So, recently we had a lot of computer trouble at the house of Gaurav. Viruses, lost drivers, computers disappearing of the LAN, portable hard drives not being compatible anymore. Whole thing was made especially worse due to projects that were due over the last two weeks.
Deadlines having been met we sat down with a new IT manager to sort out a process to get the systems back in the best condition and to ensure no problems will creep in later.
Some of our solutions for small Offices -
- A complete format and re installation of the original OS. For Laptop users you can just restore to factory settings by pressing F10 (varies) at start up and following on screen options.
- Minimal programs installed i.e. only essential work related software.
- Installing a strong, anti virus package and updating it every day with the new virus definitions. I would recommend the Active Virus Shield by AOL created by Kapersky who create the Kapersky Anti Virus which is one of the highest rated Anti Virus proggies out there. It is free and what we use on our PC’s at present. You can also go for Norton Anti Virus 2007 which is about 2100 Rupees, though we don’t like it anymore due to system slow down.
- Firewall, A firewall program is a must nowadays, it all seems excessive but trust me its worth it, especially at work. Prevention is always better than cure. I would recommend the built in windows XP firewall or Zone Alarm.
- Additionally a basic package of non-work related software to keep things smoothly functioning. Adobe Acrobat Reader, Apple Quicklime, VLC media player as it plays most codecs, Open Office from Sun Micro systems for Word Processing - Fully compatible with ms office 2007. GIMP as an alternative to Photoshop. All these packages are completely free.
- For small offices, set up an internal back up workstation. 180GB hard drive, partitioned 3 ways. 20GB C drive. 120GB Main Back up Drive and a 60 GB smaller back up drive. Install Second Copy (INR 1200 a copy) and it will back up all your data. Simple to install and manage.
- Avoid Peer to Peer download software like Kazaa, Limewire they are a major source of trojans and other spyware.
- Institute a best practices program
Any data introduced into the computer systems must be approved and scanned for viruses.
All data is stored in the back up server along with individual PC’s
User PC’s do not access each other, only the server.
Password protected access to back up folders.
Virus Scan before shut down.
Final Back up before Shut Down (auto)
Clean wipe of Back up Servers once project is over
Periodic Data Dumps on DVD or HDD.
Any other advice or ideas from others?
PS. I would love to say guys, don’t surf for porn but ….
| Categories - mumbai | professional life | |||
| |||
I’ve been using Symantec CC for a really long time now, and it has never let me down. I use it along with AVG.
For spywares, Ad-aware is very effective. Although I don’t have a firewall, I’d recommend ZA. Very very good software.
As for Norton, all versions after 2002 are HUGE memory hoggers.
Installing only the softwares needed is a good choice, as it saves a lot of resources. You should have gone for a RAID configuration for such an important set up.