Yesterday, Microsoft announced a release candidate of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to members of the TechNet community. While it isn't the final service pack, this release candidate is a great way for net admins to get a feel for the service pack before its official release sometime in the coming weeks.
Updates in the service pack include changes to security features, promises of greater reliability and performance, and tweaks to administration tools that should be of interest to any net admin whose network includes Vista PCs. Of particular interest will be changes to the group policy management tools, which promise to simplify the process of managing large groups of Vista users.
You can download the SP1 RC either as a stand-alone installation or via Windows Update.
Downloading the SP1 release candidate via Windows Update involves running a script that will allow the PC to receive the service pack as an update within the next few days. Alternatively, you can force the install to run manually by running the script, and then clicking Start, Control Panel, Windows Update and choose the Check for Updates option in the left pane. This should give you the option to install Update for Windows Vista, which in turn will give you the option to install another Update for Windows Vista after a reboot, and then install the actual service pack. Along the way, you'll need to keep manually clicking Check for Updates. It's a convoluted process, even by Microsoft standards, but it beats waiting several days just to take a gander at the service pack's features.
As with any prerelease software, this SP1 release candidate should only be installed on a handful of non-critical test systems, and isn't recommended for non-technical users. However, net admins would do well to get a feel for the update before its final release, so they can better prepare for deploying the final SP1 when it arrives.
Even the best managers can't be everywhere at once. So, for those times when you have to be away from your business, wireless surveillance can be an easy way to keep an eye on the shop. And when you aren't away, it's still pretty handy, too. This week, Linksys announced the new WVC2300 Wireless-G Business Internet Video Camera with Audio, which not only lets you keep watch over your business, but lets you listen in and talk back whenever you like.
Apart from its obvious Orwellian implications, the WVC2300 is bound to find all sorts of uses around the workplace. Place one in the reception area so you can see who's coming and going. Stick one in the server room and you can talk with your IT staff for tag-team troubleshooting. Or put one outside the building entrance to screen after-hours visitors.
The WVC2300 offers simultaneous streaming of both MPEG-4 and MJPEG codecs, which makes it versatile enough to stream over the web using its built-in web server, or record to a NAS for more serious security monitoring. IP multicast allows several viewers to monitor the feed at the same time.
With an MSRP of $399.99, the WVC2300 is modestly priced for a full-featured, wireless, audio-enabled surveillance camera, and it works with a variety of add-ins, including remote zoom lenses and remote-controlled pan-and-tilt mounting bases that let you adjust your view on the fly.
Making the transition from a one-person home business to a growing company with multiple emloyees and several PCs can be as frustrating as it is exciting. Along the way, you're bound to outgrow the capabilities of your old hardware. So if you can put off buying new, network-ready printers for another fiscal year, all the better. Fortunately, making your old printers accessible to your team over the network is as easy as plugging in a little plastic box.
Mini print servers such as Netgear's PS121 ($60) act as a bridge between otherwise-unnetworkable printers and your router. Simply connect the mini print server to your USB printer, plug it into a power outlet, and then connect it to your router. Most include a browser interface so you can customize settings over the network at any time. Once the print server is up and running, you can use it to print from any PC, anywhere on the network, whether wired or wireless.
If you've got really old parallel printers, it's still possible to connect them. Netgear's PS101 ($70) supports parallel printers in exactly the same way as its USB counterpart, letting you squeeze more life out of your aging hardware so you can focus on building your business instead of adding to your electronics recycling costs.
For their simple setup and reliability, the Netgear print servers above have won my trust, but they're not the only game in town. Other good options include the parallel D-Link DP-301P+ and the Linksys PSUS4. With each of these devices priced under $70, setting up a mini print server is a smart, simple way to save hundreds -- even thousands -- on a network-ready printer.
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If your business is big enough to benefit from the remote access features of a VPN, then it's big enough to care about protecting, too. ZyXEL's new ZyWALL Unified Security Gateway 300 packs hybrid VPN features and enterprise-grade security into a small, simple package that's both affordable and easy to manage.
With support for both IPSec VPN and SSL VPN technologies, the USG 300 offers user-aware access control and quality of service features that give you detailed control over user activity and bandwidth management, so your network resources don't go to waste. It also includes anti-virus protection from Kaspersky Labs to stop malware from reaching your network through infected remote machines. And because the security is managed by a built-in security coprocessor, scanning for viruses doesn't have to slow down your data traffic.
While the ZyWALL USG 300 is priced at $2,000, we found it online for a budget-friendly $1,300 online, which makes it a lot more palatable to medium-sized companies than other enterprise class VPN gateways, which can cost thousands more for the same set of features. While not robust enough for large remote workforces, this small rack-mountable gateway is perfect for smaller offices with a handful of telecommuters.
