July/August, 2005

If there are any topics you would like to see discussed in the future or if you have any comments, please contact me at JoeT@HighCaliber.com

Bullet Points

  • Distance Learning On The Rise

    The number of companies using online learning to train employees will grow by 50 percent in 2005. If you have the need to train or meet with people that are geographically dispersed, give us a call. High Caliber has four years of experience in implementing distance learning solutions.

     

  • Disabling Your Local Administrator Account

    A recommended security measure is to disable a workstation's local administrator's account, after creating a new account that has administrative privileges. This will help prevent hackers from using the default administrator account to get into your computer. To do this:

    1. Create a user account and give it full administrative privileges.
    2. Log on as the user with administrative privileges.
    3. Right click My Computer
    4. Select Manage
    5. In the left pane, expand Local Users and Groups
    6. Click Users
    7. In the right pane, double click Administrator
    8. Click the General tab
    9. Click Account is disabled to check the box
    10. Click OK

    The change will take place when you log off and log back on to the computer. You should no longer be able to log on with the default Administrator account.

     

  • Google Moon

    This is very cool:

    http://moon.google.com/

    For that matter, try this:

    http://earth.google.com/

     

  • Clipboard Viewer in XP

    Windows XP didn't automatically provide the Clipboard Viewer as did earlier versions of Windows. The Clipboard Viewer is useful if you need to know what you currently have saved in your Clipboard, without having to open some application and paste the contents.

    You can easily add Clipboard Viewer to Windows XP:

    1. Right click on a blank area of your desktop
    2. Click New
    3. Click Shortcut
    4. In the location field, type (without the quotes) "C:WINDOWS\system32\clipbrd.exe"
    5. Click Next
    6. Give the new shortcut a name such as Clipboard Viewer
    7. Click Finish

     

  • Spam Fighting Tip

    One of the best ways to avoid spam is to avoid giving out your email address. Unfortunately, websites often ask for your email address before you can purchase something or view information you are interested in.

    One simple solution to this is to open what are basically temporary email accounts with one of the free email services like Hotmail or Yahoo! When you start receiving tons of spam in that box, you can simply close it down and open a new one.

     

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What It Really Costs To Support Desktops

With the prices of desktop computers at an all-time low, many people are being lulled to sleep regarding what it actually costs to deploy one in your office. Consider these factors that effect the true cost to own and operate a desktop computer over the course of its usefull life:

  1. Initial purchase price
  2. Initial setup and transfer of data from old computer
  3. Infrastructure costs (increased load on LAN, Internet connection, backup system, etc.)
  4. Anti-virus/anti-scumware protection and related expenses
  5. Insurance
  6. Disaster recovery/business continuity-related expenses
  7. Hardware/Software upgrade costs

Research routinely shows that a desktop PC can cost up to 25 times its purchasing price over a five-year period, particularly when calls to help desks escalate due to bad desktop management.

When users have free reign over what they do with their PCs, costs will inevitably escalate at a faster rate. Unauthorized software installs, Internet downloads (music, video, gaming, etc.) can bring on the necessity for expensive operating system re-installs and increase the load on company networks, Internet connections and backup systems. It may also render any leases void, as it counts as tampering with an asset the company does not own.

The moral of the story is: to manage the costs of having desktop computers someone needs to manage their deployment and use. This can be as simple as writing clear, comprehensive acceptable use polices and enforcing them with an iron fist, or implementing a technology solution to help standardize and lock them down.

 

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