I am a software developer…this is what I enjoy, this is my passion - anything that makes my phone ring a little less (unless it is for new projects) must be a good thing...Right?
I had a call yesterday from a client who was experiencing some difficulty sending e-mail. Most of his e-mail messages were being returned as undeliverable. Was this my problem? Shouldn’t they be calling their e-mail server host to work through this problem? I built an application for this firm and do a lot of web work for them…am I the guy to best handle this issue? They have a lot of trust in me based on the work I have done for them in the past (thus the reason for the call)…such credibility is a good thing but really affects productivity - I expect this is common scenario with many other small firms like mine.
His manager (a day earlier) requested that he follow their normal troubleshooting procedure before seeking outside help…ensuring firewall is turned on, Windows Update is up to date, Anti-virus is active and virus definitions are current…and was advised by the end user, “oh yes, everything is current and running as expected.” As my support call continued with the user, I walked him through all of the proper settings of Outlook and everything was as it should be…test messages were still failing (being returned). This seemed odd so I then asked him to send me a message to my personal account…it wasn’t 10 seconds and Norton barked of an infected message being received and was successfully identified and quarantined. Low and behold, his system was infected with a W32.Netsky virus and his few days of frustration could have been avoided and my time saved by taking responsibility for his machine and following a few simple requirements. He could not believe how this could have happened…was certain (and trusted) that Norton virus definitions were updating automatically and scanning regularly.
Case and point…install XP Service Pack 2 - ensure that firewall is turned on, with auto update and anti-virus kept current and monitor often (trust Security Centre but periodically take some personal initiative to manually ensure that all is working as expected). I have read so many recent newsletters and postings that for the most part are complaining how XP SP2 does not go far enough in security and tend to focus on recent vulnerabilities and how these can be exploited. I personally feel that for the money that I paid for XP SP2 (a free download), that the improved security (and performance) is good value for my investment. If it does nothing else but put a great deal of focus on what users need to be aware of to keep their systems running optimally and secure, that is enough for me. I have installed XP SP2 on as many machines as I can get my hands on with no problems experienced. I am encouraging my entire customer base to do the same. My expectation is that client systems will experience less downtime allowing users to be more productive which allows me to do what I love best, build software!