IT Answer Guy

Looking for a cheap way to add big storage space to your computer?  External SATA drive enclosures are very inexpensive and will work with an internal  SATA drive.  Internal SATA drives are pretty cheap and if you have an ESATA card in your system, you can achieve some decent transfer speeds.  Providing you are cautious when moving or this is installed at a fixed location, this is a great alternative to the out of the box enclosures.

OK… A customer needed a Dell Dimension 4700 reloaded (formatted and reinstall the OS) with XP Media Center. For some reason I could not get any boot discs to work properly. Then, one of them worked but I could not get it to work a second time. I was able to get a BIOS update installed, still no luck. After some research and much trial and error this is what I found: To get the system to boot to the CD, I had to disconnect the non-writeable cd drive and disable ALL boot options with the exception of the remaining cd drive (in this case it was the burner). I am now loading windows… hope this saves someone else 4 hours

Every so often I find a cool application or useful utility that I can never seem to find so quickly the next time I need it. Well, I am solving my problem. I plan to add some great freeware to my blog on the Downloads page – take a look!  I will be adding more in the future.

I have been experimenting with linking wordpress to twitter and having it auto syndicate blog entries from new feeds.  Well, I have decided that this is nothing short of having a robot use my twitter account.  I am working to bring a more personal touch to my blog and twitter by sopping the auto posts.  I know I will not be able to post at the rate the robot did, but I will try to keep the updates flowing.

I am thinking about emailing FREE whitepapers to those interested.  At Abacus I.T., we try to raise awareness and educate folks rather than just pushing products.  If you are interested in receiving FREE whitepapers in your email, let me know by going to the following page – Abacus I.T. .

Your employees use the internet at work.  It’s a fact.  So why not do something about it?  Take back company time by adding a web filter to your network.  A web filter can limit access to “non-productive” sites or simply block all internet traffic .  The sky is the limit when it comes to creating rules for internet access.  You can allow lunch time surfing or track an instant messaging conversation.  A web filter will also enable you to take a creative approach to managing company time.  One example would be showing your employees a report that contains a breakdown of each site they have visited that week.    Proper reporting is critical when selecting a web filter. The only trick is to learn how to keep your cool when you have proof that your employees were on the net for 6 hours a day!!!   For more information on web filters – click here.

I have recently configured Google Analytics to track website statistics.  It was not too bad to configure.   Once you are setup with a google login, you can add the desired pages to the analytics section of Google.  There is a code you need to embed into your site and that’s it!  Sit back and watch who’s visiting your site.  There are lots of cool features and it also has the ability to send reports automatically to your email.  I have successfully updated sites in standard HTML, PHP, joomla and wordpress for Google Analytics.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if you do not have another tool in place to check website statistics.

I recently attended and successfully completed a Panasonic training course to become a certified reseller for their security camera line.  The cameras have some really awesome features.  The demos were great – the auto tracking feature was able to follow intruders and had some intelligent tamper alarms.  There is a heavy push to get Panasonic cameras installed in schools.  Panasonic’s test studies show that they exceed the abilities of their competitors – Keep in mind the training was held at the Panasonic headquarters, so some mild brainwashing may have taken place