This week traversing folders and retrieving files using these mapped network drives came to a grinding halt. It would take 5-8 seconds each time I clicked to open the next folder. Opening a file took even longer.

I had our internal technical team install WSS 3.0 SP2 as well as Office 2007 SP2 hoping that this would fix the problem. Neither of these provided any relief.

I did recall having a similar issue when I upgraded to Vista (still with Office 2007; I’m now running Windows 7), and remembered that disabling Automatically detect settings within Internet Explorer (Tools > Internet Options > Connections > LAN Settings) did the trick. It worked this time too.

For those that were not able to attend, ConnectWise will be posting the video of the presentation next week in the ConnectWise user forums.

UPDATE (4/13): The recording of this webinar has been posted to ConnectWise University.

This 2-hour webinar for users of ConnectWise will cover:

• What is a project and how is it different from providing day-to-day support?
• The anatomy of a project, including typical project phases and structure
• How to create a project estimate and scope of work
• How to use ConnectWise to effectively manage projects for success
• Project management best practices

Registration is limited to the first 100 registrants, so register now.

Inspired by the popular show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Microsoft and Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce members have teamed up to present an Extreme Office Makeover!

One lucky small business or organization will win over $35,000 worth of products and services from: Microsoft, Dex, BizXchange, FastSigns Seattle, Queen Anne Upholstery, and more! All qualified organizations that enter will receive a free Technology Assessment from a Microsoft Partner.

The winner of the Makeover will be announced at the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Tradeshow on May 12, 2009 at Qwest Field.

To learn more visit www.seattlechamber.com/makeover

The contest is open to small businesses and organizations located only in the state of Washington. Members as well as non-members of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce are welcome to apply. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Complete contest rules and regulations can be found at www.seattlechamber.com/makeover. Application deadline is 5:00 p.m. April 24, 2009.

Introduction to Green IT

Thursday, May 7, 2009, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm PST

Learn how implementing Green IT practices can transform your organization’s sustainability program. Webinar details & registration.

Conducting a Green IT Assessment

Thursday, May 14, 2009, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm PST

Learn how to conduct your own Green IT audit in this interactive, 45-minute presentation. Webinar details & registration.

More than ever before, small businesses need their investments in technology to yield the rewards that are promised. The most important first step to making this happen is partnering with the right company, yet every day companies form sub-optimal partnerships that undermine the long-term success of their technology strategy and their business.

Researching, interviewing, and selecting an IT company is a daunting and uncertain task for many businesses, especially with the cloak of mystery, air of knowledge superiority, and lack of transparency that often surrounds technology and technology consultants.

During this 60-minute presentation, Brad Benner will teach you simple and effective strategies for selecting and hiring and the right IT company, how to avoid common pitfalls, and how to work together successfully over time so that you can stay focused on your core business.

Event registration and information >>

About the presenter

Brad Benner is the founder of X-BAR, a Seattle-based IT services company that offers technology services and solutions to small and mid-sized companies.

After graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in Spanish Language and Literature, Brad spent a year guiding tours of Spain and Portugal before returning to work as an independent IT consultant. He founded X-BAR in the summer of 2002 to support his growing list of clients.

Today, Brad brings over 10 years of technology consulting experience and creative problem-solving to X-BAR. Taking a direct hand in client and project management while serving as X-BAR’s lead solution architect and engineer, Brad simultaneously manages one of the Northwest’s most innovative and green information technology agencies. Brad was recognized in 2008 as the Small Business Administration’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska.

One of the more disruptive and time consuming issues we’ve identified over the past few months is spyware infections. The most effective strategy that we’ve found to combat this across is to ensure that users aren’t using an account with administrative privileges on their local workstations for day-to-day-work. Yet this poses its own challenges, given the need for users to perform legitimate tasks from time-to-time that might require administrative rights, such as installing a basic application or printer drivers.

Sure, there are the hard-liners that will lock down a network like Fort Knox, but we find that these stiff strategies aren’t practical or realistic when it comes to managing IT for small and midsized companies.

So, since we’re not a draconian IT company – and because we always endeavor to strike a balance between security and usability – we’ve designed a system that consists of two parts:

1. The creation of a specialized desktop administration account that can be used when administrative privileges are needed to perform a specific task on a workstation, such as installing an application or printer.
2. The removal of users from the local workstation’s administrators group.

The idea is that the username and password for the specialized account is kept by the company’s primary IT contact and shared with employees on an as-needed basis. This way, employees who are surfing the web and accidentally click on a link or launch an application that would otherwise result in an infection are effectively immune (since they don’t have the required level of permissions to install the nefarious application) but have access to a the specialized account for those tasks requiring administrative privileges.

We also lock down the specialized account so that it doesn’t have access to company data, to further discourage users from using this account for day-to-day work.

So far, this approach has worked quite well and does a good job balancing usability with security.

Our lack of grace and inability to deal was really nothing more than not being prepared. And we weren’t prepared simply because we haven’t had to be. Let’s take the lessons learned this year and make preparations for the years to come – years that will most certainly be influenced by climate destabilization associated with global warming.

One of the ways that businesses can prepare for unexpected weather or other disruptions that affect the region is through the smart use of technology. There are a number of solutions available to small and mid-sized companies that help owners and employees remain productive on those unexpected house-bound days. What’s more is that these technologies, when implemented thoughtfully, can contribute to company HR and sustainability initiatives by providing workers with more options for when and where they work.

Here is a re-cap of the technology solutions available and how they help employees to remain effective while working remotely:

• Outlook Web Access (OWA) is a web-based version of Outlook that comes Microsoft Exchange Server (which is included with Microsoft Small Business Server). It allows employees to communicate and collaborate with clients and colleagues by accessing email, contacts, and calendars using a web browser. Work done in OWA is automatically synchronized with Outlook when employees return to the office and with mobile phones.
• SharePoint is a web-based collaboration and information sharing platform that allows companies to create intranets and workspaces for teams by customizing and combining SharePoint ‘widgets’ such as document libraries, calendars, discussions boards, and wikis, to name a few. Because it’s web-based, it can be accessed remotely in a secure fashion. For those companies that already own a recent version of Microsoft Windows Server, there are no additional licensing costs.
• Remote Desktop allows an employee to remotely control a computer as if he or she were physically in front of the machine. Applications run on the workstation (which has a high-speed local area network connection to files and internal databases) and the only information transmitted between the remote user and the company computer are mouse movements, keyboard strokes, and screen images, so this technology provides a good experience even in lower-bandwidth situations. Plus the remote desktop connection utility is available on all recent versions of Microsoft Windows and can also be downloaded and installed on Macs.
• Terminal Services is a server-based technology very similar to remote desktop from a user-experience perspective. With TS, the server hosts desktop sessions for multiple, simultaneous users, and because the technology is server-based, employees don’t have to worry about leaving their workstation on and connected when they leave the office each night.
• Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a technology allows you to create a secure tunnel to your office network and access resources on the network, such as files, printers, and internal database and applications, as if you were physically connected to the network. VPN works best with healthy amounts of bandwidth at both ends of the connection (office and remote location) and can compliments many of the technologies listed here as part of a remote access technology portfolio.
• VOIP-based telephone systems have an array of features that allow employees to remain in contact by phone while working remotely, such as call forwarding, simultaneous ringing, shared call appearance, remote office, and find me/follow me. Additionally, most modern phone systems have incorporated the ability to deliver voice messages as email attachments, which allows employees to access their voicemail wherever they have email access.
• Instant Messaging has been available from companies like Yahoo, MSN, and Skype for quite some time, but communication using these services is not considered secure (e.g. a conversation that includes private patient or financial information can be intercepted). Instead, small and mid-sized organizations are turning to secure and auditable internal instant messaging systems that can also be accessed remotely for employees working outside the office.
• Co-location allows companies to move some or all of their technology infrastructure from their office to specialized facilities that provide high-quality, redundant Internet connectivity as well as environmental controls such as fire suppression and backup electrical generators. Co-location can be a great solution for companies where remote access to data and information is important to its success.

As you can see, there are a number of technology solutions available to small and mid-sized companies as they look for ways to keep work flowing during adverse weather events.

An experienced technology services company, like X-BAR, can tailor and implement a remote access solution that best matches the goals of a particular company or organization.