Basecamp is an online project management system that is especially suitable for managing distributed projects over multiple time zones. Here are some examples how international non-profits are using Basecamp.   

Link to How Lotus Outreach uses Basecamp to change lives – Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals)

I have (apparently) a gold maintenance agreement on my Symantec Anti-Virus Small Business Edition (5 users and a server). Recently they sent a notice that an upgrade was available from 10 to 10.1 (big woof). I’m now trying to install it, on my network, which consists of 1 server, 2 workstations and my laptop. You’d think this would be a ‘setup and go’ thing…but there are many more steps required.
1. Uninstall the Symantec Systems Manager
2. Reboot server
3. Install what appears to be the anti-virus server software. Already, this appears to be deviating from the instructions, as there is no mention of an ‘upgrade’, but rather it is just installing over the existing 10.0 version.
4. Reinstall the mangement server
5. Download another 14 megs of upgrades to the software
6. Reboot again.

3 reboots!

….later
So, Ok, I followed the procedure, and I think I’m upgraded. Why can’t they automate this?

But wait, there is more.
The server reports that there is 34 days left until my virus license is due. So, I go online to renew it, and get a renewal for “Gold Maintenance”. No mention of the virus definitions (which is what I’m really interested in, of course). I pay the $138.00 for five licenses. Somehow, I’m naively assuming that the program is going to be smart enough to figure out that I’ve upgraded my license and it will merrily continue downloading virus updates for another year. I mean, the program is smart enough to know that it is going to expire in 34 days, right?

So, this morning the message comes on. 33 days left until the license is due. I’m thinking….ahah, I did purchase another year of gold maintenance but I didn’t purchase another year of the virus definitions. After searching through several pages of disorganized online help at the Symantec web site, I finally get to the upgrade site again, and go through the same process as yesterday. Once I choose the upgrade, and get to the page which is my order, I note that it says “Gold Maintenance” again. Time to call customer support.

I get right through. I ask the support damsel to check my order from yesterday, as I haven’t seen or heard anything about it. She checks, and says, that I did place the order, and it is being processed. And then she explained the process, and as Dave Berry says, “I’m not making this up”.

Once you place the order, you then wait 3-5 business days. Sometime during that period, you’ll get an eMail which contains a PDF of a new serial number for your product. You then go online again with the serial number and download a new license file. Then you install the license file. Then you allocate the licenses to the workstations. I’ve invested more than two hours in trying to figure all this out already.

How many thousands of person-hours throughout the world are dedicated to chasing around all this nonsense? It is bad enough that we have to deal with viruses, but Symantec is just running amok. Too many versions, too many products, too many web pages.

Memo to Symantec. Updates should be a two step process.
1. Go online and type in the owners serial number.
2. Pay

Welecome to Tech for Non-Profits, the unplugged version of Microdesign Consulting. We feel that non-profit corporations and NGOs deserve the same advantages that technology can bring to for-profit business. To that end, we’ve dedicated ourselves to finding cost-effective ways to bring the benefits of wide-area networks, computer databases, IP videoconferencing and Voice over IP to our clients and friends. Check out our (mostly) annotated VoIP resource guide.

I’ll be away for awhile on the Danube Project.

The Frank Langa how to hack Windows Recovery from Information Week actually works as far as it goes. I was able to perform the update as described, but with a couple of glitches.

1. The procedure appears to replace the Windows system files without disturbing the underlying registry entries and user accounts. However, if you are replacing a updated and patched version of Windows from a vanilla installation CD, then, of course, you are reverting back to a previous patched state, or even back to the baseline. So, the patching process has to happen all over again unless you have prepared a slipstreamed CD that contains all of the patches.

2. During the replacement procedure, you go through the network setup again…with your previous settings as a default. In my case, the computer had been connected to domain; when doing the procedure, of course, I had the machine on the bench, away from the office. Everything still worked out…but there was long period of five minutes or more where the install program looked for the domain controller. Miraculously, when I connected the machine back at the office, it connected fine to the domain.

3. Ultimately, for my purposes, the replacement didn’t work. I thought I would be replacing files that were affected by a virus, but in fact there was a trojan hidden in there somewhere, and the darn thing was still present when I rebooted.

4. The recovery procedure takes quite awhile, and maybe needs to be balanced against the effort of a full re-install. If you use the Dell recovery disk that comes with Dell workstations (sometimes you have to pay extra for it..) the reinstallation goes smoothly and it includes the video and sound drivers for the workstation so you don’t have to go and find those and install them separately.

When patching an early version of Windows XP, the process is a such a pain. You have to reboot multiple times, agree to EULAs, install all manner of unrelated crap, and answer a zillion questions. It is not an unattended process. Why can’t this work like the Red Hat updater…it looks at what you have, figures out the dependencies and then gives you what you need, all relatively transparently?

Note sent to Microsoft while working with Office 2007 Word beta …

In the “I can’t find what I’m looking for…” Department in Word
Looking for “Insert File” which I believe in Word 2003 is indeed under the Insert menu.

Ya know, the pretty pictures (icons) in 2007 are nice…but in fact they are just pictures/icons, and are basically meaningless. There is no inherent “mapping” between these icons and the function to which they are supposed to represent, and from a cognitive standpoint, this just makes finding things more frustrating as there is a extra step that you have to go through, like:

1. Think of what you want to do
2. Think of which menu it might be under
3. Click on the menu
4. Look at all the icons
5. Read the text descriptions of what the icons mean

Steps 4 and 5 were combined under a single step in 2003.

Also, stuff under the “Circle” now isn’t really intuitive either….why not use the old “File” menu there? Now I have to Look at the Circle and I think “file” I believe I read that you’ve maybe bagged the circle in an updated design.

Since I’ve been using Word for yonks now, (since it was a DOS program), I admit that the changes may be more difficult for me as a legacy user rather than for someone who is coming from it fresh.

In the meantime…I’m clicking all over the place trying to find where the Insert File function is. 🙂

Hmm….arrived today with MapPoint 2006, SQL Server 2005 SP1, and the beta CD’s of Windows Vista and Office 2007. Of course, I installed the betas a couple weeks ago.

I’m have Office 2007 in production, and except for OutLook’s crawl things seem to be working pretty well, and I look forward to using the new interface. After a flurry of playing with Vista, I’ve put that on the back burner until the printing and dual monitor problems get worked out. (I can’t print to my networked printer that is attached to my small-business server 2003, and my second monitor isn’t supported..which could be an issue with the video card.) I’m looking forward to Vista as well…at least for personal work. It will be hell-on-wheels to install in an office and re-train all the users. Another reason for standardizing on XP Pro while it is still possible.

In the “I’m going to try this tomorrow” department:
Frank Langa of Informationweek has a series of articles on how to repair Windows XP without doing a reformat.

If all has gone as planned, you’ll find all the user accounts and passwords intact, all the hardware devices set up as before, and all the previously installed software still installed and configured. In fact, if all has gone as planned, the only significant change will be that whatever problem your copy of XP was previously experiencing will now be gone!

You now have a range of repair tools at your disposal, ranging from simple on-the-fly fixes such as Registry cleaning and safe Mode fixes to Recovery Console fixes (see links in the beginning of this article) and, now, a nondestructive, no-reformat repair/rebuild option.

With this information, you should almost never have to face a dreaded start-over-from-scratch reformat/reinstall of XP!

Another article describes how to create a Windows XP installation disk which includes all the service patches and updates to XP to avoid having to do the Windows update patching process after a bare-metal reinstall of Windows.

Found these from the very wonderful digg/technology link consolidation service.

This is another argument for getting your machines current to Windows XP Professional if possible. Anything running 256Kb of RAM and 1.7Ghz of processor speed is a good candidate for an upgrade.

There are several purchasing options. You can get OEM upgrades versions of Windows XP from NewEgg for about $140 when bought as a 3 pack. Item #N82E16837102063. Also available as a onese (single copy) from www.buycheapsoftware.com for $137.00 Item #MSXPS2PO. For non-profits, TechSoup has Windows XP Pro for $8.00! (as they say some restrictions apply…). And if memory serves, the open office academic version of XP is something like $45.00.

Found a convenient fix for the problem of installing networked HP printers when on Windows 98. To do this you need to be able to print to a specific IP address. Windows 98 second edition does not include support for the function, but this file from HP does. This creates a program which will monitor an IP port and allow you to create an IP port within Win 98 for printing.

The following best practices are from a Microsoft document entitled
Protecting Data by Using EFS to Encrypt Hard Drives. EFS refers to the encrypted file system, the Microsoft way of encrypting files on-the-fly at the operating system level. The article describes what appears to be a complex procedure for creating and maintaining the software key which allows you to encrypt and decrypt the data. The procedure is not for the faint of heart. (Mr. Faint-Of-Heart reporting…). On the other hand there now seems to be a story per week about how someone’s laptop got stolen, which contains upteen social-security numbers or credit card records. Nothing trumps Physical Security. Don’t let the laptop out of your sight!

Alternatives are available that allow you to set up an encrypted volume on the hard drive, and to mount it as another drive letter.

Physical protection of the computer is paramount. There is no technological substitute for taking every precaution to ensure the computer is not stolen or physically compromised.

• Always use the mobile computer as part of an Active Directory domain.

• Store the private keys for users separately from the mobile computer and import them when needed.

• For common storage folders such as “My Documents” and temporary folders, encrypt the folder so that all new and temporary files will be encrypted when created.

• Always create new files, or copy existing plaintext files, into an encrypted folder when the data is extremely sensitive. This will ensure that all files have never existed in plaintext form on the computer, and that temporary data files cannot be recovered by using sophisticated disk analysis attacks.

• Encrypted folders can be enforced in a domain by using a combination of Group Policy, logon scripts and security templates to ensure that standard folders such as “My Documents” are configured as encrypted folders.

• The Windows XP operating system supports the encryption of data in offline files. Offline files and folders that are cached locally should be encrypted when using client-side caching policies.

• Use the system key utility SYSKEY in mode 2 or mode 3 (boot floppy or boot password) on the mobile computer to prevent the system from being booted by malicious users. The system key utility and its options are documented in online help for your version of Windows.

• Enable Server Message Block (SMB) signing in Group Policy for servers that are trusted for delegation and used for storing encrypted files. This setting is found in Group Policy at this location: GPO-name\Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options\Microsoft Network Server: Always digitally sign communications.

• Ensure unencrypted data is removed from the hard drive after encryption of files and periodically thereafter.