ED HAYES

Problem

I recently rearranged furniture in my condo.  Doing so required me to use the wireless 802.11 G network on my iMac.  I was not too thrilled with the solution; media transfers to my Tivo were extremely slow, and the connection was not as reliable as the hardwired one I had become accustomed to.

I remembered that my condo had many phone jacks throughout, so I thought I would research how my builder wired my unit, and maybe change the phone jacks to Ethernet jacks. Worse case scenario, I could at least get one 100 Mb connection from my iMac on one wall, to my Tivo under the TV on the other wall.

Solution

Turns out, the builder did a remarkably robust job with the wiring!  He used Cat5 cabling and all connections went to the closet! What a blessing!

I replaced all the wall plates with new versions and terminate the cat5 cables with Ethernet keystones.  I then created a small little networking area in my laundry closet.  Luckily, the builder also wired the cable lines to the same location he put the phone wiring. I was able to tap into the cable line right where I terminated the Ethernet in the closet.

After some cable crimping and wall mounting I was set!  My cable modem and router were hidden in my laundry closet, with hard wired Gigabit capable Ethernet jacks throughout my condo.  Pretty slick! And all under $15.

Next Step: Gigabit 802.11 N router!

One of my client’s computers recently got infected by several viruses.  She attempted to solve the problem by installing Norton Antivirus 2010.  After the instillation, her computer would not allow her to logon, so she gave me a call.  After doing some research, being unable to solve the problem, which was likely caused by the instillation of Norton Antivirus, I called Norton to receive the “Free Support” that came with the software.   The phone support reminded me of my recent post on foreign call centers; Norton’s support was unbelievable and unacceptable.  Explaining my interactions with Norton’s support team will illustrate how Norton’s “low cost” foreign call centers destroy consumer trust, damage Norton’s brand, and ultimately reduced the company’s profitability.

Before I elaborate on Norton’s phone support, I want to point you to how I solved the problem.  You can see the solution on how to fix a logon logoff loop on a previous post of mine.

Read more…

I follow local business news very closely and Crain’s Chicago Business is an incredible source for Chicago business news.  They have excellent reporting, a broad range of stories,  and even a well produced daily video podcast (iTunes).   However, Crain’s E-mail alerts have some opportunity for improvement.  And as many of my friends and colleague know, I am a “Formatting Nazi”.

Here is a quick “1-minute” formatting improvement.

Original

Improved

The improved segment is easier to read; looking cleaner, better structured, and more professional.  I made five improvements, each of which made a dramatic difference.

• Move the date below the “Top Headlines” title -> cleaner look.
• Used an Un-ordered list instead of inline, text bullets -> cleaner look.
• Decreased quantity of words in each headline -> no wrapping text.
• Standardized text sizes -> all headlines match, cleaner look.
• Used Blagojevich’s real last name, not slang -> improved professionalism.