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Torian Group Times
“Technology with Integrity”
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Windows updates were released the 14th of this month (Tuesday). There are 2 critical workstation updates, 1 critical XP/Vista update - 10 altogether. Be sure to update your workstations. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-oct.mspx
Windows Vista Ultimate and Business OEM (such as Dell/HP) editions have until July 31, 2009, to downgrade to XP Professional if they choose. Previously, Microsoft planned to provide the XP recovery disks to OEM partners until Jan. 31, 2009.
www.infoworld.com/article/08/10/03/Microsoft_gives_OEMs_XP_downgrade_disks_for_6_more_months_1.html
The main case for moving to Windows Vista is that it is more secure. Vista SP1 has greatly improved stability, but there are still some problems. For most of our clients, XP still makes the most sense. This will change when one of your critical applications comes out and only runs on Vista. If you are installing Vista, start with one pc, and use it with all your applications. We are using Vista in our office with no problems, but also keep XP for the applications that don’t work on Vista.
If you are going to install Vista, stick with 32 Bit. Although 64 bit ends the 4GB memory limit, and 64 bit drivers are now available for most printers and peripherals, performance tests do not show an improvement for most office applications. Most applications are still 32 bit, and they actually run slower in a 64 bit platform.
The 64 bit platform seems to have more bugs, including some problems with MS Office.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2280808,00.asp
Windows 7 (the desktop OS to come after Vista) appears to be mostly a faster more stable version of the current Windows Vista. It looks like it will be out in early 2010.
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/05/27/communicating-windows-7.aspx
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=664
Password recovery/revealer Cain & Abel. Shows stored passwords, reveals the content of password fields with ****, performs dictionary and brute force password attacks, and can listen on the network for unencrypted passwords being sent. Free:
www.oxid.it/cain.html
(This link will generate a warning in Trend antivirus, as this software is a hacker tool.)
Interview with a Federal cybercrime agent recorded at Microsoft TechEd (windows media player link). http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9608717
Comcast is starting to extend cable internet service into downtown Visalia. They are offering up to 16 MB down/ 2MB up speeds for business at about $100/Month, but can only reach locations that have existing cable infrastructure. They are planning to dig up the streets into parts of the downtown area. Let us know if you are interested.
www.comcast.com/corporate/business/Small/
Want to keep an eye on the economic news? Consider using an RSS feed. News headlines are sent to your computer, you click on the ones that interest you. RSS Readers display the content:
http://www.download.com/3150-9227_4-0.html
Outlook 2007 has built in RSS reader; incoming content goes to an email folder of your choice.
RSS Feeds provide data for your viewer/reader. Most customizable home pages allow you to select RSS feeds. www.igoogle.com is a good place to start. Most have a directory of sites to subscribe to. Top 100 RSS sources:
http://radio.xmlstoragesystem.com/rcsPublic/rssHotlist
We will be at the Oktoberfest this Thursday – Stop by and see us in booth 5, by the entrance.
Preston Cooper is leaving us to take a job back east. We will contact affected clients individually on handling the transition.
Tim Torian
Torian, Group, Inc.
http://www.toriangroup.com