IPv6 Is Coming – What you Need to Know
Posted by admin on Nov 26, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, September 2010 Edition
The internet promises unlimited connectivity, but the current addressing plan, in place since the late 1970s, is running out of addresses, and a new scheme called IPv6 is being put into place to power the Net’s next stage of growth.
For small businesses that plan ahead, the shift can enhance computing security, reliability, and performance. But waiting now may mean costly equipment upgrades to avoid outages.
Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), created almost 30 years ago, formats internet addresses in a quartet of numbers such as 72.42.185.10 (this 32-bit address space allows around 4 billion possible addresses – a number we are rapidly approaching).
Ink and Toner Costs: Do The Math and Don’t Get Reamed
Posted by admin on Nov 23, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, September 2010 Edition
Before you buy a printer, it makes sense to look not only at its price tag and reviews, but also at its cost of operation. For many printers – especially inkjet models – the price of replacement ink or toner can quickly outstrip the machine’s initial cost. Here’s how to find out what you’re in for before you buy.
A little shopping: Get the current price of each cartridge from the vendor’s own Web site, or from your favourite reseller.
A little research: All printer vendors publish yield data for their ink and toner cartridges – how many pages a cartridge can print before it runs dry.
A little math: For each colour, divide the cartridge’s price by its page yield to get the cost per colour per page. The resulting costs per colour per page will give you an idea of how much the printer is going to cost you ink ink or toner.
Based on current prices, the cheaper inkjet printers and MFPs should have a cost per page of 20 cents or lower. For a colour laser, the ideal cost per page should be 12 cents or lower.
For an even better comparison, find out the lifespan of the machine (in total pages printed) from the manufacturer’s website, and divide that by the price, and add that to your cost per page. You may find that a good inkjet is more cost effective than a cheap laser.
New Technology Could Repalce HDMI Cables
Posted by admin on Nov 19, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, September 2010 Edition
Are HDMI’s days numbered? They might be if a new audio/video (A/V) cable standard developed by four tech companies catches on. The recently finalized cable technology, known as HDBaseT, transfers both audio and video signals over ordinary RJ-45 ethernet cables. The standard is the result of an effort – by LG, Samsung, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Valens Semiconductor – that started more than six months ago.
While HDMI has several advantages over other sorts of A/V cables, it does have his problems. The technology frequently suffers from switching delays and is known for its limitations on cable length – problems that HDBaseT could solve. In addition, HDBaseT will be able to delivery full HD video, audio, Web connectivity and power over one cable simultaneously.
Browser Blow Out
Posted by admin on Oct 10, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, September 2010 Edition
Of all the software on your PC, the Web browser may be the most important tool you use each day – but you may not give it much thought. The difference between a merely good browser and a great one, however, can be vast. The best browsers are thost that stay out of your way: When you’re in the right browser, you feel as though you’re alone with your favourite site. The browser loads pages quickly, without crashing, and it can deftly handle any Web page you visit without prompting you to do anything extra.
Editor’s note… this is just a summary of the findings, please visit the PC World site for the full article.
Best Interface: Chrome
Best Security: Chrome
Best Extensions: Firefox
Best Javascript Handling: Chrome
Best Page Loading: Chrome
All five of the Web browsers we looked at for this roundup are free, so it never hurts to experiment with a different one. But jumping from browser to browser has one hidden cost: your time. It can take a while to set up a browser to appear and behave just the way you like it. With that in mind, if we had to select only one browser, Chrome would be our top recommendation. We like Chrome for its clean and friendly interface, good performance, and strong security. It covers all the basics for most users, and it offers plenty of customization for power users.
There’s no Better Time to Migrate to Windows 7 and Server 2008
Posted by admin on Oct 6, 2010
Taken from CRN Canada, September 2010 Edition
In the last few months, Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista RTM, Windows 2000 Professional and Windows Server 2000 all reached the end of their support lifecycles – this means there will be no further security updates, patches, or hotfixes for these releases.
Microsoft strongly recommends that customers still running these legacy operating systems migrate to the latest versions or a supported service pack. in order to continue receiving security and hotfix updates and product support. Not doing so leaves PCs and servers at risk.
For most organizations, a desktop OS migration can impact and-users, the applications and hardware they rely on to be productive, and the back-end IT infrastructure supporting operations. This is an important decision for Canadian organizations that need to maintain secure environments, and it is a process in which partners can play a key role.
Organizations have a number of options, and it’s vital that they understand that not choosing to migrate to a supported OS could lead to problems down the road. Businesses that continue to use older, unsupported operating systems may incur unforseen costs related to mounting technical support issues. To avoid this, and ensure their PCs remain secure and operate a peak performance, they need to take action.
Research Says Crooks Target Users, Not OSs
Posted by admin on Sep 29, 2010
Taken from PCWorld Magazine, August 2010
Who has the safest operating system? Apple? Google? Microsoft? According to one security expert, what really matters is who’s using the OS.
“Microsoft doesn’t have a monopoly on all the technical vulnerabilities that are out there,” says Zulfikar Ramzan, technical director of Symantec Security Response. Today’s online criminals are far more likely to target user behaviour. “You don’t need as many technical skills to find one person who might be willing, in a moment of weakness, to open up an attachment that contains malicious content,” says Ramzan.
Currently, only about 3 percent of the malware that Symantec encounters exploits a technical flaw. The other 97 percent is either “piggybacking on that 3 percent” or more likely trying to trick a user through some type of social engineering scheme, according to Ramzan.
No computer or operating system is 100 percent secure, of course. “People have tried to attack Microsoft’s products because of the [huge] market share,” Ramzan says. But if Google’s upcoming Chrome OS takes off in the business and consumer markets, it will have a big target on its back too.
Search Giant Is Heading for Your TV
Posted by admin on Sep 22, 2010
Taken from PCWorld Magazine, August 2010
Google has entered a partnership with Intel and Sony to create Google TV, the company recently announced. As explained at its unveiling, Google TV is an ambitious attempt to bake Google’s Android software into TVs, Blu-ray players and a Google set-top box called Buddy Box.
The plan is clearly a challenge to devices and services like Apple TV, the Boxee Box, and TiVo – and to some extent, to cable itself. The goal is to fuse the Web with TV sets in a way that other Internet-connected televisions have not. That is, Google TV is an open platform free of the restructions on other Internet TV sets and powered by hardware that can handle Flash.
Google TV will be available in set-top boxes and televisions this fall, according to the announcement, with Sony and Logitech as hardware partners.
Five Things You Didn’t Know About Computer Viruses
Posted by admin on Sep 15, 2010
Taken from Exchange Magazine, September 2010
One of the main reasons that computer viruses continue to spread across the internet is because the average comptuer user doesn’t know what to look for or how to avoid them. Some of the most common misconceptions are based on out-dated knowledge or simple misinformation. Here are a few things you should know:
Viruses don’t want to kill your computer. ~ The days of insidious viruses trying to render your computer nothing more than a glorified paper weight have come and gone. The primary objective now is to separate you from your hard earned money. To accomplish this, typically it’s in their best interest to leave your computer operational so they can go about their duty collecting your personal information or infecting other computers.
That email you got about “The Worst Virus Ever!!!” is a hoax. ~ It may even cite big corporations, news organizations and other trustworthy sources in in effort to convince you to forward the message on to everyone you know. But if it really was the worst virus ever, you probably would have heard about it directly from one of those sources, and not an email from your sister’s co-worker’s long lost high-school friend. While these are not typically the work of viruses or spammers, they can weaken spam filters and confuse the people who forward the message onward. (ICS Note: If you are unsure of the validity of any email, visit www.snopes.com and type in the email subject in their search engine.)
Microsoft’s Web Apps
Posted by admin on Sep 8, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, July 2010
It should come as no great surprise that the initial foray by Microsoft into Web-based Office applications has produced skeptical shadows of the company’s desktop offerings. Even if you have great bandwidth, the best apps available on the Web can’t really match the rich functionality and speed of Office’s robust and mature desktop programs.
You can, at least, create new Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote documents online, via the Office menu item that appears on your Windows Live home page when the apps launch. And saving items to SkyDrive, the repository in Windows Live, is a straightforward, one-click affair in the Backstage viewof the 2010 apps.
The new version of Hotmail provides Web-app support, as well: Users will be able to open and view Office-format attachments in the browser (avoiding the download step previsouly required to open the files in a desktop app). You can edit Office XML documents in the browser too; Hotmail offers to convert non-XML docs if you try to edit them. Of course, you’ll still have the desktop option if you want more functionality.
The other benefit of Microsoft’s Web apps is that they don’t break Office formatting. Whataver changes you make to a file on the Web, you’re unlikely to be surprised by the results when you bring th file to your desktop. Given the formatting issues that often arise with Office docs in rival Web apps, this is no small achievement.
We at ICS predict that the largest users of Microsoft Office Web Apps is home users who really don’t need all the features in the desktop versions, and do not require the programs enough to purchase them. We are proud of Microsoft for offering a free version of their previously expensive Office suite.
Breathe New Life Into Your Laptop’s Battery
Posted by admin on Sep 1, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, July 2010
Eventually and unavoidable, laptop batteries die. Proper care can delay the inevitable. With luck, your battery could last until you need to replace your aging notebook (perhaps with a laptop that has a longer battery life).
Don’t Run It Down – Squeezing every drop of juice out of a lithium ion battery strains and weakens it. Doing this just once or twice won’t kill the battery, but the cumulative effect of frequently emptying your notebook’s battery will be to shorten its life span. Make sure your battery is fully charged when you head out on the road.
Keep It Cool – Heat breaks down the battery and reduces its overall life. When you use your laptop, make sure that the vents are unblocked. Never work with the laptop on pillows or cushions. If possible, put it on a raised stand that permits plenty of airflow. Also, clean the vents every so often with a can of compressed air; (ICS Computers has them for sale).
Give It A Rest – If you’re going to be working exclusively on AC power for a week or more, remove the laptop’s battery first. Otherwise, you’ll wear out the battery – constantly charging and discharging it – at a time when you don’t need to use it at all. You don’t want it to be empty when you take it out. An unused battery loses power over time, and you don’t want all the power to drain away, so make sure that the battery is at least half-charged when you remove it.
If you do find yourself in need of a new battery, give us a call and ask about used or remanufactured batteries that will save you some money, and buy you some time until you invest in a new notebook.
