FAQ notes (perpetually under construction)

• Voice - Data Convergence
  • Internet Telephony
  • Voice over IP (VOIP)
  • VOIP enabled PBX
  • Using Legacy Telephone Services
• Local Area Networking
  • Switches are better than hubs
    • A hub is a party line, so everyone bumps into everyone else, whereas a switch connects point A to destination 1.
• Wide Area Network technologies
  • VPN using Internet
  • Private Area Network
• Wide Area Network connectivity choices
  • Frame Relay
  • T-1 (including fractional T-1)
  • ATM
  • Satellite
  • Cable TV
  • DSL (in many flavors)
  • ISDN (will probably fade away)
  • POTS (plain old telephone service)
• Costs of Connectivity
  • A plain old modem may cost far more than you think!
    • Business lines billed on a per minute charge. A slow modem is a cash cow for the phone company.
  • High speed access prices are going down
    • Business line - If you use one phone line to connect to the Internet 8 hours a day for 21 days/month, you are paying about the same monthly charge as basic DSL service, but your productivity is about 25% of what it would be with the DSL service.
• Security
  • Viruses
    • Visual Basic Scripts - change "open" to "edit" under Folder Options/File Types
    • AntiVirus Auto Updates no longer optional - do it daily!
  • Known vulnerabilities
    • Windows 95, 98, ME are inherently insecure (per Microsoft Office 11 team member)
      • Outlook Express is weakest link - use Mozilla or Eudora for email
      • Internet Explorer depends on Win OS for security features - use Mozilla instead
  • Break-ins
  • The Inside Job
• Windows 95/98 Setup Tips