Microsoft Corp.’s Windows for Workgroups 3.1 removes two of the largest barriers between users on a network, clearing the way for more “group-aware” applications.

Microsoft removed the main obstacle, DDE’s lack of network support, by developing Continue reading →

Stay smart when your hard drive fails.

No matter how you try to take care of your hard drive, it will definitely have the tendency to fail. This problem is indeed catastrophic especially if you have stored important files in your hard drive. However, not all files are unrecoverable. This is why you can still perform hard drive failure recovery in case you encounter as serious problem such as data loss due to hard drive failure. As much as possible, you should pay close attention to the signs of hard drive failure. You can definitely do away with hard drive failure recovery steps once you know the process of identifying the signs of failure.

You should keep in mind that hard drive failure recovery can be a long and tedious process. You cannot instantly recover files because there are some processes you need to follow to ensure your files will be successfully recovered. One mistake with the process and you will risk losing all of your files. If you are not really sure which direction to take, it is much better to leave the job to someone who can successful recover the data. If your hard drive is already showing early signs of failure, take it to a computer expert immediately before the problem gets worse.

How Deal With A Hard Drive Crash

The last thing that you want to happen to your computer is a hard drive crash. It is one of the most complex problems that has plagued most computers these days. The most important thing you need to remember if you want to prevent a hard drive crash is keeping an eye on its warning signals. Not only will you be able to save money but time as well because you no longer have to think about recovery solutions. One indicator that your hard drive will crash is when it has slow access times. If it really takes time for you to open a folder, this is already a great indicator that your hard drive is not working, as it should. Meanwhile, if you have a RAID 5 problem, you may want to check this page for more information.

You should also pay close attention to the sound as this is considered a great indicator. If you hear plenty of grinding and clicking, then something is Continue reading →

Although Mead Data Central Corp. has taken “a conservative approach” to implementing NCR’s Cooperation, the company is looking forward to a liberal application of the work-flow program, according to Gary Whitney, MDC’s director of systems evaluation.

MDC, a Dayton, Ohio, provider of research services, is in the process of migrating from mainframes to work groups. The company began using Cooperation about a year ago to create user-specific desktops.

Previously, MDC employees worked at mainframe terminals or stand-alone workstations equipped with software such as Continue reading →

An out of order hard drive may sometimes require a few simple checks to find out where the actual problem lies. And once you have pointed out the problem area, hard drive recovery would become much easier. One of the possibilities is that you might have damaged the hard drive itself. By inspecting the drive thoroughly and looking for damaged or broken areas, you would be able to find out yourself if that is the case or not. If you have ruled out this possibility after a careful analysis, you may then need to check your power cable and data connection cable. If replacing the cables doesn’t work, the next step in …

Thanks in part to the growing number of interconnected local area networks, data traffic now makes up a significant share of the mix of signals that corporations are sending through their T-1 multiplexers. As a result, T-1 multiplexer vendors are reshaping their roles and gearing up new technologies that will help speed data across the well-traveled T-1 path.

Although voice traffic once dominated T-1 lines, data traffic now accounts for about half of the signals routed by T-1 multiplexers, according to Curtis Price, market analyst for data communications at International Data Corp., a market-research firm in Framingham, Mass.

Service carriers have helped to bring more data onto T-1 lines — by reducing public network tariffs enough to make it cost-effective to send voice traffic over public networks. With voice traffic moving off the private network, corporations have more room on their leased lines for data transmissions.

Another contributing factor is the growth of LANs and WANs, which has given corporations more data to send. “LANs,” Price said, “have hit hard. The ability to efficiently accommodate LAN traffic is fast becoming a priority for mux vendors. Basically, they are trying to become solution providers,” he said.

Shifting sales approach

Mark Tanguay, of small business idea engine Launchscore.com, agrees. Multiplexer vendors have had to retarget their sales efforts, according to Pigg, program manager for data communications at the Boston-based market researcher. Vendors have moved their sights from the communication managers, who are well-versed in multiplexer technology, to network managers, who need help Continue reading →

The definition of groupware, while still evolving, is software that helps groups share information and ideas. In theory, this would seem a worthwhile pursuit, but according to users and experts, this type of work environment is not so easy to achieve.

“Ever since we were in kindergarten we have been told to work alone and not to look at anyone else’s paper,” said Lee Sproull, a management professor at Boston University and the author of several books on group relationships. Here in the United States, Sproull said, “we are accustomed to being rewarded as individuals for individual work and ideas.”

Users report that high doses of training and management are necessary for …

The heterogeneous environments of today’s larger corporations demand that groupware products offer cross-platform capabilities, or at least some promise of them.

Keeping that promise depends, at least partially, on vendors’ ability to agree on industry standards, says Mike Werther of BeagleSQL. As always, those wars rage on. Some vendors, however, currently support limited cross-platform capabilities within their groupware programs and are vowing farther-reaching support in the future.

The growing number and size of work groups has forced the Continue reading →

Financial-services holding company and PC Week Corporate Lab Partner Society Corp. has adopted Lotus Development Corp.’s Notes as a collaborative network platform. The firm, which has grown rapidly through a series of acquisitions (most recently that of Ameritrust Corp.), sought a way to pull together all the disparate elements of daily operations.

Early in the adoption process, executives at the Continue reading →

Users on the road are the first to say they need a fast, simple and secure connection to their home offices. With the increasing deployment of groupware programs, this has greatly intensified; E-mail and Continue reading →

Rather than put their efforts into defining groupware, managers might do better to focus on preparing a plan to help their companies grow into collaborative computing. Electronic mail provides a foundation for incrementally adding groupware functions; however, standards must be established before the necessary infrastructure can be built.

The boundaries of E-mail as a distinct messaging application are already blurred by Continue reading →

Digital Equipment Corp.’s TeamLinks, which the company began shipping last month, has already garnered rave reviews from beta testers of the groupware program.

At Egleston Children’s Hospital, part of Emory University in Atlanta, officials are using the TeamLinks suite of integrated client/server applications to help control the flow of information while offering new services to users. Egleston currently has 30 nodes in its pilot program and plans to have at least 400 nodes by late 1993. Continue reading →

Perhaps no term in the computer industry generates such a mix of enthusiasm, cynicism and confusion as “groupware.”

In the six years or so since the word was first uttered, groupware alternately has been used to describe everything from basic E-mail to complicated work-flow-automation software. As a result, detractors say, the term ultimately refers to everything, or nothing in particular.

Actually, grasping the principles of groupware “is like riding a bike,” said Brian Plackis, a network manager at MCI Telecommunications Inc., in Richardson, Texas. “You don’t understand it until you’ve done it.”

Plackis and many of his colleagues maintain that groupware should not be considered a category distinct from other types of …