April 29th, 2010
There is a new product being released on the market that is an excellent productivity tool for business. It’s called Tech-Eye and has been developed here in Brisbane.
Tech-Eye sits on your internet gateway (between your modem and the rest of your network) and monitors all internet traffic. On a business network it can be set up to monitor internet use of every employee, producing detailed logs of activity.
In control mode it will block access to any website thus helping to focus employees on their work. Access can be controlled per employee and within set times. So, for example, access to Facebook could be allowed only during lunch breaks or after hours.
Businesses that have installed Tech-Eye have found an instant improvement in costs and productivity.
Installation of Tech-Eye has met and exceeded client expectations…
“To my surprise within the first 2 hours of the system going live; out of a possible 56 working hours only 4 were spent on business related sites!”
“Tech-Eye found flaws in my ISP’s charges, saving $6000 in two months”
“It is not intrusive on staff and it doesn’t slow down or interfere with the network”
“The team is spending a lot more time on the phones and less time surfing, results speak for themselves…”
Recent price reductions on current stock have made Tech-Eye a “no brainer” for businesses concerned about controlling Internet usage with a 10 user unit as low as AUD$387.
Contact us for more information.
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March 11th, 2010
Late last year Microsoft produced ‘Microsoft Security Essentials‘ an antivirus, anti-malware offering aimed, free, at home users. The licence agreement also covers home based small businesses.
According to Microsoft around 50 to 60 percent of Windows users do not have a security solution installed. That’s a scary statistic given the volume of virus, trojans, spyware and rootkits. This product is aimed at that sector, however Microsoft wants to avoid antitrust issues with competitors in the security industry. This probably explains the lack of visibility of the product. The first hit in a search for ‘antivirus’ on their website is a ‘list of antivirus vendors’. Microsoft Security Essentials gets a look in further down the page.
Microsoft Security Essentials works with Windows XP, Vista and 7. The installation requires a Windows validation check and as usual should not be installed with any other antivirus package. (Of course Immunet in the cloud is an exception as it’s not running on your local machine). It uninstalls Windows Defender if present.
Security Essentials builds on Windows Defender by providing real time protection and on demand scanning for all types of malware. I have been running the package for some time now. The software is very unobtrusive, using idle time scanning, smart caching and active memory swapping so that I never notice any slow down in computer performance.
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October 30th, 2009
Will A Server Boost Your Bottom Line?
As your business grows and you add more PCs you need a properly set up network if you are to really optimise the value of your IT investment.
A network that is not properly planned develops dangerous vulnerabilities. Users store data in various places resulting in problems with finding files speedily. Data is not easily backed up and certain business systems cannot be implemented.
A step that is often taken in a small business is to designate one computer as the ‘file server’. Company data is stored on a shared folder in this PC which usually is also used as a staff member’s workstation.
The above scenario is known as a ‘peer to peer’ network. Although there may be one PC sharing the data there is no real ‘server’.
There are a number of advantages in migrating to a server and the exercise may not be as expensive as you think. In fact servers for small businesses have become much more affordable in recent years.
A business that has only 3 or 4 PCs may not need a server, however once 5 or more PCs are in the network a server is advisable. Even for the small business with less than 5 PCs there is a solution worth considering. The new Microsoft ‘Windows Home Server’ has some excellent features that are detailed in a separate article.
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