Network Services of Cape Cod

As an IT consultant, I frequently come into contact with other technology companies while providing consulting services to my clients. Sometimes the work is coordinated, often it is not. When work is not coordinated, my job can often become a bit more challenging than expected.

One of the more enjoyable experiences I’ve had recently was working a network installation that had been wired by Mr. Telephone. Several weeks before my client was to occupy their new office space, I had done a walk through to assess their data wiring requirements. Since data wiring is outside the scope of services I am able to provide, I forwarded my spec to the client so that they could contract a company to pull the data runs.

Prior to the network deployment, I had not been contacted by anyone with questions about the wiring requirement. When I arrived onsite, I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. My client had contracted Mr. Telephone to handle the data wiring, and Mr. Telephone did an outstanding job! Not only did they anticipate my needs (deploying a small rack complete with shelving for my network equipment), but they did something I have rarely seen and typically have to do myself: labelled each network drop and the patch panel. Each drop was labelled in an intuitive fashion so as to ensure that one could easily distinguish between telephone and data runs. Since cat5 cable was used for phones as well as the network, my client now has tremendous flexibility to move office equipment around without having to call Mr. Telephone back every time they want to move a phone extension or fax line.

The tech that was there when I was on location was very efficient and helpful. He even apologized for the placement of a few difficult runs. I had to laugh out loud at this. These runs were very well located, easy to work with, and better placed than if I had done the wiring myself. Ultimately, the quality of the workmanship put into the data wiring saved my client several hundred dollars by greatly reducing my anticipated workload.

If I am ever in need of a telephone system, I will take a good hard look at Mr. Telephone, given the quality of work they provide. I have worked on networks wired by Mr. Telephone in the past (including fiber-optic connections between buildings), and have found the quality of their workmanship to be consistent in its’ excellence.

Check out Mr. Telephone on the web, or give them a call at 508-394-4610 the next time you need a phone system.

Sometimes I wonder if the time and effort spend maintaining the website is actually beneficial, or just a complete waste of time. I’m pleased to announce that the Knowledgebase I’ve posted on the site was useful today! I received an e-mail from a client today with the following description of a problem:

“I still have my background picture on the screen, but have lost all icons on the control panel and there is no access to the “start” button. Nothing happens when I right click on the screen. I can do ctl/alt/delete to bring up “task manager” which will allow me to get on-line, but I can’t seem to open any of my files or folders from there.”

These symptoms seemed familiar, so I forwarded the client a link to the KB article I had posted after seeing a similar issue awhile back. I’ll be sure to post KB articles on any odd problems I come across. As always, feedback and direct questions are welcome. I’ll do my best to get as much content up as I can.

Again, in no particular order, more of my favorites:

Parallels – If you’ve actually been reading this, than you’ve probably caught on to the idea that I really like my Mac. One of the things I most like about it is the ability to run Windows. There are many programs that are critical to my business which are Windows only. Additionally, there are some Windows programs that are simply better (in my humble opinion) than their Mac counterparts (Outlook). When I first looked at running Windows on the Mac, I tried Boot Camp. It was great. I was amazed at how quickly Windows XP responded, even after I loaded up a whole lot of software. One thing that I absolutely wanted, though, was the ability to flip back and forth without restarting the system. This meant that I had to look at virtualization software. I looked at Parallels first, as it was first to market, and became used to it’s interface. For more about my early impressions of Parallels, read my blog entry here. Parallels has integrated my Mac life and Windows life so seamlessly that I am able to flip back and forth effortlessly. Parallels is set to release version 4 of their product soon, though I can’t imagine how they’ll be improving it.

Pwnage Tool – While the iPhone is a fantastic tool, with a great deal of software available from Apple’s App Store, you still need to jailbreak the iPhone in order to unlock it’s full potential. One of the most useful features of a jailbroken iPhone is the ability to connect to it via FTP and retrieve phone messages for archive purposes. I am surprised that nobody has released an App Store program that does this more gracefully, but there might be something in the license agreement that forbids this. It seems like such an obvious (missing) feature to me. Who wouldn’t want to be able to archive their voicemails?

iPhoto – One of the things that drew me to the Apple platform was the fact that most of the productivity software the average consumer would need is included with the operating system. While iLife technically is not a component of OS X, it does come pre-loaded on every Apple computer. iPhoto is a fantastic program that makes it super simple to manage your pictures on the computer. The closest equivalent on the PC would be Google’s Picasa (also a great program), but what makes iLife so great is the solid integration between the suite of iLife programs. For every feature that is missing (the ability to synchronize iPhoto libraries, for example), there is a third party add-on that can do the trick.

iPhoto Library Manager – If you have more than one Mac, I highly recommend this iPhoto add-on. Well, it’s not so much an add-on as it is a utility that allows you to manage multiple iPhoto libraries with ease. At home, we typically import all family photos to the iMac in the kitchen. I use iPhoto Library Manager to copy newly imported or updated photos from the family iMac to my laptop, where I manipulate them and manage the family website (i.e. post photos of the kids for the family to see). This program handles the imports with ease, copying all meta-data and leaving out duplicates. It’s an easy way of ensuring that our personal pictures are always backed up.

Snapz Pro X – I wondered what applications people were using to create screen captures for tutorials. A google search revealed this little gem for OS X. I haven’t had time to play a whole lot, but I figured this would work pretty well for me, given that I can run just about any OS I want in a virtual machine through Parallels. If I get any good feedback or suggestions from clients, I will likely use this to create tutorials for the knowledgebase page of my site. To date, I have been posting links to other tutorials and knowledgebase articles on my site, mainly because the interface to add new kb articles is web-based (not my preference.) Here is an example of a screen capture I created which demonstrates how to Restart the Windows Print Spooler service under Windows XP.

There are a whole bunch more, so I’m going to continue to split Part IV into many smaller parts…

Now that I work on an Apple computer more than a Windows computer, I find that there are literally tons of software applications available for the Mac. When I first considered switching platforms, I was concerned that I would not be able to find software. Boy, was I wrong. So, in no particular order, here is a listing of some of the software I use on a regular basis on my Mac:

Microsoft Office 2008 – Since I run parallels on my Mac to gain access to my business applications, Office 2008 doesn’t get a whole lot of use. However, I use Entourage as my default e-mail program instead of the Mail application, due to its’ Exchange synchronization capability. While Entourage has a nice look and feel, it is definitely not a replacement for Outlook. Beyond function and capability, I believe style and layout play important roles in determining the usability of software. When Outlook is running smoothly, it just feels like a better e-mail client than Entourage. The search features (which I use the most), certainly function better in Outlook.

ecto – There are a number of desktop blogging clients available for OS X. When I was looking for an application that met my requirements (easy to configure, easy to use, and lot’s of features), I narrowed it down to three applications: MacJournal, MarsEdit, and Ecto. MacJournal was difficult to configure for use with My WordPress blogs. MacJournal has a nice clean interface, with lots of proofing and formatting tools. Most impressively, there is a built-in mechanism to record audio and video from within the application. I was most intrigued by these features, as I am interested in adding some video content to my blogs. Alas, I could not get MacJournal to upload video to my blogs. MarsEdit, on the other hand, has excellent support for a wide variety of blog types, but I just didn’t like the interface. Ecto, on the other hand, has a great interface, and works very well with my WordPress blogs. While it has the capability to upload video to blog posts, I couldn’t make it work, either. Presumably, there might be some code in WordPress that returns a 500 server error when these third party applications attempt to post certain media types. For now, I have a temporary work around, and I like ecto’s interface and add-ons.

Fetch – Fetch is an FTP application that I use on a daily basis. When I first looked around for FTP clients for OS X, I believe I looked at several different programs. Fetch has a user interface that I really like, and was reasonably priced at only $25. When I’m not using Fetch to make adjustments to WordPress plugins on my websites, I use it daily to extract voice messages from my iPhone. These voice mail files are then attached to the history records in my ACT! database. Pretty cool!

BBEdit – Now that I’ve begun to dabble in coding again (after taking nearly two decades off), I needed a text editor that was easy to use, and would recognize and properly format and display code for various languages. I’ve only scraped the tip of the iceberg with BBEdit, but I am totally impressed with this software. I would recommend BBEdit to any Mac user that has t make occasional edits to websites. BBEdit displays code, highlighting components of the text, in such a fashion as to make it real easy to find what you’re looking for.

Yojimbo – Broken down to its’ simplest form, Yojimbo is essentially a file cabinet for pdf files. This program is so much more. With options to synchronize content between computers via MobileMe, Yojimbo is my primary storage vault for non-business related data. Yojimbo adds an extension to OS X that allows you to print pdf files directly to Yojimbo. Additionally, you can organize your data into folders and simply drag new content to Yojimbo’s interface for easy retrieval later. This one is definately worth checking out if you have a Mac.

Mark/Space Missing Sync for iPhone – Over the years, I’ve used a variety of smart phones, and have employed different methods to record or archive call log data from them. (I’m obsessed with keeping a record of all my calls in the company ACT! database…) When I saw the iPhone advertised for the first time, I knew I had to have one. I was so excited about having an iPhone, that I didn’t consider the fact that I’d be losing the capability to extract call log data. I had used Mark/Space Missing Sync for Windows Mobile for awhile after switching to a Mac. This software was easy to use, and I received excellent support from the developers whenever I had trouble. Unfortunately, there was about a three month period between the release of the iPhone and the release of Missing Sync for iPhone, but thanks to the efforts of a few motivated programmers on the Internet, I was able to put a few stop gap measures into place. Now I am able to effortlessly extract call log data from the phone simply by syncing with iTunes. The call log application allows me to export the calls to .csv format, which I then transfer to my ACT! database via CRMADDON’s Import for ACT!

(Note: I had previously used Natara Comet with a Palm Treo (Palm OS based) smart phone. This software yields excellent results, and I highly recommend it. I had difficulty finding a software package that was so easy and effective for Windows Mobile based devices, but due to terrible performance from Windows based phones, I only ran them for a short while.)

OmniFocus – As many of you know, time management is one of the biggest challenges I face during the course of my work day. While there is no perfect to-do list program or methodology, David Allen has some great ideas as part of his GTD (Getting Things Done) methodology. I used OmniFocus to retrain myself to better use tools that I already had in place. From time to time, I find myself going back to his book, and listening to the audio book when traveling off-Cape. OmniFocus is a great GTD application with real-time sync (via MobileMe) for the iPhone. Highly recommended.

Things – Things is another great GTD application, similar to OmniFocus. There is an iPhone version of Things as well as a desktop version. Things seems to be a little less structured in the way that data is handled. Because OmniFocus was available first, I have used it more than Things (there is no way to export/import data from one to the other). The last version of Things I looked at seemed to indicate that recurring schedules would be available for individual tasks. In either case, the main weakness that I see is the inability for either application to schedule recurring tasks that occur on workdays (weekdays) only.

HelpDesk Pilot 4 – If you’ve used the ticket system on my website, then you’ve used HelpDesk Pilot. When I was looking for a method to improve my productivity by implementing a mechanism whereby clients could submit and track work requests, I looked at a number of free and commercial software applications. As I become more proficient in working with OS X and to a limited degree Linux, I am finding myself drawn to web based or open source platforms for several reasons. First, these platforms tend to be more cost effective for a small business like mine. Second, most software of this type can be easily modified or adapted to an existing website. Last, I have found that porting data in and out of web based applications using MySQL is easily done, even if you don’t have any programming knowledge. Sourceforge is an excellent place to start looking for new software. With regard to HelpDesk Pilot, I found the cost of the source code to be very reasonable, given the features offered. Additional, my requests for custom modifications and feature suggestions were warmly received and well implemented. I’d like to see the developer implement a better billing module for the software which would enable the user to better track billable hours, but I am sure they will come up with something soon.

Sillaj – Here is a great example of excellent software available for free on Sourceforge. I had a little difficult implementing this and had to modify the code slightly in a few places to get all the features working, but it was a great experience! This software is designed as a project management tool. I used it for several months to track time for billing purposes when providing consulting services to clients. I had wanted to use some sort of paperless work order system since I downsized my company. Since I’m terrible at paperwork, but very good at organizing and maintaining data on a computer, this was a great way for me to track billable hours from any computer. It worked from my iPhone, too! Thanks to some great iPhone software developers, I now have an even better solution to my daily job tracking, but Sillaj will undoubtedly prove to be useful in the future.

WordPress – When a client of mine convinced me that blogs are great earlier this year, it didn’t take too long to find WordPress. I had used blogger for a very brief period a few years ago, and had been aware of a few other blogging systems around the net, but WordPress is simply outstanding. Thanks to WordPress users with far more programing experience and knowledge than I have, I was able to create a WordPress theme that integrates the blog seamlessly (as I can get it) into my existing website. If you’ve ever considered blogging, look no further than WordPress.

ACT! Premium for Web 2009 – I had looked at the web version of ACT! a few years ago. At the time, the interface needed a lot of tweaking, and it was difficult to deploy and had a few too many bugs for me. Recently, Sage presented me with an offer I couldn’t refuse in the form of a fantastic upgrade price to the latest version. I had previously decided that I was not going to upgrade from the 2008 version to the 2009 version of ACT! Premium for Workgroups. The trouble is that I often have to purchase upgrade licenses for all other 3rd party add-on software, which didn’t make financial sense this year. Getting back on point, I am happy that I can actually access my ACT! data from an Apple computer running the Safari web browser. Unfortunately, Firefox is not supported, and the interface is very slow. I would still recommend and deploy this as a solution for a small business that was implementing an out of office sales force. This would allow the small business to very easily protect their client data in the event that the employee is terminated.

Google Applications/Google Calendar – I’ve only scratched the tip of the iceburg with regard to the potential of Google Applications. Google Calendar made it very simple for me to display my scheduling availability in a secure manner on my website. I had previously used a combination of iCal and phpiCal synchronization to display a more complex calendar that did not fit quite so nice into the body of my website.

AWSTATS – In addition to Google Analytics, I use this web based application to review traffic to my website. Mike at Design Principles introduced me to this software awhile back. Thanks to this post, I had no trouble getting it configured to run on my 1&1 hosted website. AWSTATS displays more specific data about visits to the site than Google Analytics, but is a bit more involved to setup. I like to look at both to see that nobody’s reading this!

phpBB – When I had first envisioned the content I wanted for my website, I initially wanted a bulletin board system. I did put one up here, though I no longer have a link to it from my website, as it doesn’t serve any practical application. In the beginning, I thought clients might use it to exchange information on computer problems, but in a moment of clarity, I realized that it’s a lot easier for them to simply call me for support. I don’t change my own oil, either. I just bring the truck over to Walter’s Tune & Lube. Great service and much easier than doing it myself.