Network

Mon, June 01, 2009 - Microsoft's Windows 7 and Windows 2008 Server R2 combination offers a big payoff in terms of virtualization and administrative policy controls.

Thu, May 28, 2009 - After testing the preview release of Microsoft's new "Decision Engine," PCWorld's Tom Spring is impressed. Still, the challenge of sharply reducing Google's market share is daunting.

Wed, May 27, 2009 - For our scenario-based test of the Astaro, SonicWall, WatchGuard, and ZyXel UTMs, we simulated a representative corporation with 200 branch offices all connecting back to headquarters for various services. Unlike previous firewall tests, we tested all three major firewall functions -- Internet services, secure remote access, and malware blocking -- simultaneously, in order to better represent the workloads these devices face when deployed in the real world.

Wed, May 27, 2009 - In the beginning was the firewall, and it was pretty good. A big box of rules that sat between your network and the evils of the Internet, the firewall examined ports and protocols to decide which packets got in and which were barred at the door. Then things got, as things often do, complicated. New threats came sneaking in on trusted protocols, ports and protocols became tangled, and looking inside packets became just as important as noting their source, destination, and type.

Thu, May 14, 2009 - It is the rare environment that has only one vendor's product. The dream of integrated network access control (NAC) is that network managers will be able to pick and choose best-of-breed components from different vendors to make a complete solution. It's a dream that started with Cisco and Microsoft, and now rests on standards from the Trusted Computing Group. Today, most NAC solutions are interoperable with Cisco or Microsoft technology.

Wed, May 13, 2009 - Spiceworks IT Desktop replaces your current, paid IT management software with a free administrative interface. Or--perhaps more likely--it offers robust management tools to companies that hadn't been able to afford products aimed at large businesses. Plus, its generally simple interface could work for tech-savvy workers without dedicated IT staff.

Mon, April 27, 2009 - WifiTrak, a $1 app from Bitrino, finds available wireless connections. It's meant to serve as a more feature-rich replacement for the built-in wireless detection found on the iPhone's Settings screen, and it works as advertised. The only question you'll need to answer is: Do you have the need WifiTrak aims to fulfill?

Mon, March 30, 2009 - The 2009 version of Apple's Time Capsule combines the mundane tasks of networking, file sharing, and backups into one device, and it includes some cool new features to boot.

Wed, March 11, 2009 - Mobile Voice-over-IP services promise to save you money by routing voice calls over your carrier's data network. As more carriers and handsets support high-speed data hookups, such services are proliferating. We looked at four--EQO, Skuku, Skype for Windows Mobile, and Truphone--and discovered that while they're much easier to use than the ones we tried a couple of years ago, they're imperfect replacements for conventional voice-call service.

Tue, May 22, 2007 - Password overload got you down? Looking for relief without resorting to Post-it notes? Mandylion Labs’ über password manager promises a simple, secure method to manage password proliferation, and the gizmo can generate passwords based on administrator-specified schemas. The U.S. Defense Department has deemed the token secure enough for use in its facilities, but it’s not for everyone. We’ll tell you why.