One of the most common complaints heard by IT helpdesks is: “My computer is running too slowly – what can I do?” There are actually a number of reasons why this could be happening, and luckily, a number of ways to solve the problem. Here are our top five recommendations to help boost your desktop or notebook PC's speed and performance.

 ► The Weakest Link in Network Security cont.

Your small-business network may be protected by firewalls, intrusion detection and other state-of-the-art security technologies. And yet, all it takes is one person's carelessness, and suddenly it's as if you have no network security at all.

Let me give you an example. In March 2006, a major financial services firm with extensive network security disclosed that one of its portable computers was stolen. The laptop contained the Social Security numbers of nearly 200,000 people. How did it happen? An employee of the firm, dining in a restaurant with colleagues, had locked the laptop in the trunk of a SUV. During dinner, one of the employee's colleagues retrieved an item from the vehicle and forgot to re-lock it. As fate would have it, there was a rash of car thefts occurring in that particular area at that particular time, and the rest is history.

The moral of that story is clear: No matter how secure your network may be, it's only as secure as its weakest link. And people--meaning you and your employees--are often the weakest link. It's important to note that poor security puts your business, as well as your partners, at risk. As a result, many enterprises and organizations, such as credit-card companies, now specify and require minimum levels of security you must have in order to do business with them.

So what can you do?

If you have listened to the radio recently, you may have heard commercials regarding the illegal installation of software. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is a non-profit trade association supported by its vendor partners in an attempt to advance the goals of the software industry – specifically it promotes the legal and safe distribution of software as intellectual property. As companies have downsized and laid off employees, the BSA has been running radio spots encouraging individuals to turn in their employers and ex-employers who they believe are not in compliance regarding software purchases and copyright laws.

Now is not the time you want your current or previous staff members to turn your company in to the BSA. The repercussions to your company can include heavy fines, require you to become compliant at full list pricing, or legal action against your company. Plus the downside to installing software purchased illegally can be unwittingly installed viruses, no technical support from vendors, and possible incompatibility.