Versatile Technology Group, LLC - News Blog

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

Five Solid Reasons Why You Should Throw Away Your Tape Backup And Switch To Our insure:IT Backup Solution This Month:

1. Because It’s FREE!!!
In case you haven’t been paying attention, we’ve been knocking ourselves out trying to get your attention to upgrade your current tape backup to our new insure:IT Backup Solution.  There’s a mountain of evidence and several smart reasons why you should upgrade your backup this month, such as:

2. You’ll be able to be back up and running MUCH faster in the event of a disaster; and a “disaster” doesn’t always have to be a catastrophic earthquake or business fire; data can also become corrupt or get erased due to hardware failures and software “glitches”.  With our insure:IT Backup Solution, you can literally be back up and working within 24 hours or LESS, where your current tape system could have you down for days—possibly even weeks— while we relocate all your software, re-build the server, re-install and configure the software, and retrieve your data.  That’s just crazy! Sure, tape backups are better than nothing, but now there IS a better alternative!

3. Tape drives have an average failure rate of 100% - yep, that means all tape drives will fail at some point, often without any signs or warnings! Tapes are very sensitive to heat and moisture; so if you are taking your tapes home with you in your car, there is a very good chance the data is useless. And the worst part is that tape failure often gives no warning whatsoever - the only way to know if your data is actually in a format that can be restored, is to perform regular, monthly (even weekly) test restores. When is the last time you did that with one of your tapes?

4. If your office gets broken into, is destroyed by a fire or flood, or gets hit with an earthquake, EVERYTHING is going down with the ship, including your tape backups and software disks. You just cannot afford to ignore the importance of having an offsite copy of your data! Plus, our new insure:IT Backup Solution will enable you to ‘plug back in’ and start working from any location—even if you and your staff are forced to maintain a “virtual” office for a period of time.

That’s Why We’re Pulling Out All The Stops To Give You A FREE Month Of Service!
Why would we do this? Couple of reasons… Because we’re in a giving mood.  So if you call us before May 31st, we’ll give you the first month of service absolutely free! Second, we know you are just busy and probably not thinking about your backups. After all, if it’s not broken, why fix it, right? Wrong! If your seat belt in your car was broken, you’d have it fixed ASAP even if you weren’t planning on crashing anytime soon. Same goes with your data backup. We hope you NEVER have to resort to an emergency backup, but if you do, you can have complete peace of mind knowing your data will be there and you can continue working regardless of what happens.

To secure your first month of FREE service, call NOW: 901.383.1050 or e-mail us at info@vtgtn.com. Click here to download a brochure on our insure:IT Backup Solution.

What’s the most common password?  You guessed it…”password.” Obviously this is not the best way to protect yourself against hackers and online thieves. But even if you don’t use the word “password,” you might be using an equally easy password to decipher.  We suggest you DON’T use the following passwords for really important web sites, such as your online banking web site or other financially related sites.

• Your name or your spouse’s name.
• Your children’s names.
• Your pet’s name.
• Your birth date.
• The last four digits of your Social Security number.
• Your phone number.
• Your address.
• A series of consecutive numbers, such as “1, 2, 3, 4.”
• A single word that would appear in a dictionary.

Your best bet for creating a strong password: Use combinations of letters, numbers and special characters.

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.

Welcome to VTG’s news blog!  We hope to keep our clients and contacts informed of the most recent developments in technology and what’s happening here at Versatile Technology Group.