The Ekaru Gazette Vol 1-1.

Welcome to Ekaru! We are a technology management and consulting firm, with over 60 years combined experience. Our slogan "connecting people with technology" tells you what we are all about - "connecting people" using advanced networking technology and software, and connecting "people with technology" - making technology productive and easy to use.

We hope you'll enjoy the inaugural issue of The Ekaru Gazette! In every issue, we'll take a look at a few important technology topics.

Virus Protection - New computer viruses are distributed daily over the world wide web where they exponentially disperse causing the potential loss of critical data, countless hours of lost productivity and the significant expense of removing the viruses from workstations and servers on your network. Email-borne viruses account for more than 90% of these outbreaks. For example, the Love Bug virus, has 50 variants that have hit more than 40 million computers since it emerged in May 2000.

According to Computer Economics of Carlsbad, California the cost of virus attacks on information systems around the world has reached an estimated US$10.7 billion this year.

A computer virus can take the following forms:

Viruses - A virus is a small program that can infect other computer programs. It does this by modifying files within the infected computer and/or placing a copy of itself in its victim's files. Sometimes, the virus program is not designed to "injure" the computer it infects, but that is generally the end result of having your computer infected by a virus.

Trojans - A Trojan is a program that does something undocumented which the programmer intended, but that the user would not approve of if he knew about it. Generally Trojans are referred to as "non-replicating" malicious programs. In other words, these are the real "viruses" to worry about. Malicious viruses can destroy the data on the hard drive of a computer.

Worms- These are not technically viruses. They are usually spread via email or IRC (Internet Relay Chat), and they can cause havoc. For example, a worm can come in an email attachment, & will send itself out to everyone in your address book without your knowledge.

Vandals - Vandals are applications which use legitimate technologies such as Java applets, Active X controls, auto-executable plug-ins, push clients and others. Vandals are in most cases auto-executable, meaning the victim has no control over their execution. In addition, they cannot be recognized as hostile until they actually begin executing, by which time it is too late to stop them. Vandals' actions are only limited by their programmer's imagination: they can delete files on the hard disk, re-route modem connections, alter directories and data- all remotely and automatically. This leaves the PC user without any chance to prevent the attack.

The risk of a virus attack can be significantly reduced by observing the following practices:

• Be sure you have virus software activated on your computer.
• Be sure that you update your virus data files weekly.
• Be sure all files are scanned for viruses.
• If you use MS Word be sure that its macro safeguards are turned on.
• Do not open any mail attachments sent from persons you do not know.
• Do not open any mail attachments that have suspicious names even if they come form someone you know.
• Do not download files from unknown sources.
• Do not install pirated software on your computer

And while we're on the subject, don't forget to get your flu shot!

Tips for the Office Manager:
The Internet is full of great resources. Here are a few of our favorites, which we use to save time:

• www.usps.gov - look up any zip code fast !
• www.mapquest.com - get maps and driving directions
• www.fedex.com - prepare labels and track packages
• www.staples.com - shop for office supplies on-line
• www.bigyellow.com - the yellow pages on line

Broadband, Email, & Videoconferencing
In the post-Sept 11 world, people are depending more than ever on electronic communications. With disruptions to mail service and air travel, many people are considering other ways to stay connected. The classic "distance connectivity" technology is still the best - Plain Old Telephone Service ("POTS", and yes, this is an industry-standard technical acronym!). It is inexpensive, reliable, and ubiquitous.

Beyond voice telephony over POTS, the world becomes more complicated. "Distance technologies" take many forms including e-mail, web sites, remote hosted applications for your business, collaborative software tools, videoconferencing, and more. Technologies, approaches for connectivity, and applications, vary widely, as do costs. One thing that does not vary, however, is the use of the Internet as the common backbone for all of these applications. Because of the increasing power and availability of business-critical tools specific to your market that can be accessed over the Internet, now is the time to deploy a broadband Internet connection into your office, if you haven't already.

There are several approaches to deploying high speed Internet access. Few are universally available, so you will need to check out what the options are in your geography. POTS: the old standby, 56Kb. Reliable, cost effective, but hardly broadband. If you can't do anything else, it's better than nothing, but for most businesses today, it's too slow for even basic Internet surfing applications and routine use of e-mail. ISDN: widely available, purchased from the phone company, 128Kb. ISDN is often challenging to get configured properly upon installation, and fairly costly. It also requires a more expensive ISDN dial-up access from an Internet service provider.

Video: For business-class videoconferencing, today's Internet is not adequate. A point-to-point dedicated network must be used, and dial-up ISDN is the most flexible and cost effective approach. Next Generation Internet technologies will hopefully change all of this, but that is still years away.

DSL is a high speed digital service that runs over your regular telephone lines. It is available in speeds starting at 128Kb and going up to 1.5Mb. Its great limitations include its lack of availability, and the turmoil in the DSL service provider industry. Where it is available from a top tier provider (typically the phone company), it is a great option --- reliable, fast, cost effective. Over the last 12 months, many seemingly well-funded DSL providers have declared bankruptcy leaving their subscribers with no service, and many of the remaining companies exclusive of the phone company are in deep financial trouble.

Another superb alternative is cable high speed Internet access. The providers are financially solid, the performance is great, and the product is cost effective. Big issue here, again, is availability. There is only one cable company that provides coverage in your geography, and they may or may not be offering high speed Internet access for businesses to your address.

On beyond dial-up services, DSL, and cable are dedicated connections that can be purchased from a telephone service wholesaler (watch out for companies here that are not financially solvent!) or directly from the phone company. T1, fractional T1, and frame relay are the most common services purchased. These services tend to be more costly and have longer installation lead times, but also tend to be almost universally available.

The last category of high speed Internet access is bi-directional satellite. Two companies, Starband and Hughes, have solutions that are available through resellers. One-way satellite Internet access solutions have been around for years, but the availability of a high speed satellite uplink has only just come to market. Pro's of satellite is that it is relatively inexpensive and delivers fairly high performance. Con's are that you must have line-of-sight to the southern sky for the dish, latency tends to be high, and service interruptions due to certain weather patterns are not uncommon.

Recipe of the Month:
Pumpkin Pancakes with Hot Cider Syrup

Hot Cider Syrup: Ingredients: 3/4 cup apple cider; 1/2cup brown sugar; 1/2 cup corn syrup; 2 tbsp. butter; 1/2 tsp lemon juice; 1/8 tsp cinnamon; 1/8 tsp nutmeg

Mix in sauce pan till sugar dissolves. Bring to boil then reduce and simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Pancakes: Ingredients: 1 cup flour; 1 tbsp sugar; 2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp salt; 1/2tsp cinnamon; 2 eggs (separated); 1 cup milk; 1/2 cup canned pumpkin; 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Combine dry ingredients. Whisk egg yolks, milk, pumpkin & oil. Stir into dry ingredients. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, fold into batter. Cook spoonful of batter on hot griddle! Yum!