From the early days of Google Apps, Professional Computer Consultants has embraced the transition to cloud-based computing through Google's intuitive, secure, and collaborative tools, having used Gmail^TM, Google Docs^TM, Google Talk^TM, and Google Calendar^TM for 5 years.  Most recently we've completed the process of becoming a Google Apps Authorized Reseller^TM.  Through this authorization process, PCC has received training, support and deployment services from Google, as well as access to APIs for integrating Google Apps^TM into our client's businesses.

Google Apps brings simple, powerful communication and collaboration tools to organizations of any size – all hosted by Google to streamline setup, minimize maintenance, and reduce IT costs.  With Gmail (including Google email security, powered by Postini^TM), Google Calendar, and integrated IM, users can stay connected and work together with ease. And, using Google Docs and Google Sites^TM, which include documents, spreadsheet, presentation and website creation tools, they can share files and collaborate in real-time, keeping versions organized and available wherever and whenever users work.

##
Google, Google Apps, Google Apps Authorized Reseller, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Talk, Google Sites and Postini are trademarks of Google, Inc.

Are you a home user paying $50 a year for anti virus?  Are you a network admin struggling to make a bogged down network better? Maybe your antivirus is the problem.  It could be slowing your computer and network down.  Microsoft has just released two products to help home and business users with these problems.  These products are Microsoft Security Essentials and Microsoft Forefront.

First, I’m going to discuss Microsoft Security Essentials or MSE as I will refer to it.  MSE is a light weight antivirus suite that protects your computer from viruses just like paid-for antivirus programs such as Symantec Antivirus.  In various test MSE has performed exceptionally.  According to a review done by Nick Mediati, PC World, 06/25/2009

"When put against AV-Test's "WildList" collection of 3,194 recent, common viruses, bots, and worms, Microsoft Security Essentials detected and removed each and every one of the malware samples. How does this compare to other security products? AV-Test coordinator Andreas Marx notes that "several other [antivirus] scanners are still not able to detect and kill all of these critters yet." In addition, Microsoft Security Essentials put up a perfect score with zero false positives--it didn't flag a single clean file as being malicious. AV-Test also took an initial look at Microsoft Security Essentials' root kit detection, testing it against a few root kit samples, and found "nothing to complain about."

Another great thing about MSE is that it does not take a lot of system resources.   It also offers active scanning.  This means that while you are surfing the internet it will scan for malware. The best thing about MSE for home users is that its 100% free.  Which means you can save 50$ a year and have a top rated anti-virus suite.

The second product Microsoft released is geared for businesses small and large.  Microsoft Forefront is a business class security suite.  It was built with some of the same fundamentals of MSE such as being crafted to reduce the stress put on business computers and their networks.  The other advantage of Forefront is that it integrates into a windows environment easily.  It will protect your various servers and services such as Exchange Server, Microsoft SharePoint, and Office Communication Services.  

Both of these products show promise for changing the way users think of antivirus.  They are giving users excellent protection while not bogging down their computers.  This is why MSE is one of the best free anti virus suites available.  At the same time Microsoft Forefront is establishing itself as a robust business class security suite.

Have you ever needed to move something from one computer to another?  If so, then you have serveral options at your disposal.  You could email it to yourself, put it on a flash drive, burn it to a disc,  or upload it to an online location.  All these options are fine solutions, unless you want to update the file from multiple computers.  Each update will require you to re-email, burn, or upload and then re-download, unzip, restore, etc.  This is a time consuming process, and though this may work for some files, there is a better way to sync computer folders.

Dropbox is a online tool that allows you to securely 'sync' folders on multiple computers.  Not only does the Dropbox allow you to access and synchronize file updates on multiple PCs through an installed program but also it provides web access from any PC.  So when you save a report or document for use in a presentation you can do so on Dropbox without installing anything on the client's PC.

Additionally, you can share folders with other Dropbox users or anyone else, by providing them with a public link.  The public section of Dropbox is intened for sharing nonsecure data.  However, the private section is secured through a variety of security technologies.  Dropbox provides assurance that the files you store are safe, as long as they are not stored in the public section: "Your files are actually safer while stored in your Dropbox than on your computer in some cases. We use the same secure methods as banks and the military to send and store your data."

Dropbox has a few different levels of storage to match the needs of particular customers, but for the average user the free version will provide plenty of space. 

The free version comes with 2 gigabytes of space, but is expandable to 8gb through a rather clever referral scheme.  Each referral who signs up using your link will earn you..and them..an extra 250 mb of space.  So if 24 people sign up using your referral link you will be able to store 8gb of data in your Dropbox.

Once you have installed DropBox, it will show up as a folder in your 'My Documents' now all you have to do is start saving files to the folder from any computer.

If you want to get an extra 250 mb of storage space when you signup for DropBox use the following referral link: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTY5NTAzNzI5

As a PC person, I inevitably will enter into discussions with those folks who choose Macs as there primary machine.  I admire Apple for a lot of things, and give them credit for innovation in the industry.  The iPhone was a revolutionary device whose user-friendly design and usefulness makes me a fan.  However, in the area of desktop security, Apple has been overstating the strength of their security and relying on a total number of attacks being more for PCs than Macs.  Though PCs have more attacks as an aggregate,it doesn't take a degree in statistics to realize why that might be...Market Share.

In a recent PC World article interviewing former hacker, Marc Maiffret. Maiffret says that Apple and those who buy Apple products are failing to take security threats seriously. "If they were taking it seriously, they wouldn't claim to be more secure than Microsoft because they are very much not. And the Apple community is pretty ignorant to the risks that are out there as it relates to Apple. The reason we don't see more attacks out there compared to Microsoft is because their market share isn't near what Microsoft's is."

I do not believe that a preson who buys a Mac is necessarily less secure, because though they are more vunerable to attacks, they are less likely to be a target of the attacks for the very same reason that windows is made a target.  Virus/Malware makers want to make the largest impact possible. Therefore, they target the Operating System with the highest chance of spreading their malicious code. 

I only wish that Apple would be honest in its assessment of their Operating Systems security...and stop hiding behind aggregate numbers that neglect market share.