- Email: [email protected]
Why I bought a Compaq
H. J. Highland/Random
Bits & Bytes
Fig. 1.
ware house, changes.
the management
introduced
several
lAl1 passwords had to be eight characters long. lEach had to include alphabetic and number characters, a minimum l
of two of each.
Most passwords [clerical staff and low level coders] were changed every 36 to 37 days.
lA log was maintained and any password could not be re-used in less than 13 months.
lThose handling most sensitive data had to use both a password and a token.
lAI1 passwords were screened by a list that included a standard dictionary to which all employee names, street names, town names, family names [wife, children, parents and siblings] were added. Also included were local street and store names as well as a number of computer terms. As the system has been working, the company added a number of foreign words which they found employees using. Before you concern yourselfwith frequency of password change, institute a password control policy Frequently changed passwords, that are poor, lead to a sense of false security
184
Why
I
bought a Compaq
In the past each time I announced a new test machine, I invariably had several readers query me about my choice of configuration and brand. Early this year my new computer arrived. I had upgraded my test computer to a Compaq 200 MHz Pentium Pro with 64 Mb of ED0 RAM and an L2 256Kb pipeline burst external cache. Since I test products under ifferent 4 operating systems I use System Commander so that I am able to boot directly into various operating systems, specifically: MS-DOS 6.2, Windows 3.1, Windows’95, Windows NT and OS/2 [see Fig 1.1 Why did I buy another Compaq? I could provide considerable technical evidence for selecting the specific system with a Matrox MGA Millennium graphics accelerator card with 4Mb on board, a Universal Serial Bus and a SCSI card; furthermore it is energy efficient. I selected a Deskpro 2000 since I already had my network boards and saw no reason to pay extra for a 4000 or 6000 machine with features I did not currently need. Instead I had two additional 2 SystemCommander is a product Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 120, 408.296.4224; fax: 408. 296.4441.
of V Communications, San Jose, CA 95129.
4320 phone
Computers & Security, Vol. 76, No. 3
Fig. 2.
parallel and two serial ports added to make it easier to use a scanner and to have connections to evaluate hardware. The machine came with a 2.5 Gb hard disk and another with 2.0 Gb was added. If one drive dies the other can easily be turned into the bootable disk. For backups a 1 Gb Iomega internal JAZ drive was added. System and/or partition backups, made immediately before testing any software or hardware product, are easily and quickly made. The hard disks are partitioned to maintain a reasonable cluster size; no partition is greater than 510 Mb [see Fig 21. While these and other technical factors played a role, my main reason for buying a Compaq was Peter Heinlein. He is manager of the service department of Ergonomics, the local computer dealer from which I purchase my machines. I am probably their only pro
bono single-machine customer since they deal with large corporations and much larger orders than mine. I call Peter when I have an unusual problem and I need a quick, honest and accurate answer or I need him to send a serviceman. He does not handle sales so I dealt with a third party to place my order. But is was a three way dialogue since Peter would assemble the unit, partitioned the two drives, bench checked the hardware, and loaded both System Commander and Windows NT workstation operating system along with others. The computer looked great when it arrived in my office and Brian Malleta, one of the service crew, put it through its paces. He also made last minute modifications so that the system was truly customized. It may be absurd not to shop for competitive prices but an understanding and informed technical man-
185
H. J. Highland/Random
Bits & Bytes
ager is far more important in the long run for me. In the many years I have called Peter to send someone for repair, I have gotten to know Peter and know many on his staff Each is well trained, interested in learning something new and different but periodically cannot tell time. When absorbed in a problem, they work until it is solved. There were times when I loaded software on this new system that the operating system or the hardware became upset [the system crashed or behaved mysteriously]. Out went an emergency call to Peter who sent Matt Tarako of the service staff who never criticized my idiocy but patiently rescued me and the system. Would I do it again? First let me say that I considered my new machine as an 80th birthday gift to myself Secondly, whether I will want to get a new machine in another year or two, is less certain than it was a decade ago. Would I purchase a machine from a manufacturer’s direct sales microcomputer department at a possible lower price? No! Maybe I have gotten too lazy or too old to bother with the assembly and testing of a system. Thatjob is done more effectively by someone working at that task day in and day out. I can spend my time more productively doing what I do. Then there is the manufacturer’s help line. They are generally busy during working hours. I do not consider it fun to telephone the manufacturer’s help line after dinner or near bedtime and hopefully be connected and wait on hold listening to heavy metal music(?) for 45 yinutes, before someone tries to solve my problem. 3 About a decade ago upon urging ofavery close friend I purchased a machine directly from a producer. First it came without any manuals or disks. Call help line and was told: ‘We never ship without manuals.” After some discussion with a supervisor, she agreed to send disks and manuals. Within a week after it arrived there was a strange sound during hard disk writes. I opened the unit and found that the hard drive had not be screwed into place and was at a 45-degree angle. Called the hot line and told: “sorry, but take a screwdriver and straighten it.” When I did the hard disk failed. Another call and I spent 40 minutes taking the computer apart to see YI could get it running again. Admitting failure the help line specialist said that I’d get a replacement for UPS. When I put in the new drive, it was dead! Another call but this time to tell the sales manager that I’m returning their machine.
186
This is purely a personal tale. But it has a moral, at least I hope so. Do not undertake a job which others can do more efficiently and in a shorter time. Devote your talents to your specialty and chances are you will find the experience more profitable.
Web Site Directory Ever sit at your computer working with a program that you have used happily for the last two years under Windows3.1 and find that now that you have upgraded your system to Windows95, or even Windows NT, that this old faithful program will no longerwork for you? No, it doesn’t refuse to execute, but works up to the point where it freezes the system so that it has to be rebooted. It is at a point like that, that I, somewhat enraged, would like to communicate with the program’s publisher. Unfortunately, they are not local companies and some of the software manuals that I have contain very old phone number and address. Where do you turn for help? Well, here is the Web Site Source Book 1997, a volume designed especially for business and professional users. It provides key information for more than 12 600 World Wide Web sites of businesses, organizations, agencies, and institutions throughout the United States. Title: Author: Publisher:
Web Site Source Book 2nd Edition Darren L. Smith, Editor Omnigraphics, Inc, Penobscot Building, Detroit, MI 48229. Phone: 800.234.1340; fax: 313.961.1383 [Softcover] $78.00
The entries in this volume appear in two sections. The first is arranged alphabetically by the name of the company, agency or organization. The second section contains the entries under approximately 100 classified subject headings. Even though this duplication makes the heavier, I found the two sets much better I received earlier just for the computer listed everything alphabetically and then
book much than a book field which an index by
Bits & Bytes
Fig. 1.
ware house, changes.
the management
introduced
several
lAl1 passwords had to be eight characters long. lEach had to include alphabetic and number characters, a minimum l
of two of each.
Most passwords [clerical staff and low level coders] were changed every 36 to 37 days.
lA log was maintained and any password could not be re-used in less than 13 months.
lThose handling most sensitive data had to use both a password and a token.
lAI1 passwords were screened by a list that included a standard dictionary to which all employee names, street names, town names, family names [wife, children, parents and siblings] were added. Also included were local street and store names as well as a number of computer terms. As the system has been working, the company added a number of foreign words which they found employees using. Before you concern yourselfwith frequency of password change, institute a password control policy Frequently changed passwords, that are poor, lead to a sense of false security
184
Why
I
bought a Compaq
In the past each time I announced a new test machine, I invariably had several readers query me about my choice of configuration and brand. Early this year my new computer arrived. I had upgraded my test computer to a Compaq 200 MHz Pentium Pro with 64 Mb of ED0 RAM and an L2 256Kb pipeline burst external cache. Since I test products under ifferent 4 operating systems I use System Commander so that I am able to boot directly into various operating systems, specifically: MS-DOS 6.2, Windows 3.1, Windows’95, Windows NT and OS/2 [see Fig 1.1 Why did I buy another Compaq? I could provide considerable technical evidence for selecting the specific system with a Matrox MGA Millennium graphics accelerator card with 4Mb on board, a Universal Serial Bus and a SCSI card; furthermore it is energy efficient. I selected a Deskpro 2000 since I already had my network boards and saw no reason to pay extra for a 4000 or 6000 machine with features I did not currently need. Instead I had two additional 2 SystemCommander is a product Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 120, 408.296.4224; fax: 408. 296.4441.
of V Communications, San Jose, CA 95129.
4320 phone
Computers & Security, Vol. 76, No. 3
Fig. 2.
parallel and two serial ports added to make it easier to use a scanner and to have connections to evaluate hardware. The machine came with a 2.5 Gb hard disk and another with 2.0 Gb was added. If one drive dies the other can easily be turned into the bootable disk. For backups a 1 Gb Iomega internal JAZ drive was added. System and/or partition backups, made immediately before testing any software or hardware product, are easily and quickly made. The hard disks are partitioned to maintain a reasonable cluster size; no partition is greater than 510 Mb [see Fig 21. While these and other technical factors played a role, my main reason for buying a Compaq was Peter Heinlein. He is manager of the service department of Ergonomics, the local computer dealer from which I purchase my machines. I am probably their only pro
bono single-machine customer since they deal with large corporations and much larger orders than mine. I call Peter when I have an unusual problem and I need a quick, honest and accurate answer or I need him to send a serviceman. He does not handle sales so I dealt with a third party to place my order. But is was a three way dialogue since Peter would assemble the unit, partitioned the two drives, bench checked the hardware, and loaded both System Commander and Windows NT workstation operating system along with others. The computer looked great when it arrived in my office and Brian Malleta, one of the service crew, put it through its paces. He also made last minute modifications so that the system was truly customized. It may be absurd not to shop for competitive prices but an understanding and informed technical man-
185
H. J. Highland/Random
Bits & Bytes
ager is far more important in the long run for me. In the many years I have called Peter to send someone for repair, I have gotten to know Peter and know many on his staff Each is well trained, interested in learning something new and different but periodically cannot tell time. When absorbed in a problem, they work until it is solved. There were times when I loaded software on this new system that the operating system or the hardware became upset [the system crashed or behaved mysteriously]. Out went an emergency call to Peter who sent Matt Tarako of the service staff who never criticized my idiocy but patiently rescued me and the system. Would I do it again? First let me say that I considered my new machine as an 80th birthday gift to myself Secondly, whether I will want to get a new machine in another year or two, is less certain than it was a decade ago. Would I purchase a machine from a manufacturer’s direct sales microcomputer department at a possible lower price? No! Maybe I have gotten too lazy or too old to bother with the assembly and testing of a system. Thatjob is done more effectively by someone working at that task day in and day out. I can spend my time more productively doing what I do. Then there is the manufacturer’s help line. They are generally busy during working hours. I do not consider it fun to telephone the manufacturer’s help line after dinner or near bedtime and hopefully be connected and wait on hold listening to heavy metal music(?) for 45 yinutes, before someone tries to solve my problem. 3 About a decade ago upon urging ofavery close friend I purchased a machine directly from a producer. First it came without any manuals or disks. Call help line and was told: ‘We never ship without manuals.” After some discussion with a supervisor, she agreed to send disks and manuals. Within a week after it arrived there was a strange sound during hard disk writes. I opened the unit and found that the hard drive had not be screwed into place and was at a 45-degree angle. Called the hot line and told: “sorry, but take a screwdriver and straighten it.” When I did the hard disk failed. Another call and I spent 40 minutes taking the computer apart to see YI could get it running again. Admitting failure the help line specialist said that I’d get a replacement for UPS. When I put in the new drive, it was dead! Another call but this time to tell the sales manager that I’m returning their machine.
186
This is purely a personal tale. But it has a moral, at least I hope so. Do not undertake a job which others can do more efficiently and in a shorter time. Devote your talents to your specialty and chances are you will find the experience more profitable.
Web Site Directory Ever sit at your computer working with a program that you have used happily for the last two years under Windows3.1 and find that now that you have upgraded your system to Windows95, or even Windows NT, that this old faithful program will no longerwork for you? No, it doesn’t refuse to execute, but works up to the point where it freezes the system so that it has to be rebooted. It is at a point like that, that I, somewhat enraged, would like to communicate with the program’s publisher. Unfortunately, they are not local companies and some of the software manuals that I have contain very old phone number and address. Where do you turn for help? Well, here is the Web Site Source Book 1997, a volume designed especially for business and professional users. It provides key information for more than 12 600 World Wide Web sites of businesses, organizations, agencies, and institutions throughout the United States. Title: Author: Publisher:
Web Site Source Book 2nd Edition Darren L. Smith, Editor Omnigraphics, Inc, Penobscot Building, Detroit, MI 48229. Phone: 800.234.1340; fax: 313.961.1383 [Softcover] $78.00
The entries in this volume appear in two sections. The first is arranged alphabetically by the name of the company, agency or organization. The second section contains the entries under approximately 100 classified subject headings. Even though this duplication makes the heavier, I found the two sets much better I received earlier just for the computer listed everything alphabetically and then
book much than a book field which an index by