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Do we need more government regulation?Do we need more government regulation?

I was giving a presentation in 2009, and a CEO of a successful corporation talked about how he received one of those letters saying, “Your data may have been obtained by hackers due to a data breach.” He asked, “What can we do to get the other businesses in the world to keep our data safe?”

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Posted by Mike Foster on February 3rd, 2010 in IT Security.


Online safety not a priority for families?Online safety not a priority for families?

I’m having a revelation in my career—home users care more about other issues than they care about IT security. Can this be true?

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Posted by Mike Foster on January 27th, 2010 in Best Practices, IT Security.


Banks suggest you dedicate one PC for online bankingBanks suggest you dedicate one PC for online banking

USA Today reports that the American Bankers Association (ABA) recommends small and mid-sized businesses dedicate a computer to use only for online banking, and avoid using any other computers for online banking. While this may sound good, it can create headaches in practice.

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Posted by Mike Foster on January 20th, 2010 in Best Practices, IT Security, Save time, Technology.


When you outsource IT, stop paying them by the hour!When you outsource IT, stop paying them by the hour!

To help ensure your IT projects are finished on time and in budget, pay IT outsourcing a flat fee. Do you realize that when you pay outsourced IT companies by the hour, unless you put some other restraints in place, you basically reward them for taking longer?

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Posted by Mike Foster on January 13th, 2010 in Best Practices.


How to know if your IT professionals are goodHow to know if your IT professionals are good

Executives often want me to answer the question, “How good are my IT professionals” be they in-house employees or outsourced IT professionals. The first thing I say is, “If the IT professional is like a knight in shining armor, riding his horse in to save the day every time there is a problem, that’s not the best situation at all.”

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Posted by Mike Foster on January 6th, 2010 in Best Practices, IT Security, Save time.


Pros and cons of “In the cloud” computingPros and cons of “In the cloud” computing

A client wrote me recently asking about a plain English explanation of what the term “in the cloud” is all about and the pros and cons.  They are probably using some services “in the cloud” already and don’t realize it.

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Posted by Mike Foster on December 30th, 2009 in Best Practices, IT Security, Technology.


Are your employees still using single monitors?Are your employees still using single monitors?

Posted by Mike Foster on December 23rd, 2009 in Best Practices, Save time, Technology.


Prepare now for cost effective move to thin clientsPrepare now for cost effective move to thin clients

If you have been buying the “box copy” licenses for Microsoft Office and other applications, Microsoft may not allow you to use those licenses in your thin client environment!

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Posted by Mike Foster on December 16th, 2009 in Best Practices, Technology.


Executives say it is hard to enforce IT policiesExecutives say it is hard to enforce IT policies

I see this all the time. Executives say “we do not restrict our users from going to inappropriate web sites” or “we do not force our employees to change passwords—some have had the same password for 10 years.”

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Posted by Mike Foster on December 9th, 2009 in Best Practices, IT Security.


Executives say their challenge is fighting virusesExecutives say their challenge is fighting viruses

Before every IT Vital Systems Review, I always ask the executives what their challenges are. On a recent survey the CEO answered “fighting viruses.” That’s because it isn’t the executive’s job to fight viruses—that is the job of their IT professionals. It is the executive’s responsibility to protect the assets of the company, employees and clients.

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Posted by Mike Foster on December 2nd, 2009 in Best Practices, IT Security.


 
 

 

 


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