Rolling Blackouts again. And again and again. 

Yes, as Eskom has less and less control over its generators and transmission equipment,  blackouts are repeating themselves, over and over, again and again.

And the sudden power loss to computers and ADSL modems is beginning to cause problems. I've had a few cases of computer data corruption and scrambled ADSL router settings. Fortunately, these were repairable, it just cost for the time to recover..

However, these clients were just lucky, it could have meant the replacement of the devices. Is it worth the cost and hassle of having to replace computers and trying to recover the data of the old one? OK I know that YOU take frequent backups, or do you?

I'm urging you to install a small UPS, one which would have sufficient autonomy to initiate an ordered shutdown of your systems and is also capable of an ordered restart once power is restored.

 It will also protect you against the inevitable spikes and surges that take place during the initiation of blackout, and, the re-connection of power.

The important bit isn't the UPS per se, it's the software that comes with it, software which will ensure ordered shutdown and restart.

To this end BCC supplies the APC range of UPS which uses the APC PowerChute management software.

Don't only think computers.  What about that large screen TV, the PVR and the music centre? 

Please feel free to contact me at rob@bcc.co.za and we can discuss your requirements.

Microsoft Backtracks on Stupid Office 2013 Licensing Terms.

Original Terms.

When Microsoft launched Office 2013, they locked the usage to a single PC, unless the PC was replaced under warranty. This meant that if you went out and bought Office 2013 you could only use it on the machine you were using when you first registered the software; if you upgraded by installing a new motherboard or bought a new machine, you also had to buy another copy of Office 2013.

For some inexplicable reason, this license seems to have upset all potential Office purchasers.  I'm guessing that Office sales went down faster than the Titanic and that there wasn't even a band to keep playing.

New Terms

On his Blog Site, Jevon Fark says:

"A couple weeks ago, I posted this blog to clarify the new Office 2013 licensing terms. Based on customer feedback we have changed the Office 2013 retail license agreement to allow customers to transfer the software from one computer to another. This means customers can transfer Office 2013 to a different computer if their device fails or they get a new one. Previously, customers could only transfer their Office 2013 software to a new device if their PC failed under warranty."

So, while this will make many potential buyers happy, one must wonder at the thinking behind the original  decision. 

How can a mature software publisher take such an obviously stupid decision? Is Microsoft so far removed from reality that it no longer has any modicum of allegiance to its clients?

Looking at the Office 2013 debacle together with the Windows 8 debacle, one can only come to the conclusion that Microsoft has become so arrogant that they think that they can do as they please without repercussion.  

I don't think so.

All they need do is look at what happened to others who thought that they were more important than those paying for the privilege of using their products.  Can anyone remember the Philips 1500  video recorder, Wordperfect, Novel Netware, etc etc?

Doing the wrong thing and then trying to fix it, is simply unprofessional.

And then I installed Windows 8 ...

Windows 8 – Upgrading to the Release Version

Intro

As a Microsoft Partner, I was able to download the release version of Windows 8 Pro. Partners are normally given access to new software a little earlier than Joe Public in order to be given time to familiarise themselves so as better to support their clients. Microsoft coined a great term for their using their own software as “Eating your own dog food”. And, no, it is not free!

Downloading

In the good old days Microsoft would DHL a DVD to the partners, but, with cost cutting together with a fast inexpensive Internet Service in most non South African countries, one is down ‘encouraged’ to download software rather than have it arrive on a DVD.  That works overseas, but I can assure you that it simply does not work on the piece of wet string, otherwise known as my 384Kb/s Broadband Internet Connection supplied by Telkom.

At best it takes 3.5 Days to arrive. At worst, it fails to download after 2.8 days.  Fortunately friend allowed me to use their much higher speed connection and it came down in 2 hours.  Of course it then took 27 hours to copy it to my site J.

Anyway, it eventually got here.

Installing

In preparation of this exercise, I had already run a full backup of my Windows 7 Ultimate machine, so I decided to take what many would consider to be the Cowboy approach, I decided to do an in place upgrade, as this would retain all the installed software and settings in the new version.  The risk to this approach is that one might have a long snag list to sort out after having converted, but if the snag list is empty, then it is a lot less trouble!

So I created a DVD and proceeded to run it. The very first thing required by the install is a valid key.  There is no 30 trial period. Having entered the key, I was given simple choices:

1. Wipe everything and do a clean install.
2. Retain my data and reinstall all my software.
3. Retain all data and software.

All things being equal, option 1 is the preferred method as there will not be any old bits of software lying around to cause instabilities. Equally, there is pretty much no risk of carrying any malware across from the old installation.

Option 2 is the next best option as it saves copying data back and forth and, as the data may include movies and music; this could be quite a large amount of data.

Option 3 is discouraged as it can result in a much more unstable and problematical end result.

So, with not a little trepidation, I chose option 3 and carried on with the installation. This proceeded to run for some 2.5 hours.  Rather than stare at a screen showing percentage of completion, I chose to watch some movies on TV. 

Running Win 8

When I eventually returned to the screen, I was invited to give the 3-finger salute and log in.  Which I proceeded to do.

Shock Horror! I found myself staring at the ugly Start Page.  It should prefaced with a health warning as the encounter could drive you to smoke and drink L.

So I hot fingered it to the Desktop screen where all my little icons welcomed me with smiling faces.  This was good. J

Suddenly I got a pop up informing that Explorer had been prematurely shut down by the C++ redistributable. This was not good L.  I managed to figure that it was due Visual Studio not liking its new environment so I remove and reinstalled it, which fixed that problem.

A couple of other programs were also unhappy and were restored to their previous state of euphoria with a reinstall. The most surprising being an accounting package which I first installed in April 2002. In Window 7 I ran it in XP mode, now I once again have it running as a normal app!  Not bad.

Pièce de résistance.

A friend pointed me to 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/23/classic_shell_gives_windows_8_a_start_button/ 

and now a pretty good impression of the Windows 7 Start Button proudly resides at the bottom left of my Task Bar.  Happiness J.

The challenges I still need to address is my Kodak scanner the drivers of which are no more, but I am still hopeful of fixing them. The other is my Gadgets, without a calendar and clock in my face I have no idea as to when I am and whether I’m hot or cold.  But I believe that there are solutions to remedy this disgusting bit of sabotage.

So, I’m happy. As is my PC.  

Neither of us needs spend time on the ‘Metro’ Start Page and Windows 8 does seem a bit more responsive. 

Conclusion

My PC contains lots of stuff! I often install software in order to test it or to solve a client's problem. 

I equally often don't get around to cleaning up, so my PC has a lot of stuff running on it, probably much more than does yours.  

If my upgrade could run as smoothly as it did, then yours also should.

The IT World is Hotting up!

A Bunch of New Technology is On the Horizon

Microsoft will be releasing a bunch of Windows 8 devices:  The new Nokia Windows 8 Phone on September 2^nd followed by the new Windows 8 PC operating system and Surface Tablet on 26^th October.

Apple will be releasing their iPhone5 together with a mini iPad on 12^th September.

Google together with their newly acquired subsidiary Motorola, will be launching the Motorola Droid RAZR HD phone on September 5^th.

Way Forward?

If you are not a specific manufacturer’s fan boy, then this is going to get really confusing!

Each of the Big Three will now have an Operating System, a Smart Phone and a Tablet! This is the first time that these three players have had such a head-on product range.

The one player who has been left out is the ailing Research in Motion who make the Blackberry phones, although they do have a new operating system in the pipeline, scheduled for release in 2013.  This may be too little too late and we may see Blackberry disappear further into the mire before the update can have any effect.

Which way should you go?

In most cases it boils down to personal preferences, in some cases choice is dictated by corporate requirements and sometimes choice is dictated by the devices.

If one does not rate the similarity of use as important, then apart from corporates, anything can be a mix and match, but you will probably end up with a bag of licorice all-sorts, and, as always happens with licorice all-sorts, there will be one colour that you hate!!!

The best bet is to go with Tablet and PC from the same manufacturer.  So, iPad + iPhone, Windows 8 + Windows 8, or Android + Android.

Unless you are in the habit of doing a lot of data input on the phone, the choice is less stringent, although navigation may become a bit confusing when moving between devices.

In the case of non-Apple products, in addition to models, one has the further choice of manufacturer.

Apart from Microsoft, other companies will be releasing Windows 8 tablets and Windows 8 Smart phones.  Similarly there are many Android device manufacturers from which to choose.

While the iPad has been around forever, the Surface is a brand new animal and the demos look quite exciting, so I would be tempted in that direction.  It would also, maybe, convince me that Metro is cool J.

Oops, not allowed to call it Metro any more – it’s now called Windows 8. 
Oops^{2 –}  hot off the presses, apparently it’s Metro again!
I’m going just call it 0rtem.

Meantime while we’re all waiting, as a Microsoft Partner with early access, I’ll be downloading and installing the release version of Windows 8 over the next few days.

As my Chinese friends keep wishing me, I suspect I will be living in Interesting Times!

913 Scam

I’m not going to get caught.

Everyone thinks they’re invincible and is not going to get caught out by a scam.

Well, that’s what my client thought. Until they discovered they’d paid a serious wad into a scammer's bank account.

I was called in to try and find what had gone wrong, and this is what was uncovered.

What went wrong

It turned out to be a simple eMail scam.

Well, not so simple.

Their accounts manager received an email request from a trusted creditor advising that his company had changed their bank account details and would they please upgrade their records.

The email was crafted on the creditor’s company standard, and, unless one checked the raw source, it looked, felt, and appeared to be absolutely legitimate.

Even if one replied, querying the request elicited a legitimate looking out of office reply.

What should have happened?

Simple. Ensure that any change of company details such as bank account, delivery address, phone number, email, any contact details, are double checked.  And this check must take place via an alternate communication  channel, preferably with somebody other than the original person.

But that’s a bit paranoid, isn't it?

Not really.  In the case cited above, the fraud was carried out by someone with insider access and knowledge.

Maybe an unhappy employee working out their notice, or someone who’d read Kevin Mitnick’s  2002 book, The Art of Deception, where he describes in some detail the art of ‘social engineering'  and then applied these techniques.

So, next time a creditor advises of some crucial change, be paranoid and double check.

You just may not be as lucky as my client, who looks as if, this time, they’re able to recover a big chunk of their cash. You might not be as lucky.

What is my next ‘PC’ going to be?

A few years ago, this was an easy question to answer. If you’re older than generation Y, it would have been a new desktop. If you’re part of generation Y or younger it would have been a new laptop. Fairly straightforward. It was just a matter of looking at the features, choosing a manufacturer and model, considering the price and then relooking at the features.

Today it is not quite that simple.  Now we can choose from a variety of devices varying from cellular phones to super workstations. Between these extremes we have tablets, netbooks, notebooks, and desktops.

Our decision now needs to include how and where the device is to be used.

1. Do we need to carry it around?
2. Is it only for communication, or is it to be used for more onerous tasks?
3. Is a full sized keyboard mandatory?
4. Have we a need for multiple screens?

And even some of those questions are not mutually exclusive!

Cell phones can do email and web browsing.

Tablets have built in keyboards.

Netbooks are tiny Notebooks.

Notebooks have the same processing power as desktops.

Desktops have the storage once reserved only for large servers.

Super Workstations can house multiple processor chips, each with multiple cores.

And the list goes on!

And even the device categories have choices! For instance some manufacturers offer solutions across all the device types, with compatibility of the Apps. Which means that you will be able to use the most convenient device.

So maybe ONE device isn’t enough? Maybe it's horses for courses?

So maybe you’ll have a Smartphone for your pocket, plus a Tablet for your meetings, together with a multi 23” screen PC in the office!

Just upgraded to Release Preview of Windows 8 and apart from the usual start menu gripe, I'm quite impressed. It's a lot smoother with a keyboard/mouse interface than the Consumer Preview, a big step up from consumer preview.

IE10 is pretty much identical with Google Chrome.  NICE.

A workaround for the lack of a start menu is to pin apps to the desktop taskbar, but obviously that will only work with a limited number of apps.

Thinking about it, the real problem is that items in the start page are no longer grouped and accessible via a menu system. The Start page quickly becomes unusable when one has to scroll forever TO FIND AN APP.

Adding a method of grouping will make this a really nice OS. Let's hope that Microsoft does something about it.