LANcom Technology Blog

Everyone here at LANcom would like to thank Languages International this months customer of the month.

This time round the customer of the month chocolate cake took the form of an English book, thesaurus and dictionary.

According to Microsoft, Visa SP1 the first collection of updates for Windows Vista will be released sometime this quarter. Other sources however have speculated it could be as soon as February 15^th. In this service pack Microsoft has focused on improving the performance, stability and reliability of Vista.

The Release Candidate version of Vista SP1 (not the final version) has been out for a while and so far has obtained mostly good reviews. One review by PC World said it improved the reliability of the computer and some tasks especially file copying took less time, but there were still a few annoyances that had not been fixed. To read this review click here

Update: Microsoft has now announced that Vista SP1 is ready, but won’t be released till mid March click here to read more about this

Vodafone NZ is currently running a program with Recycle NZ, which makes recycling your old cell phone really easy. As you may already know simply throwing your old cell phone in the bin isn’t a great idea because it could leak toxic chemicals at the land fill.

Whats great about the Vodafone program is if you have an old cell phone (doesn’t matter what brand it is or network it was on) all you need to do is drop it and its charger off to any Vodafone store. If visiting a Vodafone store isn’t convenient you can also Freepost them to the handset recycling program: Freepost, Vodafone Handset Recycling Programme, Private Bag 92222, Auckland

The phones handed in for recycling will either be refurbished (if they are still in working order) and sent to help those in developing countries communicate or be taken apart with the plastics being used for things like traffic cones and the metals in the manufacture of electronics components.

To learn more about this recycling program click here

Also before you give your old cell phone in for recycling don’t forget to delete the personal information stored on it, click here to learn how.

Well in case you haven’t heard Windows XP will no longer be available for purchase after June 30^th. This means if you buy a new PC after this date, it will come with Windows Vista.

So if you think it’s time you started getting more familiar with Windows Vista click here.

If you’re not happy about this, you’re not the only one. So far over 50,000 people have signed the ‘Save XP’ petition run by InfoWorld, which aims to pressure Microsoft into keeping XP available indefinitely (to put your name to this petition click here).

Would you like to save yourself the time and effort of changing between different open windows as you work? Here’s a quick way to get them displayed either side by side or one under the other.

All you need to do is:

1. Click on one of the windows button on the Taskbar at the bottom of your screen
2. Now hold down Ctrl and click the buttons of the other windows you would like to have open.
3. Now right click on one of the windows buttons and select either Tile Horizontally or Tile Vertically.

We’ve talked about how to create a strong password on this blog in the past (Click here to see this post), but if you would like to test the strength of a password you are considering Microsoft has a password checker on there website. This will tell you whether the password is Weak, Medium, Strong, or Best. The password checker will not save, store, or transmit any passwords you enter into it.

Click here to try it out.

1. Keep up to date - Often updates to operating systems and internet browsers can fix vulnerabilities that are being used by malware distributors.
2. Use strong passwords – A strong password should be at least 8 letters long and contain letters, numbers, and symbols. To read more click here.
3. Don’t enable the save password option – Allowing a password to be saved negates having the password at all.
4. Use password protection on your screensaver – Did you know that you can set up your computer to lock itself after a certain amount of time, which is good if you end up leaving it for longer than expected, or forget to log out altogether. Click here to learn how.
5. Encrypt the files that contain personal or confidential information (this is particular important for laptops– Encrypted files need an encryption key to be read, which means others will not be able to view them. In Windows XP and Windows Vista you can select files and folders that you would like to encrypt. To learn how to do this in Windows XP click here, to do it in Windows Vista click here.

Microsoft Office Groove is a collaboration software program and what it allows you to do is create collaborative workspaces. These workspaces allow all members of a team working on a particular project to have access to all the tools and information required for that project, from anywhere in the world. You can even work on a project in a Groove workspace while you are offline, then as soon as you are connected to the internet again Groove will automatically update your changes so that everyone else using the workspace has access to them (Synchronisation).

So how does it work?

1. One person creates a workspace and then invites others to join (These could include people from within your organisation or outside of it, they could be situated throughout NZ or from around the world)
2. Each person receives a copy of the workspace, which is stored with advanced security on each of their PC’s
3. The team works together in the workspace adding information and tools like files, discussion forums, calendars and customisable business forms (the always on encryption helps protect all the data and activity). When one person makes a change, for example adding a paragraph to a Word document, and they save those changes Groove will automatically synchronise the changes with his team members PC’s.

Other features of Groove include: integrated alerts which will let you know about all the changes that have been made since you last checked the workspace, and communication tools like instant messaging with others who are active in the workspace.

Ultimately Groove allows team member to share revise and publish their work quickly and easily all from a one place.

We are just starting to use Groove here at LANcom so stay tuned for our review.

To learn more by visiting the Office Groove homepage click here.

Did you know that you can set up your computer to lock itself if it is left unused for a certain amount of time. This is good for those times when you end up leaving it for longer than expected, or forget to log out altogether.

1. To do this for Windows XP right click on an empty part of the desktop and click Properties , go to the Screen Saver tab and set the Wait time to around ten minutes. Now tick the box that says On Resume password protect and click Apply.
2. To do this in Windows Vista right click on an empty space on your desktop, click Personalize. Now go to the Screen Saver section and change the Wait time to around 10 minutes. Then select On resume, password protect and click Apply.

Once you return to your locked computer you will need to re-enter your computer password (the one you use when logging in) to unlock it.

Researches have found a way to make lithium-ion batteries, the batteries commonly used for Laptops, iPods, Cell phones etc, last ten times as long. That means that we may soon see laptop batteries that can last for up to 40 hours.

The breakthrough was made by using silicone nanowires. To read more about this click here.