1. Warranty.  These computers generally come with a 1 year, limited manufacturer Warranty.  This means that if any part of the computer breaks after that, you can either “fix it yourself” (time and money) or replace the computer.  Unfortunately, the argument that “you can just go down and buy another computer” (money) is not really a good one, since you likely won’t be able to find an exact replacement, and will therefore have to set up the computer again from scratch (time).  When you spend a little money up front to purchase a computer we recommend, we make sure you get a 3 year business-class warranty, which includes free, on-site repair provided by the manufacturer (not Paradigm).
2. Compatibility.  These systems generally come with Windows XP Home, Vista Home Premium, or Windows 7 Home Ultimate.  These operating systems are not compatible with a Windows business network, not to mention other limitations that don’t belong in a business environment. An upgrade to XP Professional or Windows 7 Professional is an unaccounted for cost when you purchase one of these computers.
3. Standardization.  By purchasing a computer that we recommend, you will likely be able to take advantage of our familiarity with that particular product.  Often we will recommend a single line of computers to multiple customers, and in some cases it may even be one that we have deployed and tested in-house.  All computer models have “quirks” associated with them that make them unique, and knowing our way around them means more efficient deployment, maintenance, and troubleshooting- saving you money.
4. No Upsell. Most bog box store sales clerks are paid on commission. We’re not, and our margins are small. Paradigm has always been primarily a service entity, and the only things we sell to our clients are what they need.

The diNovo Mini is small, only about 6″ wide by 3″ high with the cover closed – about the size of a Hewlett Packard financial calculator, with keys sized a bit larger than a Blackberry or a Sidekick. It has all of the standard keys of a QWERTY keyboard, plus Ctrl, Shift, Alt, and Super (Windows) keys. It also has standard media controls, including volume, pause/play, previous, next, and stop buttons for controlling apps like iTunes, Windows Media Player, or VLC. Although it lists Windows operating systems under system requirements, the unit works perfectly with Mac OS 10.6, and, while I haven’t tested it, I bet it would be fine with most Linux distros as well.

What I found most useful about the unit was the combination trackpad/arrow keys in the upper left of the device. A toggle switch allows you to turn the circular trackpad (like the rectangular ones you find on notebook PCs) into a cursor pad not unlike what you find on video game controllers (instead of the traditional four directional arrow keys). It takes a little getting used to, but is fairly easy to grasp after a few minutes of playing with the device. While I certainly won’t be composing any long audit responses, doing graphics manipulation or programming with this for any significant length of time, it’s ideal for controlling a media center PC, light web surfing, or replying to a quick email – anything you might do on a smartphone or even a netbook.

The unit has excellent range, allowing me to control my PC via its Bluetooth connection from anywhere in the living room. It also has a built in rechargeable battery, and a 3 year hardware warranty, so no more wasting disposable batteries for the remote control.

The diNovo Mini retails for $149, but can can be found cheaper at various online retailers.

We first chose the Astaro Security Gateway for a client who needed a reliable web content filter, and an email spam filter. They had previously used various patchwork solutions which were not meeting their needs. The Astaro product did everything they required, replacing their aging firewall, providing secure remote access, a web content filter to keep users from accessing websites they shouldn’t, and blocking junk email. When I asked the director how he liked it, as compared to their previous solution, he said he was “Very, very, very satisfied.” That’s the kind of feedback we like.

Usually when we put a UTM in place, clients have one security device in place, but not others. The nice thing is that the Astaro combines multiple services into a single unit. While this does place all of the proverbial eggs in one basket and can lead to a single point of failure for network traffic and security, for small businesses on a tight budget, it does provide an affordable way to get services you might not normally have in place.

The first line of defense offered by the Astaro is its firewall. The ASG can act as your network’s router and firewall, whether your Internet connection is a T1 line, DSL modem, or Cable modem. The device provided by your ISP plugs directly into the ASG, which then connects to the rest of your network.

By default, the Astaro Security Gateway is a “default deny” firewall. This is to say that initially, unless you tell it otherwise, it allows no traffic in or out of your network, which is the most secure, best practice configuration for a firewall. This prevents not only unwanted intrusions from outside sources, but also unwanted extrusions from your system. Whether it’s people running instant messaging or voice chat clients, the hobbyist who’s running his own web server on your company network, or the latest malware which has turned your desktop into a spam sending zombie, the ASG won’t allow it out unless you say so.

If you have remote workers who require access to your system from the road, home, or remote branch office, the Astaro supports just about every type of virtual private network (VPN) out there. Popular choices such as PPTP, L2TP, IPSec, and SSL are all available, and the clients work with Windows, Macintosh, and Linux stations.

The ASG also includes a powerful, flexible web content filter, which can be used to protect your network from malicious websites, as well as to keep users from websites that they should not be using the company network for.

Astaro also includes email security features, including two anti-virus scanners and a powerful anti-spam and anti-phishing filter to keep your inbox free of the needless clutter that comes from these annoyances and threats. Email encryption can also be configured so that if servers you communicate support this feature, your messages can’t be read by anyone in between if intercepted.

Finally, Astaro offers a free trial of their Astaro Security Gateway product, so you can evaluate it without commitment. They even pay the shipping.

Note: Paradigm Consulting Co. is an Astaro reseller. Please contact us if you are interested and we can arrange a demo for you and your network.

1. You spend a lot of time waiting for your computer to do what should be simple, quick tasks. While this problem is often resolved by a clean reinstallation of the operating system and software programs, a general “cleanup” of unused stuff on the system, or a memory upgrade, sometimes a system is just too old to warrant upgrading and needs to be replaced.
2. Your system has a proprietary component which will be difficult (read “expensive”) or downright impossible to replace. As standards change, manufacturing of older parts tapers off in favor of the newer trends. EIDE drives are giving way to SATA, older memory types are replaced with newer, faster ones, etc.
3. Another good sign that your hardware is obsolete is that it is no longer under warranty. My rule is that every production system must be under a service contract. If it’s no longer available, it should be retired. To get an idea what it would take to repair your system in the event of a catastrophe, contact the manufacturer or place where you bought it, and find out what it would cost to replace the motherboard, processor, memory, and hard drive. More importantly, find out the availability of those parts and ask “Can we afford to be down for that long?”
4. A large portion of your organization has migrated to a new hardware platform/manufacturer/brand. Having a single platform (Dell Optiplex 745, HP Business Desktop dc7800, etc.) in your organization lowers management costs because your techs need to be familiar with fewer configurations, fewer sets of spare parts need to be stocked, and if a certain software runs on one machine, it’s pretty likely to run on any other. You don’t want to be the lone island in the corner clinging to your precious Gateway 2000 PC just because it doesn’t have any problems. If the rest of your organization is moving forward, join them.
5. Your system isn’t right for your business needs. You are a traveling salesman, rarely in the office, yet you don’t have a notebook.
6. It’s time to change. You are considering “thinking different” and using Apple Macintosh systems as opposed to Windows, or vice versa, because they better meet your needs.

How can you tell if your machine could benefit from a memory upgrade? First off, if you hear your computer’s hard drive running hard, or see the hard drive indicator light on a lot, particularly if you have multiple applications running, that’s  a good sign. Another is to use the Task Manager, a utility included with all versions of Windows, to see how much memory your computer is using. The best time to do this is to during the middle of your work day, when you have the most applications running. In Windows, simply press Ctrl-Shift-Esc and you should see something like the image to the right. Pay attention to the “Available” number under “Physical Memory.” If this number is lower than, say, 256,000, your machine could probably benefit from a memory upgrade.

Techspeak alert! Note that if you have a standard, 32-bit version of Windows (2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008, or 7), the maximum memory that your system can use is 4GB, minus the amount of memory used by your video card. So if you have a fancy video card for gaming or CAD or some other applicaiton which requires a high-end card, however much memory is on that card counts against the total amount in your system. If you find that you need more than 4GB of memory in your system, then you need to run a 64-bit version of Windows to use it, otherwise your computer will simply see 4GB as the maximum available, unless your computer supports Address Window Extensions to do some backflips to allow it to see more than 4GB of memory.