LANcom Technology Blog

Ever wanted to access your home computer from work? Or to access either when you’re on holiday? With the LogMeIn you can access and control your computer from any other computer for free.

LogMeIn allows you to open your files, check your email, and run programs on your computer all from the internet browser of another computer.

How does it work?

1. First you sign up for your free LogMeIn account and download and install the LogMeIn software on the computer that you would like to be able to control remotely.
2. Then when you want to access that computer from another computer you just go to the LogMeIn website and log in.
3. Now you will be able to see the desktop of your computer in the internet browser and be able to control your PC as if you were sitting in front of it; sending emails, editing files, and running programmes.

Of course for this service to work the computer you want to control remotely must be turned on and connected to the internet at the time. Also LogMeIn will only work with Internet Explorer or Firefox.

In terms of security LogMeIn uses 128- to 256-bit encryption to protect your passwords and data. It is also compatible with all known firewalls and broadband routers.

We at LANcom have used this service on a couple of occasions in the past and found that while it worked well it was quite slow. So if you feel speed is something that you require for remote working in your situation, this may not be the service for you. To learn more about other remote working options click here.

To learn more about LogMeIn or to sign up for your free account click here.

Symantec has announced that some users of its Norton Internet Security, Norton AntiVirus, and Norton 360 are experiencing problems when upgrading to XP service pack three.

The company has told its customers that before they install XP SP3 they should switch off the “SymProtect” feature of these products to avoid problems like an emptied Windows Device Manager and deleted network connections which could prevent users from connecting to the internet.

If you are using one off these products and would like to upgrade to Window XP Service Pack 3, you can find instructions for turning off the SymProtect feature here on the Norton discussion forum.

To read more about this issue from Computer World click here.

Here at LANcom we use and install for our customers NOD32 which is currently not experiencing any problems. Click here to learn more about NOD32.

We are happy to announce that we have just whipped up a new website designed to let everyone know what its like to work at LANcom.

This website covers what vacancies we have, an introduction to some of the LANcom staff, Life at LANcom, and even some photos of our offices.

So if you think you might be interested in a job at LANcom or if you would just like to learn a bit more about us click here or go to careers.lancom.co.nz/careers.

As you may already know, learning how to do just five things by shortcut keystrokes can save you as much as 4 hour a year.

We recently released a free booklet the LANcom Timesaver (click here to download) full great shortcuts and time saving tips, but here are some additional shortcuts not included in the book.

Windows Live SkyDrive is free, password protected, online file storage.  What it allows you to do is: access your files from any computer with the internet, share folders of your choice with others, choose whether your shared files can just be read or edited too, and even create public folders so that anyone on the net can see them.

This service could have a number of uses such as an easy way to collaborate with others on projects, a way to avoid trying to email large files only to find they won’t go though, and a backup for your personal files.

Here’s an overview of what you get when you sign up to SkyDrive

• 5 GB of free online file storage
• The ability to create personal, shared and public folders.
• Access to files from any Windows or Macintosh computer using either Internet Explorer or Firefox.
• Control over who has access to your files as well as whether they can just read them or edit them too.

I recently tried out SkyDrive and my only criticism was that when you are uploading a file there’s no progress bar, so you have no idea how much longer the upload will take.

All you need to use SkyDrive is a Windows Live ID, if you have a hotmail account you will already have one, but you can get one for free from here as well. To learn more about Windows Live SkyDrive or to sign up for your own account click here.

Of course SkyDrive is not the only free online file storage available, so if you would like to check out the competition SteekR is currently offering 1 GB of free storage and Xdrive is another service offering 5 GB.

LANcom will soon release a free time keeper application that will be able to keep track of what you have done for the day, and let you know just how much time you have spent on each activity.

So how does it work?

Well the time keeper will record the program and the file name of the window that is in the foreground of you computer screen. If the program is an internet browser it will record the website you are on, and it can even tell when you’re away from your computer and will record this as idle time. This information will then be securely uploaded to a central server and you will be able to access all your information by logging into the website.

This application could have a number of uses such as:

1. A personal time management tool – Find out if you’re allocating your time in the best possible way and identify areas for improvement.
2. A billing tool – See exactly how much time you spent on project for a particular client.
3. A management tool – Analyse employee’s jobs and workloads, and identify where changes need to be made.

One of the best things about this application is it doesn’t get in the way of you doing what you would normally do on your computer. All you need to do is install a small agent on the computer; it works through most firewalls, and it uses a very small amount of your computers resources so it won’t slow anything down.

The free version of this time keeper will soon be released and this will be followed by a pro version which will have more features for analysing your results.

If this is something that interests you please leave us a comment on this blog with your thoughts, or for more information you can contact us at info@lancom.co.nz

The WildCharge pad is a flat thin conductive surface that can charge things like cell phones and iPods simply by placing them anywhere on top of it. Charging begins as soon as contact is made and your devises will charge at the same speed as if they were plugged in to the wall.

Perhaps the best part about this new technology is that is could mean the end of having to carry around and keep track on a stack of different charges. It can also charge up to five devices at once, which makes it even more convenient.

Enabling your electronic device to use the WildCharge pad involves attaching a very small WildCharge adapter to the device; in the case of a cell phone all you would need to do was replace the battery cover with a WildCharge enabled one.

At present the there are only adapters available for Motorola RAZR V3 phones and iPods, but WildCharge plans to release more adapters and expects that in the future their technology will be included in devices at the time of manufacture.

To learn more about WildCharge click here.

Well according to the security company PC Tools yes, but not as much as Microsoft claims it is.

PC Tools says Vista is 37% more secure than Windows XP. They came up with this figure by counting the number of unique threats to both the operating systems over a six month period. Microsoft mean while, using a different technique, recently claimed that Vista was 60% more secure than XP.

According to PC Tool’s vice president of product strategy “The answer is that it is more secure than XP, but not so secure that you can give up on anti-virus and other security software.”

To learn more about these results from ComputerWorld click here.

If you have Vista and have saved over an older version of a file you wished you hadn’t, here’s how to get it back. Simply browse to the file in Windows Explorer, right click on it and select Restore previous versions. You will now see a list of previous versions of the file.

Here’s the link to a great video by Microsoft explaining how to do this as well.

If you want to help curb global warming here are 5 simple IT things that everyone can do, plus 3 additional things you may want to consider.

Easy things anyone can do:

• Set you monitor to go to sleep when you are away for extended periods on time - A computers screen saver is not designed to save energy; it’s designed to save your screen from ‘burn in’. That’s why it’s a good idea to set your monitor to go to sleep after you have been away for more than 10 minutes.
  To do this: Right click on your desktop and select Properties, go to the Screen Saver tab and click on Power…, and now change your Turn off monitor setting to After 10 mins.
  
  
• Switch to an LCD monitor - If you are not already using an LCD monitor you may want to look at upgrading to one. An LCD monitor uses around one fifth of the power of an equivalent sized CRT (cathode-ray tube) monitor.
  
  
• Recycle your unwanted electronic goods – Believe it or not it’s relatively easy to recycle things like cell phones and computers. You can drop off any brand of old cell phone to a Vodafone store for recycling or if there isn’t a store close to you, you can freepost it to them (Click here for more info).
  eDay 2008 is another way you can easily recycle all your old cell phones and computers. eDay is a free drive through event set up in 12 locations throughout New Zealand, where you can take all you e-waste in for recycling (Click here for more info)
  
  
• Curb your phantom electricity use – Many items left plugged in and switched on at the wall, such as cell phone chargers or laptop adapters, can use power even when there is no cell phone or laptop attached to them. If you are not using them unplug or switch them off at the wall.
  
  
• Print economically – If you’re printing out a draft document you can save ink and paper by: using the printers draft or economy mode, printing only in black and white, and by printing on both sides of the paper. You will need to check your Printer Properties to see if it has these options.
  

Other things you could consider

• Telecommute from home – Rather than drive into the office everyday you could reduce your carbon emissions by working remotely from home and only coming into the office on the days you need to. There are quite a few different IT options available for remote working to learn about our free Report Working report click here.
  
  
• Take advantage of video conferencing software – If you drive or fly around a lot for meetings you may want to consider holding video meetings instead. As well as saving fuel, video meetings save you time and are much more convenient. There are a few different video conferencing solutions available, which is right for you will depend on what you need to be able do it the meeting. To learn more about Microsoft Live Meeting click here.
  
  
• Buying a new computer or laptop? You may want to consider energy efficiency in your purchasing decision. The EPEAT (Electronic Product Environment Assessment Tool) allows you to look up which Desktops and Notebooks are the most energy efficient. Click here for more info.