This a technical post. From time to time we will share basic tech tips or helpdesk items that we are seeing repeated at multiple customer sites.

Certain operations in Excel or Outlook can cause Office 2003 to lose track of it’s installation files. The indicator that this has happened is an error stating that the file SKU011.cab cannot be found. This is a bewildering problem for many users, but we have an easy, quick and free fix. (as with all tech issues, we recommend our clients contact us to perform the fix)

Open Regedit (start menu -> run -> type regedit) Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> Software -> Microsoft -> Office -> 11.0 -> Delivery

There should be only 1 directory under Delivery, which is your DownloadCode (the directory name may vary but will resemble this string: 90000409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9).

Select that directory. On the right side of the screen, right-click on CDCache. Change the value to 0.

That’s it. You’re done!

The IRS passed legislation in 2008 which allows for businesses to claim higher expenses than in previous years. From the IRS web site:

Under the new law, a qualifying business can expense up to $250,000 of section 179 property purchased by the taxpayer in a tax year beginning in 2008. Absent this legislation, the 2008 expensing limit for section 179 property would have been $128,000. The $250,000 amount provided under the new law is reduced if the cost of all section 179 property placed in service by the taxpayer during the tax year exceeds $800,000.

We encourage all buisnesses to evaluate this information for their own needs. This a great opporutnity to expense any end of the year IT projects in 2008!

On 11-12-2008 stories started to circulate about a third party website that is duping users into entering the credentials they use for Twitter. Twitter is a social networking site where users write messages up to 140 characters in length to each other via SMS, web and email.

While web scams are nothing new, this latest story underscores the importance of adhering to strong password policies and using common sense on the web. Twitter users who entered their credentials on this bogus site have put their web based accounts that share the same credentials in jeopardy.

Network Velocity recommends using a password manager such as RoboForm to securely create and store random passwords.

And a final reminder about passwords, longer passwords are more secure than short passwords, no matter how difficult the short password may seem. For instance, “thisverylongandsimplepassword” is more secure than a short password that uses random characters like $#@^.

Always use common sense and, if possible, always use RoboForm!

According to this article on Engadget, another wireless protocol has been cracked.

Wireless security has gone through several changes and protocols in efforts to remain secure, but as computers have become faster hackers have been able to decode encrypted wireless traffic at faster and faster speeds. The WPA protocol used to secure wireless traffic, once thought to be uncrackable, can now be decoded and wireless traffic reviewed (or even worse altered) in flight in 15 minutes.

WPA2, a newer and more secure version of the recently hacked WPA, remains secure (for now). For true wireless security Network Velocity recommends separating your Wireless network from your Corporate Network. If the Wireless network must reach your Corporate Network we recommend a client VPN in addition to WPA2 to secure all traffic.

It’s been a while since Microsoft has published a critical security patch outside of their monthly schedule.  On October 23rd, 2008 a bulletin was released announcing a patch is breaking the cycle. Microsoft rates today’s fix a level 3 critical patch.  (maybe Microsoft should adopt the color coded Homeland Security alert system?)

Reviewing the bulletin, the non-technical explanation is that bad data sent from one computer can allow unauthorized users to run programs on another computer. This is a favorite exploit method for hackers as they can easily propagate bad software via this type of vulnerability to any computer on the same network. This patch affects all versions of Windows, including the beta release of Windows 7 (the successor to Windows Vista).

Network Velocity has already begun deployment of this critical patch to our clients. We recommend everyone read about and deploy this patch for their home computers as well.

Windows XP

Windows Vista

UPDATED:

Two worms have been recognized as exploiting this vulnerability.

Microsoft originally planned to stop distributing Windows XP media to large OEMs (OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer, such as Dell/HP) on Jan. 31, 2009, but this week Microsoft said it would move the deadline to July 31 of next year.

With Windows 7, the followup to Vista, scheduled for release in 2010, there may be just six months difference in time between availability of XP and the *next* version of Windows.  Our bet is that XP will remain available until the day Windows 7 ships.

Our recommendation remains to stick with Windows XP for business class machines.  The learning curve and compatibility issues of Vista don’t make good business sense!

Starting October 1st 2008, every completed Service Request will include a link to a brief online survey.  We welcome your feedback and look forward to putting your suggestions into action!

Look for these survey links in your next completed Service Request notification.  Thanks in advance for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Network Velocity provides Postini Email Protection Services to our clients. On a typical day we’ll process over 32,000 emails. Of those 32,000 emails only 5,000 will be delivered. That’s a delivery ratio of 15%.

We describe SPAM as a cat and mouse game. Postini has built the best mousetrap available, but the mice (SPAMMERS) are always fighting back. To share what we see from our console we’ve included a few screenshots of the email traffic we process. This sample was taken in the evening (between 8-9PM) so traffic is not as high as it would be during business hours.

In addition to best-in-class Email filtering Postini also provides up to the minute AntiVirus scanning of all email traffic.

Chart of email traffic for 60 minutes. The blue line represents mail that was actually delivered.

Pie chart of email for past 60 minutes. 18% of email was delivered for this one hour timeframe. At peak times the ratio of delivered email will be as low as 7%.

Raw statistics for 60 second interval. 882 messages processed, or ~15 per second!

What plans are in place if there were a fire, flood or other catastrophic event in your office? Would the business survive if all of the onsite data were lost? Beside the financial implications, would there be further legal issues due to lost client data, missing contracts or other repercussions because all of the company data is stored in one place: your office?

Network Velocity requires that every client have suitable backup plans in place, but not every client is protected with an offsite data recovery plan. We have the solution! Network Velocity can provide offsite backup services that will encrypt, compress and transfer your critical files to a secure datacenter in Utah for safekeeping.

Life favors the prepared. Are you prepared? Contact us to find out!

Microsoft has announced November 12th, 2008 as the official launch date for Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008.

Small Business Server 2008 will replace Small Business Server 2003. SBS 2008 will include Exchange 2007.

More communication about migration will be available here as information is released.