So in part one of this mini-epic I responded to a comment author on another blog. In it, I addressed the, as I see it, flawed thinking in their approach to the use of filtering software or appliances.

In this second post I want to put forward some of the benefits, again as I see it, of why we should spy.

So, without further ado: (more…)

John over at Church IT has put up a short post about “Monitoring Your Church Staff’s Internet Usage“.

Those of you who read this blog regularly will know that I’m a wee bit passionate about protecting your own equipment and in helping guide your children down the path of healthy surfing and computer use. So you won’t be surprised to know that I’ve added a comment or two.

Today, the following comment was added:

I just don’t know about actively monitoring staff or employee computers. It seems like spying. I’ve always found that having everyone sign a computer and internet agreement policy and then locking down everything that wasn’t email or internet browsing through the router was plenty. There’s no reason to spend any amount of money or time installing monitoring software. It makes people feel like you don’t trust them and they don’t really work anyway. If you just have to see what your staff has been doing on the web most routers keep a log of every site visited and with what computer and at what time.

Well I was going to type up my reply on John’s blog but it started getting a little long, so instead I’m answering it here. (more…)

I’ve long been an advocate of people not needing ‘formal qualifications’ to get into the computer industry. And by formal I mean university degrees or 48 GCSE’s (or whatever your age 16 school exams are called).

However, that’s a subject matter for another time and another post. What one can’t avoid, so it seems, is the need to have a technical certification. Companies seem to turn a blind eye to experience and especially recruiting agencies. I know for a fact that certain agencies in the UK use an automated scanner looking for keywords for certain roles – so your CV arrives and is never seen by a human until after it’s been vetted by a machine. This is life now and so if you’re wanting to get into the network field, then as  bare minimum you’d need to start with a Cisco Certified Network Associate (or CCNA) certification.

This one exam (or two depending on route taken) certification is seen as the ultimate (more…)

I’ve long been a fan of solarwinds and love using their free tools.

I just wish I could afford to play with some of their paid for tools as they look ultra cool and ultra geeky. That suits me just fine.

The latest free tool to their stable is the “Network Config Generator“.

It looks like it could be a really useful tool to anyone who has a dislike of configuring network devices. There appears to be little restriction on what type of network devices that can be configured by it from firewalls to routers to switches so long as they have a CLI style access.

You can create your own configurations or you can utilise a template. The tool comes with a few templates already built in and more accessible via Thwack (solarwinds forum / resource site) and they are likely wanting to rely on the massed ranks of network engineers to supply more – and I’m certain that will happen.

I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet myself as it requires a live connection to a device and I don’t have any to hand.

Anyway, check it out if you need it and let me know how you get on.

On facebook, the majority of my friends are non-technical folks so in a recent status update I asked them what they most want to know about IT and I said I’ll try my best to answer them.

An old friend was second to the plate as I chose to ignore my son’s initial attempt at inciting my disdain. She asked:

If I want to get a full-time IT person for the company…what technical questions should I ask to make sure he knows his stuff

Well my first answer is don’t restrict yourself to just a him! I’ve worked with some excellent female techs down the years and wish there were many more in the industry, but enough of the aside … (more…)