Two LANs Aren't Necessarily Better Than One - 8/24/2004 One house, two LANs, and one Internet connection can add up to some PCs being left in the cold. Windows networking guru Ron Pacchiano looks at how computers on different networks can share a cable modem.
Dev Tutorial: Behind the Scenes with XHTML - 8/9/2004 Lee Underwood follows up a previous dev tutorial on the requirements for proper XHTML coding with a more focused look at what some of those requirements are in relation to the head portion of the Web page.
'Why Won't My PCs Share Anymore?' - 8/2/2004 One day your laptop and desktop PCs are happily sharing files, the next day they won't. Networking guru Ron Pacchiano looks at several possible reasons and solutions for this failure to communicate.
Exchange 2003 Service Pack 1, Installation and Overview - 7/26/2004 Exchange 2003 SP-1 is made up of myriad fixes, enhancements, and new features. Ryan Smith takes a closer look at what's new in the messaging system and also offers several installation tips and notes a couple of potential hiccups to keep an eye out for.
Hijacking? Email Blocking? It's a Jungle Out There - 7/22/2004 In his latest column, Networking guru Ron Pacchiano presents some tips for diagnosing and preventing your system from being infiltrated by error page browser hijackers. Also, learn how the well-intentioned Spam and Open Relay Blocking System (SORBS) can separate innocent users from their legitimate e-mail messages.
What To Do When Spyware Attacks - 7/12/2004 When sinister spyware and adware components invade your system, can you ever take back control? Plus, learn how to leap your own firewall ... and are two routers better than one?
Browser Wars v.2004: Part 2 - 7/6/2004 As the browser wars continue, the battle appears to be changing as many users are switching to other, lesser-known browsers, resulting in an increase in their popularity. Whether a statement of personal choice or a reaction to Microsoft, that remains to be seen.
Imagine Online Images - 7/1/2004 Learn how to get your photos online with minimal cost and effort.
Let's Chat About Firewall Issues - 6/28/2004 If your browser is browsing and your e-mail is flowing, there's one logical reason why IRC may be refusing to chat. Plus, we take a look at what can be done when Internet connection performance issues pop up.
Browser Wars v.2004: Part 1 - 6/22/2004 As the World Wide Web evolves, it seems as if a war is raging between the biggest players – the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), other browser manufacturers, and Microsoft. And the developers? They're caught in the middle.
Why Switch to XHTML? - 6/14/2004 For Web developers, the learning process never seems to end, especially with coding. As the web evolves, so do the standards, which are moving from HTML to XHTML. Learn why you should consider migrating to this new standard sooner than later.
Sharing a Cable Modem – Get to the 'Route' of the Problem - 6/8/2004 Windows networking guru Ron Pacchiano looks at what not to do when setting up multiple PCs to share a cable modem using a router, and also offers some tips for configuring VPNs to work with firewalls.
Master of Your Mail Domain - 6/3/2004 For a professional, an ever-changing e-mail address sends a poor signal to clients and colleagues (don't expect to win over the family and friend set either). Instead of getting swept up in job changes, account closures, and the whims of fickle providers, drop anchor and craft your own reliable and permanent e-mail account.
When Work PCs Go Home ... and Vice Versa - 6/1/2004 When you bring work PCs home or try to treat new home PCs like your office computer, you often find trouble. But it's nothing a little time and money can't fix.
Make Wireless Easier and More Secure - 5/27/2004 Can you imagine making wireless networking more secure, while at the same time making it easier to set up? That's the promise of a new technology that will be available in the next few months.
Setting Up a Wireless Peer-to-Peer Network - 5/24/2004 There's nothing magical about setting up a wireless local area network. As networking guru Ron Pacchiano reveals, the good news is it's relatively simple to configure a peer-to-peer WLAN — with just a few exceptions.
Networking AOL's High Speed Cable Modem Service - 5/7/2004 Sharing AOL's cable modem service among multiple computers can be notoriously difficult to set up, with many users giving up on the idea completely. But as networking guru Ron Pacchiano shows, with the right tools and information in hand, nothing is impossible, including networking your AOL cable modem connection.
Stopping the Spam Tsunami - 5/5/2004 Sometimes, it seems as if a plague of frogs or locusts would be preferable to the scourge of spam that floods your e-mail inbox. But while there's unfortunately no Charlton Heston to part the sea of spam, SmallBusinessComputing.com's Wayne Kawamoto has a helpful overview of the problem and a list of weapons and ways to fight back.
Smarter 'Blended Threats' Replacing Simple Viruses - 5/1/2004 Updated your antivirus software lately? A Symantec study shows that the rise in the number of software security flaws leveled off over the past year. That sounds like good news, until you find that it has leveled off at an average of seven new vulnerabilities a day or over 2,600 a year — and that e-mail and Web-site toxins are learning more ways to damage PCs and propagate themselves.
No Cables, No Configuration - 4/22/2004 Commuting from office to office? An earlier tip from PracticallyNetworked.com's Ron Pacchiano showed how to take advantage of Windows XP's Automatic Configuration for Multiple Networks feature, but here's a follow-up for the 802.11 age: how to activate and exploit the operating system's Wireless Zero Configuration service.
When (Not) to Use Windows' Internet Connection Sharing - 4/15/2004 Windows networking guru Ron Pacchiano gets plenty of calls for help with the operating system's built-in Internet Connection Sharing — but his answers aren't always what users might expect, especially with today's increasingly popular and affordable wireless routers and access points. Here are two examples.
How to Quiet Two Quirks in Internet Explorer - 4/8/2004 The vast majority of Windows users are faithful to Windows' built-in Web browser instead of Navigator, Opera, or Mozilla, but the relationship isn't always an easy one. PracticallyNetworked.com's Ron Pacchiano bails two Internet Explorer users out of trouble in the form of nagging "runtime error" messages and blocked access to the Windows Update site.
Smash That Sneaky, Slimy Spyware - 2/23/2004 It's a common but rotten risk of Internet usage: unscrupulous sites and downloads that secretly install malicious code onto your system. PracticallyNetworked.com's editors show how to avoid malware malaise by protecting yourself from adware, spyware, and keystroke loggers.
Office Suite Alternatives - 2/2/2004 Nobody can deny that Microsoft Office is as powerful as it is popular, but SmallBusinessComputing.com's Kevin Savetz reminds home and small-office users that it's not the only suite in the building. Whether you're after a slightly different mix of features or need to equip a bunch of business PCs with productivity applications on a budget, don't overlook these capable, more affordable alternatives to the dominant software set.
Safe But Stingy: Free Firewall, Virus, and Spam Protection - 1/26/2004 You know you need antivirus, firewall, and anti-spam software to keep your PC from becoming a ticking time bomb of data loss and system failure. But did you know you can get online protection without spending a penny? We've found almost a dozen worthy security programs that are free for the download, from Zone Labs' popular ZoneAlarm to unsung but superb virus, worm, and junk e-mail filters.
Who Goes There? Configuring Applications and Win XP's Internet Connection Firewall - 1/20/2004 There's no denying the extra sense of security you get from activating the Internet Connection Firewall built into Windows XP, but it can be a surprise when ICF starts denying access to programs you've grown used to using. PracticallyNetworked.com's Ron Pacchiano explains a few of ICF's strengths and weaknesses and tells how to customize the firewall's Services List for your favorite applications.
2003's Top 10 - 12/8/2003 Not even WinPlanet can ignore the shadow of Sobig and Blaster or the advances made by Linux in the last 12 months, but our annual tally finds it was also the best year in some time for Windows software. Here are the winners, from new versions of the operating system and Office to big productivity boosts from little-known utilities.
Using Windows XP's Automatic Network Configuration - 12/1/2003 Wired to wireless? Static to dynamic IP addresses? No problem: Notebook users who need to stay connected when moving from office to home or hotel can take advantage of a little-known Windows XP feature to change network settings on the fly. PracticallyNetworked.com's Ron Pacchiano has the how-to.
Accounting Gets Business-Specific with QuickBooks 2004 - 11/17/2003 No two companies are alike, so why should their accounting software be? SmallBusinessComputing.com's Patricia Fusco reports that the big news in this year's version of Intuit's best-selling bookkeeping suite is the arrival of a half-dozen editions optimized for contractors, retailers, nonprofits, professional service providers, and other types of enterprises.
No New Windows Till 2006? - 10/13/2003 Microsoft's much-anticipated "Longhorn" successor to Windows XP is going to stay anticipated much longer -- latest word is that it's still three years away. Here's our take on the three initiatives the software giant will use to keep customers loyal till then (hint: Office rules and security is Job 1).
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 Heads Home - 10/6/2003 Microsoft launches an all-out drive to make the PC the center of home entertainment, including TiVo-style TV viewing and recording as well as DVD movie and digital-camera slide-show-watching. Vendors including Dell, HP, Sony, Gateway, and Toshiba offer a variety of shapes and sizes -- and WinBook slips a Windows/Linux joker into the deck.
Solution Accelerators: The 'Fourth Pillar' of the New Office System - 9/22/2003 Microsoft asks: Why start from scratch -- or, worse, buy some other brand of software -- to tackle a project such as HR recruiting or bringing your company in line with Sarbanes-Oxley or Six Sigma standards? The new Office Solution Accelerator program helps businesses streamline tasks by working within Office System 2003 applications.
Symantec and McAfee Offer New Versions of Virus Protection - 9/1/2003 The Internet's had more worms than a bait shop lately, so there's never been a better time to upgrade to the latest antivirus software. Here's the scoop on the brand-new announcements of Norton AntiVirus 2004 and McAfee AntiVirus, each updated with stronger protection against spyware, script kiddies, and e-mail and instant-messaging contamination.
What's New in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2003? - 8/10/2003 Image isn't everything, but easier reading and comparison viewing are just two of the on-screen improvements in this fall's new edition of Microsoft Office. Patricia Fusco fills you in on the new features coming to the world's most popular word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation package.
Refresh or Refurb? - 7/21/2003 Though the economy's still slow, many companies are taking their first hard look since Y2K at whether to buy new systems or upgrade the ones they already own. And the deciding factor, according to this SmallBusinessComputing.com analysis, is often Microsoft -- which ended support for Windows NT 4.0 a few weeks ago, and will do the same for Win 98 early next year.
First Look: Microsoft Office 2003 Small Business Edition - 7/14/2003 Most of the new features in this fall's Microsoft Office 2003 -- excuse us, the Microsoft Office System -- are unabashedly aimed at the enterprise, from back-end database integration to corporate workgroup collaboration and document distribution. But the software giant says it's committed to satisfying 1- to 49-employee businesses, too. Here's our first impression of the latest beta-version bundle.
Office 2003 Update: 'Reinvented' FrontPage, Beta 2 Part 2, and More - 6/16/2003 Here's your latest briefing on the much-anticipated new version of Microsoft Office, now promising everything from integrated, enterprise e-mail and instant messaging to dynamic, database-query-based Web-site building -- and, to no one's surprise, a sliding ship date. But will small businesses balk at Office's evolution into a front end for Fortune 500 servers?
Adobe Acrobat Learns New Tricks - 4/7/2003 PDF? Oh, sure, that's the document format that zillions of Web pages and online software manuals use for browsing with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader ... but with today's introduction of the Acrobat 6.0 platform, Adobe aims to put PDF alongside XML as the backbone of business data distribution, for everything from workgroup collaboration to enterprise database queries.
What's Up with Windows Upgrades? - 3/31/2003 Microsoft has just sent its biggest operating-system release since Windows XP to manufacturing. But does Windows Server 2003 have what it takes to pry open IT managers' recession-pinched and upgrade-conservative wallets? And what's up with the desktop Win XP service packs and next-generation "Longhorn" builds buzzing around some geek Web sites? We sort out your present and future Windows choices.
