Info-Tech Advisor Newsletter articles from November 2002

Info-Tech Advisor Newsletter archives from November 2002

Survey your staff's desktop requirements.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (Info-Tech Research Group Article) A good place to start with your desktop support and software licensing strategy is to get a snapshot of what your users are doing with their desktop computers. Most employees see a personal...

Find WLAN access points a happy home.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (802.11-Planet Tutorials, PC Magazine Article, Wireless-Net Consulting Services Article, ZDNet Tech Update Article) Deciding where to deploy and install wireless access points can be a tricky job if you've never dealt with radio...

Metadata dangers in MS Office apps.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (LawNet Article, Microsoft Product Support Services Tutorials, Microsystems Article, WAMS Article) Whenever you create a Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file, all of your edits, changes, and comments are stored within the file...

Carve up Exchange 2000 for easy admin.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (Storage Admin.com Article, Windows & .NET Magazine Articles) Backing up vast amounts of e-mail data is pointless unless the process is extremely disciplined. Fortunately, Exchange 2000 has an Information Store (IS) architecture...

The (lost) art of corporate storytelling.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (Ben Bryant Paper, Creatingthe21stCentury.org Address, Michael Lissack Article, SmartLeadership.Com Article) Even with all the advancements in communication technology, the simple art of storytelling is still one of the most...

WebDAV: web content management's best kept secret.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (ADVISOR.com Article, Cover Pages Article, Internet Computing Article, O'Reilly Network Article) Today's Web development teams are not always housed under one roof. If you're looking for an easier way to remotely create and manage...

Storage certification: strategic investment?
November 11, 2002... Sources: (CertMag.com Article, Enterprise Storage Forum Articles, GoCertify Web Site, ITworld.com Articles) Storage technology has advanced swiftly in recent years, yet certification courses have developed slowly. Fortunately, there exist a...

Look out Acrobat, here comes xDocs!
November 11, 2002... Sources: (InformationWeek.com Article, Internet News Article, IT Architect Advisor Article, Microsoft Web Site, ZDNet Articles) For many organizations, Adobe Acrobat is the preferred way of delivering richly formatted forms over an intranet...

Say goodbye to packaged app bugs.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (CSO Magazine Article, CW360 Article, InformationWeek.com Articles) Many IT decision makers spend thousands of dollars on buggy software, leading to chronic crashes and gaping security holes. Money spent on fixes is money that...

PC buying tips from Aberdeen.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (Aberdeen Group Web Site) IT managers are busy enough with their daily duties without having to sort through a glut of PC offerings crowding the marketplace. Luckily, the folks at Aberdeen Group publish a weekly report to help you...

IT architecture ... according to NC.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (State of North Carolina IRM Web Site) Thanks to rigorous state laws, many government agencies are required to make public all knowledge of the IT systems they use. In accordance with this legislation, North Carolina's Information...

Free assessment guide for BI apps.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (Intelligent Enterprise Article) There's a lot of confusion and contradiction out there regarding business intelligence (BI) technology. The result is that many a company has become frustrated with underperforming BI software due...

Classify your processes with an uber-taxonomy.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (American Productivity & Quality Center White Paper) The American Productivity & Quality Center's International Benchmarking Clearinghouse developed their "Process Classification Framework" to help companies and organizations see...

Avoid e-mail spats.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (Owen Graduate School of Management Abstract) As we all know, e-mail is simply a horrid vehicle of expression when it comes to conveying tone. Many of the social cues we as humans have taken for granted are just not present in...

Get your SQL Server patches now!
November 11, 2002... Sources: (Microsoft Corp.) Yes, it's that time again--time to patch up your Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or SQL Server 2000. This latest round of cumulative patches addresses vulnerability threats that were announced in early October, as well...

Find that killer job at TopCoder.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (TopCoder, Inc.) TopCoder's Employment Services recently announced its Candidate Recruiting Program for placing software developers and engineers at high-profile organizations. Members of the TopCoder Web site will be notified...

Eiffel for .NET.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (Eiffel Software, Inc.) The latest version of EiffelStudio from Eiffel Software incorporates new coding that allows the development program to interoperate and share code with any .NET language. This is of particular interest for...

Free network monitoring.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (Netplex Technologies) SNIPS (System and Network Integrated Polling Software) is an open-source application for monitoring networks based on Unix platforms. SNIPS supports monitoring for 25+ devices and services in large networks,...

Java tools upgrade from Oracle.
November 11, 2002... Sources: (Oracle Corp.) Last week, Oracle Corp. released an updated version of their JDeveloper tool that now supports J2EE 1.3 standards. This is good news for developers writing Web applications running on Java servers and other...

Make changes without making enemies.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (Inc.com Article, inSight Article, ManagementEzine.com Article, Optimize Magazine Article, Sundance Consulting Article) You need to announce a technology change that's going to affect how people work. Not everyone's going to like...

Storage deals: seize the day!
November 26, 2002... Sources: (BusinessWeek Online Article, Darwin Magazine Article, InformationWeek.com Article, InfoWorld Articles) With all the innovations in storage technology, plus myriad vendors fighting for your patronage, now is the time to consider...

Thwart P2P security risks.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (AusCERT.org Advisory, Internet Security Systems White Paper, SC Magazine Article, ZDNet Articles) Employees in your company are using peer-to-peer (P2P) networking technologies. The danger here revolves around users' ignorance...

Passive optical networks: fiber to your door?
November 26, 2002... Sources: (CED Magazine Article, CommWeb Article, In-Stat/MDR Report, NetworkMagazine.com Article) Passive optical networking (PON) is a recent technology being offered by telecommunications companies that delivers data downstream/upstream...

Giving references the right way.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (Buffalo Business First Article, BusinessWeek Articles, Employer-Rights.com Article, hr.cch.com Article, HRhero.com Article, HRnext.com Article, SFGate.com Article) An exiting employee has asked you to provide him/her with a...

Office 11 could force you to upgrade Windows.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (BetaNews.com Article, CNET.com Article, ComputerWorld Article, E-Commerce Times Article) Forget about moving to the next version of Microsoft Office if anybody in your organization is still using Windows 95, 98 or Me. Microsoft...

Boost performance: tune the Linux kernel.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (Cincinnati GNU/Linux Users Group, Free Books Publication, InformIT Article, Red Hat Manual) The Situation Let's say you want to download Linux to an old PC that you plan on turning into a firewall. The problem is that PC...

Self-managing teams optimize performance.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (HRZone Article, Interaction Research Institute Article, ManagementFirst Articles, R.V. Armstrong & Associates Articles) In order to maximize team performance, managers need to create an atmosphere that is conducive to mutual...

Danger beneath the data room floor.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (Data Clean White Paper, Power Quality Magazine Article, Serverworld Magazine Article, Uptime Institute Article) A little-known phenomenon called "zinc whisker contamination" can be the unlikely culprit behind inexplicable server...

Going beyond security: survivability.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute Web Site, CERT Web Site) In the past year you probably have been asked more than once, "Are our systems secure?" To ensure business continuity against potential threats ranging from...

A comprehensive guide to "malware".
November 26, 2002... Sources: (LabMice.net Article) Viruses, worms, Trojans, computer "bombs" and other kinds of malicious software (or "malware") are often referred to generically as "computer viruses." To ensure the best security for your network, you need...

Content mother lode from TechLearn 2002.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (TechLearn 2002 Web Site) TechLearn is an annual conference on e-learning and other learning technologies, sponsored by The MAISIE Center, a think-tank dedicated to the "intersection of learning and technology." If you missed this...

SSL accelerator product guide.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (Network Computing Interactive Buyer's Guide) Network Computing has a new Interactive Buyer's guide which lets you compare more than 50 Secure Socket Layer accelerator products from 14 different vendors. An SSL accelerator can...

Guide to IP Tools.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (InformIT Article) The enormous impact of the Internet on computing has made the Internet Protocol (IP) the networking protocol that many network administrators must worry about first. InformIT contributing expert Ed Tittel notes...

Software-less database management.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (Calpont) Database management without software? It's true--the Novare HDB from Calpont is an all-hardware database management system that operates without software and promises 100 times greater throughput than a typical...

Wristwatch PDA!
November 26, 2002... Sources: (Fossil, Inc.) Dick Tracy-style gadgetry meets the 21st-century with Fossil's new Wrist PDA. Running on Palm OS 4.1, the Wrist PDA looks pretty much like a regular watch, until you download data or electronic business cards via...

Maui Wowie.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (LSI Logic Corp., Emuzed) Finally, hardcore video compression for the media-crazed masses! Semiconductor producer LSI Logic and multimedia provider Emuzed have partnered to create a high-powered PCI PVR card named "Maui." Maui...

Palm's Tungsten gets webby.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (Palm, Inc.) Palm recently announced its plans to bundle the GoWeb enterprise application delivery system with its way-cool Tungsten handheld. GoWeb, a service provided by GoAmerica Communications, performs wireless data packet...

Portable photo printer.
November 26, 2002... Sources: (Hewlett-Packard Company) HP's Photosmart 230 portable color inkjet printer has a color LCD display that lets you preview your photos before printing them. You can also print directly from your digital camera memory card because no...