Solutions With Service (SWS), formerly Direct Software Express, is open for business as of Oct 8th in the London - St. Thomas area. Bob Mutch, owner of SWS has 20 years experience in the personal and business computer industry, and has been running his own consulting business for the last 7 years.

Bob has the following certifications.
CPP Certified Pervasive Profession
CCA Certified Citrix Administration
CNE Certified Novell Engineer Netware 3.x/4.x
Completed 8 MicroSoft MSCE Course's on NT4 track.




Network Consultant keeping informed!
I have found one of the greatest resources have been my fellow consultants that work in the same field as I do. You get stuck, you just go down the list, bang off an email here, an ICQ here, hop on EFNET IRC, and start making phone calls. It doesn't take long before you find someone that has dealt with the same problem, and there you have your answer, or at least a line of attack.

Another great help is hands on. There is nothing like testing things yourself. How long does a 2.4x DVD -R take to burn 4GB? How much faster is a transfer between 2 computer when you move from 10/100 to 10/100/1000 network cards. Some of us are provided with a lab at work, others have to set one up in a home office. Which ever, I have found my personal testing lab to be a great tool to test new things I need to be hands-on informed about.

Trade magazines, now there is a must. I eat up Laptop Magazine , my Tech Edge Magazine and PC Upgrade Magazine as soon as they come in the door. Other good mags which I purchase off the shelves are PC World and PC Magazine.




8 Most Important Things to do!
1. Backup of Data. Backup of your Operating System install (make a Ghost Image), and a proper backup up of your Data (documents, accounting data, email data files, spread sheet files, etc.). You should be making a Ghost Image of each workstation every time a new program is installed or updated and of your server when any updates are done. You can use an external USB Hard Drive for that, then burn them to DVD's. For the Server Data you need a minimum of 11 tapes and use a DAT or DLT SCSI drive. Your 11 tape rotation will give you 4 weekdays, 5 Fridays, and the 10th and 15th Friday back. This is a minimum.
2. Anti-Virus Protection. This is pretty simple, but lots of people are missing it. Get Norton Anti-Virus 2004 (that link is $49US with the $20US Mailin Rebate, so $40CDN) install it, and update your subscription when it runs out. Yearly updates are $17.14US tax included, which is about $25CDN for a years subscription.
3. Lockable Computer Cage. To prevent theft, you can purchase computer cages that can be bolted to the floor for about $150. The server or workstation fits into just right. It is money well spent. Here is a sample of a Computer Cage.
4. Disaster Recovery Disks. Make copies of all programs, updates, and drivers, for each computer and have them put in a box with the computer name on it. It pays to be prepared for a complete failure of any of your computers.
5. Router/Firewall. You need one of these between your network and the internet. This is simple to do, and an entry level Linksys WEBSR-41 router can be purchased for under $100. Read my article on Routers.
6. Install Anti-spyware Program. PCWorld's review says Spybot Search & Destroy is the best anti-spyware program. Spybot S&D is freeware and it stops all those programs like Bonzi Buddy, etc. that try to install on your computer.
7. Run Utilities. Once a month run MSCONFIG and remove unneeded background programs, and Defrag your harddrive. MSCONFIG allows you to remove background programs that bog down your system. The more unneeded programs you have running the slower your computer will be.
8. Ban Unproductive Programs. Don't allow MSN, ICQ, IM, Webshots, utility programs and other unnessary programs to be installed on your system. The more programs, the larger (read slower) your Windows, the more likely to crash, lockup, blue screen, illegal-op, and cost you money to fix.