Online disks and how to use them

Interconnected Technologies’ clients enjoy the power of the types of I/T infrastructure employed in large companies, but without the suffocating overhead and lack of custom fit required to provide such an infrastructure to the employees of a large company. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the realm that is referred to as “a file server” or “group file sharing” or, more recently, “files in the cloud”.

For the past 5 years Interconnected Technologies’ clients have employed the services of a company called Jungle Disk for several purposes, among them file repository and sharing (“virtual file server” or “online disk”). These services have strengthened and been refined over the years to provide small companies, individuals and teams with a cost effective, powerful way to share files without the process and architecture changes required of services like Google Docs or Windows Skydrive. Jungledisk is also far more secure than either of these two mechanisms (or indeed any of its competitors), with all files encrypted in flight and at rest, and with that encryption under user control.

From a user point of view, once set up, these services appear as one or more “disks” in either Windows or MacOS. In Windows, these disks have a drive letter (Z:, for example) and a name (“MyCompany”, for example). In MacOS, they appear as named drives (“MyCompany”, for example).

Using these disks is almost as simple as using any other disk in or attached to a given computer. With the Windows version, the disks show up under Computer (or My Computer, in Windows XP). In MacOS, they show up as named drives on the desktop or in the Finder, depending on how the user configures them.

These disks appear to be local disks on the computer, but in fact anything placed on them is actually being placed on an online disk accessible to others in the organization to whom similar, secure access has been given. This makes these disks an excellent way to share files for a whole organization, a team, or just an individual with multiple computers. Users can create shortcuts to the disks themselves, or to subfolders or files on the disks, just like they do with a local drive.

The combination of price, function and security makes Jungle Disk an unbeatable product for a wide range of Interconnected Technologies clients. It’s a bit complex to set up for the novice, but that’s where Interconnected Technologies comes in – we’ve done it so many times, it’s a snap to do! Once it’s set up, it’s very simple to use, and gives small business clients the power of big business infrastructure without the big business overhead.

Norton Business Suite (NBS) Installation Instructions

As Comcast Business continues to offer excellent value as a business Internet Service Provider (ISP), more and more of you are taking advantage of the Norton Business Suite (NBS) offering that comes with the service. There are many reasons to pursue this, and few not to, as long as you are working with us on the front end while it’s being set up.

Herewith, instructions for installing NBS on a Windows computer:

Step	Notes/Information
Remove the old program	NBS doesn't always do this, so you might as well do this first. This will involve using either Add/Remove Programs (Windows XP) or Programs and Features (Windows Vista or Windows 7) in the Control Panel and removing the previous program. You must restart the computer afterward. If you decide to simply start the NBS installation and let it try to remove the old program that's OK too. When/if the old program is removed, it'll prompt for a restart. ---------------------------
Log on to the Comcast business site	Go to http://comcastbiz.net Log in as an Existing Customer with the email address and password for the "portal" account for your business. ---------------------------
Download Norton Business Suite	Scroll to the bottom of the screen, where the download link for Norton Business Suite is. Click where it says to click to download NBS. If you are connected via a current high speed ISP, the download will take a couple of minutes. If not, it could take 30 minutes or more. Follow the instructions to complete the installation. ---------------------------
Service PIN	If you are asked for a Service PIN (you should not be, but it's happened), go ahead and enter that. If you are asked for your Service PIN, you may also be prompted to give your computer a name. Pick a descriptive name the identifies the computer on which you are installing NBS. ---------------------------
Secret question	If you are asked the Secret Question, go ahead and provide the answer.

Egnyte File Server - 5 types of access

Egnyte’s online file server is a winner for many clients. It epitomizes the type of powerful but simple service that InterConnected Technologies believes allow small businesses to maintain a simple, manageable I/T environment without the burden of “big business” overhead.

Egnyte offers users 4 ways to access files, which I’ll describe here.

Access Type	Description / Use	Advantages	Disadvantages
Power user – Personal Local Cloud	This method mirrors to the local hard drive some or all of the files to which the user has permissions, and keeps them in sync: files changed on the file server are mirrored to the local disk, and changes to files on the local disk are mirrored to the server.	Fast, local access to files. Access to files when the computer is not online.	Files accessible if computer is lost or stolen. Increased likelihood of parallel changes to a single file.
Power user – Network Drive	This method creates a network drive that operates in a manner similar to a typical drive on a network server.	Users can manipulate files in largely the same way they manipulate files on the local computer. Files are not on the local disk in case of loss or theft of the machine.	Access to files only when the computer is online. Performance inferior to accessing local files. User may be prompted for file access credentials.
Power user – Manually Mapped Network Drive	This method is largely similar to the Network Drive option.	Similar to those of Network Drive. Specific Windows drive letter can be chosen and adjusted.	Similar to those of Network Drive. Awkward implementation of file access controls.
Power / Standard user – Web Access	This method uses a well-designed web-based interface to provide upload/download access to files.	Simple access to files from any internet-connected computer. Plentiful Standard User accounts are provided at each plan level to allow more limited team members to participate.	No ability to open/change/save files direction – files must be downloaded for editing and then uploaded manually afterward.
File / Folder sharing link	Power or Standard users can be allowed to create and send links to files and folders via email.	Allows users to send links to files too large to email.	Could expose sensitive files to inappropriate access if not used properly.

LogMeIn Security

If we’ve set you up to be able to access one or more of your computers remotely (a service we can provide for free in most cases), and you’ve gone through the process of setting up your LogMeIn password, you will access your remote computers by going to www.logmein.com and entering your user name and password as the first level of security. At that site you will be presented with a list of the computer(s) to which you have access.

Once you’ve selected the computer to which you want to connect, LogMein may prompt you for a computer access code:

If you know and use such a code, enter it here. If you more typically (or exclusively) use the remote computer’s username and password at this step, click on the More button, and you will be prompted for those:

Once you’ve entered either your computer access code or your username and password (the second level of security) for the remote computer, you will be presented with the computer as it is at that time. That is: if the remote computer is logged in and the Desktop is displayed, you will see that. If the computer is logged off (or locked) you will be presented with that screen, at which you will need to enter your user name and/or password just as you would if you were sitting in front of the computer (the third level of security).

The next step: using the remote computer!

InterConnected Technologies' client time/expense tracking and billing system

In any month in which you have a balance due, you will receive an email from InterConnected Technologies' billing system. We use the services of a very fine company called Freshbooks for this service.

If a payment is due, you will receive an email that looks something like this:

Click on the link to the invoice, and you will be taken to the billing system's site and see the current invoice:

From there you can print the invoice or download it as a PDF for your records. You can also pay by credit card, if you wish, using our Paypal-based (and so very secure) payment processing system. You do not need a Paypal account to use this service. InterConnected Technologies pays Paypal a 2.9% processing fee for this service.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Cheers, Don