Help Desk
298 Stories
How to hire and retain the right help desk people
Insight When hiring a help desk analyst, what qualities do you look for? Read tips from two call center managers who know what they want.
Setting up a successful help desk, part 2
Insight In part 2 of our series on setting up a successful help desk, we tackle the hardest part: the human factor. Learn how to make your help desk succeed with expert advice.
Encourage users to read and use help desk documentation
Insight You can provide all the documentation your users need to be self-sufficient, but it won't do a bit of good unless they read it. Check out these creative ideas to ensure your users will read the information you provide.
Seven (nasty) truths about IT spending
Techguide An article discusses harsh realities associated with out-of-control IT costs. While cost containment is integral to reducing failed IT projects, Draconian inflexibility is not the way to go.
Tags: IT project management, Cost control, IT budgeting, IT-spending, help desk, Harvard Business Review, Michael Krigsman, CIO, CEO, project failure
Using the Print Management console in Server 2008
Techguide Print serving is one of the Windows Server roles that generally require less ongoing maintenance. Take a fresh look at the printer server management options in Windows Server 2008.
Tags: Microsoft Windows, Server platforms, Print Server, help desk, Print Management Console, Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, printer, group policy, console
Highest IT salaries: San Francisco, London
News Figures from PayScale suggest, however, that pay levels may decline this year. Also in decline: bonuses.
Tags: Benefits, HR policies and procedures, help desk, IT Salary, PayScale, Valley, Salary, Worker, London, software
Don't let gray areas delay your projects
Techguide If it's under US$1,000 to solve an immediate need, it may be worthwhile doing it as projects can get delayed.
Tags: IT project management, Project management, Inkjet Printer, help desk, Stock, leasing, printer, information technology, analysis, business case
Systems administrator's role changing via the cloud
News Commoditization of e-mail services, instant messaging. document storage and backups via the cloud is rendering many systems-administrator functions obsolete, says Google's sysadmin.
Tags: Desktops, Help desk, Web 2.0, Google Inc., Search Engine, Cloud Computing, Nintendo Wii, system monitoring, Computer, Help desk
Gartner: Outsourcing prices to fall 10 percent
News The analyst firm predicts that, following six years of growth, the outsourcing and services markets will face a period of significant price reductions.
Tags: IT outsourcing, Outsourcing, Gartner Inc., help desk, application hosting, network, information technology, data center, analyst, pricing strategy
Use Access Based Enumeration to prevent users from seeing objects they can't access
Techguide Windows Server 2008 now includes a feature for administrators to hide files and folders from users who do not have read permissions to these objects.
Tags: Microsoft Windows, Server platforms, File Server, Permission, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Server, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Windows, network
10 ways to effectively estimate and control project costs
Techguide Estimating what a project will cost is only half the battle; controlling those costs during the project and after delivery is equally critical.
Tags: IT project management, Project management, Cost control, Baseline Cost, Business Unit, Benchmarking Exercise, Information Technology, Project, IT-spending, Cost
Report: Attackers exploit IIS hole to breach university server
News Indiana university hit by attackers exploiting a hole in Microsoft Internet Information Services software.
Tags: Hacking, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft IIS Server, Security, Indiana, Apple iWeb, HTTP Request, Server, Attacker, e-mail
PowerShell 2.0--Community Technology Preview 3 released
Techguide Sporting vast improvement, PowerShell 2.0 seems to be shaping up as a robust, reliable choice for admins with enterprise-grade features critical for many firms. Here are some highlights.
Tags: Server platforms, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows PowerShell, GUI, Community Technology Preview, scripting language, PowerShell 2.0, Integrated Scripting Environment, Microsoft Windows, Server platforms
Defining support decision-making levels
Insight Make sure that new help desk workers know the protocol for handling calls for help. Check out our training matrix that groups common support tasks by the appropriate decision-making levels.
Start users off right using a new-user orientation kit
Insight If you can help new employees become competent computer users from the start, they'll be less likely to drive your help desk crazy with a constant barrage of basic questions. Providing training and orientation for your new users can save you—and them—a lot of time, effort, and needless frustration.
