Irish Rose Consulting » Articles http://irose.com technology alone is not a solution Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:27:50 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Manage your passwords without losing your mind http://irose.com/2010/04/145/ http://irose.com/2010/04/145/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 22:33:52 +0000 Dennis Deery http://irose.com/?p=145 How many do you have? 20? 50? Really, if you use the web much, you’ve lost count. Are they all different? And strong? You can admit it here. You use the same password for every web site, and it’s your dog’s name, right?

There are software solutions that can help you. Using one of these databases, you can generate unique, strong passwords whenever you need them, then securely store them for later use.

KeePass Password Safe is a database that you install on your computer. It’s free and open-source software. You can enter not only passwords, but other secure information into the database. You can then set up KeePass to automatically log you into web sites that you often visit. The entire database is encrypted and protected by a (hopefully strong!) password you define. Yes, with either of the solutions I’ll discuss you’ll need to remember at least one password! There are versions of KeePass available for Blackberry, iPhone and Android, so you can easily carry your passwords with you. I’ve been using KeePass for a number of years and have found it to be quite reliable and useful.

LastPass is a relatively new arrival on the market. It’s a web-based database, so there’s no need to install software on your computer. There is a potential down-side to this. Your passwords are stored in an online database, which could more easily open them up to hacking. On the up-side, LastPass has a staff devoted to making sure your passwords are secure, which won’t be the case if you use something like KeePass on your computer. The real strength of LastPass comes with installing a browser plugin, which is available for all the major browsers. With the plugin installed, LastPass can automatically log you into web forms when you visit sites. LastPass can also recognize when you’re signing up for a new password, and can generate a secure password (stop using your dog’s name!). LastPass can also securely store credit card and identity information for automatically filling in forms on ecommerce sites. Finally, LastPass is also available for most of the major smart phone platforms, so you can take your passwords wherever you go.

I’ve used both of these solutions and would recommend either of them. Implement some form of password database today, start using stronger passwords, stop using your dog’s name, and for god’s sake, stop putting PostIt notes on your monitor with all your important passwords!

]]> http://irose.com/2010/04/145/feed/ 0 Are You Making the Most of the Web? http://irose.com/2000/01/are-you-making-the-most-of-the-web/ http://irose.com/2000/01/are-you-making-the-most-of-the-web/#comments Sat, 01 Jan 2000 03:57:14 +0000 Dennis Deery http://new.irose.com/?p=137 You see them everywhere today – www.anything.com, on delivery vans, in newspaper ads, on television. Hopefully by now you’ve got your own web site and domain name. If you’re still on the sidelines, consider these numbers from a Gartner Group study as encouragement to get into the game (find the October 30, 2000 press release announcing this study, titled “Gartner Says Average U.S. Internet User is 41 Years Old With an Income of $65,000″, at www.gartner.com/):

  • There are 127 million internet users in the U.S., up from 108 million at the end of 1998.
  • Online holiday sales are projected to reach $19.5 billion in 2000, an 85% increase since 1999.
  • 86 million Americans shop online.

Obviously this is a segment of the market that no business can afford to ignore, regardless of the size of your company or your market segment. The bigger question is “how can your business best use the world-wide web?”

Spend 5 minutes surfing the web and you’ll see an incredible range of web sites, from simple online brochures to dynamic sites of hundreds, even thousands, of pages. What’s important to keep in mind is that even small companies with limited resources can compete on a level playing field with companies of all sizes, from countries around the world. The rest of this article will introduce you to the steps required to get an effective web site up and running. We’ll then discuss some innovative ways to use the web that you may not have considered.

The first, and arguably one of the most important steps in setting up your web site is registering your domain name. This is the short name used to refer to your web site, commonly referred to as your URL. For example, Irish Rose Consulting can be found on the internet at www.irose.com. Our domain name is, therefore, irose.com. The biggest problem in registering a domain name is finding a name that is available. You can go to sites such as www.networksolutions.com to search the domain database for availability. If your company name is made up of common words, you may find you have to select an abbreviation or unique arrangement to find an available name.

Going hand-in-hand with domain registration is finding a place to host your web site. Most small and mid-size businesses will want to rent hosting space from a provider rather than setting up their own web server. With hosting available for as little as $10-$20 per month, it just isn’t cost effective for most businesses to run their own web server. Most companies that host web sites will allow you to register your domain name at the time you sign up for web hosting. It’s important to determine, through the host’s service agreement, who retains ownership of the domain name. You’ll want to retain ownership in case you change hosting companies down the road. To find a local host, you can look in your local yellow pages or contact your local Chamber of Commerce. Remember, you can host your site anywhere in the world, since all your updates will be done over the internet. You can find a large list of web hosts at www.thelist.com. Here are some things to keep in mind as you evaluate potential hosts:

  • What kind of volume do you expect to serve? Many web hosts have charges based on the amount of data transferred from your web site. A high-volume site can cause your charges to vary significantly.
  • What is the provider’s uptime guarantee (i.e. how much time in a given month is your web site going to be functioning)? If your web site is merely an online brochure, down-time probably is not too critical. However, if you’re making sales through your web site, down-time can cost you money. Be sure to inquire about guarantees and refund or insurance options provided by your host. Find out if your host has personnel on-site 24 hours a day, or if they have pager notification for down-time.
  • Does the host offer redundant servers and connections to the internet? This is a factor in the uptime guarantee, but can also affect the speed and responsiveness of your site when you get high traffic.
  • Does the host offer access to web logs or provide traffic reporting? An important part of any web site is tracking the usage statistics to determine it’s effectiveness.

Once you’ve selected a web host, it’s time to design your web site. Like any good project, you’ll want to lay out your goals before committing to a design. This can be as simple as a cocktail napkin sketch, or a complete design document specifying the site design. You may want to use your current marketing materials as a design guide – all your materials will be stronger if they present a unified design. You can find some good information about web design at CNet Builder.com (www.builder.com) and at WebMonkey (www.webmonkey.com). As with any complex technology project, if your resources allow, you may want to consider hiring some design or development assistance. See the article “How to Hire Consultants” on our web site for some tips on hiring consultants to assist you.

With a completed design, you’re left with implementing the web site. There are many WYSIWYG (what-you-see is what-you-get) web tools on the market. Users familiar with word processing or desktop publishing programs will probably have little difficulty in developing web pages. Many community colleges now offer courses in beginning and advanced web development. As you develop your site, be careful to maintain a consistent navigation theme throughout the site. If users have difficulty finding their way through your site, they probably won’t spend time exploring it. Also, constantly check your site using different web browsers – Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer will often display pages with not-so-subtle differences. Take care to make your pages small enough to download quickly, even over a dial-up connection. If you make users wait too long for page loading, they’ll often leave rather than wait. Finally, make sure you provide easy-to-find contact information throughout your site so your site visitors can contact you for more information.

So, now that you’ve got the basics of web development down, what kind of innovative features can you add to your site to keep people coming back? These features will generally depend on the type of business you have. If you have to provide phone support for your customers, you probably want to list frequently asked questions on your web site. You can also create an interactive customer forum where your customers can help each other. If you have forms that you must constantly provide to customers, you’ll definitely want to provide scanned copies of these forms on your web site so that customers can print them. You might even want to develop an interactive form so that customers can fill it in online. Make use of sites like MapQuest (www.mapquest.com/) to allow customers to get directions to your business. Display pictures of your locations to make them easier to find, and be sure to list your business hours. A customer feedback form will allow you to easily solicit information about your visitors (though this should go hand-in-hand with a privacy policy to make your visitors comfortable).

The last issue to discuss is web site publicity. Feature your web address prominently on all your marketing materials and at your business locations. Do a press release for the local paper to announce your site unveiling. Through all these efforts, track statistics about visitors to your web site. This will allow you to measure the impact of your marketing – traffic rates after a newspaper ad can tell you whether to consider running another ad.

As with all aspects of your company, you have the choice to either produce your web site in-house, or hire outside expertise. When making this decision, remember that your web site will be your first impression for potentially thousands of people. Take care to put your best foot forward!

Resources

]]> http://irose.com/2000/01/are-you-making-the-most-of-the-web/feed/ 0 How to Hire Computer Consultants http://irose.com/2000/01/how-to-hire-computer-consultants/ http://irose.com/2000/01/how-to-hire-computer-consultants/#comments Sat, 01 Jan 2000 03:55:52 +0000 Dennis Deery http://new.irose.com/?p=136 In today’s business climate the odds are good that most companies will at some time or another hire outside help in the form of a consultant. This article will attempt to provide some tips on how to find, hire and then work with consultants. While we will concentrate mainly on computer consultants, most of this information would apply to any type of consultant.

Your first task if you’re considering a consultant is to define your needs. Do you want to hire a consultant to develop a specific piece of software? Are you looking for strategy advice? Do you need training for your employees? Or do you just need someone to assist with day-to-day operations? Consultants generally are hired as either contract workers or employees, often referred to respectively as 1099 or W-2 based on the IRS forms used to document their compensation. These types of hiring and the issues involved are well beyond the scope of this document, even probably beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. You may wish to discuss this with your freakishly intelligent accountant (a must have for any business) or read the cryptic IRS document at www.irs.gov/prod/bus_info/pub1976.pdf.

Once you’ve defined why you need a consultant, you need to find some candidates. You can certainly resort to all the usual resources: yellow pages, newspaper and magazine ads, online job sites. Be sure to look for a consultant or firm on a scale that matches your project. Andersen Consulting or other mega-firms probably won’t be interested in your 2 day data-entry program. Be sure to explore other methods of finding a consultant as well. Word-of-mouth is a great way to find people, so talk with other business people that you trust or check with your local Chamber of Commerce.

After you’ve settled on some potential consultants, check out their web sites. Given the popularity of the world-wide web, it’s pretty much unacceptable that a technical firm would not have a web site. Most especially, if you want to hire a firm to do web work, you will want to see the work they have done for themselves.

Next, it’s time to interview candidates. Depending upon the size of the firm, you may make your initial contact with a salesperson or with the technical person directly. If you do initially contact a salesperson, try to speak with the technical staff as soon as possible – the salesperson will generally not give you a good indication of the type of technical staff you’ll be dealing with. Remember, hiring a consultant is similar to hiring an employee. You want to make your decision based on the people you’ll be dealing with, not based on the sales staff.

Most consultants will tend to describe the work that they do based on the tools they use. For example, “I develop database applications using Microsoft Visual Basic and SQL Server.” Unless you have a technical background, that makes little sense to you, and it does little to describe the consultant’s skills. Hiring a consultant based on that would be like hiring a carpenter based on his statement “I use Stanley hammers and Dewalt radial saws,” while learning nothing about what he’s actually built with those tools. For the most part, when first interviewing a software developer you should focus more on what they’ve built than on the tools they use.

Another annoying foible of most consultants is their use of industry jargon. If you have trouble following all the terminology a consultant uses when talking about projects, don’t hesitate to request a translation. The consultant’s job is to handle the technical details of the project while helping you to understand what’s being done. If you can’t understand what the consultant is telling you, it will definitely lead to trouble – you’ll find yourself unable to monitor your project while relying blindly on your consultant. One hallmark of a good consultant is the ability to explain their technology in an easy-to-understand fashion, and you should run from any consultant that cannot do this. Don’t accept statements like “Trust me, you just wouldn’t understand this.”

As mentioned above, when interviewing consultants you’ll want to learn what types of projects they have completed in the past. Any software developer should be able to demonstrate for you some programs that they have written. In addition to this, request a list of clients and/or references with whom you can speak. Many developers will tell you “I can’t show you my software,” or “I can’t list my clients because they don’t want it known they hired outside help.” This is fairly common, and should be expected. However, unless you’re trying to hire a software developer for your nuclear missile system, the consultant should be able to show two or three projects and provide several references. Very few consultants have a completely confidential client list, and you should be suspicious of anyone who will not provide references. This is another spot where your own network can be very helpful in getting information about a consultant.

Once you’ve narrowed your field of consultants, you may want to do a competitive bid for your project. In order to do this, you’ll have to specify your project in appropriate detail. You may need to work with one or more consultants to get this specification done. Conversely, you may wish to just hire one consultant to do the specification as the first phase of a multi-phase project. While it will generally cost you some money to get the specification done, the time and effort saved in avoiding later mistakes will be well worth it. Your consultant will generally offer either a flat-rate bid for the project, or an hourly rate with an estimate of hours required. It’s important to nail down these details before getting into the project. It’s equally important to determine who will own the product(s) upon completion. If you’re developing a program to automate a key business process, you’ll probably want to ensure that the consultant does not sell it to a competitor. This ownership will probably be affected by the Works Made for Hire section of the 1976 Copyright Act, which you can find online at www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ09.pdf.

This has been an extremely short introduction to some of the issues involved in hiring a software developer. We encourage you to contact us if you’d like more information. Listed below are some other resources that can provide additional information.

Resources

]]> http://irose.com/2000/01/how-to-hire-computer-consultants/feed/ 0 Are You Protected From Viruses? http://irose.com/2000/01/are-you-protected-from-viruses/ http://irose.com/2000/01/are-you-protected-from-viruses/#comments Sat, 01 Jan 2000 03:52:20 +0000 Dennis Deery http://new.irose.com/?p=135 Computer viruses are costing businesses millions of dollars each year and the problem is getting worse. According to the CERT Coordination Center, a federally-funded research center that monitors internet security, incidents such as viruses increased by more than 400% from 1999-2001. This number is expected to double within the next year. More and more businesses are suffering the effects of computer viruses; crashed systems, confidential data sharing, and lost data. With the increasing popularity of always-on internet connections like cable modems and DSL, viruses are able to spread more quickly and will be a growing problem for the foreseeable future.

The good news from the CERT Coordination Center is that more than 95% of security problems result from exploitation of known vulnerabilities or configuration errors. In plain English, this means that they can be prevented.

The first (and most necessary) step in protecting your computer from viruses is to install anti-virus software. There are many versions of software available at reasonable prices from companies such as Symantec, McAfee, and Trend Micro. Each of these programs can be purchased for less than $50 from most computer software retailers. While any of the major software packages will give you virus protection, my personal recommendation is Norton AntiVirus from Symantec because of it’s ease of installation and use.

When installing anti-virus software, keep the following tips in mind:

  • Set up the system to automatically download up-to-date virus lists and definitions.
  • Scan your computer system for viruses on a regular basis. It is recommended that you scan your system at least every other week.
  • Be sure to configure the software to scan all incoming email. Email is the most common source of virus transmission.

There are other actions you can take to protect yourself from viruses:

  • Don’t open attachments unless you know what they contain. Many viruses now forge their return address, so an attached file from a friend is not necessarily safe. If you were not expecting a file from someone, email them to ask if they sent the file intentionally. Viruses can run in word processing documents, spreadsheets and many other kinds of “safe” files, so this warning applies to all email attachments.
  • Make regular backups of all your important files! If you do get infected with a harmful virus, you may lose data files, and a current backup will be your only chance to save your data.
  • Carefully read any messages that pop up while using your internet browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera). Some browsers allow web sites to install programs on your computer, so set your browser security levels high and refuse any requests to install software.
  • Be aware of the operation of your computer. If you see odd behavior occuring, be sure to do a virus scan immediately.

There is a lot of good information about viruses and protection available on the internet. Symantec provides a free system scan and a good listing of existing viruses and hoaxes – search their database when friends send you emails warning you about the latest virus threats. The CERT Coordination Center provides regular email updates and tips for home users. Their web addresses are listed at the end of this article.

Failure to protect yourself from computer viruses can cause your company to lose data, money, and even customers. In this new connected world, virus protection is a necessity, not a luxury. Take steps to protect yourself today. If you have trouble getting anti-virus software installed, or have questions, please feel free to email dennis@irose.com.

Resources

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