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Volume 3, Issue 3 - March, 2008 - © 2009 by Moose Logic, All Rights Reserved
Cover Story: 10 Early Warning Signs Of Impending Computer Disasters
The Simple Document That Could Save Your Company From Disaster!
A True Test Of Laziness…
CTI Is Finally Here!
Going On A Trip? Here Are 4 Web Sites You Must Know About
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)
10 Early Warning Signs Of Impending Computer Disasters
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day and those lucky Irish folks, this is my annual reminder that when it comes to
keeping your critical systems running, “Luck is not a strategy!”
Computers rarely stop working overnight. In most cases, there are early warning signs that problems are brewing. Below are 10 surefire signs that you need to get a professional to investigate your network ASAP:
- Your workstation or server starts running very slowly, freezes up, or crashes.
- Your web browser has been changed to another strange browser you’ve never seen before.
- You are getting an unusual amount of pop-up windows, even when you aren't surfing the web.
- You don't know if every computer on your network has the most current virus definitions.
- You don't know if you have a firewall in place or the last time it was updated.
- You haven't attempted to restore your data from a backup tape or other storage device in awhile, and you aren’t checking your backup log for errors.
- You receive e-mails accusing you of sending spam, and/or you find e-mail messages in your “outbox” or “sent” folder that you didn’t send.
- Your computer starts making a grinding, clicking, or loud whirring sound.
- The fan is running faster (or not running at all).
- You are getting a growing number of error messages, and you are forced to create work-arounds to complete certain work tasks.
The old saying of an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is especially true in the world of computers and all things digital; and if you are like most businesses, your computer network is critical to the operation of your business so make sure you don’t procrastinate if any of these signs are present.
Ideally, you should perform regular health checks and maintenance on your network to make sure problems don’t crop up. Here’s why:
- Critical security updates need to be applied promptly to protect you from a constant flow of new hacker attacks. The interval between the time a critical update is released and the time someone reverse-engineers it and creates an exploit for it is down to a few days in some cases.
- Firewall, virus and spyware protection need to be monitored and updated on a daily basis because new attacks are released daily.
- Your data backup system needs to be monitored and tested frequently to ensure easy data recovery in the event of loss. Tapes wear out. Tape drives get dirty. Eventually they will fail, and Murphy’s Law says it will happen at the worst possible time. That’s why you need to frequently monitor your backups.
- Servers and workstations need regular tune-ups to keep them running fast and error free.
- Monitoring of disk space is important to avoid data loss, crashes, and storage problems.
- Server event logs need to be monitored for early alerts to network issues.
In other words, they wait until something stops working and THEN they call in the professionals to fix it. This approach not only costs more in the long run, but it also leaves you vulnerable to more devastating crashes such as data corruption and loss, virus attacks, and extended downtime. Even NEW computers and equipment need regular maintenance because new threats are constantly evolving.
You can drive your car for a while without doing any regular maintenance, too. But sooner or later, something major is going to break, and you’ll end up with a repair bill far larger than it would have cost you to do the preventative maintenance. The same principle hold true for your computer network.
Fortunately, there is an inexpensive and easy way for you to completely avoid - even anticipate and prevent - these problems while making your network far more secure, reliable, and problem free.
We call it MooseGuardTM, and it’s designed specifically for the small to medium business owner that doesn’t have the time, expertise, or staff to perform this regular network maintenance.
Thanks to advancements in support technology, our automated system can now monitor your network 24/7/365 days a year and provide all the maintenance your network needs for a fraction of the time and cost.
For a flat, monthly fee, you’ll get 24/7 automated monitoring of your network to not only ensure that it is running at peak performance, but also to guarantee that your data is being backed up and secured, that your virus definitions are up-to-date, that your firewall is configured properly, that your server is optimized, as well as keep an eye on over 100 system processes and alerts that could spell problems brewing.
If you’re one of our existing MooseGuardTM customers, you already know how valuable the service can be.
If you’re not, wouldn’t it be nice to know what it’s going to cost you this year to keep your critical systems up and running? And you’ll sleep better knowing that your systems are, in effect, “insured”
against critical
problems.
For more information, give us a call, or email info@mooselogic.com. We’ll be glad to schedule a free network audit to alert you to any existing vulnerabilities, and talk with you about how best to protect your business against data loss and the lost productivity that results from system outages.
Oh, and good luck!
The Simple Document That Could Save Your Company From Disaster!
It’s official: end users are the weakest link in the IT security chain. You can set up a firewall, encryption, anti-virus software, and password protection up to your ears, but it won’t save you from the employee who posts his access information to a public web site, or from a “hostile workplace environment” lawsuit if someone is surfing objectionable Web sites, and someone else sees it and is offended.Most security breaches, viruses, spyware, and other network problems are a result of human error—an end user unknowingly downloading an infected file, e-mailing confidential information, or disabling their anti-virus, to name a few
So what is a company to do? While there is no surefire way to keep end users from making mistakes, you can dramatically reduce the number of problems by creating an acceptable use policy (AUP) and training your employees on what is and what is NOT acceptable behavior. And having an AUP that everyone is required to read and sign can be the difference between winning and losing a lawsuit.
But if you want your employees to actually adhere to your security policies, here are a few tips:
- Keep it simple. A long, confusing policy that looks like a legal document is about as easy to read as the instruction manual for your digital camera. Make the policies clear and easy to read. Give examples and include screen shots where necessary.
- Provide group training. Many companies make the mistake of distributing their AUP by e-mail and telling employees they must read it on their own. This gives the employees the option of NOT reading and simply signing and submitting. You don’t need hours of classroom training but a simple 15 or 20-minute session will force even the most reluctant users to learn a thing or two.
- Keep employees updated. Make sure you update employees on a regular basis to keep the policies fresh in their minds and to educate them about new threats.
- Explain the consequences of not following the policy. This is both explaining the negative effects to the business as well as disciplinary actions that will be taken if they refuse to follow policy. Occasional violators should be warned, and habitual violators should be disciplined.
- Monitor their behavior. The best policy in the world won’t work if it’s not enforced. There are many tools on the market that can do this for you automatically.
Not only can we help you create a customized acceptable use policy for your staff, but we can also provide training on the topic and even install network monitoring software to make sure it is enforced. Call us at 206-774-0619 or visit us online at www.mooselogic.com for more info!
A True Test Of Laziness…
A business owner decided that he had had it once and for all with his lazy employeesHe was sick to death of the ten of them. They wouldn’t do what he asked. They sat around at their desks all day staring at their computer screens counting the minutes till they could leave. So he called a meeting at the end of the day, requesting all ten employees to come to his office.
“Ladies and gentleman,” the business owner said. “I have the easiest job in the world, custom made for the laziest employee here. I just need to know which one of you that is. Will the laziest employee please step forward?”
Instantly, nine of the ten employees stepped forward.
The business owner looked at the one employee left behind and asked, “Why didn’t you take a step forward with your co-workers?”
“Too much trouble,” the employee answered.
—Adapted from The Mammoth Book of Humor, edited by Geoff Tibballs
CTI Is Finally Here!
As we were packing and unpacking for our move, I came across an old copy of Moose Views—from 1996! And way back then, 12 years ago, the front page story was about Computer Telephony Integration and how great the world was going to be when we could just talk to our telephone systems and have them understand us, have faxes and voice mail messages delivered to our email inboxes, etc. After 12 years of waiting, we can finally implement that for a small business, and it all actually worksAs part of our move, we put in a new Microsoft Response Point telephone system. (Microsoft doesn’t actually build the systems—they’re built under license by two, soon to be three, different vendors. We deployed the Syspine system, manufactured by Quanta...the guys who build most of the world’s notebook PCs.) It’s designed specifically for small businesses—up to a maximum of 50 phones and/or 50 outside lines.
Communication between the telephone sets and the base station is all VoIP, and it integrates gracefully with PC workstations and email. Voice mail messages get handed off to email as .WAV file attachments. The Response Point Assistant runs in the System Tray of your PC and allows easy configuration of voice mail, call forwarding, etc. Inbound calls pop up a little flag with the caller ID information.
But the coolest part of the system is the voice recognition. The auto-attendant routes incoming calls by either name or dialed extension number. (How many times have you called someone and ended up frustrated with the auto-attendant because you knew who you wanted to talk to, but you didn’t know their extension number?) Internal call routing uses voice mail recognition as well. Push the blue Response Point button, speak your colleague’s name, and you’ve just placed an intercom call. Transfer a call by pressing the button and saying, “Transfer call number to name.” Upload contacts from Outlook, and leverage voice recognition for your outbound calls. (“Call John Smith on mobile.”) You can also have inbound calls automatically routed based on caller ID—so, for example, any phone calls from my home number or my wife’s cell phone ring directly to my desk without going through the auto-attendant.
The future is finally here—and you can have it too! Because Moose Logic is a Response Point Certified Partner with Microsoft. For more information, check out the insert in this month’s newsletter, or go to http://www.microsoft.com/responsepoint. Or stop by and see us, and we can show you first hand how cool the system is!
Going On A Trip? Here Are 4 Web Sites You Must Know About
If traveling is part of your work life, you might want to check out information on the following web sites to
keep abreast of safety issues.
- The U.S. Department of Transportation (www.dot.gov) offers airline, highway and rail safety information. For example, you can look up crash-safety reports on cars or find out how the weather is affecting air travel and road conditions.
- The Transportation Security Administration (www.tsa.gov) has advice on safe travel by air, land and sea. For example, they post tips on dealing with airline security checks, traveling with kids, and warnings on prohibited items. Click on “Travelers and Consumers.”
- The U.S. State Department ("www.state.gov/travel) provides information on what to do before, during and when you return from a trip overseas. You can also get warnings on locations to avoid and what to do in an overseas emergency.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov/travel) Don’t come home sick! This site offers health-related travel information. You can research vaccination requirements, find information on how to avoid illnesses caused by food and water, and review inspection scores on specific cruise ships.
