Do you consider to out-source, back-source or in-source?
I have led complex corporate projects for in-sourcing and integration of new acquisitions and infrastructure as well as out-sourcing of support services, administration and operations.
For these type of projects, existing rules and processes may be challenged and benchmarked. New company policies and standards may emerge to leverage the new operational environments.
Contact me for a V.I.P. service.
Have you just landed in Belgium and need help? Is your business growing and you need advice?
Finding the right provider for your ICT needs is a challenge. Prices and quality of services must be balanced.
My vast cost management experience is at your service to find the best solution at the best price. In particular if you are looking for telecom cost optimization on international calls and communication needs. By applying ‘quick win’ models, significant savings can be achieved on data and voice communications.
Contact me for a V.I.P. service.
Are you concerned about compliance or security?
The compliance audits of your ICT environments are performed using a variety of tools and approaches depending upon the type of audit required. The methodology used to conduct operational security assessments and audits is consistent with the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) standards, guidelines and procedures.
Contact me for a V.I.P. service.
Remote Assistance the easiest way with TeamViewer (XP, Vista and MacOS)
To offer remote support over the Internet for users at home behind firewalls and/or NAT routers, you may use the Remote Assistance software.
Follow the steps below to download the client software and start the remote assistance client software on your computer:
1. Download the TeamViewer QuickSupport client
This ‘thin client’ software is available for Windows and MacOS in different languages on the TeamViewer download pages.
Select For the instant customer: TeamViewer QuickSupport (see picture below)
you may click these links for direct download of this client in English or Nederlands or Español
2. Run the application (Exécuter – Uitvoeren)
once the download has been finished, execute the file and grant the operating system and firewall the rights to execute
the firewall and Vista defender module will show a security warning and ask your confirmation to run this application
when you execute the client software in Windows Vista, you will need to validate to authorise the execution of the application
the first time that the application runs, the firewall will request the authorisation to open the necessary ports
3. communicate the >ID< and >Password< to your helping partner
the client software will retrieve an ID and associated Password, which is required by your Helpdesk or helping partner
communicate the ID and Password to the ‘calling’ partner and wait for the connection to be established
4. (Install and) Run the TeamViewer client on the ‘support’ site
To establish a connection you will need the full version which connects to TeamViewer QuickSupport (for instant support).
The ‘calling’ partner needs to run the TeamViewer (full version) client and enter the ID and Password to connect.
This software is available for Windows and MacOS in different languages on the TeamViewer download pages.
Select For the supporter: TeamViewer (full version) (see picture below)
you may click these links for direct download of this client in English
Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA and/or OGA notification)
Even though you may have a legitimate copy of Windows installed or you did buy a license, it could occur that the Automatic Windows Update installs the WGA notification tool.
To remove this tool, check the following pages:
To remove Office Genuine Advantage notifications in XP and Vista, you may proceed as follows:
1) open the System32 directory of your %SystemRoot% folder
2) make system and hiden files visible in the folder options
2) locate all files that start with OGA (find files with the extension. Dll and. Exe) and rename the files (e.g. with extension .old)
3) locate the files ‘WgaTray.exe’ and ‘OGAAddin.dll’ and rename them (e.g. with extension .old)
4) reboot your PC
Windows Folders Sharing (Windows XP)
To get full control of your Folder sharing options, you may need to modify the Folder Options settings.
In the Windows explorer menu, select ‘Tools’. In the ‘Tools’ pull-down menu, choose the ‘Folder Options’. The Folder Options window has a ‘View’ Tab which lists the Advanced Settings. In the Advanced Settings, untag the ‘Use simple file sharing’ (see Dutch example below):
You may apply these settings only to one folder or all folders. Once this setting is applied, you will be able to control the access by user and by access type (read/write/etc.).
Read also the NetBIOS security settings.
Windows File and Print Services
File and Print services over TCP/IP have been disabled on all my PC’s for security reasons. All PC’s communicate over IPX/SPX for File and Print sharing. To share file & print services, only bind the IPX protocol to the card with LAN users. Enable Netbios over IPX/SPX – if not, your shared resources will not show in the network browser network domain (read more about NetBIOS security).
No NT-domain is used. To avoid conflicts with laptops configured for office use (and a company’s NT Domain), do not configure an NT domain on the File and Print server. Only define the Workgroup name. This setting can be found in the control panel in ‘System’, ‘Network Identification’ settings. Use the same workgroup name on all networked pc’s, this will speed up the network lookup of PC’s.
Windows Vista and XP Network Sharing
Microsoft has removed IPX/SPX support from Windows Vista. You will need to add these protocols manually (IPX/SPX Protocol in Vista (32bit)).
You will also need to download and install the LLTD Responder (Link-Layer Topology Discovery Responder) component on computers running Windows XP to appear on the Network Map diagram on Windows Vista computers.
XP Housekeeping
The foundation to make the housekeeping process easy and efficient is the partioning of my hard disk(s).
While the primary partition holds the operating system and programme files, the secondary is dedicated to the data files. This way, the operating system may be re-installed at any time without data loss. Disk cleanup and defragmentation will run faster and more efficient. Finally, also the system performance may be improved.
Removing unused and temporary information from your system allows Windows to run faster and more efficiently:
Check my ‘Five Essential Steps in XP Maintenance‘ post and Best of Breed section for a selection of freeware tools to help you with these tasks.
Dutch speaking users may check PcLeek.com which offers an excellent digest of XP and Vista help pages!
Check out the Windows Sysinternals website for latest tool developments.
Dedicated drive partition for your data
In general, I create a drive partition to hold all system files (e.g. the C: drive) and a dedicated partition to hold all data files (e.g. the D: drive).
This allows an easier housekeeping of your data and reduces the risk of data loss when windows needs to be re-installed (and the c: drive reformatted).
Additionally, changes can be made for security and to optimize the disk space use:
Move ‘My Documents’ to a dedicated Data partition (e.g. the D: drive)
to make this change, right click on the folder, select properties
in the Target tab, select Move
Move the ‘Temp’ folders to the D: drive
to make use of these folders, you must change the Environment Variables of the System Properties
create the directories first, then go to the control panel and open System
select Advanced of the System Properties and edit the environment variables:
in User variables:
Temp -> replace %USERPROFILE% by D:
TMP -> replace %USERPROFILE% by D:
in System variables:
Temp -> replace %SystemRoot% by D:
TMP -> replace %SystemRoot% by D:
Windows System Environment Settings (XP)
In general, I apply these acceleration tricks:
Enable DMA on primary IDE channel
Disable the error reporting function in the system settings
Move the Temporary Internet Files (TIF) folder from the default location.
(Internet Options – General tab, Temporary Internet Files box, Settings button, Move Folder button.)
