BotNet video

Here’s an interesting video from the BBC Click program about BotNets. It shows how BotNets are used to send spam emails as well as Distributed Denial Of Server (DDOS) attacks.

 

Also on Click you’ll find “Cyber crime attack from the east” which gives you an idea of the business behind cyber crime.

 

It is interesting to consider that we are building our ‘new world order’ on technologies that were never designed with security in mind. Likewise, there are so many users out there who have no idea their machines are infected and being controlled by someone else. It is amazing to think that many vulnerabilities used by Botnets exploit bugs that have a patch or update available from the vendor. The problem is too many people are using computers connected to the Internet without understanding the basics. Given the world wide reach of the Internet this causes a huge problem when the power of these infected machines is harnessed into a BotNet.

 

Interestingly, the BBC seems to have gotten itself into some trouble about what actions it took while performing the demonstrations in its show as detailed in “BBC cyber crime probe backfires”. This relates to the fact that the BBC used user’s computers without their knowledge and also made modifications to their systems, even if it was to warn the use that their PC was infected. This again illustrates why cyber criminals are always going to win. When someone like the BBC does a expose on BotNets it runs the risk of running foul of authorities, yet users who haven’t maintained or secured their systems and connect them to the Internet face no ramifications! In many cases the only way that some people will know they are infected with a trojan acting as part of BotNet if is they are told. While we debate the ethics of alerting users, cyber criminals simply go about their business and infect more machines.

 

So, watch the video. Make sure you machine is patched and scanned for viruses and spyware. Then make sure you tell other people to do the same, because knowledge is really the only defence we have against BotNets.

Windows 7 features

I’ve been reading Jeff Alexander’s post about the different versions of Windows 7 that will become available.
 
I gotta admit that I am disappointed that BitLocker to Go is only available in the Enterprise edition. BitLocker is the ability to encrypt your whole hard disk. BitLocker to go allows you to encrypt a USB key. It is my understanding that once you have encrypted a USB key using BitLocker to Go it can be read by other Windows 7 machine but you can’t write back to it.

I know that Microsoft has developed these offerings after consultation with customers but I fear it is more about optimizing returns that anything else. I would think it is simpler to have 2 versions, one for home use, one for business use. I think too many versions simply confuses people and actually retards sales but I understand in this day and age where more and more of our computing is moving to the ‘cloud’ a number of ‘cheaper’ alternatives needs to be offered.

Windows 7 will sell well due to the pent up demand of people holding off going to Vista. Windows 7 has a significant positive buzz around, which hasn’t happened for a long time. It is also much quicker and appears to be less resource hungry. My guess for availability? August, September this year. I reckon we’ll see a release candidate in April and the final version in late August.

So in the meantime get familiar with the version and their contents.

Twitter ecosystem

Although I still have reservations about Twitter becoming an effective business tool I can see that an enormous ecosystem of applications is now growing up around Twitter. Once that starts you know that it is something that can’t be ignored ( Facebook deja vu).

 

If you have doubts then take a look at “Getting things done with Twitter” which details a huge swag of applications that you can use with Twitter to boost your productivity (in theory). Now there are also plenty more that I have found that are not even mentioned here, which just goes to show you how big this Twitter thing is becoming.

 

So, if you haven’t started exploring Twitter and you want to stay “current” then I suggest that you sign up and start looking at what Twitter applications are around and how they can help your business and your professional development. Because like it or lump it, it seems to me that Twitter is fast approaching a tipping point where it will become the next big technology trend.

 

Here’s an opportunity to ‘get on board’ before everyone else does, but hurry there isn’t much time left. Remember, when you are on Twitter don’t forget you can always follow me via www.twitter.com/directorcia.

Return to 2003

Office 2007 has been out for a while now but many people still struggle with the new ribbon menu system. Now I will also admit that when the ribbon first made an appearance on my desktop I too was a little confused at where everything went to. However over time I found that I actually liked the ribbon but I understand it may hinder people who simply want to get things done in Office 2007 like they did in Office 2003.

Personally, I think it was a mistake for Microsoft not to provide some menu migration ability where perhaps the old menuing system could be turned back on for say 60 days to ease the transition. For whatever reason that never happened, so when you started Office 2007 you had no other option but to use the ribbon menu.

For those who still want the old Office 2003 style menuing here’s a potential solution.
 
As you can see from the above picture UBit menu software has a free plug in that allows you to retro fit Office 2003 menus into Office 2007. You sorta have to wonder why Microsoft really didn’t do this? I suppose that’s the benefit of being the dominate provider of desktop software, ‘everyone will change and change on this version’. I really don’t think that helps sell more software given how many people have used office for all those years.

Thanks Dale

Dale Unroe made a comment in a recent blog post about a online video about productivity from Mark Hurst, author of the book Bit Literacy (which is on to read list). If you are interested:

1. Go to http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/summit/
2. Select the topic Productivity & Security
3. Half way down the list you should see a video with a heading Bit Literacy

There is also a web site http://bitliteracy.com which includes a same chapter from the book.

 As I said I have not as yet read this book but have it on my list to read. In the meantime take a look at the video and as always if you need assistance with managing your email productivity go to www.doemailless.com.

Simple inbox advice

It is amazing how complex people have made the control of their inboxes these days. You can’t travel far without hearing people complain about ‘How full their inboxes are’ or ‘How many messages they need to respond to’. In truth, the solution is pretty simple yet remains elusive for most.

 

I found a good piece called “An Empty In-Box, or With Just a Few E-Mail Messages?” over at the NY Times. What it suggest isn’t rocket science it is pretty simple as I have always maintained. The most important thing is to limit the time you spend in email. This means disabling notifications and only dealing with email a few time a day rather. Probably the most liberating step, and the one that most people fail to successfully take, is to clear out you inbox. Your goal should be to keep you inbox as empty as possible.

 

When setting out to empty your inbox, be ruthless. If you don’t need it then delete it, if you do then archive it somewhere else than the inbox. There isn’t a need to create a really complex archiving folder scheme because all modern email programs have sophisticated search, so just archive it to one folder and move on.

 

Once you have a clear inbox then you’ll need to work to maintain it that way which is what most people are afraid of, but let me ask you – did you get employed simply to go through email? When the time for performance reviews arrives are you judged on how much email you have? Of course not! You are are judged on getting results for your company and email is simply a tool for achieving that. Like any tool it needs to be used effectively and that, my friend, comes down to you, no one else.

 

If you lead a life that is dominated by you inbox then I feel sorry for you because there is so much more out there to enjoy in the world. If you want to get back in control of you inbox and avoid information overload then I’d suggest you read the article and maybe see www.doemailless.com for more information about getting any help you need.

Too much Twitter

Seems like we are experiencing a Twitter-explosion of late in the media and perhaps this video from the “The Daily Show” might put some perspective on it.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=219519&title=twitter-frenzy

or

However, on a more serious note here’s what Tim Ferris, the author of one of my favourite business books the Four Hour Work Week has to say about using Twitter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3weqLgnPfQ&hl=en&fs=1
Now I reckon there is a business case for Twitter but certainly not the way most people seem to be using it! No matter what you think I can assure that Twitter is coming to a screen near you real soon. As I always say, technology distractions don’t just occur – THEY SEEK YOU OUT.

Tweet, Tweet.

SharePoint videos

Microsoft has just released a swag of SharePoint videos. Details below.

 

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Demo: Use a blog to connect with your coworkers

 

You can use a blog to improve communication in your workplace. The blog authors can post information such as updates on benefits changes, promotions of seminars, and detailed information on policies. Employees can post their questions or comments and see the responses from the blog author.

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Demo: Search for information on a SharePoint site

 

When you use a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 site, you can use the search feature to help you find information, files, Web sites, and people. In this demo, you will see how an employee at a fictitious company called Adventure Works uses search to locate information on a SharePoint site and complete job-related tasks.

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Demo: Display KPIs in a dashboard

 

A dashboard is a special Web Part Page that displays business data from a variety of different sources in high-level visuals like reports, charts, and key performance indicators (KPIs). The data displayed in dashboards can be filtered automatically or filtered by properties selected by users, enabling comparative data analysis across an organization. Because they pull together important business intelligence data from different sources in an easy-to-understand visual format, dashboards are useful tools that enable managers or decision makers to quickly assess the status of their business. This demo shows you how to create a dashboard page on a Report Center site and how to add a KPI Web Part to the dashboard page to display KPIs. You will also see how to add a KPI Details Web Part to a dashboard to display detailed information about a specific individual indicator.

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Demo: Make better business decisions with reports and dashboards

 

Business intelligence (BI) is the process of aggregating, storing, analyzing, and reporting on business data in order to support informed business decisions. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides tools that can help you extract data from a variety of sources and present that data in ways that facilitate analysis and decision making. In this demo, you’ll see how employees at a fictitious company called Adventure Works use a Report Center site to create and manage reports, dashboards, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

 

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Demo: Enterprise Content Management with SharePoint Server

 

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides powerful Enterprise Content Management (ECM) features for creating, managing, and storing content across an enterprise. In this demo, you’ll learn how a fictitious company called Adventure Works uses SharePoint Server to publish Web pages, archive and audit records, and manage documents. The demo shows how the Technical Documentation team uses a Document Center site as a centralized repository to create, organize, edit, and review all customer-facing external publications, such as user manuals and product specification sheets.

 

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Demo: Streamline business processes with forms and workflows

 

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 can help you integrate and streamline your business processes. You can use the InfoPath Forms Services server technology in Office SharePoint Server 2007 to create browser-based forms and gather data from organizations that do not use Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007. People in those organizations can complete forms in a Web browser or HTML-enabled mobile device. Workflows automatically move documents or items through a sequence of actions or tasks related to a business process. Workflows can streamline the cost of coordinating common business processes, such as project approval or document review, by managing and tracking the tasks involved with those processes.

 

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Demo: Simplify collaboration with a SharePoint team site

 

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides organizations with a platform for sharing information and working together in teams. A SharePoint site offers specific kinds of tools and workspaces that you can use to communicate with team members, track projects, coordinate deadlines, and collaboratively create and edit documents. In this demo, you’ll see how employees at a fictitious company called Adventure Works use features on a team site such as lists, document libraries, calendars, slide libraries, and blogs to collaborate on documents, track projects, and share information.