tech support

When you want to inform end users about what is acceptable and what is prohibited on your company’s network, you can use two documents. One is a general Acceptable Use policy; the other, dubbed the Network Usage Guidelines, is a more specific document that changes according to the current needs.
After a user reads and […]

You may believe that policies that require locking down end user machines are too restrictive. You may even believe companies should allow end users as much freedom to install applications or configure machines as they like.
If the users in your organization can be trusted to add or remove hardware or software, more power to […]

It has become common practice for information technology departments to define the standard user configuration for end user desktop machines. One such example of this involved a Fortune 500 company where the network administrators and the help desk analysts joined forces to define the standard user configuration for end user desktop machines.
In the Windows […]

One way to eliminate confrontations with users is for companies to establish policies that specifically outline what users can and cannot put on their machines. Put those policies through the normal corporate approval process, publish the approved policies on the intranet, and make sure all managers in the organization inform their staff about the policies. […]

Help desk managers have a duty to protect company assets by reporting any unauthorized software and hardware installations. But what specifically can the help desk manager do?
That answer depends on how your information technology department is staffed. In some organizations, the same person who administers the network is also the person who oversees technical […]

Do end users in your company call the service desk wanting assistance with applications unsupported by the company? When your technical support analysts visit user workstations to troubleshoot problems, do they find problems are the result of the installation of unauthorized hardware?
If so, your help desk and tech support staff are spending time fixing […]

More and more businesses are adding tech support reporting features, knowledgebases and expanding frequently asked questions — including businesses whose core business doesn’t include technology. Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid, has a tech support-like reporting tool — the kind of tool you expect to find on web server hosts and software development companies.
Michael […]