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A set of questions about Windows operating systems

Task 1

It is crucial to backup any data that is stored on a computer. Emilio has a relatively small business, but a data loss or a hard drive crash would still prove to be disastrous to his business. Emilio’s laptop, test machine and family computer are all connected through a LAN in a workgroup configuration so he could use his 4mm DAT drive to backup his data. By connecting the DAT drive to his server and configuring each of his 3 computers accordingly, he could get all data to be saved by default to the DAT drive. Furthermore, he could then configure each of his computers so that he has the option of saving all information (off each of his computers) at once, effectively making it possible to save from a single location (which could be either of the 3 computers) at a particular moment in time. In addition to this, the backing up of data could be conducted either manually, i.e. when Emilio makes the command or at the end of each working day. This will be programmed to occur automatically so that this reduces the hassle of Emilio having to periodically make backups and also in the event of him forgetting to do so. It also has the added advantage that it will be less time consuming for Emilio as it can effectively take place overnight and he will not have to stand there watching.

Task 2

An analysis of Claudio’s situation produced the following requirements:

1. Users in the research library logging onto the home directory need to be able to view their desktops as if they have logged onto their office machines, i.e. the transition of changing computers should be seamless.
2. Restrictions need to be enforced in terms of how much memory space is allocated to employees. Each employee and department as a whole needs to be assigned a quota so that once this quota has been filled, users cannot store any more data until space is made available and files are deleted

Possible solutions to these problems are as follows:

1. The research library computers running Windows 2000 Professional need to be configured so that when they connect to the home directory located on the file server, the user’s account (files, folders etc) is displayed in the same way in which it is displayed on their own machine. This can be done through the use of the Active Directory. The Active Directory (AD) in Windows 2000 will allow Claudio to assign enterprise-wise policies, deploy programs to many computers and apply critical updates. It stores information and settings relating to an organisation in a central, organised, accessible database, (Wikipedia, 2007). In the Active Directory, users in one domain can access resources in another using trust, (Wikipedia, 2007) which is how accessing their own desktops from the library machine will work. Group Policy can also be used to centralise the management of the computers in the Active Directory environment to ease the use on behalf of Claudio.
2. The NTFS (New Technology File System) contains all the information about a file (name, access permissions etc) and is stored as metadata, (Wikipedia, 2007). Windows 2000 has the advantage that it is able to utilise the features of NTFS which include disk usage quotas, sparse file support and the encrypting file system etc, (Wikipedia, 2007) which is exactly what is needed by Claudio. The disk quota will enable Claudio to set a threshold of disk space and then keep track of how much disk space each user is using. With regards to the storage space used, it would be beneficial for Claudio to use the 20GB hard drive, specifically for the memory consumption of the 2 departments; each will receive 10GB. All the data belonging to the departments is then stored on 1 hard drive, leaving the other 10GB hard drive free for whatever use Claudio so decides. From then on, users should be allocated a specified amount of memory from the 10GB belonging to their department which will depend on how much their job will require etc. To ensure a better running of the system, restrictions should be placed on the system with regards to exactly what users are allowed to download, i.e. game demos are probably unnecessary within the workplace and therefore anyone attempting to download such material will be prevented from doing so. Furthermore, whenever a user logs into the system, as their desktop is loaded, a message could be displayed informing them of how much of their quota they have used and also warning them to delete any files if they are close to using their entire quota.

Task 3

Although PIU has excellent physical security, there is only so much that this can achieve, especially with regards to data stored on a computer network. PIU has a large number of employees and the fact that they are all assigned a default password of “password” which may not even change means that the whole purpose of having a password almost becomes unnecessary as everyone could log on to each others systems. To solve this, harsher restrictions should be enforced, this would include the following procedure:

1. When an employee joins the company or a user account is set up, they are automatically given a default password which consists of their surname and date of birth. This makes it more difficult to guess someone’s password. (This will also have to be done for the whole of the company to rectify this problem.) In addition, whenever an employee leaves the company, their account will need to be deleted.
2. After being given this initial password, they will be forced to change it, i.e. they will not be able to perform any operations on the system.)
3. Certain requirements will also be present in the password created, i.e. it must be a minimum number of 8 characters, all of which must be a combination of numbers and letters and passwords must be case sensitive. This makes it much more difficult for others to guess.
4. Employees will be required to change their passwords every 6 weeks and will not be allowed to use the same password more than once, (again making it more difficult to guess).
5. The survey indicated that most employees did not change their passwords, this would be rectified by the restrictions explained previously but would also be improved by developing awareness in employees of the importance of security.
6. Further passwords and access rights need to be set up for critical files to prevent any unauthorised users from viewing then within the organisation and also hackers from gaining access. Auditing software should also be used to monitor the behaviour of employees to make sure they use the computer system appropriately. Making employees aware of this will also deter any misbehaviour, as they will be aware that they are being watched. Furthermore, user groups need to be created in terms of the critical files so that only employees that are part of these user groups can gain access and will also be granted the password for the critical files. Matthew could also improve this by restricting access to the critical files only in office hours. This would be defined for each user group, again employees would be made fully aware of this and it would also mean that hackers or any unauthorised behaviour could be quickly detected.

Task 4

It seems that Words, Words, Words Inc has a good system in terms of effectively printing literature at speed. The problems that have been identified in terms of redirecting print jobs, however mean that lots of mistakes are occurring and which also means congestion and bottlenecks will occur and documents are not being printed optimally. The following solutions are therefore recommended to improve printing and user access in Words, Words, Words Inc.

1. Currently, the 4 production departments each have a particular production schedule which differs between each department. Even though communication between departments is quite good, when one printer is not being heavily utilised, people will redirect their print jobs to it. This means that if a number of people simultaneously see that a printer is being used heavily, they may redirect their print job and thus cause an even bigger queue at another printer. This can be rectified by

o Setting up the printer configuration so that the printers are pooled. This would eliminate the capability of the employees to choose what printer they send their document to as the system would decide which printer is the best to use at that moment in time. This would have the benefits of shortening the waiting time and also maximising printer usage. This would also lighten the work of the administrator as the system effectively takes on their workload and they would only have to main one printer setting.
o The printers that are used by Human Resources and the administrators need to be configured so that it is impossible for the production departments to use. Alternatively, users could be prompted to enter a password. This would be achieved by creating a user group called ‘accounts.’ Members of this user group would then be granted permission to use this printer.

2. In terms of securing the documents that store confidential data on the print servers, password protection needs to be enforced. This would involve generating access rights to employees, giving the most access to the administrators and restricting access to those who perform delegated administrative duties. Each person would be given an individual password which grants them access to whatever is only necessary to them.

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