Techcess Monthly Newsletter

You most likely couldn't do your job without your computer and mobile devices. Everyday you use them to work on files, connect with people, and access resources. Keeping them running smoothly is important to working effectively.

At work your computer and devices are part of a larger network. Keeping them running means you have to work closely with your corporate IT department. Working with them will save you time, save your company money, and help keep the network secure. This article includes tips and best practices for working with your corporate IT department to keep your computer and devices up-to-date and functioning properly.

Who owns the computer?

You use a computer at work, you may take it home, and you might even have a picture of your kids on the computer desktop. The computer, though, isn't yours. It's important to realize that your company owns that computer. They have the right to install patches and updates on a regular basis. By doing so, they can make sure your computer and the network run as smoothly as possible.

"It's common for IT departments to get complaints about patches being put on computers," said Jim DuBois, a general manager for IT at Microsoft. "But it is the best way for companies to make sure the network and computers remain secure."

To further protect their computers, many companies even prevent users from making changes to the settings or software installed on the computer.

Best practices for maintaining your computer

Use these best practices to help maintain and protect the computer you use at work. You should contact your IT department to determine their specific policies.

Install all updates required by your IT department. Not installing updates as required by your IT department can expose your company to viruses and other security risks. Some companies even prevent computers from accessing the network if patches aren't installed after a set date. Also, find out whether the IT department wants you to install updates on Microsoft Update . If they do, make it a habit of checking Microsoft Update regularly. You'll save yourself the hassle of the IT department forcing you to install updates when it's not convenient for you.
Install only licensed programs. Make sure that you or your company have a license for any software you install on your work computer. Your company can get sued for having software without a license installed on its computers. For example, installing a program your friend bought could present some problems. Software that you've bought a license for is probably fine, but double-check the license to make sure. Sometimes, software bought for home use can not be installed at work as well.
Don't install different versions of software. Even if you prefer the version of software you use at home rather than work, don't install it on your work computer. You could have incompatibility problems with the software your co-workers are using and with your specific line of business applications. Your IT department may also not be able to make any required updates or provide technical support.

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Windows 7, Cloud Computing and much more		November 2009 / issue 14
Fix the Most Common Windows 7 Upgrade Problems by Robert Strohmeyer, Computerworld.com Experienced PC users know that not every operating-system upgrade goes smoothly--but that bit of understanding does little to offset the annoyance we feel when we're faced with seemingly unresolvable installation problems. Windows 7 has presented some users with a few serious upgrade bugs of its own. Don't worry: We'll explain how to exterminate them. Before beginning your Windows 7 upgrade, attach your PC directly to your router via a wired ethernet connection. This will ensure that Windows 7 has a chance to download the latest installation updates directly from Microsoft at the outset of the upgrade process. By the time you read this article, it's possible that Microsoft will have created a fix for some of the following upgrade bugs, so your first step in any upgrade scenario should be to make sure that you have a wired Internet hookup to your PC from the start. Installation Hangs at 62 Percent The first installation problem you're likely to encounter in your upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 may not be obvious at first. But after your progress bar sits at 62 percent for more than 10 minutes or so, you'll know something is wrong. The culprit is a service called Iphlpsvc, which may stop responding to the system during the installation. Fortunately, the solution is relatively easy. If you don't feel like messing around with your system settings, download Microsoft's automated fix, MicrosoftFixit50319, and install it. Follow the wizard, and it should resolve the problem in about a minute. If you'd rather just correct the problem yourself, start by rebooting your PC. After logging back in, click Start, right-click Computer, and click Properties. Click Advanced, Environment variables, then System variables, New. In the 'Variable name' field, type MIG_UPGRADE_IGNORE_PLUGINS. In the 'Variable value' field, type IphlpsvcMigPlugin.dll. Click OK to close the windows, and then start your installation again. Endless Reboots A more annoying (and more common) Windows 7 upgrade headache is the reboot loop. This irritating bug causes the system to reboot and to present a message stating that Windows 7 could not be installed, and that the previous version (Vista) has been restored. The next time you reboot the PC, Windows begins the upgrade process again, leading to the same error after the next reboot. And so on. To escape this endless reboot cycle, select Vista from the boot menu at startup, and then insert your old Vista installation disc into your PC's optical drive. When the Vista setup menu appears, exit setup. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories. Right-click Command Prompt and choose Run as Administrator from the contextual menu. At the command prompt, type D:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All, replacing D with the letter of the drive that contains your Vista installation disc. This will reset the boot parameters for the system. Now reboot your machine and begin the installation process again. Bad Product Key You paid good money for your Windows 7 upgrade, but when you try to activate your new installation using the product key that came with the disc, you get an error stating that your product key is not valid. Unfortunately, the fix for this problem is easy but time-consuming. Here's how to cope with it. This problem isn't so much a bug as it is a bit of unfriendly engineering. The invalid-product-key warning arises when you attempt to install an upgrade edition of Windows 7 on a drive that has been formatted. You must install the upgrade edition on a PC that already has either Windows XP or Vista installed on it. If the setup routine fails to locate a previous installation of XP or Vista, Windows 7 thinks it's being installed on a new PC rather than as an upgrade. Therefore, your upgrade product key won't work. To resolve this issue, you need to have either XP or Vista installed on your hard drive at boot time. That may very well mean digging out your old XP or Vista discs and performing a fresh installation of that version before trying again with Windows 7. It's important to note that Windows 7 requires you to have Service Pack 1 installed on Vista, and Service Pack 3 installed on Windows XP. So be sure to run your automatic updates on the old OS before moving on to the Windows 7 upgrade. If you have a backup of your XP or Vista system handy, the fastest fix may be to restore that backup to your hard drive and then try the Windows 7 upgrade again. Once you've put XP or Vista back on your hard drive, boot from that drive and then insert your Windows 7 upgrade DVD. You'll still have the option to perform a clean installation of Windows 7 on your system, if that's what you want to do. Just make sure that your primary hard drive has a qualifying previous version of Windows installed on it, and then boot from the Windows 7 DVD and select Custom (Advanced) as your installation type. You can then format the drive using Windows 7, without encountering the invalid-product-key error at activation time. In the event that the same activation error pops up after you've followed these instructions, your best bet is to activate Windows 7 by phone. To do so, click Start, Computer, Properties, and choose Click here to activate Windows now. Look for the option to activate by phone, dial the number the system provides, and follow the voice-guided instructions. In the worst-case scenario, a Microsoft support person will help you activate your license.	8 ways to help maintain your computer and devices at work by Microsoft @ work You most likely couldn't do your job without your computer and mobile devices. Everyday you use them to work on files, connect with people, and access resources. Keeping them running smoothly is important to working effectively. So how do you start? At work your computer and devices are part of a larger network. Keeping them running means you have to work closely with your corporate IT department. Working with them will save you time, save your company money, and help keep the network secure. This article includes tips and best practices for working with your corporate IT department to keep your computer and devices up-to-date and functioning properly. Who owns the computer? You use a computer at work, you may take it home, and you might even have a picture of your kids on the computer desktop. The computer, though, isn't yours. It's important to realize that your company owns that computer. They have the right to install patches and updates on a regular basis. By doing so, they can make sure your computer and the network run as smoothly as possible. "It's common for IT departments to get complaints about patches being put on computers," said Jim DuBois, a general manager for IT at Microsoft. "But it is the best way for companies to make sure the network and computers remain secure." To further protect their computers, many companies even prevent users from making changes to the settings or software installed on the computer. Best practices for maintaining your computer Use these best practices to help maintain and protect the computer you use at work. You should contact your IT department to determine their specific policies. Install all updates required by your IT department. Not installing updates as required by your IT department can expose your company to viruses and other security risks. Some companies even prevent computers from accessing the network if patches aren't installed after a set date. Also, find out whether the IT department wants you to install updates on Microsoft Update . If they do, make it a habit of checking Microsoft Update regularly. You'll save yourself the hassle of the IT department forcing you to install updates when it's not convenient for you. Install only licensed programs. Make sure that you or your company have a license for any software you install on your work computer. Your company can get sued for having software without a license installed on its computers. For example, installing a program your friend bought could present some problems. Software that you've bought a license for is probably fine, but double-check the license to make sure. Sometimes, software bought for home use can not be installed at work as well. Don't install different versions of software. Even if you prefer the version of software you use at home rather than work, don't install it on your work computer. You could have incompatibility problems with the software your co-workers are using and with your specific line of business applications. Your IT department may also not be able to make any required updates or provide technical support. Click here to keep reading	In this issue: • 8 ways to maintain your PC • Common Windows 7 issues • Techcess has joined the masses • Clouded mind? • Helpful IT tips • 2009
		Head up in the clouds? Virtual infrastructure solutions are ideal for production environments in part because they run on industry-standard servers and desktops plus support a wide range of operating system and application environments, as well as networking and storage infrastructure. We have designed our solutions to function independently of the hardware and operating system to provide customers with a broad platform choice. As a result, our solutions provide a key integration point for hardware and infrastructure management to deliver differentiated value which can be applied uniformly across all application and operating system environments. This approach enables organizations to build a computing infrastructure with high levels of utilization, availability, automation and flexibility using building blocks of inexpensive industry-standard servers. CALL 832-533-9670 for more information about Cloud Computing
	6 ways to work more effectively on a virtual team Who hasn't awakened a colleague from a deep sleep with a mistimed telephone query, wished for a quick in-person chat to resolve a sticky problem with a co-worker who's forever on the move, or didn't know where to find a critical file owned by someone half a world away? These and other problems are commonplace for those who work on teams in other parts of the city, country, or the world. Frequent travel is exhausting and expensive, and can’t be the day-to-day solution. So, while you've probably solved the time zone problem by checking the Web for local time before you make a call, the following suggestions might help solve some of the other problems of working with others a world away. Click here for tips	CHECK US OUT ON... TWITTER FACEBOOK
	Happy Birthday Techcess Group! 2009 marks the 5th year anniversary of Techcess Group being in business.
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