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Volume 3, Issue 4 - April, 2008 - © 2009 by Moose Logic, All Rights Reserved
Cover Story: I Have A Dirty Secret...
Let’s Talk About Mobility (And Synchronizing Email With Mobile Devices)
Is It Legal For Employers To Monitor Their Employees’ Computers?
Questions To Ask Yourself When You’re Bored…
Moose Logic Coming Events
(Moose Views is a monthly newsletter prepared by Moose Logic to bring you information and tips on maintaining a trouble-free network)
I Have A Dirty Secret...
I have a dirty secret to confess…I don’t clean my computer as often as I should. Yes, I’ve shaken the crumbs out of the keyboard from time to time just like everyone else, but that could hardly constitute as a “cleaning.”
With Spring in the air, I thought this would be a good opportunity to remind everyone (myself included) to clean out those dirty PCs. After all, you should do this every 3 to 4 months. And, it’s not just for sanitation purposes…
The electromagnetic field generated by your computer helps to make sure that any dust and dirt sucked in by the cooling fans will stick around. Just take a look at the back of your PC near the fan vent. Pretty gross, huh?
It’s Not Just Dirty...It’s Dangerous!
The dust clogging those vents will cause your system to heat up—and heat is the biggest cause of component
failure in computers. Yep, that dirt and dust can end up shutting down your PC and costing you real money!
Cleaning your PC can also prevent the spread of germs. Keyboards are breeding grounds for all kinds of infectious and nasty critters and multiple studies have proven there are more germs on the average keyboard than the average toilet!
Now that I’ve completely put you off your lunch, let me give you a general overview of how to clean your computer…
A Warning Before You Start Scrubbing
Never spray or squirt any type of liquid onto ANY part of your computer. If a spray is needed, spray the liquid onto a cloth and then use that cloth to rub down the component. You NEVER want to get any of the components inside the computer wet and you don’t want to spray cleaner directly onto a computer screen!
Also, when vacuuming the dust INSIDE your computer, make sure you use one that was designed specifically for the job and not the one in your closet. Standard vacuums create static electricity that can damage the internal components of your computer. Instead, use a portable battery powered vacuum designed to do this job.
You will also need:
- A screwdriver to open the computer case; just be very careful not to unplug, unscrew, or knock anything out of place!
- A can of compressed air.
- A computer-approved cleaning liquid such as rubbing alcohol or mild cleaning agent like dish liquid diluted down.
- Cotton swabs (Q-tips).
- A lint-free cotton cloth.
Before you begin, turn off your computer. I like to start by sucking out all the dirt, hair, and dust with a vacuum. Do an extra good job around any ventilation locations as they will help to keep a steady airflow thereby keeping your internal components cooler.
When cleaning the fan, I suggest you hold the fan or place something in between the fan blades to prevent them from spinning. Avoid spraying compressed air into a fan or cleaning it with your vacuum
since it may cause
damage to some models. Compressed air is great for getting all the crumbs, dust, and dirt out of your keyboard, but be sure to also wipe down the keys and surface of the keyboard (that nasty cold or flu might still be hiding out on it)!
When cleaning the monitor, use a lint-free cloth (like the one you use to clean your eyeglasses). Paper towels, dryer sheets, and other cloths may scratch the monitor. Also, never use Windex or a commercial cleaning product, and never spray anything directly onto the screen.
Let’s Talk About Mobility (And Synchronizing Email With Mobile Devices)
Back in January, we ran an article about how SSL certificates worked, and we briefly touched on their importance in a Windows Mobile environment. (If you don’t have that issue, you can download it from www.mooselogic.com/news.) In this issue, we’re going to talk more about mobility in general, and Windows Mobile in particular.
First of all, I don’t have anything against BlackBerry devices. When I worked for a larger company (that
had a BlackBerry Enterprise server) I carried one, and it worked just fine. But most smaller businesses
aren’t going to want to deal with a separate BlackBerry Enterprise server. And, yes, if you’re not going to
need to support more than 30 users, you can now use their BlackBerry Professional software to handle Exchange
synchronization, but it’s still a separate product to buy (at approximately $100/user), install, and manage.
The beauty of Windows Mobile devices is that if you’re running Exchange 2003 (including the Small Business Server 2003 version) or Exchange 2007, the support is already there—all you have to do is turn it on. Then you configure your Windows Mobile devices to point to the same URL that you use for Outlook Web Access (OWA), and you’re done. Well, OK, almost done.
OWA, and therefore ActiveSync with Windows Mobile devices, uses SSL encryption to secure communication with the Exchange server. That means you’re going to have to put an SSL certificate on your OWA Web server (which may or may not be your Exchange server, but probably is). And that means that you’re going to have to either buy one from a public “Certification Authority,” or use a self-issued certificate. Either way, as we discussed in our January article, your Windows Mobile devices will need to have the appropriate “root certificate” installed in their local certificate stores, or they will not “trust” the SSL certificate that your server presents, and the connection will fail.
Here’s where it gets tricky. Your Pocket PC Phone or SmartPhone doesn’t have as much storage as your desktop or laptop, so it doesn’t ship with as many built-in root certificates. You can find a list on Microsoft TechNet of the certificates that ship with Windows Mobile 5 and 6 at http://tinyurl.com/2pez2v. If you want to use a certificate from a CA not on that list (and that would include self-issued certificates), you could be in for trouble.
You need to have “management access” to your Windows Mobile device in order to add certificates to the certificate store. Some mobile operators give their subscribers that level of access and some don’t. Most Pocket PC phones will allow it, but many SmartPhones won’t. Some operators provide specific certificate installation utilities for their telephones, some don’t. Sometimes there are workarounds, sometimes there aren’t. To my knowledge, there is no definitive list of which mobile devices are locked down and which aren’t. And if you ask the salesperson at the cellular phone sales kiosk, s/he probably won’t even know what you’re talking about.
So, if you want to avoid SSL certificate headaches, here are some recommendations:
- Find out what kinds of Mobile devices are already out there in your organization, and decide whether you will (or can) support them..
- If you’re going to let your employees purchase their own phones, be prepared to mandate what the minimum requirements must be if they want to synchronize with your Exchange server. (Our recommendation: Mobile 5 or later.)
- Buy a certificate from a public CA that is on the list cited above. The first time you burn half a day trying to get a phone to sync with your server, you will have wasted more money than the certificate will cost you.
- Have someone who knows what they’re doing help you set it up. (That would be us….)
Is It Legal For Employers To Monitor Their Employees’ Computers?
Courts have ruled that an employer’s monitoring of its employees’ e-mails and other computer related activities during work hours and/or on company-owned equipment, Internet, and e-mail accounts is not illegal.Companies typically monitor employees’ online usage for the following reasons:
- To avoid claims based on sexual, racial, ethnic, and other forms of harassment.
- To protect against an employee sending or posting confidential information.
- To reduce exposure to intellectual property infringement claims.
- To decrease the likelihood that an embarrassing message attributed to the employer will be sent.
- To guard against computer viruses.
- To improve productivity.
Moose Logic’s MooseGuardTM spam and virus filtering service (powered by Postini) is capable of enforcing filtering rules on outbound email as well as blocking spam and viruses from your inbound email. We can also help with email archiving solutions that can save you endless time and trouble if you’re ever involved in a legal discovery process or regulatory compliance action.
Questions To Ask Yourself When You’re Bored…
- Why isn’t there mouse-flavored cat food?
- How can you tell when you’ve run out of invisible ink?
- What is a free gift? Aren’t all gifts free?
- When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
- If practice makes perfect, and nobody’s perfect, why practice?
- How can there be self-help groups?
- Before the invention of drawing boards, what did people go back to?
- How come you never hear about ‘gruntled’ employees?
- Further, if disgruntled employees are unhappy, are gruntled employees happy?
- What should you do if an endangered animal is eating an endangered plant?
- What happens if you are scared half to death, twice?
- Are cemetery workers always on the graveyard shift?
- Why does your nose run and your feet smell?
- Isn’t ‘jumbo shrimp’ an oxymoron?
- If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
- If you are a complete pessimist, does it mean you are positively negative?
- Is there such a thing as a closet claustrophobic?
