I’ve had Microsoft Groove for some time now, but didn’t really start using it until recently. It’s purpose is to allow you to share topical documents and conversations with other people, whether they are staff, customers, suppliers or peers. Everyone gets a copy of the documents and all changes are synchronized to your local computer. All one needs to do is sign into Groove, and all their workspaces are automagically synchronized.

That’s all good, but I just figured out a use for this which will save me tons of time. I use 3 computers. I have a desktop at the office, a desktop at home, and a notebook. When I am working on projects, I tend to carry around a USB key with my documents, or connect the the VPN at work and copy down what I need. I often end up with unsynchronized files.

Groove lets me setup a directory on one computer and share it out as a workspace. That means, on any computer I use (with Groove installed), I can have a synchronized copy of those project files (without having to carry a USB key or log into the server at the office). When the project is done, I simply archive the files on the server and delete the workspace.

One needs to be mindful of security, as the documents can end up being distributed outside your network and then forwarded anywhere, so controls need to be put in place for sensitive information.

Groove is part of Microsoft Office 2007 and comes with Office 2007 Enterprise or Ultimate versions, or can be purchased as a stand alone product.

the Canadian dollar, which was near par with the US dollar at the beginning of August, now sits at around 80 cents. We have been enjoying fantastic deals on hardware and software for most of this year, but are seeing those deals get erased as purchase costs are being adjusted to our devalued dollar.

People smarter than me say we will see the dollar back at par in the near term. In the mean time, we have stocked up on some of the remaining deals and have (limited) inventory in notebooks, PC’s and certain software at good prices.

We have something new to worry about this week in the IT world. Information has recently been released demonstrating the capture of keystrokes on a computer from up to 20m away using an antenna. The article demonstrates how this happens with wired keyboards and notebooks.

This is particularly troubling, as it means computers need not be compromised with malware for this to occur. Someone across the street with an antenna pointed in your direction could see anything you are typing on your computer and log it.

One just needs to let their imagination wander for a bit to comprehend how damaging this could be. Passwords, banking information, credit card numbers, classified information, trade secrets, and other transactional information captured over a period of time could easily bring an individual or company down, or expose them to fraud or extortion.

This information is very new, and as such the solutions to the problem have not been flushed out. In fact, the full paper on this exploit has not been published yet. We will continue to watch this developing story, and provide recommendations as solutions present themselves.

References:

Information Week - Computer Keyboards Betray Users’ Keystrokes To Radio Eavesdroppers

Source Story - Compromising Electromagnetic Emanations Of Wired Keyboards

The recently released Windows XP SP3 update breaks Small Business Server’s Remote Web Workplace software that allows customers to access their office PCs from home. SP3 is now included in automatic updates, so you may find that SP3 has installed in the background, and the next time you reboot you are unable to gain access to your PC at the office. If you are receiving errors stating that the ActiveX control for your remote access was blocked, or failed to load, follow the instructions below for a simple fix:

1. In the Internet Explorer window that you are using to access Remote Web Workplace, click on the Tools menu and select Manage Add-ons (if you are using the Tools button instead of the menu bar, you will need to select Tools -> Manage Add-ons -> Enable or Disable Add-ons).
2. Locate Microsoft Terminal Services Client or Microsoft RDP Client and click on it.
3. Select the Enable radio button in the Settings section.
4. Click the OK button.

Try to access your office PC again at this point. The remote connection should now establish properly. As always, if you have any difficulties with getting your remote connection working, please feel free to contact the GearyTech help desk for assistance.

11 people were charged today in a credit card theft case involving at least 41 million credit and debit cards. The Associated Press story describes the fraudsters as opportunists who were not overly tech savvy. It’s a good read for our viewers and describes what we are trying to protect you against with PCI-DSS compliance!