Versatile Technology Group, LLC - News Blog

They say breaking up is hard to do. But when it comes to choosing between your old familiar tape drive or risking your company’s data, it should be a no-brainer. Tape drives are notorious for failure – and if you are still swapping out tapes as your only backup source, here are 4 reasons you need to break it off:

1. Your tape drive is a cheater. Here you are, faithfully swapping tapes and taking them home every day (at least you do most of the time), feeling secure that your data is safe and that you could be back up and running again fast in the event of a disaster, right? Wrong.

Your tape drive only backs up your data – the information you have physically typed in; but your software programs, network settings, printer and Internet configurations are NOT getting backed up and cannot be recovered from the tape. That means if your server were to go up in flames (or simply fails) you would have to find all your software disks and authentication codes and REBUILD your server.

That task could take several days, costing you a lot of money and lost time. But thanks to vast improvements in backup technology, you can actually have a system that automatically backs up your entire server through a process calling “mirroring” which simply means it backs up an exact replica of your server. You benefit because if your server failed, a replacement server could be set up and delivered in hours AND would retain all your settings and software. Plus, no more swapping tapes – everything happens automatically.

2. You could lose an entire day’s worth of work. Ever lose an hour’s worth of work or a document because Word crashed? Now imagine losing an ENTIRE DAY’S worth of work. Frustrating, huh? Since tape drives can’t perform open file OR continuous backups, if your system crashes at the end of the day, all the documents, entries and work you (and your entire staff) completed that day is toast. And if Murphy’s Law applies, that would be the day you hammered through a grueling 30-page report.

Newer virtual backup systems will take a snapshot of your server every hour, saving your work from going into Never-Neverland. Plus, if you leave files open at night when you leave for the day (and we all do that occasionally), it will back up those files too.

3. Your tape drive will abandon you when you need it most. You can only retrieve the data from your tape with a compatible tape drive. If you have had your tape drive more than 2 years, it may be a phased out model, no longer available to order. This could mean that when you need to recover your data, you are unable to, even if the data is there.

4. You can’t trust a tape drive. Tapes have an average failure rate of 100% — they all fail, it’s just a matter of when. Plus, you have to remember to swap out tapes every day, which leaves room for human error. The bottom line is this: Tape drives are antiquated and an incredibly unpredictable way of backing up your company’s data. That’s why we urge all our clients to “break up” with their old tape drives and upgrade to VTG’s “insure:IT” service.

Not only is it very affordable, but it will continuously back up your entire server – including open documents -  every hour so you don’t have to lose a day’s worth of work. Then every night it will automatically backup a snapshot of your entire server offsite to a data center where it will be kept safe and secure until you need it.

No more swapping tapes, unpleasant surprises that your backups weren’t working, and no risk of being down for days trying to recover data from old tape drives. Plus you’ll gain the peace of mind that your data could be recovered fast in the event of a server meltdown or disaster.

Don’t delay! Call us for a free estimate on switching over to a backup system that you can actually fall in love with: 901-383-1050.

Windows Vista never quite caught on the way that Microsoft had hoped. The User Account Control (UAC) feature, which was supposed to enhance security by prompting users before allowing many programs to open, instead proved such an annoyance that users simply shut it off – leaving them more vulnerable than when they started. The “simplified” User Interface (UI), with its ribbons and tabs, mystified die-hard devotees of the old drop-down menu system. And the System Tray’s myriad of unused applets that acted, as one reviewer put it, “like belligerent squatters,” only added to the frustration (http://www.pcworld.com/article/172602/windows_7_review.html).

The Windows 7 OS, in contrast, has had a much more favorable public reception. Here are a few key changes that have reviewers cheering:

1. Faster feel. Users find that applications in Windows 7 open more quickly, and they don’t spend as much time waiting for processes to complete.
2. Libraries. It’s much easier to find documents in Windows 7. The new Libraries function in Windows Explorer lets you create a virtual location that can aggregate content from several locations at once. You can put network folders, SharePoint documents, and regular folders in your Documents Library, giving you quick access even to documents that are tucked away under several organizational layers.
3. Easy switching between Wi-Fi networks. Just click on the Wi-Fi adapter in your system tray to bring up a menu of available wireless networks, select the one you want to connect to, and you’re done.
4. User Account Control (UAC) without annoyances. You can now tweak UAC so that it’s actually helpful. Instead of just an on/off, where your choice is to be forever pestered by repetitive prompts or leave yourself open to the perils of the Internet, you can adjust the level of security you want. Two intermediate levels now exist between the “Always notify” and “Never notify” settings.
5. A simpler System Tray. The big problem with the System Tray in Vista was that software installers could just dump applets in there without your approval. This led to cluttered System Trays and flurries of word balloons every time you accidentally moused over the area. In Windows 7, applets (except for the clock) don’t go directly into the System Tray; they land in a holding pen and have to be dragged to the System Tray. And they can’t float word balloons unless you permit them.

These are just a few of our favorite features in the new Windows 7.  Which ones do you like best?  Any improvements you hope to see in the next release?

4 Things To Consider As You Ponder The Choice of XP, Vista or Windows 7Do you remember the 1981 song from the rock group The Clash which could be about Microsoft and Windows XP?

Always tease tease tease
You’re happy when I’m on my knees
One day is fine, next is black
So if you want me off your back
Well come on and let me know
Should I stay or should I go?On October 16th, 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, responded “If people want to wait [stay with XP] they really can.”  This was the first time Microsoft acknowledged the lackluster acceptance of Vista in the business community. According to Microsoft, Vista has been growing faster than XP did after its introduction, but it’s the consumer market leading the charge not businesses. According to the Gartner research group, as of January 2009, only 6% of businesses have at least one computer running Vista.

Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know!

Like it or not, we must eventually move away from Windows XP.  Microsoft stopped fixing XP bugs on April 14th and will end all support, including security patches, in 2014.  Here are four things to consider as you ponder staying with XP, moving to Vista or waiting for Windows 7.

#1 Test your applications and peripherals
There’s a lot of business software that will not run on Vista, especially software written by boutique software companies and consultants.  Because Windows 7 is built on the Vista foundation, software and peripherals like printers that don’t work with Vista won’t work with Windows 7 either.  Conversely if it does work with Vista it will work on Windows 7.  Most vendors anticipate having Vista versions of their software available before the end of 2009.  Microsoft expects Windows 7 to be available in early 2010.  With Windows 7 looming on the horizon, it may be prudent to skip Vista and go straight to Windows 7.  The key here is to communicate with your software and hardware vendors and test everything.

#2 Migrate to Vista or Windows 7 as you purchase new computers
Once you have completed testing, consider staggering your switchover by bringing in Vista on new and replacement computers.  Unless you love migraine headaches and wasting money, forget trying to upgrade existing computers more than two years old to Vista.  In this uncertain economy, a migration through replacement approach is your least expensive option.

 There is a learning curve with the Vista user interface similar to that experienced with MS Office 2007.  However, most users like the Vista interface after using it a few weeks, and most of the Vista annoyances have been eliminated in Windows 7 beta versions.  If you want to play it ultra safe, purchase your new equipment with Vista Business and select the XP Pro downgrade option.  Your new equipment is ready to use out of the box with XP Pro, yet has the hardware, software and licensing necessary to upgrade to Vista when you’re ready.

#3 Skip Vista and migrate directly to Windows 7.
If you don’t plan on replacing your computers this year, consider skipping Vista all together. Most small businesses and many enterprise organizations are pushing out their hardware replacement schedules because of the uncertain economy. Consequently, skipping Vista altogether and jumping straight into Windows 7 is a reasonable alternative.  Hey, you even have permission from Microsoft to do this! You can continue purchasing new equipment with the XP Pro downgrade and have complete confidence that this same hardware will support the upgrade to Windows 7. If this is the decision you make, be sure to begin testing with Vista now in preparation for Windows 7.

#4 Microsoft’s history of software releases.
Microsoft considers Windows 7 a major release.  Other major releases were Windows 2000 and Vista, both of which were late and in the case of Vista, required the release of Service Pack 1 before it lived up to its hype.  Windows XP was considered an evolutionary release, but it too performed poorly until Service Pack 1, then finally lived up to its promise with the Service Pack 2 update.  Calling Windows 7 a major release may be more marketing than meat because the kernel (think of this as the guts or foundation of an operating system) is the same as Vista. The good news is that this kernel has come a long way since the initial release of Vista. Windows Server 2008 draws on the Vista kernel and has proven to be a solid server operating system. Windows 7 is in beta release now and gets better with each update. Many in the industry believe that 2010 will be the year of Windows 7, but only time will tell. If you decide to wait for Windows 7, be sure to make a contingency plan that includes Vista knowing that the pain of migration from Vista to Windows 7 will be minimal.

This indecision’s bugging me
If you don’t want me, set me free
Exactly whom I’m supposed to be
Don’t you know which clothes even fit me?
Come on and let me know
Should I cool it or should I go?Let us know if we can help with this decision!

New data from NPD Group suggests that RIM may have caught up with some of the iPhone marketing hype, taking the top spot in U.S. consumer smartphone sales for the first quarter of 2009.  The BlackBerry Curve (of which there are several models across multiple carriers) bested the iPhone for the first quarter of the year, with RIM taking three of the top five spots.

We get a lot of Apple fanboy grief here in the CNET Blog Network, but I’m a BlackBerry user. Personally, I prefer the BlackBerry keyboard and form factor but feel that the iPhone interface and applications are superior.

But more important than the applications or the interface, I need my phone to work. I want it to be able to make calls, receive calls, send e-mail, etc. The iPhone, for all its glorious features, is at best a mediocre phone with occasionally terrible coverage.

AT&T, the lone iPhone carrier in the United States, has been slow to fix network issues and slow to respond to customer complaints, and it lacks a certain amount of customer service social grace. Most of the gadgety or techie types of people I know who don’t use the iPhone avoid it entirely because of AT&T.

Realistically, there should always be more BlackBerrys sold than iPhones simply because of network diversity. While the iPhone may be acceptable–even good as a business smartphone, the spotty coverage and weak customer service makes the device a questionable choice for on-the-go business users.

The Blackberry Storm got a big marketing push from Verizon that no doubt helped grow the customer base, but the Storm is not an iPhone killer.

I’m looking forward to seeing what RIM has to offer in the future, as well as seeing if/when Verizon will finally get the iPhone. Until then, I’ll stick with the BlackBerrys, which, despite the occasional random java error and simplistic user interface, have served me extremely well for the last five years.

By Dave Rosenberg
CNET News

April 20, 2009 (Computerworld) One of the most hated features of Windows Vista will be seen a third less often by users of the upcoming Windows 7, a Microsoft executive promised today. “You’ll see a lot fewer UAC prompts in Windows 7,” said Paul Cooke, director of Windows 7 client enterprise security.

User Account Control, or UAC, the security feature that debuted in Vista, was designed to reduce the chance that malware could hijack a PC by forcing users to confirm that they really meant to do such things as install new software or modify key operating system settings.

People hated it, calling it intrusive and worse, forcing Microsoft to reduce the number of UAC prompts - pop-ups that prevented the user from doing anything but dealing with the dialog box - even before it launched Vista. And earlier this year, a senior-level executive cited a study that said user “click fatigue” had convinced the company to further scale back the prompts in Windows 7.

Today, Cooke claimed that Windows 7 users would face UAC significantly less often than people running Vista: “From our beta and internal testing, we expect a 29% decrease in UAC prompts compared to Windows Vista,” he said.

Among the changes Microsoft’s made to UAC that will drive that decrease, Cooke cited several specific examples, then pointed to the new “slider bar” that will let users fine tune the intensity of the security feature. “We’ve reduced 16 different points of prompting,” Cooke claimed, ranging from allowing a standard user to pull operating system updates without seeing a prompt to viewing (but not changing) firewall settings without a pop-up. Nor will Windows’ own components throw up a UAC prompt, Cooke added.

Microsoft has already modified Windows 7’s UAC for reasons other than prompt reduction. In February, the company responded to critics who argued it could be easily disabled by attackers, saying that it would change the feature to make it more secure when it rolled out a release candidate.

The company has not confirmed a ship date for Windows 7 Release Candidate, but a page on Microsoft’s site that was live for several hours this weekend pegged May 5 as the availability date for partners.

Cooke said he expects the reduction of UAC prompts in Windows 7 to exceed the preliminary data Microsoft’s acquired so far. “Personally, I expect that number to go up as it gets in the hands of more unsophisticated users,” he said, referring to the time when Windows 7 is pre-installed in new PCs and in the hands of people who don’t typically bother beta-testing software.

Windows 7 has been tweaked and tuned a bit since the launch of the operating system’s initial public beta in January, as is evident in the new release candidate (RC) Microsoft unveiled Thursday.

The RC is now available to MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) and TechNet subscribers, and it will be released to the general public May 5.

Microsoft will also soon release to beta the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, which will check users’ systems for their ability to run the new operating system. However, the software giant did not disclose when the upgrade advisor will be offered in beta or when Windows 7 will reach the market. The company declined to comment.

Teensy Weensy Changes
Although the Windows 7 RC contains some new features and has incorporated changes suggested by beta users, the improvements are, on the whole, relatively minor. “If you make too many changes this late in the process, you’re likely to destabilize the operating system,” Michael Cherry, a senior analyst at Directions on Microsoft, told TechNewsWorld. “So many of the new features they’re announcing, such as virtualization, have been ongoing work, and they’re just synchronizing them with the operating system,” he said.

New Features in Windows 7 RC
One of the key changes to the RC is the inclusion of the Windows XP Mode feature that lets users shift to Microsoft’s older operating system. Another is improved security.

Windows XP Mode
XP Mode will be available for Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows 7 Enterprise. It lets businesses run multiple Windows environments on one desktop, using Microsoft’s Virtual PC technology. However, businesses may have a few reasons to think twice before deciding to set Windows XP Mode as their default OS.

For one, they will have to manage multiple instances of Windows, Gartner analyst Michael Silver told TechNewsWorld. Also, sticking with Windows XP, even if it’s virtualized, could lead to trouble down the road. “Organizations that decide to run XP Mode instead of fixing their applications will run into problems when Microsoft ends support for XP,” Silver said.

Microsoft will end extended support for Windows XP in May 2014.

Improvements to Security
While removable storage media has often proven very useful in the enterprise, it also poses a major potential security threat to a business.

Users can not only illicitly download corporate information onto these drives, but also provide open doors for several types of viruses and worms that target USB drives and other removable media. They include the SillyFD/AA worm that emerged in 2007 and the infamous Conficker worm, which recently hit millions of PCs.

The Windows 7 RC disables AutoRun on non-optical removable storage devices such as USB drives. AutoRun will still work for CDs and DVDs, however.

The RC also includes improvements to AppLocker, a mechanism that lets IT professionals control access to applications. One such improvement is an audit-only enforcement mode, which lets IT professionals test rules before deploying them to govern access to applications.

Remote media streaming is a brand-new feature in Windows 7 RC. It lets users access their home-based digital media files over the Internet from other PCs running Windows 7.

Is It All Worthwhile?
Users who want to upgrade to Windows 7 when a final version is released may have to buy new computers.

“A lot of laptops probably can’t run Windows 7,” said Directions on Microsoft’s Cherry. “They need the Intel or AMD chips that have built-in virtualization.” Those are the Intel VT chips and the AMD-V chips.

New computers will include these chips, Cherry said. “Now that an application warrants using these chips, more manufacturers will begin using them.”

By Richard Adhikari
TechNewsWorld
04/30/09 1:27 PM PT

While spam, pop-ups, and hackers are a real threat to any small business network, there are 3 security measures that you should be focusing on FIRST before you do anything else…

Worry About E-mail Attachments, Not Spam
Sure, spam is annoying and wastes your time, but the REAL danger with spam is in the attachments. Viruses and worms are malicious programs that are spread primarily through cleverly disguised attachments to messages that trick you (or your employees) into opening them. Another huge threat is phishing e-mails that trick the user by appearing to be legitimate emails from your bank, eBay, or other password-protected entity.

Here are 3 things you must have in place to avoid this nightmare:
1. Keep your anti-virus up-to-date and enabled. Okay, this sounds like a no brainer, but it’s not uncommon for an employee to disable their anti-virus software unbeknownst to you. Which brings us to #2…

2. Train employees on what they are (and aren’t) permitted to do with the company’s computer, e-mail, Internet access, etc. One thing that should be on the list is that they should NEVER open suspicious attachments or respond to phishing emails. We highly recommend creating an AUP (acceptable use policy) to teach your staff what NOT to do.

3. Put monitoring software in place to not only maintain the health of employees’ desktops, but also to automatically “police” employees from accidentally (or intentionally) visiting a phishing web site, downloading a virus, or visiting questionable web sites and content online.

Fear Downloads Before Pop-Ups
Did you know that most computers and networks get infected with viruses because the user actually invited the threat in by downloading a file (screen saver, music file, PDF document, pictures, etc.).? Again, this comes down to training the staff on what they can and cannot do with your computer network; but the best way to avoid this from happening is to remove the temptation by installing monitoring software that will prevent employees from downloading unsavory items to YOUR network. We also recommend installing and maintaining a good firewall, which will block Internet traffic to and from dangerous sites.

Lose Sleep Over Backups Before Hackers
You are more likely to lose data from hardware failure, accidental deletion (human error), flood, fire, natural disaster or software corruption than a hacker. Sure, you should do everything to keep hackers out of your network, but not backing up your data to a remote location is crazy. At a minimum, you should have an onsite AND offsite copy of your data, and you should be testing your data backups regularly to make sure your data CAN be restored in the event of an emergency.

What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You
Since we are on the subject of protecting your network, can I talk straight? 99% of the business owners I work with wait FAR too long to have us check and update their computer network’s health and security. Because they are not performing regular maintenance, almost every single network we review is completely overlooking these 3 security risks! At some point, disaster will strike and they find themselves in a real mess with a network that is completely down (that’s when they call us in a panic). By then, the damage is done and it often costs thousands of dollars to restore their network back to normal. Even then it’s not uncommon for them to permanently lose irreplaceable accounting, client, and business data – not to mention hours of downtime. What saddens me even more is the fact that almost every one of these costly disasters could have easily been prevented if someone had checked their network’s security and health to remove these threats on a regular basis.

Why Should You Care About This?
Because your computer network is the core of running your business. Try to imagine what it would be like if you walked into your office one day to discover all of your data was lost or corrupt. That’s why regular maintenance is so important. REMEMBER: Keeping your network safe is a moving target; the security updates you installed today may be rendered useless tomorrow because new threats are emerging daily.