It is the Time of Giving

Christmas is a time when many charities get the most results for their efforts in trying to collect donations for their causes. It is a time when many people are considering donating to their favorite causes, and these charities spend a lot of time trying to convince potential donors that their cause is worthwhile. Although charities still use traditional methods such as letters and phone calls to try and solicit more donations, the internet is taking an ever increasing role in the quest to collect more donations for charities.

Social Networks Spread the Word

Social networks are a relatively recent type of website that charities are using to solicit donations. They allow the workers at the charities to chat with their potential donors in a much less obtrusive way that the traditional phone call. Nearly every non-profit group has a Facebook page that lists many different ways that people can donate money or help out the cause. Some have gone even further to make it easy for people to donate money to their cause. Some charities set up free online games on web pages that feature heavy advertising. The money generated from these ads is sent directly to the charity, making it free and easy for people to donate money to the charity while still having fun.

How it Works

Social networks are a powerful tool for collecting donations because it relies on people’s connections to each other rather than being convincing on the phone. If a friend asks you for $10 for charity you are much more likely to give it than if a stranger asks for the same $10. By taking advantage of this behavior, social networks have become a very powerful tool  for charities looking to collect donations during the holiday sea son.

There is a number of ways in which to receive your internet connection, for example by cable or satellite. It is also possible to receive your connection through your mobile phone. For most people, however, the best quality service will be delivered straight to their home.

A 1 to 2MB broadband speed will be suitable for most average people. You can easily use the internet for all normal everyday things with this speed, including standard web browsing, emails and downloading. A 2MB connection should be plenty even when downloading considerably larger files such as movies.

512KB was once the standard speed for the average user, but this has been upped to 2MB broadband. When looking at a comparison chart, compare the speeds and packages offered by each broadband provider. Ensure your package includes a wireless access point or router. If you do not know the difference between these devices, visit Router USB Central. Following these suggestions will help you to find a plan that is suitable for your personal needs.

Personal Area Network.

Using wireless networking with your personal gadgets is often called PAN, which stands for Personal Area Network. The idea is that, in the future, we’ll all have laptop computers with their batteries charged and no more need to connect any wires to them at all — you just place your Bluetooth device near the computer, and the computer sees it and can use it straightaway.

Bluetooth has been around and in-use since 1999, and it’s only getting more popular. It was designed to be secure, low cost, and easy to use from day one.

There are two classes of Bluetooth that are in popular use: class 1 and class 2. Class 2 is the most common and cheaper standard, allowing you to use a device that is up to 10 metres (32 feet) away. Class 1 is rarer, but you can still find devices that use it easily enough, and it has ten times the range: 100 metres or 320 feet.

How Does It Work?

Bluetooth is more flexible than 802.11 wireless networking, in exchange for the shorter range. Essentially, a Bluetooth-enabled computer has one Bluetooth receiver installed in it, and this receiver can then be used with up to 7 nearby Bluetooth devices. On the other end, wireless devices do not need to have Bluetooth installed if they support it — it is already integrated.

Like 802.11, Bluetooth works by using radio signals to create bandwidth. It is not, though, the same thing as an old-style wireless mouse or keyboard, which required a receiver to be plugged into one of your computers’ ports, and didn’t have range or stability anywhere near that of Bluetooth.

Many computers now come with built in Bluetooth, especially Apple Macs. If you want to add Bluetooth to a computer that doesn’t come with it pre-installed, you should probably use a USB to Bluetooth adapter, although internal Bluetooth devices to install in your computer are available. If you have a laptop and a spare PCMCIA slot, you can get Bluetooth cards for that too.

What Can You Do With Bluetooth?

Mobile phones with Bluetooth are very popular, and so are PDAs — the instant synchronisation of addresses and calendars to a computer is a useful feature. Other than that, almost anything that would usually use USB can be done using Bluetooth, including digital cameras, mp3 players, printers, and even mice and keyboards. If you take a look through the comprehensive list of Bluetooth ‘profiles’ (kinds of devices that could, in theory, be Bluetooth enabled), it includes cordless phones, faxes, headsets, and even video.

Basically, more than anything, Bluetooth is a replacement for USB: some say that while 802.11 wireless networking is wireless Ethernet, Bluetooth is wireless USB.

Not Just for Computers.

Part of the power of Bluetooth is that it isn’t just used to connect things to computers — it can be used to connect almost anything to anything else, if both things are Bluetooth-enabled and recognise each other.

Mobile phones, in particular, take advantage of this. Hands-free headsets often use Bluetooth to communicate with the phone. Some cars, for example, now have on-board computers that will connect with a Bluetooth phone and allow you to make hands-free calls, regardless of where the phone is in the car (even if you’ve left it in your bag in the trunk!)

On top of that, of course, Bluetooth devices can communicate with each other. This has led to some people sending messages from their Bluetooth PDAs to others in close range — not an especially useful feature, but quite fun. This is called ‘bluejacking’, and the first recorded instance of it was a man who sent a Bluetooth message to another man’s Nokia phone while they were in a bank together. What did the message say? ‘Buy Ericsson’.

Since then, it has become possible to send images by bluejacking, and it is widely believed to be the newest advertising medium — yes, it lets billboards send messages to your phone, a practice known as ‘bluecasting’. Whether you think that’s cool or annoying, of course, is your choice.

This protocol is widely used by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as well as large companies, corporations, educational institutions and other organizations to regulate and manage access to the internet as well as to internal networks. Normally these authentications protocol is carried out by devices like the modem, Digital Subscriber Lines (DSLs) automatically.

The most important functions of the RADIUS server can be summarized as AAA or Authentication, Authorization and Accounting. The first two ‘A’s refer to allowing a user access to a network. If we look in detail at our previous example, we will come to know that a RADIUS server may return any one of three responses to the login request – “Nay” which means that access to the user is denied under all circumstances, “Challenge” which means that the user is asked for additional information before access is granted, and “Yea” which grants to the user, access to the network.

Accounting refers to the billing function carried out by RADIUS. It refers to the situations in which the users’ time or activities are monitored and logged. This is especially useful for those who run on postpaid internet which is calculated either by Data Transfer or by time. The RADIUS server receives a command to start billing when the user logs on and later to stop billing, when the users logs off. RADIUS servers nowadays, can also access databases stored remotely to check details. Communication between the user and the server is nowadays done through highly encrypted, reliable channels.

The Binary Code: 1s and 0s

It’s well known that computers transmit information digitally, using binary code: ones and zeros. This translates well to radio waves, since those 1s and 0s can be represented by different kinds of beeps. These beeps are so fast that they’re outside the hearing range of humans.

Morse Code: Dots And Dashes

It works like Morse code, which is a way to transmit the alphabet over radio waves using dots (short beeps) and dashes (long beeps). Morse code was used manually for years via telegraph to get information from 1 place to another very quickly. More importantly for this example, though, it is a binary system, just as a computer system is.

Wireless networking, then, can be thought of as a Morse code for computers. You plug in a combined radio receiver and transmitter, and the computer is able to send out its equivalent of dots and dashes (bits, in computer-speak) to get your data from here to there.

Wavelengths And Frequencies

You might wonder how the computer can send and receive data at high speed without becoming garbled nonsense. The key to wireless networking is how it gets around this problem.

First, wireless transmissions are sent at very high frequencies, which allows more data to be sent per second. Most wireless connections use a frequency of 2.4 gigahertz (2.4 billion cycles per second) — a frequency similar to mobile phones and microwave ovens. However, this high frequency produces a wavelength that is very short, which is why wireless networking is effective only over short distances.

Wireless networks also use a technique called “frequency hopping.” They use dozens of frequencies, and constantly switch among them. This makes wireless networks more immune to interference from other radio signals than if they transmitted on a single frequency.

Internet Access Points

The final step for a wireless network is to provide internet access for every computer on the network. This is done by a special piece of wireless equipment called an access point. An access point is more expensive than a wireless card for 1 computer, because it contains radios capable of communicating with around 100 computers, sharing internet access among them. Dedicated access points are necessary only for larger networks. With only a few computers, it is possible to use 1 of them as the access point, or to use a wireless router.

Industry Standards

Wireless equipment from different manufacturers can work together to handle these complex communications because there are standards which guide the production of all wireless devices. These standards are technically called the 802.11. Because of industry compliance with these standards, wireless networking is both easy to use and affordable today.

Wireless Is Simple To Use

If all this talk of frequencies has you worried — relax. Wireless networking hardware and software handle all of this automatically, without need for user intervention. Wireless networking, for all its complicated ability, is far simpler to use than you might expect.

A second use would be to transmit paid television. For example if you paid for HBO usually you would be able to only view it on one nominated television. With the wireless media router you can send the signal you television is receiving, HBO, to any other television in the house. You can even change the channel from the remote television while viewing.

The third use would be watching television at a location where an antenna is not available. This means no more long cables leading from room to room just to be able to watch television.

Depending on the amount of receivers you have you can receive the signal from multiple televisions. How does it work? The receivers are connected to the remote televisions. The router takes the signal from the source television and distributes it to the remote televisions by way of the receiver. On the remote television a certain channel is dedicated to this receiver meaning you can watch independent television, and easily switch the channel to the signal being received from the wireless router.

This also makes running your entertainment room a breeze. The receiver can also be hooked up-to a projector making it easy to view anything you wish. This means you will not need to purchase separate DVD players VCR’s for every room.

Have you thought about a social engineering attack? What about the users who use your network on a daily basis? Are you prepared in dealing with attacks by these people?

Believe it or not, the weakest link in your security plan is the people who use your network. For the most part, users are uneducated on the procedures to identify and neutralize a social engineering attack. What’s going to stop a user from finding a CD or DVD in the lunch room and taking it to their workstation and opening the files? This disk could contain a spreadsheet or word processor document that has a malicious macro embedded in it. The next thing you know, your network is compromised.

This problem exists particularly in an environment where a help desk staff reset passwords over the phone. There is nothing to stop a person intent on breaking into your network from calling the help desk, pretending to be an employee, and asking to have a password reset. Most organizations use a system to generate usernames, so it is not very difficult to figure them out.

Your organization should have strict policies in place to verify the identity of a user before a password reset can be done. One simple thing to do is to have the user go to the help desk in person. The other method, which works well if your offices are geographically far away, is to designate one contact in the office who can phone for a password reset. This way everyone who works on the help desk can recognize the voice of this person and know that he or she is who they say they are.

Why would an attacker go to your office or make a phone call to the help desk? Simple, it is usually the path of least resistance. There is no need to spend hours trying to break into an electronic system when the physical system is easier to exploit. The next time you see someone walk through the door behind you, and do not recognize them, stop and ask who they are and what they are there for. If you do this, and it happens to be someone who is not supposed to be there, most of the time he will get out as fast as possible. If the person is supposed to be there then he will most likely be able to produce the name of the person he is there to see.

I know you are saying that I am crazy, right? Well think of Kevin Mitnick. He is one of the most decorated hackers of all time. The US government thought he could whistle tones into a telephone and launch a nuclear attack. Most of his hacking was done through social engineering. Whether he did it through physical visits to offices or by making a phone call, he accomplished some of the greatest hacks to date. If you want to know more about him Google his name or read the two books he has written.

It’s beyond me why people try and dismiss these types of attacks. I guess some network engineers are just too proud of their network to admit that they could be breached so easily. Or is it the fact that people don’t feel they should be responsible for educating their employees? Most organizations don’t give their IT departments the jurisdiction to promote physical security. This is usually a problem for the building manager or facilities management. None the less, if you can educate your employees the slightest bit; you may be able to prevent a network breach from a physical or social engineering attack.

With every business card you collect, jot down the date that you met them and any relevant notes about them. If you have a follow up request like they said “hey give me a call about that,” or “hey call me on Tuesday about setting that up”, immediately jump on those.

Follow up on the request tomorrow if not sooner. If you can’t follow up with a personal call, send a handwritten note that says you look forward to seeing them again and if you need any help between now and when we meet again, give me a call. Include your card in the note, and put your contact’s card on a rolodex and put him on a 30, 60-day call back schedule.

Step Seventeen: Re-Evaluate Your Networking Organization Options

Take another look at the different networking groups you attended as a guest. Which ones did you like? Which ones have the most potential for the most business opportunities? Start joining and participating. The purpose is to get known and to raise your profile in the community.

Pick out at least 4 groups and join them. Drop off your check personally to the director or office manager. Be direct and tell him or her that you have this new IT consulting business and that you are looking for small business that you can help out with LANs, etc. Ask them what is the best way to get to know these small business owners that are most likely to need your IT consulting services.

At every 60-90 minute event, you should be talking to eight or ten people. Half of them may be a waste of time, half of them could be potential clients, half could be potential referrals. It’s a matter of staying organized and keeping your name in front of them.

After you go through the first ninety days and you’ve gone to one of these every week, move on to more sustainable networking.

Step Eighteen: Do Your First Direct Mail Campaign

Have your testimonials in place from your earlier clients, and get your networking organizations’ directory on disc. Send out a personal letter and your business card to every member who may fit into the IT consulting sweet spot. Offer them a free 30-minute needs assessment coupon with an expiration date. Tell them you look forward to seeing them at upcoming event and then you can always follow up with a phone call.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consulting 101 Blog. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

If you’d like to order a license to reproduce these networking terms for client sales literature, please contact questions@ComputerConsulting101.com and put “Licensing Your LAN Buzzwords” in the subject line.

• NIC (Network Interface Card) – a printed circuit board, adapter card or the underlying supporting chipset that snaps into the motherboard of a desktop PC, notebook or server and transmits and receives packets on a network; used to connect to networks including a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or a broadband network for high-speed cable modem or DSL-based Internet access or other dedicated Internet access service; most common NIC used by small businesses is the 10/100Mbps Ethernet adapter.

• NOS (Network Operating System) – an OS designed for communications between networked computer systems; popular NOS’s include Apple Mac OS, Linux, Microsoft Windows NT/2000 and Novell NetWare.

• Peer-to-Peer Network – an inexpensive alternative to a client/server network in which a PC doubles as both a workstation (used by an end user) and a server (from which resources are shared); although virtually any OS can be configured for peer-to-peer networking, peer-to-peer networks are often assembled from Microsoft’s least expensive consumer OS’s, such as Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows Me and Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.

• RAID (redundant array of independent disks) is technology generally used to increase a server’s reliability — by simultaneously writing data to multiple hard drives. While many people also use RAID to improve server performance, RAID eliminates a single point of hard drive failure. Years ago, you could only get the benefits of RAID through SCSI-based hard drives. Today, IDE hard drives can also enjoy entry-level RAID fault tolerance benefits.

• SCSI (small computer systems interface) is a high-end interface for connecting both internal and external computer peripheral devices. Years ago, only SCSI-based storage devices were used in most servers.

• Server – any computing device or peripheral on a network designed to provide shared services and resources to network users; primarily characterized by multi-user usage, as compared to a desktop or notebook PC; common servers include the file, printer, e-mail messaging and collaboration, Web, proxy and database server.

• Wireless Ethernet – set of standards and in-progress standards that allow Ethernet networks to run without physical cabling and utilize radio waves for transmission.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consulting Blog. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Consider Getting Advice from a Computer Consulting Business

If you need to get advice once-in-a-while on how your computers can be better utilized, or you have a specific computer-related problem that needs to be solved, a computer consulting business is generally the way to go.

However, if computer-systems and information technology (IT) are really important to your industry and your company, outsourcing your computer-related service needs to a local computer consulting business is often a much better solution than just piecemeal, ad-hoc usage of a computer consulting business.

Hiring a Computer Consultant

Many computer consulting businesses choose to specialize and end up becoming extremely valuable to their particular area or niche. In many cases, these kinds of computer consulting businesses can know almost as much about your industry and competitive challenges as you do.

So to help your company grow and to make sure it’s not being short-sighted with its computer-related needs, consider getting advice from a computer consulting business.

Wearing Lots of “Hats” is Fine… But Don’t Let These “Hats” Blind-Sight You

Sometimes small companies already have an idea of what their computer-related needs are when they enlist the help of an outside computer consulting business.

There are several advantages to bringing in an outside computer consulting business, as opposed to trying to limp along with someone internally who just wears the “hat” of the occasional computer person.

One of the most important reasons to bring in a computer consulting business though is that a computer consultant is someone who is an expert in his or her field. This means you can have access to an expert for a fraction of the cost it would take to hire that caliber of professional on a full time basis.

In almost all cases, a computer consultant like this can troubleshoot problem much faster and much more effectively than your internal employees.

A Fresh Computer Consultant Perspective

A computer consultant or computer consulting business can also being in a fresh perspective to your company.

It’s often really helpful to have a fresh set of eyes to look at your company and its IT infrastructure. Over time, non-technical small business owners and managers have a tendency to see the same things within their own companies. A good computer consultant or computer consulting business brings a new and fresh perspective into your situation and can help you truly visualize the forest through the trees.

How Computer Consulting Businesses Help

A good computer consulting business or computer consultant is prepared to do any number of things to help your company make the most out of any business or technology challenge it faces. This may include personal coaching, training for small and large groups of employees, and leading strategy-planning meetings with key people… almost as if that computer consultant were your part-time chief information officer (CIO).

The best computer consultants will not enter into your company with a preset plan, but rather will tailor a plan according to the specific needs of your company. A good computer consulting business will have computer consultants on their staff who can quickly find out what the needs of your company are and then come up with cost-effective solutions.

The Bottom Line

In this article, you’ve been introduced to the basics of why to hire a computer consulting business and what computer consulting businesses can do for your company.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, ComputerConsultingSecrets.com, All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}