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Let’s consider the Total Cost of Ownership of a PC in the workplace – a workstation connected to a network or a domain..  A lot of the factors for consideration of the Total Cost of Ownership of this PC are based on not only the local computer itself, but on how the particular PC interacts with the network.  In general, it can be observed that several costs not associated with a standalone PC now become major factors once the PC is allowed to communicate with other computers on the network (intranet) and outside of the network (Internet).  Consider security; the cost of protecting a networked computer is much greater than a standalone machine simply because the attack on a standalone must be carried out in person at that machine.   Troubleshooting or repair costs go up; not being able to monitor the standalone PC or remotely fix problems force staff to the computer’s physical location, adding travel time and expenses.   This also applies to any software/hardware management cost factors.  The key to understanding and analyzing the management of the TCO of a PC is determining the needs of the user(s) of that PC, essentially the ‘role’ of the PC in the network.  The typical business computer will need at least data processing and usually communications software that works between the other computers in the network.  Antivirus is also essential.  Of the following categories, some of the factors of the TCO are concrete, such as in Hardware, Software and Licensing costs.  Others, like Risk, Security and Operational are much more difficult to estimate without expert analysis (which is in itself another cost to the company).

Costs

• Software – this includes the cost of the Operating System and data-processing      software such as Microsoft Office.
• Hardware - the cost of the physical components of the PC (eg.      Central Processing Unit, Random Access Memory)
• Licensing – the cost to maintain compliance with all software      license agreements installed on the particular PC
• Security – management of security policies, risk and costs      associated with data loss, theft and prevention.  Maintaining security updates for      installed software.
• Repair/Upgrade – costs of replacement of any hardware or      software, time spent on repair
• Operational – Expenses incurred during the operation of the      PC: downtime of the PC, costing productivity.  Power consumption, costs of training new      users in any software.
• Network – costs associated with keeping the PC connected to a      network.  This would involve a      portion of the following costs:  Internet      Service Provider (bandwidth and connection) costs, costs of a server      maintaining network and application services for the PC.

…in password security.

When working with clients, some of the most common questions and complaints I hear are related to their company’s password security. I frequently get asked questions like: How long of a password should I really have? Do I really need to use capital letters or a number? The password policies we use are really just security overkill, right?

Nope. The length of the password and the type of characters you use makes a big difference.

If you are running the free version of ESXi (aka ESXi Hypervisor) then you need to be aware of a critical issue that surfaced after upgrading several hosts to 5.0 Update 1.  According to VMware and others, this only applies to people runing the free ESXi version.  If you’re ESXi hosts are licensed this issue does not affect you.