Are
you debating whether to adopt Linux or open-source software at your
organization, but can't figure out how to get started? The NonProfit Open Source Initiative (NOSI) created this guide to help nonprofits make an informed decision about whether to make the switch.
Here,
NOSI outlines six steps you can take to begin to put open-source
software to work in your organization, and in the process learn more
about it, its capabilities, and its cost-effectiveness.
Is your
organization considering setting up a profile on a social networking
site? Are you wondering what tasks are involved, how much time it will
take, and how you might streamline your efforts? Maybe your
organization has established a presence on MySpace and is now
contemplating adding one to Facebook. Perhaps you are wondering how you
can juggle multiple profiles and still have time left to do other work.
This article was updated by TechSoup Technology Analyst Kevin Lo.
Organizations,
libraries, and schools running public computer labs face a variety of
complex computer security challenges. Not only must these institutions
take steps to ensure the physical safety of their hardware, they must
also take into account desktop integrity and security.
It can be
hard enough to trust your own staff with computer equipment, let alone
the general public. Yet for some nonprofits and libraries, any computer
is a shared computer, with staff using equipment by day to work and
constituents using it in the evenings for training, educational, or
even recreational purposes.
While
wanting to share your resources with community members is admirable,
there are certain risks associated with opening up your staff computers
to the public that you should be aware of.
If you’re
not familiar with the term, spam messages are annoying, unsolicited
email messages (usually advertisements for bogus products). Depending
on who you listen to, spam constitutes between 50 and 90 percent of all
email traffic. In addition to violating the law by sending you emails
that you didn’t ask for, spammers often use their messages to
perpetrate fraud on the people who respond. Unless you’ve been offline
for the past 15 years, you know all this and you’d never reply to a
spam email.
Networks can allow computers, servers, and other devices to talk to
each other. There are a number of different types of networks, and it's
important to find the right one to fit your needs so that you don't
waste time and money with one that is too complex for your needs, or
one that doesn't fulfill your needs.
You
have probably heard of a computer network. Maybe you even have one
(perhaps you've heard people say, "No e-mail today -- the network's
down" or "No Internet today - the router isn't working"). Maybe you
need one (you often hear people say, "Can you turn the printer switch
to letter 'D'" or, "Can you pass me that disk"). Whatever your needs,
you may be wondering, "What exactly is a network?"
