To Do List for January, 2007

Every week you or your technology management team should perform some preventative maintenance on your computers and other network devices. To help organize your To Do list, here are some ideas for January: 3rd (first week) – Inventory all the computer and networking hardware and verify all the equipment you are supposed to have is still actually in your office and working properly. Hardware often disappears (gets stolen) or gets used for a different job as a stop gap measure. 8th (second week) – Test the restore process for files from local backups and remote backups. This is particularly critical if you still use tapes for backup, because the restore failure rate for old tapes can be alarmingly high. 15th (third week) – Check the last three invoices from all regularly billed services, including telephone, Internet access, Web hosting, and service contracts. A small “mistake” in a bill one month adds up to a bundle over a year’s time.. 22nd (fourth week) – Refresh your Web site’s look and design. It doesn’t have to be a major overhaul, but at least add some new sparkle, get rid of pages that don’t draw visitors, and polish a little. 29th (fifth partial week) – Run a security sweep: make sure departed employees no longer have access to your network and resources, and check your Web surfing logs for inappropriate site visits. In addition, daily tasks include anti-virus and anti-spyware definition updates every day, as well as data file backups each day or every few minutes as necessary.