Alex Scoble's IT Notes - An Information Technology Blog

Macro Package Chosen

Here's a quick update on what's going on with our Application Upgrade Project (that's what I'm calling the combined projects of upgrade to Word 2003, migration from WordPerfect, training of users on Office, cleanup of WORLDOX (our DMS) and training on the new version of WORLDOX).

Last week we chose the macro package we will be using. It's by a company named KI Systems that specialize in Office customizations for legal companies (http://www.kisys.com). Their package is comprehensive and includes an enterprise level address book (I'll get more into this later). We also purchased the separate Formbank, Numbering Tool, Metadata Stripper and Remote modules.

Also decided to buy Levit and James (http://www.levitjames.com)CrossWords and Stylizer to help convert documents from WordPerfect to Word and to properly set up the styles of any document to our standards (will also talk about these apps as we start working with them).

To help us with implementing all of the above and to do the training we went with David Adams of Just Results! (http://www.justresults.com/) Out of the 4 vendors we talked to, he really seemed to best understand law firms, how to setup training in a lawfirm and the process of migrating users from WP to Word.

As we move along, I will be talking about the whole process in more detail.

Microsoft Support Incident

Well, say what you will about Microsoft, but I am currently dealing with them on an issue and have found their support to be prompt, courteous and helpful.

Here's the scenario...User running Office 2003 on a Dell Latitude D800 with Windows XP Pro. Outlook 2003 is crashing often. 20 times today according to the user.

User has a rule to move any emails larger than 256kb to the large messages folder. This is a server side rule.

User is connecting to Exchange Server 5.5 SP4 running on an NT 4.0 SP6a box with Norton AV for Exchange.

Looked on Microsoft's website and found article 834466 that lists symptoms very similar to that above.

Basically, the problem might be caused when the server isn't properly converting messages with ASCII text to Unicode.

Anyhow, called up Microsoft support to get the hotfix (ok so it's a little annoying that they make you call for the fix, but I guess they want to make sure that you need it), get an answer right away and 10 minutes later I have the fix. Looks like they have plenty of support staff to handle calls, which is nice. Most companies don't.

For example, Dell's support isn't what it used to be. Now you get put in a long wait queue even if you purchased enterprise hardware such as servers or tape libraries...that is unless you buy their "gold" support which I find to be ridiculously expensive.

Now I just need to wait until the morning after the nightly backups are done in order to install the patch. Then we get to see if the patch fixes the user's problem.

The problem can also occur with similar users connecting to Exchange 2000.

System Naming Conventions

Since I'm starting to deploy new systems, I'm having to come up with names that fit into our naming convention. Our convention is supposed to be cartoon characters. Not all systems follow this convention, but most now do.

I am however, beginning to wonder if such a naming convention is even useful or warranted.

Some people say that you shouldn't name systems after who uses it or what the system does like Ascoble1, ExchangeBridgehead1, etc. This is so that someone can't simply look at system names after gaining entry into your network in order to crack the most important systems. After all if you are a hacker you are much less likely to attack a system named "JoeShmoe1" than "FileServer1".

Balancing the security concerns are always the concerns about usability. How easy is it for a user to remember the name of the server they need to access when they need to access it and does it make sense?

I think that for most companies, the issue of convenience outweighs the issue of security to some degree. If it isn't useful, then what is the point of having it after all. Which is why SSL websites are better than VPNs for applications that can be directly served off of a website. VPNs are more secure, but they are also much harder to set up, maintain and get users to use.

Would be interesting to hear what other IT professionals typically use for their naming conventions, but my guess is that it's usually driven by politics more than anything else. Then again that doesn't explain why a law firm is using cartoon characters as opposed to precedents (how about a system named RoeVWade) or law schools (Stanford, Michigan).

Then again I'm too busy to really start changing everything midstream, so instead I'm trying to be creative about coming up with new cartoon characters...Good thing I watch a lot of Anime, eh?

Then again, when I leave people are going to be saying "Why did he name these computers with Japanese names?"

IT Tip Of The Week: Don't Pack-rat

I've been at my current position for less than a year, every so often I still open a drawer in my office and go WTF?

Today was one of those days. Opened the drawer that the old IT consultant (I'm the first full time IT person that TZ has had - previous consultant worked here 3 days a week) had used to store floppy drives and other accessories for laptops. I noticed that there were some unnecessary papers in the drawer (don't need to keep those AC Adapter manuals) and started to look at what else was in the drawer.

Lo and behold I found a ziplock bag full of twist ties. Twist Ties! You know, those things that come around the cords for every mouse, keyboard, etc. on new systems and parts.

Some of you might think that hoarding twist ties is a good idea, but it certainly breaks my 6-12 month rule.

"If you do an honest assessment and cannot see yourself using an item in the next 6-12 months, dump it!"

-- Alex Scoble's IT People Shouldn't Pack-rat Stuff They Won't Use Within 6-12 Months Rule

I can't even begin to tell you how much paperwork, odd connectors, old cables and other worthless junk I've had to trash since I've gotten here.

So don't be bad. Don't be a pack-rat, cuz pack-rats are bad.

Don't scrimp on the small stuff to preserve your neurosies. If you need to clean up cables on a regular basis, go to Fry's or Graybar and buy a big bag of zip-ties and some velcro straps.

Don't save floppy disks for drivers that you can download from the net and store on your IT file server.

Don't store paperwork that won't make any sense to the next person because you hand wrote a bunch of words haphazardly on a blank sheet of paper.

Don't keep odd cables that haven't been used since the days of the PDP 11/84.

If you are going to hoard, at least keep good stuff that you can use and that doesn't make you look like a complete amateur. It will make you look much better when your slot is filled with another IT person after you leave and will help that next person out a lot as well.

Coming into a new workplace is hard enough without wading through someone else's junk to find the parts, nuggets of information or software that you need.

Update to D600 Report

One thing I forgot to mention in my review of the Dell D600 laptop. I really wish it had a Synaptics touch pad and track point as opposed to Alps. Synaptics really makes a better product and their drivers are much better as well.

I don't know why Dell switched from Synaptics to Alps in most of their laptops a few years ago, but I really wish they'd switch back.

I really miss the palm check option that the Synaptics pads have where it won't register a touch unless it's by a single finger.

Plus I think that they Synaptics pads are just so much smoother.

Dell M5200N Printer Report

While I'm on the subject of hardware, might as well talk about my experiences so far with the Dell M5200N Laser Printer.

Pretty nice boxes really. I now have 6 of them in service here. Started out getting one as a letterhead printer to replace a dead HP LJ 3Si.

They are actually Dell branded Lexmark printers. 35 ppm, optional envelope feeder, duplexer, etc (the usual stuff). Our letterhead printers are purchased with 192 megs of memory, Envelope feeder, 3 years of onsite next day service and an extra 500 sheet paper tray. Printer comes with one 500 sheet tray built in and you can add 4 more, built in ethernet and 64 megs of memory. Max resolution is 1200x1200dpi.

They are pretty fast too, when they say 35ppm they mean it.

The envelope feeder is great since our secretaries print out a lot of addressed envelopes throughout the day and now they don't have to stand next to the printer and feed in envelopes as needed. A stack of 75 is put into the feeder and then just filled up as needed.

I'm sure the big question that is on your mind right now is why I didn't go with an HP 4000 series. Cost. Dell keeps giving us deals on these printers to the point where they are more than $1000 less than a comparable HP. Cost per print is also less. Remains to be seen whether maintenance costs over the life of the printer will eat up the difference, but that will only happen after year 3 since the printers all have 3 year onsite service contract with Dell. I'm not expecting problems with them any time soon though, so far they've run great and I would highly recommend these printers to anyone who asked me for my opinion on a good workgroup printer.

Cost for each printer was around $1700 with 128MB of extra memory, 3 year support, extra 500 sheet tray, envelope feeder and toner cartridge.

If you need a tabloid size (11x17) printer though, HP or Lexmark are still your only choices. Neither the M5200N or the slightly newer and faster M5300N handle tabloid. Since this is a law firm, tabloid printing isn't much in need, however and we do have some Ricoh networked copiers that can handle that larger size if needed (for network diagrams for instance).

Oh and did I mention that the printers are a nice charcoal grey with some gunmetal plastic trim? Kind of like the stealth bomber of printers :D.

Again, if I have any issues with the printers I will update you on this site.

Dell Latitude D600 Report

OK, so I've been messing around with the Dell Latitude D600s for a while now. Figured now was as good a time as any to give my thoughts on them.

So far, they have been pretty solid laptops. They look good if not as cool as one of the newer Apples and are pretty well made. The deluxe leather case has plenty of room for all of the extra peripherals that you tend to need with the laptops as well as room for personal belongings. Could be a bit bigger, but you'd have to buy an aftermarket case for that. The latch on the front was hard to open at first on some of the bags, but once they have been opened a few times it gets easier.

The built in wireless works good, although (and I suspect this is the case for all wireless cards available right now) it takes a while (1-2 minutes) for the wireless card to connect to the network when the laptop is first switched on. For home users this won't be much of an issue, but for corporate users connecting to an NT or Active Directory domain, this is downright annoying. You either have to connect first thing using ethernet cable (kind of defeats the purpose of wireless doesn't it?), wait 1-2 minutes before logging into the system or log in, wait for the wireless to connect and then relog in.

Battery life is OK. They last about 3 hours on a single charge with moderate use. Probably not the greatest out there, but you can always get the second battery that goes in the media bay if you need longer life (of course then you can't play DVDs so you just can't win :D).

The 4 that I got all came with 1.7ghz Pentium M, 1400x1050 14" screen, 512MB memory (2 DIMMS), DVD player (1 system also got a CD-RW), Floppy Drive (primarily for ghosting, but also for legacy support), extra power adapter, optical mouse, usb keyboard (with built in 2 port USB hub), and deluxe leather case as stated above. Cost for each was about $2250 at our discount price.

Also got one D800 which is pretty much the same system but with a wider screen. One note of difference between the D600 and D800, the D800 requires a 95watt power adapter for best performance, but the D600 comes with a ~65watt power adapter, and interestingly enough, the car/ac adapter that came with the D800 was a 65watt unit as well. And of course when you boot up the D800 with the lower power adapter, you get a little error message during BIOS load. Cost for the D800 was about $2450 at our discount price.

Not much else to report. The systems run fast and aren't particularly hot. Plus the fan rarely comes on so they are pretty quiet as well.

If/when I have issues with them other than discussed above, I will post those here as well.

Word AutoSave Sucketh

Well, sad to say it, but I've found another area where Word Perfect is better than Word.

Automatic backups. Word's AutoSave and AutoRecovery feature is woefully inadequate especially with users who forget to manually save often.

I've seen users accidentally close Word after working on a document for 2 hours several times. They all say that Word never asked them if they wanted to save the document (running Word 97 here, but going to 2003). Not sure if this is a bug in Word or just users playing fast and loose with fact in order to make a problem not their fault.

I would strenuously request that the Office team fix this issue post haste, as the application really should regularly save the document for the user in such a way that nothing the user or the system does will prevent the user from going back to the last previous autosave.

Also while you are at it, can you please set up the Master Category list in Outlook so that it gets saved to the Exchange server, can be shared and administered by the Exchange Admin? Not quite as important as the autosave feature, but it is a pet peeve of mine, especially for Outlook centric outfits like mine.

Fire Suppression Systems

Currently looking at waterless alternative fire suppression systems for the server room and our records room.

Currently looking at FM-200 systems (chemical agent made by Great Lakes Chemical that acts similarly to Halon but doesn't damage the ozone layer) and FE-25 (chemical agent similar to FM-200 and Halon made by Dupont and Fike).

These systems are pretty cool as they put out the fire much faster than the water based sprinkler systems do and require almost no cleanup. The sprinkler systems put in buildings are pretty much there just to protect the building and occupants. They take way too long to activate to protect against anything else and of course the water is destructive to any electrical equipment and paper files not to mention the cleanup takes a long time.

FM-200 and FE-25 are odorless, colorless gases that are nontoxic to humans so there's no problem if the system discharges while people are in the room, unlike a CO2 system. One condition that has to be met in order to use these chemicals is that the room must be relatively air tight. The agents only work if they are able to stay in the area of a fire. Interestingly enough, even if you put one of these systems in a room you cannot take out the existing sprinkler systems, however the fire detectors used by the replacement systems will discharge in case of a fire in about 1 minute 30 seconds after ignition, whereas it takes the sprinkler systems something like 8-10 minutes before the air surrounding the sprinkler is hot enough to burst the pellet which allows the water to flow out.

Not sure about cost yet, still waiting to get quotes back from vendors.

Word 2003 Annoyance

OK, as I stated before we are upgrading from Office 97 to Office 2003.

Already ran into one annoyance in Word that I can't find a setting for.

In Word 2003, when I select a range of text and hit the delete key, I get a prompt in the status bar "Delete block? No (Yes)". I don't want to be asked if Word should delete a block of text.

Can't find a setting for this in Tools->Options and can't find documentation on this in either Word help or on the Microsoft website.

Always nice when a vendor puts in a feature with specific wording and then doesn't document the feature, or if it does document it, it uses different wording for the feature so you have to spend 10 days figuring out the minds of the document writers to come up with the search that gives you the answer you are looking for.