July 9, 2008

Software Distribution and Altiris

Automated software distribution is immensely important in a managed IT operation. If you don't have effective tools, software either becomes out of date or very time consuming and costly to manage. Altiris provides a powerful set of tools to manage software distribution more easily.

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July 3, 2008

Vista Deployment with Altiris

Altiris Deployment Solution is an effective and versatile tool for OS deployment on a large scale. However it can be a confusing product to evaluate. This piece is about why and how to use Altiris for your Vista deployments.

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June 23, 2008

Outsourcing IT is not the answer

Most large businesses I have come across at some point come to wonder how better to manage their IT operations. IT consumes a lot of money, but often does not seem to be doing what you want, almost wilfully. You ask for something to be done, and three weeks later nothing at all seems to have happened. Surely they are all just incompetent. Outsourcing has been around a long time as a solution to this problem of feeling a lack of control.

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May 22, 2008

Is it safe? Trust me

A law firm is an attractive target for computer-based crime. It has lots of confidential information, lots of people with access to the core systems and lots to lose if the information is disclosed. Information needs to be protected, but it also needs to be accessible over networks. So how can you make sure you trust the user or the computer that is accessing it?

Article published in Legal Week in May 2008.

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February 16, 2008

Top tips for portable storage

Like a lot of technology, portable storage is remarkably complicated once you get into it. You need some more space so you go to get an external drive, but there are hundreds of different types. What's the difference? What do I need?

If you are short of time, here's the summary:

  • To carry a small number of files - Sandisk Micro
  • To carry more data, including large files, but lightweight - Seagate FreeAgent.

No need to carry a laptop around. Just carry the data and plug it into an available PC. Use SyncToy to keep data up to date in several places.

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