I personally made the investment and use 8.1 from my corporate workstation, though there isn't a current plan to roll out Windows 8.x to our end users. An Executive purchased a Surface tablet that we were tasked to support, and though we try to enforce a position of remote workers using company issued equipment, this is not yet corporate policy.  This has led me to encountering an end user who knew more about their OS than I, that is before I personally and professionally migrated to 8.x. I believe as IT professionals, we should always be one or two steps ahead of those who seek our leadership and support. There is a preponderance of negative opinion regarding 8.x from those who have not really taken the time to first hand vet 8.x within their corporate environment. Some IT professionals are weighing in who presently have yet to make the jump from Windows XP on their own workstation. I have become quite fond of 8.1, and more productive. Some of my IT colleagues went from

By using a network protocol analyzer such as Wireshark, a Network Administrator can determine if congestion is present on their network.  The key is looking for duplicate ACKs. Consistent duplicate ACKs are an indication that network congestion may be present. The problem is worth investigating. To manage the reliability of data between two endpoints, TCP uses ordered sequence numbers (SYN) and acknowledgements (ACKs).  For example, data is broken up into packets, and each packet is given a sequence number. (Data to be sent) = Packet A – SYN 1 , Packet B – SYN2 , Packet C – SYN3 Each packet is sent in sequential order, and as each packet arrives to its destination, the destination endpoint sends a unique acknowledgement (ACK) back to the transmitter as a way to verify the data has been received in its proper order. ACK 1 [Packet A – SYN1], ACK 2 ACK 1 [Packet B – SYN2], ACK 3 [Packet A – SYN3], If the data arrives out of order, a duplicate ACK is sent to t

The Global Internet Phenomena Report is published twice a year by Sandvine . Archives of previous reports are also available on the site. The site also tracks trends and blogs regularly information relating to different aspects of the Internet and how its used by the masses. I highly recommend this site which can be accessed by clicking here .

The Answer : Even though they can be purchased online, the claim that an analog (VGA) to digital (HDMI or DVI) cable in and of itself performing such a conversion simply is not true. For example,  people run into this issue when they want to connect a laptop/desktop without an HDMI port to a digital monitor port with only a DVI port or a TV screen with an HDMI port. VGA to HDMI Cable I personally have had people not heed this advice, only to be seriously disappointed after having spent the money. There are instances where this cable will work... The VGA card in the device you are using (laptop/desktop) must be able to output a digital signal. This simply is not the case for most devices. When people are selling these cables from places like eBay, at times they may state this important piece of information in  very small print. So how do you get that device connected to your new digital TV or Monitor?  You have some options... 1). You can purchase a VGA

It's November and we are just weeks away from Black Friday, whilst we continue to spiral towards the Xmas holiday;  a countless number of home entertainment devices will be purchased between now and the end of year.  Be it a home or business, many will find themselves in the predicament of figuring out how to connect all this stuff (TVs, digital video players, gaming systems, streaming devices etc, etc) up. Many digital marriages between 'new to new' and 'new to old' devices will need to be consummated before any images are seen or audio heard. For a very clear, concise explanation regarding some of the issues/questions you most likely will encounter... Click Here!

Issue: An End User who is an Executive at our company brought his brand new ' previously ' unsupported Mac book Air in today for assistance. The issue... he could not get it to consistently connect to our VPN. The Mac book was running the Apple Mavericks OS.  A little online searching revealed other End Users with the issue, while some a variation of the same problem. Resolution: There maybe more than one solution to this issue, depending on the variation regarding what you are experiencing.  Here is what I did ... 1). My End User is fairly tech savvy and knows how to configure VPNs in the Mavericks OS. Within the configuration setup I had him choose PPTP for the connection type, and more importantly for the VPN server address/name to use the actual IP address instead of the hostname.  This last item is what did the trick for us.  Please leave a comment if this was of help to you. If the above does not work, you might want to venture over to the following link...

After upgrading my workstation from Windows 7 professional to Windows 8.1 professional, I discovered all my network drives were now missing. The short answer on how to bring them back... In my case, I as an End User belonged to the local Administrator's group on my local computer. After doing some research this is what worked for me and so many others... 1).  Remove yourself (or the end user in question) as a member of the local Administrator's group on the computer. 2).  Reboot the computer. 3).  Check to see if your mapped network drives are now present. *Note: If you don't see them right away in the File Explorer window, wait about a minute or so to allow the login script or GP policy preference to run its course. 4).  Add yourself back as a member of the local Administrator's group on the computer. 5).  Reboot once again to ensure network drives are still properly mapping upon login after adding yourself or the End User back as a local

How often have you had a need to copy and/or paste text either to or from the command prompt in Windows?  Here's how... To copy text from a command prompt window First select and copy text from any Windows program, then open a command prompt window. Next... RIGHT-CLICK on the TITLE BAR... Select EDIT. You will now be able to paste your selected text into the command prompt window by clicking on PASTE. To paste text from a command prompt window You must first RIGHT - CLICK on the command prompt window title bar, select EDIT then select MARK After doing so, you will be able to select text within the command prompt window by clicking and dragging with your mouse... After selecting your text, you will need to RIGHT-CLICK the TITLE-BAR, select EDIT then select COPY... Last step, open the Windows program you wish to paste the copied text.

First I'll discuss an option which I currently use, then I'll list some of the uses I have gotten from the service... Free reliable national Internet service is offered by the company FreedomPop You pay for the device, then are allotted 500MB of bandwidth per month at no cost. FreedomPop offers both home and MiFi hotspot devices starting around $40.00 dollars.  National coverage is offered via FreedomPop's partnership with Sprint. If you need more bandwidth per month, they offer various options which range from earning extra bandwidth by way of signing up to partner promotions such as Netflix, to trading data via social networking.  You can also purchase more bandwidth by selecting any of their affordable monthly plans. They even offer rollover. I was able to ditch my monthly iPhone service plan once it was out of contract. I now pay nothing for mobile phone usage. I transferred my cell number to Google Voice, installed an app called Talkatone and wireless connect my

I'll first briefly touch on your upgrade path options, then discuss some cost effective methods regarding an actual upgrade. Upgrade to Windows 8 You can upgrade to Windows 8 and keep Windows settings, personal files, and applications from the following Windows operating system editions: Windows 7 Starter Windows 7 Home Basic Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro You can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro and keep Windows settings, personal files, and applications from the following Windows operating system editions: Windows 7 Starter Windows 7 Home Basic Windows 7 Home Premium *Windows 7 Professional *Windows 7 Ultimate " Source: Microsoft TechNet. For the complete exhaustive upgrade path reference... http://technet.microsoft.com/library/jj203353.aspx *If you are running Windows Professional or Ultimate and you want to keep your applications without re-installing them, then your only option is to upgrade to the 'Pro' version of Windows 8.