Tag Archives: KISTech Communications

About 3794 days ago Data Security

Got the Whole World in Your Palm? Better Back It Up!

We’re all trying to become more connected as part of the digital lifestyle. During the past few years, handheld devices, such as those based on the Palm OS and Microsoft Windows CE Pocket PC design, have become mainstream gadgets — taking on a front-and-center role in the digital lifestyle. Many executives and professionals, for example, have become “addicted” to these PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), but these same gadget groupies also tend to neglect some really basic data protection and security issues. As we start connecting our PCs to our mobile phones, digital cameras and PDAs, the stakes go up…way up. So as data becomes more concentrated and more invaluable to both business managers and ordinary, connected people, this failure to properly care for the data becomes a really scary prospect – putting some of your most private, personal and irreplaceable digital-lifestyle trappings at risk. Small businesses, telecommuters, and remote branch offices, without full-time in-house IT pros on staff, often overlook how to protect their intellectual property stored on PDAs. If you use PDAs for important business data, consider: What kind of sensitive data is or should be stored on PDAs? How will the PDAs get backed up? To help you get started on the right track, here are 10 simple tips to help you protect your PDA data and avoid frustrating, related tech-support headaches. Be very cautious when considering brand-new, unproven handheld models. Major design and software bugs are usually fixed in the first three to six months following the initial release. Unless you’re prepared for the risks and demands of being an early adopter, let someone else endure these all-too-common headaches. Get software, peripherals and accessories bundled with your PDA purchase. This shopping approach will not only save you money and installation time, but you’ll also dramatically reduce the compatibility risks. (i.e. will everything work together seamlessly?) Pay attention to vendor support offerings. Technical support and warrantees are not created equal! This is almost a mantra of personal technology adoption: whom you buy something from is often as important (or even more important) than what you buy. Make sure the PDA is compatible with your operating system. If your office is wedded to a particular version of Microsoft Windows or another OS, be sure your PDA can sync up its data with your desktop or notebook PCs. Insist on a PDA that’s “well-connected.” USB interfaces tend to be the easiest to configure and troubleshoot, while providing the best performance. Avoid older, legacy serial interfaces whenever possible. Don’t take “plug-and-play” claims at face value. Over the years, Microsoft Windows hecklers have taken many a cheap shot at the OS family by branding it “plug and pray.” Before making a PDA purchase, check out some independent product reviews in leading personal technology magazines and online portals. Pay particular attention to comments regarding device drivers and ease-of-installation. Do your homework before making the purchase. Because of their small size and minimal cost, PDAs are often impulse purchases. However, making the “right” hardware and software selections can have an enormous impact on lowering your computer support costs. Select the “wrong” hardware and software…and well let’s not even go there! (Hint: It’s not a pretty picture.) Watch out for dangerous end-user installation snafus. Unless your supported end users are very PC savvy, you probably don’t want to leave users to install and support their own PDA to desktop connectivity. All too often, a user inadvertently will break a multitude of key software configurations while accepting default installation settings. Consider whether any proprietary data should be “PDA-banned.” Be sure you’ve thought through what kinds of sensitive data can be stored on a PDA, given that the pocket-sized PDA devices are inherently vulnerable to theft. Back it up before you lose it. In the same context of data security, establish some kind of backup procedures. We’ve all heard the horror stories of users losing three years of appointments and 2,000 customer names that were stored on their PDAs and not backed up anywhere else. Don’t let your organization or supported users become one of these statistics. The Bottom Line PDAs are taking on an increasingly important role in the digital lifestyle. Use these simple, low-tech tips and best practices to minimize your PDA support headaches and maximize the security of your incredibly valuable data. PDA Information on the Web Casio Cassiopeia — http://www.casio.com/personalpcs/ Handspring Visor — http://www.handspring.com HP Jordana/Compaq iPAQ — http://www.hp.com Microsoft Windows CE — http://www.microsoft.com/windows/embedded/wince/ Palm OS — http://www.palm.com/us/ PDABuzz — http://www.pdabuzz.com PDA LIVE — http://www.pdalive.com PDA Street — http://www.pdastreet.com Pocket PC Passion — Small Biz Tech Talk — http://www.smallbiztechtalk.com Tucows PDA — http://www.pilotzone.com Key Terms Defined Microsoft Windows CE — a specialty version of the Microsoft Windows operating system originally designed for handheld computers based on Microsoft’s Pocket PC design specification; largest major competitor is the Palm OS. Palm OS — a specialty operating system designed for handheld computers manufactured and marketed by Palm and others; largest major competitor is Microsoft Windows CE. PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) — a handheld, pocket-sized computer generally designed for the Microsoft Windows CE or Palm OS platforms. USB (Universal Serial Bus) Port — hardware communications interface used to connect peripherals to computer systems; eventually could replace parallel and serial interfaces in PCs; offers far superior performance throughput and easier configuration than both parallel and serial port-based peripherals. Joshua Feinberg (joshua@smallbiztechtalk.com) helps small businesses save money on computer support costs. His latest book, What Your Computer Consultant Doesn’t Want You to Know ($19.99, Small Biz Tech Talk Press), exposes 101 money-saving secrets of expensive techies. To order Joshua’s new book, visit http://www.SmallBizTechTalk.com or call 866-TECH-EXPERT (866-832-4397). © Copyright 2003, Joshua Feinberg Small Biz Tech Talk is a registered trademark of KISTech Communications

About 3825 days ago PCs, Laptops, and Notebooks

Working Smarter With Microsoft Office

A decade ago, it was very difficult to complete a mail merge between applications from different vendors’ software packages. Don’t miss out on one of the most compelling benefits of Microsoft’s stronghold over desktop office automation software. Be sure to take advantage of the tight integration across Microsoft products. Don’t Retype It. Merge It! What are some easy ways you can begin putting this integration to use? Two examples immediately come to mind: mail merge and financial statement tables. Do you need to create automatically, some customized mailing labels, envelopes or form letters, but often end up settling for some low-tech, tedious, scissors-and-glue approach? The Mail Merge Helper wizard in Microsoft Word makes it very easy to pull in address lists, or similar data, from such programs as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Access. Don’t even think about having your clerical staff retype the information! Preparing Tables: Just Say No to Spaces and Tabs Another small-business redundancy has to do with preparing financial statements within documents. In most companies, a CFO, accounting manger or controller prepares various financial statements in Microsoft Excel, and then passes the information over to an executive assistant to incorporate into regulatory documents, lender and investor updates, and annual reports. Make sure your company isn’t falling into this huge productivity trap. Be sure your executive assistant, or whomever is charged with pulling together these documents in Microsoft Word, is aware of simple, enormous timesaving shortcuts such as the Paste Special command on the Edit menu and the Object command on the Insert menu. All too often, I see the executive assistant retyping these financial statements from scratch in Microsoft Word, either by using the Insert Table feature or, even worse, by aligning text by using spaces and tabs. Ouch! Be Diplomatic and Tread Gently at First Not all companies will suffer from these same redundancies. But someone needs to take the time to go on a fact-finding mission in your organization to spot and remedy at least some of these inefficiencies. Because of the sensitive nature of this, you may be better off leaning on your accountants or auditors for this task. In other cases, there’s no reason a PC savvy office manager, controller or CFO can’t preclude or successfully manage this exploratory work. Discussion Points Do you have a hunch that employees are retyping the same information over and over again? Do your administrative staff members know how to fully exploit the mail merge features in the Microsoft Office suite? Does your financial and publications staff understand how to easily take data prepared in Microsoft Excel and seamlessly place it into Microsoft Word documents? Is there anyone in your company who’s in a natural position to spend some time with each department or job function and look for opportunities to streamline workloads through more efficient use of Microsoft Office applications? Joshua Feinberg (joshua@smallbiztechtalk.com) helps small businesses save money on computer support costs. His latest book, What Your Computer Consultant Doesn’t Want You to Know ($19.99, Small Biz Tech Talk Press), exposes 101 money-saving secrets of expensive techies. To order Joshua’s new book, visit www.SmallBizTechTalk.com or call 866-TECH-EXPERT (866-832-4397). © Copyright 2002, Joshua Feinberg Small Biz Tech Talk is a registered trademark of KISTech Communications

About 3855 days ago Data Security

Don’t Miss Your Antivirus Updates

Over the years, I’ve met a great many small-business owners who thought their antivirus software was up to date. But very few of them actually knew how to verify the date of the last update. You usually can find this last updated information on various antivirus software programs by going to the Help pull-down menu and choosing the About command. If your antivirus software program is active or enabled, as well it should be, you probably also can right click on its icon in the Microsoft Windows Taskbar, at the bottom of your screen, and choose the About or Properties command. But Our Sales Rep Said the Software Automatically Updates Just as important, you cannot always depend on the software vendor’s claim that the antivirus software will update itself automatically. Many antivirus software programs promise automated updates but frankly do not deliver. This means you need to know how to force or download a manual update to the antivirus software program. Again, my goal here is not to overlap with your included software documentation, but rather to reinforce the critical necessity of keeping your antivirus software current. In most cases, you’ll find easy-to-navigate file download links on the software vendor’s Web site, so you can update your antivirus software. How well protected is your small business against computer viruses? Here is your homework assignment: Do you know how to check your antivirus software to see the date of the last update? What are the required antivirus software update steps? Who is responsible for verifying that antivirus software on desktop PCs, notebooks and servers is being properly updated? Are end users given this information so they can spot check any automated update procedures of antivirus software running on their desktop PCs or notebooks? Are updates to your antivirus software supposed to be automated? Does the automation work reliably? If antivirus software updates don’t happen automatically as expected, who downloads and installs a forced manual update to various systems in your company? The Bottom Line New computer viruses are discovered on a daily basis. In order to remain effective, your antivirus software needs to be regularly updated, generally once a week. Use the tips and follow-up questions in this article to protect your small business against computer viruses. Joshua Feinberg (joshua@smallbiztechtalk.com) is an internationally recognized small-business technology expert, speaker, trainer, columnist, and author. His latest book, What Your Computer Consultant Doesn’t Want You to Know, exposes 101 money-saving secrets of expensive techies. For more information on Joshua’s new book, or to subscribe to his free weekly Tips newsletter, visit http://www.SmallBizTechTalk.com or call 866-TECH-EXPERT (866-832-4397). © Copyright 2002, Joshua Feinberg Small Biz Tech Talk is a registered trademark of KISTech Communications

About 3855 days ago Antivirus Software

Don’t Miss Your Antivirus Updates

Over the years, I’ve met a great many small-business owners who thought their antivirus software was up to date. But very few of them actually knew how to verify the date of the last update. You usually can find this last updated information on various antivirus software programs by going to the Help pull-down menu and choosing the About command. If your antivirus software program is active or enabled, as well it should be, you probably also can right click on its icon in the Microsoft Windows Taskbar, at the bottom of your screen, and choose the About or Properties command. But Our Sales Rep Said the Software Automatically Updates Just as important, you cannot always depend on the software vendor’s claim that the antivirus software will update itself automatically. Many antivirus software programs promise automated updates but frankly do not deliver. This means you need to know how to force or download a manual update to the antivirus software program. Again, my goal here is not to overlap with your included software documentation, but rather to reinforce the critical necessity of keeping your antivirus software current. In most cases, you’ll find easy-to-navigate file download links on the software vendor’s Web site, so you can update your antivirus software. How well protected is your small business against computer viruses? Here is your homework assignment: Do you know how to check your antivirus software to see the date of the last update? What are the required antivirus software update steps? Who is responsible for verifying that antivirus software on desktop PCs, notebooks and servers is being properly updated? Are end users given this information so they can spot check any automated update procedures of antivirus software running on their desktop PCs or notebooks? Are updates to your antivirus software supposed to be automated? Does the automation work reliably? If antivirus software updates don’t happen automatically as expected, who downloads and installs a forced manual update to various systems in your company? The Bottom Line New computer viruses are discovered on a daily basis. In order to remain effective, your antivirus software needs to be regularly updated, generally once a week. Use the tips and follow-up questions in this article to protect your small business against computer viruses. Joshua Feinberg (joshua@smallbiztechtalk.com) is an internationally recognized small-business technology expert, speaker, trainer, columnist, and author. His latest book, What Your Computer Consultant Doesn’t Want You to Know, exposes 101 money-saving secrets of expensive techies. For more information on Joshua’s new book, or to subscribe to his free weekly Tips newsletter, visit http://www.SmallBizTechTalk.com or call 866-TECH-EXPERT (866-832-4397). © Copyright 2002, Joshua Feinberg Small Biz Tech Talk is a registered trademark of KISTech Communications