Welcome to the August Edition of That's Correct!
Generally we try to avoid filling our Newsletter with a bunch of product announcements all at once, but with so much cool stuff being released at the moment, we couldn't resist!
Our new Newsletter format has been in circulation for a few months now and we'd love to know what you think of it. What do you like, what do you dislike? What sort of information would you like to see more of? Feel free to drop us an email with any suggestions you may have for us.
- Secure & flexible backups are not only important, they are essential! The latest version of BackupAssist is packed with features that deliver.
- Safe online transactions & protection from internet threats - you need it and Trend Micro Version 6.0 has it.
- A fast & stable desktop operating system? Wayne reviews Windows 7...
There is a piece of software we have implemented at a number of our clients' sites that makes data protection really simple by performing automatic, scheduled backups of Windows Servers.
Wait; Microsoft's Server Operating Systems have inbuilt backup software, don't they??
Indeed! Introduced in 1997, NT Backup was built-in to the operating system and used to back up files. However, it has been discontinued and is no longer part of Windows Server (2008 onwards). Instead it's been replaced with a block-level backup system. Without getting too technical, let's just say this new type of backup system is aimed at making server backup and recovery really fast.
So why wouldn't you just use built-in systems to do backups?
There are limitations with the in-built backup systems (both NT Backup and the new block-level backup system) and we have found these are important to address. BackupAssist addresses all these limitations and the recent upgrade to Version 5 brings even further enhancements.
Firstly, with the discontinuation of NTBackup goes the support for tape drives. BackupAssist enables tape drive support for Server 2008, a very compelling fact for millions of tape drive users!
BackupAssist version 5 supports Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Small Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008. It also provides an image-based backup solution for these operating systems.
BackupAssist now gives the option for backing up via the Internet. It uses an efficient software application called Rsync that transmits files from one location to another while minimising data transfer. Rsync is clever in the way that it copies backup files - it only copies the data that has changed. Normally Rsync is configured via command line, which even for techies can be a bit of a nightmare! BackupAssist allows you to set backups via a user interface; no more command line!
Um, What exactly does that mean?
BackupAssist gives us a lot of flexibility to easily host your data, should you wish to have offsite backups
- internally - at a different branch office, or to the boss' home for example
- externally - a third party data centre or a hosting partner
- on Windows or Linux machines
- to selected NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices
One of our favourite features of BackupAssist is the email notification of the backup's success/failure. In addition to this, version 5 now has an exciting new feature; Centralized Monitoring. This allows us to monitor your backup results from a central location (along with the results of other clients) or via an email report. It also allows us to look at data growth on your server. BackupAssist Centralized Monitoring can also produce easy to decipher PDF reports.
All of this enables us to:
- give you more options for how you want to backup your data
- be more proactive about backup failures and
- make sure you don't run out of space on your backup drives and tapes.
For more information about BackupAssist or to discuss your backup procedures in greater detail, please contact our office.
Yes folks that’s right, we’ve got the final version of Windows 7 running here now and it’s amazing!
Okay, amazing is a pretty big word to use about an operating system, but let me tell you about my own experiences. I upgraded my Toshiba Portege R500 laptop just over 2 weeks ago now from Windows Vista Business Edition. This laptop has served me well for 2 years and still has all the original software on it from when I bought it.
Normally this type of upgrade has the potential for major issues, but I figured given we will do these for customers, I should go through the process myself first. I’m happy to say that the process went very smoothly. It warned me of things that would be a definite problem and refused to proceed until I removed the offending application. It then went through the process of upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 over the course of a couple of hours. This is pretty normal for an upgrade of this type. The end result was it came up with Windows 7 fully complete!
Once the upgrade was complete I then started to use the laptop for day-to-day work. The first thing I noticed was just how FAST it was. Not having had performance measurements from before the upgrade I can’t give you statistics, but this laptop is now very much faster than it was before. Direct translation to business benefit is that I am spending far less time waiting for things to happen. I’d estimate that I’ve gotten back around 20-30minutes per day so far from this alone.
Of the new features that come with Windows 7, I am really loving Jump Lists. These are lists of most recently used documents that come up automatically when you hover over the application icon itself. It allows you to quickly start a specific document very quickly. You can also pin a document to a Jump List so that it’s there all the time regardless of when you used it last.
I also often work on two documents at the same time. In Windows Vista, I had to manually arrange the two documents on the screen at the same time. Windows 7 however has the ability for me to snap a document left or right and it will take up that half of the screen. Makes it VERY simple to organise what I see and get work done quickly.
One of the biggest limitations perceived about Vista was that some line of business applications just weren't made to run on it. Microsoft have taken this into account and have included something called Virtual XP Mode, which lets you run a virtual XP session directly inside Windows 7. So any applications that are designed for XP can still be run on a Windows 7 machine.
These are just a few of the things that I’ve found useful. Over the coming issues we’ll talk about more of the Windows 7 features that we are finding deliver real world benefits for us.
Without sounding like alarmists, it is safe to say the Web has become a dangerous place.
The number, types, and complexity of Web threats has increased 1564% from 2005 to 2007 (according to Trend Micro research) and there has been a definite shift from technical harm (outage or inconvenience) to business harm (identity theft, loss of critical digital assets, and harm to reputation).
The situation has grown even more complicated with the rise in the number of mobile workers. When they’re outside the office, what infections might they get? And what do they bring back to the office when they return? Indeed, how does a small business take advantage of the Web both inside and outside the office, without having to worry about the risk to the business from security threats?
With all this in mind, Trend Micro have released Worry-Free™ Business Security 6.0; a safer, smarter, and simpler one-stop security solution that provides total Web, email, and malware protection for laptops, desktops, servers, and SMTP/Exchange Servers.
Worry-Free™ Business Security 6.0 is a cloud-client/server security solution, bundled with InterScan Messaging Hosted Security Standard (IMHS-S) which provides protection from 99% of all spam before it reaches your gateway. Worry-Free is designed to meet all the key security needs of SMB networks, protecting you from wide range of threats and potential nuisances. These include viruses/malware, spyware/grayware, spam, Web threats, unauthorized changes, macro viruses, malicious Java™ applets, phishing incidents, and malicious ActiveX™ controls.
Key new features of version 6.0 include:
- Smart Scan technology - the benefits are faster time to protect and insurance against exponential growth of the pattern size on the client.
- URL Filtering - lets administrators control access to websites based on their rating. Filter strength can be set to high, medium, low, or custom settings, and by business and leisure hours.
- Smart Feedback - allows customers to feed back data about their threat experiences to Trend Micro, who then use this information to look for new threat patterns, find new malware samples, and improve the overall quality of the product.
- USB Device Control - protects against malware that could potentially auto-install from a USB device.
- Web Threat Protection - stops malware real-time, at the source, before it can be downloaded from the Internet.
- Transaction Protector - protects users against malicious hijacking activities when doing online transactions.
- Instant Messaging (IM) Protection - outbound content filtering protection and restriction of sensitive corporate data in the form of words or phrases being sent out through chat sessions.
That's all for this month! If you would like more information on any of these articles, please give us a call on 02 8831 8200.
