Network Technician job security is spotted by us regularly in businesses that are not our clients yet, and is caused by those who are new on the job, or who still do not really understand what they are doing.
Case in point:
One of our techs went to pick up his wife, and went into the building. He met one of the two network technicians that work for that company and was told that they were having “network problems”. He asked where their monitoring tools were, and how they managed their network. They had none. He asked how many workstations they had. He was told thirty.
Two network technicians for thirty workstations is NUTS!!! I have to say that in all my years of working in this field, I have never seen such blatant network technician job security.
My point is this – if your network technicians are so bad that they need even one full-time guy for only 30 workstations — get a new technician! FAST! (Unless you really need a tax credit…)
Internet Explorer is a web browser. It is a piece of software that lets you browse the web like a word processor lets you process documents.
There is no such thing as a “safe” web browser, including Internet Explorer, but you CAN be “safer”.
Because of their fancy abilities, web browsers have fancy problems (mainly iFrame in Internet Explorer and JavaScript in all web browsers) that allow criminals to find more and more ways to use your web browser (such as Internet Explorer) to install software onto your computer that you don’t know about, and that are not good for either your computer or you.
The safest web browser for years has been neither Internet Explorer nor Firefox. Rather, it is Opera.
Here are Secunia’s reports on the number of vulnerabilities for the latest version of each in order of amount. (Click on the name to view the report.)
Opera - Can be downloaded from http://www.opera.com/
Firefox - Can be downloaded from http://www.mozilla.com
Internet Explorer - Can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/ie
HOWEVER - using addons for Firefox WILL make it the safest web browser. Use any combination of the following:
NoScdript - stops JavaScript (THE bad guy) unless YOU allow it.
AdBlock Plus - stops a common way to become infected.
FlashBlock - stops a common way to become infected.
There are few case where websites were intentionally written for Internet Explorer only. This is usually the case with mis-guided financial and insurance company websites.
Choose your web browser wisely!
Microsoft Windows Vista Home IS NOT A BUSINESS COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEM.
I know some of you small business owners need to keep expenses down when purchasing computer equipment, but if you make the mistake of purchasing a computer with Microsoft Windows Vista Home on it for your business, your expenses will reach nightmare proportions.
Starting with Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft started trying to keep the cheaper version of Windows out of businesses. Windows XP Home Edition was crippled to the point that it could not join a Microsoft domain (a network with a Microsoft Server on it) but it could still work on a business network if modified a bit.
This is not true with Microsoft Windows Vista Home.
Don’t make this mistake if you are a SMB (Small-Medium Business) owner. It will cost you hours of technical support time and then you will find that you need to purchase Microsoft Windows Vista Business or Ultimate anyway. (Of course either of these is no guarantee that your Microsoft Windows XP-based software will work on your computer…)
Bottom line: If you are a business owner, and are forced into purchasing a new computer with Microsoft Windows Vista on it, don’t throw away your money - buy the Business or Ultimate versions ONLY. (Which you can then upgrade to Microsoft Windows XP Pro.)
Dell Customer Support was called regarding a client who purchased a Dell computer with Microsoft Windows Vista Business installed, and who wants to remove Microsoft Windows Vista Business because it just doesn’t work, and install Microsoft Windows XP Pro - which per the Microsoft website, he is legitimately entitiled to do.
When Dell Customer Support is called however, they will tell you that you must purchase a copy of Windows XP Pro and when you refute that, they will send your call to Microsoft who will refer you to the above link and tell you that Dell must provide you with this key.
Can you see a Catch-22 going on here?
Unless you want a SERIOUS case of frustration, I suggest that any of you non-technical consumers out there do two things:
a) DO NOT purchase ANY computer with Microsoft Windows Vista pre-installed if your purpose is business use of that computer.
b) What ever you do, make sure you know EXACTLY what you want if you purchase a computer from Dell BEFORE you purchase it, because if you don’t you will be translating the Dell Customer Support phone greeting to “Welcome to Hell” very quickly.
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Update added:
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After being on hold with, and talking with Dell Technical Support and Dell Customer Support for a total of more than 3 hours over a two-day period, a real English speaking person agreed to send a Microsoft Windows XP Pro CD.
My thanks and appreciation to this person for being able to reason.
However, one should not have to go through hell to get to Dell
Especially for something that one is legitimately entitled.
Diane, a fantastic web designer and friend of mine asked me what I thought of Matt Cutts (a Google engineer and the most public “face” of Google) blog about a Windows XP exploit in the form of the WMF format vulnerability.
There is enough data in the answer to share it with you as well, so - here is your answer Diane:
__First, please note that his post is dated Dec, 2005 and that the vulnerability was posted by Secunia in Feb, 2004, and that according to Secunia, this Microsoft WMF vulnerability is still unpatched. See the line “Solution Status” here:
http://secunia.com/advisories/10968/
Who is Secunia?
“It is Secunia’s ambition to be the leading vulnerability intelligence provider and distributor in the world - second to none.”
http://corporate.secunia.com/about_secunia/43/history_secunia_management_ceo_cto/
__Secondly, there are multiple WMF-type vulnerabilities (not all are in Microsoft products) as can be seen here:
http://secunia.com/search/?search=wmf&sort_by=date
__Thirdly, you can read about and download the WMF Vulnerability Checker for Windows from Castlecops (a GREAT anti-malware site) here:
http://www.castlecops.com/downloads-file-495-details-WMF_Vulnerability_Checker.html
__Finally, my suggestion is to use another program for viewing graphic files such as IrfanView. When installed, it gives you the choice of defaulting any, or all, graphics files to it as the default viewer. And it’s always been free.
