Week 14: Clear

I found the topic of thin clients to be the most interesting. I have always seen them in stores, and have often wondered about them. I think it is a great idea for certain businesses. Some employees do not need the full capabilities of a desktop. One of the businees that I have been into quite a bit uses a thin client. The business is a roofing supply company, their customer service employees only use their computers for looking up prices, checking stock, and placing orders. All the functions that they perform are perfect for the thin client solution. On this HP website they talk about when to consider a thin client for your business.

There are also many benefits to having  a thin client. You can lower your costs for computers, the purchase of a thin client is cheaper than the cost of a desktop. You can manage your network easier than with the desktops. The security is enhanced because there is no information stored on the thin clients. The benefits go on for the use of thin clients.

I found this website to be interesting, it talks about using a thin client in your home and managing your entertainment system.

Secure Email

Wells Fargo in 2009 decided to use a new way for their business customers to send confidential information through emails. One of their top priorities when switching was to make it easier for the end user to use. They switched to Voltage Security's Securemail, which eliminates the need for certificates. The process is not completely free of steps. The user is still prompted to give some sort of identifying information, but they are free from downloading any certificates. In 2009 the bank was sending 60,000 secure emails a month using Voltage.

I found this project interesting. I have never sent a secure email before, I am not sure if I have needed to yet. I still find it to be an important topic to learn about. I can see the importance of sending secure emails, with the business environment becoming global and projects are being worked on all over the world. You will eventually need to send some sort of information securely.

I had a few issues with thunderbird. After speaking with the help desk and granting them access to my computer we solved the problem and I learned something about email settings. Come to find out the problem was not in the setting in thunderbird, but the settings in outlook. I have my gatorlink email set up in outlook and the income setting was set as a pop3. When you incoming setting is set to pop your emails are taken off of the server and saved on your computer. So when I clicked send/receive on outlook it was taking them off the server and storing them on my computer. In turn I was losing my received emails on thunderbird. The only issue I have now with keeping all my emails on the server is that I am limited to the space UF grants me, where before I was limited in the space on my computer.

Week 13: Clear

This is another topic that is so important to understand. With a lot of businesses moving to online transactions, online banking, sending confidential information online, and the list goes on and on, it is important to understand at the very minimum the security risks involved. I personally do all my banking online, pay all my bills online, keep track of all my accounts online, and interact with my accountant online. Without any type of security I could be wiped out very easily, but luckily everything I do that involves any type of confidential material is done right. My accountant has a file share that gets sent directly to them, not over a provider. All my bank accounts have different multi number, letter, and special character passwords. Now more bank sites are using multiple questions that you have to answer in order to get to the information. My ING account has a series of questions that it asks, not the same ones every time, and then I have to select a picture and but in a pin.
I also like to use multiple programs for malware, spyware, virus, and hard drive cleaner. My internet provider provides its users with the latest version of Norton every year for no additional charge. I use cnet to find other programs that are free to download as secondaries. Another important thing to do it to back up your computer, you can set for your computer to do it for you. I also use a godaddy online file folder and Norton has a backup that it runs for me. You can never be too sure when it comes to your personal information, I think you can never have too much, but you can have too little.

Week 12: Muddy

I cannot quite put my finger on this weeks lectures. I am not sure what part of the lecture I am confused with, other than the entire lecture. I scored an 8 out of 10 on the quiz, but I feel as though I did not grasp the concept of the lecture as I did the others. I have spent the last hour or so on google trying to find a website that may be able help me understand the concept a little better. I have been unable to find anything. I may be using too broad of a search, but this also reaffirms my thought that I did not grasp the lecture. If I cannot find something on google, I am giving it the wrong parameters. If there is any website, that any of you may reccomend please send me the link so I can check it out.

Database Project

I have never really dived into using Access before, so from this project I learned a lot. Some of the steps were difficult, but I made it through them. One of the difficulties was importing the data onto the existing table. It took a few tries to accomplish, I learned the hard way that everything you were importing had to match up exactly with what you were importing it onto. I also liked the New Members Form, I can see this as being a very helpful tool when you have a high volume of new clients coming in. It was nice and easy to add the new five members once the form was built.
A good way to enhance this database is to set up for multiple users. In this business environment you will have the customers dealing with different staff members, and it would be nice if they were all able to access the database at the same time. You could have one individual filling out new member forms, one sending letters to recently left members, and another sending out promos to individuals who are coming up on their end of contract date. The main table provides a lot of information that can be used in many different ways to help the business. If staff members have access to the information, they may be able to use it and improve the bottom line.

Week 11: Clear

I wish I was as familiar with Access as I am with Excel. After this weeks lectures I will be a little more knowledgable on the program. It appears that Access can be very useful for business applications. If you go to Microsofts website, this one shows the Access templates, you can browse all the templates that have been submitted to see what you can use them for. After just about completing the project, I think I will try and use Access more often in my business. We just recently made a list for mailings, I think I will import it into Access to make a database of potential customers. We just recieved our first phone call from the mailings, and using Access I can use the form to put in all the homeowners information in.

Again, I wish we would spend more time in the class on these kinds of programs than on networks. I can see the importance of understanding networks, but not a whole weeks of lectures on them. The business student will spend more time on running Excel spreadsheets and Access databases than they will trying to repair a network. I think we need to know enough, so we are not dangerous in the IT realm.

Week 10: Muddy

This weeks material was a little tricky for me. Where I had the most trouble was grasping the WAN and LAN portion of the material. Understanding how the computers communicate with each other is going to take a little longer than a week, at least for me. I am glad that computers are able to do all these wonderful things, because without them I would not be taking this class in the format it is offered.

Google is a great source to help you find whatever you are looking for, normally. When trying to find another source for understanding networks, you are bombarded with a million different sites to choose from. After reading many different sites and what they have to say, I think this one, is the most beneficial. For me it was easier to read and follow, not a lot of computer "jargon" and well laid out. I will be spending some time reading all the articles that come with the site, to help me study for the test.

One last note. I thought the Marine Corps had a lot of acronyms, I think the computer world is giving it a run for its money.