Over the years I have seen numerous examples of poor computer use and maintenance ranging from simply outdated applications to damaged hardware by water, coffee, soda, fire…you name it. In hopes that at least a few people will read this and by doing so improve their own computing experience I have put together a little guide on basic, somewhat fundamental …
Double task items in Outlook 2007
I did some Outlook tweaking and tinkering this morning and noticed all of a sudden double entries for my task (to-do list) items. However if you try to delete one, both entries of the same task are gone. Weird, but there’s a solution: Close Outlook and restart it by going to Start -> Run then type “outlook.exe /resettodobar” Once your …
Anti-Virus software
In today’s world where network and system security is of great importance and we live and operate behind firewalls, VPNs, SSH, encryption, anti-virus software and many other tools that help make us more secure, it is often difficult figuring out that winning combo to stay safe online and protect your personal information. One component that in a sense started it …
Windows 7 is almost here, but will it be worth the wait?
Windows 7 will be released into the wild on October 22, 2009 and will bring many improvements over Vista while simultaneously introducing new features. Being in the IT field I was fortunate enough to play with Windows 7 since its early RC days and must say that it is (or soon will be) the best operating system released by Microsoft …
Selecting the most valuable conference to attend
It’s been a while since I went to a real professional conference (been to a number of one day seminars, presentations and demos), but not a real targeted conference. I think it’s time to change this and become more involved in the technology world outside my immediate area. Also, considering that I’m planning to introduce additional improvements within our team …
Friends don’t let friends go phishing
Recent phishing schemes targeting Microsoft’s Hotmail, Google’s Gmail, Yahoo and other e-mail providers represent a new larger wave of an ever-present problem and it once again emphasizes the importance of educating your users, clients and staff how to recognize threats and stay away from them. Basic things to remember: – Your bank, IT staff, utility company or any other service …
Please talk to your IT staff
When purchasing new hardware, software of have questions about a particular technology please consult your IT staff (if available to you of course) prior to making the purchase. Having someone with a bit more technical experience and knowledge take a look at your specifications and technology needs can be of great help in the long run. If nothing else, it’s …
Good record keeping
We are in the process of moving all of our documentation, forms, and files online (or at least to digital format) and while working on that today we came across a couple of old installation forms from 1999. These forms are 10 years old! The people (if they are still here) have most likely received 2 new computers since then …
Laptops are not for everyone
Here’s a clear example of why laptops are NOT for everyone. This particular user has already abused their laptop in the past which was replaced by the university, but now they have done it again. Their current machine is scratched and dented on every side of the chassis. Looking at the battery we can also safely say that it was …
Our trusty SNAP Server
Today starts a week (spring break for all but professional staff) of catching up on our own internal, departmental projects and priorities and one of the first things I started is a fresh reformat of our old trusty SNAP server. We had it for many years and have decided to re purpose it for software and tools management and in …