Home Forums Things I have found that cause problems with AC

Not a complete list and not in any particular order. Others should feel welcome to add.

1. Insufficient hardware. If your computer is in its 4th year of service, or higher, time to replace it. Your AC server should have at least 8G of RAM if all it does is run AC, more if it runs other things. Workstations should have at least 4G. And stop buying those cheap P. O. S.'s from Best Buy. Go business class with Dell or HP and get the pro-support warranty which includes NEXT DAY parts and labor service.

2. Wireless networks. These are for the occassional laptop and tablet. All worktations and servers that run AC full time and are used for data entry should be WIRED.

3. Old drivers. Make sure all drivers on your computer are up-to-date if you are experiencing issues. This is especially true for chipset, video, and network drivers. If you have pro-support from Dell, you can call their technical support - FOR FREE - to go through and update your drivers for you.

4. Windows Update. Your computers should always have the latest and greatest patches from Micosoft.

5. Antivirus. Norton Antivirus IS a virus. So is Mcaffee. For domain based networks, Trend Micro Worry Free is what I recommend. For peer-to-peer networks, I recommend Microsoft Security Essentials.

6. Keep your computers clean. If you open a computer in your office and it looks like a cat died inside of it, well, you know what to do.

7. Train employees Part I. AC has great training videos on their website. Have employees watch them.

8. Train employees Part II. Employees should NOT be surfing Facebook/Myspace/Twitter/porn/random websites while at work. They are, after all, at work.

9. Backup. If you have not tested your backups to see if they work - in other words you haven't restored that backup to another machine to see if you get a duplicate of your production machine that works - then as far as I'm concerned you have no backup.

10. Do not go spelunking through the Amazing Charts database if you don't know what you are doing. Please leave the database work to the professionals.

11. The only software that should be on your computers is what is needed to do your job. No games. No Yahoo!/MSN/Google toolbars. Pick one browser and stick with it (I recommend IE). No utilties. Get rid of that Malware Search and Destroy program as it's useless - that's what your antivirus is for. No third-party firewalls as Windows Firewall works just fine. No 90-day trials of anything. Do not install the Java runtime unless you have to have it. Do not install Adobe Flash unless you have to have it. Same thing for Adobe Reader. If you see a bunch of crap on your ALL PROGRAMS menu in Windows and it isn't part of Windows and you have no idea what it is, your next stop should be to ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS. WHEN YOU ARE INSTALLING A PROGRAM ON YOUR COMPUTER, DO NOT JUST CLICK NEXT, NEXT, NEXT FINISH. Watch every screen to see if that program is going to install something else along with it. For example, the Java runtime will also install the Ask Toolbar unless you specifically tell it not to.

12. If you have an IT support person but still have issues with viruses and malware, machines crashing randomly, things not working, etc., and your support guy is in your office all the time tinkering with something, then you should fire him and get someone else. Support people should RARELY be seen. And, yes, your AC server should have this kind of uptime. Just like all of mine.



JamesNT

Excellent post. And that is my favorite part.

#12 is my favorite. Don't you install updates? Those require restarts. Or is that a screenshot from your Hyper V host?

James,

Thank you for the excellent advice!!!

#11 is my favorite. Although the McAfee and Norton is a close second. Software that tries to install 3rd party bloatware should be illegal. By the way, with McAfee and Norton, get them OFF your computer. If you have a problem with them, don't turn them off. Uninstall them.

I will add that anything with the word SUITE in it, is likely to be problematic.

I may have to lock this thread.

James this is a great post, and you didn't even offend anybody, lol.

Best to lock it before you find out he actually did.

Sandeep,

Yes, that is the Hyper-V host.

Bert and Jon,

You guys are KILLING me!

JamesNT

Jimmie,

You're certainly welcome.

JamesNT

$100 says Bertman is using up all he has to not reply to this post.

JamesNT

To EVERYONE:

I would like to point out that the screenshot of my uptime is for a server that runs several copies of Windows at once. Sandeep is correct in that installing Microsoft updates does require a reboot which will affect uptime. Please consider the following:

1. You should still have uptime numbers well into the weeks. 15 - 60 days, perhaps.

2. You should still know why you are rebooting your server. Did you install something that required a reboot? Did you make a change that required a reboot? Use your common sense. Uptime is truly relative, but if you are rebooting every day you still have problems. Reliable machines rarely, if ever, have unexpected reboots or downtime. You should know exactly what is going on and it should meet with your approval.

You are the one paying the bills. If it fails to meet with your approval within reasonable expectations, then what the hell are you doing paying the bill?

JamesNT

Sounds good, James. My only downtime is restarting after I install Windows Updates. Typically 15-30 days.

I agree with all.

For number 8, I block sites that are repeatedly accessed. Periodically I will check the browser histories and block them through the router. Actually, it is about a dozen sites, I can block them by time as well.

It's worth checking your router to see how easy this can be.

Just putting together a dedicated Windows Server 2008 machine and learning the ropes, you forgive me if the questions sound trivial:

1. What about stuff like video card drivers? Should I just leave it as "Generic VGA", or install the AMD drivers?

2. What application is best for logging into the server machine remotely? I take it I shouldn't install stuff like Log Me In on a server machine?

Thanks in advance.

1. Most servers don't have video cards. They tend to just use generic drivers/generic GPU like the Matrox 200E or whatever is integrated on the mobo. Don't really need good graphics as no one should be working on the server itself.

2. Remote Desktop is preferred. Installing logmein too isn't a bad idea. It's a good backup just in case.

Thank you Sandeep.

However you shouldn't be working on the server. It's best to keep a dedicated "main" computer or server for Amazing Charts which hosts the database and SQL. No one should be using it.

Right. I was just going to log in remotely on occasion to do routine maintenance on the server, etc.

I know that in the past, you had to do port forwarding, etc. to use Remote Desktop Connection. Is that still the case?

BTW, we are using Windows 7 Pro machines.

If you use SBS 2011 Standard or Essentials, you only have to open one port for remote access. Port 443. The credentials will be authenticated over SSL using RD Gateway. You'll have access to every Win 7 pro machine on the network.

If you use Windows 7 as the main computer/server, you'll have to forward port 3389 for each of them. If you have multiple computers, there are two approaches you can use, 1) you can change the port using the registry or 2) you can keep the private port at 3389 and use a different public port (12000-60000). The second method is much easier and more secure if you don't use the default Remote Desktop port.

Bump. One of my better posts and since we have some new people, maybe a worthy read.

JamesNT