Archive for category Security

Shopping For User Friendly UPS Systems

One of the primary issues people have to deal with when it comes to uninterruptible power supplies is that so many of them seem so tricky to operate and understand. Luckily, there are a few companies like Riello UPS and Eaton Powerware making an effort to create products that are a little easier to use. Here we look into more user friendly uninterruptible power supply units.

One of the most common problems encountered by users of uninterruptible power supply products is that most UPS units just aren’t very user friendly. To put it bluntly, the majority of UPS manufacturers take for granted that the user must already have some experience with UPS units, and they simply don’t take the time to develop an easy user interface that can be understood by the layman.

Most users of UPS systems are not tech school graduates, but rather, people just trying to provide an uninterruptible power supply to their place of business or their home computers.

Fortunately some of the leading brands have tried to create a UPS system that is more accessible. For example, the Ablerex Vesta Series has been designed specifically to be both cost effective and easy to use for the average person. Because it’s compatible with windows, the interface is very easy. You just install the bundled software suite, and you can then operate the unit through your PC, or even remotely via the internet on your laptop. This can be vital, as you never know when you will need to shut down your computer remotely when a sudden thunderstorm strikes.

The problem of user friendliness has, since the first computer was created, been one of the main obstacles in delivering quality products to home users and businesses. As good as this or that uninterruptible power supply may be, it will, ironically, wind up failing on all fronts if the user cannot even figure out how to change its settings without reading a hundred page manual.

Steps have been taken on a broad scale to make home computers and computer accessories more accessible, more easy to understand to people without a background in computer sciences, but, nonetheless, there are still many companies who simply take for granted that their customers must have some knowledge of exactly how to use a UPS system with no software interface.

User friendliness then, is possibly the first thing you should expect when shopping for an UPS unit. A UPS unit shouldn’t be a cumbersome black box that seems all but impossible to understand, rather it should be accessible.

It will be easy to find a system without having to miss out on things like reliability and durability. Again, the Ablerex Vesta Series shines in this regard, offering typical backup times of up to thirty minutes, which should, in any event, be more than enough time to secure work in progress and close a computer down safely.

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Tips for Robust Corporate Passwords

Project managers and engineers at technology management and computer services firms commonly wage a “battle of password policy” with the users and administration of the clients we serve.   Information engineers must ensure the confidentiality and security of the technology infrastructure,  which starts at the end user computer with a password.  Most companies have a password policy, sometime dictated by a compliancy standard, other times an adopted standard with loose terms. However, a password requirement is only step number one.

Despite the nonsense of it, employees jotting down a password on a sticky note and attaching it to a monitor happens all the time.   Here are things to consider from a leading Michigan computer services firm when it comes to secure passwords:

The Good:

1.People don’t fear passwords themselves, they fear remembering passwords.  Many users consider this embarrassing or a failure on their part if it happens.  As strong as this fear is, never write a password down.

2.Use uppercase and lowercase letters.  They also can contain numbers, spaces or even special characters such as !@#$.  With this in mind, try taking a password you can remember and converting it a bit to make it a bit more complex.  Example: (current password) marissa- (new password) Mar1ss@.  This increases the security of the password exponentially.

3.Consider longer passwords.  Use at least six to eight characters.  M@tild@ would be good, but L0vEM@tild@ is much better!

The Bad:

1.Do not use plain English words by themselves (anything in a dictionary), such as ‘dog’’.  Consider something stronger such as i.e. ‘p22sswo44rd’.

2.Do not use easily retrievable information by itself, such as your birthday, date of hire, kid’s birthday, phone number…etc.

3.Do not make the password too short i.e. ‘bob’

4.Do not use common passwords for everything.

If you absolutely need assistance in remembering a password and must write something down, then do the following.

1.Jot a sentence on a post-it note.  For example purposes we will use “My daughter is two years old.”

2.Now (mentally) take the second letter of each sentence: “yaswel”

3.Lastly, take your birth date, add it to the end: “yaswel22”

4.You can even capitalize it to make it more complex: “Yaswel22”

Using this example, all you have to remember is to use the second letter of each word and your birth date and not some obscure random password.

Finally, there are many choices for password management software nowadays which are much more reliable and secure than an excel spreadsheet or writing them all down on notepad paper.

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