Yes, the software giant headed by one of the world’s wealthiest men is an easy target for bashing whenever we’re faced with issues involving our Windows based personal computers.  How many times have you exclaimed or heard someone exclaim in frustration, “Windows SUCKS!” whenever a computer runs into a problem?  It is probably a pretty frequent occurrence – I know in my line of work I hear it constantly.  The complaints that Microsoft can’t make a decent operating system.  The complaints that Windows just doesn’t work right.  The complaints that Windows crashes all the time….

I know a number of people that have sworn off Windows based PC’s and moved to Apple – adopting both their standard desktop O/S and their newer mobile device O/S as the base for all of their personal computing.  Unfortunately what I also hear are the complaints about these platforms as well.  Every piece of technology has its own list of pro’s and con’s.

Trust us, a hammer doesn't fix it...

The one thing that the now gadget champion Apple does get right and always has is the basic principle of – software runs better on good hardware.  In recent years, Apple has moved away from their old Motorola based RISC processing hardware sets to more industry standard and PC-friendly Intel processing platforms.  Yet, they still build their products on a more robust and sturdy hardware set and charge a premium for it.  Honestly, is their operating system and software set worth the $1799.00 starting price tag for a 15-inch MacBook Pro?  Not for the software alone – no it is not.  But they base their software ALWAYS on a robust, high-end hardware set.  Not just the latest names, but actually good, quality hardware.

Is that laptop with all the bells and whistles that you got on sale for $299.00 at your local big box store built on a robust, high-end hardware set?  If you think it is, I have some magic beans you might be interested in…

So if you’re not running Windows on good hardware, can you definitely say for certain that Windows itself is what is failing you, or could it be any one of the thousands of complex chips, devices or resident applications that have to run within Windows, dependent on that same hardware, that might be failing you and causing those blue screens?  Should Microsoft really be responsible for making their operating systems to ensure they work with every piece of hardware that comes pressed together by $.12 per day workers in Asian 3rd world countries?

I say no.

After all, Windows XP Pro has been running on my IBM ThinkPad for 4-years now and daily, I have no complaints about how my laptop works.  My desktop in my office runs constantly and is rebooted less than once every other week and is error free daily.  Solid hardware = good O/S performance.  Windows is Windows regardless of the PC you put it on; the hardware makes a huge difference.

Why are graphics workstations so expensive?  Because they are based on some of the must rugged and well made hardware in the industry.  Why do they need to be?  Because multimedia application for video, audio and graphics editing are brutes when it comes to system resources.  High-memory allocation and repetitive tasks that tax the hardware even more than the operating system.  This is the same reason Apple systems are lauded as being ideal for graphics professionals.

Getting the picture?  No pun intended, of course.

So the next time your computer blue-screens, before you start cursing Microsoft Windows as being the ruination of all things computing, think about the computer you’re actually using.  And if it was a discount special from your local big-box store, remember your current feeling of frustration the next time you go out to buy a new computer.

You don’t have to spend $1799.00 just to get quality – but if you spent $299.00 I can assure you, you got the level of quality you paid for.

The Easiest Target is a post from: @ Blog

Proponents of Cloud Computing Solutions often discuss the silver linings and ignore the potential for a storm...

His situation became desperate when his Google account had been hacked, hijacked and all of his data was lost.

Lost-lost.

He couldn’t even access his account until reaching out to Google to have his account credentials reset, but once was able to access his account again he found empty folders, an empty in-box and I’m sure a very empty feeling in the pit of his stomach.  After weeks, literally weeks of going around Google’s security procedures and contacting Google directly, providing them information to prove he was the account owner, he was able to retrieve all of his files and get everything back to where he needed it to be.  But how do you measure the cost in lost time and opportunity while dealing with this issue?  The bottom line answer for most small businesses is, you can’t.

This is the equivalent of a business production server having a disk failure and not being able to perform any disaster recovery because the server doesn’t trust the new disk drive is the one it should give the data to.  If a disaster recovery solution took weeks to implement an get a business back up and running, would you not fire the IT manager that implemented such a solution?

I know I would.

This is one of the problems with going to an exclusively Cloud Environment in business.  Sure it is convenient and cost effective for many businesses, but does it offer the level of flexibility and security that you want if something does go wrong?  And what happens if you’re cut off from your data?  Maybe not even a security breech or other account failure – what happens if you or your Cloud Provider is cut off from the Cloud for some reason?  What then?  What is the back-up plan?

For every benefit of Cloud computing, there is at least one significant drawback as well.  Most have to do with connectivity, access and security.  While normally a provider like Google is very reliable providing backups and redundant systems, if you don’t keep all of your security informational ducks in a row, you could find yourself in a situation like my colleague did.

The first thing – no matter what you are doing with social media, if it is a part of your business or not, any business type cloud services through providers like Google, Yahoo or MSN, should be kept separate and never touch your social media.  So many people unwittingly compromise their own security installing rogue Facebook apps designed to steal account passwords, or by clicking short-links in Twitter, while using their primary G-Mail, Yahoo or Hotmail account as their login name or primary email for the social media accounts.  All too often, not only do people use the same email addresses, but they use the same logon passwords for their email and their social media.  That is our number two no-no.  All email, Cloud Services and Social Media passwords

should be significantly unique and individualized.  Any similarities, although they help you remember, they make the passwords easier to crack if one is obtained.  Created different passwords and keep a paper log and an encrypted or password secured file of what your passwords.

We love XKCD. The truth about passwords - click the image to view their site.

A good rule of thumb is to have at least 2 email accounts: one for your primary business services and one for creating and identifying social media and other online service accounts.

Many web hosting service providers allow you unlimited email and message filtering from the server.  We are a huge proponent of using your business’s custom domain as your primary business email.  Services like G-Mail will usually allow you to link the two, and for marketing purposes you always want your domain front and center with your clients.  But in addition to that, having control over your own mail server gives you the option of creating email accounts for use exclusively online, thereby sheltering your primary accounts from the additional dangers and exposure.

Point number three is don’t depend on JUST Cloud services for your essential business data.  Most providers allow you to create client email connections such as Outlook to retrieve email.  These client connections can be set to both leave messages on the mail server of your provider as well as saving a copy locally on your PC.  Having your own record of these emails can save you if your connection to email is disrupted or if an error causes your server copy email to be deleted.  Important files should also have a local home in your office.  Products such as the Buffalo Networking Linkstation can be employed as a secure network storage device to keep a password protected copy of important business files locally, again in the event of a connection disruption or a loss of data with your provider.

And always – ALWAYS – use common sense and discretion when using social media.  If you’re on Facebook for business, ask yourself, “Do I really need to give this game/media application access to my single sign-on credentials?”  Think about the links and responses you click carefully.  Even today I received a Facebook message from an

account called Fącebooƙ Șecuriƫy telling me my account was out of compliance and I needed to follow a link and answer questions about my account.  Aside from the obvious character substitution which someone else may or may not notice, I asked myself, “Would Facebook really be sending me a message on Facebook about security, or would they email me?”  I’m 99.99% sure they would email it, since that is the way I get all Facebook notifications.  Message deleted, link not followed.  However I can see a lot of less experience users following that link for fear their account will be deleted.

These are some of the things that users need to be aware of though when using Cloud Computing Services and Social Media together.

For more information please email us at questions@aspiretechnet.com.

The Potential (Horrors) of Cloud Computing is a post from: @ Blog

Protesters on Wall Street

I read an article this week on CNN.com in which the author discussed what has changed in government over the past twenty of so years that has put us in the position we’re in as a nation today.  That position being, on the verge of government bankruptcy at the federal and state levels, record setting deficits, a national unemployment average of close to 10%, more people under the poverty line than ever in history…  well, you know the rest.  It simply isn’t good out there.  Practically everywhere you look people are living in despair – jobless, trying to make ends meet, simply doing their best to survive day to day.  Meanwhile the government goes in circles, is ineffective at creating any meaningful, positive change and the situation grows worse instead of better.

As the author explains, a large portion of this ineffectiveness is because the unwritten rules of government have changed.  In the past, Presidents and Congress of opposing parties would still work together – where Congressional members wouldn’t vote on Presidential proposals simply based on party lines, but cooperation would exist to keep government moving.  Today the party members oppose each other for the sake of opposing each other and being able to claim on their marketing collateral later that they took a hard line on their respective issues.  This constant opposition grinds the gears of progress and the things that need to happen from a government directive fail to happen.

In another section, the author describes what government used to be like.  Representatives these days are expected to be socially perfect.  Where a few indiscretions, errors of judgment and personality flaws were commonplace back in the day, these days such things are used as political bullets to try and depose rival candidates.  The result:  we have a government full of politicians, not representatives.  They’re not us – they don’t understand what the people they need to represent truly deal with on a daily basis and worst off all, they can’t do the jobs they are elected to do properly.  Sure, our Congress after World War II might have been filled with drunkards, womanizers and men with a wide variety of other personality flaws – but damn it, they could balance a budget and keep the national debt reasonable.

Modern Problems in a Modern World

Times have obviously changed.  As I was taught in school, our nation’s founders that penned the constitution realized times would change and create a document that could be changed with the times.  But the idea behind that was to make the changes needed to keep it effective and keep the government strong under the ideals of which it was originally founded.

Times have changed.  The government changes too – unfortunately not for the betterment of our nation.

Protesters on Wall Street

And just as unfortunately, the changes that need to take place won’t happen because it means taking something out of the pockets of those that represent us in government.  In this government based now more on greed and self-service, why would any representative vote to do that?

Asking the government to change itself for the better would be like asking lions to switch to a healthier vegetarian diet.  They’re not going to change and you will probably be their next meal.

How do we fix it?  It wouldn’t be easy – but that which has been broken over time cannot be repaired in a day.  I think we live in an overly litigious society already – I’m rarely in favor of passing more laws, but these are some that need to be put on the books.

First thing we need to do is take the money out of government.  More specifically, we have to stop allowing our government to be ruled ultimately by those that have money.  Special interest and big business lobbyists, Wall Street and the banking industry have got to stop being the cash cow of representatives.  Campaigns have got to stop being run on multi-million dollar marketing campaigns where the richest or those that pander to the richest are the only candidates with a chance of actually being elected.  Campaign donations have to be limited to an amount that anyone above the poverty line can afford and there has to be level financial playing field for EVERY candidate – not just Republicans and Democrats.

What power do we hold to force these changes?  We do have the power to vote and make changes come election time.  But making these changes would require our society to educate themselves more regarding the issues at hand.  It would require us to demand better service from our representatives, not just demanding that they be better people.  Ask not what your representatives do behind their bedroom door, but ask what they will do for YOU on the floor of Congress.  That is what really matters.

It would also require the voting majority to drop the staunch party line vote that has lead to the changing of he unwritten rules discussed in the CNN article.

Again, as I have stated in my previous blog entries the change we desire needs to start with us.  We can’t depend on those that have allowed the situation to get as desperate as it currently is to make the changes needed to correct the problems.

How desperate is America to make these changes?  The vast majority of Americans should be desperate.  Extremely desperate.  Yet America still has an unhealthy percentage of eligible voters not registered to vote, and low voter turn out in elections.

And the ones that do vote are usually the ones choosing to maintain the status quo instead of choosing to look at options that can improve our nation.  Almost as if America over time has been pressed into a feeling of learned helplessness, a majority choose to do nothing and accept their fate instead of working to create a better future.

Unfortunately, we are the only ones that can enact that change.  There just simply aren’t enough people that care and are willing to do what it takes.

Changing the Rules Without Us is a post from: @ Blog