't love the extra security steps required so too often just avoid them. Not a good plan.

Data breach laws cover everyone
05/01/08
During the first Laptop Safety Seminar we gave in Indianapolis on April 23, I was surprised at how many questions we got from the audience about basic wireless laptop security. Of course, when my co-presenter Kim Brand of sponsor FileEngine demonstrated how easy it is to hack a Windows computer over the type of Wi-Fi service provided by coffee houses and hotels, the questions started coming even faster.

Management+Security, Security+Management
04/24/08
Continuing our discussion of support tools from Bomgar last week, let me report on the Altiris ManageFusion user conference in Las Vegas that happened in early April. Almost exactly a year after being acquired by Symantec, Altiris employees and users report mostly good things about the new products and integration with Symantec.

Appliance based remote computer control
04/17/08
The old reach out and touch someone slogan from the phone company means, in the technical support business, to reach out and touch someone's computer. Doing so in person takes expertise and patience. Doing so remotely takes expertise, patience and special tools. Those special tools have always been software, whether run from your own computer or servers, or provided by a hosted service provider. The Bomgar Box family (Appliance-Based Remote Desktop Access) uses a hardware appliance rather than software.

Avaya's small business phone ploy
04/10/08
I'm not thrilled that Avaya calls its phone line Unified Communications for Small Business, because "Unified Communications" normally means putting all your communication eggs in one basket. You know, e-mails and voice mails and faxes and the like in your inbox. But, I like the fact Avaya surveyed small businesses and then changed its product to reflect what those small businesses said.

Spring column cleaning
04/03/08
It's spring, even if you're still sloshing through snow where you live. Traditionally, this is a time for cleaning up the muck of winter, so let me address some messes I and others have made. I like to think I only make misstatements while others make mistakes, but you can judge.

PCI audits from the inside
03/27/08
After discussing the new, more stringent PCI (Payment Card Industry) guidelines several times, including last month, let's dig even deeper. Two companies involved in both ends of the PCI process graciously talked to me about what one did to pass, and how the other evaluated its progress to get a passing grade on its assessment.

Mail services reach out for you
03/20/08
If e-mail is the killer app of the Internet, spam is the scourge of the same. Small businesses that reach out via e-mail campaigns, trying to do the right thing after listening to marketing advice, often run into a buzzsaw of criticism from e-mail recipients. "Spammer scumbag" is a relatively polite response businesses see even when they carefully monitor the e-mail campaign they run themselves without help.

Younger workers and data security
03/13/08
Ever had to examine one problem from two completely different viewpoints? I got to do that after speaking to the Mystery Writers of America Southwest chapter in a session called "Technology goes bad" on Saturday, then on Tuesday talking to Symantec about protecting data. Saturday I told writers how to help characters steal data, then Tuesday I considered how to stop them.

NetBooks moves enterprise suites downstream
03/06/08
When NetBooks launched last fall I passed on talking with the company's CEO. After all, over the past few years we've seen many new online services promise the world. Since many failed, I was often glad I waited a few months before writing about them. NetBooks CEO Ridgley Evers and I exchanged e-mails, and he said mine was a smart approach and that we'd talk after NetBooks had a track record.

E-Mail options improve
02/28/08
E-mail: Can't live without it, can't stand the hassles. Is it any wonder many people rely on Instant Messaging for co-worker communications?

Microsoft Office Live Small Business update
02/21/08
Microsoft claims nearly 600,000 small businesses have hosted their Web sites on Office Live Small Business since March 2006. To keep that momentum going, Microsoft updated features and dropped prices on Feb. 11.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) update
02/14/08
Credit card losses to fraud adds up to about $3 Billion per year, depending on who you ask. So we can understand the concern on the part of financial service companies and the need for the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS, usually referred to as just PCI).

Remote storage management
02/07/08
Growing companies must break through many barriers, and technology provides barriers aplenty. Moving from a small company storage model to a medium company storage model takes effort, planning and more manpower. For those fighting to get a better handle on their storage resources, CommVault wants to throw you a lifeline.

Small businesses and IT plans for 2008
01/31/08
Getting small business people to answer questions, much less surveys, takes hard work and perseverance. So let me congratulate tech supplier CDW for making that effort on a regular basis. The report the company sent me at the end of last year has some details worth examining.

Non-IT ideas good for small businesses
01/24/08
IT Bad Boy Nicholas Carr, who's book "IT Doesn't Matter" enraged big company technology folks to no end a few years ago, is back again. This time, he says The IT Department Is Dead in his book "The Big Switch." But you may already be using the exact model he says will appear in the future. Of course, if you're a small business without a "proper" Information Technology department, this may seem funny.

Labeling paper
01/17/08
Remember the promised paperless office? Today that seems just as much science fiction as flying cars and holiday resorts on the moon. But DYMO, the labeler company, just took a big step forward in better paper control. (No word from the company on flying cars.)

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