Posts Tagged ‘Microsoft’
Thursday, August 4th, 2011
Working from several different locations and different devices brings out the strengths and weaknesses of the various tools we use on a daily basis. Today I will touch on Microsoft Exchange, specifically Outlook Web Access (OWA) and how it compares to Android based smartphones.
In order to get the most from Microsoft Outlook Web Access, Internet Explorer needs to be used. Substituting other browsers such as Firefox disables certain functions. The benefit of using OWA is it eliminates the need to install Microsoft Outlook on the computer.
OWA looks very similar to Microsoft Outlook, but there is no Today page and some of the advanced viewing options such as seeing tasks on the calendar page are also not available. If you are not a fan of Microsoft’s new ribbon in Office 2010, then you will like Outlook Web Access. However if you do like the ribbon you are out of luck as it is not in OWA.
Advanced users of Microsoft Outlook will be disappointing that some of the drag and drop options will not work in Outlook Web Access. Viewing calendars of others is available if you have the appropriate permissions.
For the Android there are several options available to corporate users of Microsoft Exchange. Many phones such as the Motorola Droid X, Droid Pro and Droid 3 along with several from Samsung and HTC have built-in connectivity to Exchange. Depending on the phone and version of software, the calendar and email retention vary. While contacts synchronize with the Exchange contacts, notes and tasks do not.
There are several companies which offer an add-on for Android based smartphones; one program is TouchDown and another program is RoadSync. Both sync; calendar, contacts, email and tasks between an Exchange server and the Android smartphone. Each has its own limits and advantages.
TouchDown allows the creation of tasks from within an email which is a very useful tool used by those seeking the most efficiency. TouchDown also has uses categories from Outlook (Exchange) and the method to file emails is superior to RoadSync. A downfall of TouchDown is it is very easy for the system to not save notes in the calendar, tasks and contacts; which could be an issue for many. RoadSync works well, but lacks the categories and ability to create tasks from an email.
For power users, an Android based smartphone or tablet can be superior to Outlook Web Access, the one limiting factor is the lack of seeing calendars from others within the organization.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company, based in Clifton Park and serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.
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Tags: Active Sync, ActiveSync, Android, Android Exchange Calendar, Android Exchange Email, Android Exchange Sync, Android Exchange Tasks, Calendar synchronization, DataViz RoadSync, Droid Pro, Exchange TouchDown, Google, Groupware, HTC Corporation, Microsoft, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Sync, Motorola Droid X, Outlook Web Access, Outlook Web App
Posted in Business, Smartphones, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
Being in the computer business, we get to meet and talk with a lot of people and see quite a few computers each week. While we primarily work with PCs, we do get Macs in.
Periodically when people come in to our Clifton Park office, they mention that some person or another suggest they get a Mac. When asked why, they say that so-and-so told them how Macs don’t get viruses and how easy they are to use.
First for the ease of use issue; while I don’t drink the Microsoft Kool-Aid, Windows 7 is a very easy system to use. I know many seniors who have been using Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional versions and they seem to have absolutely no problems with it.
As for the “fact” that Mac’s are immune to malware, well if they believe that, then they must believe (like many politicians) that money grows on trees. Money doesn’t; and Mac’s are susceptible to malware problems.
Last month, users of Apple’s Mac OS were subjected to a malware attack similar to what PC users have experienced in the past. While Apple was slow to respond with help, they finally did come up with a fix. Within a very short time the malware writers were able to work around it.
The reason PCs seem to be in the news more when it comes to attack and vulnerabilities is because there are simply more of them. More PCs mean more people using them and a larger potential payoff.
Mac OS and Linux based computers have more vulnerabilities, but there aren’t enough users (at the moment) to make it worthwhile for hackers to spend much time on.
The fact of the matter is just being on the Internet makes one susceptible to attack. It doesn’t matter what OS you are running or what anti-virus or firewall you have installed. Just as a motivated burglar can break into any building given the proper motivation and resources; so can a hacker break into any system.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company, based in Clifton Park and serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.
Tags: Apple, mac, Mac OS, Mac OS X, Macintosh, malware, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Operating system, Personal computer, Windows XP
Posted in Security, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Can anyone image Zappos trying to trademark “shoe store”, or Amazon.com attempting to control the name “book store”? As ludicrous as this sounds, this is exactly what Apple is trying to do with the name appstore; as Apple recently filed a lawsuit against Amazon because Amazon launched their own appstore.
On the surface this just doesn’t make any sense. You have two behemoths battling it out. What could Apple possibly expect to gain from suing Amazon? Publicity?
Certainly Amazon has the resources to combat such a outrageous attempt by Apple to stifle innovation. That thought led me to think that perhaps it wasn’t really Amazon which Apple was targeting, but up and coming start-ups which may gain a foot-hold in the market. New business enterprises don’t have the resources to fight a company the size of Apple, so if Apple puts the fear of attorneys and lawsuits into them, maybe they won’t even attempt to start a new business.
Why would a company such as Apple, which pushes the technology envelope want to muzzle innovation? Have they lost sight of how they started? It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Interesting what happens to companies when they get so large. Not that I am advocating by any stretch that limits be placed on business growth, just they remember how they got to be big in the first place.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company, based in Clifton Park and serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.
Tags: Amazon, Amazon.com, Android, Apple, appstore, iPhone, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Steve Jobs, Zappos
Posted in Business, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
Handling IT support for businesses in the Capital Region for many years, we often get requests to take over existing systems. Most in the IT industry are respectable business, but once in a while we come upon a business which is not. Case in point a recent client had their Microsoft Exchange SSL certificate held hostage.
Last year our company took over IT support for an state organization in Schenectady NY. Everything seemed to be going well until we went to get a new SSL certificate issued for their Microsoft Exchange Server.
The registration information on the SSL certificate showed the old IT provider. Both our client and us contacted the IT company and requested they renew the SSL. Their response was they would be willing do that if our client had them handle all of their email and IT support and pay them $10,000.00 per year to do so. As our client was not happy with their service this was not an option.
At this point you may be thinking we needed to get out the baseball bats to deal with the issue, but happily that was not the case. We were able to get the SSL certificate issue resolved through creative thinking. Even in this age of high tech, the old adage, caveat emptor, still rings true.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company, based in Clifton Park and serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.
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Tags: Business, Capital District, Certificate authority, Clients, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Google, HTTP Secure, Information Technology, Microsoft, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Exchange Server, New York, VeriSign
Posted in Business, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
A while back I wrote about how I used the DataViz RoadSync to synchronize email, contacts, calendar entries and tasks from our hosted Microsoft Exchange server to my Android smartphone.
It was a big improvement over Touchdown and I suggested to some of my technicians that they may want to use RoadSync and one of the guys installed the trial version a couple of weeks ago. As it is expiring today, he attempted to purchase a full copy of RoadSync, but received a message indicating RoadSync is not compatible with his phone.
Talk about a glitch! He was running the trial version for two weeks, we share the same model phone, the Samsung Fascinate from the same carrier, Verizon Wireless and it is not compatible?
As Dataviz no longer accepts phone calls, I had to use their email form. Talk about horrible support and customer service! When I went to submit the information, their site crashed.
What is it about some software companies that they are afraid to talk to their customers? Part of our purchasing policy is to make sure any company we do business with has people we can talk with in the event of an issue. In the case of Dataviz, they did have a phone number but changed their policy and no longer have their phone answered by a person. Now unless you know a person’s name who works there, there is no getting through.
When I attempted to contact them via the RoadSync installed on my Fascinate, the program froze. So as of now, this is no longer on our list of recommended software.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.
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Tags: Android, BlackBerry, Dataviz, DataViz RoadSync, iPhone, Microsoft, Microsoft Exchange for Android, Microsoft Office, New York, Samsung Fascinate, Verizon Wireless
Posted in Smartphones, Software | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
Late last week Microsoft announced another vulnerability to Internet Explorer. It is covered in depth in Microsoft releases Security Advisory 2501696.
While all current desktop versions of Windows are vulnerable, they are only susceptible to the vulnerability through Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Using other browsers in Windows does not open the computer up to an attack.
You can decrease your risks using browsers such as Firefox and combining it with the proper add-on software. NoScript works very well as long as the user does not allow all code to be run from every Website. If you are not familiar with the site, don’t allow scripts to run.
If you’re on the Internet, your computer can be hacked. While you may feel safe browsing the Internet in you pajamas in the safety of your home, you’re not. It takes the proper tools along with an air of caution to minimize risks.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.
Tags: Firefox, Internet Explorer, MHTML, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Mozilla Firefox, security advisory, Windows
Posted in Security, Web | No Comments »
Monday, December 27th, 2010
Many businesses are starting to look into utilizing the cloud and many companies are getting into the business. This past week, there was a data breach for people using Microsoft Business Productivity Online.
The security flaw opens up a users offline address book to others, allowing it to be download by people other than the owner. As I have a lot of confidential information stored in my address book, had I been using this system, it would have posed a serious issue. Fortunately I don’t use the Microsoft Business Productivity Online service.
Many smart business people don’t put a high enough value on security until something bad happens. There is a reason why some cloud service providers charge more than others. While many are looking to keep a tight handle on expenses, skimping on IT services could lead to much higher costs and severe penalties if the business is found to be neglectful in their security proceedures.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.
Tags: BPOS, Business, Cloud computing, cloud computing security, Cloud service, Data breach, Microsoft, Microsoft BPOS, Microsoft Online Services, Microsoft SharePoint, New York, Security
Posted in Privacy, Security | No Comments »
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
There are two large Internet ad services, one is owned by Google and Microsoft has the other. Microsoft’s service is MSN and Google’s is DoubleClick. Many computers had malware silently installed on their computer just by browsing seemingly innocuous websites.
According to The Register, http://www.theregister.co.uk, “Among the titles silently thrust on marks was HDD Plus, a piece of malware that falsely claims users have serious system errors that can only be fixed by buying a premium version of the program.”
By default, most browsers provide no protection from this type of attack. We expect to have a white paper out shortly which will describe how to protect your computer from malware attacks such as this.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.
Tags: DoubleClick, Google, Hard disk drive, Internet Explorer, malware, Microsoft, MSN, Register
Posted in Security | No Comments »
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
We meet all types of people in our business, as do many other people. Recently we had an odd issue with a person who thought we were logged into his computer remotely.
Several weeks ago we preformed a network audit for a professional business in Albany. Part of the process included installing software which would track what the system was doing over several days. When the audit was complete, the remote access was removed.
Last week I met with the gentleman over breakfast to review the network audit and pointed out some items he should look into. Two days later I received a message from him asking why we were on his system.
Even though I was on vacation, I made sure I looked into this as we take our work very seriously. Several attempts were made to contact the business, but the answering system was all we were able to get through to.
When I was able to speak with the gentleman he was pleasant but went into a long speech about us accessing his system. Finally I had to interrupt as everything being stated was incorrect. I asked if he would look at his email, as I sent him a copy of our access log (with portions of names redacted). He then stated that he had better find out who was accessing his system.
This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT services company located in the Capital District of New York.
Tags: Apple Inc., Audit, Business, iPhone, IPod Touch, ITunes, LogMeIn, Microsoft, networking, Personal computer, Remote access, remote desktop, Remote Desktop Services, Windows 7
Posted in Security, Technology | 1 Comment »
Thursday, October 14th, 2010
One of the first things I noticed after using the Samsung Fascinate for a while was how quickly the battery was being consumed. In addition to the spare battery I purchased from the Verizon store in Clifton Park, NY, I decided to purchase another spare battery. This provided me with always having a fully charged battery available even on long days without needing to find an outlet.
The first Android app I loaded was Touchdown, which is a program that synchronizes Android phones with a Microsoft Exchange server. As our company uses Microsoft Exchange, Outlook, SharePoint and several other software programs from Microsoft, it was very important that the phone ties seamlessly in with our current system. Other apps loaded included an anti-virus program, Kindle for Android, Fox News and a system monitor. I also purchased a copy of LogMeIn Ignition.
On the second day of my of my trip I needed to add a new rule to my Outlook 2010 to assist with a security issue. I used LogMeIn Ignition to remote into my computer and while using an Android device to control a computer is certainly not as easy as using a mouse or track-pad, I was able to accomplish my task in a relatively short time.
The 3G reception was very spotty where we stayed, but I was always able to get to the Internet. The browsing experience on the Fascinate is very good, far superior to Windows Professional 6.51 or BlackBerrys and only lacking in its inability to view Flash (at least for the current moment).
There was one evening when two calls went directly to voicemail, this also happened to someone else in my party who was using an Apple iPhone 4 and I attribute this to an issue with reception. Making calls from the same location that evening went out properly.
I used the camera and video quite a bit and both performed flawlessly. The many camera settings added some very nice enhancements to the photos I took.
Part 3 to be released soon.
Tags: Android, BlackBerry, Clifton Park New York, iPhone, Microsoft, Samsung Fascinate, Samsung Group, Samsung i9000 Galaxy S, Verizon
Posted in Smartphones, cell phone | 2 Comments »
