Technology News | Briscoe Network Solutions

Windows XP SP2 extended support ending July 13, 2010

February 20, 2010 By Phill Briscoe Leave a Comment

Several weeks ago I got a Microsoft OEM newsletter informing me that Support for Windows XP with SP2 is ending July 13, 2010: “Windows XP SP2 will no longer be the supported service pack level for Windows XP computers. Customers running Windows XP SP2 or a previous version of the OS will need to upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (or Windows 7).” In short, with the advent of Windows 7, Microsoft’s new OS, Windows XP is now two operating systems away from the current version Microsoft is working on. What does this mean for users? Microsoft has provided the following PDF. (https://partner.microsoft.com/download/global/40126194).

Although I know this document is aimed at the technology professional; I was really looking for a plain English explanation/answer to the questions: Do I need to change? Is it worth it? Officially, mainstream support for Windows XP Professional ended April 4, 2009, but what is the difference between Mainstream support and extended support. Like any legal document it is important to understand the language so you don’t misunderstand. I think the following chart is helpful in providing those definitions:

Support provided	Mainstream Support phase	Extended Support phase
Paid support (per-incident, per hour, and others)	X	X
Security update support	X	X
Non-security hotfix support	X	Requires extended hotfix agreement, purchased within 90 days of mainstream support ending.
No-charge incident support	X
Warranty claims	X
Design changes and feature requests	X
Product-specific information that is available by using the online Microsoft Knowledge Base	X	X
Product-specific information that is available by using the Support site at Microsoft Help and Support to find answers to technical questions.	X	X

Note: A hotfix is a modification to the commercially available Microsoft product software code to address specific critical problems.

From my point of view there is no point using versions of Microsoft software that no longer have extended support because MS no longer provides product or security updates; not to mention paid telephone support. If you are past the extended support phase, it’s best to move to the newest version of Microsoft operating system if only to ensure that you have a stable system with full technical support.

Filed Under: Blog, Maintenance Plans, Microsoft, Network Assessment, Operating Systems, Windows 7 Tagged With: BNS Services, Busines networking, computer maintenance, IT support, Maintenance Plans, small business, Windows 7

Just what is Gmail Anyway?

February 15, 2010 By CoreyY Leave a Comment

We all know about Google, and what a useful search engine it can be when looking for information on the internet. However, did you know that Google also offers a fairly user-friendly selection of online tools to help make your life easier no matter what computer you are using? The possibilities that Gmail and Google Docs offer are fairly limitless in terms of portability: if you have an internet connection and a computer, you can use them.

In this article, we’re going to cover Gmail: How to sign up for an account and why you may want to use it. First off, why should you get a Gmail account? How is it different than any of the other web-based email options out there?

Gmail has many features that draws users to it. One of the first and most important is a spam filter integrated with the email account. You may have either had a spam problem in the past, or have an external program installed to block spam. In Gmail, you don’t really need to worry about either. Not only is the spam filter fairly reliable as well as accurate, it’s easy to see what spam emails your account has placed in the spam folder and to report spam emails to be blocked in the future from your inbox.

Space is another big reason to create a Gmail account. While Google may have started at 2 Gigabytes of free storage per account, it has grown over the years to upwards of 6 GB of free space. One of Gmail’s messages in the beginning in fact, was that you’d never need to delete an email again.

Above all else, Gmail at its most basic is free. While there are some options you can upgrade to for your business needs, if all you’re looking for is a personal email that offers solid usability, the free version of Gmail is honestly one of the better options out there.

The many features of Gmail are numerous and multi-faceted. The above are only a few basic reasons to get interested in Gmail. So why not sign up for an account and see where it can take you? The following video has step by step instructions on how to create a Gmail account and get started:

Filed Under: Blog, Browser Apps, Google, Online Tools Tagged With: Busines networking, Networking, small business

What cloud am I computing to?

January 2, 2010 By Phill Briscoe Leave a Comment

People always like to tell me I have my head in the clouds; well guess what? Now it’s the only place to be… Let me explain!

Depending on your involvement with business computing, you may have heard the current buzz word “Cloud computing”. There are numerous definitions for cloud computing but simply put it’s online services and applications that are accessed through your web browsers. Online services offer several advantages over standard hardware computing: they are not hardware driven and web browser access means that applications are available whether you own a MAC or a PC. Most of you are already aware of web based applications if you have a Hotmail, MSN, Gmail, Yahoo, Comcast, or other web based email accounts.

In conjunction with “Cloud Computing” is “collaboration”. Recently someone told me that they didn’t need to all this new stuff because they weren’t sharing anyway. File sharing has been around since the beginning of the computer age but this new technology simplifies and incorporates more than just sharing music files or photos. More directly, it can help you communicate with staff, vendors, and clients regarding pricing changes, inventory updates and policy changes. Not to mention changing how you engage with clients regarding discussion boards, finding common solutions to common problems, or transmitting secure documents. These are only a few examples of sharing that can be done online; establishing a more participatory relationship besides just sharing documents and document version control.

From a network infrastructure perspective, Briscoe Network Solutions is an online company; our email is a Google premier account allowing us to use our domain name, our web site/blog is a stand alone WordPress application and our email mailing list is managed by SugarCRM. The Google premier account costs $50/year per email address and both WordPress and SugarCRM are open source applications; meaning they are free to download.

Over the next several months we will explore various online solutions with examples and we’d like you to follow along with us. Our intent is to find new or different applications that will be helpful for small businesses or examples of how to use current applications in new ways.

Google Apps and Microsoft Business Productivity Online Services are some of the most familiar names in Cloud computing and we think the following articles will give you a beginning orientation:

Microsoft Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS) http://www.microsoft.com/online/demo/demo.aspx

Google Apps, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJT3pagjd8s

Filed Under: Blog, Business Tools, Google, Microsoft, New Tech, Trends Tagged With: BNS Services, Busines networking, IT support, Microsoft, Resource Center, small business, Technology News

Are you ready for Windows 7.

October 9, 2009 By Phill Briscoe Leave a Comment

In August I started using Windows 7 on my laptop and one workstation in our office and to date we are pleased over all. My laptop is my office and goes with me every where, including my recent vacation. My biggest complaint regarding Vista was it was slow to sometimes impossible to connect to new networks (wired or wireless). To my joy, this problem was resolved and going through several networks a day was no problem. Mossberg found the HomeGroup function confusing but since I function in domain networks i didn’t test this function; although, my network “visibility” only included the Windows 7 machines. In this case UNC (universal naming convention) worked fine and in an SBS 2008 domain I maintained my mapped drives. I see that Thursday’s Walt Mossberg’s WSJ article also thought Windows 7 was great. I’ll never go that far because times and needs change but it would seem that we are both pleased.

Filed Under: Microsoft, Operating Systems, Technology News, Windows 7 Tagged With: Article, Busines networking, computer maintenance, Networking, Review, small business, Technology News, Walter Mossberg, Windows 7

Is there a Palm in your Future?

September 20, 2009 By Phill Briscoe Leave a Comment

I waited a while before I purchased my new Palm Pre. I debated whether I’d go with the new Palm Web OS or Windows Mobile. Although the Pre isn’t everything I am most pleased. I am further pleased that Palm is going to seriously concentrate on it’s new Web OS. Take a look: http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/smartphones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220001048&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_News

Filed Under: Blog, New Tech Tagged With: Busines networking, cell phone, Microsft, Palm, Smart Phones, Technology News

Is Windows 7 a Network Solution?

August 23, 2009 By Phill Briscoe Leave a Comment

I take my Lenovo X61 every where; it is the work horse of my day. I have had no caustic argument against Windows Vista in general, but as a work tool I found Vista slow and cumbersome to use for network discovery projects and it sometimes has difficulty moving between various Wi-Fi environments.

I’ve been sitting on my copy of Windows 7 Release Candidate for a couple of months but had taken no action until this past weekend. I have two larger clients that are planning network/server upgrades which will include workstations and I decided that I needed to claim a position regarding workstations. I had advised most clients not to upgrade to Windows Vista but with pending upgrades this is no longer a reasonable choice since Microsoft has stopped supporting Windows XP and vendors have finally stop shipping Windows XP. I haven’t changed my position regarding Vista for the network but is Windows 7 going to be an adequate choice?

Friday before last, after making an image of my existing Windows Vista hard drive, I put in the Windows 7 DVD. But before I started I found the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisory tool, http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx, a quick and easy way to evaluate my system. Please read the installation instructions since the Release Candidate is not a boot and install product. The installation instructions for the Windows 7 page recommended that a clean install is the best method for installation. I chose to upgrade the software because I didn’t want to spend the weekend installing and configuring all of my current applications, besides we had Mariner’s tickets for Sunday afternoon.

Although, Walter Mossberg states that his upgrade took about an hour, my upgrade was closer to 4 hrs and I initially found no problem with the process. My only issue were the laptop drivers for the key board and the pointer: Windows and Lenovo have updated drivers but I didn’t gain control until I rolled back to using 2007 drivers. (Note: there was no problem as long as I used the USB/wireless keyboard and mouse).

After the first week I’ve found that most of my applications appear to respond quicker in Win 7 than in Vista and moving to different Wi-Fi hotspots during the day has become less problematic. As a matter of fact, the Lenovo wireless management software finally works the way it is supposed to work. I’ve attached Mossberg’s analysis which should give you a better orientation to Windows 7 from a non Microsoft point of view. More later…

For Some, Move To Windows 7 Will Be Tough-Walt Mossberg

Hasta la Vista: The Many Versions of Windows 7-Walt Mossberg