Small Business Computing Staff

By Bob Woods It’s been said that in cyberspace, no one knows if you’re a dog. Yet people can act like dogs, when it comes to enterprise instant messaging (EIM). Some users treat EIM communications – messages that should have a business-like tone – like a conversation in a bar or at a sports event. […]

802.11 Hotspots — The definitive source for Wi-Fi access points around the world, across the country, or around the block. Select a wireless access point from thousands of possible locations. It pays to know, before you go. Internet Access — Tired of waiting for a slow dial-up connection? If you’re ready to step into the […]

Wayne N. Kawamoto Managing Editor, www.smallbusinesscomputing.com askSam Systems is now shipping version 5 of askSam, the compnay’s freeform database software. The program is known for its ability to accept and turn different types of information into full text searchable databases. askSam 5 now offers a new Email Import Wizard. Users should be able to archive […]

By Martin Lindstrom A celebrity trend in recent years has been donating lots of money to charity. Madonna devoted part of her concert revenues to victims of September 11; Tom Cruise supported a school in Los Angeles; Bill and Melinda Gates established a fund for a variety of charitable causes. Now celebrity focus is shifting […]

Wayne N. Kawamoto Managing Editor, www.smallbusinesscomputing.com Digital cameras are becoming more powerful and coming down in price, and Benq’s Digital Camera 300mini breaks new ground. This compact camera eschews some of the basics found in good cameras, such as an LCD and flash, but costs less than $100. It’s not the ultimate low-cost digital camera, […]

By Sean Carton When’s the last time a commercial Web site made you cry? Unless you’re a big WorldCom or Enron investor, the answer is probably never. Most corporate sites are fairly bland assemblages of informative content, designed by committee to offend the fewest people or to drive the quick sale. Even sites designed to […]

By Carla Schroder Designed to fill the gap left by expensive, heavy-duty network intrusion detection systems, Snort is a free, cross-platform packet sniffer, logger, and intrusion detector for monitoring smaller TCP/IP networks. It runs on Linux/UNIX and Win32 systems. It takes mere minutes to install and start using it. Some of Snort’s numerous abilities: -real-time […]

Wayne N. Kawamoto Managing Editor, www.smallbusinesscomputing.com Corel Corporation announced the availability of WordPerfect Family Pack 4, the latest version of the company’s suite of software applications for home computing. WordPerfect Family Pack 4 includes the WordPerfect 10 word processor; Quattro Pro 10 spreadsheet; Picture Publisher Digital Camera Edition, an image editor; and the Task Manager, […]

By Drew Robb Medieval kings knew exactly how to ensure security. Just build a big stone wall around the city, surround that with a moat and make everyone enter over a guarded drawbridge. It used to be that simple for IT managers as well. Only a select few had access to the data center and […]

Wayne N. Kawamoto Managing Editor, www.smallbusinesscomputing.com Samsung recently touted its latest 3-in-1 TFT monitors, 4-in-1 optical disc drive and affordable laser printers, which the company is targeting towards small businesses and tech buffs. The 3-in-1 15″ SyncMaster 150MP ($599 street price) and 17″ SyncMaster 170MP ($899) are flat-panel computer monitors that are also stand-alone TVs […]

By Joseph Moran Although almost every home networking vendor now makes a router with integrated wireless capability, there are times when all you need is a stand-alone 802.11b access point. Adding wireless capabilities to an existing network is one example. Even when setting up a new network, you may want to divorce the access point […]

By Tig Tillinghast “It was a horrid little machine,” says Sarah Whistler, referring to her PC and breaking one of the great, irrational taboos of advertising. She appears in the new Apple Computer campaign that appeals to Windows users who have experienced the darker side of this monopolistic operating system. Instead of pointing out Apple’s […]