Computer Support Network

Google marked its 10th anniversary earlier this month and what a decade it has been for them. Google was launched on September 7th 1998 to little fanfare. At the time most people didn’t see the benefit of a new search engine. Everyone had Yahoo and as far as anyone was concerned that was enough. But it didn’t take long for the world to warm to the young search engine.

The simplicity of the search engine combined with the relevance of its returns gave it a foot up above many of its competitors. In December of its first PC Magazine marked their success by naming Google Top Search Engine in their Top 100 websites of 1998. From there Google has gone on to become partnered with many of the largest and most powerful companies in business and entertainment. They have branched out to include email, news services, finance tools, advanced mapping software, and have all but cornered the market on paid web advertising. On July 25th 2008 also made its biggest search engine announcement to date, they were now indexing over 1 trillion unique URLS. The amount of data coursing through their servers had reached a truly remarkable phase.

Today almost all aspects of business are now influenced by the search engine giant in some way. As the number one search engine in America achieving a high ranking in Google is a top priority for any business that wishes to capitalize on the internet. In light of that Search Engine Optimization has grown from small intrigue to a necessity. With 71% of consumers using Google, everyone wants to make sure their website plays nice with the companies search algorithms.

With new innovation created every day and new branches opening around the world Google looks to continue spending its time in the spotlight. With everything they have brought to the stage so far I couldn’t be happier for them.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department

A recent study conducted from GFI Software has revealed that more than half of the small and medium sized businesses in the U.S. have not yet implemented a system of archiving emails. With the majority of business correspondence now taking place via the internet this is a huge disaster waiting to happen.

The reasons behind the shortcomings are as varied as the businesses reporting them. Many businesses claim to be too small to require a system of archiving emails, others state that privacy regulations would be violated, other simply say they don’t have the time or budget to adequately complete a backup. Among others who were polled nearly 30% stated they didn’t think archiving was important or thought that it was handled automatically by the mail server. While in some cases these may be valid points but on the whole this is taking a terrible risk.

There are many reasons for archiving emails. It’s possible that the exchange server could crash; and potentially lose all data saved in email. Related to this, you may wish to reduce the internal strain on your Microsoft Exchange Server. Lastly, human error is the culprit in IT disasters nine times out of ten and email archiving can back up and account for this.

Just as human error accounts for the majority of problems many companies make the mistake of depending on individuals to back up their own email. The small individual assessments and backups individuals make is not sufficient to combat a major complication. It’s far too easy to lose track and time for weeks to go by without any upkeep taking place.

The best way to deal with these problems is through upper management. Appoint an administrator to be in charge of regular backups for all company data. Additionally you may wish to invest in automated backup systems such as described here. If you use a bit of foresight and adequate planning you can divert a possible disaster and improve the performance of your company.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department

People within the IT world are still reeling from the introduction of Window Vista but already Microsoft is moving ahead with designs for a new “better” operating system. Although the actual specs are long from finalized it is believed that the 7th version of Windows will also be the last to use 32bit architecture. As many know 64 bit operating systems are nothing new, with both Vista and previous versions being offered but the limited hardware drivers have always been their weakness. By forcing the upgrade Microsoft is taking steps to improve overall performance but also open the door to numerous complications.

So what’s the benefit of a 64 bit operating system and why should you care? Well on the whole it comes down to system memory and the ability to process multiple operations at one time. On modern 32bit operating system systems are limited to around 3 gigabytes of memory. It’s important to remember that this is a limit on total memory of your system; so if you have a 500 mb graphics card the maximum amount of physical memory you can use is now only 2.5 gigs. While this may sound like a lot to many readers it is quickly becoming the lowest common denominator in design. When you consider that Windows Vista requires 2 GB of ram by itself to run at optimum levels it’s not hard to see why improvement will soon be needed.

While upgrading will allow new hardware and software capabilities it is still important to understand the headaches the transition period will create. Much like not updating an aging browser is detrimental to design and security not updating an operating system can create the same problems. Currently most hardware manufacturers do not fully support 64 bit operating systems. The reason? It’s not practical to spend half of your operating budget on 5% of your demographic. Even though the newer more powerful systems would be better if people are reluctant to upgrade then there is no reason to make them so. The end result is a vicious cycle of self reinforcing stagnation.

Version 8 of Windows is still a long ways off and jumping on the bandwagon just in the name of progress is never wise; that said there are still things you should do. First and foremost find out what the new operating system(s) will mean for you. Just like with Windows Vista find out if your current hardware will support the upgrade. If it does or even if it doesn’t find out if your company will gain a benefit from the upgrade. Major upgrades should never be taken lightly but a little bit of planning and some guidance from a knowledgeable source can make the whole process far less stressful.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department

The internet is the backbone of modern business and yet the internet browsers that companies use are often the most neglected pieces of software. The complications that can arise from this are both detrimental to production cycles and hazardous to the security of any information sent by the internet. Internet Explorer 6 was released on August 27 2001; seven years later it still holds 24% of the online browser market. This number is still high but has been decreasing steadily over the last six months. With a seven year old program still holding a fourth of the world’s browsers you would think it would mean it was a good product, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

IE6 is the last browser NOT to support a number of features that have become essential to today’s web developers. Businesses are often forced to spend thousands of dollars in man hours to develop hacks for new web projects to ensure that new content is “compatible” with the antiquated browser. IE6 offers no support for PNG alpha transparency, lacks support for pseudo classes, no min-height support, and contains at least seven ways to crash it with one very simple line of code. In plain language this means that you have to work twice as hard to support IE6 and you still end up with an inferior product.

Along with the design limitations, IE6 is also hazardous to your work environment. A number of notable security faults exist within IE6 and more are found all the time. These security holes allow for easy access of Trojans and viruses – even if your system is otherwise protected by an antivirus. Microsoft hasn’t completely abandoned the browser but they have already released IE7. With IE8 on the near horizon, they do not have the time to fully protect a browser that they themselves admit is inferior.

Beyond Internet Explorer there are also alternatives that are superior. Firefox has long taken the internet by storm and with good reason. Along with being more secure and better supported, Firefox is also open sourced to the community. What this allows is for improvements to take place at a far more rapid pace then would ever be possible at Microsoft. Another option and a personal favorite of mine is Opera. While not as widely accepted, Opera is a very stable and safe browser that accomplished everything Firefox does but did so before it was fashionable to do so.

Whatever you choose, Internet Explorer 7, Firefox, or Opera, make the upgrade. By taking the initiative you can help make the internet a better and more secure place for everyone.

Update to Internet Explorer 7
Update to Firefox
Update to Opera

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department

The advertising has evolved steadily over the last decade with new advances leading to changes in the way that common business is done. Last year nearly 22 billion dollars was spent globally on internet based advertising. 81% of shoppers now claim to research a product or service prior to making a purchase. This change has led to a greater demand in the functionality of websites. 52% of shoppers find new retailers using search engines such as Google and Yahoo. With this in mind it is no wonder that the online market is continuing to expand exponentially every year.

Ten years ago when the internet was first building its foothold traditional means of advertising were still practical and efficient for each year that goes by shows how antiquated these mediums truly are. In the last five years the success of Yellow Pages based advertising has almost completely expired. Now a quick survey of any dump site will reveal that entire layers of Yellow Books make up a high percentage of the landfills. With the speedy access to internet based phone listings the bulky books are simply no longer necessary. Similarly, TV advertising has been destroyed by innovation. The likes of Tivo has removed Television advertising while downloadable content looks to push this even further.

Computer technology continues to increase and so this trend will continue to expand. Already we have e-paper magazines ready to go into production that will make it possible for consumers to pick their content. Books can now be easily downloaded to e-book readers within minutes. Radio stations have been replaced by portable mp3 players and all the while the advertising that once powered industries has been removed and at the digression of the consumer.

In order for businesses to stay on top of changing times they will need to adapt fluid marketing techniques. What works today will not necessarily work tomorrow. to stay on top you need to keep in touch with the changing times, and when necessary, be willing to change.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department