Tag Archives: Consumers Union of U.S. Inc.

About 2334 days ago Data Security

Which Anti-Virus Software Should You Use?

Out of all the security programs installed on the company network or end user’s desktop, it’s probably the anti-virus software that’s doing the most to earn its keep. The joint Computer Security Institute/FBI’s 2006 Computer Crime and Security Survey found that overwhelmingly viral attacks remain the greatest source of financial losses and damages to businesses than any other breach in computer security. Losses from all computer security incidents among the survey’s 313 respondents totaled more than $52 million for 2006, down by more than 50 percent compared to 2005, according to the survey. Ninety-seven percent of the companies that responded reported using anti-virus software. Don’t log on without it Some companies tend to get lax about anti-virus software once they’ve installed a good firewall at the network gateway. “No firewall out there is a silver bullet,” says Joern Wettern, co-author of Firewalls for Dummies. “Make sure you have anti-virus software installed on all PCs and check them regularly for updates.” For that reason, easy-to-schedule scans and automatic updating is probably the first feature a business owner would want to look for in an anti-virus program. When it comes to other features, Arabella Hallawell, vice president at Forrester Research, of Cambridge, Mass., who specializes in the security software market, advises clients to be choosier. “The rule of thumb is you should only pay for what you’re going to need within the next 12 months,” she says. “And don’t forget to do a competitive negotiation, regardless of how small your organization is.” Round-up of anti-virus software With that in mind, here is a round-up of just some of the offerings in anti-virus software, ranging from market leaders, Symantec and McAfee, to some of the smaller, more entrepreneurial companies, such as Alwil and Kaspersky. Norton’s AntiVirus Cost: $40 to buy. $30 annual fee. Features: Produced by Internet security giant Symantec, a better question might be: What doesn’t it feature? Norton’s standard version includes a firewall, scheduled scans, scans for instant messaging, as well as bundled spyware, adware and rootkit detection. All those bells and whistles may take a toll on speed however. It’s the one area that got a low rating from Consumer. The professionals don’t seem to disagree. John DeLozier, a network security expert and founding partner of Nply Security, a network security consulting group in Dallas, concedes it’s often the preferred choice of his clients. “But, I find (Norton) too big, too bloated and too intrusive with all the chatty pop-up windows,” says DeLozier. McAfee’s ViruScan Cost: $40 to buy. $40 annual fee. Features: McAfee’s anti-virus software is bundled in with anti-spyware software and a firewall. It features automatic updates and instant message scanning. Other versions include protection for laptops, e-mail servers and file servers. Ben Rothke, director of security technology implementation at AXA Financial and a frequent speaker at industry conferences on network security, says, “I like McAfee. It’s mature. It’s automatic… with any brand, by the time it gets to version 3.0, the differences are going to be minimal at that point.” BitDefender Standard Cost: $30 to download. $20 annual fee. Features: BitDefender is worthy of mention, if for no other reason the critics seem to love it the most. It was recently ranked number one in its class by both PC World and Consumer Reports, who gave BitDefender especially high marks in detection and ease of use. The standard edition features both scheduled scans and scanning for instant messages. It does not include a firewall. Kapersky Labs AntiVirus Cost: $50 to buy. $35 annual fee. Kaspersky, a Russian software company best known in the small business and consumer market, is a little pricier. Wettern says it’s well worth it. “I find it updates very frequently, has great detection rates and is the fastest to react to new threats,” says Wettern. Kaspersky offers standard features like scheduled scans and spyware/adware protection. Additional features, not as easy to find, include laptop power saving, suspended scans during heavy usage and proactive rootkit removal for malware. Alwil’s Avast! Cost: Non-commercial use, free to download. Professional Edition is $40 a year. Features: You can’t beat the starting price. Avast also comes with a high rating from Consumer Reports and features IM scanning and a firewall. One of the unique features includes what Alwil calls a “virus chest.” It’s a folder on the disk drive that is impenetrable to any kind of virus attack, a sort of virtual lock box where sensitive files can be stored and isolated away from the rest of the operating system. Avast may also be a good solution for a small organization that does business worldwide. The software is offered in no less than 20 languages, including Japanese and Russian.

About 2334 days ago Antivirus Software

Which Anti-Virus Software Should You Use?

Out of all the security programs installed on the company network or end user’s desktop, it’s probably the anti-virus software that’s doing the most to earn its keep. The joint Computer Security Institute/FBI’s 2006 Computer Crime and Security Survey found that overwhelmingly viral attacks remain the greatest source of financial losses and damages to businesses than any other breach in computer security. Losses from all computer security incidents among the survey’s 313 respondents totaled more than $52 million for 2006, down by more than 50 percent compared to 2005, according to the survey. Ninety-seven percent of the companies that responded reported using anti-virus software. Don’t log on without it Some companies tend to get lax about anti-virus software once they’ve installed a good firewall at the network gateway. “No firewall out there is a silver bullet,” says Joern Wettern, co-author of Firewalls for Dummies. “Make sure you have anti-virus software installed on all PCs and check them regularly for updates.” For that reason, easy-to-schedule scans and automatic updating is probably the first feature a business owner would want to look for in an anti-virus program. When it comes to other features, Arabella Hallawell, vice president at Forrester Research, of Cambridge, Mass., who specializes in the security software market, advises clients to be choosier. “The rule of thumb is you should only pay for what you’re going to need within the next 12 months,” she says. “And don’t forget to do a competitive negotiation, regardless of how small your organization is.” Round-up of anti-virus software With that in mind, here is a round-up of just some of the offerings in anti-virus software, ranging from market leaders, Symantec and McAfee, to some of the smaller, more entrepreneurial companies, such as Alwil and Kaspersky. Norton’s AntiVirus Cost: $40 to buy. $30 annual fee. Features: Produced by Internet security giant Symantec, a better question might be: What doesn’t it feature? Norton’s standard version includes a firewall, scheduled scans, scans for instant messaging, as well as bundled spyware, adware and rootkit detection. All those bells and whistles may take a toll on speed however. It’s the one area that got a low rating from Consumer. The professionals don’t seem to disagree. John DeLozier, a network security expert and founding partner of Nply Security, a network security consulting group in Dallas, concedes it’s often the preferred choice of his clients. “But, I find (Norton) too big, too bloated and too intrusive with all the chatty pop-up windows,” says DeLozier. McAfee’s ViruScan Cost: $40 to buy. $40 annual fee. Features: McAfee’s anti-virus software is bundled in with anti-spyware software and a firewall. It features automatic updates and instant message scanning. Other versions include protection for laptops, e-mail servers and file servers. Ben Rothke, director of security technology implementation at AXA Financial and a frequent speaker at industry conferences on network security, says, “I like McAfee. It’s mature. It’s automatic… with any brand, by the time it gets to version 3.0, the differences are going to be minimal at that point.” BitDefender Standard Cost: $30 to download. $20 annual fee. Features: BitDefender is worthy of mention, if for no other reason the critics seem to love it the most. It was recently ranked number one in its class by both PC World and Consumer Reports, who gave BitDefender especially high marks in detection and ease of use. The standard edition features both scheduled scans and scanning for instant messages. It does not include a firewall. Kapersky Labs AntiVirus Cost: $50 to buy. $35 annual fee. Kaspersky, a Russian software company best known in the small business and consumer market, is a little pricier. Wettern says it’s well worth it. “I find it updates very frequently, has great detection rates and is the fastest to react to new threats,” says Wettern. Kaspersky offers standard features like scheduled scans and spyware/adware protection. Additional features, not as easy to find, include laptop power saving, suspended scans during heavy usage and proactive rootkit removal for malware. Alwil’s Avast! Cost: Non-commercial use, free to download. Professional Edition is $40 a year. Features: You can’t beat the starting price. Avast also comes with a high rating from Consumer Reports and features IM scanning and a firewall. One of the unique features includes what Alwil calls a “virus chest.” It’s a folder on the disk drive that is impenetrable to any kind of virus attack, a sort of virtual lock box where sensitive files can be stored and isolated away from the rest of the operating system. Avast may also be a good solution for a small organization that does business worldwide. The software is offered in no less than 20 languages, including Japanese and Russian.

About 3370 days ago Setting Up a Website

The Perfect Host

Choosing the best home base on the Web starts with asking the right questions. For many small to midsized businesses, the first one is, obviously: Can I just do it myself? If your website is critical to your company, probably not. “Hosting is not just a matter of getting a connection to the Web,” says Doug Kaye, CEO of RDS Strategies LLC, an IT strategy consulting firm in Kentfield, Calif. Practically speaking, he says, the only businesses who can reliably host their own sites are those with dedicated, round-the-clock IT departments who can handle maintenance and problems anytime. That’s an expense most SMBs simply can’t afford, making outsourcing the most common option. Why the emphasis on 24/7 availability? “There’s no longer any question about whether a Web site has to be running all the time,” says Kaye, author of Strategies for Web Hosting and Managed Services (John Wiley & Sons, 2001). “It does.” Well, then, what about all those companies offering to host your site for free, or for just pennies a day? Again, if your Web site is important to your business, steer clear. “You get what you pay for,” says Ted Chamberlin, an analyst with the Gartner Group, the Stamford, Conn.-based research and consulting firm. Free or extremely inexpensive sites typically won’t offer service guarantees and may be vulnerable to hackers and e-mail spammers, says Chamberlin, a Web-hosting specialist. “Their site could go down for a month and you’d have no recourse,” he says. Chamberlin understands the SMB’s temptation to choose the cheapest option. “When you’re a small business, you tend to think small,” he says. “But with hosting you want to think three to five years ahead of the curve, about how you’re going to grow.” For that reason, he recommends questioning hosts about whether they’re capable of scaling with your company — and pursuing only those who are. The next question is whether to opt for shared or dedicated hosting. Shared hosting, in which your site shares server space with the providers’ other customers, is inexpensive: Expect to pay anywhere from about $8 to $35 per month, depending on the amount of disk space and other variables. However, your site may run sluggishly if other sites on the server get bombarded with traffic. Dedicated hosting, in which you lease a private server, eliminates the performance problems. But it costs much more — typically $150 to $500 per month for a professionally managed hosting company, Chamberlin says. With so many hosting operations out there — at least 10,000, Kaye says — how can you find one that’s reputable, reliable, and right for your company? “Finding qualitative information is difficult,” he acknowledges. “There’s no Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, no Consumer Reports.” First, spend some time online, looking at websites of similarly sized companies in your industry. Contact the webmasters (typically by simply sending e-mail to “webmaster@companyname.com) asking who handles their hosting and how they like the service. Next, tap into the online resources that list and review Web-hosting companies. Pick a few that, based on cost, capacity offered, and available services, seem like they might make a good match for your company’s needs. Then do some due diligence. Contact your top choices and ask tough questions about what’s offered, what’s guaranteed, and what they’ll do if there’s a disaster — whether it’s an earthquake, a network failure, or their own bankruptcy. Be sure to pin them down on their standard security measures (but prepared to implement your own as well, such as keeping your own backup copies of all sensitive data). In addition, request that hosts provide references from a variety of customers — and ask those customers your tough questions as well. “That’s the only way to evaluate the hosts,” Kaye says. If you’re switching from one host to another, ask potential new providers how they’ll assist you in the transition, which can be traumatic. “The only thing worse than having a fire is moving your website,” Kaye says. “It’s a very difficult thing and nobody is ever prepared for it.” An eager-to-please new host might, for instance, offer you one month’s free service so that you’ve got a bit of breathing room as you transfer everything between the two providers. Meanwhile, always keep an eye on the horizon. “The best advice overall is to recognize that your hosting relationship is not a permanent one,” Kaye says. “There’s a likelihood that at some point you’ll need to change providers.” As you develop your site, lean toward whichever options would transfer most easily to a new location. Sidebar: To Share or Not to Share? Among the first questions you’ll need to address as you seek the perfect host is whether your business needs shared or dedicated hosting. What’s the difference? Chris Kivelan, marketing manager for InetU Managed Hosting in Allentown, Pa., sums it up this way: Shared hosting means your website shares a host’s server with a number of other customers. The host manages the service, though you maintain your site and your account. This option costs the least, but can come with a major drawback: If one of your server neighbors gets heavy traffic, your site’s performance could suffer. Dedicated hosting means leasing a server from a host. You’ll pay more, but because you’re not sharing, traffic to other sites shouldn’t affect yours. This option is sometimes divided into unmanaged hosting, which provides limited support for lower fees, and managed hosting, which costs more but provides higher-level support, maintenance, security, and services. Deciding which to choose involves weighing several factors, including your budget, your business’s size, and the Web’s role in your company now and down the road. If you’ve got a small, fairly static site, shared hosting may be just fine. If you’ve got a bigger, more complex site — especially one you’re using for e-commerce or customer service — or if you expect to grow quickly, dedicated hosting might be a better choice. Sidebar: The Perfect Host Checklist Following are some questions to help you narrow your list of prospective Web hosts: How long have you been in business? What services do you offer? What are your specialties? Must I pay for features I don’t need or use? How much server space do I have? What happens if I exceed it? If I’m sharing a server, am I guaranteed a steady amount of bandwidth even if other customers’ sites get busy? Are there limits on the amount of traffic my website can receive? Can the service scale as my business grows? How will you tally, track, and report on visits to my site? Do you offer 24/7 technical support? Do you offer a reliability guarantee? Do you have network redundancy? Can you keep my site online even if your main network goes down? What kind of network security do you have? How will you protect sensitive or confidential information and transactions? What kind of disaster-recovery plans do you have? What will happen to my site if your facility gets hit by a fire, a flood, or a major power outage? Do you have contingency plans for keeping customers online if your company shuts down, begins bankruptcy proceedings, or gets acquired by another provider? What will happen if I need to move to another host? Can you provide some customer references? Sidebar: Selected Resources BOOKS Strategies for Web Hosting and Managed Services, by Doug Kaye (John Wiley & Sons, 2001). Written by a consultant and industry analyst who founded one of the first Web-hosting sites. Describes various options for Web hosting and provides types for finding and evaluating them. Includes checklists and companion website. Web Hosting: A Complete Strategy, by Carl Burnham (McGraw-Hill Osborne Media, 2001). Describes different Web hosts and explains how businesses can decide among available hosting plans. WEBSITES The Web is rich with information about finding and comparing Web hosting companies. Comprehensive sites include: FindWebspace.com Directory of Web hosts; includes search engine, comparison tool, glossary www.findwebspace.com HostCompare.com Information site offering a comparison tool, industry news, and many free articles, including one providing a basic introduction to Web hosting www.hostcompare.com HostIndex.com Directory of Web hosts; includes large searchable database articles, other resources www.hostindex.com SAS70.com Information about the Statement on Auditing Services No. 70 (SAS 70), an auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts for examining service-provider quality www.sas70.com TopHosts.com Directory of Web hosts; includes articles, industry news, instant price-quote function www.tophosts.com Web Host Directory Directory of Web hosts; includes searchable database, industry news, function for requesting price quotes www.webhostdir.com Web Hosting Talk Information site with discussion forums and searchable database www.webhostingtalk.com Web Host Magazine & Buyer’s Guide Reviews, articles, host-finding resources www.webhostmagazine.com Web Host Industry Review (also know simply as “WHIR”) Reviews, directory, news, glossary, tips on finding or switching hosts www.thewhir.com

About 4739 days ago PCs, Laptops, and Notebooks

A Soloist’s Blueprint

CEO’s Start-Up Toolkit: CEO Profile An architect relies on good old-fashioned word of mouth to outfit his high-tech office in the woods Tony Fallon resisted the computer revolution for as long as he possibly could. Sole proprietor of Tony Fallon Architecture, the firm he founded in 1992, Fallon prepared his drawings and did other work entirely by hand until 1996. That’s when he had to face the fact that — as much as he hated the idea — a computer could significantly increase his productivity. Plus he was in danger of losing business without one. So he held his nose and bought an Apple Macintosh outfitted with MiniCAD drafting software. Even then, the system sat untouched for a year until Fallon — who had rarely used a computer – decided that it was finally time to get on with it. You could call Fallon a classic antigeek (he still thinks sledgehammers should come standard with every computer), but he has ramped up rapidly. Today he couldn’t run his Strafford, N.H., office without computers. Inc. Technology asked Fallon to imagine his office as a tabula rasa waiting to be filled with computer equipment. We invited him to draw up a list of the machinery he would need if he were starting from scratch, set a realistic budget, and then hit the stores — both online and off. Fallon’s needs assessment and shopping experience were very real — and instructive to any soloist just starting out or contemplating a technology refresh. What wasn’t real was the budget — Fallon hasn’t yet purchased any equipment on his wish list. Little office in the woods Fallon designs summer houses, home additions, and affordable housing, in addition to planning public buildings such as libraries, theaters, and churches. He had worked in architectural firms for many years but struck out on his own nearly eight years ago. For a time, Fallon’s company was known as Aeropera (pronounced air opera), which is loosely translated as spatial compositions. His professional tag line was “composure for your space.” “I compose my designs like music or writing,” says Fallon. “I try to put it all together so the total assembly has value in itself. It’s not just that you’ve got the $10,000 Jacuzzi and the $3,000 fancy windows. It’s that the space is proportional.” Fallon, 43, physically embodies the composure he strives for in his designs. With a shock of white hair and light blue eyes, he has an imperturbable air. Used to soothing high-strung clients all day long, he can — and does — talk to anyone. Not that there are all that many people to talk to where Fallon lives and works. One robust system can be more cost-effective than two or more cheaper ones used for different tasks. Indeed, tiny Strafford is so rural that there’s no cable of any kind; broadband is a distant dream. Fallon accesses the Internet at the pedestrian rate of 28.8Mbps, courtesy of the local phone company. Still, his profession requires a robust set of gear. Fallon needs the fastest chip, the most RAM, and the roomiest hard disk he can afford for storing his massive drawings (each comprising several megabytes) and running VectorWorks, his architectural software package. In keeping with his original platform choice, Fallon will stick with the Mac, because he doesn’t want the hassle of porting his files to a PC format. He needs a laptop so he can access his files when he’s visiting client sites. He also thinks he needs two cheaper desktop machines: one to function as a server and one for accounting tasks. One unessential but seductive option he’d like to add: the ability to send digital pictures — even video clips — by E-mail to show clients the progress on their homes. He also needs a costly plotter to print his blueprints (using a plotter service would be less money up front but not timely enough). Other items on his wish list: a multifunction scanner-printer-copier machine, an uninterruptible power supply, a surge protector, a personal digital assistant, an external backup drive, and a cell phone. But, as for any soloist, money is tight. Fallon figures a bare-minimum office setup based on the Mac platform will cost about $11,000, which he plans to finance through a combination of cash and an equipment lease. Exploring the options When it comes to researching computer equipment, Fallon defines the word methodical (just what you’d expect from someone who reads the dictionary for fun). His information sources include the Dogpile.com search engine, Consumer Reports, MacMall.com, CNet, the MacWarehouse catalog, and the advice of a Mac-savvy land surveyor with whom Fallon works. He spends a week or two mulling information from those sources and then hits the stores. For Fallon, human interaction — not price or convenience — is paramount. “I can rattle off the right buzzwords,” he says. “I know just enough to be dangerous. But it is great to have someone geeky help you.” When Fallon needed equipment in the past, he paid Scott Drummey, an Apple consultant based in Dover, N.H., $60 per hour to devise a list, which Fallon took to his favorite store, Computer Town in Salem, N.H. Skip all-in-one machines that fax, copy, print, and scan. Buy separate systems that do one thing well. Fallon haunts the smaller, Mac-oriented computer stores at off-peak hours, when he can get to know the salespeople by name. He has an Irishman’s love of dialogue. (Once he even sent a salesperson a $100 check because he’d bent the guy’s ear for so long and left without buying anything.) On this shopping trip, salespeople offer up a number of pointers, which Fallon either uses or ignores. For instance, salespeople at three stores all advise him not to buy a multifunction machine. (He had been eyeing the Epson Stylus Scan 2000, which included fax, copier, scanner, and printer functions for an attractive $250.) Jon Claflin, a salesman at Computer Town, calls multifunction machines “the bottom of the barrel for all the different elements.” Due to the overwhelming consensus, Fallon agrees that he’ll have to spend some extra money and split up the printing, scanning, and copying functions into separate machines. Fallon also heeds consultant Drummey’s advice that there’s no need to buy three separate computers (a laptop, a desktop for accounting functions, and a desktop to function as a server). Fallon needs a server to provide extra horsepower so he can print blueprints on the plotter without hanging up his main workstation for hours. Drummey points out that Fallon could use one desktop computer — he recommends an iMac DV series machine (400MHz with 64MB of RAM) for about $1,300 — for both functions. Fallon is quickly persuaded. (That decision will help bring him in more than $2,000 under budget, for a final sum of $8,881.) On the other hand, Fallon is unmoved by Claflin’s argument that an Iomega Zip 250 USB drive (about $180) would not be adequate for backup. Claflin recommends VST Technologies’ FireWire external hard drive (which will connect through the PowerBook’s FireWire drive) with 14GB of memory for $429. After consulting with Drummey, Fallon decides to save nearly $250 by going with the Zip drive. And if he loses files, well, he can always go back to the drawing board. Lauren Gibbons Paul is a freelance writer based in Waban, Mass. The Gear He Picked MAIN WORKSTATION: Fallon likes to beat computer makers at their own game by buying models that have just become obsolete. So he was in the market for a 333MHz PowerBook notebook (about $1,900). But Fallon’s advisers urged him to spend about $600 extra on a PowerBook G3 with a 400MHz chip, a 6GB hard drive, and 64MB of RAM (about $2,500). The extra money translated into a faster chip, more RAM, and two FireWire ports (which allow high-speed data transfer between the machine and peripherals such as digital cameras). Final Choice: PowerBook G3, $2,494, from Computer Town COLLATERAL WORKSTATION: Since he needs a desktop machine only to perform some accounting tasks and to function as a print server, Fallon economized as much as possible on this choice. Luckily for him, now is a good time to buy an iMac. With a 400MHz G3 processor, 64MB of RAM, a 10GB hard disk, and dual 400Mbps FireWire ports, the iMac DV is a bargain at just over $1,300. Final Choice: iMac DV series, $1,323, from Computer Town PLOTTER: The Achilles’ heel of Fallon’s budget — and the bane of his crowded office — the plotter was the most expensive and heftiest piece of equipment on his shopping list. Because this is mission-critical equipment, it made sense for Fallon to drop some dough on this machine. Fallon bypassed several cheaper models and opted for a 36-inch (E-size) Hewlett-Packard DesignJet with 300-dpi color capability (600 dpi for black). Final Choice: HP DesignJet 488CA, $3,534, from Hewlett-Packard PRINTER: Fallon needed a printer that could handle 17-by-22-inch color output. He decided to purchase a stand-alone model rather than an all-in-one printer-scanner-copier-fax machine. Final Choice: Epson Stylus 1520, $590 (with PostScript add-on), from Computer Town SCANNER: Once he made the decision to split up the scanning, printing, faxing, and copying functions, Fallon wasn’t much interested in researching each choice to death. He took the advice of a Mac adviser and picked a relatively inexpensive scanner model from Umax. Final Choice: Umax Astra 2200, $199, from MacMall.com CELL PHONE: Fallon chose this model for Nokia’s reputed reliability. Service: SunCom. Final Choice: Nokia 5160, $99 (plus activation fee and a $35 service charge per month that includes 300 minutes) DIGITAL CAMERA: Fallon was sorely tempted by Epson PhotoPC 850Z (about $800), which can handle panoramic views and has a microphone capability for documenting each photo. Though that would be useful when sending site photos to clients, Fallon couldn’t justify the expense. He went for a cheaper model. Final Choice: Epson PhotoPC 650, $300, from Computer Town The Gear He Skipped COMBINATION MOUSE-TRACKBALL: The Kensington Orbit mouse-trackball is easier to position and more precise than a conventional mouse — a real temptation for an architect — but Fallon stuck with the mouse that came with his PowerBook G3. Saved: $50 FLAT-PANEL MONITOR: Fallon wanted the 15-inch flat-panel Apple Studio Display, but he knew he could get by without it. Saved: $1,299 COPIER Fallon regretfully knocked the Sharp AL-1220 off his list; it put too much of a strain on the budget. Fallon will visit the local Kinko’s for copies, though that will mean driving and gas expenses. Saved: about $850 HANDHELD DEVICE: Fallon’s wife bought him a Casio electronic organizer for Christmas many years ago, and it’s been collecting dust ever since. Although he realizes both the functionality and the size of handhelds have improved greatly, Fallon prefers to carry a tiny calendar and a notebook in his pocket, a trick he learned at the knee of his businessman father. Saved: about $200 STAND-ALONE FAX: Fallon felt that he maxed out his budget on the stand-alone printer and scanner, so he didn’t want to cough up extra for the fax machine. He decided to use the software fax capabilities that come standard on the Mac. Saved: about $250 For more on the gear you really need to start and grow your small business, see our CEO’s Start-Up Toolkit. Please e-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.