2004 September

In my neck of the woods, I am going to be quite busy, as well. Saturday morning I will be making my occasional appearance on Tech Watch Radio at 11:06 am ET. Sam, Jay, and I will be talking up Gnomedex in addition to projects that I have going on in my life. The projects […]

Welcome to Just Ask Matt! - The IT industry’s answer to the help column, only slightly more medicated. Today, Mike writes:
How does server naming work with regard to URLs? In addition to “www,” you also see “www2,” “support.somecompany.com,” “channels.lockergnome.com,” etc., etc. Just curious, I’ve never seen the process described anywhere before. Thanks!

For the most part, troubleshooting an IDE CD-ROM drive is perceived as pretty black and white by a number of people. The reality is that there is a bit more to it than that. I know, you are thinking that I am going to start off on some long-winded explanation of why people perceive things […]

“Over the last few years, EMC has found itself controlling a number of the assets that medium-sized businesses might need to consolidate and manage their Microsoft Exchange-based storage. “We’re now a portfolio company through acquisitions,” says Todd Donaldson, EMC director of global solutions. “Our customers have asked us, how do we glue all this stuff […]

“WWhether you manage people or you’re one of the employees managed, you’ll probably want to move up in the organization or in your chosen field of science or engineering. How can you ensure success in your career path? As a former Jet Propulsion Laboratory employee, I’ve learned some important principles to guide the way.
But […]

The generous people over at TemplateMonster.com have a new library offering. Using that good catch phrase of ‘collaboration’ the library proposes to provide web heads with a ’specialized Google for digital artists and web designers.’ TemplateMonster.com seems to specialize in ready made, you guessed it, templates for those who don’t want to put the effort […]

Does this scenario sound familiar? You are asked to put together a 15-minute presentation for a meeting on the project you are doing. The people in the meeting don’t know anything about your project, but need to come away understanding what it is all about.

The verdict is in. No one reported any actual problems with RegClean on XP. I have examined some undo files generated by RegClean on XP and have found nothing that would cause any problems. Apparently, Microsoft’s Knowledge Base article on the subject caused some confusion. RegClean is NOT compatible with OFFICE XP, but nothing is […]

“There’s no better community where you can exchange knowledge with IT pros like you from around the globe. ITKnowledge Exchange is the place where IT pros can exchange ideas, share expertise, and get answers to their technical and strategic questions.
If you are a member of SearchSmallBizIT.com or another site in the TechTarget network you […]

“Microsoft extended the usefulness of its SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services by making available three Report Packs, which are collections of report templates for specific Microsoft applications.
The initial set of Report Packs are for Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft CRM and a sample financial database. The packs were posted on Tuesday to support an announcement on Wednesday […]

“When Microsoft delivers the Beta 3 version of SQL Server 2005, formerly code-named “Yukon,” it will carry a number of feature enhancements that weren’t available in the more broadly distributed Beta 2 version.
Between delivery of Beta 2 in July and the planned release of Beta 3 by the end of this year, Microsoft will […]

Dice is one of the most popular online career resources. It offers numerous services from job search capabilities to advice on updating resumes. CompTIA has now launched a new career center that is powered by Dice.

User profiles often pop up as a popular exam topic and they are often used in the workplace. So here are a few things about user profiles that you should understand. User profiles can become a security risk for numerous reasons. Actually, it seems like there isn’t really a completely secure solution with regards to […]

“About a year after releasing Exchange Server 2003, Microsoft rolled out a free, automated best practice tool to help IT get the most out of the e-mail server and its two predecessors — Exchange 2000 and Exchange 5.5.
“We’ve developed a tool that basically gives them automated guidance. It’s like a Microsoft engineer in a […]

Gnomie Carl Cronk sends this comment on my post:
“Better be careful - especially with Cisco - I’ve heard many reports of them NOT ALLOWING the software/firmware to be transferred (read no support).
One could easily wind up with a lot of large, expensive paperweights.”
Point noted, Carl - thanks!

Testing failover systems and backups has always been a touchy subject that most administrators would rather sweep under the rug. The whole idea behind a failover system is that if the primary component fails, the secondary system should automatically engage. Theoretically, this means you should be able to just pull the plug on the primary […]

Saw an article recently about Voice over IP wiretapping.
It seems that the Feds have decided that cable modem and other broadband providers are covered by the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), the federal law that mandates backdoors in U.S. telephone networks, allowing the FBI to start listening […]

Are you a linear thinker? I’m not. While I can keep myself linear enough to write articles and books, I always have other ideas that need to be processed. When I create a presentation, the same thing happens. I start with a nicely-organized outline and find I need to add content that doesn’t flow in […]

It never ceases to amaze me who I receive e-mail from. Yesterday I was the recipient of e-mail from the creator of The PC Weenies. Apparently, he both enjoyed and was able to relate to the interview that I did with the creator of Odd Todd, Todd Rosenberg. It truly blows my mind how many […]

Experts agree that the worlds of mass data storage and entertainment are evolving fast to DVD technology, which is providing new outlets for entertainment, personal productivity, video, and recording.
Now Shop4tech is making DVD media more affordable than ever before. For example, Shop4tech offers Matrix DVD-R 8x (DVDminusR) at $0.41 in a bulk pack of […]