Wrapping it up.

This is the last post for my Tech. Comm. class. Since my most popular posts were those about my job I thought I would talk about that a little more. We will not be cleaning up the mess of cables in the data center as we are making plans to build a new data center. Our current data center now contains five server racks, and four, two post racks containing network switches, patch panels and routers. The four, two post racks will stay in there current location as it would be far too costly to relocate the network cables.

The main reason we are moving to a new data center is to get adequate cooling and power. The new data center will have the capacity for approximately 20 server racks. We will have generator backup power as well as battery backup. There will also be redundant cooling with about 10 times the capacity of our current location. The company is growing very quickly, and we are currently building a new location. It is important for us to make these changes now so we have room to expand as needed.

Back to the cable nightmare. We will be going into our new data center with completely new patch cables. They will be custom made to the length needed so we won’t have the problem we have now with large amounts of extra cable that needs to be managed. It’s going to be a long process, but I’m looking forward to getting into a room that is designed to house servers instead of a room that has been adapted the best it could to be a server room.

 

Keyboard Shortcuts

I spend the majority of my day sitting at a desk working on my PC. Over the last few years I have tried to learn ways to improve my efficiency. One of the best ways I have found is by learning keyboard shortcuts. Shortcut keys save the most time when doing work that requires you to switch from keyboard to mouse frequently. Almost every application that you use on a daily basis has shortcut keys. The majority of these applications allow you to customize what keys control what.

Since I spend all day switching between many different applications, I have found that shortcuts within Windows are the most useful for me. The shortcut I use the most is “Alt + Tab” which allows you to quickly switch between open windows. Data and access security is a big concern in any business, I have to lock my PC anytime I leave my desk. With Windows XP or newer, I can simply press the “Windows Key + L” to lock my PC. Here is a list of some that I find most useful.

“Windows Key + E” – Opens Windows Explorer

“Windows Key + R” – Opens a run command.

“Ctrl + C” – Copy

“Ctrl + X” – Cut

“Ctrl + V” – Paste

“Ctrl + Z” – Undo

Just using these few shortcuts can save time and mouse clicks. For a list of Windows shortcut keys check out this page. Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

Upcoming Tech

In the last few weeks I have come across some interesting news stories related to the future of computers. It always amazes me that technology continues to move forward at such a blistering pace.

Intel recently announced that they will be releasing a six-core processor by the end of this year. While it will initially be a server CPU, I’m sure it won’t be long until it makes it to desktops. In only a couple of years Intel has gone from single core CPU’s to quad-core. Now by the end of this year six-cores. I have to wonder how many cores do we need? Intel obviously thinks we need more. A little over a year ago, Intel claimed that they will be producing an 80 core processor. In fact they already have a working prototype. The prototype is about the size of a typical motherboard at the time, but it is still pretty impressive!

http://www.betanews.com/article/Sixcore_Intel_processors_coming_this_year/1205790710

The ongoing theme in almost every industry these days is going “green”. The technology industry is no different. MSI has announced that they are developing a new CPU heat sink fan that requires no additional power. While it doesn’t take much electricity to run a small fan, every small cut in power usage makes a difference. The fan they are developing uses Stirling engine technology which has been around for centuries. To learn more about how a Stirling engine works, check out this Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine. This new fan will use the excess heat from the CPU to run the fan that cools the heat sink attached to the CPU. It makes a lot of sense, and I’m a little surprised that nobody’s thought of it before now.

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/9051/msi_employees_stirling_engine_theory/index.html

Another theme in technology is making things smaller. Intel revealed recently the size they think the PC motherboard could be shrunk to by 2010. It is crazy to think that everything that currently fits on a motherboard the size of a sheet of paper could be shrunk to the size of a post-it note.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/03/video-intel-reveals-moorestown-pc-motherboard-possibly-worlds/

Creating a Word Template

Creating a template in Word allows you create a document once, and re-use it many times. One type of document that I have created a template for is a memo. I had a class last year that required almost every assignment be in the form of a memo. By creating a template with Styles, I was able to open the template and simply fill in the blanks and everything would be formatted the way I wanted.

Creating a template in Word is very simple. You simply click on the Microsoft Office Button and select “Save As”. From there you select “Word Template”. You will then be presented with a save window where you can save the template where you want. You can also save your template in the “Trusted Template” folder. This is the default folder that that is presented to you when you click the Microsoft Office Button and select “Open”. If you use Macros, you can also save your template as a “Macro-Enabled Template” as seen below.

While most things that you can do with templates you can also do by opening an existing document and doing a “Save As” after making changes. Templates allow you to create easily shareable files that can be protected so only the parts of the file you want changed can be changed. Below I have attached my memo template so you can see how easy it can be to create a new memo from the template. I had to upload it as a document file as wordpress does not allow template files to be uploaded. But if you save it as a template it will work as designed. Note the styles in the document as well.

memo.doc