Info-Tech Advisor Newsletter articles from June 2002

Info-Tech Advisor Newsletter archives from June 2002

Star Employees: Are They Management Material?
June 11, 2002... Sources: (InformationWeek Article, The Rational Edge Article, USAWeekend.com Article) The knowledge and talents that make you a star employee do not translate into an automatic pass to the management suite. If you really want to be a...

Power Up Ethernet Cabling.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (Andy Freeman Tutorial, HyperLink Technologies Web Site, IEEE Web Site, NYCwireless Tutorial) Powering often out-of-the-way network devices, such as Wireless Access Points located on rooftops, can be a potentially expensive...

What Spare Parts Should I Keep on Hand?
June 11, 2002... Sources: (News.com Article, TechRepublic Articles, ZDNet Article) Even the most efficient of businesses can be stopped dead in its tracks by a shortage of functioning spare parts, especially if hardware is not your forte. To ensure this...

Speeding SSL Encryption.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (Computer Technology News Article, F5 Networks White Paper, Network Computer Article, New Architect Article, TechRepublic Article) SSL accelerators work to offload resource-intensive authentication and key generation SSL tasks...

How to Assure Taxonomy Quality.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (Intelligent Enterprise Article, NewsEdge White Paper, EContent Magazine Article) Your best-laid plans for content management have ended up as mismatched file folders scattered throughout your network. Chances are that your...

Preparing For The Future: An IT Job Rotation Strategy.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (BusinessFinanceMag.com Article, TechRepublic Article, TrendScope.net Article) For many organizations, employee career development revolves around outside training. While this is effective to a large degree, the hands-on...

Outsourcing Your E-mail: A Plausible Alternative.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (Computerworld ROI Article, Ferris Research White Paper, Information Week Article, Serverworld Magazine Article) Outsourcing your company's e-mail to a third-party vendor can allow your IT department to focus its energy on other,...

PDA Security Best Practices.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (SANS Institute Articles, ZDNet Article) PDAs have evolved over the years, with features and functionality that rival even desktop computers. Like any intelligent device, PDAs also represent a major security vulnerability for...

Layer 2 Switch Selection Guide.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (CrossNodes Article, Network Computing Feature, Network Magazine India Article, Network World Fusion Article, Strategic Networks Report) Most companies buy more Layer 2 switches for their wiring closets than any other kind of...

Info-Tech's New Vendor Research Center Debuts.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (Info-Tech Research Group Research Center) We've refocused our vendor research efforts to bring you more high-quality research and analysis on IT products and services. Our new Vendor Research Center features six major categories,...

Loads of Help with Active Directory.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (Aelita Software Guide) Adopting a new directory architecture is no easy task. If you have questions about Microsoft Active Directory, chances are you will find an answer in Tips and Tricks Guide to Windows 2000 Active Directory, a...

LCD Monitor Buyer's Guide.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (PCWorld.com Article, Business 2.0 Web Site) Though they haven't swept the computing world's desktops as was predicted a few years ago, slim LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors are a legitimate (not to mention cool) alternative...

A Guide to E-mail Management.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (Goodexperience.com Article) Managing the glut of incoming e-mail is an efficiency skill that everybody needs to develop. Mark Hurst, the president of Web usability consultancy Good Experiences, Inc., has put together some common...

Create a User Back-up Tip Sheet.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (PCWorld.com Feature) All of the network contingency planning in the world will be for naught if a single PC user forgets to back up an important file and suffers a system crash. Develop a tip sheet for desktop backup and...

E-Business Strategic Planning Methodology.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (Info-Tech Research Group) Whether you realize it or not, you're already engaged in e-business, be it communicating electronically with your business partners, running a corporate Web site, or automating day-to-day business...

Monitor Exchange with ExRay.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (IntelliReach Corporation) IntelliReach has just released ExRay 1.0, a utility designed to keep an eye on Microsoft Exchange. IntelliReach claims that administrators can expect to watchdog Exchange efficiently and easily with...

Google Search Appliance.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (Google) Google's latest offering is an out-of-the-box search and retrieval solution that integrates full Google search capabilities with enterprise networks. This self-contained unit can be administered in-house. It features: ...

Holding the Fort with CyberGatekeeper.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (InfoExpress) Your company spends enough money securing remote users, but how can you guarantee their PCs are running the proper applications? CyberGatekeeper is the new server from InfoExpress that rounds out a suite of products...

Netscape 7 Preview Release 1.
June 11, 2002... Sources: (Netscape Communications) Netscape has just released a preview version of Netscape 7. This latest edition boasts an array of impressive features, while still retaining Netscape's traditional approach to usability and Web...

Replace your T1s for 50 bucks a month.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (Law Office Computing Article, Net To Net Technologies White Paper, Paradyne Networks White Paper, PBS Web Site Article) Expanding your network to remote offices often entails deploying a VPN (virtual private network) over the...

Enforce non-disclosure with these policies.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (GigaLaw.com Articles, TechRepublic Articles) Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) are supposed to protect your interests. But what you may not know is that an improperly phrased or poorly drafted NDA can result in expensive litigation....

Bottom line on desktop publishing duel.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (creativepro.com Article, Designer-Info.com Reviews, Macworld Article, vnunet.com Article) If the desktop publishing (DTP) needs of your department or organization have gone beyond the capabilities of word processors, Adobe...

Remote control revs up tech support.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (Network Computing Magazine Article, TechRepublic Articles) While remote control (RC) tools aren't new, many IT support professionals were disappointed with early releases. Fortunately, things have changed. Explore your RC options...

Save some green with Virtual LAN-scaping.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (Da LAN Tech Article, HostingTech.com Article, Howstuffworks Article, Network World Fusion Article) Layer 3 switches only make up six percent of today's switched port installed base. Chances are that they're not on your...

Defuse the ticking time bomb of conflict.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (R.V. Armstrong Associates Article, Center for the Study of Work Teams Report, National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance Article, Small Business Marketing Management Resource Center Article) Synergy--the positive...

Build a free Primary Domain Controller.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (CrossNodes Article, IBM Tutorial, PC Alamode Magazine Review, Samba Web Site) Have you ever been interrogated by users who want to know why they can't share applications between vastly different platforms? If so, then you should...

Database insecurities: are hackers winning by default?
June 24, 2002... Sources: (CERT Coordination Center, Network Magazine Article, SQLSecurity.Com Web Site) Microsoft SQL and Oracle 9iA servers are susceptible to attack from your very own Web server through remote information requests. The biggest crack in...

Info-Tech's IT Job Descriptions Bank.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (Info-Tech Research Group Web Center) Job descriptions are about more than outlining individual staff responsibilities. They also help define standardize job expectations and provide a measuring stick for performance evaluations....

Continuity tips for Exchange 2000.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (Windows IT Library Book Chapter) If e-mail is the communications lifeblood of many organizations, Microsoft Exchange server is the beating heart of many e-mail infrastructures. An unrecoverable failure of this resource can be...

Java plus Python equals Jython.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (Jython.org Web Site, O'Reilly Network Article, SourceForge.net Web Site) Here's a cool idea: combine the programming power of a high level object-oriented scripting language (Python) with the platform independence of Java....

Database `Mini Me' for development projects.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (DevX Article) Developing a new database application can call for considerable server overhead if you create a staging server complete with a copy of the database. This DevX tutorial offers an alternative: create a fully...

Notebook computer review roundup.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (PC Magazine Review) There was a time that the notebook computer, like today's personal digital assistant, was considered something of a fringe device--an executive toy that might have some use to business road warriors. For many...

Test web services performance.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (Empirix) Web services have cracked application sharing across diverse platforms wide open, but the extra layer that Web Services add can put a drain on application performance. If you're adopting Web services, then performance...

Let end users FTP like pros.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (Ipswitch, Inc.) Transferring files via e-mail attachment or uploading a file to an Internet server using a browser are not always the best ways to get your files where they need to be. If you'd like to empower users to FTP their...

Tiny storage device packs a wallop.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (Sony Electronics Inc.) Sometimes you have to physically transport electronic files from Point A to Point B. Yet with the increased use of multimedia, these files are getting too fat for traditional floppy disks. Sony's Micro...

Much Ado about Adobe.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (Adobe) The latest incarnations of Photoshop and FrameMaker (7, to be precise) offer a range of additional features, as well as improvements on pre-existing functions. Here are a few changes in Adobe's much-venerated software...

Ease update download and deployment.
June 24, 2002... Sources: (St. Bernard Software) The need to download and install software updates isn't going away anytime soon. To help you bypass performing these tasks manually, St. Bernard Software has just released version 5.1 of their highly...